Writing It!

We’re talking with Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University about building a scholarly foundation for future historians of art through writing and then moving in a new direction with more popular writing. We talked about writing for Smithsonian Magazine; writing about artists who are still alive; how to surmount the challenges of getting your editor to include images in your book; and when cold-calling really pays off. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We’re talking with Dr. Claire Sufrin, editor of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Senior Editor at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America about writing choices and how they affect our academic lives. We talk about choosing to leave a traditional academic position and how that affects our writing; writing about personal matters; deciding not to turn the dissertation into a book; and about the schedule of an editor. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We’re speaking with Dr. Elizabeth Arleo, Professor of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), an Attending Radiologist at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), and Editor-in-Chief of the radiology journal Clinical Imaging about writing the books we feel called to write. For Liz, this meant writing self-help and children’s books. We talk about using National Novel Writing Month (November) to kick-start writing habits, and about moving from academic-style writing to a more accessible style of writing. We also talk about getting an agent and fitting writing into busy career and family schedules. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We’re talking with Mark Oppenheimer, author, professor, podcaster, and editor of the online journal Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera, about a varied writing career defined by openness to the next interesting project (one of those current projects is writing Judy Blume’s biography). We talk about writing a great sentence; how academics can best position their research and ideas for the popular press; when a university press is the best option for a project; writing biography; rejection; how to teach writing; and the freelancing life. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We talk with historian and film critic J.E. Smyth about her most recent book, Mary C. McCall Jr.: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Most Powerful Screenwriter. We talk about writing the kinds of books called “recovery projects,” and how commitment to the subject helps us get beyond discouragement from the publishing world. In speaking about writing biography, we talking about finding your writing voice; the challenges of subjects who are political moderates; weighing the advantages of trade press v. academic press; at what stage of your project to approach an editor/agent about your project (and the advantages of holding the ms. book until it’s done; and how best to approach the children/family members of your subject. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We’re talking with historian and journalist Tim Shenk about creating a professional relationship with our writing. In addition to being an assistant professor of history at George Washington University, Tim is a senior editor at Dissent magazine, and has written for the New York Times, the Nation, the New Republic, and Jacobin, among other publications. He is also the author of three books, most recently, Left Adrift: What Happened to Liberal Politics. Tim talks with us about balancing academic and journalistic writing; a typical writing day; how academics come to write op-eds in publications such as the NYT; what it means to shift away from a grad student mentality about writing; why good writing begets more good writing; what an academic can expect from a trade press editor; why academic move back and forth between academic and trade presses for different kinds of projects; and why it’s a good idea for academic writers to sometimes curb our inner Norman Mailer. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

In this episode, we’re talking with writer and historian Rachel Cockerell, author of Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land, about the process of writing a family history that Zadie Smith, Simon Schama, and others have praised. Cockerell tells us about her research and writing process; deciding to take out the narrative voice and letting the primary sources tell the story on their own; and why fiction often serves as a model for the kind of reading experience she hopes to give readers. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We speak with literary scholar Heather Clark about moving from biography to novel-writing, why it can be helpful to move back and forth between non-fiction and fiction, and why academic writers might want to rethink the “stay in your lane” approach. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We speak with literary scholar and biographer, Heather Clark, author of Red Comet, which was selected for the New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2021" list and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. It won the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in 2022. We talk about how Clark made the case for the eleventh biography of Sylvia Plath to her agent, and what it was like for her editor to tell her that she actually wanted a doorstopper of a book. Clark tells us about how she treated Plath’s fiction and poetry in the context of telling Plath’s life story, and how Clark organized her research notes. Clark also tells us about the group biography she wrote after Red Comet, and her next biography subject. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

We’re talking with Professor Blaufarb about writing graphic history. His Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle against the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Graphic History is part of the Oxford University Press Graphic History Series. Blaufarb tells us about what kinds of histories he thinks work best for graphic history, and how and why you might want to have images tell a history. We also talk about how scholars become editors of book series (as well as the good and bad parts of being a book series editor), and Blaufarb’s method for getting to the pleasurable parts of writing. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact