Join host Shawna Rodrigues on this exciting episode of Author Express as she welcomes bestselling and award-winning authors Kimberley Woodhouse and Tracie Peterson. You'll learn about this dynamic duo's long-standing friendship and collaboration that has produced nearly 200 books. Discover intriguing facts about their hometowns and learn how a fan letter sparked a 30-year bond and successful partnership. Listen in as they share their love for settings like Kalispell, Montana, and their passion for weaving deep, layered stories. Get inspired by their expert insights on writing, research, and maintaining creativity. Tune in for an engaging conversation that promises to offer both laughter and valuable takeaways for aspiring writers and avid readers alike.

Support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy of With Each Tomorrow at Bookshop.org -https://bookshop.org/a/90599/9780764238994

Shawna Rodrigues left her award-winning career in the public sector in 2019 to consult and publish her first novel Beyond the Pear Blossoms. Her desire to connect and help others led to the launch of her podcast The Grit Show shortly thereafter. When she learned women host only 27% of podcasts, her skills and passion led to the founding of the Authentic Connections Network. She now helps mission-driven entrepreneurs better connect with their audiences by providing full-service podcast production and through a community for Entrepreneurs & Podcasters – EPAC. Podcasting is her primary focus, so she continues to support the writing community through this podcast, and her writing time is mostly focused on anthologies.

She offers a free 7 Steps to Perfect Your Podcast Title to anyone interested in launching a podcast. You can also follow her on Instagram-@ShawnaPodcasts, and learn more about the network and community at https://linktr.ee/37by27.

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After running marketing and communications campaigns for organizations like The Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Mellon University, and the The TriBeCa Film Festival, L.L. Kirchner ditched the corporate world and moved to India. She moved to New York City to write and teach yoga, and how she’s an award-winning screenwriter and Pushcart-nominated author whose life and work as an expat in Asia became the basis of two memoirs, including BLISSFUL THINKING: A Memoir of Overcoming the Wellness Revolution, and AMERICAN LADY CREATURE: My Change in the Middle East. A Qatar Memoir (named one of Bustle’s “11 Books to Battle the Blues").

Her forthcoming trilogy, the Queenpin Chronicles, debuted with her novel, FLORIDA GIRLS which released May 28, 2024. You can support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy now through Bookshop.org at this link- https://bookshop.org/a/90599/9798985815245

Author Express listeners, get a free audio bonus of LL Kirchner reading the intro to Florida Girls at http://tinyurl.com/FloridaBookIntro

Get her latest writing as well as craft and publishing tips at https://illbehavedwomen.com.

To find your ideal meditation style, check out https://llkirchner.com/short-moments and click around!

Find her on Instagram at @LLKirchner_ and TikTok @LLKirchner

Kristi Leonard is a modern Renaissance woman deeply rooted in the book world. When she's not immersed in crafting novels, she's orchestrating writing retreats through her business, Writers in the Wild, or lending her voice to non-fiction audiobooks. She leads the Women’s Fiction Writers Association as the president of the board, and interviews her writer pals as one of the hosts of the Author Express Podcast. She will start querying her first book in 2024.

Beyond the realm of words, Kristi embraces the Florida sunshine by hiking with her writer-hiker group and leisurely walks on the beach. She and her husband juggle a couple side businesses and take turns sharing the couch with their goofy Golden-doodle, Maddie. Kristi enjoys travel adventures with her twin sister and living vicariously through her grown children. You can learn more about her and connect at: https://linktr.ee/kristileonard.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to Author Express wherever you listen to podcasts and to follow us on Instagram @AuthorExpressPodcast

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On today’s show we get to meet Margaret Johnson, who’s published by Lake Union Publishing under the pen-name Kitty Johnson. Margaret doesn’t mind whether people call her Margaret or Kitty – she answers to both names!

Margaret first started writing in her twenties after finishing a Fine Art degree. Faced with an uncertain future – making money from art is a notoriously precarious prospect – Margaret had the bright idea of writing a best-selling novel to finance her painting career. This first novel was never published – she says she basically swapped one precarious way of living for another - but by the time it was completed, Margaret had firmly caught the writing bug. Since then, her writing career has included romance novels published by small publishing houses, a raft of graded readers for academic publishers which have sold around the world, as well as women's fiction which she self-published before she snagged an agent – the wonderful Carly Watters of PS Literary – via a pitch event organized by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. That was her gateway to publication by Lake Union Publishing – Five Winters was published on the 1st of January 2023, and Prickly Company is to be published on 28th May 2024. A third novel – Closest Kept – will be published sometime in 2025.

Margaret frequently draws on her life and experience for her writing – with Five Winters, she used her memories of hopeless crushes in her teens and twenties, as well as her strong yearning to have a child. Prickly Company was partly inspired by the small community where she lives, as well as by her experience as a volunteer for the charity Hodmedods Hedgehog Support. She also drew on her observations of students at the beginning of a new course – the way different characters come to the fore, and others stay back, and how some people can dominate proceedings if the teacher isn’t careful.

You can learn more about Margaret on her website at https://www.kittyjohnsonbooks.com and follow her on Instagram @kittyjohnsonbooks-which will be the best place to be kept up to date on her next release!

Support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy of Five Winters or pre-ordering your copy of Prickly Company from Bookshop.org.

Author and musical composer Kathleen Basi is mother to three boys and one chromosomally-gifted daughter. Her debut novel, A SONG FOR THE ROAD, follows a musician on an unconventional road trip. Bestselling author Kerry Anne King writes, “In a novel filled with music, heartbreak, and surprising laughter, Basi takes us on a journey that encompasses both unimaginable loss and the powerful resilience of the human heart.”

Meaty, earnest, occasionally humorous, and ultimately uplifting, Kathleen’s fiction highlights the best within ourselves and each other. She writes monthly reflections on life, writing and beauty on her newsletter. Subscribe at https://kathleenbasi.substack.com/.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to Author Express wherever you listen to podcasts and to follow us on Instagram @AuthorExpressPodcast

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