Launch Day Special! Celebrating the release of Try Your Worst with fellow Reese's Book Club LitUp Fellow and Stonewall Honor winner Chatham Greenfield.

In this follow-up episode to last week, we dive into life one year post-publication, billionaire-on-billionaire romance tropes, and discovering your hero David Levithan knows your book (!!)

Quotes:

On writer stereotypes: "I think there is this sort of idea that because we're writers, we're sitting alone every day and we have no social needs."

On creative authenticity: "I kind of spread my personal life in my books like confetti—there's little pieces here and there, but there's not enough that you can tangibly pick it all up and hold it."

On managing publishing expectations: "It feels like the goalpost is always moving... I'm trying as much as I can to not expect anything and be pleasantly surprised."

Try Your Worst Details

• Genre: Cozy mystery + lesbian YA romance

• Plot: Rivals forced to team up to solve who's framing them for petty crimes (Enemies to lovers, anyone?)

Buy the Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/48gswah

Audible: you can use your credit! https://amzn.to/47Hl1Jl

Or your favorite retailer including B&N, Bookshop, and more: https://chatgreenfield.com/tyw

Where to Find Chatham

• Website: ChatGreenfield.com

• Social Media: @ChatGreenfield (all platforms)

Timestamps:

00:00 The Extroverted Writer Experience

03:02 Women apologizing for existing—let’s stop doing that

04:43 Writing opposites attract and introvert characters when you’re an extrovert

05:06 Marginalized authors can make things up too

10:00 Why we gravitate toward shy kids at the party

11:13 What nobody tells you about your debut vs. your second book

17:42 How to celebrate the small wins when you have big dreams

21:18 Embracing the reality of jealousy in the Writing Community

Follow this podcast for more great interviews!

Subscribe to my Newsletter: Get more publishing real talk and behind-the-scenes content at ⁠https://thesophiachang.substack.com/⁠

Like what you saw/heard? Rate 5 stars & Review: Help other book lovers find us!

(Amazon affiliate links may provide me 10 much-needed cents.)

We're finally three-quarters gay this episode!

My first-ever video guest is Chatham Greenfield, Reese’s Book Club inaugural LitUp fellow, Stonewall Honor recipient, Lambda Literary nominee, and author of the unputdownable lesbian YA romance TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

Or, as I have dubbed them: Gay of the Year.

Watch our candid conversation on writing while disabled, the guilt that comes with chronic illness, and why Chatham is honored to be your next favorite bathroom read.

We dive into:

• How disability shapes our creative and practical writing process

• Why Chatham sleeps 18 hours and I don't sleep at all—and neither is enviable

• The physical reality of being a writer: wrist braces, shoulder pain, and eye strain

• Learning to pace vs. riding the creative wave until you crash

• Authentic disability rep: Why Chatham doesn't write magical cure endings

• New book alert: TRY YOUR WORST drops September 23rd with dual narrator audiobook

Best Quotes from our talk:

"I always say I'm Jewish and Catholic, so I'm like a perfect storm of guilt."

"People think our pain is on a scale of 0 to 10. Our pain is on a scale of 5 to 10."

"I try to make my endings hopeful, but still with the hint of realism of like, you don't know what's gonna happen. And sometimes the only certainty is the pain."

Pre-order TRY YOUR WORST and get exclusive access to the alternate ending of TIME AND TIME AGAIN: on Amazon https://amzn.to/48gswah

Audible: you can use your credit on the pre-order! https://amzn.to/47Hl1Jl

Or your favorite retailer including B&N, Bookshop, and more: https://chatgreenfield.com/tyw

Follow Chatham: @ChatGreenfield (all platforms)

WATCH the Video of today's episode: https://bit.ly/chathaminterview

Timestamps:

00:08 Meet Chatham Greenfield: Author and fellow LitUp Fellow

03:05 Writing While Disabled

07:32 Pushing our bodies past our limits

11:37 Writer's Guilt, Jewish Guilt, Asian Guilt, We all get a guilt

14:05 Writing About Bathroom Woes While Running for the Toilet

17:27 Aspirational Writing and Open-Ended Endings

19:24 Pre-Order Information

Follow this podcast for a bonus episode next week with more Chatham goodness!

Subscribe to my Newsletter: Get more overly honest and behind-the-scenes content at ⁠https://thesophiachang.substack.com/⁠

Like what you saw/heard? Rate 5 stars & Leave a Positive Review: Help other book lovers find us!

(Amazon affiliate links may provide me 10 much-needed cents.)

What does it mean to be a lonely extrovert with limited energy?

Sophia talks friendship, popularity, and the impact of chronic illness on finding and keeping connections.

• the weird things introverts say about extroverts
• the value of quality friendships over quantity
• a love letter to every extrovert who craves community but struggles to find it

00:00 The Extrovert Paradox

02:57 The Introverts Doth Protest Too Much

04:34 Chronic Illness as a Great Filter

05:25 California vs. New York Friend Culture

06:39 I Want To be...Popular!

07:44 Lessons Chronic Illness Teaches about Friendship

09:01 Embracing Unimportance

If you’ve ever Googled “extrovert with no friends” or wondered why extroverts feel so acutely lonely , this episode is for you.

Sign up for my Substack newsletter and be tortured weekly by my written witticisms: https://thesophiachang.substack.com/

Little known fact: Sophia was completely bedridden when she got her Reese's Book Club fellowship AND her agent.

After a year and a half of typing, college admissions coaching, and suffering in pain on my back, I was finally saved by the power of the deadlift. This is the story of how I became a lifting bro not to get swoll, but to write.

00:00 Writing with chronic pain

03:10 The Pain Industry Racket

04:09 Rediscovering Strength Training for Pain Relief

08:01 The Importance of Lifting for Women, and for Creativity

10:50 Starting Small

Disclaimer: I am NOT a medical expert or personal trainer or nutritionist. This is my personal story for entertainment , not medical or fitness advice.

Sign up for my Substack newsletter and be tortured weekly by my written witticisms: https://thesophiachang.substack.com/

I'm BACK!

Author and extrovert Sophia Chang returns from the land of the analog to give a 5 Year (+8 Month) Update on digital minimalism and life without social media. What has changed? What has not? And can you actually build a platform offline?

(spoiler: she's back for a reason...)

And most importantly--will there ever be any more bathtub episodes???

00:00 Where Have I Been?

01:31 What Has Changed?

03:13 Phone-free schools

06:33 What does this mean and why am I podcasting?

Sign up for my Substack newsletter and be tortured weekly by my written witticisms: https://thesophiachang.substack.com/

The social media hate has turned to horror. This episode covers:

• why I sound like a mouth breather (it's CPAP)
• my goal to be rich enough to get on Cal Newport's podcast
• why I took down episodes I recorded when I started this podcast
• why my own escape from social media feels paltry in the face of its increased danger
• the Gen Z writer who gets it

Algorithms Hijacked My Generation. I Fear For Gen Alpha. by India Freya

The one education epidemic that is harming kids from early childhood education on—and why you need to address it before you even think of college.

Sold A Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong on American Public Media

Wise Child Coaching Work with Sophia

Share your reading education wins and mishaps with Sophia in an audio message

Requisite Disclaimer: this podcast and episode do not constitute official or personalized consultation

Sophia‘s one and only 2022 episode— a belated update on three years of digital minimalism and whether deleting social media makes you better than everyone else. The answer is yes, you addict. Also, liberal tears and Republican boats.