I'm a Writer But

Today A. Natasha Joukovsky (The Portrait of a Mirror) joins us to talk about working in the corporate world while writing her novel, funding her own writing retreat to France, her favorite types of books, the world of management consulting, Proust, and more!   A. Natasha Joukovsky holds a BA in English from the University of Virginia and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business....

Today, Shane Kowalski talks to us about being funny, starting his writing career on Tumblr, working with Kevin Sampsell on Future Tense, formerly working for the post office, his favorite writers, and more! Shane Kowalski is the author of Small Moods (Future Tense). He lives in Pennsylvania.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Sandra Newman talks to us about bringing concept into form, considering how much power women have in the world, thinking deeply about gender, being non-binary, the controversy about her book, and more!  Sandra Newman is the author of the novels The Heavens, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and The Country of Ice Cream Star, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and...

Today, Leyna Krow joins us to talk about her special blend of historical fiction and magical realism, working with featherproof and Viking, having a short story optioned by Hollywood, doing research about the Spokane fire, Miriam Toews, and more!  Leyna Krow is the author of the debut novel, Fire Season, and the story collection I’m Fine but You Appear to Be Sinking, a Believer Book Award finalist...

Today Justin Taylor joins us to talk about recording his own audio book, taking a frank, fair look at his father and himself as a son, finding a narrative in a personal/true story, how writing memoir helped re-teach him how to write a novel, what being a professor gives to him in his own practice, and more! Justin Taylor is the author, most recently, of the memoir Riding with the Ghost, as well as...

Andrew Lipstein (Last Resort) talks to us about using a pseudonym to sell his novel, writing in such a close first person headspace, pushing forward after books have failed, learning how to make a plot move, working without an outline, Patrick Somerville’s advice on writing a novel, rewriting the ending, wanting/not wanting to find yourself in someone else’s art, and more!  Andrew Lipstein is a wr...

Today we talk with Isle McElroy (THE ATMOSPHERIANS) about establishing tone in their debut novel, the close relationship between joy and horror, sculpting sentences, their love of simile and metaphor, finding shape and focus as they wrote this novel, finding the right first readers, being a child of divorce, and more!  Isle McElroy is a nonbinary writer based in Brooklyn. Their debut novel, THE AT...

Today we talk with Sasha Fletcher (Be Here To Love Me at the End of the World) about finding inspiration in the structure of other forms of art, staying surprised as a writer, writing a novel that is actually a poem, writing the books he wants to read, and more! Sasha Fletcher is the author of the novel Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World, a book of poems, several chapbooks of poetry, and a...

Today we talk with Farah Jasmine Griffin (Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature) about telling her family's story alongside Black history and literature, bearing witness, her favorite contemporary works, her new book(s), and more! Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University where she a...

Today we're joined by poet Christian J. Collier (The Gleaming of the Blade)! Christian talks with us about the influence of art and horror films on his writing, moving away from overwriting, the shapes of his poems, using race as a way of looking at intimacy and society and humanity as a whole, monsters, ghosts, and more! Christian J. Collier is a Black, Southern writer, arts organizer, and teachi...

Today we talk with Erika Krouse (Tell Me Everything) about her debut true crime/searching/memoir, putting plot into nonfiction, her brilliant use of anecdote and metaphor, writing fast, the supportive response to the book, studying with Lucia Berlin, and more! Erika Krouse is the author of Come Up and See Me Sometime, a New York Times Notable Book, and Contenders, a finalist for the VCU Cabell Fir...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Linda LeGarde Grover (Gichigami Hearts: Stories and Histories from Misaabekong) about making a book that is fiction, memoir, myth, truth, and poetry; the many wonders of Duluth and Lake Superior; the “ghost presence” in her book; showing a sense of time and change in her work; and more! Linda LeGarde Grover is professor of American Indian studies at the University of Min...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Rachel Krantz (OPEN: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy) about immersion journalism, being funny, going from shorter form to longer form, her new podcast, and more! Rachel Krantz is the namer of Bustle, and one of its three founding editors. At Bustle, she served as Senior Features Editor for three years, and Senior News Editor before that. She al...

Today we talk with Rachel Signer (You Had Me at Pét-Nat) about writing so honestly about her personal life, plumbing her diaries for inspiration, deciding what kind of book she wanted to write, publishing her own magazine, her current inspirations, the drudgery of crafting with children, and more!  Rachel is a writer originally from the U.S., now based in South Australia. She is the author of the...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Jessamine Chan (The School for Good Mothers) about writing and rewriting her novel, her love of experimental fiction, Lydia Kiesling as our fave parent influencer, the silent scream inside gentle parenting, being an instant bestseller, and more! Jessamine Chan’s short stories have appeared in Tin House and Epoch. A former reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, she holds an...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Suzanne Cope (POWER HUNGRY: Women of the Black Panther Movement and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement) about deep research, using her voice to amplify others, how the pandemic changed everything, and more! Suzanne Cope, PhD is a narrative journalist and food studies scholar with a focus on food as a tool for social and political change. In addition to her...

Today we talk with Isaac Butler (THE METHOD: HOW THE TWENTIETH CENTURY LEARNED TO ACT) about how Jared Leto is not a Method actor!, something called "ekphrasis" that we pretended to understand, cutting his massive draft down, reading drafts out loud, the impulse to go into free indirect, tons of juicy details about Method and non-Method actors, the crossover between the Method and writing, the all...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Christian Tebordo (THE APOLOGY) about our mutual love of Gabe Habash’s STEPHEN FLORIDA; Nabokov always perched on his shoulder; Adam Levin’s theory of “optimal tension”; loving books without hooks; women as avenging angels as inspired by Knight Rider, yes, that Knight Rider; writing books that are unpublishable by the mainstream; feeling liberated by bad reviews; talking...

Today we talk with Sara Lippmann (JERKS) about her great new collection, the annoying persistence of the Madonna/whore complex, rage, hope, motherhood, mosaic-y fiction (shoutout Kathy Fish), forgetting how to write a novel while writing stories and vice versa, her favorite story collections (Rebecca Schiff’s The Bed Moved; Nina McConigley’s Cowboys and East Indians; Danielle Lazarin’s Back Talk;...

Today we talk with Mike Meginnis (DROWNING PRACTICE) about writing apocalyptic fiction without including the whole world, choosing the dumbest ideas, YMCA memories, writing about what scares you, writing from the perspectives of a 13-year-old girl and her mother, elf names, his great author photo holy shit did Alex and Lindsay start hitting on him??, his imaginary-gift-giving podcast he runs with...

Today we talk with Joy Lanzendorfer (RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM) about her wonderful, very fun debut novel, big, complicated, bells 'n whistles books, unlikeable characters, ambition, women trying to make it, using a Ouija board as muse, and more. Most importantly, Joy tells us the insane, unbelievable story of how this book made it to publication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Leigh Stein (What to Miss When) about her new poetry collection, writing fast and furiously in the early months of the pandemic, the joy in editing at the sentence level, Summer House and other reality television, is it okay to write fiction about the pandemic yet? and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk with Liv Stratman (CHEAT DAY) about writing about a subject that is so universal and also so personal, the expectations readers have for a book based on packaging, grappling with your intentions when writing versus what readers take from it, studying with Lorrie Moore! and Lynda Barry!, working on her second novel, messy books, working in the service industry, and more! Learn more ab...

Today we talk with Cara Blue Adams (You Never Get it Back) about her debut story collection, how she came to linking the stories, what it's like to put out a book that is so well received, workshops, submitting, terrible advice, good advice, impatient dogs, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we chat with JoAnna Novak (MEANINGFUL WORK; NEW LIFE) about putting out both a story collection AND a poetry collection in the same year, getting two (2!) MFAs, working every sort of job you can imagine, staying in the fight, and lots more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices