Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts...oh, and I'm doing a Write-a-Thon!
Science Write Now podcast / Writing Podcasts: A List / RDDIWTOF! / Shadows Awards nomination / Writing Goals for June & July
Dear readers,
This newsletter is mostly podcast themed: podcasts that you shared with me, a podcast that I recently appeared on, and a podcast that I started with my brother!
Also, I share my Australasian Shadows Award nomination for my personal essay, Holy Revelations, and the memories that inspired it.
Finally, I’m committing to the Clarion West Write-a-Thon over the next six weeks, and I’d love for you to keep me accountable to my recklessly daring goals (what are you talking about, surely I can work on a novella and a novel at the same time…)!
SCIENCE WRITE NOW Podcast: Exploring Big Questions and Big Feelings through Speculative Fiction
It has been a while since I did a podcast, and I’m feeling very lucky that I got to chat with Krystle Marie for Science Write Now. The chat was so chilled out and reflective, there were times I forgot we were recording. Krystle, thank you for reading Every Version of You with such care, and for describing the ideas and questions in my book more eloquently than I could. It was a pleasure chatting with you about sci-fi, big feelings, what it means to be human, AI doppelgängers, Neuralink, and freezing human brains for interstellar travel!
Check out the episode through the SWN website, or on Spotify, Apple, or Google Podcasts.
Speculative Fiction & Writing Podcasts: A List
This is super overdue, but a few months ago I put a call-out on Instagram for recommendations for writing and speculative fiction podcasts. The recommendations were wonderful and varied, and I’m sharing them here so you can check them out too:
George Saunders in conversation with Linn Ullmann on How To Proceed: This isn’t speculative fiction, but I found this episode a worthwhile and inspiring listen. Saunders talks about “self-negation”, honesty, and intuition in writing, and literature as an antidote to divisive thinking and to the sort of superficial writing that dominates internet content.
Amie Kaufman On Writing: The perfect podcast for craft advice for sci-fi and fantasy writers. Each episode answers a craft question in a very practical way; many episodes have guest authors.
Fictitious: Delves into the craft of SFF storytelling through interviews with authors and writers — I haven’t listened to much of this show yet, but I can see episodes feature Caitlin Starling, Zen Cho, Cassandra Khaw, Suyi Davies Okungbowa and more, so I’m sure it’ll have some gems.
The Fantasy Writers’ Toolshed: Fantasy writing craft and business, hosted by writer Richie Billing, with plenty of guest authors.
Writing Excuses: Needs little introduction; 19+ seasons of bite-sized episodes about writing SFF, with people who’ve been doing it for a long time.
Deadline City: A podcast about creating books and navigating the publishing industry.
88 Cups of Tea: Looking after the soul while writing — overcoming rejections and challenges, querying tips, crafting advice, navigating a creative path.
Write-Minded: “Weekly inspiration for writers”, plus conversations about the ups and downs of the writing life.
Roundtable - Meridian Australis: A bunch of Aussie speculative fiction writers take deep dives into SFF novels.
Thank you to Kim Lam, Jess Gately, Bonnie Tai-Van Dorp, Wendy Chen, Amie Kaufman, Arden Baker, and Damon Young for your recommendations.
Random Deep Dives Into Whatever Tickles Our Fancy!
So, my brother and I started a podcast. It’s called RDDIWTOF, or Random Deep Dives Into Whatever Tickles Our Fancy (either a terrible or amazing name, or both!).
Since we were kids, we’ve loved escaping into imaginary worlds through books, movies, television shows, and games.
In our podcast, we have meandering, enthusiastic conversations about all sorts of geekery. If you like the sound of this wholesome whimsy, do join us!
In Season 1, we took a very deep dive into the recent Netflix adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender—with plenty of references to the Nickelodeon original.
You can follow us on Instagram for updates, and listen to us on Spotify, Apple, or Youtube Podcasts.
Australasian Shadows Award Nomination
I was truly so stunned and overjoyed to hear that my personal essay, Holy Revelations, was shortlisted for an Australasian Shadows Award in the non-fiction category. Holy Revelations appears in Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror.
I find writing creative non-fiction so much harder than writing fiction—I’ve only managed a couple—and this one was no exception. In this piece, I juxtapose Christian spirituality with the Asian Australian immigrant experience in the late 20th century, drawing on my personal experiences of growing up in an evangelical church.
So yes, this nomination means a lot. Thanks heaps to the Shadows Awards judges and committee; I’m honoured to be shortlisted alongside Lee Murray and Claire Fitzpatrick.
You can find out more about Unquiet Spirits on Lee Murray’s website and pick up an e-book or hard copy here.
Writing Goals for June & July
On a final, exciting note, I’ve committed to doing the Clarion West Write-a-Thon this year, which runs from June 16th to July 27th! I decided to sign up for the Write-a-Thon so that I’d bump writing to the top of my to-do list. In recent months, writing been overtaken by other things—some important, some less so—and I really wanted a reason to keep it in sharp focus.
I’m setting two ambitious goals for the Write-a-Thon:
Add 20,000 words to my novel.
Finish my novella.
I’ll be sharing my progress regularly over the next six weeks, as well as challenges and hiccups (of which I’m sure there’ll be many!) over on Instagram. Feel free to join me on this writing sprint if you too want to get some words down on the page!
A long missive today, so thanks for sticking with me to the end. Next time, I hope to share with you a couple of new publications, and—fingers crossed—two much chunkier works-in-progress!
Until then, I hope you enjoy plenty of creative beverages, comfort reads, and chilled-out tunes.
Grace
Good luck with the writing goals! So many good podcast recs too!