Queries, Qualms, & Quirks

Historical Fiction Author Addison Armstrong joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss predicting her jobs in Pre-K, querying too soon due to excitement, graduating college with a literary agent, taking her book offer call with a broom in one hand, being surprised by a two-book contract, how a book contract changed her feelings towards writing, and worrying that the first book contract was a fluke.

Addison Armstrong is a historical fiction author and a third-grade teacher. She grew up in south Florida and currently lives in Nashville, TN with her husband. She started writing The Light of Luna Park in 2019 during her junior year of college and had it published with Putnam in 2021. Her next novel, The War Librarian, will come out in August of this year (2022).

Addison: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Young Adult Author Crystal Maldonado joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss boyband fan fiction, the one book that made her feel like there might be room for her stories, googling everything, being shy about being a writer, her actual rejections from publishers, covid interfering with her publishing schedule, her book baby taking a backseat to her human baby, being grateful for the publishing delay, wishing she had shared her writing sooner, and sending Roxane Gay a copy of her book.

Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author writing inclusive stories about fat, brown girls. Her debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, is a 2021 New England Book Award winner, while her newest, No Filter and Other Lies, explores teenage life in the social media age. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog.

Crystal: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Book Club Fiction Jessica Strawser joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss not believing in her own writing, being inspired by the authors she interviewed, realizing successful authors are regular people, the difference between knowing what a good query letter is and writing your own, the overlap in publishing schedules, worrying you've wasted so much time, advice from Debbie Macomber, and not being afraid to take a pause.

Jessica Strawser is editor-at-large for Writer's Digest, contributing editor at Career Authors, and author of five popular book club novels, including the Book of the Month selection NOT THAT I COULD TELL. Most recently, A MILLION REASONS WHY released in a new paperback edition, and her latest, THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW, hit shelves March 22 from St. Martin’s Press.

Jessica: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Young Adult Author Carolyn Tara O’Neil joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss dreaming of being Carolyn Keene, spending five years drafting and revising her debut, reading the entire Query Shark blog, adding a POV to increase request rate by 600%, how much work her agent actually does, writing one day a week, worrying of never writing something worthy, not beating yourself up, and believing in your own writing.

Carolyn Tara O’Neil grew up in a tiny New York City apartment filled with thousands of books. Every Friday she went to the public library for even more reading material. Since then, Carolyn has dedicated her career to the education and rights of young people. She loves to travel, study languages, and spend endless hours discussing TV, books, great hiking trails, and how we can work together to build a more equal society.

Her debut novel, DAUGHTERS OF A DEAD EMPIRE, is set during the Russian Revolution and was published in 2022 by Roaring Brook Press.

Carolyn: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

Ira Glass on the Creative Gap

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Young Adult Author Margie Fuston joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss having both a great and a terrible Pitch Wars experience, ditching a PhD to write a book, selling a trunked novel after getting an agent, R&Rs, making the one change she said she'd never make, fear of social media, taking care of your mental and physical health.

Margie Fuston lives in the woods of California and spends all her time wrangling a herd of cats and helping her nephews hunt ghosts, pond monsters, and mermaids. She’s the author of Vampires, Hearts, and Other Dead Things and Cruel Illusions.

Margie: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Science-Fiction Author Jackson Ford joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss almost giving up, being encouraged by a friend, having his first series not meet sales expectations, transitioning from journalism to fiction, and not spending enough time with his characters.

Jackson Ford is a South African author living in Vancouver. He is the author of the Frost Files series, starring the psychokinetic government agent Teagan Frost.

Jackson: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Young Adult Author Sarah Dass joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss letting go of a book to move forward, the importance of finishing books, her debut group, a disastrous first book, amassing 100 rejections, Pitch Wars, and getting published with your third book.

Sarah Dass was born in Trinidad but has lived in Tobago since she was two years old. She works as an office administrator by day and writes stories about the Caribbean by night. When she's not writing, she's reading or taking walks with her dachshund, Stella. Sarah's debut novel, Where the Rhythm Takes You, is inspired by her childhood, spent in a seaside hotel.

Sarah: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Book Club Fiction Author Lyn Liao Butler joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss the book that started as a blog, dissecting her favorite books to learn to write, doing an R&R, not getting into Pitch Wars (for a great reason), reviving trunked novels, post-publication uncertainty, traveling for research, the importance of community, and the benefit of an agent in your corner.

Lyn Liao Butler was born in Taiwan and moved to the States when she was seven. Before becoming an author, she was a professional ballet and modern dancer, and is still a personal trainer and fitness and yoga instructor. She is an avid animal lover who fosters dogs and volunteers with rescues. When she is not torturing clients or talking to imaginary characters, Lyn enjoys spending time with her FDNY husband, their son (the happiest little boy in the world), and their three stubborn dachshunds; sewing for her Etsy shop; and trying complicated yoga poses on a stand-up paddleboard. So far, she has not fallen into the water.

Lyn: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Nonfiction Author Jessica P. Pryde joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss starting in fanfic, the magic of writing dates, getting an agent without querying, learning how to write a nonfiction proposal, long waiting periods, worrying about the concept matching the reality, narrowing your audience to make your book better, and more.

Jessica P. Pryde is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot and cohost of the When In Romance podcast. Her book, Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters, is a collection of essays about the consumption of romantic media and the Black experience.

Jessica: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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Young Adult Author Lauren James joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss having a supportive family, thinking every year this will be the year she has to get a real job, the ten year gap year, when your entire America publishing team gets fired, publishing three books during the pandemic, the one course she wish she'd taken, trusting your instincts, and the value in an editor who also teaches as you go.

Lauren James is the twice Carnegie-nominated British author of many Young Adult novels, including Green Rising, The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. She is a RLF Royal Fellow, freelance editor and screenwriter.

Lauren is the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League, and on the board of the Authors & Illustrators Sustainability Working Group through the Society of Authors.

Lauren: Query | Website | Twitter | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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