In this episode, we talk with writer Chelsea Collings about taking on her memoir, which weaves us through her early childhood in the wild world of Libby, Montana. Chelsea shares stories of small-town life and the way a place and its people leave lasting imprints. We talk about the process of writing a memoir, showing up to hard things, and how she approached turning an unusual childhood into narrative, then leaves us with a surprise ending. Not to mention, the pink hotel.

It’s a thoughtful conversation about frailty and freedom, of family and friends, and the work of writing from real life.

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This week on Pie for Breakfast Club, we sit down with writer, performer, and producer M. Waldron to talk about the making of her deeply personal and powerfully resonant one-woman show, The Letter C.

From her sparks of inspiration to live at the Sunflower Theater in Cortez, Colorado, M takes us inside her creative process—how she turned life into performance and what it means to show up to your own narrative.

If you've ever thought about moving your current creative work to the stage, or wondered how life becomes art, this one’s for you. Bring your coffee, your notebook, and your heart. This is the Pie for Breakfast Club.

Join T.J. Zark and Pam Houston as they talk about Pam's upcoming online masterclass, The Art of the Short Story, for both readers and writers hosted by the Pie of Breakfast Club. In this episode, we talk about what makes short stories great and how they can contribute to a writer's experience in approaching other work, and Pam's own success with the form of the short story.

As Pam says, “ There is so much beauty in the form of the short story, and it’s so under appreciated.” Today, we celebrate the genre and so much more.

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SHOW NOTES:

Find more on T.J. Zark

Find more on Pam Houston at:

Pam Houston is the author of the memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me, as well as a book of essay between Pam and environmental activist Amy Irvine, called Air Mail: Letters of Politics, Pandemics and Place. Her stories have been selected for volumes of The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Short Stories of the Century among other anthologies. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for contemporary fiction, the Evil Companions Literary Award and several teaching awards.  She teaches in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is Professor of English at UC Davis, and co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers, which puts on between seven and ten writers gatherings per year in places as diverse as Boulder, Colorado, Tomales Bay, California and Chamonix, France. 

Pam’s passions include Icelandic Horses (especially the ones who live in Iceland, where she goes as often as possible,) Irish Wolfhounds, travel, mentoring and teaching, particularly teaching writing about the more than the human world. She lives on a homestead at 9,000 feet near the headwaters of the Rio Grande in Colorado with her husband Mike and two dogs, a quarter horse, a miniature donkey, four Icelandic ewes, four hens and a rooster. Her new book, Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom, was published in September 2024.

Cowboys Are My Weakness / 1993

@ COPYRIGHT T.J. ZARK / 2025

In this maiden episode, we work out the kinks, talk about beginnings, look at barriers that are real and imagined, and talk about the aspiration for this show.

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SHOW NOTES:

Find more on T.J. Zark

Find more on Pam Houston at:

Pam Houston is the author of the memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me, as well as a book of essay between Pam and environmental activist Amy Irvine, called Air Mail: Letters of Politics, Pandemics and Place. Her stories have been selected for volumes of The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Short Stories of the Century among other anthologies. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for contemporary fiction, the Evil Companions Literary Award and several teaching awards.  She teaches in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is Professor of English at UC Davis, and co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers, which puts on between seven and ten writers gatherings per year in places as diverse as Boulder, Colorado, Tomales Bay, California and Chamonix, France. 

Pam’s passions include Icelandic Horses (especially the ones who live in Iceland, where she goes as often as possible,) Irish Wolfhounds, travel, mentoring and teaching, particularly teaching writing about the more than the human world. She lives on a homestead at 9,000 feet near the headwaters of the Rio Grande in Colorado with her husband Mike and two dogs, a quarter horse, a miniature donkey, four Icelandic ewes, four hens and a rooster. Her new book, Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom, was published in September 2024.

@ COPYRIGHT T.J. ZARK / 2025