The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, And Neuroscience

Writer, literary scholar, publishing consultant, and co-author of the internationally acclaimed book The Bestseller Code, Jodie Archer, returns one year later to chat with me about the book’s runaway success, turning the algorithm into an innovative consulting service for writers, her own writer’s journey, and one very unexpected turn for the host of this show. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Before getting her PhD from Stanford, Ms. Archer studied English at Cambridge, worked in journalism and TV, and was an acquisitions editor for Penguin UK publishing. At Stanford Jodie taught writing and researched both contemporary fiction and bestsellers. Upon completion of her doctoral work she was recruited by Apple where she was the lead in research on books. The Bestseller Code is based on Jodie’s doctoral research with professor Matthew Jockers (co-founder

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian, Andy Weir, dropped by the show in 2015 to chat with me about his writing process in the days just prior to the release of the Oscar Nominated movie adaptation of his hit book, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! This is a replay of the entire interview I did with Andy in honor of the publication of his latest book — Artemis: A Novel — described as “… a near-future thriller — a heist story set on the moon.” Blake Crouch, the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter, said of the book “Weir has done the impossible he s topped The Martian …,” and Ernest Cline, New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One, called it “Everything you could hope for in a follow-up … another smart, fun, fast-paced adventure that you won t be able to put down.”

The noted research scientist, top 20 podcast host, and co-author of the instant New York Times bestselling book Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything, Dr. Kelly Weinersmith, took a timeout from her book tour to talk with me about the importance of good writing in the sciences, what it’s like to write a book with your husband, and finding time to be a writer and a mom. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Kelly is an adjunct faculty member in the Biosciences department at Rice University, as well as the co-host of two podcasts for the Brachiolope Media Network. She co-hosts a top 20 natural sciences podcast, “Science … sort of,” as well as “The Weekly Weinersmith,” a podcast she produces with her husband, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith (creator of the web comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) where the two discu

Award-winning podcast host, managing editor of WNYC Studios’ “Note to Self,” and author of Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self, Manoush Zomorodi, took a break from her hectic schedule to rap with me about her claim to fame as a podcaster, the neuroscience of boredom, and how to recharge your creative batteries. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Manoush is a former globetrotting journalist and producer for both BBC and Reuters. She has won four New York Press Club awards for her work with New York Public Radio and was named 2017 s Best Tech Podcast by the Academy of Podcasters. Her podcast is described as a tech show that “…searches for answers to life s digital quandaries through experiments and conversations with listeners and experts.” Her first book, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Yo

Acclaimed essayist, short fiction writer, and author of the debut novel The Floating World, C. Morgan Babst, took a few minutes to rap with me about the wrath of hurricanes, writing a love letter to the city of New Orleans, and her secrets to staying organized and productive. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Morgan is a New Orleans native who started her journey at NOCCA (New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts), before studying writing at both Yale, and NYU. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in The Oxford American, Guernica, the Harvard Review, the New Orleans Review, among others. An essay she wrote on New Orleans funeral culture (“Death Is a Way to Be,” Guernica, June 15, 2015) was named a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2016. Her ambitious and haunting first novel, The Floating World, was chosen as an Amazon Editor s Pick for Best B

Alternative mortician, YouTube personality, and New York Times bestselling nonfiction author of From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, Caitlin Doughty, rang me up this week to chat about changing the West’s relationship to death, the challenges of running a non-profit funeral home, and how to write a bestselling book in your spare time. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Caitlin is the creator of “Ask a Mortician,” a web series that boasts over 300,000 subscribers, and the founder of The Order of the Good Death, a nonprofit that advocates for death acceptance and an alternative to Western funeral industry practices. Her first bestselling book and memoir, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory, chronicled her experiences as a young woman working in a crematorium. Her latest, From Here to Eternity, resumes

In Part Two of this file the self-confessed serial entrepreneur, founder of Copyblogger, and CEO of Rainmaker Digital, Brian Clark, stopped by to rap with me about his journey to success, the evolution of blogging and content marketing, and his culpability for the existence of this podcast. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The inaugural guest of The Writer Files is a content marketing trailblazer who launched his one-man blog, Copyblogger.com, in 2006. With a modest investment, no audience, and no connections, he slowly and steadily built it into a vital 8-figure business, and one of “… the most popular [and influential] content marketing and writing blog[s]…” for online writers. He is considered a top marketing influencer on writing, a “Top 10 Online Marketing Expert,” and one of the “100 Most Influential Online Marketers.” Brian has been featured in o

The self-confessed serial entrepreneur, founder of Copyblogger, and CEO of Rainmaker Digital, Brian Clark, stopped by this week to rap with me about his hero’s journey to success, the evolution of blogging and content marketing, and his culpability for the existence of this podcast. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The inaugural guest of The Writer Files is a content marketing trail blazer who launched his one-man blog, Copyblogger.com, in 2006. With a modest investment, no audience, and no connections, he slowly and steadily built it into a vital 8-figure business, and one of “… the most popular [and influential] content marketing and writing blog[s]…” for online writers. He is considered a top marketing influencer on writing, a “Top 10 Online Marketing Expert,” and one of the “100 Most Influential Online Marketers.” Brian has been featured in over 20

In Part Two of this file the former Slate staffer, ultimate data/word nerd, and acclaimed author of Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve, Ben Blatt, dropped in to talk about crunching the numbers of classic and modern literature, debunking famous writerly wisdom, and how prolific writers establish their literary fingerprints. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Ben is a journalist, statistician, and author who takes a “fun” approach to data journalism on pop culture topics as varied as Seinfeld, The Beatles, and baseball (his last book I Don’t Care if We Never Get Back, was about a mathematically optimal baseball road trip). The author studied applied mathematics at Harvard and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Deadspin, and others. His most recent book, Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classic

The former Slate staffer, ultimate data/word nerd, and acclaimed author of Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve, Ben Blatt, dropped in this week to talk about crunching the numbers of classic and modern literature, debunking famous writerly wisdom, and how prolific writers establish their literary fingerprints. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Ben is a journalist, statistician, and author who takes a “fun” approach to data journalism on pop culture topics as varied as Seinfeld, The Beatles, and baseball (his last book I Don’t Care if We Never Get Back, was about a mathematically optimal baseball road trip). The author studied applied mathematics at Harvard and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Deadspin, and others. His most recent book, Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers,

Award-winning journalist, author, and serial guest, Adam Skolnick, is back on the show as our international correspondent to catch us up on the globetrotting life of a travel writer, his journey to self-publishing, and more writer porn. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Adam s first narrative nonfiction book is now available in paperback One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits and is based on his award-winning New York Times sports coverage of the death of the greatest American freediver of all time. The book has been compared to other classics of extreme sports journalism like Jon Krakauer s Into Thin Air, and National Geographic Traveller called it, “A vicarious thrill that you can enjoy in a little over 300 pages and unless you read it in the bath … ” Adam has visited 45 countries and authored or coauthored over 30 Lonely

In Part Two of this file the multiple bestselling author of five books, including his latest — Real Artists Don t Starve — Jeff Goins, returned for a special edition of the show to talk with me about “The New Renaissance,” his favorite books on creativity, and busting the commonly held beliefs of artists. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! In addition to being an entrepreneur and speaker, Jeff is a writing and creativity consultant, and his popular blog, Goins, Writer, offers free tips about the writing life. His podcast, The Portfolio Life, delves into many of the same topics via interviews with entrepreneurs and writers aimed squarely at helping listeners pursue work that matters. On Jeff’s last visit to the show in 2015, we talked about his bestselling book, The Art of Work, and how to think like a professional writer. His latest, Real Artists Don’t

The multiple bestselling author of five books, including his latest — Real Artists Don t Starve — Jeff Goins, returned for a special edition of the show to talk with me about “The New Renaissance,” his favorite books on creativity, and busting the commonly held beliefs of artists. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! In addition to being an entrepreneur and speaker, Jeff is a writing and creativity consultant, and his popular blog, Goins, Writer, offers free tips about the writing life. His podcast, The Portfolio Life, delves into many of the same topics via interviews with entrepreneurs and writers aimed squarely at helping listeners pursue work that matters. On Jeff’s last visit to the show in 2015, we talked about his bestselling book, The Art of Work, and how to think like a professional writer. His latest, Real Artists Don’t Starve, “… dismantles the

In Part Two of this file the recent Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and acclaimed author of the award-winning short story collection Hot Little Hands, Abigail Ulman, visited the show this week to talk about having a beer with George Saunders, the life of a traveling freelancer, and the idiosyncrasies of great writers. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! In addition to being a freelance copywriter and screenwriter, the native Australian author and self-confessed gypsy has followed in the footsteps of other famous itinerant writers. At Stanford’s two-year creative writing fellowship she got the chance to study with great writers like Tobias Wolff and Colm Toibin. Other notable fellows — to name a few — have included Raymond Carver, Ken Kesey, Scott Turow, Thomas McGuane, and Larry McMurtry. Abigail’s short stories invited the interest of publi

The recent Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and acclaimed author of the award-winning short story collection Hot Little Hands, Abigail Ulman, visited the show this week to talk about having a beer with George Saunders, the life of a traveling freelancer, and the idiosyncrasies of great writers. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! In addition to being a freelance copywriter and screenwriter, the native Australian author and self-confessed gypsy has followed in the footsteps of other famous itinerant writers. At Stanford’s two-year creative writing fellowship she got the chance to study with great writers like Tobias Wolff and Colm Toibin. Other notable fellows — to name a few — have included Raymond Carver, Ken Kesey, Scott Turow, Thomas McGuane, and Larry McMurtry. Abigail’s short stories invited the interest of publishers, and her first book

In Part Two of this file the associate editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and acclaimed author of the book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, Kory Stamper, paid me a visit to talk about being a celebrity word nerd, how she manages her time between the dictionary and her own writing, and the pending “pencil apocalypse.” Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! In addition to writing and editing for the oldest dictionary in the U.S., Kory gained notoriety when she appeared in Merriam-Webster’s popular “Ask the Editor” video series, short video blogs that tackle topics of “lexical contempt” like irregardless. Her non-fiction debut is titled Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, and it “… cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it, to the knotty question

The associate editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and acclaimed author of the book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, Kory Stamper, paid me a visit to talk about being a celebrity word nerd, how she manages her time between the dictionary and her own writing, and the pending “pencil apocalypse.” Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! In addition to writing and editing for the oldest dictionary in the U.S., Kory gained notoriety when she appeared in Merriam-Webster’s popular “Ask the Editor” video series, short video blogs that tackle topics of “lexical contempt” like irregardless. Her non-fiction debut is titled Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, and it “… cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it, to the knotty questions of usage in an ever-cha

Reformed “media manipulator,” proponent of stoic philosophy, expert marketer, and bestselling writer, Ryan Holiday, has accomplished more in ten years than most will in a lifetime. He spoke with Robert Bruce about how he does it … Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! Note: This episode contains a few phrases that some may find explicit. Ryan Holiday has written six bestselling books on topics as diverse as growth hacker marketing, practical stoicism, and the dark arts of the digital media landscape … and his next book — Perennial Seller — will be published in July. He ran marketing for American Apparel, one of the most notoriously successful brands in modern times, and now runs a thriving marketing shop of his own. The list of his accomplishments is a lot longer than that, but I think you get the idea. Oh, and did I mention he’s just 29 years old? Enjoy

In Part Two of this file the multiple award-winning, internationally published author, podcaster, and writing coach, K.M. Weiland, stopped by the show to chat with me about Helping Writers Become Authors, balancing creativity and logic, and beating writer’s block. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! As an award-winning author of acclaimed writing guides — including standouts Outlining Your Novel, Structuring Your Novel, and Creating Character Arcs — Ms. Weiland uses part of her writing day helping mentor authors via her online writer’s community. Her website Helping Writers Become Authors has collected many accolades, including Writer’s Digest “Best Websites for Writers” multiple years running, and nurtures a community of scribes dedicated to helping “… show you how to write your best story — change your life — and astound the world.” In addition to devel

The multiple award-winning, internationally published author, podcaster, and writing coach, K.M. Weiland, stopped by the show to chat with me about Helping Writers Become Authors, balancing creativity and logic, and beating writer’s block. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! As an award-winning author of acclaimed writing guides including standouts Outlining Your Novel, Structuring Your Novel, and Creating Character Arcs Ms. Weiland uses part of her writing day to help mentor authors via her online writer’s community. Her website Helping Writers Become Authors has collected many accolades, including Writer’s Digest “Best Websites for Writers” multiple years running, and nurtures a community of scribes dedicated to helping “… show you how to write your best story — change your life — and astound the world.” In addition to developing an app for writers, her