June 16, 2025 • 5 mins
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome
Today’s guest is Antonia Crane, author of Spent. Follow Antonia on Instagram @antoniacrane.
The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Instagram @courtneykocak and Bluesky @courtneykocak.bsky.social. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.
Courtney is teaching some upcoming workshops you might be interested in:
Today’s guest is Antonia Crane, author of Spent. Follow Antonia on Instagram @antoniacrane.
The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Instagram @courtneykocak and Bluesky @courtneykocak.bsky.social. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.
Courtney is teaching some upcoming workshops you might be interested in:
- Start a Newsletter to Supercharge Your Platform, Network and Business: https://writingworkshops.com/products/start-a-newsletter-to-supercharge-your-platform-network-business-zoom-seminar
- Land Big Bylines by Writing for Columns: https://writingworkshops.com/products/land-big-bylines-by-writing-for-columns-zoom-seminar
- The Multi-Passionate Writer's Life: https://writingworkshops.com/products/the-multi-passionate-writers-life-zoom-seminar-with-courtney-kocak
- How to Build a “Platform” for Writers Who Shudder at the Thought: https://writingworkshops.com/products/how-to-build-a-platform-for-writers-who-shudder-at-the-thought-zoom-seminar
- Creating Your Podcast: https://www.roadmapwriters.com/products/creating-your-podcast-0
- Podcasting for Writers: How to Start, Sustain & Grow Your Podcast: https://writingworkshops.com/products/podcasting-for-writers-how-to-start-sustain-grow-your-podcast-4-week-zoom-workshop
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
at a typewriter and bleed. Welcome to the Bleeders, a
podcast and support group about book writing and publishing. I'm
writer and podcaster Courtney Kosak, and each week I'll bring
(00:28):
you new conversations with authors, agents and publishers about how
to write and sell books. Bleeders, I have got a
very special episode for you today. This is a little
shorty with one of my favorite writers, Antonia Crane. Antonia
wrote a fabulous memoir called Spent, seriously one of my
(00:48):
favorite memoirs I've ever read. It is about sex work,
it is about grief, and it really framed sex work
as an addiction, which I have never heard before. And
I loved talking to Antonia about the origin story of Spent.
So without further ado, here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hi. My name is Anthonia Crane and I am the
author of Spent.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
How did it wind up like this book that I
am holding in my hands today?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You're so cute? I did everything wrong, and I should
say that straight off the bat. I did everything wrong.
So you know, at first I thought it was fiction,
and then I was like, no, this is non fiction.
And then I was like maybe it's a collection of essays. No,
it's a memoir. So but the useful thing about that
is what I learned is that I think Richard Yates
(01:42):
is right. Richard Yays, who wrote Revolutionary, who wrote in
the Easter Parade, he said that you only have like
two stories you're going to tell your entire life. Yeah,
so there's two stories you have in you, and you're
going to tell those stories for the rest of your life.
But here's the good news. You're going to massage that
material and massage and massage and massages and massage and
all these different ways. So that's kind of what I did,
(02:03):
is like I knew I was going to write about,
you know, getting sober probably, and of course it was
going to be about the thrust of sex work, and
like it was really important to me to shed light
on sex work in a way that was not overly
congratulatory or overly romantic and not overly you know, trauma porn. Yes,
so I wanted to really like find that, you know,
(02:23):
I think where I'm always searching for that line.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I thought you walked that line like so well. And
like I said, I have a little bit of a
lust for sex work too, So I was like, exactly exactly, Anthony.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, I had never read about sex work in a
way that felt like it was being framed as an addiction. Yes,
but I think I think I think it is, like
I think that it's more like gambling, where you go
in and you you hope, and you hustle and you try,
(03:01):
and that's that's a gambling. You hit big or you
hit small, but you hit something. And I managed to
sort of I managed to hammer that into like this
really stable career for almost twenty nine years, and I
made like a certain amount of money every time I
went in and I never left without that certain amount
(03:21):
of money, you know, And I just I just did that.
I just like I just like made it fit into
my life and I just made it. I made it
support me, you know. I was just like, these motherfuckers
are going to fucking support me.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
You became a hustler. But can I tell you so
as I was reading it, as I just finished it,
and then I got a huge spike in my only
fans and that I couldn't I couldn't have predicted or
you know, like I sort of knew like I might
get some extra traffic from this, but I got a
lot of extra and it made me feel like I
(03:54):
was like, I bet that's what she felt like going
in and having like an over a thousand dollars night.
And then you're like, oh, okay, I'm fucking empowered to
like make my next move.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, and then it's like, okay, now I'm gonna have
a two thousand dollars night.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yes, I get why how it's addictive, and.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Now I want to have a seventeen hundred dollar night
before seven pm.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Oh shit.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Which as I got older, that became a more fun
goal to like, how can I get out of here
before nine, you know, and go home? It's going to
be up till four in the morning.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's like, oh, thank you for joining me for this
episode of The Bleeders. Writing is so much better with friends.
I'm your host, Courtney Cosack, and hey, let's connect on
social media. I am at Courtney Cosak, last name is
Kocak on Twitter, Instagram, Blue Sky, Threads, TikTok. I'm on
(04:50):
all the places. And make sure you're signed up for
the Bleeders Companion substack for all kinds of newsletter exclusives.
There is a link for that in the episode to description.
I send out one awesome email every week to my
free subscribers, and I also have a paid subscription where
I take you behind the scenes of all my best bylines.
(05:11):
I've written about my return to stand up comedy and
how I got ready to crush my showcase, my MFA
and whether or not I think it is worth it.
And I also have some mini workshops behind the paywall.
So again, there is a link for the Bleeders Companion
substack in the episode description. Make sure you sign up
for that and join me again next week for another
(05:33):
inspiring episode. In the meantime, happy Bleeding
There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
at a typewriter and bleed. Welcome to the Bleeders, a
podcast and support group about book writing and publishing. I'm
writer and podcaster Courtney Kosak, and each week I'll bring
(00:28):
you new conversations with authors, agents and publishers about how
to write and sell books. Bleeders, I have got a
very special episode for you today. This is a little
shorty with one of my favorite writers, Antonia Crane. Antonia
wrote a fabulous memoir called Spent, seriously one of my
(00:48):
favorite memoirs I've ever read. It is about sex work,
it is about grief, and it really framed sex work
as an addiction, which I have never heard before. And
I loved talking to Antonia about the origin story of Spent.
So without further ado, here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hi. My name is Anthonia Crane and I am the
author of Spent.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
How did it wind up like this book that I
am holding in my hands today?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You're so cute? I did everything wrong, and I should
say that straight off the bat. I did everything wrong.
So you know, at first I thought it was fiction,
and then I was like, no, this is non fiction.
And then I was like maybe it's a collection of essays. No,
it's a memoir. So but the useful thing about that
is what I learned is that I think Richard Yates
(01:42):
is right. Richard Yays, who wrote Revolutionary, who wrote in
the Easter Parade, he said that you only have like
two stories you're going to tell your entire life. Yeah,
so there's two stories you have in you, and you're
going to tell those stories for the rest of your life.
But here's the good news. You're going to massage that
material and massage and massage and massages and massage and
all these different ways. So that's kind of what I did,
(02:03):
is like I knew I was going to write about,
you know, getting sober probably, and of course it was
going to be about the thrust of sex work, and
like it was really important to me to shed light
on sex work in a way that was not overly
congratulatory or overly romantic and not overly you know, trauma porn. Yes,
so I wanted to really like find that, you know,
(02:23):
I think where I'm always searching for that line.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I thought you walked that line like so well. And
like I said, I have a little bit of a
lust for sex work too, So I was like, exactly exactly, Anthony.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, I had never read about sex work in a
way that felt like it was being framed as an addiction. Yes,
but I think I think I think it is, like
I think that it's more like gambling, where you go
in and you you hope, and you hustle and you try,
(03:01):
and that's that's a gambling. You hit big or you
hit small, but you hit something. And I managed to
sort of I managed to hammer that into like this
really stable career for almost twenty nine years, and I
made like a certain amount of money every time I
went in and I never left without that certain amount
(03:21):
of money, you know, And I just I just did that.
I just like I just like made it fit into
my life and I just made it. I made it
support me, you know. I was just like, these motherfuckers
are going to fucking support me.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
You became a hustler. But can I tell you so
as I was reading it, as I just finished it,
and then I got a huge spike in my only
fans and that I couldn't I couldn't have predicted or
you know, like I sort of knew like I might
get some extra traffic from this, but I got a
lot of extra and it made me feel like I
(03:54):
was like, I bet that's what she felt like going
in and having like an over a thousand dollars night.
And then you're like, oh, okay, I'm fucking empowered to
like make my next move.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, and then it's like, okay, now I'm gonna have
a two thousand dollars night.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yes, I get why how it's addictive, and.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Now I want to have a seventeen hundred dollar night
before seven pm.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Oh shit.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Which as I got older, that became a more fun
goal to like, how can I get out of here
before nine, you know, and go home? It's going to
be up till four in the morning.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's like, oh, thank you for joining me for this
episode of The Bleeders. Writing is so much better with friends.
I'm your host, Courtney Cosack, and hey, let's connect on
social media. I am at Courtney Cosak, last name is
Kocak on Twitter, Instagram, Blue Sky, Threads, TikTok. I'm on
(04:50):
all the places. And make sure you're signed up for
the Bleeders Companion substack for all kinds of newsletter exclusives.
There is a link for that in the episode to description.
I send out one awesome email every week to my
free subscribers, and I also have a paid subscription where
I take you behind the scenes of all my best bylines.
(05:11):
I've written about my return to stand up comedy and
how I got ready to crush my showcase, my MFA
and whether or not I think it is worth it.
And I also have some mini workshops behind the paywall.
So again, there is a link for the Bleeders Companion
substack in the episode description. Make sure you sign up
for that and join me again next week for another
(05:33):
inspiring episode. In the meantime, happy Bleeding
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com