The Inner Loop Radio: A Creative Writing Podcast

Chet'la Sebree, author of "Field Study" and "Mistress," discusses how to feel inspired when the world unfolds in surprising or disappointing ways. She speaks of her students at George Washington University, and how she's focused on reminding them that art matters especially in a time of tumult. To keep creating, she makes room for free writing, processing, and most of all, community. Her prompt as...

Of the many paths to publication, small press contests hold some fascinating opportunities. Co-hosts Rachel Coonce and Abi Newhouse talk with November Author’s Corner spotlight Luke Sutherland about his memoir winning the 2023 OutWrite Chapbook Competition. They discuss unexpected opportunities small press contests present, how they differ from traditional publishing, and how to maintain your agen...

Welcome to the Inner Loop Radio in our latest segment of Just Checking where we bring you our sub-series by Leeya Mehta: Writers with Pets in Solariums. In this fifth and last edition for the year, Leeya Mehta talks with her friend, non-fiction writer Rashmi Sadana. We are calling this episode: Maybe We Can All be a Little Like Luna: a Conversation with Rashmi Sadana. Dr. Rashmi Sadana is an urban...

Writers are nothing if not ambitious, but what does success really look like for a writer? Gwydion Suilebhan, cultural critic, essayist, playwright, and Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, joins us to discuss the journey, the destination, and the aftermath of what some consider literary success, and he proposes a different way to achieve writerly fulfillment. Plus, writers like to t...

Tyrese Coleman, author of "How to Sit," discusses ways to feel inspired, including going on walks, getting outside, and using if-then writing prompts to tap into your creativity. She's working on creating routine to keep up writing habits, echoing Toni Morrison's routine of getting up early in the haunted hours to write. When is best for you to write? Coleman challenges you to take the time to fin...

We've all ridden the rollercoaster of emotions as writers--the joy when you actually *like* your work, and the despair when you overthink all of it. Co-hosts Rachel Coonce and Abi Newhouse talk with October Author's Corner spotlight, Nick Gardner, about feeling proud, feeling terrified, and how tapping into our childlike selves can actually help us breakthrough emotional turmoil. Nick reads us a p...

In this Just Checking In sub-series, Writers with Pets in Solariums, Leeya Mehta chats with Amanda Newell about balancing writing with life, her latest collection: Postmortem Say, and what horses have to teach us about life. Amanda Newell lives on a farm in southern Maryland with a cat named Kit Kat and two horses, Eko and Ed. She's close enough to the Chesapeake to hear the waves breaking against...

Okezie Nwoka, author of “God of Mercy,” discusses the difference between love and care, and how self love plays a role in creating art. Nwoka takes us through a writing prompt that invokes the wisdom of aphorisms—short expressions that, here, will capture ideas of loving oneself and others. He talks about writing strategies and routines, and how he surrenders himself to the moment of free expressi...

Most writers have experienced feedback from a writer's workshop, a writing group, or from friends and family, and we're told it's a necessary part of writing. But what's the key to figuring out what level of feedback works for you? What qualifies as a "good" workshop? And most of all, what type of feedback will help us actually keep writing? Plus, you can help decide whether the feedback Courtney,...

Today, TIL board member Leeya Mehta focuses on writing a personal essay, inspired by reading James Baldwin’s essay "The New Lost Generation." She talks about the way she is approaching this essay, which she’s calling “The Day After: Searching for Language for Another Lost Generation.” Leeya suggests exploring the politics of language as an essay prompt, and asks what you notice about language, and...

The heaviness of summer can bring up those heavy feelings of nostalgia, but when is it time to stop musing and put those feelings on the page? First released in August 2019, J.M. Tyree, author, film critic, and nonfiction editor of the New England Review, joins Rachel and Courtney to discuss just that, as well as how we weave the past and the present into a narrative. Rachel and Courtney delve int...

The Inner Loop board member Leeya Mehta catches up with author Linda Chavez for her new sub-series of Just Checking In: Writers with Pets in Solariums. The pair discuss Linda's parrot, her writing project involving a surprising discovery in her past, and some mischievous pet stories. Linda Chavez is the chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity in Falls Church, VA. She served as director of pub...

Is all writing inherently political? Co-hosts Rachel Coonce and Abi Newhouse talk with August Author's Corner spotlight Paul Jaskunas about balancing political topics in writing with their own political opinions, feeling trepidation about addressing hot button topics, and some examples of heavy-handed and subtle books involving political topics. Plus, they put their high school government and coll...

Real-world cultures come up all the time in any genre of writing, but it can be difficult to world-build with something so nuanced. Host Abi Newhouse speaks with The Inner Loop's July Author's Corner spotlight, Diana Rojas, about creating stories from our own cultures. They cover how time affects culture, how to use specific cultural details to world-build, and they try to untangle ideas about wor...

Abi catches up with freelance journalist and writer for the 730DC newsletter, Serena Zets. They discuss the DC journalism scene, stories Serena's been working on lately, and how writing creative nonfiction can be a great starting point for journalistic stories.

Andrew Bertaina, author of “One Person Away From You” and the new essay collection “The Body is a Temporary Gathering Place,” suggests inspiration comes from reading. Andrew takes us through a writing prompt that leads him to fictionalize a meeting with his late grandfather in the afterlife. Try negotiating the speculative realm in your own writing, and if you’re stuck, you know what to do: pick u...

Finding the right point of view can make or break a story, and in nonfiction, the line of experimentation can be blurry. Hosts Abi Newhouse and Courtney Sexton speak with The Inner Loop’s June Author’s Corner spotlight, Danielle Ariano, about innovative points of view in memoir. They cover the empathy, challenges, and breakthroughs a new point of view can inspire, and Danielle reads from her new m...

With the sudden shutdown of Small Press Distribution, let’s dig into the value of independent presses and how their downturn might affect us as both writers and readers. Michael B. Tager, Managing Editor of Mason Jar Press and author of Pop Culture Poetry: The Definitive Edition from Akinoga Press, talks about independent presses from both sides of the publishing experience. Plus, we play a little...

The Inner Loop board member Leeya Mehta catches up with “Carousel Court” author Joe McGinniss for her new sub-series of Just Checking In: Writers in Solariums with Pets. The pair check in with the dogs and another secret pet (!), talk about the difference between the creative process of fiction and nonfiction, and discuss how writing nonfiction can offer a specific sort of peace. Joe says that “th...

We talk about major writing tenets like plot, character, and setting all the time in fiction and nonfiction, but how do these ideas come up in poetry? Hosts Abi Newhouse and Aeriel Merillat speak with The Inner Loop's May Author's Corner spotlight, Amanda Shaw, about rooting the readers inside a poem, crafting a story's arc through a poetry collection, and the many levels of time throughout it all...

Looking for inspiration in all your usual places but coming up empty? Cameron MacKenzie, author of "The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career" and "River Weather," suggests using your dreams to get you started on a new writing project. He takes us through his process of using one line to create a story, and how your unconscious brain can give you the best ideas. Take yourself seriously, h...

In preparation for our upcoming Author’s Corner panel on knowing when the writing is done, let’s talk about writing endings! First released in December 2019, essayist and creative nonfiction icon, Jo Ann Beard joins us to discuss how to pack an ending with a punch! Plus, Courtney and Rachel rewrite the Christmas classic: T'was The Night Before Christmas. Join us for our Author's Corner Panel May 1...

The Inner Loop board member Leeya Mehta catches up with Kris O'Shee, a professional counselor, choreographer, and writer. The pair talk about ideal times and locations for writing, O'Shee's new writing projects about family and dance, and the joys of her dancing dogs. They ask: what needs to be destroyed so something new can be created? All the metaphors are here to get your creativity going.

We've all heard the old writing adage: "learn the rules so you can break the rules." But experimental writing can be tricky--how do we know when we've created something truly interesting vs. something just a little bit kitschy? Hosts Abi Newhouse and Aeriel Merillat speak with The Inner Loop's Author's Corner spotlight for April, Rumi Ryan, about mixing forms, messing with modalities, and ultimate...

If you're having trouble putting your story together, it might be because you don't have the right information. Rhaina Cohen, author of "The Other Significant Others," discusses journalistic methods and solutions that apply to all writing conundrums. She takes us through one of her favorite writing exercises involving a series of questions that nail down the details of our stories, and she shares...