In this second part of my interview with the brilliant and hilarious Jacquelyn Mitchard, we talk about the squishier side of creativity–the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it, including: - The specific reader Jacquelyn imagines as she writes - Why she's devoted to social media, and why she thinks of it like having a hamster - How some of her books have 'missed the mark' (but she's not going to tell you which ones) - The pep talk that...

This week I am thrilled to be talking with Jacquelyn Mitchard, the New York Times bestselling author of 23 novels for adults and teenagers. Her newest novel is "A Very Inconvenient Scandal," and her first novel, "The Deep End of the Ocean" was the first selection of the Oprah Winfrey book club and has sold more than 3 million copies and been translated into 34 languages. We covered: - How losing her husband in her late thirties put her on a quest to publish a novel "to prove that I could have...

In the final installment of my interview with generous and prolific writing goddess Sari Botton (she publishes Oldster Magazine, Memoir Land, and Adventures in Journalism on Substack, authored And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen X Weirdo, Goodbye to All That, and Never Can Say Goodbye, and was the essays editor at Longreads), we talk about what's coming up next for her, as well as her favorite shows, books, songs, time, and food. - What projects she’s dreaming about...

In part two of my interview with Sari Botton, founder of Oldster Magazine and author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Gen X Weirdo, we dive deep into the inner stuff, including: - Her favorite part of sharing her work with the world - How she navigates the ethics of including other people in her personal writing - How her inner critic loves to tell her she doesn’t haven’t permission to write about what she wants to write about—and how she gets past it - How getting older, and...

Sari Botton is the author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming, Gen-X Weirdo and Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York. She's also the creator of Oldster, a Substack newsletter devoted to exploring the joys of getting older. (Her Oldster questionnaire was a direct inspiration for my starting this podcast.) Sari was my first ever guest on Finding the Throughline--I'm replaying her episodes this week. - The continuing ed class she took as a...

In this final part of my interview with Sonya Huber, professor at Fairfield University and author of Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto, we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions. We talked about: Her beautiful vision of the future include a possible memoir of living with anxiety and… goat writing retreats! Sonya’s four aunts who were nuns and role models for living a joyous, industrious life The classic short stories Sonya reads and...

[Sonya Huber, inner stuff]: How your personal writing can deepen your relationships + how not to hate writing In this episode I'm talking with Sonya Huber, author of eight books including Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto and professor in the low-residency MFA at Fairfield University about the mindset piece of writing–the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it, including: Ways to handle the anxiety that comes when in the months before...

This week I am interviewing Sonia Huber, a prolific and award winning writer in many genres, but primarily in creative nonfiction. Her book of essays on chronic pain, Pain Woman Takes Your Keys and Other Essays from a Nervous System was named a best book of 2018 by The New Statesman. Her other books include Love and Industry (2023), Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto (2022) and Supremely Tiny Acts (2021). Her essays have been included in the Best American Essays series numerous times. And she...

In this final part of my interview with Joanne McNeill, author of Wrong Way (a novel set in the near future at a company that manages driverless cars) and Lurking (a non-fiction look at the history of the internet from a user’s perspective), we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions. We talked about: The novel The Lodgers by Holly Pester, about the housing crisis, and how it hurts a little bit every time she has to put it down because...

In this episode I'm talking with Joanne McNeil, author of Wrong Way (a novel set in the near future at a company that manages driverless cars) and Lurking (a non-fiction look at the history of the internet from a user’s perspective), about the inner workings of creativity–the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs that either help you do your work, or get in the way. Warning, there’s a tiny bit of cursing and a mention of sexual harassment in the workplace–not a specific story, but just the topic in...

This week I am talking with journalist, essayist, and novelist, Joanne McNeil. Joanne's first novel Wrong Way came out in 2023. It's a sci-fi novel set in the near future that takes a look at the intersection of the gig economy and big tech and is both satirical and touching–it also made a lot of lists of the best books of 2023 and The New Yorker called it “a literary sneak attack on the very idea of 'the future.'” Joanne's first book, Lurking, is a nonfiction look at the history of the...

In this final part of my interview with Hayley Krischer, journalist and author of the soon-to-be-released “Where Are You, Echo Blue?” we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions. We talked about: The incredible allure of hot tubs How re-watching “The Actor’s Studio with James Lipton” was a key part of her research process for “Where Are You, Echo Blue?” What she learned from studying actors about getting in to the psychology of her...

In this episode I'm talking with Hayley Krischer, author of the upcoming “Where Are You, Echo Blue?”, which is poised to be the beach read of the summer, about the squishier side of creativity– including: The steps Hayley takes–and the tools she uses–to immerse herself in the world of her novels and inside her characters’ psyches What she does when she’s feeling stuck How good it feels when you connect with someone who loved your work in the real world The YA author Hayley fan-girled all over...

This week I am talking with journalist and novelist Haley Krischer. Haley's journalism has won awards and appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, and Elle, among other places. She has profiled celebrities like Tatum O'Neill and Celine Dion and Gabrielle Union, and she's reported on trends through a feminist lens. Haley's first two novels were for young adults: “Something Happened to Allie Greenleaf” and “The Falling Girls.” This summer, her first adult novel...

In part three of my conversation with author of Building Boys, Jennifer Fink, we talk about the mind trip that is beginning to envision retirement. I have to point out that this is the third interview in a row where my guest mentions that they have a phrase written on a Post-It note hanging above their computer monitor. In addition to sharing what she’s written on her Post-It notes (plural–there are two), Jennifer shares some of her go to shows, snacks, and songs. The lure of leaving it all...

In this episode I'm talking with Jennifer about the squishier side of creativity–the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it, including: Finding the inspiration to write about controversial subjects in today’s age of nasty comments and trolling Jennifer’s trick for keeping herself accountable and not avoiding writing about the hard stuff The power of talking to other writers The things her inner critic says, and how it gets louder when...

Today I am talking with Jennifer Fink, an award winning freelance writer who covers parenting, education, and health for magazines and websites. started her career as a registered nurse, but shortly after her oldest son, and as you'll find out, she has four boys, pivoted to writing full time. Her most recent book is called Building Boys, Raising Great Guys in a World that Misunderstands Males. She is also the co host of the podcast “On Boys,” which covers, you guessed it, real talk about...

In this final part of my interview with Antonia Angress, author of "Sirens & Muses," we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions. We talked about: - The novels about motherhood Antonia is reading to prepare for when her baby is born - The pressure on young women authors to be likable, available, and approachable - The two writers Antonia looks to for inspiration on being successful while “resisting the machinations of publicity that can...

In this episode I'm talking with Antonia about the squishier side of creativity–the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it, including: - The part of the writing process that Antonia relishes - The specific point in the book-writing process where Antonia focuses on making her sentences pretty - How she only kept “a few paragraphs” from the first draft of her second novel (!!) - Adapting to the public speaking portion of being a writer -...

This week I am talking to writer Antonia Angress. Antonia is the author of "Sirens & Muses," which starts off as a campus novel set at a New England art school, but then blooms into an exploration of the intersection of home and belonging versus individualism and seeking to stand out, set in the New York City art scene during the Occupy Wall Street era. "Sirens & Muses" was named one of the best books of the year by Glamour Magazine and won the Minnesota Book Award, and Antonia was...

In this final part of my interview with Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year, we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions. We talked about: The mega pop star who makes Daisy “want to get back to the page” Daisy’s role models who show her how to “just keep getting up and keep going” The benefits of being a mom to teenagers The song by said mega pop star that gets Daisy riled up (in a good way) The hardest question of them...

In today’s portion of my interview with Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year, we talk about the mindset side of creating. (Honestly, these are always my favorite episodes!) We covered: How you can “cloak” your story by writing fiction–incorporating the feelings of things you’ve experienced if not the exact experiences themselves Worrying that people are sick of hearing you talk Getting over the voice that says “you don’t have the proper training to write a novel” What’s on the...

Daisy Alpert Florin, author of a book I truly adored, My Last Innocent Year, about a young woman in her last year of college, which is recently out in paperbook and–hot tip–would make an excellent book group pick. My Last Innocent Year was a New York Times Book Reviews Editor's Choice and Good Morning America called it one of those stories that stays with you. I've had the pleasure of being on a writing retreat with Daisy and getting to know her both in person and on the page.And I am very...

A preview of her second memoir, which has a central theme of earthquakes, both the geological variety and the personal kind (it sounds amazing I cannot wait) The allure of folk tales and fairy tales The joy of going down a research wormhole Nada’s current wormholes–turtle migration, and early African-American history in Rhode Island Getting over the very human desire for external validation Nada’s beautiful vision of a free Palestine The YA novels Nada can’t put down Oat milk matcha lattes...