In this final installment of my interview with Octavia Randolph, author of the hugely popular Circle of Ceridwen saga, a meticulously researched series of 11 books set in 9th century England and scandinavia, we get a sneak peek in her 12th book in the saga,and what she knows at this moment about where her personal throughline is leading her next.

She shared:

- The absolutely incredible sounding retreat she hosted for readers last year in Gotland, where she now lives and where many of her novels are set

- The ninth century style feast–wherever everyone was in period costume–that was the cherry on top of that retreat

- Why she looks to Taylor Swift as a creative role model

- The big shift she can sense is coming, although she can’t say more, but she did mentioned “a possibility of a television series” – and what she’s doing to stay grounded as it continues to unfold

- The Henry James novel she re-reads each summer

- How three cups of coffee is the perfect number of cups of coffee

- The lunch she has had nearly every day for nearly 40 years

Visit Octavia at octavia.net, or on the Circle of Ceridwen Saga private Facebook group.

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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

This is the second part of my interview with Octavia Randolph, author of the hugely popular Circle of Ceridwen saga, a meticulously researched series of 11 books set in 9th century England and scandinavia. Octavia joined me from her home on Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden that played a prominent role in Viking history and in several of her books.

Today we covered the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you’re not fully conscious of it.

- How identifying with your characters is great, until you need to write scenes where they face hardship

- Octavia gives a gosh-darn masterclass on building a community of readers NOT TO BE MISSED

- The testy letter she received from a reader and how she responded

- The critical importance of defining success for yourself, and not by looking at what other people have achieved

- How writing her books has made her a better person

- How she uses runes to stay connected to her characters and consider possibilities in her own life

Visit Octavia at octavia.net, or on the Circle of Ceridwen Saga private Facebook group.

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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

This week I’m talking with Octavia Randoplh, a prolific and wildly successful author of historical novels and essays. She’s best known for her Circle of Ceridwen saga, a meticulously researched series of 11–soon to be 12–books set in 9th century England and scandinavia.

Octavia now makes her home on Gotland, a small island off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea where some of her novels are set and which was an important way station for the Vikings as the traveled East and West from Scandinavia.

She is also a devoted needleworker and mosaic artist, and an unabashed cat person.

We covered:

- Why ‘Viking’ isn’t really the right word to describe the people from Scandinavia who explored far and wide a millennia and a half ago

- How a fascination with physical artifacts from England’s early history put her on the path to be a historical fiction author

- How she found her way to massive publishing success despite having great agents and getting only rejections from traditional publishing houses

- The difference between self-publishing and independent publishing–and a peek inside the cast of folks who make it possible for Octavia to edit and publish her books

- How a daily morning walk forms the basis of how she gets her writing done–that, and talking to herself as she writes

Visit Octavia at octavia.net, or on the Circle of Ceridwen Saga private Facebook group.

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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

In this final part of my interview with Hayley Krischer, journalist and author of the just-released “Where Are You, Echo Blue?”--the juiciest beach read of the year about a missing Hollywood starlet on the cusp of Y2K and the obsessed journalist determined to find here--we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions.

** This week's episodes are a replay. **

We talked about:

- The incredible allure of hot tubs

- How re-watching “The Actor’s Studio with James Lipton” was a key part of her research process for “Where Are You, Echo Blue?”

- What she learned from studying actors about getting in to the psychology of her characters

- The Instagram influencer who’s helping Hayley understand her perimenopausal body and learning how to take care of herself

- Thinking ahead to when her youngest child is out of the house

- A preview of both her YA novel that’s coming out in 2025 (think Charles Manson meets Goop meets teenage girls) and the adult novel she’s writing next

- The 620-page novel Hayley read in four days because she couldn’t put it down

- The exact morning beverage that fuels Hayley, and the (dark) song that gets her fired up when she needs a kick in the pants

Follow Hayley on Instagram and Threads @haylerkrischer

Follow Hayley on TikTok @hayleykrischerauthor

Hayley’s website: hayleykrischer.net

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AirDoctorPro. Use promo code KATE at airdoctorpro.com to save up to $300 off an air purifier and receive a free 3-year warranty (an $87 value).

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

In this episode I'm talking with Hayley Krischer--author of the upcoming “Where Are You, Echo Blue?”, which dropped yesterday, July 16th, and is poised to be the beach read of the summer--about the squishier side of creativity, including:

** This week's episodes are a replay. **

- The steps Hayley takes–and the tools she uses–to immerse herself in the world of her novels and inside her characters’ psyches

- What she does when she’s feeling stuck

- How good it feels when you connect with someone who loved your work in the real world

- The YA author Hayley fan-girled all over when she realized he was also an audience member at a reading she was attending

- How writing and editing can feel “horrible,” “like torture”--and the parts that make Hayley feel like jumping for joy

- How her inner critic loves to tell her she should be able to write a novel while also taking five-mile hikes every day

- How the months between when you’re done working on a manuscript and the book is published is a tough time, mentally–and how to navigate it

- The self-care practices helping Hayley through (the journaling practice, the supplements, the breathing exercise that helps her sleep)

- Busting the myth that writers make a lot of money and how hard it is to make a bestseller list

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AirDoctorPro. Use promo code KATE at airdoctorpro.com to save up to $300 off an air purifier and receive a free 3-year warranty (an $87 value).

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

This week I am talking with journalist and novelist Hayley Krischer whose brand new novel drops this week, "Where Are You, Echo Blue?," which is about a journalist's obsessive search for Hollywood's hottest starlet who goes missing on the eve of Y2K.

Hayley has profiled celebrities like Tatum O'Neill, Celine Dion, and Gabrielle Union for places like The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, and Elle.

Hayley's first two novels were for young adults: “Something Happened to Allie Greenleaf” and “The Falling Girls” and they were awesome, about friendship among not necessarily likeable characters.

I for one am very pumped about "Where Are You, Echo Blue?", I think it will be the perfect beach read, like Us Magazine meets Daisy Jones and the Six meets mystery novel.

** This week's episodes are a replay. **

We covered:

- Which former child actor/celebrities Hayley obsessively researched for her upcoming book, “Where Are You, Echo Blue?”

- How she found herself working at the Boston Globe in college and found all the journalists “these grimy, sexy, fascinating people”

- The brilliant wisdom she tells her kids about power of just keeping going.

- The circular editorial career that led her to being an author

- The “pure insanity” that keeps her coming back to the page

- The writing program Hayley signed up for that took the story she’d been working on for 20 years and could never sell and helped her revise it into a form that sold to a major publisher in four days (her first YA novel, “Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf”

- The exact mechanical pencil she used to write her upcoming YA novel that’s coming out in 2025

- The author who inspired Hayley to write a novel in longhand

- Why you should never trust yourself to remember that great idea and the myriad ways Hayley captures those ideas, wherever they may happen

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Big thanks to our sponsor, AirDoctorPro. Use promo code KATE at airdoctorpro.com to save up to $300 off an air purifier and receive a free 3-year warranty (an $87 value).

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

Welcome back to the Finding the Throughline interview with Mark Cecil, author of BUNYAN AND HENRY, OR, THE BEAUTIFUL DESTINY, a re-telling of the folk tales of Paul Bunyan and John Henry that Publisher’s Weekly called “a fun romp with substance.” Mark is also the host of the Thoughtful Bro podcast where he interviews authors in what he calls “Like Inside the Actor’s Studio, but for storytellers.”

In this episode, we find out what Mark is currently working on bringing into existence and what he knows at this moment about where his personal throughline is leading him next. Plus I always end with ask my guests my fast, final five questions about what they’re currently reading and the songs that get them fired up.

We talked about:

- Why he’s crazy for Charlie Chaplin movies

- How to tell if an author loves people or not

- Looking to George Lucas as a model of modern mythmaking

- Being honest about how much time you have for all the various parts of life–like exercise and friendship–and dealing with that reality

- The 12-year-old who made one of Mark’s lifelong dreams come true

- The challenge of writing a book that appeals to a wide range of people

- The “very dark, very twisted” Netflix series he just binged, the song that always makes him smile (it’s now on the “Proven Pick-me-ups from Finding the Throughline playlist on Spotify–look for it!), why September is the best month, and the brunch dish that Mark uses as a bellwether for whether or not a restaurant is good.

Visit Mark at markcecilauthor.com.

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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

In this second part of my interview with Mark Cecil, author of BUNYAN AND HENRY, OR, THE BEAUTIFUL DESTINY we cover the squishier side of writing–the thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that influence the work, including:

Why he considers getting feedback to be like open heart surgery–absolutely vital, yet painful–and ultimately, a time-saver

And, ironically, how devastated he gets by a bad review

How his inner critic loves to tell him, “If you were any good, you’d be successful by now,” and how he deals with that

How making his debut at 46 motivates him

Taking the twisty path instead of the straight path (if that even exists)to what he calls “the beautiful destiny”

In other news, Mark is also the host of “The Thoughtful Bro” podcast where he interviews authors about their latest book. If you’re digging “Finding the Throughline,” you are also going to dig “The Thoughtful Bro,” so go check it out!

Visit Mark at markcecilauthor.com.

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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

This week I’m talking with author and journalist Mark Cecil. Mark’s debut novel BUNYAN AND HENRY, OR, THE BEAUTIFUL DESTINY, a retelling of the folk tales of Paul Bunyan and John Henry, has just come out. (The book was named one of the most anticipated books of 2024 from Goodreads, while Publishers Weekly called it “boisterous and a fun romp with plenty of substance.”) Mark’s articles have been published in LitHub and Writer’s Digest and he’s taught classes on writing and publishing for Grub Street and the Writer’s Loft.

Despite these accolades, Mark had a long, tough road to publishing and he’s learned some really valuable lessons along the way, which he generously shares in a very inspiring way.

We covered:

How Mark is inspired by trying to contribute to a mythology that is uniquely American, and what that means

The six other manuscripts Mark wrote that didn’t end up getting published, and how he dealt with that long road

How he knew he had stumbled on the right idea at last

The genius thing he told himself that helped him keep going despite multiple rejections

How a very frustrating question from an editor launched him on an odyssey of learning the art of storytelling that ultimately led him to the idea of his debut novel

Why he seeks to write every damn day, despite how he’s feeling about himself and his work

How he’ll write anywhere, despite the external–and internal!, conditions he finds himself in

How sports, whether he’s playing, coaching, or watching, helps keep him mentally healthy

Visit Mark at markcecilauthor.com.

For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Air Doctor Pro. Visit airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off an amazing indoor air filter *and* receive a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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

Since this week is both the podcast’s half-birthday and the Fourth of July week--which means you’re more likely to be at a BBQ or the beach and not listening to podcasts--I thought I’d switch things up this week and do one episode where I do a little review of what I've learned and what has stuck with me after the 24 conversations with writers I’ve had thus far.

Thank you for listening! And be sure to check out our sponsor at airdoctorpro.com and use code KATE to save 30% off a new air purifier and get a free three-year warranty (an $84 value).

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