London Writers' Salon

Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Jennifer Breheny Wallace on mattering, resilience through relationships, and the writing practices behind two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books.

You’ll learn

Why resilience as a writer has far less to do with self-care routines and far more to do with the people you surround yourself with.

How to tell whether your idea is a series of articles or a book, and what structural test separates one from the other.

A practical way to ask for feedback on your writing that actually leads to useful criticism instead of vague encouragement.

Why putting yourself in a nonfiction book can transform it, even if every journalistic instinct tells you not to.

The writing schedule that let a journalist with three kids produce two bestselling books, and why it starts at 4AM.

Why your inner critic tends to sleep in, and how to take advantage of the hours before it wakes up.

A visual trick involving artist sketches that can help you push through the frustration of early drafts.

What a lesson from Morley Safer at 60 Minutes reveals about the tension between accuracy and storytelling in nonfiction.

The surprising research behind mattering and why it goes deeper than self-esteem, belonging, or purpose on their own.

A 30-second daily practice that can help you reconnect to your sense of purpose when long-term projects leave you feeling stuck.

Resources & Links

📄Interview Transcript

The Mattering Movement

Mattering by Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Never Enough by Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Lives Well Lived Podcast Episode w/ Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Julia Cameron on LWS Podcast

The Oprah Podcast w/Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Subscribe to Jennifer’s Newsletter

Jennifer’s IG

About Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Jennifer Wallace is an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling book Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic — And What We Can Do About It, which was named an Amazon Best Book of the Year. Wallace has contributed to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Jennifer began her journalism career in television at “60 Minutes”. She lives in New York City.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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Description:

Neuroscientist and bestselling author David Eagleman on the brain science behind creativity, what actually causes writer's block, and how pre-commitment strategies like the Ulysses contract can help writers finish what they start.

 

You'll learn:

Why creativity isn't a rare gift, and what's actually happening in every brain when it absorbs and remixes the world around it.

The three core algorithms behind creative thinking, and how to use them deliberately when you're stuck on a project.

What's really going on in the brain when a writer feels blocked, and why the fix might be simpler than you think.

A compelling case against the "shower idea" myth, and why sitting down to work may be where your best thinking actually happens.

How a concept from ancient Greek literature can help you set up contracts with your future self to finish what you start.

A surprising writing routine behind roughly a million published words, and why it happens at the same chain restaurant every time.

A method for juggling multiple creative projects without losing momentum on any of them.

Why switching genres and feeling like a beginner is one of the best things you can do for your brain as a writer.

How to think about the difference between fiction and nonfiction when it comes to what AI can and can't replace.

The moment at age 13 that shaped an entire career in science communication, and what it reveals about writing for an audience.

Resources & Links:

📄 Interview Transcript

David’s Website

Inner Cosmos

The Creative Brain

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

The Runaway Species

Ulysses contract

Sum

David’s Substack

About David Eagleman:

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Stanford University and an internationally bestselling author. He is co-founder of two venture-backed companies, Neosensory and BrainCheck, and he also directs the Center for Science and Law, a national non-profit institute. He is best known for his work on sensory substitution, time perception, brain plasticity, synesthesia, and neurolaw. His books include Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, The Runaway Species, and Livewired. He is the writer and presenter of the Emmy-nominated PBS series The Brain with David Eagleman and hosts the podcast Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
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Acclaimed short fiction writers Sarah Hall, Jonathan Escoffery, and Niamh Mulvey on building immersive worlds in compressed spaces, grounding stories in real human stakes, and writing openings and endings that transform both character and reader.

 

Timestamps:

(00:01:06) Sarah Hall, from Episode 161

(00:14:43) Jonathan Escoffery, from Episode 56

(00:26:40) Niamh Mulvey, previously unreleased conversation

 

You'll learn:

Sarah Hall's "keyhole" approach to short stories — and how the unseen world beyond the scene gives a story its depth.

Why trusting your preoccupations beats forcing a theme, and how over-awareness of your own subject can kill the fiction.

A technique for thickening a thin first draft: telescope into your character's childhood, then out to their future.

Why Jonathan Escoffery believes stories without real-world stakes will lose to equally crafted stories that engage with the world, every time.

How Escoffery pairs imagination with lived emotional experience to make unfamiliar settings resonate — and why personal growth feeds artistic growth.

What choosing a linked story collection over a novel taught Escoffery about pacing, pause, and propulsive energy.

Why Niamh Mulvey thinks showing off your best writing in an opening is a mistake — and what to do instead (start specific, name a character, put two people in relation).

A prompt for finding your story's urgency: ask "why this moment?" and aim for the energy of really good gossip.

How character desire shapes place and plot at the same time, so setting becomes what your character wants rather than backdrop.

Mulvey's "third element" — a character, object, or event seeded early that can emerge later to unlock your ending.

Resources & Links:

Join our LWS community!

Sarah's full episode and notes

Jonathan's full episode and notes

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

Hearts and Bones: Love Songs for Late Youth by Niamh Mulvey

The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey

Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan

About Sarah Hall:

Sarah Hall is one of the UK's most talented authors. Twice nominated for the Man Booker Prize, the first and only writer to win the BBC National Short Story Award twice, she has written ten highly acclaimed novels and short story collections.

About Jonathan Escoffery:

Jonathan Escoffery is the author of the linked story collection If I Survive You, a New York Times and Booklist Editor's Choice, an IndieNext Pick, and a National Bestseller. His stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Oprah Daily, Electric Literature, Zyzzyva, AGNI, Pleiades, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, Passages North, and elsewhere.

About Niamh Mulvey:

Niamh Mulvey is from Kilkenny, Ireland. Her short fiction has been published in The Stinging Fly, Banshee and Southword and was shortlisted for the Seán O'Faoláin Prize for Short Fiction 2020. Her short story collection Hearts and Bones: Love Songs for Late Youth was published by Picador. The Amendments is her first novel.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
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Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

Memoirist and filmmaker Curtis Chin on pitching for national press, booking venues through cold emails, and making a high-volume book events strategy financially sustainable.   
You’ll learn:
Why Curtis booked readings before his memoir released to drive pre-orders, and what that early push unlocked. 
How he found venues by researching programs and series online, then sending cold outreach without overcomplicating it. 
A practical way to define your “audience” so your outreach targets the right communities and institutions. 
How to write a venue email that creates urgency (a “hook” and a reason to say yes now), without sounding gimmicky. 
A press pitching approach that starts local, builds credibility, and then moves toward national outlets. 
What his spreadsheets are (and aren’t) for, and a lightweight way to track outreach and payments without building a complicated system. 
How he initially used a publisher budget, then supplemented it with community funding when the budget wasn’t enough. 
Why momentum compounds (your growing “resume” of events and media makes the next invitations easier), and how to lean into that effect. 
How he structures his day to keep writing, business logistics, and book marketing moving at the same time. 
How getting paid for talks changed the economics of touring, and why nonfiction subject expertise can create more paid speaking opportunities. 
 
Resources & Links:
📑 Interview Transcript
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
Curtis’ NYT article
Curtis’ Website

About Curtis Chin:
Curtis Chin is the author of the award-winning memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Curtis Chin served as the non-profit’s first Executive Director. He went on to write comedy for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appétit, The Detroit Free Press and The Emancipator. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His essay in Bon Appétit was selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and his short doc, Dear Corky premiered on American Masters. He is currently working on a new docuseries on the history of Chinese restaurants in America. 

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
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Writer and director Morgan Cooper on turning a self-funded Bel-Air short into a series, building creative audacity before opportunity arrives, and staying resourceful across drafts, collaboration, and a children’s picture book.
You'll learn:
Why “imperfect action” can be a practical antidote to creative paralysis, especially early in your craft.
How he found a compelling dramatic lens by stripping away sitcom expectations and focusing on character archetypes and real-world stakes.
What it can look like to invest commercial income back into self-initiated work to build a body of proof.
Why “waiting for permission” often hides fear, and how starting anyway can change what’s possible.
Why the “angle” of your idea matters, and how recalibrating it can be the difference between a draft that stalls and a draft that lands.
How identifying the “big question” of a story can give your scenes direction and your revisions momentum.
Simple ways to keep the creative channel open using a notes app, project scrap bins, and a journaling method that functions like index cards.
How collaboration becomes part of the craft when you treat writing as iterative perspective-building, not a solitary performance.
What writing a picture book can teach about economy, structure, and building an arc inside tight page limits.
How designing a kid-led mission around resourcefulness can create momentum and emotional payoff in short form.

Resources & Links:
📄Interview Transcript
Cooper’s original Bel-Air concept trailer
Bel-Air on Peacock
The College Dropout - Kanye West
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
I Can Make A Movie! 
Geneva Bowers - Illustrator and Artist
Hair love - Matthew A. Cherry
Film London
Mediatrust.org - Mentoring Opportunities
Dancing Ledge Productions - Mentoring Opportunities

About Morgan Cooper:
Morgan Stevenson Cooper is a Los Angeles-based writer and director and the creative force behind Bel-Air, the dramatic reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that grew out of his self-released short film in March 2019. After the film drew widespread attention, Will Smith and Westbrook Studios came on board as collaborators, and the series premiered in February 2022, with Cooper serving as creator, director, co-writer, and executive producer. He is a two-time Tribeca X winner for U Shoot Videos? and Pay Day, and is developing BLKCOFFEE as writer, director, and executive producer.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!