Write Or Die Podcast

By Claribel A. Ortega & Kat Cho

The Write or Die Podcast shares the real stories about what it takes to become an author – the gritty, infuriating, pull your hair out because it’s been years – stories of writers who didn’t give up d... more

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FAQs about Write Or Die Podcast:

How many episodes does Write Or Die Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 129 episodes available.

Write Or Die Podcast episodes:

March 09, 2020 S2 E18: Victoria Lee & A Write Or Die Exclusive Secret
We talk about the financial reality of becoming a writer/author and how writing full-time might not be right for everyone. Then we interview Victoria Lee, the author of The Fever King and The Electric Heir. We discuss what it was like to be traditionally published at a new kind of publisher and what it felt like working with Amazon.
BIO:
Victoria Lee grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where they spent twelve ascetic years as a vegetarian before discovering spicy chicken wings are, in fact, a delicacy. They’ve been a state finalist competitive pianist, a hitchhiker, a pizza connoisseur, an EMT, an expat in China and Sweden, and a science doctoral student. They’re also a bit of a snob about fancy whisky.
Victoria writes early in the morning, then spends the rest of the day trying to impress their border collie puppy and make their experiments work.
They are represented by Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.
Mentions:
A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it
Follow Victoria: Twitter | Website
Victoria’s Books: http://victorialeewrites.com/books/
...more
1h 28min
March 02, 2020 S2 E17: Marie Rutkoski and The Personal Is The Most Artistic
In this episode we discuss the dangers of comparison in publishing and we interview the amazing NYT Bestselling author, Marie Rutkoski, about her new book The Midnight Lie and what it feels like writing a book in the same world as a previous series but with a very personal aspect.
Bio:
Marie Rutkoski is a New York Times bestselling author of several novels for children and young adults. She grew up in Illinois as the oldest of four children, and has lived in Moscow, Prague, and Paris.
She holds degrees from the University of Iowa and Harvard University, and is now a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Shakespeare, children’s literature, and fiction writing. She lives in Brooklyn with her family and two cats, Cloud and Firefly.
Mentions:
Follow Marie: Twitter | Instagram | Website
Holly Black Write or Die Episode
The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
The economic concept of The Winner’s Curse
The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski
Malinda Lo
Katherine Locke
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Pre-Order GHOST SQUAD
Add GHOST SQUAD on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter| Instagram | YouTube
Order Kat’s debut, WICKED FOX!
Pre-Order VICIOUS SPIRITS
www.katchowrites.com
Write or Die Podcast Website
...more
1h 6min
February 24, 2020 S2 E16: Nafiza Azad & using anger as writing fuel
We answer some more AMA’s including how authors do their own promo and outside insight about Street Teams. Then Kat & Claribel interview Nafiza Azad, the author of Morris Award Finalist Novel, Candle and the Flame. We talk about her experience learning creative writing in school, getting her agent, and what it felt like to […]

Bio: Nafiza Azad was born in Fiji and spent the first seventeen years of her life as a self-styled Pacific Islander. Now she identifies as an Indo-Fijian Muslim Canadian, which means she is often navigating multiple identities. Nafiza has a love for languages and currently speaks four. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Children's Literature from the University of British Columbia and co-runs The Book Wars (thebookwars.ca), a website dedicated to all things children's literature. Nafiza currently lives in British Columbia with her family.
Mentions:
Follow Nafiza: Twitter | Instagram
YALSA announces 2020 William C. Morris Award finalists
Morris Award Finalists
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1h 8min
February 17, 2020 S2E15: Karuna Riazi & Going Out of Order
Kat and Claribel discuss what it’s like to work on multiple projects at a time and how to meet multiple deadlines. They also interview author Karuna Riazi about debuting with a book packager, querying after you’ve already debuted, and why she decided to go to an MFA program!
Bio: Karuna Riazi is a born and raised New Yorker, with a loving, large extended family and the rather trying experience of being the eldest sibling in her particular clan.Besides pursuing a BA in English literature from Hofstra University, she is an online diversity advocate, blogger, and publishing intern.Karuna is fond of tea, baking new delectable treats for friends and family to relish, Korean dramas, and writing about tough girls forging their own paths toward their destinies. She is the author of The Gauntlet and The Battle.
Mentions:
Follow Karuna: Twitter | Website
#yesallwomen
Salaam Reads
Hamline MFAC
The Gauntlet
The Battle
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Order GHOST SQUAD
Add FRIZZY on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Order WICKED FOX!
Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)
Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads
www.katchowrites.com
Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram
Write or Die Podcast Website
Join our WorDie community!
...more
1h 1min
February 10, 2020 S2E14: Agent Barbara Poelle & Poelling it
Claribel and Kat answer some AMA’s (including talking about their skincare routine!) They also interview the amazingly funny literary agent Barbara Poelle about her past as a stand-up comic, her life as a literary agent, how to live life with humility and humor, and rage push-ups.
Follow Barbara: Website | Twitter
Mentions:
WBP Questions to ask Agents
Cerave
Cetaphil
Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum
Innisfree Orchid line
Mamonde Rose Water Toner
Ole Henriksen C-Rush™ Brightening Double Crème
Missha Sunstick
The Face Shop Sunstick
Klairs Supple Preparation Toner
Writer’s Block Party Blog post about making writing friends part 1 and part 2
Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Publishing Industry
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
...more
1h 9min
February 03, 2020 S2E13: Agent Quressa Robinson & All Her Inbox Secrets
Claribel and Kat discuss current events including conversations around American Dirt. They also interview Literary Agent Quressa Robinson about her path to becoming an agent, what she thinks the industry should do to provide support to POC, and her MSWL!
Follow Quressa: Twitter | Website
Mentions:
https://blog.leeandlow.com/2020/01/28/2019diversitybaselinesurvey/
Original ‘American Dirt’ review by Myriam Gurba
NPR interview about American Dirt
‘American Dirt’ Isn’t Just Bad — Its Best Parts Are Cribbed From Latino Writers by David J Schmidt (Huffington Post)
Cummin’s Non-Mexican Crap by David Bowles (Medium)
Novels by Mexican and Latinx Authors to read:
Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande
Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario
Across the Wire by Luis Alberto Urrea
By the Lake of Sleeping Children by Luis Alberto Urrea
A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernandez
Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez
We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
SCBWI events/workshops
Nelson Literary Agency
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Order GHOST SQUAD
Add FRIZZY on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Order WICKED FOX!
Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)
Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads
www.katchowrites.com
Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram
Write or Die Podcast Website
Join our WorDie community!
...more
1h 1min
January 27, 2020 S2E12: Ronni Davis & Sims or Die
Kat & Claribel talk about what *not* to do when you get a bad review. Ronni Davis joins us to talk about her publishing journey, how publishing has changed in the past decade, how publishing is part of the entertainment industry, and writing black girls who get to be the romantic lead getting their Happily Ever After.
Mslexia link: www.exacteditions.com/mslexia
Use code WRITEORDIE20 at checkout for 20% off!
Bio:
Ronni Davis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she tried her best to fit in—and failed miserably.
Now she lives in Chicago with her husband Adam and her son Aidan. By day she copy edits everything from TV commercials to billboards, and by night she writes contemporary teen novels about brown girls falling in love. When she’s not writing, you can catch her playing the Sims, eating too much candy, or planning her next trip to Disney World.
Her debut novel, WHEN THE STARS LEAD TO YOU, is out with Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Follow Ronni Davis: Website | Twitter | Instagram
Mentions:
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
We Need Diverse Books
Cambion Chronicles
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Order GHOST SQUAD
Add FRIZZY on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Order WICKED FOX!
Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)
Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads
www.katchowrites.com
Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram
Write or Die Podcast Website
Join our WorDie community!
...more
1h 6min
January 20, 2020 S2E11: Amanda Foody & Selfies of Readers Crying
Claribel and Kat talk about New Year’s Resolutions and Claribel explains her postcard method! Plus we talk to Amanda Foody about her publishing journey, having multiple agents and her thoughts about debuting with a Middle Grade after writing multiple books in Young Adult.
About Amanda Foody:
Amanda Foody has always considered imagination to be our best attempt at magic. After a double life as an accountant preparing taxes for multinational corporations, she now spends her free time brewing and fermenting foods much more easily obtained at her local grocery store. She lives in Boston, MA with a hoard of books guarded by the most vicious of feline companions, Jelly Bean.
Her books include Daughter of the Burning City, Ace of Shades and King of Fools. The next installment of The Shadow Game series, Queen of Volts, releases on September 1, 2020. Her Middle Grade debut The Accidental Apprentice (the first in her new Wilderlore series) comes out Spring 2021 Margaret K McElderry Books at Simon & Schuster!
Follow Amanda Foody online : Website | Instagram | Twitter
Podcast Mentions:
DivBookFest
DivBookFest GoFundMe
Daughter of the Burning City
Ace of Shades
Queen of Volts
The Accidental Apprentice
Boston Teen Author Festival
“Anything that matters to you, you can make it matter again even after you’ve shelved it. You can always come back to something.” — Amanda Foody
Mslexia link: www.exacteditions.com/mslexia
Use code WRITEORDIE20 at checkout for 20% off!
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Order GHOST SQUAD
Add FRIZZY on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Order WICKED FOX!
Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)
Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads
www.katchowrites.com
...more
1h 16min
December 09, 2019 S2E10: Holiday Special 2019
In this holiday special episode we talk about end of the year reflections, the dreaded end of the year blues, look back on where the podcast started and read emails from listeners about Write or Die!
Podcast Mentions: The Write Stuff Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-stuff/id1113762043
88 Cups of Tea Podcast http://88cupsoftea.com/
Minorities in Publishing Podcast https://minoritiesinpublishing.tumblr.com/
Pubcrawl Podcast https://www.publishingcrawl.com/category/pubcrawl-podcast/
Frizzy Graphic Novel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47906920-rizos
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Order GHOST SQUAD
Add FRIZZY on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Order WICKED FOX!
Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)
Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads
www.katchowrites.com
Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram
Write or Die Podcast Website
Join our WorDie community!
...more
53min
December 02, 2019 S2E9: Ryan La Sala & Bedazzling Your Eggs
This week, Kat & Claribel discuss social anxiety at book events plus we bring back Ryan La Sala to talk about what’s changed in his life since he’s announced his book deal and how he uses videos, fashion, and bedazzled eggs to build his social media presence!
Bio:
Ryan La Sala is a fantasy writer rooted in the northeast United States. His first book, REVERIE, is a YA fantasy due for publication with Sourcebooks FIRE on December 3, 2019. It’s about what happens when your dreams chase you back, and yes it has a drag queen sorceress as the villain.
You can find out more about REVERIE on Ryan’s site here (including where to order!), or you can check out reviews/info on Goodreads, here.
Follow Ryan La Sala
Twitter | Instagram
http://www.ryanlasala.com/reverie/
Podcast Mentions:
Beth Phelan https://twitter.com/beth_phelan
#Dvpit http://www.dvpit.com/
https://www.thenerddaily.com/ryan-la-sala-author-interview/
The Right to Bear Arms, a Betsy DeVos Fanfiction
Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Order GHOST SQUAD
Add FRIZZY on Goodreads
www.claribelortega.com
Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Order WICKED FOX!
Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)
Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads
www.katchowrites.com
Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram

...more
1h 9min

FAQs about Write Or Die Podcast:

How many episodes does Write Or Die Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 129 episodes available.