Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Finding the Throughline: Conversations about the Creative Process invites you into the minds of writers and other creatives as they open up about their process, their doubts, and what kinds of changes they’re thinking about making. The questions are mildly invasive, honestly, and the answers are unvarnished…and so refreshing! Whether your creative work is writing, painting, making music, parenting, or simply living, Finding the Throughline can help you get—and stay—inspired. Invigorated, even. For detailed show notes on each interview, visit katehanley.substack.com. And if you’d like to hear these interviews in one ad-free episode (as opposed to broken up into three shorter episodes with a few ads sprinkled in to keep the lights on), become a paid subscriber once you’re there. .

Episodes

[Ann Tashi Slater, what’s coming up]: How looking at the sky can help us be more creative Ep 1226

September 19, 2025 • 19 mins

Welcome to the final installment of my interview with Ann Tashi Slater, author of the new book, “Traveling in Bardo, the Art of Living in an Impermanent World.”- How staying attuned to the seasons inspires her (and the Japanese word for an aspect of summer I had never heard before but reminds me of my favorite place to spend a summer morning, AKA my porch)- The two books (and their authors) that have shaped her writing aspirations-...

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[Ann Tashi Slater, inner stuff]: How acknowledging the pain of NOT writing can help you commit to your creative work Ep 1225

September 17, 2025 • 24 mins

Welcome to part two of my interview with Ann Tashi Slater, author of the new book, “Traveling in Bardo: The Art of Living in an Impermanent World.” Bardo is a Buddhist concept that describes a transitional state, such as between death and rebirth, but also about being alive and in between being born and dying. In Traveling in Bardo, Anne shares how we can apply Buddhist teachings on acceptance, interdependence, and impermanence to ...

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[Ann Tashi Slater practical matters]: On listening, following your obsessions, and knowing when to set the pen down Ep 1224

September 15, 2025 • 21 mins

My guest this week is Ann Tashi Slater, who for decades has written about her Tibetan American heritage and about Buddhism in Western society for the New Yorker, the Paris Review, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among other outlets. Her brand new book, “Traveling in Bardo:The Art of Living in an Impermanent World,” helps us find meaning, happiness, and hope in an impermanent world. Ann is also a contributing editor at ...

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[Nancy Johnson: what’s coming up]: An inside peek at Nancy’s vision board Ep 1223

September 5, 2025 • 16 mins

Welcome back to the final installment of my interview with Nancy Johnson, author of “People of Means,” which was one of People magazine's most anticipated books of 2025, and “The Kindest Lie”, which was a book of the month club and Target book club selection.In today’s episode, I felt like we were getting a tour through Nancy’s vision board–as well as the things she’s doing to help make those visions a reality.- Why she’s started p...

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[Nancy Johnson, inner stuff]: Developing the faith that you are on the right path at the right time Ep 1222

September 3, 2025 • 25 mins

Welcome back to part two of my interview with Nancy Johnson, author of “People of Means,” a story of class, culture, mothers and daughters, and the fight for racial equality in the not so distant American past. Nancy's first book, The Kindest Lie, was a Book of the Month Club selection and a Target book club pick.This episode gets into some real emotional terrain, including:- Her love-hate relationship with the actual writing proce...

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[Nancy Johnson, practical matters]: Transforming the things that keep you up at night into creative fodder Ep 1221

September 1, 2025 • 26 mins

My guest this week is Nancy Johnson, whose newest novel, “People of Means,” is a propulsive story of race, class, and resistance in 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago. It was also one of People Magazine's most anticipated books of 2025. Nancy's debut novel, “The Kindest Lie,” was a Target book club pick and a New York Times editor's choice.A native of Chicago's South Side, Nancy has worked for more than a decade as an award-winning t...

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[Lisa See, what’s coming up]: Bracing yourself to write about tragic events Ep 1220

August 22, 2025 • 22 mins

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[Lisa See, inner stuff]: The fine art of making revisions (when everything in you wants to avoid it) Ep 1219

August 20, 2025 • 22 mins

In the second part of my conversation with Lisa See, author of Lady Tan's Circle of Women, The Island of Sea Women, and more, we talked about the interior side of writing–things like dealing with your inner critic and dealing with the parts of writing and of life you would really rather not do, including:- The fascinating tidbit of information her research taught her about Los Angeles- How the Chinese public discourse about the sma...

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[Lisa See, practical matters]: Why we need to tell the stories that have been kept secret Ep 1218

August 18, 2025 • 18 mins

This week my guest is Lisa See, the New York Times bestselling author of so many beloved books, including Lady Tan's Circle of Women, The Island of Sea Women, Snow Flower and the Secret Ban, Shanghai Girls, and Dreams of Joy. Lisa's books often center the experience of women across time and cultures, particularly stories that have been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up.This week’s episodes are a replay–I’ll be back with a...

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[Catherine Bush: What’s coming up]: Figuring out what you want the next 5-10 years to look like Ep 1217

August 8, 2025 • 20 mins

My guest this week is Catherine Bush, whose critically-acclaimed fiction (her book “Blaze Island” was named a “Globe and Mail” best book of the year and “The Rules of Engagement” was a “New York Times” notable book) often addresses the climate question. For example, in her most recent collection, “Skin”, a man falls in love with the wind. In this final part of our interview, we covered:- How and why she’s devoted to giving the nat...

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[Catherine Bush, inner stuff]: Learning to trust your own process Ep 1216

August 6, 2025 • 24 mins

In part two of my conversation with Catherine Bush, author of five novels and the story collection “Skin,” we did a deep dive into the inner work required to nurture a multi-decade writing career, including: - Making peace with your personal process–even when it’s slow, messy, and meandering- The story in her new collection that her editor wanted to nix–and how she made it work- Embracing Annie Dillard’s advice to “write into impo...

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[Catherine Bush, practical matters]: Figuring out how to “create a life that gives me time and space and money to write” Ep 1215

August 4, 2025 • 22 mins

This week my guest is Catherine Bush, author of five novels, including the widely acclaimed “Blaze Island,” “Accusation,” and “The Rules of Engagement.” Catherine's brand new book is “Skin,” her first collection of stories. Catherine is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph and was a 2024 Landhouse Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. She lives in Toronto and in an old brick schoolh...

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[Sheree L. Greer: what’s coming up]: Making decisions based on what feels good Ep 1214

July 25, 2025 • 17 mins

In this third and final installment of my conversation with author and Pushcart-nominated essayist and writing teacher (and new mom!) Sheree L. Greer, she said “we’re veering into therapy territory now, Kate,” when I asked her if there was anything she was in the process of shifting, which I took as a very good sign that we were getting into some very juicy thoughts! - Being the first person in your family to be pursuing a passion...

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[Sheree L. Greer, inner stuff]: Committing to the work, “even when it hurts a little bit” Ep 1213

July 23, 2025 • 28 mins

In part two of my interview with Puschart-nominated essayist, novelist, and writing instructor Sheree L. Greer, we get into the nitty gritty of the thought processes, ideas, and attitudes that shape her work and her identity. We talked about:- Pushing your creative boundaries to try new genres and forms- How she gets through the discomfort of sharing personal work, and the payoff that comes on the other side- Committing to telling...

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[Sheree L. Greer, practical matters]: How to affirm to yourself that you are, in fact, an artist Ep 1212

July 21, 2025 • 23 mins

My guest this week is writer, author, teacher, and arts administrator, Sheree L. Greer. Sheree is the author of two novels, “Let the Lover Be” and “A Return to Arms,” and an award-nominated essayist, with two of her essays having been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Sheree is also the founder of Kitchen Table Literary Arts—a Tampa Bay writing community dedicated to nurturing the literary art of Black women and women of color–and t...

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[Jinwoo Park: what’s coming up]: Writing as a vehicle for becoming a better person Ep 1211

July 11, 2025 • 20 mins

Welcome back to the final installment of my interview with Jinwoo Park, debut author of Oxford Soju Club, which is coming out in September of this year. In today’s episode, Jinwoo shared some really great insights about how embracing your creativity filters out into all parts of your life, especially relationships. I left this conversation feeling like I was walking on clouds–very hopeful and inspired. Enjoy! We covered:- Taking ...

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[Jinwoo Park, inner stuff]: Building your tolerance for sharing imperfect work Ep 1210

July 9, 2025 • 20 mins

In this second part of my interview with Jinwoo Park, author of the soon to be released “Oxford Soju Club,” an award-winning thriller, we talk about the interior side of building a life as a writer. We discussed:- How sharing social media content helps him be a better writer- Staying open to feedback- Appreciating the one- and two-star reviews- The hard-won realization that publishing a book isn’t an ending, but a beginning- The p...

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[Jinwoo Park, practical matters]: Deciding to go for it with your writing, despite the naysayers Ep 1209

July 7, 2025 • 23 mins

My guest this week is Jinwoo Park, author of the soon-to-be-released “Oxford Soju Club,” which is coming out in September of this year—a riveting story about Korean spies, C.I.A. agents, false identities, love, and betrayal. It also earned Park the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop. We covered: - Using writing as a form of therapy to “figure myself out”- How he decided to go for it and ...

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[Shannon Watts, what's next]: Feeling your way through to your next phase Ep 1208

June 27, 2025 • 11 mins

In this final part of my interview with Shannon Watts, activist and author of the brand-new book “Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age,” we get a look at what's coming up next for her. I also ask her what she's reading, watching, listening to, drinking in her morning cup, and what she'd have for dinner tonight if she could have anything in the world. We talked about: - Her voracious love of podc...

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[Shannon Watts, inner stuff]: Taking aim at mom guilt Ep 1207

June 25, 2025 • 23 mins

In the second part of my interview with Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, host of the Substack newsletter "Playing with Fire", and author of the brand new book “Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age”, we get into the mindset side of writing. We covered: - Reckoning with the enormity of needing to produce 60,000+ words for a book- The "small miracle" or crystallizing a thought in a way...

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Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}[Ann Tashi Slater, what’s coming up]: How looking at the sky can help us be more creative Ep 1226

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}[Ann Tashi Slater, inner stuff]: How acknowledging the pain of NOT writing can help you commit to your creative work Ep 1225

[Ann Tashi Slater practical matters]: On listening, following your obsessions, and knowing when to set the pen down Ep 1224

[Nancy Johnson: what’s coming up]: An inside peek at Nancy’s vision board Ep 1223

[Nancy Johnson, inner stuff]: Developing the faith that you are on the right path at the right time Ep 1222

[Nancy Johnson, practical matters]: Transforming the things that keep you up at night into creative fodder Ep 1221

[Lisa See, what’s coming up]: Bracing yourself to write about tragic events Ep 1220

[Lisa See, inner stuff]: The fine art of making revisions (when everything in you wants to avoid it) Ep 1219

[Lisa See, practical matters]: Why we need to tell the stories that have been kept secret Ep 1218

[Catherine Bush: What’s coming up]: Figuring out what you want the next 5-10 years to look like Ep 1217

[Catherine Bush, inner stuff]: Learning to trust your own process Ep 1216

[Catherine Bush, practical matters]: Figuring out how to “create a life that gives me time and space and money to write” Ep 1215

[Sheree L. Greer: what’s coming up]: Making decisions based on what feels good Ep 1214

[Sheree L. Greer, inner stuff]: Committing to the work, “even when it hurts a little bit” Ep 1213

[Sheree L. Greer, practical matters]: How to affirm to yourself that you are, in fact, an artist Ep 1212

[Jinwoo Park: what’s coming up]: Writing as a vehicle for becoming a better person Ep 1211

[Jinwoo Park, inner stuff]: Building your tolerance for sharing imperfect work Ep 1210

[Jinwoo Park, practical matters]: Deciding to go for it with your writing, despite the naysayers Ep 1209

[Shannon Watts, what's next]: Feeling your way through to your next phase Ep 1208

[Shannon Watts, inner stuff]: Taking aim at mom guilt Ep 1207

Popular Podcasts

[Ann Tashi Slater, what’s coming up]: How looking at the sky can help us be more creative Ep 1226

[Ann Tashi Slater, inner stuff]: How acknowledging the pain of NOT writing can help you commit to your creative work Ep 1225