Looking for the perfect blend of literature and community? Visit the San Gabriel Valley Litfest, coming in 2013.

Meanwhile, as promised, here are links to the most recent books recommended on the latest episodes of Writer Ninja Podcast. Check them out!

From Episode Four, “Mothers and the Others”

Bearing Life: Women’s Writing on Childlessness, edited by Rochelle Ratner

The Mommy Myth, by Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels

Misconceptions, by Naomi Wolf

From Episode Five, “The Gift of Consent”

East of Los Angeles, by John Brantingham

Building a Character, by Constantin Stanislavski

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott

You Already Know, by Aaron Henne

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Episode Five, “The Gift of Consent,” now available on iTunes and on this site. Jo asks for your thoughts on how important consent is to any authentic learning experience, both inside and outside traditional learning situations. She also interviews writer John Brantingham, author of East of Los Angeles (a poetry collection), and professor extraordinaire of English and Creative Writing at Mount San Antonio College.

Brantingham is also the current coordinator for the San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival, planned for Winter 2013.

Recommended links for readings will appear shortly: Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott), You Already Know (Aaron Henne), and Building a Character (Constantin Stanislavski). Also check back for information on the Mount San Antonio Writers’ Weekend coming up soon!

Happy new year, everyone!

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Episode Four, “Mothers and the Others, ” now available on iTunes and on this site.

What does a happily married woman with no kids have in common with a happily married mother of three–who’s now expecting her fourth child? More than you might think. Drop your stereotypes and listen as Jo chats with Lindsey Frandsen, founder of Thinking Moms in Riverside, California.

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As promised on Writer Ninja Podcast Episode Three, here’s a thought-provoking set of insightful tools for thinking about that “block” you keep having. Maybe you’re clinging to it! Let go!

The toolkit appeared online in early 2011 in the New Yorker. Therapists Michels and Stutz have been getting a lot of media play recently for their work with helping creative folks get back on the wagon of writing/producing/acting/developing.

Thank you to John Cusack for the great Twitter tip-off!

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Working writers and artists share their commiserations about life on the Z-list.  Jo sent out a call for funny, snarky, and sometimes sad stories.

Each contributor finished this sentence: You know you’re on the Z-list when…

Susan Straight‘s latest novel is Take One Candle Light a Room. “When you finish your reading at the ________ Public Library and find out your overnight accommodations are in the librarian’s house, in the bedroom of her son gone off to college, and the wallpaper has baseballs and bats, which make you miss having a brother.”

Orville Stoeber, Venice musician, “found” object sculptor, and performer. He most recently composed, arranged, and performed the soundtrack for Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Year of the Flood. “There is a fine line between funk and bleached cat shit,” he says. “I’ve been on the Z list for so long, I didn’t know there was another list. My first review in New York was ‘the music by Orville Stoeber is lousy.’ That was Variety 1969, the Ronald Tavel play, Boy On The Straight Back Chair.”

Long Beach poet Clint Margrave has recent or forthcoming work in The New York Quarterly, Ambit, 3AM, Pearl, Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, among others, as well as in the recent anthology Beside The City of Angels: An Anthology of Long Beach Poetry (World Parade Books).  ”You know you’re on the Z-list when you work in the bookstore you’re reading at.”

Judy Kronenfeld‘s third book of poetry, Shimmer (Word Tech Editions), will ripple into the poetry world in early 2012.  “You know you’re on the Z-list when your poetry reading audience is 80% people you know plus a clutch of winos who wanted in from the cold.”

Cati Porter is the editor of Poemeleon and the author of several poetry collections that don’t suck. “You know you’re on the Z-list when you’re giving a poetry reading and someone in the audience begins to snore.”

No matter the struggle, Zen on the Z-List means freedom!

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What music, art, or artists inspire you as a writer? as a thinker? as a human being? Who–or what–gets your imagination unstuck?

What is the “Z-list” (whatever your field of expertise!)–and how can you claim your zen there?

Check out Epidode Three of the Writer Ninja Podcast on iTunes or here at the site.

Jo shares some of her creative influences–with a special thank you to John Cusack–and invites you to name your own names. You’ll also hear Jo talk about the Z-List with author and publisher Chiwan Choi and share info about a great tool kit from creativity gurus Barry Michels and Phil Stutz.

[Special bonus: thoughts on creative freedom from the German alter-ego of novelist Stephanie Hammer.]

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Now available on iTunes and on this site. In Episode Two, “Making Labor Visible,” Jo invites you to share what you do for a living–or for a life. Next, in a short conversation on MyND Talk with Dr. Pamela Brewer, Jo talks about how the labor of teaching first became visible to her–and how too many people point fingers while glossing over the realities of human lives on and off campus. Finally, Jo introduces the inspiring Austin Kleon, “a writer who draws.”

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Thanks again to photographer Carlos Puma and journalist John C. Welsh for this short piece in Inland Empire Central, now available on YouTube.

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Now available on iTunes and on this site. In Episode One, “Remakes and Remixes,” Jo invites you to share your thoughts about (un)necessary film remakes, shares how she wove Margaret Atwood and Mary Kay Letourneau into her essay collection, and introduces you to Deb Koffman’s luminous “Art for the Soul.” Post comments here or send Jo an email!

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A more candid and personal look at the origins of Teacher at Point Blank.

On this nationally syndicated episode of “MyND Talk,” Jo shares with Dr. Brewer about childhood in North Dakota, the complex dynamics of her conservative military family, her own experiences with bullying as a junior-high kid, and her journey forward towards a career of teaching and writing.

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