The Stories Between Us

When our youngest daughter overcame her fear of roller skating and looked up at Shawn, she said three words that we're going to explore deeper today: Never Give Up. What does that even mean for a writer, when there are no guarantees? And how can we keep going, never give up, when everything around us is suggesting we might never get there?

Could a place as ordinary as the laundry room office become a sacred space? Today Maile and I are talking about the places where we write, where we've written in the past, and whether or not the laundry room office can welcome the muse...or not.

We also talk about the joy we've experienced for the last nine months, walking alongside novelists as they write a novel. And there are new classes starting up!

As always, you can help this podcast continue by supporting it for only $5 / month over at our Patreon page. Thank you!

How does adopting a child, taking ten years to write a novel, and more than 60 rejections shape someone's creative life? Kelli Stuart lets us know in today's episode, where we talk about writing in the midst of family life and what it looks like to be willing to give up writing...only to have it returned to you in a fuller, richer way.

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Today we're talking all things scary: books, movies, Maile's early adherence to Gwen Shamblin's Weigh Down program. Yeah. Not even kidding. But we also talk about what scares us creatively, our deepest, darkest fears. Join us. Don't be afraid.

Today we talk about being tired, diversifying our creative energies, and the difficult question: what if I'm never as good at this writing thing as I want to be? With special thanks to friends who remind us we never have to be anything besides ourselves.

Today we share about an unfortunate incident that happened over the long weekend. But we found some wisdom in the current cult classic show Ted Lasso that helped us overcome the sense that "it's the hope that kills you."

What are you hoping for these days?

Today we're talking memoir-writing...the way good memories spring up unexpectedly when we immerse ourselves in our past. And also how hard it can be to write about the difficult things, especially when they involve people who we love. But at the end of the day, a good memoir is all about telling the truth. As Mary Karr asks in her book The Art of Memoir, "What would you write about it you weren't afraid?"

Check out our upcoming course, The Six Month Memoir

(Apologies for the sound issues we had in this one.)

There are a lot of exciting things going on around here these days: Maile received her first publisher rejection, we're offering a new memoir-writing course, and we're working hard to maintain our hope on this writing journey. That last one isn't always easy, but there are a few things we like to keep in mind that help us stay hopeful and engaged in our writing practice.

To find out more about our upcoming class, The Six Month Memoir, click HERE.

To support the podcast, go HERE.

To check out Shawn's most recent novel, head HERE.

Today we're talking with Ashley Hales about what it looks like to choose an expansive, creative life with limits over busy, non-stop hustle. We also swap suburban life stories and share some of the beauty we're finding there.

Today we talk with author Sarah Arthur about her wonderful obsession with Madeleine L'Engle, how she kept writing through a cancer diagnosis, and the 18 year journey of writing her novel. She has so many wonderful things to say about creativity, perseverance, and the writing life.