Marginally | a podcast about writing, work, and friendship: Recent Episodes
Marginally Podcast
Today's guest, Kateřina Tučková (who we refer to as Katka in the episode), is a Czech author, playwright, publicist, art historian, and curator of exhibitions. She has won several literary awards, including the Magnesia Litera Award and the Czech Bestseller Award. In 2017, she was awarded the Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Award by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. She also has received the Premio Libro d’Europa at the Book Fair in Salerno, Italy. Her books have been translated into twenty languages.
We approached Katka to talk about her book The Last Goddess because of the way that its form--composed of research documents as well as narrative--contributes to not only the dramatic structure but also the meaning of her novel. We talk in particular about the way that these authoritarian systems treated the goddesses as if they were dangerous, and "the struggle of single women against the many-headed hydra of political power."
You can find Katka on Instagram and Facebook.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today's episode is a conversation we recorded with writer and essayist Meghan Nesmith back in May. We'd been emailing back and forth about the big things -- parenting, writing, work, life -- and decided we wanted to just sit down and hash things out in real time. What are we doing here? What should we be doing? What is the value of work -- emotionally, materially? We don't come up with any answers, but it felt good to connect. We hope it feels good to listen and think about it too.
Meghan is a writer, editor, and obsessive living and working in Boston. She writes about motherhood, relationships, mental health, culture, and the boy band formerly known as One Direction. You can find her work online and in print in Man Repeller, The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, and more. As a content marketer, she's worked with brands like Westin-Marriott, Slack, and Knixwear. You can find out more about Meghan at meghannesmith.com.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today’s episode, we talk to independent bookseller and essayist Nicole Brinkley about everything from community building with indie bookstores to vocational awe to knowing when to quit something, even when you love it. It’s a short episode, but we pack a lot in! Nicole is an award-winning bookseller who manages Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY. She runs Misshelved, a newsletter whose essays about the book world have earned industry acclaim. Previously, she hosted a bookseller podcast and was a teen book blogger. She really likes dragons. You can find Nicole online at nebrinkley.com.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today’s episode we talk to Jane Campbell, the author of the short story collection Cat Brushing (published in the UK by Hachette and US by Grove/Atlantic). Her first published short story, "Cat Brushing," came out in 2017 in the London Review of Books -- when she was 77. Interpretations of Love is the name of her next novel, which is scheduled for Spring 2024.
We really loved talking to her in this wide-ranging interview, in which we touch on everything from portrayals of the elderly to existential angst. By the end, she’s even interviewing us. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
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As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This is a pep talk for anyone trying to let themselves take a short or long break from anything at all. We've both decided to do less or quit things for a bit over this holiday period, so we get into the different reasons why you might want to quit / take a break from / power down from something.
If you know it's what you need to do but can't break up with hustle culture, get in touch and we'll write you a permission slip to take a break or a letter firing you from your project!
Definitely get in touch if this resonates with you or you want to share any thoughts you have.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We do something a little different with this episode, and begin with a discussion of one of our friendship touchstones, the 1998 film You've Got Mail. Takes have been popping up everywhere lately, and we talk about why it matters and how it works, and what it means to us -- twenty-five years ago and now.
But don't worry -- we also catch you up with some big changes in our work and writing lives. Routines, schedules, first drafting, and what's going on now [jump to minute 21 for this part of the show].
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This week, we're sharing what we've been doing since June. It's one of those episodes where we end up forgetting we're recording a podcast and just having a conversation between friends about what our current writing routines look like, and what's going on in our work lives -- covering all the areas of our tagline of writing, work, and friendship.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This week, we're sharing what we've been doing since June. It's one of those episodes where we end up forgetting we're recording a podcast and just having a conversation between friends about what our current writing routines look like, and what's going on in our work lives -- covering all the areas of our tagline of writing, work, and friendship.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today’s episode we talk to Janelle Hardy, who is a writer, artist, host of the Personal Mythmaking Podcast. She is also the creator/teacher of a memoir-writing course called The Art of Personal Mythmaking. This process uses body-based trauma-informed writing prompts, fairytales and themed modules to support creative folks who are interested in healing from their life stories as they write their memoirs.
Her work combines her BA in Anthropology with her MA in Dance, plus her Diploma in Structural Integration. She has been working as a trauma-informed bodyworker and as an artist for many years, and she’s taught adults these important skills out of her living room, arts centers, universities and community colleges.
You’ll hear all of that experience and her unique wisdom in this conversation, but definitely check out her podcast and her website.
We loved talking to Janelle about the work she’s done, how to get out of your head and change your responses using myth and story as well as somatic or body-based healing techniques. Working in this way is rare and transformative.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This week, we're delighted to have Emily Midorikawa back with us to discuss her new book, Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice, out now in both North America and the U.K, as well as her research process, the gift of libraries and librarians, parenthood, writing partners, and how she's worked during the pandemic.
Emily is a winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. Her journalism has been published in, among others, the Daily Telegraph, the Paris Review, The Times (of London) andthe Washington Post. She teaches on the writing programme at New York University London. Emily is also the coauthor of A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontё, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf, written with Emma Claire Sweeney, and published in 2017. She also collaborated with Emma on the long-running and excellent blog about female literary friendship, Something Rhymed.
For more with Emily, you can listen to our previous interview with her writing partner Emma Claire Sweeney from May 2019, and of course find her online at emilymidorikawa.com, on Twitter @emilymidorikawa, and on Instagram @midorikawaemily.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
When we booked author Judith Warner on the show, we had a lot of questions for her about what writers (especially kid, YA and middle-grade fiction writers) need to know about middle-school friendship, and how that period affects the rest of our lives and our friendships. Judith's new book, And Then They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School, touches on the important role that this middle-grade period has in all our lives and our friendships.
Judith talks brilliantly and clearly on that topic, but we go so much wider and deeper in this interview. She talks about how she manages her perfectionism, and when it spirals into a form of OCD. It's a struggle a lot of writers deal with, and we appreciated having this open discussion.
If you've struggled with any of these things we discuss, please do get in touch with us - either through our website, on our Instagram or elsewhere.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today, we have a short episode walking through our revision processes. As usual, this isn't prescriptive -- do things your way if they work, and you're not doing it wrong. But listen on if you are curious about what's been working for us!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
https://youtu.be/QfmEIq4h0bo
Interviewing Yang Huang, a fiction writer and computer engineer, was a real delight. We had a chance to read her forthcoming novel, The Good Son, before this interview, and we loved the way her complex characters drove a surprising and satisfying story.
We definitely recommend it - it's out May 27, 2021!
Yang has incredible advice about everything from characters to research.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We're here this week with a quick update, as well as an announcement of a fun new experiment! Listen for details, and join us by subscribing to our newsletter.
We also chat about the things we've learned in the last few years of developing solid writing practices, as well as where we're headed.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We are so excited to talk to Elizabeth Wetmore today, the author of the novel Valentine, which we loved. We also love her story about working on a book as long as it needs, and how she's balanced many jobs while believing in her writing all along, even when she's been, in her own words, "late to the game in every possible way." So this episode features a fantastic practical discussion about making all of that work, from being led by your love for characters and place to asking for help.
We also discuss the responsibility she felt in writing a diverse cast of characters in a West Texas setting, how she got the place right, and about writing about a place you deliberately left.
Before devoting herself to writing, Elizabeth variously tended bar, taught English, drove a cab, edited psychology dissertations, and painted silos and cooling towers at a petrochemical plant. For a time, she lived in a one-room cabin in the woods outside of Flagstaff, Arizona while she worked as a classical music announcer. A native of West Texas, she is most at home in the desert, near the sea, or on the side of a mountain. She now lives in Chicago.
She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and two fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, and numerous other residencies and awards.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
This week, we're checking in with each other. We talk about how we're managing pandemic life and writing, and share revision woes, moving stories, #firstnovelneverdies, and things that are getting us through each day.
We'd love to hear from you; what is helping you, and what do you miss the most right now?
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today’s episode, we talk to Tiffany Yates Martin, the author of the new book, Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing. This book, which we got to preview before the interview, gives a comprehensive and accessible guide for writers on how to edit their own work.
Tiffany also writes fiction under her pen name Phoebe Fox, and the most recent of her five novels is A Little Bit of Grace, released in August 2020.
You can find her on her website, Fox Print Editorial: https://foxprinteditorial.com/, under her own name on Medium (https://tiffanyyatesmartin.medium.com/), and under Fox Print Editorial on Twitter (@FoxPrintEd) and Facebook (@FoxPrintEditorial).
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
In today’s episode, we bring you a conversation with writers and close friends, Shikha Malaviya and Soniah Kamal. Together, they talk about their how they went from strangers to close friends almost in the timespan of one phone conversation, how they help each other as writing partners, and how they embrace their intersecting identities to form communities of writers and readers.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today we are so excited to have Nina LaCour on our show. We have been HUGE fans of Nina’s for a long time. Nina is the bestselling and Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of five critically acclaimed young adult novels published by Dutton Books. Her latest book is called Watch Over Me, a spooky atmospheric but also kind and warm book that we both devoured recently and loved.
We have a wide-ranging discussion on her literary friendships and collaborations, building communities, how she balances many projects, and also her latest book.
You can find her on her website at ninalacour.com, at her podcast Keeping A Notebook, her course The Slow Novel Lab, or her newsletter Letters from Nina. She's @nina_lacour on Instagram, and also on @theslownovellab for her course.
Enjoy!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
This season, we’re exploring community. One of the reasons we started this podcast was we wanted to talk about writing and day jobs with other writers, and didn’t find an existing space. So when we wanted to be part of a small critique group, it made sense to start our own. The resulting collective is one of things we’re most proud of.
Today’s episode is a discussion with some of last year’s collective members, about what works and what doesn’t, and we hope it gives you some tips and encouragement for starting your own. Let us know if you do!
In this episode, we talk to Amy Dressler, Erin Levens, Nicole Roth, and Stephanie Bucklin. Links to their websites are in the show notes so you can check them out. You can also find links to collective members Peter Amos and Sarah Hawkins, who weren’t able to join, but who are also doing some exciting writing things.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Hi listeners
We wanted to take a second to talk to you after our long silence, which has coincided with the pandemic and the amazing activism of the Black Lives Matter movement, and … so much else.
We talk through a statement on our current thinking on these things, and also check in after a longer-than-normal summer break. We have a lot of changes in our lives! I guess many people do after these past few months.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this statement, and also how you've been doing over the summer. We're on Instagram (@marginallypodcast), email podcast@marginallypodcast.com and our website marginallypodcast.com.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
We were originally planning another episode this week, but we decided to release this interview with meditation teacher, yoga teacher and writer Divya Kohli instead. Her new book, Finding Peace in Difficult Times, has been published speedily because of how relevant it is for the current situation in which we find ourselves.
As we discuss here, activism and wellness are not mutually exclusive. Meditation can help you to see what is – help you to see and feel your own feelings, but also can bring you to see what is happening, what is unjust, in the world. It doesn’t have to be a tool of accepting whatever happens and letting it go. It can make you stronger as you commit to new action to change things.
Divya also has a fascinating publishing story - she worked on various novels that didn't work until this book found her. She talks about how her book found her, and the usefulness of working with a writing coach.
You can find more about her at: www.yogawithdivya.co.uk. You can also find her online at her Facebook page.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
We're here today with Jennie Nash, book coach and founder/CEO of Author Accelerator. Jennie has spent more than 30 years in the publishing industry. With 9 books under her belt, and more than a decade coaching bestselling authors like Lisa Cron and KJ Dell'Antonia, she definitely knows what she's talking about from both sides of the desk.
Jennie's latest book, Read Books All Day and Get Paid For It, about the book coaching industry, came out in January. She sat down with us this week to talk book coaching -- why you should get one, when to know you're ready, and how she works with her clients -- and we also ended up getting a little mini-coaching ourselves. We hope you love listening as much as we loved talking to Jennie!
You can find Jennie online at jennienash.com or authoraccelerator.com. If you're interested in what's probably her most famous tool, the Inside Outline, head to authoraccelerator.com/marginally.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today's episode, we talk about finishing things -- work projects, drafts, you name it -- and the different types of Big Finishing Energy. We also talk about how structure helps you drop it later, being bored on purpose, and the reading and watching we're doing right now.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this episode, we talk to two of the three co-hosts of the #amwriting podcast. (We are huge fans of that podcast, in case you haven't noticed.) We talk with them about the benefits of having a friendship that is just about writing, about the incredible gift of being able to be open with close friends, and about the relief of finding someone to take writing seriously with.
KJ Dell'Antonia wrote and edited the Motherlode blog for the New York Times from 2011 until 2016 and was a contributing editor to the Well Family section from 2016-2017. She is also the author of the author of How to Be a Happier Parent and the forthcoming novel The Chicken Sisters, which will be released June 30th 2020. (KJ was a guest on Marginally in Episode 40.)
Jessica Lahey is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. Her second book, The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence, will be released in April 2021. (Jess was a guest in Episode 36 as well.)
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Today, we’re sharing a conversation with a couple of writers who are definite goals – as writers, of course, but especially as friends. Zan Romanoff and Miranda Popkey met in college, and they talk to us about how their friendship has evolved, its role in their writing, and about writing women’s friendships in fiction. They also talk process, craft, and day jobs and writing – basically everything.
Zan Romanoff writes essays, journalism, and fiction, with a particular focus on and interest in areas of culture that don't always get the respect they deserve: stuff like fandom, food, and the Kardashian clan. She also writes YA, including the forthcoming novel Look, out on March 31 (make sure to preorder!), and lives in LA.
Miranda is a writer, editor, social worker, and translator from the Italian. She’s lived in California, Connecticut, Texas, New York, Missouri, and Italy. Right now, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and her dog, and her first novel, Topics of Conversation, was published by Knopf on January 7, 2020. You can find them at zanromanoff.com and mirandapopkey.com. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed talking to them!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Today, we revisit the fundamental question of this podcast: how does a day job and writing fit together? What have we learned in the past few years, and what have the job changes we've both experienced taught us about this balancing act? We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this as well.
Also, during our regular book check-in, we go deep into how to transition between two plot strands that you're trying to weave together - and the struggles both of us have with that at the moment. We also talk about whether you're an over-writer or an under-writer when describing things - and how to think about it as a form of trust in the reader.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Today, we talk about how we've been stuck lately and what we're doing to get unstuck. Sometimes writing is hard for reasons outside your control, like being sick, and sometimes it's hard because you're not sure what to do next. We talk about what helps us, and would love to hear what works for you.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Today's episode is a fascinating discussion of the science of friendship with author, science writer and editor Lydia Denworth. Before this interview, we read her excellent new book, Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond. We enjoyed talking about some of our favorite parts, but we recommend checking out the whole book to learn more about this topic, which is just starting to get significant scientific attention.
Lydia Denworth started her career in news magazines and freelancing for women’s magazines, but has more recently gravitated to writing primarily about science. She’s visited brain imaging labs and baboon troops in Kenya, and written about everything from Alzheimer’s to zebrafish.
She is now the author of three books of popular science. Today we’re talking about her third book, which is Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond – an excellent book about the health and scientific data about quality relationships. This book was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
She is a contributing editor for Scientific American and she writes the Brain Waves blog for Psychology Today. Her work has also appeared in The Atlantic, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Spectrum and many other publications.
We loved talking to her about her new and fascinating book, which is out this week – January 28, 2020. We strongly recommend you check it out.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Today's episode is less of a wild-eyed goal-setting session and more a conversation about our perspectives for this year. We share one thing we're bringing with us from 2019 (everything else can burn), one thing we're excited about for 2020, and our guiding themes and words for this year. We'd love to hear what you'd share, too!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This episode is the second of what we're calling Marginally Podcast situation guides, a type of episode designed to share some tips from what we’ve learned as day-job-writers. In this episode, Meghan shares some of what she's learned about writing while you're in school, whether it's grad school, undergrad, or on the other side of the desk, as a teacher.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
This episode is the first of what we're calling Marginally Podcast situation guides, a new type of episode designed to share some tips from what we’ve learned as day-job-writers. In this episode, Olivia shares some of what she's learned about writing while you're traveling - especially focusing on work travel.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this new format and the tips - and send us your own tips for writing while you travel. Or send us a request for another guide. We'll be publishing them occasionally.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
In this episode, we touch base on our challenge to submit something every other month. We also chat about our recent month or so of writing, including coming to terms with challenging schedules (hello, November, nice to see you again) and how to move ahead. Also: what to do when you're almost ready for other people to read your draft and it's scary!
Finally, we'll putting out a guide to writing while you travel in our last episode this year. We're looking to put together a few more guides, so if you have anything you'd like a guide on, let us know!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Today's episode was one of the most fun conversations to record (we say that every time, but seriously, y'all, we mean it). Kate Newburg and Tasha L. Harrison are writing and podcasting BFFs. They like to say that they are a lot, and we think that's perfect. In this episode, they have so much energy and so many projects, and we loved chatting with them about writing friendship and collaboration.
We've had Tasha on before, way back in episode 59, and are happy to have her back with Kate. Kate and Tasha are in the middle of season 2 of their fantastic Lady Books podcast. Kate describes their approach as a concept album, where each season is self-contained and totally different, and definitely worth adding to your listening line-up.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Pep Talk 17 is from Episode 61 with Jessica Abel. We totally endorse her nap-on-the-spot plan but especially like her approach to using self-care techniques as part of the writing process.
If you like this, go back and check out the full episodes as well!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Pep Talk 16 is from Episode 51 with Paul Jarvis, when he talked to us about what to do with fear - what you can use and what you have to push past.
If you like this, go back and check out the full episodes as well!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Before we even get started, let's just say up front: if you're doing National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), we are totally rooting for you!
But NaNo isn't for us, and this is something we've been coming to terms with over the past couple of years - if you don't believe us, check out our previous episodes on this topic.
For us, focusing just on one month, when we (as writers with day jobs and other responsibilities) have so much going on, isn't very sustainable and can make us really anxious/stressed/feel bad.
So this episode is about saying "no" in a gracious way - including how to set goals for your project that are longer-term, and also dealing with your feelings when so many other people are talking about NaNo.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Today we’re bringing you an interview with writer and editor Julie Buntin, the author of a great friendship novel, Marlena, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, longlisted for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and named a best book of the year by over a dozen outlets, including the Washington Post, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews. Y’all, it’s really good. Julie is from northern Michigan, and her writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Vogue, the New York Times Book Review, Guernica, and other publications. She has taught creative writing at New York University, Columbia University, and the Yale Writers’ Workshop, and is incoming asst prof in the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan, and a recent Ellen Levine Fund for Writers Award winner for her current novel-in-progress, and is editor-at-large for Catapult. You can find her at juliebuntin.com and on Twitter @juliebuntin.
We cover a lot of ground, serious and not-so-serious. From the impact of friendships and loss, to Golden Girls, Judy Blume, and Nicholas Cage, to the algorithm and how to run a writing workshop. We loved talking to Julie, and hope you enjoy listening.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We go way back in this episode, to the beginning of our friendship - those fraught 6 weeks at the beginning of college where you may or may not make incorrect judgments about who you do or don't like.
We talk about how our friendship has gotten closer over time, and what has bonded us, even when we don't physically see each other that much.
And then we rely on Meghan's deep knowledge of friendship books, and the project she's doing to think about them as a genre: what counts as a friendship book (or story), and why are we so drawn to them? It's basically a very excellent book club.
Send us your favorite friendship books/TV shows/movies, and we'd also love to hear about your favorite literary friendships, if you're into that.
Full show notes are on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
In today’s episode, we bring back one of our very first guests, Alicia de los Reyes! Alicia is a writer based in Maine, where she lives with her family and cat. She has her MFA from University of New Hampshire. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Archipelago, The Billfold, and others, and her fiction has been published in Best New Writing 2015.
She’s also the author of the writing guides DIY Writing Retreat and DIY Chick Lit, and the creator of the Writer’s Process Planner, and we have her on today to talk about goal setting and planning — take it from me, even if you’re allergic to Virgo season and planning and goals, you’ll want to listen to this one.
You can find out more about Alicia at aliciadelosreyes.com, and as @likesoatmeal on Instagram and Twitter. Listen to her podcast Scratch Paper on iTunes or on Stitcher, or at her website.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
We came back from the summer with a lot of news, which we're excited to share.
First, we talk about what we did over the summer - the ups and downs of our writing.
Then we talk about our goals for the year. Olivia and Meghan both have goals related to their book projects, and also we are planning to submit something for publication every two months (alternating months). We will share our experience and lessons from that as we go along this season.
And finally, one of our goals for the year is to have more collaboration and community, so ...
we are starting a writing collective!
You can let us know that you're interested in participating in it by answering the questions we posted on our blog, here.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Today, we're bringing you a special episode: a collaboration with Courtney Balestier of the WMFA podcast. If you don't already listen to WMFA, this episode is sure to make you a convert. WMFA features interviews with outstanding writers, from Emily St. John Mandel (one of my favorite episodes) to Susan Choi, as well as minisodes where Courtney puts into words the same anxieties and thoughts we have, in a way that makes us feel so seen.
Courtney Balestier is a writer whose work focuses on the intersection of place and identity, particularly in her native Appalachia. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including The New Yorker online, Lucky Peach, the New York Times, and Oxford American, and has been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award and a Pushcart Prize. Courtney holds a bachelor's degree in news journalism from West Virginia University and a master's degree in magazine journalism from New York University. A native West Virginian, she is at work on a novel about identity, progress, and class set in Appalachia and Detroit. She lives and works in Pittsburgh.
You can find Courtney on her website, Twitter, and Instagram. Find WMFA online here, or listen in your favorite podcast app.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We're thrilled to share this conversation with essayist Mary Laura Philpott, author of the most excellent collection I Miss You When I Blink. Mary Laura is also the Emmy-award winning co-host of A Word on Words, a literary interview show on Nashville Public Television; the author and illustrator of the book Penguins with People Problems; and "book enthusiast at large" for Parnassus Books — as well as an all-around delightful human.
We talk about feelings, the art of the personal essay, the transition between projects, how to work when you don’t know the outcome, quitting, and of course get some great book recommendations.
Find Mary Laura online here, and on Twitter, Instagram,and Facebook.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá. Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
This week's episode is short and (bitter)sweet. We are going to be taking a summer break, so we set some intentions for the season. Also, we recorded it in real life, in a park, so you get to hear a lot of birds!
Also - please send us your suggestions for how you might want to have a collaborative/community writing group next year!
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As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
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If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
This week's episode is a catch up episode, where we talk about finding (or ditching) your process, the joy of a first draft, the pain of a first draft, and getting unstuck. It's part craft nerdiness and part public therapy.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this week's episode, we have the special privilege of having one but two guests - writers and friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney. Emily and Emma are the co-authors of A Secret Sisterhood: The literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf. They also co-run the fantastic blog about female literary friendship and collaboration, SomethingRhymed.com.
Emma is the author of the award-winning novel Owl Song at Dawn, and Emily is a winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, and they both teach at New York University London.
We loved talking to them about how to tackle a big project and stay friends, as well as how literary women have always managed ambition and jealousy in their friendships - and how Emma and Emily have dealt with these things. We loved talking to these honest, smart and literary women.
You can find Emily at her website, Instagram or Twitter. You can contact Emma from her website or on Twitter.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Podcast-friend, writer and writing coach Caroline Donahue is back on our podcast this week to talk about her new book, The Story Arcana: Tarot for Writers. We loved catching up with her after about a year - a year that's brought her big changes in her life, a move to Berlin and all the stress that entails. We also talked about why tarot is not scary, and specifically how tarot can help you get beyond everything you've been taught, to get in touch with your intuition. (See? Totally not scary.)
You can find Caroline at carolinedonahue.com, and on Twitter and Instagram @carodonahue.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
We've both done writing retreats recently, so this is a whole episode on retreats: what works, what doesn't work, when they're useful, and how to pick one. We talk about both organized retreats and DIY retreats.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today we talk about morning routines: a little bit about our own, but mostly about how much BS people say when in articles about theirs. (Spoiler alert: you still deserve to be a writer, even if you're not a morning person!) This brings us on to how to take care of yourself (hint: not just bubble baths), and what that can give you in terms of motivation.
And then we talk a bit about the tools we've been using for research and writing, since we are both working on new projects. (Another spoiler: Meghan gives a short masterclass in using notecards.)
Also we discussed how funny it is when people try to convince you that your book isn't bad (when they haven't read it), and why we love citing other people's ideas.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
In today's episode, we get some great lessons in creative focus from cartoonist, author and educator Jessica Abel. We have loved all the inspirational but practical work she has done on being a creative when you have a busy life - from her workbook Growing Gills to her practical advice on creative focus.
She gave us some great advice on saying goodbye to projects we have finished, how to pick a project when you have a million ideas, and how to manage your energy in your creative and day job lives.
You can find her at jessicaabel.com, or on Twitter and Instagram @visiblewoman.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
This is one of our candid catch-up episodes, where you can hear what's going on with us and our writing. This week is maybe more candid than most: we explain why we have moved to an every-two-weeks format (the podcast editing is a tough slog alongside everything else).
We also feel we've wrapped up the should-you-quit-your-day-job side of Season 2, and we will mostly be back to our core content (and what we like best): talking to each other and writers about anything about balancing jobs and writing.
Then we talk about the real stuff going on in our life - Meghan finding a new writing schedule that's less often, due to changing daytime responsibility, and Olivia still in the thinking and processing phase before figuring out what to write next.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today’s episode is a wide-ranging conversation with the hilarious, gracious, and brilliant Tasha L. Harrison, romance and erotica author, freelance editor, and a creative entrepreneur dedicated to helping new and aspiring word makers become authors. This recording is actually take 2 – our first conversation was sacrificed to the technology gods last week, so we’re extra grateful to Tasha. You can find her at tashalharrison.com, or on Twitter and Instagram@tashalharrison
We talk stationery and planners, writing romance, what it’s like to write while working as an editor, the barriers to writers of color in traditional publishing, the realities of self-publishing, the money (or lack of) in self-publishing, gaming Amazon, planning a story, how to get past the 26,000-word wall, defining writing, going full-time, Buzzfeed layoffs, jealousy, working with agents, writing backwards, Caroline Donahue and The Secret Library podcast, cross-pollination, and how your day job helps your creativity. Whew! I think that’s it.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review usin your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
You don't have to fill up your time. You can quit a project if it isn't bringing you joy. Sometimes switching your focus to a project or type of writing you really love can help you progress as a writer. And you can always re-start our 7 Days to a Writing Routine eBook (sign up for our newsletter to receive it.)
We discuss all these things and more in Episode 58, a catch-up episode that gets into some specific coping mechanisms for time management and finding joy in your writing.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
In this season, we've done a series of research episodes, where we comb through the internet to find out answers to how this whole money and writing thing works. Today we are presenting the results of our research on a bucket of stuff we call "everything else":
- eBooks and self-publishing;
- Newsletters and Patreon;
- Speaking; and
- Online courses.
As always, we have put the sources for our discussion below. This is an introduction on what you can expect to take into account when you're considering pursuing these as income streams. The bottom line is if you're planning for this to replace your day job income, you will need to put a lot of time into it - more or less exchanging one day job for another. And that might be fine, but you should just get ready to hustle.
Full show notes are on our website, marginallypodcast.com
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
Today's episode is our first one of 2019, and so we do a very brief summary of how we feel about our 2018s, and then move on to our words and plans for the year. We draw on everything from recently read novels to The Artist's Way, and we are very excited for what the new year will bring us.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here.Thanks for listening, and get to work!
Today's episode takes you through our Seven Days To A Writing Routine ebook. You can get the ebook with lots of worksheets on our website, or follow along and do it yourself.
We are really excited to share this podcast with you, and we also want to plug Katherine Scott from Olive Apple Moss for the beautiful illustrations.
We'd love to hear what you think!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here.Thanks for listening, and get to work!
In today's episode, we talk to bohemian businessman Tom Hodgkinson. In 2002 Tom quit the commercial world and retired to a farmhouse on the coast of North Devon to write books. His first book How to be Idle was a global best-seller and is one of our favorites. That success was followed by several others, including another of our favorites: Business for Bohemians.
In 2014 Tom returned to London to launch and develop the Idler Academy, both in the real world and online. In 2016, he and the Idler team relaunched the Idler as a magazine, raising £150,000 from 146 investors via the platform Crowdcube.
In this episode, we have a delightful conversation with Tom about his philosophy for life and work, and he shares practical tips for how we can live as bohemians - even if we keep our day jobs or don't intend to earn our living from writing.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review using your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here.Thanks for listening, and get to work!
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
Today, instead of a regular episode, we're bringing you four pep talks designed to help you through the winter holidays or other busy season. This is a notoriously stressful time of year, whether you find it joyful on balance or not. Travel, end-of-year work push, family, kids off school -- there's a lot going on. Not to mention the inevitable retrospection, the adding up of all you've accomplished and not over the past year. Honestly, we both have a lot of things going on right now, too, and a regular episode was too much to take on. We hope these pep talks speak to you and whatever you need this season as much as they did for us.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
This pep talk is part of a series of talks designed to help you through the winter holidays or other busy season. As margin-writers, fitting in our creative work around the demands of day jobs and caring responsibilities, it can be hard to make the time and energy to commit. In our conversation with librarian and poet Ayanna Gaines in episode 9 , she shares how she manages to stay in touch with her creative side, even when things are busy. Her tips are equally useful whether you're trying to carve out time at work, or in the middle of a busy family gathering.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
This pep talk is part of a series of talks designed to help you through the winter holidays or other busy season. This is a time of year -- and a time in history -- when things can feel very uncertain and risky, and it's easy to question even trying. This excerpt from our conversation with Manjula Martin in episode 48 is an antidote to feeling out of control.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
This pep talk is part of a series of talks designed to help you through the winter holidays or other busy season. We talk often about writing anyway, about stealing time to write, because if it matters, you'd make it happen, right? But holidays and celebrations can be a time of great pain for many people, and the truth is, in times of great emotional turbulence, sometimes the only thing you can do is rest and wait. My favorite part of our conversation with yoga instructor and writer Divya Kohli in episode 14 is her wise words about running into walls.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today's episode is a mega-book report of sorts. We read a huge stack of personal finance, business, and writing-business books so you don't have to (though we do have a couple to recommend anyway). The episode covers getting a handle on personal finance and budgeting basics, spreadsheets, and how being realistic about your financial life is the best way to get over any fear. Whether you're thinking of quitting your day job or not, these books should be on your radar.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
In Episode 52, we talk about some big developments in our day jobs, and how that's affected our writing. We touch on how it feels to move into - or stay in - jobs that work well for you. And a bit more on how trusting your intuition - making a big personal choice - helps you get over making lots of other choices, and why that feels so good. Meghan also gives Olivia a little pep talk about how the daydreaming about her book is also part of writing, even if she hasn't had much time or energy to make progress on her book.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
In today's episode, we talk to writer and designer Paul Jarvis, who has many insightful things about how to grow your brand in an intentional way, and about making the transition from a day job to writing full-time.
In this episode, we talked about
- how he made that transition himself,
- how introverted writers can build their brand,
- what Spiderman can tell you about achieving your dreams,
- why both lower bounds and upper bounds are important when you're setting goals,
- the questions he asks himself to know what is enough, and
- scorpions.
Paul Jarvis is a writer and designer who’s worked with professional athletes like Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal, corporate giants like Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz, and entrepreneurs with online empires like Danielle LaPorte and Marie Forleo. Currently he teaches popular online courses, hosts several podcasts and develops small but mighty software solutions.
Paul has just released Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing in Business, a book we talk about on the podcast, about being intentional in deciding how to grow your brand and business - a concept we apply to the creative life. You can find out more on the book at ofone.co.
Paul also sends out a weekly newsletter, called the Sunday Dispatches, and his website has a lot of archives of his writing, which we recommend checking out.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
In this episode, we go through our brainstorming process for all the things you might want to think about when considering whether to quit your day job to write. We'll be honest: we don't have answers, just a lot of questions. But that's because there are no answers, just different paths we all take. We'll spend the rest of this season talking to experts on writing and these questions, to see if we can get more advice to consider when you're making this choice.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
For Episode 49, we got to have the fantastic luxury of recording in real life, huddling over a single microphone in Meghan's home. We enjoyed sharing how things have shaped up after we decided to quit our novels (total clickbait headline), and then talking about friendship and our new brand redesign (do you like our new colors?).
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today's guest is Manjula Martin, the creator of Who Pays Writers and the editor of Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living . Her writing has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Pacific Standard, Aeon Magazine, Hazlitt Magazine, Nieman Storyboard, and The Awl, among other publications.
Martin’s next nonfiction book will be Fruit Trees for Every Garden, cowritten with Orin Martin, forthcoming in Fall 2019 from Ten Speed Press.
Martin is the managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story, the National Magazine Award–winning fiction and art magazine published by Francis Ford Coppola. She has previously worked in varied editorial and writing capacities with book and magazine publishers, nonprofit organizations, and arts organizations. She lives in San Francisco. You can find her at manjulamartin.com.
We talk about:
- What Manjula has learned from many years of writing, blogging and editing about writers and money;
- Balancing (or not) many creative projects when you have a day job;
- The importance of prioritizing the work you consider to be your art;
- YOLO;
- Her gardening book coming out in 2019;
- Branding and genre-hopping
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review usin your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This pep talk is an excerpt from episode 23, our interview with librarian and filmmaker Ashley Maynor. It's about creative failure, and how it isn't really failure.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This pep talk is an excerpt from episode 23, our interview with librarian and filmmaker Ashley Maynor. It's on the importance of keeping in touch with your creative projects everyday, especially when life gets busy.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Meghan's had some unexpected travel delays, so I'm recording for you the pep talk I gave her this morning, when we were talking about how we might record.
This pep talk is all about letting go when obstacles make your life harder. You don't need to come up with new tasks to make up for the delay; maybe the best thing to do is take a nap or do some yoga.
Use this pep talk when you're feeling frustrated about your plans getting derailed.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We’re on today with another update episode, talking about following your intuition — when you know it’s time to move on to something new, and working through what it means to quit. We talk about how to find freedom in making a big change, getting inspiration and comfort from other writers’ journeys, and spin out some absurd metaphors, as usual.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In Episode 46, we do some myth-busting in our exploration of whether there was really a golden age of short stories. When was it? Were people really able to make a living writing short stories? What's the short story market like now?
What we found out:
- We're proponents of the theory that there was a long golden age
- Maybe it was better
- But it wasn't really that good
We talk about Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gaskill and others, and we talk about what people say they get paid now.
Finally, we talk about the update Susan Dennard sent out to her earlier newsletter post, Income As A Writer - with comments from her agent Joanna Volpe. The original post is here.
You can listen to the episode right here on this page, or get Marginally on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever get your podcasts.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Check us out on social media:
- Marginally is on Facebook! Please like our page.
- Sign up to follow our newsletter to get free stuff.
- Plus, we are on Instagram as @marginallypodcast.
- Olivia is on Twitter (@roamingolivia), Facebook and has a TinyLetter (@roamingolivia).
- Meghan is on Twitter (@meghanembee).
You can listen right here on this page, or get Marginally on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever get your podcasts.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Today's pep talk comes from a conversation Meghan had with her 8-year-old son, Thomas, and some pretty solid advice he gave.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This episode is one of our regular check-ins, where we talk openly about how our writing and day job balancing act is going. In this one, both of us have been really busy with various things - including finding new routines - and haven't had much chance to write lately. We talk about dealing with our expectations and about trying to be less rigid with our schedules (but still find a way to get work done).
Then, we talk about the acceptance speech that Ursula K. Le Guin gave at the National Book Awards in 2014 (video and transcript here).
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review usin your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Today's pep talk comes from the conversation we had with Olivia's dad, Fred Allison, back in June's episode. It's a great one if you're struggling to make the time to focus on your creative work.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this week's episode, we talk to Jane Friedman, an expert in the publishing industry who has written with much insight, candor and calm about the business of writing and publishing. In her spare time, Jane writes creative nonfiction, which has been included in the anthologies Every Father's Daughter and Drinking Diaries.
Jane describes herself as sitting at the intersection of several communities, giving her a 360-degree view of the changes now shaping writing and publishing. She sees herself as serving as a bridge between these communities. She was so knowledgeable about the publishing industry and about writing, and we loved talking to her about:
- her tips for which writing-related activities can help to make the most impact in building your persona as a writer, even if you have limited time,
- why you might make more from your readers than your publisher,
- why she's optimistic about the potential for writers to make money,
- tips for understanding marketing yourself as a writer, and
- the research about writing and money that she wishes someone would do.
You can find Jane at her website, her subscription newsletter Hot Sheet (with Porter Anderson), Facebook, Twitterand YouTube (other social media links are on her website). Her latest book is The Business of Being A Writer.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review usin your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for the full show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcastor Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In Episode 43, we discuss the answers to four big questions about writers and money:
- What is a writer? (No joke - this wasn't an easy one.)
- How/where do they make money?
- How much money do they make?
- Why are we talking about any of this?
This episode is a starting point from what we found out from our initial research - the knowledge base from which we start this Season 2 on money and writing and day jobs and quitting day jobs. In some cases, we talk about how hard it is to find answers - but even where there are no quick answers, we fill you in on the current debate in the writing and publishing world.
You'll see that we have so many links in the show notes, so if you have time only to look at a few things we mention, here are our Top 5:
- Authors Licensing and Collecting Society 2018 survey
- This super-helpful Jane Friedman piece from 2018 about the issues with these income surveys
- The Tayari Jones interview for Authors Guild
- The Billfold post about how writing is not a job, and this response to it by Lincoln Michel
- Authors Guild Wages of Writing report for 2015
(Technically, that's 6 - sorry.)
(Also, sorry for the bad quality of Olivia's sound - it was a mic malfunction, which we will fix next week.)
You can listen to the episode right here on this page, or get Marginally on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever get your podcasts.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Check us out on social media:
- Marginally is on Facebook! Please like our page.
- Sign up to follow our newsletter to get free stuff.
- Plus, we are on Instagram as @marginallypodcast.
- Olivia is on Twitter (@roamingolivia), Facebook and has a TinyLetter (@roamingolivia).
- Meghan is on Twitter (@meghanembee).
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
This week, we're bringing you a short preview of some of the topics we'll be exploring this season, all around the theme of money. Don't worry -- we won't be turning into a personal finance podcast, though we will be looking at how money affects art.
Want to join in the conversation? Get in touch with your comments and questions, as well as suggestions for future guests at our website, marginallypodcast.com
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast or Facebook. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today is a kind of back-to-school episode of the podcast, all about what we learned and what we did this summer. We talk good writing books, unexpected surprises, different journaling techniques - all the good stuff.
We also introduce our updated social media presence, so check us out.
Marginally has a new Facebook page! Please like it. Also, as always, we are on Instagram @marginallypodcast. We are also re-launching our TinyLetter newsletter, and we'll be giving stuff away (not just content - actual stuff), so you should definitely sign up for that.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
This month, we interview KJ Dell'Antonia, the author of the very-soon-to-be-released book How To Be A Happier Parent, parent, former New York Timesreporter and editor of the NYT's Motherlodeblog and contributing editor of the NYT's Well Family section. Our listeners are probably most familiar with KJ as the co-host of the wonderful #AmWriting podcast. KJ talked to us about how to hold on to your writer self, even when little humans need something from you, in order to get the words down. Her tips aren't just for parents, either -- there's a lot that non-parents can learn, too. She also talks about charting a path toward being a writer, making the transition from nonfiction to fiction, and the value of writing friendships.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia
This month, we present our conversation with writer Jean Hannah Edelstein about the all-too-often unspoken realities of making a living – one of which is that it’s not often done with writing. We also talk about the glories of being an underachiever at the day job while still using writing skills (check out episode 35with Caroline Donahue for more about choosing a day job that leaves you with enough mental and physical space to pursue writing), how a rigid writing schedule doesn’t work for everyone, and giving yourself permission to be a writer.
Jean is a Brooklyn-based writer who’s a frequent freelance contributor to many publications including The Guardian, The Pool, and Elle. Her day job is in marketing, working with tech companies like Etsy, her current position. Her forthcoming memoir, This Really Isn’t About You, about grief, family, immigration, love, cancer and one very special colonoscopy, among other things, will be published by Picador in the UK in August, 2018. We first found Jean through her TinyLetter Thread, which we highly recommend. You can sign up for it and read more about Jean at jeanhannahedelstein.comand follow her on Twitter @jhedelstein.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia is @roamingolivia
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this episode for June, we took advantage of Olivia's parents' visit to her to record a special Father's Day episode with her dad, Fred Allison, who is a historian by day and a writer by evenings/weekends. He has published several books and articles about military history. His most recent book is We Were Going to Win, Or Die There, a book based on numerous oral history interviews he did with the Marine Roy H. Elrod. This book has recently won a Marine Corps Heritage award.
We loved talking to him on a range of topics, from the "ugly business" of cutting down the word count, working on too many projects at once, and being brave and quitting your job when you have four kids. And, how to think like a fighter pilot when you're writing.
You can listen to the episode right here on this page, or get Marginally on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever get your podcasts.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here.Thanks for listening, and get to work!
In this episode, we have a couple of big announcements. We're wrapping up our regular shows for a few months to take the summer off.
Don't worry, we'll still be bringing you some delightful interviews - that we've already recorded - each month this summer. But we won't be doing any more weekly episodes until September.
We're also ending the writing prompt series for now, but will keep thinking about other ways to share.
Finally, we check in with how we are doing about our goals and what our summers are going to look like. We'd love to hear your plans for the summer, too.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We interviewed Jessica Lahey, a teacher, writer and co-host from the wonderful #AmWriting podcast. Jess talked us through how keeping her day job keeps her writing and ideas fresh, the difficulties of writing when she's on the road on speaking tours. She gives some good tips on how to balance speaking gigs and freelance work, should you be looking to go that direction. And she has great advice on being kind to yourself and living a writing life, and the importance of writing friendships.
You can find Jess at jessicalahey.com, on her publisher Harper Collins's site for The Gift of Failure here, on Twitter, on Instagramand on Facebook.
You can find her and KJ Dell'Antoniaat their podcast #AmWriting's on iTunesor on AudioBoom.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This week, we are delighted to share our conversation with Caroline Donahue, a book coach and host of the wonderful Secret Library podcast and co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, I Wrote it Anyway. Caroline has so much great advice that we've decided she's our new spiritual adviser. In the episode, she talks about her planning process, giving creative projects time to root and grow (and not worrying about being too faithful to them), and her incredible publishing project, I Wrote it Anyway. Produced with Dal Kular, the short story anthology features writers who felt blocks to writing, either internal or due to the outside world, schedule, lack of support, etc, and will be out this fall.
Find out more at carolinedonahue.com, and follow Caroline on Twitter and Instagram @carodonahue.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In Episode 34, we share our responses to the April writing prompt. If you don't remember, for this one we used the Writer Igniter generator from DIYMFA. We gave you the option of picking/spinning for your own unique combination, or using the one we got when we used it:
Child prodigy + receives the wrong directions + handcuffs + beach
(Spoiler: We discussed the fact that this was not an easy one for us!)
We also go into our segment Everything is Terrible/What's Working Now, which could also be called writer therapy, with Olivia giving Meghan some good advice and then sharing a fun revision breakthrough.
Finally, we share the prompt for May. Send us your responses -- we'd love to read what you've come up with.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast Meghan's on Twitter @meghanembee.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Are you worried about what everyone thinks? Or you're worried that you're just doing this whole writing thing for attention? Either way, this is a fantastic pep talk from our interview with Abigail Welhouse in Episode 33. She reminds us how wonderful it is that writing can connect you with other people, and also that other people are probably not as worried about what you're doing as you think.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
A pep talk for those times when you're not writing.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
We didn't initially intend to share this with you guys, but Meghan's advice and thoughts were so helpful if you're doing this whole novel-writing (or anything-writing) thing for the first time. So we've recorded Olivia's question/comment to Meghan ("Should I keep doing this??") and her great response. Hopefully it gets you unstuck, or helps you keep going, too.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In Episode 33, we sat down to talk to poet, book publicist and horseback riding instructor Abigail Welhouse, a great treat for April, which is National Poetry Month. Abigail is the author of Bad Baby (dancing girl press), Too Many Humans of New York (Bottlecap Press), and Memento Mori (a poem/comic collaboration with Evan Johnston), and works as a publicist at Scott Manning & Associates. She also works in a second day job for GallopNYC as a horseback riding instructor.
You can follow her by subscribing to her Secret Poems at tinyletter.com/welhouse, following her on Twitter (@welhouse), or check out her website at welhouse.nyc.
Abigail gives great tips on publicity for authors, from social media to episode 31'stheme of being open about day jobs. She's also working on a novel, so we got to circle back to our other theme of the month, revising.
We really enjoyed our talk and hope you enjoy listening!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In Episode 32, we talk about lots of different elements of revising. We decided to do this episode because Olivia is about to (probably) embark on a revision of her novel, and Meghan's wrapping one of hers, so she had some wise words to share. We talk about lots of stages of revising and rewriting, and we also give a shout-out to our (erm, Meghan's) favorite books about the process.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today's very candid episode, we discuss something that's been popping up online recently -- our pet topic and the reason for this podcast: writers' day jobs. We talk about the visible invisibility of writers' day jobs -- why writers have day jobs, and why don't they talk about them? Let us know what you think.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In Episode 30 we share our responses to the March prompt (the word "peremptory"), which gives us a chance to dig into the background of Meghan's novel's plot and also, as always, cats. Our April prompt is from the Writer Igniter segment of the DIY MFA website (diymfa.com), which we think you'll enjoy.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this episode, we talk short stories, in response to a listener request. We talk about reading (and not reading) short stories, how we use them in our own writing practice, and how nonfiction writers can get in on the game with essays.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Episode 28 is short in duration but rich in news and content. We give a shout-out to two listeners who listed us in their favorite podcast lists (LitandPie and Audrey J Martin). Thanks again for that!
Then we talk about a new occasional feature that we're calling "You can do it, too," all about margin-writers we've been reading about, who've used their day job in their writing or who talk about their day jobs.
And finally, we've got a What's Working Now/Everything's Terrible.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Frustrated with your day job? Struggling to find time to write? Questioning why you're attempting this balancing act and ready to chuck it all? Listen to novelist and journalist Hamid Ismailov's encouraging advice in this short pep talk episode whenever you need a reminder of what matters in a storytelling life.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
On today's episode, BBC journalist and prolific novelist Hamid Ismailov shares his inspirational but practical worldview relating to why he keeps his day job as a journalist (for the stories) and how he structures his writing life. He also tells us how he engages with the many literary traditions that he comes into contact with in his globe-trotting life - Russia, Central Asia, London and many others.
Hamid is the Editor of the Central Asia service at the BBC World Service, and he is the author of numerous books in Russian and Uzbek, which have been translated into English and many other languages. His most recent book is The Devils’ Dance. One of his first books to receive widespread acclaim in English is The Railway, which has an untraditional, folkloric structure and many fantastic characters. Since then, in English he has published several books, including The Dead Lake, about the area of Kazakhstan where nuclear testing had occurred previously, an elegy about Moscow called The Underground, and A Poet and Bin Laden, and many more books and artistic projects that have not been tranlsated. He was formerly the BBC’s Writer in Residence, and during that time he wrote many lovely blog posts.
We really enjoyed our conversation with him and we think you will, too.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today, we answer a listener question from Maria, who wanted to know how we approach research. We talk about how all books need research, not just nonfiction historical fiction, when to google and when to ask someone, the stages of research, and our tools and processes.
Next week will be our monthly writing prompt episode, so don't forget to send in your responses! All our prompts are here, and even if you don't want us to share yours on air, we'll still send you a critique and enter you into our drawing for fun writer mail.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this pep talk, Meghan suggests taking an intuitive approach to scheduling, one that honors our mental, emotional, and physical energies.
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In this first of our short Pep Talks, Olivia reminds us of the importance of remembering that writing is fun. Remember to play!
These short pep talks are designed to give you a little boost of motivation or inspiration and help you along with your day and your project.
You can find more information and get in touch on our website, marginallypodcast.com.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This week, we introduce a new short segment -- the pep talk! These short chats are designed to be listened to whenever you need a lift, and they are inspired by times in our own writing lives. They're as much pep talks to ourselves as to you. So catch our first two talks and the stories behind them in this episode, and look for just the talks themselves as single releases.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today we have a fun and wide-ranging conversation to share (just check out how many things we talked about in the show notes!). We talk with Ashley Maynor, who is a university librarian by day and an award-winning filmmaker by night. Ashley is a long and dear friend of Olivia’s. We loved having the chance to record this discussion about incubation, divorce, getting in touch with your inner octagenarian, chickens, touching your work every day, and lots more.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today we have award winner Brian Katcher on to talk about writing for young adults, starting new, starting over, and really killing your darlings -- like, whole project kind of darlings -- and how to move on from disappointment and celebrate success. We also talk research and balancing work with a day job.
Brian is a school librarian and the author of five books for young adults, including the Stonewall Award winner Almost Perfect, which also was named one of the American Library Association's 2010 Best Books for Young Adults. His debut novel, Playing With Matches, was an ALA 2009 Best Book for Young Adults, and his most recent novel is Deacon Locke Went to Prom.
For more information about Brian, visit his website, briankatcher.com.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
In today's short and sweet episode, we debut our new check-in segment, "Everything is Terrible/What's Working Now." This week, everything is terrible for Olivia, and Meghan shares what's helping her with revisions.
We also revisit jealousy, and share some of the conversations we've had with y'all over the last week. We love hearing from listeners, so keep the comments and voice memos coming!
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
This week, we have a really open and honest conversation about jealousy and friendship. We talk about the things we're jealous of, what's at the root of them, and give tips on how to handle jealousy.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes, a Tegan and Sara video, and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
Happy New Year, everyone! In this episode, recorded just a couple days before New Year's Eve, we talk about our ideas and plans for the new year: how we feel about goals vs resolutions, why we are feeling a little bit stuck trying to think of goals, and our alternative ways of approaching the whole New Year thing.
Rather than making lists of goals or things to do, we have come up with mantras and words to guide our thinking and being this year.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
For all those listeners out there who were wondering what to send us for your year-end holiday of choice, all your questions are answered in today's episode! For real, though, we've put together an extensive list of great gifts for writers, beyond just the usual pens and writing books (though we do love those). Giving a writing-related gift to a writer is an excellent way to show them you believe in their writing, that you recognize them as a "real" writer, even when they don't (whatever "real" writer means).
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
This week's a short one, with just quick updates about our writing and work lives, and this month's writing prompt.
As always, please rate and review us in Apple Podcasts, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast
We sit down with Divya Kohli, Olivia's yoga teacher and friend, to talk about how the practices of yoga and writing relate to each other.
Divya teaches yoga and meditation for “the whole being”, a practice which can enliven our bodies, minds and consciousness and help us throughout our path in life. London-based and a dedicated practitioner since 2000, she’s been a full time senior level teacher since 2006 offering community classes, retreats and bespoke tuition. A former newspaper journalist, she has a continued passion for writing... and using words like we use the breath in yoga, as a way to connect more fully.
As always, please rate and review us in Apple Podcasts, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
We were on holiday last week, celebrating American Thanksgiving with our families, so we're bringing you a quick mini-episode with check-ins from the week. We'll be back to our regular schedule next week, when we kick off a month of self-care for writers. Thanks for listening.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Happy Thanksgiving week to those in or from the United States, and happy penultimate day of November to everyone else. We're so grateful for each and every one of you!
This week, we give some podcast recommendations in response to a listener question, and we do a mini-critique session for this month's writing prompt. Then we wrap up with nine tips for surviving Thanksgiving (or any busy or disruptive period).
Share yours and let us know what you think. Get Marginally on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever get your podcasts. Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá
Today, we have the pleasure of talking to writer Alicia de los Reyes about making time to write no matter what your circumstances are, and how she was able to take the rejection of her first novel and use it to grow as a writer.
Alicia is a writer based in Seattle, WA, where she lives with her husband, son, and cat. She has her MFA from University of New Hampshire. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Archipelago, The Billfold, and others, and her fiction has been published in Best New Writing 2015. She is represented by DGLM and at work on a novel.
You can find out more about Alicia at aliciadelosreyes.com, and as @likesoatmeal on Instagram. Listen to her podcast Scratch Paper on iTunes or on Stitcher, or at her website.
Find us at marginallypodcast.com or on Instagram @marginallypodcast. If you enjoy this podcast, please rate and review. Don't miss an episode -- subscribe!
This mini-episode is an update on our NaNoWriMo rebel progress and our draft revisions. Check out our blog post on where we're hanging out, and add us as writing buddies. We're joined by a live studio audience, Olivia's friend Andreas.
Today, we talk to librarian Ayanna Gaines about reconnecting with her creative side, balancing work and writing, and how she sets up her space to nurture her art. We also chat National Novel Writing Month, and Olivia helps Meghan figure out how to set her Nano goals.
Ayanna Gaines is a librarian and pop culture geek in Southern California. She’s just made the switch from academia to public libraries and is reconnecting with her creative writing side. She writes poetry and is hard at work on her first novel. You can find her and her adorable kittens on Twitter @popcullibrn or Instagram @againeslibrarian
Email us: podcast [at] marginallypodcast.com
Website: marginallypodcast.com
Instagram: @marginallypodcast
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We’re keeping it real this week. Really real – all about how you keep going when your work is busy, or you’re just not feeling it, or you’re tired. (Don’t worry, it’s not whiny.)
Have a question you’d like us to try to answer, or a topic you’d love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here, or send an email to podcast [at] marginallypodcast.com. Thanks for listening, and keep up the good work!
It's our first mini-episode! We'll bring you these update/writing exercise mini-eps every other week. Let us know what you think!
This week, we catch up on what we did this week, and share clips from the off-podcast voice memos we send each other most days. We've been doing this since midsummer, and find it's a great way to keep our writing partnership close and maintain momentum. Plus, it's fun. We cover all the fun stuff -- yoga, plotting, cheating yourself, cats, bad moods, day job pressures, and creating anxiety.
This week we have our first guest, Icelandic journalist and writer Sigrún Davíðsdóttir on our show. We talk about writing in the morning, the magical state of mind she gets from writing, and she reminds us not to get frustrated if we get stuck.
In this episode, we talk about our fourth and final theme, Identity. How do you answer the dreaded cocktail-party question, "So, what do you do?" Better yet, what should we be asking instead? We talk about the collision of the day job and writing worlds, being ambitious while female, and what makes us feel like writers. We'd love to know how you feel about Being A Writer. See complete show notes on our website.
Today we're talking about inspiration and motivation -- what do they mean to us, how do they fit with a day job, what works (and what doesn't), burnout, and a few of our favorites. What inspires you? We’d love to listen.
Today, it turns out we have a lot to say about day jobs -- the second of our four themes, which we'll be covering this month. We talk about how our day jobs shape our days, how we fit our writing in, and whether or not we'd ever quit. We also cover the best red lipstick color and what to do when the internet sucks you in and won't let go. We ask for listener advice on dealing with unpredictability, and want to know what it would take for you to quit your day job. Plus, cats. Get in touch – we’d love to listen.
It's our first episode! Today, we introduce the concept of margins -- the first of our four themes, which we'll be covering this month. We talk a little about how we decided to start a podcast, even though it seems like one more thing to balance, and we talk about what we're working on, what margins mean to us, what it means to be a Genius and create Art (with capital letters). We share some ground rules, and Olivia raises an important question about motives and rationalization, while Meghan talks a lot about laundry.
Go to our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Our introductory podcast episode is here! It's a short rundown on Marginally and what you can expect. We hope you enjoy listening. Subscribe now so you don't miss the first full-length episode, and share with a writer or artist you know.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here, on Instagram at @marginallypodcast, or send an email to podcast [at] marginallypodcast.com. Thanks for listening, and keep up the good work!