This week's guest is Marie McCurdy (The Wolf Queen, indie published, November 2023). Marie's novel, set in the Year 1 AD was five years in the making and involved a deep dive into historical records dating back to the height of the Roman Empire and its attempted invasion of the Germanic territories of Europe. We discuss the challenges of writing an historical women's fiction about a female character where little is known, how she broke with her first publisher, and the all importance of the right cover designer and copy editor for historical novels.

Marie is a Florida native, California transplant, and has lived almost everywhere between. She's been writing stories since she could hold a pen, but didn't get serious until she joined the Marines in 2009 as a Combat Correspondent. After five years telling Marine Corps stories, she knew it was time to start telling stories of her own. Marie currently lives in New Orleans with her fur family; three delightful cats and one questionable chihuahua mix.

To learn more about Marie, click here.

Our podcast guest this week is Sheila Athens (Neena Lee Is Seeing Things, indie published, January 2024). Sheila and I discuss how her book started with a famous person and a setting near her home and grew from there, how she thinks storytelling differs from writing, and how the thing readers love best about her novel is the older protagonist. Hear why she opted to spend her money on a book coach rather than a developmental editor and how an upcoming anniversary was the final push she needed to decide to self-publish.

Resources mentioned during the interview: ebooklaunch.com; suzyapprovedbooktours.com; jennienash.com; Story Genius by Lisa Cron.

Sheila Athens writes smart contemporary fiction set where the South meets the Sunshine state. Her stories are about women seeking to find the peace we all deserve. Readers are drawn to her work because they believe that everyday heroes can make a difference in our world.

After growing up in the Ozarks, she moved to Florida—sight unseen—with the man who would become her husband. Thirty-five years later, she's still on the shores of the Atlantic, grateful that her two grown sons and their families live nearby.

After many years as a vice president of human resources, she now spends her time ensconced in her quiet little lair, where she reads, writes and communes with the ducks who live on the lake right off her back porch. She loves quiet spaces, eccentric people and the little band of writer hikers who walk at sunrise on a regular basis.

To learn more about Sheila, to subscribe to her newsletter, or to invite her to your book club, click here.

This week's guest is Gayle Brown (A Deadly Game, Black Rose Writing, December 2023). We why you might want to consider hiring a book coach, how a TV show provided the spark for this suspense book, and how Gayle re-wrote her ending numerous times to make sure it hit the sweet spot between satisfying but also surprising. She gives us her take on publishing with the Big Five vs. a smaller press, the marketing efforts behind her successful launch, and how she's planning to grow her new career as a full-time writer.

Formerly a full-time teacher, now a full-time writer, my passion for writing started when I could hold a crayon in my hand, using the walls as my storyboard. Since then, I've connected pen to paper and fingers to the keyboard at every given chance. My debut novel, A DEADLY GAME, came out in December 2023. Aside from a being a full-time writer, I am also a writing mentor for The Book Incubator, a twelve-month, comprehensive alternative to an MFA, and a member of various organizations, including Women's Fiction Writers Association (where I'm also a mentor), The International Women's Writing Guild, SavvyAuthors, and Sisters in Crime. When not writing or reading, you can find me working out, traveling, and spending time in Florida with my family, including a very spoiled mini dachshund.

To learn more about Gayle, click here.

My guest this week is Olivia Sparrow (Secret of the Sassafras, indie published, October 2023). Olivia's someone who dived into the writing world with the attitude of "I'll figure it out" and has done just that, including initially penning a 175,000 word debut (a Beta Reader taught her about word count), turning to Google and the library for Query Tracker and agent contacts, using Fiverr and Reedsy to find book cover designers and editors, and teaching herself Vellum software to format her book. If you've ever wondered about TikTok and its BookTok and BookMail communities, Olivia's got some advice. Come for the magical description of the moment that set her on the writing path, stay for her upbeat attitude about how to find and nurture readers.

Award-winning author Olivia Sparrow grew up in a small Indiana town, where her passion for reading first sparked her love for storytelling. After relocating to New York City, she encountered both the challenges and triumphs of city life that ultimately inspired her debut novel, Secret of the Sassafras—a heartfelt tribute to courageous women and the city that helped her discover her own resilience. A seasoned portrait photographer with over fifteen years of experience, Olivia's transition from capturing images behind the lens to weaving stories on the page marks a bold new chapter in her creative journey. Her writing uncovers long-buried secrets and exposes the deeper truths often hidden behind outwardly flawless, yet deceptive, facades.

When she's not crafting stories, Olivia, a self-proclaimed California enthusiast, can be found hiking the national parks or wandering the rugged beauty of Big Sur with her family and their dog, Zuzu.

To learn more about Olivia, click here.

My guest this week is Amy Hagstrom (The Wild Between Us, Lake Union Press, November 2023). If you've ever wondered whether to keep working on a manuscript or put it in a drawer, this episode will resonate with you. Amy's debut was one that got rejected by over a hundred agents, but she kept revising this dual-timeline, dual POV story of lost kids in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and after landing an agent with another book that didn't get picked up, this one found a home at the Amazon women's fiction imprint and her career took off. Now working on what will be her third published novel, we discuss the women's fiction genre, what the right agent brings to the table, and what it's like to sign on with the biggest book retailer in the world.

Amy Hagstrom is the author of The Wild Between Us and Smoke Season. She is a writer and editor with two decades of experience in the travel and outdoor industry, recognized as an O Magazine Insider and previous columnist and feature writer at Travel Oregon, US News, and Huff Post. She holds a bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from Whitworth University. A lifelong outdoors enthusiast, she served as a volunteer EMT with her local county search and rescue unit before launching her travel writing career. After raising three children in the Pacific Northwest, Amy traded the Cascade, Siskiyou, and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges for The Berkshires, making her home in Western Mass with her wife. You can find her writing on Substack at Beyond the Books.

To learn more about Amy, go to her website here.

This week's guest is Kerry F. Freeman (Sedona: A Novel, The Wild Rose Press, November 2023). Kerry's book, a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz set in present-day Sedona, was written as an antidote to COVID-isolation and has proved a hit with book clubs as they chase down the Easter Eggs Kerry planted from the original source material, including who's the lion, the tinman, and the scarecrow. We discuss how she started a feature on her website called Books and Bevies which led to a fan base even before she was published and how that led to partnering with a well-known Charlotte brewery to produce an exclusive IPA beer for her launch.

Kerry Fryar Freeman crafts fiction as if it were a new puzzle. The settings are real and well-researched, the details are rich and layered, and the stories absorb and propel readers one piece at a time. Kerry's debut novel, SEDONA: A NOVEL, was published by Wild Rose Press in November of 2023 and was long-listed for the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Award and a 2023 finalist for Indie Ink's Best Setting Award. Kerry also writes a blog called "Books and Bevies" where she features an array of authors from New York Times and Amazon bestsellers to debut Indie gems. Books and Bevies can be found on her website www.KerryFryarFreeman.com or by following her on X @KerryFFreeman and Instagram @Books_and_Bevies. Kerry resides in North Carolina and is a member of the NC Writers' Network and the Women's Fiction Writers Association.

To learn more about Kerry, click here.

Our guest this week is Karen Klink (At What Cost, Silence? She Writes Press, October 2023). Karen's novel grew out of her desire to explore bi-sexuality but in an historical setting – in this case, pre-Civil War. We discuss how her writing journey began when she contributed to a fan-fiction internet site and subsequently received encouragement from a writing professor. Unable to find an agent and thus closed out of traditional publishing, she received a posthumous monetary gift from a lifelong friend which allowed her to publish through a hybrid press. We discuss research rabbit holes, her decision to write a trilogy, and how writing about sexual abuse in her novel helped her get over her own childhood trauma.

Karen's interest and experience in psychology and therapy inform her writing about individuals who persevere through difficulty and crisis in order to become stronger and accept themselves for who they truly are. Karen is a child abuse survivor, and humbly hopes her stories give readers pleasure and confidence to face their own difficulties, knowing they are not alone.

Karen believes in taking risks, for this is how we grow. With over fifty years of overcoming her own fears and challenges she hopes to help others find their own true selves, to not only survive, but to thrive.

To learn more about Karen, click here.

Our guest this week is KJ Fieler (Shadow Runner, Black Rose Press, June 2023). Fieler set out to write a short story for an anthology but soon found her tale ballooning past the standard word count, eventually becoming a 3-book series. We discuss where this epic trilogy belongs on the shelf—it straddles historical fantasy, women's fiction, Victorian adventure and Gaslamp (this last a truly niche genre similar to Steampunk, which focuses more on characters than plot). Learn about what it's like to write a book with a co-author, the fascination of research, and how networking with fellow authors can off when launching your book. And don't miss the story of how Fieler's manuscript earned a spot on a spaceship to the moon.

KJ Fieler got her start as a humor columnist and stringer for newspapers and magazines in North Florida and Rockwall, Texas. Book two of Fieler's Historical Fantasy series SHADOW HUNTER is due out in the fall of 2025. Her short story "LOYALTY" was included in the Lunar Codex Project, Peregrine Mission, which launched into space and returned to Earth on January 18th, ending its journey over The Great Barrier Reef. Fieler also hosts Writer 2 Writer, an enlightening YouTube author spotlight show. Through this platform, she delves into the lives and works of fellow authors, shedding light on their creative processes and showcasing their latest works.

To learn more about Kat, click here.

This week's guest is Janie Emaus (The Advice Columnist, Bombay Circle Press, October 2023). The inspiration for Janie's book was a flip on the "notes to your younger self" trope as she imagined it's the older protagonist being given life lessons instead. Janie's childhood dream to become a songwriter faded when she discovered she couldn't carry a tune but she soon segued into telling stories, gaining a following with the boomer crowd with her humorous essays for AARP. After parting ways with a top NYC agent, she instead signed with an India-based publisher and couldn't be happier. She's proof that not sticking to a single "author brand" isn't always the answer, as she's published several best-selling children's books, as well as creative non-fiction, romance, and women's fiction.

Janie Emaus is the author of the blended holiday picture books, Latkes for Santa Claus, a finalist in the 2022 International Book Awards, and Easter Eggs & Matzo Balls. As well as the novels, The Advice Columnist and The Time Traveling Matchmaker. Her essays, stories and articles have been published in numerous magazines, anthologies, and websites. In 2016, she won honorary mention in the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. In 2023, she won second place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists Contest in the lifestyle category. But no award is more important to her than family.

To learn more about Janie, click here.

This week's guest is Cheryl Walsh (Unequal Temperament, American Buffalo Books, September 2023). We discuss her writing process, which entails months of thinking and writing about what she wants to write about before she starts, and how the concept of unequal temperament in baroque music became the central metaphor for her main character's situation as well as providing her unique title. Our wide-ranging talk pinged between her research into meteorology and opera to harpsichords, community theater, and how having Iowa City in her return address enhanced agent's response rate. As the first podcast guest to win a competition which included a publishing contract, Cheryl shares what it's like to work with a non-profit university-based micro publisher. And we end the episode with a discussion about writing as a way to deal with grief, both your own and your reader's as well.

Cheryl Walsh is the author of the novel Unequal Temperament (American Buffalo Books, 2023). She earned a master's degree in history at Cornell University before giving in to the tug of fabrication and pursuing her MFA in creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been awarded writing residencies with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. Her creative work has appeared in Short Édition, the online journals Embark and Burningword, the audio magazine The Drum, and such print magazines as Confrontation and The MacGuffin. Originally from Michigan, she traded in lake-effect snow squalls for prairie blizzards and now lives and writes in a 110-year-old house in Iowa City, which she shares with her husband, the Australian photographer Bruce Hart.

To learn more about Cheryl, click here.