Episode 554: Courtney Kocak on Diffusing the Bomb in 'Girl Gone Wild'

"The best part of my second memoir that I'm working on right now ... is right now, when you're actually doing the writing, and so that's a good thing to keep in mind when you're perpetually striving. Getting to do the art is the awesome thing about it," says Courtney Kocak, author of the memoir Girl Gone Wild.

Courtney Kocak is here today and I read her debut memoir Girl Gone Wild over the summer to interview her as part of a debut author panel for Hippocamp. Finally getting around to inviting these jabronis on the show for a little more in depth convos. Courtney is something of a creative swiss army knife. She’s an author, podcaster, comedian, screenwriter, substacker. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Slate, HuffPost, and many, many more.

Courtney follows through on shit. She’s produced a bunch of podcasts and currently hosts 3 of her own with over 2 million downloads. That’s like 2 million more than mine, Private Parts Unknown, The Bleeders, and Podcast Bestie. She teaches writing and podcasting for Writing Workshops, Write or Die and Roadmap Writers. You can find her on many socials, but she’s at courtneykocak on IG.

In this episode we talk about:

• Diffusing the bomb
• Having perspective vs. the rawness of the moment
• Using an ethical reader
• The empathy for her younger self
• Being like Teflon
• Arrival fallacy
• Delusional dreams
• The best part of the process
• Getting to do the art
• Platform as ecosystem and more

I’d pair this episode with Lidia Yuknavitch, Rax King, and Elisa Gabbert, just to name three. Parting shot and why do we even still listen to these things.