Memoir Nation

Latest Episodes:

Getting Reinspired, Again, with Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

Happy New Year! This short show to ring in the new year starts with a confession from Brooke about Write-minded’s annual New Year’s show—this is Number 5! Grant and Brooke share updates on current writing projects (including goals), episodes that rose to the top in 2022, and one creative takeaway from our writing lives. We invite you to reflect and get reinspired along with us as we forge ahead into a bright new year! And we hope you’ll check out Brooke’s class, 5 Things I’ve Learned about What It Takes to Get Published, coming up on February 19. Find the details at: https://myfivethings.com/class/brooke-warner-what-it-takes-to-get-published.

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Having Fun with Book and Amazon Marketing, featuring Dave Chesson Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

This week’s episode is an upbeat and fun look at marketing with guestDave Chesson, who’s on the cutting edge of Amazon and other book marketing strategies. We cover Amazon rankings, marketing ideas for fiction writers (who too often get left out of these conversations), and why to share your personal story out in the world. This episode includes concrete types and explains some things about Amazon that often feel elusive, so it’s worth your time even if your next published book is a ways out there on the horizon. Oh—and happy holidays. We’re off next week so Write-minded will be back in your queue on January 2!

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A New Take on Climate Fiction, featuring Aya de León Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

Aya de León returns to Write-minded to share an announcement about her new climate fiction imprint, Fighting Chance Books, that she’s launching in partnership with She Writes Press in 2023. This is an inspiring conversation about why a climate fiction literature of winning is so important. Aya makes the case that the future isn’t written yet—and we need more stories in which humanity fights back and wins in order to create a different narrative than the dystopian stories that currently dominate CliFi. An important conversation—with a mission at its core. Please help us spread the word about Fighting Chance Books!

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No Wasted Words, featuring Sarah Manguso Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

An episode that covers so much—the power of writing what’s essential; an exploration of two kinds of abysses: total noise and total silence; and a forthcoming recounting of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of problematic reviews. Guest Sarah Manguso has been called a virtuoso, and her takes on the literary world and writing in her compelling, spare style remind us why we love a meaty interview. Brooke and Grant revel in Sarah’s responses and candor this week—and know listeners will too.

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Unexpected Creative Intersections and Influences, featuring Angie Cruz Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

This is an episode that will validate every creative impulse you’ve ever had and forgive any creative lapses you might be judging yourself for. Join Grant and Brooke in this inspiring episode with Angie Cruz, who’s faced rejection and overcame it to become a celebrated published author, and who shares with us how she’s in conversation with her characters, pursues other creative interests as a way to inform her fiction, and how she’s balanced her writing with the many other demands of life. A relatable and permission-giving episode!

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Radical Fiction Packaged as a Trojan Horse, featuring Xochitl Gonzalez Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

Olga Dies Dreaming is guest Xochitl Gonzalez’s new novel—and how you interpret it might tell you something about your political persuasion. This week we are exploring what it means to be radical in fiction—especially when what you’re trying to be radical about is packaged as a fast-paced story. This is the subversive (meant in the best sense of the word) nature of fiction with a cause—which we explore this week in all its nuanced glory. Adelante!

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Writing Racial Dynamics in YA fiction, featuring David Yoon Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

This week, guest David Yoon joins us in a conversation that takes on often-fraught topics with humor and candor. We talk about why YA is such fertile ground for representative stories about race, culture, and identity, and David’s mission to bring more visibility to writers of color. We talk about his approach to writing and how he writes not for or to a particular genre, but to sort out the questions he’s grappling with—something so many writers will relate to.

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The Writer’s Ego, featuring Steve Almond Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

We’re diving into ego this week—including, yes, its benefits. All writers, after all, are ego-invested in their work. They want what they’re writing to be good, to have an impact, to be well received. In this week’s episode Grant and Brooke speak with Steve Almond about how his ego got in the way of the work he wanted to do, and also the way that we must contend with our egos when we write. There’s so much to unpack here—and Steve’s honest take on his own journey is as refreshing as it is inspiring.

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Craft-minded series: Trusting the Craft You Already Know, featuring Andrea Bartz Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

This week we’re kicking off NaNoWriMo (Happy November) with a final bonus craft-minded episode. Grant and Brooke talk with thriller writer Andrea Bartz about her process—including the Pomodoro Method, creating fake deadlines, and writing discovery drafts. This is a perfect episode to GET YOU STARTED, which Andrea acknowledges is one of the hardest things a writer can do. This week’s show is also a reminder about how much you already know about craft that you don’t even know you know. Tune in to discover more.

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Craft-minded series: How or Whether to Evolve Your Aesthetic or Style, featuring Lan Samantha Chang Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

Tune in this week to geek out on aesthetic. Maybe you’re a writer who’s changed your aesthetic, wants to, or a reader who’s noticed the evolving aesthetics of the writers you love. How and why does this happen? How can you invite change into your process? In addition to thinking about style and craft, Grant and Brooke speak with guest Lan Samantha Chang about writing and MFA programs, whether we’ve saturated the writing about writing market, and how taking time away from your work and coming back to it is another way to shift or broaden perspective.

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