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Welcome to part two of my interview (a replay) with Cynthia Weiner, author of “A Gorgeous Excitement,” which, since these episodes first aired, has just come out in paperback and was named a best book of the year for 2025 by The New Yorker, Kirkus Reviews, and Oprah Daily.
In today's episode, we unpack:
- Learning how to tolerate the discomfort of sharing your work
- And how to ignore the voice that tells you nobody cares what you have to say
- How she came to imagine that inner critical voice as a “shit bird”
- Why she could work on one sentence for years
- Why she’d rather stay home than travel some place new
- How getting older has made her a better writer (and a worse sleeper)
- How she’s re-wired the idea that it’s bad to draw attention to yourself
Connect with Cynthia on Instagram at @cynthiaweiner
There are new Finding the Throughline episodes roughly every other week–hit “subscribe” so you know when the next ones drop!
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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