Snowed in with Leia for the first time. Further discussion of discipline: For parents and for writers. The importance of beginning (not beginnings). Barry races the Grim Reaper. Plus: Authors who are just too damn precious.

Re-opening the discussion of whether authors should be paid more. Younger comes back for Season 2; Barry has opinions. Baby Fight Club! Leia transcends separation anxiety, to our mutual glee and disappointment. Morgan actually finishes a book she doesn’t like. Barry asks for help from the audience.

Doctor-approved: Be mean to your baby! Is your first baby just practice? Morgan foreswears Barry’s revision advice. Focusing on one project at a time. Followup on Barry’s Cheat Method for Revision and a discussion of what you need to know about your protagonist before you start writing.

The year that was and the year to come, with our best moments of 2015, along with our goals and wishes for 2016. Plus: The Barry Lyga Cheat Method for Fixing Pacing. (This episode is brought to you by the word “Flourish.”)

Morgan cheats on Barry. Taking stock of what we’ve read this year. Morgan’s memory is terrible. Barry resists going all Campbell on Star Wars. Wisdom from Sylvia Plath. Plus: Great first lines!

Barry reconsiders NaNoWriMo. Picking Morgan’s brain. Is writing an compulsion? Should it be? Leia walks like crazy and gets a sibling. An update on Morgan’s agent search.

Morgan has a cold. Barry’s dirty little fable succeeds. Leia starts to demand things in no uncertain terms. Why on earth would you combine YA and Dr. Seuss into the same list? Barry rants about lists and awards and why you shouldn’t care. Plus: What book should every 16-year-old American read?

A discussion of NaNoWriMo. A caution about holiday time in publishing and an invocation of Lyga’s Law. Should authors respond to negative reviews? Comparing books to babies. What would Morgan do if someone panned Gillian Anderson? Morgan looks to her past to figure out her future.

Why we hate Libba Bray. What special guests would you like to see on the show? Morgan starts a new project. Barry wants to start five new projects. Scheduling time to talk to your spouse. How do you critique something that’s in a genre you don’t like? Plus: A nanny for Leia???

Special guest Libba Bray joins the show! We discuss being married to your agent and when your kid wants to be a writer. Texting edits to authors. The glory and the danger of research. Plus: Outlining — threat or menace? Also, the title to the third Diviners book!