These Mums Write

Do you ever feel like hitting the restart button on your life? For Brooke Smith, the death of her mother and end of her marriage was the call from the universe she needed to rebuild her life from the ground up. That journey eventually brought her to launch a new career in writing and life coaching, where she is helping other women using writing to understand past and present blocks and create the...

Are you a women in your middle age? Then maybe you should write a novel about one. Alexandra Potter has published dozens of romcoms about 20 year olds finding love during her two decades as a women's fiction author. However she recently took a big leap of faith in her writing by focusing on the experience of a middle aged woman and that feeling that your life just isn't how you planned. Her book,...

Do you ever find yourself laughing (and sometimes crying) about the everyday life of being a mom? Momcom is a newly emerging genre that centres on the humour and heart of motherhood and could be the perfect for the story inside you. Lisa Roe's debut momcom novel, Welcome to the Neighbourhood, was named one of the best reads of 2022 by USA Today. In this episode, she shares the highs of writing mot...

Do you have anxiety? Does the idea of creating an Instagram reel send you into a panic?  You may want to start writing horror. Candy D. Mitchell is a mom and fantasy and horror fiction author who recently published the second book in her Folengower series. In this episode, she talks about how writing horror is actually a release for her anxiety and how she has learned to open herself up to re...

Writing isn't just about words, it's about reinventing yourself (and sometimes learning to be ok with the "C" word) After leaving her life as a nurse to stay at home with her son, Julia Jarrett realized that she didnt't really want to go back. On a whim, she decided to try her hand a writing the books she loved to read: romance. She has since built a thriving romance author biz and in this episode...

Are you a mom pivoting into publishing for the first time? Maybe you have a career as a nurse or teacher or maybe you're a SAHM and have been chasing kids for the last ten years. It can be intimidating to know where and how to start and what to pay attention to when are trying to build an author brand with zero background in business. But luckily there are moms out there that do. Kate Shelton is a...

Do you love to write but not know the first thing about developing a profitable product? Does the idea of running a business feel as foreign as a buying a two-seater convertible? Caitlin Doemner is a mom of three with an MBC who founded a six-figure business in coaching and sales before deciding what she really wanted to do was write YA books (and travel the world with her family). In this episode...

Want to give your author biz a boost? The answer is simple: write a lot, and write what readers want. Sofia Aves is a mom of three, USA Today Bestselling romantic suspense author with over 25 titles and the marketing manager for the Romance Writers of Australia. In this episode of These Mums Write, she shares how she manages to get so many words written despite her busy mom schedule by writing by...

Want to start seeing real sales in your books? Then it's time to dabble into the world of digital book ads. In last week's episode, we learned how one mom author is using Facebook ads with amazing success and this week we hear about the two other big players in the book ad industry: Book Bub and Amazon. Krissyann Granger is a mom, fibre artist, and furniture refinisher who only recently started wr...

After countless hours, your book is finally ready--so how do you let readers know it exists? And, better yet, get them to buy it. Sedona Ashe is a homeschooling mom of three who grew a six-figure author business in fantasy romance after seeing a half-written novel she posted on WattPad blow up in 2020. In this episode, Sedona shares how Facebook ads played a huge role in building her amazingly suc...

Do you want to use Tik Tok to connect with readers but not sure how to get started? Tik Tok can be a powerful tool for authors but before you spend your precious writing time doing something other than writing, it's important to have a strategy. Soda Khan is a mom, speculative fiction author and the founder of Author Moms Who Tik Tok. In this episode of These Mums Write, Soda shares everything the...

ARC reviews and pre-order purchases are a big part of the indie book launch process, but how do you get people to care enough about your book to do either?  Ellie Holland is a mom and fantasy author who, despite being a first-time author and self-professed introvert, had over 250 people sign up to read her ARCs thanks to her Tik Tok account. In this episode, Ellie shares how she built up her...

Do you feel stuck in getting your writing life started, or getting it to the next level? Jo Buer is a gothic suspense author, podcaster and school teacher from New Zealand who supports indie authors to foster mindset and manifestation approaches to invite abundance into their lives. In this episode, she shares techniques you can use to reframe limiting beliefs around time and money scarcity, as we...

In his book, Third Door, Alex Banayan describes how the success of leaders like Bill Gates, Maya Angelou, and Steven Spielberg is due to their ability to find and unlock that third door, or unconventional access point to their industries. If you are looking for a third door into the publishing world, A.N. Payton's story of how a single Tweet made her publishing dreams come true is for you.  I...

Do you have a story about a struggle you have overcome that you want to share with others to help those facing the same challenge?  Does non-fiction writing appeal to you as a way to get your story heard? Stephanie Thompson is a mum from Australia who sustained a pelvic organ prolapse injury during childbirth that prevented her from going back to a job she loved. After trying to live with the...

In 2006, Time magazine called Jamaica the most homophobic place on earth. Gianni Holmes is a single mum and indie author of gay or MM romance, with dozens of titles to her name and Facebook fan group of over 2.5 thousand. Although writing in this genre poses risks to her, it has also meant financial independence, creative freedom, and the opportunity to help marginalized readers feel seen and safe...

Have you ever questioned whether you deserve to be a writer? Or what you should be writing? Anna Conathan never wanted to be a screenwriter, and yet found herself working in LA for some of the world's biggest production houses including Disney, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Paramount.  Then motherhood hit and she not only felt like an imposter in her highly paid Hollywood role, but was totally d...

Have you ever thought about doing stand up comedy? Or maybe you want to infuse a little more comedy in your sit down kinda writing? Jacqui Pirl is a mom and writer who decided the only way to get over her post-divorce depression was to surround herself in comedy. She had zero background when she signed up for a stand up comedy class several years ago and is now touring the US entertaining audience...

Do you feel like you aren't getting the most out of your writing time? Or that your books aren't selling as well as they should? Becca Syme is an author, coach, youtube/podcast host and creator of the Better-Faster Academy. She is a USA Today bestselling author of small-town romance and cozy mystery and also writes the 'Dear Writer' series of non-fiction books. She has also individually coached th...

So you want to get your picture book out in the world but you don't have the funds to pay for it yourself and the publishing industry is moving at a sloth-like pace? Janey Merry is a mum who was facing this exact predicament after completing the manuscript of her debut picture book, Ready, Set, Sloth. So she decided to launch a kickstarter campaign. Not only did she raise enough funds to cover the...

Have you ever considered writing Christian fiction? If you have passed it by because the genre rules seem too rigid, it may be time to look again.  Allison Wells is mom of four and author of four traditionally published Christian fiction novels, and one self-published sweet romance novel, Two Princes (released last month). Allison is not your typical Christian fiction writer. In this episode,...

Is it time to reinvent yourself into a published novelist? Jessica Payne is a mum, author and the host of #MomsWritersClub on Twitter and YouTube. And just a few years ago, she wasn't any of that.  Jessica came to writing after already building a career in healthcare as a nurse practitioner. Though she has created a pretty impressive new author life for herself in a fairly short amount of tim...

Do you dream for more for you and your family, but you don't know where to start? KK Allen is a single mom and in 2014 she asked her boss for a raise. It turned out to be the best raise she didn't get because his refusal and her desire to earn more for her son motivated her to start trying out this KDP thing her friend had mentioned. Eight years later she has grown that experiment into a bestselli...

Being a mum can make writing a challenge, but it can also be a source of inspiration and drive. Lisa Bournelis is a mum and change management specialist who recently published a children's novella about her son’s experiences with OCD during the pandemic, Louie and the Dictator.  In this episode she shares how her son's struggle motivated her to write her debut book and what she hopes to accom...

Do you have a mom-friendly support network to help you get your words on the page? Frustrated with the added pressure of the 2020 COVID lockdown and the feeling of never being able to get to "me time" to write, English novelist, poet and magazine editor Nikki Dudley decided to do something to help other mums in her situation. Nikki founded a writing development program just for mums called Mumwrit...