Podcast
Welcome to the Thriving Authors Podcast, where we delve into all aspects of what it takes to get your dream book out of your heart, onto the page and into the world, connecting with a wide audience of readers.
I don’t just want you to be a published author – I want you to be a THRIVING author, confidently sharing your ideas, making an impact with your words, and owning your unique voice that deserves to be heard! I’m here to guide you through the writing journey, from first draft to revision process, from mindset issues to craft questions, from finding inspiration to building a sustainable writing career!
On this podcast, you will find behind-the-scenes lessons from my own book-writing and publishing journey, interviews with successful published authors, and tips and advice you can start using today to move you forward in your writing life.
Episode 25: Interview with Hope Bolinger
Hope Bolinger is the author of the modern-day Daniel retelling trilogy, Blaze, Den, and Vision (releasing in August 2021). The YA superhero romance she co-wrote with Alyssa Roat, Dear Hero, just released from INtense Publications in September 2020. The sequel Dear Henchman is set to release in April 2021. Hope is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a graduate of Taylor University's professional writing program. More than 900 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer's Digest to Keys for Kids to HOOKED to Crosswalk.com. She writes about 250-300 articles a year. She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams. Her column "Hope's Hacks," tips and tricks to avoid writer's block, reaches 6,000+ readers weekly in the Serious Writer newsletter.
Episode 24: Interview with Samantha Vitale
Samantha Vitale has an insatiable hunger for two things: big challenges and amazing stories. When not working at her highly technical day job, she can be found devouring books or writing new ones of her own. She lives in Virginia with her husband and their two small humans. She is the author of the debut YA novel THE LADY ALCHEMIST.
Episode 23: Interview with E.K. Baer
E.K. has been writing poetry ever since she was very young. She published her first book, A Collection of Poems, when she was 10 years old. Her second collection, Down the Road, was released only a few years later in 2018. E.K. has published work in Stone Soup Magazine and is a staff writer for Youth MENSAN Magazine. Her poetry has placed in several competitions, including but not limited to the Carl Sandburg, Ventura County Writer’s Club, Lincoln Poetry, and No Place for Hate Imagine a World Without Hate writing contests. Besides writing, E.K. loves science, math, and history! She also plays the violin, piano, and sings. Traveling the world is one of her favorite things to do. E.K. enjoys spending as much time as possible with her dog Coco.
Episode 22: Interview with Jennifer Lynn Alvarez
Jennifer Lynn Alvarez is the author of two middle grade book series, each published by HarperCollins Children's Books, THE GUARDIAN HERD (a quartet) and RIDERS OF THE REALM (a trilogy). Before this, she self-published a middle grade fantasy called THE PET WASHER. She received a B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to literature, she studied philosophy and sociology, and is fascinated by underdogs and power dynamics between groups of people. She is the current Literary Laureate for The Healdsburg Literary Guild. When she is not writing, you can find Jennifer galloping her little black mare through the foothills of Sonoma County or teaching free creative writing workshops to kids and adults at various branches of the local library system. She lives in Northern California with her husband, three children, and many pets!
Episode 21: Interview with Karen Strong
Karen Strong is the author of the critically acclaimed middle grade novel Just South of Home, which was selected for several Best of Year lists including Kirkus Reviews Best Books, CCBC Choices, and Bank Street Best Books. Her short fiction appears in From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back and A Phoenix First Must Burn. Born and raised in the rural South, she is a graduate of the University of Georgia and an advocate of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). An avid lover of strong coffee, yellow flowers, and night skies, Karen lives in Atlanta.
Episode 20: Interview with Lisa Moore Ramée
Lisa Moore Ramée was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in the Northern California, with her husband, two kids, two obnoxious cats and more yard than she can control. She earned a BA in Speech Communications from San Francisco State and a MA in English Literature (focusing on Creative Writing) from Cal State East Bay. She worked for several years in publishing for the Walt Disney Company, first in comics, and then with licensed publishing. While there, she co-penned The Little Mermaid, Jr. Graphic Novel and the writing bug took up permanent residence. She is a devotee of Top Chef and Project Runway and often tries to work the shows in her plots. A Good Kind of Trouble, her first novel, received critical acclaim, garnering three starred reviews (PW, Kirkus and SLJ). Something to Say has received two starred reviews (Kirkus and SLJ).
Episode 19: Interview with Caitlin Horrocks
Caitlin Horrocks is author of the novel The Vexations, named one of the Ten Best Books of 2019 by the Wall Street Journal. Her story collection This Is Not Your City was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Another story collection, Life Among the Terranauts, is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2021. Her stories and essays appear in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The Paris Review, Tin House, and One Story, as well as other journals and anthologies. Her awards include the Plimpton Prize and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the MacDowell Colony. She is on the advisory board of the Kenyon Review, where she recently served as fiction editor. She teaches at Grand Valley State University and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her family.
Episode 18: Interview with C. Hope Clark
C. Hope Clark is the Editor of FundsforWriters, named one of the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 10 years. She is also a prolific author of The Carolina Slade Mysteries and The Edisto Island Mysteries. As a freelance writer, she’s published in The Writer Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Guide to Literary Agents, Writer’s Market, Chicken Soup, and many other trade and online publications.
Episode 17: Virtual Book Launch for THE BEST WEEK THAT NEVER HAPPENED
I'm excited to share this very special episode! My debut YA novel, The Best Week That Never Happened, was published on April 21st by Month9Books and Blackstone Audio. It is such a thrill to have it out in the world and to hear from readers who are connecting with the storyline and the characters! I held a Virtual Book Launch on April 26 and was joined by my friends Tobie Easton and Jennieke Cohen, who you might remember from episodes 2 and 3 of this podcast. I’m delighted to share our conversation with you now, as well as some behind-the-scenes tidbits about my brand new book!
Episode 16: Interview with Morris Ardoin
Morris Ardoin earned a bachelor’s in journalism from Louisiana State University and a master’s in communication from the University of Louisiana. A public relations practitioner, his work has appeared in regional, national, and international media. His blog, Parenthetically Speaking, can be found at www.morrisardoin.com. His memoir STONE MOTEL: MEMOIRS OF A CAJUN BOY is now available. He divides his time between New York City and Cornwallville, New York, where he does most of his writing.
Episode 15: Interview with Natalie Lund
Natalie Lund is the author of the young adult novels, We Speak in Storms and The Sky Above Us (forthcoming Nov. ’20). She is a former middle and high school teacher and a graduate of Purdue University’s MFA program. Natalie is a member of SCBWI and is represented by Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency. She lives in Chicago with her spouse and a very talkative cat. You can follow her on Instagram or Twitter at @nmlund.
Episode 14: Interview with Laura Sibson
After a career in undergraduate counseling, Laura Sibson pursued an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not writing in a local coffee shop, you can find her running the neighborhood streets or hiking with her dog. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their two sons. Her debut YA novel, THE ART OF BREAKING THINGS, has received wide acclaim and was one of my favorite books of last year.
Episode 13: Interview with Farrah Penn
Farrah Penn was born and raised in a suburb in Texas that’s far from the big city, but close enough to Whataburger. She now resides in Los Angeles, CA with her gremlin dog and succulents. When she’s not writing books, she can be found writing things for BuzzFeed and sending texts that contain too many emojis. 12 STEPS TO NORMAL is her first novel.
Episode 12: Interview with Mark Gottlieb
Mark Gottlieb is a highly ranked literary agent both in overall deals and other individual categories. Using that same initiative and insight for identifying talented writers, he is actively building his own client list of authors. Mark Gottlieb is excited to work directly with authors, helping to manage and grow their careers with all of the unique resources that are available at book publishing’s leading literary agency, Trident Media Group. During his time at Trident Media Group, Mark Gottlieb has represented numerous New York Times bestselling authors, as well as award-winning authors, and has optioned and sold books to film and TV production companies. He previously ran the agency’s audiobook department, in addition to working in foreign rights. Mark Gottlieb is actively seeking submissions in all categories and genres and looking forward to bringing new and established authors to the curious minds of their future readers.
Episode 11: Interview with Tara Lynn Masih
Tara Lynn Masih has won multiple book awards in her role as editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays. She is also author of Where the Dog Star Never Glows: Stories and Founding Series Editor for The Best Small Fictions annual anthology. Her award-winning fiction, poetry, and prose has been heavily anthologized. Her debut novel, My Real Name Is Hanna, won a Florida Book Award, a Foreword Book of the Year Award, a Skipping Stones Honor Award, and the Julia Ward Howe Award for Young Readers, and was recognized as a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards.
Episode 10: All About Book Covers!
In this special episode to celebrate the cover reveal for my novel The Best Week That Never Happened (check it out + read an exclusive excerpt at The Nerd Daily!) we are diving into a behind-the-scenes look at book covers. In addition to chatting about my book cover process, I also talked with Danielle Doolittle, Art & Design Projects Coordinator at Month9Books, and author N. R. Bergeson.
Episode 9: Interview with Kelly Jensen
Kelly Jensen is a former teen librarian who worked in several public libraries before pursuing a full-time career in writing and editing. Her current position is with Book Riot (bookriot.com), where she focuses on talking about young adult literature. Her books include Here We Are: Feminism for The Real World and (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, a collection of art, essays, and words to launch a powerful and important conversation about mental health. It was named a best book of 2018 by the Washington Post and earned a Schneider Family Book Award Honor. Her next book is Body Talk, scheduled for Fall 2020.
Episode 8: Interview with Nathan Leslie
Nathan Leslie won the 2019 Washington Writers' Publishing House prize for fiction for his collection of short stories, Hurry Up and Relax. Nathan’s nine previous books of fiction include Three Men, Root and Shoot, Sibs, and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice. He is also the author of a collection of poems, Night Sweat. Nathan is currently the series editor for Best Small Fictions, the founder and organizer of the Reston Reading Series in Reston, Virginia, and the publisher and editor of the new online journal Maryland Literary Review. Previously he was series editor for Best of the Web and fiction editor for Pedestal Magazine. His fiction has been published in hundreds of literary magazines such as Shenandoah, North American Review, Boulevard, Hotel Amerika, and Cimarron Review. Nathan’s nonfiction has been published in The Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and Orlando Sentinel. Nathan lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Julie. He teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.
Episode 7: Interview with Julie Hoag
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.
Episode 6: Interview with Parker Peevyhouse
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.