The Inner Loop Radio: A Creative Writing Podcast

The heaviness of summer can bring up those heavy feelings of nostalgia, but when is it time to stop musing and put those feelings on the page? First released in August 2019, J.M. Tyree, author, film critic, and nonfiction editor of the New England Review, joins Rachel and Courtney to discuss just that, as well as how we weave the past and the present into a narrative. Rachel and Courtney delve into their own pasts, Samantha de Trinidad, Stephanie Bento, and LaCole Foots get nostalgic, and Amy Woolard, Paul Fauteux, Whitney Pipkin, Matthew Moniz, and Max Meltzer help us feel that summer rain.

The Inner Loop board member Leeya Mehta catches up with author Linda Chavez for her new sub-series of Just Checking In: Writers with Pets in Solariums. The pair discuss Linda's parrot, her writing project involving a surprising discovery in her past, and some mischievous pet stories.

Linda Chavez is the chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity in Falls Church, VA. She served as director of public liaison in the Reagan White House and as staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She served on the Sub-commission on Human Rights of the U.N. Human Rights Commission from 1992-1996. She is the author of three books, including the memoir An Unlikely Conservative, and numerous articles on public policy, which have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times, among others. Chavez wrote a weekly syndicated column on politics and public policy from 1987-2017. She earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado in 1970 and an M.F.A. from George Mason University in 2012. Her short stories have appeared in Commentary magazine, Red Rock Review and Persimmon Tree. Her forthcoming novel, Guiomar’s Secret is the story of a young woman in 16 th Century Spain who discovers her family are Converso Jews living in the shadow of the Inquisition.

Is all writing inherently political? Co-hosts Rachel Coonce and Abi Newhouse talk with August Author's Corner spotlight Paul Jaskunas about balancing political topics in writing with their own political opinions, feeling trepidation about addressing hot button topics, and some examples of heavy-handed and subtle books involving political topics. Plus, they put their high school government and college rhetoric knowledge to the test in a game where they determine whether a political headline is fact or fiction.

Real-world cultures come up all the time in any genre of writing, but it can be difficult to world-build with something so nuanced. Host Abi Newhouse speaks with The Inner Loop's July Author's Corner spotlight, Diana Rojas, about creating stories from our own cultures.

They cover how time affects culture, how to use specific cultural details to world-build, and they try to untangle ideas about working around cultural generalizations. Plus, they bring a few cultural misconceptions to the table--Abi with Mormonism, and Diana with first-generation Latinos--and discuss how to use those misconceptions to their advantage in their writing.

You can buy Diana's book here: https://bookshop.org/a/101989/9781558859944

Abi catches up with freelance journalist and writer for the 730DC newsletter, Serena Zets. They discuss the DC journalism scene, stories Serena's been working on lately, and how writing creative nonfiction can be a great starting point for journalistic stories.

Andrew Bertaina, author of “One Person Away From You” and the new essay collection “The Body is a Temporary Gathering Place,” suggests inspiration comes from reading. Andrew takes us through a writing prompt that leads him to fictionalize a meeting with his late grandfather in the afterlife. Try negotiating the speculative realm in your own writing, and if you’re stuck, you know what to do: pick up a book and find a line that reminds you why you started writing in the first place.

Finding the right point of view can make or break a story, and in nonfiction, the line of experimentation can be blurry. Hosts Abi Newhouse and Courtney Sexton speak with The Inner Loop’s June Author’s Corner spotlight, Danielle Ariano, about innovative points of view in memoir. They cover the empathy, challenges, and breakthroughs a new point of view can inspire, and Danielle reads from her new memoir, The Requirement of Grief. Plus, they all write a memory from someone else’s point of view, and the outcome is full of unexpected nuance.

You can buy Danielle's book here: https://bookshop.org/a/101989/9798891320840

With the sudden shutdown of Small Press Distribution, let’s dig into the value of independent presses and how their downturn might affect us as both writers and readers. Michael B. Tager, Managing Editor of Mason Jar Press and author of Pop Culture Poetry: The Definitive Edition from Akinoga Press, talks about independent presses from both sides of the publishing experience. Plus, we play a little game called indie press or indie rock band... can you tell the difference?

The Inner Loop board member Leeya Mehta catches up with “Carousel Court” author Joe McGinniss for her new sub-series of Just Checking In: Writers in Solariums with Pets. The pair check in with the dogs and another secret pet (!), talk about the difference between the creative process of fiction and nonfiction, and discuss how writing nonfiction can offer a specific sort of peace. Joe says that “the reality is there is no reality,” especially in the thrilling, immersive, and terrifying experience of writing.

We talk about major writing tenets like plot, character, and setting all the time in fiction and nonfiction, but how do these ideas come up in poetry? Hosts Abi Newhouse and Aeriel Merillat speak with The Inner Loop's May Author's Corner spotlight, Amanda Shaw, about rooting the readers inside a poem, crafting a story's arc through a poetry collection, and the many levels of time throughout it all. Plus, try your hand at our trivia game, in which we guess which story matches each specific setting.

You can buy Amanda's book here: https://bookshop.org/a/101989/9781957755359