The Writer's Story

Kristin and Meredith talk gardens, productivity and inspiration this month. They also chat with poet Rebecca Morgan Frank about high school, writing a poem for a collection, her recent book Oh You Robot Saints! and her recent collaborations with composers.

This month Kristin and Meredith talk spring, vaccines, and revising. They chat with Alex Segura, author of novels, comic books, short stories and podcasts, about how he juggles different genres and small children. He also talks about the pros and cons of collaboration, working for hire and keeping a series going forever.

Meredith and Kristin talk about reviving projects, when, and how to decide which to tackle, before talking issues, environment, animals and more with writer and publisher, John Yunker co-founder with writer Midge Raymond of Ashland Creek Press and EcoLit Books blog. He's the author of plays, essays, and the novels The Tourist Trail and Where Oceans Hide Their Dead.

Co-host Kristin Swenson's got a new book out! And Meredith's on the spot with questions and thoughts of her own in this lively discussion between the two of them. They catch up on novels-in-progress and talk about how it's been releasing A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible (Oxford UP).

Kristin and Meredith start off the new year talking about writing residencies, Kristin's new book and interview YA and literary fiction author Kristen-Paige Madonia. Kristen-Paige is the author of Invisible Fault Lines and Fingerprints of You.

Meredith and Kristin talk manuscript evolution, first draft and beyond. Robin Farmer relates her writer's journey through journalism, screenwriting, and writing residencies, and discusses her (whoohoo!) debut novel MALCOLM AND ME, staring down the "woke police," and telling it true.

Kristin shares exciting writing news, and we talk to E.A. Aymar about his new thriller, They're Gone, coming out in November under the name E.A. Barres. Meredith met E.A. at the first DC Noir at the Bar (which he organizes). They discuss thrillers, writing from a multicultural perspective, pseudonyms, and the benefits of writing short fiction and articles in between publishing books.

Meredith and Kristin visit with Newbery Medal winner Meg Medina about the racy tales of Meg's abuela, "the queen" of her family's unofficial historistas (storytellers), Meg's personal road to becoming an award-winning author, and the incalculable resource of a good librarian. A couple lucky listener/subscribers will receive free copies of the fresh-off-the-press anthology The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth , to which Meg contributed a chapter. 

Kristin and Meredith talk about how torturing your characters is a must if you want to write a compelling novel. They also chat with Kellye Garrett, who shares her early love of cozies (and why representation matters), gives the origin story for Crime Writers of Color, and talks about how #pitchwars helped launch her career (and the careers of many other writers). Plus, she talks about her newest book and how she got her idea for it.

Kristin and Meredith talk about writing in the middle of political unrest and tragedy, and talk to Sharon Harrigan. Sharon's debut novel HALF comes out June 9. She talks about writing poetry, memoir and now fiction, her path to becoming a writer, and what it was like write from the point of view of a first-person plural narrator.