In this week’s show, I talk to Lan Samantha Chan about writing a novel over a long period of time, learning and teaching at the Iowa Writers Workshop, the value of writing communities, and balancing teaching, administrative work, and writing.

On today’s show, I talk to TDO's comic book blogger Drew Barth to discuss Walt Simonson's astounding mythical, iconoclastic run on Thorback in the 1980s.

Sandra Lim talks about optimism, editing through the pile of a poem, letting oneself go in the current of the stream, and finding a grounding in the abstractions of mind and word.