Hear us Roar

In this free-wheeling interview with Carol LaHines we discuss what led her to decide to attempt a novel, pre-Bach musical theory, her best writing advice, and how she injected deadpan humor into a story that centers around her protagonist's grief at the death of his mother. Hers novel was a finalist for the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel and an American Fiction Award.

Carol's fiction has appeared in many literary journals including Fence, Hayden's Ferry Review, Denver Quarterly, Cimarron Review, The Literary Review, The Laurel Review, North Dakota Quarterly, South Dakota Review, The South Carolina Review, Syramore Review, Permafrost, revider, Literary Orphans, and Literal Latte. Her short story, "Papijack," was selected by judge Patrick Ryan as the recipient of the Lamar York Prize for Fiction. Her short stories and novellas have also been finalists for the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction from Sarabande Books, the David Nathan Meyerson fiction prize, the New Letters short story award, and the Disquiet Literary Prize, among others. She is a graduate of New York University, Gallatin Division, and of St. John's University School of Law. She has studied with Rick Moody and Phil Schultz, among others.

To learn more about Carol, click here.

Diane comes to women's fiction after publishing three romance novels but feeling like this story didn't revolve around a interpersonal relationship so much as a woman discovering her true self through transforming not only her body but her inner essence as well. A big fan of NaNoWriMo, Diane intends to participate again this year and gives new writers this simple piece of advice – just stay in the room and write.

Diane is the author of the romance novels WAITING FOR ETHAN, and MIXED SIGNALS. She is also a marketing and corporate communication writer in the health care industry. When she's not writing, she's at the gym, running or playing tennis, trying to burn off the ridiculous amounts of chocolate and ice cream she eats. She and her husband Steven live in Massachusetts and dream of moving to Turks and Caicos – at least for the winter months.

To learn more about Diane, click here.

William's debut has been described as Where the Crawdads Sing meets Ghost and definitely fits in the women's fiction/book club fiction space. He shares with me how listening to his editor's ideas resulted in expanding a part of his novel which has since become a moving touchstone for readers. And if you've ever wondered about the differences between a screenplay and a novel, this is the podcast to listen to as William's novel began life AS an award-winning movie script before he refashioned into his debut novel, which tied for the Women's Fiction Writers Association Rising Star Award in 2019.

This debut novel was adapted from his original screenplay, which has won or been nominated for many competition awards, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. He made his screenwriting debut with the coming-of-age family film Captiva Island. Currently at work on his next novel, he lives in Seattle with his wife, Pam.

To learn more about William, click here.

Dianne relates how she began writing to figure out how to integrate emotions into the philosophical theories she had studied and taught as a professor, how she decided to go with a hybrid publisher, and how, while doing research for her book, she learned to play the trumpet and has now "blown her horn" during travels to Paris, Venice, and Tuscany.

Dianne grew up in Missouri and studied philosophy at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. After completing her PhD in Philosophy at UC Berkeley, she taught feminist ethics and philosophy of emotion at Sonoma State University and published Thinking Things Through, a critical thinking textbook. While in California, she practiced fiction writing techniques in a women's writing group. In Guanajuato, where she lives with novelist Sterling Bennett, she took up the trumpet as research for her debut novel, The Trumpet Lesson. Her current writing projects set in Guanajuato include short stories and a second novel.

To learn more about Dianne, click here.

A long-time journalist, Lisa began writing her debut novel ten years ago, although her themes of gentrification, intra-racial tensions and the struggle of recent immigrants, told through the eyes of three residents of a Massachusetts community, seemed ripped from the headlines. As Lisa so aptly puts it: "These problems never seem to go away." She found her publisher, a feminist press based in Canada, the old-fashioned way: a face to face meeting at a writer's conference.

Lisa Braxton is the recipient of a 2020 Outstanding Literary Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for this debut. The Talking Drum. Her stories and essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, WBUR's Cognoscenti, Vermont Literary Review, Black Lives Have Always Mattered, Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Book of Hope.

She is a fellow of Kimbilio, a fellowship for fiction writers of the African diaspora, and an Emmy-nominated former television journalist. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Media from Hampton University, her Master of Science degree in Journalism from Northwestern University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University and is a former newspaper and television journalist.

To learn more about Lisa, click here.

Sherri took over a decade to write her debut novel, primarily because life intervened. With a spouse and three daughters, something always needed to give and that thing was often her book. Hear how being a finalist in the 2015 Rising Star contest through WFWA helped her hone her manuscript through feedback from agents, urging her to change the novel's structure from a chronological one to one that utilized flashbacks to tell the dual-timeline story. Her controversial ending scared off several agents but appealed to her eventual publisher, Red Adept.

Sherri Leimkuhler has written professionally for more than twenty years but is a Jill of many trades, with experience in sales, marketing, aviation, and yoga instruction. Her health-and-fitness column, "For the Fun of Fit," appeared bi-weekly in the Carroll County Times for nearly a decade. A competitive triathlete and two-time Ironman finisher, Sherri also enjoys reading, hiking, paddle boarding, trail running, traveling, and wine tasting. Sherri lives in Maryland with her husband, three daughters, and two Labrador retrievers.

To learn more about Sherri, click here.

Hear how over a hundred agents rejected Lainey's book, saying they didn't think they could sell a novel about women in the workplace putting aside their conflicts and coming together to support and nurture each other. Lainey's answer to writers who ask her how to get people to review their books will surprise (and probably delight) you. Her innovative marketing ideas about leveraging the power of the writing community should be required listening for every debut author.

Lainey is an author of women's fiction and a recovering tech industry executive. Her award-winning novel, The Exit Strategy, a #1 Amazon Best Seller, was inspired by a decade of being the only woman in the corporate boardroom. It's been called a "rallying call for women to believe in themselves and join together" and tells the story of a Silicon Valley investor who first meets her husband's mistress across the negotiating table.

Originally from Scotland, Lainey has a soft spot for kilts, good malt whisky, and anything equine. She's a digital nomad--meaning she picks locations around the world to live (and write) for months at a time--Lainey is an avid instagrammer and loves to share her travel tips and insights with readers. She believes community makes the author's life worthwhile and is on a mission to obliterate the term aspiring writer. To learn more about Lainey, click here.

Marolyn is our first international podcast, coming to us from across the globe in New Zealand, where she lives with her wife and two children. A journalist from her early twenties, Marolyn decided to try her hand at a novel after the U.S. 2016 election left her frustrated. Her heroine struggles with whether to stay away from protesting or dive back into life as a full-time activist. Not only did she publish her story in e-book form but also made it available as a long-form podcast.

Marolyn (she/her) was born in downtown Los Angeles in 1974. Her character driven stories are strategically designed to make you laugh, or not. Her first novel, The Radicals, is available as an ebook on Amazon or a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Marolyn lives in a small city in New Zealand with her wife, two children and a small dog.

To learn more about Marolyn, click here.

If you're thinking of self-publishing, you'll want to listen to Shawn's interview and hear about the professionals she hired to help her launch. This novel centers around long-standing female friendships and one of the most moving aspects of this interview was hearing how book club members have told Shawn that after reading and discussing her book, they felt more comfortable opening up to each other about their own life struggles.

Shawn graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with degrees in administration of criminal justice and political science. Prior to her concentration on creative writing, she was a journalist, editorial photographer, newspaper editor, and award-winning columnist. Her professional affiliations include Women's Fiction Writers Association, North Carolina Writers' Network, Women's National Book Association, Charlotte chapter, and the Charlotte Writers Club. Her publishing affiliations include Ingram Spark, IndieBound, and the Southern Independent Book Alliance.She lives at Lake Norman, North Carolina, with her husband, Jim, their two children, and two cats and a dog.

To learn more about Shawn, click here.

Liz's novel, loosely based on snippets of family lore about her paternal grandfather, encompasses American life in the 1920's in Vermont and is rich in historical detail about early vaudeville and small town America. She found a home for her novel with a small press which had earlier published several of her short stories.

Elizabeth Gauffreau holds a BA in English/Writing from Old Dominion University and an MA in English/Fiction Writing from the University of New Hampshire. Her fiction publications include short stories in Adelaide Literary Magazine, The Long Story, Soundings East, Ad Hoc Monadnock, Rio Grande Review, Blueline, Slow Trains, Hospital Drive, and Serving House Journal, among others. Her poetry has appeared in The Writing On The Wall, The Larcom Review, and Natural Bridge. Her debut novel Telling Sonny was published by Adelaide Books in 2018.

Liz grew up a child of the 1960s in northern New England before spending twenty years in the South as a Navy wife. After working for Granite State College in Concord, New Hampshire for eighteen years, she recently accepted a faculty position as Assistant Dean of Curriculum and Assessment at Champlain College Online in Burlington, Vermont. In addition to academic advising, teaching, and higher education administration, her professional background includes assessment of prior experiential learning for college credit. She lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband; their daughter has flown the nest to live in sunny California.

To learn more about Liz, click here.