Today’s guest is Jody Casella, author and a former high school English teacher. Her YA novel Thin Space received a starred review from Kirkus. She blogs, reviews books, speaks at libraries and schools, and teaches workshops at the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio. She is the Regional Director of the Ohio Central/South region of SCBWI. Jody joined host Mindy McGinnis to talk about MFA’s, querying as an already published writer, the benefits of joining SCBWI - the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators - and how attending book festivals geared for readers can also be beneficial to writers. 

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Links for this Episode:

SCBWI

Jody's Website

Jody's Twitter

Jody's Facebook

Today’s guest is Jessica Strawser, editor of Writer’s Digest, and author of ALMOST MISSED YOU, which was named to the March 2017 Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction List. Jessica joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about how her career in journalism led to a position at Writers Digest, and how that informs her fiction writing, as well as her novel, ALMOST MISSED YOU, which deals with miscommunication in relationships, the all-encompassing love of motherhood, and the question of if we truly know our significant other.

Episode Links:

Acting Out of Character – Writers In the Storm

Writer’s Digest

Jessica’s Site

Facebook

Twitter

Author Tiffany McDaniel, an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows, joins host Mindy McGinnis. She is the winner of The Guardian's 2016 "Not-the-Booker Prize" for her debut novel, The Summer that Melted Everything. The novel is a current nominee for the Lillian Smith Book Award, and a finalist for the Ohioana Literary Award and the Women's Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Outstanding Debut. Tiffany talks about eleven years of rejection, making sure that human emotion and characters trump the setting, being a female author who prefers to write dark themes, and the cons of using technology in your manuscript.

Links:

Tiffany's Site

The Summer That Melted Everything

Michelle Gagnon, author of the Kelly Jones mystery series, the YA tech-thriller Persefone trilogy, as well as her newest, a Jane Eyre retelling titled Unearthly Things, joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about the process of acquiring an agent, the hard truth about discovering your agent is a bad fit after the fact, and the unique differences in screenplay writing versus fiction. Also covered: jumping from adult to YA audiences and reading Jane Eyre as an adult and discovering that Rochester is… kind of a creeper.

Links:

Michelle's Site

Barbara Claypole White author of The Unfinished Garden, The In Between Hour, The Perfect Son and Echoes of Family joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about finding inspiration for her fiction in real life, writing through personal tragedy and how to write characters with mental illnesses. 

Links:

Book Pregnant

Barbara's Site, Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram

Guest historical fiction author Alyssa Palombo speaks with host Mindy McGinnis about her novels, The Violinist of Venice and The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence. Alyssa also shares about querying a novel that wasn't ready yet, immersing herself in the time period of her characters, the shifting standards of beauty from age to age, and how to balance blogging and writing fiction.

Links:

Query Tracker

Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents

Famous Paintings Photoshopped To Look Like Fashion Models

Alyssa's Blog

Alyssa's Twitter

Ayssa's Instagram

Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire welcomes Kurt Dinan, author of the YA novel, DON’T GET CAUGHT, which was recently nominated for YALSA’s Teen Top Ten. Kurt joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about how querying is like taking a stick in the eye every day, and how writing short stories helped him be a better novelist. Also covered: how mashups not only help pitch a book, but can also help the author find a key to unlocking their project, as well as the specific struggles of writing humor, and every writer’s worst enemy – procrastination. Lastly, Mindy tries very hard to wheedle him into using social media more, and they talk about things you didn’t know were poisonous, as well as their porn names.

Links:

Kurt's Twitter

Kurt's Facebook

DON'T GET CAUGHT

The April 2017 roundup summarizes the guests and topics for the month, and host Mindy McGinnis shares her advice on how to write - and not write - physical character movement.

Links:

Monthly Support for Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire

One Time Donations for Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire

Mindy's Editorial Services

Middle Grade author Janet Sumner Johnson talks about her debut novel, THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURE OF THE PB&J SOCIETY, as well as the challenge of writing for middle graders, the assumption that books for children are somehow lesser than books written for adults, as well as the question of what content to include for younger readers.

Links:

Query Tracker

Literary Rambles

Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars

Dee Romito's Query Sign Submit

Janet Sumner Johnson:

Site

Blog

Twitter

Instagram

Guest Lydia Kang, author of SciFi YA titles CONTROL & CATALYST, talks with host Mindy McGinnis about writing across multiple genres (Lydia also has an adult historical and a non-fiction title on the way), the amount of research required in order to get details right - and how mistakes are inevitable, regardless.

Links:

Lydia's Books -

CONTROL & CATALYST

AMONG THE SHADOWS

THE NOVEMBER GIRL

QUACKERY: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WORST WAYS TO CURE EVERYTHING

A BEAUTIFUL POISON

CYCLO

Lydia's Social Media -

Site

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Medical Mondays