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Brooke Warner And Grant Faulkner

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Memoir NationMemoir NationMolly Jong-Fast on Opening a Vein on the PageMolly Jong-Fast’s new memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, is celebrity memoir meets real literary merit. As fans of Molly’s podcast and political commentary, and also because we had Molly’s mother, Erica Jong, on the show back in 2023, we were eager to connect with Molly to talk about mother-daughter dynamics, the buzz and controversy this book is getting, and—importantly—opening a vein on the page (in the tradition of Erica Jong). This interview explores betrayal, reclamation, dementia, alcoholism, narcissism, the theme of bad mother/bad daughter, and so much more. As Brooke said, this is the kind o...2025-06-3040 minMemoir NationMemoir NationJennifer Croft on How Illustrations and Photos Inform and Enhance MemoirThis week Grant and Brooke consider images as enhancements to memoir. Historically publishers have tended to regard images in memoir with reservation, but that’s been changing in recent years. Guest Jennifer Croft’s recent memoir, Homesick, is accompanied by her own Polaroids. When should photos be included, or central? And what are some other memoirs that have been improved by the addition of images? Whether to include images involves many considerations—from your reader, to style, to the interplay between words and image, and Jennifer Croft offers thoughtful insights around this and more. Jennifer Croft is the au...2025-06-2345 minMemoir NationMemoir NationVictoria Chang on Exploring SilenceVictoria Chang has been one of the country’s most prolific poet-writers of the past few years, with a series of books exploring universal topics of grief, shame, silence, legacy, and identity. This week Brooke and Grant chose to explore silence and its impact on families, on selfhood, and of course on our writing. Victoria’s insights and disclosures will leave you feeling validated and inspired in your own explorations of even the most complicated and emotionally challenging subjects. A true treat! Victoria Chang’s most recent book of poems is With My Back to the World, publis...2025-06-0943 minMemoir NationMemoir NationVauhini Vara on Where Self Meets TechnologyThis week’s show is a fun and fascinating consideration of all the ways we’re shaped by technology and how we are technological beings, more and more with each passing year. Grant and Brooke share their earliest internet, email, and social media interactions, and connect with guest Vauhini Vara, whose new book, Searches, explores our online footprints, how technology shapes us, and how we both exploit and get exploited by big tech—like Google, YouTube, and social media companies. A truly interesting consideration of how far we’ve evolved alongside technology. Vauhini Vara began her journalism career a...2025-05-2649 minMemoir NationMemoir NationJill Ciment on What It Means to Reconsider a Memoir?This week on Memoir Nation, Jill Ciment joins us to talk about what it means to reconsider a previously written memoir, and what that says about the nature of truth. We’re diving into the unreliability of truth, how we see things differently over time, and the nature of memoir as a flawed container for our stories. We’re also two weeks into the rebrand of this podcast, and Brooke and Grant invite you to check out Memoir Nation at www.memoirnation.com and sign up to join us at any level of membership—including free. We’re excited for what...2025-05-0537 minMemoir NationMemoir NationGrant Faulkner and Brooke Warner present: Write-Minded Is Now Memoir NationWe’ve been waiting a long time to make this announcement, and the day is finally here. Write-minded is rebranding as Memoir Nation—and along with Memoir Nation the podcast comes Memoir Nation the community and website, and an annual event we’ll be kicking off in January called JanYourStory. On this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke share the news, and talk about why they’re going this direction, and why they’re both so moved and inspired by memoir. The show won’t change all that much, though the focus may be a little more refined. Please visit www.MemoirNati...2025-04-2822 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBrooke & Grant on Miranda July’s All FoursA few weeks back, Grant suggested Write-minded dedicate a whole episode to All Fours, by Miranda July—and we decided to do it. This week Brooke and Grant explore All Fours as a novel of a generation, and talk about who Miranda July is, why the book has hit such a zeitgeist moment, and whether publishers can anticipate or make these kinds of successes. Brooke has suggested that All Fours is the Fear of Flying of this generation, and we’re diving into why the book matters, some of its controversies and uncomfortable moments, and why we think you should read...2025-04-0732 minMemoir NationMemoir NationYou’re Going to Have Feelings About Publishing, featuring Kate McKeanWrite-minded delves into publishing again in this week’s show, specifically focused on traditional publishing and the feelings that are part of the journey. Brooke and Grant connect with literary Kate McKean about her new book, Write Through It, which really is a roadmap to everything you want to know about how to stay the course on your publishing journey, and how to work through your feelings. There’s tons of good advice and cheerleading and straight-shooting in this book to help you understand and to demystify the whole publishing process. Kate is a generous guest, and whether you’ve publi...2025-03-3144 minMemoir NationMemoir NationHow to Submit, featuring Dennis James SweeneyThis week, Grant and Brooke talk with Dennis James Sweeney about his new book, How to Submit. If you've ever felt intimidated by the submissions process; wondered what some of the common pitfalls are when it comes to submitting, or if you need a reframe about how to think about submitting, this show is for you. Dennis has an encouraging and helpful way of submitting—thinking about it as based on community, conversation, and through the lens of trying to find the best home for your work—whether it's an op-ed, an essay, a poem, or a book. Dennis is o...2025-02-1748 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Counter Revolution to Resolutions Continues, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke WarnerWelcome to Write-minded's 7th New Year's show—where Grant and Brooke always circle around their challenge with resolutions, even as they make them and break them and every so often vow not to bother with them. This year they look back to certain resolutions declared and uncompleted, and grapple with the reckoning that must come when you assert such intentions out loud. And yet, Write-minded is also all about the fact that this writing business takes the time it takes, and this show comes around each year to help unpack goals asserted and achieved, goals shifted and morphed, goal po...2024-12-3025 minMemoir NationMemoir NationIn Defense of Unsatisfying Endings, featuring Zahid RafiqThis week’s show focuses on endings, and beginnings. Guest Zahid Rafiq, who’s written a short story collection whose endings serve the stories and his characters, speaks to how he thinks about endings, including those that others might find less than satisfying. We’re defending a particular type of ending, those in which writers may feel less than compelled to tie their story in a bow for readers. Brooke points to a series of YouTube shorts she did on beginnings and endings in memoir that we invite memoirists to check out, and we close the show with a Substa...2024-12-1638 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Art of Listening, featuring Elizabeth RosnerThis week Write-minded is exploring listening—as a practice, as an experience, as something that interacts with our writing. Guest Elizabeth Rosner’s new book is Third Ear, a book that she describes as a hybrid memoir. Listen in to find out why, to consider your own relationship with listening, and to consider all the ways that listening drives and inspires our writing. On Substackin’ this week, we revisit Grant’s post about being patient with impatience, with themes resonant to the episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2024-11-1150 minMemoir NationMemoir NationWriting as a Way to Champion People and Causes, featuring Maggie Tokuda-HallThis week’s Write-minded is a thoughtful conversation about where writers’ values meet public persona and the writing life. Guest Maggie Tokuda-Hall treats us to her thinking about career, ambition, and why she writes what subjects and characters she writes, and why she doesn’t write for adults. We get into the important topic of what’s at stake when writers speak up and out—touching upon the tensions that exist between standing up for what you believe in and a literary world that doesn’t always make those choices easy. Substackin’ this week takes a look at Brooke’s post about gen...2024-10-1451 minMemoir NationMemoir NationHow to Be Compulsively Readable, featuring Anne LamottAnne Lamott joins Write-minded this week to talk about so many things—what she writes about; how she kills her darlings; her process with her early readers and editors; and more. On the question of being compulsively readable, she shares with us some of the ideas from Bird by Bird that have stood the test of time, why to cut your darlings, and how she thinks about those early first shitty drafts. Write-minded and Anne Lamott also invite you to join us the last weekend in October for a special writing retreat in Los Angeles. Visit WritersRising.com and ente...2024-09-3046 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Era of Banning Librarians, featuring Amanda JonesThis week, to draw attention to Banned Books Week and to stand in solidarity with publishers, authors, and all industry professionals who fight to keep diverse voices on library shelves, Write-minded features guest Amanda Jones, an educator and librarian whose book, That Librarian, is necessary reading. Amanda shares her more than two-year journey of being bullied, harassed, and smeared because she dared to stand up for diverse books and diverse voices. The phenomenon of canceling librarians or get them fired is not singular, and Amanda Jones’s story serves as a stark reminder about what’s at stake in our...2024-09-2337 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Rejection Episode, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke WarnerThis week’s episode is inspired by Grant’s recent rejection journey. Yes, listeners, Grant’s book about rejection has been roundly rejected—so we’re taking an excursion into the world of rejection, how we deal with it, and what some options might be for a book that doesn’t get picked up by a publisher. Grant and Brooke explore their relationship with and to rejection—and unpack all the ways in which rejection is interconnected to the publishing journey—and not just for authors. This goes for publishers, agents, editors, and other publishing-adjacent folks too. This week’s Substackin’ gets...2024-09-1631 minMemoir NationMemoir NationUnclassifiable and Uncontainable: In Celebration of Art That Can’t Be Pinned Down, featuring Brontez PurnellThis week’s guest, Brontez Purnell, is the kind of writer who’s either hard to pin down, or just won’t be. As such, he’s inspired an episode about who gets to draw outside the lines and why in the realm of book publishing. Whether you love your lane, feel confined by your lane, or insist on busting out of your lane, we invite you to consider what it means to be classifiable and contained, and whether or not it suits you to be so—or to refuse the categories and labels publishing loves to put on authors. A...2024-09-0945 minMemoir NationMemoir NationStructure and Form, featuring Jane AlisonWe kick off a new season with the brilliant Jane Alison and a wide-ranging conversation about form and structure in fiction and memoir. Brooke and Grant were so inspired by Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane’s her book about craft and the theory of writing, that this episode is dedicated to the ideas around structure and form that are at the heart of that book. This is a nerdy, writerly deep dive to welcome listeners to a new season. Also of note is a new feature, Substackin’, which will be rounding out each episode this season. This week’s Substackin’ is inspired...2024-09-0243 minMemoir NationMemoir NationWisdom from the Publishing Trenches, featuring Lisa Leshne and Kathleen SchmidtEvery August Grant and Brooke share their summer plans and writing aspirations and hopes and fails, along with some mashups of their favorite interviews of the year. Write-minded kicks off this best-of series with two beloved industry experts—agent Lisa Leshne and publicist Kathleen Schmidt. There’s real wisdom and straight-talk in these conversations that writers and authors will want to take in and absorb. So even if you heard these the first time around, take it in again—and have a wonderful start to your August. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...2024-08-0548 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBeing a Voice for Causes That Matter, featuring Naomi KleinThis week’s episode airs Brooke in conversation with Naomi Klein at this year’s Bay Area Book Festival. While this interview does not hew to Write-minded’s effort to offer weekly doses of inspiration for writers, Brooke and Grant decided to make this available both because our listeners requested it and because we admire the work Naomi Klein is doing in the world. This is a conversation about Israel/Gaza, Jewish heritage and history, American politics, and about Doppelganger, Klein’s 2023 book, which was Brooke’s favorite book of last year. Learn more about your ad ch...2024-07-221h 01Memoir NationMemoir NationBehind the Scenes of Selling Books, featuring Josh CookThis week’s episode is one for book lovers, book collectors, aspiring authors, and every kind of writer. It’s always helpful to know what booksellers know—because bookstores do so much more than just provide a place for browsing and buying books. Join us to talk with Josh Cook of  Porter Square Books about his new book, The Art of Libromancy, and why bookselling is political, what authors should think about when speaking to booksellers, and what you need to know about Amazon and Bookshop and the landscape of buying books. Plus, Grant and Brooke swap stories about their time...2024-06-0348 minMemoir NationMemoir NationGrief: The Hardest Emotion to Write, featuring Claire JiménezThis week’s Write-minded takes on grief, and why, as our guest Claire Jiménez says, “it’s where language collapses.” Jiménez’s new book deals with loss and grief and what happens in a family in the aftermath of a disappearance of a child, and yet, she weaves in humor and the history of American colonization of Puerto Rico and so much more. Grant and Brooke share their own experiences with grief, and also writing and thinking about grief as it manifests on the page and in the body, and why feeling grief is a gift of the human expe...2024-05-0639 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCreating New Forms—and Rearranging the Alphabet, featuring Elwin CotmanThis week Write-minded is interviewing an established writer whose star is on the rise. Elwin Cotman’s new story collection blew us away for how he played with form and takes readers on an expected journeys. His stories don’t fit into any box—including length, and we loved it! On this week’s show Grant also announces his departure from NaNoWriMo and what some of his new ventures will be. We’re celebrating creation and recreation and taking on new forms, on the page and in real life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...2024-04-2936 minMemoir NationMemoir NationLight-hearted Writing During Heavy-hearted Times, featuring Neely Tubati-AlexanderReady for a reprieve? Join Brooke and Grant and this week’s guest, Neely Tubati-Alexander, for a conversation about whether romance and rom-com writers are having more fun. We dive into questions of the success of the genre, what publishers are looking for, and how a writer gets into romance writing in the first place. A light-hearted episode in celebration of escapism and reading as brain candy and Tubati-Alexander’s latest release, In a Not So Perfect World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2024-03-1135 minMemoir NationMemoir NationHow Stories Get Carried Through the Generations and in Our Bones, featuring Ingrid Rojas ContrerasThis week’s Write-minded floats into the magical and surreal world of Ingrid Rojas Contreras, who talks about her new memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, about her curandera-storytelling mother and their shared history of amnesia, and about why to her magical realism is just realism. Grant and Brooke consider what gets passed down to us from our families and how our stories and histories are in our bones and lived experience, and how reading stories from writers whose lives are vastly different from our own can invigorate our writing.  Learn more about your ad ch...2024-02-0555 minMemoir NationMemoir NationHow to Be Self-Revealing in Memoir When You're Not In Real Life, featuring Dr. Brian H. WilliamsThis week's episode moves beyond inspiring and into the territory of important, essential, and recommended listening—and reading. Guest Dr. Brian H. Williams, author of the debut memoir, The Bodies Keep Coming, joins us to talk about his experience as a trauma surgeon, and what being on the hospital frontlines can teach us about racial inequities in America. On the writing side of things, Brooke and Grant talk about how hard it can be for memoirists to truly open up, especially if you’re not used to sharing your feelings, or if there’s a perception that you don’t want the...2024-01-2243 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe New Year's Un-resolution ShowHappy New Year! On this week’s Write-minded, Brooke and Grant take stock of last year’s resolutions and hold their own feet to the fire on what was cast out for resolutions, and what was accomplished (or not). We’re probing the resolution, therefore, as we head into 2024—assessing its pros and cons, musing about who we’d be without a goal, and considering whether all the resolution really needs is not to be bound by such a tight timeline. Tune in to probe, explore, turn over, and consider your own relationship with resolutions as we head into a new year...2024-01-0119 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Higher Truth of Fiction, featuring Jamila MinnicksJoin Grant and Brooke this week for a conversation about truth—emotional truth, essential truth, truth as the core driver of all stories. Plus, they share how many words they wrote during November—not nearly as many as either had hoped. Guest Jamila Minnicks speaks about her new novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup, and its powerful protagonist, sense of place, and homage to her ancestors, all of which delivers on this show’s promise of weekly inspiration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-12-0440 minMemoir NationMemoir NationOne Sentence Leads to a Second Sentence: Pushing Through the Muddy Middle of NaNoWriMo, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke WarnerPep Talk alert! Whether you’re writing a ton or writing a-none, this week’s episode is geared toward writers who are feeling the strain of the Muddy Middle. Grant and Brooke talk about strategies for staying on track and offer up encouragement for ways to keep with it—including how to break the wall. Brooke’s references to Esther Perel’s podcast episode, “Breaking News Is Breaking Us,” can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-11-1326 minMemoir NationMemoir NationGet Inspired to Write from One of the Most Prolific Women Writers in History, featuring Allison GilbertThis week Brooke shares an interview she recorded with Allison Gilbert about her new book, Listen World!, a biography of the most famous woman writer you’ve never heard of. If you’re any writer, but particularly a woman writer, knowing about Elsie Robinson (1883-1956) will bring you needed inspiration during this NaNoWriMo season. She models how to believe in yourself, how to face rejection and keep going, and how perseverance is the most necessary skillset when it comes to getting our work out into the world. You’ll marvel at what she was able to do—way pre-Internet. For refere...2023-11-0646 minMemoir NationMemoir NationUnconventional Points of View, featuring Jimin HanThis week Write-minded explores point of view, especially those stories told with less conventional points of view. Uncommon points of view stick with you—and Brooke and Grant cover books they love that have ghost points of view, dog points of view, and the kind of point of view where the reader is part of the story. This week’s guest Jimin Han walks us through some of her narration choices for her new novel, The Apology, and shares insights into her writing process, her characters, her inspirations, and so much more. Learn more about your a...2023-09-1144 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Art of Memoir, featuring Rebecca Carroll and Jeannine OuelletteTwo of our favorite memoir episodes from last year revisited, with guests whose memoirs showcase exceptional craft—so much so that they’ll be teaching a fall memoir course with Brooke that starts next month. We’re revisiting these two authors whose memoirs have so much to teach writers about good writing, storytelling, and creating an experience that has real staying power. Tune in or relisten—and we’re back next week with fresh episodes and a brand-new season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-08-2854 minMemoir NationMemoir NationStorytelling from Legacy Authors, featuring Gish Jen and Peggy OrensteinThis week we’re celebrating two of our more accomplished guests of last year. Grant and Brooke talk about the joy of interviewing authors we’ve long admired, and highlight these two fabulous shows with Gish Jen and Peggy Orenstein, two authors at the top of their game. These are great shows to revisit for their insights from writers who’ve been at their craft for a while, and have a thing or two to impart to writers at all stages of their career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-08-2144 minMemoir NationMemoir NationParent-Adult Child Dynamics for Writers, featuring Gail Warner (Brooke’s mom)This week’s show takes on an age-old topic—that of all the ways family’s feelings, impressions, and reactions play a role in our writing. No relationship is more complex and multilayered than that of the parent and adult child, which is why Brooke wanted to bring on her mom, Gail Warner, as a guest to discuss writing and how the act of self-expression is not an isolated experience. We have considerations, many of which involve our family—and this episode opens that conversation between one mother and daughter. It’s also the final episode of the fifth year of Wr...2023-07-3154 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCommunity as Muse, featuring Kellye GarrettOn this community-minded podcast, we love to host a community-focused episode from time to time. Guest Kellye Garrett shares the many ways that community has been a boon and a boost in her writing life and writing career. She shares about communities she’s founded, communities she’s been a part of, and the ways that community has supported her and championed her along the way. Grant and Brooke touch upon how and why building community can be hard for people, recognizing the reality that finding community can be anxiety producing, too. Brooke recalls an early She Writes mantra—“Writers...2023-07-1752 minMemoir NationMemoir NationComing-of-Age Stories, featuring Yasmin AzadThis week’s episode spotlights one of the most popular types of stories we see in both memoir and fiction—the coming-of-age narrative. Guest Yasmin Azad, author of Stay, Daughter, shares her considerations for writing her coming-of-age memoir. An episode about craft, the timeline of coming-of-age, why coming-of-age stories endure the way they do, and Brooke and Grant share some of their favorite coming-of-age memoirs and novels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-07-1038 minMemoir NationMemoir NationLeveraging Your Why, featuring N.D. JonesThis week we’re talking about purpose and passion with guest N.D. Jones, a prolific author of fantasy stories and series who’s also a nonfiction author and publisher with a beautiful and creative online presence. This week’s show is inspired by Jones’s desire to articulate her “why,” and Brooke and Grant discuss how important purpose—the why—is for authors who might be feeling a little lost in the quest to get published. This week’s focus is platform, brand, spin-offs, content—all within the context of purpose. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...2023-06-1944 minMemoir NationMemoir NationTaking the Dare, featuring Krystal MarquisThis week Grant and Brooke return to a topic we love—taking the leap, saying yes to the dare, finding inspiration in the thrill of writing the book you want to read. Guest Krystal Marquis has a special personal story, too, about taking on the dare to write a book from her brother. If you’re a writer who’s trying to find a story to write, or someone looking for a little boost of creative inspiration in your life, this episode will surely light a little fire. And maybe help you set your sights on saying yes to your ow...2023-06-1229 minMemoir NationMemoir NationStories That Must Be Told, featuring Nicole ChungThis is an onstage interview with Brooke Warner and this week’s guest Nicole Chung. Brooke interviewed Nicole at the Bay Area Book Festival in May. The conversation is wide-ranging and covers the topics and themes central to Nicole’s new memoir, A Living Remedy, as well as questions and considerations central to memoir and telling the stories that must be told. Don’t miss this thoughtful and relatable interview. If you’re writing your story, Nicole’s words will make you feel like you can and should keep going! Also, Write-minded is celebrating our 250th episode this week. We thank yo...2023-06-0540 minMemoir NationMemoir NationDollars and Cents—the Money Episode, featuring Rachael HerronIf you’ve been taught never to talk about money, or if the idea of sharing your earnings publicly makes you uncomfortable, this is a must-listen episode because we’re pulling back the curtain on author earnings and disclosing dollar amounts. Guest Rachael Herron walks us through why she started talking about how much she makes as an author—and tells how much she earned last year and from what streams of income. Grant and Brooke jump on the bandwagon, too, and share expenses (Brooke) and earnings (Grant). This week’s show shines a light on money—and encourages authors ev...2023-04-2445 minMemoir NationMemoir NationExecuting an Ambitious Book Project, featuring Jinwoo ChongThis week’s episode features a bright new star in the literary universe, Jinwoo Chong, whose debut novel, Flux, was also his masters’ thesis. Brooke and Grant loved the book—and the subject of conversation in this week’s show is wide-ranging: what does it mean to execute an ambitious project? How does future dystopia meet ’80s nostalgia make for a great book? And what are our favorite time travel books? Tune in for an ambitious interview that covers lots of ground, necessarily so given the author who set its baseline. Learn more about your ad choices...2023-04-1035 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Themed Poetry Collection, featuring Heather BourbeauThis week Write-minded rings in National Poetry Month with guest Heather Bourbeau in a conversation about poetry, working with themes, and collaborations. Grant shares what he’s planning to do this month to celebrate National Poetry Month, and this episode invites you to think about how poetry informs your writing, and ways to invite it in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-04-0337 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Literature of Longing, featuring Madelaine LucasLonging is a subject, topic, theme, and obsession of countless stories that have shaped our literary landscape. Grant and Brooke take a good hard look at longing this week and hold it up against its companion emotion, desire, and consider some of the most enduring narratives of longing we know. Guest Madelaine Lucas shares her take on the prism of longing that shines through her debut novel, Thirst for Salt, and opens up this conversation for all of us to consider how the ache of longing may inform our stories and our characters. Learn more ab...2023-03-2734 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Self-improvement Memoir, featuring Peggy OrensteinPeggy Orenstein joins Brooke and Grant this week to talk about a number of ideas at the center of her newest memoir, Unraveling. We cover sheep shearing, the fast fashion industry, the crafts(wo)manship that came out of Covid, and taking the time to learn new things. This episode covers how books are often an adventure, and how writing leads to exploration and discovery. And we just happen to have a guest who’s a master at this style of storytelling, so listeners are in for a treat! Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...2023-03-2040 minMemoir NationMemoir NationMining Tension in Fiction, featuring Gish JenBuilding tension in stories is part of writing good fiction writing, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do—and it also requires writers to be conscious of the tensions they’re trying to mine. In this week’s show, tension is at the forefront, as Brooke and Grant explore with storytelling master Gish Jen how she thinks about tension, what life experiences she brings to her fiction as a member of the Chinese diaspora and daughter of immigrants, and so much more. We’re talking about short stories and celebrating Jen’s latest collection, Thank You, Mr. Nixon, and...2023-03-1343 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Art of Brevity, featuring Grant FaulknerWrite-minded celebrates and honors Grant Faulkner this week as he releases his newest book, The Art of Brevity. Grant’s interest and obsession with the short form is the subject of this week’s episode, a conversation about flash fiction, discipline, and what’s so appealing about the short short form. Grant shares a story as a means to show how plot exists in a 100-word piece, and considers the rising popularity of flash fiction against the backdrop of our modern world where there’s more content—and ways of sharing our content—than ever before. An inspiring and inspired conve...2023-02-2030 minMemoir NationMemoir NationMaking Art from Your Life, featuring Jeannine OuelletteThis week Brooke and Grant are in thoughtful, deep conversation with Jeannine Ouellette about craft—ranging from exteriority, tense, point of view, aboutness, and time control. This episode touches upon observing others’ work to inform your own—and we encourage all listeners to read Jeannine’s recent post that’s mentioned a few times in this week’s show: “Eleven Urgent and Possibly Helpful Things I’ve Learned From Reading Thousands of Manuscripts”: https://www.jeannineouellette.com/musing/eleven-urgent-and-possibly-helpful-things-ive-learned-from-reading-thousands-of-manuscripts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-02-0652 minMemoir NationMemoir NationSaving Reading, featuring Andrew LimbongShould we be worried about the current state of reading? It’s hard to answer no to this question. Which is why Grant and Brooke take up the topic this week with guest Andrew Limbong, host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast. Tune in to set a reading goal with Grant, commiserate with Brooke about the kids’ reading habits these days, and hear some great book recommendations from a guest who’s more on top of the book scene than most. We also talk about the reading brain vs. Internet brain, and throw in a little neuroscience for good m...2023-01-0942 minMemoir NationMemoir NationGetting Reinspired, Again, with Grant Faulkner and Brooke WarnerHappy New Year! This short show to ring in the new year starts with a confession from Brooke about Write-minded’s annual New Year’s show—this is Number 5! Grant and Brooke share updates on current writing projects (including goals), episodes that rose to the top in 2022, and one creative takeaway from our writing lives. We invite you to reflect and get reinspired along with us as we forge ahead into a bright new year! And we hope you’ll check out Brooke’s class, 5 Things I’ve Learned about What It Takes to Get Published, coming up on February 19...2023-01-0216 minMemoir NationMemoir NationNo Wasted Words, featuring Sarah MangusoAn episode that covers so much—the power of writing what’s essential; an exploration of two kinds of abysses: total noise and total silence; and a forthcoming recounting of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of problematic reviews. Guest Sarah Manguso has been called a virtuoso, and her takes on the literary world and writing in her compelling, spare style remind us why we love a meaty interview. Brooke and Grant revel in Sarah’s responses and candor this week—and know listeners will too. Learn more about your ad choices. V...2022-12-0549 minMemoir NationMemoir NationUnexpected Creative Intersections and Influences, featuring Angie CruzThis is an episode that will validate every creative impulse you’ve ever had and forgive any creative lapses you might be judging yourself for. Join Grant and Brooke in this inspiring episode with Angie Cruz, who’s faced rejection and overcame it to become a celebrated published author, and who shares with us how she’s in conversation with her characters, pursues other creative interests as a way to inform her fiction, and how she’s balanced her writing with the many other demands of life. A relatable and permission-giving episode! Learn more about your ad...2022-11-2843 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Writer’s Ego, featuring Steve AlmondWe’re diving into ego this week—including, yes, its benefits. All writers, after all, are ego-invested in their work. They want what they’re writing to be good, to have an impact, to be well received. In this week’s episode Grant and Brooke speak with Steve Almond about how his ego got in the way of the work he wanted to do, and also the way that we must contend with our egos when we write. There’s so much to unpack here—and Steve’s honest take on his own journey is as refreshing as it is inspiring.2022-11-0740 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCraft-minded series: Trusting the Craft You Already Know, featuring Andrea BartzThis week we’re kicking off NaNoWriMo (Happy November) with a final bonus craft-minded episode. Grant and Brooke talk with thriller writer Andrea Bartz about her process—including the Pomodoro Method, creating fake deadlines, and writing discovery drafts. This is a perfect episode to GET YOU STARTED, which Andrea acknowledges is one of the hardest things a writer can do. This week’s show is also a reminder about how much you already know about craft that you don’t even know you know. Tune in to discover more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...2022-10-3143 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCraft-minded series: How or Whether to Evolve Your Aesthetic or Style, featuring Lan Samantha ChangTune in this week to geek out on aesthetic. Maybe you’re a writer who’s changed your aesthetic, wants to, or a reader who’s noticed the evolving aesthetics of the writers you love. How and why does this happen? How can you invite change into your process? In addition to thinking about style and craft, Grant and Brooke speak with guest Lan Samantha Chang about writing and MFA programs, whether we’ve saturated the writing about writing market, and how taking time away from your work and coming back to it is another way to shift or broaden...2022-10-2442 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCraft-minded series: Craft as Shaper of Story, featuring Morgan TaltyIn this third of six episodes in the Craft-minded series, Grant and Brooke speak with guest Morgan Talty about story form and how to listen for what your book wants to be. If, as a writer, you believe in the power of being in conversation with your own book, you’ll find a lot of comfort in Morgan’s articulation of that relationship between self and creative output, in addition to concrete ideas about how we shape our work by listening, patching together bits and pieces from here and there, and growing alongside our stories. An episode for the spir...2022-09-2629 minMemoir NationMemoir NationOn Writing and Selling Trauma, featuring Stephanie FooIn her profound and moving new memoir, What My Bones Know, guest Stephanie Foo writes about trauma, and about a diagnosis of Complex PTSD that is lacking first-person narratives. In this week’s episode, the first of Write-minded’s fifth year, co-hosts Brooke and Grant talk about why trauma is a slippery subject to sell to publishers, and why Stephanie’s book is a breakthrough kind of memoir that paves the way for more of these kinds of narratives in the future. Stephanie is an insightful guest, offering valuable tips for how to write trauma and sharing how this was a bo...2022-09-0540 minMemoir NationMemoir NationWriting Intimate Truths, featuring Ashley C. Ford and Melissa FebosAll August we’re celebrating with our favorite guests of the past year—but with a fresh take on the topic at hand and a new book trend. This week’s episode basks in the smart, intimate, and insightful energy of Ashley C. Ford and Melissa Febos, two wonderful memoirists who share about writing intimate truths. Brooke gives her take on why memoir is a force that’s changing the culture, and we celebrate Grant’s latest side gig, the Reality TV project “America’s Next Great Author”—which we’re excited to share about on this week’s show. Le...2022-08-0138 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Collaborative Force of Anthologies, featuring Stephanie RaffelockAnthologies date all the way back to the Renaissance and earlier, when important works of various authors were collected and bound. This week, Brooke and Grant discuss the modern anthology—what kinds of works lend themselves to collections and what publishers are looking for. Guest Stephanie Raffelock joins the show to discuss her latest book, Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis, a joint project with She Writes Press that collects the work of 80+ She Writes Press authors and which emerged from the premise Stephanie posed in her call for submissions—that art can and will carry us, even save...2022-07-2540 minMemoir NationMemoir NationStraddling Lusciousness and Social Consciousness in Romance, featuring Angelina LopezRomance often gets the short-shrift for being not a serious genre, or for being a guilty pleasure—and yet, it’s the best-selling genre there is. Which is why Grant and Brooke chose to explore with Angelina Lopez, touching upon the sexiness of romance, yes, but also the fact that it’s so much more than that. Romance can be socially conscious, and importantly—there’s romance out there for every kind of reader. Listen in to open your horizons to new reading experiences, or if you’re already a big romance lover, to be nodding your head, knowing you’ve been...2022-07-1837 minMemoir NationMemoir NationExecuting Funny in Memoir with One of the Most Celebrated Cartoonists of Our Time, featuring David SipressDo you have to be a comedian or a humorist to execute funny in memoir? We don’t think so—and this episode tackles how humor shows up in the everyday, in universal experiences, and through the journey of looking inward. Guest David Sipress, whose New Yorker cartoons are recognizable worldwide, talks about his own insecurities in approaching memoir and how he worked through them, how he mines for funny, and shares with us some insight about his cartoonist brain. You’re in for a treat—and Grant is holding out for a cartoon portrait to arrive in his mail any...2022-07-1130 minMemoir NationMemoir NationGenre-Blending and Bending, featuring Barbara GrahamWe’re having fun this holiday week talking about genre-blending and bending, and why it’s fun and freeing, but also often problematic from an industry standpoint when stories are not easily categorized. Join Brooke and Grant this week in their conversation with Barbara Graham, a long-time nonfiction writer who breaks the mold with her debut novel, and shares about how intuitive her process was, and how and why she was compelled to write the story that became her book, What Jonah Knew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-07-0435 minMemoir NationMemoir NationMaking and Finding Meaning, featuring Kathryn SchulzThis week’s episode brings to the fore why meaning in all its outward, bigger-than-a-single-individual forms is so profound in writing. The notion that your story is broader than your limited experience is something memoirists know, but too often fail to fully execute on the page. Kathryn Schulz is a master of this form. Tune in to hear about what Brooke calls “litle-T takeaway” and the conversation that ensues with Kathryn, whose recent book, Lost & Found, offers up so much for discussion and emulation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-06-2737 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Power of Omission, featuring Charmaine WilkersonOmission—it’s something writers understand as meaningful to story, but don’t often execute well on the page. In this week’s episode, guest Charmaine Wilkerson offers solid pointers on how to think about omission and why it will make your writing more meaningful. Join Grant and Brooke for this week’s craft-based conversation on the power of omission as we consider some of the best books we’ve read lately that do omission well. We’ll also explore human behavior—like lying, secret-keeping, betrayal, cheating, protecting, and more—that lends itself to exploring omission more deeply. Learn mo...2022-06-2038 minMemoir NationMemoir NationChanging Your Life Story, featuring Linda HolmesWrite-minded is celebrating Episode #200 and a move to be part of the Lit Hub Radio family this week with guest Linda Holmes, host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, who joins Grant and Brooke to talk about her recent novel, imposter syndrome, and following the path life offers up. This episode is a celebration of shape-shifting and getting bitten by the novel bug—with a fun guest who knows a thing or two about writing, podcasting, and changing your life story—all while going with the flow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...2022-06-1335 minMemoir NationMemoir NationMoral Ambiguity in Fiction, featuring Quentin LeeIn this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke probe at questions of moral ambiguity with guest Quentin Lee, whose new book, The Secret Diary of Edward Ng, is a sexual coming of age story set in the 1990s. Centering queerness and the Asian and Asian American experience, this work of short fiction is a meditation on otherness, and raises lots of good conversation about auto-fiction, what and how we explore with our fiction, and why staying true to the stories you want to tell is always better than writing to the market. Learn more about your ad...2022-04-1827 minMemoir NationMemoir NationAll About Book Festivals, featuring Cherilyn ParsonsThis week’s show is a love letter to book festivals—and a conversation about why they matter, how authors can pitch themselves and get involved in local festivals, and what the considerations entail for those people who are behind the scenes organizing such festivals. This week’s guest, Cherilyn Parsons, is the founder and executive director of the Bay Area Book Festival based in Berkeley, California, and she’s interviewed by Brooke while Grant is away, who’s been a longtime board member and is the current Chairperson of the festival. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices...2022-04-1132 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCan Writing Be Taught? featuring Lisa StringfellowIn this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke tackle the question of whether writing can be taught—and why this is even a question that’s up for debate in the first place. Guest Lisa Stringfellow has a lot of great insights about the intersection of writing and teaching, what she’s learned about writing through her teaching, and the rewards of writing to an audience in the form of her students. We cover why reading is the most important portal we have to becoming better writers, the value of mentor texts, and the power of community. Learn mo...2022-03-0736 minMemoir NationMemoir NationWriting to Make the World a Better Place, featuring Parker J. PalmerIn celebration of Valentine’s Day week, this week’s podcast honors heart-centeredness, and writing from the heart and with openness, and the inherent and implicit ways that makes the world a better place. Join Brooke and Grant to bask in the wisdom of Parker J. Palmer’s words on everything from welcoming the stranger, to what he loves about speaking, to the legacy of his friend and colleague, the great bell hooks. Please also check out Parker Palmer’s March 20 webinar, which is pay what you can and can be found at: https://couragerenewal.org/wpccr/events/divided-no-more-rejoining-our-inner-and-outer-lives-a-webinar-with-parker-j-palmer/ Lea...2022-02-1447 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Drama of Friendships, featuring Jean Chen HoFriendship is often the backdrop of story, but rarely is it centered. In this week’s episode Grant and Brooke name some of their favorite books where friendship is centerstage, as is the case with guest Jean Chen Ho’s new novel, Fiona and Jane. Friendship, like love affairs, offer such rich territory to explore interpersonal dynamics, how friends show up (and don’t) in our lives over time, and how we invariably feel mixed emotions toward our friends. An important episode for considering the rendering of friendships on the page—centerstage or not. Learn more about your ad...2022-02-0740 minMemoir NationMemoir NationRisk It Like You Mean It, featuring Angela Engel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-01-1743 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBorrowing from Mythic Structures, with Michelle Ruiz KeilThis week’s episode starts by addressing some of the burnout lots of us are feeling with yet another phase of the pandemic among other crises. And yet, because Write-Minded is committed to bringing you doses of inspiration each week, this week we’re talking with Michelle Ruiz Keil about changing up your routine, borrowing (in this case from mythic structures), and even rethinking or reworking your existing content with fresh ideas. Also, we’re wishing for our listeners all the REs: revitalization, re-emergence, resets, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-01-1034 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Gift of Multitudes of Perspectives, featuring Farah AliThis week’s episode with Farah Ali dives into perspectives, and how short stories open up so many portals for writers and readers alike—and yet, short story writers will always be pressured to write a novel next. Ali is one of those writers who knew she wanted to be a writer since she was very young—and though she was encouraged, she also faced the obstacle of where her stories are set, in Pakistan, and people’s assumptions about her culture. Lucky for readers, her new collection, People Want to Live, challenges those assumptions, as does Farah herself. Lea...2022-01-0334 minMemoir NationMemoir NationRinging in the New Year with Book-to-Film Recs!Happy New Year to all—and get ready for some film recommendations from Brooke and Grant this week. Why? Because after putting out a call for favorite memoirs-turned-movies, 100 responses flowed in, offering up some exciting options for kicking back this holiday season with your Netflix subscription and a mug of hot chocolate. Today’s book trend references the Netflix Book Club, and you can find the URL mentioned here: https://www.julesbuono.com/netflix-book-club. Thank you and goodbye, 2021! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-12-2712 minMemoir NationMemoir NationConviction—When You Know Your Story Resonates, featuring Alka JoshiThis week we’re talking about conviction—and why it’s something writers generally start their writing journeys with, but which tends to get a bit eroded along the path to publication. This week’s guest, Alka Joshi, reinvented herself after sixty with her debut novel, The Henna Artist—a book that started with plenty of conviction, and also needed passion and perseverance on Alka’s part to get to the finish line. And what an extraordinary result. This fun and upbeat interview is inspiring and hopeful—and reminds us of a truth that how we write is how we live our lives...2021-12-1339 minMemoir NationMemoir NationFear and Desire, featuring Erica JongThis week’s guest, Erica Jong, burst onto the cultural and literary scene in 1973 with her debut novel, Fear of Flying. In the nearly five decades since, her work has circled the themes of fear and desire—subjects that anchor this week’s show. What a treat to hear from one of our foremost feminist legends about what drove her to the page in the early ’70s, about the legacy of her own body of work, and how important it is for women to write their desires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-12-0629 minMemoir NationMemoir NationMigration as an Essential Shared Story, featuring Shanthi SekaranThis week we ask you to consider the places in your own life where you’ve experienced migrations—whether you’re an immigrant or your family has been in the same place for generations. We all experience migrations throughout our lives, in the form of life events, identities, and movements across time and place—and this week’s guest, Shanthi Sekaran, has much to say on this all-important topic and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-11-2933 minMemoir NationMemoir NationChallenging Your Perspective on the Journey to Getting Published, featuring Bella Mahaya CarterThis week’s episode is for anyone seeking that elusive thing called peace of mind when it comes to the writing, publishing, or promotion part of getting a book out into the world. Inspirational and straight-talking, guest Bella Mahaya Carter shares how she learned to let go of what she thought she wanted from traditional publishing to spread her wings as an author who’s writing and publishing on her own terms, and with peace of mind. A perfect episode to conclude the final days of NaNoWriMo, and as we face the pressures of the holidays and ambitions for 2022. Just brea...2021-11-2233 minMemoir NationMemoir NationWhy Retelling Stories Is Always an Act of Creation, featuring Kwame MbaliaRetelling stories—family tales, myths, fairytales, and stories of all sorts—is always an act of creation because of what you, the author, bring to the telling. In this week’s fun interview, guest Kwame Mbalia speaks to inspiration, living with your characters, who he’s inspired by, and why he’s doing NaNoWriMo for the fifth year in a row. Don’t miss it—and we’re cheering you along if you’re writing every day this November. You got this! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-11-1535 minMemoir NationMemoir NationOwning Your Authority as an Author, featuring J. Allen CrossThis week’s witchy, crafty, spell-binding episode gets into authors’ authority to write the books they write, the responsibilities authors must content with when writing about a group they’re a part of, and especially about groups they’re not a part of. And because today’s guest, J. Allen Cross, is a practicing witch, there’s an extra dose of magic, along with a dash of folklore and sprinkle of the occult—a perfect recipe for a fun and inspiring episode of Write-minded. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-11-0834 minMemoir NationMemoir NationAllowing Anger to Fuel Your Writing, featuring Namina FornaHappy National Novel Writing Month, listeners! We’re eager to start writing with you this week—and we’re bringing you some food for thought about what fuels your writing and your creativity. Guest Namina Forna has been fueled sometimes by anger and injustice. Meanwhile, her light-heartedness and love of fantasy and the magical creates a dynamic counterbalance to the themes that drive her to the page. She ends the episode with such great advice for all of you writers out there doing NaNoWriMo, so get ready—and let’s write! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...2021-11-0128 minMemoir NationMemoir NationGet Ready for NaNoWriMo, featuring Chris BatyNational Novel Writing Month starts next week, so it’s time to get your minds and hearts ready to throw down tons of words next month—and we know you’ve got this. We’re bringing back Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, the very best person to get you inspired to do this thing. Don’t doubt for one minute that the world needs your story. And there’s no better way to get a lot of writing done while having a lot of fun than participating in NaNoWriMo. We’ll be doing it, too, so we’re with you, and you’ve got t...2021-10-2523 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Art of Subtext, featuring EJ KohSubtext is the art of the implicit, and this week’s guest, E.J. Koh, has written a gorgeous memoir, The Magical Language of Others, in which the subtext nearly drips from the page—to gorgeous and astounding results. This week’s show, therefore, explores what subtext is, how to use it, how to watch out for it, and how to practice it. We want all of you writers out there to make your readers hungry for your stories, and this is one way you can entice, delight, and tantalize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...2021-10-1844 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Difficult Balance of Writing and Self-Care, featuring Charlie Jane AndersHow can we practice self-care, stay open and vulnerable, and have enough discernment to know how much to keep pushing ourselves creatively when we feel depleted? This episode is a show for our times, as we tackle with guest Charlie Jane Anders all the ways that global and personal crises challenge our creative and writing lives. We recommend you check out Charlie Jane’s talk on YouTube, Never Say You Can’t Survive, which inspired the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ItTO9DDhCI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-10-1132 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Staying Power of the Mother-Daughter Story, featuring Laura DavisThis week we’re talking about the mother-daughter story, which is equally powerfully conveyed in both fiction and memoir. This week’s guest, Laura Davis, has a gripping new memoir about her relationship with her mother, structured as a countdown to her mother’s death. Laura explores in the book and on the show topics including estrangement and caregiving someone who’s betrayed you. We also talk about writing about other people, and Laura shares a bit about her past, having co-authored the best-selling book, The Courage to Heal, and bringing her writing chops to a new genre. Learn...2021-10-0440 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBooks That Help Start Conversations with Kids, featuring Anastasia HigginbothamIn honor of Banned Books Week, this week’s show dives into books that help start conversations with kids, even and especially when they’re touching upon tough topics. Anastasia’s Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness struck a chord last year as parents looked for books to help kids understand our national racial reckoning, and her entire series, Ordinary Terrible Things, is a conversation-starter for kids and parents alike about topics that are hard, sometimes taboo, and always important. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-09-2738 minMemoir NationMemoir NationUsing Storytelling to Inform and Educate, featuring Kaitlyn GreenidgeThis week’s episode features Kaitlyn Greenidge being interviewed by Brooke as part of the San Diego Writers Festival. Her recent novel, Libertie, is a tour de force and examination of Reconstruction-era America through the story of Libertie, born black and free during a time when America’s attempts to right the wrongs of slavery were being met with great promise and great resistance. How storytelling informs and educates shines through in this conversation, and we thank the San Diego Writers Festival for this collaboration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-09-2034 minMemoir NationMemoir NationCraft Is Never Neutral, featuring Matthew SalessesAn episode for our times, today’s show features Matthew Salesses in conversation with Grant and Brooke about his newest book, Craft in the Real World. Listen in as he unpacks the inherent biases of how the dominant culture teaches and writes and thinks about craft. Matthew’s book addresses how and why craft inextricable from identity and lived experience—bringing some explosive new energy to our thinking about craft that’s both empowering and long overdue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-09-1334 minMemoir NationMemoir NationConfronting Shame, featuring Firoozeh DumasIt’s a brand-new season and Year 4 of Write-minded, and we’re diving headfirst into shame, a feeling that often attacks on the sly, and that seems to show up even in the most innocuous of places. Guest Firoozeh Dumas talks us through shame as a writer, through the lens of culture, and through the lens of humor, too. Plus, we touch upon her story of being an Iranian immigrant writer, and what’s changed—and hasn’t—in the publishing industry since Firoozeh published Funny in Farsi in the early 2000s. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...2021-09-0638 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBest of YA, featuring Laurie Halse Anderson and Marie LuIt’s our final A+ August episode—and we’re ending the summer with YA superstars Laurie Halse Anderson and Marie Lu, who treated us earlier this year with deep insights about the genre, and about mining your memories and your stories regardless of genre. They speak about inspirations and starts and what moved them along in their journeys. Which is a perfect segue to our new season—Year 4—which starts next week. Happy end of summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-08-3031 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBest of Sex Writing, featuring Deesha Philyaw and Kim AddonizioAs summer slips away, what better interviews to revisit than two that feature writing about sex in all its myriad forms—desire, confession, and as thinking pieces that speak to who we are, what we crave, and also how we’re controlled and boxed in and limited. Two of our favorites from this past year, Deesha Philyaw and Kim Addonizio, give writers a lot to think about on the subject of sex writing, and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-08-2332 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBest of Memoir, featuring Mary Karr and Elizabeth GilbertOur next A+ August mash-up features two of Brooke’s absolute favorites—Mary Karr and Elizabeth Gilbert. Mary’s episode, In Defense of Memoir, is a deep dive into memoir writing, while Liz’s, Following the Thread of Your Inspiration. Both guests have been so influential to this genre, and this wide-ranging conversation will leave any aspiring writer motivated to get writing—and don’t forget to go back and listen to the full interviews in our archives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-08-1631 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBest of Debut Fiction, featuring Mateo Askaripour and Sameer PandyaThis best of features two guests whose debut novels focus in on racial issues in the workplace with Askaripour’s novel, Black Buck, set in the sales industry and Pandya’s Members Only homing in on academia. Both guests speak to their inspirations, drawing from life experience, and the nuance and complexities (and also the importance) of tackling racial issues in fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-08-0928 minMemoir NationMemoir NationBest of Fantasy, featuring Hugh Howey and Victoria “V.E.” SchwabIn this first of our A+ August mash-up we’re revisiting interviews with two of the most popular fantasy authors we know—Hugh Howey and Victoria “V.E.” Schwab. There’s so much good stuff here to inspire any kind of author. We talk about process, confidence, why we write, and then yes, there’s some magic talk in here, too, since fantasy allows you to rewrite the rules and build your own worlds . . . something a lot of us might be doing this summer as we think about escaping into other realities. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...2021-08-0225 minMemoir NationMemoir NationThe Joy and Angst of a Newly Released Book, featuring Grant FaulknerIn the final show of Year 3 of Write-minded, Brooke interviews Grant about his newest book, a collection of stories called All the Comfort Sins Can Provide. In the interviewee chair, Grant shares the highs and the lows of publishing a new book—the fear and the angst and the joys and the expectations. Having doled out excellent advice over these past three years, Grant realizes during this week’s show that it’s not so easy to follow all our great advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-07-2624 minMemoir NationMemoir NationTo Plot or Not? featuring Jean Hanff KorelitzThis week’s show is a great episode for any writer who’s ever thought about plotting—how much they love it or hate it, whether they’re even doing it, and why plotting matters anyway. Our guest is Jean Hanff Korelitz, who’s most recent book, The Plot, has one of the best plots ever—and even she says sometimes you have to forget about the plot. We touch upon literary vs. commercial fiction, whether Jean agrees with Stephen King’s advice about plotting, and what some of her favorite books are that center writers as the primary protagonist. This is a writ...2021-07-1936 minMemoir NationMemoir NationWriting the Body and Sex in Memoir, featuring Gina FrangelloThis week’s episode is an intense, powerful, and frank interview with author Gina Frangello as part of WomenLit, a Bay Area program dedicated to elevating women’s voices. Gina’s latest book, Blow Your House Down, is a tour de force and a memoir that’s had everyone talking—because she really goes there: into her shame, into her fear, into abuse, into sex and body, and into what it’s like to live a double life since the book is about having a clandestine affair for three-plus years. This is a brave book that’s making some people uncomfortable...2021-07-1246 minMemoir NationMemoir NationPermission To Write and Getting It Right, featuring Rebecca MakkaiCreative empathy is no longer enough of a foundation when it comes to what kinds of characters and situations novelists can or should write, and yet permission to write is the foundation of this week’s how featuring Rebecca Makkai. In this wide-reaching conversation Brooke and Grant talk with Rebecca about the value of research, the challenges all writers face in prioritizing their writing, and getting it right when it’s so easy to get it wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-07-0538 minMemoir NationMemoir NationUnearthing Unknown Stories, featuring Stacey LeeAll around us, there are stories waiting to be unearthed, storylines there for the taking. Grant and Brooke discuss this and more—plotting v. pantsing; researching; understanding your readers—in this week’s episode. Importantly, this week’s show with guest Stacey Lee is about why we write, how it’s our birthright, and how we can push through some of the guilt and/or apathy some writers have felt over this past year-plus about whether or how much their writing might matter, especially in the face and wake of greater suffering. Learn more about your ad choices...2021-06-2830 minMemoir NationMemoir NationReady, Set, Memoir, featuring Lindsey GrantIn this week’s episode we celebrate Lindsey Grant’s new book, Ready, Set, Memoir, a new book out in collaboration with NaNoWriMo, and which features many Write-minded past guests. This week’s show is full of memoir tips, and also supports aspiring memoirists to stay the course in their process—because we know it’s challenging. Ready, Set, Memoir is a book—and an episode—that touches upon the highs and lows of memoir writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-06-2131 minMemoir NationMemoir NationComedy as Tragedy Plus Time, featuring Annabelle GurwitchOh, the challenge to be funny on the page. This week’s episode includes actual tips from guest Annabelle Gurwitch for how to do just that, as well as warnings from Brooke and Grant, like why to avoid comparing yourself to other comedic writers. They also discuss why the short form lends itself to humor writing, and share some of the funniest writers they love—all while getting a little punchy. The episode was recorded late in the day—so blame it on that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2021-06-1434 min