The Secret Library Podcast

This week we're talking about an obstacle, but also a force that you need to get comfortable with in order to take all of the steps that are necessary to build a writing life. This experience, or for…

Welcome back, today on episode eight we are going to talk about not writing. This is a somewhat surprising topic, but I think that by the end of the episode you'll see why it's important.

Visit this e…

Over the past few weeks of this podcast, I've been able to reflect a lot on my own writing life. Because of that, I've begun to realize I can't talk about making a writing life without including the …

Welcome back to the Secret Library! Today we'll be covering the relationship between teaching and building your own writing life. Teaching is one of the most frequently suggested jobs for writers, so…

Today I'm bringing in today's theme as a pair: boundaries and burnout. These two obstacles in the creative writing life have a cause and effect relationship. Boundaries can be an obstacle, but are al…

Welcome to episode four, in which we're moving on to the concept of creative fuel. Writing is not so different from driving a car or an athlete running — it'll only continue while there's fuel to bur…

Today we're talking about the third obstacle that I faced when constructing a writing life over the past number of years. This one is a little bit less concrete than the ones we've looked at before —…

Today on the podcast we're going to talk about one of many obstacles I've faced while trying to put writing at the center of my life. This obstacle is one that I hear the most about from other writer…

Welcome to season 5 of The Secret Library Podcast, Making a Writing Life. This season is a little bit different because each episode will be a solo show. In the past, I've wrapped up the seasons with…

How does visibility change your relationship to writing? How much of your process do you make public? How soon do you share your work after it’s written? We’ve explored these and other questions this…

We didn't expect to share this panel as an episode. But it was so incredible that I couldn't resist.In this heartfelt conversation, I chat with seven writers who completed novel drafts in 2020. We co…

Mia P. Manansala won multiple awards for her writing before her first novel sold. She wrote a book she was proud of, found an agent, but that book hasn't yet sold. She persevered, writing a different…

What a gift I have for you this week! We began this season by questioning the need to be online in order to be visible, and now we discuss another view. Nikka Karli is a source of powerful inspiratio…

While it was a joy to speak with Raynor Winn when she first came on the podcast to discuss The Salt Path, her bestselling memoir, this episode has me even more excited.

Why? Because this memoir covers…

Claire Harnett-Mann is a brilliant poet and author, and I couldn't be happier to introduce her to you as the first D2D alum with a publishing deal. in this conversation, we look at how Claire chose t…

It was such an honor to speak with Natalie Goldberg, whose work I've admired for years. In discussing her most recent book, Three Simple Lines, I was struck again and again how beautiful it was that …

As writers, we often prefer hiding away in our private worlds, but eventually we need to share our work to make the impact we dream of. But... this doesn't look the same for everyone.

Since so many wr…

Throughout this season, I've been amazed at the depth of these discussions. I originally planned for a less intense season this go-round, given the year we've all had, but this topic refused to stay …

I hadn't planned to have Sarah on this season, since we've had so many episodes together, but when it came time to wrap recording, it felt wrong. We came to this episode without notes, without a spec…

I must confess: I was dying to post this episode the second we finished recording it.

Many of you have heard me recommend Helen's helpful YouTube videos as well as her encouraging online presence over…