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 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.
Episode 5: Interview with Stephanie Kuehn
Stephanie Kuehn is a psychologist and an author. She has written five novels for teens, including Charm & Strange, which won the ALA’s 2014 William C. Morris Award for best debut young adult novel. Her second novel, Complicit, was named to YALSA’s 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults list, and her third, Delicate Monsters, won the 2016 Northern California Book Award. In 2015, Stephanie was awarded the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship for The Smaller Evil and in 2017, her fifth novel, When I Am Through With You, received a starred review from Kirkus and was also named an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Booklist has praised her work as “Intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist.”
Episode 4: Interview with Jim & Stephanie Kroepfl
Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl are a husband-and-wife team who write novels and stories of mystery and adventure from their rustic cabin in the Rocky Mountains. They regularly speak at writers conferences, universities and high schools to help others achieve their writing dreams. Their debut YA novel, MERGED, received a starred review from Kirkus as well as other rave reviews. The science-fiction story centers around seven of our country’s most gifted teens who will become Nobels, hosts for the implantation of brilliant Mentor minds, in an effort to accelerate human progress. But as the line between what’s possible and what’s right draws ever blurrier, the teens discover everything has a cost.
Episode 3: Interview with Jennieke Cohen
Jennieke Cohen writes historical fiction for young adults inspired by real people and events because life is often stranger than fiction. Her debut YA novel, DANGEROUS ALLIANCE, is The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Jane Austen in a witty, winking historical romance with a dash of mystery! DANGEROUS ALLIANCE has garnered rave reviews from Publisher's Weekly, The Nerd Daily, Book Riot, Barnes and Noble, and is a featured pick on Book of the Month Club. Jennieke studied English history at Cambridge University and has a master’s degree in professional writing from the University of Southern California. She loves exploring new locales but always returns home to Northern California where the summers are hot, the winters are mild, and life is casual.
Episode 2: Interview with Tobie Easton
Award-winning author Tobie Easton was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she's grown from a little girl who dreamed about magic to a twenty-something who writes about it. Her debut novel, Emerge, is a Gold Medal Winner (Young Adult – Sci-Fi/Fantasy) of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and is Book 1 in the acclaimed Mer Chronicles series. The trilogy follows the descendants of the Little Mermaid and offers fans a peek into a world where Mermaids aren't just real, but live secretly among us on land. Tobie and her very kissable husband enjoy traveling the globe and fostering packs of rescue puppies.
Episode 1: Interview with Andrew Buckley
Andrew Buckley attended the Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film and Television program. He pitched and developed several screenplay projects for film and television before completing his first two novels, DEATH, THE DEVIL AND THE GOLDFISH and STILTSKIN, both published by Curiosity Quills Press. Andrew's foray into writing for a younger audience resulted in the HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES series, published by Month9Books.