Lunchtime Poll with Shail Rajan

November 14, 2024 Joanna Monahan

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.

Lunchtime Poll with Joey Powell

October 10, 2024 Joanna Monahan

Today 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.

Lunchtime Poll with Jodi May

September 12, 2024 Joanna Monahan

With 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.

Lunchtime Poll with Delise Torres

July 11, 2024 Joanna Monahan

Delise Torres grew up in Puerto Rico, watching telenovelas and re-enacting scenes with her Barbies. Once she outgrew her dolls, she turned to daydreaming, and it wasn’t until her late thirties when she finally put her own stories to paper, and her passion for writing was born.
She has a PhD in Food Science and former work experience as a quality assurance manager in the food industry. When not writing, you can find her trying to time-manage her life, singing, reading, and streaming shows and movies. She lives in Germany with her daughter and German husband. Her first novel, One Tough Cookie, came out last year from Alcove Press.

Delise and I met through a writing challenge on Instagram in 2021 and bonded over the fact that we were both Women’s Fiction writers about to start querying our first books. In 2023, our books debuted within a month of each other. Delise is a wonderful writer, marketer, and supporter of the writing community, and I’m thrilled to introduce her as this month’s guest author.

Bookish BFFs, Pt 2: Jennifer interviews Joanna

June 12, 2024 Joanna Monahan

Meet Joanna

Joanna Monahan lives in North Carolina with her husband, their two children, and one hangry cat.

Before she began writing Women’s Fiction, Joanna worked in marketing and special events. She also spent two years as a professional organizer.

When she isn’t writing, Joanna enjoys theater, baseball, and bookmarking recipes she will never make. A child of the 80s, she regrets that she no longer receives pizza coupons in exchange for reading books.

As part of our dual celebration of book birthdays (Jen’s main characters’ shared nativity on June 13, Joanna: SOMETHING BETTER turns 1 June 20th), Jen flipped the script and interviewed me!