Friendship 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.

In this week’s episode we’re exploring the idea of experiential research, of soul research, of the kind of writing that involves the body, the heart, and the soul as much as the mind. Guest Margaret Verble shares with us how writing fiction is a way for her to keep the dead alive, to have conversations with those who have passed on. Her easy connection to the past and her family line is inviting in that she suggests what you “know” doesn’t necessarily involve research—and it’s all a continuum anyway. We were inspired to think about what lives in our cells, and serendipity of certain stories and how they show up, and what it looks like to write the stories that land in your lap, or show up calling your name.

Sex sells—and sex writing shows up in countless genres beyond just erotica. So while we’re focusing on erotica this week with guest Rachel Kramer Bussel, who’s edited more than 70 erotica anthologies, we’re also talking about sex writing more generally—the history of erotic literature, why erotica collections tend to be anthologies rather than single-author books, and some tips to think about if and when you come to the page to write your own sex scenes.

SUBSCRIBE: SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS | GOOGLE PLAY | EMAIL DOWNLOAD Join us to talk about risk, and how everything good is on the other side of fear. This week’s episode with publisher Angela Engel is a spirited conversation about the publishing industry, the...

This 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.

This 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.

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!

This 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, too.

This 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.