Ashley’s Substack Podcast

About Ashley’s Substack Podcast

Wannabe Wisdom explores the unfiltered creative life: writing, learning, healing, spiraling, rebuilding, and trying-again-anyway. It’s part diary and part creative studio, made to help sensitive, ambitious creatives find their voice, trust their work, and keep going long enough to accidentally impress themselves. wannabewisdom.substack.com (https://wannabewisdom.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Ashley Evans

Category

arts · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Nov 2024

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

42 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   It’s Alive: My Substack Essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Is Now a Film

   Content note: This video includes some nudity and graphic, grotesque imagery, including monsters and corpses. AI was used to create the film’s visual scenes and to help with research. Every word of the script is my own. Last month, I wrote an essay about how Mary Shelley came up with the brilliant story of Frankenstein (https://wannabewisdom.substack.com/p/waiting-for-frankenstein) when she was only 18 years old. It wasn’t quite the story you’re used to hearing. I had a slightly different take. She didn’t just wake up from a dream with a brilliant idea. There were a lot of things happening in her life and in the world around her. It started in June 1816, when eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley was stuck inside a lakeside villa with Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. Outside, it rained incessantly in the middle of summer, thanks to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia a year earlier. So, while they were stuck inside, they challenged each other to write a ghost story. Every morning, when someone asked if she’d thought of one yet, her answer was no. She called this writer’s block a “blank incapability of invention.” But there was actually a lot going on beneath the surface. She was having nightmares about the baby she’d lost days after it was born, imagining warming it back to life. She was also listening to late-night arguments between literary geniuses Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, about whether a corpse could be reanimated. Then one night, somewhere between waking and sleep, Frankenstein came to her. After that came eleven months of writing every day while her life kept coming apart around her. And out of it, Mary produced Frankenstein. Mary believed invention comes out of chaos, from “dark, shapeless substances,” and I keep wondering what all of us are carrying around right now that hasn’t found its form yet. Then the essay I wrote became my own Frankenstein. My husband took my words and stitched them into a short film, and I spent a surprising number of evenings watching corpses twitch on our living room TV. I hope you enjoy it. Evolving loudly.With Love & Rebellion, ❤️Ashley WATCH THE SHORT FILM ON YOUTUBE 👇 👉 Production, post-production and visuals by Silver Kim. 👉 Story written and performed by me 📚 Books mentioned in this video * Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Amazon US (https://amzn.to/4z2dOyv) | Amazon Canada (https://link.amazon/B0eIlTuSk) * Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King: Amazon US (https://amzn.to/3WBxtGR) | Amazon Canada (https://link.amazon/B00rDfSz0) As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. A little collective solitude What struck me about Mary’s creative process is that even on the mornings she had nothing to write, she had company: people reading, arguing, and attempting their own stories in the next room. I think most of us could use a bit more of that. Are you working on something? A book? An essay? A business idea? Some project you keep meaning to get back to? Twice a month, I’m opening a Co-Work room for paid subscribers. We’ll say hello in the chat; share what we’re working on (if we want); and then work for an hour. You get an hour of protected time, while helping keep yourself and other’s accountable to the work you say you want to do! Our first session is Friday, October 30th at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wannabewisdom.substack.com/subscribe (https://wannabewisdom.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   17 Oct 2026

   No Contact: The Complicated Truth About Family Estrangement with Jenny Bartoy

   I sat down with Jenny Bartoy, editor of No Contact: Writers on Family Estrangement, an anthology featuring 32 writers, including Cheryl Strayed, Stephanie Foo, and Nick Flynn. We talked about the complicated feelings from relief to shame and guilt that can come with family estrangement. Jenny explained that going no contact is rarely a decision anyone makes lightly. For many, it’s something they arrive at after years of painful family relationships. I was blown away by the diversity of these stories and the strength of the people telling them. What struck me most was how these writers found the language to articulate incredibly complicated, often misunderstood and invisible experiences. We talked about gaslighting, having your reality denied, and how sometimes creating distance from family becomes necessary for self-preservation. We also talked about what happens when you can’t find the language to describe your own experiences. I’ve been trying to write my memoir for years, and I admitted to Jenny that I felt I’d failed because I couldn’t find the words. She gently reminded me of one word: “Yet.” That little exchange has stayed with me. I came away from our conversation feeling incredibly motivated, and I hope you’ll take the time to watch it. Watch the interview on YouTube 👇 About Jenny Jenny Bartoy is a French American writer, developmental editor, and critic. She’s the editor of No Contact: Writers on Estrangement (Catapult, 2026). Her work appears in several literary anthologies and in publications such as The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, Literary Hub, Under the Gum Tree, Room, Chicago Review of Books, and The Rumpus, among others. She holds a master's degree from Columbia University and lives in the Pacific Northwest. You can find her online at www.jennybartoy.com (http://www.jennybartoy.com/) or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jenny.bartoy/). ✍️ Subscribe to Jenny Bartoy (https://substack.com/profile/18026840-jenny-bartoy)’s Substack About the book Ocean Vuong, author of The Emperor of Gladness, describes No Contact as: “A landmark work around a theme so prominent—and yet so thoroughly ignored—in modern life. This collection opens chasms beyond writing and testament—but braves toward a new vision of healing, self-dignity, and, most importantly, the possibility for life’s flourishing without closure.” 📖 Learn more about No Contact: Writers on Family Estrangement here (https://books.catapult.co/books/no-contact/). Amazon Canada link (https://link.amazon/B0ecPjRwF) and Amazon U.S. link (https://amzn.to/4zB40Ls) Wannabe Wisdom is a reader-supported publication. Conversations about creativity, consciousness, and what it means to be human. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wannabewisdom.substack.com/subscribe (https://wannabewisdom.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   5 Oct 2026

   What Yoga in Prison Taught Him About Fear | Emmett Tatter

   “Don’t fall into the trap of the own mind. Like, break free. It’s the harshest confinement of all.” — Emmett What happens when surviving prison requires you to harden yourself, but healing requires you to do the opposite? At 22, Emmett Tatter was sentenced to ten years in the Florida prison system. He served eight and a half. In this episode of Wannabe Wisdom, we talk about his memoir COUNT TIME (https://www.emmetttatter.com/), what happened during those years, and how yoga changed his relationship with his own mind. We talk about an officer who put a contract on his life, the tiny ant that gave him hope during confinement, and discovering books and yoga behind bars. Emmett describes how frightening it was to begin feeling again when becoming desensitized had helped him survive. He started practicing yoga to get stronger. But the practice began opening up parts of himself he’d kept locked away. Eventually, he brought other incarcerated men into it, including a moment he describes when a room full of men moved into Warrior II together. We also explore PTSD after prison, accountability, asking for help, and a question I kept coming back to while reading his book: do we actually give people a chance to change? What do we hope happens to someone in prison, and who are we willing to let them become when they come out? This conversation holds some very difficult things, and a lot of hope. I’m so glad to share it with you. With love and rebellion, ❤️ Ashley 👉 Find Emmett Tatter (https://substack.com/profile/238804830-emmett-tatter) Substack and learn more about his prison memoir, COUNT TIME. (https://www.emmetttatter.com/) 👉 Subscribe to Wannabe Wisdom for conversations about creativity, consciousness, and what it means to be human. Wannabe Wisdom is also on YouTube👇 Please subscribe. Working on something? A book? An essay? Some project you keep meaning to get back to? Twice a month, I’m opening a Co-Work room for paid subscribers. We’ll say hello, share what we’re working on if we want, and then work for an hour. That’s it. I’m calling it collective solitude. Because sometimes it’s easier to do the work when other people are doing theirs beside you. We start Friday, October 30th at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wannabewisdom.substack.com/subscribe (https://wannabewisdom.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Contact Ashley’s Substack Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.