People Who Do Things began as a recurring topic in phone calls and texts between two friends in two cities. Both being writers and creators, we’d talked for years about collaborating on something, and here we are!
The title of the podcast is from a poem by the great Dorothy Parker titled Bohemia. It talks about writers and artists of all kinds and what bores they are. It’s worth a search and a short read.
Laura and John met in 2016 at a writer’s conference in Richmond, Virginia, and have been close friends since.
Laura Buchwald
In the third grade, Laura was given the “Outstanding Poet” award for her magnum opus “Feelings,” which contains the line “I like to be glad, and not to be mad.” This remains her mantra.
Her career has taken a non-linear path through magazines, technology, theater and book publishing. She spent one year writing salacious tidbits for a national gossip column and articles about alternative dispute resolution for a law school.
Her first novel is a ghost story set in the restaurant worlds of New York and New Orleans. Her second novel is a work-in-progress in the form of handwritten notes scattered throughout her apartment. She lives in New York City with her partner and dog. When not staring at a blank Word document, she enjoys traveling, learning languages, and singing.
John H. Matthews
With a background in procrastination, John has defied his own odds by releasing seven books, with his next in editing and another already started.
Born in New York City, he grew up in Arkansas and Oklahoma, spent several years in Dallas, Texas, and a year in California, before settling in the D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia.
He spends his time working, writing, driving to soccer and tennis practices for his son, and looking for any distraction possible to keep him from writing, such as starting a podcast.
