always with a book

January 8, 2024

Musings & Meanderings: Determining your obsessions and what’s a chronic conflict, anyway? Plus, Kate Brody on her debut thriller, RABBIT HOLE; top reads of 2023, writing a historical novel, distance in memoir, poetry, art & architecture
December 4, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: Jami Nakamura Lin prefers longhand horizontal writing in large unlined notebooks (same!), plus checking-in on your writing goals, wrapping up 2023, book recs, honing your craft, more
November 20, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: Susan Blumberg-Kason talks to me about her new book, BERNARDINE’S SHANGAI SALON, how she wrote near her kids, how dedications get ‘lost,’ and the literary scenes of 1930s; plus reviving a manuscript, curating a writing community, a family ravaged by mental illness in Meg Kissinger’s memoir, more
November 9, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: Butcher Block or Actual Writing Studio? Celine Keating on advice to her younger writing self, her new novel THE STARK BEAUTY OF LAST THINGS; plus reflecting on your writing year, book recommendations, text + image
October 30, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: Clearing the clutter, being receptive, Kristine Langley Mahler talks about home, being haunted, parenting, and more in A CALENDAR IS A SNAKESKIN, plus poetry as mediation, image + smell
October 17, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: How can we create if we never rest? Balancing the creative life, plus Debbie Chein Morris on her WE USED TO DANCE about her disabled twin; the psychology of memoir, the arc of songs, the poetics of family archiving
September 27, 2023

Musings & Meanderings What does it mean for a writer to ‘rest?’ Plus, Lang Leav on OTHERS WERE EMERALDS–swooning!-she works on architectural models in her free time, what books Eula Biss turns to, Kathy Fish flash contest, Leah Paulos on book publicity, more
September 11, 2023

Musings & Meaderings: Lynn Alsup on writing with the backdoor open, her experience as an adopted mom, plus StoryStudio Chicago Writer’s Festival, manuscript consultations, artist/conieussier collaboration
August 31, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: How to prep your manuscript and your beta-readers, plus Una Mannion on writing in long stretches, dreaming about the work, and more in TELL ME WHAT I AM, plus Girls Write Now, the creative life, where to submit, more
July 25, 2023

Musings & Meanderings: Shari Lapena, queen of domestic thrillers, says she aims for 1500 words a day, lives in a farmhouse and has recently taken up horseback riding, plus her new book, EVERYONE HERE IS LYING; beta-readers, literary ghost-writing workshops, experimental writing, journal-of-the-month subscriptions, more