83. Tara Altebrando Is Solving the Puzzle
The very first TCL guest ever comes back to talk about multiple pivots.
I’m absolutely thrilled to have my very first guest back to talk about the “pivots” part of the Comebacks, Pivots, and Reinventions series. Tara Altebrando started her writing life in her young adulthood with a memoir (and wound up on the O.G. iteration of the Howard Stern show), then wrote a couple of adult novels (under Tara McCarthy), moved to YA contemporary realism, had a brief stop at middle grade, then turned to YA thrillers and speculative fiction, and is now working in scripted podcasts—and still writing novels.
Tara's love of a problem-solving assignment and her desire to avoid repeating herself are a big part of the driving force behind these pivots. She wants to keep her work interesting, challenging, and new. And of course, there are the 🎶market forces🎶!
Tara has experienced the lows of a pandemic release and the highs of BookTok love, and her latest move is starting her own podcast production company, Listen Like Thieves.
She’s one of the hardest-working people I know in this business as well as perhaps my longest-running colleague aside from my agent. There’s a lot of wisdom in her experience whether you’ve been around forever or are just getting started.
Find the episode wherever you get podcasts or listen directly here, and tell a friend!
Selected Links
Tara’s first appearance on TCL back in 2012 (this is a direct download or listen link - I have always had problems getting this one into the feed archive!)
My collaboration with Tara, 2013’s Roomies
Reservation Dogs on Hulu
A Q&A with Tara over at Pinna.fm:
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