Welcome to The Writing Coach. On this podcast, I speak with the instructors, editors, coaches, and mentors who help writers and authors create their art, build their audience, and sell their work.

In episode #105 of The Writing Coach podcast, I speak with David Puretz.

David Puretz is the author of The Escapist, a debut literary fiction novel exploring themes of mental health and self-discovery.He is the Editorial Director of the literary journal Global City Review and the creator and founder of the quarterly burly bird zine, which is sponsored by Fortroyal Foundation, a non-profit for the conservation and preservation of the arts. Puretz received an MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York and was a trailblazer for Ithaca College’s BA in Writing. Currently, Puretz resides in New York City where he teaches writing at Yeshiva University. Kaye is the author of Your Book, Your Brand: The Step-by-Step Guide to Launching Your Book and Boosting Your Sales, and the creator of Branding Outside the Box, where she helps authors and entrepreneurs become more memorable.

Click below to listen now:

The Writing Coach Episode #105 Show Notes

Visit David’s website here.

Get your copy of The Escapist:

Episode Transcript

Hello beloved listeners and welcome back to The Writing Coach Podcast.

I am recording this episode . . . wow . . . Canada and the States and the world is in the midst of the Corona virus pandemic. The United States declared a state of emergency yesterday. Things are pretty crazy here in Canada. The prime minister’s wife has the virus. Schools have been shut down. My kids are going to be home for at least the next three weeks. Things are scary. Things are strange.

And I wasn’t sure whether I should even put out a podcast. My guest today is David Puretz. He and I had a great conversation earlier this week and in the interview you’ll hear he alludes to the Corona virus, He’s in New York and things were happening there. That was, I dunno, we recorded this two or three days ago and just so much has happened in that time here in Canada that . .  it’s just . . . we’re taking things day by day here.

It’s kind of a moving fast. And so I was thinking to myself, should I even put out a podcast episode this week? It’s seems kind of silly or I don’t know if there’s, there’s bigger things going on right now then just putting out a podcast. But then I was thinking about, you know, what, why do I do this podcast and why do, uh, any of the people I speak with on the show and why do I work with writers and why do writers do the work that they do? What is the value of storytelling in the time in the age of a pandemic? And I thought about a bit and I think it’s actually really important on the most simple level. My, myself and my family, we’re probably going to be at home basically quarantined in our house for the next three weeks it looks like.

You know, as much as we love quality time and discussion with each other, uh, we’re going to need some entertainment during that time.