Going from Concept to Finished Product--Together
Talking with Nicola Twilley and Geoff Manaugh about "Until Proven Safe"
“When you hear about two individuals collaborating, you picture them sitting at a typewriter together. That wouldn’t have worked for us.” —Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley, co-authors of Until Proven Safe: The History & Future of Quarantine
Preview: Episode 72
What’s the best way to write a book together with another person? Give them space. In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley, co-authors of Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine, about their process of working together. How did they plan? What tools did they use? How did they lean on each other’s strengths? What are their secrets to make the final product “something better than I could have done on my own.”
Nicola Twilley is cohost of the award-winning podcast Gastropod, which looks at food through the lens of science and history, and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker.
Geoff Manaugh is the author of the New York Times-bestseller, A Burglar’s Guide to the City, as well as the architecture and technology website BLDGBLOG. He regularly writes for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Wired, and many other publications.
Nicky and Geoff live in Los Angeles.
What We’re Reading and Listening to:
Rosemerry:
For every ordinary event—traveling, waking up, being exhausted—and every extraordinary event—losing a loved one to suicide, buying a new home, having a child who committed a crime—there is a blessing found in John O’Donohue’s book To Bless the Space Between Us: A book of blessings. If you ever wish you had the words to meet a moment, well, chances are you can find some words here to help shed light and invite grace.
Colorado has many strong storytellers, poets, writers and artists, and many of them are gathered in the new anthology from Twenty Bellows, We Are the West: A Colorado Anthology. From wildflowers to beetle kill to fishing to wildfires, the stories and poems in this book tell the story of a very special landscape and and the people who live there.
This nine-word poem says it all.
Christie:
Please take a few minutes to read this beautiful short story by Cameron Walker, published in the literary journal Five South. There are two kinds of readers: fans of Cameron Walker and those who haven’t discovered her yet.
I listened to Andrew Sean Greer’s new novel, Less is Lost, on Libby and it was as fun and hilarious as its prequel, Less. A quick and delightful read chronicling the injustices suffered by Arthur Less, a mid-list author, as he navigates middle age.
Over the weekend, I spent a day at Sarah Uhl’s delightful Whimsical Landscape Painting workshop and it was the creative nudge I needed. I’m still a terrible painter, but it was a great chance to just soak in the process and be present in a beautiful place (Redstone, CO).
Emerging Form a Finalist for Award
Christie and I were thrilled when we were named as finalists in the “Moment of Calm Unflappability” category of the International Women’s Podcast Awards. The award was, in specific, responding to a podcast recorded a year ago in which we speak about Christie’s father’s stroke and my son’s death by his own hand.
We recently recorded a new episode in which we talk about the past year and how creative practice has helped us in a time of uncertainty and trauma.
What an honor to be recognized for creating a program under extraordinary pressure—for finding meaning and relevance in a difficult time. We congratulate all the other finalists!
A Note About Paid Subscriptions:
First, we want to thank ALL our subscribers! We are so grateful you join us in this conversation about what it is to engage with yourself, the world and others in a creative way. And a BIG thank you to our paid subscribers. You make this podcast possible. Starting this month, only our paid subscribers will receive our bonus episodes as a thank you for their financial support.
This week, we talk with Nicky and Geoff about tips for organizing handwritten journals, their favorite tools for collaboration and cinematic reporting. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can go now to our website, EmergingForm.substack.com or by clicking the button below. Thank you!
Two Questions:
(share your answers with us here on Substack or in our FB group)
How do you organize your handwritten journals?
Scrivener or Word? Why?
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