This week’s guest is Cindy Maynard (Esperanza’s Way, Historium Press, June 2023). The inspiration for Maynard’s book came from her 500-mile trek of the Camino de Santiago in Spain at the age of 67 and her curiosity about what it would have been like for a woman making the same journey in the 13th century. Combining her love of history with her avid interest in the natural world, she fashioned a story that included the “physicians of the day” who dealt primarily in herbal medicine. She brings out a book every two years, spending one year in deep research, the other in the writing itself and also shares how a small winter festival in the Colorado mountains has been her best sales venue.

Cindy Burkart Maynard is passionate about history, and the natural world, a passion that adds rich detail and context to her historical fiction novels. Her characters come to life on the page as they portray what it was like to live in another time and place. She weaves compelling, dramatic stories based on strong characters facing daunting challenges. In addition to her works of historical fiction, she has co-authored two nonfiction works about the Colorado Plateau and the Desert Southwest and contributed articles to Images and Colorado Life and Utah Life Magazines. She has been active in many environmental and professional organizations.

To learn more about Cindy, click here.

My guest this week is Barbara Dullaghan (Secrets in the Hollow: A Sleepy Hollow Novel, MindStir Media, March 2023). Hear how her home town of Tarrytown, renamed Sleepy Hollow to revitalize the town’s tourist industry, serves as the backdrop to Barbara’s coming-of-age debut novel, how her local writing group’s format based on prompts led to her initially writing in vignettes, and how she pitched her novel to agents at a top NYC writing conference even though it wasn’t written yet (hint: not advisable). Deciding forego the agent/submissions process, she chose a hybrid publisher as her best option—the control and speed of self-publishing but with the help of people who knew the ins and outs of the system.

Dullaghan published in gifted education with Kendall Hunt and Prufrock Press, and her short stories and poetry can be found in three anthologies. She and her husband, Jack, now live in coastal North Carolina and love spending time at the beach with their three children, spouses, and six energetic grandchildren.

To learn more, click here.

Our guest this week is Donna Norman-Carbone (All That is Sacred, Red Adept Publishing, June 2023). Hear how two separate events, one with a well-known medium, came together to provide the inspiration for this award-winning debut, the advice Donna got from a famous author, and how the timing of her publisher’s offer caught her off-guard. We discuss what she did to create five different major characters and the fun swag that resulted as well as how networking with a fellow debut author led Donna to become a co-host of her own writer-focused podcast.

Donna Norman-Carbone, the award-winning author of All That is Sacred and Of Lies and Honey, published by Red Adept Publishing, has a passion for writing women’s fiction that tugs at the heartstrings. Donna is also co-host of the podcast, Authors Talking Bookish, and a tour guide for the Bookish Road Trip. Her writing affiliations include membership of WFWA and CAPA.

Donna is an English teacher in a small CT suburb, where she and her husband have raised three children, two Labrador retrievers and a Siamese cat. In her spare time, she enjoys reading a good book on a sunny Cape Cod beach (her happy place), spending quality time with family and friends and traveling overseas.

To learn more about Donna, click here.