My guest this week is Debbie Urbanski, whose writing focuses on the intersections of horror, fantasy, science fiction, memoir, and often the planet. Her debut novel, “Afterworld,” narrates the last days of the last human on Earth's life, as told by an AI. It was named a best book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times. Her newest book is “Portal Mania”, a collection of short stories that use a combination of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and realism to ask, If you could go anywhere, where would you go? And what happens to the people you leave behind?
We covered:
- The literary journal acceptance that made Debbie feel like, “I think I could do this [whole writing thing]”
- Figuring out what to do after you meet your writing goals
- How Instagram has been a useful tool for building a community of writers
- Figuring out which social media platforms are helpful for you
- How studying poetry makes writing novels harder–and marketing easier
- The business she and her husband run that provides steady income
- What she’s learning about writing from Alfred Hitchcock
- The daily schedule she tries to stick to
- The genres she’s reading for inspiration
- The standing desk, stacks of print outs, and nap strategy she uses to get her writing done
Follow Debbie on Instagram and/or Substack @debbieurbanski
For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.
Thank you for listening!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices