We were overjoyed to talk with Amy Lin, author of the new memoir, HERE AFTER, which details her relationship with her late husband and his sudden passing, the singular experience of young windowhood, and how grief is a language in which we we all eventually become fluent. 

Listen to the full episode on Patreon. It's here! Well, mostly. Here is a partial recording of our conversation at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, where we celebrated Melissa's novel Candelaria and talked about the caucasity of spin classes, abuelas surviving the apocalypse, and how archaeologists are similar to writers, among other things. The weird part is that the conversation cuts off once we start talking about an earthquake. SO. We spend the second half of the episode unpacking how...

We chat with author Lucas Mann about his most recent collection of essays, ATTACHMENTS, which unpacks the tender, scary, and hilarious experience of contemporary fatherhood. We talk about the impossible image of the Perfect Leftist Father, and the Lack of Personal Space when raising a child. 

TEASER. we help a listener through a tough friendship/roommate breakup and talk about how we go about writing about SEX. are u trying to turn your readers on or just show them something about the characters? are sex scenes meant to move the plot forward or are they just a fun break? we also discover we might be prudes.

the gals talk to trad-wife expert, gaby del valle, who has done extensive reporting on the women bringing old school homesteading onto the main feed. 

Melissa & Olivia keep getting asked: what is it like to go from poetry to fiction. They talk about it! Also, listeners share a story about their end-of-times pastor grandpa and also ask: is it possible to escape writing commercial and institutional poetry? Only on patreon :) 

We talk through a few listener emails about surviving your mid-twenties, surviving with a UTI on Survivor, and surviving a boss who keeps showing up to work with hickeys. After that, we talk about being hungry. Writing about food, eating while writing, forgetting to eat because we are writing, soylent (????), and why food is such an important detail when it comes to storytelling.

head over to patreon.com/saymorepodcast to listen to the full episode! we got to sit down in real life with one of our closest friends & favorite writers, hieu minh nguyen. together, we got nostalgic about our wild (we were so corny) days of competing in poetry slam and how the artform influenced our professional lives as writers today (we are just really good at self-promotion).

back with another HOME RUN. this week, the gal pals chat about their favorite high-brow television show, love is blind, as well as the infinite ways Point of View can change a story. if this were a dissertation, they would make clearer how these two themes are related, but you get it. right?

In honor of Melissa's favorite holiday, we are talking about love. We spoke with Puloma Ghosh, author of Mouth, about tropes in the romance genre, fan-fiction, and why women turn to romance in times of need. Order Puloma's short story collection wherever books are sold!

it's the new season of SAY MORE! thank you for waiting literally two years. this week, we are discussing the genre of autofiction — where it started, who's doing it, and our personal journey to adulthood aka choosing not to share every single thing about our private life in a nonfictional space. for next week's bonus episode, subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/saymorepodcast, where you can also gain access our montly newsletter. we're so glad to be back xx

pop culture is truly losing it

The gals welcome former guest Paige Green—nurse, doula, star—to talk about the dismal state of reproductive rights in America and how to generally deal.

M&O, together at last, talk about how they met the most important people in their lives.

M&O talk (humbly) all things related to cumming: the different genres orgasm, the lack thereof, and why you can't trust your life decisions if you're having good sex.

As Melissa and Olivia depart the tragic & exhilarating decade of their twenties, they reminisce on the years they spent being whores in punk houses, sexless in relationships, and a sudden burst of hyper-visibility.

Olivia & Melissa go from complete chaos to total enlightenment in a conversation with renowned poet Andrea Gibson about mortality, the industry of death, the afterlife, and their new book YOU BETTER BE LIGHTING.

Olivia & Melissa briefly revisit the theory that Rooney mined their lives, wonder if voyeurism is always sexual, & if they've reached the end of the era of sensitive men. 

O & M talk about the possibility that their lives have been used as fodder for a bestselling novel. Are they self-involved? Or are they right?

M&O talk about how trauma can make relationships a nightmare but also how you can get better. 

Melissa & Olivia question whether or not they are smart. Which maybe means they aren't?

Melissa and Olivia talk about what it means when celebrities make money off their wounds and the intentions behind oversharing on the internet. They also go into the nuances of being an abolitionist and what it means to publish former abusers. 

Melissa & Olivia try to justify their love of melodramatic television & also are in complete denial about their traumatic childhoods.

Melissa & Olivia talk about what could have been.