The Stories Between Us

Maile talks about what she's returned to that is making all the difference in her creative life, as well as why she wasn't crazy about the beginning of one of Shawn's favorite books. There's a brief update on Maile's book submission process. Michelle DeRusha's Seasons of the Soul enters the conversation. And the children are home from school. Fun all around!

We're back! We're talking about a book that has challenged the way we prioritize writing in our lives, a book that has reminded one of us about the kind of writing we actually want to do, and we're asking for wisdom about a very important topic: how to get your dog to stop eating off the counter.

In this, our final episode of the season, we talk about how, occasionally, hard things happen in life that change our creative direction. The key, we think, is to pay attention, to ground ourselves in this present moment, and to be on the lookout for beauty, even in the midst of devastation.

We may or may not come back to record another season. Either way, thanks so much for listening--your encouragement and kind notes through the years have been so generous.

And keep writing.

What now?

That's the question Shawn and Maile explore after Shawn's recent check-in with his agent. Unimpressive book sales make it difficult for an author to continue to receive offers on new books, so what do we do if we find ourselves in this situation?

We have to figure out, are we going to keep going?

Shawn finds an 8-year-old goal he set way back in 2014, so he and Maile spend some time talking about it. Maile shares her perspective when it comes to goal-setting in the midst of raising six children. Welcome to the Smucker dinner table!

They also talk about a scary experiment Shawn is going to be doing over at shawnsmucker.substack.com. Plus, a few books they're enjoying these days.

Graduation is in the air. Today we're talking about our own high school and college graduations, what our hopes and expectations were as young writers, and what we would tell our 18-year-old selves about setting out on the writing journey.

Today we're reflecting on having reached the age where we have a high school graduate, what we're reading and watching, and, perhaps most importantly, that one thing that can transform your creative life.

Today we're talking about a recent interview we watched with Anthony Doerr, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning book All the Light We Cannot See, along with the recent Smucker household favorite, Cloud Cuckoo Land. In Doerr we see a writer who only a few books ago wondered if anything would become of his writing career, someone who still has a childlike giddiness about story-telling. And we wonder...is it enough to write for the fun of it? Could it be the complexity of his novels arises from his commitment to fun and whimsy?

Today we're talking with author Devi Laskar about why a timed writing practice is so helpful, how she settled on second person for the point of view of her newest novel Circa, and how she gets past the negative voices in her head.

When Katy's fiance called off their engagement a week before the wedding, she was thrown into a tailspin. But in the ensuing weeks, months, and years, she discovered a strength in herself she didn't know was there. So she decided to write a memoir about it.

Today Katy tells us how she decided what to include in her story, how the process went, and how she managed to get her first draft written.