Host Rachel Yoder and author Mark Polanzak talk about the many voices in their heads, a really bad chicken essay Rachel wrote, humiliation, and their favorite moments from the first 5 episodes of The Fail Safe.

Episode 7: Laura van den Berg

The Fail Safe explores how today’s most successful writers grapple with and learn from creative failure. From the blank page to the broken sentence, we examine the many challenges and pitfalls of the literary life and discover how authors transform false starts, dead ends, and assorted blunders into works of literary genius. Produced collaboratively by draft: the journal of process and The Iowa Writers’ House, The Fail Safe provides encouragement for anyone who’s ever wanted to write and pulls back the curtain on the creative process for a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the writer-at-work. Created and hosted by Rachel Yoder, the first episode aired in June 2016.