Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

The Utility of Misunderstandings in Fiction   Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

A Few Thoughts On Living While Aging Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Some thoughts on the art of M.C. Escher and fiction that defies expectation Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

A Meditation on the Silent G. Kind of like a title track!  Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Two lessons from a long-ago conversation. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Take a Break... Or make one. On retreats.   Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com) As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for listening and subscribing, dear friends. 

AWP: a conference for people in dire need of bookmarks. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

What to do with our notes, photos, and memorabilia...and why we kept it all in the first place. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

In answer to my last post; a look at how we deal when others don't love our work. And who should we be writing for, anyway? Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

On why some of us love books that others do not.    Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Audio from Shelagh's Substack,  The Silent G  As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends!

Audio from Shelagh's Substack,  The Silent G  As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends!

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G  As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends!

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G . As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional Substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends! "If Only" Photo Credit: Greg Danford

This one was my first on the substack (I'm catching up with the audio option). It concerns piano lessons, then and now, creativity, and writing. I hope you enjoy! You can also listen at shelaghvt.substack.com

Hey there! Pardon the random interruption. I see that many of you continue to download the interviews archived here at Write the Book: Conversations on Craft. While I miss the show, it's been a good break as I have a novel coming: A TOAST TO THE AFTERLIFE will be published by Unsolicited Press in March 2027. Also, I have a new Substack called The Silent G.  Given your history here with me, I thoug...

Vermont author, educator, environmentalist, and Co-founder of  350.org  and  Th!rd Act   Bill McKibben , in a conversation about his 2022 memoir, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened (Henry Holt & Co). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Bill McKibben, and it’s a wonder...

Vermont Author Nathaniel Ian Miller in a conversation about his novel, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven (Little Brown) . This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Nathaniel Ian Miller, who recently heard someone extoll the virtues of writing about one’s work. Nathaniel commented that he liked this idea, and that he would like to see more of it. The supposedly mundane aspec...

Award-winning Vermont Author Brad Kessler in conversation about his 2021 novel, North ( Overlook Press ). One review of Brad Kessler’s work, a blurb by the author Chris Abani , mentions  the way that Brad lets his characters’ dignity lead the story. I love this observation, and have been thinking a lot about it. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the dignity of your characters, no ma...

British Author Caroline Lea , whose new novel is PrizeWomen (Harper Perennial).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Caroline Lea. It's an assignment she sometimes gives to her students. Go somewhere you wouldn't normally go, and write about it. (Don’t get arrested, she says. Or if you do, don’t blame her!) Her students have visited cemeteries, they've gone to other dorms...

An interview from 2015 (with our old music!) with literary agent Emily Forland, of the Brandt Hochman Agency  in New York.  This week’s  Write The Book Prompt is to write about a season you are not presently experiencing. Is it warm where you are? Write about the cold. Is spring coming on? Write about the fall. Work from memory, as much as you can, and then in revising, allow yourself to look at p...

Vermont Author Annie Seyler , whose debut novel is The Wisdom of Winter ( Atmosphere Press ).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Annie Seyler. Identify a moment from your childhood that shaped you somehow and write it out as a scene, but with a different ending or outcome than the way you lived it. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next we...

Olena Kharchenko and Michael Sampson, co-authors The Story of Ukraine ( Brown Books Kids ). We have two Write the Book Prompts this week.  Michael Sampson offered one that seemed rather dark, so he turned it on its head and offered another that’s more upbeat. First, describe a nightmare you’ve had, including setting and details that explain why it is so terrifying. Second, look into the future and...

Award-winning science writer and journalist Jessica Nordell , author of The End of Bias: A Beginning ( Metropolitan ).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Jessica Nordell, who points out that observing our own bias can be a challenge. She suggests considering, What would you write if you could be certain that you had infinite love and acceptance - if you didn't...