The Stories Between Us

Allison Fallon hangs out with us today to talk about reimagining our life, telling the truth to ourselves, unlocking our brains, and the one habit that helps us do all of those things.

Find out more about Allison and her book, The Power of Writing It Down, over at her website.

Maile and Shawn talk about the fine line between hope and discouragement, whether or not it's possible to choose genuine hope, and when giving up is the right thing to do. Also, Maile's crush on Daniel Day-Lewis is explored.

Maile and Shawn start by clearing something up from the previous episode that might have led listeners to believer their marriage was heading for disaster. They also discuss the various things that have helped them make space for creativity, even during stressful, chaotic times of life.

Today we have our youngest female guest so far, author Weez Phillips. She discusses her first novel, The Lightest, Heaviest Things, what it's like writing with ADHD, and what keeps so many teenagers from creating the art they want to create.

Winn Collier talks with us about what it was like to write the biography of Eugene Peterson, how he got the gig in the first place, and what it's like, trying to capture the essence of a complex person's life in a 300-page book. He also turns the tables on us, asking Maile if she prefers Shawn with a beard or without. It's a hard-hitting interview.

Maile and Shawn go deep into the idea of having fun and the difference between creating art and selling art. And if we are going to tie the things we really want to our everyday behavior...do we really want what we think we want?

Brigid Kemmerer's story is one of the most encouraging we've heard yet, so if you're a writer or artist or someone who just needs a little encouragement, go no further. A librarian recently asked Brigid how it felt for her book to be on the NYT best-seller list, an "overnight success," and Brigid nearly laughed out loud. Her story is anything but an overnight success story. Join us today as she fills us in her writing journey.

Maile shares a story of trying to get some revisions finished on her novel when the kids remind her she had promised them a walk to the dog park. Which raises the question...is my art a support system for my life, or is my life a support system for my art? Shawn also wrestles with the complicated creative legacy of Van Gogh.

Author Adam Perry's writing life is methodical. He works a full-time job, raises three kids with his wife, and still finds time to write every day. 600 words. 3,000 words a week. That's about one book every six months. We ask him today about his confidence as a writer, how he decides to self-publish, and what his journey in the world of traditional publishing has been like.

His new book is 'The Thieving Collectors of Fine Children's Books."

A kind friend sent Shawn a book written in 1933 that rocks his world. Shawn and Maile talk about the book, which is all about the life of Vincent van Gogh. They wrestle with the question Van Gogh's father asked him in his early days of creativity, "What if at the end the work remains poor? Are the rewards worth the gamble?"

The book discussed is Lust for Life by Irving Stone.