Memoir Nation
Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner
Memoir Nation: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is an extension of the Memoir Nation community hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey. Originally launched as Write-minded in 2018, this is a weekly writing podcast that focuses on memoir and personal writing, as well as industry trends and tips and resources for writers and authors. Memoir Nation features a segment called Book Alley at the end of each episode to talk about recent memoirs that authors have sent Brooke and Grant, or memoirs they've discovered that are thought provoking or have sparked inspiration. Brooke and Grant bring to this weekly podcast their deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters. Discover more about Memoir Nation at memoirnation.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 26, 2024 • 47min
Recovering from the Stigma of a "Failed" First Novel, featuring Ethel Rohan
It's important to learn from the challenges of a failed book rather than allowing it to define your career. The publishing industry can be harsh and unforgiving to writers in this situation. Unforgiving as in agents abandoning the writer or publishers turning away future work, not because of its quality, but because of the one book that didn’t sell well. This week, we're joined by guest Ethel Rohan, whose story serves as a reminder that regardless of how brutal this industry can be, perseverance and reinvention can lead to triumph, and Ethel’s story is testament to that truth. This episode is a great reminder to keep moving forward through the challenges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 19, 2024 • 43min
Journeying into Writerly Aesthetic, featuring K-Ming Chang
Guest K-Ming Chang discusses disorientation as a style, language living in the body, and hating plot. The interview focuses on writerly aesthetic, language, and the existential position on writing. Chang's meditation on language is expansive and invites us to consider our own stories.
4 snips
Feb 12, 2024 • 34min
Breaking Into Ghostwriting and Work-for-Hire Writing, featuring Aubre Andrus
Guest Aubre Andrus breaks down the world of ghostwriting and work-for-hire writing, discussing the increasing demand for ghostwriters and how to break into the work-for-hire industry. The episode also explores the rise of Womb House, a woman-owned online bookstore, and highlights library sales and a website celebrating women writers.
Feb 5, 2024 • 54min
How Stories Get Carried Through the Generations and in Our Bones, featuring Ingrid Rojas Contreras
This week’s Write-minded floats into the magical and surreal world of Ingrid Rojas Contreras, who talks about her new memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, about her curandera-storytelling mother and their shared history of amnesia, and about why to her magical realism is just realism. Grant and Brooke consider what gets passed down to us from our families and how our stories and histories are in our bones and lived experience, and how reading stories from writers whose lives are vastly different from our own can invigorate our writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 snips
Jan 29, 2024 • 55min
Get Into Your Writing Using All the Senses, featuring Janet Fitch
In this gorgeous, sensualistic, tactile, provocative episode of Write-minded, we explore the senses with Janet Fitch of White Oleander fame. In this interview, Janet takes us on a tour through the senses, making the point that our language is impoverished and we can—and must—do more to become more sophisticated observers on the page. This is an episode you’ll carry with you into your next writing or reading session, keeping an eye out (and tastebuds at the ready and an ear attuned and the nose trained) for the next sensual experience or opportunity. Revel in the possibilities and ideas Janet offers to employ the superpowers each of our senses hold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 22, 2024 • 41min
How to Be Self-Revealing in Memoir When You're Not In Real Life, featuring Dr. Brian H. Williams
This week's episode moves beyond inspiring and into the territory of important, essential, and recommended listening—and reading. Guest Dr. Brian H. Williams, author of the debut memoir, The Bodies Keep Coming, joins us to talk about his experience as a trauma surgeon, and what being on the hospital frontlines can teach us about racial inequities in America. On the writing side of things, Brooke and Grant talk about how hard it can be for memoirists to truly open up, especially if you’re not used to sharing your feelings, or if there’s a perception that you don’t want the book to be too much “about you.” Dr. Williams touches upon all this, and shares how, as a self-professed man of few words, he pushed himself to be so self-revealing in his memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 15, 2024 • 38min
Hidden Stories, featuring Vanessa Chan
Hidden stories are at the heart of many a novel and memoir, driving writers, often from very young ages, toward exploration, uncovering, and the desire to seek for and know truths. Vanessa Chan’s new novel, The Storm We Made, is one such story, spawned by the unlikeliest of spies—a discontent mother and wife in 1930s British Malaya who, in becoming a spy for the Japanese, unwittingly ushers in the most violent war her country has ever seen. Vanessa talks about her novel, its journey, and the idea that she herself is a hidden story. This is a not-to-be-missed interview with an exciting debut author whose book is getting tons of buzz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 8, 2024 • 50min
The Future of the Book, featuring Maja Thomas
Books were just books for hundreds of years, but in the past 20 years, we've experienced major shifts in how we read and write. Plus, we’re on the brink of another revolution with AI that will change what we know and think we know about book publishing. This week’s guest, Maja Thomas, is the Chief Innovation Officer at Hachette, and her job, essentially, is to figure out the future of the book. She’s the only Chief Innovation Officer in all of publishing, so it’s a treat to hear what she has to say about trends, disruptions, innovations, and yes, AI. Don’t miss her insights! Also, in the trend we mention this Foreign Policy article from Dave Karpf about the future of AI maybe not being as disruptive as we all think. Worth a read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 1, 2024 • 19min
The New Year's Un-resolution Show
Happy New Year! On this week’s Write-minded, Brooke and Grant take stock of last year’s resolutions and hold their own feet to the fire on what was cast out for resolutions, and what was accomplished (or not). We’re probing the resolution, therefore, as we head into 2024—assessing its pros and cons, musing about who we’d be without a goal, and considering whether all the resolution really needs is not to be bound by such a tight timeline. Tune in to probe, explore, turn over, and consider your own relationship with resolutions as we head into a new year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 18, 2023 • 42min
The Subtle Art of Attunement and Its Bearing on Our Writing, featuring Baron Wormser
Author Baron Wormser, known for his memoir 'The Road Washes Out in Spring,' discusses the power of writing as a form of meditation, the concept of attunement in writing, constructing a memoir, the success of small publishers in winning awards, and the impact of money on publishing.
