The Write Attention Podcast

The Pace of Creativity

Multi-disciplinary musician and artist, Drew “Hondo” Felder, joins Brittany and Jeannetta for Episode 6. Drew "Hondo" Felder is a true multidisciplinary artist who has written fiction for over 25 years and played music professionally for 15. Throughout his artistic journey, he has composed and played parts for other artists; created themes and sound design for short films, games, and commercials; and is currently the bassist of two all original bands. Audio engineering is among his other pursuits both live and in the studio. Outside of music, Drew is also honing his skills in videography, motion graphics, and video post-production. Combining many of these skills, he started his own Youtube channel, Hondo Felder Music and supports other artists and content creators with the technical side of the media creation process. You can follow him on Instagram @hondofelder. The group   discuss pacing and time across music and writing. The discuss how time is expressed within and outside the work, how to incorporate tension and dissonance and the relationship between a work’s purpose and pacing. 
 
Edward P Jones,  “The First Day”, Lost in the City 
“Purple Rain”, Prince
“Stakes is High”, De La Soul and “Stakes is High”, Robert Glasper + Mos Def
Chris Dave, drummer 
Derrick Hodge, bass player
Matt Bell,  Refuse to Be Done
Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar, This is How You Lose the Time War 
Sarah J Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses Series
Karen E. Binder, “Adjusting Your Pace: How to Get  A Story to Move”, https://electricliterature.com/adjusting-your-pace-how-to-get-a-story-to-move/ 
Game of Thrones 
James Kaplan, 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool

Breaking Down the Structure of Your Writing

In episode 5: Breaking Down the Structure of Your Writing, Brittany and Jeannetta discuss structure with the first chapter of Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode, “Point, Line and Texture”, as their guide. They discuss Alison’s framework for looking at structure, which proposes to look at the sounds and textures of words and sentences and how form follows content. They also explore how they have used structure in their own writing and the possibilities for disruption that structure offers.
Notes
Shonda Rhimes universe!  Bridgerton (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740790/) , Scandal (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1837576/), etc!
Franz Kafka on his request to burn his work: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/magazine/26kafka-t.html 
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron, https://www.google.com/search?q=the+artists+way&oq=the+artists+way&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQLhgKGIAEMgkIAhAAGAoYgAQyCQgDEC4YChiABDIJCAQQLhgKGIAEMgkIBRAAGAoYgAQyCQgGEAAYChiABDIJCAcQABgKGIAEMgkICBAAGAoYgATSAQg0NjQxajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 
Charles Johnson, The Way of The Writer
Matt Bell, “Syntatic Symbolism”, https://mattbell.substack.com/p/exercise-20-syntactic-symbolism 
David Foster Wallace, “Forever Overhead”, can be read here: https://biblioklept.org/2014/09/01/forever-overhead-david-foster-wallace/
Kathy Winograd,  https://kathrynwinograd.com/ 
Mathangi Subramanian, https://www.mathangisubramanian.com/about 
Dorte Nors, https://www.dorthenors.dk/ 
D’Angelou, “Untitled”
Tao Lin, Shoplifting in American Apparel, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6096464-shoplifting-from-american-apparel 
George Saunders, Story Club Substack available here: https://georgesaunders.substack.com/ 
Episode S2E3, Emotional Beats, with Kara Smith, accessible here: https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/emotional-beats-part-2/ 
Witches by Brenda Lozano, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59892323-witches 

Emotional Beats (Part 2)

In Episode 4: Emotional Beats (Part 2) Kara, Brittany, and Jeannetta discuss who they write for (themselves or a specific audience), how writing rooms have affected Kara’s craft/process and what we gain from being in community.
Kara Smith to The Write Attention podcast. Kara is a Bermudan-British screenwriter based in the UK who has worked on the HULU drama series BLACK CAKE, the UK’s highly acclaimed streaming series: HBO/Sky’s horror-comedy THE BABY, Netflix’s new genre series LOCKWOOD & CO from Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright, as well as Amazon’s ANANSI BOYS created by Neil Gaiman, among other productions.

Emotional Beats (Part 1)

In Episode 4: Emotional Beats (Part 1) Jeannetta and Brittany welcome Kara Smith to The Write Attention podcast!
 
Kara is a Bermudan-British screenwriter based in the UK who has worked on the HULU drama series BLACK CAKE, the UK’s highly acclaimed streaming series: HBO/Sky’s horror-comedy THE BABY, Netflix’s new genre series LOCKWOOD & CO from Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright, as well as Amazon’s ANANSI BOYS created by Neil Gaiman, among other productions. In the first part of this conversation, Kara, Brittany and Jeannetta discuss the cross-sections between screenwriting and fiction/poetry including how screenwriters view emotions in writing and whether you should write about what you know.Show Notes
1. La Maison Baldwin, https://www.lamaisonbaldwin.org/
2. Irenosen Okojie, https://www.irenosenokojie.com/.
3. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, https://savethecat.com/
4. “Phenomenal Women” by Maya Angelou can be found here: ​​https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48985/phenomenal-woman
5. Mad Men, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/
6. “The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” by Audre Lorde can be found in Sister Outsider 
 

The Many Faces of Style

In episode 3, season 2 of The Write Attention podcast Brittany and Jeannetta discuss style in light of Miciah Bay Gault’s craft essay on style (link below) and the influence our real and adopted selves have on the form and content of the work we create. They jointly work on the exercise offered in Gault’s essay to write on loss in the style of another writer.
 
Craft essay referenced in this episode is “I Craft Therefore I am Creating Persona Through Syntax and Style” by Miciah Bay Gault, accessible here: https://hungermtn.org/i-craft-therefore-i-am-creating-persona-through-syntax-and-style/
Kurt Vonnegut essay on style, https://kmh-lanl.hansonhub.com/pc-24-66-vonnegut.pdf 
John Keene, https://lithub.com/john-keene-elements-of-literary-style/ 
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon
James Baldwin,  Giovanni’s Room, Another Country
George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Poor Things, https://www.searchlightpictures.com/poor-things/ 
The Lobster, https://a24films.com/films/the-lobster 
Lighthouse classes can be found here:
The Earley Scale, check out more about it here: https://brevitymag.com/craft-essays/going-cold/
Mark Doty, The Art of Description: World into Word
Donna Tartt
 The Write Attention S2E2 with Amelia Ihshak, The Emerging Reader in All of Us, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/the-emerging-reader-in-all-of-us/ 
Ward Farnsworth, Classical English Style, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49831663 
William Carlos Williams
Lidia Yuknavitch Corporeal Writing: https://www.corporealwriting.com/about-corporeal and https://youtu.be/o9pUjixyWI4?si=4u4VaF4gE_N3yYsT
Toni Ann Johnson
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Interpreter of Maladies

The Emerging Reader in All of Us

Brittany and Jeannetta welcome Amelia Louise Herridge Ishak to the podcast to discuss reading as a writer. Amelia comes from London, England and has an MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic and moved to Aarhus, Denmark hunting for viking myths and monsters. Norse mythology and the rawness of Scandinavian nature inspires her work. She joined the Aarhus Women Write in 2017 and took over the running of it in 2020. The three discuss early childhood reading interests and how that has influenced their writing today, what genres and styles inspire them and the other reasons why they read besides pleasure or craft.  Amelia's piece which is shared on the podcast, "The Hidden Spirit of the Forest" is available in Meet me at 19th St available here: https://archstreetpress.org/2021/11/02/the-hidden-spirit-of-the-forest/. 
 
Questions
How much has your childhood reading interests influenced the way you write or the topics you write about? 
How much have your reading habits changed since becoming a writer? Do you read more around the genres and styles you write in? Do you write in the style and genres you read in? Is this different to when you were younger/before you became a writer?
We often hear how other writers inspire or influence other writers in a positive way, but what are some things that you have read where you have thought "I never want to write like that" and learnt what not to do? 
Besides pleasure and improvement of your craft (which are some of the reasons I read) what are some other reasons you read?
As a follow up to #1, what are the other ways reading has improved your creative practice besides the writing itself? (related to your question #2)? 
References in this Episode
Learn more about Aarhus Women Writers here https://www.instagram.com/aarhuswomenwrite?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== 
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City series by Sarah J Maas
Jane Austin
Elizabeth Gaskill
Margaret Atwood
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkein
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
Log in to the Libby App through your local library here: https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby  
“Beauty and the Beast” by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
Read Angela Carters’ (not Chambers…lol) reinterpretation of fairy tales in The Bloody Chamber
Popisho by Leone Ross
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
“A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri in The Interpeter of Maladies
Charles Dickens
Episode 1 of Season 1 of The Write Attention, “Show Tell and Practice”, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/show-tell-practice/ 
Episode 9 of Season 1 of The Write Attention, “Personal Revelation & Reader Responsibility” with  guest Collette Walker, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/personal-revelation-audience-responsibility/ 
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
 

New Year, New Vision for Your Work

As Brittany and Jeannetta bring in the new year and season 2(!) of The Write Attention podcast, they discuss time, Susan Rich’s craft essay on revision (link below), especially her thoughts on slow writing, how to connect inward to move revision forward and figuring out the start and the finish and what you’re trying to say. 
 
Show Notes
Rest as Resistance, Tricia Hersey, https://thenapministry.com/ - nap people!
Craft Essay for this Episode:  https://www.writing.ie/resources/its-not-how-you-write-its-how-you-re-write-the-art-and-craft-of-revision-susan-rich/ 
Maturing as a writer explored here in Episode #7: Place, Peculiarity & Persistence, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/place-peculiarity-persistence/, 
Episode #1, Show and Tell and Practice, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/show-tell-practice/ 
Brenee Brown, Atlas of the Heart, https://brenebrown.com/book/atlas-of-the-heart/ 
William Carlos Williams famous quote: ‘no ideas but in things’, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/68731/william-carlos-williams-the-red-wheelbarrow
Working your verbs in Matt Bell’s Refuse to be Done, https://www.mattbell.com/refuse-to-be-done

Let Go, Let Come

Join us for Episode 11, our final episode of The Write Attention podcast Season 1. Brittany and Jeannetta reflect on the conversations and lessons learned this year.  We discuss how our process has changed over a year, including how we have learned from other art forms, which guests/ideas from the podcast which have influenced us, and importantly, how to let-go and let-come in our process. 
 
Questions
What, if anything, have you integrated into your own practice or what about your practice has changed in this last year as a result of the conversations we have had on the podcast?
What other art forms have you been exploring (and how) to add to your writing practice?
What do you appreciate about your writing this year?
What would we like to explore in the next season?
 
Show Notes
 
The Book Project,https://lighthousewriters.org/  
Erika Krouse, https://www.erikakrousewriter.com/ 
Toni Morrison quote on you controlling your characters, https://www.instagram.com/p/CyV-dhjNXcX/
Arianne Reiche, Episode 7, “Place, Pecularity & Persistence” https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/place-peculiarity-persistence/ , 
Collette Walker, Episode 9, “Personal Revelation & Reader Responsibility”, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/personal-revelation-audience-responsibility/ 
Twila Tharpe, The Creative Habit, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254799.The_Creative_Habit 
Johnny Ray Gill, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3331401/ 
Nicola Andrews, “Mentorship and Community”, https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/mentorship-community/ 
Annie Ernaux, A Woman’s Story, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59452779-a-woman-s-story 
Helle Helle, https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1203754.Helle_Helle 
James Baldwin,  https://lithub.com/write-a-sentence-as-clean-as-a-bone-and-other-advice-from-james-baldwin/
Save the Cat, https://savethecat.com/
Lauren Samblanet, Episode 6, “Support and Embodiment  for the Writing Self,” https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/support-and-embodiment-for-the-writing-self/
Episode 1, “Show, Tell and Practice,” https://writeattention.podbean.com/e/show-tell-practice/
Radical Honesty, https://www.radicalhonesty.com/

Mentorship & Community

Join us in welcoming guest Nicola Andrews to The Write Attention podcast Episode 10: Mentorship & Community.
Nicola Andrews (Māori, Pākehā) is a member of the Ngāti Paoa iwi, currently living on Ramaytush Ohlone territory. They are the winner of the 2023 AAALS Indigenous Writers Prize for Poetry, and their writing has been supported by communities including the Kearny Street Interdisciplinary Writers Lab, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Rooted & Written, and the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation. Their debut chapbook, Māori Maid Difficult, is forthcoming with Tram Editions. In their spare time, they watch dinosaur documentaries with their cat.
 
In Episode 10, the group discusses what does or does not make for a good mentor, trusting your intuition, managing the closing and building of writing communities, and what thoughts go into putting together a collection of poems or stories.
 
Nicola Andrews also reads an excerpt from their poem, "Self Portrait with the Queue" from their debut chapbook, Maori Maid Difficult.
 
You can also find Nicola here:
Website: bit.ly/NicolaAndrews
Social Media: @maraebrarian (twitter) @poi_division (Instagram, Bluesky)
 
 
Show Notes
Māori Maid Difficult at Tram Editions: https://trameditions.com/catalogue/2023-authors/
Tram Editions, https://trameditions.com/
Paper and Stick by Priscilla Wathington, https://trameditions.com/paper-and-stick-by-priscilla-wathington/ 
Weren’t We Natural Swimmers by Aliah Lavonne Tigh, https://trameditions.com/werent-we-natural-swimmers-by-aliah-lavonne-tigh/ 
RAWI, https://www.arabamericanwriters.org/ 
APAture 2023, https://www.kearnystreet.org/apature 
APAture Literary Arts Showcase: https://www.kearnystreet.org/events-blog/2023/9/11/apature-2023-literary-arts
VONA, https://www.vonavoices.org/ 
Chelsea T. Hicks, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/chelsea-t-hicks,  and Words of the People https://wtpgathering.org/ 
Craig Santos Perez, http://craigsantosperez.com/ 
Periplus mentorship collective, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0SRWxJqx4oNbWVmbq4j9JE5INhisz76--U63UbtncM/edit 
Write or Die, https://www.chillsubs.com/writeordie/education 
 
 
 

Personal Revelation & Reader Responsibility

Join us in welcoming guest Colette Walker on The Write Attention podcast for our discussion on personal revelation and audience responsibility in Episode 9. The group dives into when they first identified as writers and share effective strategies and resources for making writing workshops work to the writer’s advantage, discussing writing the way into personal revelations or a personal journey in a project and how that may inform the character’s journey. In past episodes we have talked about show and tell. Now, we explore the audience's responsibility or role in our writing. Colette reminds us to let the audience do some work and why that is so important.
 
This episode also includes an excerpt of Colette Walker reading an excerpt from her work, LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD.
 
Show Notes
 
1. Billie Kahora, https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/billy-k-kahora 
2. The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How To Decolonize the Creative Classroom Book by Felicia Rose Chavez, https://www.antiracistworkshop.com/ 
3. Black Women’s Writer Workshop in Europe, https://sites.google.com/view/thebwweretreat2023/about 
4. Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55155120-craft-in-the-real-world
5. La Maison Baldwin, https://www.lamaisonbaldwin.fr/ 
6. Irenosen Okoji, https://www.irenosenokojie.com/