Queries, Qualms, & Quirks

Romance Author Ruby Barrett joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss having your best friend as your first reader, Pitch Wars, learning about story structure, the importance of feedback, being inspired by a tweet, jealousy vs envy, the benefit of your friends getting published before you, how unemployment lead to her new career, how music inspires her writing.

Ruby Barrett (she/her) writes steamy romances about big feelings...

Thriller Author Ashley Winstead joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss dreams deferred, not getting into an MFA, feeling like a Pitch Wars Showcase failure, how much easier writing the second book was, the importance of writing friends, making up new things to worry about, and having the courage to be the writer you want to be...

Mystery Author Kathleen Marple Kalb joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss querying in high school, getting rejections while sitting in a hospital waiting room, debuting in a pandemic, how Law & Order helps our writing, how working in news rooms has influenced her writing, writing headlines, and the importance of knowing your genre.

Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order...

Literary Fiction Author Kirthana Ramisetti joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss how she accidentally got a songwriter credit, an overnight success 20 years in the making, bucking trends, finding the social media that works for you, how quarantine changed her writing process, and what TV show inspired a character's name.

Kirthana Ramisetti is the author of Dava Shastri's Last Day, a Good Morning America Book Club pick...

Disney Author Mari Mancusi joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss writing romance without yet understanding what it was, how she came to write Frozen books, not being afraid of the word no, the importance of reversion clauses, and the challenge with writing so many genres.

Mari Mancusi is an Emmy award winning former TV news producer who has written over 30 novels to kids, teens and adults...

Young Adult Author Heidi Heilig joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss throwing away 600+ pages, getting an offer while on bedrest, making your main character more active, the magic in rewrites, transitioning to writing solo after having a writing partner, how being a receptionist helps her writing, and writing depression accurately but keeping it active...

Sci-Fi Thriller Author Rob Hart joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss realizing what books could do, the protection the writing community can provide, having your book deal canceled, the benefit of a wide range of publishing experiences, Chuck Palahniuk, the domino effect of bad sales history, and we went on a tangent about writers getting paid for their time...

Young Adult Author Derek Milman joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss going from acting to writing, how his brother's bachelor party launched his writing career, meeting agents for coffee, two atypical experiences at opposite ends of the spectrum, the last book tour before the pandemic, media mail, focusing on the work in the middle of the business, and being careful about choosing a publisher...

Middle Grade Author Maria Frazer joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss Google and Twitter University, #dvpit, figuring out her category, meeting friends through pitch contests, the importance of calling yourself a writer, the purpose of language, working with an editor who rejected the book, waiting for a book deal to get announced, being rejected by your peers, writing on your phone to trick your brain, and learning about taxes...

Middle Grade Author Shakirah Bourne joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss the benefit of saying yes to everything, getting distracted from pursuing publication, being 100% confident in a project that doesn't go anywhere, querying without knowing your genre, googling everything, publishing from outside the US, the unfairness of the publishing process, and how you will always have another dream project...