We’re celebrating the publication of Brooke’s new book, Write On, Sisters! and in today’s episode Grant interviews Brooke on a wide range of topics that highlight many of the most important and provocative points of this new book—how women writers don’t champion other women authors as much as they need to, how women hold themselves back, how the world at large doesn’t value women’s stories the way they do men’s, and how women are still fighting not just to be published and read, but to be valued as equal to their male counterparts, and sometimes even to be believed. And then there’s how women writers can counter all this—through community, through championing other women writers, through recognizing how they stand in their own way and curbing those behaviors. We hope you enjoy and share!

Brooke and Grant extend a giant thank you to their listeners for making the first year of Write-Minded so much fun and such a success. In this week’s episode, to celebrate a year of shows, they answer four prompts as a way to remember some of their favorite guests from Year One: 1) something that changed their writing; 2) something they learned; 3) something they passed onto others; and 4) something that inspired them.

It’s our final week of summer mash-ups and Grant is flying solo today, but not for long. Brooke and Grant will both be back next week with a new format and a celebration of completing a year of podcast episodes. Today take a moment to enjoy Kwame Alexander and Abigail Thomas, two authors who don’t listen to what the industry says is best. There’s lots of wisdom and inspiration in today’s short episode.

It’s Week 2 of our summer mash-ups and Brooke takes off for Jordan this week. Grant and Brooke are choosing to highlight two activist-educator authors with Jessica Valenti and Daniel José Older. These are two writers who will make you think, whose passion on the page translates into passion in the real world, and they’re changing lives with their words and their books.

In this summer episode, Brooke is packing for her trip to Jordan, so Brooke and Grant hatch a plan to share with you a few of their favorite episodes. First up are Mignon Fogarty (aka, Grammar Girl) and Jane Friedman, two powerhouse women who know their stuff when it comes to grammar and publishing. If you missed these original episodes, we encourage you to go back in your queue and listen to the entire thing.

Today’s episode is an on-stage interview of Eve Ensler by Write-Minded host Brooke Warner. This interview explores Eve’s newest book, The Apology, in which Eve envisions the apology she wishes her father would have given her before he died for all the abuse and violence he perpetrated upon her when she was young. This interview touches upon how apology can set free survivors of abuse, as well as the impact of real apology on the perpetrator—and we delve into a bit of politics too.

Ingram and Amazon are arguably the two most important companies when it comes to how the book industry functions—and while Amazon gets a lot of visibility and media attention, Ingram tends to be a bit more amorphous for authors. This episode breaks down what’s what at Ingram—helping authors break down the many branches of Ingram and why it all matters. Guest Robin Cutler of IngramSpark gives an insider perspective about this all-important player in the book publishing space.

For anyone who’s ever thought that artists are simply divinely inspired and you’ve either got it or you don’t, this week’s episode about hard work, putting in the hours, and how to be productive in a sane and relatively healthy way should inspire some thinking about the nature of busyness. Grant and Brooke talk with John August, one of the busiest artists they know, about screenwriting, choosing the best medium for a new project, and work ethic.

Today’s dystopian fiction seems to be closer to reality than the dystopian fiction of the past. Brooke and Grant explore this new reality with Cory Doctorow, whose socially conscientious science fiction novels delve into topics of political consequence. From the ways in which anxieties fuel science fiction writers to how fiction has the power to change the way we think and operate in the world, today’s episode emphasizes the importance of dystopian fiction for its capacity to shed light on what is true, and what might happen, ideally, as Cory suggests, so that we might fix things before it’s too late.