Writing Class

Two lifelong friends with fifty years of shared history, Linda and Janet sit down on the Writer's Class Podcast to talk about their debut book Tutu's Pearls — a deeply personal project about legacy, life lessons, and the stories we leave behind. In this episode, Linda and Janet open up about their writing journey, their creative process as co-authors, and what inspired them to transform five decades of friendship and wisdom into their first book. Whether you are a first-time author, a reader who loves authentic storytelling, or someone thinking about the legacy they want to leave, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends.

What happens when a multi-genre author who blends paranormal mystery, steampunk, and cozy fiction meets two of the most dynamic literary voices in the indie author world? Pure creative magic — and a conversation you won't want to miss. LeAnna Shields, Colorado-based author of the beloved Mystic Ranch Cozy Mystery series and host of The Cozy Sleuth podcast, welcomes the iconic "And I Thought Ladies" — award-winning pop culture poets, authors, and media powerhouses Wilnona Marie and Jade Dee — for a candid, inspiring deep dive into the art of genre mixing in modern writing. LeAnna is no stranger to blending genres herself: her Mystic Ranch series seamlessly fuses paranormal women's fiction, cozy mystery, and Indigenous mythology into something entirely its own. She brings that same bold, boundary-breaking energy to this conversation as she explores what it truly means to defy genre conventions with two women who have been doing it for years.

Grace Sammon is a dynamic force in the literary world — an award-winning author, radio host, entrepreneur, and educator. Recognized in Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who in Literature, she is the recipient of the 2025 Indies United Publishing House’s Award for Inspirational Women in Literature, Media, and Journalism.

 A master of reinvention, Grace transformed her career with her fourth book and debut novel, The Eves, which garnered strong critical acclaim. In addition to her newest novel, The Reliable Narrator, she has authored seven booksRead moe about Grace Sammon:www.GraceSammon.netRead the book:https://www.amazon.com/Reliable-Narrator-Grace-Sammon/dp/1662969899

Mark Leslie (Lefebvre) is an author, professional speaker and bookseller with more than thirty years of experience in writing, publishing, and bookselling. He has published more than twenty-five books under the name Mark Leslie that include thrillers and fiction (Evasion, A Canadian Werewolf in New York, One Hand Screaming), paranormal non-fiction (Haunted Hospitals, Spooky Sudbury, Tomes of Terror) and anthologies (Campus Chills, Tesseracts Sixteen, Obsessions). Under his full name he writes books to help authors navigate publishing. And they include The 7 P’s of Publishing Success and An Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores. His industry experience includes President of the Canadian Booksellers Association, Board Member of BookNet Canada, Director of Author Relations and Self-Publishing for Rakuten Kobo, Director of Business Development for Draft2Digital and Professional Advisor for Sheridan College’s Creative Writing and Publishing Honours Program.

Lizz Schumer is  a writer, journalist(People magazine Senior Book Editor), and educator from Buffalo, N.Y., currently based in Brooklyn, N.Y. she primarily works as a journalist, covering books, podcasts, food and drink, culture, service journalism, features, and trending news as a creative writer.

An interview with Transformational Communicator,Podcast Creator, & Host of Scribal House Podcast She also happens to be a Compelling Writer & Author.

Linda is out there doing presentations of her books.   In addition to writing awesome teen mysteries, she also produces a local TV Show in East Hampton called “The Writer’s Dream,” a series of shows with writers in many different aspects of the profession.Linda is a native New Yorker, born in N.Y.C. and a lover of the greatest city in the world. 

Julia's ultimate goal to be a bridge between cultures, Julia began her career in publishing by interning in foreign rights and then spending the next several years as an associate book scout working for publishing houses around the world. Julia majored in linguistics, along with East Asian languages and cultures while minoring in French at Indiana University and Tokyo’s Temple UniversityShe is currently selling rights to Hungary, Estonia and other Baltic territories, Southeast Europe, as well as Greece, Israel, Turkey, the Arabic world, and Southeast Asia

Florence A. Bliss is an author from Las Vegas, NV who has a keen eye for writing love stories full of drama, heartache, humor, and enough seduction to light the pages on fire. With an MFA in creative writing from UNLV, Florence loves to write across genres but has found her home in romance. She lives with her fancy Italian husband and two children. Together they love to travel, explore the ghost towns around Las Vegas, roadtrip up and down the Pacific coast, and of course drink coffee out of tiny cups (milk for the kids).  Florence is an avid people watcher and strives to understand why people do what they do, and she never tires of imagining the stories of what couples have had to overcome in order to come together.  

Tom is an author, professor and traveler. He's traveled to 150 countries. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Chicago Tribune, Die Zeit, ZYZZYVA, Exquisite Corpse, Salon.com, Black Clock, and other newspapers and literary venues, as well as in dozens of books and academic journals.Read about Tom here: https://www.tomlutzwriter.com/about-tom/

Audrey Lee started writing fiction at the young age of eleven, when she and her best friend co-authored a masterpiece about gallivanting around London with the members of Depeche Mode, Wham!, and Duran Duran. Unfortunately, these spiral notebooks have yet to find a publisher evolved enough to understand the genius buried within.As a result, The Mechanics of Memory is her first work of published fiction.Audrey lives in the San Francisco Bay Area 

DEBRA YATES hails from Ohio but now resides in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Although she began her writing later in life, she did so with great passion. Being of Cherokee descent and having had stories passed down from generation to generation, Debra found herself drawn to family history, to the point of enlisting a genealogist to verify her conclusions. Traveling to relevant destinations along the East Coast and in the Midwest, she brought her findings back to the peace, calm, and tranquility that she feels God has provided to her in the Sunshine State. With the release of Woman of Many Names, she now puts her sights on a followup to document the next stage of her seventh-greatgrandmother's historic life

Lisa Towles is an award-winning, Amazon bestselling crime novelist and a passionate speaker on the topics of fiction writing, creativity, and self care. Lisa has 11 crime novels in print with a new psychological thriller, Codex, forthcoming in June of 2024. The first two books of her E&A Investigations Series (Hot House and Salt Island) were both #1 Amazon Kindle Bestsellers with Book 2 (Switch) due for release in the Fall of 2024. Lisa also writes standalone thrillers, such as her November 2023 release, Terror Bay, and The Ridders, which won an American Fiction Award. Lisa is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. She has an MBA in IT Management and works full-time in the tech industry.

Dr Irina Webster, is the author of the books: The Secret Energy of Your Body, How to Heal Using Intuitive Healing, Pregnancy From A to Z and other books about intuitive health and wellness. She is a medical doctor, who following her retirement from the conventional medical industry, promotes the value of Medical Intuition and Intuitive Healing to the world.She lives by the motto that healing is always possible and even if your problems are big and illnesses are severe, you have the power within to heal yourself through Intuitive Healing.

Dan Fridd and his wife talk to us about the book business. No, its not about publishing. Today we're dabbling in the business of selling books. Also what it takes to book store

SG Tasz published her first piece of writing at the age of eleven. She wrote a poem for a class that was selected to be a part of a regional student anthology, at which point she retired from poetry, knowing that this was the highest accolade a poem of her's was likely to receive. However, she still has a copy of that anthology. As you can see, she was a bit dark even then. She is a multimedia writer.

Arjun Chaudhuri is the Founder & CEO of the organisation Ukiyoto Publishing. He is an emerging entrepreneur of the year AACC '21 and has a innovative start-up of the year.

Andy started his literary agency in February, 2008. Andy represent authors who write books in a wide range of subjects including: narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, current affairs, contemporary culture, religion, children's books and commercial and literary fiction.

Hope Gibbs grew up in rural Scottsville, Kentucky. As the daughter of an English teacher, she was raised to value the importance of good storytelling from an early age. Today, she’s an avid reader of women’s fiction. Drawn to multi-generational family sagas, relationship issues, and the complexities of being a woman, she translates those themes into her own writing.​Hope lives in Tennessee with her husband and her persnickety Shih Tzu, Harley. She is also the mother of five. In her downtime, she loves playing tennis, poring over old church cookbooks, singing karaoke, curling up on her favorite chair with a book, and playing board games.​Hope has a B.A. from Western Kentucky University and is a member of the Women's Fiction Writers Association

Three Muses won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction and was shortlisted for the Gotham Book Prize. Buzzfeed, NPR and the Washington Post have given Three Muses a lot of love. With a starred review from Kirkus, Three Muses made The Millions’ most anticipated second half of 2022 list. Vulture Magazine included it in “57 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Fall.” L.A. Parent called it “an exquisitely crafted novel, and POINTE Magazine selected it for its “5 New Ballet Books to Look Forward to This Fall.”

Amy is an author who writes with heart and tells a great tale. She runs many businesses yet she still finds time to write.

Samantha Skal (she/her) is an Author Accelerator certified book coach who specializes in coaching mystery, thriller and suspense authors from novel planningShe is the 2023 Co-Director of PitchFest, the agent pitching event at Thrillerfest, International Thriller Writers annual writing conference, and a frequent volunteer mentor for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (. She is also a member of Mystery Writers of America , and Sisters in Crime.

Dzifa Benson is a multi-disciplinary live artist who uses literature as her primary mode of expression. The intersections between science, art, the body and ritual and by the question of who or what is invisible animate Dzifa's practice

The CEO and founder of Writerwerx University, which helps authors with their book planning, writing, editing, and design needs. In addition, WU offers literary education and support for screenwritings, novelists, poets, and other text-based creatives. ​ Oh, yeah! I’m also an independent author myself

Alexa Bigwarfe is a mother to 3 wildlings who keep her on her toes. She is an advocate, activist, speaker, author & author coach, publisher, and podcaster. Her writing career began after her infant daughter passed away at 2 days old and she turned to writing for healing. Since then, she has used her writing platform for advocacy and activism to support mothers, children, and marginalized voices. She began a nonprofit, Sunshine After the Storm, to provide support, care, healing retreats, and grief recovery to mothers in their most difficult time. She is the creator and co-host of the Lose the Cape podcast, which features moms working to make a difference in their children’s lives and has co-authored and published four volumes under the Lose the Cape brand. Her primary business is Write|Publish|Sell, a company dedicated to shepherding authors through the massive process of writing and publishing their books like a pro. She owns her own publishing house, Kat Biggie Press, and a children’s book publishing company, Purple Butterfly Press – both dedicated to bringing stories of hope, inspiration, encouragement, and girl-power to the world.

Tenesha is the CEO and founder of Writerwerx University, which allows her to help authors with their book planning, writing, editing, and design needs. In addition, WU offers literary education and support for screenwritings, novelists, poets, and other text-based creatives. Tenesha is an independent author herself! She has written in multiple genres, including psychological thriller, mystery, romance, erotica, fantasy, and self-help.

Author of over 23 multi-genre books, RoderickE was born 1968 in Indianapolis Indiana. He was adopted at age 4. He has been employed since age 16 at various private sector jobs. His present job is in process development at an international logistics company, but he has worked many jobs you'd expect from an average person including; dishwasher at the local American Legion, fry cook at a fastfood restaurant, clerk at a toy store, training supervisor over a call center along with other jobs.

Tanerra is a published author and contributing writer for Woman of More Magazine.In addition to being a retail entrepreneur, she is a motivational speaker, coach, and mentor with a special interest in helping women and teen girls. Tanerra not only inspires them through her workshops, and coaching, but aims to provide them with practical resources, tools, and access that enables them to improve their personal and professional lives. Che Jr. is a bilingual sixth grader. Who created his first published story at the young age of 7. He enjoys playing with his friends and cousins. When indoors he likes playing Roblox, watching YouTube® videos, and being with his mom and dad. Che is credited for translating his first book into Spanish himself. Lastly, he works with his mom during events and speaking engagements to inspire and encourage other youth.

She didn't start straight away, that comment sowed a seed and several years, two children, and hundreds of thousands of words later, she completed a novel that she felt was worthy of publication. The result was Coming Home for Christmas, a heart-warming story about friends, family, and the magic of love at Christmas.The rest is history.When she's not writing, she is publishing through my imprint Harpeth Road Press.

A professional editor for over 10 years. From line editing to proofreading, she has worked on almost every genre of book from true crime to self help, from memoirs to horror. While she will edit anything, she especially love true crime, dark fiction, self help and other nonfiction, and children's and young adult books. She is also COO of Genius books.

Erin Branscom has read everything she can get her hands on for as long as she can remember. To this day, her favorite place is still the library. In 2021, after a decade of writing novels just for fun, she finally decided to finish a book series and has found writing novels to be her greatest escape

Dave is an avid book marketer. His work in both publishing and book marketing has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, ALLi, Huffington Post, and even Market Watch.He has been blessed to have worked with many New York Times bestselling authors in multiple genres and topics like Ted Dekker, Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson and more. He has also been a paid consultant to major publishing companies helping with digital sales, advertisement methods and sales page optimizations.

Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, NPR.org, theatlantic.com, The Millions, and a variety of other publications including The Asian Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune. Her novel, Acceptance, was made into a television movie starring the hilarious Joan Cusack.Susan is the president of the PEN/Faulkner foundation

LAURA co-authored the successful Collage and Montage series for McGraw-Hill. Later in her career, she directed the Graduate Teacher Program, working across all disciplines to improve instruction at the university level. She also published in graduate education and professional development. Currently, she devotes her time to writing and gardening at her home in Colorado.

She has been an educator, Communications Adjunct Professor at Belhaven College, administrator, and Public Relations Director of the Mississippi Department of Education and Millsaps College, a liberal arts college in Jackson, MS. She was the founding director of the Greater Belhaven Market, a producers’ only market in a historic neighborhood in Jackson, and even shadowed Martha Stewart.As the Executive Director of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi (300 artisans from 19 states) which operates the Mississippi Craft Center, she wrote their stories to introduce them to the public.

Best-selling romantic suspense author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 4 million books in print and her books have been on the USAToday bestseller list, the ECPA, CBA, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon bestseller lists. She writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana

Mekdela is here to talk about this problem, and so much more! She’s a plus-size, Black/African, second-generation refugee woman with a lot to say about body image - and your followers will want to join this conversation!We’d love for you to collaborate with Mekdela on an interview or guest speaking spot. You can find one of her recent guest posts here, to get an idea of her thoughtful and innovative writing style.

Betsy Randolph Women Writing the West 2021-2022 President, Betsy Randolph writes primarily fiction but dabbles in historical fiction, memoir, and non-fiction. Her Cat Carlyle Mysteries and Noah Pool Adventure Series are set in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where she lives with her husband, George.

Anish Chandy is the founder of Labyrinth Literary Agency, it is a full service agency based out of New Delhi. Anish was a Senior Commissioning Editor at Penguin Random House where he commissioned for non-fiction and commercial fiction.

Camielle wrote Forever is the Worst Long Time, it was an RT Reviews Top Pick and an Amazon, InStyle, and Real Simple best book of the month. Booklist called her fourth book, Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties, “fun and engaging,” while Bookreporter said it was “filled with life’s wisdoms.” In 2019, Camielle's fifth novel, I’m Fine and Neither Are You, was an Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller. Library Journal describes the latest novel, This Won’t End Well, as “witty and delightful” in a starred review. The seventh novel, Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around—the follow-up to Life and Other Near-Death Experiences—is out now, and Camielle just wrapped up Everything Must Go, which will be out spring 2022.

Laura Moe spent most of her working life as a librarian and English teacher in central and Southeastern Ohio, but moved to Seattle where she writes full-time and is an active member of EPIC Group Writers and SCBWI. Moe is the author of YA novels BLUE VALENTINES and BREAKFAST WITH NERUDA (Simon & Schuster/Merit Press, 2016) named by the New York Public Library as one the Best Books for Teens in 2016 and shortlisted for the WA State Book Award. She is owned by a spoiled white cat

Ronda Miller is a graduate of the University of Kansas, a Fellow of The Citizen Journalism Academy, World Company, She created poetic forms loku and ukol. She was the co-chair, along with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, for the Transformative Language Arts Conference at Unity Village September, 2015. Miller was the poetry contest manager for Kansas Authors Club (2011-2014). District 2 President of Kansas Authors Club (2015 – 2017), and the club's Vice President (2016 – 2017). She is the club's current President (2018 - 2019).

Melissa Amster lives in Maryland (DC Metro area) with her husband, two sons and daughter. When she's not reading and interviewing authors, she is working as a media manager for a book publicity company. In her spare time (what's that?!?), she likes to watch her favorite shows on TV, bake challah and desserts, and host meals and other gatherings

A serious journalist with national exposure, Marissa understands how media works and what reporters want. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media like Forbes on best practices for book marketing.She joined the Books Forward team more than 10 years ago and now oversees the day-to-day operation of the firm. Named one of Publishers Weekly’s Star Watch Honorees, Marissa is both respected and adored by clients for her always encouraging and can-do approach. She is the first and final voice on all Books Forward matters, and she presides over all aspects of our publicity campaigns, including media and book tours, video development, social networking, production and creative planning, and business decisions.

Tif Marcelo is a veteran US Army nurse and holds a BS in Nursing and a Master’s in public administration. She believes and writes about the strength of families, the endurance of friendship, heartfelt romances, and is inspired daily by her own military hero husband and four children. She hosts The Stories to Love Podcast, and is the USA Today bestselling author of In a Book Club Far Away, Once Upon a Sunset, The Key to Happily Ever After, which was a Target Diverse Book Club pick, The Holiday Switch, and the Heart Resort and Journey to the Heart series. She and her books have been featured in The Today Show, Shondaland, Real Simple Magazine, The Asian Journal and more!

Farena Bajwa is a talented poet, storyteller, actor, filmmaker, and voice-over artist. Even though she studied Marketing Management, her creativity comes from her heart. Whether it’s filmmaking, voice-over, or acting, she owes it to her life philosophy: ‘’learning by doing’’. ‘’Flowers Grow on Broken Walls’’ is Farena’s first written collection of poetry that speaks about the journey to self-healing after experiencing the loss of someone, but mostly, the loss of yourself. She wants to inspire her readers using her power of words to make them feel less alone and to let them know that no matter what they go through, healing is just around the corner, cheering for you

Kristine Raymond penned hidden springs series and contemporary romance series. She also writes tempted and seasons of love a collection of four seasonal programs.

Sue Campbell plunged headlong into the study of story structure. They formed an editing group and were soon joined by Rachelle Ramirez. Anne and Rachelle found Story Types so crucial to their own writing process that they both trained to become developmental editors. Sue then took her content marketing and copywriting background and trained under Tim Grahl of BookLaunch.com to become a Certified Book Launch Coach.Pages & Platforms is a powerful team that can help you realize the full potential of your story and launch it into the world.

R. S. Twells, author of the novel The Field Agent, the first book in The Agent Bennet Saga, currently living and writing in British Columbia, Canada.

Rick Lupert has been involved in the Los Angeles poetry community since 1990. He is the recipient of the 2014 Beyond Baroque Distinguished Service Award for service to the Los Angeles poetry community. He served for two years as a co-director of the Valley Contemporary Poets, a non-profit literary organization, established in 1980, which produces readings and publications out of the San Fernando Valley.His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The Los Angeles Times, Rattle, Chiron Review, American Mustard, Radius Lit, Red Fez, The Bicycle Review, Silver Birch Press, The Nervous Breakdown, Indiefeed, Voicemail Poems, Muddy River Poetry Review, Yay!LA, FreezeRay Poetry, Stirring, The Blue Jew Yorker, PoeticDiversity.org, MoonGarlic E-Zine, Jewels of Elul, Zuzu’s Petals, Caffeine Magazine, Blue Satellite and others