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Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers

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Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner

Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers kicked off in September 2018 and airs every week. We are a podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey, each theme-focused episode of Write-minded features an interview with a writer, author, or publishing industry professional. Write-minded features a segment called Substackin’ at the end of each episode to talk about topics, ideas, trends, and writerly inspirations that Brooke and Grant are tracking in their weekly Substacks (Writerly Things and Intimations), and sometimes the Substacks of people they admire, too. Brooke and Grant bring to this weekly podcast their deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters.

#176

Embracing Contradiction, featuring Carvell Wallace

This week’s episode is a deep conversation that covers love, embracing contradiction, and guest Carvell Wallace’s journey to and through memoir. This is an enlightening interview for anyone who’s ever contemplated paradox, or how to tackle big, tangly ideas in your writing. Writing a memoir is an ambitious act of the heart, and we honor that journey this week in all its complexity and bigness. On Substackin’, we’re pleased to be sharing some of our favorite memoir writers’ Substacks, and hope you’ll [take a look] (https://writeminded.substack.com) . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

18 Nov 2024

42 MINS

42:02

18 Nov 2024

#175

The Art of Listening, featuring Elizabeth Rosner

This 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] (https://grantfaulkner.substack.com/p/being-patient-with-impatience-the%20) , with themes resonant to the episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

11 Nov 2024

50 MINS

50:06

11 Nov 2024

#174

Centering Marginalized Characters in Your Fiction, featuring Barbara Ridley

This week’s episode is inspired by guest Barbara Ridley’s new novel, Unswerving, whose central protagonist is gay and disabled. We explore the dearth of disabled characters in fiction, and hear from Barbara how choosing to write about a character who was doubly “othered” drew critiques that she was perhaps going a bridge too far. This episode examines sensitivities to consider when writing “the other” in fiction, and also why it’s important to write characters who don’t often get an opportunity to be centered—as it creates empathy and opens our eyes to the broad range of human experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

04 Nov 2024

41 MINS

41:30

04 Nov 2024

#173

How Being Fascinated and Daunted Can Drive Your Writing, featuring Edwidge Danticat

It could be said of this week’s guest that she, like the title of this week’s show, is fascinating and daunting. And that this is a pull toward the things we’re interested in, that we want to dive more deeply into, is the subject of this week’s show. Edwidge Danticat is a powerhouse in the literary world who’s written about immigration and poverty, exile and political upheaval, and so much more. There’s much to learn from the wisdom of a writer like Danticat who has been well and widely published for three decades, and who offers up insights across form—from memoir, to fiction, to essay. Tune in to hear from a literary force of nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

28 Oct 2024

38 MINS

38:14

28 Oct 2024

#172

Optimism and Pessimism in Book Publishing—Because It’s Always Both, featuring Michael Castleman

As Write-minded is wont to do, we bring you another tell-it-like-it-is reality bites episode about book publishing. And while the news isn’t all good, it’s also not all bad—and guest Michael Castleman is living, breathing proof that it’s worth it, as long as you’re ready to do the work and understand what you’re getting yourself into. Join us on this journey from the Gutenberg Press to modern-day publishing. Whether you’re a reader, writer, author, or industry person, you’re bound to learn something new from this week’s show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

21 Oct 2024

47 MINS

47:40

21 Oct 2024

#171

Writing as a Way to Champion People and Causes, featuring Maggie Tokuda-Hall

This 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 genre and category, [“Your Story Is More Important Than Your Category.”] (https://brookewarner.substack.com/p/your-story-is-more-important-than) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

14 Oct 2024

51 MINS

51:21

14 Oct 2024

#170

Don’t Let Your Comfort Zone Become Your Doom Zone, featuring Joshua Mohr

A rocking ride through punk influence on prose and story, this interview with guest Joshua Mohr is, more than anything, about pushing your limits and getting out of your comfort zone. In his new book, Saint the Terrifying, Josh does a few things he’s never tried—and he walks us through why that’s been so invigorating, and how it’s pushed his limits as a writer. We delve into not outlining and the power of alternative histories, and get to hear about why Josh wrote this book wanting it to feel like it might fall apart at any moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

07 Oct 2024

43 MINS

43:31

07 Oct 2024

#169

How to Be Compulsively Readable, featuring Anne Lamott

Anne 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] (http://writersrising.com/) and enter code writeminded10 to get 10% off. And this week’s Substackin’ is drawn from Brooke’s Substack, [Why You Maybe Should Write a Memoir] (https://brookewarner.substack.com/p/why-you-maybe-should-write-a-memoir) . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

30 Sep 2024

46 MINS

46:24

30 Sep 2024

#168

The Era of Banning Librarians, featuring Amanda Jones

This 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 country right now. She draws attention to efforts to defund libraries and shares why representation in literature matters so much. Listen and [take action] (https://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/activity) . And check out [Grant’s Substack] (https://grantfaulkner.substack.com/p/when-you-deny-a-story-it-defines.) about another kind of banning—banning the story we want to tell—in this week’s Substackin’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

23 Sep 2024

37 MINS

37:14

23 Sep 2024

#167

The Rejection Episode, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner

This 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 into self-pity, which we might take straight up, or neat, or on the rocks with our rejection. Grant and Brooke are drawing from their own Substacks and others for these features, and we invite you to find us at [https://grantfaulkner.substack.com] (https://grantfaulkner.substack.com/) and [https://brookewarner.substack.com] (https://brookewarner.substack.com/) . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

16 Sep 2024

31 MINS

31:05

16 Sep 2024

#166

Unclassifiable and Uncontainable: In Celebration of Art That Can’t Be Pinned Down, featuring Brontez...

This 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. An existential episode inspired by an author who’s blowing up the boxes and having fun doing it. This week’s Substackin’ is based on Brooke’s post, “Why You Can't Equate Your Substack Posts to a Book: On the Staying Power of the Book.” Grant and Brooke are drawing from their own Substacks and others for these features, and we invite you to find us at [https://grantfaulkner.substack.com] (https://grantfaulkner.substack.com/) and [https://brookewarner.substack.com] (https://brookewarner.substack.com/) . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

09 Sep 2024

45 MINS

45:27

09 Sep 2024

#165

Structure and Form, featuring Jane Alison

We 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 by [Brooke’s post] (https://brookewarner.substack.com/p/structure-deconstructed) . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

02 Sep 2024

43 MINS

43:06

02 Sep 2024

#164

New Ways of Thinking About Memoir, featuring Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa

For our final summer round up of our favorite shows, Write-minded chose Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa, highlighting two bright lights in the Memoirsphere who are elevating the genre and showcasing new ways of thinking about memoir. It’s an exciting time to be a memoirist and a memoir reader, and if you missed these two interviews the first time around—or even if you didn’t—make sure to catch the insights and inspiration of these two groundbreaking writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

26 Aug 2024

56 MINS

56:28

26 Aug 2024

#163

Fiction Outliers, featuring Rainbow Rowell and Isabel Cañas

In celebration of the kind of fiction readers love but the industry doesn’t always know what to do with comes two past episodes honoring fan fiction and gothic fiction, respectively. Revisiting these episodes is a reminder of the vast world of fiction outside the narrow confines of upmarket or commercial or historical fiction. Our two past guests, Rainbow Rowell and Isabel Cañas, take us on a journey through their respective inspirations, views of the industry, and insights into the world of writing fiction that exists in the margins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

19 Aug 2024

51 MINS

51:11

19 Aug 2024

#162

Self-Exposure and Writing the Story You Have to Write, featuring Javier Zamora and Susan Kiyo Ito

In this second week of Write-minded’s August mashups, we bring back the heartfelt interviews with Javier Zamora and Susan Kiyo Ito, both of whom spoke so honestly and supportively about writing and sharing stories they’ve carried with them their entire lives. Javier’s harrowing journey from El Salvador to the US border when he was just nine years old, traveling as an unaccompanied minor is the subject of his memoir, Solito, and Susan’s I Would Meet You Anywhere centers her adoption story, touching upon themes of longing, abandonment, identity, and more. Both authors grapple with exposure in these soul-searching stories of identity and survival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [megaphone.fm/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

12 Aug 2024

48 MINS

48:03

12 Aug 2024

#161

Wisdom from the Publishing Trenches, featuring Lisa Leshne and Kathleen Schmidt

Every 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/adchoices] (https://megaphone.fm/adchoices) ... Read more

05 Aug 2024