We all know that a Mary Alice Monroe novel is a ‘must have’ for a trip to the beach and with many beaches still closed (due to the Corona virus restrictions) her new novel, On Ocean Boulevard, is the perfect antidote.  Mary Alice joins Lynda to talk about the return to her beloved Beach House series – a family story that her readers have followed for nearly 2 decades.

In this episode, Mary Alice shares how launching and promoting On Ocean Boulevard has been different in the wake of a pandemic and the way in which the novel’s storyline has proved to be prescient.  She talks about seeing this forced isolation as a gift and shares a personal story from her past that changed her life. She opens up about the tricky balancing act of raising a family while staying true to her craft and has wonderful advice about it!

Mary Alice is also the author of 2 children’s books; A Turtle Summer and A Butterfly Called Hope. She talks about why she wrote these and the dynamics of working with an illustrator.

This episode is packed with nuggets of inspiration, revelation and affirmation for every writer.

Mary Alice Monroe is the best-selling author of 23 novels including her popular Beach House series. More than 7.5 million copies of her books have been published worldwide. She's earned numerous accolades and awards, including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors' Hall of Fame.   http://www.maryalicemonroe.com

Season Sponsor:
Audio Book Solution / Audivita Studios

Friends and Fiction -Facebook live event hosted by Mary Alice.

Buy the Book - https://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Boulevard-Beach-House/dp/198214694X

Learn more about Lynda and this podcast:
http://www.BookingAuthorsInk.com

Subscribe:
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S3E2 – Kristy Woodson Harvey – 'Feels Like Falling' Rises as a Narrative Vaccine – We are all looking for an escape right now and Kristy Woodson Harvey provides the perfect antidote to isolation with her new book Feels Like Falling which debuts April 28th.

Let’s face it - a strong Southern writer with grit is no match for a pandemic. Kristy shares her unique experience of launching a book in the midst of a global health crisis and offers encouragement to writers whose events have been side-lined. She sees this pandemic as a creative gift that has forced her to think differently in order to connect with her readers.

She is collaborating with several best-selling authors, including Mary Alice Monroe & Mary Kay Andrews, to launch  ‘Friends in Fiction’ which will support the work of fellow fiction writers while introducing their work to a new audience.  

This episode is full of insights, personal revelations and real-world advice. It’s a roadmap to success in the midst of uncertain times.

Kristy is the best-selling author of 6 novels including the popular Peachtree Bluff series. She is proof positive that great things can happen when you just keep writing!   http://www.kristywoodsonharvey.com

Season Sponsor:
Audio Book Solution / Audivita Studios

Learn more about Lynda and this podcast:
http://www.BookingAuthorsInk.com

Subscribe:
You can subscribe to Literary Latte on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher or wherever your favorite podcasts live. If you enjoyed this episode be sure to share it and listen to others here.

Buy the book   - 'Feels Like Falling'  

“I have gone to my favorite bookstore for years, always finding the one book I wanted - and then three more I hadn’t known I wanted.”
― Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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Shortly after Lynda created her literary marketing firm, Booking Authors Ink, one of her first clients was the psycholinguistic trailblazer Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought.  In this episode Lynda shares the impact their meeting had on the way she now thinks about marketing, how it forever changed her and taught her to think outside the lines when creating publicity campaigns for her authors.

As Lynda travels around the south on publicity tours with her authors and as a new season of books hit the store shelves, it’s more important than ever for authors to think about effective ways to turn a book browser into a buyer.  

Thousands of books are being published every hour! There are lots of choices. So what important choices do readers make when deciding which books they buy or want to spend precious time reading? How can you, as an author, increase the odds they’ll buy your book?  Enter the psychology of choice. Lynda breaks down the 9 steps book browsers take along the way to a book purchase and she tells us what drives customers to buy the books they do.

Whether you are in the beginning stages of your writing life or a seasoned author, this episode will help you attract more readers. You’ll understand why readers choose the books they do at bricks and mortar bookstores, how you turn a customer into a READER and how you can tip the scales in your favor.

Season Sponsor: Audio Book Solution / Audivita Studios 

Discover more about Booking Authors Ink and this podcast 

The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker  

This is an episode from the vault. My conversation with the award – winning Poet, Adrian Rice is one of my favorites. I went back and listened to it again and I’d forgotten how much fun it was talking with Adrian. He shares some really important points about writing and poetry in particular. Plus, I could listen to his accent all day long.  Since this interview Adrian has published a new collection of poems titled – The Strange Estate: New & Selected Poems. It’s also interesting to see what’s changed and what hasn’t changed on this podcast. You’ll notice the music and intro have changed but the underlying principal that writing is hard work and takes commitment is the through-line of every episode. 

Adrian Rice, joins Lynda from his front porch in Hickory, N.C.  in this episode from Season 1. Adrian shares the back-story of his poetic journey, one that brought him to N.C. from Northern Ireland and he shines a spotlight on the importance of poetry in our world today.  In this episode he talks about his collection of poems, titled, Hickory Station, published by Press 53. The collection garnered the praise of Nobel Prize winning writer, Seamus Heaney, among others. Adrian is also an accomplished musician who, along with band mate Alyn Mearns, formed The Belfast Boys. They frequently play gigs in and around Hickory, N.C. and have incorporated Adrian’s poetry into original songs.  

From Belfast, Ireland, Adrian’s first poetry sequence, Muck Island, a collaboration with leading Irish artist Ross Wilson, is housed in the Tate Modern in London and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

His first full collection, The Mason’s Tongue, was shortlisted for the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Literary Prize and nominated for the Irish Times Prize for Poetry.

Adrian Rice found the lifeline of poetry in high school, but didn’t start writing until his mid-twenties, his first poems coming out (as one Ulster poet put it) “fully formed”. From the early exploration of the creative constrictions and liberations of the northern Protestant tradition, to his mind-full meditations on his American porch, Rice, in this startlingly rich and emotionally varied collection, fashions and recovers images of place and belonging. The Strange Estate: New & Selected Poems 1986–2017 is a landmark collection on both sides of the Atlantic.

He delivers writing workshops, readings and lectures throughout the UK, Ireland and America. Adrian will be a faculty workshop presenter at the High Road Festival of Poetry & Short Fiction, March 27-29, 2020.     http://adrianrice.com

High Road Festival of Poetry & Short Fiction (March 27-28, 2020) Register here: https://www.press53.com/high-road-festival

Follow The Belfast Boys:  https://tinyurl.com/thebelfastboys

Buy the Book : https://tinyurl.com/thestrangeestate

Discover more about Lynda and this podcast: http://www.BookingAuthorsInk.com

“Fear is the major cargo that American writers must stow away when the writing life calls them into carefully chosen ranks.” –Pat Conroy

Bren McClain is fearless in her writing life and in this season finale episode the acclaimed author of ‘One Good Mama Bone’ provides the perfect coda to our conversation in episode 11 - http://bookingauthorsink.com/literary-latte-s2e11-bren-mcclain/ 

Bren’s writing journey was not always an easy one and she poignantly shares the struggles and lessons learned on her way to publication.  Bren considers herself a 27 year overnight success. She is honest about the realities of the ever-changing publishing landscape and she offers encouragement for every writer.

Bren is the personification of grit and grace.  In this episode she talks with me about the importance of never giving up.  NEVER.  The publication of ‘One Good Mama Bone’ changed her life.  She calls it ‘the work of her heart.’ Great writing always finds its audience and her book reached a French publisher who embraced it, thought it was a tour de force and the French edition - ‘Mama Red’ - has just been released by Éditions Le Nouveau Pont. 

Bren never disappoints. Her novel explores the strengths and limitations of parental love and the healing power of the human-animal bond. It’s a story that has resonated with readers. The advice she shares in this episode will resonate with writers as well.  http://www.brenmcclain.com

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Last Sip – I’ve got some breaking news! This is my last podcast episode for a while. I am taking a hiatus to finish a couple of books I’ve been working on that have been simmering on the back burner far too long.

It’s bitter-sweet just thinking about unplugging the microphone. This has been a labor of love, a magic carpet ride with memorable guests who brought salient advice, wisdom and humor to each episode. And I hope that as listeners - you’ve learned to think differently about your own writing lives. This isn’t the end, though, but rather a ‘stay tuned…’  So, in the meantime, if you need help and direction with your book marketing efforts please call on me – BOOKING AUTHORS INK specializes in publicity and marketing for Southern writers. 

Thanks so so much to all the super star authors who sat down with me to share their stories over the last 2 seasons. And especially to David & Kody who helped make it possible.  Until we meet here again, keep writing & thank you for listening.

Buy ‘One Good Mama Bone’ - https://tinyurl.com/buymamabone

Listen to ‘Mama Red’ in French - https://tinyurl.com/mamared

Buy it in French - https://tinyurl.com/frenchmamared 

Bren’s tribute to Pat Conroy - https://tinyurl.com/rememberpatconroy

Discover more about your host & Booking Authors Ink – http://www.BookingAuthorsInk.com

A Secret is shared. A Story is born. Read the first paragraph of ‘One Good Mama Bone’ by Bren McClain and you’ll know why the late Pat Conroy wanted this stunning debut novel for his imprint (Story River Books). It’s Southern to the core. It’s about motherhood. It’s beautifully written. Bren’s writing is distinguished by a sophisticated and detailed portrayal of the day-to-day realities of rural poverty and an authentic sense of time and place that marks the best southern fiction.

Award-winning novelist Bren McClain talks with Lynda about meeting Pat Conroy and how it changed her life. She shares the way this story came to her and how she eventually found the missing piece that made the story work. Bren explains the risk of keeping your characters ‘safe,’ and the way a teacher’s belief in her writing kept her on the path to completing her award winning novel, ‘One Good Mama Bone.’

‘One Good Mama Bone’, was named a Great Group Reads 2017 Selection by the Women’s National Book Association, was chosen as a 2017 Okra pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and is winner of the 2017 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction.

Bren is at work on her next novel (working title: ‘Took’) which won the 2016 William Faulkner –William Wisdom Novel-in-Progress award. Bren was born and raised in Anderson, South Carolina, on beef cattle and grain farm and now makes her home on 100 acres outside of Nashville, Tennessee.  https://www.brenmcclain.com/

• NOTE: Bren and Lynda kept the conversation going. Be sure and meet us back here in November. Bren is Literary Latte’s season finale’ guest. You won’t want to miss it.

This Week’s Sponsors:

McIntosh Book Shoppe

Buy the Book : https://www.amazon.com/Good-Mama-Story-River-Books/dp/1611177464

Award-winning author Rea Frey sits down with Lynda to talk about her new domestic suspense novel, ‘Because You’re Mine.’ The book revolves around lots of secrets and unpredictable characters. It’s a gut-wrenching mystery with a heart-breaking, unexpected ending. It asks – how well do we really know our friends?

You may know Rea from her debut novel - ‘Not Her Daughter ‘- which launched her into the fiction market and onto best-seller lists. Her previous books were non-fiction. They focused on health, cheating boyfriends and detoxing before pregnancy.

Rea tells us what it’s like getting your debut novel published and then optioned for a TV series. Today we get into Rea’s writing life, her work ethic and why you need to think of your book differently once it’s published.

Rea is a brand specialist, who helps her clients hone and refine their ideas but it wasn’t until she was at an airport, waiting to board a flight that the idea for her debut novel came to her. She wrote it in one month. Rea talks about the way writing ‘Not Her Daughter’ changed her life.

In this episode, Rea talks about the business of writing and she has salient advice for writers. We dive into the motivation for writing ‘Because You’re Mine.’ Rea takes us along for the ride where lines are crossed, morals are questioned and there’s a secret reveal. You might say it’s a cliffhanger.

https://www.reafrey.com/books

Buy the book - https://www.amazon.com/Because-Youre-Mine-Rea-Frey/dp/1250166446

This Week’s Sponsors:
McIntosh Book Shoppe
The Beaufort Bookstore

Learn more about Lynda and this podcast:
http://www.BookingAuthorsInk.com