Life, Death and Hilarity with Kristen and Raya

In this special episode of Write the Good Fight, Publisher ⁠Kristen McGuiness⁠ and Content Director ⁠Raya Whittington ⁠discuss their personal journeys as writers, the challenges of balancing a busy career with creative aspirations, murder, and more. Both starting to solidify their careers in screenwriting, they emphasize the importance of writing consistently and writing because you have to, to survive. This is a random, funny, and informative episode that you won’t want to miss!

Automatically Transcribed Transcript

From the ladies of Rise Literary, welcome to Write the Good Fight. Welcome to today's special episode of Write the Good Fight with publisher and CEO, Kristen McGuiness, and content director, Raya Whittington. We are super excited to be doing this abbreviated episode where we are going to chat a little bit about actually the projects we are working on.

So I always joke that I am not just the president of Hair Club for Men. I am also a client because not only do I help other people's stories get written and published, but am also a writer myself. And the same is true for Raya, that she not only helps our authors see their stories get out there into the world, but she too is an author and a writer.

And so we thought it would be fun to do this, I wouldn't call it a mini episode, but definitely a smaller episode where Raya and I dive into the projects that we are currently working on and also talk about how we balance having a busy career, a busy company. We are both, Raya is entrepreneurial in the fact that she is working for a wild small business that adds something new every day to the plate. But also neither of us have lost sight of our dreams as writers.

So, Raya, thank you so much for doing this with me today. And I would love to hear where your dreams of becoming a writer started. And how the hell did you end up here?

I feel like that's a really long story, but I'll try to make it relatively brief. I started writing when I was five years old at my grandma's office on her typewriter. And that was like the very beginning of everything for me.

And I always wanted to be a writer. I became a awarded poet when I was eight. There was like a little like poetry, like a poetry reading.

And I got to get awards and I got to share it with everyone. That was really cool. I got published again when I was 15.

And when I was 16, I told my mom I was majoring in English. And I think she had a heart attack because my first plan for life was actually medicine. So that was a change for her.

And then I went on to study English in college and get my associates in English. But yeah, after that, I was like, I have to find a way to work in any form of writing, whether it be books or film or TV. And my little sister goes to school with your daughter.

And my mom was like, there's this woman and she was at a birthday party talking about her publishing house. You should reach out to her. And I was like, okay, super awesome.

And I reached out, I didn't hear anything and I got super nervous, but I hated my job at the time. So I put in my two week notice for my job. And then I heard back from Kristen, two weeks after I put my two weeks in.

And she said, I can't hire you now, but I can hire you in two weeks. And my boss at the time had asked me to extend my two weeks to four. So it perfectly aligned that when I lost my other job, that I immediately had a new one.

So that's how it works. We are so glad that the Universe brought us together, and Raya has been with us since 2023, which is crazy because I feel like you've been with us for so much longer than that. I'm like, how is that possible that it was only 2023?

It feels like it's been like 30 years. But so I would love to hear about what you're working on right now, because I think it's really interesting. And we got to see the pitch deck for it yesterday, and we were all ooing and awing.

Yeah, I'm working on a TV show about my experience working in the restaurant industry, because it's just such an intense and stressful industry, and super dramatic for no reason. No matter what level you're on, whether you're like the most basic level or you're like absolutely a pro chef, as we've seen in The Bear, it's always stressful and terrible, but it has its moments too. So I wanted to do my kind of my own spin on that, but also like what it means to be in your 20s and feel like everything is falling apart for you, and you're not getting what you kind of dreamed you wanted in your life.

And how scary that can kind of be, because everyone says your 20s are the best years of your life, and I think everyone lies to you. I think they are over romanticizing their 20s. I think your 30s are probably a lot better than your 20s.

20s feels like I'm a teenager again, and I don't love that.

20s sucks. 30s is good. 40s is awesome.

I mean, 30s is still awkward because you're still like trying to like, you're out of the 20s, but there's still a lot of like figuring it out and going on in your 30s. But you know what? It might be different for you because you're only 24 and you're like killing it.

24, I was not killing it. So I know it is.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, I love, I mean, getting to see the pitch yesterday. Can we say the title?

Yeah, it's called Hot and Depressed. I love that.

So I think Hot and Depressed is, I mean, I actually feel like you have such a strong pitch with it. And I also think like there is like, it's not just age specific and genre specific, but I think it's also like cultural specific of like, like you are in an era of Hot and Depressed.

Like, it's like very much. I mean, I feel like we all feel that. I think everybody at every age right now feels hot and depressed.

So it's like, wait a sec. Like, I am slamming right now and also falling apart at the same time, so.

And I got the title. We have an author that is, we have a book coming out with her, but her name is Nada, and she did my chart reading. And that's how I got that title, because she was like, oh my gosh, like your Saturn is in your 12th house, but your Venus and your Jupiter in your first house.

So you're really hot. You're super lucky, but you're really sad and depressed. And I was like, did you just say that I'm hot and depressed?

And she goes, uh-huh, perfect.

I love that. I didn't even know that was the origin story.

That's the reason why I started writing this show.

To Rise and it's so, oh my God, look at that. Raya told me that I'm not allowed to promote on the podcast, but I'm going to. So we've got, I'm like, what the fuck is this podcast for if I am promoting shit, Raya?

But yeah, Nada Yousef, her book, The Astrology of Healing, coming out from Rise Literary on January 6th, 2026. She's an amazing astrologer and her, the way that she tackles astrology is so incredible. And I feel like she's inspired us all in different ways and our creative journeys because of the way she views astrology.

So it's called The Astrology of Healing for a reason. It's about really using astrology to understand the trauma in your life and also your healing stories. So it's very much like a storytelling narrative with astrology, which I think just like lends to like, looking at your astrology from a much more creative perspective.

So it's no surprise that that would turn into a whole freaking TV show idea.

Yeah, yeah, I owe it all to her truthfully because I did not. I was going to write a book instead. And then I was like, no, it's a TV show.

No, it's a TV show. So I had to fully rework. But I'm glad I did because I love film and TV and I'm a lot better at it than I am at novels.

So I'll take that.

Yeah, I'm the opposite. I'm a lot better at novels than I am at film and TV. And I have spent so many years trying to write scripts.

I started in... I love movies. So I think anybody who grows up loving movies, but I also love books.

I love storytelling of both. I always had a dream of doing both. I had a dream that I would write books.

I had a dream that I would write movies. I had a dream that I'd become best friends with George Clooney. Like literally when I moved to LA, that was my, I had a dream, like my fantasy that you get if you're somebody who does dumb shit like this.

But like when I was moving to LA from New York, I had this dream that I was going to become a famous screenwriter, and I was going to become like bros with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. I didn't want to date either of them. I just wanted to be like that like bro girl.

I was going to be like their bro girl. And that was my goal in my Hollywood life. And I ended up being a D girl at a film company.

And we did do a lot with Section 8, which was George Clooney's company. We were actually co-producing a movie at that time with Jen Aniston who was married to Brad Pitt. And we were doing, it was called Rumor Has It, a movie with Kevin Costner.

And it was the summer that Brad cheated on her with Angelina Jolie. And I knew about that affair before anybody else, like me and our whole office. It wasn't just me alone.

But because the producer, Paula Weinstein, who sadly passed like about maybe two years ago, she'd become good friends with Jennifer Aniston. And so Jen was coming to work every day, like sobbing about this affair that was happening on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith that was being filmed at the same time that we were doing Rumor Has It. And then, because when you work as like a creative exec, when you're a lowling on the totem pole in Hollywood, you have to like roll calls at night for the like principal producer.

So I was on all these calls with Paula Weinstein and Jane Fonda because they were besties. Also, side note, they were also the only two white women who were Black Panthers. So Jane Fonda and Paula Weinstein were both actual like indoctrinated Black Panthers.

I did not know this, but that tracks so much for who they are to me. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Yeah. So they would be on these calls like gossiping about Brad and Angie. And I was like getting the whole story and I was like, oh my God.

So anyway, that was my total Hollywood segue. But I did not become friends with Brad or George Clooney, but I did get the skinny on their lives. And I dreamt that I was going to become a screenwriter, and I wrote a bunch of screenplays.

And then that's when I realized, oh my God, I'm actually better at novels. But I still try to write screenplays.

Is it the dialogue? I think that's what everyone gets tripped up on. It's just so much dialogue.

Yeah. That's the only thing I'm good at. And if you ever see my script, the one note I ever got was, I wish I knew more what they were doing and less what they were saying.

And I was like, nah, sorry. I only know what they're saying. That's all I'm good at is talking.

I can't describe things. I'm terrible at that.

Well, and I think, yeah, I mean, I think that's the thing. Dialogue is so hard. And I feel when I write dialogue, it all feels like it's written by me.

It doesn't feel like two different characters in conversation. It's like, oh, there's Kristen, and there's Kristen with an accent, bad one. It's like, oh, Kristen's trying to be Irish again.

And so I find, but I will say we had a podcast a few episodes back with Krista Vernoff, which everybody should check out because it was a fantastic episode. You're like, stop promoting, Kristen. Raya yesterday told me that for this podcast, I have to be like Andy Cohen on What's Happened Live.

And I was like, I don't know how to, I'm supposed to get people on Catfights or something. I don't know that I can get that much drama going on on a podcast about writing books, Raya.

Hey, there's a lot of ways. You just, you gotta, you gotta bait, you know, you gotta say things specifically to get them interested and to say something moderately scandalous. Just for a clip, just for a clip.

That you're a serial killer, is that it? Yeah. Okay, so Raya, tell everybody why you're a serial killer.

That's a clip.

She was literally telling us this last night in a hot tub, and I'm gonna be honest, there was a point where we were like, that's so cute. And then there was a point where we were kind of like, and now we're actually scared.

And now we're scared. I was like, there's two ways I can answer that. How I write, and then there's also just my own life.

I'm like, there's two options. I write in a very unsettling fashion. I write at one o'clock in the morning, one to two usually, in darkness with music playing, and my screen fully dimmed out so you can't see anything.

So it's just, you wouldn't know I was writing other than the fact you could hear my fingers tapping on my keyboard.

You're just like a ghostwriter.

Literally.

But an actual ghost who happens to write.

Yes. Yeah. That's what that is.

Or the fact that I had a psychologist be like, hmm, your life is a little too aligned with other serial killers that are women. And I'm like, that's awesome, thanks.

And then your first book was going to be called what?

The Ingredients to Kill.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. So last night, she was telling us this story, and she was like, I mean, I haven't killed yet. And we were all like, we kind of feel like that's a sentence that shouldn't have a yet at the end of it.

And then she kept trying to like re-articulate it. And then she was like, however, and I was like, no, however is just yet inside out. Like stop, stop.

Like, I feel like that's a hard stop, yo. Like, that's fair.

That's fair. I mean, look, I, if I ever end up in the FBI, that would, that would, you never know. People have to kill in the field.

I feel like we have a very loose definition of serial killing actually, a lot more than we probably should. Like it should probably be tighter.

It should. I think, yeah. I mean, I think we define serial killing.

There's a little bit of profiling in who we determine is a serial killer. Yeah. We're actually there are a lot of-

There's definitely cops and army men.

Military. Yeah. There are a lot of serial killing that goes on.

Yes.

That's approved.

Right. Yeah.

That's sanctioned. Sanctioned serial killing.

Yeah.

They actually call that a genocide. So-

Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah.

We need tighter definitions all around.

We really do. Or broader, because I think that's the thing. Serial killing for us is like some dude on the side of the road that's torturing women, and actually, those are few and far between.

There's a lot more serial killing going on at a global scale that does not involve duct tape.

It's true. It was so funny that we had that conversation, and we were driving back. I was driving back with Vianna, who does all of our designing, and she was talking to me, and she goes, she says the last name Tofana.

And I was like, as in like Aqua Tofana? She goes, yeah, oh my gosh, do you know this? I was like, yes, of course, because she was talking about like Italian history and how she wants to talk about that on the internet and like educate people about Italian history.

And I didn't realize that she was Italian, but Aqua Tofana is one of the most well-known female serial killers because she would make this like poison and then give it to women. And women would be like, oh, my husband, he's been a real problem. Let me just make him a stew real quick, put a couple of drops in, goodbye.

But she's considered a serial killer, even though she wasn't necessary. I'm pretty sure she wasn't the person who ever killed anyone. She just supplied women.

She just supplied the brew. Yeah, I'm kind of an Aqua Tofana fan, and just we never met, but...

We never met, but I like her vibes. Yeah, it's so we have a very weird definition of it. I don't know.

It's not clear enough.

Well, I hope you never fall under the definition for on any part of that, on any part of it.

That's the goal.

That is the goal. Yeah, not with no yet's or however's attached.

Yeah.

So, but well, no, and I think it is hard to stay committed to one's creativity when they're also, and Raya does, we joke that we could all leave tomorrow and just hand the keys over to Raya and she'd be like, fine. She'd be like, finally, I can put this shit together. I've had these assholes in my way this whole time.

But it is so hard to stay committed to your creativity when, whether it's just a day job, not just a day job, but whether it's a day job. And I've done that. I wrote my last two books with a full-time job.

My last book I wrote with a full-time job and a baby. And then I kept going even when I had a second baby because I was just so committed. That was Live Through This, which we also published in 2023.

Sorry, Raya. I'm just going to keep promoting.

I'm good.

I am just here to sell shit. But why do you have a podcast? Why do you think?

Why do you? What? I mean, but it is, I love it.

I love this piece of everything that we do in this world, where it's like, I love what we do. I wake up every day stoked out that this is my job. I have had a lot of jobs where I cannot say that's true.

I am, if I was here for the money, I would be totally doing a different job because you don't run a small business for the money ever, ever, ever. I am absolutely here for the love of storytelling and the people, and the conversations, and the work we do. And also, like, how do you think bills get paid?

You got to sell the shit. Like, that's just what it is. So, you know, it's funny when I hear people also talk of, like, I don't even know what this is.

I, like, I don't care whether this is successful or whatnot. And this sort of like, I'm like, really? Because I feel like your mortgage company cares.

Like, I feel like your car lease has an opinion.

This is a hard industry to be nonchalant in. Like, I think you have to be chalant. Yeah.

If you're on the lower levels, you need to be real chalant. Like, you gotta really care about what you do.

Unless you're swimming in a tub of cash on the regulars. Like, you, there are people, I mean, there are, I just got a quote from our PR company, who's fantastic. Smith PR, check them out.

If you are a author and you're looking for a publicity team, they're amazing. But like, they have to also pay their mortgages and their rent and their staff. And like, they just sent us a quote, and I'm like, gulp, let's figure this out, right?

So like, everything circles around to like, to the benefit of all, like if you're doing good work. And so yeah, buy my book. But like, writing and also having a day job is really hard.

And I know like, for myself, like last summer, and Raya knows the story well, I went on a trip to Greece, and it was supposed to be a super fun vacation. And it was the gnarliest two week trip of my life. And we didn't have the money to do the trip.

We had agreed to the trip two years prior. We were locked in with this other family. We sort of had to do it come hell or high water.

And we both got hell and high water. And we were like, there's nothing fun about a vacation. We're at the end of every day.

You're like, I think we have $30 left and I don't know how we're gonna get through tomorrow. And on the back end, Raya was house sitting for us back home in California. And it was like one insane thing happening after the next.

Like my dog almost died. Our evil neighbor called animal control. My grandmother went to the ER multiple times.

She got lost at some point and we couldn't find her. It was just like every day was like another level of chaos. And I'm just like waking up in Greece, like what the fuck happened now?

And I said it was such a horrible trip that I had to write a screenplay about it. And so I came home and promptly wrote a screenplay in the middle of running a busy company, in the middle of having two children, in the middle of having all these things. And I will say that like there is something about creative expression that when it becomes so dire to your own life and well being, you will find the time.

And you don't always want to have to write from that like level of urgency. But I think sometimes it's about recognizing that like, and Rob Bell, who was on our podcast in, we just went and saw him last night for his 400th podcast. Like he said this on our live interview that like was so, I think, emotional that he was like, this is life or death.

And like when I wrote Sacred Monster, like writing that screenplay was life or death for me. Like I was in such a horrific place on every level of my life. You know, financially we were crumbling and everything was so hard.

My marriage was hard. My dog was dying. My grandmother was in the hospital.

You know, we were on the verge of losing another business we had that we ended up losing. And writing that screenplay, I went to a hotel and in 24 hours I wrote that script and it saved my life. And the same thing for lived through this, the book that I wrote that was published in 2023 that has sold, if you're not sitting down, you might want to, 170 copies.

I joke. I have like a thousand close personal friends and somehow I've only sold 170 copies. But writing that book saved my fucking life, you know?

And I think that's what the best of writing is, is that it saves our life and we find the time for it because we need to save our lives.

Yeah. I think it's for both of us, it's one of those things where you have to live to write in the first place. Like you have to go out and experience life to come back with something.

But if something really hurts you and something really impacts you, you will, I mean, I do like sprints when I write real quick, like I'll do 30-minute sprints so that I have just, I know I wrote for 30 minutes in a day and that feels really good to me. And I can track how many words I write in those 30 minutes, like it tracks it for me. And the days where I'm writing about something that is so necessary for me to process my own life, is two times as many words as when I write what I'm writing just because I feel like I have to sit down and write.

And I'm not saying on those days where you're just sitting down to write just because to not write, it's still important to keep that habit up. But really, it's so important to write what you need to write and you feel you need to write and what you love to write because you will do it faster and you will do it better in a way. You have more passion going into it.

I mean, it's crazy to write a movie in 24 hours. It's crazy to write a movie in a week. Like that's insane.

But if it's something that you feel like you have to do, you'll do it and you did it. That's it.

Yeah. And I mean, I wrote Live Through This over like six years. So it was a very different project of writing and rewriting and writing and rewriting.

But the inspiration and motivation was the same. Like I absolutely have to write this. So I love this so much.

We're going to leave you all wanting more because I am in mom mode today and have to take my child to a doctor's appointment. So this is the real life of running businesses, doing podcasts and also having two children that you are responsible for their life or death. Super fun, super fun job.

So let's do Just the Tip.

Wait, can I play it from here?

Yes.

I'm on here actually and that because that would be crazy.

For the first time ever, alive, Just the Tip.

Oh my gosh, that's so cool.

All right, you go first. We both get to Just the Tip today.

Okay. I think we kind of already talked. Well, you'd mentioned this when you were like, it feels like Kristen and then it feels like Kristen with an accent.

I think it's really important to know your characters better than you know yourself. And that sounds kind of like silly and stupid. And as much as it's impossible to leave yourself out of your characters, like little parts of you will always fall into them.

I think it's important to catch how much is falling into them and be really aware that your characters should be unique and they should have defined and very consistent voices. So I think, yeah, when you're writing, you need to like, every time you write for your character, you need to become that character. You need to know them and you need to write as them and you need to edit them as them so that they are as clear and specific as possible.

And it's hard to do that, but that comes with practice. So practice it.

I love that. And I think it's so true with characters' voices. I actually was singing the other day, like for every character I have, I'm going to start doing where I have their birthdate and I actually get their chart done because that will help me to identify their personality traits.

Yeah, I do Pinterest boards and I attach colors to them, is what I do. Like every character has a color and like a clothing style and that helps.

That helps a lot too. Yeah, no, absolutely. I think my one tip is write a thousand words a week the way you count your steps, because I actually think it's like, if you can just do, first of all, if you write a thousand words a week, you will have 52,000 words at the end of a year, which is like basically a book or at least a rough first draft.

I mean, books should be longer than that generally, but it gives you a really good first rough draft to start working from. But I think just getting, I mean, thinking of it like you do steps, the idea is if you start writing a thousand words a week, you will very quickly find yourself writing 2,000, 3,000 and beginning to develop that writing practice. And inspiration doesn't always strike when you want it to.

I have had the must-write projects, and I do think those are the ones that we drive to the finish line. But the fact is, I've written a ton of things that got abandoned, but they still made me great writers, and so, or made me a better writer. So it's just about putting in the words in the same way you put in your steps.

So I don't put in steps, but I work to put in words. But I know a lot of people do.

We don't walk, but we write.

We write so other people can run. All right, Raya, I love this. We're going to do more of these fun little episodes with the folks and ladies of Rise Literary, because they're awesome and we love each other, and we have so much fun, and we want you to join us in the party and check us out at Rise Literary for more hilarity and mass murder.

How exciting.

How exciting.

This has been Write the Good Fight, brought to you by the ladies of Rise Literary. Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to rate us five stars, follow the show, and leave a comment.

We'd love to hear from you. Feel free to share this episode with friends, family, or anyone who might find it helpful or fun. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Rise Literary to stay up to date with upcoming events, courses, insider info, behind the scenes fun, and so much more.

Or you can check us out at www.riseliterary.com. We appreciate you listening, and we hope to see you next week for another great episode. Until then, remember, it's your time to write the good fight.

From Write the Good Fight: Life, Death and Hilarity with Kristen and Raya, Aug 28, 2025

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