Memoir Nation

If you’re a longtime listener, you know Write-minded loves a good show on the mystery, on the magic, on the questions. And that’s because so much of the inspiration that propels us forward in our writing journeys is centered here, in the unexplainable that writers wrangle with, using language to make sense (and sometimes just mirror) the human experience. This conversation goes straight into the h...

Resist, push back, go your own way! These are themes of today’s show as we talk about book publishing with a publisher, Joe Biel, who’s doing things a lot differently from your average indie publisher. Biel shares why Microcosm Publishing stopped selling on Amazon and why that’s not as scary as it may sound. Microcosm was a few years ahead of its time, and now the world is catching up in time for...

When it comes to writing about family, in memoir or fiction, writers must consider the ramifications. To write honestly, writers must know what’s at stake, and be ready. This week’s guest, Rebecca Carroll, shares with Write-minded her own experience with family fallout, and subjects ranging from her readership, to her literary heroine Toni Morrison, to her thoughts on trans-racial adoption. There’...

If you’ve been taught never to talk about money, or if the idea of sharing your earnings publicly makes you uncomfortable, this is a must-listen episode because we’re pulling back the curtain on author earnings and disclosing dollar amounts. Guest Rachael Herron walks us through why she started talking about how much she makes as an author—and tells how much she earned last year and from what stre...

This episode honors a pioneer of a genre with guest Donna Hill, who pioneered a genre and hasn’t looked back. With more than 100 published books to her credit, Hill is a force. This episode covers the stamina it takes to publish so prolifically, a bit of history about what the publishing industry was like way back when in the early 90s, especially for a Black romance novelist who wasn’t seeing the...

This week’s episode features a bright new star in the literary universe, Jinwoo Chong, whose debut novel, Flux , was also his masters’ thesis. Brooke and Grant loved the book—and the subject of conversation in this week’s show is wide-ranging: what does it mean to execute an ambitious project? How does future dystopia meet ’80s nostalgia make for a great book? And what are our favorite time travel...

This week Write-minded rings in National Poetry Month with guest Heather   Bourbeau in a conversation about poetry, working with themes, and collaborations. Grant shares what he’s planning to do this month to celebrate National Poetry Month, and this episode invites you to think about how poetry informs your writing, and ways to invite it in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

Longing is a subject, topic, theme, and obsession of countless stories that have shaped our literary landscape. Grant and Brooke take a good hard look at longing this week and hold it up against its companion emotion, desire, and consider some of the most enduring narratives of longing we know. Guest Madelaine Lucas shares her take on the prism of longing that shines through her debut novel,  Thir...

Peggy Orenstein joins Brooke and Grant this week to talk about a number of ideas at the center of her newest memoir, Unraveling . We cover sheep shearing, the fast fashion industry, the crafts(wo)manship that came out of Covid, and taking the time to learn new things. This episode covers how books are often an adventure, and how writing leads to exploration and discovery. And we just happen to hav...

Building tension in stories is part of writing good fiction writing, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do—and it also requires writers to be conscious of the tensions they’re trying to mine. In this week’s show, tension is at the forefront, as Brooke and Grant explore with storytelling master Gish Jen how she thinks about tension, what life experiences she brings to her fiction as a member of the...

If you write fiction, you already know you’re the master of the world you create on the page. That comes with great responsibility, but it also can mean reclaiming the narrative and elevating the stories that didn’t get to be told. It’s often said that history is written by the victors, but in modern times, history is often revisited, increasingly so in fiction, to include the voices of those left...

What are some of the memoirs you’ve read and loved that share unspeakable truths? This question is at the center of this week’s show—and we welcome guest Eden Boudreau to share about what we risk—and gain—when we dare to write those truths. Eden’s memoir centers a story of sexual assault, so listeners please know that coming in. She shares about how writing her story was healing, but beyond that h...

Write-minded celebrates and honors Grant Faulkner this week as he releases his newest book,  The Art of Brevity.  Grant’s interest and obsession with the short form is the subject of this week’s episode, a conversation about flash fiction, discipline, and what’s so appealing about the short short form. Grant shares a story as a means to show how plot exists in a 100-word piece, and considers the r...

At the heart of all good fiction are psychologically complex drives, character motives, and the layered paradoxes of human experience. And while we’re focusing on Ana Reyes and her recently released thriller , The House in the Pines,  this week’s episode is an honoring of the depths of the human mind, how much our curiosity about what drives others lends itself to good storytelling. Enter the many...

This week Brooke and Grant are in thoughtful, deep conversation with Jeannine Ouellette about craft—ranging from exteriority, tense, point of view, aboutness, and time control. This episode touches upon observing others’ work to inform your own—and we encourage all listeners to read Jeannine’s recent post that’s mentioned a few times in this week’s show: “Eleven Urgent and Possibly Helpful Things...

This week’s show is a celebration and exploration of revision. The old adage is that revision is writing, and Peter Ho Davies has some gorgeous and rich advice around the process and the discovery that comes with this part of the writing process. Revision is a world all its own, an opportunity to go to even deeper depths in your writing. Befriend revision, love revision, embrace revision—and join...

This week’s episode focuses in on our favorite hard topic—inclusion in book publishing. But this conversation is not just a run-of-the-mill conversation about DEI, which we acknowledge can and has gotten a bit diluted in recent months. Instead it’s a fresh and inspiring conversation about what inclusion really means in book publishing, and we interview an inspiring publisher, Rebekah “Bex” Borucki...

This week’s episode is a celebration of discipline with author Adriana Trigiani, who says that the creative expression is the highest expression of our souls. As such, discipline is honoring the gift. We delve into what Adriana learned about working as a writer for the show, A Different World, and her take on the vast changes in the publishing world from her vantage point as a veteran author of mo...

Should we be worried about the current state of reading? It’s hard to answer no to this question. Which is why Grant and Brooke take up the topic this week with guest Andrew Limbong, host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast. Tune in to set a reading goal with Grant, commiserate with Brooke about the kids’ reading habits these days, and hear some great book recommendations from a guest who’s more on t...

Happy New Year! This short show to ring in the new year starts with a confession from Brooke about Write-minded’s annual New Year’s show—this is Number 5! Grant and Brooke share updates on current writing projects (including goals), episodes that rose to the top in 2022, and one creative takeaway from our writing lives. We invite you to reflect and get reinspired along with us as we forge ahead in...

This week’s episode is an upbeat and fun look at marketing with guest Dave Chesson, who’s on the cutting edge of Amazon and other book marketing strategies. We cover Amazon rankings, marketing ideas for fiction writers (who too often get left out of these conversations), and why to share your personal story out in the world. This episode includes concrete types and explains some things about Amazo...

Aya de León returns to Write-minded to share an announcement about her new climate fiction imprint, Fighting Chance Books , that she’s launching in partnership with She Writes Press in 2023. This is an inspiring conversation about why a climate fiction literature of winning is so important. Aya makes the case that the future isn’t written yet—and we need more stories in which humanity fights back...

An episode that covers so much—the power of writing what’s essential; an exploration of two kinds of abysses: total noise and total silence; and a forthcoming recounting of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of problematic reviews. Guest Sarah Manguso has been called a virtuoso, and her takes on the literary world and writing in her compelling, spare style remind us why we love a meaty inte...

This is an episode that will validate every creative impulse you’ve ever had and forgive any creative lapses you might be judging yourself for. Join Grant and Brooke in this inspiring episode with Angie Cruz, who’s faced rejection and overcame it to become a celebrated published author, and who shares with us how she’s in conversation with her characters, pursues other creative interests as a way...

Olga Dies Dreaming  is guest Xochitl Gonzalez’s new novel—and how you interpret it might tell you something about your political persuasion. This week we are exploring what it means to be radical in fiction—especially when what you’re trying to be radical about is packaged as a fast-paced story. This is the subversive (meant in the best sense of the word) nature of fiction with a cause—which we ex...