225: Allyson Rice - Author of The Key to Circus-Mom Highway

This week's guest is Allyson Rice (The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, indie published, January 2023). Allyson, a multi-hyphenated actor, producer, artist, jewelry designer, and writer penned her debut novel as a screenplay to begin with, then used that as a structured outline for shaping her novel, which falls into the "funny but sad" genre of Carl Hiaasen. Allyson also did her own audiobook narration for which she was nominated for a Voice Arts award in the same category as Bono. We discuss how she found the perfect marketing help through an editor at Reedsy, and explore her current project, a documentary called Banned Together which examines the issue of book banning in the US. Set to release this year, it features an interview with Jodi Picoult whose book, 19 Minutes, has been yanked from some high school shelves.  Allyson Rice is the award-winning author of the novel The Key to Circus Mom Highway. ("Fans of family drama, road trips, and non-stop laughs will love this cross-country adventure."–BookLife/Publisher's Weekly). She won an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine for her audiobook narration as well as a Voice Arts Award nomination for Best Audiobook Narration by the Author. She is a producer with Atomic Focus Entertainment, currently producing a documentary feature film about fighting book bans titled Banned Together. And she spent decades as an actress on stage and on television, her longest role being seven years as Connor Walsh on As the World Turns. You can see her multi-award-winning, comedic rap music video "Fine, I'll Write My Own Damn Song" on YouTube. She's also an award-winning mixed-media artist and photographer. You can sign up for her newsletter and get the chance to have a funny supporting character in her next book named after you. To learn more, click here.