Reflecting on Season 2 and a Glimpse at Season 3

Matt: [00:00:00] Welcome everybody to write out loud, the podcast about storytelling and writing and being a creative type person, making your stories come to life for others. This is of course, Matt Cassem, and I am joined by the sparkly, the wonderful, the lively, the musical, the magical Christina.

Christina: I love the sparkly part. It is my favorite thing, glitter and all.

Matt: Oh, heck yes, yes, yes, I knew I knew, but holy crap. Can you believe? This is the season finale.

Christina: Uh, no, I cannot. I can't even believe we are in the calendar of 2024, much

Matt: No, this is true.

Christina: I mean, We're, we're at the end of March.

Matt: Yeah,

Christina: just,

Matt: it's ridiculous.

Christina: Easter is just like, just had St. Patrick's Day and now Easter is coming and it's like, Oh my God. no, I cannot believe we are wrapping up [00:01:00] season two.

Matt: Yeah. Season two is, is wrapping up, but here's the deal. So I thought what we would do is kind of look back over the episodes that you know, we have done, uh, just quick high level kind of talk through some of the highlights of the season, what we, what we enjoyed episodes we liked, and then talk a little bit about our plans for season three,

Christina: Yes.

Matt: will happen in.

Let's see, July. So July, August, September

season three. Yeah. But you know, it doesn't mean we're going to stop. So we'll, we'll of course be around and working on that season and kind of pulling it together. What do you think? We'll just talk about highlights and then go into what we have planned.

Christina: Yeah.

Matt: Perfect.

Christina: What was your favorite episode from a season two?

Matt: Oh my gosh. What was my favorite episode? Uh, I'm trying to look right now, actually, at all of them. Cause we had so many, right? We had Scarlett [00:02:00] Cole. We had Erin Galloway. We had WT Meadows, Sean Dare. I mean, Big Robb was on. So many amazing episodes, right?

Christina: Yeah.

Matt: Uh, you even kicked it off by interviewing me

Christina: Yes.

Matt: as, interesting as I may be.

No, I think my favorite is

Christina: I

Matt: No,

Christina: in the that we've known each other, I never knew why you wanted to be a writer or what, where the writing stuff came from. Because I, I mean, yes, we met at the bookstore, so it shouldn't be surprising that we were both, readers, book lovers. But I didn't know the stuff about the writing, 

Matt: that's fair. That's fair.

Christina: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah. I mean, I, I think, I think my two favorite episodes, one was, was our mental health and creativity episode with Big Robb. That's absolutely up there.

Christina: that's up there with mine.

Matt: Yeah. It's just such a [00:03:00] great topic and we don't talk about it enough. And I think, Big Robb, especially with his show has such a focus on it and I just, I love it.

Christina: Not necessarily just a book writing podcast because the thing is deep in the layers of writing is creativity. Because of my. My day job being an editor and author coach, I see so many people struggle with their mental health

Matt: Mm hmm. Mm

Christina: the writing, that really does, affect the writing.

So I think it was really great to talk to Big Robb, the expert that he is on his podcast with mental health

Matt: hmm.

Christina: because you know what, mental health doesn't just disrupt your work or your home life. It disrupts your creativity. 

Matt: Absolutely.

Christina: know, so I think that was a really important episode.

Matt: Yeah. 100%. And again, if you want more of Big Robb as well, like [00:04:00] we all want more of Big Robb,

Christina: I'd love to have him on again.

Matt: He's on Chewing the Fat.

Christina: Yeah,

Matt: He's on Chewing the Fat with Big Robb. So you can catch his show if you'd like. Uh, I think my other favorite one honestly was probably, Ooh, it's a toss up between Scarlett Cole and Erin Galloway.

I mean, these are two really big deals, right? Like these are two people that have just, They kill it in what they do. They kill it in their craft. It was so much fun talking to Scarlett because it's, it's just so cool to kind of get to know someone who has had success in writing as an author, find out, a little bit more about the back story and a little bit more about their process.

And that was really cool. And Erin, just, kind of behind the curtain. Everybody likes to see. What's going on behind the curtain. And I think that was really cool. But what about you? What was your favorite? I do too. I do too.

Christina: You just said all my favorites! Hearing all of the different perspectives. I mean, if we could [00:05:00] have different people from different backgrounds talking about different styles of writing. I don't want to hear the same thing over and over again.

That's, that's not only not interesting, it also doesn't help other people. And. The one thing I said to you in the beginning of this podcast is that all I want to do is help other people, other creatives, whether writing, is your big thing or a different creative thing that you can kind of go, Oh, I know what they're talking about. And I can, look at it this way with my, my, know, whatever music, it is. So yeah, I love hearing other people's perspectives. has been a really good friend. We came onto the scene, if you will about the same time she started her career in New York at at that time it was an independent publisher but I also, Was working my way [00:06:00] through borders and had my marketing job that took me to conferences where I, met her and we became friends.

Know, it's not that that wasn't a favorite episode. It was a favorite episode because I got to see my friend Erin and actually hear her light up about the things that she lights up about she really is very passionate. Like if you are going to have a publicist, number one thing I would put on my list to look for in a publicist they light up about my work, and you're not going to get that with every single. Publicist, just because you're paying them doesn't mean that they're going to do that. So she is really unique in that way. So I loved being able to share her and her outlook on everything. And also listening to what she's got, coming up for promotions. I've got those books listed. I can't wait till they come out. yeah. And of course, Scarlett Cole. I mean, am a fan. I [00:07:00] said that, in the very beginning, I said that previous episodes she is one of my favorites. have small list of favorites I buy everything that they do. And she is one of them. I may not always be completely caught up. Which, actually hadn't been at that point I'm slowly getting there. I'm, I'm actually in the middle of that series now. I had to because I'm on an edit this week. Just, uh, one more to catch up on her MC club. And

Matt: but you're enjoying it.

Christina: oh my God, am I loving them? I, I just, I, and it's so interesting because I have read her previous work

Matt: Mm hmm.

Christina: this new stuff, knowing what I know from the podcast actually makes them more interesting because they're so different. They're so different from her other stuff. And now I've got another laundry list of things. I want to ask her about, like, does she. See the difference in the writing styles and, is that on [00:08:00] purpose and is this more her true voice? Was she, it harder to write, in that third person, cause it does seem very natural for her voice to be in first person.

 There's again, a laundry list of things I would ask her. To find out and actually I heard back from one of my clients who listened to the episode, was so curious about Scarlett Cole, went and bought I believe the first book in the series

Matt: Mm hmm.

Christina: Oh my God, this woman writes such great, like, She said it's like a masterclass figuring out how to write characters.

Matt: Mm hmm.

Christina: from other authors. And yeah, I, I would say you nailed it with my favorite three episode would be your favorite three episodes, Big Robb. Now I do love having on like, when he had on Sean, that was great. This is the thing. Everybody. that we've had on the podcast has really [00:09:00] great insight. And to

Matt: Mm hmm.

Christina: that is what makes me personally want to listen to a podcast. The purpose of it is to grow, to learn, to hear other perspectives. there aren't many people, Sean has said to me, many times, um, he wants to be about around more writers, more creative people, because that feeds his creativity. And if you can't get that from the community that you're in, maybe getting it from a podcast, helps a little bit. So yeah. So I loved having Sean onto, I, I love it when we have guests, cause like I said, I, I love hearing other perspectives. That's not to say I'm not passionate about some of the things we talk about. But

Matt: Yeah, well, and I like Sean being on because we talked about that plotting and pantsing, and I think that's something that, we've talked about a few different times and having a broader discussion about it was really cool. And I think being able to bring that back, [00:10:00] uh, I think we may have him back on for next season and talk a little bit about that too.

Christina: Yeah, yeah. Also like to have one of my clients because she's very unique and how she discovered whether she was a plotter or pants or two. So maybe we'll have, another episode geared towards plotting and pantsing. But what else do you want to do next season? What, what do you think?

What?

Matt: Yeah, so next season, I think, we've, we've talked a few things out that we would like to talk through. 1 of those is another revisit of that plotting and panting. But I think we talked about looking at some of the, the marvel cinematic universe,

Christina: Yes.

Matt: kind of thinking about the writing and the storytelling that's involved there.

We have talked a little bit about last of us. And that's getting at least certain episodes, maybe

Christina: Yes.

Matt: not the whole, if not the whole show and I think it would be interesting to, to kind of think about some of the other writing topics or writing related topics. So I think, for example, we just got done dissecting damsel.

[00:11:00] It would be interesting to actually have somebody who's a screenwriter. On to kind of talk about it from their perspective and what they think happened or from their experience, what happens that can lead to that, right? Is it

Christina: That would

Matt: the direction? Is it the producers? Is it the writers? Like, how did that all come together to maybe, end in that kind of final, final result?

So I think we have a lot of ideas. What about you? What are you thinking?

Christina: Well, I think you're right. I think there's a lot of a lot of things to talk about with, like, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because a lot of discussion behind the scenes. Are they? Kind of going downhill. Are there stories suffering? so it'd be interesting to kind of dissect that. The Last of Us, I'm a huge fan. I didn't

Matt: Yeah. Well, we even talked

Christina: game existed. I'm not even sure what sparked me into watching it in the first place. Other than my niece is a [00:12:00] huge horror fan. And I knew a lot of people were talking about the last of us. And I knew this could be something that she and I could watch together. She and I watched heartstopper together. Now we could watch, some a little more intense, shall we say, different genre. 

Matt: About maybe doing Schitt's Creek too.

Christina: Oh my God. Schitt's Creek is, is just, oh, I could, I could talk Schitt's Creek all day. But Last of Us was really surprising to me. That's why I think I want to talk about it is because I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. Schitt's Creek man, that show I could watch over and over and over and over again, and never. Get tired of them. I even read lately Eugene Levy did not say no to a movie I don't know is there hope about [00:13:00] doing a shitscrape movie. That would be great. Yeah

Matt: I know they've, they've talked about saying like, if the right story is there,

Christina: Yeah

Matt: they will do it, but it just has to be the perfect story. Yeah. Yes.

Christina: don't necessarily, it's two different modes of writing novels and screenwriting, but it's still storytelling. All of the meat still has to be there. It's just the way that you tell it. So yeah, I, I would love to dissect some Schitt's Creek. The Bear is another one for me. I'd love to dissect some of that. I don't, damsel was kind of a one off because I was up so upset because the idea was so great. The idea, man, the idea, and it just, and, is it because, my job, my day job is storytelling that I was a little more critical with it could be, there could be people that loved it out [00:14:00] there. But I wanted to love it. I really, really did. I wanted to love it. so yeah, we can delve more into, maybe some screenwriting. So if there are screenwriters out there, let us know if you want to come on the podcast and talk about the craft of screenwriting. That would be great. I would love to do some more plotting and pantsing and some other, story ideas. Scarlett Cole actually opened up a whole new, arena for us to talk about with, leaning into who, who you actually are as a writer. Even if it goes against the grain. what is trending out there. now she didn't necessarily go against the grain of trending because she wrote a motorcycle club romance, which is huge. But I will say this of the motorcycle club writers that are out there I'm not a huge fan of many. There's a small handful. so it takes a [00:15:00] spectacular writer to get it right. Cause there's a, there's a balance there. It can't just be, one faceted. But there were other things that Scarlett talked about that I think, really deserve going further into, just the idea. What was the, the word that you used intentionality, her. Intentionality is really great too. So I think I'd like to lean further into some of those ideas that aren't necessarily constructs of writing, more, how do you write to your best, best you, writing in that way, again, seeing. The difference in her writing again was already a fan but this new style of hers is just spectacular to me. Yeah, going into more stuff of that nature I think would be fun to do.

Matt: [00:16:00] I think it would be very good. I think there's an opportunity to, for you listening to tell us what you want to see. What are some episodes, ideas that you have that you've thought about things that you want to hear us talk about? Yeah. Topics you want us to explore, send us an email, right? Matt at write out loud pod.

com Christina at book matchmaker. com. You can email us there. You can go to the website, right? Out loud pod. com. Leave a voicemail. There's lots of ways to get ahold of us. Social media at right out loud pod, all kinds of options to get us. And really to, to again, give us some ideas. What do you want to see?

What do you want to hear? What do you want us to explore? Cause that's ultimately what we're here for. We're trying to do this so that we can help you as a writer get better, uh, find ways to spark that creativity to think about something maybe differently than you have in the past. And that's how we do it by getting your input.

So [00:17:00] feel free to reach out. We would love it. Let me tell you. I know I would.

Christina: Yeah, definitely. I, I would love to hear know, some, ways that. You need help, like where can we fill a hole that's not being filled, know, through something else. Or, if you don't have, that critique group that you talk to and you have a question, maybe we could have like a Q and a episode where, Through, our website or our emails, send us questions and we'll just answer

Matt: Yeah.

Christina: through the, through the entire episode.

I think that would be a fun one to do too, because then we're

Matt: Yeah.

Christina: hitting specific points.

Matt: Yeah. I would love it too. If again, we have this voicemail feature on the website. If you go, you don't even need special equipment, just use your, the phone you have in your hand or your computer and just click the button and leave us a voicemail. Tell us what you think. Ask us a [00:18:00] question. You might just hear yourself on an episode asking your question or sharing your thoughts, which I think is fantastic.

 Super good way to get engaged.

Christina: or if you don't want to hear yourself on the episode, but still want to leave the voicemail, like we don't want to scare

Matt: Oh, no, if you leave a voicemail, we're putting you on. No, no,

Christina: No,

Matt: we won't put you on automatically, but you know, some of the ones we may, and again, if you say, don't put me on, please,

Christina: my voice on

Matt: then if I'm feeling generous, I won't put you on, but no promises.

Christina: I was just gonna say, I don't know if these people know you well enough, Matt. I know you well enough. He is lying. He is

Matt: am wearing my Loki Loki glasses, so

Christina: was just Loki glasses. That should tell you everything you need to know about Mr. Matt.

Matt: yes, yes, yes, yes. No, I know you do. I know. I know. [00:19:00] No, I think if you, uh, honestly, if you don't want to be

Christina: Yeah. No,

Matt: on the podcast, send us an email.

Christina: honor that, but just say, I don't want, I, here's my voicemail, but please don't put me on. He won't put you

Matt: Exactly. Exactly. But yeah I mean, that's, that's kind of the, The look back and the look forward, right? We're, we're estimating that we'll be back with season 3 right at the beginning of July and that will go for the next 3 months after at that point. So, we're kind of on this cadence 3 months on 3 months off 3 months on 3 months off and it gives us a chance to find amazing content for you. So again, thank you. Let us know what you want to hear. Let us know what you want us to explore. Well, cool. Any other last final thoughts? Mm hmm.

Christina: final thoughts. Well, I had a lot of fun this season. I was really apprehensive about deviating not necessarily deviating from [00:20:00] Heartstopper, but, Heartstopper gave us a real good structure to start with. but this season, I feel like we got to explore a lot more which I hope to continue. So, whether or not we do a one off episode about, Last of us, Schitt's Creek, the bear, whatever. Won't have a whole structure. I think that that was educational and all that, but I really liked the structure, of this season and being able to do some one off things and having guests, like I said, when guests come on, they bring their perspective with them.

And it's always great to hear. What it's like in someone else's, writing cave,

Matt: Sure.

Christina: don't often, get to see inside that yeah, so I hope to do more of that.

Matt: Yeah, that'd be awesome. I would love to have, somebody like Neil Gaiman or,[00:21:00] 

Christina: Oh, yeah.

Matt: or like Stephen King or, anybody else like that on to talk about their writing process and, and thoughts too. If, uh, if you're listening, And you happen to be one of those two gentlemen or just anybody else who has written things and has found some success, then, uh, hit us up because we'd love to talk to you a little bit more.

And I think it'd be a lot of fun. Well, excellent. All right. Well, that's going to do it for not only this episode, but this season we're putting a bow on it. Sparkly bow as Christina would like to have and deservedly. 

Christina: Glitter.

Matt: We are absolutely putting a bow on it. So thank you for listening. 

Thank you so much for believing in us and for supporting the podcast because we enjoy making it and we know that you enjoy listening to it. So we'll keep going, but, uh, we'd love to hear from you. So reach out. All right, my dear.

Christina: Yeah.

Matt: Well, until next season,

Christina: Bye.

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