Guest Belinda Kroll discusses her writing journey, starting from childhood and evolving into a balance between a day job and her passion for writing. She shares insights on the entrepreneurial spirit inherited from her family, the impact of hustle culture, and her decision to keep writing as a joyful side endeavor rather than a full-time career.

Tune in to hear about her approach to writing and marketing as well as the importance of understanding how you want your readers to feel and why she enjoys genre-blending. Belinda also touches on her creative process, the challenges and changes in the publishing industry, and offers practical advice for aspiring writers.

Resources

Find Belinda’s Hesitant Mediums series on her website, worderella.com!

Instagram: @wordella

Mr.Darcy’s Enchantment by Abigail Reynolds

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace

About Belinda

Belinda Kroll is an award-winning author of cozy stories with Jane Austen vocabulary and modern sass. She writes and illustrates the Hesitant Mediums series, where women can speak with ghosts and wish they couldn't, and the sweet men who love them. Belinda is the mind behind the Bright Bird Press all-in-one novel planner and other forgiving stationery for discovery writers.

Host Sheridan Sharp is joined by author Jaclyn Goldis for a compelling discussion on the intersection of travel, writing, and manifestation.

Jaclyn reveals how her adventures around the world have breathed life into the captivating settings of her books. Hear why she made the bold decision to stop working on old projects and move into the realm of suspense. Plus, discover new ways to find ease in your writing journey through the transformative power of manifestation.

Resources

Preorder Jaclyn’s new book, The Main Character, or check out her website

Jaclyn’s Instagram

Other books by Jaclyn

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Bad, Bad Seymour Brown by Susan Isaacs

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispensa

Get on the waiting list for Jaclyn’s new manifestation course by signing up for her newsletter!

About Jaclyn

Jaclyn Goldis has a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a JD from NYU School of Law. She practiced estate planning law at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago for seven years before leaving her job to travel the world and write novels. After culling her possessions into only what would fit in a backpack, she traveled for over a year until settling in Tel Aviv, where she can often be found writing from cafés by the beach.

Whether you're an aspiring writer seeking guidance or simply curious about the realities of the writing journey, join host Sheridan Sharp on Am I Write? for a conversation with award-winning author Rosalyn Eves. In this episode, they delve into the nuanced challenges faced by writers, from the relentless pressure to publish quickly to the intricacies of polishing manuscripts.

Eves shares candid reflections on what she wishes she had known earlier in her publishing career, offering invaluable insights for writers at any stage. Discover practical tips for navigating the demands of a writing career while juggling life's responsibilities and explore the concept of the objective correlative in storytelling.

Whether you're looking for inspiration or practical advice, this episode promises to provide a deeper understanding of the writing process. Tune in to gain valuable insights and perspective on the journey of writing!

Resources

Books by Rosalyn

Rosalyn’s Website

Rosalyn’s Instagram

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl Klein

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Watch the Storymakers Guild Conference where Rosalyn will be teaching! (Virtual copies release after recording date)

Query Shark by Janet Reid

About Rosalyn

Rosalyn Eves is an author, English professor, and mother of 3. She has a PhD from Penn State, and has written the YA historical fantasy trilogy Blood Rose Rebellion, an award-winning YA historical, Beyond the Mapped Stars, and the Regency companion books An Improbable Season and an Unlikely Proposition.

Not everyone’s querying journey is a handful of years! Many authors have experiences like Rita’s: a 14-year span of trial, error, and a whole lot of persistence. Join host Sheridan Sharp as guest Rita Feinstein talks publishing, poetry, connecting in a post-truth world.

Resources

Rita’s Debut: Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension

Sylvia Path

Anne Sexton

The Quiet Damage by Jesselyn Cook

Website: https://ritafeinstein.com/

Twitter/X: @RitaFeinstein

Instagram: @longlostdragonprincess

Support your local indie bookstore

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

We Are All So Good At Smiling by Amber McBride

Jeannine Hall Gailey

About Rita

Rita Feinstein is the author of the poetry collections Life on Dodge and Everything is Real, both from Brain Mill Press, and the young adult novel-in-verse Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension (Page Street 2024). Her stories and poems have appeared in Permafrost, The Normal School, and Willow Springs, among other publications, and have been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets. She is also the Regional Manager of Writopia Lab DC, a nonprofit that runs creative writing workshops for children and teens. She lives with her husband, who is a lawyer, and her dog, who is not.

From integrating culture to the pros of magical realism and around to how she landed her agent, the content in this episode with guest María Alejandra Barrios Vélez pulls from a well of experience and offers firsthand advice to new and aspiring writers everywhere. Also talk about María's debut book, scheduled just weeks out from this episode air date on Am I Write!

Resources

Read THE WAVES TAKE YOU HOME
Website: https://mariaalejandrabarriosvelez.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariaalebvelezwrites/
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

About María

María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Manchester and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and scruffy dog, Gus.

She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow, and her stories have been published in Shenandoah Literary, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, El Malpensante, Fractured Lit, SmokeLong Quarterly, The Offing, and more. Her work has been supported by organizations such as Vermont Studio Center, Kweli, Caldera Arts, and the New Orleans Writers’ Residency.

The Waves Take You Home is María’s debut, inspired by the resilience and strength of the women in her family and the Caribbean city she spent most of her life in.

Patchree Jones stars on this episode of Am I Write? Podcast to talk about the impact of the middle grade book genre and why she left the corporate world for it. Also discuss the pros of being an unagented, small press author and consider how you can build a marketable author brand naturally.


Resources

Website: patchreejones.com
Twitter/X: https://x.com/PointsTangent?s=20
BlueSky: @patchreejones.bsky.social
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@patchreejones?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patchreejones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patchreejones/?hl=en
Discord: patchreejones
WriteHive for Indie Authors

About Patchree

PATCHREE JONES is Thai-American author and currently lives in Southern California with her husband, two children, and one lazy dog.

As a girl, she grew up watching Thai dramas with her mom and dreamt of being a playwright as a teen. While life took her on a different path, her love of stories never faltered. It takes a fighter to share their vision with the world, and Patchree hopes to blaze the trail for all children to go after their dreams unapologetically.

Her forthcoming middle-grade novel, SKYLIGHT, will be her debut work of fiction and is slated for publication on June 25, 2024 with Sorra Books.

Literary Journals: Do they really help you get your manuscript published?

If you've wondered about this, guest Christine Ma-Kellams is here to share her experience as an author AND writer with multiple online publications. Also, take a look at how she builds dimensional characters by ensuring there's enough to root for--and against--on this episode of Am I Write?

Resources

THE BAND
Website: christinema-kellams.com
@makellams (Twitter/Tiktok)
@choppstixz (Instagram)

About Christine

Christine Ma-Kellams a college professor, Harvard-trained cultural psychologist and writer whose fiction and essays have appeared in Prairie Schooner, the Kenyon Review, ZYZZYVA, the Rumpus, Catapult, Southern Humanities Review, Saturday Evening Post, the Rupture/the Collagist, the Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today and elsewhere. Two of her short stories were also nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her empirical studies on culture and relationships have also been widely covered in GQ (Australia), Esquire (Middle East), Boston Globe, Vice News, Elle Magazine (UK), Yahoo News, MSN News, Fox News, New York Post, and Daily Mail. Her debut novel from Atria, The Band (April 2024), follows a cancelled Kpop boy bander who escapes by hiding in the McMansion of an unhappily married therapist with a Savior complex. In its indicting portrayal of mental health/public obsession/fandom/cancel culture, The Band considers how old tribal allegiances disrupt modern celebrity.

The age old question: how much of getting published is just luck and how much of it is skill?
"Rebel Author" Barry Lyga joins host Sheridan Sharp to talk about his 27-novel track record (and counting). Instead of getting distraught over the timing of it all, focus on what you CAN control on this episode of Am I Write? Podcast.


About Barry

Called a "YA Rebel Author" by Kirkus, Barry Lyga has published 27 novels in a 17-year-career, running the gamut from award-winning literary novels like Bang and Boy Toy to thrillers like the New York Times bestselling I Hunt Killers to astonishing super-hero adventures such as the Flash and Thanos. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages around the globe and he has been named a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky for his contribution to writing. His latest work is the duology EDITED/UNEDITED, a two-book dyad that has never been attempted before in publishing, releasing both the original unedited manuscript and the cut-down version the publisher wanted. He lives outside New York City with his wife, the novelist Morgan Baden and their children.

Resources

Website: barrylyga.com
Bluesky: @barrylyga.com
Mastodon: @barrylyga@mstdn.party
TikTok: @barrylyga
Twitter (if you must): @barrylyga
EDITED
UNEDITED
Generation Wonder: The New Age of Heroes
Skyjacked by Paul Griffin
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Podcast: Writing in Real Life