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 Roar281: Gail Priest - Author of Soul Dancing
This week we welcome Gail Priest to the podcast (Soul Dancing, Red Adept Publishing, May 2024) Gail comes out of a theatre background and her previous work…
Hear us Roar280: Jayna Sheats- Author of Hanna's Ascent
My guest this week is Jayna Sheats (Hanna's Ascent, Bedazzled Ink Publishing, June 2023). Growing up a poor boy in rural Colorado, Jayna went on to receive a…
Hear us Roar279: Micki Berthelot Morency- Author of The Island Sisters
My guest this week is Micki Berthelot Morency (The Island Sisters, BHC Press, June 2023). Her book is a perfect adjunct for Women's Fiction Week as her…
Hear us Roar278: Marcy Lane- Author of A Mercy of Widows
My guest this week is Marcy Lane (A Mercy of Widows, indie published, August 2023). Hear how two life events – serving on a jury and losing a partner – formed…
Hear us Roar277: Rosey Lee - Author of The Gardins of Edin
Our guest this week is Rosey Lee (The Gardins of Edin, Waterbrook Press, January 2024). Rosey, whose alter ego is as a float physician and health equity…
Hear us Roar276: Lorraine Norwood- Author of The Solitary Sparrow
This week we talk with Lorraine Norwood (The Solitary Sparrow, Atmosphere Press, February 2024). Lorraine fell in love with the Middle Ages at a young age and…
Hear us Roar275: Beth Uznis Johnson- Author of Coming Clean
This week's guest is Beth Uznis Johnson (Coming Clean, Regal House, January 2024). Beth turned her lifelong interest in what people's belongings say about them…
Hear us Roar274: Kathryn Dodson - Author of Tequila Midnight
Our guest this week is Kathryn Dodson (Tequila Midnight, indie published, July 2023). We discuss how being a book coach gave her a leg up when she decided to…
Hear us Roar273: Raven West - Author of Vashti's Daughter
This week guest is Raven West (Vashti's Daughter, indie published, July 2023). Before there was Esther in the Bible there was Vashti, whose story provided the…
Hear us Roar272: Marie McCurdy- Author of The Wolf Queen
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…
Hear us Roar271: Sheila Athens- Author of Neena Lee Is Seeing Things
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…
Hear us Roar270: Gayle Brown- Author of A Deadly Game
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…
Hear us Roar269: Olivia Sparrow- Author of Secrets of the Sassafras
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…
Hear us Roar268: Amy Hagstrom- Author of The Wild Between Us
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…
Hear us Roar267: Kerry F Freeman- Author of Sedona: A Novel
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…
Hear us Roar266: Karen Klink- Author of At What Cost, Silence?
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…
Hear us Roar265: K J Fieler- Author of Shadow Runner
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…
Hear us Roar264: Janie Emaus- Author of The Advice Columnist
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…
Hear us Roar263: Cheryl Walsh - Author of Unequal Temperament
This week's guest is Cheryl Walsh (Unequal Temperament, American Buffalo Books, September 2023). We discuss her writing process, which entails months of…
Hear us Roar262: Ann Marie Jackson - Author of The Broken Hummingbird
Our guest this week is Ann Marie Jackson (The Broken Hummingbird, She Writes Press, October 2023). After stints at the US State Department in Southeast Asia…
Hear us Roar261: Deborah King- Author of Glory Bishop
This week's guest is Deborah King (Glory Bishop, Red Adept Publishing, June 2019). A prompt in a writing class set the stage for what became Deborah's trilogy…
Hear us Roar260: Lynne Golodner - Author of Woman of Valor
Our guest this week is Lynne Golodner (Woman of Valor, Scotia Road Books, September 2023). Once Lynne decided to stop writing fiction "on the side" and make it…
Hear us Roar259: Delise Torres - Author of One Tough Cookie
This week's guest is Delise Torres (One Tough Cookie, Alcove Press, July 2023). Described as a Latina Fleabag, Delise's novel is both a women's fiction and a…
Hear us Roar258: Kristin Kisska - Author of The Hint of Light
Our guest this week is Kristin Kisska (The Hint of Light, Lake Union Publishing, August 2023). Listen to hear how two revisions at the tail end of the…
Hear us Roar257: Jude Hopkins - Author of Babe in the Woods
This week's guest is Jude Hopkins (Babe in the Woods, The Wild Rose Press, June 2023). We discuss how women often make poor life decisions when it comes to…
Hear us Roar256: Nigar Alam - Author of Under The Tamarind Tree
Our guest this week is Nigar Alam (Under The Tamarind Tree, G.P.Putnam & Sons, August 2023). We discuss the ten years she spent educating herself about writing…
Hear us Roar255: Joanna Monahan- Author of Something Better
This week's guest is Joanna Monahan (Something Better, Blue Ink Press, June 2023). Initially starting out to write a YA novel about a reunion, Joanna worked…
Hear us Roar254: Cindy Maynard- Author of Esperanza's Way
This week's guest is Cindy Maynard (Esperanza's Way, Historium Press, June 2023). The inspiration for Maynard's book came from her 500-mile trek of the Camino…
Hear us Roar253: Barbara Dullaghan: Author of Secrets in the Hollow: A Sleepy Hollow Novel
My guest this week is Barbara Dullaghan (Secrets in the Hollow: A Sleepy Hollow Novel, MindStir Media, March 2023). Hear how her home town of Tarrytown…
Hear us Roar252: Donna Norman-Carbone- Author of All That is Sacred
Our guest this week is Donna Norman-Carbone (All That is Sacred, Red Adept Publishing, June 2023). Hear how two separate events, one with a well-known medium…
Hear us Roar251: JJ Elliott- Author of There Are No Rules For This
This week's guest is JJ Elliott (There are No Rules For This, She Writes Press, May 2023). We discuss how a family tragedy formed the backdrop for this debut…
Hear us Roar250: Tracey Buchanan- Author of Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace
This week my guest is Tracey Buchanan (Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace, Regal House, June 2023). When Tracey was tapped to write a script for an…
Hear us Roar249: Rachel Corsini- Author of Sushi and Sea Lions
Our guest this week is Rachel Corsini (Sushi and Sea Lions, Creative James Media, May 2023). What started out as journal entries morphed into Rachel's debut…
Hear us Roar248: Dorette Snover- Author of Tales of the Mistress - A Novel - Historical High Adventures of a Bread Apprentice in Medieval France
This week's guest is Dorette Snover (Tales of the Mistress – Historical High Adventures of a Bread Apprentice in Medieval France, indie published March 2023)…
Hear us Roar247: Kelly Huston - Author of Tex Miller is Dead
Our guest this week is Kelly Huston (Tex Miller is Dead, self-published May 2023). Kelly and I discuss how winning several writing contests not only provided…
Hear us Roar246: Jane Rubin - Author of In The Hands of Women
This week's guest is Jane Rubin (In The Hands of Women, Level Best Books, May 2023). Jane's novel, an historical fiction set in 1908 NYC and centering around…
Hear us Roar245: Hope Gibbs- Author of Where The Grass Grows Blue
Our guest this week is Hope Gibbs (Where The Grass Grows Blue, Red Adept, May 2023). Hope looked around as her kids left for college and thought what now? The…
Hear us Roar244: Michelle Paris - Author of New Normal
This week's podcast guest is Michelle Paris (New Normal, Apprentice House Press, May 2023). We discuss writing as a catharsis for personal grief, creating a…
Hear us Roar243: Amanda Speights - Author of Love's Arrival
Our guest this week is Amanda Speights (Love's Arrival, indie published, March 2023). We discuss how her need for control meant she planned to self-publish…
Hear us Roar242: Laurie Beach- Author of The Firefly Jar
This week's guest is Laurie Beach (The Firefly Jar, Tule Publishing, April 2023). We discuss how she was inspired by a South Carolina wildlife preserve to…
Hear us Roar241: Gabi Coatsworth- Author of A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over
Our podcast guest this week is Gabi Coatsworth (A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over, Atmosphere Press, April 2023). The concept of a benevolent ghost helping a…
Hear us RoarJuly 2024 Special Episode: The Editors of the Feisty Deeds Anthology
This week's special episode is a roundtable discussion with four of the editors of the anthology Feisty Deeds published on Women's Fiction Day June 8, 2024…
Hear us Roar240: Cynthia Bogard- Author of The History of Silence
This week's interview is with Cynthia Bogard (A History of Silence, Atmosphere Press, March 2023). A former university professor, Cynthia's novel features six…
Hear us Roar239: Barbara Bellesi Zito - Author of Lucky Stiff
This week we talk to Barbara Bellesi Zito (Lucky Stiff, Literary Wanderlust, January 2023). In an interesting twist to our usual interview, Barbara's debut…
Hear us Roar238: Kyle Ann Robertson - Author of White Picket Fences
Our feature podcast guest this week is Kyle Ann Robertson (White Picket Fences, Fulton Books, March 2023). Kyle shares how a children's story she imagined as a…
Hear us Roar237: Patricia Bernstein- Author of A Noble Cunning
This week's guest is Patricia Bernstein (A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower, History Through Fiction, March 2023). The spark for Patricia's story…
Hear us RoarSpecial Episode: Women's Fiction Day, 2024
In honor of Women's Fiction Day 2024, please join me for a special episode of Hear Us Roar featuring a roundtable discussion between the finalists for the 2023…
Hear us Roar236: Susan Carew - Author of Take The Plunge
This week's guest is Susan Carew (Take the Plunge, indie published, March 2023). Susan, who now resides in Ireland and previously lived for eight years in…
Hear us Roar235: Heidi McIntyre - Author of Sea Magic
This week's guest is Heidi McIntyre (Sea Magic, indie published, February 2023). Heidi's family background with antique shops provided the impetus for her…
Hear us Roar234: Kimberly Young - Author of In the Event of Death
Our guest this week is Kimberly Young (In the Event of Death, Post Hill Press, February 2024). Tune in for a lively discussion about how Kimberly discovered…
Hear us Roar233: Lisa Williams Kline- Author of Between the Sky and the Sea
This week we talk to Lisa Williams Kline (Between the Sky and the Sea, DragonBlade Publishing, February 2023). Previously an author of books for younger…
Hear us Roar232: D. Liebhart- Author of House on Fire
My guest this week is D. Liebhart (House On Fire, indie published, March 2023). Debra, whose novel examines the turmoil in a family when a mother, struggling…
Hear us Roar231: D.K. Silver- Author of The Weight of Flowers
This week we're talking to D.K. Silver (The Weight of Flowers, indie published, February 2023). A costume designer for most of her career, Dana is a visual…
Hear us Roar230: Annie Cathryn- Author of The Friendship Breakup
Our guest on the podcast this week is Annie Cathryn (The Friendship Breakup, Alcove Press, February 2023). After three previous attempts at a novel, Annie hit…
Hear us Roar229: Audrey Burges- Author of The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone
This week's guest is Audrey Burges (The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone, Berkley, January 2023). Audrey came up with the title for her book first, wrote it in…
Hear us Roar228: Kimberly McMillan- Author of Never Enough Time
Our guest this week is Kimberly McMillan (Never Enough Time, Warren Publishing, January 2023). Kimberly's debut is squarely in the women's fiction genre…
Hear us Roar227: Caitlin Avery- Author of Life of Cyn
This week's guest is Caitlin Avery (Life of Cyn, indie published, Dec. 2022). Tune in for one of our podcast's most raw and honest interviews as Caitlin and I…
Hear us Roar226: Barbara Boehm Miller- Author of When You See Her
Our guest this week is Barbara Boehm Miller (When You See Her, Red Adept Publishing, January 2023). We discuss learning to cut out extraneous back story, why…
Hear us Roar225: Allyson Rice - Author of The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
This week's guest is Allyson Rice (The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, indie published, January 2023). Allyson, a multi-hyphenated actor, producer, artist, jewelry…
Hear us Roar224: Roxana Trabulsi- Author, Of Mud and Honey
My guest this week is Roxana Motiwalla Trabulsi (Of Mud and Honey, Ten16 Press. January 2023). Her debut is based on her parent's struggles in the late 1960's…