I listened to this episode on my drive yesterday and really enjoyed it! I particularly found the discussion surrounding the distinction between the hero's journey and the heroine's journey so interesting. I'm surprised (as an ex-English teacher) that I hadn't really come across the "heroine's journey" plot structure before, but I'm now fired up to research and learn more about this topic.
Towards the end of the interview Kate articulated that the heroine's journey ends with the heroine reuniting with their community and "utilizing their network." I love that phrasing so much. As a mother to two littles, I'm starting to understand the importance of my own network and am really trying to lean into "utilizing" it. This also reminds me of my most recent essay over on my own Substack publication, Human/Mother. The piece is all about how both conventional and unconventional mothers are everywhere around us, and, if we allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable, we can accept various mothers' tenderness and love, which in turn helps us to be more tender and loving to our own children. If interested, you can read it here: https://katrinadonhamwrites.substack.com/p/are-you-my-mother?r=3cnvg1. I hope you do! :)
I was also surprised about the heroine's journey, Katrina! I thought I knew everything about craft, haha, but apparently not. It's such a pleasure to learn alongside you from my podcast guests.
I'm actually really surprised and a little disturbed that after ten years of teaching entire units on the hero's journey in the middle school classroom, I *just* learned about this 🫣😅
Wow just realized I’m the same age as Kate Quinn and also graduated from BU (degree in English Lit). Pretty sure those are our only similarities. Now to convince myself that it’s inspiring to see our peers succeed (like decades ago) and not disheartening.
I like to think that we're all on our own timeline. I interviewed Alka Joshi earlier this year. We went to the same university, but she graduated over a decade before I stepped foot on campus. Should she have looked at my publication journey (first book published when I was 36), she would have felt like a failure. But she is a huge success now--her first book was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, and her trilogy is being made into a Netflix show now. Alka was published much later in life (I forget exactly if it was late 50s or early 60s), but her time was her time. Yours will be, too, Juliana!
Evelyn! Oh my goodness! Kate Quinn's brain!!! This was SUCH a great interview--I love listening to whip smart women in conversation, and this interview exceeded my wildest expectations. As you've probably intuited by now, I always listen to these things from dual perspectives--as an aspiring novelist and also, as a businesswoman. As I was listening to Kate speak--and watching how quickly she processed the question and got to a clear and detailed response--I thought--man, she would have been a secret weapon in the boardroom, and someone I would have loved to have had on my strategic advisory team. Thank you for this episode--and for asking my question. 💙
Oh gosh, Diana, I had the SAME reaction to speaking with Kate--she's SO sharp!
Funny thing--I remember in college, identifying certain other classmates who I would love to have on my team in the future if I ever started a company. I never did, but it's so striking when you meet someone like Kate. I would think *exactly* what you did--what a secret weapon she would've been in your boardroom!
Thank you for contributing a question to the conversation!
I listened to this episode on my drive yesterday and really enjoyed it! I particularly found the discussion surrounding the distinction between the hero's journey and the heroine's journey so interesting. I'm surprised (as an ex-English teacher) that I hadn't really come across the "heroine's journey" plot structure before, but I'm now fired up to research and learn more about this topic.
Towards the end of the interview Kate articulated that the heroine's journey ends with the heroine reuniting with their community and "utilizing their network." I love that phrasing so much. As a mother to two littles, I'm starting to understand the importance of my own network and am really trying to lean into "utilizing" it. This also reminds me of my most recent essay over on my own Substack publication, Human/Mother. The piece is all about how both conventional and unconventional mothers are everywhere around us, and, if we allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable, we can accept various mothers' tenderness and love, which in turn helps us to be more tender and loving to our own children. If interested, you can read it here: https://katrinadonhamwrites.substack.com/p/are-you-my-mother?r=3cnvg1. I hope you do! :)
I was also surprised about the heroine's journey, Katrina! I thought I knew everything about craft, haha, but apparently not. It's such a pleasure to learn alongside you from my podcast guests.
I'm actually really surprised and a little disturbed that after ten years of teaching entire units on the hero's journey in the middle school classroom, I *just* learned about this 🫣😅
Wow just realized I’m the same age as Kate Quinn and also graduated from BU (degree in English Lit). Pretty sure those are our only similarities. Now to convince myself that it’s inspiring to see our peers succeed (like decades ago) and not disheartening.
I like to think that we're all on our own timeline. I interviewed Alka Joshi earlier this year. We went to the same university, but she graduated over a decade before I stepped foot on campus. Should she have looked at my publication journey (first book published when I was 36), she would have felt like a failure. But she is a huge success now--her first book was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, and her trilogy is being made into a Netflix show now. Alka was published much later in life (I forget exactly if it was late 50s or early 60s), but her time was her time. Yours will be, too, Juliana!
Evelyn! Oh my goodness! Kate Quinn's brain!!! This was SUCH a great interview--I love listening to whip smart women in conversation, and this interview exceeded my wildest expectations. As you've probably intuited by now, I always listen to these things from dual perspectives--as an aspiring novelist and also, as a businesswoman. As I was listening to Kate speak--and watching how quickly she processed the question and got to a clear and detailed response--I thought--man, she would have been a secret weapon in the boardroom, and someone I would have loved to have had on my strategic advisory team. Thank you for this episode--and for asking my question. 💙
Oh gosh, Diana, I had the SAME reaction to speaking with Kate--she's SO sharp!
Funny thing--I remember in college, identifying certain other classmates who I would love to have on my team in the future if I ever started a company. I never did, but it's so striking when you meet someone like Kate. I would think *exactly* what you did--what a secret weapon she would've been in your boardroom!
Thank you for contributing a question to the conversation!