Our guest this week is Linda Sachse (Inheriting the Shackelford Ranch, indie published, February 2024). Linda, who switched from romance to women’s literature with this book, discusses the difference between the two and how she went about learning the tropes of this new genre. We explore the getaway writing retreats she creates with her best writing buddy, why she decided to self-publish, and her best ideas for expanding your word count without filling your novel up with fluff.

Linda Sachse is an author of Women’s Fiction with a hint of romance. She loves to write a book that you can relax by the fire with or out by the pool, transporting you to a place or two you’d like to visit. She resides in Texas, where her stories begin with her husband, granddaughter, her Great Dane Lilly, and her two cats, Sophia and Pickles.

To learn more about Linda, click here.

This week’s guest is L. L. Kirchner (Florida Girls, indie published, May 2024). We discuss taking fascinating historical facts and weaving them into a fictionalized narrative, deciding what to leave out and what to highlight, and how getting media attention can often come through developing tangential talks related to your novel’s time period or themes. (in her case, the Florida Mafia and swimsuit models). Then L.L. describes the joys and drawbacks of being a pantser and the three pieces of advice she’d offer to newer writers.

L.L. Kirchner is an award-winning screenwriter, author of two memoirs, and the historical thriller series, The Queenpin Chronicles. She is currently at work on her next book, a mystery set in Pittsburgh. If you’ve read her work it won’t surprise you to learn she was once simultaneously the bridal editor for a society rag, dating columnist for an alt-newsweekly, and religion editor for an LGBTQ+ paper. She currently lives in Florida with her favorite husband and their best boy Hartley. You can get the prequel to The Queenpin Chronicles FREE at her website.

To learn more, click here.

This week our guest is Lisa Fellinger (The Serendipity of Catastrophe, indie published, March 2024). Lisa’s educational background in mental health counseling has proved handy as she moved in her current work as a book coach, developmental editor, and debut novelist, since digging deeper into what makes a character tick is one of the biggest problems she sees in her client’s manuscripts. We discuss how her novel began as a 2015 NaNoWriMo project, how an editor has to learn to take off her “critique” hat when drafting their first draft, and how she credits the WFWA community with making her a stronger writer.

Lisa Fellinger writes contemporary women's fiction with lovably flawed, relatable characters. When she's not writing her own stories, she's helping others achieve their writing dreams as a book coach and developmental editor. She lives in Buffalo, New York with her husband, son, and fur babies.

To learn more about Lisa, click here.