In this special year-in-review mailbag episode, producer Ella and I look back on favorite standout episodes from 2024, our process of working together, and what's ahead for Let It Out in the coming year. We answer a few questions about walking, the challenges of maintaining consistency, and our collaborative process with writing and editing newsletters and the truth of how our ideas take shape.

Here's Part 2 of my conversation with author Melissa Broder, author of the essay collection So Sad Today, and 5 poetry collections. Today you’ll hear about grief, losing a parent, writing her most recent novel, bodies & aging, our favorite grocery stores, & finding humor. In Part 1, we covered wellness culture, limerence, long-term relationships, her writing process & more.

Melissa Broder is the author of several novels, the essay collection So Sad Today, and 5 poetry collections. Today you’ll hear the first half of our conversation where we talked about everything from wellness culture to limerence, long-term relationships, and her writing process. Next week, in Part 2, we talk about grief, writing her most recent novel, our favorite grocery stores, & finding humor.

This week, Simi Botic—author, founder of *Unmeasured*, and my best friend—joins me to talk about PIVOT, a new zine of essays I compiled while being stuck inside this summer. We talk about seeing each other through different phases and the feelings that come from revisiting our old work. PIVOT is one big nod to my 20's, including all the lessons I learned and the experiences that taught me them.

This week I spoke with Zoë Pawlak, a Vancouver-based artist and industrial designer. After deciding to get sober, she turned to journaling as a way of expression and inner reflection. We cover: breaking traditional norms of what’s possible when you have kids; living an "artist lifestyle"; how what she calls "life quakes" lead to growth; and letting go of what’s no longer working.

This is Part 2 of my conversation with secondhand-fashion-obsessed writer Erika Veurink. She’s written everywhere from NY Magazine to Vogue to WSJ & writes the newsletter Long Live. In this part, we talk about personal style, go-to outfits, romantic relationship advice & more. Last week, we covered how places become part of our identities, spirituality & rest, and daily writing practice.

This is Part 1 of my conversation with secondhand-fashion-obsessed writer Erika Veurink. She’s written everywhere from NY Magazine to Vogue to WSJ & writes the newsletter Long Live. In Part 1 we cover how places become part of our identities, spirituality & rest, daily writing practice & her newsletter. Next week, we talk about personal style, go-to outfits, romantic relationships & more.

In this episode I speak with Shari Foos, a marriage & family therapist & the visionary founder of The Narrative Method. We delve into the power of human connection, concepts like the "cult of culture," the transformative impact of uninterrupted sharing, & the art of hosting salons. Shari shares her wisdom on managing overgiving, navigating friendships, sustaining romantic relationships & more.

Artist Anna Fusco, who you might know as Lord Cowboy, works across drawing, writing, and digital illustration. She’s done some big drawings, has a really cool poster and print shop, and writes a reader-supported newsletter called "Unsupervised". We discuss over-processing experiences, care vs. worry, the accountability that comes from living in community, and much more.

This is part 2 of my conversation with Nada Alic, author of Bad Thoughts. As you'll hear, she's one of those rare people who are as cool as they seem online, yet also warm, inviting, and genuinely kind. We take questions from some mutual friends, and she talks about her somewhat secret 3:00 ritual and much more.

This week I spoke to Nada Alic, author of Bad Thoughts. We recorded in a heatwave in LA and it all felt like a fever dream. As you'll hear, she's one of those rare people who are as cool as they seem online, yet also so warm, inviting, and genuinely kind. In part one, we cover everything from our first communions and lingering Catholic guilt to shadow integration, disembodiment, and more.

This week: musician Courtney Marie Andrews on songwriting, relationships, vulnerability, touring, making music videos, collaboration, and more. She started her career performing and busking up and down the West Coast; now, she’s toured all over and released several records, including 2020's GRAMMY-nominated Old Flowers. Her newest record, Loose Future, comes out in October.

Vanessa Chakour is an herbalist, author (Awakening Artemis) and educator who trains others in her field of helping people to connect to their environments. Her work is rooted in the natural world and what she calls our own inner-wild, or our intuitive connection to ourselves.

Val Chaney is a meditation and mindfulness educator, writer and the co-host of the We Made It Weird podcast with her husband, comedian Pete Holmes. She's hilarious, gentle, wise, incredibly smart and one of my favorite people. Part 1 covers anger, Internal Family Systems, learning to inhabit your body, attachment styles, fear of being alone, and how to approach all these insights with gentleness.

This week I spoke to New York Times journalist and author of Blood, Sweat & Chrome, Kyle Buchanan. He reports on pop culture and writes the NYT awards season column, The Projectionist, which he took over from the late great journalist David Carr. Kyle and I talk about the craft of interviewing, creating safety in conversation, movies, the process of writing an oral history, and more.

This week I spoke with Grace Park and Jesse Dalton, two members of the Austin-based band The Deer (recommended by previous podcast guest Buck Meek). We chat about the beginning of the band, being back on the road after quarantine, their new album, their process, trial and error, acceptance, friendship, grief, and much more.

This week I spoke with Buck Meek, a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of the band Big Thief. During our conversation, Buck talks about his songwriting process and shares how his love of surfing relates to music. We also talk about his childhood and musical influences, the reality of life on the road, the magic of musical collaboration, and more.

Savala is back this week for part 2! In this second half, we continue our conversation about her writing process for a book of essays and also discuss the imperfection of memory, motivations for telling a story about someone else, rejection, and sitting in your own body.

This week I’m so happy to have writer, teacher, and social justice attorney Savala Nolan back on the podcast. Savala's new book of essays, Don't Let It Get You Down, has made a tremendous impact on me, which we discuss at length in this part 1 of our conversation.

This week I brought back one of my favorite people, author Andrea Owen. In her third appearance on the podcast, we cover trauma healing, writing process, handling conflict, how personal growth relates to community growth, confidence, indecision, how patriarchy hurts everyone, addiction, relationships, her approach to feminism, friendship and more.

Ellen is the founder and CEO of Hedley & Bennett whose signature ampersand logo can be seen on top chefs around the world. Born and raised in LA to a Mexican mother and English father, she felt a strong connection to Mexico and moved there when she was 18. We talk about treating everyone with care, productivity, time management, and Ellen gives the best dinner party hosting advice I’ve ever heard.

Loré is one of my favorite writers. We originally connected when she reached out to interview me for The Creative Independent. She has written about intimacy, identity, and interconnection for The New York Times and Man Repeller. In this week’s episode, we talk about dating as hopeless romantics, social media, intention, writing, moving to New York, and dealing with life’s highs and lows.

This week one of my favorite authors returns. Kayleen Schaefer is a journalist and author of Text Me When You Get Home. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Vogue. Her new book, But You’re Still So Young, is out now. In this episode we talk about how this generation is redefining what it's like to be in our 30s. We cover Kayleen's writing rituals and more.

Stephanie Danler is the author of the international bestseller, Sweetbitter, and the creator and executive producer of the Sweetbitter series. In this episode we discuss many of the themes of her latest book, Stray, including inheriting trauma, boundaries, relationships, motherhood and more. We also talk about writing, her process, creativity, and food.