Thriving Authors Podcast

Julie Hoag lives in Minnesota with her husband and three sons. Before becoming a writer, she worked as a scientist at the University of Minnesota, as a pediatric nurse, and as a stay-at-home mom. After her youngest entered school, she revisited her interest in writing by starting a Family, Lifestyle and Food Blog at juliehoagwriter.com. She began submitting non-fiction articles across the internet, finding wonderful success in getting published on numerous websites. Additionally, her YA Contemporary Romance novel Hungry Hearts was just published by Swoon Romance/Month9Books and her second novel is forthcoming later this year. In this episode, Julie and I talk about making the switch from writing nonfiction to fiction, how being a blogger has made her a better novelist, and more.

Parker Peevyhouse is the author of the YA science fiction thrillers Where Futures End, The Echo Room – which Kirkus called “a thrilling ride” in a starred review -- and Strange Exit, which was just published by Tor Teen. Parker is likely trying to solve a puzzle at this very moment, probably while enjoying In-N-Out fries, admiring redwood trees, and quoting movies about sentient robots. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

https://www.parkerpeevyhouse.com/

http://www.launchpadworkshop.org/

https://www.writeoncon.org/

Stephanie Kuehn is a psychologist and an author. She has written five novels for teens, including Charm & Strange, which won the ALA’s 2014 William C. Morris Award for best debut young adult novel. Her second novel, Complicit, was named to YALSA’s 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults list, and her third, Delicate Monsters, won the 2016 Northern California Book Award. In 2015, Stephanie was awarded the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship for The Smaller Evil and in 2017, her fifth novel, When I Am Through With You, received a starred review from Kirkus and was also named an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Booklist has praised her work as “Intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist.”

http://stephaniekuehn.com/

Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl are a husband-and-wife team who write novels and stories of mystery and adventure from their rustic cabin in the Rocky Mountains. They regularly speak at writers conferences, universities and high schools to help others achieve their writing dreams. Their debut YA novel, MERGED, received a starred review from Kirkus as well as other rave reviews. The science-fiction story centers around seven of our country’s most gifted teens who will become Nobels, hosts for the implantation of brilliant Mentor minds, in an effort to accelerate human progress. But as the line between what’s possible and what’s right draws ever blurrier, the teens discover everything has a cost.

Connect with Jim & Stephanie at www.jimandstephbooks.com, and on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram @jimandstephbooks. 

Jennieke Cohen writes historical fiction for young adults inspired by real people and events because life is often stranger than fiction. Her debut YA novel, DANGEROUS ALLIANCE, is The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Jane Austen in a witty, winking historical romance with a dash of mystery! DANGEROUS ALLIANCE has garnered rave reviews from Publisher's Weekly, The Nerd Daily, Book Riot, Barnes and Noble, and is a featured pick on Book of the Month Club. Jennieke studied English history at Cambridge University and has a master’s degree in professional writing from the University of Southern California. She loves exploring new locales but always returns home to Northern California where the summers are hot, the winters are mild, and life is casual.

https://www.jenniekecohen.com/

Award-winning author Tobie Easton was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she's grown from a little girl who dreamed about magic to a twenty-something who writes about it.  Her debut novel, Emerge, is a Gold Medal Winner (Young Adult – Sci-Fi/Fantasy) of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and is Book 1 in the acclaimed Mer Chronicles series. The trilogy follows the descendants of the Little Mermaid and offers fans a peek into a world where Mermaids aren't just real, but live secretly among us on land. Tobie and her very kissable husband enjoy traveling the globe and fostering packs of rescue puppies. 

Andrew Buckley attended the Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film and Television program. He pitched and developed several screenplay projects for film and television before completing his first two novels, DEATH, THE DEVIL AND THE GOLDFISH and STILTSKIN, both published by Curiosity Quills Press. Andrew's foray into writing for a younger audience resulted in the HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES series, published by Month9Books.  

**Throughout the month of December, I am hosting a giveaway to celebrate the upcoming release of my debut YA novel, The Best Week That Never Happened. All you have to do to enter is mark my book as “Want to Read” on Goodreads. That’s it! I have lots of fun prizes that I’ll be giving away on December 31st.