THIS WEEK: APRIL 14, 2025
Write What You Know, featuring Betsy Lerner
This week we’re featuring longtime agent and publishing pro Betsy Lerner on her debut novel, Shred Sisters. We talk about being an industry insider and whether that gives you a leg up, as well as the old adage to write what you know.
Never miss an episode
Subscribe to Write-minded on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
Weekly Inspiration for Writers
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.
How to Listen

Subscribe
Never miss an episode! Subscribe to Write-minded on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Online
Click on an episode below to stream it directly from our website. Find past episodes in our archives.

Download
Click on an episode below to download it directly to your computer and listen anytime.
Latest Episodes
Write What You Know, featuring Betsy Lerner
This week we’re featuring longtime agent and publishing pro Betsy Lerner on her debut novel, Shred Sisters. We talk about being an industry insider and whether that gives you a leg up, as well as the old adage to write what you know. Betsy shares with us how her lived experience shows up in this book, noting that Freud would have a field day—and before it’s all over, she offers generous and tactical marketing tips for authors. This episode has got it all!
Brooke & Grant on Miranda July’s All Fours
A 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 it.
You’re Going to Have Feelings About Publishing, featuring Kate McKean
Write-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 published, want to publish, or feel daunted by publishing, you’ll benefit tons from her wisdom!
Shapeshifting, featuring Lidia Yuknavitch
This week we invite one of our favorite authors, Lidia Yuknavitch, back to Write-minded to discuss her new book, Reading the Waves, as well as how we can re-envision and reimagine our past experiences through the practice of asking questions and reconsidering what we think we know. “Shapeshifting” is Lidia’s word, and the book (as well as this conversation) considers ways we can re-enter our own memories and rearrange the pieces so that we might change and grow.
Writing to Save Your Life, featuring Samina Ali
This week’s episode tells the story of a dramatic and traumatic story, and how writing played a central role in recovery and changing the outcome of one author’s life. This week’s episode is an epic tale as much as it is interview, and it will change the way you think of the power of writing to charge your neurons and heal your mind—not to mention the way you think about willpower, writers’ block, and why writing is both personally and universally life-changing and life-saving. This week’s harrowing and fascinating story-episode is not to be missed.
Hard-Won Wisdom, featuring Sari Botton
If part of why you write is because you have some things to share from a life well- or hard- or fully lived, then you’re in good company. Personal writing is about connection, and making sense of our experience, and this week’s guest, Sari Botton, knows a thing or two about what brings writers to the page. She is a champion of personal writing and memoir, and is going to share about contributing, about her own writing process and why it’s hard to put personal things into the world, and so much more—including how to stay the course during these insane times we’re living in and through. To read Sari’s piece that’s part of Writing Co-Lab’s 100 Days of Creative Resistance, visit: https://mailchi.mp/ad90d6d86b5b/sari-botton-why-we-need-personal-writing
Want to be a guest on the podcast?
We’d love to hear from you. Contact us at hello@writemindedpodcast.com.
Hang Out with the Hosts
Brooke and Grant interview writers, authors, and publishing industry folks, and bring to this weekly podcast their shared spirit of community, collaboration, and a deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters.

Never miss an episode
Subscribe to Write-minded on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.