Ep. 44: Shawn Smucker & Maile Silva [Art + Ash series]

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ABOUT THE EPISODE

Shawn Smucker and Maile Silva—writers and co-hosts of The Stories Between Us podcast—help Sarah kick off the Art + Ash series with a candid conversation about the creative life. They chat about some of the joys and struggles they’ve experienced navigating two writers living under the same roof, while also parenting their six kids and fostering a family culture that prioritizes creative pursuits. Maile talks about how essential writing is to her overall health and wellness and how she’s had to wade through difficult seasons of her career not going as planned. Sarah, Shawn, and Maile also discuss comparison, finding a creative outlet (even if it’s not your career), and creativity in seasons of struggle.

MEET THE GUESTS

Shawn Smucker is an award-winning novelist by night (with five titles under his belt) and a collaborator and co-writer by day (having worked on 25+ books with other individuals, publishers, and authors).

Maile Silva has an honors degree in English, has written three novels, and recently signed with an agent. She loves teaching and mentoring others in their writing journey.

EPISODE NOTES

• The Stories Between Us podcast

• The Stories Between Us Community (podcast, writing courses, and more)

• Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A Novel by Maria Semple

• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

• The Weight of Memory (Shawn’s latest novel)

• Episode with Steve Weins about Collective Grief on The Stories Between Us podcast

• From Tablet to Table: Where Community is Found and Identity is Formed by Leonard Sweet

• Jennifer Dukes Lee (author of Growing Slow)

• Connect with Shawn & Maile:

  • The Stories Between Us podcast

  • The Stories Between Us Community

  • Instagram: @shawnsmucker

  • Twitter: @shawnsmucker

  • Facebook page: Shawn Smucker, Writer

• What Maile is reading:

  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins

  • Anxious People by Frederik Bachman

• What Shawn is reading:

  • The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr

  • The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life by Marion Roach Smith

  • A Compass for Deep Heaven: Navigating the C.S. Lewis Ransom Trilogy (edited by Diana Pavlac Glyer and Julianne Johnson)

• What Sarah is reading:

  • Walden by Henry David Thoreau

• SUBSCRIBE to Sarah’s newsletter, The Shelf.

• Next Week’s guest: Rachel Kang (writer & founder of Indelible Ink Writers)

CLICK HERE to connect with Sarah on Instagram!

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