The Resilient Writers Radio Show

Welcome Resilient Writer! We're here for you with another Season of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. Inspired by your feedback and the thousands of downloads so far, here's what you can expect from Season 3.

As writers, we have a lot of feelings about finishing our books. But whether we feel excited or apprehensive at the idea, we can’t finish our books unless we’re ready.

Now, being ready doesn’t mean having a completed draft. It certainly helps, but getting to the point of being ready to finish can come much, much earlier in the process than that. In fact, if you’ve ever dreamt of finishing a book, you’re already part-way there. In this episode, we'll look at what a readiness to finish really looks like.

When Merilyn Simonds was asked by a friend to be the author of her biography, Merilyn agreed. The problem Merilyn then ran into was that she didn’t like or read biographies, but couldn’t abandon her promise.

It wasn’t until Merilyn made an observation, one deeply connected to her friend’s life story, that the biography began to flow. And from the beginning, Merilyn’s ideas allowed her to follow her usual, and unusual path of breaking with writing convention.

Part of the writing process is learning, though that may mean learning things besides new skills. This was the case for author Jane Baird Warren when she was in her MFA program and discovered the perfect genre for her was one she originally didn’t want to write in.
Along the way, Jane also learned that writing one book doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to write the next.

Now, as a published children’s literature author with Scholastic, Jane is working towards writing YA novels that break the mould. After all, who says adults can’t enjoy Kid Lit, too?

In this week’s episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I interview Jeanne Blasberg. Jeanne is a bestselling author known for her novels Eden and The Nine. Her latest novel, Daughter of a Promise, came out in April 2024.

This latest novel is a contemporary retelling of the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba, set in modern-day New York. Jeanne explains that while she kept the essence of the original plot, she made significant changes to reflect contemporary themes, including giving her heroine more agency than Bathsheba had in the Bible.

Our conversation delves into the challenges and rewards of reimagining classic stories in a modern context. Jeanne was inspired to explore the timelessness of themes like consent, attraction, and power dynamics, especially during the #MeToo movement.

By writing from the perspective of Betsy (her modern Bathsheba), Jeanne gives a voice to a character who, in the original story, is largely voiceless.

Towards the end of the interview, we also get into indie publishing vs. traditional publishing – a topic I know a lot of think about!