Pen Pals

ER Visits, Cozy Reads, and the Grace of Not Writing

Krisserin checks in from a Kansas City hotel room fresh off an unexpected ER visit in St. Louis — chest pains, a CT scan, and a lot of unanswered questions — while Kelton battles a household plague of sickness, broken blow-dryers, and postpartum burnout. The two trade brutally honest book reviews: Krisserin DNFs the buzzy bestseller Yesteryear (great concept, rough execution), while Kelton grinds through the literary sci-fi of The Other Valley and falls head over heels for Heather Fawcett's Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter. They dig into what makes good writing actually good — from research depth to character arcs to the controversial no-quotation-marks device — and commiserate over nepo babies in Hollywood, the guilt of not writing, and the importance of just taking care of yourself when life is beating you up. This week's goals: a spa treatment in Vegas and some middle grade fiction in the mountains. Books Mentioned in this episode: "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke "The Other Valley" by Scott Alexander Howard "Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter" by Heather Fawcett "Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke "Dungeon Crawler Carl" by Matt Matt Dinniman "The Ogress and the Orphans" by Kelly Barnhill "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden Write to us: officialpenpalspod@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @penpalspod [https://www.instagram.com/penpalspod] TikTok: @penpalspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@penpalspod] YouTube: @PenPalsPod [https://www.youtube.com/@PenPalsPod] SubStack: penpalspod.substack.com [https://penpalspod.substack.com/] Follow Krisserin and Kelton: TikTok: @krisserin [https://www.tiktok.com/@krisserin], @keltonwrites [https://www.tiktok.com/@keltonwrites] Instagram: @keltonkin [https://www.instagram.com/keltonkin], @keltonwrites [https://www.instagram.com/keltonwrites] Kelton's Substack: Shangrilogs [https://shangrilogs.substack.com/] Krisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.com [https://krisserin.substack.com/] Music by Golden Hour Oasis Studios

Alli Hoff Kosik on Writing Christian Influencers with Heart in Too Blessed to Stress

This week on Pen Pals, Krisserin and Kelton sit down with debut novelist Alli Hoff Kosik to discuss her buzzy new novel, Too Blessed to Stress — a sharp, funny, and unexpectedly tender story about Christian influencers, megachurch culture, and the complicated women behind perfectly curated feeds. Alli shares how a pandemic-era fascination with influencer culture inspired the book, why she wanted to approach her characters with empathy instead of judgment, and how social media, capitalism, faith, and performance intersect online. They also discuss writing motherhood into real life, balancing creativity with burnout, MFA programs, multiple POV novels, and the challenge of building a writing life while raising small children. Plus: Secret Lives of Mormon Wives comparisons, parasocial internet rabbit holes, writing routines, podcasting, and whether Krisserin and Kelton actually sound the same. Books Mentioned in This Episode The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard The Giver by Lois Lowry Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Come and Get It by Kiley Reid Maame by Jessica George Love by the Book by Jessica George Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella Long Bright River by Liz Moore Nightshade by Eli Raphael Find Alli Hoff Kosik Website: Alli Hoff Kosik Official Website [https://allihoffkosik.com/] Instagram: @allihoffkosik Substack: https://allihoffkosik.substack.com/ [https://allihoffkosik.substack.com/] Podcast: Is This a Thing? [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-this-a-thing/id1819214635] with Abby Wolfe Buy Too Blessed to Stress [https://bookshop.org/p/books/too-blessed-to-stress-alli-hoff-kosik/aa6dfb993b9448b2?ean=9781538771969&next=t] on Bookshop.org Write to us: officialpenpalspod@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @penpalspod [https://www.instagram.com/penpalspod] TikTok: @penpalspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@penpalspod] YouTube: @PenPalsPod [https://www.youtube.com/@PenPalsPod] SubStack: penpalspod.substack.com [https://penpalspod.substack.com/] Follow Krisserin and Kelton: TikTok: @krisserin [https://www.tiktok.com/@krisserin], @keltonwrites [https://www.tiktok.com/@keltonwrites] Instagram: @keltonkin [https://www.instagram.com/keltonkin], @keltonwrites [https://www.instagram.com/keltonwrites] Kelton's Substack: Shangrilogs [https://shangrilogs.substack.com/] Krisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.com [https://krisserin.substack.com/] Music by Golden Hour Oasis Studios

The Compulsive Liar at Your Desk: A Conversation About AI and Reading

Krisserin and Kelton are running on fumes—and they're honest about it. Both hosts arrive at this week's accountability check-in feeling ragged: Krisserin is limping toward summer with a fried brain and a work trip on the horizon; Kelton is two years postpartum, pausing her newsletter for the month, and trying to remember what living feels like. Their respective goal updates are modest and real: Krisserin squeezed in two revision sessions (one of them in the car), while Kelton wrote 2,500 words—just not on her novel.   Krisserin and Kelton spend most of the episode answering listener mail. Kelly Barrett's six questions become the backbone of a wide-ranging conversation about AI (how they use it at work, why neither uses it for their own writing, and what happens when you catch your home assistant lying), reading life (when, how, how much, and what to do when a book isn't working), and self-publishing as a real option rather than a last resort.   Plus: dream therapy intake forms, artist dates in rural Colorado, thrift store prices that are absolutely not okay, and goals for a week when one spouse is heading into the mountains.   Books mentioned: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Coyote America by Dan Flores The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron Sevenwaters Series by Juliet Marillier   Big thank you to Kelly Barrett for her very thoughtful listener letter. She writes the newsletter Practice Not Perfect at kellybarrett.substack.com [https://kellybarrett.substack.com/].  Write to us: officialpenpalspod@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @penpalspod [https://www.instagram.com/penpalspod] TikTok: @penpalspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@penpalspod] YouTube: @PenPalsPod [https://www.youtube.com/@PenPalsPod] SubStack: penpalspod.substack.com [https://penpalspod.substack.com/] Follow Krisserin and Kelton: TikTok: @krisserin [https://www.tiktok.com/@krisserin], @keltonwrites [https://www.tiktok.com/@keltonwrites] Instagram: @keltonkin [https://www.instagram.com/keltonkin], @keltonwrites [https://www.instagram.com/keltonwrites] Kelton's Substack: Shangrilogs [https://shangrilogs.substack.com/] Krisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.com [https://krisserin.substack.com/] Music by Golden Hour Oasis Studios

Rachael Maddux on Self-Publishing a Book You Can't Let Go

Krisserin and Kelton sit down with writer Rachael Maddux (Life Expectancy: A Memoir, The Void, Third Person) to talk about what happens when a book you’ve spent 14 years writing never sells through traditional channels — and how you decide to make it exist anyway. Rachael walks us through her journey from first draft to cold querying agents to three years on submission to ultimately self-publishing through Ingram Spark. They get into the real mechanics: ISBNs, the difference between fulfillment and distribution, what your agent can still do for you after a book doesn’t sell, and why self-publishing still carries a weird “stank” in literary circles. Plus: writing groups as lifelines, reading as a writer, mortality as a muse, and the moment you realize your friends actually showed up. Also featuring a very special cameo from Krisserin’s mom, Kennette. Find Rachael Maddux Website: rachaelmaddux.com [http://www.rachaelmaddux.com] Instagram: @rachaelmaddux [https://www.instagram.com/rachaelmaddux] Life Expectancy: A Memoir — Bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/p/books/life-expectancy-rachael-maddux/e0bc3bac83e5b605] | Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/Life-Expectancy-Rachael-Maddux/dp/B0FRNNXMDD] Books Mentioned in this Episode Mary Magdalene Once Upon a Time by Kennette Canary — Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Magdalene-Superhero-3-book-series/dp/B08L559257] Book of Claire by Kennette Canary — Wattpad [https://www.wattpad.com/story/390121802-the-book-of-claire] The Star Who Lost Her Shine by Alex Huey Evans (debut picture book, coming Summer 2026) — alexhueyevans.com [https://www.alexhueyevans.com/] | Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/Star-Who-Lost-Her-Shine/dp/1961597306/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0] | Barnes & Noble [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-star-who-lost-her-shine-alex-huey-evans/1149877011?ean=9781961597303] Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell The Keeper by Tana French Works by Clarice Lispector Write to us: officialpenpalspod@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @penpalspod [https://www.instagram.com/penpalspod] TikTok: @penpalspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@penpalspod] YouTube: @PenPalsPod [https://www.youtube.com/@PenPalsPod] SubStack: penpalspod.substack.com [https://penpalspod.substack.com/] Follow Krisserin and Kelton: TikTok: @krisserin [https://www.tiktok.com/@krisserin], @keltonwrites [https://www.tiktok.com/@keltonwrites] Instagram: @keltonkin [https://www.instagram.com/keltonkin], @keltonwrites [https://www.instagram.com/keltonwrites] Kelton's Substack: Shangrilogs [https://shangrilogs.substack.com/] Krisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.com [https://krisserin.substack.com/] Music by Golden Hour Oasis Studios

Who Are We Writing For—And Who Are We Reading?

Krisserin and Kelton barely make it to record — 15 minutes late despite trying to be 30 minutes early — and that kind of week sets the tone. Kelton's survived two weeks of Colorado spring break without daycare, while Krisserin's mom is in town and the two have been watching movies and running around together. A conversation about Hamnet opens up a question that runs through the whole episode: who is a book actually made for? That question gets personal when Krisserin responds to a listener letter from Sarah — a writer and loyal listener — who gently pushed back on her offhand comment about not reading male authors. Krisserin takes the feedback seriously, sits with it, and comes back with something more honest and nuanced than the original remark: not every writer is for every reader, and that's okay. When she's reading for pleasure and escape, she knows where she reliably finds what she's looking for. Kelton weighs in with her own reading year and they find their way to something they both actually believe. The accountability check-in brings the theme back around to their own writing: the what-if exercise from Ramona Ausubel's Unstuck unlocked something for both of them, Krisserin shares feedback on her short story from her mom and from Kelton, and Kelton floats a summer writing project that is quietly one of the most charming ideas they've discussed on the pod. Books Mentioned: - Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley - Starling House by Alex Harrow - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - James by Percival Everett - Unstuck by Ramona Ausubel Write to us: officialpenpalspod@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @penpalspod [https://www.instagram.com/penpalspod] TikTok: @penpalspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@penpalspod] YouTube: @PenPalsPod [https://www.youtube.com/@PenPalsPod] SubStack: penpalspod.substack.com [https://penpalspod.substack.com/] Follow Krisserin and Kelton: TikTok: @krisserin [https://www.tiktok.com/@krisserin], @keltonwrites [https://www.tiktok.com/@keltonwrites] Instagram: @keltonkin [https://www.instagram.com/keltonkin], @keltonwrites [https://www.instagram.com/keltonwrites] Kelton's Substack: Shangrilogs [https://shangrilogs.substack.com/] Krisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.com [https://krisserin.substack.com/] Music by Golden Hour Oasis Studios