Today we are talking with Laurie Scheer. Often referred to as the Media Goddess, Laurie works with writers and is involved in every aspect of writing - from conception to publication. A former Entertainment Industry executive, Laurie analyzed manuscripts and scripts as they entered the competitive media marketplace. In her role as Faculty Associate and the Director of UW Madison’s annual Writers’ Institute for over a decade, Laurie mentored hundreds of writers in person and online. Laurie is a professional speaker and consultant. She has published two books and shares her ‘pathway to publication’ stories so writers won’t make the same mistakes. Writers who work with Laurie know they are not only perfecting their craft but also understanding how to navigate the media industries. Laurie is a developmental editor, writing coach, Fellowship Mentor with Women in Film and Video in DC, co-creator of the Planet Women Journey to Publication Indigenous Writing Fellowship, and our Wisconsin Writers Association Vice President. She currently offers WWA Virtual Critique Groups and serves on the WWA Events and WWA Education Committees to assure quality programs throughout the year for WWA members.LINKS:lascheer@mac.com

This Chapter Break episode features Robb Grindstaff and his latest publication Bones of Dead Man’s Bluff.Bio: Robb’s journalism career took him from small southern towns to Washington DC, five years in Tokyo, and nine years in Wisconsin. He has five novels and a short story collection published with a small press. Robb is also a fiction editor and teacher, having edited more than 200 books, and has taught writing courses for writing organizations around the world, including the Novel-in-Progress Book Camp in Racine, Wisconsin. Robb’s writing is best classified as contemporary southern lit, although he experiments a bit to keep things interesting. Robb currently lives in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri with his wife and his neurotic dog.Logline: Even the most powerful men can’t prevent dark secrets of the past from washing ashore.Synopsis: Worth Sullivan is the celebrity pastor of the globally renowned Harvest Fields megachurch. Kirk Madison is an esteemed former US Army general and popular US senator. Both men came from humble beginnings in the Ozarks, but today are highly successful beacons of hope and leadership in a nation torn apart by political and social divisions. Then Kirk announces he’s running for president.Decades earlier, Worth and Kirk witnessed the death of a young girl and agreed to never speak of it. While Kirk seems to have made his peace, Worth still dreams of the dead girl every night. The deep forensics of presidential campaigns makes it likely this indiscretion will soon come to light—taking down Kirk’s campaign, destroying Worth’s life, and possibly pushing the nation into full-blown civil war. Can Worth set things right, or will the dead girl seek justice on her own?

Bio: Karol Lagodzki, a native of Poland, is an English-language author of fiction. His stories have appeared in numerous journals, and he has won Panel Magazine’s Ruritania Prize for Short Fiction. Controlled Conversations is his debut novel.He holds an MFA in creative writing and buys more books than he can read or afford. Karol’s non-writing careers have ranged from fixing stucco while dangling from roofs to developing medical devices for the critically ill.Karol lives halfway down a Southern Indiana ravine with his wonderful, unconventional family, a scurry of squirrels, a passel of possums, a gaze of raccoons, a descent of woodpeckers, and a large dog. Synopsis: In 1982 Soviet-controlled Poland—a time and place of suspicion and mistrust—when geopolitical forces and violent men descend upon her little town of Zygmuntowo, Emilia must decide if she’s willing to risk prison or worse for self-respect and for her unexpected lover. The only daughter of a local Communist Party apparatchik, Emilia has enjoyed a sheltered life, but with the advent of martial law, her mother’s influence can no longer shield her. She faces choices she never expected to make when she discovers her best friend’s and lover’s involvement with the resistance. With new allies and enemies in town, the time to choose a side is now.Links & Events:Website: klagodzki.com August 29, 7 PM EST, Tomorrow Bookstore, Indianapolis, IN: a book release celebration, including a reading followed by a Q&A and a signing. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-release-karol-lagodzkis-controlled-conversations-tickets-906243277037 September 7, 1 PM CST, Rubber Rose Books and Print in Kankakee, IL: a reading, discussion, and signing. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/author-event-karol-lagodzki-tickets-995660867457September 20, 6:30 PM EST, Second Flight Books, Lafayette, IN: a discussion and signing; in conversation with the author, Agata Brewer. https://main-street-books.com/eventsSeptember 28, 2 PM EST, Indy Reads, Indianapolis, IN: a reading, discussion, and signing. The event benefits the Indy Reads literacy not-for-profit and is part of their Banned Books Week programming. https://indyreads.org/event/author-reading-karol-lagodzki/October 18-19. Louisville Book Festival, Louisville, KY. Time slot TBD (an update will be provided on the author’s website, klagodzki.com). https://www.louisvillebookfestival.com/October 28, 6 PM EST, Busboys and Poets Takoma, Washington, DC. A book discussion with Lee Feinstein, a former US Ambassador to Poland, followed by a book signing. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/controlled-conversations-a-busboys-and-poets-books-presentation-tickets-978855823117November 2, all day. Kentucky Book Festival, Lexington, KY. https://kybookfestival.org/2024-2/

This Chapter Break episode features Lukas Klessig and his latest publication Words With My Father: A Bipolar Journey Through Turbulent Times.  Lukas edits and manages his late father Lowell's intellectual property.  He lives near Stevens Point and looks after the family's investments and real estate.Words With My Father explores how his father's bipolar disorder led to a perilous involvement in the Civil Rights, Antiwar and Conservation Movements. Their narrative memoirs offers readers truths for better mental health through example and storytelling.LINKS:https://wordswithmyfather.com/

In this episode we touch on:Fear as a core component to writer's blockInterviewing characters to appear in your bookJohn DeDakis (de-DAY-kiss) is a novelist, writing coach, manuscript editor, and former editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." DeDakis is the author of six mystery-suspense novels. In his most recent novel, Enemies Domestic, protagonist Lark Chadwick is a pregnant White House press secretary forced to make her extremely personal abort-or-not-to-abort decision in a highly toxic and polarized political fishbowl—all while dealing with an attack on the presidency itself.  A native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, DeDakis now lives in Baltimore. DeDakis, a former White House correspondent, is a 1977 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism school and worked as news director at WLSU radio (88.9 NPR) in La Crosse and as a reporter/anchor at WMTV (NBC) in Madison. His first two novels, Fast Track and Bluff are set in south central Wisconsin.  LINKS:https://johndedakis.com/

David Nash is an author and singer songwriter from the Driftless Area writing emotionally driven, compelling, page-turning fiction. His novels include “The Man in the Pines” (Ten16 Press, 2020), “In Wells’ Time” (Unsolicited Press, 2024), and a yet-to-be titled dark fiction anthology about Northern Wisconsin and witchcraft (Unsolicited Press, 2026). He is a two-time finalist of the Iron Pen Contest as well as the Great River Folk Festival Songwriting Competition. He is a member of the Mississippi Valley Writer's Guild and a regular reader at Adult Story Time with the La Crescent/La Crosse Public Library.In Wells' Time is the story of a cursed, time-stealing life and a family’s journey to understand the brother who lived it. For Wells Monasmith, this magic is both a gift and a curse. For his family, it is a reality they must come to terms with as they learn from the triumphs and failures of the brother who lived an entire life between the pages of time. Exploring themes of time-travel and family dynamics, the story nudges the reader to ask, how should we spend our time?LINKS:https://davidnashcollective.com/

Ever wonder what habits may be inhibiting your writing? Too much throat clearing or tautologies? How about filters? If you're not sure what those are, take a listen to this episode.Robb Grindstaff’s career as a journalist and media executive took him from Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, Washington DC, five years in Asia, and nine years in Wisconsin. He has five novels and a short story collection published with a small press. As a freelance editor, he has edited more than 200 books over the past 17 years, including clients who are agented, traditionally published, and bestselling independent authors.Robb has also taught writing courses for organizations like Romance Writers of America (even though he’s not a romance writer), Romance Writers of Australia (even though he’s not Australian), and the Novel-in-Progress Book Camp in Racine, Wisconsin. Robb’s writing is best classified as contemporary southern lit, although he experiments a bit to keep things interesting. Robb currently lives in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri with his wife and his neurotic dog.LINKS:Website - https://robbgrindstaff.comFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/robbgrindstaffwriter/Substack - http://robbgrindstaff.substack.com

Charm City Crab Puff - Published April 2024Pamela Kyel (pronounced Kyle) was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Thanks to the US Air Force, life has taken her from Maryland to Montana to Italy and points in between. As the spouse of a now-retired military member, she had a front-row seat to the military's workings and used that in her Charm City series.Special Agent Laci Duvall, AFOSI, expects life to be like her favorite beverage. Sweet and strong. So, what happens when someone throws a lemon in her tea? She finds who did it and gets even. But fate drops a twisted tea bag when lead investigator, Baltimore City Police Detective Antonio Desio walks into the room. Laci abandoned Desio to marry the dead man before them, and he bypasses tea for fine Italian wine. This case has the markings of a guzzling sweet tea straight-from-the-pitcher kind of day, and Laci and Desio learn they have to work together to solve it. LINKS:

Michelle Meyer is a poet and author of The Trouble with Being a Childless Only Child (Cornerstone Press, 2024) and The Book of She (2021), a poetry and visual art collaboration devoted to women. Recent work appears or is forthcoming in ONE ART, Autumn Sky, Tabula Rasa, Under Her Eye: A Blackspot Books Anthology, and Welter Journal among others. In addition, Michelle has written, directed, and produced numerous one-act plays and skits for children and adults. When not van traveling around the U.S. or pet sitting in Europe, she lives in western Wisconsin.Written after the unexpected death of her mother, Michelle Meyer’s The Trouble with Being A Childless Only Child takes root in the body, exploring loss and trauma along with the sexual and social dynamics of one woman’s place among men. Part epistolary and part memoir, Meyer questions her own role in creating the boundaries that defined her mother’s life while reaching, often in vain, for clarity through the fog of loss. Serving as both tribute and penance, each poem is a funeral song versed with longing, and ultimately hope, for spiritual release.LINKS:Website: https://www.michellemeyerwrites.com/Instagram: @meeshmeyerwritesUpcoming event:Plum City Public Library Author Talk, Tuesday, August 27 at 6:30pmOngoing event: Postings of each poem from The Trouble With Being a Childless Only Child on Instagram @meeshmeyerwrites to commemorate the five-year anniversary of Michelle's mother's passing.

A former professor of neuroscience, Mary writes fiction, memoir, and short stories. “Abbey Girls,” (published in 2015) is a memoir she wrote with her sister, Valerie Behan, about their childhood in Ireland. Her first novel, “A Measured Thread,” (published in 2020) is set in Wisconsin and Ireland, was named a Top 100 Indie Book in 2020, a finalist in the Page Turner Awards, and an eLit medal winner. “Kernels” (published in 2021) is a collection of short stories. Her stories have been published in the Irish Literary Journal Crossways and received Honorable Mention in Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in 2021. In “Finding Isobel” we follow the journey of a young woman named Isobel Babić, whose life takes an unexpected turn after the death of Maggie O’Connor, her de facto grandmother. While she was growing up in Canada, Isobel’s parents refused to tell her anything about how they came to adopt her, only that she was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Empowered by a bequest from Maggie, Isobel sets out to uncover the mystery surrounding her background. Her journey takes her from Wisconsin to New Zealand, and ultimately to Sarajevo. Along the way she encounters a diverse cast of characters, each with their own secrets and stories. Isobel discovers that the past holds far more than mere answers, setting her up for a future she could never have imagined. LINKS:mvbehan.com

TK SHEFFIELD WRITES STORIES FOR READERS TO LAUGH AND ESCAPE.THE BACKYARD MODEL MYSTERIES ARE FUNNY WHODUNNITS, MYSTERIES SERVED WITH A BRANDY OLD FASHIONED AND CHEESE CURDS.THEY FEATURE MEL TOWER, A FORMER FASHION MODEL WHO USES HER SKILL AT SPOTTING “POSERS” TO SOLVE CRIMES.THEY’BE BEEN DESCRIBED AS LIKE “TAKING A WISCONSIN VACATION IN A BOOK.”THEY’VE EARNED AWARDS INCLUDING A KILLER NASHVILLE READERS’ CHOICE NOMINATION, AN IPPY BRONZE MEDAL, AND A TOP 100 NOTABLE INDIE. TK IS TEACHING A CLASS ABOUT WRITING SHORT DESCRIPTIONS AT THE WWA EVENT IN OCTOBER. SIGN UP FOR THIS WORKSHOP THAT’S FUN AND HELPFUL!Links:AVAILABLE AT LOCAL INDIES, GIFT SHOPS, BOOKSHOP.ORGModel Wave (Working Title "Pontoon") was selected as a Killer Nashville Claymore Award Top Pick 2024.October 2024MYSTERY TO ME:YES! I’m thrilled to be talking with Doug Moe at Mystery to Me in Madison on Oct. 22 at 6p. Oct. 22 Sign up in advance HERE.WISCONSIN WRITERS ASSOCIATION Fall Conference:Teaching a class about book branding and writing short descriptions. It’s a boot camp without the sweat, LOL. November 2024Nov. 2: Literatus Books in Watertown with the amazing Valerie Biel from 10-2. Book signing and giveaways December Winter/Holiday Markets 2024Winter Market at Daydream Believer in Lake Mills (TBA)Winter Market Frankies Book Nook in Theinsville (TBA)

Award-winning publisher Kira Henschel founded HenschelHAUS Publishing in 2002 after working as production manager at a small, independent press, preparing textbooks for McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall, and 16 academic journals. She holds a master's degree in Engineering Management and bachelors' degrees in Geology and International Relations.Kira also taught at Milwaukee School of Engineering's as an adjunct professor in the School of Business. Her technical background served her well when she lived in Austria, in the heart of Europe, for 13 years.  Ever the entrepreneur, Kira established a technical translation agency and was asked to help translate books from German to English on a wide range of topics. As a book coach, she has been guiding authors down the path to publication for more than 25 years and has published over 500 titles. Website:https://henschelhausbooks.com/

Today we’re launching our Chapter Break episode series. These are a short-form version of our normal show and will feature authors speaking on their latest book publication, with insight to the story origin and an excerpt reading. In this episode we’re talking with Sue Leamy Kies. Sue is a retired high school English teacher who lives in Platteville. After almost thirty years in the classroom at Platteville High School, Sue has focused her efforts on writing a memoir of her teaching experiences, intertwined with memories of her teen years at that same school. It is called “My Homecoming Dance: Reflections on Teaching in Wisconsin.”Sue’s writing has appeared in Wisconsin Woman Magazine, The Wisconsin State Journal, The Illinois English Bulletin, The Voice of the River Valley, and The Wisconsin Academy Review. In 2021 the Center for Applied Drama and Autism chose her play Back, about a disabled veteran, to be performed for their One-Act Play Festival. The Platteville Library Foundation published her children’s book called Saving Sadie in 2017, and Sassy’s Vacation, her second kid’s book, was published by the Platteville Community Arboretum in 2022.Besides reading and writing, Sue enjoys spending time outdoors and with family, including her husband Dave, border collie mix Jojo, and backyard chickens Cluck and Buck.Website: sueleamykies.comAuthor appearances:June 11, 4:30pm CST - Platteville Public LibraryJune 22 - Hedberg Public Library Book Fest

Today, we are speaking with Phil Schomber and Jamie Swenson from the Hedberg Public Library. Located along the Rock River in Janesville, Wisconsin, the Library’s mission is to build community by providing inviting spaces to discover, share, create, and connect.Hedberg Public Library’s third Annual Book Fest is scheduled for Saturday, June 22. The day will feature a variety of free, craft-focused breakout sessions, a Masterclass taught by USA Today bestselling author Ann Garvin, an author fair/book sale, and a Friends of Hedberg Public Library Reception featuring a reading by Ms. Garvin. Writers who participate in Book Fest workshops are also invited to attend the evening reception. The focus of Book Fest is to bring our author community together for a day of fellowship, learning, and creativity. Links:https://www.hedbergpubliclibrary.org/book-fest

Today, we are speaking with Patrick O’Donnell. Patrick O’Donnell is a retired police sergeant with 25 years experience with the city of Milwaukee Police Department. During his police career he worked exclusively on the street in patrol, and he participated and supervised different special units (anti-gang unit, licensed premise unit, violent crime task force, and armed robbery unit). He is now the author of nine books, including the police procedurals Cops and Writers reference guides. His last four books in the Brew City Blues series are collaborations with Michael Anderle and is now working solo on another crime fiction series.Patrick hosts the popular Cops and Writers Podcast. O’Donnell’s Cops and Writers Facebook group that is 7,000 members strong has members of law enforcement from around the globe answering crime writer’s police procedural questions. O’Donnell lives in Wisconsin with his wife. He has four kids and one adorable granddaughter. In his spare time, he works out almost every day and enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle, smoking an occasional cigar with friends while they solve world problems and traveling.Links:https://www.copsandwriters.comThe Writers Detective Bureau https://www.writersdetective.comF.B.I. Case File Review https://jerriwilliams.comNYPD Looking Through the Looking Glass https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nypd-through-the-looking-glass/id1693103557

Today, we are speaking with Catherine Young. Catherine is author of the environmental memoir Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal and the eco-poetry collection Geosmin (pronounce: Jee’ ohz-min), the Midwest Book Awards Silver Medal winner. Her writing is published in literary anthologies and journals nationally and internationally and her work was solicited for the University of Wisconsin Press anthology The Driftless Reader.Catherine worked as a national park ranger, farmer, educator, and mother before completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. She earned degrees in Environmental Science, Physical Geography, and Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Catherine coaches writing, leads workshops, and records the weekly Landward podcast for WDRT. Rooted in farm life, Catherine lives with her family in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.Links:Website - http://www.catherineyoungwriter.com/Newsletter - catherineyoungwriter@gmail.com (Request to be added)  Podcast - http://www.catherineyoungwriter.com/podcasts.htmlYouTube presentation on Black Diamonds > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OF2duiIqAUBook group reading guide > https://www.torreyhouse.org/_files/ugd/ecc6a6_859e4c7bb6614b298dceece765a9f172.pdf Ekphrasis definition: a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art

April is National Poetry Month and today we are interviewing former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Max Garland. Max Garland’s newest book of poems is Into the Good World Again (2023). Other books include The Word We Used for It, winner of the Brittingham Poetry Prize, The Postal Confessions, winner of the Juniper Prize, and Hunger Wide as Heaven, winner of the Cleveland State Poetry Prize. He has received an NEA Poetry Fellowship, Michener Fiction fellowship, Bush Artist Fellowship, inclusion in Best American Short Stories, as well as fellowships in poetry and fiction from the Wisconsin Arts Board. Born and raised in Kentucky, where he worked for many years as a rural letter carrier on the route where he was born, Max is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, has taught writing at UW-Madison, is Professor Emeritus at UW-Eau Claire, and the former Writer-in-Residence for the City of Eau Claire.

Nicholas is a Thai-American poet from Wisconsin. Educated at the University of Montana (BA), the Iowa Writer’s Workshop (MFA), and the University of Denver (PhD), his work has been published over thirty times in various print and on-line journals. The author of two book-length poems, “North of Order” and “Book of Lake” his work has also received numerous national awards. The recipient of the Grist Pro-Forma Prize, the Black Warrior Review Poetry Prize, the Cutbank prize for Prose Poetry, The Red Hen Press Poetry Award, and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters Poetry Prize, his most recent book, “ORIENT,” received the 2018 CSU Open Book Poetry Award. Since receiving a Fulbright Fellowship in 2010-2011, Gulig’s creative and critical work has focused primarily on binary (mis)constructions of “eastern” and “western” cultural ideals as they occur in both popular and academic mediums. Of his writing, the poet Graham Foust has written that Gulig’s poems are “a record of someone struggling to find the vital combinations for the words with which he’s both struck and stuck, an essaying that succeeds in creating for us—in lines and stanzas and sentences—something akin to a new vocabulary.Currently, he lives in Fort Atkinson, WI with his wife and two daughters and teaches creative writing and poetics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.Links:WI Poet Laureate > https://wisconsinpoetlaureate.org/

Today, we are interviewing Sharon Woodhouse. Sharon was a traditional indie book publisher of presses she founded for over 25 years: Lake Claremont Press and Everything Goes Media. She currently owns Conspire Creative, a book business agency serving small publishers and aspiring and established, self-published and traditionally-published authors. Conspire Creative provides author business and milestone coaching, author management, project management, and publishing consulting services, including One Hour Calls with Publishing Pros, Pay-by-the-Minute Email Answers and Advice for Authors, online webinars, in-person workshops, and a virtual lunchtime discussion series on book marketing and author business topics. She is an enthusiastic advocate of authors, entrepreneurship, and authors making more money.LinksWebsite for Conspire Creative: https://www.conspirecreative.com/Website for Society of Midland Authors: https://midlandauthors.org/Twitter: @conspirecreativInstagram: @conspirecreativeSubstack: https://conspirecreative.substack.com/Medium: https://medium.com/@slowcharacter

Today we are excited to host author Tracey Sheffield, writing under the name TK Sheffield. She writes mysteries and screenplays for readers and viewers who want to laugh and escape. She grew up in Madison, but as a horse-obsessed teen, she bolted to the country as fast as she could. She has degrees from UW-Madison and Mount Mary University, and in addition to writing comic cozy mysteries—whodunnits served with a brandy old-fashioned and a side of cheese curds—she pens romantic comedies and children’s horse stories. She and her semi-retired pilot husband reside in rural Wisconsin, where, ironically, her head is in the clouds, imagining characters and stories, and his feet are firmly planted on the ground.Her debut comic cozy mystery, Model Suspect, released in November ’23 and has received six awards:RWA Honorable Mention for Excellence in MysterySouthwest Writers Best First Chapter awardTop 100 Notable Indie, Shelf Unbound magazinePurple Dragonfly winnerChanticleer Book Awards semi-finalist (finals TBA)Reader Views Bronze Award for Holiday/Seasonal StoriesIts sequel, Model Wave, releases in June ’24.Links:Website - https://tksheffieldwriter.com/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebackyardmodel/Frankie's Book Nook Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/frankiesbooknook/Blackbird Writers substack - https://blackbirdwriters.substack.com/Vellum writing software - https://vellum.pub/Atticus writing software - https://www.atticus.io/