Be vigilant but judicious. — I made my first podcast in 2005. At this point it’s almost embarrassing to reveal that back then it was considered revolutionary to take a print story, read it aloud in front of a microphone, then edit it and publish it as an audio file. Still, it was already clear…

If your notebooks feel too fancy to use, pull them apart and remix them. — I hate shopping. Online stores and, before that, shopping by mail saved me from endless hours of misery. My grimmest childhood memories are of Saturdays spent traipsing from budget store to market stall as my mom forced me to try on different items of clothing. Heaven knows this is a…

Research should be fun! — Ever fallen in love with something you shouldn’t have fallen in love with? OK, that’s a slight misquote of a great Buzzcocks song, but I definitely recognize the feeling. In researching my book — a cultural history, celebration, and critical look at queer women’s communities in the second half of…

”Fortunately, I had a big sister who believed in me and who was quite willing to strong-arm me, for which I am very grateful.” — In April 2022, I spoke with Natalia and Lauren O’Hara, the writer and illustrator, respectively, of a series of children’s picture books, for Working, Slate’s podcast about the creative process. Their books include Hortense and the Shadow and The Bandit Queen. We talked about how the sisters came to collaborate…

Show me a vending machine. I’ll take it from there. — Americans have an unfathomable love for food customization. The act of purchasing a sandwich can involve dozens of decisions, and that’s before we get to “to stay or to go.” Bread, spread, meat, cheese, crunch, vegetables, pickles, condiment — each stage offers seemingly endless options. Even when a store has…

Do you only own one paper notebook? — A quick search of Medium suggests that a lot of people spend a lot of time wondering which note-taking app is right for them. Wondering, experimenting, and then typing thousands of words in an attempt to figure it out. Since there isn’t yet a clear winner in the personal knowledge…

For one author, the secret was notebooks. Lots of notebooks. — In April 2022, I spoke with Hannah Kirshner, author of Water, Wood and Wild Things. Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town for Working, Slate’s podcast about the creative process. We talked about the time she spent in Yamanaka apprenticing with local artisans, how rural Japanese towns are…