Taking Advantage of Happy Accidents: An Interview with Kelly Elizabeth Huston
Author Kelly Elizabeth Huston and I came together thanks to the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association. She’s another author I’ve never met and one I’d love to chat with in real life. She writes “women-centric, genre-straddling fiction that always includes laughs and a love story,” and her most recent book, A Girl, Stuck, is third in…
Read MoreEnding Up Where I Need to Be: An Interview with Lydia P. Brownlow
The tagline for Lydia P. Brownlow’s debut novel, Vermilion Sunrise, is “Same galaxy. Different view.” The science fiction genre is one that I rarely read, but that tagline ensured the book’s spot on my TBR list. The book released in May of last year and has garnered great reviews. One reader said, “I finished this…
Read MoreOn the Occasion of What Would Have Been Her Seventy-Ninth Birthday
Dear Mom, Today you would have turned seventy-nine! In an ideal world, you’d still be alive and mostly healthy (or as healthy as a person of that age can be, which is pretty healthy). I’d call you up, ask chat with you for a while, wish you Happy Birthday, and maybe send some flowers. Dad…
Read MoreTwenty-Two: Make It Up As You Go Along
Dear Zoe and Talia, Several months ago, I wrote “Twins Birthday Letter” in my planner so I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to sit and write to you. I’m happy to report that I began this post six days earlier than I have the last two years, though it remains to be seen if…
Read MoreLabor of Love
Motherhood really is a labor of love, and time spent as an editor at the online journal Literary Mama was also described as such. As volunteer editors, we toiled without pay to help emerging and established writers share their stories of motherhood and parenting. We read, we discussed, we fine-tuned other’s writing. We also learned…
Read MoreLearning From the Past: An Interview with Ashley Lawless
Novels about mothers and daughters fascinate me, so I’m looking forward to reading Where We Began by Ashley Lawless. The book released in May 2023, and though it was Ashley’s debut, she says she’s been writing for ages and loves “sharing her stories with the people she loves the most.” One reader wrote of the…
Read MoreKeep Dreaming
Sleep and I have always been friends. When I was a toddler, I sat at the bottom of the stairs in the early evening, just waiting for someone to take me up and put me in bed. As a kid, I enjoyed sleeping in, which in our house was 7 am or later. When I…
Read MoreWorking Out My Own Feelings: An Interview with Kate Anderson
After a very long wait, author Kate Anderson is on the blog! Kate reached out to me about six months ago with interest in an interview, and though I was excited for her to join the series—after all, she described her book as “cozy horror with LGBT content”—I had scheduled my entire year out. So…
Read MoreNo Words for the New Year 2
For several years in a row, I put together a “Words for the New Year” post, one that helped guide me through the year. I wasn’t unique in this practice. A lot of people choose one word to hold onto as their north star for the year. I tended to choose a quote. But last…
Read MoreThe Strength of Friendship: An Interview with Donna Norman-Carbone
Like many of my interviewees, I first met author Donna Norman-Carbone on Instagram when I put out a call for authors subjects. She’s patiently waited a long time for her slot, and in a way, I’m glad she did. Why, you ask? Because since that first correspondence, not only has her debut novel, All That…
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