The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

Note: I revisited a chat with multi-hyphenate Rob McElhenney from 2020.

The writer, producer, and actor best known for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney, took a timeout during the apocalypse to rap with me about how he runs his writer's room, his humble beginnings and admiration for the great TV comedies, and his advice for aspiring TV producers.

"Everyone is going through the same things. At least, people who respect science are. That sense of loneliness and despair ... needs to be addressed in some way, but ultimately we want to leave people with a sense of optimism." – Rob McElhenney

FX recently renewed his irreverent "It’s Always Sunny..." for a 15th season, making it officially the longest-running live-action sitcom in US history.

The multihyphenate's latest, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, is a comedy series "...that follows a team of video game developers as they navigate the challenges of running a popular video game,"

The Apple TV+ show was co-created with "Sunny" alums Charlie Day and Megan Ganz (executive produced by McElhenney and Day), and has been described as "... the travails of a boisterous video game studio – think Silicon Valley meets Veep."

*Note: Though I was lucky enough to catch Rob in his natural LA habitat, sadly the interview was cut short due to technical difficulties, our apologies for the abrupt ending.

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In this file Rob McElhenney and I discussed:

How It's Alway Sunny in Philadelphia almost didn't make it to the fourth season

The inner-workings of a perpetual creativity engine

How little episodic and streaming models of TV differ from a sitcom producer's perspective

His relationships with Danny DeVito and F. Murray Abraham

The evolution of "It's Always Sunny..." and why it stays culturally relevant

And how the greatest indie production tool you own is in your pocket

Show Notes:

Rob McElhenney on IMDb

Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet – Apple TV+

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia now longest-running live-action comedy series ever after season 15 renewal

Rob McElhenney on Twitter

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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Bestselling author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and my friend Jeff Goins, recently brought me along on a creative journey called Hey, Creator!

We’re back with another episode from the second season titled “It’s a Matter of Taste.” This is part two of a two-part conversation.

Jeff Goins helps creative people succeed. Through his bestselling books, courses, coaching, and speeches, he inspires creators to discover their voice and share it with the world.

He is also the founder of Fresh Complaint, a bespoke creative agency that helps authors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs turn their stories and ideas into books that change the way people think.

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In this file Jeff Goins and I discussed:

How developing your taste is a process of trusting yourself and your experience

Learning to live in the moment 

Why it never gets better than the first sip

The art of learning to live a little more fully alive

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

goinswriter.com

freshcomplaint.com

Hey, Creator! Podcast

Jeff Goins Amazon Author Page

Kelton Reid on Twitter

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and my friend Jeff Goins, recently brought me along on a creative journey called Hey, Creator!

We’re back with another episode from the second season titled “It’s a Matter of Taste.” This is part one of a two-part conversation.

Jeff Goins helps creative people succeed. Through his bestselling books, courses, coaching, and speeches, he inspires creators to discover their voice and share it with the world.

He is also the founder of Fresh Complaint, a bespoke creative agency that helps authors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs turn their stories and ideas into books that change the way people think.

[Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm]

[If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen]

In this file Jeff Goins and I discussed:

Why an artist’s taste is everything

How it takes time and effort to develop your palate

Why we can’t know what we like until we experience what we don’t

The importance of paying attention

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

goinswriter.com

freshcomplaint.com

Hey, Creator! Podcast

Jeff Goins Amazon Author Page

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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Note: I revisited a chat with the amazing Walter Mosley from 2021.

Celebrated author, Walter Mosley, took a timeout to chat with me about how he didn't write a sentence he liked until age 35, the sprawling muse of Los Angeles, and his conflicted feelings after winning a big National Book Award.

“Write your truth, and believe in it. And if your mother doesn’t like it ... too bad.” – Walter Mosley

Walter is the first Black man to receive the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters for lifetime achievement in writing.

The critically acclaimed author, playwright, screenwriter, and producer has written over 60 books including fiction (literary, mystery, and science fiction), writing guides, memoir, a YA novel, has won dozens of prestigious awards (including an Emmy), and been translated into 25 languages.

His bestselling historical mysteries feature infamous, hard-boiled detective "Easy" Rawlins, a black PI living in the Watts neighborhood of LA.

Blood Grove (Easy Rawlins Book 15) is the latest in that series and described as "... a novel of vast scope and intimate insight, and a soulful call for justice by any means necessary."

Walter's work has also been adapted for film and TV including Devil in a Blue Dress (starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle and Jennifer Beals) and the HBO production of Always Outnumbered (starring Laurence Fishburne and Natalie Cole).

Preview a sample of a podcast at the break from this week's sponsor Look Closer: The Found Fiction Podcast, more at foundfiction.org.

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In this file Walter Mosley and I discussed:

His winding career path

How the apex of post-hippie Los Angeles, California affected his writing

What it was like to work with the late, Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood)

Why you need to read your drafts out loud

And more!

Show Notes:

WalterMosley.com

Walter Mosley Amazon author page

Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology: A Library of America Special Publication (Amazon)

Roger Zelazny Amazon author page

Walter Mosley on Facebook

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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Bestselling author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and my friend Jeff Goins, recently brought me along on a creative journey called Hey, Creator!

We’re back with another episode from the second season we did together titled “Creative Idiots.”

Jeff Goins helps creative people succeed. Through his bestselling books, courses, coaching, and speeches, he inspires creators to discover their voice and share it with the world.

He is also the founder of Fresh Complaint, a bespoke creative agency that helps authors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs turn their stories and ideas into books that change the way people think.

[Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm]

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In this file Jeff Goins and I discussed:

Why all art is a little scandalous

When great artists play the trickster

How humanity expands and evolves by pushing the boundaries of art

And a lot more weird stuff!

Show Notes:

goinswriter.com

freshcomplaint.com

Hey, Creator! Podcast

Jeff Goins Amazon Author Page

Kelton Reid on Twitter

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

*We’re excited to be partnering with Writers Rising as one of this year’s sponsors, and as a special gift to our listeners, we were able to get you a 10% discount on your in-person or virtual retreat ticket.

Visit WritersRising.com today and enter code writerfiles10 to get that discount. Buy your ticket now before they sell out! We’ll see you there.*

#1 New York Times bestselling author, Anne Lamott, spoke with me about 40 years of teaching writing, how to write more bravely, on sh*tty first drafts, and sharing hacks she’s learned over her career at the Writers Rising 2024 retreat.

Anne Lamott is the author of 20 books, including New York Times bestsellers Help, Thanks, Wow; Dusk, Night, Dawn; Traveling Mercies; and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, as well as seven novels.

Her latest book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Publishers Weekly praised “…her ability to distill complex truths with a deceptive lightness” in their starred review.

Anne is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, and was recently a columnist for The Washington Post. She has taught at UC Davis, writing conferences across the country, and is currently an artist in residence at A Writing Room Collective.

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In this file Anne Lamott and I discussed: 

The debt of honor that is the writing life

Why you don’t have to know everything to finish your book

What it was like getting inducted into the California Hall of Fame next to Mark Zuckerberg and Serena Williams

The importance of accountability for staying on track

Why you need to stop not writing and get your butt in the chair

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

Writers Rising 2024

awritingroom.com

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (Amazon)

Somehow: Thoughts on Love By Anne Lamott (Amazon)

Anne Lamott Amazon Author Page

Anne Lamott on Twitter

Anne Lamott on Facebook

Anne Lamott on Instagram

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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Note: A revisiting of an amazing chat I had with Ashley Audrain. Also ...

We’re excited to be partnering with Writers Rising as one of this year’s sponsors, and as a special gift to our listeners, we were able to get you a 10% discount on your in-person or virtual retreat ticket.

Visit WritersRising.com today and enter code writerfiles10 to get that discount. Buy your ticket now before they sell out! We’ll see you there.

New York Times bestselling author, Ashley Audrain, spoke to me about giving herself permission to write sh*tty first drafts, writing in public, and her second novel THE WHISPERS.

Ashley Audrain’s debut novel, The Push, was a New York Times, Sunday Times (London), #1 international bestseller, and a Good Morning America Book Club pick. It has sold in more than 40 territories, and a limited TV series is currently in development. 

Her latest, The Whispers, is described as “ … a propulsive page-turner about four families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens – and what is lost when we give in to our own worst impulses.”

The New York Times Book Review wrote, "Expertly, subtly and powerfully rendered …. [The Whispers] delivers a sucker-punch ending you’ll have to read twice to believe.” And #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune called it, “[An] electrifying … razor-sharp page-turner.”

Ashley Audrain previously worked as the publicity director of Penguin Books Canada, and prior to that, worked in public relations.

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In this file, Ashley Audrain and I discussed: 

Show Notes:

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Critically acclaimed debut author Bryan VanDyke, spoke with me about the writer’s life in NYC, pushing the boundaries of literature and speculative fiction, and his latest novel about AI tech, IN OUR LIKENESS.

Bryan VanDyke is a former staff writer for The Millions, and he graduated from writing programs at Columbia University and Northwestern. As a digital strategist, he advised and partnered with technologists, startup founders and venture capitalists.

His “eerily timely debut novel,” IN OUR LIKENESS, draws on his experience and dramatizes many of the as-yet-unanswered questions about “the wonders and chaos” of artificial intelligence.

Described as a “Frankenstein-esque tale befitting the information age,” CNN journalist and author of Age of Revolutions Fareed Zakaria called the book “A total triumph.”

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In this file Bryan VanDyke and I discussed: 

Show Notes: 

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#1 New York Times bestselling author, Mark Oshiro, spoke with me about what journalism taught them about book editing, capturing a transitional age with young adult and middle-grade fiction, and their latest novel JASMINE IS HAUNTED.

Mark Oshiro is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of young adult books including Anger Is a Gift, as well as middle-grade books The Insiders, You Only Live Once, David Bravo, and Star Wars Hunters: Battle for the Arena. They are also the coauthor (with Rick Riordan) of The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure.

Their upcoming middle-grade novel JASMINE IS HAUNTED (Starscape, Hardcover; October 1, 2024), is described as a "heartfelt, funny, fast-paced, and spooky” (Rick Riordan), tale about the gravity of grief and the courage it takes to overcome it.

Mark Oshiro won the 2024 Georgia Author of the Year Award and the 2019 Schneider Family Book Award.

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In this file Mark Oshiro and I discussed: 

Show Notes: 

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Note: A revisiting of an amazing chat I had with the humble Emily Henry.

#1 New York Times bestselling author, Emily Henry, returns to chat with me about depressing first drafts, what it's like to be a genre-bending, commercial fiction superstar, and her “glittering” new novel HAPPY PLACE.

Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, and Beach Read, and has sold over three million copies of her novels.

Her latest is Happy Place, an instant ​​#1 New York Times bestseller and her first hardcover novel, described as a book “...about reluctant exes who make a pact to pretend to date during an annual friends’ trip...”

Author Taylor Jenkins-Reid called it "Another knock-out from the champ.” The Washington Post wrote that the book, “Blur[s] the lines between women’s and literary-leaning commercial fiction, departing from the fantasy spaces of bodice rippers and misty moors to depict a world that looks a lot more like, well, our own…”

Emily's books have been featured in Buzzfeed, Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, and many more. 

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In this file, Emily Henry and I discussed: 

Show Notes:

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