Get Writing Podcast

About Get Writing Podcast

Here's what no one tells you about writing: the hardest part isn't the words. It's believing you're allowed to write them. Get Writing with Liz Mugavero exists because writers shouldn't have to figure this out alone. Liz Mugavero — also known as Cate Conte, author of the beloved Cat Cafe Mystery series — has written 20 novels and coaches writers who are ready to stop waiting and start writing. Every episode goes somewhere real. Craft and publishing. Mindset and blocks. The inner work that nobody warns you about when you start. Guest conversations and solo sessions all centered on one thing: finishing the book you've been carrying — and finding out that the community of writers doing exactly that is bigger than you ever imagined. A little woo? Yes. Tarot cards occasionally? Also yes. Apologies? None. You are not behind. You are not too late. You are exactly where you're supposed to be. Let's get writing. Find out more at cateconte.com Find out more at www.cateconte.com.

Publisher

Liz Mugavero

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Feb 2023

Latest episode

14 May 2026

Latest episodes

148 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 May 2026

   Episode 147: Genre Hopping: On Range, Risk, and the Query Trenches with Matt Witten

   I've been friends with Matt Witten long enough to know that when he writes a book, I read it — even if the genre is one I'd normally sidestep entirely. 51% is dystopian fiction, which is not my comfort zone. But Matt's range as a writer is genuinely something, and this conversation reminded me exactly why. We talk about his new book, the world he built inside it, what it took to get there, and a few very honest things about the publishing industry that I think every writer needs to hear. In this episode: What 51% is actually about — and why Matt moved the timeline from "30 years from now" to "20 years from now" after January 2025 The income share agreement system at the heart of the book's world, and the real-life conversation that planted the seed for it How he approaches character: from the reluctant Bosch-esque hero to the every-woman who's broke, pregnant, and trying to do the right thing anyway — and an AI that may or may not have feelings The challenge of world building without losing readers in the first 25 pages (a problem he solved in a very specific, smart way) Writing across cozy, thriller, TV, and now dystopia — and why he doesn't use a pen name even when it might be the commercially safer move His recent agent search, what he was actually looking for this time around, and the truly unhinged rejection email he received two months after he'd already signed with someone else What's coming next: The Men's Group, a murder mystery about friendship, sobriety, and the epidemic of loneliness — which his agent calls "cozy adjacent" Links: 51% by Matt Witten (https://www.amazon.com/51-Matt-Witten-ebook/dp/B0GQCKYNZ7) Matt's website: mattwittenwriter.com Matt on Instagram: @mattwitten22 Connect with me If this episode inspired you, share it with a writer friend who's ready to stop guessing and start living on purpose. Subscribe to Get Writing wherever you listen, and if you have a minute to leave a review, it helps more writers find us. Ready to go deeper into your own creative life? Come find us at the Creativity Lab at GetWritingWithLiz.com (https://www.getwritingwithliz.com/).

2. 

   30 Apr 2026

   Episode 146: Writers who don’t stop, and the “smile file” with suspense novelist Laura Frost

   There's something I've always believed: the writers who make it aren't necessarily the most talented ones. They're the ones who refuse to stop. Today's guest is a living example of that. Laura Frost is a wildlife biologist turned debut novelist whose psychological suspense, Seeking Sasha, came out in February 2026 — after hundreds of rejections, a few offers she turned down, and years of quietly building her craft one short story at a time. We had the best conversation about all of it. In this episode, we talk about: How a life-threatening incident involving Laura's husband as a police officer led her to write her first (very long, still unpublished) novel — and why that experience changed everything The difference between writing as therapy and writing because you love the craft Her unusual background as a wildlife biologist and how the observational skills of the field translate directly into fiction writing Why she writes short stories between novel drafts — and what that practice teaches her about concision and craft The "smile file" and how it carried her through hundreds of rejections Turning down publishing offers and how she knew when she'd found the right fit Building a writing community from scratch on social media — even when you really don't want to What the promotion side of debut publishing actually looks like What's coming next: a follow-up to Seeking Sasha and a companion novel called The Jackal Connect with Laura: Website & short stories: laurafrostwrites.com (https://laurafrostwrites.com/) Seeking Sasha is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indigo, Bookshop.org, and Between the Lines Publishing Newsletter sign-up at laurafrostwrites.com Loved this episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a writer friend who needs to hear it. And if you're ready to stop writing alone, come join us in the Creativity Lab at GetWritingWithLiz.com (https://getwritingwithliz.com/).

3. 

   23 Apr 2026

   Episode 145: Alyson Richman on The Missing Pages, Writing Ghosts, and Research That Gets Sewn Onto Your Skin

   Some books have a premise you can pitch in a sentence. The Missing Pages is not that book — and that's exactly why it works. The true story behind it: Harry Elkins Widener, 27 years old, Harvard grad, obsessive Gilded Age book collector, perished on the Titanic in 1912. The legend, told on Harvard campus tours to this day, is that he went back to his cabin as the ship was going down — not for anything sentimental, not for his wallet — but for a book. A tiny 16th-century copy of Francis Bacon's essays he'd just purchased at a London bookshop, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. He'd told the bookseller he was going to carry it in his breast pocket in case he was ever shipwrecked, so he'd have something to read. His body was never recovered. Neither was the book. His mother, Eleanor Elkins Widener, went on to build the Widener Library at Harvard — one of the most significant research libraries in the world — to house Harry's 3,000-volume book collection. Inside it: a reconstruction of his study, his original desk and chairs, his oil portrait above the carved marble mantle, a Gutenberg Bible his grandfather had won at auction that Harry never got to see. And fresh flowers, placed on his desk every week by the librarian, as stipulated in Eleanor's will — so the room always feels like he might walk in. Alyson Richman learned about all of this because her daughter came home from a summer program and said: I think you're going to love this story, Mom. She wrote the novel from Harry's perspective — as a ghost living inside the library — paired with a 1990s storyline following Violet, a Harvard student who works as a page in the rare books collection and starts to believe Harry is trying to communicate with her. It's a book about books, about mothers and sons, about the relationships that never end, even when one person is gone. What we actually talk about in this episode: The moment Alyson knew this was her next book — and it wasn't the Titanic part. It was the image of a mother and a 27-year-old son on the deck of a ship, both of them trying to protect the other from the truth of what was happening. Why she doesn't write a single sentence until the research is sewn onto her skin — and what that actually looks like across eight months of archival work in London, Philadelphia, and Cambridge. The ghost question: how do you write a character who is literally dead without it going full Casper? (Hint: omniscient narrators have never had this much freedom.) What a medium taught her about how souls communicate — temperature shifts, fragrances with no source, a book falling open to a specific page — and how she wove that into the novel's most emotional scenes. The birds. We talk about the birds. Why people almost always say yes when you reach out for research help — and why that's been true for Alyson across Japan, Finland, France, Italy, and the Czech Republic. What she'd say to the writer who wants to write something historically ambitious but can't get on a plane: technology has changed everything, and a well-worded email to an academic can open more doors than you'd expect. Her current project: Edith Wharton in Paris during WWI, running hostels for displaced Belgian refugee children and fighting like hell to sustain humanitarian work while the world collapsed around her. (Yes, there's a dual timeline. Yes, the Mount in Lenox, Massachusetts is involved.) About Alyson: Alyson Richman has been writing historical fiction for 25 years. She's the author of ten solo novels — including The Lost Wife, which is currently in development as a film — and two collaborations. Her work has been translated into more than 20 languages. The Missing Pages is her most recent novel. Find Alyson: https://www.alysonrichman.com/ | Instagram & Facebook: @alysonrichman / alysonrichmanauthor If this episode inspired you, share it with a writer friend who's ready to stop guessing and start living on purpose. Subscribe to Get Writing wherever you listen, and if you have a minute to leave a review, it helps more writers find us. Ready to go deeper into your own creative life? Come find us at the Creativity Lab at GetWritingWithLiz.com (https://www.getwritingwithliz.com/).

Who has been a guest on Get Writing Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Catriona McPherson
• Barbara Ross
• Sherry Harris
• Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day
• Julie Hennrikus

Reach and audience

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

25 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

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Guest appearances

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

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