Michelle lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband. She says she's an import from South Africa and they moved to Canada because her husband got a calling to work in a church.

As a high school teacher, her first books were for teens. They were written to help teens see how their decisions can affect their lives and that they are not alone in what they go through.

She has now written her first adult Christian romance called Her Sanctuary, His Heart, which is based a bit on her own life and the struggles she and her husband experienced with losing a child.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094H9FS9C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B094H9FS9C&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=b9ab17b807fe480a24292e0c7d776328

and one of her favorite authors:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NMTRRG8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07NMTRRG8&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=3cef64665a7a66c519110f0f7d6962f5

We do talk some spoilers in the old Star Wars canon.

Jeff Strand's writing career has been over 25 years, though not all of that has been full time. We have a good chat about what he's gone through to bring his brand of comedy horror to the world.

For his 50th birthday (which is 2 days before mine), he released a writing book that I found excellent - one of the top ones I recommend.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Q7HKG3G/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08Q7HKG3G&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=5a3fce5a68fee6edd9c775dc3e4cd18b

And if you are looking for some fun reads in the horror genre, you can't go wrong with any of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084ZH9PVV/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B084ZH9PVV&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=4ae6b404bd84bed3fa13e59591b6facc

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WD78424/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06WD78424&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=b079e487ddad52f0771580bd1c704095

To quote Monty Python - and now for something completely different.

This episode I start something new where I am talking to a reader - not an author. And this reader is 6 years old.

If you are interested in what that age range is reading, take a listen. It's a fun episode and I will have other readers on here in the future.

To kick off my 1 year anniversary and 50th episode milestone, I am talking with J Thorn.

J is a successful writer of dystopian and horror fiction. He has written millions of words and is a bestseller novelist.

Lately, he has been running a great mastermind group - The Author Success Mastermind. He and Crys run the Mastermind group and podcast.

I talk with J about being a successful writer in today's world. He has not always been a writer and has a great story of deciding to work on his writing full time.

And his author services https://theauthorlife.com:

Find his books at https://jthorn.net:

Join The Author Success Mastermind https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/

JD is back to have a discussion about critiquing. Every author needs some critique and helping critique others is a great way to learn.

We talk about things we've learned through critiquing and some best ways to handle the feedback from others.

JD lives in San Francisco with her husband and a turtle. Besides writing she likes British TV shows.

She wrote her first book, which she didn't publish, for her nephew. She has written a fairy tale - Marigold and the Snoring King which got an honorable mention in the Writers Digest awards.

Her other grade is called Melanie on the Move - which is loosely based on a summer camp from her childhood.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1620209535/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1620209535&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=a3a74f422a67ef104f11615d9db99319

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092W9X625/ref=as_li_tl

And her favorite book to read:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141439513/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0141439513&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=a1aab93d8f479cb49c13633d9604911e

J.D. Rempel is a California native, whose passion is writing speculative and contemporary fiction for all ages. Her books include a children’s picture book, Marigold and the Snoring King and her middle-grade fiction novel, Melanie on the Move. As a confessed Anglophile, she’s usually found watching British TV, especially mysteries. She loves to read, listen to music with her husband, and play peekaboo with her turtle, Applesauce.

LINKS:

Website: jdrempel.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdrempel/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.d.rempel

Tara isn't an author, but is well known in the author community. She works for Kobo, a Canadian based ebook company and she's done many interviews for podcasts and is seen at conferences and other events.

Today she isn't talking about the author benefits for using Kobo, but the reader benefits that you may not know.

We talk about the Kobo device and the features it offers readers and how readers can discover new books and authors through the kobo app and website.

https://www.kobo.com

This is one of Tara's favorite books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IA6FM76/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01IA6FM76&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=63352396fa146dc165c8aaaaca0f2517

And here is some info on the KOBO perfume Tara mentions.

https://stimulantonline.ca/2021/04/08/kobo-starts-a-new-chapter-with-perfume/

While Lily is still a new author, she has published several books. In that time, she's learned some valuable lessons about publishing and talks about some things that other authors get wrong.

Lily Mackenzie is originally from Calgary, Alberta Canada but has lived in Northern California for most of her life. As a single mom, she worked at several jobs, including at a dance studio.

At one point she discovered that she wanted to be a writer. Part of that discovery was finding journaling and has done so since. Some of her novel ideas have come from writing her dreams in her diary.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1683131967/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1683131967&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=6e47d09a2805a944ee296743631c1010

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B004R8ZDNU

One hundred years of solitude is one of her favorite books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060883286/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060883286&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=f0141b6cce500cc3058ef2f65dd91196

A local bookstore she loves:

https://www.bookpassage.com/

Erin and Stephen discuss how to market a kids book and get the word out. It is significantly harder to market to kids than adults, but we discuss several things that Erin has been doing.