Writers' League of Texas Podcast

It has been said that all fiction is autobiographical to a degree. Writers can't help but filter everything through their own experiences and beliefs, so even the most outlandish stories are shaped by their own lives. But how can a writer borrow overtly from their past -- or someone else's? How does the writing process change when a elements in a narrative are clearly torn from real life? How do writers disguise them as fiction? How do they decide what facts to keep and what to change? How can they protect the "innocent" -- or should they? How does writing about past events and relationships affect our understanding of them? And do writers sometimes use real life people and events without realizing it? At our February 18, 2016, Third Thursday, moderator Jennifer Ziegler spoke with authors Charlotte Gullick, Varian Johnson, Ruth Pennebaker, and Mary Helen Specht on these issues and more.

Have a great idea for a book but aren't sure how to get started? Or maybe you need to a return to a project that has lain dormant for a while -- for whatever reason. Sometimes the trickiest part of writing is simply beginning. You can't finish what you don't start, but there is something overwhelming about the blank page or empty screen. And revisiting a manuscript you abandoned a while ago dredges up all kinds of fears and worries. So how do writers cope? How does one motivate him/herself to sit down every day and keep going? At our January 21, 2016, Third Thursday, moderator Jennifer Ziegler spoke with authors Edward Carey, Lindsey Lane, Greg Levin, and Suzy Spencer deal with the paralyzing effects of starting (or restarting) a manuscript.