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
June 27, 2025 • 13 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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June 25, 2025 • 25 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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This week I am re-playing my interview with advocate, Substacker, and "summoner of women's audacity," Shannon Watts in honor of the fact that her new book “Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age” released just last week.
Shannon first entered that national conversation when she founded Moms Demand Action, the grassroots movement for common sense gun reform that began with a Facebook post the day of...
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Welcome back to the Finding the Throughline interview with Denali Sai Nalamalapu, author of the brand new book, “Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance,” which tells the story of six frontline resistors to the Mountain Valley pipeline in Appalachia.
In this final installment of our interview, we cover:- The graphic novels and streaming shows that are inspiring Denali these days- Making the shift to writing for young adults- ...
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June 11, 2025 • 26 mins
In part two of my interview with Danali Sai Nalamalapu, author of the brand new book “Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance,” we talk about the squishier side of writing–the thoughts and beliefs that can affect your work, even if you're not fully conscious of them.
We cover:- How being creative is a means of survival- The joy of sharing your work after the years spent working in isolation to create it- The worst, most borin...
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This week on Finding the Throughline I’m talking with Denali Sai Nalamalapu, a climate organizer, comic artist, and a writer who brought these three strands of their life together in their brand new book, “Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance, which tells the story of six frontline resistors to the Mountain Valley pipeline in Appalachia. Denali is from Southern Maine and Southern India and currently lives in Southwest Virgi...
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In this final installment of my interview with debut science fiction novelist Christy Climenhage (her brand new thriller is “The Midnight Project”), we covered:The very specific sound of spring that’s giving her life right nowFinding a creative role model very close to homeFiguring out how to write for the joy of it AND make money from itWhy her goal is “write more words”The joy of having her stories take root in other people’s hea...
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May 28, 2025 • 22 mins
Welcome to part two of my interview with Christy Climenhage, the author of the brand new science fiction thriller The Midnight Project.“The Midnight Project” is Christy’s first novel, and focused on two friends and scientists who are muddling through a frighteningly real world on the verge of collapse.
In this episode, we talked about:
How writing, although it requires help from others, is something that’s yours and yours alone (...
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My guest this week is Christy Climenhage, the author of the brand new science fiction thriller “The Midnight Project,” a tale of equal parts hope and horror set in the near future where humanity and the climate are on the verge of collapse, focused on two scientists and friends who are charged with designing a new kind of human.“The Midnight Project” is Christy’s first novel, and it was amazing to talk with Christy at this moment w...
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Welcome back to part three of the Finding the Throughline interview with Amy Shearn, the award-winning author of five critically-acclaimed novels, including her latest book which just came out, “Animal Instinct.” Amy has also published hundreds of essays in publications like Real Simple, “O: The Oprah Magazine”, and the “New York Times” Modern Love column and has nearly twenty years of experience editing for digital publications. A...
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Amy Shearn, award-winning author of five novels. Her latest book, “Animal Instinct,” is about a 40-something newly divorced woman rediscovering her desires during the height of the COVID pandemic, and doing so both through her interactions with actual live humans and an AI chatbot she designed to compile all her favorite parts of actual live humans and none of the annoying, boring things–it’s such a fun, thoughtful read. Amy also t...
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This week I’m talking with Amy Shearn, the award-winning author of the critically-acclaimed novels “Dear Edna Sloane,” “Unseen City,” “The Mermaid of Brooklyn,” and “How Far Is the Ocean from Here.” Amy’s newest novel is “Animal Instinct,” which follows a 40-something newly divorced woman re-entering the dating scene and reconnecting with her desires during the social isolation of COVID lockdowns. In a starred review, Publishers We...
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This is the final installment of my talk with Samuel Marquis, author of numerous books of history and historical fiction, including his newest, "Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal," a non-fiction look at one of the most notorious “pirates” ever, who also happens to be Samuel’s 9th great grandfather.
We talked about:
- A peek at his next book, about New York City in the 17th century- Looking to historical figures ...
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Welcome back to part of my interview with Samuel Marquis, author of numerous books of history and historical fiction, including his newest, "Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal."Samuel’s previous book "'Blackbeard" won the Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year Award and his articles have been published in "History Central," "Writer’s Digest," "The Lazy Historian," and "The Good Men Project," among other outlets.Today I’m ...
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This week I’m speaking with Samuel Marquis, author of twelve books that cross genres, including American nonfiction-history, historical fiction, and suspense books. Samuel’s newest book, “Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal” comes out in May and is about Samuel’s ninth great grandfather, legendary pirate Captain William Kidd. His other books include “Blackbeard: Birth of America,” a Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year, ...
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In this third and final part of my interview with Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and leader of the “movement” movement, we get a peek at her next project, the life changes she’s envisioning, and what she learns from birds.
(This episode is a re-broadcast, in honor of the release of “I Know I Should Exercise, But…”)
We covered:
- The author who inspired Katy to think about living life differently
- Her desire to write a more beautifu...
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This week’s guest, biomechanist Katu Bowman, is the author of 12 books on movement, including the bestselling “Move Your DNA” and her most recent book, “ I Know I Should Exercise, But...” Katy is also the founder of Uphill Press, an independent publishing company that has sold more than 300 ,000 copies of its books and had them published in 16 languages.
Today we're talking about all the inner stuff that goes into Katy's writing, ...
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This week my guest is biomechanist Katy Bowman, author of twelve–count ‘em, twelve–books that explore how to improve health and boost well-being through movement, including the best-selling “Move Your DNA,” as well as her newest, “I Know I Should Exercise, But….” Her back catalog includes “My Perfect Movement Plan,” “Rethink Your Position,” “Movement Matters,” “Dynamic Aging,” “Grow Wild,” “Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief,” “Diast...
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In this final installment of my talk with Allegra Goodman, author of the newly released novel, “Isola,” a historical novel about a young French woman purposefully marooned on an island off the coast of Quebec inspired by true 16th century events, we find out what's currently brewing for Allegra and what she knows at this moment about where her personal through line is leading her next, as well as what kinds of things she's been rea...
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Welcome to part two of my interview with Allegra Goodman, author of the recent Reese's Book Club selection, “Isola” as well as “Sam,” “The Chalk Artist,” “Intuition,” “The Cookbook Collector,” “Paradise Park,” and “Katterskill Falls.”
Today, I'm talking with Allegra about what I call inner stuff, the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs that influence your work, even if you're not fully conscious of it.
- How she thinks of being a writer...
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