It’s All Write is a podcast about the writing life and those who live it. Hosted by Meryl Branch-McTiernan and Ariana McLean, multidisciplinary writers and lovers of high and low culture, catch candid conversations with scribes of all stripes every two Tuesdays.
It's All Write to Tell Tall Tales (on Cocktail Napkins)
Host [Host Name] interviews author Hawley Hussey about crafting captivating stories on cocktail napkins, revealing insights into her unique writing process and debut book.
2 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
It's All Write to Be the King of Swords
Host Meryl Branch-McTiernan shares her debut novel's journey, lockdown writing, and inspirations in this interview.
30 Dec 2025
It's All Write to Take Your Time
In the season finale, we chat with bestselling novelist, Dawnie Walton, about how her journalism background inspired the unusual structure of her first novel, The Final Revival of Opal and Nev. She digs into how she developed the many voices in the novel by finding the characters' syntax, deciding how they would curse, and listening to hours of The Dick Cavett Show. She talks about the challenges of writing her second book and the benefits of working with a wonderful editor. And she shares th...
2 Dec 2025
It's All Write to Claw at the Moon
In Episode 11 of It’s All Write, we are joined by Loretta Lopez, whose middle grade novel, City Girls, chronicles the lives of three middle schoolers facing some pretty big challenges, such as immigration, adultery, and a parent with cancer. Loretta explains how the book is intended for all audiences and was originally conceived for adults. She talks about how her work as a translator and therapist informs her writing and how an obsessive nature fuels her desire to write anywhere she can, eve...
4 Nov 2025
It's All Write to Teach
In Episode 9, we are back from a fall hiatus with our professor Robert Lopez (of Stony Brook University), author of eight books and numerous pieces in literary journals & magazines. Robert shares his unconventional path to becoming a writer (without having read a full book 'till his 20s!), his thoughts on voice & form, how playing music impacts his fiction, and how teaching has allowed him to build a comfortable writing life for himself. - Robert Lopez is the author of seven nov...
26 Aug 2025
It's All Write to Call Yourself a Writer
Shaan Sachdev contemplates what it means to be a writer & how to be a writer in the context of today's world; discusses the impact of unconscious bias in corporate journalism; and shares his process for writing on everything from gay bathhouse culture to geopolitical conflicts. It's a sexy and cerebral episode that even includes a little discourse on Queen Bey..."Bounce on that sh***, dance..." After this episode, check out Shaan's Beyonce podcast "Diva Discourse" on Apple, Spotify or whe...
12 Aug 2025
It's All Write to Kill Your Babies
Writer/Director Tyrrell Shaffner joins her writing partner (and It's All Write cohost) Meryl Branch-McTiernan to discuss the gulfs they crossed to bring Katie's Mom from script to screen. Spoiler, it took a cemetery full of dead characters & deleted scenes... plus a couple of exes for inspiration. Katie's Mom stars Dina Meyer as a recent divorcee whose holiday with her adult children derails when she falls for her daughter's charming new boyfriend (Aaron Dominguez). Playgirl calls it “rau...
29 Jul 2025
It's All Write to Fuhgeddabout the Plot
Best-Selling author Jennifer Belle shares the method she's used to write five novels, that time she worked with Madonna, how to write sex scenes, and the path that led to publishing her latest novel, Swanna in Love with Akashic Books. Jennifer Belle is the best-selling author of five novels, Going Down (which was named best debut novel by Entertainment Weekly and optioned for the screen twenty-seven times), High Maintenance, Little Stalker, and The Seven Year Bitch; and Animal St...
8 Jul 2025
It's All Write to Ghost(write)
Jesse Aylen discusses ghostwriting, content creation, and the impact of AI on the publishing and media industries in this interview with the host.
24 Jun 2025
It's All Write to Draft Your Novel on Post-Its
Writer Camille Boxhill discusses writing while Black, dating with AI, and strict writing residencies, revealing insights on legacy, identity, and folklore in storytelling in this interview.
10 Jun 2025
It's All Write to Leave it to Cleaver
WGA writer Riham El-Ounsi explores TV writer's room dynamics, a 70s porn industry indie film, and the focus-enhancing Freewrite Typewriter in this interview episode.
27 May 2025
It's All Write to Hate the First Person
Author Maisy Card discusses first-person narratives, audiobooks, and dialect with Ariana and Meryl in this interview, offering insights into the writing process and literary techniques.
12 May 2025
It's All Write to Sh*t on Protein Goalz
Hosts Meryl Branch-McTiernan and Ariana McLean explore the difficulties writers encounter releasing work in a capitalist society, highlighting community building as a solution.
Inside a recent episode
It's All Write to Tell Tall Tales (on Cocktail Napkins)
Published 25 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I didn't see it. I'm such a, I love poetry. I love books. I love everything that's like a language object, artist book. But that story, the LA to Brooklyn story, I couldn't see the thread until those people in that place at the armory. So often writing feels like such a solitary act, but it can be so collective when we open up, when we're in a place where we feel ready to open up. So it's beautiful to hear that. And it's like, I love the shape of the book. I've never seen a book this shape and it just fits. It does. Yeah. That is so nice. It's really my publisher, Karen Kluman, she's a visionary and So I wasn't able to see this as a book. […]
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