Lit Mag Love For Creative Writers Who Want to Publish

Dear writers, I'm thrilled to present the 100th episode of the podcast! I have delighted in each of the conversations and episodes I've been able to share with you, and talking to writers and covering topics on how to write, publish, and shine. Thank you to the writers who listen to each episode and especially those who share what they gleaned or the little ways they were encouraged to keep going. This episode is a moment to reflect on where the podcast has been and where it's going and includes listeners sharing their favourite moments on the podcast and how they influenced their writing lives.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/100—Get my Writerly Love Digest, sent most weeks and filled with ideas and care for you and your writing: rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Memoirist Yolande House sits down with me for a book club conversation about Kae Tempest's On Connection. It was a real pleasure to read this book alongside her and compare notes. And I hope those of you reading alongside us in our book club enjoy it.About On Connection: This is a book about connection. About how immersing ourselves in creativity can help us cultivate greater self-awareness and bring us closer to each other.After we discuss the book, stick around as Yolande House also shares highlights from her disability reading list.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/88—Get my Writerly Love Digest, sent most weeks and filled with ideas and care for you and your writing: rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Write, Publish, and Shine podcast, hosted by me, author and literary magazine editor Rachel Thompson, celebrates its 99th episode! I reflect on the podcast journey and past episodes, highlighting eleven essential writing tips from literary magazine editors who have been guests on the show.Listen if you need encouragement to write, publish, and shine. Editors share how and why to read deeply, tell your truths, and continue your creative journey with resilience and passion while connecting with the broader social and political contexts that influence your writing.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/99—Get my Writerly Love Digest, sent most weeks and filled with ideas and care for you and your writing: rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the conversation with Amy Friend, the artist discusses her creative process, the influence of her personal experiences on her work, and the themes of loss, longing, and home that pervade her art. Her childhood experiences, growing up in a neighbourhood populated by immigrants, and the stories she heard from them deeply influenced her work. She emphasizes the importance of play, openness, and letting go of control in creating art. She also discusses her fascination with old photographs and how she uses them in her work. Friend shares her perspective on artistic community, rejection, and the role of literary magazines in fostering dialogue and inspiration.This episode is part of a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was the lead editor. (You can check out the full run of episodes, starting with Episode #80.) Amy Friend's art truly resonates with me on a deep level of nostalgia and grief, and this is also because of the incredible artistry she uses with photographs, turning those difficult experiences into beauty.Even after over a decade of editing for Room, we're vibing in those themes of loss and longing. I spoke with Amy Friend about how she makes her photographs, what draws her to these themes, and how photography as a medium inherently communicates memory, loss, and absence.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/86—WRITERLY LOVE DIGEST: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are playing summer reading bingo these next few months, with 24 squares representing categories of books you can read. And you are invited. Grab your card to play along with us, then choose a row, column, or diagonal line, or complete the card.Why are we, a writing community and I, an instructor of writing courses, doing this book bingo? I answer this question in the episode. Listen as I dig into some of our summer book categories, why we chose them, and how reading books in these categories will improve your writing.More episodes to check out if you are looking for a craft book in a genre new to you:Episode 68: Writerly Love Community members Jennifer Robinson and Candace Webb joined me to talk about quite the throw-back book, The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry, by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux. At the time, Jen and Candace were fairly new to poetry and found that this book helped them journey into a new genre. So, listen here if you've been writing short stories and want to try verse.Episode 72: Another community book club chat on Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto by Sonya Huber. Listen to our book club conversation with Writerly Love Members Louise Julig, Lina Lau, and Wendy Atwell if you need help to shake up conventional wisdom on writing craft.Episode 88: I know I'm not alone in reading and writing for connection. Kae Tempest's On Connection helped me understand how immersing ourselves in creativity can help us cultivate greater self-awareness and bring us closer to each other. Hear me talk about the book with Yolande House.Episode 78: Author Kavita Das joined us to talk about her amazing book Craft and Conscience, an intentional journey to unpack our motivations for writing about an issue and to understand that “writing, irrespective of genre or outlet, is an act of political writing.” Dig into this vital topic for writers and a great book to read, whether you're crossing off a bingo square or not. Listen to our conversation with Kavita Das.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/98—Get my Writerly Love Digest, sent most weeks and filled with ideas and care for you and your writing: rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer and Room contributor ViNa Nguyễn discusses their choice to deliberately write about joy as a writer who writes about grief and nostalgia.We also talked about their experimental writing and, in particular, the brilliant piece, A Nesting of Bracketed Bodies, which I published in Room's “Ghosts” issue; they also read from the work for us, so prepare your earbuds for some delightful fiction writing.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/85—Get my Writerly Love Digest, sent most weeks and filled with ideas and care for you and your writing: rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen if you've been looking for books to support your writing practice, or maybe a list of books to give another writer in your life, or if you've been wanting to read with a community of writers, too, and need some guidance to get started.--Writerly Reading for Your SummerGet your free bingo card and play along with us for Writerly Prizes.rachelthompson.co/bookclub Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lina Lau, writer, mother, and owner of too many notebooks, has published short memoir in X-R-A-Y, Prairie Fire, Hippocampus (where she is now a reader as well), Carte Blanch, and Little Fiction/Big Truths.We discuss how flash memoir writing captures a moment and the characteristics required of memoirists. Lina also reads a 100-word story, bringing us into the experience of writing and publishing this work on Five Minute Lit.Show notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/89 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our last instalment of this string of episodes on writing with limitations and disabilities.I'm so happy to end this with the wonderful Cicely Belle Blain, the final member of my writing community who kindly agreed to join us to discuss limitations and disabilities when it comes to writing.Reading from Cicely's bio: Cicely Belle Blain is a Black/mixed, queer femme activist, equity and inclusion consultant, and writer. Their bestselling poetry collection Burning Sugar was called “an intimately powerful debut” by Quill and Quire. With laughter and fearlessness, they harness a passion for justice, liberation and meaningful change via transformative education.They talk about their consulting work as well as writing and how the fairly recent journey of learning about their ADHD intersects with both of these practices.Cicely also reads work on the theme of grief, aptly bringing to the fore the subtext of what is often the experience of having limitations and disability.Their bio mentions their passion for justice, and so, of course, they shared their sage perspective, which underscored the enormity of this series of themed episodes—not asking for simply understanding of their or others' individual limitations and disabilities but solidarity with those attempting to resist the expectations of writing, the publishing world, social media, social capital, deadlines, and capitalism.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/97—Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest, which is sent weekly and includes support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our semi-final instalment of this string of episodes on writing with limitations and disabilities.In this episode, writer S.L. Shuter, a member of my Writerly Love Community, talks about embracing an identity related to her diagnosis and the push back she received for this.Set L. Shuter is a writer, filmmaker and storyteller from Toronto. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from The University of King's College and is currently querying her horror-comedy medical memoir, Ovaries Gone Wild. Her essays have appeared in The Toronto Star, Chatelaine Magazine, Understorey Magazine, CBC, and Creative Nonfiction Magazine.Set reads from an essay about access to medicine related to her condition published in a special COVID-19 edition of Understorey Magazine.Listen to how she embraces humour related to her limitations but more recently finds more kindness for herself as she writes and makes films about chronic illness.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/96—Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest, which is sent weekly and includes support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the fourth instalment of this string of episodes on writing with limitations and disabilities.In this episode, Crystal Randall Barnett, a member of my Writerly Love Community, adds to the conversations we've been having in this series of episodes on writing slowly and listening to your body.Crystal Randall Barnett is an emerging writer from Ontario. She has been published by The League of Canadian Poets and Blank Spaces and her first-place short story appeared in a 2023 fiction anthology from Chicken House Press. Her writing is physically impacted and creatively influenced by her disability, Persistent Post-Concussion Syndrome.Crystal shares how she adapted her reading habits when her experience of persistent post-concussive symptoms made reading on the page a barrier. She also shares a simple hack to make audiobooks even more accessible—one I've implemented for myself.And she reads from a poem I had the pleasure of publishing as an editor with Room.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/95—Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest, which is sent weekly and includes support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the fourth instalment of this string of episodes on the theme of writing with limitations and disabilities.Andrea Martineau is a writer, poet, bibliophile, and phytomaniac (I had to look that one up: a plant lover!) with a penchant for heritage buildings and their paranormal tenants. Her poetry has previously been published and shared in untethered magazine, Blank Spaces, [SPACE], Figroot Press, and The League of Canadian Poets' Poetry Pause.Andrea is a wonderful part of our membership community, has such clarity around her practice and finds ways to work with her limitations. She calls on us to believe writers with limitations and disabilities when they say what they need or need to pause or bow out from doing something during a flare-up or when it doesn't work for their health and wellness.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/94—Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest, which is sent weekly and includes support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to my next conversation in this run of episodes on writing with disabilities and limitations.In this episode, I sit down with Amy Yuki Vickers, a new writer in our community and a recent alum of my Lit Mag Love course. Amy is the author of the blog and newsletter The Intentional Hulk, writes short stories and personal essays, and is at work on a memoir.And, as she says in her bio, because she's autistic, she see-saws between intense occupation and recovery. This is just one subject we discuss in our conversation. She shares her experiences as a writer and how she has set up her writing life to work for her.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/93—Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest, filled with support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications sent every week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the next episode in this run of episodes on writing with disabilities and limitations.In this episode, a wonderful Writerly Love Community member, Olwen Wilson talks with me about following joy and writing with a chronic condition. We discuss labels and their conflicting appeal/repellent nature. And, what I suspect will be a through line of all these episodes: listening to our bodies and how we're feeling. Olwen reads a slantly-written short piece then generously gifts us with details on a practice called Rainbow Walks. Listen in to hear from a writer who does things their way, someone I deeply admire for this spirit.Show notes: https://rachelthompson.co/92--Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest, filled with support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications sent every week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the first interview in my series of episodes on writing with disabilities and limitations.I sit down with a wonderful Writerly Love membership community member, Shantell Powell, a two-spirit author, artist, and self-described swamp hag who grew up on the land and off the grid. Her publication credits include Augur, Solarpunk Magazine, MetaStellar, The Deadlands, and honestly keep racking up—we talk about how she does this in the episode, and she has an excellent hack for writers with ADHD to track submissions that I think is brilliant and would be helpful to many writers, myself included.We get into her often very visceral writing; she reads a piece that I would describe that way, visceral, and speculates a little about why that flavour comes out in her work. For this series and focus, we talk about how she works with her various limitations and disabilities, which include neurodivergence and now long COVID-19, among other conditions and limitations. Listen in to hear from a singular writer whose writing practice shows that there is not one way to be a writer.Show notes: https://rachelthompson.co/91--Sign up for my Writerly Love Digest filled with support for your writing practice, prompts, and lit mag publications sent every week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Write, Publish, Shine Intensive, which brings together my three courses: Write and Light, a course to get writers generating new, more profound work; Revision Love, my course on learning to self-edit your writing; and Lit Mag Love, my flagship course on getting published in literary journals. All of the resources mentioned in the episode are in the show notes at rachelthompson.co/podcast/79 Learn more and sign up for the Write, Publish, Shine Intensive at rachelthompson.co/intensive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I sit down with our Community Facilitator, Meli Walker, to discuss what we do to make our online course community more accessible to writers with disabilities and limitations.This episode marks the beginning of a run of episodes focusing on writing with limitations/disability. Coming up, you'll hear me talk with writers with various challenges about what they need to write, how they get their needs met, and what it's like to write when you have barriers in your own body's ability and barriers that exist in our writing community.My hope is that this series helps writers find support and ideas to help them engage in writing in a way that works for them. And, for this episode in particular, I hope it gives writers who teach on or offline some ideas for how to make their communities more open to all writers.Because Meli and I are also just two people with our own limitations and neurodivergence, this is not an exhaustive list of what we're doing and certainly not a complete list of what we COULD be doing.Show notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/90--Get my Writerly Love Letters sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Nothing has to happen in the story. There doesn't need to be explosions or big shocking twists. It's just enough to have well-developed characters and a beautiful world.” —Terese Mason Pierre, AugurTerese Mason Pierre is co-Editor-in-Chief of Augur, a Canadian speculative literature journal, and has published work in Hobart, The Puritan, Quill and Quire, and Strange Horizons. Her work has been nominated for the Rhysling Award and Best of the Net.She talks about how Canadian literature in general is just a little bit softer than other kinds of literature, and how she brings forward the care that she received from editors of her work to her editing role at Augur.You can find the show notes for this episode at rachelthompson.co/49Get my Writerly Love Letters, sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lina Lau, writer, mother, and owner of too many notebooks, has published short memoir in X-R-A-Y, Prairie Fire, Hippocampus (where she is now a reader as well), Carte Blanch, and Little Fiction/Big Truths.We talk about how flash memoir writing captures a moment, how Lina reads a 100-word story and brings us into the experience of writing it, and also about the characteristics required of memoirists.Flash memoirA Five-Day Mini Course in Short Creative Nonfiction FREE this month! rachelthompson.co/flashShow notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/89 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All craft is political. It's how we, as writers, resist injustices and dream up better worlds. So, listen to this conversation with the brilliant Kavita Das, and then take up your pen.Kavita Das really takes us on an intentional journey with her deep knowledge of social justice work. She challenges us to unpack our motivations for writing about an issue and to understand that “writing, irrespective of genre or outlet, is an act of political writing,” regardless of intention. Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues by Kavita Das, was published by Beacon Press in 2022.You can find the show notes for this episode at rachelthompson.co/78Get my Writerly Love Letters, sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During the Lit Mag Love course, writers can join Q&A calls with editors. In this replay episode, you will hear one such call with Mark Drew of the Gettysburg Review.Note that this call happened in the first year of the pandemic, so you'll get an editor's perspective on the kind of reflection missing from most writing during an intense moment—at least for this journal. You'll also hear about the kinds of work Gettysburg accepts, the qualities of the work they look for, and the editorial experience you'll get, should you place work with them.The Lit Mag Love course will help you get a big YES for your writing from a lit mag you love. Learn more and sign up here >>Show notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/59 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, it's my pleasure to welcome Christina Brobby, a wonderful lyric writer and instructor, to the podcast. We start by getting into what exactly lyric writing is, if you're wondering, so that will be cleared up right away. Christina also delves into how the “filter is the form” as she wonderfully sums it up.Listen for more of our exploration of empathy for writers. And Christina also kindly and insightfully brings in the necessity of practising empathy with yourself as a writer. And listen for ways she's used the form to explore the impact our surroundings have on us, to see working in fragments as a feature and not a bug in our memories as creative nonfiction essay writers and to generally get excited about the variety of brilliant voices using lyric essay forms to tell their stories.Sign up for my Writerly Love Letters—they are filled with support for your writing practice and sent every other week. rachelthompson.co/lettersLinks and show notes are up at rachelthompson.co/67 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Memoirist Yolande House sits down with me for a book club conversation about Kae Tempest's On Connection. It was a real pleasure to read this book alongside her and compare notes. And I hope those of you reading alongside us in our book club enjoy it.About On Connection: This is a book about connection. About how immersing ourselves in creativity can help us cultivate greater self-awareness and bring us closer to each other.After we discuss the book, stick around as Yolande House also shares highlights from her disability reading list.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/88—OPEN NOW: LIT MAG LOVE! Get a big “YES” for your writing from literary journals you love in this five-week guided course. rachelthompson.co/litmaglove Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the final episode in my series of special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine that take a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue.Today it's my delight to speak to another artist whose work we accepted for inside the issue.Sarah Esmi (she/her) is an Iranian-American mother, writer, collage artist, producer, director and lawyer. She told me about her collage practice and how the artistic interpretation of her visual work differs from her poetry.I loved her art so much, and to learn more about what went into the piece we published called “Insides” plus collage as an art practice.All the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/87—OPEN NOW: LIT MAG LOVE! Get a big “YES” for your writing from literary journals you love in this five-week guided course. rachelthompson.co/litmaglove Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the seventh, wow!, in my series of special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue. In this issue, I spoke with our cover artist, Amy Friend, who was also the cover artist for the very first issue I edited for Room, called Mythologies of Loss.Amy Friend's art truly resonates on a deep level of nostalgia and grief with me, and also because of the incredible artistry she does with photographs, turning those difficult experiences into beauty.Clearly, we're vibing even over a decade of editing for Room, in those themes of loss and longing. I spoke with Amy Friend about how she makes her photographs, what draws to these themes, and how photography as a medium inherently communicates memory, loss, and absence.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/86—WRITERLY LOVE LETTERS: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the sixth in my series of special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue. In this issue, I spoke with another incredible writer we published in the issue, ViNa Nguyễn.Our conversation went in many beautiful directions, including their choice to deliberately write about joy as a writer who writes about grief and nostalgia.We talked about ViNa Nguyễn's experimental writing and, in particular, the brilliant piece, A Nesting of Bracketed Bodies, that we published in the issue, which includes, as advertised, nesting brackets as an element in the work—plus their inspiration on this experiment. And, I'm delighted that they also read from the work for us, so prepare your earbuds for some delightful fiction writing.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/85—WRITERLY LOVE LETTERS: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the fifth in my series of special episodes as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue. In this episode, a luminous conversation with Room's Book Reviews editor, Micah Killjoy.We delve into reviewing as a practice for writers to understand craft, what Micah did differently with the reviews for this haunting issue, and how reviewing has changed in the age of BookTok and user-generated reviews.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/84—WRITERLY LOVE LETTERS: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this replay episode, Ellen Chang-Richardson and I both speak as editorial collective members at Room, and as editors of the (then) upcoming issue of Room's Ghosts issue. Ellen and I get a little into how things work behind the scenes at Room, and how we (the collective) are many people, all rolling up our sleeves to create space in literature, art, and feminism.This episode was recorded live on Zoom in front of writers from my writing community, called Writerly Love. So you will hear us answer their questions toward the end of our discussion, too.Get the episode show notes and a full transcript at: https://rachelthompson.co/63-replay.--GET MY WRITERLY LOVE LETTERS: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fourth in my series of special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue. In this issue, to my delight, I sat down with Room's publisher, Nara Monteiro. We delve into the role of Publisher and what they do day-to-day at the magazine and get into some Ghosts-issue specifics and a slightly unusual story of reaching out to one potential contributor to the issue, so listen for that story.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/83—WRITERLY LOVE LETTERS: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the third in my series of special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue.One of my jobs as editor is to commission one established writer to be featured in the magazine. To do so, I started by searching for writers working in the genre of ghosts and scary stories and was pleased to come across an anthology of Arctic horror stories, *[Taaqtumi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44222604-taaqtumi)* and thought, oh, yes, when I read Aviaq Johnston's piece in the anthology. I invited her to be our commissioned writer for Room 46.3 and she said yes.Aviaq Johnston is a young Inuk author from Igloolik, Nunavut. Her debut novel *Those Who Run in the Sky* was released in the spring of 2017 and shortlisted for a Governor General's award that year. In 2014, she won first place in the Aboriginal Arts and Stories competition for her short story “Tarnikuluk,” which also earned her a Governor General's History Award.You can pick up your copy of Room 46.3, Ghosts (digital or print) at roommagazine.com.All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/podcast/82—WRITERLY LOVE LETTERS: Sent each week to your inbox. rachelthompson.co/letters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the second Ghost-themed special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, Ghosts, where I was lead editor of the issue. Why do lit mag editors choose the pieces they do? One answer to this question is “deeply personal”—by which I mean we pick work that resonates because of the deeply personal revelations and subject matter inside. In this episode of Write, Publish, and Shine, hear from two writers working in that deep, personal space in their writing, Reyzl Grace and Annette C. Boehm. You can pick up your copy of Room 46.3, Ghosts (digital or print) at roommagazine.com. All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/podcast/81 — LAST DAY TO JOIN (as of this release): Do you crave support and structure so you can write your most luminous work? The Write, Publish, Shine Intensive starts soon. Write, Revise, and Publish Your Luminous Writing with lots of support from me. Learn More + Register at rachelthompson.co/intensive.

Welcome to the first in a series of special episodes of Write, Publish, and Shine as I take you on a deep dive into the creation of Room magazine issue 46.3, where I was lead editor of the issue. When we made our call for submissions we invited writers and visual artists to come haunt us. And they did. In this episode of Write, Publish, and Shine, you'll hear my conversation with two writers we published in the issue, how and why they submitted their ghostly-themed writing, and learn more about their writing, submitting, and publishing practices as emerging writers. You can pick up your copy of Room 46.3, Ghosts (digital or print) at roommagazine.com. All of the notes for this episode are up at rachelthompson.co/podcast/80 -- Do you crave support and structure so you can write your most luminous work? The Write, Publish, Shine Intensive starts soon. Write, Revise, and Publish Your Luminous Writing with lots of support from me. Learn More + Register at rachelthompson.co/intensive.

It felt like the right time—in this season when people join writing programs and restart sending out submissions to lit mags—to replay this episode on Staying True to Yourself. Even if you already heard this episode, I suggest a re-listen because it's a lesson we're all apparently learning and relearning together…This is a special episode of the Write, Publish, and Shine Podcast where you will hear from three writers on their publishing experiences and the journey they took to stay true to themselves as they write and publish their writing in journals. Find the show notes for this episode up at rachelthompson.co/podcast/61 Do you crave support and structure so you can write your most luminous work? The Write, Publish, Shine Intensive starts soon. Write, Revise, and Publish Your Luminous Writing with lots of support from me. Learn More + Register at rachelthompson.co/intensive.

We talk all about the Write, Publish, Shine Intensive, which brings together my three courses, Write and Light, a course to get writers generating new, more profound work, Revision Love, my course on learning to self-edit your writing, and Lit Mag Love, my flagship course on getting published in literary journals. Grab all of the lessons and resources mentioned in the episode up at rachelthompson.co/podcast/79 And learn more and sign-up for the Write, Publish, Shine Intensive at rachelthompson.co/intensive. (Starts soon!)

Kavita Das really takes us on an intentional journey with her deep knowledge of social justice work and challenges us to unpack our motivations for writing about an issue and to understand that “writing, irrespective of genre or outlet, is an act of political writing,” regardless of intention. Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues by Kavita Das, was published by Beacon Press in 2022 http://www.beacon.org/Craft-and-Conscience-P1859.aspx You can find the show notes for this episode at rachelthompson.co/podcast/78

If you're just tuning into my podcast, welcome. I'm on a break, but I will be back in late August. Pick up a copy of our book club read, Craft and Conscience by Kavita Das, to join our book-club conversation, which will appear in this feed here in August. To catch up over the summer, I encourage you to listen to my recent episode series on Agency for Writers, starting with episode 73 in this feed. Show notes and episode transcript: rachelthompson.co/podcast/agency/

Megan Beadle ran her own literary agency for several years. So, if you've been listening to the last run of episodes, that word, agent, rings a bell. Ding, ding! We're still talking about literary agency with the intention of both demystifying the role of agents a little and encouraging you, dear writer, to follow your path with intentionality and self-knowledge. Trends come and go, as she says, by being honest with yourself, you can always be proud of the work you produce. If you're new to the podcast and started listening here, I encourage you to go back and check out those previous conversations, starting with episode 73, where Lacey Yong talks about how she found an agent and kept her own agency in the process, episode 74, in which Jessica Waite talks about navigating family relationships when publishing a memoir that spills some family tea, episode 75, in which my colleague at Room Geffen Semach takes us through the vast landscape of literary folks who work behind the scenes, and episode 76, in which Wendy Atwell talks about making her own map, finding the shape of her non-traditional formed memoir. Find a transcript and all the show notes for this episode on http://rachelthompson.co/podcast/77

Megan Beadle ran her own literary agency for several years. So, if you've been listening to the last run of episodes, that word, agent, rings a bell. Ding, ding! We're still talking about literary agency with the intention of both demystifying the role of agents a little and encouraging you, dear writer, to follow your path with intentionality and self-knowledge. Trends come and go, as she says, by being honest with yourself, you can always be proud of the work you produce. If you're new to the podcast and started listening here, I encourage you to go back and check out those previous conversations, starting with episode 73, where Lacey Yong talks about how she found an agent and kept her own agency in the process, episode 74, in which Jessica Waite talks about navigating family relationships when publishing a memoir that spills some family tea, episode 75, in which my colleague at Room Geffen Semach takes us through the vast landscape of literary folks who work behind the scenes, and episode 76, in which Wendy Atwell talks about making her own map, finding the shape of her non-traditional formed memoir. Find a transcript and all the show notes for this episode on http://rachelthompson.co/podcast/77

This is the continuation of our agency theme on the podcast... I interview another luminous Writerly Love community member, Wendy Atwell, who is earlier in the process than our previous member guest who secured agents, Lacey Yong and Jessica Waite. Wendy is writing and revising her memoir, and I think it's the perfect time to check in with her because she has made some great choices for her work that took a lot of intention and self-trust, i.e. agency. She is also someone who takes in a lot of information about writing from great teachers and books and then—with lots of agency—discerns what will serve her story, including finding an unconventional structure for her work. You can find the show notes for this episode at rachelthompson.co/podcast/76

As this is the third episode in the mini-series of episodes on the theme of agency and finding agency with your writing, we spend the most time talking about Geffen Semach's experience working as a Literary Agent's Assistant and then cover the multiple roles they have held in the literary business. We also talk about audiobooks, and Geffen's current role as Publishing Coordinator for Audiobooks at Penguin Random House Canada. And I use our time wisely, as they just completed editing the lovely issue called, Ley Line, for Room and I, at the time of recording, was in the final throes of copyediting the Ghosts issue Room, and clearly in need of a bit of a pep talk to keep going. Episode show notes and transcript are available at rachelthompson.co/podcast/76

The second in our series exploring the theme of agency for writers, our double-entendre theme of both intentionality and finding an agent. Jessica Waite, the author of the forthcoming memoir, The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards, shares her story of finding an agent slowly and then all of a sudden, and having her book sell very quickly BEFORE it could even go to auction with the big publishers.

The first in our series on the theme of agency—a term both literal (i.e. about finding an agent) and abstract, in that we talk about pursuing your writing life with intentionality. In this episode you'll hear from Lacey Yong, learn about her YA historical fantasy, writing in multiple genres, navigating writing as a new parent, and the idea of agency.

In this episode it is our Book Club Conversation and we talk about Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto by Sonya Huber, sharing who we think the book is for, how it helped with our writing, and what it adds to our ongoing conversation about craft. Find episode show notes at https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/72

In this episode it is our Book Club Conversation and we talk about Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto by Sonya Huber, sharing who we think the book is for, how it helped with our writing, and what it adds to our ongoing conversation about craft. Find episode show notes at https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/72

Reflections on cool loneliness: When I'm not writing enough, I lose track of what I believe, who I am, and who I truly want to be. Also, Book Club Conversation is coming up. Also, Book Club Conversation is coming up. Be sure to check out Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto by Sonya Huber and then listen to our next episode for the low-down on the book. Sign up for my Writerly Love Letters on https://rachelthompson.co/letters. Get show notes, transcripts, and more details on this minisode at rachelthompson.co/podcast/cool

Writers Tamara Jong, on the sense of touch, A.L. Bishop, on the sense of sight, and Candace Webb, on the sixth sense. Hear how the writers shifted their approach to these three senses and how that helped them bring their more embodied writing to life. At the end of our discussion, I offer prompts on the sense of touch, sight, and the sixth sense for you to do some writing that will help you hone in and bring more specificity and clarity to your own writing. Download twelve prompts, two for each of the six senses, in a PDF in the show notes for this episode. Show notes and transcript at https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/71/

In this episode, it's a little peak behind the podcast. I have some real hashtag transparency moments around what I'm working on and what I have heard from writers in our broader community, which—in case you don't know—includes you!

In this episode, we come to our senses again. We had another LIVE showcase of writers in the Writerly Love community. The writers you will hear all participated in the workshop series I offered last year on the six senses. This is our second showcase. A first group of writers also showcased the senses back in episode 64 ([https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/64/](https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/64/)). This time, we had so much goodness, that we'll do this showcase over two episodes. In this episode, you will hear the first three of six writers discussing and reading their sensory work. So, today it's all about Sound, Smell, and Taste. Listen to learn how these writers shifted their approach to these essential senses and bringing that embodied writing to life. At the end of our discussion, I will offer prompts on the sense for you to do some starter writing, a little free-writing that will help you hone in and bring more specificity, concrete, felt experience, and clarity to your own writing. When you get to the prompts, you could hit pause to write. Or, you could download all of the prompts in a PDF in the show notes for this episode. This is episode number 69, so you would go to: https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/69/

In this episode it is my pleasure to introduce you to two members of our Writerly Love Community and bring you in to our book club conversation. We've been doing our close craft-book readings for a couple of years now. So, I love bringing you, dear listeners who are not members of the Writerly Love community—yet, into this conversation! (You can always learn more about the community and sign up at rachelthompson.co/join.)

Wrap-Up: Empathy for Writers

If you're listening right when this episode comes out, it's not too late to join Christina Brobby in the workshop we're offering today. You can learn more and sign up at rachelthompson.co/workshops If it's after the 28th and you missed a chance to learn live from her, all of our workshops live on in our permanent collection in the member library. You can get all the details about the Writerly Love membership at rachelthompson.co/join. *** In this episode it's my pleasure to welcome Christina Brobby to the podcast, a wonderful lyric writer and instructor. We start by getting into what exactly is lyric writing, if you're wondering so that will be cleared up right way. Christina also delves into the ways the “filter is the form” as she wonderfully sums it up. Listen for more of our exploration of empathy for writers, and Christina also kindly and insightfully brings in the necessity of practising empathy with yourself as a writer. And listen for ways she's used the form to explore the impact our surroundings have on us, to see working in fragments as a feature and not a bug in our memories as creative nonfiction essay writers and to generally get excited about the variety of brilliant voices using lyric essay forms to tell their stories.