Podcasts about Cognoscenti

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”“Life… Liberty… and the pursuit of Happiness.”We published those words 229 years ago when we declared our independence from Britain. That document was the earliest expression of what has come to be known as the American dream.Jefferson's Declaration did not free us from the tyranny of Britain. It merely communicated our collective desire to be unfettered and unrestrained.Do we now feel unfettered and unrestrained? I think not.It seems to me that our current view of the American dream sees raw ambition as “the pursuit of happiness.”Ambition is like sexual hunger. It is satisfied with accomplishment only for a moment, and then the hunger returns. Ambition will lead you to momentary satisfaction, but it will not lead you to happiness.John D. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire, was worth 1% of the entire U.S. economy when he was asked,“How much money does it take to make a man happy?”Rockefeller answered, “Just a little bit more.”Ambition is never contented.Am I condemning ambition? I promise you that I am not. I am merely pointing out the deep chasm that separates the unending hunger of ambition from the high and lofty contentment of happiness.An old man named Paul wrote a letter to a young man named Timothy 2,000 years ago. Near the end of that letter, Paul wrote about old people and hypocrites and slavery and wealth.Paul then added two sentences that have echoed in my brain for the past 60 years.“To know God and to be deeply contented is the true definition of wealth. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”Happiness cannot spread its wings while wearing the handcuffs of our ambitions. The shining light of Hope is made of a stronger and happier substance than our dark dreams of future accomplishment.Ambition can bring you recognition, reputation, and riches. But those are no substitute for friendships, family, and contentment; for these are the three strong cords from which happiness is woven.Have you figured it out yet? Happiness is not material. It is relational.With whom do you have a meaningful relationship?Roy H. WilliamsWe have solved the mystery of the roving reporter!The wizard received this email from Italy a couple of days ago:Dear Roy and Pennie,Talya and I found this quaint restaurant with tables in its wine cellar and thought you'd love this place. (I don't drink, but thought it appropriate to pose with a glass of wine — which our son-in-law ordered.) If your future plans bring you to Vincenza, Italy, this is one stop you won't regret. Avital sends her warmest regards.– DEAN(You will find the photo that accompanied this email on the final page of today's rabbit hole. I'm Ian Rogers.)EMAIL NEWSLETTERSign up to receive the Monday Morning Memo in your inbox!Download the PDF "Dictionary of the Cognoscenti of Wizard Academy"RANDOM QUOTE:“As we start looking for the good, our focus automatically is taken off the bad.”- Susan JeffersTHE WIZARD TRILOGY

Send us a textAuthor Julie Brill stops by to discuss her latest release and more. ***Discover a powerful, untold chapter of Holocaust history, and a daughter's enduring quest to know the story that began a generation before her birth. From childhood, Julie Brill struggled to understand how her father survived as a young Jewish boy in Belgrade, where Nazis murdered 90 percent of the Jewish population without gas chambers or cattle cars. Through exacting research, a bit of luck, and three emotional trips to Serbia, she pieces together her family's lost past, unearths secrets, and returns to her father a small part of what the Nazis stole: his own family history.  About the Author Julie Brill Julie Brill has been collecting family stories since she was a little girl. She is a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, doula, and the author of the anthology Round the Circle: Doulas Share their Experiences. Her essays have appeared in various publications, including Haaretz, the Forward, Balkan Insight, Kveller, Cognoscenti, and Hey Alma. She shares her family's experiences in the Shoah with middle and high school students through Living Links. The mother of two grown daughters, Julie lives near Boston, Massachusetts. "Hidden in Plain Sight" by author Julie Brill is available online, including at Barnes & Noble and at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Plain-Sight-Holocaust-Heritage-ebook/dp/B0DMT6QQGJ?ref_=ast_author_mpbFor more information on author Julie Brill and "Hidden in Plain Sight," visit: juliebrill.com Follow on X: https://x.com/JulieBrill8Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliesbrill******If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.comFollow us on Social MediaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedomAudio production by Rich Zei of Third Ear AudioIntro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M.NeedomSupport the show

Julie's Nugget of Hope: Take things "Inch by inch or bite by bite." Each move forward is progress.Julie Brill has been collecting family stories since she was a little girl and has written a powerful, untold chapter of Holocaust history and her quest to know the story that began a generation before her birth. Her essays have appeared in various publications, including Haaretz, the Forward, Balkan Insight, Kveller, Cognoscenti, and Hey Alma. She shares her family's experiences in the Shoah with middle and high school students through Living Links. She is also a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, doula, and contributing author of the anthology Round the Circle: Doulas Share their Experiences. Julie is the mother of two grown daughters and lives in Massachusetts. Her book, "Hidden in Plain Sight" is available online, including at Barnes & Noble and at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Plain-Sight-Holocaust-Heritage-ebook/dp/B0DMT6QQGJ?ref_=ast_author_mpbFor more information on Julie and "Hidden in Plain Sight," visit her website at www. juliebrill.com Follow on X: https://x.com/JulieBrill8Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliesbrillWant to know more about your host, Kim Lengling, her show, and her books?Visit her website: www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Guest Deborah Sosin, MSW, is a writer, editor, psychotherapist, and an instructor at GrubStreet, the Center for Creative Writing. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Salon, Cognoscenti, Brevity Blog, and several literary magazines. She wrote the award-winning picture book Charlotte and the Quiet Place; and a workbook, Sober Starting Today. Debbie just completed This Is 70, a linked set of 70 micro-memoirs of 70 words each, written to mark her 70th birthday. She lives outside of Boston. Summary This episode explores Deborah's journey of writing, creativity, and self-expression. She discusses her path to becoming a writer, the role of curiosity in storytelling, and the value of writing as both a personal and professional endeavor. She shares insights on diary writing, publishing challenges, and the significance of mindfulness in the creative process. Additionally, she reflects on her experiences with Substack, micro memoirs, and her children's book Charlotte and the Quiet Place, emphasizing how writing can be a tool for connection and personal growth. Three Takeaways The Power of Writing as Self-Discovery – Writing, whether through diaries, memoirs, or creative storytelling, serves as a means of exploring identity, emotions, and personal history. Mindfulness and Creativity – Mindfulness plays a critical role in writing by helping authors stay present and engage deeply with their thoughts, which can enhance storytelling. Overcoming Writing Resistance – Writers often struggle with self-doubt and perfectionism, but embracing the messiness of early drafts and writing without rigid expectations can unlock creativity. Social Media www.deborahsosin.com @deborahsosin.bsky.social https://deborahs27.substack.com/ About Jeff Jeff Ikler is the Director of Quetico Leadership and Career Coaching. “Quetico” (KWEH-teh-co). He works with leaders in all aspects of life to identify and overcome obstacles in their desired future. He came to the field of coaching after a 35-year career in educational publishing. Prior to his career in educational publishing, Jeff taught high school U.S. history and government. Jeff has hosted the “Getting Unstuck—Cultivating Curiosity” podcast for 5 years. The guests and topics he explores are designed to help listeners think differently about the familiar and welcome the new as something to consider. He is also the co-host of the Cultivating Resilience – A Whole Community Approach to Alleviating Trauma in Schools, which promotes mental health and overall wellness. Jeff co-authored Shifting: How School Leaders Can Create a Culture of Change. Shifting integrates leadership development and change mechanics in a three-part change framework to help guide school leaders and their teams toward productive change.

Julie Brill is an author, educator, and storyteller with a deeply personal connection to history. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, she has spent a lifetime collecting and preserving her family's stories—an endeavor that has shaped her writing and advocacy.Her latest book, Hidden in Plain Sight, is a powerful exploration of her father's experiences during the Holocaust, interwoven with themes of family, loss, and legacy. With profound emotional depth, Julie brings to life the resilience of those who endured unimaginable hardship, ensuring that their stories are never forgotten.Beyond her work as an author, Julie is a dedicated lactation consultant, childbirth educator, and doula. She also edited the acclaimed anthology Round the Circle: Doulas Share Their Experiences, showcasing the voices of birth workers. Her essays have appeared in Haaretz, The Forward, Balkan Insight, Kveller, Cognoscenti, and Hey Alma, reflecting her wide-ranging interests and ability to engage with diverse audiences.Committed to Holocaust education, Julie shares her family's experiences with middle and high school students through Living Links, fostering awareness and understanding among younger generations.With Hidden in Plain Sight, Julie Brill delivers a riveting and inspiring account of survival, memory, and the enduring power of storytelling.

Diana Renn is a fantastic author, creating environmental mysteries for kids and adults alike. Her latest book, the Owl Prowl Mystery is like Sherlock Holmes for environmentalists and is a real HOOT. :) The first book in the series, Trouble at Turtle Pond was named a 2023 Green Earth Book Award Honor Book and has been longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award. Her three YA mysteries, Tokyo Heist, Latitude Zero, and Blue Voyage, all published by Viking/Penguin Random House, feature international intrigue and globetrotting teens. Diana is also a co-author of False Idols, an episodically-released international thriller for adults, published by Realm (formerly Serial Box) and Adaptive Books. A nonfiction writer as well, Diana received a 2022 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Award as a finalist in creative nonfiction. Her essays, articles, and short fiction have appeared in Flyway:Journal of Writing and Environment, Publisher's Weekly, WBUR's Cognoscenti, The Huffington Post, Pangyrus, Brain Child, Literary Mama, The Writer, Writer's Digest, YARN (Young Adult Review Network), The Indiana Review, Cricket Magazine for Children, and elsewhere. She has authored and edited numerous textbooks, taught writing at Boston University, Brandeis University, and Grub Street, and is an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach. Diana grew up in Seattle and now lives outside of Boston with her family. To learn more about Diana and her work visit https://dianarennbooks.com/

Diana Renn is a fantastic author, creating environmental mysteries for kids and adults alike. Her latest book, the Owl Prowl Mystery is like Sherlock Holmes for environmentalists and is a real HOOT. :) The first book in the series, Trouble at Turtle Pond was named a 2023 Green Earth Book Award Honor Book and has been longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award. Her three YA mysteries, Tokyo Heist, Latitude Zero, and Blue Voyage, all published by Viking/Penguin Random House, feature international intrigue and globetrotting teens. Diana is also a co-author of False Idols, an episodically-released international thriller for adults, published by Realm (formerly Serial Box) and Adaptive Books. A nonfiction writer as well, Diana received a 2022 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Award as a finalist in creative nonfiction. Her essays, articles, and short fiction have appeared in Flyway:Journal of Writing and Environment, Publisher's Weekly, WBUR's Cognoscenti, The Huffington Post, Pangyrus, Brain Child, Literary Mama, The Writer, Writer's Digest, YARN (Young Adult Review Network), The Indiana Review, Cricket Magazine for Children, and elsewhere. She has authored and edited numerous textbooks, taught writing at Boston University, Brandeis University, and Grub Street, and is an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach. Diana grew up in Seattle and now lives outside of Boston with her family. To learn more about Diana and her work visit https://dianarennbooks.com/

In this episode, Frauke sits down with San Francisco perfumer Dannielle Sergent to talk about the creative intersection of Perfumery, Painting, and Architecture. They begin with a fun word association game to dig deeper into the creative mind. Dannielle then shares how she got started as a painter, explains the concept of “fat over lean”, and her approach to painting. She then reveals what led you to pursue architecture, explains different ways you can manipulate a design using materials, light and space, and what role scent can play in design. Dannielle then shares how she got into Perfumery, talks about “painting with scent,” and how perfume creation is different from architecture and painting. Finally, she gives her perspective on what painting, architecture, and perfumery share in common and how she brings the disciplines together. Learn more about Dannielle's artisan fragrance house Cognoscenti: https://www.cogno-scenti.com/  Read the article: "LAYERS: Pushing Through the Arts to Perfume" ⁠Get the children's picture book No Place for Plants on Amazon ⁠Follow Dannielle on IG @incentro Follow Frauke on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@an_aromatic_life ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to Frauke's Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://anaromaticlife.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit Frauke's website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.anaromaticlife.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn about Frauke's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scent*Tattoo Project

In September, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu performed George Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops. Cognoscenti spoke to her about her lifelong love of the piano and how it informs her role as a public servant.

WBUR's Radio Boston spoke to Cognoscenti contributor and lifelong Red Sox fan Harry Breault about why retiring broadcaster Joe Castiglione has become such an icon.

Today we're talking to three authors—Jean Duffy, Bev Boisseau Stohl, and Laura Beretsky—and the writing group that provided them with the support and encouragement to keep them going. What makes the Page Six Writing Group so special? While usually only 1-2% of writers get their books published, three of its six members published a book in the same year. The Page Six Writing Group also includes writers Susan Schirl Smith, Marcie Kaplan, and Maggie Lowe.Looking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page. BONUS! Today, you'll find a tip sheet from The Page Six Writing Group on this page about making a group like theirs work.Watch a recording here. The audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find the debuts mentioned in this interview and many books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page. Laura Beretsky is a writer who lives in Somerville with her children, husband and two cats. She recently published Seizing Control: Managing Epilepsy and Others' Reactions to It, a memoir about the challenges facing those who live with perceptible health conditions. Her work has appeared in Health Story Collaborative, The National Library of Poetry, and Cognoscenti. More at https://lauraberetsky.com/published-essays/Bev Boisseau Stohl is a non-fiction writer whose blog grew into Chomsky and Me: A Memoir, (from OR Books) published in July of 2023. Her book tells the story of her 24 years as assistant to linguist, activist, Professor Noam Chomsky at MIT, and the unexpected bond that developed through a shared humor and compassion. You can find Bev with her wife walking her two rescue dogs in Watertown, and at www.instagram.com/ChomskyandMeAMemoir.Jean Duffy is a nonfiction writer whose first book, Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World (Rowman & Littlefield), was published in 2023. Jean can be found on the soccer field in Lexington, Massachusetts, where her team, the Lexpressas, have been playing for some twenty years. She lives with her husband in Somerville, Massachusetts. More at https://jeanduffy.comPhoto by Chang Duong on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Learning how to tell your kids that you are getting divorced can be overwhelming, but you're not alone! Check out these 5 Fresh Tips to help you tell your kids that you're getting divorced in a way that supports you and them with therapist and divorce support group leader Oona Metz. I am a therapist, writer and speaker in the Greater Boston area. I run three weekly confidential Divorce Support Groups for Women+ and provide consultation to therapists working with clients who are navigating divorce. I have published essays on divorce, parenting and being a therapist in Cognoscenti, Psychotherapy Networker, The Los Angeles Review and other outlets. I have given over 80 talks on divorce, group therapy, and related issues both locally and nationally. I am the founder of The Beacon Group Fellowship, a six month training program for mental health clinicians to learn how to lead Divorce Support Groups. You can learn more about Oona Metz on her Fresh Starts profile.

Today we get to hear from Kasey LeBlanc whose debut novel, FLYBOY, was released in May. Kasey and I will be talking about pacing and working with different kinds of dual narratives, in particular with how he dealt with moving between the day and night worlds his protagonist exists in.Watch a recording here. The audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find LeBlanc's debut and many books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page. Looking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Kasey LeBlanc is a graduate of Harvard College, and an alum of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, where he was an Alice Hoffman fellow. He was a 2019 finalist for the Boston Public Library's Writer-in-Residence position and has had works published in WBUR's Cognoscenti, them, and Writer Unboxed. His first novel FLYBOY was released from HarperCollins in May.Photo by Karina Carvalho on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Want to join the podcast? Come together with other listeners in a deep dive into this summer's episodes, discussing ideas, asking questions, and sharing your experiences about issues brought up in our interviews. Perfect for writers at every level. Only a few spots available. Email 7amnovelist@substack.com for more info.Today, we hear from Sara Shukla, whose debut novel, PINK WHALES, will be released tomorrow, June 4. She'll be in conversation with Jane Roper at the Boston Edition of Porter Square Books. We're talking to Sara about using humor as a coping mechanism while launching her book after a family loss.Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find Shukla's debut and many other books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page. Looking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page. Sara Shukla is an editor for WBUR's Cognoscenti. You can find her writing at WBUR as well as the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeneys, and elsewhere. An alum of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator and the University of Virginia, she lives in Massachusetts with her family. Pink Whales is her debut novel.Photo credit: Melissa Sepulveda This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Like all immigrants who fled to the U.S. to escape civil war, Ismar Volic has a deep personal appreciation for American democracy. And Volic - a Bosnian refugee from the Yugoslavian civil war who is now director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College - fears that American democracy has now slipped into existential crisis and might only be fixable with the help of math. Thus Volic's new book, Making Democracy Count, which explains how mathematics can not only improve voting and representation but can even be used to help fix a gerrymandered electoral map that reduces the value of many American votes to near zero. Ismar Volić is professor of mathematics and director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College. His work has appeared in publications such as The Hill, Cognoscenti, and Education Week.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Join Ocean House owner, actor, and bestselling author Deborah Goodrich Royce as she is joined by novelist Julie Gerstenblatt to discuss her debut novel, Daughters of Nantucket. Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, producer, and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel. For more information on Julie Gerstenblatt, please visit www.juliegerstenblatt.com. Deborah Goodrich Royce and the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com.

We hear from two listeners' questions today: The first worries about knowing if her book is ready enough to begin querying. What does “done” really feel and look like when writing a book? The second talks about an issue that hits home with a lot of writers, though many don't speak about it: The time a single writing project takes to finish can feel overwhelming, but what about trying to launch a whole writing career? And what if loved ones are waiting eagerly for it to happen for you? What if their age means they can only wait so long? We've got authors Kasey LeBlanc (Flyboy), Shalene Gupta (The Cycle), and Sara Shukla (Pink Whales) to help us find some answers.Facebook group link.Watch a recording of our live webinar here. The audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.Kasey LeBlanc (he / him) is a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, a contributor at WriterUnboxed, and the author of FLYBOY, his debut YA novel, which will be published by Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins in May 2024. Shalene Gupta is a Boston-area writer and the author of THE CYCLE: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD.Sara Shukla is an editor for Cognoscenti, WBUR's ideas and opinions page, a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator, and her novel PINK WHALES is publishing in June 2024 from Little A. Photo by Who's Denilo ? on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Morgan Baker joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about motherhood and identity, giving back to ourselves and creating boundaries, confronting depression, worrying about our memoir's structure later, juggling our jobs as writers, why we write about hard things, and her new memoir Emptying the Nest. -Visit the Let's Talk Memoir Merch store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/letstalkmemoir -Take the Let's Talk Memoir survey: https://forms.gle/mctvsv9MGvzDRn8D6 Help shape upcoming Let's Talk Memoir content - a brief survey:  https://forms.gle/ueQVu8YyaHNKui2Z9   Also in this episode: -perceiving ourselves in new ways -the gifts of teaching  -letting go   Books mentioned in this episode: A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas Growing Up by Russell Baker By the Iowa Sea by Joe Blair In Love by Amy Bloom The Suicide Index byJoan Wickersham How to Make a Slave by Jerald Walker Surviving the White Gaze by Rebecca Carroll   Morgan Baker is an award-winning writer and professor at Emerson College. Her work is featured in The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, The Brevity Blog, Talking Writing, The Boston Parents' Paper, The Martha's Vineyard Times, The Bark, Modern Dog, Cognoscenti, and Hippocampus, among many regional and national publications. She is managing editor of The Bucket. She is the mother of two adult daughters and lives with her husband and two dogs in Cambridge, where she also quilts and bakes. Visit her at bymorganbaker.com.   Connect with Morgan: Website: https://www.bymorganbaker.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmorgbb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morgan.baker.737/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-baker-01446aa/ Get her book here: https://www.ten16press.com/shop  Write Your Way with Morgan will be starting two 8-week workshops   — Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and lives in Seattle with her family where she teaches memoir workshops and is working on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://twitter.com/RonitPlank https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

We hear from two writers today with very common writing issues. The first is trying to get over the “boredom” he hits at the midpoint. The second wants help with finishing (and overcoming the perfection that blocks her from being able to do so). We've got two authors helping us out. Nancy Crochiere is fresh off the launch of her award-winning debut novel, GRACELAND, and Sara Shukla will be launching her debut, PINK WHALES, in June. Watch a recording of our live webinar here. The audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.Sara Shukla is an editor for Cognoscenti, WBUR's ideas and opinions page, a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator, and her novel PINK WHALES is publishing in June, 2024, from Little A. Nancy Crochiere is a former humor columnist whose comic debut novel, GRACELAND, published in May 2023, was named a best book of summer by Parade, Woman's World, and Deep South Magazines.Photo by Priscilla Du Preez

Cognoscenti is WBUR's ideas and opinion section where local experts, writers and thinkers of all kinds share their perspectives on a range of topics, from Taylor Swift to climate change. This year gave us plenty of things to ponder. So, as the year winds down, we reached out to Cognoscenti senior editor Cloe Axelson to talk to us about three themes from the year that resonated within the Cognoscenti community. Greater Boston's daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Laura McTaggart, contributor for WBUR's Cognoscenti, and local comedian Bethany Van Delft joined Radio Boston to talk about their traditions of sending holiday cards and letters.

Another episode featuring orchestral songs, these arrangements by the French composer Joseph Canteloube AKA Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (1879 – 1957), of elaborately orchestrated folk songs from the Auvergne region of France. From the 1960s an beyond these songs have become favorites of sopranos seeking engaging works for voice and orchestra. Canteloube made orchestral arrangements of five different series (or books) of songs published between 1924 and 1955. The songs themselves are, in turn, playful, plangent, tragic, saucy, rustic, and even surprisingly emancipated. In 1930 French soprano Madeleine Grey was the first artist to record the songs. Subsequently the Ukrainian-born Israeli soprano Netania Davrath became the first to take on the entire cycle. Cognoscenti still find her versions to be the most “authentic,” although that is a loaded term when one considers how elaborate these arrangements are. Other singers that helped put these songs on the map, as it were, include Anna Moffo, Victoria de los Angeles, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Frederica von Stade. All these singers are heard in this episode, which also includes memorable contributions from singers as varied as Dawn Upshaw, Barbra Streisand, Jill Gomez, Marvis Martin, Gérard Souzay, Marni Nixon, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Elly Ameling, Régine Crespin, Arleen Augér, Susan Reed, and others. You may also be quite surprised (I know I was!) to hear the singer that Canteloube most preferred in this repertoire, in a recording accompanied by the composer himself. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody's core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody's Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

It is easy to attract attention:Predictability is death. Spontaneity is life.Day and night, left and right,timid and bold, young and old,up and down, smile and frown.Start and end. Do it again.Negative and positive, effected and causative,passive and active, repulsive and attractive:Paired opposites are the essence of magnetism.You can attention now attract!But opposites quickly get old.To keep that attention,you must learn how to hold.Straight lines are okay, but so are twists, and twirls.Learn to do all three and create Magical Worlds.Two opposites can only disagree.Scientific Chaos begins with three.Opposites collide and we hear the laughter,but the space in the middle is what we're after.Relieve opposing tensions and you'll get no respect.Make them work for you, and you'll be an architect.Marley Porter had the idea, so I gave it words:“Let other people have seconds; we want thirds.”Big endings and beginnings come with a riddleand the answer is hiding in that space in the middle.When a character is tri-flicted, we get addicted.When your story is hollow, fill it with what you can borrow.When your joke has a hole, fill it with what you stole.When your ad has a cavity, fill it with gravity.You can tap your foot. You can play the fiddle.But the dance will happen in that space in the middle.To hold attention slickly,transfer big ideas quickly.If you want to hit hard,make them drop their guard.When they quit thinking and start feeling,you'll have them reeling.So now you know – but you always did –attention is auctioned but you have to bid.And you, my friend, are a story-telling squid.Wrap the audience in your multiple arms.Pull them in closer. Ignore the alarms.Hold their attention, and they will hold their breath.And what they will feel is life, the opposite of death.Roy H. WilliamsOn October 16, 1923 — precisely 100 years ago today — Walt Disney and his brother Roy launched an entertainment business. It filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. But the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio rebounded and evolved into one of the world's best-known and most beloved companies. This week, roving reporter Rotbart explores the history of The Walt Disney Company and reveals an incredible Disneyland document that he and his son Maxwell discovered deep in the archives of a Kansas museum. You know that our roving reporter began his career as an investigative reporter and award-winning columnist for The Wall Street Journal, right? Finding things that no one ever found before is what Rotbart does best! Prepare to be amazed at MondayMorningRadio.com.

Jacke talks to novelist Shilpi Suneja about her childhood in India, her discovery of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, and her new novel House of Caravans, which offers its own fresh look at Indian Independence and its aftermath. Shilpi Suneja is the author of House of Caravans. Born in India, her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in Guernica, McSweeney's, Cognoscenti, and the Michigan Quarterly Review. Her writing has been supported by a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship, a Grub Street Novel Incubator Scholarship, and she was the Desai fellow at the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. She holds an MA in English from New York University and an MFA in creative writing from Boston University, where she was awarded the Saul Bellow Prize. She lives in Cambridge, MA. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shilpi Suneja shares the first pages of her debut novel, House of Caravans, how she discovered the core of her story (and therefore where to begin) after several rounds of revising, her use of the omniscient first person and how she transitions between characters' internal states without losing her reader, and the weight of history both on her book and her psyche as a writer.Suneja's first pages can be found here.Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.Shilpi Suneja was born in Kanpur, India. At the age of fifteen, she moved with her parents to a tiny village in North Carolina. She later earned  an MA in English from NYU, an MFA from BU, and another MFA from UMass Boston. She's won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her short fiction and essays, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, appear in Arrowsmith, Asia Literary Review, Bat City Review, Cognoscenti, Consequence, Guernica, Hyphen, Kartika Review, Kafila, Little Fiction, McSweeney's,  Michigan Quarterly Review, Solstice, Stirring Lit, and TwoCircles.Net among other places. In 2019 Shilpi attended the Jack Jones Literary Retreat as a Desai Fellow. Her essay won the 2022 Bechtel Prize from Teachers & Writers Magazine. Her first novel about the long shadow of the Indian Partition of 1947, her grandfather's story of migration from Lahore to Kanpur, is slated for publication in September 2023 from Milkweed Editions. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Julie Gerstenblatt discusses the first pages of her debut novel, Daughters of Nantucket, how her agent encouraged her omniscient-voiced prologue, her use of repetition to prepare the reader for the “great fire” which becomes the ticking clock of the book, the pleasures of dramatic irony, and how authors might best represent points of view that are unlike their own in terms of race, sexuality, class, and time period.Gerstenblatt's first pages can be found here.Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in education in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Grown&Flown, and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart poodle. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Nancy Crochiere discusses the first pages of her debut novel, Graceland, the importance of goals for each of her three point-of-view characters, the power of a “goal by request,” and how to work in backstory when a story that is so reliant on the secrets about the past is flying forward from the first scene. Crochiere's first pages can be found here.Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.For thirteen years, Nancy Crochiere chronicled the ups and downs of family life—including her obsession with George Clooney—in her humorous newspaper column, “The Mother Load,” which ran in The Daily News of Newburyport, and North Andover's Eagle-Tribune. In 2014, she published a collection of those columns that was a finalist for Foreword Reviews' Book of the Year in humor and the Independent Publishers of New England 2014 Book Award. A graduate of Middlebury College, Nancy earned a master's degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota and is an alumna of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program. She worked for many years as a development editor for various educational publishers and wrote essays for The Boston Globe, Writer's Digest, and WBUR's Cognoscenti blog. Once her daughters finished college, Nancy decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing fiction. The result is Graceland, her first novel.Thank you for reading The 7am Novelist. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Jessica Keener discusses the first pages of her debut novel, Night Swim, recently re-released in a new 10th anniversary edition. We talk about how she straddled the genre line of an adult novel with a young protagonist, the way her frame story helped her understand what the book was all about, and her journey to find her own publisher instead of accepting unwanted changes—only to make the book a bestseller in the end.Keener's first pages can be found here.Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.Jessica Keener's debut novel, Night Swim, was a national bestseller, which was followed by an award-winning collection of stories, Women in Bed. Her second novel, Strangers in Budapest, was an Indie Next pick, an Entertainment Weekly best new book, and a Southern Independent Bookseller Association bestseller. A tenth-anniversary edition of Night Swim was published in March 2023 for which she embarked on a 50-state virtual book club tour. She's been the recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council artist grant, a fellowship from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and scholarships for writing excellence from Wesleyan and Brown University. Her features have appeared in The Boston Globe, Agni, O magazine and others. Her essay “The Flow Room,” originally published by WBUR's Cognoscenti, was included in the award-winning anthology: LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19, which won the 2021 Washington State Book prize. An excerpt from her forthcoming novel, Evening Begins the Day, will be published in June by Image magazine.Thank you for reading The 7am Novelist. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Julie Gerstenblatt joins Jane Healey to talk about her much buzzed about debut novel Daughters of Nantucket: "Set against Nantucket's Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear.” Please join us! Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in education in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Grown&Flown, and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.

First pages are impossible… so we're hearing from authors about how they got them right. In this episode, Jane Roper discusses the first pages of her second novel, The Society of Shame, and how she forced herself into a different writing process to get the book done. We also talk about the necessity of being hard on your characters, finding your story by giving your protagonist the worst possible version of what they think they want, and digging into the details your subconscious has offered you as you write your way forward.Roper's first pages can be found here.Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.Jane Roper is the author of two novels, The Society of Shame, and Eden Lake, and a memoir, Double Time: How I Survived–and Mostly Thrived–Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins. Her writing has appeared in Salon, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Millions, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Cognoscenti, Writers' Digest and elsewhere, and has been included in the anthology Labor Day: True Birth Stories by today's Best Women Writers. She has taught writing at GrubStreet, Follow Your Art Community Studios, The University of Iowa, the Sanibel Writers' Conference, and The Muse & The Marketplace. Jane is also a freelance copywriter and brand strategist. Originally from Fairfield, Connecticut, Jane is a graduate of Williams College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She currently lives just north of Boston in a drafty Victorian house on a hill with her husband, singer-songwriter Alastair Moock, and teenage twins. Thank you for reading The 7am Novelist. This post is public so feel free to share it.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

A former concert pianist and college teacher, Linda turned to writing full-time in fall, 2017.  Linda has published essays, articles, short fiction, and poetry in The New York Times Magazine, The London Guardian, The New Republic, The Boston Globe, THINK! NBC, Pangyrus, Wired, SalamanderMagazine, Lithub, The Drum, Silver Birch Press, The Beacon Book of Essays by Contemporary American Women, WBUR's Cognoscenti, and Cosmopolitan Magazine. A IS FOR ALWAYS: an Adoption Alphabet in verse was published by Familius on August 2, 2022.  Linda is the author; Leonie Little-Lex the illustrator. It has garnered rankings on Amazon of #1 in new releases of children's adoption books, #1 in new releases of children's alphabet books, and #1 in new releases of children's stepfamily books.Since the illustrations display animal families of different species, it is not only a book for all adoptive families, but for interracial, single parent, gay parent, and step-parent families.  Connect with Linda by visiting www.lindacutting.com.

Nancy Crochiere wrote a humor column about family life for Massachusetts newspapers for thirteen years. Her collection of those columns, titled The Mother Load, was a finalist for Foreword Reviews' Book of the Year in humor and the Independent Publishers of New England 2014 Book Award. A graduate of Middlebury College, she earned a master's degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota, is an alumna of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, and worked as a development editor for various educational publishers. Her essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, Writer's Digest, and WBUR's Cognoscenti blog. She began her fiction career when her daughters were young by penning creative notes to excuse their tardiness at school. With her girls now grown, she lives north of Boston with her husband, a lawyer and marathoner, and a few house plants that could use more attention. Graceland is her first novel. “Graceland is a sparkling, warm-hearted, witty debut. I so enjoyed joining these three generations of women on their action-packed road trip to Memphis!” — Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author Learn more at nancycrochiere.com

Today we hear from writer and wellness nonprofit founder Lara Wilson about her idea of the Shadowscape: exploring the shadow side of yourself to deepen your characters in your fiction and your own understanding of how they move in the world (and how you do so as well).For a list of my fave craft books and most recent works by our guests, go to our Bookshop page.Lara Wilson devotes her life to exploring the intersection of storytelling, wellbeing and befriending. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, Confrontation, Indiana Review, the Chicago Tribune Book Section and the anthology, Printers Row, among others. An essay about her breast cancer journey was published on WBUR's Cognoscenti. Lara was awarded a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Fiction as well as scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences. She served on the board and taught fiction workshops at GrubStreet and for the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library, where she curates the Concord Festival of Authors. A lifelong meditator, Lara established 501c3 non-profit Be Well Be Here, whose mission is to inspire greater wellBEing through creative mindful wellness practices and the transformative power of storytelling to build compassionate communities. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

How do you know when it's time to put a book away? How do you find your voice again in moments of doubt? And when is that doubt useful, even necessary, to the writing process as a whole? We talk to authors Dawn Tripp and Jane Roper about their experience with the highs and lows of the writing life.For a list of my fave craft books and the most recent works by our guests, go to our Bookshop page.Dawn Tripp's fourth novel Georgia was a national bestseller, finalist for the New England Book Award, and winner of the Mary Lynn Kotz Award for Art in Literature. She is the author of three previous novels: Game of Secrets, Moon Tide, and The Season of Open Water, which won the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. Her essays and poems have appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Harvard Review, AGNI, Conjunctions, and NPR, among others. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and lives in Massachusetts with her sons. Her fifth novel will be published by Random House in 2025.Jane Roper is the author of two novels, The Society of Shame, and Eden Lake, and a memoir, Double Time: How I Survived–and Mostly Thrived–Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins. Her writing has appeared in Salon, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Millions, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Cognoscenti, Writers' Digest and elsewhere, and has been included in the anthology Labor Day: True Birth Stories by today's Best Women Writers. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Jane currently lives just north of Boston with her husband, rad teenage twins, and two cats, one of whom sucks.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

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How to represent place with good research, good intentions, great details, an ear for the nuances of criticism and nostalgia (your own and those of others), and as always: humility. To help us out, we hear from Allison Amend and Shilpi Suneja, both writing about places they know well and places less familiar to them and to their readers.For a list of my fave craft books and the most recent works by our guests, go to our Bookshop page.Allison Amend debut short story collection, Things That Pass for Love, won a bronze Independent Publisher's award. Stations West, a historical novel, was published by Louisiana State University Press  and was a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Oklahoma Book Award. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday published her most recent novels A Nearly Perfect Copy  and Enchanted Islands. Allison lives in New York City, where she teaches creative writing at Lehman College in the Bronx and at the Red Earth MFA.Shilpi Suneja was born in India. Her work has been published in Guernica, McSweeney's, Cognoscenti, Teachers & Writers Magazine, and the Michigan Quarterly Review, among others. Her writing has been supported by a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship, and a Grub Street Novel Incubator Scholarship. She holds an MA in English from New York University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University, where she was awarded the Saul Bellow Prize. Her first novel, House of Caravans will be published in September 2023.Thank you for reading The 7am Novelist. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Lynne Reeves Griffin is an internationally recognized family counselor, public speaker, teacher and writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work has appeared in Parents, Cognoscenti, Psychology Today, Solstice Literary Magazine, Chautauqua Journal, Craft Literary, Fiction Writers Review, and more.Lynne regularly appears as a media guest expert to discuss contemporary family life and preventive mental health.Writing as Lynne Griffin, she is the author of the family-focused novels, Life Without Summer (St. Martin's Press), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster), and Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books).She writes novels of domestic suspense as Lynne Reeves, with The Dangers of an Ordinary Night and Dark Rivers to Cross published by Crooked Lane Books.Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/LynneGriffinTwitter https://twitter.com/Lynne_GriffinInstagram https://www.instagram.com/lynnereevesgriffin/Website https://www.lynnegriffin.com/*****************Sisters in Crime was founded in 1986 to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers. Through advocacy, programming and leadership, SinC empowers and supports all crime writers regardless of genre or place on their career trajectory.www.SistersinCrime.orgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sincnational/Twitter: https://twitter.com/SINCnationalFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/sistersincrimeThe SinC Writers' Podcast is produced by Julian Crocamo https://www.juliancrocamo.com/

We hear from three WBUR Cognoscenti contributors as part of WBUR's celebration of Cognoscenti's 10th anniversary.

Cognoscenti is WBUR's ideas and opinion blog where local experts, writers and thinkers of all kinds share their perspectives on a range of topics. This year gave us plenty of things to ponder and reflect on. So, as the year winds down, we reached out to Cognoscenti senior editor Cloe Axelson to talk to us about three essays from the year that resonated within our community.  Greater Boston's daily podcast where news and culture meet.

When is your book “done”? Or at least, when is it done enough to send to readers, to an agent, to an editor? What is the difference between exhaustion and completion? And how good is good enough? To help us answer these questions, we've got author Kasey LeBlanc.Kasey LeBlanc (he/him) is a 2015 graduate of Harvard College, and an alum of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program where he was an Alice Hoffman Fellow. He was a finalist in 2019 for the Boston Public Library's Writer-in-Residence position, and has had articles published through WBUR's Cognoscenti, Conde Nast's them, and WriterUnboxed. His debut novel FLYBOY, which tells the story of a closeted trans teenager who becomes a flying trapeze artist in a magical dream circus, all while navigating senior year at a new Catholic school, will be published in spring 2024 by Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins. If you've subscribed to our SubStack page, you'll also get notices in your inbox about what we're going to do next and even offer some feedback. And if you enjoyed what we're doing and think other writers will benefit, please share our page with others and consider following and rating our podcast.Finally, the best way to support authors is to support their books. You can find all our of guests' latest books on our Bookshop page as well my fave craft books: https://bookshop.org/shop/the7amnovelist. Buying books, talking them up, or even just requesting them from your local library helps writers continue to do what you love them to do. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Vercher discusses his piece, "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being," about being biracial and raising biracial kids. 

According to Jessica Brody's Save the Cat Writes a Novel, the Fun & Games beat is pivotal for laying the groundwork of your story as you move into the second act while getting your characters moving. So how to do it? And how do the Fun & Games lead to your book's all important Midpoint? To help us out, we talk to authors Annie Hartnett and Sara Shukla.Sara Shukla is an editor and writer for Cognoscenti, WBUR Boston Public Radio's ideas and opinions page, and a graduate of Grubstreet's novel incubator. Her novel, Pink Whales, a humorous take on lies, drugs and yacht clubs in an exclusive seaside New England town – think “Mean Girls,” but moms — is forthcoming from Little A. She has writing in the Los Angeles Review of Books, short humor in McSweeney's and elsewhere, and interviews in Dead Darlings. She lives in Mass. with her husband and three kids. Annie Hartnett is the author of two novels: her first was called Rabbit Cake and her new novel, Unlikely Animals, just came out in April with Random House. Along with the writer Tessa Fontaine, Annie runs bi-weekly accountability groups – workshops designed to give you community and support on your writing projects without the pressure and confusion of feedback. Annie is also the co-host of the Here to Save You podcast, a podcast about writing while parenting young children. Annie lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and their dog.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Best practices and tricks for getting sensory detail into your work and ensuring we feel the particular consciousness of your characters with writers Lara Wilson and Dan Fogarty.Dan Fogarty is a novelist and journalist born and raised in New York City. He's a former senior editor of digital sports at USA TODAY, a former senior editor at Boston.com, and former advisor to the Concussion Alliance, a non-profit that helps patients navigate brain injuries. Dan's background in journalism helps inform his work, including his debut novel KILL THE PRINCE, which was heavily researched over nine years. A boxing hobbyist, Dan suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in 2016 during a sparring session. Although the injury required 5+ years of recovery, he was able to get his life (and his brain) back. His recovery influenced KILL THE PRINCE's storyline.Lara Wilson is the curator of the Concord Festival of Authors (now in its 30th year) and the founder of Be Well Be Here, a mindful wellness educational collaborative whose mission is to build connected community through experiential well-being practices, including mindful writing workshops. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, Confrontation and Indiana Review, among others, as well as anthologized in Printers Row. An essay about her breast cancer journey was featured on WBUR's Cognoscenti. Lara was awarded a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Fiction as well as scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences. For many years, she served on the board at GrubStreet, where she taught master fiction workshops. A 40-year meditator, Lara devotes her life to exploring the intersection of personal narrative and mindful well-being. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

We hear from Kellie Carter Jackson, an associate professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College. Three years ago, she wrote about her grandmother Ethel Phillips and her life as a domestic worker.

What are Secondary Characters? How do you develop them? And how do you keep them from taking over your books? For thirteen years, Nancy Crochiere wrote a humor column about family life for Massachusetts newspapers, then published a collection of those columns titled The Mother Load. She has worked as a development editor for various educational publishers and has written essays for The Boston Globe, Writer's Digest, and WBUR's Cognoscenti blog. She began her fiction career by penning creative notes excusing her daughters' tardiness at school. With her girls now grown, she lives north of Boston with her husband, a lawyer and marathoner, and a few house plants that could use more attention. Graceland, her first novel, was workshopped in Year 8 of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, and will be published by HarperCollins in May 2023.Suzanne DeWitt Hall (she/her/hers) is the author of the Where True Love Is devotionals, the Living in Hope series which supports the family and friends of transgender people, The Path of Unlearning faith deconstruction books, and the Rumplepimple children's books. She is mildly obsessed with vintage cookbooks and the intersection of sexuality and theology. Her debut novel, The Language of Bodies launched recently with Woodhall Press. It's the story of Maddie Well's mission of vengeance after the murder of her wife: a transgender woman of color. Wally Lamb calls it “…a film noir between covers—dark, tense, and sexy.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Backstory. The killer of many a novel. But the complexity of today's world and its many voices makes more demand on backstory than ever, so what to do? Listen in to debut novelists Aube Rey Lescure and Shilpi Suneja to hear how they solved this knotty problem in the process of writing and revising their first books.Aube Rey Lescure is a French-Chinese-American writer. She currently works as the Deputy Editor at Off Assignment. Aube is the co-author of Creating a Stable Asia (Carnegie 2016) . Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in Guernica, WBUR, The Florida Review Online, Jellyfish Review, Entropy Magazine, Medium, and more. Her essay “At the Bend of the Road” will be featured in Best American Essays 2022. Her novel River East, River West is due out 2024.Shilpi Suneja was born in India. She is the author of the novel House of Caravans, which comes out in June, 2023 from Milkweed Editions. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in Guernica, McSweeney's, Cognoscenti, and the Michigan Quarterly Review among others. Her writing has been supported by a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship, a Grub Street Novel Incubator Scholarship, and she was the Desai fellow at the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. She holds an MA in English from New York University and an MFA in creative writing from Boston University, where she was awarded the Saul Bellow Prize.Also mentioned in the episode: Ben Percy's wonderful craft book Thrill Me This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

Join us as we explore other ways to get writing on the page, plan only what you need, and keep you creative.Jane RoperJane Roper is the author of a memoir, Double Time: How I Survived–and Mostly Thrived–Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins, and a novel, Eden Lake. Her new novel, The Society of Shame, will be published by Anchor Books in April, 2023. Jane's writing has appeared in Salon, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Millions, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Cognoscenti, Writers' Digest and elsewhere. She is also the producer and on-air host of “The Zeitgeist,” on A Mighty Blaze, where she interviews authors whose books tackle of-the-moment topics like gender, race, class, culture, ability, technology and health. Books mentioned: From Where You Dream by Robert Olin Butler, particularly the chapter “A Writer Prepares” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL, starting with the report that NFL officials will meet with DeShaun Watson this week regarding the allegations he faces, with a resolution from the league potentially on the horizon (6:00). Jaire Alexander signed an extension with Green Bay (12:00) and Jarvis Landry is heading to New Orleans (16:30). Drew Brees is out as an analyst at NBC (20:00), the Dolphins signed Melvin Ingram (27:00), the Falcons made a few roster moves (28:00), and a report came out that David Tepper and the Panthers are eyeing Sean Payton as a possible head coach option for 2023 (34:00). Then, the heroes dive into presumed truths by the NFL cognoscenti and try to debunk the group-think assumptions we all currently hold for the upcoming 2022 season (35:00). Note: Timecodes approximate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL, starting with the report that NFL officials will meet with DeShaun Watson this week regarding the allegations he faces, with a resolution from the league potentially on the horizon (6:00). Jaire Alexander signed an extension with Green Bay (12:00) and Jarvis Landry is heading to New Orleans (16:30). Drew Brees is out as an analyst at NBC (20:00), the Dolphins signed Melvin Ingram (27:00), the Falcons made a few roster moves (28:00), and a report came out that David Tepper and the Panthers are eyeing Sean Payton as a possible head coach option for 2023 (34:00). Then, the heroes dive into presumed truths by the NFL cognoscenti and try to debunk the group-think assumptions we all currently hold for the upcoming 2022 season (35:00). Note: Timecodes approximate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news in the NFL, starting with the report that NFL officials will meet with DeShaun Watson this week regarding the allegations he faces, with a resolution from the league potentially on the horizon (6:00). Jaire Alexander signed an extension with Green Bay (12:00) and Jarvis Landry is heading to New Orleans (16:30). Drew Brees is out as an analyst at NBC (20:00), the Dolphins signed Melvin Ingram (27:00), the Falcons made a few roster moves (28:00), and a report came out that David Tepper and the Panthers are eyeing Sean Payton as a possible head coach option for 2023 (34:00). Then, the heroes dive into presumed truths by the NFL cognoscenti and try to debunk the group-think assumptions we all currently hold for the upcoming 2022 season (35:00). Note: Timecodes approximate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.