Write About Now Jonathan Small

Will Selber is a former Middle East Foreign Area Officer with 20 years of experience in the intelligence community. He served for nearly 1500 days in Iraq and Afghanistan during heavy combat operations. How retired, his life's mission is to shed light on the current situation in Afghanistan and help many of the U.S.'s allies escape the country and the Taliban. It’s grueling and heart-breaking work that requires him to make Sophie's Choice-like decisions about who lives and dies. He now writes about his experiences for such publications as The Bulwark. In our interview, we touch on why he joined the Air Force, the horrors he saw in Iraq and then Afghanistan, the mental heath challenges he’s had to face, how writing has become therapy, his upcoming trip to Israel, what we don’t understand about groups such as the Taliban and Hamas, and his hope for the future of Afghanistan. 
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Boys are in a crisis. They're "isolated, emotionally repressed, and adrift," says guest Ruth Whippman. The research bears her out. Boys are four times more likely than girls to commit suicide, three times more likely to be addicts, and they're dropping out of high school and not going to college at record rates. Whippman, a journalist, cultural critic, and mother of 3 boys, has written a must-read new book on this essential topic called BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity. In our interview, we talk about:
Boys' difficulty forming deep emotional connections
The role of nature vs nurture in this crisis
The educational disparities between men and women.
The lack of role models for boys.
The surprising things Ruth learned about incels
How sexisms cuts both ways
Ruth's suggestions for working toward solving many of these issues.
 
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Culture writer Anne Helen Petersen has spent years researching and writing about burnout —that feeling of chronic stress and exhaustion that plagues so many in our always-working culture. On this special replay edition of the show, Anne explains how burnout differs from regular stress, why millennials seem particularly susceptible to it, and how we can start to overcome it both individually and systemically. 
 
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Fifty years ago, The New York Times Magazine featured Joyce Maynard on its cover for an essay she wrote entitled “An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life.” That story would catapult her to national prominence but also mark a traumatic beginning to a celebrated career as a prolific novelist and memoir writer. Unwittingly, Maynard became part of a MeToo scandal with iconic novelist J.D. Salinger long before male predatory behavior was in the news. She survived that affair to become an acclaimed, prolific author— penning 13 novels and 5 works of non-fiction, two of which were adapted for film. On the pod, she talks about her newest masterpiece, How the Light Gets In, getting canceled in the 90s, returning to Yale as a middle age mom to get a degree, reading and writing with ADHD, and the best writing advice she was ever given. 
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Sign up for my online Writing Masterclass on June 27 @ https://bit.ly/smallmasterclass
 

Guest Steve Almond has written a terrific new book called Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow: A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories. In it, he shares the insights he gleaned over three decades as a teacher, mentor, and author of 12 books of fiction and non-fiction. He also talks about his strategy for confronting the all-too-commom fear of failure. Some topics we dive into:
Steve's transition from journalism to creative writing. Mastering plot, chronology, and creating a chain of consequences How he draws characters from real-life observations, personal experiences, and sometimes characters that emerge from his artistic unconscious. Co-hosting the podcast Dear Sugar with writer Cheryl Strayed Listen in as we try to demystify the writing process.
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How much do you know about the history of the day you were born? Could you tell me any significant event, aside from your birth, that happened on your birthday? If you are born on July 4th or January 6th, that’s cheating. We're taking about less infamous days. Guest Dan Bova has written a fun new book for the History Channel called: This Day in History For Kids: 1001 Remarkable Moments & Fascinating Facts, which is chock full of interesting moments from early civilization up to the 21st century all around the world for every day of the year. We don't talk about all 1001, but you'll learn quite a bit. Dan also discusses his research process, the challenges of writing for kids in a polarized world, and why April 15 is a cool day to be born. 
Sign up for my online writing masterclass on June 27. https://bit.ly/smallmasterclass
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Order AG1 using this special address and get five free travel packs with your first purchase. www.drinkAG1.com/writeaboutnow