Many people have shared the challenges of transitioning from writing for themselves to writing pieces they hope will find readers and an audience As I was pondering this delicate balance and the mindset shift that accompanies it, my thoughts went immediately to Trina O'Gorman. I've followed and admired her for years under her account @ninjatraveling. She began this account as part of a conversation about creating visibility online she had with the class she was teaching at Montclair State Univer...
Sep 17, 2020•56 min
The Secret Library Podcast Season Three begins September 17th. The theme this season is: The Nourished Writer. In crazy times, I couldn't think of anything more important than taking good care of ourselves as writers. Can't wait to see you back here next week with our first episode. https://www.secretlibrarypodcast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...
Sep 10, 2020•3 min
And so, we come to the end of Season 2. It has been quite an adventure releasing this season in such a crazy time, but I've never been more grateful to be a podcaster than I am right now. I hope this season has been useful to you, whether you're currently revising a project or not. As I share in this solo wrap-up, revision was my achilles heel for so many years. If I can remove the fear I had for anyone else, I'll have achieved my goal for this season. Get the inside scoop on my own revision pro...
May 14, 2020•47 min
Memoir presents a tricky twist on the revision process: the challenge of memory. Susannah Conway is back on the show this week to discuss revision and memoir. Writing about real life presents a special challenge: recreating scenes and mining our past to get the emotion of the moment on the page. No matter how much we journal, no matter how intense these moments in our lives were, they are, by necessity, reconstructions. Susannah and I discuss her revision process for her memoir This I Know, cove...
May 07, 2020•53 min
Simon Van Booy has been, since late 2018, my editor and mentor for this novel. I first met him when he appeared on the podcast and I knew he understood the sort of book I wanted to write. In this episode, we talk about the challenges faced and the mindset necessary to keep going and reach the end of your book. My work with Simon has been instrumental in writing a better book, staying focused on completing and learning that revision really is a fun and empowering part of writing a book. In this e...
Apr 30, 2020•54 min
What a gift to have Sue Monk Kidd on the show. Even with decades of experience, and numerous bestsellers to her name, Sue Monk Kidd was so intimidated by the idea of writing a novel about the fictional wife of Jesus that she didn't write it the first time it came to her. She waited nearly ten years before it popped up again in her mind, and only then did she write The Book of Longings. As we talked about story, revision, and the way the book came together, we kept circling back to character, and...
Apr 23, 2020•49 min
Years ago, Stephanie Scott read a news story about a woman who had been murdered in a case that involved a marriage breakup agent. This industry, and the fact that the marriage breakup agent claimed to love the woman he was accused of murdering, stuck in her mind. After a ton of hard work and research so extensive on the Japanese legal system that she was made a member of the British Japanese Law association, her novel is coming out. But what does it mean to write a novel that originates in fact...
Apr 16, 2020•49 min
Julie Parker is quite the force: author, podcaster, and creator of the Beautiful You Coaching Academy. On this episode, we talk about everything from the practical steps she took during revision, to the relationship she has with her intuition and how that carried her all the way through the process. Not every step is easy when writing a book, and Julie's wisdom will help you navigate the entire process for yourself. I know you'll love this episode! Happy listening. Link to show notes: https://ww...
Apr 09, 2020•49 min
I fell in love with Hannah Dennison the moment I met her. And I had had to take the Underground, two trains, a taxi, a tiny plane the size of a bathtub and ride in the back of a little trick to get to the writing retreat I took with her off the coast of Cornwall. It was worth it. Hannah has a list for every situation. Since she writes mystery, they have titles like "ways to kill someone" and "methods for catching a killer," but she's also brilliant at character development. The tip that made me ...
Apr 02, 2020•51 min
Revise like an editor. When considering revision, I knew we had to bring in an editor to speak to the nuances of editing vs revision, as well as the places where they overlap. Tasha has been on the show before, helping us heat up our sex scenes as well as plan out NaNoWriMo, but she also works as an editor, so I'm delighted to have her back on to provide the editing point of view. It can be tough to know what to cut and what to keep. In this conversation we talk about mistakes people often make ...
Mar 26, 2020•33 min
I cannot think of a more perfect episode to release this week than Manda Scott's. We recorded this a few months ago, and even then we strayed into a subject that will speak loud and clear to everyone listening this week: how is it possible to stay focused and motivated when things are tough out in the world. Manda and I were discussing her ability to persevere in writing her most recent novel, Treachery of Spies, despite having to start one of her dual timelines over repeatedly. In addition, we ...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Every time Sarah Selecky and I get together to talk about writing, I feel a little high afterward. This conversation was no exception and, in many ways, this one had me buzzing more than any of the ones we've had before. Sarah was the first person to convince me that revision wasn't a dirty word and that it could even be something enjoyable. The thing that gets in the way of enjoying the process is the pervasive belief that revision is something you make happen. That as the writer you have to ta...
Mar 12, 2020•51 min
When people speak about revision, it's usually long after the book has come out. I wanted to make sure that we spoke about revision from the inside this season, so I was delighted that Olivia and Meghan from Marginally, my writing podcast pals, were open to coming on and sharing about the projects they are currently revising. Once again, you get the insight of two guests in one episode. We discuss perfectionism, the desire to just get the first draft right, and the times when the problem isn't t...
Mar 05, 2020•53 min
I have abandoned more than one novel because the historical research terrified me. When we got the the topic of historical research and revision, I knew I needed an expert to bring on. Luckily for us, historian Sarah-Jane Stratford has a new novel out, Red Letter Days, about the impact of the Black List on women writers. Her previous novel, Radio Girls, was about the early days of the BBC Radio and the lives of women working there, so she was the perfect guest. In this episode, we talk about bal...
Feb 27, 2020•43 min
When Chip Cheek first came on the show, he told me a crazy story about his first draft When writing his novel Cape May, Chip wasn’t 100% certain what time period it would be set in. So he wrote each chapter in a different era and, when he was finished, he met with his writing group and they all discussed the pros + cons of each, eventually settling on the 1950s. The amazing thing is that, to us readers it feels like it couldn’t have been set any other time. This is the beauty of revision. When w...
Feb 19, 2020•40 min
Wow am I glad Rachael Herron and J Thorn came on for this season. In this conversation, we get two author perspectives for the price of one, covering both the underwriter perspective and the overwriter. In addition, we go through their revision processes step by step from reviewing the complete foundation draft the first time to how they work through and make all the edits to their manuscript. Whether your book is over 100,000 words and you feel like you’re drowning, or you’re the type to freque...
Feb 12, 2020•48 min
Season Two of the podcast begins today with one of my favorite guests from the first half of the show: Jade Chang. Author of The Wangs vs. The World, her novel has so many plates to keep spinning: multiple perspectives, historical events, characters of many different ages and experiences, and the hardest thing of all: humor. I had to know how Jade succeeded in balancing all these complex elements in a book that is so delightful and inspiring to read. I know you'll enjoy this episode, because Jad...
Feb 05, 2020•45 min
For quite a long time, I've wondered if we could pull off a live episode. So when Elizabeth Duvivier's debut novel was due to come out and my friend Susannah Conway floated the idea of my coming over to London to moderate Elizabeth's book launch, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to realize this dream. I have to say, it worked out even better than I could have imagined. Elizabeth's book is gorgeous, the audience that arrived at the Poetry Cafe could not have been more perfect, and the audio...
Nov 14, 2019•1 hr
This July, I happened to meet Philippa Gregory at a party. Let's be clear - I never dreamed I would write a sentence like that, especially after moving away from Los Angeles. Even more surprising, I managed to have a coherent conversation with her about books and writing, to the point where she generously invited me over to record an episode talking about her latest book, Tidelands, and writing in general. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a friend's microphone and made my way across the city to ...
Aug 29, 2019•43 min
Three and a half years into hosting The Secret Library, something changed. I started this show in the spring of 2016, eager to crack the code on writing books. There was plenty of information about craft, but not so much about the fortitude needed to sit down day after day and actually write and publish something meaningful. I’d been writing and discarding drafts of novels for nearly a decade and wanted to discover the truth about writing books from the inside. Now, over 150 episodes in, I know ...
Jul 04, 2019•39 min
The idea of an emotional outline is one of the greatest discoveries I've had while recording an episode. Speaking with Meg Wolitzer was fantastic, as she's not only a successful novelist, but also on the faculty for an MFA program. I love writers who are able to discuss the process from multiple viewpoints, as it is this overlap that often brings huge insight. Of course, we all have thought about making outlines for plot and to lay out the major moments in the story. But it was new to me in this...
Jun 27, 2019•38 min
I had read many of Ruth Reichl's books by the time she came on the show. I adored Tender at the Bone and remembered it from years ago. My husband and I count the recipe for grilled cheese in My Kitchen Year among our very favorites. I had wanted to interview Ruth about her incredible ability to draw the reader into the story as if you were sitting at the same table with her, listening. So imagine my delight upon hearing about the release of Save Me the Plums. I devoured the book and knew it was ...
Jun 20, 2019•42 min
Greta Solomon found an amazing writing technique the last place she expected: in training to be a songwriter. In her new book, Heart Sass and Soul, Greta shares a vast array of incredible journaling techniques to help you connect to your true writing voice, but my favorite of them all was called Object Writing. Greta and I go through it in detail and explore how this method - well known to songwriters - helped her reconnect to joy in the writing process. I was ready to rush out and try it the mi...
Jun 13, 2019•46 min
When people kept asking me about joining writing groups, I knew who needed to come on the show. Judy Reeves has been leading writing groups, online and off, for decades. In this episode, we talk about setting your intentions for a group, the pros and cos of various formats and how the find a group that will help take your writing forward. We were both so excited after recording that we were ready to leap into action and join a new group right away- I’m sure you will be too. Happy hunting! For fu...
May 30, 2019•44 min
Anna Pitoniak has the ultimate inside experience: she was a big five editor before publishing her first novel. Now that she's back with a second novel, it was so helpful to talk to Anna about how knowing how editing works behind the scenes impacted her writing. Many of us fear editing, and worry that someone else reading our work will result it it getting torn apart. Anna had first-hand experience of a productive collaborative editing experience with her authors, so she looked forward to editing...
May 23, 2019•45 min
Allison Pataki never planned to write a memoir. As a successful historical fiction author, Allison was very happy researching the worlds of people from the past and staying far from her personal life when writing. But when her husband experienced a sudden stroke in his early 30s, leaving her his caregiver as well as a new mother in the span of a few months, everything changed. Allison began this book just for her husband. She wrote him a letter every day the first year of his recovery so that he...
May 16, 2019•45 min
In the first draft of his novel, Cape May, Chip Cheek made a beautiful mess. Chip wasn't sure what era he wanted his novel to be set in, so during his first draft, he wrote the book in all of them. How might he do that, you may ask. As he explained it, he started the first chapter in one time period, then tried another option in the next chapter and then so on through the whole book. He checked in with how each time felt, took the options to his writing group, and then decided based on which tim...
May 09, 2019•45 min
When I heard the words "encrypted diary" I knew I had to speak to Anne Choma about Anne Lister. I could not put Anne Choma's book down. So many times, when I've seen a film or show about a historical figure and I get hooked, I immediately run to whatever source material to dive deeper and find out more about the person in real life. How often I have wished for a book like this, which goes deep into the real life of a historical figure portrayed on the screen. As the show wasn't yet out, I was re...
May 02, 2019•45 min
Often, the way you treat sex in a book determines where it is shelved in the shop. If the sex is too exciting, or strays outside the usual fare your book could be moved to the Erotica section or even find itself excluded from your neighborhood bookshop. I have always found this fascinating, as no matter how violent your book is, or how graphic a murder your include, there isn't the same risk as with representing a wider range of sexual experiences. For this reason, I was eager to have Saskia Vog...
Apr 25, 2019•47 min
What happens when your editor asks you to change a major plot point? Martine Fournier Watson was faced with a curveball late in the publishing process with her first novel, The Dream Peddler. Even after selling the manuscript to a major publishing house, her editor had notes that involved changing an important part of the plot. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to pull off what they were asking, but decided to trust their instincts and go for it. In this conversation, we go behind the scenes and ...
Apr 18, 2019•44 min
