Hear us Roar

An ex-lawyer who specialized in divorce cases, Leanne took her years of knowledge and turned it into a novel, (write what you know, right?) complete with quarreling spouses headed for divorce who wind up on a tropical island on a new reality show aimed at reuniting warring couples. Hear her thoughts on working with a small press and how writing 500 words every day is her mantra.

Leanne lives in New Jersey with her husband of twenty-five years and their three wonderful children. When she's not cheering her children on in their activities, she can be found running, watching Philadelphia 76ers basketball, and spoiling her two beloved dogs. Favorite locations include the Jersey shore, Martha's Vineyard, and any place that sells books or coffee, preferably both! A passionate student, Leanne's dream life would include going back to college and majoring in everything. Leanne is a graduate of Lafayette College and The Dickinson School of Law. A former attorney, Leanne is now lucky enough to write full-time!

To learn more about Leanne, click here.

Kathleen's novel (first released as Are You Sleeping) grew out of her fascination with the true-crime podcast Serial which she juxtaposed with a NaNoWiMo story line involving characters she'd been writing about since high school. The result was a hugely successful debut which sold at auction, went on to be optioned by Reese Witherspoon, and was the basis for Apple TV's 2019 streaming series Truth Be Told, starring Octavia Spencer, Lizzy Caplan, and Aaron Paul.

She's a former attorney, incurable wanderer, and yoga enthusiast. Originally from Galesburg, Illinois, she is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University School of Law. She now lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and son. Her second novel FOLLOW ME from Gallery Books was published in February, 2020.

To learn more about Kathleen, click here.

Judy Kundert, a recipient of the Marquis Who's Who Excellence in Authorship award, loves storytelling, from folk and fairy tales to classics for elementary school children. She authors award-winning middle-grade novels designed to inspire and intrigue children. After she left her career as a United Airlines stewardess, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University, Chicago, a Master of Arts from DePaul University, Chicago and a Master's Certificate in Public Relations and Marketing from the University of Denver. For fun, she likes reading (usually three or four books at a time), watching movies from the oldies to the current films, traveling, biking, and hiking in the vast Colorado outdoors with her husband.

To learn more about Judy, click here.

Leslie's definitely a pantser ("I let my character do the driving") and had an epiphany a year ago – chasing agents and publishers wasn't working for her. Wanting to see her work in print before she "croaked", she took back control and the result is two novels released back to back in February of 2019. A Buddhist scholar for 30 years as well as a graphic designer, Leslie possesses a wry sense of humor that evident in her novel about a woman who hates being middle-aged, hates thong underwear, and after buying a gun, decides to do something about both.

Despite a useless Fine Arts degree, Leslie M. Rollins has spent much of her career in the world of direct marketing and graphic design. Her writing was done on the side, in the car, in bathrooms—yes, no keyboards! With the help of sadistic writers' groups, she learned to hone her craft. The muse drove her mad. A great procrastinator, yet she completed two novels (so far), Rollins has also managed her own business, traveled, and put her big toe on the path to Enlightenment via several Buddhist retreats. She has survived marriage and widowhood, and the loss of some lovely dogs. She currently resides with cats in Virginia.

To learn more about Leslie, click here.

Marlene is a big believer in plotting and also works as a developmental editor, so she has lots of great tips for how beginning writers can improve their novels, including being very clear about what your story is about, and reading your work out loud to achieve authentic dialogue.

Marlene grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and later attended New York University where she studied film and then worked as a development executive for such movies as Mystic Pizza, Rich in Love, Driving Miss Daisy and Rush. For the last 18 years Marlene has worked as a freelance book editor as well as writer. She has been awarded residencies to The Macdowell Colony, Yaddo, The Wurlitzer Foundation, Fundacion Valpairiso, and MacNamara Foundation and her short stories and personal essays have appeared in a number of literary journals and blogs. Today Marlene can often be found walking local trails looking for abandoned birds' nests or at home hand sewing little boxes out of tree bark. She is partial to chocolate labs and in particular hers, a super friendly, good-natured girl named Honey. She lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley, in a small town filled with artists, where she loves to listen to the noise of the birds.

To learn more about Marlene, click here.

Here how Jess' great-grandmother's struggles in the late 1930's were the springboard for her first novel which follows a farm wife and mother of a large family dealing with clinical depression during an era when mental illness was stigmatized. Learn how Jess wrote her book out of order and then stitched it together "like a quilt" into a cohesive whole.

Jess is a debut novelist in historical fiction centering around the early-mid 20th century. A graduate of Indiana University, Jess holds a degree in English. When she is not reading or writing, she teaches English (literature and composition) courses online to high school students. Jess currently resides in upstate New York with her husband, Josh, their three children, and their two dogs. The family travels often and is always up for an adventure. Though a Georgia native, Jess has lived in a multitude of states. Each place gives her writing fresh flare and direction as she is exposed to new people, stories, and experiences.

To learn more about Jess, click here.

Kimberly Lynne writes speculative women's fiction that explores the inexplicable curiosities of being human. She writes from a sunny corner room in a minimalized house she shares with her husband of 35 years and a blind Havanese named Hope.

She's a slush reader and judge for various writing competitions, a volunteer for WFWA, a member of the South Carolina Writers' Association, and a Wild Acres Writers Workshop alumna. When not in the studio, she's most likely to be found designing a new garden or on a long walk in the woods.

To learn more about Kimberly, click here.

Amber describes how, for her, writing feels like the kids' game Choose Your Own Adventure, how she got signed with Lake Union even without an agent, and what she learned by reading P.D.James' entire series of Adam Dagliesh mysteries start to finish.

Amber Cowie is a graduate of the University of Victoria and was short-listed for the 2017 Whistler Book Award. She is a mother of two, wife of one, and a novelist who enjoys skiing, running, and creating stories that make her browser search history highly suspicious. Amber lives in the mountains in a small West Coast town. Her second book, Lost Lane, was released in November, 2019 and her third, Loss Lake, in November, 2020.

To learn more about Amber, click here.

Listen to our interview with Kaela Coble and learn about the differences in sales outlets in the UK versus the US, what to consider when writing characters loosely based on your friends, and how she used the feedback she got from 189 rejection letters to make her manuscript better.

One of Kaela's passions is helping people develop professionally, whether as a writer or in another career, which led her to launch a coaching business in 2016 as well as becoming a Certified Professional Résumé Writer through PAW/CC.

A degree in communications first led Kaela into copywriting before she became disillusioned with the marketing of cloud solutions and "sustainable" chemicals. Now she works as an executive assistant to free up creative energy for her true passion working with words. She is a member of WFWA, the League of Vermont Writers, and is a graduate of the Womentoring Project. She is also a voracious reader, and hopeless addict to bad television and good chocolate. She lives with her husband in St. Albans, Vermont, and is a devoted mother to their rescued chuggle, Gus.

To learn more about Kaela, click here.

Suanne's debut novel explores the life of a nineteenth century artist who escapes, then returns to West Texas. Hear about her life-long love affair with Tarzan, her role as a prolific book reviewer as well as author, and discover out how she sleeps until noon every day but still fits in eight hours of writing.

Born in West Texas at the height of the Cold War, Suanne finds it ironic that grade school drills for tornadoes and nuclear war were the same: hide beneath your desk and kiss your rear-end goodbye. Now a retired family-practice physician, her pioneer ancestors and world travels fuel her imagination. She planned to write romances, but either as a consequence of a series of failed relationships or a genetic distrust of happily-ever-after, her heroines are strong women who battle tough environments and intersect with men who might—or might not—love them. Her next book, Hunting the Devil, explores the heartbreak and healing of an American physician caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

To learn more about Suanne, click here.