Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

In this second part of my interview with the brilliant and hilarious Jacquelyn Mitchard, we talk about the squishier side of creativity–the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it, including:- The specific reader Jacquelyn imagines as she writes- Why she's devoted to social media, and why she thinks of it like having a hamster- How some of her books have 'missed the mark' (but she's not going to tell you which ones)- The pep talk that gets her through those moments of feeling like a pretender- The small rewards Jacquelyn uses to congratulate herself for getting another few good sentences down on paper- The John Prine lyric that sums up her views on aging- What she learned from growing up on the West side of Chicago (and the viewpoint of her father's that she outright rejects)For full show notes, with links to everything Jacquelyn and I discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. And if you'd like to receive these episodes ad-free, become a paid subscriber at katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I am thrilled to be talking with Jacquelyn Mitchard, the New York Times bestselling author of 23 novels for adults and teenagers. Her newest novel is "A Very Inconvenient Scandal," and her first novel, "The Deep End of the Ocean" was the first selection of the Oprah Winfrey book club and has sold more than 3 million copies and been translated into 34 languages.We covered:- How losing her husband in her late thirties put her on a quest to publish a novel "to prove that I could have a second act"- How, when Oprah called, she deleted the messages because she felt it must have been a friend pranking her- How she would most definitely NOT write even if she didn't get paid- How the hardest part of the work is coming up with the idea- How Jacquelyn's dreams help her write her books- How she writes her book one sentence at a time, from start to finish, like building a skyscraper- The realities of being chronically sleep deprived- The difference between copying and stealing- Living on the Cape, yet hating the beach- Why she only ever has one cup of coffeeFor full show notes, with links to everything Jacquelyn and I discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. And if you'd like to receive these episodes ad-free, become a paid subscriber at katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the final installment of my interview with generous and prolific writing goddess Sari Botton (she publishes Oldster Magazine, Memoir Land, and Adventures in Journalism on Substack, authored And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen X Weirdo, Goodbye to All That, and Never Can Say Goodbye, and was the essays editor at Longreads), we talk about what's coming up next for her, as well as her favorite shows, books, songs, time, and food.- What projects she’s dreaming about creating next- The two things she knows she needs to shift (including a great tip for folks with Sephardic Jewish heritage!)- Plus, Sari’s favorite show, the last book she devoured, her go-to karaoke song, and her ideal dinner (hint: it’s shellfish heavy)If you want to hear these interviews in one, ad-free episode, become a paid subscriber at katehanley.substack.com. Full show notes available there, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part two of my interview with Sari Botton, founder of Oldster Magazine and author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Gen X Weirdo, we dive deep into the inner stuff, including:- Her favorite part of sharing her work with the world- How she navigates the ethics of including other people in her personal writing- How her inner critic loves to tell her she doesn’t haven’t permission to write about what she wants to write about—and how she gets past it- How getting older, and developing arthritis, is making her re-think some things, including her beloved wooden clog collection- Her personal role models- That thing that just won’t remove itself from Sari’s bucket list, even though she’s trying to move past itIf you want to hear these interviews in one, ad-free episode, become a paid subscriber at katehanley.substack.com. Full show notes available there, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sari Botton is the author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming, Gen-X Weirdo and Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York. She's also the creator of Oldster, a Substack newsletter devoted to exploring the joys of getting older. (Her Oldster questionnaire was a direct inspiration for my starting this podcast.)Sari was my first ever guest on Finding the Throughline--I'm replaying her episodes this week.- The continuing ed class she took as a 20-something that lead to her personal writing career- The thing her uncle told her when she was 10 that sparked a lifelong fascination with growing older- Why she loves Substack—as both a writer and a reader- The thing about trusting your instincts that Shalom Auslander first told her in 2010 that it took her 10+ years to believe- The incredible power of writing annoying, non-work stuff down on your to-do list (even if you’re already done it)- What she does to cheer herself up and clear her head- Her morning routine (including what exactly goes in her mug)If you want to hear these interviews in one, ad-free episode, become a paid subscriber at katehanley.substack.com. Full show notes available there, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this final part of my interview with Sonya Huber, professor at Fairfield University and author of Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto, we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions.We talked about:Her beautiful vision of the future include a possible memoir of living with anxiety and… goat writing retreats!Sonya’s four aunts who were nuns and role models for living a joyous, industrious lifeThe classic short stories Sonya reads and re-reads for inspirationThe insanely awesome sounding “coffee smoothie” she makes each morningFor full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Sonya Huber, inner stuff]: How your personal writing can deepen your relationships + how not to hate writingIn this episode I'm talking with Sonya Huber, author of eight books including Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto and professor in the low-residency MFA at Fairfield University about the mindset piece of writing–the thoughts, ideas, and attitudes that affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it, including:Ways to handle the anxiety that comes when in the months before your book is publishedHow to deal with the fear that you’re personal writing will hurt someone in your life, or get it ‘wrong’How writing about your own life can deepen relationships with people close to you“Sometimes books really matter to people in ways you don't even imagine they will”How getting long Covid inspired Sonya to write three books in three yearsFor full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I am interviewing Sonia Huber, a prolific and award winning writer in many genres, but primarily in creative nonfiction. Her book of essays on chronic pain, Pain Woman Takes Your Keys and Other Essays from a Nervous System was named a best book of 2018 by The New Statesman. Her other books include Love and Industry (2023), Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto (2022) and Supremely Tiny Acts (2021). Her essays have been included in the Best American Essays series numerous times. And she is a professor in the department of English at Fairfield university and in the Fairfield low residency MFA program. Despite all these places where Sonya's work has appeared, I found her on Substack, where she publishes a newsletter called Nuts and Bolts with Sonya.We covered:Why and how Sonya works on multiple books at one time (“maybe because I’m super distractible”)Not being afraid to follow a tangentHaving zero expectations for your writing output, and just having fun exploring the things you’re curious about or mulling overHow much “tiny steps add up to bigger works”How farm-sitting goats pays as much or better than writingThe book about writing that was written in 1938 that played a huge role in Sonya’s approach to writingSitting down for one hour in the mornings even if you’re bored or uninspired to “unsnarl one tiny knot I’ve made for myself”Strategies for keeping your various ideas accessible, if not exactly organizedUsing writing as a tool for dealing with chronic painFor full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this final part of my interview with Joanne McNeill, author of Wrong Way (a novel set in the near future at a company that manages driverless cars) and Lurking (a non-fiction look at the history of the internet from a user’s perspective), we peek at what’s coming around the bend for her and I get her answers to my fast five questions.We talked about:The novel The Lodgers by Holly Pester, about the housing crisis, and how it hurts a little bit every time she has to put it down because it’s so goodJoanne’s sci-fi inspirations, including Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Ursula Le Guin, and Octavia Butler, and what specifically about their work fuels her writingHow avant garde sci fi novels used to sell hundreds of thousands of copies–and how this hunger for challenging work is still present, even if you’re not a fancy city eliteA tiny sneak peek at the new book she’s working on. OK, not really, but she does share how she’s trying to write this one differently and push back on the ideas she’s created about how she writes bestJoanne’s answers to the fast 5 questions–a book she was stunned by, where she gets her coffee beans, the Kate Bush song she finds so meaningful that she only listens to it a couple of times a year so it doesn’t lose its power, her favorite season, and the perfect wrap sandwich she would ask for if someone offered to make or buy absolutely anything she wanted.Joanne’s website: https://www.joannemcneil.com/For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I'm talking with Joanne McNeil, author of Wrong Way (a novel set in the near future at a company that manages driverless cars) and Lurking (a non-fiction look at the history of the internet from a user’s perspective), about the inner workings of creativity–the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs that either help you do your work, or get in the way.Warning, there’s a tiny bit of cursing and a mention of sexual harassment in the workplace–not a specific story, but just the topic in general, so take care while listening.We talked about:The thrill of writing an op ed and indulging that desire to be right……. compared to writing something more personal (fiction or nonfiction) and being more reflective and offering more of yourselfReckoning with the fact that since her novel, Wrong Way, happens at work and the main character is female, she’d need to include scenes of sexual harassment in order for it be authentic–and really not wanting to go there (“I kind of wrote them in a flurry”)Resisting the urge to overcompensate for the fact that she doesn’t have the ‘right’ writer’s resumeWhy she still considers herself to be an emerging writerHow having writers who come from outside the traditional writing pipeline is so important for the future of writing……and how those writers will naturally take longer to develop (so please don’t tell yourself it’s ‘too late’ or ‘taking too long’!)A mini rant about the use of AI to create art, and being the cheesy romantic who says “humanity is important”Joanne’s website: https://www.joannemcneil.com/For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices