The podcast that takes us beyond the pages of a book and into the mind of the author.
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It’s the close of another season of What Were You Thinking. This year, I’m ending with my interview with Karen Sokoloff, who runs TINYABC – This Is Not Your Average Book Club. She had me join the book club for an hour of chat, laughter and Q&A.
You can listen to Karen’s episode on this podcast here.
To learn more and order the book, visit https://www.jamielouisemadigan.com/
Andrew Snook is never not busy, but this is by choice, not circumstance. As a freelance writer and editor, owner of Snookbooks Publishing, and publisher of the newly launched Canadian Independent Publishers magazine and website, he has made writing and all its modalities a fullt-time gig.
Visit Brian’s website.
As I started reading Joelle’s memoir, I realized I knew very little about yoga, other than the few failed attempts I made in classes. Joelle’s experience is anything but typical. In her memoir, The Secret Practice: Eighteen Years on the Dark Side of Yoga, Joelle shares her story about how her search for inner expansion led her down a dark path.
Learn more about Joelle and. order the book on her website.
Selling a collection of short stories is hard, but for a debut author to be able to it is astonishing. Kate Doyle managed to to exactly that with her debut, I Meant it Once.
I’m a bit of a science geek, so I was keenly interested in Pauline’s debut book about DNA. It’s a fun picture about the core of who we are, scientifically speaking.
Visit Heather’s website.
olleen Nelson is the author of 18 books, primarily young adult and middle grade (with one non-fiction in the bunch). Her books have earned many accolades and awards, the latest being The Forest of Reading’s Silver Birch Award (2023, for The Undercover Book List). In this episode we chat about writing for middle grade, her process, and getting the right ending.
Watch the Forest of Reading announcement here: https://twitter.com/i/status/1659213838636531712
Carissa Hyde gave traditional publishing her best shot, but when she realized she was heading into depression, she hired a therapist and changed her strategy. Listen in as Carissa shares her journey to publication, full of up and downs and ending with a very positive experience.
Visit Carissa’s website.
I fell in love with this book when I first read read a rough draft. Melissa and I are in a critique group together, and I was fortunate to put my eyes on this wonderful fantasy/spec fic story. In this episode, Melissa and I talk about her rocky road with an agent, getting Sue B to publication and how Melissa lets her characters run wild. Learn more about Melissa on her website. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
A short episode to update you with some news from past guests as well as some news from your host, Dana Goldstein.
No one thinks they’ll ever go to prison, and that was certainly the case for Phyllis Taylor, author of The Prison Lady. When she was fired from her job at a law firm, Phyllis was stunned. Her 30-year career had come to a complete stop. But a friend forced her to come to an Oprah event, an action that would lead Phyllis to a new career behind bars: helping prisoners develop important life skills.
S.M. Freedman’s author journey has been anything but typical. She self-published her first book, then was approached by a publisher who wanted to publish that book. She went back to the drawing board for rewrites and revisions. After she wrote the sequel, she self-published again. Her next novels were traditionally published, but S.M. learned so many lessons – about writing, publishing, and persevering.
Ali Bryan’s words are everywhere: in her 5 novels, in anthologies, magazines, newspapers…pretty much anywhere the printed words can appear. She chased the dream of being a full-time writer and crossed the finish line. But just because you win one marathon, doesn’t mean you’ll win them all. Ali shares her writer journey candidly and with transparency in this episode.
Visit Ali’s website.
Read the Day in the Life in the Calgary Guardian.
TINYabc stands for This Is Not Your average book club, and it most certainly isn’t. Karen Sokoloff decided to create a paid-membership book club, a risk she wasn’t entirely comfortable with, but took anyways. The result is a vibrant club that meets 4 TIMES PER MONTH, to meet authors, discuss books, and build camaraderie around the printed word.
Nora Nickum, author of Superpod, wasn’t always interested in writing non-fiction for kids. Her day job requires a lot of non-fiction writing – she is the senior ocean policy manager at the Seattle Aquarium. But don’t let that dry title fool you. Superpod is a fasctianting narrative that will make you want to jump in, get your feet wet, and help the whales in our oceans.
Listen to the orcas: www.Orcasound.net
Investigate The Whale Trail: thewhaletrail.org
Learn more about Nora: https://www.noranickum.com/
Visit my substack: danagoldstein.substack.com
In November of 2021, Travis Baldree set out to try NANOWRIMO again. He was not new to National Novel Writing Month, but in 2021, he was focussed on finishing this time. He did, and he self-published his first novel, Legends and Lattes in February of 2022. By November, that little project was on the New York Times bestseller list. From self-published, to agented, then traditionally published, Travis’ journey is really the stuff of fantasy.
Visit Travis’ website.
Chelsea Wakelyn’s debut novel, What Remains of Elsie Jane is not your typical story about loss. When Elsie Jane’s husband Sam dies unexpectedly, Elsie does not pretend to be okay. She doesn’t acquiesce to the needs of others. She completely falls apart, turning to Craigslist to find a way back to the life she once knew.
There is no way I could possibly land on one book to discuss with Eric Walters, since he’s penned more than 130 of them. In this episode, we talk about building a career as an author, some of the keys to success and the process required to keep going.
Learn more about Creation of Hope.
Jennifer Savran Kelly’s debut novel, Endpapers, explores the journey of a genderqueer book binder who is trying to navigate through her relationships while following the trail of a secret love note she finds tucked into the endpapers of a book. While classified as literary fiction, this book engaged me so thoroughly, I didn’t even realize it was literary. A must read for 2023.
Watch Jennifer in her acting roles:
Check out the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts retreat space: https://www.saltonstall.org/retreat/retreat-space/
Follow Jennifer:
Are you ready to have your mind blown? Genalea Barker has three novels in the queue for publishing over the next two years. She managed to find publishers WITHOUT AN AGENT, WHILE RAISING FOUR KIDS!
A unicorn? For sure.
An extremely talented writer? Unarguably.
Follow Genalea on Twitter.
Subscribe to my newsletter on Substack.
Last year, I was interviewed by Joelle Tamraz for her YouTube channel, Elevating Voices in Memoir and Fiction. It was a candid conversation about my own journey as a hybrid author (both independently published and traditionally published). Listen in as I share my experiences, the planning (or lack thereof), the ups and downs and why I chose the self-publishing route for my memoirs.
Visit my Substack page.