My guest this week is Barbara Dullaghan (Secrets in the Hollow: A Sleepy Hollow Novel, MindStir Media, March 2023). Hear how her home town of Tarrytown, renamed Sleepy Hollow to revitalize the town’s tourist industry, serves as the backdrop to Barbara’s coming-of-age debut novel, how her local writing group’s format based on prompts led to her initially writing in vignettes, and how she pitched her novel to agents at a top NYC writing conference even though it wasn’t written yet (hint: not advisable). Deciding forego the agent/submissions process, she chose a hybrid publisher as her best option—the control and speed of self-publishing but with the help of people who knew the ins and outs of the system.

Dullaghan published in gifted education with Kendall Hunt and Prufrock Press, and her short stories and poetry can be found in three anthologies. She and her husband, Jack, now live in coastal North Carolina and love spending time at the beach with their three children, spouses, and six energetic grandchildren.

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