The Secret Library Podcast

Scott Stabile has earned the right to share advice. There are many books out there that share life advice. There are whole sections in bookstores dedicated to this sort of book. But I have not encountered many where I am so willing to trust the advice of the author. It's often hard to imagine that a writer would relate to my life, or understand the particular thing I have been through and that we...

We've all been there: podcast bankruptcy. Having so many episodes stacked up in the queue to listen that it feels like the only way to proceed is to give up, delete everything and start over. Not to fear- this August, the Secret Library has your back. catch up on some of my favorite episodes from the show so far, or listen again and learn even more from these incredible guests now that you have mo...

We've all been there: podcast bankruptcy. Having so many episodes stacked up in the queue to listen that it feels like the only way to proceed is to give up, delete everything and start over. Not to fear- this August, the Secret Library has your back. catch up on some of my favorite episodes from the show so far, or listen again and learn even more from these incredible guests now that you have mo...

We've all been there: podcast bankruptcy. Having so many episodes stacked up in the queue to listen that it feels like the only way to proceed is to give up, delete everything and start over. Not to fear- this August, the Secret Library has your back. catch up on some of my favorite episodes from the show so far, or listen again and learn even more from these incredible guests now that you have mo...

We've all been there: podcast bankruptcy. Having so many episodes stacked up in the queue to listen that it feels like the only way to proceed is to give up, delete everything and start over. Not to fear- this August, the Secret Library has your back. catch up on some of my favorite episodes from the show so far, or listen again and learn even more from these incredible guests now that you have mo...

We've all been there: podcast bankruptcy. Having so many episodes stacked up in the queue to listen that it feels like the only way to proceed is to give up, delete everything and start over. Not to fear- this August, the Secret Library has your back. catch up on some of my favorite episodes from the show so far, or listen again and learn even more from these incredible guests now that you have mo...

Kameron Hurley is a marvel.   The first thing I noticed about Kameron Hurley is how incredible her laugh is. She has a laugh that dares you not to join in, to enjoy the conversation and what she has to say. I hope you enjoy it, because I did- I absolutely adored it. Kameron is a two-time Hugo award winning writer and yet, she still holds a solid day job. This is the truth of a writing career, even...

Megan Hannum is about to help you face your first draft without fear.   Have you ever been writing away, actually building some momentum in your writing only to have these sorts of fears creep in: "Is there enough detail? I'm only writing plot, how is anyone going to know what anything looks like??" Or perhaps yours is "I need to do a LOT more research before I write this. I have no idea what the...

J. Ryan Stradal's hit novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest came out in 2015. Most often, we hear from writers right when their book has just come out. They go on book tours and radio shows and NPR, if they are well-connected. I have been thrilled to talk to writers in this stage of the process, but the longer I work on this show, the more curious I am about the other parts of the writing journey- b...

Dal Kular didn't plan on becoming a novelist.   After recording nearly sixty episodes of The Secret Library, I realized I had a full catalogue of interviews with experts. People who were at the end of the writing journey, in some way. They had either published books as the writer, publisher, or had engaged in the process already and were looking back in order to discuss it.  This began to feel lik...

I had never thought about how dialogue was like jazz until I spoke with Wesley Brown. Wesley Brown knows dialogue and he knows jazz. His latest collection of stories, Dance of the Infidels, brings the two together and I learned so much from talking about music and writing with him. In addition, Wesley is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University and teaches literature and creative writing at Bard C...

Doree Shafrir knows Startup culture.    This is immediately obvious when reading her first novel, Startup, out now and gracing more and more must-read lists every week. It's laugh out loud funny as well as a well-observed critique of the tech culture we follow as closely as celebrity news these days. Doree and I spoke about Startup on the show, as well as her experience in the tech world, her surp...

Once you sell a book, you're going to have to sign a book contract.   Thanks to Autumn coming on the show, this doesn't have to be a terrifying process. Every writer who has come on the show has emphasized book contracts as something you need to understand before you sign. I don't know about you, but despite the fact that the majority of my friends are lawyers, I wouldn't feel comfortable reading...

Manjula Martin is fearless. She gets to the heart of the matter: why don't writers get paid like other professions? Why does everyone expect to read content for free or very little money these days? Why don't we value writing the same way we value other work? And why is making a decent living considered "selling out" in some arenas. Manjula has been exploring the topic of money and writing in nume...

Jade Chang looked at the economic crash of 2008 and saw a novel.   This is just one of the many miraculous things about her. While the rest of us were running around like maniacs and freaking out, Jade started to see an idea come into form. What if a family lost everything in that crash? What would that look like? What if this character she had in her head was a self-made man who was crushed under...

Bari Tessler is all about shining the light on money, and books are no exception. But first, a moment to celebrate! As we reach episode 52, we come back to the very first guest who ever came on the show, Bari Tessler. One year ago, I launched the Secret Library Podcast as Bari was preparing for the publication of her book, The Art of Money. Now, a year later, we've come back around and are talking...

Ruby Warrington is the force behind the Numinous. I adored Ruby Warrington even before we spoke. I knew we would be kindred spirits because she admitted in her book that her power lipstick was MAC Lady Danger. So, of course I had to put my own Lady Danger on for our Skype call to record the session. And thus, magic ensued. I love Ruby because she comes from a journalist background, yet is pulled t...

Natalie Obando knows how to get your book in front of the right people.   PR is one of those topics that seems to scare writers to death. It feels like the most extroverted part of writing, and the one that is the furthest away from writing your book. I was thrilled to have Natalie Obando on the show because she specializes not only in PR, but PR for books specifically. Her company, Do Good PR, pr...

Rob Cohen and Christine Roth didn't plan to start Rothco Press. But watching the explosion of content that eBooks and self-publishing has created, the couple realized that good books weren't getting the attention they deserved. With so much content to wade through looking for what you want, many books just drown.  With their experience producing film and television, Rob and Christine bring a uniqu...

Madelyn Kent has found a surprising way into creativity. For many of us who write, we spend a lot of time up in our heads. We might even pend most of our time in our heads. Since writers are making up worlds, it does make sense that our daydreams would come from our minds and that, as artists who create with words, thinking would be our happy place. But when we get stuck, staying in the mind can b...

Cory Doctorow not only writes about the future, he's also advocating for a better one in reality. As I get more familiar with the world of Science Fiction, it strikes me that most writers in this area are also secretly activists of some form or another. Cory Doctorow, author of numerous books, including the forthcoming Walkaway , is also the co-editor of BoingBoing and a technology activist. He is...

Guinevere de la Mare is a renaissance woman, with books. I met Guinevere because I stumbled upon a meeting of the Silent Book Club at the XO conference last September in Portland. I was delighted to see a whole group of people quietly reading together, out in public. Finally, the perfect social outing for introverts!  Upon connecting with Guinevere to learn more about this reading haven, I was fas...

After winning a contract with the publisher of her dreams, Katie Dalebout sat down to write her first book. She submitted the proposal in the 11th hour before the deadline and won, an amazing story that makes up the introduction of her book, Let it Out: A Journey Into Journaling. Instead of re-telling that story, we discussed the nitty gritty details of sitting down and writing and editing the boo...

I knew I loved Susan Orlean the moment she mentioned the Vikings. Ok, I loved her writing already. Of course. And not many people get to say they've been played by Meryl Streep. But when I saw her speak on a panel and she said something to the effect of "Everything I needed to know about writing I learned from the Vikings," she had my complete attention. In the ways that no one expects the Spanish...

The day after the election, Ben Winters decided it was time to get writing. As we move ahead in unprecedented times here in the US, I knew I wanted to talk to Ben Winters. Not only did he launch an anthology project in the wake of the election in collaboration with numerous authors and Slate, he's also the author of Underground Airlines, an alternative history novel that explores what might have h...