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This is the continuation of our agency theme on the podcast... I interview another luminous Writerly Love community member, Wendy Atwell, who is earlier in the process than our previous member guest who secured agents, Lacey Yong and Jessica Waite. Wendy is writing and revising her memoir, and I think it’s the perfect time to check in with her because she has made some great choices for her work that took a lot of intention and self-trust, i.e. agency. She is also someone who takes in a lot of information about writing from great teachers and books and then—with lots of agency—discerns what will serve her story, including finding an unconventional structure for her work. You can find the show notes for this episode at rachelthompson.co/podcast/76

As this is the third episode in the mini-series of episodes on the theme of agency and finding agency with your writing, we spend the most time talking about Geffen Semach's experience working as a Literary Agent’s Assistant and then cover the multiple roles they have held in the literary business. We also talk about audiobooks, and Geffen’s current role as Publishing Coordinator for Audiobooks at Penguin Random House Canada. And I use our time wisely, as they just completed editing the lovely issue called, Ley Line, for Room and I, at the time of recording, was in the final throes of copyediting the Ghosts issue Room, and clearly in need of a bit of a pep talk to keep going. Episode show notes and transcript are available at rachelthompson.co/podcast/76

The second in our series exploring the theme of agency for writers, our double-entendre theme of both intentionality and finding an agent. Jessica Waite, the author of the forthcoming memoir, The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards, shares her story of finding an agent slowly and then all of a sudden, and having her book sell very quickly BEFORE it could even go to auction with the big publishers.

The first in our series on the theme of agency—a term both literal (i.e. about finding an agent) and abstract, in that we talk about pursuing your writing life with intentionality. In this episode you'll hear from Lacey Yong, learn about her YA historical fantasy, writing in multiple genres, navigating writing as a new parent, and the idea of agency.

In this episode it is our Book Club Conversation and we talk about Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto by Sonya Huber, sharing who we think the book is for, how it helped with our writing, and what it adds to our ongoing conversation about craft. Find episode show notes at https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/72

Reflections on cool loneliness: When I’m not writing enough, I lose track of what I believe, who I am, and who I truly want to be. Also, Book Club Conversation is coming up. Also, Book Club Conversation is coming up. Be sure to check out Voice First: A Writer's Manifesto by Sonya Huber and then listen to our next episode for the low-down on the book. Sign up for my Writerly Love Letters on https://rachelthompson.co/letters. Get show notes, transcripts, and more details on this minisode at rachelthompson.co/podcast/cool

In this episode, it’s part two of our most recent six senses showcase. The writers you will hear all participated in the workshop series I offered last year on the six senses. As I mentioned in part one of this series, we had so much goodness, that we did our showcase over two episodes. That’s why you’ll hear us mention the readers and speakers from our past episode, number 69, which featured Whitney French on the sense of sound, Cicely Belle on the sense of smell, Sarah Munn on the sense of taste. So, if you haven’t yet, I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode found at rachelthompson.co/podcast/69 In this episode, we feature Tamara Jong on the sense of touch, A.L. Bishop on the sense of sight, and Candace Webb on the sixth sense. Listen to learn about how we’re comparing our “brain notes,” as our guide to sight, A.L. Bishop called it. Hear how the writers shifted their approach to these three senses and how that helped them bring their more embodied writing to life. (Or intuition in the case of the sixth sense.) At the end of our discussion, I will offer prompts on the sense of touch, sight, and the sixth sense for you to do some starter writing, a little free-writing that will help you hone in and bring more specificity, concrete, felt experience, and clarity to your own writing. You can download twelve prompts, two for each sense, in a PDF in the show notes for this episode. This is episode number 71, so you would go to https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/71/ At the end of our discussion, I offer prompts on the sense of touch, sight, and the sixth sense for you to do some writing that will help you hone in and bring more specificity and clarity to your own writing. Download twelve prompts, two for each of the six senses, in a PDF in the show notes for this episode. Show notes and transcript at https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/71/

In this episode, it’s a little peak behind the podcast. I have some real hashtag transparency moments around what I’m working on and what I have heard from writers in our broader community, which—in case you don't know—includes you!

In this episode, we come to our senses again. We had another LIVE showcase of writers in the Writerly Love community. The writers you will hear all participated in the workshop series I offered last year on the six senses. This is our second showcase. A first group of writers also showcased the senses back in episode 64 ([https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/64/](https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/64/)). This time, we had so much goodness, that we’ll do this showcase over two episodes. In this episode, you will hear the first three of six writers discussing and reading their sensory work. So, today it’s all about Sound, Smell, and Taste. Listen to learn how these writers shifted their approach to these essential senses and bringing that embodied writing to life. At the end of our discussion, I will offer prompts on the sense for you to do some starter writing, a little free-writing that will help you hone in and bring more specificity, concrete, felt experience, and clarity to your own writing. When you get to the prompts, you could hit pause to write. Or, you could download all of the prompts in a PDF in the show notes for this episode. This is episode number 69, so you would go to: https://rachelthompson.co/podcast/69/

In this episode it is my pleasure to introduce you to two members of our Writerly Love Community and bring you in to our book club conversation. We’ve been doing our close craft-book readings for a couple of years now. So, I love bringing you, dear listeners who are not members of the Writerly Love community—yet, into this conversation! (You can always learn more about the community and sign up at rachelthompson.co/join.)

Wrap-Up: Empathy for Writers

If you’re listening right when this episode comes out, it's not too late to join Christina Brobby in the workshop we're offering today. You can learn more and sign up at rachelthompson.co/workshops If it's after the 28th and you missed a chance to learn live from her, all of our workshops live on in our permanent collection in the member library. You can get all the details about the Writerly Love membership at rachelthompson.co/join. *** In this episode it’s my pleasure to welcome Christina Brobby to the podcast, a wonderful lyric writer and instructor. We start by getting into what exactly is lyric writing, if you’re wondering so that will be cleared up right way. Christina also delves into the ways the “filter is the form” as she wonderfully sums it up. Listen for more of our exploration of empathy for writers, and Christina also kindly and insightfully brings in the necessity of practising empathy with yourself as a writer. And listen for ways she’s used the form to explore the impact our surroundings have on us, to see working in fragments as a feature and not a bug in our memories as creative nonfiction essay writers and to generally get excited about the variety of brilliant voices using lyric essay forms to tell their stories.

This episode is the second in our mini-series of three episodes on the theme of empathy for writers and a really interesting and unique take on empathy, as my guest is a curator and writer of fiction, Lyndall Cain. So, listen to Lyndall’s exploration of curation and really concrete ideas about how to find objects that build a whole world in writing and then sign-up for the workshop she will offer on Sunday, which gets even more hands-on about bringing your stories to life with objects. I’m such a fan of her writing and am thrilled she said yes to offering this unique workshop in our community this month. You can learn more and sign up at rachelthompson.co/workshops As Lyndall Cain puts it in our interview, “Your characters don’t have to be the only things alive on the page.” Listen to hear about some fascinating collections and ways to think about collections and some brilliant examples on bringing stories to life with objects.

Naomi J. Williams is the author of Landfalls (FSG 2015), long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award. Her short fiction has appeared in journals such as Zoetrope: All-Story, A Public Space, One Story, The Southern Review, and The Gettysburg Review. Her distinctions include a Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories Honorable Mention, Sustainable Arts Foundation grant, and residencies at Hedgebrook, Djerassi, and Willapa Bay AiR.

In this episode, Rachel talks with six writers from her Writerly Love membership community about writing through the senses. In this showcase, you’ll hear each writer represent a sense and how they apply it to their writing, and they will read from their work as well. The aim here is to help make sensitivity really grounded and specific. Rachel also offers a taste of the experience we had in our six senses of writing workshop with prompts for each sense. So, bring a notebook and hit pause to do some free-writing around the senses. Also note that all of the prompts appear in the shownotes for this episode, which is episode 64, so up at rachelthompson.co/podcast/64.

Ellen Chang-Richardson and Rachel Thompson on what they are looking for in submissions to the upcoming issue of Room’s Ghosts issue.

Listen if you’ve been looking for books to support your writing practice, or maybe a list of books to give another writer in your life, or if you’ve been wanting to read with a community of writers, too, and need some guidance to get started.

Maybe you have found yourself feeling compromised by the publication process. Maybe even by just anticipating the publication process you have bent your writing into something that doesn’t feel authentic to who you are and what you are here to say. If you recognize yourself in either of those statements, you’re not the only one. We write to be read and it can be hard to hold that confidence it takes to stay the course and be ourselves with our writing. Hear from three writers, who are figuring this out, too: where they went wrong with staying true to their voice and authentic selves and how they found their own unique grooves and continue to work on staying true to them. A special thank you to Meli Walker who helped create this episode with interviews and production support.

Chill Subs is making the submissions process much easier and less stressful. That’s the mission statement on this database of places to send your writing. Well, that’s what it started as and it’s already growing into a bigger resource for writers. If you’re looking for a vibe that is warm and creative to learn and grow as a writer, registration is currently open for my Writerly Love Community: rachelthompson.co/join

You’ll hear Mark Drew of the Gettysburg Review in this episode answering questions from the live cohort who came to our call attended by writers in the Lit Mag Love course. [rachelthompson.co/litmaglove] When you’ll listen you’ll note right away that this call happened in the first year of the pandemic and you’ll get an editor’s perspective on the kind of reflection missing from most writing in the moment, at least for this particular journal. And you’ll hear about the kinds of work Gettysburg accepts the qualities of the work they look for and learn more about the editorial experience you’ll get should you place work with them.