Sarah Nicolas's Blog, page 4
January 26, 2023
Women’s Fiction Author Sierra Godfrey and Long Stretches of Silence
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Women’s Fiction Author Sierra Godfrey joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss how it’s okay if you need longer than other writers, selling a book quickly by doing ten years pre-work, having your agent leave the business, why writers truly need agents, feelings of inadequacy, comparison being the thief of joy, and the importance of learning the market.
Sierra Godfrey is the author of A Very Typical Family (Sourcebooks) and a forthcoming title in September 2023. She was born in Santa Cruz, California and has lived many places, including Santorini, Greece. She loves hiking, watching soothing British farmland shows, and thinking of stories about messy families. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family, which includes a dog, two cats, and a turtle, all of which seemed like a good idea at the time.
Sierra: Query | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
January 19, 2023
QQQ: Non-fiction author Catherine Baab-Muguira and Literary Wisdom from Kevin Bacon
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Non-fiction author Catherine Baab-Muguira joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss 12 years of querying, the worst feedback she’s received, rewriting her book proposal top to bottom three times, how doing things wrong is the process, and the village that raised her book.
Catherine Baab-Muguira is a writer and journalist who has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Slate, CNBC and NBC News. A frequent podcast and radio guest, with appearances on NPR and Lifehacker’s Upgrade, she lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and toddler. Her first book, Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History’s Least Likely Self-Help Guru, was released by Hachette in 2021 and won the International Poe Festival’s Saturday “Visiter” Award in 2022.
Catherine: Query | Website | Substack | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
January 12, 2023
QQQ: Sci-Fi Author Nanci Schwartz and Why It’s Okay To Quit
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Sci-Fi Author Nanci Schwartz joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss learning to control what you can and letting the rest go, writing while pregnant, debuting during a pandemic, how Star Wars inspired her books, and more.
Nanci Schwartz is an instructional writer by day, a science fiction author by night, and a mom 24/7. In her small amounts of free time, she can be found gallivanting around Disney World, chatting about her favorite space opera franchise, or taking refuge from the heat in her pool. She lives in Florida with her husband, son, dog, and cat.
Nanci: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | IndieBound | Libro FM
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
January 5, 2023
QQQ: Kidlit Author Lyn Miller-Lachmann and the Five Year Drought
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Kidlit Author Lyn Miller-Lachmann joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss losing two agents, getting close and not getting remotely close, what her MFA did for her, having a sequel come out six years later, her concerns as an Autistic writer, the importance of loving the process, and more.
Lyn Miller-Lachmann is the author of the YA novels Torch, Gringolandia, and Surviving Santiago, the co-author with Zetta Elliott of the verse novel Moonwalking, and the author of a biography of animal scientist and autism advocate Temple Grandin. She also translates kids’ books from Portuguese to English.
Lyn: Query | Website | Twitter | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM
Find all links at QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
August 4, 2022
QQQ: Author and Poet Donna Gordon and the Desire to Put Words Together
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Author and Poet Donna Gordon joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss switching from poetry to prose, the impact of mentors, a long interruption of her writing career, how her visual art helps her writing, needing to write, learning to put herself first, going from being a writer to an author, the stamina it takes to write and sell a book, and collaborating with people who can see things you can’t see.
Donna Gordon is a Cambridge, MA-based writer. She graduated from Brown, and was then a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, a PEN Discovery, and Ploughshares Discovery. She was a 2017 Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference, and a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center in 2017 and 2018. She received the 2018 New Letters Publication Award for What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me, which has been named by the Independent Book Review as one of the top 45 they’re excited about for 2022.
Donna: Query | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
July 28, 2022
QQQ: Women’s Fiction Author Roselle Lim and Using Your Petty Batteries
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Women’s Fiction Author Roselle Lim joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss parting with an agent, querying a book 120 times, how debuts are like weddings, crying on release day, worrying about things you can’t control, how changing for people who hate your book alienates the people who love your book, and the importance of both writing and non-writing community
Roselle Lim is the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop and the upcoming Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club. She lives on the north shore of Lake Erie and always has an artistic project on the go.
Roselle: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
QQQ: Women’s Fiction Author Roselle Lim and Using Your Petty Batteries
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Women’s Fiction Author Roselle Lim joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss parting with an agent, querying a book 120 times, how debuts are like weddings, crying on release day, worrying about things you can’t control, how changing for people who hate your book alienates the people who love your book, and the importance of both writing and non-writing community
Roselle Lim is the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop and the upcoming Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club. She lives on the north shore of Lake Erie and always has an artistic project on the go.
Roselle: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
July 21, 2022
QQQ: SFF Author Erin Fulmer and Everything Happening All at Once
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
SFF Author Erin Fulmer joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss the importance of community, realizing writing is not such a solitary pursuit, doing things out of order, marketing as a small press author, worrying about choosing the wrong path, and the pros and cons of going with a small press.
Erin Fulmer is an attorney by day, author of science fiction and fantasy by night. A 2020 Pitch Wars alumna, she lives in Northern California with her husband and cats. CAMBION’S BLOOD, the second book in her urban fantasy series and sequel to her debut CAMBION’S LAW, is out now.
Erin: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
July 7, 2022
QQQ: Mystery Author Sandra Block and Losing Control
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.
Mystery Author Sandra Block joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss querying with stamps, taking a 15 year break, reading the book on common mistakes (see link below), multiple R&Rs to get a book deal, dealing with the lack of control over the publishing process, being kind with herself, and carving out time to write.
Sandra A. Block graduated from college at Harvard, then returned to her native land of Buffalo, New York for medical training and never left. She is a practicing neurologist and proud Sabres fan, and lives at home with her husband, two children, and impetuous yellow lab. Her work has been published in the Washington Post. Little Black Lies is her debut, a finalist in the International Thriller Awards, and The Girl Without a Name and The Secret Room are the other books in the Zoe Goldman series, and What Happened That Night her stand-a-lone. Girl Overboard is her first Young Adult thriller.
Sandra: Query | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
June 30, 2022
QQQ: Young Adult Author Jamie Beth Cohen and Checking Her Body for Jealousy
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication.Young Adult Author Jamie Beth Cohen joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss the strawberry shortcake origin story, going against a mentor’s advice, the ups and downs of going with a small press, having more to say than having time to write it down, and getting a lot out of Pitch Wars without having been selected.
Jamie Beth Cohen is a writer, speaker, and storyteller who lives in Pennsylvania. Her words have appeared in The Washington Post, HuffPost, Salon, Teen Vogue, and several other outlets. She is the author of WASTED PRETTY and LIMINAL SUMMER. When not working, writing, or spending time with her family, she mentors an incarcerated writer and novice storytellers.
Jamie: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Podcast | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon
Search for “Queries, Qualms, & Quirks” on your favorite podcast app to listen or listen on YouTube.
