Pamela Statz grew up in Wisconsin and attended UW Madison, earning degrees in Journalism and History. She’s worked in media and advertising in San Francisco and Portland for Lucasfilm, WIRED, Nike, and Wieden+Kennedy. Thorn City is her first novel.

Among other things, Pam and Carter discuss Pam’s experiences with writing classes, considering self publishing, and writing a book with multiple POVs. At the end of their conversation, they make up a funny short story using a line from Matthew McConaughey's Greenlights.

Alex Kenna is a prosecutor, writer, and amateur painter. Before law school, Alex studied painting and art history at Penn. She also worked as a freelance art critic and culture writer. Alex’s debut novel, What Meets the Eye, was nominated for a Shamus Award for best first PI novel. Kirkus Reviews called it a “righteous, painful debut,” and Bookpage called her “a master in the making.”

Among other things, Alex and Carter discuss finding creative outlets after professional schooling, navigating doubts throughout the first-draft process, and mixing genres to create a compelling story. At the end of their conversation, they make up a comedic story using a line from David Guterson’s The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind.

Georgia Jeffries is a writer of Emmy Award-winning drama and acclaimed noir fiction, and has been honored with multiple Writers Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and the Humanitas Prize. She worked as a journalist for American Film before writing and producing Cagney & Lacey, China Beach, and Sisters. Her short stories have appeared in national suspense anthologies, and she has also written biographical and historical profiles for HuffPost, Los Angeles Review of Books, and University of California Press. She is a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she created the BFA Television Thesis program.

Among other things, Georgia and Carter discuss optimism in the entertainment industry, teaching craft and business to MFA students, and how experience in screenwriting translates to writing novels. At the end of their conversation, they make up a suspenseful story using a line from William Kent Krueger’s Fox Creek.