A Milestone!

Hi friends of Drafting the Past,

I was already planning to send you an email tonight, when I noticed something exciting:

Drafting the Past crossed the 150,000 downloads mark tonight! What an incredible thing to know that so many people have listened to the show, and an even more incredible thing to hear from so many of you about how these interviews have helped in your own work. It is a great privilege to have these conversations and share them. Thanks for letting me continue to do this work.

The First DTP Listener Survey is here!

Speaking of continuing the work, I have a favor to ask: I put together a listener survey to get some anonymous feedback about the podcast. Will you take a few minutes to fill it out and share your honest thoughts about the show? I want to know what’s working for you and what I can improve to make sure that Drafting the Past continues to be useful.

Recent Episodes

Here’s what you might have missed recently on Drafting the Past:

• Episode 91: Emily Lieb Writes (and Rewrites) Through It. Emily’s book Road to Nowhere, about the damage caused by a proposed but never built highway in Baltimore, was already on my radar before she reached out to me, and I’m so glad she did. I loved hearing about how her experiences writing textbooks shaped her writing, and how she was determined to tell this story exactly the way she wanted to.

• Episode 92: Rhae Lynn Barnes and the Writing Advice She Didn’t Take. Rhae Lynn’s book Darkology, a history of amateur blackface in America, is getting a huge amount of attention (not only a glowing review in the NYT, but also a feature!). I got to talk with her about the long process of bringing this book together, how she revised it for structure, and some of the unusual challenges that writing (and promoting!) this book has presented.