The Stories Between Us

Today, Maile and Shawn talk about entering a new stage of life and how it's led them into a season of paring back on various things...including the podcast. Also, if you're a writer, do you ever have permission to simply quit writing? We love you all. Thanks for listening. 

Today we talk with Kate Motaung about the emotional investment of writing a memoir, why she's chosen to self-publish a few of her books, and red flags that might lead her to encourage someone not to self-publish...at least not yet.  Kate really is a wise and encouraging voice in the publishing world.  For more about Kate, head over to her website. 

Today we're talking with Jennifer Grant, author of the best-selling children's book, Maybe God is Like That Too and Finding Calm in Nature. She talks about all the anxiety kids live with these days--division, sorrow, and loss--and the healing and soothing power of nature. 

"If I'm not able to make a living by writing...do I quit writing?" Today, in the second part of our conversation with Douglas McKelvey, we explore the idea of writing only for the money . . . and how that can quickly go sideways. We also talk about how, when he ended up doing small side jobs just to pay the bills, he ended up asking himself the question above, and how he answered it.     

In honor of the passing of our dear friend Leslie Bustard, whose memorial service is this coming weekend, we having compiled all three of the podcast episodes we recorded with her over the years. The first was recorded in February of 2021, the second in April of 2022, and the third in November of 2022. Leslie was an author, a reader, a publisher, and an encourager. As you'll find in these episodes, she was also someone who clung to hope. As Douglas McKelvey wrote of her, she was "a poet and a poem." It is a great honor to offer these three episodes to you as one episode today.  

Do the things I believe hold up even in the worst circumstances? Today, we speak with author and song-writer Douglas McKelvey about some of our favorite authors, including Cormac McCarthy and William Gay, and whether or not the violence and darkness in them can have redemptive value.  Doug is the author of Every Moment Holy. This is part one of our conversation. 

Three weeks ago, Maile gave up eating sugar, and it's had a profound impact on her creativity. Which leads us to consider how addictions in general impact our ability to write, and the various ways we can get unstuck when our writing feels like its source has been blocked.  Check out Seth Haines' books HERE.

Today Maile and I talk about our freelance life, the benefits and drawbacks of such a life, and why we keep trying to cobble together a life doing the thing that we love: telling stories.  Also, how do you know when to abandon a difficult project and when to keep working? For Shawn's recent substack post on the same topic: Living a Life That Has No Rational Explanation

Today we talk with author Erin Bartels about why she waited seven years for a traditional publishing contract instead of self-publishing, how working for a publisher shaped her writing journey, and where she finds the time to do everything (hint: she doesn't). We also talk about what it's like writing books for Christian publishing houses when you're not sure your books fit in that niche.  To find out more about Erin and her books, head over to her website.  

What happens when a writer makes it into the publishing world...and then decides that kind of writing life isn't for them? Today we're talking with author Michelle Derusha about her journey through publishing, the highs of signing contracts for four traditionally published books...and what happens when our first forays into that world are marked by disappointment. She explains how publishing crushed her writing soul and how she rediscovered herself...by walking away and journeying back into the heart of who she is.