More to the Story Podcast with Janna Maron

I’m at AWP this week! If you’re also in LA for this annual conference, be sure to stop by Under the Gum Tree’s booth 1213 to say hello. Two things I’m doing at AWP this year: 1. Hosting 15-minute mini-consults for women working on nonfiction books. If you could use a mini book coaching session, check here to see if there are any spots available and grab one . 2. Under the Gum Tree’s off-site readi...

For months now, maybe even a year or more, I have been wanting to spend 10 minutes, first thing in the morning, drinking my coffee outside. I set up the perfect spot to sit, with chairs facing east toward the rising sun, moved the gas fire pit over to the chairs. But for some reason I couldn’t get myself to take my coffee outside in the mornings. Actually I know exactly the reasons: 1. It’s been w...

I saw a Notes thread on Substack recently that someone had shared an article, commenting that it was the saddest thing she had read on Substack that day. It had a lot of comments, so I clicked to read out of clarity and then curiosity. Clarity, because at first I didn’t get what was so sad about the article. Then curiosity, because as soon as I figured it out, I wanted to see what others had said....

Someone sent me this question recently, and man did it get me fired up. Whenever I hear any so-called advice (from anyone) saying you need XYZ specific thing in order to get published, my first response is: Well, how does saying that benefit THEM? Here’s the thing: do you need 100,000 followers to get published? NO. Absolutely not. Would it be helpful? Of course. But (and this is a big BUT), there...

When an opportunity for expansion and growth presents itself, but it’s something you’ve never done before, what’s your first instinct? To avoid doing it? To dismiss it simply because you’ve never done it? Maybe the idea of trying the thing hasn’t even occurred to you because you’ve never done it. But just because you’ve never done something doesn’t mean you can’t do it, or shouldn’t do it. In fact...

When I introduce myself as a book coach, nearly every single woman I meet responds with, “Oh my gosh, I’ve always wanted to write a book.” Then we get to talking about what’s holding them back, and it is always some variation of “I’m not ready.” It usually sounds something like: - I’m waiting until I have a larger following. - I’m waiting until my kids are older. - I’m waiting until my business is...

Aspiring authors: do you have a pre-set idea of how to write and publish your book, based on what experts and gurus have said is the (best/only/most effective) way to do it? Have you already decided that you need to do XYZ because that's what so-and-so says to do? If you answered YES to any of these questions, this episode is for you. And I have some questions for YOU. Here's the deal: there is no...

After a nearly four-year hiatus, More to the Story Podcast is back! Brought to you by Janna Marlies Maron, book coach and editor for women writing nonfiction, and editor and publisher of the creative nonfiction lit mag, Under the Gum Tree. Time is on your side: many of previous podcast guests have published books since being on the show; what’s been happening for Janna & plans for this podcast goi...

Janna Marlies Maron (she/her) is a professional editor with nearly 20 years of experience helping writers to complete their projects and produce the best work possible. Her experience includes time as a magazine editor, college professor, agency editorial director, and content director for a popular internet brand. Her life’s work began when she was a kid writing in a spiral bound notebook, and sh...

Nicole Walker is the author of Processed Meats: Essays on Food, Flesh and Navigating Disaster (2021) Sustainability: A Love Story (2018) and the collaborative collection The After-Normal: Brief, Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet (2019). She has previously published the books Where the Tiny Things Are (2017), Egg (2017), Micrograms (2016), Quench Your Thirst with Salt (2013), and This Noisy...

Kristie Robin Johnson is an educator, essayist, and poet from Augusta, Georgia. She is the current Chair of the Department of Humanities at Georgia Military College’s Augusta campus where she is an Assistant Professor of English. A graduate of the MFA Creative Writing program at Georgia College and State University, Kristie’s writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received other a...

Timothy J. Hillegonds is the author of The Distance Between (Nebraska, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Award. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Tim's work has appeared in The Guardian, the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, Assay, Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction, River Teeth, Baltimore Review, Brevity,...

Kelly is an award-winning essayist and a Pushcart nominee. She has an MFA in nonfiction from Lesley University. Her essay “Do No Harm” was awarded the $1000 Best Essay Prize and appeared in Creative Nonfiction’s Issue #55, The Memoir Issue, Spring 2015. Her essay, "Paper Moon" was shortlisted for The Pinch's 2017 Literary Award. Kelly enjoys the quiet life of rural Ohio. When she's not chasing chi...

In this episode I talk with writer Katherine Standefer. Katherine's debut book, Lightning Flowers , published November 2020 from Little Brown, was shortlisted for the 2018 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Her work was featured in The Best American Essays 2016 , won the 2015 Iowa Review Award in...

In this episode, I talk with writer James M. Chesbro. James is the author of A Lion in the Snow: Essays on a Father’s Journey Home . His work has appeared in The Writer’s Chronicle , America , The Washington Post , The Millions , Essay Daily , and The Huffington Post . Essays from A Lion in the Snow were chosen as notable selections in The Best American Essays series 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 20...

In this episode I talk with Tori Weston, creative writer and visual artist. Tori received a BFA in Writing and Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. While working for the Professional Studies department and finishing her last semester of graduate school, she wrote a proposal for a creative writing high school program. Fifteen years later, she is now the Assistant Director...

In this episode I talk with Rebekah Taussig, one of Under the Gum Tree’s previous contributors. Rebekah is a writer and teacher with her PhD in creative nonfiction and disability studies from the University of Kansas. She is interested in the powerful connection between the stories we tell and the tangible world we live in. You can find her essays in Under the Gum Tree and The Florida Review and c...

In this episode I talk with Liz Stephens, one of Under the Gum Tree's previous contributors. Liz is currently growing the Mojave Desert Arts project, a residency and workshop space outside Joshua Tree, California. Recent work can be found in the anthologies Brief Encounters: A Collection of Contemporary Nonfiction and Dirt: A Love Story. Other work can be found in Fourth Genre and Terrain.org , am...

In this episode I talk with one of Under the Gum Tree's previous contributors, Dorian Fox. Dorian essays, articles and stories have appeared in december , Gastronomica , Alimentum , Monkeybicycle , National Parks Magazine , and elsewhere. His work has also been shortlisted for awards by Ploughshares , Phoebe and The Bellingham Review . He received his MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Emerson Colleg...

In this episode I talk with Yahdon Israel, one of Under the Gum Tree's previous contributors. Yahdon is 27-year-old writer from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, who has written for Avidly , The New Inquiry , Brooklyn Magazine , LitHub , and Poets and Writers . He graduated from the MFA Creative Non-Fiction Writing program at the New School. He is the Awards and Membership VP of the National Book Critics Circle...

In this episode I talk with Stephen Gutierrez, one of Under the Gum Tree's previous contributors. Stephen has published three books of stories and essays. Live from Fresno y Los won an American Book Award, and The Mexican Man in His Backyard is his most recent. He has published widely in magazines and anthologies, including nonfiction in Fourth Genre , River Teeth , Under the Sun , Alaska Quarterl...

In this episode I talk with author and Under the Gum Tree contributor Carol Marsh. Carol's essay, “Pictures in Leaves,” won the 2016 New Millennium Writings Nonfiction Prize. Her essay "Highest and Best" received an honorable mention in Under the Gum Tree's inaugural essay contest and appears in the January 2017 issue of the magazine. It is an excerpt from her memoir Nowhere Else I Want...

In this episode I talk with Ira Sukrungruang, one of Under the Gum Tree's previous contributors. Ira is the author of The Melting Season , Southside Buddhist , Talk Thai , and In Thailand It Is Night . He teaches in the MFA program at University of South Florida. His essay "The Animatronic Dog" appears in the April 2016 issue of Under the Gum Tree . The pen name that Ira used when he use...

In this episode I talk with Matt Young, one of Under the Gum Tree's previous contributors. Matt is a marine veteran, writer, and teacher. He lives in Olympia, Washington where he teaches at Central College. He holds an MA in creative writing from Miami University. His work can be found in Yemassee , Word Riot , Tin House , River Teeth , and others. His essay "Equal and Opposite" appears...

Welcome to episode seven of More to the Story, a podcast all about telling true stories and sharing them with the world! In this episode, I talk with previous Under the Gum Tree contributor, Penny Guisinger. Penny Guisinger lives and writes on the easternmost tip of Maine. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Fourth Genre , River Teeth , Guernica , the Brevity blog, Solstice , Under the Gum...