I Should Be Writing

Mur Lafferty
  • 4.3 (327)
  • Books
  • Weekly

"I should be writing" is what people say, but they rarely do it. This podcast is designed to help you get past those blocks, whether it's what your teacher told you when you were a kid, to being totally sure you'll never be as good as (FAV AUTHOR) so you might as well quit.

  1. Nov 5

    [ISBW] The Black Dog Needs a Nail Trim

    ISBW 22.25 The black dog of depression has been visiting a lot lately, and this episode is to address it and list out the things I do to fight back. Not a lot of writing talk, but discussing the reasons why we may NOT be writing is important too.  Couple of important notes:  I am not a mental health professional. If you need help, please seek professional guidance.  Please don't worry about me. I'm honest about my vulnerabilities on this show but I'm really okay. If I were in bad shape, you wouldn't hear from me. Also I'm improved from last week, when this was recorded.  This post went live for supporters on November 2, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us most Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! The next live episode is November 12! Did you hear we have merch? Yes, we do, with the new logo and everything! Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. November 5, 2026 | ISBW 22.25 | murverse.com "Black Dog Needs a Nail Trim" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

    [ISBW] The Black Dog Needs a Nail Trim

  2. Nov 5 ·  Bonus

    You Might Also Like: The Oprah Podcast

    Introducing Oprah Looks Back at Her Best Surprises from The Oprah Podcast. Follow the show: The Oprah Podcast Surprise! Oprah is looking back on some of her favorite surprises from 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah shares how when she was surprised by her idol Mary Tyler Moore it sent her into the ugly cry. The time she’ll never forget surprising Tom Cruise’s biggest fan while standing in her robe, no makeup and her hair soaking wet from the shower. More surprises include Mariah Carey’s biggest fans, the iconic car giveaway - “you get a car, you get a car” - and the moment she surprised an entire audience they were all “going to Australia!” When The Oprah Show ended in 2011 she allowed her staff to surprise her over and over again at a star-studded event at the United Center in Chicago. 00:00:00 - Oprah on loving to surprise people on The Oprah Winfrey Show 00:02:15 - Oprah was surprised by Mary Tyler Moore 00:08:14 - The Tom Cruise Surprise 00:12:49 - The Weight Loss Surprise 00:16:10 - The Will and Grace surprise 00:18:36 - The Family surprise 00:20:50 - The Mariah surprise 00:24:00 - The You Get a Car surprise 00:29:20 - The biggest fans surprise 00:33:58 - The Surprise Trip 00:39:30 - Oprah’s 25 year surprise show Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/oprah/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

    You Might Also Like: The Oprah Podcast

  3. Oct 30

    [ISBW] Return to Outline Hell

    ISBW 22.24 I take a determined look at outlining again, going through some tried and true methods, mainly the Snowflake Method and a brief look at the StoryGrid site...which has changed a bit since the last time I was there.   This post went live for supporters on October 28, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us most Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! HOWEVER the next live episode is Wednesday, Nov. 4 when we interview Lucy Foley! Did you hear we have merch? Yes, we do, with the new logo and everything!   Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. October 30, 2026 | ISBW 22.24 | murverse.com "Return to Outline Hell" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

    [ISBW] Return to Outline Hell

  4. Oct 19

    [ISBW] Jenny Will Eat Us Now

    ISBW 22.23 I got to interview the delightful Gillian Daniels, whose debut novel Jenny Will Eat You Now is available now! It's a rom-com horror novel, so of course we had to talk about genre mixing, how to write romance, and her agent hunt story. Titles discussed in this episode: Heated Rivalry, Something Extraordinary, Manhunt, Wide Sargasso Sea, Frankenstein, Roadside Picnic, Sweet Berries. Find Gillian online: website, Instagram, Bluesky. This post went live for supporters on October 16, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us on Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! The next live episode is October 22 when we interview Lucy Foley! Did you hear we have merch? Yes, we do, with the new logo and everything! Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. October 19, 2026 | ISBW 22.23 | murverse.com "Jenny Will Eat Us Now" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

  5. Oct 14

    [ISBW] The Lonesome October Club

    ISBW 22.22 In classic Mur style, I am posting this mid October, not beginning. I need a minder. But the concept still works, if you can start now as day 1, or wait till November, or do it any time, really. We talk about Roger Zelazny's book, A Night In the Lonesome October, and how I map it to a writing challenge, then we cover the Snowflake Method. Did you hear we have merch? Yes, we do, with the new logo and everything! This post went live for supporters on October 13, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us on Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! The next live episode is October 15! Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. October 15, 2026 | ISBW 22.22 | murverse.com "The Lonesome October Club" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

  6. Oct 5

    [ISBW] Deconstructing Imposter Syndrome

    ISBW 22.21 It's time to talk about Imposter Syndrome, where it comes from, and how to handle it. If we can. I'm not sure I'm qualified.  In other news I have a new logo, leaning into the age of the podcast and the shiny new fountain pen crow friend designed by NumbersNinja!  (Yeah i'm gonna have merch soon) This post went live for supporters on September 30, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us on Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! The next live episode is October 8! Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. September 30, 2026 | ISBW 22.21 | murverse.com "Deconstructing Imposter Syndrome" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

  7. Sep 21

    [ISBW] Isaac Green says Start Before You're Ready

    ISBW 22.20 I met Durham author Isaac Green at a local reading and loved his work, so I invited him on the show. Get ready for some talk about MFAs, writing energy, agent hunting, and writing consistency! Award-winning author and teacher Isaac Green NC State MFA program, and North Carolina Central University Small Worldcon report, and Covid report. This post went live for supporters on September 18, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us on Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! The next live episode is August 20! Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. September 21, 2026 | ISBW 22.20 | murverse.com "Isaac Green says Start Before You're Ready" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

    [ISBW] Isaac Green says Start Before You're Ready

  8. Sep 18

    [ISBW] The Magic Bullet Myth

    ISBW 22.20 After a heartbreaking Q&A session at a recent convention, I felt the need to say something that's cold and honest. And that is about the magic bullet. Shorter episode, the last one before worldcon. And since I'm posting it after worldcon, I cut out a lot of the "see me at worldcon" bits—also because no one saw me because I got covid. We catch up in a few days with this week's interview with Isaac Green, then we're back on track with recording! This post went live for supporters on September 14, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Remember you can join us on Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! Evergreen Links Like podcasts? Check my Hugo-winning show with T. Kingfisher where we talk about the business of a writing career: Ditch Diggers. Check out Escape Pod if you want free audio and print science fiction stories, edited by myself and Valerie Valdes! I Should Be Writing merch If you're enjoying ISBW, get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. September 17, 2026 | ISBW 22.19 | murverse.com "The Magic Bullet Myth" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. And "AI" or large language models are wretched and we hate them so very much. ABSOLUTELY NO AI scraping/learning of my content is permitted. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.

    [ISBW] The Magic Bullet Myth
See All (51)

4.3
out of 5
327 Ratings

About

"I should be writing" is what people say, but they rarely do it. This podcast is designed to help you get past those blocks, whether it's what your teacher told you when you were a kid, to being totally sure you'll never be as good as (FAV AUTHOR) so you might as well quit.

Information

  • Creator
    Mur Lafferty
  • Years Active
    2005 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    Copyright © by Mur Lafferty, 2005 - 2026 Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0
  • Show Website
    I Should Be Writing

You Might Also Like