On today’s show, Cameron Dezen Hammon tells us how to trick yourself into writing a good book. (Spoiler alert: it helps if you’re already really talented. Tin House workshops don’t hurt.)  We get down to the reals about spiritual writing in the age of Trump, why we can still afford to be hopeful, and why Cameron advocates for writing book proposals for books you haven’t yet written.
Also, Jessica and Cameron bond over Russian Jewishness and ugly crying at The Seagull.

Dezen Hammon’s work can be found here:

• CameronDezenHammon.com

• “Fruit” in The Kiss: An Intimacies for Writers

• Words Don’t Bleed, her covers album

• Dezen Hammon’s The Ish podcast episode with her brother, singer songwriter Alex Dezen, “Famous-Ish,” but read her essay “Brothers and Sisters” first

Recommendations and Also Mentioneds:

• Steve Almond’s collection of essays, (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions

• “How to Write Sex Scenes: The 12 Step Program” by Steve Almond

• Bluets by Maggie Nelson

• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

• Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

• Lit by Mary Karr

• Kristin Dombek’s “Letter from Williamsburg”