Writing about other people is scary. You may worry about the fallout—that people you’re writing about will be hurt, angry, that they’ll disown you. You may worry about your parents, your children, your friends. Many writers contemplating memoir go so far as to consider waiting to write their story until some key person is dead, and countless others fret about the legal jeopardy they might subject themselves to just for telling their truth. This episode brings answers and reassurance—and touches upon fiction as well, in the sense that fiction, too, much be drawn from real characters. Guest Kerry Cohen talks about her four memoirs and shares her feelings on fear, truth-telling, and fallout.

Join Brooke and Grant as they recall some of their early public speaking moments—when Grant remembers being a brash, bold teenager who’d say anything and Brooke recalls forgetting her lines in a Christmas play and saying “oh shit” in front of her entire church congregation. More important to writers in this episode, however, are guest Betsy Graziani Fasbinder’s helpful ideas and encouraging words around public speaking. We’ll explore why all writers should give themselves the gift of public speaking training and how public speaking is really just another way to share your story. For this episode, please also check out Brooke’s blog post about preparing for her TEDx talk, which she references in the episode and promised to share.

If you believe in the idea that your book knows what it wants to be, or if you’re interested in hearing more about the ways in which this might be true, this episode is for you. Join Brooke and Grant for a conversation about how we’re in relationship with our books—which means we sometimes have to play and dance with them, listen to what they’re telling us, and even take some time apart at times. Guest Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain, has some impassioned advice—and a little tough love—for authors on the path to creation, and explains his theory of “pushing the rock,” a metaphor for writing your book.

In this episode, Grant and Brooke explore with guest Francesca Lia Block, author of The Thorn Necklace, how writing is healing and oftentimes therapeutic. Today’s episode is about the feeling side of writing—and how touching into that both unlocks deeper places in a person’s writing and has the ability (at least some of the time) to set writers free from their angst and doubts and any lingering messages that might get lobbed at them by their inner critics. If you’ve ever wondered if writing has the power to heal, tune in.

Guest Vanessa Hua shares her circuitous path to literary success, which happened later in life, after a career in journalism and after age forty, and after the birth of her twin boys. In this episode Grant and Brooke explore the many ways writers seize their creative destinies—by following the thread of their curiosity, by taking up hobbies that spur creative endeavors, and by staying open to possibilities. If you feel like your next Big Creative Thing is just over that next hump, or even more so if it’s feeling frustratingly elusive, this episode will give you a shot of inspiration and the encouragement you might need to keep going—or looking, or trying.

Everyone is on a hero or a heroine’s journey. The trick is to see your own journey objectively enough to find your way into and through it, and also to claim your own hero or heroine’s journey as such, which can be difficult if you are still wrestling with which story or stories are yours to tell. In this episode, Brooke and Grant examine this journey from various angles and genres, and delve into the nuances of the journey with their guest, Laura Lentz, whose new workbook on this very topic, Story-Quest, is just out this month. We hope you’ll tune in to see if you might discover new elements of your own epic journey.

Guest Claire Dederer’s 2017 Paris Review Essay, “What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?” inspired today’s episode about selfishness, and the ways in which we’re often culturally conditioned to feel badly about carving out time for our creative pursuits. Brooke and Grant explore their feelings around selfishness, sharing some of their individual struggles to strike that all-elusive balance, and explore the various ways in which selfishness can be a force for good when it comes to creativity.

Catch up with co-hosts Brooke and Grant for this special episode focused on Writerly Resolutions. No guest this week, just Brooke and Grant talking about resolutions—what works and what doesn’t, why most resolutions fail, and why you’re actually awesome if you have the same resolutions year after year. This episode includes lots of good resolution ideas for writers, too, including a writing action from each of the hosts.

Many writers write because they have to. Today’s guest, Jessica Valenti, is one of them. Brooke and Grant talk about pursuing passions, your calling, your purpose—even if and when that might come at a cost. While most writers won’t face the kinds of threats Jessica has faced for her outspokenness, most writers are vulnerable to criticism. This episode encourages writers to persevere, and offers inspiration and tips for staying connected to purpose.