Episode 201: #Creatinga(Fictional)DysfunctionalFamily

And you thought our shelves full of self help books were just to manage our own issues! Nope, there&#8217;s another use for them. Our guest this week, Kathleen Smith, is a therapist and writer and the author of <a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/kathleen-smith/everything-isnt-terrible/9780316492553/">Everything Isn't Terrible</a>, a helpful and humorous guide to shedding our anxious habits and building a more solid sense of self in our increasingly anxiety-inducing world. It&#8217;s very useful, and we&#8217;re valiantly attempting to tame our own anxieties&#8212;but that&#8217;s not (much of) what we talk about. Instead, we&#8217;re focused on what&#8217;s really important&#8212;and within our control: Creating believable, dysfunctional characters and then helping them to grow and change.<br/><br/>We talk about romance dynamics: the pursuer and the pursued, the over-functioner and the slacker&#8212;and how important it is that a couple be at a similar level of maturity (or, more likely, immaturity) to be believable. From there, it&#8217;s headlong into siblings, birth order and circumstance, family coping mechanisms and some of the ways to develop deeper conflict within our work. It&#8217;s such a great conversation. <br/><br/>Episode links and a transcript follow. Thanks for being with us! If you love the podcast, tell a friend. Right now. Just drop everything and go sit someone down and make them listen. And if you love the podcast, you can support it! There are perks. #SupporterMini episodes. #WriterTopFives. <br/><br/>LINKS FROM THE PODCAST<br/><br/><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780393705096">Genograms: Assessment and Intervention</a> <br/><br/><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780343202941?aff=AmWriting">Family Constellation</a>, Walter Toman<br/><br/>#AmReading (Watching, Listening)<br/><br/>Kathleen: <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781984805683?aff=AmWriting">Bringing Down the Duke</a>, Evie Dunmore<br/><br/>KJ: <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/97884842802