The Florida Writer Podcast

Sonja Mongar teaches in the Western Connecticut State Low Residency MFA in Creative and Professional Writing.

Historical Fiction should immerse the audience in the rich details of the past. Author Tamatha Cain knows that to recreate the past, sometimes you need to reach out, ask questions, and talk to those who know. In this Flordia Writer Podcast, host Alison Nissen and Tamatha chat about her upcoming historical fiction novels Song of the Chimney Sweep and Only Oona, about the 4th wife of Charlie Chaplin. 

Tamatha Cain is a former musician and bandleader. She graduated with honors from the University of North Florida with a concentration in Writing for the Entertainment Industry, and her work has appeared in national and international publications. Winner of the 2020 Royal Palm Literary Award for unpublished fiction and first place in The Experience Poetry Competition, she also writes reviews for Southern Literary Review. She is a member of WFWA and FWA. She is a wife and mother of three and lives in a hundred-year-old bungalow in North Florida, in close proximity to the historic locations found in Song of the Chimney Sweep.  

In this Florida Writer Podcast, host Alison Nissen chats with Jennifer about the challenges and struggles of accurately portraying an event that is still in the hearts and minds of so many, as well as introducing the topic to the younger generations.

Catherine Drake worked for many years in the land conservation field developing public outdoor recreation areas and preserving forests and farmland for future generations. After raising two daughters, she and her husband moved to Vermont where she writes and is active in the environmental community by serving on the local land trust and conservation commission. She enjoys cycling, skiing, kayaking, and hiking with her dog in the Green Mountains. Her debut novel, The Treehouse on Dog River Road, was published by She Writes Press in May 2022. 

Follow her on Instagram @catherinedrakewrites

A book launch is an exciting event in every author's journey. Before you send your baby into the world, are you confident your "Amazon Relevance Score" will serve you well? In this Florida Writer Podcast, book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri shares book launching tips from networking and platform building to ads and book pricing with host Alison Nissen. 

#floridawriters #floridawriterscon #amwriting #writerslife

Writing your novel one story at a time is the advice that helped Sally Constain write her debut novel, The Keys to Fanny. In this Florida Writer Podcast, host Alison Nissen chats with Sally to discover how her grandmother's stories of life in Ukraine, inspired her to create characters so lifelike that she could walk in their shoes. 

Sally Constain is the author of The Keys to Fanny a work of historical fiction, the chapbook Sometimes I Wonder, a collection of twelve inspiring poems on our common human experience, and Random Reflections, an anthology of essays and poems, some based on family stories. Her latest publication is a chapbook of poems written after a medical recovery, titled, Autumn Again. 

Inspired by the beauty and harshness of nature, Susan Speranza embraces the Vermont landscape to develop plot, characters, and conflict. In this Florida Writer Podcast episode, host Alison Nissen chats with Susan Speranza about how language is to writing as notes are to music. Susan creates lyrical text that matches the beauty of the natural environment of her metaphysical novel, Ice Out. 

Torn between keeping your book as a memoir or fictionalizing your story? Fret no longer! Consider exploring the new Autofiction genre! In this episode of the Florida Writer Podcast, host Alison Nissen chats with Lindsey Salatka about her autofiction novel Fish Heads and Duck Skin, embracing a new lens for the world around you, and finding your muse in real-life scenarios. 

Lindsey Salatka is an author, ghost-writer, and editor. Her writing has been featured at BlogHer and in Shanghai Family Magazine, Urbanatomy: Shanghai, and Volumes 3 and 4 of Shaking the Tree: Brazen. Short. Memoir. She is on the advisory board of the San Diego Writers Festival and serves as Director of the KidsWrite! Children’s Writing Contest. You can find Lindsey on Instagram @mywhatlovelygillsyouhave, on Facebook @fishheadsandduckskin, or on Twitter @lindseysalatka

Publishing a book is exciting, finding creative ways to sell it is daunting. In this edition of the Flordia Writer Podcast, Host Alison Nissen chats with Suspenseful Women's Fiction author Kathy Nichols about finding new ways to market your book, breaking up with your agent, and managing impostor syndrome. 

Katherine Nichols is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club and Sisters in Crime and has been published in ALAN reviews, Equill Atlanta Writers Club magazine, and Shout Them from the Mountaintops: Georgia Poems and Stories.

As an accidental author, Henry wrote two thriller novels: Deceit of the Soul (2020) and Deceit of the Earth (2021).
His first book was written in three weeks during March 2020, speculating about the origins of COVID 19 to fill gaps for questions not being asked or answered. Early readers were amazed that so much of the story seemed almost prophetic, as some of the media and researchers eventually began to dig a little deeper.

Discover more at Henry-Cox.com

Natasha Miller isn’t your average CEO. She sits at the helm of Entire Productions, the go-to experience design, event, and entertainment production company in San Francisco, and has been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row. Natasha’s passion and commitment to giving back drive her invariable contributions and participation with numerous charitable organizations. She is also performing as a jazz vocalist and a trained classical violinist. Natasha is a proud graduate of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and has studied entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School and MIT and is a member of The Recording Academy (Grammys), ASCAP, SF Travel, and Meeting Professionals International (MPI). She resides in San Francisco, CA where she is a member and on the board of EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization).

Authors have a choice to write what they know at the exclusion of others--or--they can share their experiences without bias with the goal of creating characters that bridge the gap. Enjoy this conversation with Florida Writer Podcast host Alison Nissen and thriller/suspense author Mark Shaiken. 

Mark Shaiken the author of "and . . . Just Like That - Essays on a Life Before, During and After the Law" and, "Fresh Start," a legal thriller, both available on Amazon and other online and bricks and mortar book retailers. Watch for my next legal thriller, "Unfair Discrimination" due out in the Spring of 2022. Connect with me at http://markshaikenauthor.com

When fire forces you to abandon everything, it also requires you to rethink the motivation for your story. Enjoy this Florida Writer Podcast with host Alison Nissen and renowned decorator and artist Elisa Stancil Levine about self-discovery in the face of adversity. 

Elisa Stancil Levine spent her childhood in a canyon on the American River, upstream from the site of the California gold rush. She left school at sixteen and as a single mother in Sacramento earned a degree in library science and studied creative writing. Working with partners she remodeled sixteen historic houses and was home and garden editor and feature writer for Sacramento Magazine. At thirty-six she founded Stancil Studios, an award-winning, nationwide decorative finishes company in San Francisco.

Raegen Pietrucha's Head of a Gorgon is a narrative in poems that reimagines the myth of Medusa, transporting this ancient tale of sexual violence into contemporary times and examining it through a survivor-centric, feminist lens. Listen to the Florida Writer Podcast episode with host Alison Nissen as she and Raegen talk about this dark tale. 

Raegen Pietrucha writes, edits, and consults on professional and creative bases. She received her M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University, where she served on the staff of Mid-American Review. Her debut poetry collection, Head of a Gorgon, is forthcoming with Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in 2022; her poetry chapbook, An Animal I Can't Name, won the 2015 Two of Cups Press competition; and she has a memoir in progress. Her creative work has also been published in Cimarron Review, Puerto del Sol, and other magazines. Visit her at http://raegenmp.wordpress.com.

In this Florida Writer Podcast, host Alison Nissen talks with JM Tompkins, the Atlanta Self-Publishing Conference Chair about some simple strategies for writers from proof of concept to outsourcing to marketing. The nuts and bolts of writing is tricky but with help, very rewarding. 

J. M. Tompkins started her own publishing company and began focusing on her true passions. As an author, she first published at the age of sixteen, had a popular poetry blog, published in several magazines, and began working on what would become the Habitual Humanity Series in 2012. She finally took the plunge in 2019 to begin publishing her books.

The Atlanta Self-Publishing Conference brings to you professionals from both the foundations of business and craft to help you unlock the secrets of success.

We all have ideas for stories, but if our inner critic has a say, our stories might stay trapped forever. In this edition of the Florida Writer Podcast, host Alison Nissen chats with Cooper Levey-Baker, author of the new dystopian book Dead Fish Wind about how he turned a 3-minute free-writing exercise into a novel...after he calmed his inner critic.

Cooper Levey-Baker is a writer and journalist. His fiction has appeared in the Sierra Nevada Review and Burrow Press's Fantastic Floridas series, and his journalism has won multiple awards from the Florida Magazine Association and the Florida Society of Professional Journalists. Dead Fish Wind is his first novel.

In this edition of the Florida Writer Podcast, Push-Cart nominated poet John Davis Jr and host Alison Nissen discuss how he explores the dark secrets of the Dozier School for Boys in his latest book The Places That Hold. John Davis Jr. is the author of Hard Inheritance (Five Oaks Press, 2016), Middle Class American Proverb (Negative Capability Press, 2014) and two other books of poetry. He has been nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize, and he holds an MFA from the University of Tampa. His writings are published in literary journals throughout the South and around the world. He teaches English and Literature in the Tampa Bay area. You can find his profile from Poets and Writers magazine here: http://www.pw.org/content/john_davis

From Clown College to MFA, Victoria Dym uses the principles of improvisation to tap into the emotions needed to bring a work in progress to life. In this edition of the Florida Writer Podcast with host Alison Nissen, Victoria shares with us how the simple words of "Yes, and" help authors write deeper, more meaningful content. 

Victoria Dym is a graduate of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Clown College with a degree in Humility, a Bachelor of Arts, in Philosophy, from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Masters of Fine Arts, Creative Writing-Poetry from Carlow University. Her two poetry chapbooks, Class Clown, and When the Walls Cave In were published by Finishing Line Press in 2015 and 2018.  Ms. Dym was cast for the Risk! Live from Orlando storytelling show and her story, One Shot was selected for the podcast. Her short story, The Linzer Torte was published in The Scribe Magazine, January 2020 issue. Victoria is currently submitting her full-length poetry manuscript, The Hatchet Sun, and two new chapbooks, Shaving the Yak, and There Are No Dogs on Mars, and Other Sermons from the Dog Chapel for publication. She lives in Tampa Florida, where she hosts the Annual October Haiku Challenge, teaches poetry, storytelling, and facilitates Laughter Yoga workshops for Cano Health Wellness Center. Victoria is the co-founder of The Metanoia Retreat for Writers, Well-Being and Right Whales to be held on Amelia Island, Earth Day, 2022 and is currently accepting submissions at  metanoiaretreat@gmail.com.