First, a little story: I met Shail in 2021 when I was still just a newish baby author and I won her Women’s Fiction Day giveaway. I still use the items from her beach-themed giveaway (and I treasure my first edition of THE SUMMER BREEZE with its original cover) but the best gift was our continuing friendship. I admire Shail’s courage and talent—like the characters she creates, Shail believes in taking risks, learning new skills, and most importantly, herself.
She is, quite simply, #goals.
Shail Rajan is a women's fiction author whose heartwarming stories are character driven and embrace the role of family, friendships, and food in our everyday lives. Readers have described her books as feel-good reads with characters you'd want as friends and food you'd like to eat.
She was born in India, raised in beautiful Upstate NY, and is now settled in Northern California with her husband and three children. When she's not lost in books, she loves spending time with her family, volunteering, cooking, tackling the occasional DIY project, and obsessing over her vegetable garden.
Read moreWhen my daughter was six, I tried to take her to a Cyndi Lauper concert. This was back in the day when you still got your tickets mailed to you, so it wasn’t until weeks later when the tickets arrived that I realized the show was being held in an 18 and up only club. Undeterred, I called the venue and asked if I could bring my daughter anyway. “It’s not like anyone is going to mistake her for 21 and serve her a drink,” was my argument. Unsurprisingly, I was denied and I promised my daughter I would take her to see Cyndi one day.
Read moreToday I’m thrilled to introduce my first horror writer to the Lunchtime Poll, Joey Powell.
Joey lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, child, and many animals. He spends the majority of his days as a professional techie and the majority of his nights sifting through an ever-growing stack of books. In addition to being a devout consumer and creator of things spooky and weird, Joey is an actor, a book publisher, and the host of the Creatives Getting Coffee Podcast.
Read moreI’ve written before about my favorite scary stories to read in the dark, now I’m sharing my favorite scary movies by decade. Read on... if you dare.
Read moreWith all the back-to-school energy in the air it seems only fitting that this month’s guest is New Adult Fiction author and creator of the Hillside Academy series, Jodi May.
I am happy you are here, my friend! I have lots of questions about writing and world-building, so let’s get right into it…
You are almost 20 years into creating your 24 book series set at the fictional boarding school of Hillside Academy. How did Hillside Academy start?
With Lord of the Rings. I used to say I’d never tell people that but here we are.
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