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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 Jae spent years both researching and writing this debut, delving into historical documents, researching her own family history (she's a distant, distant relative) and found her publishing house at the very firs...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...

Linda talks about her experiences working with a small press, her quirky habit of "collecting" bookstores, and how one chance remark on a beach sparked the idea for her novel. She's a writer and fitness professional, lives with her husband splitting their time between New Jersey and Florida. Her debut novel, The Disharmony of Silence,  was published by Black Rose Writers. Linda was a contributor t...

Hear how two Amys (Impellizzeri and Nathan) inspired her to begin writing, how her weekly blog frees up her creative juices, and the story behind her book trailer which you can view at her website listed below. Michelle, whose career path includes banking, teaching, and college admissions consulting, holds a B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University and a M.S. in Education from St. Joseph's Universit...

A practicing cardiologist when she wrote this first novel, Kimmery went through 100 rejections before landing a top agent and then once her book sold, was asked to completely change the last third of her book by her editor. She has interesting anecdotes to share on book cover design, the value of social media, and the importance of sincere engagement with readers. Her second novel, The Antidote fo...

Sarah is a prolific writer of romance novels (22 books and counting) but this is her first work in the women's fiction genre. Find out what inspired her story of a young woman fighting to die with dignity, one early readers have compared to This Is Us. In addition to being a savvy author, Sarah works full-time as a therapist in the DC area, a profession she also loves. This is one busy 30-year old...

Listen to find out why Jennifer is using a pen name for her women's fiction, how she found her agent through very unconventional means, and how she thinks it's a mistake for authors to typecast themselves into one mode of writing. Plus we love her definition of women's fiction: the extraordinary nature of ordinary lives. Jennifer Gold writes book club fiction about the relationships of real, flawe...

Sarah grew up in the south, a fan of writers like Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. Her novel began as a short story based on a Hemingway vignette and that idea became the middle of her book as she wrote both forward and backwards to complete the arc. Now she's working to master the art of Amazon rankings which she believes controls the fate of every beginning writer's success. She's a graduate...

Lorelei spent two years in Pakistan as part of a US funded project to train local teachers (even receiving a death threat from the Taliban), then turned her observations into a novel centered on an articulate, educated woman living in a culture vastly different than our own. Now she relishes sharing her expertise with churches, health professionals, and educators in the hope of promoting better in...

After a successful career in higher-education administration, Ellen moved to writing. Her first two novels, both of which caught the attention of agents, nevertheless failed to find a home, but she didn't quit and her current book got 3 immediate offers from agents and sold to a Big Five publisher within one month. Ellen share her adventures on book tour, the challenges of writing dual POV charact...

An ex-lawyer who specialized in divorce cases, Leanne took her years of knowledge and turned it into a novel, (write what you know, right?) complete with quarreling spouses headed for divorce who wind up on a tropical island on a new reality show aimed at reuniting warring couples. Hear her thoughts on working with a small press and how writing 500 words every day is her mantra. Leanne lives in Ne...

Kathleen's novel (first released as Are You Sleeping) grew out of her fascination with the true-crime podcast Serial which she juxtaposed with a NaNoWiMo story line involving characters she'd been writing about since high school. The result was a hugely successful debut which sold at auction, went on to be optioned by Reese Witherspoon, and was the basis for Apple TV's 2019 streaming series Truth...

Judy Kundert, a recipient of the Marquis Who's Who Excellence in Authorship award, loves storytelling, from folk and fairy tales to classics for elementary school children. She authors award-winning middle-grade novels designed to inspire and intrigue children. After she left her career as a United Airlines stewardess, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University, Chicago, a Master...

Leslie's definitely a pantser ("I let my character do the driving") and had an epiphany a year ago – chasing agents and publishers wasn't working for her. Wanting to see her work in print before she "croaked", she took back control and the result is two novels released back to back in February of 2019. A Buddhist scholar for 30 years as well as a graphic designer, Leslie possesses a wry sense of h...

Marlene is a big believer in plotting and also works as a developmental editor, so she has lots of great tips for how beginning writers can improve their novels, including being very clear about what your story is about, and reading your work out loud to achieve authentic dialogue. Marlene grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and later attended New York University where she studied film and then worked as a...

Here how Jess' great-grandmother's struggles in the late 1930's were the springboard for her first novel which follows a farm wife and mother of a large family dealing with clinical depression during an era when mental illness was stigmatized. Learn how Jess wrote her book out of order and then stitched it together "like a quilt" into a cohesive whole. Jess is a debut novelist in historical fictio...