Writers on Writing

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of nine books across several genres — novels, short story collections, autofiction, and now a craft book about writing. Her novel, The Giant’s House, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1996. Thunderstruck & Other Stories won the Story Prize in 2015 and was longlisted for the National Book Award. She’s appeared in five editions of The Best American Short Stories. And she has taught fiction off and on (mostly on) since 1989 including at the University of Iowa, where she also received her MFA. She's retiring from the University of Texas in Austin this year. Ann Patchett once said that Elizabeth was the only person she allowed to read her manuscripts as she was writing them. We discuss a great interview Elizabeth and Ann did back in 2005 that can be found here. A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction is out and she joined Marrie to talk about it. Basically, if this podcast were a book, we would hope it might look something like Elizabeth’s book — full of insights, wisdoms, anecdotes, and advice on craft, but sometimes second-guessing itself, contradicting itself, and understanding that all the “rules” we hear about art are meant to be broken. It gave us endless things to talk about. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded December 19, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Last year, I compiled my first-ever “Best Of the Year” show. It was such fun to make, and received such a great response from listeners, that I decided to make it an annual tradition. While I could only include a handful of authors from the past year, this episode provides a fun Whitman’s Sampler of the kinds of conversations available in our archives. Listen as Adam Johnson, Wally Lamb, and Chris Whitaker tell us where their stories come from. Laila Lalami teaches us to read like a writer. Amy Bloom and Bruce Holsinger offer their thoughts on revision. Patrick Ryan (via Ann Patchett) shares his insights about how to write war scenes with authority, and Richard Russo talks about the moral dilemma of using the people in our lives for material. Authors in this episode include Jess Walter (So Far Gone), Wally Lamb (The River is Waiting), Richard Russo (Life and Art), Amy Bloom (I’ll Be Right Here), Laila Lalami (The Dream Hotel), Joan Silber (Mercy), Chris Whitaker (All the Colors of the Dark), Adam Johnson (The Wayfinder), Patrick Ryan (Buckeye), Bruce Holsinger (Culpability), Eric Puchner (Dream State) and Colum McCann (Twist). The Jane Smiley essay that Laila Lalami refers to can be found here. And Joan Silber’s book about how to use time in fiction can be found here. For nearly 28 years, Writers on Writing has delivered MFA-level advice from some of our world’s most accomplished living authors – all without the hefty price-tag. We’ve grown only by word of mouth and rely only on listener support. So, if you like what you hear, help us spread the word! For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded in December 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Nicholas Boggs is the New York Times bestselling author of Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major biography of the iconic figure in more than three decades. He is the recipient of a 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and fellowships from the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Scholars-in-Residence program at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Gilder Lehrman Center and Beinecke Library at Yale, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell. Most recently he was the 2024-2025 John Hope Franklin Fellow at the National Humanities Center. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he received his BA from Yale and his PhD from Columbia, both in English, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from American University. He now resides in New York City. Nicholas joined Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about his path to writing nonfiction, what moved him to write a biography of James Baldwin, how he went about structuring the book, perseverance versus talent, research, how his background in music influences his writing, surprises in writing the Baldwin biography, writing what you don’t know, and more.To learn more about Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You will find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. If you’d like to contact us, email [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on December 19, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

We’ve been following A. Muia and her writing journey for several years. She’s been a longtime listener of the podcast and supporter of the show. We chatted in 2022 about getting an agent, the frustrations of the publishing industry and how to break into it, and all the things talented writers who have a strong manuscript but few publishing contacts encounter when trying to get their work published. Basically, most of us. A Desert Between Two Seas published in September. It’s a novel told in 14 linked stories set in 19th century Baja California, Mexico. It won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and, as a result, was published by the University of Georgia Press. It was also a finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Award and is a 2026 Top Pick for the Southwest Books of the Year. All this, ultimately, was done without an agent. She joined me on the podcast to talk about all this because I find her experience so relatable. It gave us much to talk about in terms of selling a book without an agent, the experience of publishing with a university press, winning literary prizes, marketing your work, what she wishes she knew then that she knows now, how she’ll approach her next project, and much more. We also talked about publishing in literary journals and how she targeted the literary journals she did, as well as the most useful writing advice she’s received. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. She shares even more advice and insights there. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on November 25, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Tod Goldberg is the author of the new novel, Only Way Out, published by Thomas & Mercer. He’s also the New York Times bestselling author of 16 books including the acclaimed Gangsterland quartet. His short fiction and essays appeared widely and have been selected in Best American Mystery & Suspense and Best American Essays. Tod is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, where he founded and directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts.  Tod joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about writing a multiple point of view novel and how his ensemble of characters came together, setting, backstory, writing dialogue, outlining, word quotas, influences, and more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at [email protected]. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on November 28, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)