Write Your Heart Out

This week we’re back with a Storytime episode! Kayla shares a whirlwind night at a Mountain View writers group (hello, kindred spirits), then we dive into short pieces we wrote in under 2 hours.

We’re also featuring two terrific listener pieces:

• “Fairytale in Bangkok” by Scott Gibson — a tender, whiskey-soaked poem about young love. Scott is currently working on a documentary where he interviews the longstanding, bona fide punk artists of Indonesia. 
• “Elon” by MJ — a sharp, slam-poetry critique.

Stick around as we set goals and swap contest plans.This week we’re back with a Storytime episode—vulnerable, messy, and so much fun. Kayla shares a whirlwind night at a Mountain View writers group (hello, kindred spirits), then we dive into fresh, two-hour, barely-edited short pieces sparked by Instagram prompt threads (enemies-to-lovers, angry confessions, and injury/sickness lines like “Get behind me” and “Tell me where it hurts”). Expect AI dread, cheeky gallows humor, and a very smirky maybe-hero named Jared.

We’re also featuring two terrific listener pieces:

• “Fairytale in Bangkok” by Scott Gibson — a tender, whiskey-soaked poem about love, visas, and the kind of dancing that ignores dignity and keeps going.
• “Elon” by MJ — a sharp, slam-poetry critique that rockets from Teslas to Mars with wit to spare.

Stick around as we set goals and swap contest plans:

Got something for the next Storytime? Send audio or text to [email protected]
(we can read for you if you’d like!). Follow us on IG @writeyourheartoutpod and, pretty please, drop a 5-star review so more writers can find us.

Enjoy, and send us your stories + poems for a future read!

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

A Challenge to Listeners!

We're going to spend two hours or less drafting something new. We want you to do it too! Send us your fast writing at [email protected] with the subject line: Two Hour Story and we'll read it on the next storytime episode! That means you, David. These are the prompts (via Writer Threads) that can inspire your new work:


Enemies to Lovers:

1. Bold of you to assume that I'd care.

2. You're hurt? Why are you always hurt?

3. Get behind me.

Angry Confession:

4. Trust me, I am also trying to understand how in the shit this happened.

5. Tell me how I'm supposed to unlove you, then. Tell me. Spare me.

6. "Since when did you ever care about me?"

"Since fucking forever you idiotic dunce."

Sickness or Injury:

7. Tell me where it hurts.

8. Can you carry me?

9. Why didn't you tell me it hurt so bad?
 

This week on Write Your Heart Out, Kayla and Rachel pick up where their AI debate left off—spiraling from apocalyptic predictions about tech to the timeless question: why do we write at all? From Steven Pressfield’s wisdom about creating art even on a deserted island to the very real resistance of reorganizing your medicine cabinet instead of writing, the conversation swings between hilarious tangents and raw honesty about staying creative when life gets messy.

The duo also dive into upcoming writing contests (Book Pipeline Unpublished, the John Steinbeck Award, Driftwood Press, and Writes of November’s two-sentence challenge) and challenge themselves—and listeners—to draft something new under a two-hour time limit for their next Storytime episode. Plus: murder-mystery birthday parties, navigating writer’s groups with your kid’s teacher, and the eternal sausage metaphor for publishing.

If you’ve ever felt bogged down, distracted, or just plain stuck in your writing life, this episode will leave you laughing, nodding, and maybe even pulling out your label maker before you get back to the page.

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

As promised, we take out our hoops and smear vaseline on our cheeks to battle. Kayla is pro ChatGPT in helping her. Rachel thinks it's cheating. Rachel is scared of ChatGPT. Kayla is scared of dolls coming to life and taunting her. Who will be victorious?

(ChatGPT refused to help me with this description! Seriously. I think it's hurt. - Kayla)

Trigger warnings: Suicide
Also scary A.I. stories, tipsy banter and irreverence

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

After a summer hiatus, Kayla and Rachel are back—and ready to get into a new writing flow. Rachel shares her progress on Dinner for Eight, including how she’s realizing her protagonist’s marriage needs more depth (or maybe more dysfunction). Kayla talks about experimenting with feeding her dystopian novel The Woman Tree into ChatGPT for a Save the Cat breakdown—only to discover some hilariously creepy “cry triggers” involving underwear drawers and divorce letters.

The two dive into craft with insights from James A. Hurst’s YouTube channel, exploring the ideas of “the hero’s gift” and “the unity of opposites,” and how these concepts can deepen both conflict and character. They also swap stories about questionable teenage fashion choices, brainstorm writing groups they might join, and get interrupted mid-recording by breaking news about Taylor Swift.

It’s a mix of craft talk, laughter, and candid writing-life updates—plus a teaser for next week’s episode, where Kayla and Rachel face off in their own “unity of opposites”: Kayla’s growing appreciation for AI tools vs. Rachel’s anti-AI stance. Will it end in conflict…or clarity?

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

After a little summer hiatus (camping, in-laws, a spiral-bound manuscript from FedEx…), Kayla and Rachel are back in the podcast saddle and diving deep into the storytelling structure that screenwriters love and novelists love to hate: Save the Cat.

Rachel reveals she finished a whole-ass book (?!), and together they break down Blake Snyder’s iconic 15-beat “beat sheet” and genre system—using Dinner for Eight and The Woman Tree (working title) to show how the structure can help shape a novel without crushing your muse.

Along the way, we tackle:

• Whether all the women or all the men should die in a dystopian future (whoops, we go there),
• That weird masculine energy in the culture right now 👀,
• The ex that might actually be the monster in your house (literally or emotionally),
• And our shared rage at the YouTuber who said “Why Female Authors Don’t Matter” (no, we won’t link it).

There's also some spicy talk about ghosts, sperm vials, and Judd Apatow movies. Plus: why your protagonist's breakdown in the shower might just be their “Dark Night of the Soul.”

This one’s juicy. And crinkly. (Sorry, Rachel’s mic did a thing.)

🕯️✨ Writers, readers, and story nerds — if you’ve ever wondered whether Save the Cat is helpful or heinous, this one’s for you.

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

This week, we attend a virtual "lunch and learn" hosted by the Women’s National Book Association and featuring legendary San Francisco literary agent Andy Ross—and yes, we actually lunched. While the rest of the Zoom played it cool, we munched focaccia and dished about querying, rejection, and whether you can ever send your manuscript to another agent at the same agency (spoiler: the answer was… confusing).

We share the best and weirdest advice from the talk (a query letter in Q&A format?!), plus our own rollercoaster querying journeys, writing struggles, and revelations about the mysterious link between ovulation and sex scenes. Also: Rachel’s murder mystery needs envelope edits, Kayla’s muse is on a juice cleanse, and we’re officially accepting listener submissions for our upcoming Story Time episodes! (2,000 words max, spice welcome but no human centipede horror, please and thank you.)

Books mentioned:

• Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder
• Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway
• A Court of Thorns and Roses (yes, again)

We’re swirling our sediment, managing expectations, and figuring it all out as we go. Join us!

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

Kayla and Rachel share juicy updates on their newest writing projects—Rachel’s twisty, spicy dinner party murder mystery (with a murder mystery game inside!) and Kayla’s speculative dystopian novel idea, recently submitted to The Novelry’s “Next Big Story” contest. They discuss the thrill and terror of writing fast, sending before revising, and navigating feedback while staying creatively uninhibited.

You’ll also hear:

• A breakdown of Brandon Sanderson’s best story structure tips (and how Kayla used them to analyze Rachel’s character motivations)
• A tangent about writing sex scenes while your kids are awake (oops)
• A deep dive into “thisness” (aka haecceity) with examples from Margaret Atwood and Annie Dillard
• Whether your writing should sparkle enough for an agent to remember you—and what Kayla plans to do about that one agent
• Manifestation, muses, and Rachel’s evolving shrine cupboard
• And an honest conversation about feedback, friendship, and not wasting each other’s time

This is an episode about being in the thick of it—writing messy, dreaming big, and figuring it all out as you go.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Novelry’s “Next Big Story” Contest
• Brandon Sanderson’s NaNoWriMo video tips
• The Oxford Writer on YouTube
• Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace
• Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
• Rachel’s novel-in-progress (aka the dinner party murder mystery with spice)
• Kayla’s male-only island dystopia
• The Write Your Heart Out Instagram – where you might see Kayla's shrine (eventually) and Rachel's vision board (maybe) @writeyourheartoutpod

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

Episode 7: Storytime – The Ones We Never Submitted
This week on Write Your Heart Out, Kayla and Rachel read the stories they didn’t submit to the Reedsy contest—and wow, you’re in for a ride. Kayla's story, “The Muse,” features a moody writer, a mysterious muse, and an ex-fan with unsettling cinnamon energy. Rachel shares “An Extra Scoop of Revenge,” a tale of friendship and arson.

Also in this jam-packed Storytime episode:
 – Our first-ever listener-submitted poem (thank you MJ!)
 – Rachel debuts a flamingo poem that starts in a zoo and ends in full mama bear mode
 – A new writing assignment inspired by Chuck Palahniuk: write a secret you’ll never confirm or deny.

If you like literary chaos, mermaids, twisted sisterhoods, and hot pink vengeance—this one’s for you.

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

Rejection Letters, Contest Drama, and the Return of the Muse

In this episode of Write Your Heart Out, Kayla Ogden and Rachel Cyr unpack their experiences with the Reedsy Prompts Competition. Spoiler alert: neither of them submitted their stories to it! Why? Word count woes, shady contest terms, and a deeper conversation about protecting your creative work.

They also talk through their first rejection letters—Rachel gets ghosted and rejected (double sting), while Kayla shares some querying wins and woes, including a personalized pass and a surprise full manuscript request from a Canadian agent (aka her “shooting star”).

Other highlights:

• A spicy new short story idea from Rachel that’s turning up the heat (and maybe leading to her “sex muse” moment)
• Kayla’s late-night muse visits and her next novel idea
• The ethics of contests like Reedsy and why writers should read the terms of service before submitting (lesson learned!)
• How Elizabeth Gilbert, Ruth Stone, and Alan Watts factor into Kayla’s creative process
• Sharks, weddings, and the unexpected writing lessons of Shark Heart

It's a chaotic, heartfelt, and hilariously honest conversation about rejection, inspiration, and what it means to take your writing seriously—even when nobody else has yet.

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885

Episode 5: Story Time — 17 Cats, 2 Writers, and One Very Unwell Man

In our first official Story Time episode, we (Kayla Ogden and Rachel Cyr) read aloud the short stories we wrote based on prompts from The Writer’s Toolbox—including the eerie first line “There were 17 cats living in Larry’s basement.” What follows is a shared descent into feline chaos, lonely hearts, and the kind of dark humor that sneaks up on you.

We talk through the weirdly specific details we both managed to include, and the experience of writing from unusual points of view.

Plus: we challenge ourselves to enter a short story contest with a 4-day deadline, chat about storytelling chemistry, and unpack what it means to “talk in stories.” If you like fiction, prompts, or listening to two writers try to out-weird each other, this one’s for you.

Please subscribe, rate and review! 

New episodes every other Wednesday.

E-mail us your short story at [email protected]

Follow us on instagram @writeyourheartoutpod 

Leave us a message at 650-260-4885