Need a pep talk?
The Stories Writers Tell Themselves. 12 short episodes for when you're riddled with doubt, convinced everyone else is doing better than you, wondering if it's ever going to happen, or if this is as good as it gets.
Reset your thinking, get out of your own way, and get back to making your best work.
Free to listen · normally a $9 course
Not on Apple or Spotify? Search 'The Stories Writers Tell Themselves' in your podcast app.
12 short episodes · free to listen · no sign-up needed
12 short episodes, in order, from the welcome to the wrap-up.
The Stories Writers Tell Themselves
A short welcome to the series, and why writing's hardest moments are usually thinking problems, not craft problems.
What if everyone hates my work?
Why sharing your work feels riskier than writing it, and how to let people read it anyway.
Rejection means I'm not good enough
Why rejection feels personal, and why it usually isn't.
I can't call myself a writer yet
How to stop waiting for permission (or a book deal) to take your work seriously.
Everyone else is doing better than me
What comparison is really about, and how to stop losing energy to it.
I never finish anything
Why stalled projects are usually a design problem, not a character flaw.
I'm running out of time
How urgency creates pressure, and why 'too late' rarely holds up.
I'm tired of trying
What effort fatigue looks like, and how to think long-term again.
What's the point of writing?
A better answer to existential dread than giving up.
When I achieve this, then I can relax
Why the calm, confident writing life you want doesn't have to wait.
I thought success would feel different
What happens when you get the thing you wanted, and it doesn't fix how you feel.
When you can see the story
Wrapping up the series, and what changes once you can spot the story you're in.
The course this podcast series is drawn from.
'I'm a published novelist seven times over... I loved what I got from this. I couldn't recommend it more highly.'
Kylie Ladd, author
'Feels like I've had a complete motivation reset. Your words really gave my heart a lift.'
Published author (name withheld)
'Firing up my morning routine with an episode, insightful and frequently hilarious.'
Anne Farrell, author
Free to listen (normally $9)
Not on Apple or Spotify? Search 'The Stories Writers Tell Themselves' in your podcast app.
Katherine Collette writes books for adults and children. She's particularly interested in the strange business of being a writer: how we make good work, how we keep going, and what our brains get up to along the way.