Authors Love Readers, a Weekly Conversation on Writing

The conference presented by Novelists, Inc. (NINC) is a unique experience that brings together multi-published authors who publish traditionally, independently, or both.

Speakers are selected from the top echelons of the industry, and the conventions and networking opportunities rise far above what authors experience anywhere else.

Host Patricia McLinn talks about her experience at the 2022 Novelists, Inc. conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., and gives an update on the latest self-publishing conversations and industry trends.

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Another way to contribute is through Buy Me a Coffee, a one-time "tip" with no ongoing obligation. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Michelle Monkou is a multi-platform author, spanning 20 years in the business and with over 25 titles. She began her career writing romance for Black Entertainment Television (BET) Arabesque and then with Harlequin Kimani.

Michelle is currently writing short fiction, from sweet to steamy, under her pen name Thea Monk, and shortly will launch her other pen name, Aria Bancroft, for epic fantasy and urban fantasy stories.

She heads That Joyful Spark, LLC, an author coaching service, along with co-hosting a weekly platform for Prickly Pens Podcast with her daughter, Gabby Samuels and writer-BFF Julia Canchola. The podcast is available on most streaming services.

Host Patricia McLinn talks with Michelle, discussing her career, experience with traditional publishing and independent publishing, and exploring new genres.

In Michelle’s words: “I see all of those (preview books) as my own workshop into getting better. It’s the best I did at that time and you put it out there… I’m not the same writer I was in 2002.” [17:14]

To connect with Michelle Monkou:

Aria Bancroft Instagram

Thea Monk Instagram

Thea Monk Website & Newsletter

  

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Another way to contribute is through Buy Me a Coffee, a one-time "tip" with no ongoing obligation. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Former newspaper journalist, magazine editor, and company director, author Jenny Wheeler writes historical suspense and mystery. Jenny is currently working on her fifth book of the “Of Gold & Blood” series (Book 1, “Poisoned Legacy,” released 2018) set in Gilded Age California.

Born in New Zealand, Jenny Wheeler grew up in a farming community and fell in love with books and radio dramas. After teaching and being a physics data collector, she joined the New Zealand Herald as a general new reporter. She also wrote for the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly and the Auckland Star.

Jenny also hosts her weekly ‘Joys of Reading’ podcast where she is joined by authors of mystery, suspense, thriller, and romance, answering questions that readers always wanted to ask.

Host Patricia McLinn talks with Jenny about research, exploring history, and crafting stories using her a journalism background.

In Jenny’s words: “I love stories that are semi-based on fact. I guess that’s the journalist (in me) once again; and I really enjoy being able to inject real fact, historical fact, into my stories.” [39:50]

You can connect with Jenny:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

BookBub

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Another way to contribute is through Buy Me a Coffee, a one-time "tip" with no ongoing obligation. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Matty Dalrymple, member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, writes suspense, thriller, and mystery. Matty is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers (Book 1 published in 2017), “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” “Snake and Ladders,” and “The Iron Ring.”

She also writes the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels (Book 1 published in 2013), “The Sense of Death, “The Sense of Reckoning,” “The Flacon and the Owl,” “A Furnace for Your Foe,” and “A Serpent’s Tooth;” as well as the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts, including “Close Your Eyes” and “Write in Water.”

Matty lives with her husband, Wade Walton, and their dogs in Chester County, Pa. She enjoys sailing and visiting Mount Desert Island, Maine, and Sedona, Ariz., providing the settings for her work.

Host Patricia Mclinn talks with Matty about the writing process, finding inspiration, and building a new story from just a scene.

In Matty’s words: “I think you have to not fight against what your natural tendency is. You have to find ways of managing this (writing) as sufficiently as possible.” [1:09:12]

You can find Matty at:

Her website Facebook Twitter

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support.

Another way to contribute is through Buy Me a Coffee, a one-time "tip" with no ongoing obligation. Thank you!

 Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Jean Oram is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of feel-good, tingle-inducing, heartwarming romances. They’ll make you want to stay up all night laughing, crying and falling in love with her realistic characters. She loves to sweep readers away while making opposites attract in tear-jerking, laugh-out-loud romances set in small towns.

Her most popular series include The Cowboys of Sweetheart Creek, Texas (Book 5, "The Cowboy's Surprise Return," released in 2021), Veils and Vows, and Blueberry Springs. Her latest release, "The Cupcake Cottage," is a sweet friends-to-lovers romance that starts a new series, Hockey Sweethearts

Jean, who grew up in an old schoolhouse in a small Canadian town (population 100), still lives in Canada with her husband, kids, cat, dog, and the pesky deer (and moose) that wander into her yard to eat her rose bushes and apple trees.

Host Patricia McLinn talks with Jean about the charm of small towns, crafting your characters and connecting with readers

In Jean's words: "I never quite know how a book is going to be perceived by a reader because what is in my head doesn't always make it to the page, and the way I feel about a book isn't always how a reader with a different life experience will feel about this story as well." [50:24]

You can find Jean at:

Her website

Facebook

Instagram 

TikTok

and

Twitter

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support.

Another way to contribute is through Buy Me a Coffee, a one-time "tip" with no ongoing obligation. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Author Becca Syme is the creator and founder of the Better-Faster Academy. She has been teaching the popular Write Better-Faster course on author success alignment for six years, and has individually coached thousands of authors toward better success in their careers and lives.

She believes that an individualized approach is the most effective, so she’s brought on other certified coaches who are also writers, to help coach even more writers to maximize their strengths. If you want to get coaching with Becca, the best place to come is on the Insiders level of her Patreon, where she runs monthly topical coaching calls on topics that are relevant to the writing community.

She also writes mystery as R.L. Syme and has written several genres of romance in the past, including historical, contemporary, paranormal, and romantic suspense. She lives in the snowy mountains of Montana, where it is always winter and never Christmas.

Host Patricia McLinn talks with Becca about the Clifton Strengths test and how it can be applied both in the writing and reading world.

In Becca's words: "Not everyone naturally comes by the knowledge of just how different we are. Just how different our brains are and how much that makes a difference in what we like." [8:25]

You can find Becca Syme at:

Her website

Facebook

Patreon and

Better Faster Academy

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Author and career coach Becca Syme writes mystery as R.L. Syme, including the cozy culinary series The Matchbaker Mysteries, and has written several genres of romance, including historical, contemporary, paranormal, and romantic suspense. She was nominated for a Genesis Award in Contemporary Romance and has won several writing contests in historical romance, young adult romance, and contemporary fiction. She holds membership in Romance Writers of America, Novelists, Inc. (NINC) and Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.   

Becca lives in the snowy mountains of Montana and has worked with kids in various nonprofit settings that involve music, theater, dance, food, and after-school fun.

She's the creator and founder of the Better-Faster Academy, and has been teaching the popular Write Better-Faster course on author success alignment for six years.

In a broad-ranging conversation, host Patricia McLinn talks to Becca about learning throughout a writing career both by listening to others and, sometimes, ignoring them.

In R.L.'s words: "I have a mantra that's, 'question the premises.' and so its, the advise that might be really great for you might actually make me not able to write." [37:10]

You can find R.L. Syme at:

Her website

Facebook

Patreon and

Goodreads

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Nicole Burnham is the RITA award-winning author of more than 20 novels, including the popular Royal Scandals series. Her stories center on family and romance, whether they’re set in small-town America or centuries-old palaces, and are populated by characters who work to make the world a better place.

As an army brat, Nicole grew up moving around the world. She graduated from an American high school in Mannheim, Germany, then completed her BA in Political Science at Colorado State University and her JD/MA at the University of Michigan.

Nicole and her family live in Boston. She spends as much time as possible at Fenway Park and travels abroad whenever she can score cheap airfare. If she isn’t writing, she’s likely hiking or trail running.

Host Patricia McLinn talks with Nicole about writing pace and the pre-planning and development of characters for serial writing.

In Nicole's words: "I had that book in my head for a very long time. And so I had worked through an awful lot of ... not just the plot but who the characters were in advance." [25:00]

You can find Nicole at:

Her website

Facebook

Instagram and

Twitter

In late May, host Patricia McLinn was a guest on fellow independent author Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn podcast. Joanna writes nonfiction for authors and is an award-nominated, bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster and creative entrepreneur.   In the Creative Penn podcast “Discovery Writing And Sustaining A Long-Term Writing Career With Patricia McLinn,” they discussed discovery writing (a.k.a. pantsing), how to write a novel with structure if you don’t plot in advance, and building a writing career for the long-term. In this Authors Love Readers “Continuation” episode, Patricia reflects on her interview with Joanna about the current trends and the future of the publishing industry, shares more tips for writers, and talks about why she wrote Survival Kit for Writers Who Don’t Write Right.

In Patricia’s words: “I wanted to write the book to encourage writers who don’t write 'right' to respect their process, test it against reality, but not to throw it away. You’re given this ability (at least this is the way I feel). I’ve been given this ability and this is the way the stories come to me and I am not going to turn my back on that. I’m not going to refuse those gifts.” [39:15]

For a full Authors Love Readers interview with Patricia and Joanna, check out Episode 54: You Have to First Be a Reader, with J.F. Penn.

You can find Patricia at her:

Website

Facebook

or

Twitter

And: Patricia’s Word Watch page

You can also go to Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn podcast site, which includes both the original podcast interview with Patricia and a transcript of the show.

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

A native Texan, USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett grew up reading and dreaming of writing books. Her stories and essays have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul, Georgia Magazine, The Writer and Romantic Times Book Review.

She is the author of the High Society Lady Detective series, the Murder on Location series, the On the Run series, and the Ellie Avery series. Sara also teaches an online course, How to Outline a Cozy Mystery.

Publishers Weekly called Sara’s books “satisfying,” “well-executed” and “sparkling.” She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Novelists, Inc.

Sara talks with host Patricia McLinn about completing her first book, and nurturing a writing career.

In Sara’s words: “I said, if I'm going to spend any time doing anything, I want to write a book because that's something I'd always wanted to do. I thought, if I'm going to take time away from being a mom and running the household and all that, 'cause I had two kids under 3, I would try and write. So that's what I did. I wrote during nap time and it took me forever, but I finally got a book finished." [32:04]

You can follow Sara at:

Her website

Amazon 

Goodreads 

And Facebook  

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.