Hear us Roar

This week's podcast guest is Angela Douglas (Every Fall, indie published, January 2025). Initially published by Rising Action, Angela bought her rights back to her debut and is now releasing her second book as well, The Mentor. We discuss having to take mental-health breaks during the writing because of more serious subject matter, and how many of the critiques she got back from beta readers and e...

Our guest this week is Mary Hansen (The Traveling Archivist Eastern Oregon, Luminare Press, January 2025). We delve into the differences between a librarian and an archivist, how Mary thinks of archival research as a 'creative act', how a PBS documentary provided the inspiration for her debut, and the positives of working with a book coach who doesn't try to change your story. Then she discusses h...

This week's guest is Wanda Penalver Bevan (The Rains of Wishton, The Book Reality Experience, February 2025). We discuss writing dual timelines, point of view, and what it's like to write a "story within a story". Wanda describes how she used an existing book club as beta readers before her book was published, her experiences with a hybrid press, and her "try everything and find out what sticks" a...

Our guest this week is Lisa Montanaro (Everything We Thought Was True, Red Adept, January 2025). We discuss how Lisa taps into her background as an actress to "method act" her novels as she writes, including acting out scenes and writing scenes out of order based on her personal headspace that day. In the publication arena, she points out pluses and minuses to going traditional but with a smaller...

This week's guest is Rosa Kwon Easton (White Mulberry, Lake Union, December 2024). We discuss how an unusual query approach got Rosa her dream agent, who helped her strategically pinpoint editors during submission resulting in a two-book deal with Amazon and a selection as a First Reads. We also delve into why you might want to hire a publicist, financing your own book tour, and how your college a...

Our guest this week is Kristin Owens (Elizabeth Sails, Rising Action Publishing, October 2024). We discuss how Kristin's critique group convinced her to write a novel instead of short fiction, how a trip on the Queen Mary inspired her setting, and how she learned to stop being kind to her main character and to get tough instead. Then we discuss how she's paired with cruise lines like Cunard to mar...

This week we talk with Faye Arcand (Inside Outside, indie published November 2024). Learn how a best-seller psychological suspense informed Faye's debut plot, how she delved into a fourteen-year-old's brain, and how having an agent didn't work out for her. Then we discuss the importance of an author website and how having a plan for marketing makes everything smoother. And don't miss her quirky se...

Our guest this week is Stephanie Claypool (A Thousand Tiny Stitches, Atmosphere Press, November 2024) Here how tips about outlining from both James Patterson and J.K. Rowling were key to Stephanie's finding a new way to approach her novel, which she wrote out in narrative form and on a spreadsheet first before drafting a word. Hear why she chose a hybrid press over a small press and how she plans...

This week we talk with Zelly Ruskin (Not Yours to Keep, She Writes Press, October 2024). We delve into the 3 unrelated parts of her past—her former career, an ex-boyfriend, and her own experiences with IVF—that coalesced into the spine of her debut novel, how she put off major surgery to finish her rough draft, and how she found her way into a male man character by reading Jane Austen. Hear her ca...

Our guest this week is Kay Smith-Blum (Tangles, Black Rose Writing, December 2024). We discuss how two unrelated occurrences in one week—one a vivid dream, the second cocktails with an old friend—led Kay into a nine-month rabbit hole of research   about Hanford, WA, a former nuclear facility on the Columbia River which produced plutonium for the US nuclear weapons programs during the Cold War era....

This week's guest is Dena Polko (Don't Drop Dad, Maine Authors Publishing, October 2024). An event in Dena's family 25 years ago planted the kernel of a book idea that she finally brought to life during the pandemic in her debut novel about a close-knit Italian family, complete with feuds, secrets, and lots of scrumptious recipes. A marketing professional for non-profits in a previous career, Dena...

Our guest this week is Paulette Brooks (Not Just a Homemaker: The Extraordinary Life of Sheila MacGregor, indie published, September 2024). Paulette has two major gurus: Stephen King and Jane Friedman and we discuss how each has affected her writing. We also explore how she pulled in various family members to help bring her book to market, a "vintage writers" group she belongs to for those over 70...

This week's guest is Julie McDonald Zander (The Reluctant Pioneer, St. Helen's Press, September 2024). An historical novel of a real-life woman who crossed the country on the Oregon Trail in 1847 and settled in the state of Washington, Julie's debut was her first attempt at fiction after years spent as both a reporter and columnist on the non-fiction side. We discuss the difference between the two...

Our podcast guest this week is Leissa Shahrak (Half the World, Atmosphere Press, September 2024). Set in Iran during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Leissa's book is based on her own experiences living there during that time and her desire to share themes of cultural, language, and religious differences that inform current world events. We also discuss what happens when your pub date happens on th...

This week's guest is Beth Dotson Brown (Rooted in Sunrise, Koehler Books, September 2024). Beth discusses how she came to write a coming-of-age book for middle-aged women because of a tornado that hit her Kentucky town, how she chose between several hybrid publishers, and how important community is to her as a writer. Finally we discuss finding your "why" and setting your personal goals for your b...

On the podcast this week we welcome Christine Gunderson (Friends with Secrets, Lake Union, August 2024). In a wide-ranging discussion, we cover finding an agent who is a real partner, selling book on "proposal" rather than a completed manuscript, and how putting yourself on a "1,000 words a day diet" might help keep you on track. Finally, we look at examining your "why" and learning to differentia...

This week's guest is Nancie Abuhaidar (The Trouble with Possibilities, indie published, September 2024). The idea for Nancie's debut originated with her sister but was passed on to Nancie to bring into being, although it had to be totally reworked after a trip to the African continent where the story takes place. We discuss how writing doesn't have to be a solitary endeavor, where Nancie found hel...

Our podcast guest this week is Jan Heidrich-Rice (Secrets of the Blue Moon, indie published, September 2024). We discuss making up a whole small town for your setting, basing characters on people you know, and why writing her first novel often meant asking for help from fellow writers, including WFWA members. And listen at the end for a cute story of Jan's favorite review from an unexpected source...

This week's guest is Jessica Maffetore (Eleanora in Pieces, Black Rose Writing, September 2024). If you've ever wondered about what happens when a small press "ghosts" its writers and eventually breaks its contract, this is a must-listen. Jessica describes the process of surviving this challenge and finding another small press about losing a year in publishing purgatory, and the hidden pluses that...

Our podcast guest this week is Natalie Dossett (Sarita, Atmosphere Press, September 2024). Natalie's novel, set in west Texas during the 1920's Prohibition era, is a love letter to where she grew up and her family's history, We discuss how she learned skills through a creative writing program, her method of doing historical research, and how she advises new writers to find the time to write throug...

This week's guest is Leilani Garrett (After the Burn, Palmetto Publishing, August 2024). Leilani shares sage advice from her first writing mentor, how her debut incorporated her struggles both personally and in the tech world as a woman of color, and how she first lost her editor, then her agent, but still kept going. Hear about the workbook with exercises which she created as a companion to her n...

Our podcast guest this week is Erica Colahan (The Oystercatcher of Southwark, Chrism Press, July 2024). A dual timeline historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Philadelphia and based on Erica's great-great-grandmother's dramatic story, this novel was born out of Erica's desire to explore her family's history and resulted in various serendipitous discoveries including another whole branch of he...

  This week's guest is Cathelina Duvert (The Box, indie published, July 2024). Over 20 years in the making, this debut novel initially sprang from the author's own struggles with depression and her desire to use her degree in creative writing and her knowledge of the publishing industry to fashion a novel focusing on this mental health issue for a woman of color. She received invaluable help from...

Our podcast guest this week is Amily D'Nas (Beneath the Swaying Willow, indie published, July 2024). Amily joined an existing writing group when she met a member through her day job and found a home with supportive and experienced authors who encouraged her to write a novel informed by her parent's experiences during the Vietnam War era and the family trauma that followed. We discuss why she chose...

This week's guest is Sharon Wishnow (The Pelican Tide, Lake Union, June 2024). Sharon describes how she used both her networking contacts and her background as a non-fiction editor to research the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its devastating effect on the Gulf Coast, in particular the Grand Isle area of Louisiana. We discuss the iterations her novel underwent during the acquisition phase and th...