Pillow Talking

The latest episode of Pillow Talking is all about what gives us life in the most arid of times. In the featured stories, the pillow talkers cross deserts of emotional and sexual intimacy; of abuse; of neglect and resentment; and… an actual literal desert, not quite Lawrence of Arabia style.

Join me. Link in bio.

Remembering is an act of storytelling. And if remembering is an act of storytelling, what are the stories we tell each other about the *us*? Are they stories of love? Stories of war? Stories of the mundane?

Join me in the bedroom for a clutch of stories that are all about memory and remembrance of things past – and loved.

Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1521124/12483729

Happpppppy New Year! Pillow Talking is back for 2023 with a new bumper episode, featuring 8 of your and my favourite stories of bedroom conversations.

From the heartfelt 💗, to the heart wrenching 😭, to the cringey 😬, these stories will remind you of the depth and breadth that our bedroom conversations can cover.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts or here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1521124/12329425

It was 13 years ago today…

It's been pretty quiet on the Pillow Talking front while I'm on my (southern hemi) summer break, but it was great to have a candid and heartfelt chat with Andrew from about my ma, grief, and food. It's a beautiful concept for a pod and Andrew is a wonderful host. Check it out if you so desire at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/violeta/id1625605828?i=1000596502052

Whatever and however you celebrate, it’s best wishes from Melchior (or is it Gaspar?) and me this holiday season. May peace and goodwill prevail. And if you haven’t checked out my special holiday bonus, “Epiphany”, please do (link in bio). See you all soon!

Our traditions aren't just about keeping customs alive: they're about recapturing something. Maybe a feeling. Or a hope. Or a value. And sometimes, when the stars – or maybe a single, bright star – align, what we recapture can help us find more than we intended. Listen to "Epiphany" at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1521124/11902849

That's it for Pillow Talking until February 2023! Until then, happy holidays, and as always: please look after yourselves, and each other.

Our bedroom sanctuaries are places where we can feel safe. Share our dreams with a special other and come up with new dreams for both. Embrace vulnerability and share our deepest thoughts, feelings, and secrets. These bedroom conversations remind us that the bedroom can be a place that the outside world doesn’t touch.

See you in the bedroom. Link in bio.

The Pillow Mint is my secret Pillow Talking extra. It’s a companion piece to each episode, with ideas for what to read, watch, listen to, and even eat or drink, that expands on the theme. I love putting each one together, and it goes to the awesome people who support me via buymeacoffee.com. Absolutely 100% of this money goes towards paying the pillow talkers who contribute stories. Because all writers should be paid. If you’d like to pay for a story or more, either as a one-of or a small monthly contribution, go to: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/pillowtalking

If you're having a beautiful weekend and would like beauteous prose to go with it, check out the latest episode of Pillow Talking, "Who do you think you are?" It includes this gorgeous story from the New York poet Robert Hirschfield, about love done late – and well.

Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1521124/11787286

It’s one thing to ponder your identity while looking in the mirror, but another thing altogether to ponder it while looking into your partner’s eyes. Who are you with that person? Who are you to that person? Who are you after that person? 🤔

In the new episode of Pillow Talking, “Who Do You Think You Are?” four stories of real-life bedroom conversations explore how identity and relationships intertwine. 🪢

See you in the bedroom: It’s one thing to ponder your identity while looking in the mirror, but another thing altogether to ponder it while looking into your partner’s eyes. Who are you with that person? Who are you to that person? Who are you after that person? 🤔

In the new episode of Pillow Talking, “Who Do You Think You Are?” four stories of real-life bedroom conversations explore how identity and relationships intertwine. 🪢

See you in the bedroom. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1521124/11787286

Share your bedroom conversation around the theme “Water In The Desert” for a chance to have it featured in the next episode of Pillow Talking. And remember: we pay for stories.

Guidelines and submissions ➡️ https://pillowtalkingproject.com/tell-your-story/

Wisdom is sometimes delivered in wrappings of sadness, like in the story “The Songbird and Me”. Listen to this beautiful story and more in episode 15 of Pillow Talking, “Suddenly, strangers”. Listen Link in bio.

My hot take: a peanut butter and pickle sandwich is delicious. There are dozens of us who think so. Dozens! And to find out what this has to do with anything, listen to the latest episode of Pillow Talking, “Suddenly, Strangers”. Link in bio. … … …

🥷🏽 New episode up! 🥷🏽

Imagine the person you are most intimate with, the one you have entrusted with your vulnerability and deepest self, suddenly being a stranger. Acting in a completely different or unexpected way to the person you know, or even disappearing from your life as though they’d never been. 🫥

Or maybe you don’t have to imagine…

Join me for Episode 15 and four stories about times when the other became a stranger, disappearing in the flesh or emotionally, or revealing themselves in a whole new way, sometimes leaving questions, and always changing things so they can never be the same.

Link in bio.

NEW EPISODE UP!

Join me in the bedroom for "Blue”, four stories featuring that colour – real or figurative – that's the rarest of them all, and yet ever-present.



https://www.buzzsprout.com/1521124/10954880

As much as the bedroom can be a playground, or even a battleground, it can also be a sanctuary: a place of refuge, comfort, and safety. And the conversations that happen in this sanctuary can reveal not just volumes about ourselves and our relationships, but also about the world that is outside its doors.

Share your bedroom conversation around the theme “Sanctuary” for a chance to have it featured in the next episode of Pillow Talking. And remember: we pay for stories.

Guidelines and submissions ➡️ link in bio.

This line from “Toulouse”, the lyrical story from in the latest episode of Pillow Talking, is one of my favourites ever. It captures the impossibility of longing so beautifully, framed by a conversation in a hostel room in Spain.

Listen to it in “An Unguarded Moment” ➡️ link in bio.

If you loved Marc’s story, “Lamb Chops at 4am” in the latest episode of Pillow Talking, check out his new single – it’s fab. Link in bio or go to www.marcteamaker.com

Last year after getting into Pillow Talking, my friend Chris asked, “Are you ever going to write for it?” 🤔

“I do!” I replied. “What do you think the essay in each introduction is?”

“I mean a story.”

“I include stories!…” I protested. But she sighed one of those sighs and I told her I’d think about it.

I did think about it, and was ready with a story when the time came to record the first episode of the season. It’s not a pillow talk with a romantic partner, but with the first person I ever loved: my mother. And in this story I share not just her unguarded moment but how the way we’re alike make me both curse and bless the genes we share.

Check out the latest episode of Pillow Talking, “An Unguarded Moment” ➡️ link in bio.

SEASON 2 OF PILLOW TALKING IS HERE!

Phew. A looooong time coming. But it’s back, and have I got a bumper first ep for you! 💕

Join me in the bedroom for “An Unguarded Moment”, six (yes, six) stories featuring those rare moments – sometimes good, sometimes tough – of rawness and realness. Moments that happened by choice, or a complete lack of choice, or because the moment took them completely by surprise. I love them all, and hope you will too.


Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at: https://pillowtalkingproject.com

We were absolutely overwhelmed with submissions for the last three eps so if you missed out on having your story featured, never fear! The new themes are up!

ICYMI: creative/narrative nonfiction stories of bedroom conversations, 350-2,000 words. Pays $25. Themes/deadlines:

💒 Sanctuary (2 July)
🥸Who Do You Think You Are? (16 July)
💭I Remember… (30 July)

Guidelines and submissions ➡️ link in bio.