Hear us Roar

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...

Kimberly Lynne writes speculative women's fiction that explores the inexplicable curiosities of being human. She writes from a sunny corner room in a minimalized house she shares with her husband of 35 years and a blind Havanese named Hope. She's a slush reader and judge for various writing competitions, a volunteer for WFWA, a member of the South Carolina Writers' Association, and a Wild Acres Wr...

Amber describes how, for her, writing feels like the kids' game Choose Your Own Adventure, how she got signed with Lake Union even without an agent, and what she learned by reading P.D.James' entire series of Adam Dagliesh mysteries start to finish. Amber Cowie is a graduate of the University of Victoria and was short-listed for the 2017 Whistler Book Award. She is a mother of two, wife of one, an...

Listen to our interview with Kaela Coble and learn about the differences in sales outlets in the UK versus the US, what to consider when writing characters loosely based on your friends, and how she used the feedback she got from 189 rejection letters to make her manuscript better. One of Kaela's passions is helping people develop professionally, whether as a writer or in another career, which led...

Suanne's debut novel explores the life of a nineteenth century artist who escapes, then returns to West Texas. Hear about her life-long love affair with Tarzan, her role as a prolific book reviewer as well as author, and discover out how she sleeps until noon every day but still fits in eight hours of writing.  Born in West Texas at the height of the Cold War, Suanne finds it ironic that grade sch...

Listen to how early on Leah struggled to find the magic formula for writing, how a chance encounter at Muse and the Marketplace switched her book's focus, and how she believes her most effective marketing efforts involve not fancy Facebook ads or BookBub offers but very personalized & cultivated relationships with influencers like Bookstagrammers. Leah's writing has been featured in The Huffington...

Hear Erin discuss her use of sensitivity readers, how important studying our country's history is to our understanding of current race relations, and why you should keep writing your second book while you're finding a home for your first. Erin's a copywriter and freelance editor by day, a novelist by night, and a painter, poet, and photographer in between. Her second book, The Words between Us , t...

Romalyn's debut novel was inspired by the fifty-nine Carnegie libraries built in Kansas early in the twentieth century. Here about the research she accumulated for years before writing this book and the rich history she uncovered. For over twenty years, she's worked as a free-lance consultant in the arts – conducting strategic planning, initiating audience engagement projects, and assessing grant...

Jennifer describes how she did research for her novel about an American lawyer helping a Syrian woman who seeks asylum, how her best marketing pay-off has come through Facebook Reader's groups and networking efforts like Authors18, and learn what a Noogler is. (You're have to listen to find out) A Midwest native, Jennifer made stops in Dallas, Charlottesville, and Boston before settling for good i...

Listen to Leslie talk about writing in two different time-lines, the fascinating research she did about early Christianity in the south of France, her good (and not so good) experiences with developmental editors, and how she found the perfect image for her book cover (hint: it's her own painting!) Much of what Leslie has done in life hasn't proceeded in the usual, expected way: she got married an...

Give a listen and learn how a home remodeling project provided the idea for Sarahlyn's her debut novel, how doing improv has helped her writing, and how being an book coach continues to feed her creative spirit. Sarahlyn grew up in the Bay Area and spent a great deal of time in Southern California, where she attended college before moving to West Hollywood. The years of living and working in L.A....

Heather's first book, among other things, features a mother dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis, which played to her knowledge as a radiologist in real life and she's loved hearing from survivors that she "got it right." But that's not all Heather's up to – she writes book reviews, including a "Book Pairings" feature on her website and sings the praises of critique groups for keeping writers fo...