The Spring Awakening Episode
Babe Cave
Spring didn't just show up on the calendar — it showed up in the work. Amanda Polick recorded this one on the first official day of spring, and it's exactly what it sounds like: a real-time reckoning with hibernation, self-imposed smallness, and what it finally feels like to wake back up. This isn't a productivity episode. It's a permission slip. Amanda gets honest about a winter spent rethinking major parts of her novel, sitting with creative fatigue instead of pushing through it, and quietly realizing she'd stopped betting on herself in ways she used to do without thinking twice. Cold...
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The Hot Garbage Episode
Babe Cave
Hot garbage isn't an insult — it's a practice. Cookbook coach Amanda Polick makes the case for why submitting imperfect, unpolished, still-in-progress work is not just acceptable — it's the whole point. Drawing on her background as an actor and Second City Hollywood graduate, Amanda unpacks why perfectionism stalls more writing projects than any lack of talent ever could, and what it actually takes to break through the wall. In this episode, you'll hear: Why Amanda holds the line on deadlines with every client — and what that teaches writers about their own resistance The Anne...
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The 10 Things No One Tells You About Writing & Publishing a Cookbook Episode
Babe Cave
If you're trying to write a cookbook — or any nonfiction book — and you feel like you don't know what you don't know, this episode is the one. Cookbook and food memoir coach Amanda Polick breaks down the ten things almost nobody tells aspiring cookbook authors before they start: why a book proposal can take six months or longer, what agents are actually looking for, how to think about an advance (and why bigger isn't always better), what happens to your manuscript after you sign a deal, and why fighting for your work is the most important skill you can develop. In this episode, you'll...
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The Room of One's Own Episode
Babe Cave
Virginia Woolf published A Room of One's Own in 1929. Nearly 100 years later, the questions she raised — about money, creative freedom, and a woman's right to write — are still the questions women writers are asking. In this solo Women's History Month episode, Amanda Polick takes a deep dive into the essay that inspired the name Babe Cave itself, and unpacks why its central argument is just as urgent in 2026 as it was when Woolf delivered it as a lecture at Cambridge in 1928. In this episode, you'll discover: The story of Shakespeare's hypothetical sister — and why Woolf believed she...
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The Having People Over Episode
Babe Cave
What does hosting a dinner party have to do with writing a book? Everything, it turns out. In this episode, Amanda Polick dives into Chelsea Fagan's Having People Over and draws surprising parallels between the art of entertaining and the writing process — from reclaiming formality in your creative work to why going deeper (not wider) is the move that changes everything. In this episode, you'll discover: • Why we've gotten too casual with our writing — and how to fix it • The "back-pocket...
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The Lokelani Alabanza Episode
Babe Cave
Lokelani Alabanza has invented over 300 ice cream flavors, spent five years writing the cookbook she was born to write, and will absolutely change the way you think about what's in your freezer. Loke is a classically trained pastry chef with 20+ years of experience, founder of Saturated Ice Cream (a non-dairy, plant-based brand based in Nashville), and the author of Ice Cream Queen: Flavors from Black America's Past, Present, Future — out June 16, 2026, the week of Juneteenth. The book covers 200 years of Black American ice cream history and includes 100 recipes. In this...
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The Cookbook Proposal Episode
Babe Cave
Your cookbook proposal isn't a rough draft—it's a business plan that will make or break your book deal. After years of coaching aspiring cookbook authors, Amanda Polick has seen the same mistake over and over: brilliant writers with incredible concepts who sabotage themselves by treating their proposal like an afterthought. They think agents will clean it up, or figure it out. But if your proposal doesn't immediately prove you have a clear concept, know your audience, and can market your book, it's dead in the water. In this episode, you'll discover: • ...
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The Edna Lewis Episode
Babe Cave
In this episode, celebrating Black History Month, Amanda Polick dives into the life of Edna Lewis. A woman who became the Grand Dame of Southern Cooking not by following culinary trends, but by staying true to her roots. Edna's path was anything but linear. She worked as a seamstress making dresses for Marilyn Monroe, threw legendary dinner parties in NYC's bohemian art scene, and eventually became head chef and co-owner of Cafe Nicholson, where literary giants like Tennessee Williams and Eleanor Roosevelt came to eat her roast chicken and chocolate soufflé. But the real turning point...
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The You Shouldn't Write a Book Episode
Babe Cave
Not everyone who wants to write a cookbook should—and as a cookbook coach, Amanda Polick knows when to say so. In this episode, Amanda shares the red flags she watches for when aspiring authors apply to work with her: the family friend who insisted his wild game cookbook was "all in his head," the woman who tried to negotiate rates while planning to spend $8,000 she didn't have on self-publishing, and the applicant who sent her a Canva movie in French. Listeners will discover: Why "it's all in my head" is the most dangerous phrase in cookbook publishing The platform-building work...
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The Reading Resistance Episode
Babe Cave
Hot take: That novel you're "too busy" to read? It might be the most radical act of resistance you can do right now. Amanda Polick is tired of fiction getting a bad rap. You know the types—"I only read TRUE stories" people who act like novels are somehow less valuable than self-help books. But here's the thing: while 40% of Americans didn't crack open a single book in 2025, our leaders are literally telling us not to believe what we see with our own eyes. Coincidence? Amanda doesn't think so. In this episode, you'll learn: Why reading rom-coms and fantasy actually makes you better at...
info_outlineWhat does hosting a dinner party have to do with writing a book? Everything, it turns out.
In this episode, Amanda Polick dives into Chelsea Fagan's Having People Over and draws surprising parallels between the art of entertaining and the writing process — from reclaiming formality in your creative work to why going deeper (not wider) is the move that changes everything.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why we've gotten too casual with our writing — and how to fix it
• The "back-pocket recipe" method for finding your creative focus
• How to combat the loneliness of writing by inviting people into your process
• What the Golden Hour coaching call is and how it can help you take your next book step
Perfect for: Aspiring authors, writers stuck in the idea phase, creatives craving community and a clear next step.
Shownotes: https://www.amandapolick.com/blog/having-people-over-episode
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