Host Rachel Yoder talks with ALEXANDER CHEE about how to mentally prepare for a book's publication, the trials & tribulations of a 15-year novel project, & his ingenious journaling system that keeps him on task.

The Fail Safe

Episode 12: Alexander Chee

Host Rachel Yoder interviews poet LAUREN HALDEMAN about the importance of writing terrible poems, the relationship between failure and humor, the lessons of grief, & what exactly it means to "be on the opposite of drugs."

Episode 13: Lauren Haldeman

Host Rachel Yoder interviews author Carmen Maria Machado who talks about anxiety writing outside her genre, why her attempts at novel writing keep failing, and what she thinks about Cat Person.

Episode 14: Carmen Maria Machado

The Fail Safe podcast explores how today’s most successful writers grapple with and learn from creative failure. From the blank page to the broken sentence, we examine the many challenges and pitfalls of the literary life and discover how authors transform false starts, dead ends, and assorted blunders into works of literary genius. Produced collaboratively by draft: the journal of process and The Iowa Writers’ House, The Fail Safe provides encouragement for anyone who’s ever wanted to write and pulls back the curtain on the creative process for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the writer-at-work.

The Fail Safe

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