The Inner Loop Radio

What can memory tell us about the space between fiction and nonfiction? First released in September 2020, author Timothy Denevi shows us how to turn memory into story and to shift our focus from current events to writing in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little dose of inspiration.

What if you could have quality and quantity in your writing? Or maybe just feel like you can produce freely? Mecca Jamilah Sullivan gives her secret to prolificacy with advice on writing routines, submissions and rejections, and self-care. We get to hear from her novel, Big Girl, now out in paperback, and each of us prepares an application to the generous Society for Cloud Inquiry and Enthusiasm.

Rachel catches up with short story writer, Rion Amilcar Scott, and they talk about visiting historical plantations, squeezing writing between kids and work, and the intrigue of the Titan submersible, all on this month’s episode of Just Checking In, a series of informal chats with some of our favorite writers.

There’s nothing you know better than your own life, right? So why research a memoir? Rachel and Courtney discuss how research can enrich personal stories with John Kropf, author of Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company from University of Akron Press and The Inner Loop Author’s Corner June spotlight. Plus, a color-coded free-association game!

Inspiration Takeover: Imitation with Joshua Weiner by Rachel Coonce and Courtney Sexton

The odds of getting a piece published in a major literary publication from the slush pile is less than 1%. So how do you beat the literary odds? Denne Michele Norris, editor-in-chief of Electric Literature and author of the forthcoming novel, When The Harvest Comes, gives us a peek behind the publishing curtain and tells us her journey to a major book deal with Random House. Plus, some pretty shoc...

Rachel catches up with poet and literary activist, E. Ethelbert Miller, and they talk about going to the Grammys, collaborations, life after COVID, and the depressing uniformity of critically-acclaimed literature, all on this month’s episode of Just Checking In, a series of informal chats with some of our favorite writers.

Rachel and Courtney explore the lure and inspiration of mythology and surrealism with Poet Lora Robinson through her poetry collection, An Essential Melancholy, from Akinoga Press and The Inner Loop Author’s Corner May spotlight. Then, Rachel puts Lora and Courtney’s art education to the test with a surrealism matching game!

What if the best poems come when you’re not looking for them? What can a writer do when it’s time to get to work? Poet David Keplinger offers a writing prompt that will trick your mind into that generative kind of spontaneity. We also hear an intimate moment with his mother and a forbidden chair in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little do...

Rachel and Courtney are back with a new season and a new lease on life… or writing… or whatever… Courtney dishes about her dissertation. Rachel talks about her voracious writing fit at VCCA. We hear a poem from Chet’la Sebree, and some inspiration insight from Lucian Mattison, Cija Jefferson, Melissa Scholes Young, and E. Ethelbert Miller. Plus, Rachel quizzes Courtney on just how well she knows h...

Writers see connections between all sorts of disparate things, but how can we turn that into a unified collection? Poet Jenn Koiter tells us how she found the throughline between grief, breakups, beauty tips, and what it means to be a woman in her latest poetry collection So Much of Everything from Day Eight Books and The Inner Loop Author's Corner April spotlight. Plus, we utilize a topic generat...

The short story. It’s not a condensed novel, nor an expanded poem; it’s its own animal. So, how do you end a short story? With a twist? On a lingering image? In the middle of conflict? Fiction writer Cameron MacKenzie explains the intent behind some of the abrupt endings in his story collection, River Weather, from Alternating Current Press and The Inner Loop Author's Corner September spotlight. T...

When we erase words that have been written, is it destruction or creation? For erasure poems, it can be both. Poet and Poetry Editor of Barrelhouse Magazine, Dan Brady, recreates erasure poetry by adding layers of erasure over his own words, creating texture and depth in the poems of his latest collection, SubTEXTS from Publishing Genius Press and The Inner Loop Author's Corner August spotlight. P...

Can a poem’s meaning be distinguished from its form? When is a form serving the poet and when does it work against them? And how can we tell the difference when writing a poem? Poet and The Inner Loop Author's Corner June spotlight Danielle Badra talks about how she works with form in her poetry collection entitled “Like We Still Speak,” and how different forms helped her to convey the inexpressib...

In this episode we kick off a new season of The Inner Loop Radio with a discussion of short fiction. Are short stories special, or are they relics of a bygone literary era? Has “flash fiction” replaced the short story? Our Author’s Corner featured writer Andrew Bertaina joins us to talk nuts and bolts, and about his recently published short story collection, One Person Away from You. Andrew sticks...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words does it take to capture a mood and what is it worth? The Inner Loop Author’s Corner November spotlight, Sean Felix, manages to capture the urgency and surreality of both insomnia and the magical city of Paris in his self-published poetry collection Did You Even Know I Was Here? And he explains why that urgency translated to the publishing proc...

In larger bodies of work, how can we use time and place to develop characters? Whether choosing a setting for a novel or deciding what details of an era to highlight in nonfiction, every detail should drive the story forward. The Inner Loop Author's Corner August spotlight: Zak Salih shares how time and place works on many levels in his latest novel, "Let’s Get Back To The Party." Plus, Courtney,...

There’s light at the end of the quarantine tunnel with vaccines widely available and the CDC giving us permission to socialize again. So let’s take a look back and ask, how did you write your way through the past year? Maybe you took the opportunity to crack down on a big project, maybe you eeked out only a sentence at a time in fits and spurts, or maybe you didn’t write at all. We can sympathize!...

Poet Sean Felix embraces the seasons to break up the monotony of quarantine and channels it into Haiku. He also reminds us that writing is a connection to both interior spaces and also each other in the final installment of our Quarantine Inspiration Series: weekly mini-episodes that offer writing tips, inspiration, and prompts so writers can keep writing through difficult times.

Poet and Editor of Lines and Stars Rachel Cloud Adams shows us how to keep it simple with a quiet walk and a map of sound for inspiration and a forgiving writing routine to get through dry periods in this week’s episode of our Quarantine Inspiration Series: weekly mini-episodes that offer writing tips, inspiration, and prompts so writers can keep writing through difficult times.

A writer writes. Simple right? Not always. Comedienne and writer Diana Veiga takes us on her journey to a steady writing routine. Plus, she encourages us to invoke summertime to warm us through the winter in this week’s episode of our Quarantine Inspiration Series: weekly mini-episodes that offer writing tips, inspiration, and prompts so writers can keep writing through difficult times.

Transform a space - with DIY projects or by changing your perspective, and create something new with poet Lucian Mattison in this week’s episode of our Quarantine Inspiration Series: weekly mini-episodes that offer writing tips, inspiration, and prompts so writers can keep writing through difficult times.

Poet Nicole Tong turns the sameness of quarantine into comforting rituals and a beautiful Groundhog’s Day type poem in this week’s episode of our Quarantine Inspiration Series: weekly mini-episodes that offer writing tips, inspiration, and prompts so writers can keep writing through difficult times.

Kyoko Mori, nonfiction and fiction writer, weaves the uncertainties of the presidential election, of childhood experience, of the spiritual world we confront at Halloween, and of writing itself into an evocative writing prompt and reflection on the habit of writing. She reminds us how physical exercise can compliment the act of writing, and shows us how stability can balance the uncertainty of sit...

Fiction writer Art Taylor shows us how to filter out the noise at home with music! And to use that music as a jumping-off point for a story. We hear how the Velvet Underground inspired one of his own stories, and how the simple process of checking in each day can keep your writing going in this week’s episode of our Quarantine Inspiration Series: weekly mini-episodes that offer writing tips, inspi...