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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 about the foster system, how she changed from first to third POV and the difference in made in the novel's narrative voice, and how winning the Rising Star contest help her find an agent. Then we delve into the collaborative process after signing her publishing contract, including deleting a chapter, softening a secondary character and finding the perfect cover. Hadley Leggett writes twisty family dramas that explore truth in shades of gray. Her first novel, All They Ask Is Everything, won the 2025 Nancy Pearl Book Award and the Rising Star Award from the Women's Fiction Writers Association. Her writing has appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, Literary Mama, Wired.com, and Greater Good Magazine, among others. Before becoming an author, she earned her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco and worked as a medical writer. She currently lives in Seattle with her family, including her three children, three cats, and a very sassy rescue pup. To learn more about Hadley, go to https://hadley.ink or at Substack at https://writingchat.substack.com.      

This week's guest is Melissa Collings (The False Flat, Montlake/Amazon publishing, June 2024). Melissa talks about learning to filter conflicting feedback from an early writing group that stifled her flow, how she edited her debut as though it was someone else's, and how she's a fickle fan of social media. Don't miss the end where Melissa describes finding your "why" as a writer, and how writing a newsletter is her single biggest recommendation for authors building a lasting career. And if you've ever wondered about the pluses and (a few) minuses of publishing through Amazon, this is an interview you won't want to miss. Melissa R. Collings is an award-winning author and former spine surgery physician associate. She writes diverse romance, women's fiction and psychological thrillers that balance laughter, heartbreak, and emotional depth. When she's not writing or plotting, you can find her chasing her two kids in Nashville, studying preventative health, or losing herself in a painting. Her imagination never fails to get her into trouble, and she lives by the philosophy: nothing is impossible, and everything is better with glitter—except surgical wounds. To learn more about Melissa, click here.

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 it wasn't a "practical career", how imposter syndrome interfered with her writing process and how she dealt with it, and how the best writing advice she received was to write the ending early on so you know where you're going. And don't miss the tale of the cross-country book tour she and a fellow novelist organized that took them to 27 bookstores from Montana to Maine.   Kim McCollum graduated from Barnard College with a major in Japanese and was soon navigating the hustle and bustle of Wall Street. When her first child was born a few years later, she stayed home to raise her children. Once they headed off to school, Kim finally found time to pursue her passion for writing. Her awardwinning debut novel, What Happens in Montana, was published in January 2024, and her short stories have appeared in several publications. She lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her supportive husband, Brian, and their blended menagerie of five kids and three spoiled pets.      To learn more about Kim, click here.

This week's guest is Wendy Haller (The Flannigan Girls, Stillwater River Publications, June 2024). Because Wendy's debut centers around sisterhood, we discuss sibling bonds, birth order research, and the experts she turned to both professionally and in her personal life when writing An author who writes out of order and skips around in various genres (she's written both a children's book series, a poetry chapbook, and now women's fiction), Wendy shares the positives and negatives to not "picking a lane" but writing whatever excites you at your particular stage in life.   Wendy Haller has always believed in the power of stories—the ones we tell, the ones we live, and the ones that change us along the way. After nearly two decades as a special education preschool teacher, she traded lesson plans for plotlines and now writes the kinds of stories that tug at the heart. Her children's books are playful and full of purpose, crafted for parents and kids to share teachable moments with laughter and love. Her novels, meanwhile, offer a tender escape—emotionally rich, coming-of-age tales that feel raw, real, and deeply human. When not writing, Wendy can be found wandering nature trails, unrolling her yoga mat, or curled up with a cup of tea, a book, and two very spoiled cats.   To learn more about Wendy, click here.  

My guest this week is Catherine Matthews (Releasing the Reins, indie published, June 2024). Catherine describes writing a first draft of your debut as "building the airplane while flying it" but got lots of help and support from various writing groups she joined and classes she took. Her mash-up novel blends western, women's fiction, and mystery genres as well as a complicated structure with dual timelines and multi-POV's. After nine requests for fulls from agents, but no offer, she decided to do the indie route, saying she's "the best champion for this book" and augmented her marketing efforts through contests, book tours, and an author collaborative network in the PW region. Catherine Matthews is an award-winning author who starts her day at 4 a.m. with a cup of coffee and an online writing session with her favorite authors from around the world. A proud Pacific Northwest native, she brings her roots to the page by telling the stories about strong women who face the storm and live their dreams—and the faithful hounds who love them. Her books, Releasing the Reins and Roadside Sisters, are filled with laughter, tears, and the reminder that we are all more powerful than our fears. When she's not writing, she can be found baking bread, road-tripping with her husband, and enjoying an evening by the fire pit with friends and her two beloved dogs, Wally and Delta. To learn more about Catherine, go to her website here.  

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 emerged with the first draft of her debut, a humorous women's fiction centered on a young woman finding her true path following the example of an unconventional aunt. After querying over a hundred agents, Jaclyn received offers from several, and later had her book go to auction and sell in a two-book deal. We discuss how she made decisions on which agent and which editor to pick, hiring an outside publicist to market outside the book world based on her novel's themes, and how her unconventional choice of housing led to a CNBC segment that featured her book.   Jaclyn Westlake writes about funny, flawed women doing their best to find their way in the world. A recruiter turned career advice columnist, her work has appeared in Forbes, Business Insider, and Inc. Westlake is the author of two novels: LUCKY BREAK and DEAR DOTTY, both published by Avon Books/HarperCollins. DEAR DOTTY was a finalist for the debut STAR Award from the Women's Fiction Writers Association, where Jaclyn is an active member. An alumna of Stanford Continuing Studies Novel Writing program, her stories blend humor and heart, exploring the wonderfully messy realities of modern life. She's currently at work on her third novel and lives in California with her husband and their dog. To learn more about Jaclyn, click here.  

 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 self-confidence to believe she was qualified to tackle a beloved Shakespeare story and update it for our current time. She was helped in that effort by a supportive critique group and a brand-new publisher who took a chance on her after a fluke meeting in a bathroom at a conference. And if you've ever wondered what to write in a newsletter when you haven't completed your novel yet, she's got some great tips. Amy writes witty, engaging contemporary fiction featuring heroines who wrestle with their emotional baggage while maintaining a sense of humor. As a literature major, theater nerd, and believer in the cathartic power of humor, Amy has always gravitated toward Shakespeare's comedies. In the Shakespeare Project, she transposes those stories into contemporary settings that highlight the heroines' emotional arcs. She's an active member of the Author's Guild, Women's Fiction Writers Association, and the Pacific Northwest Author's Association, where her books have twice been recognized as contest finalists. She holds a certificate in Popular Fiction from the University of Washington, as well as a BA in English from Whitman College and a Master's in Library and Information Science, also from the University of Washington. She spends her days shepherding government documents but has also worked as an academic librarian and freelance pop culture writer. Amy's hobbies include barely running (she's completed ten half marathons, slowly), cooking and baking, hiking, tending her neighborhood Little Free Library, relaxed traveling, and attending live theater. When she's not writing, Amy can often be found cozied up reading, eating fancy cheese, shopping for fancy cheese, or cooking with fancy cheese. She lives in the Seattle suburbs with her husband, two senior rescue cats, and next door to her sister. Her love language is jokes. To learn more about Amy, click here.  

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 point to her debut, featuring five people with disparate challenges and a counselor with problems of her own. We discuss the misconceptions people have about therapy, how she used contest entries to get valuable early feedback, and how a chance pitch opening at a conference led to a contract. Darlene also shares her four pieces of advice to novice writers, including working to improve and refine your craft.   Darlene Corbett has been serving others as a licensed psychotherapist for over thirty years. Her wealth of experience in human behavior prompted Darlene to write her ideas on paper, which set the stage for her book, Stop Depriving The World of You, published by Sound Wisdom in 2018. Darlene wrote her first novel, Visible, a women's fiction about second chances, published by WordCrafts Press in the spring of 2024, and in August, she became the winner in the 2024 Storytrade Book Awards "Christian Fiction - Contemporary" category.   Besides being an avid reader, Darlene loves animals, especially dogs, which you'll see in her novel. Also, she treasures learning another language, yoga, fitness, traveling, and connecting with her inner circle. She belongs to many organizations, including the ACFW, FHL-CW, and WFWA. She lives in Central Massachusetts with her beloved Shih Tzu, Stevie.   To learn more about Darlene, click here.    

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 discussion about their manuscripts, their greatest challenges as new writers, how the organization has helped them in their writing journey, and where they'd like to be five years from now. They also share a glimpse into their books and what inspired their stories. Featured are Kristin Adams (Finding Moonstone), Alice Lyon (The Last Seven Days of Harper Balan), Lori Singaraju (All Other Ground), April Wright (The Other Hula Dancer) and Jeanette Zaichkin (Late Bloomer).  

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 novel was inspired by her own family history as well as the culture and folklore of Prince Edward Island. A three-person POV covering distinctly different time periods, the story was restructured several times before publishing in its current form. We discuss her process for revision, based not only on peer and  editorial feedback but Nancy's own organic take on the narrative.  We delve into how her military training helped her in this new career, how writing a "niche" book can actually be a plus when marketing, and how she found the perfect publishing partner.   Nancy Taber is a university professor and fiction author who writes in the genres of non-fiction, historical fiction, mystery, and speculative fiction. As a former military officer who served as a Sea King helicopter Tactical Coordinator, part of her job once included leaping out of a helicopter into the ocean. Now, most of her job includes sitting at a computer, drinking massive amounts of coffee, and dropping her characters into wild and sometimes weird circumstances. Nancy has published research on the intersection of gender, war, and militarism in academic books and journals. Her short stories have appeared in journals such as The South Shore Review and Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture and Social Justice, among others. Nancy is a facilitator with Writers Collective of Canada, was named a Top Woman in Defence 2022 by Esprit de Corps magazine, and is a member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.   To learn more about Nancy, click here.

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 for a reader. what it's like writing a character at a life stage you haven't yet experienced, and how a background in helping professions like nursing, social work, and psychology contributes to understanding complex family dynamics in a novel. Then stay tuned for how Shayla located, then partnered with a novice publisher and how a chance remark by her husband led to her most effective marketing tool.   Shayla Dugan is a writer making her fiction novel debut. She loves to write both fiction and creative non-fiction full of humor and heart. As a former social worker, her career centered mostly around the areas of grief, loss, and end of life care. Her experiences with clients helped her to understand and appreciate a variety of personalities, family dynamics, and the importance of storytelling. She resides in Arizona with her husband in their nearly empty nest where she spends her time replacing the roles of her adult children with dogs and relishing any visits with her young grandchildren whom she lovingly refers to as "the hurricane." To learn more about Shayla, click here.    

Our guest this week is Linda Sachse (Inheriting the Shackelford Ranch, indie published, February 2024). Linda, who switched from romance to women's literature with this book, discusses the difference between the two and how she went about learning the tropes of this new genre. We explore the getaway writing retreats she creates with her best writing buddy, why she decided to self-publish, and her best ideas for expanding your word count without filling your novel up with fluff. Linda Sachse is an author of Women's Fiction with a hint of romance. She loves to write a book that you can relax by the fire with or out by the pool, transporting you to a place or two you'd like to visit. She resides in Texas, where her stories begin with her husband, granddaughter, her Great Dane Lilly, and her two cats, Sophia and Pickles. To learn more about Linda, click here.

 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 fictionalized narrative, deciding what to leave out and what to highlight, and how getting media attention can often come through developing tangential talks related to your novel's time period or themes. (in her case, the Florida Mafia and swimsuit models). Then L.L. describes the joys and drawbacks of being a pantser and the three pieces of advice she'd offer to newer writers. L.L. Kirchner is an award-winning screenwriter, author of two memoirs, and the historical thriller series, The Queenpin Chronicles. She is currently at work on her next book, a mystery set in Pittsburgh. If you've read her work it won't surprise you to learn she was once simultaneously the bridal editor for a society rag, dating columnist for an alt-newsweekly, and religion editor for an LGBTQ+ paper. She currently lives in Florida with her favorite husband and their best boy Hartley. You can get the prequel to The Queenpin Chronicles FREE at her website.  To learn more, click here.

This week our guest is Lisa Fellinger (The Serendipity of Catastrophe, indie published, March 2024). Lisa's educational background in mental health counseling has proved handy as she moved in her current work as a book coach, developmental editor, and debut novelist, since digging deeper into what makes a character tick is one of the biggest problems she sees in her client's manuscripts. We discuss how her novel began as a 2015 NaNoWriMo project, how an editor has to learn to take off her "critique" hat when drafting their first draft, and how she credits the WFWA community with making her a stronger writer. Lisa Fellinger writes contemporary women's fiction with lovably flawed, relatable characters. When she's not writing her own stories, she's helping others achieve their writing dreams as a book coach and developmental editor. She lives in Buffalo, New York with her husband, son, and fur babies. To learn more about Lisa, click here.

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, launched her second career as a writer, how she teamed up with her small publisher to publicize it, and how one of her most successful strategies was entering writing contests, bringing not only recognition but also outside validation. We cover how to get book reviews, how social media ads, giveaways, and in-person events are among her favorite marketing approaches, and end the interview with the quirky habit she can't seem to break. Lucille's first novel, Like Wine, was a tribute to her mother, and getting it into print before she passed was her goal. She considers Elizabeth's Mountain, winner of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award and Readers' Favorite Award, to be her true debut novel. Elizabeth's Mountain was also a finalist in the 2024 American Writing Award contest for the elite Hawthorne Prize. ​ Lucille loves stories that lift her up and gratify her. An avid reader of most genres, the only thing Lucille likes more than delving and escaping into a good book is visiting noteworthy locations. Her most recent escapade road trips took her to Asheville, NC, Charleston, SC, and the Grand Canyon. And an international trip of a lifetime – Venice, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast. She's lived most of her life in northern New Jersey and now lives in South Carolina with her husband, and close to her two daughters and grandchildren.    To learn more about Lucille, click here.

 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 became reality—in the pages of Carolyn's debut novel. We discuss the argument in favor of getting an MFA in Creative Writing, how publishing on her own does not necessarily mean not ever pursuing a traditional deal, how personal appearances have proved to be her best sales tool, and how her ritual of reading a chapter from a craft book before starting her writing time helps to keep her immersed in the world of story. Carolyn McBride's debut novel in women's fiction, The Cicada Spring, is the first in her coming-of-middle-age series set on the shores of the Potomac River. It was recently awarded a 2025 Silver Award for Best Audiobook - Fiction from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Book Awards. All of her novels feature women at the helm of their own boats and ultimately their own lives, reviving dreams, rewriting their stories, and discovering the strength that lies within. A former editor and columnist for National Geographic Traveler, she is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and holds an MFA in fiction writing from Lindenwood University. Along with her husband and pets, she divides her time between homes on Virginia's Occoquan River and South Florida's Intracoastal Waterway. To learn more about Carolyn, click here.

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 disparate pieces of her story and organizing/structuring them into a coherent whole and shares the various techniques she's tried (including an atelier in France!). Later we delve into how cultivating dream agents can pay off and the one thing that's most surprised her about the audience for her debut. Resources mentioned in this interview: Amherst Writers & Artists Winner of the 2024 Canadian Book Club Award for her debut novel and the 2016 Writer's Union of Canada's Prose Contest, Susan Wadds' work has appeared in various publications, including carteblance, The Blood Pudding, Room, and Waterwheel Review. A graduate of the Humber School for Writers and a proud member of The Writers Union of Canada and The Canadian Authors Association, Susan is a certified Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) workshop facilitator. She grew up in Toronto, Montreal, and London Ontario, and has lived in British Columbia, Oregon, India, France, and Italy. She's sort of settled down and currently lives on a quiet river in traditional Anishinaabe territory with an odd assortment of human and cats. To learn more about Susan, click here.  

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 fiction debut is a collection of twelve short stories instead and we spend time talking about how one goes about first picking the selections (including looking at themes and cohesion), then ordering them for flow and pace, and finally the challenge of getting a collection published in today's market. If you've ever wondered about writing short fiction, this episode will give you a glimpse behind the scenes of an alternative marketplace for your creative ideas. Jann Everard is a Canadian author who began writing later in life and published her first work at age 45 in Canada's national newspaper The Globe and Mail. She went on to become an award-winning writer whose stories have been published in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland. Born in Halifax, Canada, Jann settled in Toronto, where she worked in health administration and raised two sons. A life-long traveler and outdoorswoman, she now makes her home on British Columbia's Vancouver Island, hiking, kayaking, writing, and being inspired by nature. Blue Runaways is a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist and received an Honourary Mention from the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Awards for British Columbia Authors. To learn more about Jann, click here.  

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 instead have one fascinating book you're dying to write? Where most of the writers on the pod hope to write more books, Melissa, a fine art photographer and statistician, took 10 years to research and write her historical novel set in Britain during WWII, and isn't all that sure she wants to do it again. And that's okay in our book. Meanwhile, she loves the feeling of holding a book with her byline in her hands and is excited about bringing this untold story of women analysts and the contribution they made to the Allied victory to the world. Melissa Clark Bacon was raised and stayed in Little Rock, Arkansas. She writes stories and makes photographs using historic and alternative printing processes. Her short story, The Handkerchief, where her character Millie first appears, won Best in Show Adult Fiction Short Story at the Grand Prairie Festival of the Arts. Her current creative work focuses on revealing unnoticed women from the past through captivating stories and photographs that aspire to elevate their contributions and offer them up as role models to women today.  To learn more about Melissa, click here.

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 included plays so the first thing she writes is all the dialogue, then goes back and adds in scene, description, action, and all the rest of the connecting tissue. Her debut is a tale of an unusual love triangle with more than a hint of magic realism and she picked a small press primarily based on its offering of a developmental edit. We discuss her best tips for finding small presses (including WFWA resources) and why seeking agent representation may not be the answer for everyone. Gail Priest has a passion for women's fiction. Her degrees and work in theatre and counseling psychology inspire her stories about healing from family trauma and secrets. A dash of romance and her love of second chances are always in the mix. Her most recent novel, Soul Dancing, was selected as 2024 Book of the Year by the American Writing Awards. Her other award-winning books include The Annie Crow Knoll Trilogy, A Collingwood Christmas, and East Shore Shorts. Gail lives in New Jersey with her husband and their Havanese dog, Annie. When she's not writing or teaching, Gail can be found reading or looking for birds and sea glass along the beaches and bays of the East Coast. To learn more about Gail, click here.  A resource mentioned during this interview: Suzy Approved Book Tours