Diego Báez is a writer and educator. He is the author of Yaguareté White , a finalist for the Georgia Poetry Prize and a semifinalist for the Berkshire Prize for Poetry. A fellow at CantoMundo, the Surge Institute, and the Poetry Foundation’s Incubator for Community-Engaged Poets, Báez has served on the boards of the National Book Critics Circle, the International David Foster Wallace Society, and Families Together Co-operative Nursery School. His poems, book reviews, and essays have appeared on...
Apr 12, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Jeff quit his job at the age of 47 to return to college for his MFA, and his first novel, Other People’s Children , emerged from that decision. His second novel, Like It Never Happened , was just released in March 2024. In addition to his two novels, Jeff’s writing has been published in The Sun, Booth, Harpur Palate, and Publishers Weekly . He was the winner of the Madison Review ’s Chris O’Malley Prize in Fiction and a finalist for the Missouri Review ’s Jeffrey E. Smith Editor’s Prize. Among o...
Apr 04, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Peg Tyre is director of strategy at the Edwin Gould Foundation in New York City. In addition to her two creative fiction novels that have recently been republished, Tyre has written about education for The New York Times, Politico, The Atlantic, and more. She has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award and is the author of two critically acclaimed books on education, one of which is a New York Times bestseller. She has a bachelor’s from Brown University and was a Spencer fellow at the Co...
Mar 29, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Araminta Hall began her career in journalism as a staff writer on teen magazine Bliss, becoming Health and Beauty editor of New Woman. On her way, she wrote regular features for the Mirror's Saturday supplement and ghost wrote the supermodel Caprice's column. She has a MA in creative writing and authorship from the University of Sussex, and teaches creative writing at New Writing South in Brighton. She is the author of Our Kind of Cruelty , which was named a best book of 2018 by CrimeReads and R...
Mar 21, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 126
Joe Lansdale has written novels in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, and mystery, and has written for comics such as "Batman: The Animated Series." As of 2020, he had written 50 novels and published more than 30 short-story collections. He has won ten Bram Stoker Awards, a British Fantasy Award, an Edgar Award, and more, and has been inducted into The Texas Literary Hall of Fame. Kasey Lansdale is a country blues singer and songwriter, an actress, and an author. Lansdale w...
Mar 15, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 125
L.R. Jones, or Lisa Renee Jones, is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her dark, edgy fiction includes the novels You Look Beautiful Tonight, The Poet, A Perfect Lie, and the Lilah Love series. Prior to publishing, Lisa owned a multistate staffing agency recognized by the Austin Business Journal and was #7 in Entrepreneur magazine’s list of growing women-owned businesses. Among other things, Lisa and Carter discuss being parents to golden retrievers, the differences between writi...
Mar 07, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 124
Matt Coyle is the author of the best-selling Rick Cahill crime novels. He graduated with a degree in English from University of California at Santa Barbara. His foray into crime fiction was delayed for thirty years as he spent time managing a restaurant, selling golf clubs for various golf companies, and in national sales for a sports licensing company. Yesterday’s Echo was published in 2013 and won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the San Diego Book Award for Best Mystery, and the Ben Fr...
Mar 01, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 123
Audrey Gale is the author of the new release, The Human Trial . After twenty-plus years in the banking industry, Audrey pursued her master’s in fiction writing at the University of Southern California. Her first novel, a legal thriller entitled The Sausage Maker’s Daughters , was published under the name A.G.S. Johnson. Her second, The Human Trial , is the first book in a medical-thriller trilogy inspired by Gale’s own experiences with the gap between traditional medicine and approaches based on...
Feb 24, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 122
Katherine Howe, author of A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself, is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning historian and novelist. She is the author of several novels for adults and young adults, has edited two volumes of primary sources for Penguin Classics, and is the co-author with Anderson Cooper of the #1 New York Times bestselling books Vanderbilt and Astor . She has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “CBS This Morning,” NPR’s “Weekend Edi...
Feb 16, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 121
Boyd Morrison is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve thrillers, including six collaborations with Clive Cussler in the Oregon Files series. His first novel, The Ark , was an Indie Next Notable pick. He has a PhD in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech. His latest thriller The Last True Templar is the second book in the Tales of the Lawless Land series co-written with his sister, expert medievalist Beth Morrison. Beth is Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museu...
Feb 08, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 120
Sara DiVello is a true crime writer and the founder and host of the popular author interview series, Mystery and Thriller Mavens. Her latest book, Broadway Butterfly: A Thriller , received starred reviews from Library Journal and Book List , was a CBS New York Book Club pick, an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of Summer, was featured in Vanity Fair, and much more. Among other things, Sara and Carter discuss why they wanted to start podcasts, the transition from a corporate career to being an auth...
Feb 02, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 119
Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Cruel Angels Past Sundown, Queen of Teeth , A Light Most Hateful , The Worm and His Kings series, and other books of dark fiction. She is also the author of over 100 short stories, and her non-fiction appears in Writer’s Digest , Library Journal , CrimeReads , and others. Among other things, Hailey and Carter discuss how to navigate conversations and relationships with editors, outlining during the writing process, and Hailey’s experiences ...
Jan 24, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 118
Abbott Kahler (formerly Karen Abbott) is the author of four New York Times bestselling works of narrative nonfiction, including The Ghosts of Eden Park and Then Came the Devil . Her debut novel, Where You End , is inspired by a true story of identical twins and amnesia. USA Today once named her “a pioneer of sizzle history.” Among other things, Abbott and Carter discuss Abbott’s early commitment to getting published, the thriller genre and its changes over time, and her experience moving from wr...
Jan 17, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 117
Novelist Kathleen Willett has a B.A. in English from Holy Cross and a M.A. in English Education from Columbia University. An English teacher who grew up in New Jersey and London, Kathleen lives in Manhattan with her husband, two daughters, and a cat named Mr. Sparkles. Willett's debut novel, Mother of All Secrets, was shared by Hoda Kotb on The Today Show as one of her favorite new books. Among other things, Kathleen and Carter discuss the benefits of reading as a kid, the emotions generated by ...
Jan 12, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 116
Novelist Emily Smith is a New Jersey native, who pursued her BFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU and her MFA in Creative Writing at American University. Her electrifying debut novel, You Always Come Back, was released in late 2023 to rave reviews. Among other things, Emily and Carter discuss Emily’s desire to be a writer from age four, what should be taught during an MFA, and developing an online presence. At the end of their conversation, they make up a ghost hunting story starting with a sentence f...
Jan 05, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 115
Elise Hart Kipness is a former television sports reporter turned thriller writer. LIGHTS OUT is based on her experience in the high-pressure, adrenaline-pumping world of live TV. In addition to reporting for Fox Sports Network, Elise was a reporter at New York’s WNBC-TV, News 12 Long Island, and the Associated Press. She is currently copresident of Sisters in Crime Connecticut, as well as a member of Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. Among other things, Elise and Ca...
Dec 29, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 114
Entertainment Weekly called Martin Clark “hands down, our finest legal-thriller writer.” The New York Times stated that he is “the thinking man’s John Grisham.” Martin’s novels have appeared on multiple bestseller lists and have been chosen as a New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Editors' Choice, and a Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year. His current release is The Plinko Bounce . Among other things Martin and Carter discuss the getting into the publishing groove as a wri...
Dec 22, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 113
Erin Hoover is the author of two poetry collections, Barnburner and No Spare People . Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry and Best New Poets, and in journals such as Cincinnati Review, Florida Review, Poetry Northwest, and Shenandoah. She lives in rural Tennessee and teaches creative writing at Tennessee Tech. Among other things, Erin and Carter discuss how Erin found herself writing and relating to poetry, the differences between prose and poetry, and the process of putting a co...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 112
Stephen G. Michaud is an internationally recognized author, co-author, reporter, and editor whose decades-long career credits comprise twenty books and multiple contributions to periodicals. The New York Daily News named The Only Living Witness (a biography of serial killer Ted Bundy co-authored with Hugh Aynesworth) one of the ten best true-crime books ever written. Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer , a compilation of Michaud and Aynesworth’s death-row interviews with Bundy, was a New York...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 111
Edward Cahill is Professor of English at Fordham University, specializing in the literature of British America and the early US republic; more recently, he has been teaching modern and contemporary fiction and writing novels. His debut novel, Disorderly Men , was published by Empire State Editions for Fordham University Press in September 2023 as the press’s first original literary fiction release. Among other things, Edward and Carter discuss how screenwriting teaches editing skills, the challe...
Dec 01, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Hannah Nicole Maehrer—or as TikTok Knows her, @hannahnicolemae—is a fantasy romance author and BookToker with a propensity for villains. When she’s not creating bookish comedy skits about Villains and Assistants, she’s writing to Taylor Swift songs. Her biggest passions in life include romance, magic, laughter, and finding ways to include them all in everything she creates. Most days you can find her with her head in the clouds and a pen in her hand. Among other things, Hannah and Carter discuss...
Nov 16, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 109
Carol Dunbar is a former actor, playwright, and coloratura soprano who left her life in the city to move off the grid. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The South Carolina Review, Midwestern Gothic, and on Wisconsin Public Radio. Her most recent release is A Winter’s Rime , a harrowing and emotional novel set-in rural Wisconsin. Among other things, Carol and Carter discuss the psychology of writing and curiosity about other lives, the relationships writers have with their character...
Nov 03, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Heather Levy is a born and bred Oklahoman and graduate of Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth MFA program for creative writing. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including CrimeReads and NAILED Magazine. The New York Times called her Anthony-nominated debut Walking Through Needles “a spellbinding novel at the nexus of power, desire, and abuse that portends a bright future” and the L.A. Times called it “a standout for its frank but sensitive exploration of trauma and desire.” Her novel...
Oct 26, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Amy Weinland Daughters is a humorist, a freelance sportswriter, and an author. Her second book, Dear Dana: That Time I Went Crazy and Wrote All 580 of My Facebook Friends a Handwritten Letter (She Writes Press), was released May 17, 2022. Currently a resident of Tomball, Texas, Amy, and her family have also lived in Blackwell, England, and Dayton, Ohio. Among other things, Carter and Amy discuss how living in other places (beyond where you grew up) helps foster empathy, the development of unders...
Oct 12, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 106
In a special live episode of Making It Up (recorded at the Broomfield Public Library auditorium in Colorado), Carter takes the stage with mystery author extraordinaire Emily Littlejohn ( Shatter the Night ), teacher, author and artist R. Alan Brooks ( The Burning Metronome ), and acclaimed novelist Erika T. Wurth ( White Horse ). Among other things, Carter and the authors discuss their different journeys to becoming authors, how the industry has gotten harder in the last 50 years, and how they a...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Michael Katz Krefeld started his career directing a series of short films, before he moved on to writing scripts for several TV drama-series including the Emmy awarded Nikolaj & Juliet. He debuted as a novelist with Before the Storm (Før Stormen) which won the Danish Crime Academy’s first novel-award in 2007. Since 2013, Michael’s work has won numerous awards including Crime Book of the Year and Mofibo, and has been published in 20 countries with more than one million copies sold alone in De...
Sep 29, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Carl Vonderau writes domestic suspense and thrillers. His novel, Murderabilia, won the Lefty award in 2020 for Best Debut Novel, the San Diego Book award for Best Mystery, and the Kops-Fetherling Gold Phoenix award. Carl's latest novel is domestic suspense published by Oceanview on August 15, called Saving Myles. A former banker, he worked in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and North Africa. He now writes and helps nonprofits through Social Venture Partners. Among other things, Carter and Carl ...
Sep 21, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Chris Riley lives near Sacramento, California, vowing one day to move back to the Pacific Northwest. In the meantime, he teaches special education, writes stories, and hides from the blasting heat for six months of the year. He has had over 100 short stories and essays published in various magazines and anthologies, and across multiple genres. He is the author of the literary suspense novels The Sinking of the Angie Piper and The Broken Pines. Among other things, Carter and Chris discuss the dif...
Sep 14, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Lindsay Cameron worked as a corporate lawyer for many years in Vancouver and New York City before leaving the law behind to write books. She is the author of Biglaw and Just One Look . She lives in New York City and just released her latest book, No One Needs to Know , in May. Among other things, Carter and Lindsay discuss the similarities between legal writing and writing fiction, the publishing industry as a debut author vs after you’ve been published, and how to create the desire in readers t...
Sep 07, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 101
It's hard to believe but this is the 100TH EPISODE of Making It Up! Thanks to all of you for your support over the past 2 1/2 years, and I'm looking forward to producing many more episodes. And for this special centennial episode we have a guest who has been called the "Spanish Stephen King." Javier Castillo grew up in Malaga, where he always dreamed about becoming a writer. On his daily 48-minute commute to his job in finance, he used to spend every moment of the train journey writing chapters ...
Aug 31, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 100
