I launched Drafting the Past four years ago, at the beginning of 2022. (Here's episode 1, with Megan Kate Nelson, that kicked everything off!) Since then, I've interviewed 80+ historians about their work, and I'm not planning to stop soon. Everything around us is a mess, but we're going to keep finding some refuge and power in the craft of writing.

People often ask me if there's anything that my guests agree on. One thing I love about Drafting the Past is that there's so little agreement! For every person who says you have to write every day, another says they can only work in occasional big chunks. Each time someone says they love to work in coffee shops, another insists they need total silence. But there are a couple of nearly universal truths I think I can point to:

• There is no one right way to write (history or anything else).
• Every historian wishes they were more organized.
• Good writing can be practiced and learned.
• The best history writers keep their audience front of mind.

My first guest of 2026 is an excellent example of that last point. Jeff Roche talked with me about his new book, The Conservative Frontier. This book is so compelling, with a completely engaging voice. We talked about how Jeff developed that voice in the episode, and he said that a key part of it was knowing the audience he was writing for. And when I say knowing, I mean it: Jeff had subscribers of a specific magazine in mind. Listen to the episode to hear more:

So who is your audience? What magazines do they subscribe to? What metaphors will they understand? What is going to keep them reading, chapter after chapter?