Episode 11

...Stuck

Published on: 28th July, 2021

Hana asks Ana for assistance after getting stuck halfway through her second scary story. Ana reads the excerpt aloud and the discussion goes into an exploration of anxiety, gaslighting, what it means to have mental health challenges, and how to write those aspects of a story responsibly. Ana helps Hana brainstorm some potential paths to end the story that hopefully avoid caricature, stereotyping, and other lazy but common tropes.

Originally recorded on November 8, 2020.

Written piece to follow in Episode 14, The Pen Is...Putting a Story to Bed

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About the Podcast

The Pen Is...

Examining Life Through Writing

Amusing, introspective, and vulnerable conversations about writing as a creative outlet. Join hosts Ana and Hana as they discuss personal stories, practice writing exercises, and explore everyday life challenges through the art of writing. New episodes are released every Wednesday and are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher. Also, we love hearing from listeners about their own experiences with writing! Please feel free to email us at anahanapodcast@gmail.com.

About your hosts

Ana Bradley

In the summer of 2020, Ana found herself navigating not only a pandemic but also her most pivotal, personal life changes to date. Upon transitioning her role in the nonprofit she co-founded, starting a new job, and looking down the barrel at the prospect of becoming a single mother, Ana re-kindles her friendship with her college roommate, Hana. Finding joy and comfort in their weekly conversations (quite a feat for the otherwise consistently infrequent communication patterns of days past) the pair decided it was time to honor their long-time dream of creating a podcast together. Throwing out podcast ideas ranging from vibrator reviews to rhyming word battles, the duo found common ground in the titillating world of writing and talking about said writing. When not writing pieces and talking about them, Ana can be found playing the same notes on a piano until inspiration strikes, poking at various stages of scat to identify the animal, and keeping up with her inquisitive and wise beyond-his-years 6-year-old son. She lives with her son, a cat named Furball, and a parakeet.

Hana Binder

When Hana moved to Germany in March 2019 to live with her partner she had three goals: learn German, get better at cooking, and start a podcast. One year later, her language skills were pretty top-notch, her cooking skills less so, and her answer to friends' questions about the podcast was still "I'm working on it," which was code for "I'm not working on it." With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hana discovered the secret to better cooking - meal delivery kits - and finally started thinking seriously about what kind of podcast she wanted to host. During her video chats with college best friend Ana, an idea started to take shape that would eventually become their show "The Pen Is...," followed eventually by her solo endeavor, "My Dilettante Life."
When she's not waiting tables at Regensburg's finest café or developing new pieces for her podcasts, Hana can be found tidying the world's smallest kitchen or walking her dog among the rolling hills of the Bavarian countryside.

Kjartan Einarsson

A total geek, metalhead, and an avid reader of many genres, Julli is also a musician and an audiofreak and likes to dabble in technology. Currently living in Austria, Julli has traveled far and wide and has lived in 7 different countries for the past 15 years. It has been a wild ride that seems to not want to stop. Today, Julli is working towards certifications in IT Business Management and ServiceNow platform, not much metal there but hey, it's a living.