This special episode is brought to you in collaboration with Yarra Valley Writers Festival for the series I Didn't Plan it This Way: Conversations about misguided moments, failed ideas and books that stayed in the bottom draw.



In this conversation, Kate Mildenhall talks with author Meg Mason about how her latest novel SORROW AND BLISS went from broken book to international bestseller. 



Meg Mason is one of the guests appearing at the 2021 Yarra Valley Writers Festival taking place July 16 - 18 in Warburton. Tickets and full program here. 

S4 Ep117: YVWF: I Didn't Plan it That Way with Meg Mason

A podcast about the first time…you publish a book.

One part reality show, one part writers’ master class. Novelists Katherine Collette (https://www.katherinecollette.com/) (The Helpline, The Competition) and Kate Mildenhall (https://katemildenhall.com/) (Skylarking, The Mother Fault, The Hummingbird Effect) discuss the feels and logistics of writing and publishing and speak to Australian and international writers about their books and creative process.

Now in its sixth season, The First Time podcast has features more than 200 authors including industry icons Helen Garner, Claire G Coleman, Christos Tsiolkas, Tony Birch, Sarah Winman and George Saunders.

The First Time Podcast includes Featured Book segments supported by a range of Australian publishers.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Books

Brigid Delaney is currently a political speechwriter. She was a journalist for The Guardian, and wrote popular weekly column, 'Brigid Delaney's Diary',’ which we little a little about in this interview. She wrote that column for eight years. It is so good. Like unbelievably and consistently funny, it’s stood the test of time. Read the cheese story and the mansion story mentioned in the episode—they’re incredible!  



Brigid also wrote Wellmania, the book that the Netflix series is based. But the main thing that Katherine and Brigid talk a lot in this interview about is stoicism, which is the focus of her most recent book, Reasons Not to Worry. 



Katherine has wanted to speak to Brigid about stoicism for a long time. Brigid wrote an article about stoicism when COVID first started, and it felt like it offered a sort of solace that wasn’t anywhere else. The concepts are so useful, particularly for creatives and people putting art/writing into the world. 



Check out show notes for this episode at katherinecollette.com, subscribe via your podcast app or get in touch via Instagram @katherinecollettewriter.



This episode is sponsored by Fremantle Press and Marie O'Rourke's book 'Kintsugi'. 

S6 Ep269: Interview: Author/writer Brigid Delaney (The Next Step)

It's surprising how much the discussion about thoughts and thinking in basketball can apply to creativity. This episode is with BriAnna Garza, a professional basketball shooting coach. She currently coaches players in the (American) NBA, WNBA (as well as the NCAA and youth players) on both shot development and thought development. 



BriAnna is also the founder/owner of Shooters Shoot— a mentorship program that focuses on the same two things. The training model was inspired by BriAnna’s passion for coaching both the science and the mindset of shooting.



Katherine first learned of BriAnna via Instagram. You MUST follow her! True to her philosophy, her Insta is half basketball and half thought development. It's super interesting and a lot of what she talks about can be adapted to the creative realm. 



Katherine and BriAnna discuss A LOT including: 

- neutral thinking 

- the role of emotion  

- visualisation - how to to do it and how to get the most out of it 

- the importance of a 'culture of error' 

- the Pygmalion Effect

and more... 



Many listeners to the show would have heard Katherine talk about Ben Crowe, BriAnna reminds her of Ben Crowe, except she’s young – not that he’s old -- and a woman. But she has a similar way of thinking that's about inspiring people to do and be their best and live with purpose. 



KC is such a big fan of BriAnna and thinks you will be too, after hearing her speak.



Check out show notes for this episode at katherinecollette.com, subscribe via your podcast app or get in touch via Instagram @katherinecollettewriter. 



This episode is sponsored by New South and Anna Jacobson's book 'How to Knit a Human'.  

S6 Ep268: Interview: (NBA, WNBA) basketball shooting coach BriAnna Garza


Jack Druce is a comedian. Katherine thinks he's the best comedian in Australia (he's also the most humble). If you have the chance to see his stand up, GO. He's not at the Melbourne Comedy Festival this year unfortunately, but you can see his stand up special Rat Paradise on YouTube. It featured in New York Magazine. 



Katherine gets excited telling people about Jack Druce because he’s genuinely hilarious and she knows they’re going to like him if they go see him, and somehow she thinks this reflects well on her. As if people will go to one of his shows and enjoy his comedy but mostly what they’ll take away from the experience is the thought ‘Wow Katherine has great taste’... 



Jack has headlined shows nationwide, including Splendour in the Grass.  He’s written for Channel 10’s The Project and appeared at comedy festivals all over Australia. Since 2022, Jack’s been building a following making high quality sketch comedy on Youtube.



Check out show notes for this episode at katherinecollette.com, subscribe via your podcast app or get in touch via Instagram @katherinecollettewriter. 

S6 Ep267: Interview: Comedian Jack Druce (The Next Step)

This interview is with Jessica Weisberg. Jessica Weisberg is an award-winning writer and producer. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Harper’s, and Atavist, among other publications, and been nominated for a National Magazine Award. She ran the features unit at Vice News Tonight on HBO, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, and is a senior producer at Serial Podcast.  Her first book, Asking for a Friend, came out in 2018.



Katherine read it last year and LOVED it. The book is about advice givers – people who have offered up advice to others throughout time.



Some examples of prominent advice givers featured are: 

Dale Carnegie who wrote, How to Win Friends and Influence People 
Cheryl Strayed, author of Dear Sugar
Dear Abby, a popular newspaper column in 1950’s
Life coach Martha Back 

The books is super interesting, as is Jessica. We talk about a bunch of stuff including the fact that her intention for the book was to take advice givers seriously.



Check out show notes for this episode, subscribe for regular updates or get in touch via katherinecollette.com or Instagram @katherinecollettewriter. 






S6 Ep266: ADVICE GIVING: Jessica Weisberg (The Next Step)

This interview is with Mia Freedman. Mia Freedman needs no introduction! But we'll introduce her anyway.



Mia Freedman is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Mamamia Women’s Media Company in Australia.She very famously started Mamamia sitting at her kitchen table in the the aftermath of walking away from a big job in TV that was a TOTAL disaster.



Mamamia now has an audience of more than six and a half million women every month and is also the largest women’s podcast network in the world, with over 173 million listens and 52 different shows. Mia has written multiple books, include Strife, which was the inspiration for the recently released TV series of the same name on Binge.



She also founded Lady Start up, is a business activation course for women.



She’s great on Instagram and she got a newsletter called Babble that might even be home to her best work.



Mia Freedman is someone who’s consistently ahead of the curve, she takes very interesting next steps. And she’s a big of supporter of women – that’s a thing that comes across in this interview.








S4 Ep117: YVWF: I Didn't Plan it That Way with Meg Mason

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