Podcasts about startup a novel

Kate Spencer (The Dead Moms Club) and Doree Shafrir (Buzzfeed, Startup: A Novel) of hit podcast Forever 35 stop by the show to talk about the intention behind their show, skincare challenges, not sleeping in makeup, anxiety, the book writing process, whether eye cream works, being raised by teen mags, pregnancy and infertility, hemorrhoid treatments you can buy in bulk, haircuts, self-care, meeting on Tumblr, slow fashion and so much more. We also took questions from listeners and a did a round of Just Me Or Everyone. Check us out on Patreon: http://patreon.com/alisonrosen   Buy Alison's Book: Tropical Attire Encouraged (and Other Phrases That Scare Me) You probably need to buy a new ARIYNBF Legacy Shirt! and the HGFY ringtone! Try Amazon Prime Free 30 Day Trial

This week Kate and Doree welcome showrunner Shadi Petosky (Danger & Eggs), who discusses her simplified self-care routine, how to run a business without running yourself down, and what it's like to get glammed up for Elton John's Oscar party. They also celebrate Doree's book (Startup: A Novel) coming out in paperback by reminiscing about their friendship and book-writing journey. Plus Kate commits to eating leafy greens each day and Doree gets serious about her work schedule.This episode is sponsored by Tripping.com. Visit tripping.com/forever35 to find your perfect vacation rental.Theme music by Riot. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt's been smoke-free for 10 days! He is also starting to think that TESE might be in his future, at least if a couple of listeners (and Doree) have anything to say about it. Plus, they hear from anonymous listeners with advice for the anonymous listener from last week who had a very traumatic event happen to her, and they debate whether IVF has made them "stronger."Doree's running a contest to celebrate the release of the paperback of Startup: A Novel, by Doree Shafrir. If you pre-order the book, send a screenshot of the pre-order to doreeandmatt at gmail dot com and you'll be eligible to win a signed copy of Startup in hardcover AND a signed copy (by Matt) of a Goldbergs script! Contest entries must be received by 4/2/18. To learn more about the podcast, visit eggcellentadventure.com. To support the podcast on Patreon and get up to two bonus episodes per month for only $10, visit http://www.patreon.com/eggcellentadventure. To leave a voicemail, call 413-461-BABY.This episode is sponsored by:•Episona. This March you can get an Episona test kit for only $249 by visiting Episona.com.•HelloFresh. For $30 off your first week of HelloFresh, visit hellofresh.com and enter code EGGCELLENT30.•Care.com. To save 30% off a Care.com premium membership, visit Care.com/ADVENTURE and subscribe.so many See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we do a fireside chat with the author of Startup: A Novel, Doree Shafrir. This episode is powered by BetaList, https://betalist.com/ where you can discover tomorrow's startups today. Connect with us at womenintechshow.com. Tweet @womenintechshow and @EspreeDevora https://www.doree-shafrir.com/ http://twitter.com/womenintechshow https://twitter.com/espreedevora

Today we do a fireside chat with the author of Startup: A Novel, Doree Shafrir. This episode is powered by Refill Fuel, https://www.refillfuel.com/ a concierge gas service that helps you and your employees save time and money through wholesale gas prices and on site fuel delivery. Connect with us at wearelatech.com/podcast and tweet @WeAreLATech and @EspreeDevora. https://www.doree-shafrir.com/ http://twitter.com/womenintechshow https://twitter.com/espreedevora

REALITY BYTES is a show about sex, love, relationships & dating in the digital age, hosted by Courtney Kocak & produced in partnership with JASH. The 3rd episode of season 2 features an eggcellent interview with married couple Matt Mira, writer on The Goldberg's & co-host of The Nerdist Podcast, & Doree Shafrir, journalist & author of Startup: A Novel, about their new podcast Matt & Doree's Eggcellent Adventure, which chronicles their quest to have a baby despite having "old eggs & dumb sperm" (their words; medical diagnosis: male factor infertility), meeting on Tinder, going public about fertility struggles in front of Sir Patrick Stewart (like you do) & how they keep the romance alive. Please rate & review to tell us what you love!

Matt Mira (Nerdist, The Goldbergs) and his wife Doree Shafrir (Buzzfeed) stop by to talk about the choice to document their IVF journey on Matt And Doree's Eggcellent Adventure, the many podcasts Matt hosts and produces, Doree's new book Startup: A Novel, dog bites, dog balls, impostor syndrome, shed envy and more. We also took your questions over Twitter and did a round of Just Me Or Everyone. Check us out on Patreon: http://patreon.com/alisonrosen   You probably need to buy a new ARIYNBF LAPEL pin! and the HGFY ringtone!

We pause on a week of WTF political news, seeking refuge in the printed word. We discuss Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper; Isadora by Amelia Gray; Grace and the Fever by Zan Romanoff; and Startup: A Novel by Doree Shafrir.

It's the second bonus episode! Matt and Doree answer all of your non-IVF-related questions — from whether or not a couple should move to another state for a new job, to what their favorite children's books are, to whether STARTUP: A NOVEL is getting a sequel. Plus: a challenge to get a THIRD bonus episode! This episode is sponsored by Hello Fresh. To get $30 off your first week of meals, go to http://www.hellofresh.com and enter the code EGGCELLENT30. To learn more, visit http://www.eggcellentadventure.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Part Two of this interview the senior culture writer for Buzzfeed News and author of the debut novel Startup, Doree Shafrir, took a few minutes to talk with me about the early days at Gawker, her highly-anticipated fiction debut, and her tips for getting words onto the page. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The veteran online journalist started out at the Philadelphia Weekly before taking a position at Gawker in 2006. She went on to work as an editor and staff writer for Rolling Stone, The New York Observer, and has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, The Awl, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, and WIRED. Her whip-smart debut novel is Startup, a satirical skewering of startup culture in New York City “…that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve.” Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, former tech and business columnist for the New York Times, said of the book, “I was hooked from the first page and found myself lost in a beautifully-written fiction that so succinctly echoes today’s bizarre reality.” Doree also co-hosts a podcast with husband and Nerdist alum, TV writer Matt Mira, titled “Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure,” described as an “…unintentionally hilarious journey through the world of infertility.” If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, click subscribe to automatically see new interviews. If you missed the first half you can find it right here. In Part Two of this file Doree Shafrir and I discuss: The reality and frustration of writer’s block Why she made the revelatory move from Microsoft Word to Scrivener How the author manages stress (hint: HGTV) The city as muse Why done is sometimes better than good Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes If you’re ready to see for yourself why over 200,000 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — just go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress How Senior BuzzFeed Writer and Author of Startup Doree Shafrir Writes: Part One Doree-Shafrir.com Meet Startup Author Doree Shafrir – Tour Dates Startup: A Novel – Doree Shafrir Doree Shafrir is a culture writer for BuzzFeed Sex, Lies and Tech: How New Novel Skewers Startup Culture – Rolling Stone Episode 865: Nerdist Podcast – Doree Shafrir 24 Quotes That Will Inspire You To Write More – Doree Shafrir Doree Shafrir on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How Senior BuzzFeed Writer and Author of Startup Doree Shafrir Writes: Part Two Voiceover: Rainmaker FM. Kelton Reid: Hey. Welcome back to the Writer Files. I’m your host, Kelton Reid, here to take you on another tour of the habits, habitats, and brands of renowned writers. In part two of this interview, the Senior Culture Writer for BuzzFeed News and author of the debut novel Startup, Doree Shafrir, took a few minutes to talk with me about the early days at Gawker, her highly anticipated fiction debut, and her tips for getting words onto the page. The veteran online journalist started out at the Philadelphia Weekly before taking a position at Gawker in 2006. She went on to work as an editor and staff writer for The Rolling Stone and the New York Observer and has contributed to publications including The New York Times, New Yorker, Slate, The Awl, New York Magazine, the Daily Beast, and WIRED. Her whip smart debut novel is Startup,” a satirical skewering of startup culture in New York City that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve. Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, former tech and business columnist for The New York Times, said of the book, “I was hooked from the first page and found myself lost in a beautifully written fiction that so succinctly echoes today’s bizarre reality.” Doree also cohosts a podcast with husband and nerdist alum TV writer Matt Mira, titled Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure, described as an unintentionally hilarious journey through the world of infertility. In part two of this file, Doree and I discuss the reality and frustration of writer’s block, why she made the revelatory move from Microsoft Word to Scrivener, how the author manages stress (hint: HGTV), the city as muse, and why done is sometimes better than good. If you missed the first half of this show, you can find it in the archives on iTunes on WriterFiles.FM and in the show notes. The Writer Files is brought to you by the all the new StudioPress Sites, a turnkey solution that combines the ease of an all-in-one website builder with the flexible power of WordPress. It’s perfect for authors, bloggers, podcasters, and affiliate marketers, as well as those selling physical products, digital downloads, and membership programs. If you’re ready to take your WordPress site to the next level, see for yourself why over 200,000 website owners trust StudioPress. Go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress now. That’s Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress. And if you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews as soon as they’re published. The Reality and Frustration of Writer s Block Kelton Reid: Have you ever run up against writer’s block? Is that something you believe in or is it a myth? Doree Shafrir: I think writer’s block is totally real. Yeah. I mean there were … I went on book leave for two months from BuzzFeed. I really wanted to make the best use of my time because I knew I only had two months. The days during those two months that I wasn’t able to write anything were so frustrating because I was like, “Ugh, I have this time.” Some days, I would just sit in front of the computer, and I was like, “I don’t know where this is going, what to write.” I just felt so stuck. People say like, “If you’re stuck, you should just try to free write.” I think that that can be helpful. I also often find it helpful to just go on a really long walk, do something that takes you away from the actual writing. I find that it is very rare that just staring at a computer or being in front of the computer and surfing the Internet, that does not tend to break writer’s block. Kelton Reid: No. All right. Well, let’s talk about your workflow as a journalist and fictionist. Now, are you a Mac or a PC user? Doree Shafrir: I am a Mac user. Why She Made the Revelatory Move from Microsoft Word to Scrivener Kelton Reid: When you were writing the book, were you doing it in Word or Scrivener or something else? Doree Shafrir: Actually a combination. I started the book in Word, and then, probably … I was quite far along in the book when a friend told me about Scrivener. It changed my life. I don’t think I would’ve been able to finish the book if I hadn’t switched everything over to Scrivener. I was kind of a pain in the ass to switch everything, because in Word, it was one big document. Scrivener doesn’t detect chapter separations from a big document in Word, so I had to kind of manually put each chapter in, but once I did that, and I could have a split screen and have an outline and also be working on the actual text at the same time, that was very revelatory. Kelton Reid: I’ve heard this before that getting up to speed with Scrivener at first is a little painful, but then, it’s, again, like you said, a kind of a revelation. Do you have some best practices for beating that dreaded procrastination when you’re on a deadline? Doree Shafrir: I am a big proponent of I guess it’s the Pomodoro method where you set a timer for … I forget what Pomodoro actually … Pomodoro has a specific amount of time. It might be like half an hour, but I find it very useful to set a timer for a specified amount of time and turn off the Internet. I use the Freedom app and just focus. That can be in as small a chunk of time as 15 minutes. If I have a dedicated amount of time that I know at the end I will be allowed to look at Twitter and check my email, then I can focus, but I find it very difficult to focus with large unstructured blocks of free time. Kelton Reid: I forgot to ask you before, but do you stick on headphones or are you someone who prefers silence? Doree Shafrir: It depends where I am. When I’m working in my house, I usually don’t wear headphones. If I’m in a public place, like if I go to a coffee shop or somewhere else, I will listen to … There’s a Spotify playlist called Deep Focus that I listen to. I can’t listen to anything with words, so that music is sort of calming, like vaguely electronica, not stuff I would ever really listen to just on my own. But, I find this kind of ambient noise of it to be very helpful. How the Author Manages Stress (Hint: HGTV) Kelton Reid: I’m with you on the ambient. How does Doree Shafrir unplug at the end of a long writing day? Besides blackjack. Doree Shafrir: If you ask my husband, he would say I can’t unplug. I’m not great at relaxing. I find it very hard to relax. Although last night, I was like, “Okay, I just need to just chill out and not get … ” I was feeling very anxious, so I just watched a couple of episodes of House Hunters, and that calmed me down. Kelton Reid: It is very calming that the … I actually don’t find that calming. The house hunting is cool. I’m very jealous of every home on those shows. That makes me kind of anxious, because I’m like, “Oh, man. Look at that cool place.” Doree Shafrir: I also watch Tiny House Hunters. I’m not jealous of those living spaces. I also do yoga. I do Pilates. I try to stay active, and that definitely helps with stress and kind of unwinding. I also read a lot. That is also just kind of like getting lost in a good book is like very … It’s good to take myself out of the world for a little while. Kelton Reid: For sure, for sure. How would you define creativity in your own words? Doree Shafrir: I would say being imaginative, being curious, being expressive. Those are all hallmarks of creativity, I think. The City as Muse Kelton Reid: I think for a lot of writers, creativity is kind of the bedrock of what you do, but do you have something that makes you feel most creative or like a creative muse right now? Doree Shafrir: Hmm. A creative muse … Kelton Reid: Something that spurs your interest. Doree Shafrir: For Startup, New York was a muse for me. Because I live in Los Angeles now, it was interesting for me to have that distance on New York and to be able to romanticize it a little bit, which I was not really able to do while I was living there. Los Angeles, I kind of want Los Angeles to be a muse in a similar way, but I’m not quite there yet. I love living here, but I … Yeah. I’m not totally there yet. Kelton Reid: Interesting, interesting. I’ve heard the New York muse story often, actually, by some story fictionists such as Jay McInerney for instance. That is his muse, for sure. Just kind of plugging into the city. And it seems like when you’re in Manhattan or really anywhere in New York, but especially in Manhattan, there’s that … I don’t know, there’s that kind of spirit of New York that you don’t sense in LA. I mean I did live in LA myself. Doree Shafrir: Totally. Oh, okay. Kelton Reid: This vast sprawling mini-mall, but … Manhattan has this history and these ghosts that you don’t sense in LA, but … Doree Shafrir: Yeah. I mean I guess if I were like living at the Chateau Marmont, I might feel differently, but I am not, and that’s probably not going to happen. Kelton Reid: Is that why every cool rock star lives at the Chateau Marmont? Doree Shafrir: Yeah because I think it is one of the places in Los Angeles that has that kind of mystique and feels old even though compared to stuff in New York, it’s not that old, but it has that kind of mysterious, cool vibe. Kelton Reid: Yeah. And the ghost of John Belushi … Doree Shafrir: Yeah. Exactly, exactly. Kelton Reid:The Sunset Strip is probably the beating heart of that weird universe. Doree Shafrir: Totally. What Makes a Writer Great Kelton Reid: What do you think makes a writer great? Doree Shafrir: Oh, boy. What do I think makes a writer great? Certainly having imagination and being able to create characters and worlds and narratives that take people out of their worlds, like kind of what I was just saying. I think it’s really hard to write a book that people feel completely engrossed in. I always admire writers in any genre who are able to do that. Of course, unlike a purely mechanical prose level, there is a way of writing prose that I think is instantly recognizable to people who appreciate good writing. You want someone who feels original, who has their own voice, who doesn’t resort to clichés or standard writing tropes, and who has an original story to tell. Kelton Reid: Do you have a couple faves that are sitting on your nightstand right now? Or in your Kindle, I should’ve said? Doree Shafrir: I actually I’m one of those people who has been going back and forth, ebook and paper. I kind of appreciate both of them for different reasons. Certainly, traveling is a lot easier with an ebook. There’s just no question about that. Often, when I’m traveling, I will load up my Kindle with long books that I would not want to lug around. I also really appreciate a hardcover book. I think especially now that I have written a novel, I appreciate a hardcover book even more. There is something really powerful about being able to hold a book, a physical object in your hands. For someone like me who has worked on the Internet for so long, that was really powerful when I first was able to hold my book in my hands. It had this power that I wasn’t expecting. To answer your question, some books that I really liked recently. I loved Jami Attenberg’s last book, All Grown Up. I just thought it was so smart and funny and poignant, really well done. I really liked Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. I thought that was such an amazing book. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book, Americanah, I loved. What else have I … My colleague, Scaachi Koul has a book of essays coming out called One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, which in my opinion is like the best title for a book of essays ever. Not just because I know Scaachi, but her book is just so good. I’m always a little bit skeptical of people in their 20s who write books of essays or memoirs, but she is so talented and so funny and so sharp. It’s such a good book. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants and grew up in Canada and has really smart things to say about race, and it’s in immigration, and Canada. It’s a really, really great book. Timeless Inspirational Quotes for Writers Kelton Reid: Nice, nice. All right. Before we wrap it up here, I could keep you all afternoon, I’m sure, but you have places to be. As most writers do, do you have a best love quote kind of floating over your desk or in your mind? Doree Shafrir: I don’t really have a quote like that, but I did … No, I saw that question on your list, and I was like, “Huh. Nothing really comes to mind,” But, I did once do a post for BuzzFeed called 24 Quotes That Will Inspire You to Write More. I actually worked pretty hard to find these quotes, but … Kelton Reid: I’m looking it up now. All right. We got it. I’ll link to it. Doree Shafrir: Okay. Cool. There’s Harper Lee saying, “I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent, he would be wise to develop a thick hide.” Kelton Reid: I love it. Doree Shafrir: Ray Bradbury, “Just write every day of your life, read intensely, then see what happens. Most of my friends who were put on that diet have very pleasant careers. Toni Morrison, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” So yeah, you know. All those kinds of quotes, I appreciate. Kelton Reid: I love it. I will link to it. I will link to it often. Before we wrap up with some advice to your fellow scribes, maybe we’ll do one fun one here. If you could choose any author from any era for an all expense paid dinner to your favorite spot in the world, who would you take and where would you take them? Doree Shafrir: It would definitely be Dorothy Parker because she’s just so fascinating and so funny and of a New York that I am fascinated by. I think I would take her to Keens Steakhouse in New York City, which is a very classic New York steakhouse. I would just kind of want to see what she was like in that environment. I think we would have a great time and probably get very drunk. Kelton Reid: That’s awesome. All right, I can picture it. Before you offer advice to your fellow scribes, we will mention the novel one more time. Startup. One of the most anticipated books of this year or any year, really, a hilarious debut novel that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve. It’s a lot of fun. I’m enjoying it, get sucked right in, and it’s definitely a page turner. Doree Shafrir: Thank you. Why Done is Sometimes Better than Good Kelton Reid: Listeners, find Startup: A Novel. Can you offer some advice to your fellow writers on how to keep going, how to keep the ink flowing, how to keep the cursor moving? Doree Shafrir: I think really writing everyday, which is something that I don’t always do, but I try to do is really important. I think that quantity influences quality. I think that if you are so concerned with always having everything perfect, you’re never going to write anything. It’s better to finish something than to not finish something because you’re worried that it’s not good. Kelton Reid: Very good, very good. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Best of luck with finishing up your tour out there. Doree Shafrir: Thank you. Kelton Reid: We hope you come back and chat with us again sometime. Doree Shafrir: Yeah, I’d love to. Thanks for having me. Kelton Reid: All right. Cheers. Thanks so much for joining me for this half of a tour through the writer’s process. If you enjoy The Writer Files podcast, please subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating or a review on iTunes to help other writers find us. For more episodes, or to just leave a comment or a question, you can drop by WriterFiles.FM. And you can always chat with me on Twitter @KeltonReid. Cheers. Talk to you next week.

The senior culture writer for Buzzfeed News and author of the debut novel Startup, Doree Shafrir, took a few minutes to talk with me about the early days at Gawker, her highly-anticipated fiction debut, and her tips for getting words onto the page. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The veteran online journalist started out at the Philadelphia Weekly before taking a position at Gawker in 2006. She went on to work as an editor and staff writer for Rolling Stone, The New York Observer, and has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, The Awl, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, and WIRED. Her whip-smart debut novel is Startup, a satirical skewering of startup culture in New York City “…that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve.” Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, former tech and business columnist for the New York Times, said of the book, “I was hooked from the first page and found myself lost in a beautifully-written fiction that so succinctly echoes today’s bizarre reality.” Doree also co-hosts a podcast with husband and Nerdist alum, TV writer Matt Mira, titled “Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure,” described as an “…unintentionally hilarious journey through the world of infertility.” If you’re a fan of The Writer Files you can find us on Apple Podcasts, and please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews as soon as they’re published. In Part One of this file Doree Shafrir and I discuss: The writer’s journey from Gawker content creator to buzzworthy debut novelist How her user-generated Tumblr got her a book deal Why she doesn’t own her personal domain name How to research and create a believable antagonist The challenges she faced making the shift from journo to fictionist Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes If you’re ready to see for yourself why over 200,000 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — just go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress How Senior BuzzFeed Writer and Author of ‘Startup’ Doree Shafrir Writes: Part Two Doree-Shafrir.com Meet Startup Author Doree Shafrir – Tour Dates Startup: A Novel – Doree Shafrir www.PostCardsfromYoMomma.com Doree Shafrir is a culture writer for BuzzFeed Sex, Lies and Tech: How New Novel Skewers Startup Culture – Rolling Stone Episode 865: Nerdist Podcast – Doree Shafrir 24 Quotes That Will Inspire You To Write More – Doree Shafrir Doree Shafrir on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How Senior BuzzFeed Writer and Author of Startup Doree Shafrir Writes: Part One Voiceover: Rainmaker FM. Kelton Reid: Greetings, and welcome back to The Writer Files. I’m your host, Kelton Reid, here to take you on another tour of the habits, habitats and brains of renowned writers. This week, the senior culture writer for BuzzFeed News, and author of the debut novel, Startup, Doree Shafrir, took a few minutes to talk with me about the early days at Gawker, her highly anticipated fiction debut, and her tips for getting words onto the page. The veteran online journalist started out at the Philadelphia Weekly before taking a position at Gawker in 2006. She then went on to work as an editor and staff writer for Rolling Stone, The New York Observer, and has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, The Awl, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, and WIRED. Her whip smart debut novel is Startup, a satirical skewering of startup culture in New York City, that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve. Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, former tech and business columnist for the New York Times, said of the book, “I was hooked from the first page, and found myself lost in a beautifully written fiction that so succinctly echoes today’s bizarre reality.” Doree also cohosts a podcast with husband and Nerdist alum, TV writer Matt Mira, titled Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure, described as an unintentionally hilarious journey through the world of infertility. In part one of this file, Doree and I discuss the writer’s journey from Gawker content creator to buzzworthy debut novelist, how her user generated Tumblr got her a book deal, why she doesn’t own her own personal domain name, how to research and create a believable antagonist, and the challenges she faced making the shift from journo to fictionist. The Writer Files is brought to you by the all the new StudioPress Sites, a turnkey solution that combines the ease of an all-in-one website builder with the flexible power of WordPress. It’s perfect for authors, bloggers, podcasters, and affiliate marketers, as well as those selling physical products, digital downloads, and membership programs. If you’re ready to take your WordPress site to the next level, see for yourself why over 200,000 website owners trust StudioPress. Go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress now. That’s Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress. And if you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews as soon as they’re published. All right, we are rolling once again on The Writer Files podcast, with a special guest, Doree Shafrir. I hope I am pronouncing that correctly. Doree Shafrir: Yeah, you did a great job. Kelton Reid: Okay. Cool. I heard you on Nerdist, so I was kind of listening for how they were pronouncing it. Doree Shafrir: Excellent work. Kelton Reid: I did my homework there. Yeah, Doree is a writer for BuzzFeed, a veteran journalist, and has this debut novel coming out that’s just getting a ton of buzz, Startup: A Novel. When you say the title of the book, are you saying A Novel after you say Startup? Doree Shafrir: Yeah. My husband and I have a podcast, and it kind of started as a joke, because it sounds sort of pretentious to say, “Startup: A Novel.” But it is on the cover of the book. It says, “Startup,” and then it says, “A Novel,” underneath. So we just sort of started calling it that, and now we can’t stop. Kelton Reid: Fun, fun. Doree Shafrir: You don’t have to use the whole official title when you refer to it. Kelton Reid: We’ll call it Startup from here forward- Doree Shafrir: Sounds good. Kelton Reid: … just to listeners. As you mentioned, you are no stranger to the podcast universe. You have your own podcast with your husband, and that one is Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure. Not an Easter themed podcast. Doree Shafrir: No. Kelton Reid: You can give it a one sentence explanation. It is hilarious, by the way. Doree Shafrir: Oh, thank you. So my husband and I are doing IVF, and so the podcast is about our quest to try to make a baby using science. We’ve done almost 30 episodes now. Kelton Reid: Wow, wow. Yeah, it’s a lot of laughs for something so interesting and seemingly serious. Definitely, my wife and I were listening to it last night and chuckling quite a bit. Doree Shafrir: Oh, good. The Writer s Journey from Gawker Content Creator to Buzzworthy Debut Novelist Kelton Reid: So, I’ll point listeners to that one. I’ll link to it in the show notes. But we’re here to talk about writing, and you have been a journalist since quite a while, and you are presently a senior culture writer at BuzzFeed. Doree Shafrir: Yes. Kelton Reid: You’ve been in a lot of different places. It looks like you’ve worked for Rolling Stone. I know you were at Gawker, like way back in 2006, and done a lot of … You ve contributed to a lot of kind of high profile places. So, I’d love to start out by finding out where you came from, how you became this buzzy debut novelist. I know this is not your first book, either, but it’s your first piece of novel, fiction. So, take us back, for listeners who might not be familiar with your journey as a writer, how you got your start from way back in the college days to buzzy debut novelist. Doree Shafrir: Yeah, so I was an English and History major in college, and worked on the school paper. I did take a fiction writing class in college, but I never really thought of it as my thing. I was always much more interested in journalism and creative nonfiction. After college, my first job in journalism was at Philadelphia Weekly, an alt weekly in Philadelphia, where I was the arts and entertainment editor. I did that for a couple years, and then I went to Columbia Journalism School and got a Masters degree in Arts and Culture Journalism. Kind of continually on the journalism frontier. After journalism school, actually, I did a of couple internships. I did one internship while I was in journalism school, and then another internship the summer after at Slate. Then after that, I got a job at Gawker, and that was in 2006. Gawker was very edgy at the time, and it was a very high profile job in a certain segment of … A very specific slice of the world, it was a high profile job, that world being New York media. It was a good way for me to kind of get my name out in the New York media world. I think in that regard, it was very useful. It also taught me to write fast and not be precious about my writing, because I had to produce so much stuff when I was there. That’s probably why I was there for less than a year, because it was an extremely exhausting, draining job. From there I went to the New York Observer, and I was there for a couple years. Then, in 2009, when the recession really got going, they laid off about a third of the staff, and I got laid off. I started freelancing, and freelanced for a little while. Then in the fall of 2010, I got a job at RollingStone.com, editing. From there I went to BuzzFeed, and I’ve been at BuzzFeed since February of 2012. How Her User-Generated Tumblr Got Her a Book Deal Kelton Reid: Wow, wow. Cool. You had a Tumblr that became a book, and that one, also kind of a … What was it? Emails from people’s moms? Doree Shafrir: Yeah, it was emails and texts from people’s moms. We called it Postcards From Yo Momma, which was sort of a random name, but it blew up. This was in 2008, and it was really the beginning of the whole user generated content thing, and Tumblr had really just gotten popular, and a lot of people were using it for this kind of purpose. The Tumblr just got really popular, really fast, and we got a book deal almost immediately. Again, it was very much of the time. This was actually right before the recession happened, so our timing was really good in that regard. But it was around the time of I Can Haz Cheezburger? got really popular, and Stuff White People Like, and Passive Aggressive Notes, all of these blogs that were of a similar ilk. Then our book came out a year later. We didn’t really do that much writing for it. We wrote little intros to each chapter, my coauthor and I, Jessica Grose, who’s now the editor in chief of Lenny Letter. She and I arranged the chapters by theme, and we collected all these emails and texts on different themes and wrote little intros for each chapter. Why She Doesn t Own Her Personal Domain Name Kelton Reid: Nice, nice. Now I’m going to find it, because I want to look at those emails. It sounds funny. You’ve got this great website, Doree-Shafrir.com, which I’ll point to, which links out to a lot of your writing, of course the book. Doree Shafrir: I should say, it’s Doree-Shafrir.com. Kelton Reid: Oh, I’m sorry, yes. Doree Shafrir: I somehow lost my own URL, and now some domain squatter wants like $2700 to get it back. I was just like, “No.” Kelton Reid: Let s take the hyphen. Doree Shafrir: Yeah. Kelton Reid: Okay. Well, let’s talk about this fantastic debut novel, Startup. It’s been called one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by lots and lots of cool outlets. I want to sum up what the book is about, but maybe I will let you kind of give the … Doree Shafrir: Sure. The book is told from three different perspectives, one of which is a 28 year-old app founder named Mack McAllister. In a lot of a ways, he’s a prototypical tech bro. He started this mindfulness app. He starts the book seemingly on top of the world. He’s kind of a prince of the New York tech scene. But he also is in desperate need of new funding for his company, or else it is in danger of going under. He’s one of the characters. There’s another character named Katya Pasternack, she’s 24, and she is a reporter at website called Tech Scene, that is all about the tech world. She has just been told by her boss that the metric that she’s going to be evaluated on is changing from just straight traffic numbers to impact and engagement, and this is making her very anxious, and she feels like she needs to get a big story to keep her job. The third character is a 36 year-old woman named Sabrina, who is married to Katya’s boss, and who also happens to work for Mack. She is one of the oldest people in the office. Her boss is 26 years-old, and her boss has also been sleeping with Mack. Everyone’s lives are kind of intertwined in a way that very soon comes to a collision, of course. Kelton Reid: Yes, yes. It’s got this satirical bent. Kind of gets into the cult of optimism, I guess, and of course different privacy issues, and lots of stuff that we all kind of face on a daily basis, so it’s very timely. Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair, said he was hooked from the first page, and found himself lost in this beautifully written fiction that distinctly echoes today’s bizarre reality. In that nice Kirkus review it was called, “A page turning pleasure that packs a punch.” It’s a lot of fun. I just started reading it, and I am hooked, seriously. Doree Shafrir: Oh, good. Kelton Reid: It just sucked me right in. Doree Shafrir: Great. Kelton Reid: Of course, I’m kind of laughing to myself at the very, very well thought out and almost pointed examination of this world. So it’s pretty cool. You’re out there, you’re touring, meeting readers and doing that whole fun thing. So, congratulations on all the buzz and press that you’ve gotten so far. Doree Shafrir: Thank you so much. How to Research and Create a Believable Antagonist Kelton Reid: Yeah, yeah. I want to talk about process, and how you put this debut novel together. I know you’ve talked about it in some other places. When you started to work on it, how much time per day were you kind of … I know, this seems like second nature for you, this kind of world and talking about these folks, because you’ve written about quite a bit of culture and tech stuff. But, how did you research this New York startup world? Doree Shafrir: It is a world that I have worked in. It’s also a world that I have written about, so I was kind of familiar with it from a couple of different perspectives. When I started working on the book, I realized that the perspective that I was the least familiar with was the perspective of Mack, the company founder. It was really important to me to portray him, not just authentically, but also sympathetically, which was tough because he’s kind of a douchebag. But, if you turn him into too much of a caricature, then I felt like readers would be like, “Why am I even reading this? What is the point?” I really wanted to make him seem three-dimensional. So, I put on my reporter hat and reached out to a bunch of company founders who I knew, and had them reach out to people. Around a dozen people were very generous with their time, and just sat down with me, off the record, and I just kind of asked them questions about what their lives were like, and the issues that they face, the struggles that they face, what they felt people didn’t understand about being a company founder, what their day-to-day was like, all that kind of stuff. That was super helpful, in terms of just getting inside of Mack’s head. The Challenges She Faced Making the Shift from Journo to Fictionist Kelton Reid: That’s cool. All right. It seems like fiction was a switching of the brain for you to kind of do that. But it is so well wrought. How did you make that shift? Or, maybe, what spurred you to make that shift into fiction? Doree Shafrir: When I started working on the book … I’m now a full time writer at BuzzFeed News, but at the time I was editing and managing, I wasn’t really writing at all. I decided that I needed my own special project that was separate from BuzzFeed. I went into it with zero expectations. I said, “You know what? I’m going to write for a month. I’m going to write every day, and I’m just going to kind of see what happens. At the very least, it will just be like a good exercise and a way for me to sort of dislodge some of those things in my brain that haven’t really been used for a while.” But, as I started writing, I realized that I didn’t really want to write about myself. It seemed exciting to try to make something up. As I kept going, it not only felt exciting, it felt really liberating. I’ve been a journalist for like 13 years, and that life is … You have to pay such close attention to accuracy and the facts, and a story is what you discover. You can’t change the outcome of the story. You can’t change what people say, you can’t change what people think. You certainly can’t change what people have done. So, to kind of suddenly be in control of all of that, in a piece of my own writing, was extremely exciting to me and liberating. I was able to go on that for a while, and then I realized … After a little while, I realized that I was really enjoying creating characters and creating their worlds, but that the plot wasn’t really going anywhere. I was like, “Oh, yes, plot. The actual story. I must think about that.” I actually knew the broad strokes of the plot from pretty early on, but I realized that I didn’t exactly know how to get from point A to point B. That was really the challenge that took me quite some time to overcome. I rewrote the first 100 pages, probably, 20 times, because it just felt like I wasn’t getting it right, and that if the foundation, if the opening of the book wasn’t totally solid, than what came after was just going to be bad. Finding a Productive Environment in an Unusual Place Kelton Reid: Well, I think what I found interesting about the story of you writing it was that you had tried to go to somewhere quiet, off the beaten path, as writers often do, at like writer’s retreats, but that you found solace, and your most productive place was somewhere noisy? Doree Shafrir: Yeah. To me be more specific, I have this romantic notion of what a fiction writer does, and in my head that was, go to a remote cabin somewhere and isolate yourself for weeks, and just sort of revel in solitude. I tried that, and not only did I get super lonely, but I also, I was not that productive. I found the solitude to be overwhelming. When I was at the very end of my book, we’re talking maybe three weeks before it was due, and I thought, “Oh, crap. I need to finish this.” I should also say, from the very beginning, there was never a question in my mind about turning it in on time. I had no interest in asking for an extension or turning it in late. Maybe that’s the journalist in me. Kelton Reid: Oh, for sure. Doree Shafrir: It was due on June 1st, and I was like, “I am turning this in on June 1st no matter what.” I was talking to a friend of mine, another novelist, and I was like, “You know, I m thinking maybe I’ll go to Palm Springs for a few days. I live in Los Angeles, it’s not that far.” She was like, “What about Vegas?” I was like, “You know, that’s actually not the worst idea, because you can get a really nice hotel room for not that much money.” I’ve gone to Vegas a bunch, it’s not that far. So I was like, “Huh. Let me look into that.” Then it turned out that the week I was going to go, I got a huge room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel for really cheap. So I stayed there for four nights, and I was super productive. I think that the combination of having … The hotel room itself was super quiet. It was like a refuge. But then I was able to go downstairs and play blackjack and do all- Kelton Reid: Unplug. Doree Shafrir: Yeah, exactly. Also, be around people, which I had been missing at the other places. Kelton Reid: Right, right. Doree Shafrir: I had my most productive week there. Kelton Reid: That’s cool. That’s cool. All right, well, for a journalist who’s been working beats forever, and now a fictionist, have you ever run up against writer’s block? Is that something you believe in, or is it a myth? Doree Shafrir: Oh, I think writer’s block is totally real. Kelton Reid: Thanks so much for joining me for this half of a tour through the writer’s process. If you enjoy The Writer Files podcast, please subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating or a review on iTunes to help other writers find us. For more episodes, or to just leave a comment or a question, you can drop by WriterFiles.FM. And you can always chat with me on Twitter @KeltonReid. Cheers. Talk to you next week.

Doree Shafrir, a writer at BuzzFeed News and the author of "Startup: A Novel," talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about updating the coming-of-age-in-New-York story for the modern media scene, where working at a print magazine is not the holy grail. "Startup" satirizes what happens when a tech reporter uncovers a scandal involving the 28-year-old CEO of a mindfulness app. Shafrir says one of the weirdest ways she has promoted "Startup" is on "Matt and Doree's Eggcellent Adventure," a podcast about in vitro fertilization she hosts with her husband, Matt Mira. She also talks about working at the New York Observer under Jared Kushner and at Gawker when it was a largely obscure, New York-specific website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt and Doree talk about why they got into a fight at Disneyland Paris, and debate whether their different travel styles matter in the grand scheme of things. They also give advice to a listener who doesn't know how to deal with people who aren't sympathetic about IVF, and they hear from a Canadian listener about the saddest jerk-off room imaginable. Plus: you guys only need 200 more pre-orders of Startup: A Novel until the bonus episode — and Matt made Doree promise to do *another* bonus episode if they get to 1500! (You can pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Novel-Doree-Shafrir/dp/0316360384.) To learn more and to donate, visit http://www.eggcellentadventure.com. To leave a voicemail, call 413-461-BABY. To email Matt and Doree: doreeandmatt@gmail.com or mattanddoree@gmail.com. This episode was sponsored by Hello Fresh. To get $30 off your first week of meals, visit http://www.hellofresh.com and enter the promo code EGGCELLENT30. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Doree and Matt check in on their friends Marc and Chris to find out how things went with their surrogate, and also discuss gender selection, hot dogs, and the tour dates for Startup: A Novel, by Doree Shafrir. Only 300 more pre-orders to go until the bonus episode! To donate to the Eggcellent Adventure, visit http://www.eggcellentadventure.com/donate. Join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/eggcellentadventure. To leave a voicemail, call 413-461-BABY. You can also reach them at doreeandmatt@gmail.com or mattanddoree@gmail.com, or leave a message on their website. And please fill out the podcast survey at http://www.podsurvey.com/adventure. Thanks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.