"I love how the university's campus is integrated into downtown. When I noticed this during my orientation, it made everything so much more lively."

"As editor, I gathered the stories from collections of Williams works at the University of Texas and Harvard University. The process of editing included sifting through Williams’s original notes and revisions to ascertain the most effective telling of each story."

"I am not a daily writer. I am a marathon writer. I prefer large, uninterrupted chunks of time to fully immerse myself and get into a flow."

"I gave Cindy's eulogy—I was 18 years old—and the job never quite felt finished."

"I’m working on a collection of essays about faith, art, and conversion—more specifically, about the way devotional art can act as a sort of vehicle for “translating” religious ideas into a vocabulary that’s more hospitable to secular audiences."

"Giving myself permission to experiment with something new—like writing an essay in the form of dictionary entries modeled after Bob Flanagan's The Book of Medicine—is so exciting and invigorating."

"I am a near-daily journal-er; it's my precious, private place. Writing at night is akin to glory for me these days, and I love to light candles and enter my body in an extra-intentional way."

"I became an early bird writer because I had to be, and it hasn't really left my body."

"I mean this book took me more than 10 years -- I started it while I was at Iowa!" We discuss his journey from apathetic high school student to a highly recognized journalist and author, as well his tips, tricks and inspiration for aspiring writers everywhere. 

"There was a term that I heard somewhere used, just the other day, and she said "I'm in my gathering phase." Have you guys heard that? Is that a term of art over here?" Nam takes us on his writer's journey -- from a law firm in Australia to the Iowa Writers' Workshop in Iowa City.

"My godmother gave me stationery -- it was jungle themed stationery that had my name, it was customized -- and I would write stories and send them to publishers."

In today's podcast, novelist Rachel Yoder discusses her wild experience adapting Nightbitch to a soon-to-be-released feature film starring Amy Adams.