The Bleeders: about book writing & publishing

In today's episode, Write or Die Tribe founder Kailey Brennan DelloRusso explains what she's learned while writing her untitled novel-in-progress (which got its start during NaNoWriMo!). We discuss the benefits of having a writing accountability buddy, the thought (and plot)-provoking questions she gleaned from "The 90-Day Novel'' by Alan Watt, as well as the sublime Zen of "holding it loosely." Kailey shares her inspiration for Write or Die Tribe and how to get involved in the community. Plus, we end the episode with a new edition of Prompt Me, Daddy, so make sure you stick around to the end to get a lesson from Kailey (shout-out to Matt Bell - subscribe to his Substack). Follow Kailey on Twitter @WriteorDieTribe.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Bassey Ikpi’s “I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying” is one of my all-time favorite books. She grew up thinking authors were magicians, but it turns out she knows how to cast the spell too! In this episode, Bassey shares how the book proposal was a totally different book but working on it amid a mental health crisis led her down a more authentic path. Bassey talks about having an emotional memory, emotional accuracy vs. chronological accuracy, how she found her agent, the importance of a good editor, her book getting optioned for TV, what’s on her bucket list, and so much more... This episode is a juicy one! Follow Bassey on Twitter @Basseyworld.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

If you love writing and publishing advice as much as I do, this episode is going to make you horny, baby! To celebrate our 13 amazing guests from this summer, I'm dropping the first Bleeders anthology — chock-full of sage wisdom on building community, establishing a daily practice, editing yourself, and all kinds of helpful writing and publishing mindset tips. Big thanks to the following authors for sharing their experience:
Samantha Allen
Halley Sutton
Chloe Caldwell
Amanda McNeil
Hannah Howard
Bridgette Bianca
Chelsea Martin
Emmy Olea
Elle Nash
Caroline Shannon-Karasik
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Omar Mouallem
Shelby Hinte

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Today's guest is Shelby Hinte. I know Shelby because we took a Chloe Caldwell workshop together this spring (all roads lead back to Chloe on this podcast, lol). In this episode, Shelby explains her writing process and query experience for her work-in-progress, Howling Women. There are so many priceless little takeaways from this interview — like the importance of interpreting notes through your own voice and, oh yeah, writing is supposed to be fun! Plus, we end the episode with a new edition of Prompt Me, Daddy, so make sure you stick around to the end to get a lesson from Shelby. Follow Shelby on Twitter @Shelbyhinte.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Omar Mouallem wrote the historical travel memoir "Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas." However, he struggled to tackle that subject matter without finding a new relationship with the religion he'd grown up with and apart from. Omar dives into the whole book writing process, from getting his start as a ghostwriter to how he landed his book deal, how he found extra funding to cover the many trips he had to take around the world, and the editing process with Simon & Schuster. Follow Omar on Twitter @OmarMouallem.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Today’s guest comes all the way from Africa! Ghanaian author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah has such a cool story about how she used her blog as a launch pad for publishing her first book. Nana shares the whole process, including conducting the interviews, writing a book proposal, how she landed her agent, and more. Plus, her best tip for writers trying to get published and how listening back to her interviews and transcribing them actually helped her craft each narrative. Follow Nana on Twitter @nas009.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Today's guest is Caroline Shannon-Karasik. I know Caroline because we took Catapult’s 12-Month Essay Generator together, led by Chloe Caldwell. In this episode, she fills me in on what she’s done with the manuscript since then. Caroline drops some serious wisdom on her writing process, how to approach a rewrite, and giving yourself guilt-free time to research. She also reads an excerpt from her Work in Progress, a hybrid memoir entitled "Mother-Eaten." Plus, we end the episode with the first-ever edition of Prompt Me, Daddy, so make sure you stick around to the end to get a lesson from Caroline. Follow Caroline on Twitter @CSKarasik.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Today's guest is Elle Nash, author of Animals Eat Each Other, Nudes, Gag Reflex, and the upcoming novel Deliver Me. This episode is an interesting peek into Elle's creative process as we talk through her body of work, the North star of writing to your taste, developing her voice alongside her editing chops, how she landed the coolest agent ever, and more. Follow Elle on Instagram and Twitter @saderotic.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Today's guest is Emmy Olea. I first discovered Emmy's writing through her podcast Crumbs about Emmy's dating experiences as a trans woman recovering from alcoholism whose mom was a coyote and whose grandma ran drugs for the Tijuana cartel. It's a wild story so well-written and poignantly told. When I learned that Crumbs was actually just a sliver of her larger memoir, I knew I had to have her on Work in Progress. So today, we're digging into "Emmy, Like the Award," which even has an endorsement from Russell Brand, her incredible story of getting it on the page, and where she's at in the publishing process. Plus, you’ll hear Emmy read an excerpt complete with sound design. Follow Emmy on Twitter @emmyolea11.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.

Today's guest is Chelsea Martin. I adore indie queens like Chelsea. She has been incredibly prolific thus far in her literary career, and I love her "just do it" approach to publishing. We talk about how to balance perfectionist tendencies with being productive and putting out a lot of work, how to deal with a shitty publisher, the joys of having a good agent, and more. Follow Chelsea on Instagram @chelsea_martin_.

Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome

The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.