Hear us Roar

Twenty years ago, Anju Gattani saw a fully-formed scene in her dreams and it turned into the last scene in Book 2 of what is planned as a 5-book series, Winds of Fire.  She tells how she cycled through four agents and 200 rejections before finding the perfect publisher (Scarsdale Publishing), and the exciting news of her story being optioned for a long-form television series by by Justin Shenkarow...

Tracey's debut novel centers around Emily Roebling, a real life woman and ardent suffragette, who honchoed the building of the Brooklyn Bridge when her husband found himself unable to complete the project. In this podcast we discuss her decision to postulate an affair between Emily and P.T. Barnham based on three documented facts from the history of New York in the 1880's, how she initially querie...

Hear how Jacquline uses private Pinterest boards to help flesh out her characters, how she had great fun fashioning her antagonist by channeling every person in her life who'd wronged her, and how her previous work at a health club, with its behind-the-scenes intrigue, inspired the setting for her debut novel.   When not spending her time creating make-believe people and places, Kang lives in Kirk...

In this free-wheeling interview with Carol LaHines we discuss what led her to decide to attempt a novel, pre-Bach musical theory, her best writing advice, and how she injected deadpan humor into a story that centers around her protagonist's grief at the death of his mother. Hers novel was a finalist for the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel and an American Fiction Award.    Carol's fiction has appear...

Diane comes to women's fiction after publishing three romance novels but feeling like this story didn't revolve around a interpersonal relationship so much as a woman discovering her true self through transforming not only her body but her inner essence as well. A big fan of NaNoWriMo, Diane intends to participate again this year and gives new writers this simple piece of advice – just stay in the...

William's debut has been described as Where the Crawdads Sing meets Ghost and definitely fits in the women's fiction/book club fiction space. He shares with me how listening to his editor's ideas resulted in expanding a part of his novel which has since become a moving touchstone for readers. And if you've ever wondered about the differences between a screenplay and a novel, this is the podcast to...

Dianne relates how she began writing to figure out how to integrate emotions into the philosophical theories she had studied and taught as a professor, how she decided to go with a hybrid publisher, and how, while doing research for her book, she learned to play the trumpet and has now "blown her horn" during travels to Paris, Venice, and Tuscany.   Dianne grew up in Missouri and studied philosoph...

A long-time journalist, Lisa began writing her debut novel ten years ago, although her themes of gentrification, intra-racial tensions and the struggle of recent immigrants, told through the eyes of three residents of a Massachusetts community, seemed ripped from the headlines. As Lisa so aptly puts it: "These problems never seem to go away." She found her publisher, a feminist press based in Cana...

Sherri took over a decade to write her debut novel, primarily because life intervened.  With a spouse and three daughters, something always needed to give and that thing was often her book.  Hear how being a finalist in the 2015 Rising Star contest through WFWA helped her hone her manuscript through feedback from agents, urging her to change the novel's structure from a chronological one to one th...

Hear how over a hundred agents rejected Lainey's book, saying they didn't think they could sell a novel about women in the workplace putting aside their conflicts and coming together to support and nurture each other. Lainey's answer to writers who ask her how to get people to review their books will surprise (and probably delight) you.  Her innovative marketing ideas about leveraging the power of...

Marolyn is our first international podcast, coming to us from across the globe in New Zealand, where she lives with her wife and two children.  A journalist from her early twenties, Marolyn decided to try her hand at a novel after the U.S. 2016 election left her frustrated.  Her heroine struggles with whether to stay away from protesting or dive back into life as a full-time activist. Not only did...

If you're thinking of self-publishing, you'll want to listen to Shawn's interview and hear about the professionals she hired to help her launch. This novel centers around long-standing female friendships and one of the most moving aspects of this interview was hearing how book club members have told Shawn that after reading and discussing her book, they felt more comfortable opening up to each oth...

Liz's novel, loosely based on snippets of family lore about her paternal grandfather, encompasses American life in the 1920's in Vermont and is rich in historical detail about early vaudeville and small town America.  She found a home for her novel with a small press which had earlier published several of her short stories. Elizabeth Gauffreau  holds a BA in English/Writing from Old Dominion Unive...

Ever wonder whether your novel would make a good audible book? Kelly's the one to listen to since her book is ONLY available in that format, through Audible Originals. Hear how this came about (she got the offer, THEN found an agent), why Audible thought it was a perfect fit for them (5 POV characters), and how marketing an audiobook both differs and resembles publicizing print and e-book formats....

Jae's historical fiction, set in 1663 describes a barely-known woman Lidia Wardell, a Quaker, who defied her community in demanding religious freedom and was publicly whipped for her ideas. Jae spent years both researching and writing this debut, delving into historical documents, researching her own family history (she's a distant, distant relative) and found her publishing house at the very firs...

Jamie Beck, an author with 15 romance books under her belt, has made the switch to women's fiction with her latest release. Find out why she made the switch, how she's changing her branding, and her advice to writers about how to find and embrace your unique voice.   Wall Street Journal  and  USA Today bestselling author Jamie's Beck's realistic and heartwarming stories have sold more than three m...

Sharina's book follows four long-time friends as they reach their thirties and reevaluate the directions their lives have taken. She describes one of the inspirations for the story was an Oprah interview with Viola Davis, Alfre Woodard, and Gabrielle Union, where they were lamenting the lack of parts available to Black women. Sharina decided then and there to write a book that would offer four wom...

Kathleen debut earned a starred Kirkus review and a comparison to Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies. Listen as Kathleen describes how she used her experiences as a high-school English teacher to explore the world of helicoptering parenting and viral rumors, and how she worked together with her agent for a solid four months to revise her book for submission (which paid off when it sold after a mere...

Our 50th Podcast. Hard to believe but yes, we've reached a milestone. And who better to celebrate it with than Alison Hammer, an argent supporter of her fellow scribes through her Facebook group, Every Damn Day Writers, where she shares her love of all things NaNoWriMo, how she couldn't survive without her writing buddy, and how she launched her book smack dab in the middle of the pandemic. Alison...

Sally was born in rural China, soon moved to Hong Kong when it was still a British Colony, then to Canada and eventually to California and Lili, her heroine in her debut novel, follows that same path. You'll be moved by Sally's thoughts of how right now we're all in a state of feeling lost and how she hopes her book can offer readers hope for a brighter future.   She graduated college from McMaste...

After writing a well-received YA book, Diane decided to make a switch to women's fiction and wrote her novel primarily during NaNoWriMo for the sheer joy of exploring time travel and second chances. We discuss how important a close writing partner has been for her, not so much for trading pages, but to share the ups and downs of being an author.   Diane has been a tenured college professor, yoga t...

Donna and Maggie talk about the value of an MFA, how she's found success with Facebook Ads, the role libraries have played in her life, and how she once spotted her fictional character at a coffee shop while traveling in Michigan.   A writer from Maryland whose fiction and nonfiction pieces have been published in Adelaide Literary Magazine ,  Scarlet Leaf Review ,  Columbia Magazine , and the  Bal...

Hear how being a finalist in the WFWA Rising Star Award provided the stepping stone to finding her agent, the experience of doing an extensive R & R for a publisher only to have them quit the business a week later, and how she doesn't focus on word counts or page goals so much as concentrating on a time commitment in her writing practice.   Rebecca is an author of fiction, a veterinarian, and a cl...

Hear how Barbara came up with the idea to frame her story of Elizabeth, wife, mother, and Ph. D. candidate desperate to find her true self, around the life of famed artist Georgia O'Keefe. As well, we discuss what it's like to publish your debut novel during the middle of the Covid-19 crisis and what Barbara learned about herself in the process of writing this manuscript. A writer of fiction and n...

Learn why Joanne decided to use dual timelines to tell her story, how critique groups have proved invaluable to her throughout her career, and how she wrote over 20 different endings to her debut novel before finding the right one. Joanne was born in Chicago, Illinois, has adopted Texas as her home. She lives in the Texas Hill Country on a small ranch with her husband, three rescue terriers, and a...