Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Latest Episodes:

[Minda Honey, Part 3]: Embracing the strengths of being a Black writer + braided essays + MANY awesome book and music recs Ep 1046 Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

In this final installment of my talk with author and essayist Minda Honey, we cover:

The insights–on double consciousness, omniscience, and overlapping timelines–she got at a recent conference

How Andre 3000’s new flute album is cracking open possibilities in her mind

The concept of a braided essay, and how it’s like making a charcuterie board

The book Minda could not put down (and that made her cry)

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AquaTru.com. Use promo code KATE to save 20% off a reverse osmosis water filter and support this podcast!

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[Minda Honey, Part 2]: Avoiding “self-exploitation” + countering the voices, external and internal, that criticize your work Ep 1045 Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

In part 2 of my interview with essayist and author of the memoir The Heartbreak Years, Minda Honey, we really break down the inner parts of writing, including how to stay focused on the impact your work is having when all some people want to do is complain.

Other things we cover:

How an earlier school of personal essays bordered into too personal, or what Minda referred to as “self-exploitation”, and how to make sure you’re not doing that in your own personal writing

How even when you tell people what your book is about with a very clear title, some people are going to be upset by what you include in your book

How people are dismissive of women writing truthfully about all parts of their lives–and how she deals with the haters

Why doing the art that speaks to your soul is the only way to go

Her genius approach to dealing with the inner critic (preview: she proves it’s a liar)

Why not every day is a day for writing

Why Minda had to start doing her own taxes at age 17

Learning to cry

How Minda uses tools like human design and tarot in work and life

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AquaTru.com. Use promo code KATE to save 20% off a reverse osmosis water filter and support this podcast!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Minda Honey, Part 1]: Answering the call to write + the right beverages are everything Ep 1044 Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

Minda Honey is the author of The Heartbreak Years, a hilarious and intimate memoir of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time.

Minda's essays on politics and relationships have appeared in all kinds of amazing places, including Harper's Bazaar, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, and Longreads. She is also the editor of Black Joy at Reckon, an online outlet where she also helms a newsletter that has nearly 60,000 subscribers.

Honestly there were SO MANY quotes I wanted to pull from this interview–just go ahead and press play right now

But here’s the synopsis:

How Minda–the daughter of a postal worker and a computer programmer–did the “get good grades, get a scholarship, join corporate America” thing and realized, it wasn’t for her

Squaring all the “Davids and Jonathans”--the typical authors taught in MFA programs–with the Tonis and Zoras Minda revered

The financial move that helped Minda launch her freelance career

The many daily parts of life that count as ‘writing’

Why you NEED to find your writing community

Minda’s recipe for sitting down to write: Lofi music + a trio of beverages and four hours blocked off

The satisfying clickety clack of a specific type of keyboard

Why Minda was doing our interview from Mexico (it involves “skipping winter”, but there’s a lot more to it than that)

Giving up drinking and moving away from home

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AquaTru.com. Use promo code KATE to save 20% off a reverse osmosis water filter and support this podcast!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Jodie Noel Vinson, Part 3]: Saying your big dreams out loud + so many awesome reading recommendations Ep 1043 Feb 16, 2024

Show notes

In this final installment of my interview with Jodie Noel Vinson, she spills the deets on her favorite writers and books and how

- Inspiring figures from history who were chronically ill, including Florence Nightengale and Charles Darwin–lightbulb moment!

- I gush about the memoir Easy Beauty, by Chloe Cooper Jones–one of my top reads of 2022 (now available in paperback!)

- The essayists Jodie can’t get enough of

- Jodie also admits the musical megastar who rose to fame in the 80s that she didn’t really experience until 2020–and how his music is a touchstone for her today

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AirDoctorPro.com. Use promo code KATE to save up to $300 off an air purifier and receive an extended warranty for free. Support your health *and* this podcast!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Jodie Noel Vinson, Part 2]: Claiming the title "writer" + acknowledging your privilege Ep1042 Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

In part 2 of my interview with essayist Jodie Noel Vinson, we talk about the squishier side of doing creative work, including:

- How no one wants to claim the term “writer”, and what Jodie has to say about that.

- How turning 30 was a bigger deal for Jodie than turning 40 (which she recently did)

- Why Jodie reads Proust over and and over, and it’s not snobby

- A heartfelt rant on how we talk and think about health as a society

- Gleaning insights from difficult experiences, and keeping the insights long after the experience is through

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AirDoctorPro.com. Use promo code KATE to save up to $300 off an air purifier and receive an extended warranty for free. Support your health *and* this podcast!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Jodie Noel Vinson, Part 1]: Saving time to stare at the sky + turning challenges into muses Ep 1041 Feb 12, 2024

Show notes

Jodie Noel Vinson is an essayist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Review, Literary Hub, and Ploughshares. Her essays have received honorable mention in the annual Best American Essay anthologies, and she's won multiple awards and residencies, including the Susan Adefat Prize for Creative Nonfiction from Arts and Letters and the Maureen Egan Writers Exchange Award from Poets and Writers. Jodi lives in Providence, where she's also the program director at Lit Arts RI, a co-working space and so much more for the Rhode Island creative community. Fun fact: Jodie taught the Podcasting 101 class that I took before I launched my first podcast, How to Be a Better Person, back in 2019. And now I am so thrilled to be hosting her on Finding the Throughline as one of my very first guests.

In this first episode on the practical matters concerns Jodie’s path and how she does her work, we break down:

- Jodie’s experience with being one of the first folks to get long Covid, and how that shaped her work–both what she writes about and how she does that writing

- The importance of not always succumbing to your drive to get things done

- Protecting your most focused work time

- The daily habits that Jodie uses to feel good

- The writing software she’s recently adopted as a tool

- How having a kitten helps with the creative process (even though it also can take time away from work)

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AirDoctorPro.com. Use promo code KATE to save up to $300 off an air purifier and receive an extended warranty for free. Support your health *and* this podcast!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Terri Trespicio: Part 3]: The hunger for downtime is real + tons of book, show, and food recommendations (including, meat snacks!) Ep 1040 Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

In the final installment of my interview with Terri Trespicio, she shares the books, shows, and people she can’t get enough of who inspire her. Plus, she answers the fast five questions despite having a moment of panic that she wouldn’t be able to think of anything to say.

- How she loves poking holes in the silly things we tell ourselves (like her friend who felt like she had to finish every library book she checked out whether she liked it or not)

- The two men Terri considers creative mentors

- Her friend, a woman, who inspires her on how to live life on her own terms (she’s internet famous–OK, it’s Laura Belgray)

- The historical fiction author she’s staying up too late reading and the show she can’t stop watching once she starts

- Her love of meat snacks

- Which time of year she hates, and why

- Where you’re likely to find her on Friday nights

- The utensil most of her favorite types of foods require

For detailed show notes, with links to everything we discuss--plus bonus photos!-- visit katehanley.substack.com

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[Terri Trespicio, Part 2]: Getting better at “trembling in the face of resistance” + the unhelpful and helpful thing her Catholic upbringing taught her Ep 1039 Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

In part 2 of interview with author of Unfollow Your Passion, TedX speaker, and standup comedian Terri Trespicio, we break down:

- The difference between easy and ease

- How Terri’s Catholic upbringing contributed to her recurring critical thoughts, and also what it taught her about how to get past them

- A ninja trick for where to place your focus when your inner critic is chiming in

- In praise of weight lighting, or as Terri says, helping yourself get better at “trembling in the face of resistance”

- Why she, as a Gen X women, prefers dating Millennial men

- What Terri will and absolutely will not apologize for

For detailed show notes, with links to everything we discuss--plus bonus photos!-- visit katehanley.substack.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Terri Trespicio, Part 1]: Terri’s ingredients for getting kickass creative work done: naps, robes, and thinking about butterflies Ep 1038 Feb 05, 2024

Show notes

Terri Trespicio is the author of the fabulously helpful and hopeful book, Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life That Matters to You, which was named one of the best feel-good reads of the year by the Washington Post. Her book is based on her TEDx talk, which is called Stop Searching for Your Passion and has been viewed 8 million times. Terri opens that talk recounting the day she got fired from Martha Stewart's Whole Living magazine, which is where I was lucky enough to meet, work with, and become friends with her.

Today, Terri is an in-demand speaker, a brand strategist, a writing teacher, a standup comedian, and always a writer whose work can soothe you, crack you up, and crack open possibilities in your mind all at once.

If you can't tell, I love her. In this first part of her interview, we unpack:

- The thought process on whether or not you should stop working for yourself and go get a job

- How creativity is more like a butterfly than a workhorse

- One of the best things you can do to promote creativity (hint: it’s not what you think)

- Terri’s morning routine in detail

- Writing in your robe

For detailed show notes, with links to everything we discuss--plus bonus photos!-- visit katehanley.substack.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Leigh Medeiros: Part 3]: Expanding your capacity + the podcasts and social media accounts giving Leigh life Ep 1037 Feb 02, 2024

Show notes

In the final installment of my interview with Leigh Medeiros, we talk about her most delightful visions of the future, who inspires her, and exactly what happens in her cacao ceremonies.

Why Leigh finds many social media videos incredibly inspirational

The importance of expanding your capacity

Why she loves learning from drag queens

Which social media videos are giving her hope–and getting her to take notes

Why she’s a huge fan of January. Yes, January!

And we have a little love fest for condiment-heavy cuisines

For detailed show notes, with links to everything we discuss--plus bonus photos!-- visit katehanley.substack.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices