Teddy is the author of Kapitoil, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, Loner, Apartment, The Great Man Theory, The Winner, and The Au Pair

In this episode Series Editor Nicole Lamy and featured author Jessica Treadway talk about the Best American Short Stories Anthology 2025. The episode covers:

Trends among the stories

Who reads the anthology in 2026 and how representation may show up differently

How to define a contemporary short story

In this episode Pat Lipsky talks about her acclaimed new memoir Brightening Glance and covers:

What having a space means as an artist and the discipline necessary to endure

Her life in the New York City art scene from 1960s to present day, including accounts of experiences with Tony Smith and Pierre Rosenberg

The role Marcel Proust has played in her life and work

And the experience of entering the publishing world from the perspective of a seasoned painter

In this episode Marguerite Sheffer talks about Iowa Short Fiction Prize winning collection The Man in the Banana Trees and covers:

the content of Marguerite's wide ranging speculative fiction stories that dive deeply into the practice of making art and some of our most critical justice issues in our culture

how design thinking helped Marguerite get to a place of wildness and fierce play and pleasure with these stories

what it was like to win the 2024 Iowa Short Fiction Prize and how it has changed her professional life

how writing groups and community played a role in completing this collection

what experimentation and sense of creative destruction can lead to in a creative practice

In this episode T Clark talks about All This Want and I Can't Get None and covers:

the content of T's feverish and honest short stories about girlhood, shame, want, and choices

how T found an agent

what the path to a book deal looked like

how living in a certain place can foster a more balanced writing life

how writing collaborative plays has informed their fiction

In this episode Samantha Browning Shea talks about MARROW and covers:

writing her own book as a literary agent for others

when her first novel didn't find a publisher

writing with small children 

writing characters in the context of their relationships 

worry over whether a book will work 

find out more about Samantha here

pre-order Marrow here

Learn more about the upcoming host of Writing Stories Jessica Kinnison here 

Lorraine Russell tells the story of Love and Shadows. Along the way she covers: 

Self-publishing on Amazon

Using Fiverr to find cover designers and editors 

Fear of failure 

Getting yourself into a flow state 

Working with a writing coach

Writing as though telling a story around a campfire 

Also in this episode: 

The Long Road to Publishing with Eva Langston 

Our upcoming new Writing Stories host, Jessica Kinnison (!!!) 

Catherine Lacey (Catherine Lacey, if you are out there, we love you!) 

Buy Love and Shadows here 

Danielle Teller tells the story of Forged and talks about: 

success as a writer 

rule-breaking 

the pitfalls of newspaper articles in novels 

Cassie Chadwick 

All the Ever Afters 

When your agent can't place your manuscript 

How her work as a doctor has informed her writing process 

Learn more about Danielle here 

buy FORGED here 

Christine tells the story of FLOOD and talks about: 

Westport Writers Workshop 

Christine Pakkala

Copy editing your own work 

Thinking about text structure like architecture 

Agent shenanigans 

Woodhall Press 

Shampoo and sugar as essential writing tools 

Combatting perfectionism

Jaclyn Gilbert and Drift(less) Literary 

Poets and their memoirs 

Learn more about Christine here

Buy FLOOD here 

Deesha Philyaw tells the story of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies 

Along the way she covers: 

Being in the Norton Anthology of Literature 

Jamaica Kincaid's story Girl 

The ways Church Ladies is proudly Black 

Ways white supremacy shapes the stories we read and tell 

Misconceptions about race in publishing 

Revision for her novel 

Boundaries 

Her brilliant agent and unorthodox publishing moves  

Learn more about Deesha here

Buy Secret Lives of Church Ladies here 

Sasha Hom tells the story of Sidework. 

Along the way she covers: 

Profluence

Including multiple nows in your writing 

Making appreciation a discipline

Polyphonic nature of restaurants and motherhood (especially when living in a tent!) 

Living life as an artist's residency 

Black Lawrence Press (Immigrant writing series) 

Learn more about Sasha here or here 

Buy Sidework here 

Jennie Case tells the story of We Are Animals. 

Jennie talks about: 

- control, safety, and risk in the creative process 

- speaking to the current moment 

- how to gesture toward the place beyond concepts in writing 

- agent troubles 

- writing a letter to your book 

- publishing with a university press (Trinity)

Find out more about Jennie here

Buy We Are Animals here

Rebe talks about: 

querying (and querying again!) 

hiring a publicist

writing about grief 

art vs archiving 

enjoying the ride 

the changing publishing industry 

Monkfish Press 

Find out more about Rebe here

Buy My Mother in Havana here 

Libby Maxey talks about: 

- using sonnets to put the pandemic in a box 

- writing 'off of' other writers 

- the ancient tradition of starting a book with an author's address to the book 

- poetry land vs. fiction land, and how time doesn't matter

- editing other poets' poems

- giving dignity to small things 

- being 'bad' at 'pub days' 

Learn more about Libby here 

Buy Indwelling here

Dori Lumpkin talks about: 

Comp titles and queries

Creature Publishing 

Religious tea drinking 

Setting up a book signing

Method writing (like method acting) 

Book tattoos

Learn more about Dori here 

Buy Antenora here 

Emma Pattee talks about

Postpartum creativity 

Writing by hand 

Navigating the distance between one's own vision and feedback and finding one's breaking point with a project 

Confusing a desire to make art and a desire to be famous 

Going on sub for only 24 hours

Helen Phillips The Need 

Julia Phillips 

Margaret Malone

Lidia Yuknavitch and Reading the Waves 

Buy TILT here

Wayne Scott talks about 

Writing well-rounded characters that can surprise us 

Trying to sell a book that publishers don't think will sell to women 

Marriage as a story

EM Forrester's Aspects of the Novel 

Publishing a Modern Love piece, getting an agent and then having your agent lose steam 

Memoir as coping strategy 

Rayhané Sanders

Corporeal Writing 

Tin House residency 

Christie Tate GROUP 

Black Lawrence Press and Diane Goettel 

Molly Roden Winters More

Gina Frangello

Leslie Jamison 

Buy The Maps They Gave Us here

Mariam Rahmani talks about: 

Preserving voice 

How to know when you are ready to bring editors and other readers in to your process

Racialized pay gaps and racialized double-standards in publishing 

Streamlining of stories in publishing 

Putting a manuscript of 7 years aside 

Challenges of short story versus novel 

Danielle Bukowski (agent) and Evan Hanson-Bundy (editor) 

Buy LIQUID here 

Cally talks about: 

Hardware and software in a story 

A need to detox from the marketplace 

Woeful inefficiency in the writing process

Zadie Smith and 'obsessive perspective disorder ' 

Furious throat-clearing 

Pregnancy creating writing urgency 

Sewanee review 

Keeping a manuscript under wraps and writing as solitary 

The sense in which approval is contagious

Iowa University Press

Buy Atta Boy here

Nicole Graev Lipson tells the story of Mothers and Other Fictional Characters. Along the way we talk about: 

Sexism in publishing 

The 'mother shelf' 

Microscopic truth and Brenda Ueland 

Writing from "low-grade embarrassment" and "both-and-ness" 

Growing up with with the belief that you can be anyone you want to be and do anything you want to do (and how that might affect the ways you construct the challenges of motherhood in your thinking and writing) 

Maternal Thinking by Sara Ruddick 

Publishing with Chronicle Prism 

Buy Mothers and Other Fictional Characters here 

Shubha Sunder talks about: 

Constructing a narrative through the things that people say to the main character

Characterization as a "portrait in the negative" 

Writing through divorce and Covid lockdown

Writing from an immigrant perspective and immigration as a step in one's path to becoming an artist 

Characters as caricatures and the ways some caricature can strengthen a narrative 

How long  it took for 'the gate to open' for Ursula LeGuin's writing 

Buy Optional Practical Training here

Nanda Reddy talks about: 

Deadlines and focus 

Manuscripts in drawers

Querytracker 

critiquematch.com

Accepting previously rejected parts of ourselves as part of the process of writing fiction 

Assimilation 

Belonging

Identity 

BookPage review by Stephanie Harrison 

Elyse Durham talks about: 

Remaining open and flexible in the process 

Following your fascinations 

Focusing 

Most adorable book deal celebration 

Ballet, Greek Orthodoxy, and the body 

Historical fiction 

Writer to agent AWP 

Alison Hunter Trellis Literary 

Cameos from Brianna's kiddo Andy (he would like you to know that he DOESN'T have candy) 

Find out more about Elyse here!

Emily J. Smith talks about: 

Graphing plot points and clues 

That whole job/money/housing/social class/art tangle 

Validation, connection, tech, and writing 

Bouncing back from failure

Bringing an engineer mindset to writing and bringing a tech mindset to publishing 

"Prestige thrillers" 

Writing friends 

Interesting theory about relative challenges of agents and editors

Find out more about Emily here 

Olufunke covers: 

- Tin House 

-The importance of the relationships in the process of publishing your work 

-Elizabeth Demeo (editor) 

-Danya (agent) 

-What makes her a 'real' writer 

- Savoring 

-How good feedback can shift your relationship with your own writing 

Learn more about Olufunke here 

More Writing Stories here 

In this episode, Lidia talks about 

-story-telling space as a magical shape-shifting place of healing and growth

-how to talk to yourself when your writing is lousy

- pillow forts 

- creative coping strategies

-being trained to retell the same story 

-how we and our stories change over time 

-writing a fable from something that happened to you 

Find out more about Lidia here 

More Writing Stories here 

Why write 'bad' characters? Why write 'bad' female characters? 
Being patient and having faith 
The line between good and evil exists within every man 
Stephen King and kinds of fear 
It Follows directed by David Robert Mitchell (film about sexually transmitted haunting!) 
Dracula 
Picture of Dorian Gray 
(please excuse my terrible pronunciation of 'macabre'!!! )

More about Susan Barker here

Sign up to join a free writing feedback group 

Along the way, Erika covers:
Pacing
Best moment of the book making process
Editing that works with an author's vision
Adrian Tchaikovsky and Service Model
Atria (publisher)
Michelle Brower (agent)
Loan Le editor 
Icky-post-pub emails 
Treadmill desk

Season 4! Coming up!

You'll hear from 
Erika Swyler
Emily J Smith
Deesha Philyaw
Lidia Yuknavitch
Susan Barker
Nicole Graev Lipson
Jennie Case
Emma Pattee
Elyse Durham
Shubha Sunder
Dori Lumpkin
Sasha Hom
Cally Fiedorek
Libby Maxey
Grace Bankole
Nanda Reddy
Wayne Scott

In this episode, Yael Goldstein-Love talks about The Possibilities.

We cover:
Heretic barbies
Putting away ten years of work on a manuscript (possibly the best thing you've ever written)
'A genteel form of homeless'
Genre and its discontents
Feedback and recognizing a need for a POV shift in a draft
How women are socialized to prioritize others' perceptions of them
Benefits of a really great editor
How publication can shift you out of your richest creative mode
You can buy The Possibilities here.
You can find out more about Yael on her website here.
You can peruse previous and future Writing Stories guests here. 

Elle Everhart talks about Hot Summer. Along the way, Elle covers: 

Hinge
A particular kind of single parenting experience
The most dangerous writing app
Writing as a way to try on alternative selves
Collaborating with agent and editor on a contracted second book
Romance novels
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin 
(My dog Pretzel makes an appearance.)
Buy Hot Summer here. 

Learn more about Elle here 

Find out more about Writing Stories here

Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode,  I talk to Shannon Sanders about her linked short story collection, Company. We talk about:

- writing your own murder mystery parties
- writing through your feelings about others' offhand comments
- signing with an agent a week before COVID lockdown
- persisting in your writing through the birth of twins
- finishing your book while raising three children under three
- resisting, as a writer of short stories, the pressure to turn them into a novel
- trusting your own aesthetic judgement
- toddler responses to mom's book
- LeVar Burton!

You can find Company here.
Also check out The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by the author Danielle Evans who is mentioned in the episode ( Shannon  is a fan! ). 

'Burn charts' for writing
Linking essays the way one links chapters in a novel
Writing and mom guilt
Boundaries (and the lack thereof) as they relate to gender socialization
Letting a manuscript die
Sarina Bowen
#AmWriting podcast
What Fresh Hell podcast
Zibby Books
Andrea Robinson — developmental editor 

When Did I Get Like This
Jenny Nash's  Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book 

Buy Happy to Help here
Learn more about Amy Wilson here
Follow Writing Stories here 

In this episode, I talk to Christina Consolino about her most recent novel, The Weight We Carry.

We discuss:
- NaNoWriMo
- Prioritizing writing
- The oozing guts of dead things
- Controlling what you can and letting go of what you can't
- The idea that not all characters are capable of substantial change
- Publishing with a small, independent press
- Trusting your book will find an audience

You can find Christina's novels The Weight We Carry and Rewrite the Stars here! 

Elizabeth Hilborn tells the story of her memoir Restoring Eden. Along the way she covers:

Moving from scientific writing to memoir
Notes and research for nonfiction
Honey bees, pesticides, and environmental degradation
Mindfulness and writing
Jill Rothenberg - editor
Dinty W Moore and the river of the story

Find out more about Dr. Elizabeth Hilborn here
Buy Restoring Eden here 

Editing an essay collection
Organizing an essay collection
Literary Mama
C-sections
Blurbs
Working with mothers
Julie Stevenson (agent)
Labor Day (collection of birth stories including one from Cheryl Strayed)
Writing your spouse (or not)
launch parties
The Experiment press

Buy My Caesarean here
Learn more about Amanda here
Follow Writing Stories here 

The key to being able to write a lot

YADDO and writing 50 pages a day (????)

What makes a 'real' writer

Writing groups that last 40 years

In-person author events and signings

"The sad wilderness of selves calling out for publication"

Launch pad from The Authors Guild

Getting an editor on Reedsy

Learn more about Terese here
Buy The Long Swim here
Buy Roxy and Coco here
Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode Jaclyn tells the story of Late Air.
Along the way she covers:

goal orientation
Running
Driftless Literary
upcoming course on navigating the indie publishing landscape
David Ryan (and his revision ideas)
the denial of pain
Marya Spence

Buy Late Air here
Learn more about Jaclyn here

In this episode Vera Blossom tells the story of How To F**k Like A Girl.
Along the way she covers:

Gender/genre crossover
Diary writing
Dopamine Press
Queer zine culture
Building a queer utopia
How great editors are like spiritual teachers and therapists
Publishing as a trans writer in today's political climate
PEN America fellowship and Tanaïs

Learn more about Vera here

Buy How to F**k Like A Girl Here

In this episode, Jessica E. Johnson tells the story of Mettlework. Along the way she covers: 
Agent troubles 

Her poetry collection Metabolics

A need for more poetry about motherhood

Connections between form, content, and 'material conditions of creation'  in her work 

Gathering your mentor texts 

The inheritance of motherhood and the self-sacrificing mother myth

Mary Ardery's review of her book 

Emma Copley Eisenberg and Housemates

Learn more about Jessica here 

Buy Mettlework here

In this episode Polly tells the story of Look How Happy I'm Making You.
Along the way she covers:
- When your conversation partner for your book launch cancel at the last minute
- Bathttub stories
- Going to auction
- Keeping your expectations low
- Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern
- Finding an agent in Poets and Writers

Find out more about Polly here
Buy Look How Happy I'm Making You here 

In this episode, Danny Goodman tells the story of Amerikaland.
Along the way he covers:
- Anxiety as writing fuel
- how sports can be literary, romantic, uniting, and a useful literary tool
- writing a different gender
- writing pro athletes
- Leftover Books
- Being married to a brilliant editor
- Antisemitism

Learn more about Danny here
Buy Amerikaland here 

In this episode, Jazmina Barrera tells the story of Linea Nigra. Along the way she covers: 
World-altering experience of becoming a parent
Gendered double-standards in terms of what topics are worthy of books
Radical empathy 
Publishing a book in translation, working with a translator

Two Lines Press

Foreign Body 

Linea Negra

Ediciones Antílope

Learn more about  Jazmina Barrera 
Buy Linea Nigra here

Kate Brody tells the story of Rabbit Hole.

Along the way she covers:
Choosing a genre container to move her plot along
Selling fast in one country and slow in another
Selling a book while in labor with her second child
Writing a book while teaching and parenting
Writing a second book when the first didn't sell
Commercial ambitions and related feelings
Dorland Arts Colony
SOHO Press, Bloomsbury

Find out more about Kate here
Buy Rabbit Hole here (PAPERBACK COMES OUT TUESDAY) 

In this episode Brittany tells the story of Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways.
Along the way she covers:

- Taking care of yourself when writing hard things
-  The best way to protect yourself from post-publication despair and Zibby Books
- The power of a good writing teacher
- Complicating the popular 'homeless-to-Harvard' narrative
- Why the submission process made her feel like a 'ferret with fleas'
- Studying nonfiction at Iowa
- Writing as coping mechanism
- Kiese Laymon

Find out more about Brittany here
Buy Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways here

In this episode, Kate Weinberg tells the story of There's Nothing Wrong With Her.
Along the way she covers:
why it is hard to live with a writer
Stamina and persistence
Having your book go to auction
The emotional and financial uncertainty and fluctuation in an artist's life
Chronic illness
The importance of celebrating writing wins
The Truants

Buy There's Nothing Wrong With Her here
Learn more about Kate here
Find out more about Writing Stories here

In this episode Cheryl Klein tells the story of Crybaby. Along the way she covers: 

• Big Feelings and sexism in our beliefs about what is worthy of big feelings 
• Memoir as coping mechanism
• Presenting the self in memoir 
• Publishing a memoir when you are living through the sequel 
• Miscarriage
• Baby envy 
• MUTHA Magazine
• Brown Paper Press
• Zoe Norvell 
• Dani Shapiro 
• The Commuters 
• Lilac Mines 

Buy Crybaby here

Learn more about Cheryl Klein here

In this episode Marie Mutsuki Mockett tells the story of The Tree Doctor. Along the way she covers: 

• The ways women are and are not allowed to write about sex
• The depression that can follow publishing a book and how to overcome it (hint: lemons and sugar are involved)
• Differences in Japanese and American perspectives on the body 
• Embracing one's creative range and curiosity 
• Graywolf Press and editor Ethan Nosowsky 
• The Tale of Genji 
• The End of the Affair 
• Marie's previous books: Picking Bones from Ash, American Harvest, Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye 

Learn more about Marie here

Buy The Tree Doctor here 

Rebecca J. Sanford tells the story of The Disappeared. Along the way she covers:

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina
A new querying technique
Being on submission for a year
Finding an agent who understands your vision

Buy The Disappeared here
Find out more about Rebecca here
Find out more about Writing Stories here

Follow Writing Stories here

Elle Everhart tells the story of Hot Summer. Along the way, Elle covers: 

Hinge 

A particular kind of single parenting experience

The most dangerous writing app

Writing as a way to try on alternative selves 

Collaborating with agent and editor on a contracted second book 

Romance novels

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin 

(My dog Pretzel makes an appearance.)

Buy Hot Summer here. 

Learn more about Elle here 

Find out more about Writing Stories here

Follow Writing Stories here

Aida Zilelian tells the story of All the Ways We Lied. Along the way she discusses:
- writer's block
- the value of touchstone texts and poetry
- agents (the good, the bad, and the why)
- how to know when to let go of a project
- the Armenian genocide
- The Stranger by Camus
- Anjali Singh (agent)
- book coach Karen Clark
- The Goldfinch and The Corrections

Find out more about Aida here
Buy All the Ways We Lied here 

Elizabeth Hilborn tells the story of her memoir Restoring Eden. Along the way she covers:

Moving from scientific writing to memoir
Notes and research for nonfiction
Honey bees, pesticides, and environmental degradation
Mindfulness and writing
Jill Rothenberg - editor
Dinty W Moore and the river of the story

Find out more about Dr. Elizabeth Hilborn here
Buy Restoring Eden here 

Ananda Lima tells the story of CRAFT: Stories I Wrote for the Devil. Along the way she covers: 

The importance of giving yourself permission to play 

Craft talk (and the implicit values therein!) 

Remembering your opinion is valid 

Great editing moves

Latinx in publishing 

Black Lawrence Press

Sewanee Writers' Conference

Restless Books New Immigrant Writing Prize

Find out more about Ananda here
Buy CRAFT here
Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode Barrie Miskin tells the story of her memoir  Hellgate Bridge.
Along the way she covers:
Sarah Perry

Inferno by Catherine Cho 

Writing about mental illness

Writing about motherhood

Helpful writing coach moves (including the 'mmmm, I kinda don't get it' move)

Writing about traumatic experiences 

Find out more about Barrie here
Buy Hellgate Bridge here
Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode, Shze-Hui talks about The Story Game.  Along the way, she covers: 

Evaluating agent responses to your manuscript

Women and anger 

How to know when a book is done 

Recognizing the limits of our knowledge 

The generative power of getting stuck and the creation of new forms 

Book tour 

Writing about family 

Tin House 
**The Story Game was actually finished in Oct '22, not in Oct '23 as stated in the episode.**

Find out more about Shze-Hui Tjoa here

Buy The Story Game here

Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

Lucas Mann tells the story of Attachments: Essays on fatherhood and other performances. Along the way he covers:

Writing when you have a newborn
Trying for a balance between personal essay and cultural criticism
False dichotomy of smart writing and embodied writing
The perception that books about fatherhood don't sell
When your publisher doesn't respond to the manuscript you submitted
What he thinks about when he compiles an essay collection
The 'golden age' of mothering literature
Rivka Galchen little Labors
Dept of Speculation Jenny Offill
Argonauts Maggie Nelson
University of Iowa Press
John McPhee

Buy Attachments here
Learn more about Lucas here

In this episode, Michelle Tea tells the story of SLUTS, from Dopamine Press. Along the way, she covers:

Starting Dopamine Press
Anthologies as fundraisers
Starting and ending anthologies
Perceptions of 'sluttery' and our culture's relationship to pleasure
An iconic '90s San Francisco sexual experience
Assimilationist and anti-assimilationist queerness
Beth Pickens
Clement Goldberg and New Mistakes
Semiotext(e)
Vera Blossom and How To F**k Like A Girl 
Cheryl Klein (who will also be joining Writing Stories to talk about her memoir Crybaby!) 
Jen Silverman
Amanda Montell
Brontez Purnell

Find out more about Michelle Tea here
Buy SLUTS here
Find out more about Writing Stories here

Follow Writing Stories here

Crystal Hana Kim tells the story of The Stone Home.

Along the way she covers:

- Focus when drafting 
- When she shares her work with her agent
- What questions she is interested in exploring in her work
- The best book publication/baby making timeline ever
- Strategies for creating a propulsive narrative
- Reasons for not translating or transliterating particular words in a text
- Learning the power of story early
- Writing a second book

Find out more about Crystal here
Buy The Stone Home here 
Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

Hannah Sward tells the story of Strip. 

Along the way, she covers: 

- A publishing journey full of false summits
- Publishing without an agent
- Querying agents
- Why not to be a writer
- That you should not be afraid to write the shittiest s**t
- Natalie Goldberg and Writing Down the Bones
- Jill Schary Robinson
- Family responses to memoir
- Publishing with a small indie  Tortoise Press
- Small press distribution

Find out more about Hannah here
Buy Strip here
Find out more about Writing Stories here

Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode, Stephanie Clare Smith tells the story of Everywhere the Undrowned. 

Along the way, she covers: 

Bellevue's Nonfiction Contest

Great Circle Books (whose series editor Marie Mutsuki Mockett is the author of The Tree Doctor and an upcoming guest on this podcast!) 

University Presses

Dismantling the fantasy parent in our heads and going back to care for our child selves 

Choosing an agent 

Graywolf 

Table Rock Writing Workshop 

Georgann Eubanks, Abigail DeWitt

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

Find out more about Stephanie here

Buy Everywhere the Undrowned here

Find out more about Writing Stories here

Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode, Estelle talks about her book, Writing That Gets Noticed.

Along the way she covers:

Beauty editor road trips
Selling a book with an 'exclusive'
A ballsy move to try if one editor accepts your pitch for a short piece and another rejects
ASJA
'backlist' vs. 'frontlist'
what if you aren't satisfied with your book cover
a 'book-mitzvah'

The situation and the story by Vivian Gornick

The S**t No One Tells You About Writing (podcast)
 
Freelance Writing Direct (Estelle's podcast)

Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode, Annell López tells the story of I'll Give You A Reason.

Along the way, she covers:
Full-time high school teaching while full-time MFA
Affordances of short story collections
Generating ideas by asking what if the opposite happens 
Feminist Press and the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize

Drown by Junot Diaz   
More of This World or Maybe Another by Barb Johnson
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
 
Find out more about Annell here
Buy I'll Give You A Reason here
Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

In this episode, Clare Beams tells the story of The Garden.
Along the way we cover:
Managing the 'type A' part of your brain
Selling a partial
Doing what you don't know you can do
Letting go of a manuscript that didn't sell (that you worked on for 8 years) NEA grant
How to know when something is done
Getting writing time  when you have small children and a global pandemic
Publishing a short story collection with Lookout Press 

Buy The Garden here
Find out more about Clare Beams here
Find out more about Writing Stories here
Follow Writing Stories here

Nicole Haroutunian tells the story of Choose This Now.

Along the way, we cover...
- Her first book Speed Dreaming
- Agent troubles
- Rewriting a novella as a chapter
- Creating a novel from stories
- Having a book die on submission
- When you lose your job and your agent at the same time your city goes into COVID lockdown
- Pre-publication anxiety
- An awesome editing move by John Darcy at Noemi Press
- Stella Fiori and Amy Shearn  and the Cut and Paste Motherhood Residency
- Lenka Clayton and Open Source Artists in Residency in Motherhood
- Lorrie Moore and Who Will Run The Frog Hospital?
-  Jo Ann Beard and In Zanesville
Find out more about Nicole Haroutunian here
Buy Choose This Now here 

In this episode, Sarah Rose Etter tells the story of RIPE, 
Along the way we cover: 

Writing around a full-time job
75,000 words in a month
The importance of having a good team behind you
Difficulties and benefits of being edited
The horrors of being on submission
Kent Wolf,  Carmen Maria Machado, Two Dollar Radio, and Scribner 
Careerism and the unreliability of Hollywood 
Getting a NYT review 
Doing a reading at The Strand

Find out more about Sarah 
Buy RIPE here

What Writing Stories is and is not. (A good listen if you are considering being a guest on the show.)

Listen for all the goodies coming up in Season 2 of Writing Stories!! (And subscribe so you don't miss them!) 

In this episode, Deborah Jackson Taffa talks about her debut memoir Whiskey Tender.
Also discussed:

Weaving historical research into memoir
Turning an essay collection into a memoir
Turning down an offer to publish after working on manuscript for years
'Overdue' edits 
Preempt
Becoming an orphan manuscript
Getting a review in the Washington Post
Natasha Trethewey
Brigid Hughes, A Public Space , and A Public Space's Writing Fellowships 
Sherman Alexie (who is the author of one of Brianna's favorite books of all time: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian) 

'My Cousin's Backyard' in Best of Brevity
!!Apologies for the cameo from my dog, Pretzel!!

Find out more about Deborah Jackson Taffa here

Buy Whiskey Tender here

In this episode, Chin-Sun Lee tells the story of Upcountry. 

We cover: 

Writing from an image you can't shake 

Being 'on submission' (your agent is submitting your manuscript to editors) for years

Unnamed Press 

Having your book go to auction between independent and university presses 

Why you should always check your spam folder

Book tour 

Getting blurbs

Cults 

Kate Folk, Katya Apekina, Kimberly King Parsons, Polly Rosenwaike , Chelsea G. Summers
Bittersweet Confections 

Find out more about Chin-Sun Lee 

Buy Upcountry

In this episode, Mary Beth O'Connor tells the story of From Junkie to Judge: One Woman's Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction

We cover: 

How to protect yourself when writing traumatic memories 

Choosing and hiring a developmental editor 

Publishing odds 

Airport books

Pitching agents at a conference panel

Self publishing versus traditional publishing

Seeing your book on Amazon 

Author's Guild

Meth and addiction 

Pulling yourself forward with the strength of your purpose 

Learn more about Mary Beth here

Buy From Junkie to Judge here

In this episode, Cassie Premo Steele tells the story of Beaver Girl.
We cover:
- Asking for help
- Characterization
- Snowflake method
- Querying hundreds of agents
- Long COVID
- Dirty realism
- Writing animal characters with the first person in adult fiction
- The importance of small presses
- Anxiety Press and Outcast Press
Also in this episode: Brianna continues to mispronounce 'query' to her great shame

You can learn more about Cassie here
You can buy Beaver Girl here

In this episode, Jacinda Townsend talks about her award-winning books Saint Monkey and Mother Country. 

Along the way we cover: 
Fiction writing as coping mechanism 
Being the only Black kid at a fundamentalist Christian school in rural Kentucky
Agent-seeking, scarcity model, and dating
When you and your publisher disagree on the book's major theme
Graywolf press 
Answering a psychological question with your first draft, and how publishing brings that answer home to your heart

Buy Saint Monkey here
Buy Mother Country here
Find out more about Jacinda here

In this episode, I talk with Rachel Yoder about her debut novel Nightbitch. 

Along the way we cover:

Fun, art, pushing the boundaries of story, and permission to find your own work 

What it's like when your publisher folds before you publish your book 

How writing a book within a book can be useful for a busy parent writing in short periods of time. 

How safe isn't always better, and editors don't always know what matters

Pushing past the desire to be done in order to pause and continue revising 

Watching your book (and your life!) become a movie

How publishing can bring community 

You can find out more about Rachel here. 

You can buy Nightbitch here. 

In this episode, I talk with Sue Shapiro about American Shield, Barbie, and her broader publishing journey.

We cover:

Co-authoring and Jungian astrologists  
How "every book breaks your heart in a different way"
Erika Jong and Howard Fast (and the self-published book that became a  famous movie)
Letting your emotions tell their own story
Barbies, failure, and reinvention

You can find out more about Sue here
You can buy the books we talked about in the episode here:
5 Men Who Broke My Heart
The Book Bible
Fear of Flying
American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy   
Barbie
Speed Shrinking
Lighting Up
World In Between

In this episode, Yael Goldstein-Love talks about The Possibilities.

We cover:
Heretic barbies
Putting away ten years of work on a manuscript (possibly the best thing you've ever written)
'A genteel form of homeless'
Genre and its discontents
Feedback and recognizing a need for a POV shift in a draft
How women are socialized to prioritize others' perceptions of them
Benefits of a really great editor
How publication can shift you out of your richest creative mode

You can buy The Possibilities here.

You can find out more about Yael on her website here.

You can peruse previous and future Writing Stories guests here. 

In this episode, Andrea talks about her hybrid memoir Uphill Both Ways: Hiking Toward Happiness on the Colorado Trail.

We cover:
Scooby Doo writing
Making sure research doesn't become a speed bump in the narrative
Orphan lines and tightening prose
The value of time for 'digesting' 
Publishing with a university press and getting feedback from reviewers
Creative ways to launch and market your book
Mom 'zines, baby-wearing, and the lure of the damn Heartsong catalog

You can buy Andrea's book Uphill Both Ways, or Cheryl Strayed's Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things (both mentioned in the episode) at the links.

You can find out more about Andrea on her website here. 

 

In this episode, Alyssa Songsiridej talks about:
 
Combatting imposter syndrome
Female friendships
Letting yourself be surprised, braving uncertainty, and bodily surrender in art making 
Dance and writing and the willingness to fall
Creating a character to embody a tension you feel but don't yet have on the page 
The surprising sadness of publishing a book 

Also mentioned: Sheila Heti, Jessamine Chan, a problem with writing workshops, making art under capitalism

You can find Alyssa's book Little Rabbit here.

You can find 'Still Writing' by Dani Shapiro here, and 'The School for Good Mothers' by Jessamine Chan here, both mentioned  in the episode.

You can find more info on Alyssa here.

You can find more info on Writing Stories here. 

In this episode,  I talk to Shannon Sanders about her linked short story collection, Company. We talk about:

- writing your own murder mystery parties
- writing through your feelings about others' offhand comments
- signing with an agent a week before COVID lockdown
- persisting in your writing through the birth of twins
- finishing your book while raising three children under three
- resisting, as a writer of short stories, the pressure to turn them into a novel
- trusting your own aesthetic judgement
- toddler responses to mom's book
- LeVar Burton!

You can find Company here.
Also check out The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by the author Danielle Evans who is mentioned in the episode ( Shannon  is a fan! ). 

- 

In this episode, I talk to Christina Consolino about her most recent novel, The Weight We Carry.

We discuss:
- NaNoWriMo
- Prioritizing writing
- The oozing guts of dead things
- Controlling what you can and letting go of what you can't
- The idea that not all characters are capable of substantial change
- Publishing with a small, independent press
- Trusting your book will find an audience

You can read more about Christina's writing practice and process on our sister website: Writing Stories — Where Writers Talk Shop

You can find Christina's novels The Weight We Carry and Rewrite the Stars here! 

In this episode, I talk to Margo Steines about her memoir Brutalities
We talk about:
- Not wanting to use suspense as a way to move readers through your work
- Having your first manuscript 'die on submission' (meaning an agent represents it, but no editors want to buy it)
- Gender dysphoria and the claustrophobia of the body
- Steines's friendship with Melissa Febos
- How parenting has influenced the stakes of publication for Steines
- Judgement of mothers who have done sex work
- Reading your own audiobook
- The importance of therapy

You can get a copy of Brutalities here!
Find out more about Margo Steines here.
Find out more about the Writing Stories podcast at writingstories.org

In this episode, Kelly McMasters talks about her memoir The Leaving Season.  We touch on:
- finding yourself in another writer's work
- identifying (or not) as a 'writer'
- revision (of manuscripts and life plans)
- the terror and possibility that can go along with publishing an honest and intimate memoir
- staying hopeful about books and publishing in today's world

Get a copy of The Leaving Season here! 

In this episode, Dr. Kai Harris tells  the story of her debut novel What the Fireflies Knew. We talk about:
- embracing your own voice and material when writing
- drafting a novel in a month while caring for a newborn (!!)
- querying
- working with an agent
- getting a book deal
- celebrating publication
- the recurrent themes in Kai's work
- the universality of the Black experience

Get a copy of What the Fireflies Knew on bookshop.org here! 

Season 1 Trailer for Writing Stories! Writing stories is a podcast about the struggles and triumphs of writing and publishing. We follow books from an idea in someone's head to a collection of pages on a shelf.  Each episode features an interview with a contemporary author of fiction and/or creative nonfiction. Join us on Writing Stories for intimate chats, writing community, publishing insight, and inspiration to persist in whatever difficult but meaningful journey you've chosen for yourself.