Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggets is the author of 21 BOOKS, Y'ALL--more than one of them have won awards, including her two most recent: "Black Joy" and "Then They Came for Mine." In this episode, Tracey shares a ton of particulars, or what she called before we started recording her "cheat codes":- How considering herself a storyteller instead of a memoirist or novelist helps her find her way along her throughline- How her experience as an English professor shapes her writing practice today (and what advice she gives her student that she no longer observes)- What walking has to do with creativity- The specifics of her morning routine- The exact tools she uses to help her "open up to the page" (I definitely learned some things that I'm gonna be trying!)For detailed 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 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 (and get lots of other perks, 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 (and get lots of other perks, too). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[Sari Botton, Practical Matters]: The power of curiosity, offhand comments, and writing stuff you've already done on your to-do listThis seed of the idea for Finding the Throughline: Conversations about the Creative Process, was first dropped by Sari Botton in her Substack publication Oldster Magazine—specifically, it was her Oldster Magazine Questionnaire, in which she asks creatives of all ages to answer the same dozen or so questions about what it means to grow older.I’m telling you, each time a new Oldster questionnaire lands in my inbox I drop everything and read it immediately. I love that even though I rarely know of the person who is answering the question (although sometimes I do—she’s interviewed Elizabeth Gilbert and Neko Case, for instance), I am moved, enlightened, provoked, and delighted by their answers.Sari had to be my first interview, she just had to be. And thankfully, she responded with an enthusiastic yes within just a few minutes of my asking her to come on.In this episode, Sari spills the beans on the practical parts of her process, including:- 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 (and get lots of other perks, too). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may have noticed, I have been rebroadcasting old episodes of How to Be a Better Person since May. I want to tell you a little bit about what’s been going on.Here's the Cliffs Notes version: I'm ending How to Be a Better Person. And starting a new show--which will appear here, in this same feed, starting January 15th--called Finding the Throughline. Why? Well, a mid-life crisis had something to do with it. You'll have to listen for the full story.I want to thank you for being a listener of How to Be a Better Person. It has been such an honor and a privilege to connect with you here, in this space. We got through the pandemic together--as well as over 1,000 episodes and 1 million downloads.It’s not often easy to be a person in this world who gives a shit about being a better human, and it gives me so much hope to know how many of you care.In addition to feeling proud, I’m nervous, and a little sad, as well as excited and ready to find out where the throughline is leading me—and all of us--next. But really this is all any of us can do—do what’s calling to us until that call shifts.Listen to the Finding the Throughline trailer here.Talk to you next week! And to make sure we stay in touch, and to get free and full show notes delivered to your inbox each week, sign up for my newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That might seem like a mixed message, coming from a podcast called How to Be a Better Person. Just to be clear, I don’t want you to be a different person. Just to help you be that version of yourself that you know is in there, and that can get overlooked when we’re busy, or stressed, or distracted. It’s not fixing we’re after here. It’s remembering. And growing. And neither of those things are possible when you're focusing on the flaws you want to make go away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite the fact that women have been socialized to be nice above all else, it's not actually a very noble goal, as my co-host this week, Terri Trespicio, breaks down today. Does that mean you should go out and let your a-hole flag fly? Or become outright mean? Goodness, no. It just means you set your sights on something different--something that takes a lot less energy than being nice AND that gives you more energy, because it's gratifying. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s surprising strategy for a better new year is to Un-plan Your Life. Which, depending on how much of a planner you are, may sound like just a completely ludicrous idea. BUT, as this week's co-host, Terri Trespicio, will talk us through--plans change all the time. Multiple times. And sometimes, even when your plans work out, you've put so much stock in them that you can feel lost now that they're no longer on the horizon. So what do you do instead? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can be generous in some ways, and stingy in others. And it’s really fascinating to start to unpack where you are a natural giver, and where you might be more likely to freeze up and think, oh heck no.Maybe those are areas that you can think about differently and find your way to feeling more generous, but maybe those are just things that don’t suit you for some reason, and you can focus on other ways to be more giving without feeling bad that you’re secretly a Scrooge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices