Slate Books - Working Overtime: Write a Bad Novel!

For this week’s episode of Working Overtime, host June Thomas and co-host Isaac Butler speak to Slate contributor and author of Praying with Jane Eyre, Vanessa Zoltan, about jumping into the month-long writing exercise called NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, is when a writer commits to writing a 50,000 word novel in the span of the month of November. As Vanessa explains, this can be an exercise in creative freedom that does away with the typical structure and hang-ups that come with producing “good writing.”


Do you have a question about creative work? Call us and leave a message at (304) 933-9675 or email us at working@slate.com

 

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis and Cameron Drews.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Germany Cribs From the QAnon Playbook

The Reichsbürger movement is the group behind the plot to overthrow the German government that was disrupted last week. Their grievances are both specific to their country—that the German government is illegitimate and the Reich needs to be reestablished—and familiar to right-wing extremist watchers in the U.S.. They have been radicalized by lockdowns, vaccine requirements, and Qanon. How is this American conspiracy exporting itself? 


Guest: Josh Keating, global security reporter at Grid focused on conflict, diplomacy, and foreign policy.


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Short Wave - A Step Closer To Nuclear Fusion Energy

On Dec. 5 at 1 o'clock in the morning local time, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California used lasers to zap a tiny pellet of hydrogen fuel. The lasers hit their target with 2.05 megajoules of energy, and the pellet released roughly 3.15 megajoules. It's a major milestone, and one that the field of fusion science has struggled to reach for more than half a century: producing a fusion reaction that generates more energy than it consumes. While progress, the technology is still a ways off from its promise to produce energy without creating greenhouse gases. Today on the show, Regina G. Barber brings us two NPR stories that explain what this experiment showed and what else needs to happen to make fusion a practical energy source.

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘We Deserve Monuments’ highlights a queer, Black love story amidst a family mystery

In Jas Hammonds' YA novel, We Deserve Monuments, high school senior Avery is faced with moving from Washington, D.C. to her mom's small hometown in Georgia to be closer to Mama Letty, her aging grandma. But as she grapples with her new surroundings and with a dark, family secret, she also falls in love with the girl next door. In this episode, Hammonds talks to NPR's Juana Summers about the themes of family and identity in their debut book – and why they kind of think of it as "Gilmore Girls, but make it Black and gay."

It Could Happen Here - The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch: How to Build a Haven, Part 3: The Unicorns

Gare and James talk about the background of some of the unicorns and their lives in the valley since the siege

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Planet Money - Spam call bounty hunter

Telemarketing calls are not only annoying; in some cases, they are illegal. Congress even gives you the right to sue scofflaw telemarketers for $500 a call. Today, the story of one man who collected a surprising amount of money bringing telemarketers to justice.

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The Gist - AI Selfies: Fun or Flirting With The Apocalypse?

Mike objects to the reflexive negativism that ignores amazing scientific advances, treats progress as depressing, and convinces itself that a fun diversion is nothing short of horrific. And SBF's mom ran superPAC that outsmarted the competition, because of her keen insight, but also lots of crypto-fraud. Plus, we are joined once more with Nina Totenberg NPR's legal affairs correspondent and author of "Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships."


Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Aspiring Chicago Firefighters Face Application Hurdles

The Chicago Fire Department has long had a diversity problem, with a predominantly white and male staff. Despite new testing procedures aimed at boosting Black and Brown applicants, some are still being locked out. Reset learns more about the issue with Lieutenant Quention Curtis, head of Chicago’s Black Fire Brigade, and Will Lee, reporter for the Chicago Tribune.