Carter Wilson's Making It Up
In this conversation series, USA Today bestselling novelist Carter Wilson talks to writers of all backgrounds in order to find out why they do what they do. He and his guests discuss childhood influences, roots of creativity, luck and loss, tools of the craft, and the highs and lows of publishing. At the end of their conversation, they pick a random sentence from a random book and use it to create an impromptu short story. Visit Carter at www.carterwilson.com.
Episodes
182 episodes
Making It Up with Douglas Brunt, author of The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel
Douglas Brunt attended The Haverford School and graduated from Duke University. He was formerly a management consultant for the information tech company, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and served as a director with Idealab. Until 2011, Brunt was...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 179
•
47:47
Making It Up with James L'Etoile, author of River of Lies
James L’Etoile uses his 29 years behind bars as an influence in his novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California’s st...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 178
•
52:39
Making It Up with Tess Gerritsen, author of The Surgeon
Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen’s books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world. She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for VANISH) and the Rita Award (for THE...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 177
•
45:00
Making It Up with Andrew DeYoung, author of Stay Away From Him
Andrew DeYoung is the author of The Temps, a speculative novel about the end of the world. He works as an editor at a children's book publishing company, and he lives with his wife and two children in the Twin Cities a...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 176
•
58:04
Making It Up with Sydney Leigh, author of Peril in Pink
Sydney Leigh spent several years running a seasonal business, working in the summer so she could spend cold months in cool places. Now she writes modern cozy mysteries and thinks about murder. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Internation...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 175
•
49:21
Making It Up with Meredith Lyons, author of A Dagger of Lightning
Meredith Lyons collected two degrees from Louisiana State University before running away to Chicago to be an actor. In between plays, she got her black belt and made martial arts and yoga her full-time day job. She fought in the Chicago Gold...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 174
•
1:00:12
Making It Up with Allyson Ryan and Patrick Zeller, audiobook narrators for Tell Me What You Did
Episode 173 of Making It Up is out and it’s a different one! Today we feature the brilliant voice artists Allyson Ryan and Patrick Zeller, who are the voices behind the audio version of Carter’s latest release TELL ME WHAT YOU DID. This audiobo...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 173
•
57:05
Making It Up with Charlotte Vassell, author of The In Crowd
Charlotte Vassell’s debut novel The Other Half was longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2024. The In Crowd, the second in the DI Caius Beauchamp series was shortlisted for Best Novel in the 2025 Mystery Writers of America Ed...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 172
•
47:54
Making It Up with Kyle Prue, author of How To Piss Off Men
Kyle Prue is an award winning author, actor and comedian. He published his first novel The Sparks at just 18, which earned accolades from USA Today, Kirkus Reviews, and book festivals. Kyle later completed his trilogy ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 171
•
44:27
Making It Up with Chad Boudreaux, author of Homecoming Queen
Chad Boudreaux has a broad range of government, legal and corporate experience. Prior to serving as the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 170
•
48:03
Making It Up with Midge Raymond and John Yunkers, authors of Devils Island
Midge Raymond is the author of Floreana and My Last Continent, and the award-winning short-story collection Forgetting English. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times, and others. She has ta...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 169
•
43:42
Making It Up with Barbara Nickless, author of The Drowning Game
Barbara Nickless is the #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Sydney Parnell crime novels. The series has been optioned for television and has won two Colorado Book Awards and twice won the...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 168
•
50:19
Making It Up with Sandra Block, author of The Bachelorette Party
Sandra Block graduated from Harvard and is a practicing neurologist. Her work has been published in the Washington Post. Little Black Lies is her debut and a finalist in the International Thriller Awards, and
•
Season 1
•
Episode 167
•
48:28
Making It Up with Emily Jon Tobias, author of Monarch: Stories
Emily Jon Tobias is an award-winning writer whose work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and has been featured in literary journals such as Santa Clara Review, Flying South Literary Journal, Typehouse Literary Magazine, and more. He...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 166
•
50:38
Making It Up with Pamela Statz, author of Thorn City
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...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 165
•
45:07
Making It Up with Alex Kenna, author of Burn this Night
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<...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 164
•
51:01
Making It Up with Georgia Jeffries, author of The Younger Girl
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...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 163
•
54:53
Making It Up with Rebecca McKenna, author of Don't Forget the Girl
Rebecca McKanna is an associate professor of English at the University of Indianapolis. Her debut novel, Don’t Forget the Girl, was nominated for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Mystery and the 2023
•
Season 1
•
Episode 162
•
48:31
Making It Up with Elise Hart Kipness, author of Dangerous Play
Elise Hart Kipness is a television sports reporter turned crime fiction writer. In addition to reporting for Fox Sports Network, Elise was a reporter at New York’s WNBC-TV, News 12 Long Island, and the Associated Press, covering events inclu...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 161
•
51:22
Making It Up with Brad Parks, author of The Boundaries We Cross
Brad Parks is an international bestselling author, and the only writer to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of American crime fiction’s most prestigious prizes. His novels have been translated into 16 languages and have won ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 160
•
49:05
Making It Up with Edward Hamlin, author of Sonata in Wax
Edward Hamlin is a fiction writer and composer of music for acoustic guitar. Edward’s NIGHT IN ERG CHEBBI was selected by Karen Russell as winner of the 2015 Iowa Short Fiction Award and went on to win the Colorado Book Award. Other honors have...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 159
•
1:02:02
Making It Up with Libby Cudmore, author of Negative Girl
Libby Cudmore is the author of Negative Girl and The Big Rewind, as well as the Wade & Jacks P.I. series in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine,
•
Season 1
•
Episode 158
•
49:06
Making It Up with Jen Ruiz, author of 12 Trips in 12 Months
Jen Ruiz is a lawyer turned full-time travel blogger. A multiple bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and national award-winning travel journalist, she has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, and ABC News. Jen has been named a Latina ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 157
•
59:53
Making It Up with Gina DeMillo Wagner, author of Forces of Nature
Gina DeMillo Wagner is an award-winning journalist and author. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Memoir Magazine, Modern Loss, Self, Outside, Writer’s Digest, and other publications. She is a Yaddo Fellow,...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 156
•
55:11
Making It Up with Barbara Feigin, author of My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism to Freedom
Barbara Feigin is an advertising executive and World War II refugee, having fled with her parents from Nazi Germany as a young child in 1940. She attended Whitman College, then completed a graduate program in business run jointly by Harvard ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 155
•
59:45