The Writing Bull: a Podcast For Fearless Writers

Today's show is a recording of a poetry show I did at Mount St. Mary's University in Los Angeles, where I teach. I took RainerContinue reading

Susana Marcelo is a professor at California State University Northridge, a writer, poet, essayist, and. . .well, a lot more! In our interview, we spendContinue reading

Ken Lopez is a Mexican and Salvadoran poet from Kansas City. She hopes her work will, like Chinua Achebe said, tell the story of theContinue reading

I met José Orduña at the Associated Writing Program conference in Tampa, Florida this past spring. He had arrived at the conference about 48 hoursContinue reading

Today's podcast of The Writing Bull offers you a two-fer: Years ago I had the opportunity to interview one of the founders and the editorContinue reading

While I was at the Associated Writing Programs conference in Florida this past month, I met Guisell Gomez, a student of creative writing and aContinue reading

There are studies on the connection between the artistic impulse and mental illness. The best are books written by Kay Redfield Jamison, especially her “TouchedContinue reading

Poet Francisco Aragón is doing is doing more for U.S. Latinx literature than any person I know. While writing his own work, he's also alwaysContinue reading

The title pretty much says it all, these are a few tips that I've learned along the way about writing. Here I talk about someContinue reading

When I attended the Associated Writing Programs conference in Tampa, Florida in March, I sought out Latinos, because the last time I went to theContinue reading

Every once in a while I do a podcast in Spanish, and talk about what it means to be Latino today, in the U.S. Porque,Continue reading

I was at the Associated Writing Programs conference in Tampa in March, where students and professor of creative writing gather for a weekend. I hadContinue reading

We all die. But, most people don't like to think about that, which I think is a mistake. I find it helpful to consider myContinue reading

I interviewed Brian Greene a few years back, about his book The Fabric of the Cosmos. Now, I know this isn't about creative writing, but the creativeContinue reading

When my kids were little, I told them early on: don't let your school get in the way of your education. Our education system killsContinue reading

I forgot to mention, the 1967 Mustang plays a big role in this novel. It's practically another character. It's the summer of 1978, a fewContinue reading

In this part of the novel, you get a real taste of what some of us call “internalized racism.” This is when a non-white personContinue reading

Tony and his Salvadoran-Appalachian family attend his uncle Jack's funeral, where the mourners aren't mourning–either the men are running in just to make sure he'sContinue reading

In the first pages of the novel, we meet Antonio “Tony” McCaugh Villalobos, an Appalachian-Salvadoran writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee, and far from his SalvadoranContinue reading

In class, the subject always comes up: should you outline your story, or not? That is, should you make a road map for your novel,Continue reading

This is an interview with memoirist and travel author Pico Iyer, about his book Sun After Dark. It is about traveling and empathy–what does it mean toContinue reading

Here I discuss writing how-to books, the ones I like in particular. I also talk about the writing process–what it's like to dedicate your daysContinue reading

So, you've got a great story that you want to tell. It's all made up, complete fiction, and you're ready and raring to hit theContinue reading

¡El primer podcast en español! (But, like any Salvadoran party, everyone is welcome)  Aquí hablo de la vida del pocho–que significa, una fruta podrida, yContinue reading

T. C. Boyle is one of our own southern California writers, and is an international figure. You can't pin him down, can't pigeonhole him. OneContinue reading

The one thing about keeping a journal–your subconscious leaks onto the page. That is, if you let it, which you should. This means dealing withContinue reading

My first girlfriend, Nancy, gave me a journal when we were in high school. That was in 1977. Forty-one years later, I now have forty-fiveContinue reading

This is a special segment of TWB podcast, called Nighttime Reading with Marcos. I read every night, and sometimes, when I'm really getting into it,Continue reading

As much as there is an art to creative writing, I also believe there is an art to reading. Most everyone can read. But mostContinue reading

In class, we talk a lot about aesthetics, or the study of art–both appreciating it and creating it. It's something the writer (the literary writer)Continue reading

To be a writer, you need to be a little selfish. In order to create literary art, it's necessary to steal away large chunks ofContinue reading

This is the first episode of The Writing Bull Podcast: A Show For Fearless Writers. If you're a writer, or are considering the writer's life–andContinue reading