Embracing the Fiction Author Journey

57. Write Women Book Fest 2023: Inspiring journeys and genre magic (part 2)

• Erin P.T. Canning

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Ever wonder how some authors are able to cover come the hurdles that most, if not all, writer’s face? 

Welcome back to part 2 of our journey through the 2023 Write Women Book Fest in Bowie, Maryland. 

In this episode, you’ll hear from seven women writers, each with their own compelling tales, as they offer insights into their passion for writing, the challenges they've overcome, and the messages they're eager to share with you.

From holiday contemporary romance to high school fiction, fantasy, children's literature, poetry, and contemporary fiction, we uncover the unique voices behind these diverse genres. 

Their stories will rekindle your creative spirit and remind you that, with passion and dedication, you can do this too.

Authors included in this episode: 


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Erin P.T. Canning:

Ever wonder how some authors are able to overcome the hurdles that most, if not all writers face? In this episode, you'll hear from seven women writers each with their own compelling tales as they offer insights into their passion for writing, the challenges they've overcome, and the messages they're eager to share with you. Welcome to Parents Who Write, the podcast that helps parents pursue their writing dreams. I'm your host, Erin P.T. Canning. I'm a mom of two young boys, a writer, editor, and writing coach. My mission is to help you regularly make time for your writing, find your voice again, and confidently share your stories so that you can own your identity as a writer and be a happier, more patient parent. Welcome back to part two of our journey through the 2023 Write Women Book Fest in Bowie, Maryland. From holiday contemporary romance to high school fiction, fantasy, children's literature, poetry, and contemporary fiction, we uncover the unique voices behind these diverse genres. When you listen to each of these women, I encourage you to take their words into your heart. Let them soothe away any self doubt or writer's block that you've been stumbling over. Because these women prove over and over again that with passion and dedication, you can do this too. Alright, let's dive in. When I popped over to Katie Eagan Schenck's table, she had on display her debut novel, A Home for Christmas. Her holiday contemporary romance novel falls under the sweet romance and women's literature genres. The first question I asked her was if she always knew she wanted to be a writer. Here's what she said.

Katie Eagan Schenck:

Yes, yes. Ever since I was in third grade and a teacher loved my book reports.

Erin P.T. Canning:

I love it. I love that. And so you were like, this is going to happen. So how does it feel now to be here at the, at the book festival? Representing and being like, I am an author.

Katie Eagan Schenck:

It feels great. This is not my first event, but it's definitely the one I was looking forward to the most.

Erin P.T. Canning:

That's awesome. Are you local?

Katie Eagan Schenck:

Yeah, I live in Pasadena.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Oh, nice. I'm in Silver Spring. Oh, cool. Very cool. Okay. Well, is there any last message that you would like to give to aspiring authors out there?

Katie Eagan Schenck:

Um, just keep writing. Keep at it. Even if you get rejected, if you decide to go traditional and you get rejected, there's always self-publishing, and there's a community that's waiting to help you.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Absolutely. I love that. Well, thank you so much and congratulations on your debut novel.

Katie Eagan Schenck:

Thank you so much.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Liv Macy is a fantasy author who's dived into the romance, paranormal, and urban fantasy subgenres. With three books under her belt, I was curious to know how long she's been writing books.

Liv Macy:

So I started about 15 years ago. I wrote three chapters.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Okay. And then I had kids. Uh huh.

Liv Macy:

So I didn't get started really seriously until 2019.

Erin P.T. Canning:

2019, okay. Alright, Are you a local author to the Write Women's Book Fest?

Liv Macy:

Local ish, about an hour, hour and 15 minutes. I'm in Maryland. You're a Marylander.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Yay to the fantasy authors as well! And so what book are you showing off here today primarily? What's your, like, first one in your series?

Liv Macy:

So my first in series is Becoming Justice.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Okay, and the title of your series is?

Liv Macy:

It's actually the Infinite Universe. Very cool. And what's the premise of your book? So, if I had to comp it, it would be Lara Croft meets like a Marvel Arrowverse type of world. Um, each book has a soul mate as its premise. And each book has a happy hmm.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Okay, very cool. Uh, do you have any last minute advice for, uh, aspiring writers, aspiring authors?

Liv Macy:

Oh, find your people. Oh, yeah. Because your people are important for support and advice and hand helping and when you want to cry and when you want to laugh. Nice. You need that. Very cool. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you.

Erin P.T. Canning:

The next author I spoke with was Loralee Kadjo, who writes middle and high school fiction, and the book she spoke specifically about left quite the impact in how it can help kids who've suffered from bullying. Not only was she incredibly friendly and helpful, but she has also published such a mind blowing number of books that we began our conversation discussing her multiple pen names.

L.T. Kodzo:

So my fiction is under my initials LT Kajo. K O D Z O. And then I also have Inspirational with my first name, Tima Loralee. Tima's a title. And then I also have some children's books with my maiden name under Miss Tweety. Oh, that's so cute. It is cute. Miss Tweety. That's my maiden name, so let's make good use of it. Yes,

Erin P.T. Canning:

exactly. I love that. So, um, how many books do you have out? I'm standing at your table and I see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, Eight, nine books. Are there more behind

L.T. Kodzo:

you? There's more. Got some in French and Spanish. Got some more down here. I have 63 books, 65 books right now on Amazon for sale.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Hot diggity dog. That's a lifetime. That is mind blowing.

L.T. Kodzo:

That's the gray hair. Uh huh. Did you, did you always want to be an author then? Um, I always loved books. I don't know that I always thought I could be one because sometimes we can be really intimidated by, you know, really high craft and stuff. So I always loved books. I was the kid in, you know, elementary school and in the summertime, I didn't go play softball. I was in the library getting the, who read the most books this summer prize. That's

Erin P.T. Canning:

fantastic. Oh my goodness. Um, and so, you said that you cover a variety of genres. Is there a book that you want to talk about as your primary book here?

L.T. Kodzo:

Well, I think so. Yours is Parents Who Write. Yeah. So, I'm, I'm guessing maybe your reader or your listenership is maybe Parents.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Primarily. I do get a lot of crossover because of the fact that... At the end of the day, writers love talking to writers. Yes. Right? And I get so much phenomenal advice and inspiration from my parents who write that, uh, a lot of people love listening to the podcast, which is, which is phenomenal. I love the fact that we do reach more, but. That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, but yes, as parents who write, what stands out to you? So for me, it

L.T. Kodzo:

would be the first novel I ever published. In fact, the first book period that I ever published, and that's Locker 572. It deals with bullies and suicide in high school. Wow. Fiction? Non fiction? Fiction. Fiction. Just wanted to verify. But it's approved as bibliotherapy for, uh, adolescent psychology therapists, things like that. It's official curriculum in high schools. So it just kind of helps people process. So, um, I think what's great about the book is when I published it, I knew I was writing to young adults. But I had a lot of friends who were buying it and men who are 55 bought it and loved it and cried and I'm like, can I, can you help me understand why you liked it? And he says, because we, I have daughters. So it's kind of got this great crossover that I didn't expect. Yeah. But I think, yeah, for parents, we care about our children. We want to give them advice, but sometimes they'll listen to a character or what a character is doing more than maybe what we're doing. They'll hear us in the back of their brain. Yes. So I think it's the most successful. What age

Erin P.T. Canning:

range do you recommend Locker

L.T. Kodzo:

572 for? So it's pre approved curriculum from 7th to 12th grade. Okay, but it's at a 4th grade reading level So if you have an advanced reader, uh huh, I've had a friend who homeschools and her daughter read it in 4th grade Oh, wow, so it's not got anything that's too hard at that level. It all depends on if you've got an advanced reader Okay, cool. Wow, that is

Erin P.T. Canning:

what a amazing topic to tackle and help kids. I mean, I was bullied in school. Ditto. Right? Like how many of us weren't. Yeah. Um, so I have, I imagine that I would cry reading that as well. Yeah. But it's also amazing to think back or look back and see where I am now. Yeah.

L.T. Kodzo:

Well, the reason it's classified as bibliotherapy is because um, what the suicide prevention director in the state of New York when I published it told me was, Counselors use books for therapy. Yeah. Because if you think about erotica, if you think about horror, we're not being touched yet we're stimulated. We're not being stabbed yet we're frightened. And so the brain can't tell fact from fiction. So if you can take a character through an event that they're experiencing but then let the character come out the other side, their brain doesn't know that they've had that victory themselves. So it's the kind of book that helps with anyone suffering from those dark thoughts or even heroically who wants to help, what can I say? How can I you know say something to someone who I know is being bullied a lot? Yeah, so yeah, because we just want to make sure that there's not a child who does that you're right You know, you can't come back from act of taking their life. Right. So, if you can get one child to not, that's the goal. That,

Erin P.T. Canning:

oh, everybody, again, that is Locker 572 by L

L.T. Kodzo:

T Kodzo, K O D Z O Z O, got it. And my website's www. kodzobooks. com.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Wow, that is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. Um, what advice do you have for aspiring authors?

L.T. Kodzo:

I would say, write who you are, what you are, what you feel. Don't do too much comparison. That's my biggest suggestion. I'm still kind of advising myself that after 63 books out there. Because our tendency is to say, I could never do it that well, I could never write what you write. Because if your story is authentic, it's going to resonate.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Yes, there is somebody out there who is waiting for your story.

L.T. Kodzo:

That's right. Yeah. That's right. And only you can tell it.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Exactly. So tell it. Oh, thank you so much. It's been a true pleasure. You too. Thank you. You're welcome. When I stepped up to Meg Edson's table, the first thing that jumped out to me was the black cat on the cover of her children's book, Zig Zag Zeph. The cat reminded me of my own kitty, but what really drew me into this conversation was the powerful message Meg had created for children with special needs. What inspired you to write this?

Meg Edson:

Um, well, I have a cat. His name is Zeph and he was born with a brain condition, so he walks in zigzags, but he doesn't give up on doing things. He can't jump, but he tosses himself up, or he climbs with his front claws or whatever. I love it! So what inspired me was actually the cat himself.

Erin P.T. Canning:

That's really cool. And you said you're a teacher of special needs?

Meg Edson:

I was a special educator. Yes, for a long time. For about, uh, 20 years.

Erin P.T. Canning:

That's amazing. I love when we can write books that help our kids to be able to see themselves.

Meg Edson:

That was exactly what I was trying to do. Yeah. I was thinking of my former students, and also, um, I wanted to be an advocate for special needs animals. That's amazing. Who often get overlooked, so.

Erin P.T. Canning:

So, how long have you been writing books?

Meg Edson:

Um, five years. Five years? Yeah. That is fantastic. I started this about five years ago and put it down, and then I just picked it up again.

Erin P.T. Canning:

That's amazing. Yeah. And so, while you were writing your books, what did you find to be one of the most challenging aspects of the process and how did you overcome that?

Meg Edson:

Um, mine was finding an illustrator. Um, I knew I didn't want, um, a traditional illustrator with like drawings of the cat because I wanted to capture his essence. So, I found this artist. She's actually in Argentina. And she used real pictures of my cats, and put them, and made digital collages with them. And she, um, I found her on a website, and we just clicked. So, that's when I knew it was time to go ahead with it. Yeah. I was just, the illustrations were kind of, I was getting caught up with that, so.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Where did you find your illustrator, and what's your illustrator's name?

Meg Edson:

Her, the website is called Fiverr. Oh, okay, you found her on there. Okay, Fiverr, and her name is Annalia Oliver.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Oh, very cool. She's, she's amazing. Oh, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. And congratulations again.

Meg Edson:

Okay. Thank you.

Erin P.T. Canning:

I met with another new author, Sandra D., who writes contemporary fiction, and the first question I asked her was what she loves most about her genre, and I think her answer will resonate with many writers.

Sandra Dee:

I love that it's, you can just do anything with it. It can be just made up of anything, like, it's very, it's very relatable though. That's the part I love the most about it, because you can just take it anywhere.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Mm hmm, exactly. So, did you always want to be an author?

Sandra Dee:

No, I did not, but I did always, uh, enjoy writing as a young kid, growing up. Yeah. But I never thought I'd be here, but I'm grateful that I am.

Erin P.T. Canning:

That is so amazing. Congratulations. Is this your debut book? What's the title of it?

Sandra Dee:

It's Never, Now, or Later. It was published in January of 2022.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Oh, congratulations. And this is your first one, right? Yes, ma'am. Your debut novel. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Do you have any last minute advice that you would want to give for an aspiring writer out there?

Sandra Dee:

I would say just go for it. Don't let self publishing get in the way. Don't let the things that you hear deter you from going for it. Just go. Just go.

Erin P.T. Canning:

I love that. Thank you so

Sandra Dee:

much. Thank you so much.

Erin P.T. Canning:

While I was waiting in the lunch line, I had the most interesting conversation with memoirist Sarah Birnbach, who fought against gender discrimination by holding onto her deep desire to honor her father after his passing. After she awed me with the story behind her book, she then surprised me when I asked her if she always wanted to be a writer. Here's a glimpse into what we spoke about. And the title of your book is?

Sarah Birnbach:

A Daughter's Kaddish, My Year of Grief, Devotion and Healing.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Wow, you know, can you give us a brief snippet about what that book is about?

Sarah Birnbach:

It's about the year after my father died when I undertook a prayer practice that is historically reserved for males. And my journey to honor my dad by reciting the Mourner's Kaddish and the, uh, challenges I ran into because of my gender.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Wow. Wow, that's a powerful story. Um, so, did you always know that you wanted to be an author?

Sarah Birnbach:

No, I've been writing since I was a teenager. I journal regularly. I'm a certified journal facilitator, and I journaled the year after my father died, of course, and my journals informed my memoir. Wow. When I went to transcribe all my journals and try to relive That year, someone suggested to me that I might turn that into a memoir. Yeah. And I worked to make it more narrative, rather than more like a journal entry.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Right, exactly. Because, um, I've had another memoirist on my show, and, uh, Camisha Broussard, um, and she was talking about, because she's also an English teacher, or an English college professor, and how it's really important that when you're writing memoir, you still have to make it a book. It still has to be narrative. It has to still tell an overarching story and transformation.

Sarah Birnbach:

And it has to be readable. Yes. And enjoyable to the reader.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Exactly. Right. Exactly. And that's the hard work. Yeah. But I think that's phenomenal that you absolutely did that. Do you have any, uh, last advice for any aspiring authors out there?

Sarah Birnbach:

Well, take classes. There's a Writers Center in Bethesda that offers classes virtually as well as in person. Uh, join a critique group and have your writing critiqued by others. I love that. And keep putting your pen to the paper.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Yes. I love that. We, uh, we call that living a writerly life. Amen. So, I love that. Well, thank you so much. It was very nice chatting with you.

Sarah Birnbach:

Thank you, Erin.

Erin P.T. Canning:

In this last interview, I had the chance to speak with poet Terry Simon, someone I've come to look for at every local writing event I attend. I met Terry for the first time at the I met Terry for the first time at the 2019 Write Women Book Fest, and she drew me into her world when she shared her poem about the never ending waiting that takes place when someone has cancer. Waiting for the diagnosis, waiting for the treatment, waiting to go home. When I bumped into her this time, I finally asked her how long she's been writing poetry.

Terri Simon:

Um, you want to know when I wrote my first poem? Yes! I was five. Oh my goodness! I, I wrote a whole bunch through high school and college and some after, and then I didn't write for a while, and then in about 2014 I said, this not being a writer thing is old. I have to write again. Oh, wow. And really been focusing and crafting and poking and prodding at it. Yeah,

Erin P.T. Canning:

What is your favorite thing about writing poetry?

Terri Simon:

Oh, well, it may be a toss up between expunging the crap in my own head and the light I see when somebody gets what I wrote and I know that it made a difference to them. Mmm.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Yes, well said. Uh, what advice do you have for aspiring poets?

Terri Simon:

Write, write, write. Edit, edit, edit, edit, edit. Um, no, I actually, um, the phrase that I saw somewhere that I love is write without fear, edit without mercy.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Yes, that is like a photo on Unsplash or Canvas.

Terri Simon:

Some place like that, yes. I saw it somewhere and I went, Oh my god, that's my theme song. Yes. So that, and the other thing is, if you can possibly get a critique group, or somebody that actually writes poetry that you can work with to get feedback, it's priceless.

Erin P.T. Canning:

That's true. That is true. Um, what book are you here that you can talk to us about?

Terri Simon:

As well as being a poet, I am also publisher, co publisher with Patti Ross of Fallen Tree Press. And we specialize in poetry chapbooks. And the one I want to highlight is Community, Not Market by Lacey Semenovich. This is our most recent publication, and this is the first one we got through open submissions. And it is wonderful, and I highly recommend it, especially for anybody creative. Poets, all sorts of writers, artists, because a lot of it is her journey. And some of it is that fear, when you're first trying to get up and read your poetry. All of that is in here with more. It's a wonderful collection. And the cover was done by Dara Schillinger, who is a local, she's actually a student at Towson. She's a writer and visual artist, and she did our cover for us.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Wow, that's really cool, with all the coffee cups. With all the coffee cups. I mean, who doesn't love coffee, right?

Terri Simon:

Right. Actually, I don't. I'm a tea drinker, but it counts the same.

Erin P.T. Canning:

Right. You can still look at that and think tea. Yeah. That's fine. It works. Um, and where can readers find that?

Terri Simon:

Okay, so our website is fallentreepress dot com.

Erin P.T. Canning:

And right when Terri was about to tell us about her own poetry, the host for The Poetry Corner made an announcement introducing the next reading, so I'll have to interview Terri again so she can wow you like she did me all those years ago. Truth be told, I could have spoken for hours with each of these authors and poets, but putting together this compilation of collective wisdom has created a unique form of inspiration that echoes of possibility and dreams fulfilled. I hope when you're done listening to this that you'll pick up the pen and carry on, knowing you're not alone and that your voice matters too. As always, keep writing my friend. Thanks for tuning into another episode. Looking for a community of passionate writers who understand your goals and struggles? Join my exclusive Facebook group, Parents Who Write, where you can join weekly group writing sessions and find writing prompts, writing resources, and free weekly tutorials. Click the link in the show notes to join the community today.

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Erin P.T. Canning

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