Cabana Chats

In this special between-seasons episode of Cabana Chats, we bring you PART TWO of the recording of a live event held on September 26, 2023, with writers ⁠Greg Mania⁠ , ⁠Denne Michele Norris⁠ , and ⁠Matt Ortile⁠ in conversation with Resort founder Catherine LaSota. This episode is part two of the event "What's Community Got to Do With It?" , which was an Official 2023 Brooklyn Book Fe...

In this special between-seasons episode of Cabana Chats, we bring you the recording of a live event held on September 26, 2023, with writers Greg Mania , Denne Michele Norris , and Matt Ortile in conversation with Resort founder Catherine LaSota. This episode is part one of the event "What's Community Got to Do With It?" , which was an Official 2023 Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend eve...

On this final episode of season three, Resort founder Catherine LaSota shares five things she has learned and re-learned about the process of writing over the past several months, via group programs at the Resort and her 1-on-1 work with writers. Catherine also shares information about some exciting things coming up at the Resort this Fall! You can find out more about these below: Sep 18-Oct 6, 20...

It's our first (non-live event) episode with TWO guests! Nancy K. Miller and Tahneer Oksman, co-editors of Feminists Reclaim Mentorship: An Anthology (SUNY Press, 2023), are in conversation with Catherine LaSota about what we mean we identify as a mentor or a mentee, and how the nature of mentorship is changing -- and what that means as we build communities together. Nancy K. Miller is a femin...

2023 has been kind of a strange year energetically, and this summer alone has been...a bit of a doozy at times. On this near-season-end episode of the Cabana Chats, host Catherine LaSota checks in to ask: How are you doing? If you've been feeling out of sorts, a calendar review and some intentional future planning can be super helpful. Catherine walks you through this process using her own exh...

This episode features the wonderful Randy Winston , lover of milkshakes and Director of Writing Programs at the Center for Fiction, in conversation with Resort founder Catherine LaSota. Randy and Catherine talk about the importance of demystifying literary ecosystems, the ways that building relationships form the cornerstones of a writing life, and New York City diner portions (especially the Lumb...

It's a conversation with the one and only Ariel Gore ! In this episode of the Cabana Chats podcast, Resort founder Catherine LaSota is thrilled to be in conversation with a writer she admires not only for the various zines and books she's put out into the world, but also for the ways she helps other writers to find their path by integrating their creative practice with the fullness of life...

We just had a new moon (new beginnings!), and it's Cancer season (lots of emotions!). How can we combine the theme of new beginnings, plus a mid-summer season that can be full of big feelings, into some helpful writing prompts for our journal? Resort founder  Catherine LaSota  shares some thoughts about the season and encourages a reinvigorated journal practice, including writing prompt sugges...

It's our first episode with a second-time guest! Cabana Chats is thrilled to welcome back Brian Gresko , who sits down to chat with Catherine LaSota about the lessons and labor of parenthood and writing, the ways that we define community, and the exciting things that are happening at Writing Co-Lab , the teaching cooperative he helped to organize and launch in January 2023. More about Brian Gr...

All writers feel stuck sometimes. What can you do when you feel like you are hitting a wall in your writing, or when you are simply feeling low about the whole process and practice of being a writer? Resort founder and Cabana Chats host Catherine LaSota offers some suggestions for things to try when you hit those inevitable sticky seasons in your writing. Cabana Chats is brought to you by The Reso...

It's another live event episode of the Cabana Chats podcast!  On May 31, 2023, we hosted a  Happy Half Hour  event via Zoom at the Resort, bringing together the wonderful writers and editors Tajja Isen and Matt Ortile to talk about writing and community. Tajja and Matt are friends and former colleagues of the wonderful Catapult magazine (which shuttered its doors unexpectedly in mid-February 2...

We've just had a new moon, and the solstice is upon us. It's a great time for new projects, big energy, and joyful romping. But what if you feel like a good cry instead? On this episode, Resort founder Catherine LaSota shares some things about her past couple of wobbly weeks, and she offers a reminder that just letting go - with some tears or screams or yells - can not only be part of the...

Happy Pride! We are thrilled to bring you a conversation with the owner/founder of a beloved, queer woman owned bookstore in New York City. Resort founder Catherine LaSota sits down for a chat with friend and literary event collaborator Lexi Beach , owner of the Astoria Bookshop in Queens, NYC. They talk about loving books, following new career paths, and how special bookstore communities are. The...

It's a live event episode of the Cabana Chats podcast! On May 30, 2023, we hosted a Happy Half Hour event via Zoom at the Resort, bringing writers and friends Greg Mania and Denne Michele Norris in conversation together around writing and community. Greg and Denne Michele talk about what's going on in their professional lives, the importance of meeting up with other writers in real life, a...

Sometimes writing inspiration comes from the most unexpected places. Resort founder and Cabana Chats host Catherine LaSota shares a story about a recent experience that led to some writing inspiration, and then she challenges you to attune to your senses that are most evocative for you. How can you build a relationship with your receptors for the world around you, to pay attention in a way that fe...

It's another solo episode from Resort founder and Cabana Chats host Catherine LaSota! In this episode, Catherine gives you an assignment: what is one thing in your writing practice over the last six months that you are proud of? And how can you celebrate this accomplishment? It's too easy to stay on the treadmill of always looking to the next goal on your list -- don't forget to take a...

We are kicking off Season Three of Cabana Chats with a solo episode from Resort founder and Cabana Chats host Catherine LaSota. In this episode, Catherine offers a series of permission slips for writers and encourages you to treat yourself well when you are working on a big project. And, as always, community is essential to the writing process! Season Three has just begun! Get ready for a bunch of...

We may be between seasons, but Resort founder Catherine LaSota misses you and wants to say hi. Hello! Have a listen to this short bonus episode to remember some highlights from seasons 1 and 2 of Cabana Chats, and get excited for season 3, plus more great stuff coming your way in 2023 from the Resort writing community! Need some ideas for a great book to pick up? Check out the Resort's Bookshop st...

In this last episode of season two of Cabana Chats, writer Lydia Conklin talks with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about fostering dogs, writing a story versus making a comic, and the places we can't bring our cell phones (thank goodness), among many other fascinating topics. Lydia Conklin is an Assistant Professor of Fiction at Vanderbilt University. Previously they were the Helen Zell Visiting...

In our next to last episode for season two of Cabana Chats, Leslie Shipman , founder of the The Shipman Agency , talks with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about her long career in the literary world, how her love of poetry has guided her, and her latest adventures as the founder of a speaking agency for writers that has turned into a full-service organization for writers, offering classes, editin...

This episode of Cabana Chats is a throwback to 2018, when Resort founder Catherine LaSota had a Skype conversation with writers Molly Caro May and Meaghan O'Connell to discuss the intersection of motherhood and writing . This conversation was recorded for a special episode of the LIC Reading Series podcast that never aired, and this is the first time it is reaching an audience! Molly Caro May is a...

In this episode, writer and comedian Greg Mania talks with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about how the growth of those closest to us can inspire our own growth, and also about how soothing Coca-Cola can be. We also trip on several words in the English language, including accountability, palatability, and more! And: how does a person pronounce LaCroix? Listen and find out! Greg Mania is a writer,...

In this episode, writer K-Ming Chang talks with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about birding, writing's relationship to oral storytelling, and the audience she's writing for. We also hear a story of magic and dog poop. This episode is amazing, trust. K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the New...

In this special live event episode, One Story co-founders Hannah Tinti and Maribeth Batcha talk with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about the first twenty years of One Story , its community-based mission, and the most fun party of the year, the One Story Deb Ball (coming up on June 3, 2022!). Maribeth Batcha is the publisher and Co-Founder of One Story. She has worked in magazine circulation for...

In this episode, writer Sarah Perry talks with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about her identity as a writer, our needs to prove things to ourselves as writers, and the benefits of learning to observe across different media. Sarah Perry (she/they) is a memoirist and essayist who writes about love, trauma, gender-based violence, queerness, and the power dynamics that influence those concerns. She...