Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!

Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!

Authors and screenwriters Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due (and guests!) on writing, the writer's life, Hollywood, the work/family balance and relationships - the tools writers need to make themselves the heroes/heroines of their own story. - LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) - Join our MAILING LIST at www.lifewritingweekly.com

Episodes

LIFEWRITING LIVE! What Necessary Evil Have You Been Dodging?

August 5, 2025 • 64 mins
In this Lifewriting episode with a live audience, Steve and Tananarive talk about their upcoming cast and crew screening for their short film, THE KEEPER, and Tananarive reveals a "necessary evil" she avoided while she was working on her next novel! Plus, they talk to audience members about their writing struggles and  how to embrace "necessary evils" to reach their dreams.   Join us on Lifewriting on Circle: https://lifewrite.com...
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LIFEWRITING LIVE! On Goals & Actions to Make the Universe Say "Oh, sh*t!"

July 26, 2025 • 47 mins
In this first "Lifewriting Live!" with a live audience, Steve and Tananarive talk about overcoming fears and past failures with goals and actions to make the Universe say "Oh, sh*t! She's serious!"  Tananarive also talks about what she learned about outlining versus "pantsing" from George R.R. Martin while she was teaching at the George R.R. Martin Intensive Writing Workshop at Northwestern University's Medill School for Journalis...
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The Keeper is a Wrap! Lessons for writers on directing

July 6, 2025 • 50 mins
Steve and Tananarive are BACK after disappearing into directing their first film! THE KEEPER wrapped last week, and they share their experiences as novelists turned screenwriters turned directors, stories from the set, and how YOU can direct your own film with only an iPhone and a skeleton crew.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) Join Tananarive's mailing list at ...
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Best of Lifewriting: When History is The Monster! (The Reformatory)

May 25, 2025 • 72 mins
In this episode (which originally aired in June of 2024), Tananarive opens up about why it was so difficult for her to write her novel, THE REFORMATORY, and why it was such a thrill to win Best Novel at The Bram Stoker Awards -- the first Black author to win Best Novel!  How she motivated herself to write a difficult novel based on her family history while juggling parenthood and screenplay assignments. And how the Lifewriting pri...
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SINNERS! How Ryan Coogler Shook Hollywood (And You Can Too!) *SPOILERS*

May 3, 2025 • 65 mins
In this spoiler-crammed episode, Steve and Tananarive lead a community celebration of SINNERS and break down both the film and Ryan Coogler's Hollywood journey to shaking up Hollywood.  This is the FULL replay of the community Zoom: https://youtu.be/bGFavqpA4Rc And don't delay signing up for our hybrid Screenwriting webinar 5/17. Take the first steps to get your seat at the table - or build your own table. Limited spots available...
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We Made Our Own "Vintage" Radio Play! Introducing THE WALKER (Guest J. Michael Hayes)

April 15, 2025 • 77 mins
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive premiere their "vintage" radio play, THE WALKER, a narrative audio story modeled after classic radio of the 1930s and 1940s - but diverse!  But first, they talk to co-producer J. Michael Hayes (an author, filmmaker and Lifewriting Premium alum) about how they brought the story to life on audio - and how you can bring your own writing to life too!  Steve and Tananarive both love narrative podca...
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We're Directing Our First Short Film! Writing Lessons from the Director's Chair

April 8, 2025 • 62 mins
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk about adapting their horror graphic novel, THE KEEPER (illustrated by Marco Finnegan), as a short film for a major production company.  On how they made the journey from prose writers to screenwriters to having an opportunity to direct a short film with an eye toward directing their first feature. Also on the writing lessons from directing - and an invitation to join their LIVE hybrid scre...
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Creating Art in the Midst of Chaos (adrienne maree brown)

March 11, 2025 • 50 mins
In this episode, Tananarive talks to visionary thinker, organizer and artist adrienne maree brown (author of EMERGENT STRATEGY, GRIEVERS and LOVING CORRECTIONS) about the role of the artist during times of chaos -- creating beauty from pain and uncertainty, the obligation of artists to express joy, and how art can be a bridge to better times.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your...
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Best of Lifewriting: A.I. and the Writer!

February 22, 2025 • 51 mins
The WGA writers' strike is over, but A.I. is still a big conversation among writers. From the WGA strike and screenwriters' concerns about A.I. infiltrating writers' rooms to the recent class action lawsuit including former podcast guest Paul Tremblay against OpenAI and ChatGPT, A.I. and writers are on a collision course.  Steve and Tananarive talk about the good and bad uses of A.I. for writers and how to prepare for the future.  ...
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Guest Josh Ruben! (Heart Eyes, Werewolves Within)

February 14, 2025 • 61 mins
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to director Josh Ruben about his new horror comedy (romance) Heart Eyes, which is destined to be a cult Valentine's Day horror hit! They talk about directing, how to make a horror romance, and why Ruben cast Black leads in Heart Eyes (Mason Gooding, opposite Olivia Holt) and Werewolves Within (Sam Richardson, opposite Milana Vayntrub).  Also: how he coped after he and his wife lost their ...
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Navigating Feedback in Your Writing - And in Life!

February 7, 2025 • 49 mins
In this new episode, Steve and Tananarive talk about the need for feedback to grow as writers and how difficult it is to determine which feedback is useful and which feedback isn't useful - and the tools it takes to tell the difference!  They also talk about their new video on why writing Science Fiction / Afrofuturism can be empowering in 2025 - check it out at https://www.steven-barnes.com/live-classes. LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at ht...
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Lessons from Octavia Butler and Ray Bradbury On How to Survive 2025

January 22, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode - their first one recorded in 2025! - Steve and Tananarive talk about how Octavia E. Butler and Ray Bradbury confronted their times with art to help inspire themselves and others. (Includes a clip from a 2000 interview with Octavia Butler).  They also talk about their upcoming hybrid class on Writing Science Fiction/Afrofuturism (1/25) and how artists can turn fear into power through storytelling! (Learn more about...
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Best of Lifewriting - Tananarive's novel The Reformatory - Turning Heartache to Horror

January 3, 2025 • 47 mins
Tananarive spent more than seven years working on her new novel, THE REFORMATORY, which was inspired by true-life family history about her great-uncle Robert Stephens and the Dozer School for Boys in Marianna, FL. In this podcast, she and Steve talk about why it took so long to write, the Lifewriting tools she used to complete it, and how she's fighting to stay centered in the whirlwind of her book's publication.  LEAVE US A VOICEM...
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Clay McLeod Chapman! Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (Finding Hope in Horror)

December 24, 2024 • 61 mins
In this episode, Tananarive interviews horror author/screenwriter Clay McLeod Chapman about his upcoming novel, WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES -- which was blurbed by Jordan Peele and is about a deadly political spell cast over the nation. (Sounds familiar!) He and Tananarive also talk about his start as an author, how he first met Jordan Peele, and the search for hope in writing and reading horror.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www...
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A Tribute to Candyman Star Tony Todd (And an interview from 2017!)

December 16, 2024 • 58 mins
Tananarive and Steve were devastated by the death of Candyman star Tony Todd in November of 2024. (He also co-starred in their "Fugue State" story in the Shudder/AMC+ anthology film Horror Noire.) His death inspired them to unearth an interview they did with Todd as a part of their online digital download course The Sunken Place, a history of Black Horror. In this rare interview, Todd talks about his tough childhood, the aunt who r...
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Best of Lifewriting - Gabino Iglesias! (The Devil Takes You Home, House of Bone and Rain)

December 4, 2024 • 61 mins
In this episode, Tananarive and Steve talk to New York Times horror columnist and author Gabino Iglesias! In 2023, Iglesias, who is Puerto Rican, became the first Latino writer to win a Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel for THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME. (His more recent book, HOUSE OF BONE AND RAIN, is also great!)  Steve and Tananarive talk to Gabino about how his struggles with unemployment and losing his health insurance during COVI...
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On Writing Through Pain - Guest Nadine Pinede! (When the Mapou Sings)

November 20, 2024 • 51 mins
In this episode, Tananarive talks to author, poet and scholar Nadine Pinede about her difficult journey bringing her debut novel to life, WHEN THE MAPOU SINGS - a novel about a young girl's experiences in historical Haiti, including encounters with Zora Neale Hurston. And the novel is entirely in verse!  National Book Award winner Edwidge Danticat calls the book "a stunning revelation." They talk about managing a writing practice t...
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Best of Lifewriting - Stephen Graham Jones!

November 10, 2024 • 66 mins
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to Bram Stoker Award winner Stephen Graham Jones. He shares his writing process, his love for slashers, his exploration of father-son relationships in his stories, and how his own personal promise to an elk he hunted gave birth to his bestselling novel The Only Good Indians. (Latest novels: My Heart is a Chainsaw and I Was a Teenage Slasher.) LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe....
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On Claiming Your Personal Power! (Kristin Iris Johnson - Wicked City)

November 3, 2024 • 52 mins
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to Wicked City television series creator Kristin Iris Johnson about her journey to Hollywood as a queer Black woman with disabilities -- and how she claimed her personal power to thrive as a writer and producer in such a competitive industry.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Best of Scare Up the Vote! (Stephen King, Joe Hill, Rachel Harrison, Mike Flanagan, Stephen Graham Jones, Bryan Fuller & More!)

October 21, 2024 • 76 mins
Wow - just WOW. Tananarive talks about mounting Scare Up the Vote, the horror community's campaign event to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. On this episode, excerpts from amazing talks about horror and why voting matters by your horror faves: Stephen Graham Jones, Gabino Iglesias, Stephen King in conversation with Joe Hill, Erin E. Adams, Mike Flanagan in conversation with Kate Siegel, Bryan Fuller, Akela Cooper and Rachel Harr...
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