Monica McCallen joins me to talk about Back In Your Arms, When I'm With You, which lesfic authors she would want to compete on an episode of Chopped with her, Leo and Chips and much more!
Listen to a bonus episode on Would You Rather with Monica on my Patreon page:
Sapphic Book Review is creating Bonus fun with lesfic authors | Patreon
Purchase Monica's books on her Amazon page: Amazon.com: Monica McCallan: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle
Follow Monica on Twitter: Monica McCallan (@MonicaMcCallan) / Twitter
Monica McCallen joins me to talk about Back In Your Arms, When I'm With You, which lesfic authors she would want to compete on an episode of Chopped with her, Leo and Chips and much more!
Listen to a bonus episode on Would You Rather with Monica on my Patreon page:
Sapphic Book Review is creating Bonus fun with lesfic authors | Patreon
Purchase Monica's books on her Amazon page: Amazon.com: Monica McCallan: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle
Follow Monica on Twitter: Monica McCallan (@MonicaMcCallan) / Twitter
I'm so excited to talk with today's guest. She's one of the best writers in lesfic. And my go to for a second chance romances. Monica McCallan Welcome, and thanks for joining me.
Monica:Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Laura:Back In Your Arms was released in October and has over 1200 ratings on Amazon and remains in the top 50 of lesfic books. Why do you think is so popular with fans?
Monica:Yeah. So I think you know, to the point you just made about when you want to read a second chance, romance, I'm one of your go toos. I think that I have realized as a writer, I just I love writing second chance romances, they are my favorite, I really get into them. There's so much emotion, even from when the characters meet the second time because of all of the feelings percolating below the surface from what went wrong the first time. And for me, it's always a wonderful story to tell. And I think that people feel that when they read it, you know, it's none of my books, I would say I've ever just been phoning it in and trying to write them. But some, you know, you hit points that are more difficult to get through than others as you're working your way to the end writing them. But for Back In Your Arms, I really loved writing it so much. And I think that that really shows I along with loving second chance romances. I love small town romance, I had some of that as well. And I think that, you know, I would hope that as I continue writing, I'm getting a little more polished and adept at being a writer. So this is of the 13 books I've written. Three of them are second chance romances. So Back In Your Arms is the most recent second chance romance that I've written. So I think that characters are resonating with the story. I think that you know, with a larger back catalogue at this point, people know to look for me a little bit more. So there's like the very human emotion driven side on why I think it connects with people. And then just the the practical marketing brand awareness side. I think people are, you know, more aware of me now than they probably would have been at any point in the past.
Laura:Yeah, and I like that. It's a second chance romance, but they weren't together before. They were pining after each other.
Monica:Yeah, I and I think you know, I guess like you could have a conversation or a debate on whether it would technically be a second chance romance because they kind of miss their first chance right? But there it was, they both had feelings like It looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it you know, the way they felt about one another informed their past lives and informs them reconnecting in the future. So I think because of that, I would for sure qualify it as a second chance romance.
Laura:They're both such great characters.
Monica:I think I've had a couple of characters that are a little more difficult to love from the get go but I tend to try and write both characters as likable people who just have their own personal issues that are holding them back and I think occasionally as it is in real life to other people will become collateral damage in you know, the the decision somebody who is already hurting would make but yeah, I mean, I I like to write likeable characters. I can't, for the life of me, straddle the line that people straddle when they're writing like the ice queen. Like I just it's not in me, I know my lane. I you know, I know what I do well, in maybe one day if I want to try and stretch myself and right in ice queen, I could think about that. But people who do that, well, I'm just so wildly impressed with because so
Laura:You're not going to be the new Milena or Lee Winter
Monica:No, gosh, not a snowball's chance in hell. Yeah. Milena McKay and Lee Winter they do it so well. It's so impressive.
Laura:When I'm With You is one of my comfort reads. Brooke is one of my major book crushes. The audio book was just released with Lori Prince narrating. Why do you think she's such a good fit for your books?
Monica:Yeah, I think so. I do have to admit to anybody listening, I am not a big audiobook person. I get very, it's funny, like I do all of my books in audio books now, because so many people started asking about them, but I don't really think about audio books, because I don't you know, that's not my preferred medium with engaging with a story. So when I was choosing my audiobook narrators and I was so so lucky to have a number of different options to go with. I actually solicited the help of Haley Cass, who has far more experience with audio books. And she helped me and we listened to the options and we talked about it. And that is how we decided to do Lori Prince and I think you know, not only just liking how her voice embodied the characters because again, like I like to write likable character, she has a very likable tone she can do very down to earth very girl next door kind of situation. You know, Abby Craden was one of the people they also said I could use and I was just like, blown away that that was even offered to me. But if we're talking about you know, like, she knocks ice queens out of the park. Yeah, she and she can embody that kind of standoffish, never unsure where their heads at. but I really like that Lori Prince is so accessible. And I think that she embodies very well in her style of delivery, the types of characters that I'm creating when I'm writing them.
Laura:she's my favorite for comedy as well. We listen to a lot of when we're doing a road trip her Robin Alexander books.
Monica:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Robin Alexander does a great job of actually like slapstick funny comedy. I think that my books have funny moments, or even just like sardonic moments, but they're not what I would ever classify as like a funny book. But if I ever wrote one, I would want Lori Prince to narrate that too.
Laura:She would have to. Is there any chance that Juliet or Hannah, from When I'm With You will be getting their own story?
Monica:Okay so, when you sent me this question, you said Julia, and Hannah, and I thought you might like them as a couple. And the point that I was going to make is, a couple of people have brought up to me honestly, more than a couple that I tend to write friends as seeming like there is a romantic interest there. And I, I don't know what that says about me as a person or the way I view friendships. We have not unpacked this in therapy yet. I'll have to get to it. I know there's lots of other ground to cover before that. But it is something that I've thought about more than a few times once people started bringing it up. Because people made the same comment when I published the first Lady Luck startups book, since about Avery and her two best friends are Brennan and Carter, each who are ultimately getting their own story already did Carter's I haven't done Brennan's yet. But when I published the second book with Carter, people told me that they had thought that Brennan and Carter were going to be a thing, which was like never my intention. So I still don't exactly know what I did. To make people think that I'm for Julia and Hannah, people actually said it to me as well. At this point, I don't have any plans for either of them to get their own kind of standalone novel. I really liked in cuffing season, bringing in characters that had appeared in another story, and it's not something that I've ever really done before. I tend to write stand alones. And well, you know, it's contemporary romance, they obviously all exist in the real world. They don't tend to pop up in one another's books, but it is something that I'm starting to do a little bit more. So no concrete plans, but never say never.
Laura:I love that Erica Lee, especially who can take characters from books and give them their own stories, or have them all interact.
Monica:It's such a talent. And I think that you know, readers not that they shouldn't take it for granted. But it's, it's really difficult to do because not only are you writing the story, but you're thinking about, you have to really know the other story well, to make sure that it's contextually appropriate if you're writing in a different timeline. Or if like a year has passed between the books, you know, you have to think about all of those things. And yeah, Erica does a fantastic job of it. And Melissa Braden also has characters just kind of pop up in cameos. So it is definitely been something that I have been challenging myself to do more like very baby, small stuff wave. Yeah, so me having characters from a previous novel in their own novel, I think Back In Your Arms, and then writing the Cuffing Season like spin off essentially was the first time I ever really did that.
Laura:What are you working on right now?
Monica:Yeah. So to answer this question as honestly as possible, I am not knee deep in any story at this point. I'm writing, I have a couple of different stories that I'm looking to write, I published Back In Your Arms, I think in September, and then I published Cuffing Season in December. So I've published twice in the last six months, I am very fortunate that I have a full time job outside of the writing world. So I really do get to write when I'm inspired. And when I have a story that I want to tell. So because of that, you know, I haven't really been pushing myself lately, just because life has been busy. COVID is kind of winding down. There's a lot of stuff personally, that I want to do. I moved six months ago, actually, more recently than six months ago. So there's lots of stuff that, you know, I'm trying to do in terms of getting my life together and my house together. So while I do have a couple of stories that I'm really, really excited to write, I could not even give you a sense of when the next one would come out. But once I kind of get that fire lit within me, the writing process goes really, really quickly. And the book could be out within a couple of months. I just want you to hit that point.
Laura:Which of your couples do you miss the most? And why?
Monica:I liked this question. I do I think about my past characters a lot. And the one other side comment is I think, you know, I always try and have fully developed people, right, like each main character, you want them to be autonomous, fully realized people. But in my writing process, I'm writing about two main characters, I'm writing about a love story, the book is how they find one another, and what works and doesn't work about them and the the issues that they have to go through together. So my writing process is actually I build them together as complementary and juxtapose to one another. So if you were like, talk to me about one character, you know, that would be hard to do, because it's for me, in telling the story, it is really who they are when they're together. That is the story that I want to tell. So I think Remi and Fallon from Back to the Start, which is another one of my second chance romances, and then Lilly and Bennett also from Then and Now which is another second chance romance Again, I just I love writing them. I think there's so much there. It feels like more than just some of my other works. People finding one another again, after however long it makes it feel kind of inevitable. And I love that feeling. So those are I think if I'm, I'm thinking about characters and missing them. Those are the ones that I come back to.
Laura:Everyone likes to see someone get their second chance. You have been posting some restaurant quality meals on your socials and folks from the Food Network have noticed they want you to appear on a lesfic writers episode of Chopped. Which three other authors would you like to compete against?
Monica:Okay, three other writers and I thought about this, and I already know who I want to join me. So I want Lucy Bexley, Milena McKay and Hayley Cass.
Laura:This is going to be fun.
Monica:It's going be fun, it's going be so much fun. I have developed wonderful friendships with each of them over, different spans of time, but they have all become incredibly important people in my life. So just to get to spend a day with them would be fantastic. But we all have very different personalities. And I think that seeing that overlaid on a need to prepare something and a high stakes cooking show. I just think that that would be really funny.
Laura:That would be fun. Dogs are the best companions. Tell me about Leo and Chips.
Monica:I mean, that could be its own podcast could be easily. I am absolutely one of those millennials who refers and treats their dogs like children, and they are so important in my life. So Leo now lives with my ex and Chips lives with me, but we live very close to one another and we still have a great relationship. So I watch Leo and my ex watches Chips. So sometimes we'll have both dogs, but Leo at this point is like 13 or 14, I don't know. And he's just like a crotchety old man. He's not going to change. He doesn't have any teeth. He's so cute, but so bad. And you know, he just he is what he is. And I love him for that. Yeah, so he's doesn't like to do a lot. I doesn't like to go on walks, just wants to cuddle. He is a little Velcro dog and just wants to be with you all the time and Chips. We had always referred to her as our real dog. So she you know loves to take walks very cute. very energetic. Yeah, she's just so sweet. She's upstairs sleeping right now I will say Chips and I are figuring things out because now I am the one that has to get up with her every morning. And I am not a morning person. So Chips is really into waking me up at 7am. I am not about that. But she is on a really, really good schedule. We just come down, we have a bathroom break we breakfast, and then she will immediately come back to bed with me. So all things considered, she's really good. But I was not expecting that when I got a dog that we would be up at 7am or that I think for as much as you treat them like kids, you're like, oh, you know, this will be easier. I won't have to be beholden to somebody else's schedule, like you would with a human. That's not true at all. Not at all. Like you are completely beholden to their needs. So but you know, for the most part, we have a good thing going.
Laura:Yeah, our dogs rule the house, whatever they want. Lucy is nine pounds, and she sleeps with us. And wherever she wants to sleep. We just move over. Yeah, I dangle off the edge of the bed. Most of the time. She's happy. You have a vast knowledge of all things lesbian in media. What TV show or movies are you into right now?
Monica:Yeah, I like this question. So I think you know, if anybody follows me on Twitter, you know that I kind of go through hyper focused phases of things. So when Amar a Muerte were they came out with Juliantina. I was all about that. And that was absolutely insane. Because we were watching it live in a telenovela. It airs five nights a week. So basically like a primetime soap opera. So there was new content coming out every single day. And that's what made it so intense to watch. And that's how I met Erica Lee. We started chatting, because we both loved the TV show and became friends from that. So very good friend, she actually lives in Philadelphia, so we get to meet up sometimes, which is wonderful. And then with Rosm,ello which I think I accidentally took a lot of people on the ride with me. That was also again, like it aired 24/7. It's big brother, but it was Big Brother Italy. So that was a whole messy thing. So I think generally, it's hard to get as into something or for it to really pick up that momentum, right? If it's not available or still happening live, where you can debate about it and have questions. So I am right now my sister had recommended NCIS Hawaii to me, and she didn't even tell me that there was a clear storyline on it. And I love a good crime, procedural. So I started watching that. And that does have a queer storyline, which I was very, very excited about. Oh, that. Yeah, it's it's pretty good. And they just started airing the second half of the first season. I think the thing that they do with TV shows now is like sometimes they only even give them half a season, and then see how it goes. And if it goes, well, they do the second half. Or maybe it's like because it started at a certain point. I don't really know. But yeah, it it aired, the first half of the season took a break. And now they are in the second half. So I'm very excited to get to watch that every week. So I think that's the biggest queer storyline that I'm following right now. And then a lot of people probably know that the rights to the Evelyn Hugo movie were just secured. So I am. It's one of those things. It's hard, right? People feel so emotionally attached to that book, myself included.
Laura:You are the reason that I read that book and bawled my eyes out.
Monica:And honestly, it came out four years ago, or did come out four years before I read it. And I think intuitively I knew it was gonna mess me up. Like I very specifically stay in my lane as a reader, which is lesbian romance, not even lesbian fiction. Like it can't just have queer characters. It needs to be happy queer characters with a guaranteed Hga. So I think I knew that there were going to be some things probably that made me happy. And that also hurt me in that book. But I don't know for whatever reason, I decided to give it a chance. And yeah, it just, it repped me in the best possible way. And there's like multiple Second Chance storylines in of them, like in that book. Not to give away any spoilers, but I mean, she's married seven times. You know, they have to go through some ups and downs. Yeah, so I'm bummed that it's not a limited TV series.
Laura:Yeah, I think it should have been absolutely.
Monica:I do too. I think I people were saying like seven episodes for seven husbands. I disagree. I think it should be nine episodes.
Laura:Something more than a two hour movie.
Monica:Right? I just I don't think that they're going to encompass the the sweeping saga of the love story and two hours, I think it would be really difficult to achieve. I'm going to watch it no matter what. That's not the conversation we're having. But yeah, I just I wish that there was going to be more material to get lost in,
Laura:We will have to hope for the best. What did little Monica want to be when she grew up?
Monica:This is so easy. I hands down wanted to be a detective. Very serious about this. I loved reading mystery novels, I had all of these books for like who done it puzzles where it would give you like a scene and you would have to figure out what happened. I was just kind of obsessed with that whole world. I loved the Mary Kate and Ashley investigator like detective series, anything Carmen Sandiego, anything where you were, like solving a mystery. I just I absolutely love that. I think even from a young age because I always loved reading so much. I had had, you know, the the want to be a writer. But it wasn't until I really started working on my first lead spec novel that I really started seriously writing. So I would say as a kid, you know, I wanted to write and I would write things, but wasn't really writing at the frequency or putting in the effort. So but definitely detective like I was very motivated to be it.
Laura:So when are you going to write a lesfic detective book?
Monica:I've thought about it. I told you. So as a reader, I stay in my lane with lesrom. And I also do that, as a writer, there are certain people that can so well, because you have to have a twist, right? In a mystery, you have to have a twist. And being able to do that effectively. I don't think really jives with my writing style. Because I just love to showcase the inner angst of my characters and their thought processes and just the turmoil that they are going through. And that doesn't really leave a lot of confusion for the reader on where my characters are at at any given point. So not only would it be writing a different type of book, but it would be changing my style of writing to have to be a little bit more withholding. So again, never say never. And I have for sure thought about it. And I have a couple of ideas I'm kicking around, but it would it would have to be a really, really rainy day for me to decide to do that over just writing like a strictly contemporary romance.
Laura:Ok, so Cari Hunter is safe for now. What is the cause that means a lot to you?.
Monica:So, you know, I mentioned reading a lot. And I think anything involving childhood literacy, especially anything involving public libraries, I was very fortunate growing up that my mom always supported us reading as much as we want reading whatever we wanted. And I was obsessed with reading from a young age, my sister and I both are, we are still very prolific and avid readers. We both love contemporary romance. And it's I don't know, I just, it was an escape. It was a window into a world it was so many different things that I think helped just so tremendously shaped me into the person that I am today, and give me the foundation to be the writer that I am today. So I really support and just think that public libraries are so important. want kids to have that foundation to understand a world outside the world that they currently live in great for imagination. I loved you know, young adult books was obsessed with all of the big series at the time. I think that that is something that has always been and will continue to be incredibly important to me.
Laura:Very good. Which lesfic books. are you most looking forward to being released this year?
Monica:Yeah. So I, I'm just so impressed with authors when they're like, hey, this book is coming out in six months.
Unknown:Okay, excellent Because like I said, you know, I start writing and it feels right, and I get the book done. I see when my editors available. And we just kind of go from there. And generally it'll be you know, no more than a week that my book is done that I'll actually release it like I don't do pre sales or anything like that. So I'm just shout out to all of the authors who keep these timelines in these schedules. I am so ridiculously impressed with all of them. But I think Milena McKay's new book A Whisper of Solace is coming out next month and I'm very excited to read that her book The Headmistress was the first book of hers that I had. Actually, that's not true. I read A Perfect Match because I was in the mood to read novellas. Because once I start reading a book, I can't really put it down. And I wasn't start starting to read until like eight or nine at night. And I can't be, you know, staying up till like one or two in the morning. So I was like, Okay, well, you you're not going to stop reading the book. So you just need to read shorter books. So I went on this. Yeah. I'm a problem solver, in fact, it's the detective in me. So I read A Perfect Match by her thought it was so adorable, loved it. The Headmistress I think, had just come out. So I devoured that next. And I was just so impressed with her world building. And everything about that book was so beautifully
Monica:And of course reviewer recommendation. Sorry, I need to written, and to the comment I was making earlier about having to do the twist. And feeling like I wouldn't be good at that she can do the twist, I was so so impressed with that book. And I historically have not been a fan of age gap romances, and she got me on the age gap romance train, which is very exciting, because it is a very popular trope within lead rom right now. So really, really exciting to to find one that I enjoyed so immensely. So I think that is the the biggest book that I'm looking forward to. And then, you know, it's hard once you start writing and publishing, for better or worse, your relationship with being a reader changes a little, I am always a reader first and foremost. But you know, I think that there are authors that I like to read and keep an eye out on what they're gonna come out with next. But at the same time, you know, I'm also curious about debut novels, and what newer authors are doing. I'll check out the Amazon charts. And obviously, the book is going to have to interest me for me to you know, pick it up and spend time on it. But I do, you know, just like to see what the market is doing and what other authors are doing as well. So I think in general, beyond the handful of people that I really do follow very closely for their releases. That's how I find the newest book that I'm going to read. I need to put that in there as well.
Laura:That's right. Well, Monica, thanks so much for joining me today. It was wonderful chatting with you. And I hope we can do it again real soon.
Monica:Likewise, thank you so much.
Laura:Thanks so much for listening. And thanks again to Monica for joining me today. You can find Monica's books on her Amazon page, or at monicamccallan.com. And you can follow her on Twitter at MonicaMccallan. Here's a preview of our Would You Rather the full episode is available to my Patreon subscribers@patreon.com/sapphicbookreview pod. Until next time, happy reading. Would you rather have dinner with Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Taylor Swift? That's not fair.
Monica:I know. It's not. Taylor Swift. She is, I think one of the greatest Lyricists of our time. And I posted this on Twitter at one point, like, you know, it takes me 80 to 100,000 words to feel like I'm forming a coherent, believable, emotionally charged love story. And she's like, Give me three and a half minutes. And it's crazy. Like, that's amazing. That is such a talent. And I think for somebody who brevity is Azure now understanding not my strong suit. I think to get to talk to somebody who's able to distill such complicated emotions into these very base words and beats like, I think that's a really incredible talent.
Laura:Would you rather have a skunk that sprayed you once a month? Or a porcupine that killed you once a month?
Monica:How many quills?
Laura:all of them they haven't lost any in battle or anything?
Monica:I mean
Laura:maybe they just can just get you with one. I don't know if they can use them all at once. Yeah, like if it's just
Monica:probably skunk.
Laura:You look so pained.
Monica:I'm just really risk averse, right? So like, obviously, the skunk spraying you is very upsetting. But you do the right things you get the right like products and the smell goes away. But like the quill, like how many were is it hard to get out is going to get affected? There are a lot of follow up questions to this that are really stressing me out. So I just feel like by virtue of that I have to go with skunk even though neither of these make me happy.