In today’s episode, I am chatting with Sara E. Johnson. Sara lives in Durham, North Carolina. She worked as a middle school reading specialist and local newspaper contributor before her husband lured her to New Zealand for a year. Her first novel, Molten Mud Murder, is the result. The fifth book in the series, The Hungry Bones, comes out on June 11th, 2024. I had so much fun chatting with Sara. She talks about the connections she has made through the writing process to help her research and write her novels. Lastly, Sara totally understood the book flight! Tune in to hear the fun approach she took. Happy listening!

In today’s episode, I am chatting with Trunnis Goggins. Trunnis is an educator, author and consultant for small businesses and higher-rated institutions. Trunnis is also the host of a podcast called The 4 P’s of You. The 4 P’s are Passion, Planning, Purpose and Persistence, which are all essentail in our life journeys towards success.This episode is sure to inspire you. Happy listening!

In today’s episode, I am chatting with Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. Born and raised in Việt Nam, she is the author of the global best-selling novels The Mountains Sing and Dust Child.

In this episode, Quế Mai shares about the importance of tonal marks in the Vietnamese language, how writing saved her with a traveling lifestyle, what she has learned about herself through writing. She brought a wonderful book flight with her to highlight Vietnamese authors. Happy listening!

In today’s episode, I am chatting with Jared Michaud. Jared has had a life-long drive to write fiction and is the author of Brightstar: Energematrice6 – The Epimyth Begins. He is on a mission to give his children’s generation myths built on the greatest foundation the world has ever seen. We talked about the importance of myth in stories, the gentle art of writing about the truth, including a piece of yourself in the characters you write and more! This is a delightful episode with Jared, I hope you enjoy. Happy listening!

In today’s episode, I am chatting with Jaime Jo Wright. Jaime is the author of ten novels, including her latest novel, Night Falls on Predicament Avenue. We had a wide ranging conversation on this episode from momento mori photography, fashions we hoped to never see again, which of her ten novels was her favorite to write as well as a sneak peek at the title of her next book coming April 2025. This was such a fun and delightful conversation, I hope you enjoy it too. Happy listening!

Today we have an episode from the kids for the kids. I am speaking today with Morgan and her Mom, Jenn Kappes. Morgan is 8 years old and a 3rd grader. She has brought a book flight of her favorite graphic novels. I have listed the recommended ages for the books of the flight below. They live in sunny, beautiful Hawaii and you can hear the birds chirping in the background, it sounds idyllic! Happy listening!

In today’s episode, I am chatting with J.D. “Danny” McCabe. J.D. is a Pittsburgh, PA native, and the author of The Third Gift, a true story about a tumultuous marriage gone wrong. He now speaks with organizations across the country about his experiences. Danny was encouraged to share this unbelievable voyage in rediscovering himself by the many people who witnessed and heard about his journey first hand. Happy listening!

In today’s episode I am chatting with Erin Bartels. Erin is the award-winning author of We Hope for Better Things, The Words between Us, All That We Carried, The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water, and Everything is Just Beginning. Her latest novel, The Lady with the Dark Hair, came out yesterday. I learned so much from Erin in this episode about painting, art and the history of colors and how they were made. Happy listening!

In today’s episode, I am chatting with Huda Al-Marashi. Huda is the author of the memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story and a co-author of the middle-grade novel Grounded. Huda shared all about her experience as a woman living in diaspora, immigrant experiences in a foreign country and how assimilation into other cultures is dependent on each individual family. She talked about how she fit writing into motherhood and the tension of writing memoir - bordering a line of fiction, using composite characters and figuring out the story you want to tell within your memoir. Lastly, she talked about how supportive the writing community is and what an invaluable resource they are. Happy listening!

Today we are featuring another episode from the kids. I am speaking today with Hazel and her Mom, Ashley Terpstra. Hazel is 11 and a 6th grader. However, please note she has a higher reading level than that, I have listed the recommended ages for the books of the flight below. We talked all about Battle of the Books which was really fun to learn about and a book flight of her favorite books. Happy listening!