Miranda Popkey (TOPICS OF CONVERSATION) joins us to chat about starting an MFA program having not written fiction before (!!!); working with form or idea over plot; the fear of writing sex scenes; working in the publishing industry; being mentored by...

Today we talk with Jennifer Berney () about what it's like to have a memoir out in the world, leaving off a project during the pandemic and writing letters instead, "enjoying the turtle," how to be a shy writer, the historical novel she returns to...

Alex and Lindsay chat with () about writing through the "brain fog" of early parenthood; writing about the body; creating safe spaces in order to access vulnerability while writing; creating/accessing boundaries when writing; working with her agent...

Today we talk with Shannon McLeod (WHIMSY), author and high school teacher! Topics include: picking up a blueberry with your vagine; what is Shannon's submission process?; how do you pronounce "deluge"?!; Shannon's journey through two rounds of MFA...

Today we talk to true luminary Catherine Nichols about her novel, which is based on Nijinsky's life and is an exploration of how someone could create something so powerful when they're not the one in power. If that hasn't blown your mind, then wait...

In this ravioli of an episode, we talk with queer literary icons Kristen Arnett and Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya! Do they show each other their WiP? Which writer talks to herself while writing? Did you know you could make your own writer's retreat in which...

Today we chat with Adam O'Fallon Price (THE HOTEL NEVERSINK) on topics including: reading is terrifying; is The Hotel Neversink a novel in stories or is it something else?; what's it like being a "late bloomer" in the writing world?; "walking on the...

Today our guest is Michael Zapata (THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU). Topics include: socialist librarians; New Orleans;  storytelling vs. writing; teaching: not for Alex; how serving your community feeds your writing and vice versa; Chicago's...

Today we talk with Erin Somers (STAY UP WITH HUGO BEST), author, mom, and industry scribe! Erin's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, American Short Fiction, Tin House, and elsewhere. She is a reporter for the...

Today we talk to Chelsea Martin (CACA DOLCE), writer, illustrator, and mother, about how reading is weird; writing before baby vs after baby; protecting new projects; PLUS: we invented the hottest new social media craze (it MIGHT be an MLM but it's...

The Butheads talk to artist and writer Dmitry Samarov (OLD STYLE) about self-publishing, how pig faces are the more human faces so they are less vegetarian, writing from life and making connections / composites, working in the service industry,...

Amber Sparks (AND I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU), author, employee, and mother, joins the Butheads to discuss boogers, what we thought writing while parenting would look like vs what it actually looks like, the endless pain of noveling, how loving your...

Today we talk with Matthew Salesses (CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD), author, professor, and dad. Topics include: his amazing daughter, learning how to write what you want to write, the good news about these young bucks in today's workshops, how Matt gets...

The Butheads talk to Rumaan Alam, author (LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND), critic, and father, about voice and cooking for children and POV and Willa Cather and Don DeLillo and Wigleaf and how writing short stories is cute. 

The Butheads talk to Elissa Washuta, member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. She is the author of My Body Is a Book of Rules and Starvation Mode, and her book White Magic is forthcoming from Tin House Books....

Chris L. Terry (BLACK CARD), author, screenwriter, runner, and dad joins the Butheads to talk about transforming his novel into a script, living in LA during the pandemic, rewarding himself by not writing, publishing with a smaller press, and...

Meghan Phillips is a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, author (ABSTINENCE ONLY, Barrelhouse), public library employee, and mother. Alex and Lindsay chat with her about ghost sex, mothers-in-law reading their work, pregnancy, and...

Alex and Lindsay talk with Juan Martinez, a writer, professor, and father about Chicago neighborhoods, Orlando chain businesses, and a groundhog that lives by the Taco Bell.  Later, Alex and Lindsay read some of their work and offer up writing...

Lindsay reads you a newish holiday-themed story. 

Chelsea Bieker is the author of GODSHOT (2020) and HEARTBROKE (2022), the mom of two little ones, AND she teaches writing. Lindsay and Alex talk to her about the revolutionary act of writing about nursing (and periods), keeping a "mean journal," how...

Lindsay and Alex talk to writers Juliet Escoria (Juliet the Maniac) and Scott McClanahan (The Sarah Book) about working and living in West Virginia. Topics discussed: diarrhea, Twitter, lying about buying books on Amazon, and more! Plus: Juliet and...

Kristen Iskandrian is the author of MOTHEREST, the owner of Thank You Books in Birmingham, AL, and the mother of two daughters. Get to know this amazing human better, hear how she does or does not get work done, and find out who called Joan Didion an...

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