Episodes
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Today, Maile and Shawn talk about entering a new stage of life and how it's led them into a season of paring back on various things...including the podcast. Also, if you're a writer, do you ever have permission to simply quit writing?
We love you all. Thanks for listening.
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Today we talk with Kate Motaung about the emotional investment of writing a memoir, why she's chosen to self-publish a few of her books, and red flags that might lead her to encourage someone not to self-publish...at least not yet.
Kate really is a wise and encouraging voice in the publishing world.
For more about Kate, head over to her website.
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Missing episodes?
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Today we're talking with Jennifer Grant, author of the best-selling children's book, Maybe God is Like That Too and Finding Calm in Nature. She talks about all the anxiety kids live with these days--division, sorrow, and loss--and the healing and soothing power of nature.
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"If I'm not able to make a living by writing...do I quit writing?"
Today, in the second part of our conversation with Douglas McKelvey, we explore the idea of writing only for the money . . . and how that can quickly go sideways. We also talk about how, when he ended up doing small side jobs just to pay the bills, he ended up asking himself the question above, and how he answered it.
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In honor of the passing of our dear friend Leslie Bustard, whose memorial service is this coming weekend, we having compiled all three of the podcast episodes we recorded with her over the years. The first was recorded in February of 2021, the second in April of 2022, and the third in November of 2022. Leslie was an author, a reader, a publisher, and an encourager. As you'll find in these episodes, she was also someone who clung to hope. As Douglas McKelvey wrote of her, she was "a poet and a poem." It is a great honor to offer these three episodes to you as one episode today.
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Do the things I believe hold up even in the worst circumstances?
Today, we speak with author and song-writer Douglas McKelvey about some of our favorite authors, including Cormac McCarthy and William Gay, and whether or not the violence and darkness in them can have redemptive value.
Doug is the author of Every Moment Holy. This is part one of our conversation.
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Three weeks ago, Maile gave up eating sugar, and it's had a profound impact on her creativity. Which leads us to consider how addictions in general impact our ability to write, and the various ways we can get unstuck when our writing feels like its source has been blocked.
Check out Seth Haines' books HERE.
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Today Maile and I talk about our freelance life, the benefits and drawbacks of such a life, and why we keep trying to cobble together a life doing the thing that we love: telling stories.
Also, how do you know when to abandon a difficult project and when to keep working?
For Shawn's recent substack post on the same topic: Living a Life That Has No Rational Explanation
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Today we talk with author Erin Bartels about why she waited seven years for a traditional publishing contract instead of self-publishing, how working for a publisher shaped her writing journey, and where she finds the time to do everything (hint: she doesn't). We also talk about what it's like writing books for Christian publishing houses when you're not sure your books fit in that niche.
To find out more about Erin and her books, head over to her website.
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What happens when a writer makes it into the publishing world...and then decides that kind of writing life isn't for them?
Today we're talking with author Michelle Derusha about her journey through publishing, the highs of signing contracts for four traditionally published books...and what happens when our first forays into that world are marked by disappointment. She explains how publishing crushed her writing soul and how she rediscovered herself...by walking away and journeying back into the heart of who she is.
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Why do I keep writing? When all of my greatest writing dreams and goals remain unfulfilled, why not call it a day and spend my time on something else...like curling, perhaps?
Today Maile and I talk about a weekend spent with some of our favorite writer friends and how it feels to realize the first 30,000 words of a novel in progress aren't right (and facing a complete restart). We drill down into why we keep writing, even when our greatest hopes and dreams go unfulfilled.
If you're wondering why you keep writing, why you keep creating, or if you're feeling discouraged about the creative journey you're on, this one's for you.
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How does a poet become a poet? Here is one of the many roads available, and it's shared by extraordinary poet Malcolm Guite: deciding to be a poet as a young man, then becoming a teacher, then a priest, where for seven years he didn't write poetry. Then burnout. And a bishop who told him to take a sabbatical.
We offer this episode with huge thanks to Square Halo Books. This was recorded in front of a live audience at their recent conference, where Malcolm Guite was the keynote speaker.
Also, our online writing community at The Stories Between Us is now open for registration from 2/20 - 2/26! And it's free to join. Just head HERE to find out more.
Episode photo by Lancia Smith.
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Today we talk with Jen Pollock Michel about our experience of time: the anxieties, the passing of it, the keeping of it, and so much more. In a world and a life where time feels like a scarce resource, how can we find peace in the time we're given? Is productivity really the only grid for the good life?
Find out more about Jen Pollock Michel and her new book, In Good Time, over at her website.
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Why do we stop asking questions? What's the relationship between curiosity and silence?
Lore Wilbert is one of the most thoughtful writers I know. Today, she talks about the importance of asking (and receiving) honest questions, her relationship with social media, and how she's changed as a writer since her first book.
Lore Wilburt's most recent book, A Curious Faith, invites readers to go beyond pat answers and embrace curiosity, rather than certainty, as a hallmark of authentic faith.
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Recently, when Shawn shared his concerns with Maile, that he would never be able to write the book he wanted to write, that it was beginning to feel like all of life was just him practicing writing...she got really honest and told him what she felt was his greatest weakness as a writer.
And they're still married.
Today, we're talking about the voices in our head and how they can sometimes keep us from creating what we're meant to create.
Maile also gives a little update on her manuscript, which is out on submission.
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Today we talk with editor Stephanie Smith about what it means to "tell it slant" and why the strategy is so important for creative folks as we go about making our stuff. We also talk about her experience of having a pandemic baby and how motherhood has impacted her creativity (hint: it has to do with perfectionism).
You can sign up for Stephanie Smith's incredibly helpful and insightful Slantletter HERE.
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Today Lisa-Jo talks about the complexity of writing memoir when the story centers around the people who we love. We find it remarkable, how our parents resurface in us, the lives we live, and the ways we are. Finally, we work through six of Lisa-Jo's favorite memoirs and what these writers have done so well in the writing of their beginnings.
The five:
Sean Dietrich's Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Michelle Zauner's Crying in H-Mart
Ann Voskamp's Waymaker
Tony Woodleaf's Somewhere More Holy
Jessica Willis Fisher's Unspeakable
Tara Westover's Educated -
After a series of heartbreaking losses, Amanda Held Opelt set aside the book she was working on and instead delved into the world of grief. She had been to war zones, Ebola hotspots, and the aftermath of significant tragedies . . . but with her own tragedy, she realized she was just a beginner, a novice, when it came to grief. Today she shares with us how she explored her grief in a real and human way while writing her book, A Hole in the World.
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Do you know the #1 Christmas movie according to Rotten Tomatoes?
Today we're talking about the wildly varying tastes found in the world, how this fact should be encouraging to us as creatives, and how the difference between faithful lives and distracted lives will make all the difference in the long run.
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If you need a jolt of encouragement, this podcast is for you. Today we're talking with author Mitali Perkins about empty-nesting, the grief and opportunity that comes with change, and a few of the practices that contribute to her creativity. Why are intergenerational friendships important? And what does the Litany of Humility have to do with writing?
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