The Writing Table with Kris Clink

With the publication of Tularosa in 1996, Michael McGarrity turned to writing full time. Many of his novels have been national best sellers. He holds a BA with distinction in psychology and a master’s degree in clinical social work. As an undergraduate, he held a Ford Foundation Scholarship at the University of New Mexico. He is an honor graduate of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. His care...

Aimee Phan was born and raised in Orange County, California. She received her BA in English from UCLA and her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of two books for adults, We Should Never Meet: Stories and the novel The Reeducation of Cherry Truong . She has received fellowships and residencies from the NEA, MacDowell Colony, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, Djerassi...

Lindy Ryan discusses writing horror as a novelist and anthologist. She is an award-winning author, anthologist, and short-film director whose books and anthologies have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly , Booklist and Library Journal . Several of her projects have been adapted for screen. Ryan is the current author-in-residence at Rue Morgue . Declared a “champion for women’s voices...

Kaira Rouda talks about writing thrillers and how she came to host the Killer Author Club with her author friends.  Kaira is an award–winning, USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Her novels of domestic suspense include The Widow, Somebody’s Home, The Next Wife, The Favorite Daughter, Best...

RayAnne Thayne's novels showcase complicated family dynamics and always deliver swoony love stories, but how does she keep up the magic after eighty books? Tune in, and find out.  New York Times , USA Today , Wall Street Journal and #1 Publishers Weekly bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne has written more than 70 books since selling her first book in 1995. She has received a career achievement...

Sue Hincenbergs discusses querying 198 agents and the successful query letter that she shares with other writers. Sue is a former television producer who has worked on multiple award-winning programs. She lives in Toronto with her (very much alive) husband, her scruffy, middle-aged rescue dog, Kramer, and the rooms full of the stuff her three sons left behind when they moved out. The porch light i...

Matt Goldman has written for television shows like Seinfeld but found his calling writing crime novels. He is a New York Times Bestselling author and Emmy Award winning television writer.  He has been nominated for the Shamus Award and Nero Award. Matt's television writing credits include Seinfeld, Ellen, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. M...

Jacqueline Friedland unpacks her process and discusses why she chooses societally relevant challenges for her characters.  Jacqueline graduated Magna Cum Laude from both the University of Pennsylvania and NYU Law School. She practiced as a commercial litigator for New York law firms before determining that office life did not suit her. Jacqueline began teaching Legal Writing and Lawyering Skills a...

Dane Huckelbridge discusses the settings in his novels and his research--from Africa for No Beast So Fierce to the plains of Oklahoma for his latest, Queen of All Mayhem--the tale of the most dangerous woman of the American west, Belle Starr.  Dane was born and raised in the American Middle West. He holds a degree from Princeton University, and his fiction and essays have appeared in a variety of...

Lauren Willig discusses co-writing and writing cross-genre plus gives us the scoop on her latest novel. Lauren is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty-five works of historical fiction, including Band of Sisters , The Summer Country , The English Wife , the RITA Award-winning Pink Carnation series, and five novels co-written with Beatriz Williams and Karen White....

How does an author balance a writing career that spans television and literature? Melissa de la Cruz discusses how she makes it all work. Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times , #1 Publishers Weekly , and #1 IndieBound bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for readers of all ages. Many of her more than seventy books have also topped USA Today , Wall Street...

What makes a fascinating female protagonist? Wall Street Journal bestselling author Victoria Helen Stone shares how she creates her characters, where she goes for inspiration, and what she learned about conspiracy theories in this episode. Victoria is the author of the runaway hit Jane Doe, writes critically acclaimed novels of dark intrigue and emotional suspense. Her work includes Follow Her Dow...

Paulette Kennedy explores the world of gothic suspense, peeling back the curtain on her writing journey and process. She is the bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain , The Devil and Mrs. Davenport , and Parting the Veil , which received the prestigious HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the grav...

From book clubs to navigating characters who are hard to pin down, Marie Bostwick shares her best practices about drafting a novel and discusses what inspired her latest novel, The Bookclub for Troublesome Women.  Marie is a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller of heartwarming fiction for women. Published in 2005 by Kensington Books, Fields of Gold, her first novel, was a finalist for the prest...

Catriona Silvey discusses her journey to publishing and what she's learned along the way. Catriona is the author of the international bestseller Meet Me in Another Life . She was born in Glasgow and grew up in Scotland and England. After collecting an unreasonable number of degrees from the universities of Cambridge, Chicago, and Edinburgh, she settled in Edinburgh where she lives with her hu...

Emily Carpenter peels back the curtain on querying and how she arrived at her distinct style of southern gothic suspense. A former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, Emily graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Georgia with her family.  Learn more at: EmilyCarpenterAuthor.com. Specia...

Kat Mackenzie is an American who just happened to find herself living abroad for ten years and accidentally traveling to over forty countries in an attempt to taste all the food. She holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford but has discovered that they serve her best collecting dust on the shelf while she pens comedy-forward stories about women who travel. Work i...

Raising sheep, chickens, and more while home schooling a house full of children, Melissa Ferguson shares what's in store for readers with her next novel, The Perfect Rom-Com. Melissa is the bestselling author of titles including Meet Me in the Margins, How to Plot a Payback, and On the Way to Christmas. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and children in their growing farmhouse lifestyle...

Poppy Kuroki was born in Scotland and grew up in England. She’s been living in Japan in the Kanagawa prefecture since 2016 where she works as a writer and freelance editor, and lives with her son. She conducted extensive historical research while writing her debut, interviewing historians, tour guides, and even a descendent of Saigō Takamori. Gate to Kagoshima includes maps, family trees, characte...

Years after completing an MFA at Iowa and retiring from a storied careers in television and academics, Bob Johnson returned to writing to become an award-winning short story writer and graduate of the lowa Writers’ Workshop. His work has been published by The Common , Philadelphia Stories , Vol. 1 Brooklyn , The Barcelona Review , and elsewhere. His story "The Continental Divide" was nam...

Jenn Bouchard reveals her takeaways on developing characters, how she rebounded after disappointment, and what's behind her latest novel, Considering Us.  Jenn has been teaching high school social studies for twenty-five years. She is an avid cook, volunteer for good causes, and devoted Red Sox fan. A graduate of Bates College and Tufts University, she lives in the Boston suburbs with her hus...

What did Jennifer Weiner learn from Toni Morrison? Where did her research for her latest novel take her? Find out in this week's episode of the Writing Table.  Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen books, including That Summer, Big Summer, Mrs. Everything, In Her Shoes, Good in Bed, and a memoir in essays, Hungry Heart. She has appeared on many national telev...

Cynthia Cina Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet. Heavily influenced by dark fairytales, folklore, urban legends and true crime and a master of blending gothic, horror, and suspense, Pelayo's latest is a dark retelling of Sleeping Beauty and explores what this classic tale reveals about death and the particular role of women in the...

Kimberly Brock is the bestselling author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare , which was shortlisted for the prestigious Townsend Prize for Fiction, and The River Witch , recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year Award. She is the founder of Tinderbox Writers Workshop and has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national writing workshops including at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. A n...

Jacqueline Faber is an author and freelance writer. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Emory University, where she was the recipient of a Woodruff Scholarship, and taught in the Expository Writing Program at New York University, where she received an award for excellence in teaching. She studied philosophy in Bologna, Italy, and received a dissertation grant from Freie University in Be...