Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

Mining Saved Pages to See What You (Used to) Value   Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

On Writing Our Own Stories   Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

On Objects and Imagery in Prose Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

What would you go back and change, if you could?  Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

https://shelaghvt.substack.com/All the talk of our 250th anniversary as a nation has me wanting to write about patriotism. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

The Utility of Misunderstandings in Fiction   Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

A Few Thoughts On Living While Aging Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Some thoughts on the art of M.C. Escher and fiction that defies expectation Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

A Meditation on the Silent G. Kind of like a title track!  Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Two lessons from a long-ago conversation. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Take a Break... Or make one. On retreats.   Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com) As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for listening and subscribing, dear friends. 

AWP: a conference for people in dire need of bookmarks. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

What to do with our notes, photos, and memorabilia...and why we kept it all in the first place. Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

In answer to my last post; a look at how we deal when others don't love our work. And who should we be writing for, anyway? Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

On why some of us love books that others do not.    Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G (shelaghvt.substack.com)

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G  As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends!

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G  As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends!

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G  As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends!

Audio from Shelagh's Substack, The Silent G . As I'm no longer producing Write the Book: Conversations on Craft, I'll be posting my occasional Substacks here in audio format. I hope you enjoy them! Listen and subscribe at shelaghvt.substack.com  Thanks, friends! "If Only" Photo Credit: Greg Danford

This one was my first on the substack (I'm catching up with the audio option). It concerns piano lessons, then and now, creativity, and writing. I hope you enjoy! You can also listen at shelaghvt.substack.com

Hey there! Pardon the random interruption. I see that many of you continue to download the interviews archived here at Write the Book: Conversations on Craft. While I miss the show, it's been a good break as I have a novel coming: A TOAST TO THE AFTERLIFE will be published by Unsolicited Press in March 2027. Also, I have a new Substack called The Silent G. Given your history here with me, I thought you might enjoy it. So please check it out and possibly subscribe - it's free. Thanks, all! 

Vermont author, educator, environmentalist, and Co-founder of 350.org and Th!rd Act Bill McKibben, in a conversation about his 2022 memoir, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened (Henry Holt & Co). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Bill McKibben, and it’s a wonderful back-to-basics exercise that I love as our final prompt. Describe your childhood home. As you heard, Bill’s looked like a square with a triangle on top. What would you remember and share if you were to write about yours?  Good luck with your work in the coming week. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro Final Show: #772

Vermont Author Nathaniel Ian Miller in a conversation about his novel, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven (Little Brown). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Nathaniel Ian Miller, who recently heard someone extoll the virtues of writing about one’s work. Nathaniel commented that he liked this idea, and that he would like to see more of it. The supposedly mundane aspects of a job, the things you might consider boring about your work, might be full of detail and very rich for readers. So this week, give it a try: write about work. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 771

Award-winning Vermont Author Brad Kessler in conversation about his 2021 novel, North (Overlook Press). One review of Brad Kessler’s work, a blurb by the author Chris Abani, mentions  the way that Brad lets his characters’ dignity lead the story. I love this observation, and have been thinking a lot about it. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the dignity of your characters, no matter what their goals, obstacles, or plight. Consider their dignity as you work to make them real, honest, not caricatures of good or bad. Keep their dignity in mind as you try to find your way, and help them find theirs. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 770

British Author Caroline Lea, whose new novel is PrizeWomen (Harper Perennial).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Caroline Lea. It's an assignment she sometimes gives to her students. Go somewhere you wouldn't normally go, and write about it. (Don’t get arrested, she says. Or if you do, don’t blame her!) Her students have visited cemeteries, they've gone to other dorms and spoken with students they wouldn’t usually speak to. Caroline says that there's something about putting yourself in a different space or hopefully a slightly uncomfortably position that forces something often very brilliant into your writing.  Good luck with your work in the coming week and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 769

An interview from 2015 (with our old music!) with literary agent Emily Forland, of the Brandt Hochman Agency in New York.  This week’s  Write The Book Prompt is to write about a season you are not presently experiencing. Is it warm where you are? Write about the cold. Is spring coming on? Write about the fall. Work from memory, as much as you can, and then in revising, allow yourself to look at pictures, read online, and check your weather app to be sure you're not forgetting what that other season actually feels like.    Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.     Music Credit: John Fink 768

Vermont Author Annie Seyler, whose debut novel is The Wisdom of Winter (Atmosphere Press).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Annie Seyler. Identify a moment from your childhood that shaped you somehow and write it out as a scene, but with a different ending or outcome than the way you lived it. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 767

Olena Kharchenko and Michael Sampson, co-authors The Story of Ukraine (Brown Books Kids). We have two Write the Book Prompts this week.  Michael Sampson offered one that seemed rather dark, so he turned it on its head and offered another that’s more upbeat. First, describe a nightmare you’ve had, including setting and details that explain why it is so terrifying. Second, look into the future and write about the happiest day you can imagine, including the location, and making your emotions come alive in your descriptions. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 766

Award-winning science writer and journalist Jessica Nordell, author of The End of Bias: A Beginning (Metropolitan).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Jessica Nordell, who points out that observing our own bias can be a challenge. She suggests considering, What would you write if you could be certain that you had infinite love and acceptance - if you didn't have to worry about others' love and acceptance going away? What would you write if you felt that free?  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 765

  Fall 2022 Green Mountain Book Festival panel on Mysteries and Thrillers, moderated by Rachel Carter and featuring  authors Miciah Bay Gault, Margot Harrison, Sarah Stewart Taylor, and Sarah Strohmeyer. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to play two truths and a lie with a few writing friends. Think of the three scary stories to tell: two that are true and one, a lie. Let the game with friends be fun, but also let it fuel and energize your writing in the coming week and beyond! Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 764

Vermont Author Erika Nichols-Frazer, speaking about her new memoir, Feed Me: A Story of Food, Love and Mental Illness (Casper Press). This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Erika Nichols-Frazer. Feed Me is all about memories and food. Think of a food that holds some emotional significance: a pie you used to bake with your grandmother, something that you eat on special occasions, maybe something you've discovered in your travels. Describe that food in all its sensory details—the tastes, smells, textures—as well as you can, and connect that with the the emotions you feel when you eat that food as well as the circumstances: what's around you, where you are, who's there. See where that takes you. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 762

Vermont Author Andrew Liptak, whose recent book is Cosplay: A History: The Builders, Fans, and Makers Who Bring Your Favorite Stories to Life (Saga Press). This week’s first Write the Book Prompt won’t surprise you, if you listened to the interview. Dress in costume and write about the person you see yourself representing. If you have a costume that works for a character you’re working on, great. If not, try to change one thing about your appearance to help you access that character. Does he have a mustache and you do not? Stick on a fake, or draw one above your lip. Does she wear a tiara, pencil skirts, stilettos, sandals, penny loafers? Find something you can try on and see if it helps you embody the person you are trying to get right on the page. Maybe a character you’re working on is on vacation, and he dresses like any number of other men - nothing really worthy of being labeled a costume. But as he’s away from work for a while, you might try to write with a tie, to get a feel for what he’s presently released from, and then wear a collared shirt with the top button undone. Maybe that will give you some idea of how he feels, physically, at this stage in his life. Andrew Liptak kindly sent in a prompt as well, one that I really like. Take a favorite character, and then go back three generations to their great-great-grand parents. What personality / family / traits or habits does your character have that might have originated from their ancestors? Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 761

Fall 2022 Green Mountain Book Festival panel on Nonfiction, moderated by Shelagh and featuring  authors Brian Michael Murphy, Sandra Matthews, Jessica Nordell, and Erik Shonstrom. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to try your hand at writing a nonfiction essay about something that has lately been on your mind: perhaps a news item, a weather event, or a personal experience. Include details and facts that you find through research, and present them as objectively as you can. Decide if you might like your opinions and personal experiences into the piece; does that feel organic to the work? If you are writing about war and you have experience serving in the armed forces, that may feel entirely right. If you are writing about climate change and you survived a hurricane, that could likely inform the piece. Consider ways to frame the work that fit thematically with the subject. For example, if you are writing about weather, imagine how various weather patterns might inform a structure for what you are attempting. Finally, watch for places where perhaps your research upends your expectations and takes you in an unexpected direction, something our panelists discussed during the Green Mountain Book Festival. What can you do then? Can this perhaps improve the piece? How?  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 760  

An interview from the archives with cancer survivor, yoga teacher and author Tari Prinster. We discuss her 2014 book Yoga for Cancer:  A Guide to Managing Side Effects, Boosting Immunity, and Improving Recovery for Cancer Survivors (Healing Arts Press). This week’s Write The Book Prompt is to spend five-to-ten minutes focusing on your breathing before you begin work. Breathe in through your nose, counting to 3 slowly. Hold at the top for two counts more. Then breathe out through your nose for 5 or 6 counts. Don't stress over the breathing. Rather, try to lose yourself in it. Good luck with your work in the coming week and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 759

Our second NaNoWriMo check-in of the month is a conversation with Vermont Author Reina Pennington, military history expert and former Norwich University Professor.  This week's second Write the Book Prompt comes from Reina Pennington, who suggests writing with the same implement that your character might have written with. Not all the time, but at least once, give a quill a try. A fountain pen. An old manual typewriter. In Reina’s case, her characters in the pilot seat had to write on rough paper with a pencil, sharpened with a knife. They folded them into triangles to send, in lieu of envelopes.  This is an original way Reina finds to connect with her characters, which I found a very cool suggestion!  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 758

Vermont Poet and Publisher Samantha Kolber, of Rootstock Publishing.  One of this week's Write the Book Prompts comes from Samantha Kolber, who suggests writing for seven minutes without stopping. Put your pen to the page or your fingers to the keys, and have at it for seven minutes straight. Samantha loves this exercise and finds she comes up with great material by doing this: a draft poem that can be revised later.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 757

Angela Palm moderates this Fall 2022 Green Mountain Book Festival panel on Memoir, featuring fellow Vermont Authors Jay Parini, Brett Ann Stanciu, and former Governor Madeleine May Kunin.  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write a short memoir containing three things: the story of how you came to have your name, a recent dream you’ve had, and the way a certain color features in your life right now, the way Governor Madeleine May Kunin spoke on this panel about her Prius, and why it was important to her that it was "Barcelona Red." Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 756

Local author and professor Dr. Millicent Eidson, who writes a series of novels concerning the work of fictional CDC veterinarian Dr. Maya Maguire. A regular NaNoWriMo participant, Millie spoke with me live on WBTV-LP about that experience. This Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Dr. Millicent Eidson, who reminds us that conflict and challenges are important in our work. As an example, the weather has just changed from mid-70s to mid-30s. Our clocks have just changed again. Think about these and other changes that might present difficulties for your characters and write about that. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 755

Live radio interview with Roseanne Montillo, author of Deliberate Cruelty (Atria Books).  Roseanne Montillo was kind enough to offer a Write the Book Prompt during our conversation. Keep a journal, recording both the trivial and mundane observations, but also details about your travels, your memories, your interpretation of favorite books.  Good luck with your work in the coming week and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.    Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 754

Author Thomas H. McNeely, whose new collection is Pictures of the Shark: Stories (Texas Review Press).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Thomas H. McNeely, and it is drawn from our conversation. We talked about the objects that writers bring into stories, and the power that objects can hold. This week, consider doing one of two things as you work. First, write about objects that you remember from a certain period of your life. What did they mean to you at the time? Do you still have them? If not, what happened to them–do you know, or did they just disappear?  What do they mean to you now? How might you use one of the important objects from your past in a story? Second, consider how you might use objects to help characters - as Thomas put it in our interview - reflect off of something.  Allow that focus on an object to help them to express what  they themselves probably could not express otherwise. For example, Buddy’s mother’s reaction to Richard Nixon. And Buddy’s own focus on a yellow leaf on black asphalt while he’s speaking with his father, an inconsistent and often duplicitous presence in his life.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 753

Writer, speaker and storyteller Gareth Higgins, author of how not to be afraid: Seven Ways to Live When Everything Seems Terrifying (Broadleaf Books).  Gareth Higgins was kind enough to allow me to share one of the invitations in his book, how not to be afraid, as this week’s Write the Book Prompt. The invitation is shared in full at the end of the podcast (as is a breathing exercise from the book, which we discuss during the interview). Here's a summary of the Invitation to Name Your Fears, in Gareth's words, but excerpted: Sit still in a chair for ten minutes–or as long as it takes. Ask yourself, "What is it exactly that I'm afraid of?" Keep asking it until something like a satisfying answer comes. Write down or sketch your thoughts. Put another chair in front of you and visualize the thing that's frightening you. Imagine this fear as if it were a person, describe them in detail, and perhaps even give them a name.  Step outside your usual pattern of relating to this fear.  ... While thinking of the personified fear, allow yourself to imagine the wounds and fears that such a person might have experienced and that led them to be the scary presence they manifest for you. What might they fear losing or have already lost? What might they care about with which you could empathize? ... Again, write down or sketch what comes to you.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 752

Vermont author and poet Rebecca Valley, author of the chapbook The Salvageman, whose new book is Curious Cases: True Crime for Kids - Hijinks, Heists, Mysteries and More (Bloom Books for Young Readers). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Rebecca Valley. Let a main character or a community about which you are writing grapple with an unsolved mystery. This mystery could be the main thrust of the story, or it could linger in the background, serving to amplify your characters, and possibly contributing to the ways in which they change. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. NaNoWriMo is coming! Get in touch if you'd like to come on the  show to talk about how it's going for you.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 751

An interview from the archives with veteran Boston Globe Reporter Stephen Kurkjian, author of Master Thieves, the story of the the largest art theft in history, published by PublicAffairs. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write 300 words about a theft that goes wrong in some way. The stolen items could involve art, jewels, people, pets, or even just penny candy. Who steals what and why? What goes wrong? Does this create a problem for the thief, or for the victim of the theft? Where does this take place? Who might have seen something? Did they tell anyone, or keep quiet? What happens to the stolen items, and how does the ordeal affect each of the involved characters? Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 750

The editors of Vermont Almanac discuss their work. A recording of a Green Mountain Book Festival panel discussion featuring Virginia Barlow, Dave Mance III, and Patrick White.  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about an insect or arachnid. We aren’t all as focused on insects as Virginia Barlow, but they are vital. This is a quote from the Florida Museum at the University of Florida: a diverse range of insect species is critical to the survival of most life on Earth, including bats, birds, freshwater fishes and even humans! Along with plants, insects are at the foundation of the food web, and most of the plants and animals we eat rely on insects for pollination or food. A couple of weeks ago I saw a praying mantis outside my front door. Last week, I photographed an amazing, scary-looking spider on my front walk. It turned out to be a shamrock spider. So, consider your favorite arthropod, and write about it. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 749

Guest Interviewer Kim MacQueen speaks with John Killacky, author of Because Art, and Mark Redmond, author of Called, both published by Onion River Press.  Last week the Green Mountain Book Festival came to Burlington and it was a fantastic event! I'm on the board. As the festival plans for next year, we'd love to hear ideas for panels. So your Write the Book Prompt this week is to write to me (Shelagh) and share your panel ideas! Thanks so much.  Good luck with your work in the coming week and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 748

Writer, editor and photographer Kimberly Garrett Brown, whose new book is Cora's Kitchen (Inanna Publications).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider an unlikely friendship. Who are the individuals and why would a friendship between them be unexpected? How do they meet? Are they in the same town, on vacation, at a rest area, in a nursing home? Do they hit it off from the start, or do they find common ground gradually? Consider these questions and these characters, find a setting that perhaps enhances the specific challenges of their relationship, and write. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 747

A new interview with Vermont author Doug Wilhelm about his nonfiction book, Catalysts for Change: How Nonprofits and a Foundation Are Helping Shape Vermont's Future (Rootstock).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was kindly suggested by my guest, Doug Wilhelm, who thinks about stories all the time. Find one observation: something you’ve overhead or seen, and make a story from it. This can be a piece of conversation or part of an argument, an interesting person who stood out for some reason. Take note of this small observation, and start writing. Story involves tension, so see what tension might emerge from what you began with, and then see if the tension will resolve somehow.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 746

Two interviews from the archives - with our old music! -  with Vermont author and editor Angela Palm and Vermont poet Malisa Garlieb. Angela Palm's collection Riverine: A Memoir from Anywhere but Here  won the Graywolf nonfiction award, was an Oprah.com pick for "Powerful Memoirs by Powerful Women," an Indie Next List pick, and A Kirkus Best Book in 2016. Poet Malisa Garlieb's work has appeared in Qu, RHINO Poetry, Rust + Moth, Rathalla Review, Tar River Poetry, Calyx, Painted Bride Quarterly, So to Speak, Gyroscope Review, Cold Lake Anthology and many many more. Her poetry collection, Handing Out Apples in Eden., was published in 2014 by Wind Ridge Books of Vermont.    This week's Write the Book Prompt, as we approach Banned Books Week is to buy, read, and write about a banned book and the effects of book banning. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. 745

Vermont Poet Daniel Lusk, who's new collection is Every Slow Thing (Kelsay Books).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider what Daniel calls his “farthings,” tiny Zen-like poems that share wit, irony, natural beauty, and wisdom. Here are a few of his, kindly shared with us: Sepals - As if priests were magpies and souls were shiny objects. As if brothels were little seminaries of corporeal art.  After the Storm - And Noah sent forth birds, voiceless gestures over the fathomless silence in search of something that might be said. Lyric - Listen! There is saffron on the poet's bow.  So those are a few of Daniel Lusk's "Farthings." The new collection Farthings is published by Yavanika Press. See if you can come up with some of your own.    Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 744