Queries, Qualms, & Quirks

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.