This week's podcast guest is Julee Balko (The Things We Keep, GenZ Publishing, July 2021). The impetus for Julee's book was her own grief following the death of her mother and her frustration at not finding books which dealt in a realistic and honest way with this crucial life experience. We discuss what it was like publishing with a small press, the difference between an author and a writer, and how she doesn't set strict deadlines in her author life, but writes when the spirit moves her. Julee's also a huge Twitter fan, amassing over 10,000 followers in her first year of writing both funny and creative posts as @misplacedcomma2.

Julee has been a Creative Director and freelance writer for years – while mothering and lassoing her three crazy daughters in her spare time. But she's always wanted to be a "real" writer – the kind who has a book with her name on it. The Things We Keep is her first novel and a dream come true. Julee started writing this book after her mother passed away because she was thrust into a world of grief that no one talks about. She wrote this story especially for women and men who are a part of the sandwich generation – those who are trying to take care of their aging parents while balancing parenting, a job, and multiple glasses of wine. She is working on her second novel, "The Me List," which brings to life an unlikely friendship between neighbors.

To learn more about Julee, click here.