Shows / Hear us Roar
Hear us Roar
If you're an aspiring author and want insights into what's involved in launching a book into the world, this is the podcast for you. Maggie Smith, author and blogger, interviews debut novelists from the Women's Fiction Writers Association discussing not only the inspiration behind their book, but also their insights into the writing process, the best advice they ever got, and the joys and sometimes pitfalls they encountered on their path to publication.
Episodes
Hear us Roar340: Alexandria Faulkenbury - Author of Somewhere Past the End
Our podcast guest this week is Alexandria Faulkenbury (Somewhere Past The End, Apprentice House Press at Loyola University, Baltimore, May 2025). Alexandria…
Hear us Roar339: Julie Wise - Author of Make No Mistake - The Novel
This week we welcome Julie Wise, a Canadian author (Make No Mistake: The Novel, indie published, May 2025) to discuss her debut featuring older women activists…
Hear us Roar338: Joan Fernandez - Author of Saving Vincent - A Novel of Jo van Gogh
This week our guest is Joan Fernandez (Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo van Gogh, She Writes Press, April 2025). We talk about what happened when a competing book…
Hear us Roar337: Meg Hamand - Author of Diamonds in Auschwitz
This week we welcome Meg Hamand to the podcast (Diamonds in Auschwitz, Greenleaf Publishing, March 2025). We discuss the books that kept her sane while writing…
Hear us Roar336: Jill Amber Chafin - Author of Shaken
Our podcast guest this week is Jill Amber Chafin (Shaken, Vine Leaves Press, March 2025). Hear how the inspiration for Jill's debut occurred in a doctor's…
Hear us Roar335: Tatiana Goded - Author of A Trip Towards the Sunset
This week our podcast guest is Tatiana Goded (A Trip Towards the Sunset, indie published, March 2025). Tatiana's debut follows 3 women facing mid-life…
Hear us Roar334: Raquel Y. Levitt - Author of The Seer
Our podcast guest this week is Raquel Y. Levitt (The Seer, Acorn Publishing, March 2025). We discuss the originals of her debut which started as a single clear…
Hear us Roar333: Angelika Morini - Author of Do You See Me Now?
This week our podcast guest is Angelika Morini (Do You See Me Now?, indie published, February 2025). Angelika, who lives and writes from Germany, discusses the…
Hear us Roar332: Jen Sinclair - Author of There's Always a Price
Our podcast guest this week is Jen Sinclair (There's Always A Price, indie-published, September 2024). We talk about her early love of writing (her first book…
Hear us Roar331- Kim Gottlieb-Walker - Author of Lenswoman in Love - a Novel of the 1960's and '70's
This week our podcast guest is Kim Gottlieb-Walker (Lenswoman in Love – a Novel of the 1960's and '70's, indie published, February 2025). Kim shares the…
Hear us Roar330: Barbara Burton - Author of A Walk Down Rushville
Our podcast guest this week is Barbara Burton (A Walk Down Rushville, Manuscripts Press, April 2024). Barbara, a lover of true crime series, has a unique…
Hear us Roar329- SPECIAL EPISODE Julie Carrick Dalton - Author of The Forest Becomes Her
This Special Edition podcast features long-time WFWA member Julie Carrick Dalton (The Forest Becomes Her, St. Martin's Press, July 2026) who has just published…
Hear us Roar328: Lindsay Morris - Author of The Last Letter from Sicily
This week our guest is Lindsay Marie Morris (The Last Letter from Sicily, Storm Publishing, January 2025). We discuss how actually going to your book's…
Hear us Roar327: N. J. Mastro - Author of Solitary Walker: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft
Our podcast guest this week is N. J. Mastro (Solitary Walker: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft, Black Rose Writing, February 2025) Nancy's debut is an…
Hear us Roar326: Lisa F. Rosenberg - Author of Fine, I'm a Terrible Person
This week's podcast guest is Lisa F. Rosenberg (Fine, I'm a Terrible Person, Sibylline Press, January 2025). What happens when you come across a character so…
Hear us Roar325: Evelyn Ann Casey - Author of Candlewood
Our guest this week is Evelyn Ann Casey (Candlewood, Three Towers Press, February 2025). Evelyn's debut, set in the 1970's, is considered historical fiction…
Hear us Roar324: Angela Douglas - Author of Every Fall
This week's podcast guest is Angela Douglas (Every Fall, indie published, January 2025). Initially published by Rising Action, Angela bought her rights back to…
Hear us Roar323: Mary Hansen - Author of The Traveling Archivist Eastern Oregon
Our guest this week is Mary Hansen (The Traveling Archivist Eastern Oregon, Luminare Press, January 2025). We delve into the differences between a librarian…
Hear us Roar322: Wanda Penalver Bevan - Author of The Rains of Wishton
This week's guest is Wanda Penalver Bevan (The Rains of Wishton, The Book Reality Experience, February 2025). We discuss writing dual timelines, point of view…
Hear us Roar321: Lisa Montanaro - Author of Everything We Thought Was True
Our guest this week is Lisa Montanaro (Everything We Thought Was True, Red Adept, January 2025). We discuss how Lisa taps into her background as an actress to…
Hear us Roar320: Rosa Kwon Easton - Author of White Mulberry
This week's guest is Rosa Kwon Easton (White Mulberry, Lake Union, December 2024). We discuss how an unusual query approach got Rosa her dream agent, who…
Hear us Roar319: Kristin Owens - Author of Elizabeth Sails
Our guest this week is Kristin Owens (Elizabeth Sails, Rising Action Publishing, October 2024). We discuss how Kristin's critique group convinced her to write…
Hear us Roar318: Faye Arcand - Author of Inside Outside
This week we talk with Faye Arcand (Inside Outside, indie published November 2024). Learn how a best-seller psychological suspense informed Faye's debut plot…
Hear us Roar317: Stephanie Claypool - Author of A Thousand Tiny Stitches
Our guest this week is Stephanie Claypool (A Thousand Tiny Stitches, Atmosphere Press, November 2024) Here how tips about outlining from both James Patterson…
Hear us Roar316: Zelly Ruskin - Author of Not Yours to Keep
This week we talk with Zelly Ruskin (Not Yours to Keep, She Writes Press, October 2024). We delve into the 3 unrelated parts of her past—her former career, an…
Hear us Roar315: Kay Smith-Blum - Author of Tangles
Our guest this week is Kay Smith-Blum (Tangles, Black Rose Writing, December 2024). We discuss how two unrelated occurrences in one week—one a vivid dream, the…
Hear us Roar314: Dena Polko - Author of Don't Drop Dad
This week's guest is Dena Polko (Don't Drop Dad, Maine Authors Publishing, October 2024). An event in Dena's family 25 years ago planted the kernel of a book…
Hear us Roar313: Paulette Brooks - Author of Not Just a Homemaker
Our guest this week is Paulette Brooks (Not Just a Homemaker: The Extraordinary Life of Sheila MacGregor, indie published, September 2024). Paulette has two…
Hear us Roar312: Julie McDonald Zander - Author of The Reluctant Pioneer
This week's guest is Julie McDonald Zander (The Reluctant Pioneer, St. Helen's Press, September 2024). An historical novel of a real-life woman who crossed the…
Hear us Roar311: Leissa Shahrak - Author of Half The World
Our podcast guest this week is Leissa Shahrak (Half the World, Atmosphere Press, September 2024). Set in Iran during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Leissa's…
Hear us Roar310: Beth Dotson Brown - Author of Rooted in Sunrise
This week's guest is Beth Dotson Brown (Rooted in Sunrise, Koehler Books, September 2024). Beth discusses how she came to write a coming-of-age book for…
Hear us Roar309: Christine Gunderson - Author of Friends with Secrets
On the podcast this week we welcome Christine Gunderson (Friends with Secrets, Lake Union, August 2024). In a wide-ranging discussion, we cover finding an…
Hear us Roar308: Nancie Abuhaidar - Author of The Trouble with Possibilities
This week's guest is Nancie Abuhaidar (The Trouble with Possibilities, indie published, September 2024). The idea for Nancie's debut originated with her sister…
Hear us Roar307: Jan Heidrich-Rice - Author of Secrets of the Blue Moon
Our podcast guest this week is Jan Heidrich-Rice (Secrets of the Blue Moon, indie published, September 2024). We discuss making up a whole small town for your…
Hear us Roar306: Jessica Maffetore - Author of Eleanora in Pieces
This week's guest is Jessica Maffetore (Eleanora in Pieces, Black Rose Writing, September 2024). If you've ever wondered about what happens when a small press…
Hear us Roar305: Natalie Dossett - Author of Sarita
Our podcast guest this week is Natalie Dossett (Sarita, Atmosphere Press, September 2024). Natalie's novel, set in west Texas during the 1920's Prohibition…
Hear us Roar304: Leilani Garrett - Author of After the Burn
This week's guest is Leilani Garrett (After the Burn, Palmetto Publishing, August 2024). Leilani shares sage advice from her first writing mentor, how her…
Hear us Roar303: Erica Colahan - Author of The Oystercatcher of Southwark
Our podcast guest this week is Erica Colahan (The Oystercatcher of Southwark, Chrism Press, July 2024). A dual timeline historical novel set in…
Hear us Roar302: Cathelina Duvert - Author of The Box
This week's guest is Cathelina Duvert (The Box, indie published, July 2024). Over 20 years in the making, this debut novel initially sprang from the author's…
Hear us Roar301: Amily D'Nas - Author of The Swaying Willlow
Our podcast guest this week is Amily D'Nas (Beneath the Swaying Willow, indie published, July 2024). Amily joined an existing writing group when she met a…
Hear us Roar300: Sharon Wishnow - Author of The Pelican Tide
This week's guest is Sharon Wishnow (The Pelican Tide, Lake Union, June 2024). Sharon describes how she used both her networking contacts and her background as…
Hear us Roar299: Hadley Leggett - Author of All They Ask is Everything
Our podcast guest this week is Hadley Leggett (All They Ask is Everything, Lake Union, August 2024). We discuss the intensive research Hadley did to learn…
Hear us Roar298: Melissa Collings- Author of The False Flat
This week's guest is Melissa Collings (The False Flat, Montlake/Amazon publishing, June 2024). Melissa talks about learning to filter conflicting feedback from…
Hear us Roar297: Kim McCollum- Author of What Happens in Montana
Our guest this week is Kim McCollum (What Happens in Montana, Black Rose Writing, January 2024). Kim discusses how writing was her first love but she was told…
Hear us Roar296: Wendy Haller: Author of The Flannigan Girls
This week's guest is Wendy Haller (The Flannigan Girls, Stillwater River Publications, June 2024). Because Wendy's debut centers around sisterhood, we discuss…
Hear us Roar295: Catherine Matthews- Author of Releasing the Reins
My guest this week is Catherine Matthews (Releasing the Reins, indie published, June 2024). Catherine describes writing a first draft of your debut as…
Hear us Roar294: Jaclyn Westlake- Author of Dear Dotty
This week's guest is Jaclyn Westlake (Dear Dotty, Avon Books/Harper Collins, June 2024). Jaclyn signed up for Stanford's 2-year Novel Writing Course and…
Hear us Roar293: Amy Dressler - Author of How to Align the Stars
Our guest this week is Amy Dressler (How to Align the Stars, Egret Lake Books, June 2024). Amy's biggest challenge in writing her debut was finding the…
Hear us Roar292: Darlene Corbett- Author of Visible
This week's guest is Darlene Corbett (Visible, WordCrafts Press May 2024). A psychotherapist for over 30 years, Darlene used a therapy group as a stepping-off…
Hear us RoarSept 2025 Special Episode -Finalists, WFWAs Rising Star Award
In this special podcast episode we feature the five finalists for WFWA's 2025 Rising Star Award for unpublished debut women's fiction in a roundtable…
Hear us Roar291: Nancy Taber- Author of A Sea of Spectres
Our guest this week is Nancy Taber (A Sea of Spectres, Acorn Press, May 2024). A former member of the Canadian military and now an academic, Nancy's debut…
Hear us Roar290: Shayla Dugan- Author of Learning to Swim
This week's guest is Shayla Dugan (Learning to Swim, Egret Lake Books, May 2024). We discuss how adding humor can provide a more grounded emotional experience…
Hear us Roar289: Linda Sachse- Author of Inheriting the Shackelford Ranch
Our guest this week is Linda Sachse (Inheriting the Shackelford Ranch, indie published, February 2024). Linda, who switched from romance to women's literature…
Hear us Roar288: L. L. Kirchner- Author of Florida Girls
This week's guest is L. L. Kirchner (Florida Girls, indie published, May 2024). We discuss taking fascinating historical facts and weaving them into a…
Hear us Roar287: Lisa Fellinger - Author of The Serendipity of Catastrophe
This week our guest is Lisa Fellinger (The Serendipity of Catastrophe, indie published, March 2024). Lisa's educational background in mental health counseling…
Hear us Roar286: Lucille Guarino - Author of Elizabeth's Mountain
Our podcast guest this week is Lucille Guarino (Elizabeth's Mountain, Black Rose Press, March 2024). We discuss how this book, which came to her in a dream…
Hear us Roar285: Carolyn McBride - Author of The Cicada Spring
This week our guest is Carolyn McBride (The Cicada Spring: A Potomac Shores Novel, indie published, April 2024). Hear how her parents' dream house finally…
Hear us Roar284: Susan Wadds - Author of What the Living Do
Our guest this week is Susan Wadds (What the Living Do, Regal House Publishing, March 2024). Susan describes her biggest writing challenge as taking all the…
Hear us Roar283: Jann Everard - Author of Blue Runaways
This week we welcome Jann Everard (Blue Runaways, Stonehewer Books, March 2024) to the podcast. In a switch-up to our regular fare of novelists, Jann's women's…
Hear us Roar282: Melissa Bacon - Author of Through Her Lens
Our guest this week is Melissa Bacon (Through Her Lens, Atmosphere Press, April 2024). What if you aren't setting out to build a career as an author but…