My guest this week is Crystal King, author of the novels “In the Garden of Monsters”--a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth–“Feast of Sorrow”--about an ancient Roman gourmand–”The Chef’s Secret”--about the pope’s private chef during the Renaissance--and the brand new “The Happiness Collector,” about a modern-day history professor who lands her dream job in Rome where it slowly becomes apparent that ancient forces are still very much in play.
Crystal is a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet and former co-editor of the (now defunct) online literary arts journal Plum Ruby Review. She has taught writing, creativity and social media at UMass Boston, Boston University, Mass College of Art, Harvard Extension School, and Grub Street.
In today’s episode, we cover:
- Why she’s obsessed with Italy
- Her master’s degree in the coolest subject I never realized was an area of study: critical and creative thinking
- The master’s thesis she was sure could be a book (until agents told her, no actually, it can’t)
- How teaching writing led to her writing her first novel
- The two ways to make it in publishing (and the path she’s chosen)
- Her one regret in life
- How her day job in marketing, social media, and AI helps her as a writer
- A frank talk about the financial side of being an author
- The cool ways she comes up with ideas
- How she writes a book in six months, with a full-time day job
- Her plug for writing every day
Visit Crystal at crystalking.com or on Substack @crystalking.
For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.
Thank you for listening!

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[Crystal King, practical matters]: The two ways to make it in publishing Ep 1245