Page Count

New Year’s Resolutions for Writers

We’re wrapping up 2024 by offering New Year’s resolutions for writers inspired by advice offered this year by some of Page Count’s guest authors: Ross Gay, Claire McMillan, Alison Stine, Jacqueline Woodson, Hanif Abdurraqib, Brian Broome, Sara Moore Wagner, Chiquita Mullins Lee, Leah Stewart, Rob Harvilla, Libby Kay, David Hassler, and Alex Rowland. From writing in new places to finding inspiration, letting go of perfection, making new writing friends, and beyond, these twelve resolutions can help writers start 2025 on a positive and productive note.
 
12 Resolutions for Writers:
Let go of perfection. (Page Count Live: Trash & Delight with Ross Gay & Alison Stine)
Protect your in-progress writing as necessary. (Alchemy of Writing with Claire McMillan)
Don’t be precious about where you write—and make good use of the available time you have to work, no matter how limited. (Page Count Live: Trash & Delight with Ross Gay & Alison Stine)
Don’t let a fixation on awards, publications, or recognition affect your writing process. (Page Count Live with Hanif Abdurraqib & Jacqueline Woodson)
Write outside of yourself and consider other perspectives—as well as the reader’s experience. (Cringe & Controversy with Brian Broome)
Leave your writing desk to go out into the world to research and experience new things. (Exploring the Myth of Annie Oakley with Sara Moore Wagner)
Don’t put pressure on yourself to publish on a certain timeline. (Carving a Story with Chiquita Mullins Lee & Carmella Van Vleet)
When the going gets tough, remember the beneficial parts of the writing life. (At the Sewanee Writers’ Conference with Leah Stewart)
Try not to take yourself so seriously, and don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake. (Be a Cockroach at the Columbus Book Festival)
Make a new writing friend. (Be a Cockroach at the Columbus Book Festival)
Find inspiration in your daily life. (40 Years of Poetry with David Hassler)
Be resilient in your writing life. Better yet, be unkillable, like a cockroach. (Be a Cockroach at the Columbus Book Festival)
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Literary Cleveland Presents: Ruth Awad & Maggie Smith

In a virtual panel hosted by Literary Cleveland during the 2024 Inkubator writing conference, Ohio poets Ruth Awad and Maggie Smith consider how poetry can awaken us to new possibilities of being. Throughout their wide-ranging conversation, Awad and Smith discuss inspiration, hyphenated identities, poems as time capsules, poetic supervillain origin stories, and finding language for grief and rage as well as peace and liberation. What words keep us moving? How can poetry help us not just survive but find joy?
 
The event, titled “Outside the Joy: Poetry and Possibility,” was held September 18, 2024. Page Count thanks Literary Cleveland for making this episode possible.
 
Ruth Awad is a Lebanese-American poet, a 2021 NEA Poetry fellow, and the author of Outside the Joy (Third Man Books, 2024) and Set to Music a Wildfire (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She is the co-editor of The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2020). She lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio.
 
Maggie Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful; My Thoughts Have Wings, a picture book illustrated by Leanne Hatch; the national bestsellers Goldenrod and Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change; as well as Good Bones, named one of the Best Five Poetry Books of 2017 by the Washington Post; The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison; and Lamp of the Body. Her next book, Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life, is forthcoming in April 2025.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

The Art of Audiobook Narration

If you’ve ever wondered about the process of turning your book into an audiobook, or what it takes to work as an audiobook narrator, then this episode is for you. Danielle Muething and Gary Leo Smith, two professional narrators based in Ohio, share a behind-the-scenes look at the art of audiobook narration. They discuss everything from how to get started as a narrator, how much money narrators can expect to earn, different pricing models, what authors should consider as they seek out a narrator for their books, AI’s impact on the industry, rights considerations, the editing process, and a lot more.
 
Danielle Muething and Gary Leo Smith are members of Ohio Audiobook Narrators, a support group for professional and aspiring audiobook narrators.
 
Danielle Muething has been an actor, singer, dancer, and teacher. She is currently an audiobook narrator, voice over artist, and writer. This year she released her first book with a second coming soon - both of which she will narrate. When she isn't narrating or writing, she is reading, playing video games, watching movies, and hanging out with her husband and two dogs.
 
Gary Leo Smith has narrated over 30 audiobooks and stories on many subjects, from real estate and self-improvement to military thrillers and children’s books. After a career in marketing and art direction, he turned his curiosity about audiobooks into a second career. He records in a home studio he designed and does his own audio production. Gary is an avid reader, and his other pursuits are aviation, scuba diving, and the occasional round of golf, played somewhat poorly. He is a founding member of Ohio Audiobook Narrators (OAN).
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Holiday Gift Recommendations from Gathering Volumes

Denise Phillips, the owner of Gathering Volumes, an independent bookstore in Perrysburg, Ohio, offers holiday gift recommendations for readers of all ages and interests. From eels to dragons, baked goods, murderbots, Toni Morrison/Buffy the Vampire Slayer mashups, and a lot more, listen to get some holiday shopping ideas for the book lover in your life.
 
Books Denise recommends:
Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka (part of the Roxane Weary series)
Titanshade by Dan Stout (part of the Carter Archives series)
You Should Smile More and Not Bad for a Girl by Anastasia Ryan
Barnaby Unboxed! by Terry Fan, Eric Fan, and Devin Fan
The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz
Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon
Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
Heroine by Mindy McGinnis
Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (part of the Murderbot Diaries series)
On Tyranny (graphic edition) by Timothy Snyder and illustrated by Nora Krug
Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore & Symbolism by Jessica Roux
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Pew by Catherine Lacey
Ring Shout by P Djèlí Clark
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Making Light with Julia Kuo

Author and illustrator Julia Kuo discusses her picture book Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night, which won the 2024 Floyd’s Pick Book Award. She shines a light on bioluminescence, the mysteries of the open ocean, squids and glowworms and jellyfish, illustration career paths, her journey to becoming an author, and the art of making our own light.
 
Julia Kuo is the author and illustrator of Let’s Do Everything and Nothing and Luminous. She is the illustrator of many picture and specialty books, including The Next Scientist, When Love Is More Than Words, and the bestselling Rise. Julia has created editorial illustrations for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. She has taught at Columbia College Chicago and at her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Julia has been an artist-in-residence twice at the Banff Centre for the Arts and a 2019-2021 fellow with the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Among the Graves in Ohio's Cemeteries

Halloween is right around the corner, so grab your pumpkin spice lattes and join us as we explore Ohio’s cemeteries with Ian Adams, Randall Lee Schieber, and Robin L. Smith, the photographers and author, respectively, of This Place of Silence: Ohio’s Cemeteries and Burial Grounds. Our guests discuss the process of photographing and writing about cemeteries in every county in Ohio, cemetery art and architecture, the history and evolution of the American cemetery, unique gravestones and monuments, famous figures put to rest in Ohio’s burial sites, the literary inspiration behind the book’s title, and a lot more.
 
Ian Adams has twenty-one photography books and more than sixty-five Ohio calendars to his credit. He conducts nature and garden photography seminars, workshops, and slide programs throughout North America and taught digital photography at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster from 2010 to 2019.
 
Randall Lee Schieber is a professional photographer based in Columbus, Ohio. He specializes in editorial, architectural, location, and travel photography and has published eight books and fifteen calendars. His work has appeared in a variety of local and national publications.
 
Robin L. Smith is the research director at Columbus Business First newspaper. She is the coauthor (with Randall Lee Schieber) of Columbus: A Photographic Portrait and Ohio: Then and Now, and the author of Columbus Ghosts: Historical Haunts of Ohio’s Capital and Columbus Ghosts II: More Central Ohio Haunts.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Be a Cockroach at the Columbus Book Festival

Page Count hit the road in July to record a panel interview with authors and podcasters Rob Harvilla, Libby Kay, and Alex Rowland in front of a live audience at the Columbus Book Festival. Listen in as Rob, Libby, and Alex discuss their work, offer tips for other writers and podcasters, define “podcast princess,” share mistakes and lessons learned, reveal why the Columbus Book Festival was one of their favorite events, and encourage writers to aspire to be cockroaches. Yes, cockroaches. Also, Laura explains how she messed up the original event recording and had to fix her mistakes, so that’s fun!
 
Rob Harvilla is the host of the podcast 60 Songs That Explain the '90s, the author of the book of the same name, and a senior staff writer at The Ringer. He recently debuted the next iteration of his podcast, 60 Songs That Explain the '90s: The 2000s.
 
Libby Kay is an author of romance novels, including the Buckeye Falls series. The most recent novel in this series is Forever to Fall; she promoted Faking the Fall at the Columbus Book Festival. Libby cohosts the Romance Roundup podcast with Liz Donatelli.
 
Alexandra Rowland is the author of fantasy books, including A Taste of Gold and Iron and A Conspiracy of Truths, among others. Alex’s latest novel is Yield Under Great Persuasion; they promoted Running Close to the Wind at the Columbus Book Festival. Alex was a four-time Hugo Award-nominated podcaster as a cohost of Be the Serpent.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

40 Years of Poetry with David Hassler

In celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University, David Hassler, the Bob and Walt Wick Executive Director of the Wick Poetry Center, sheds light on the Center’s history, programs, and community impact while also sharing a few poems and discussing highlights from the recent anniversary events.
 
Robert Wick, a sculptor and former art department faculty member at Kent State University, and his brother, Walter Wick, established the Wick Poetry Center in memory of their sons. Today, the Wick Poetry Center encourages new voices by promoting opportunities for individuals and communities locally, regionally and nationally. Wick engages emerging and established poets and poetry audiences through readings, publications, workshops and scholarship opportunities.
 
David Hassler directs the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. He is an author, editor, poet, and playwright, with works including the poetry collection Red Kimono, Yellow Barn, for which he was awarded Ohio Poet of the Year 2006; May 4th Voices: Kent State, 1970, a play based on the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project; Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community, a documentary book he authored with photographer Gary Harwood, and which received the Ohioana Book Award and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award; and additional co-edited works. His TEDx talk, “The Conversation of Poetry,” conveys the power of poetry to strengthen communities.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Settling Ohio with Timothy G. Anderson & Brian Schoen

Brian Schoen, Ph.D., and Timothy G. Anderson, Ph.D., the editors of Settling Ohio: First Peoples and Beyond, discuss Ohio’s history, the inspiration for and genesis of Settling Ohio, their process for putting the book together, academic publishing, and more. Settling Ohio: First Peoples and Beyond was Ohio Center for the Book’s 2024 Great Reads from Great Places selection for adult readers and represented the state at the National Book Festival.  
  
Timothy G. Anderson, Ph.D., is an associate professor of geography at Ohio University.
 
Brian Schoen, Ph.D., is the chair of the Department of History and the James Richard Hamilton/Baker & Hostetler Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the Humanities at Ohio University. He is the author of The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War and has coedited three other collections.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Carving a Story with Chiquita Mullins Lee & Carmella Van Vleet

Chiquita Mullins Lee and Carmella Van Vleet, authors of the picture book You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!, discuss the life, art, and significance of Elijah Pierce, a celebrated, self-taught Black folk artist known for his wood carvings. They share how their book grew out of Lee’s play about Elijah Pierce, their collaborative writing process, their experience viewing Pierce’s carvings at the Columbus Museum of Art, what it means to them personally to tell Pierce’s story, and more. You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce! is Ohio’s 2024 Great Reads from Great Places youth selection and represented the state the 2024 National Book Festival. The book is illustrated by Jennifer Mack-Watkins.
 
Chiquita Mullins Lee is an Arts Learning coordinator at the Ohio Arts Council, where she coordinates Ohio’s Poetry Out Loud program along with the Arts Partnership and the Big Yellow School Bus grant programs. Her play about Elijah Pierce, Pierce to the Soul, will be return to the stage on November 1, 2024, at McConnell Arts Center in Columbus.
 
Carmella Van Vleet is a former teacher and the award-winning author of almost two dozen books for kids and adults. She lives in Ohio and likes lists, exclamation points, and baking shows. But not necessarily in that order.
 
Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.