The Me I Used to Be: Blog Tour & Giveaway

Monday, September 21, 2026

The Me I Used to Be by Kristan Higgins

I'm excited to announce the launch of a blog tour for the latest novel by prolific author Kristan Higgins. If you're looking for a book about the complexity of female friendships, growing older, and secrets, you won't be able to stop reading The Me I Used to Be. Join us in celebrating with an author interview and book giveaway.

At their twenty-fifth high school reunion, four former best friends discover that growing up is way messier than anticipated—and the past isn’t nearly as finished as they thought.
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Back in senior year, Audrey, Micah, Jasmine, and Beck were the Core Four: the lucky one, the beautiful one, the smart one, the sporty one. They had color-coded dreams, inside jokes, and a lifelong friendship they thought would last forever. But graduation night ended in a tragic accident, followed by the kind of silence that stretches for decades.
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Now, they’ve returned for their reunion, each carrying a life that looks nothing like the glossy future they imagined. There are stalled careers, complicated marriages, outspoken adult children, and secrets that never fit into holiday cards. For one of them, a diagnosis of early-onset dementia turns the weekend into a ticking clock.
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Across one unforgettable weekend, the Core Four must decide if their past can still change their future together.

https://cozyhomedelight.com/reviews

But before we get to that, here's more about her book:

Lake Union Publishing (September 15, 2026)
AISN: B0G59SKB4J
ASIN: B0FXBCYPVK   
ISBN-10: 1662537999
ISBN-13: 978-1662537998    
Print length:  347 pages

Purchase your copy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and Bookshop. You'll also want to add it to your GoodReads reading list.

About the Author, Kristan Higgins

Kristan Higgins is the author of more than twenty novels, all of which were New York Times and/or USA Today bestsellers, much to her surprise and delight. Her books have been translated into two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide, receiving dozens of awards and accolades, including starred reviews from Entertainment Weekly, People, The New York Journal of Books, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist.
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A smitten grandmother and the mother of two delightful adult children, Kristan enjoys gardening, mixology, the national parks and being overly helpful to strangers. She lives in Connecticut but is often on Cape Cod with her heroic firefighter husband, a rambunctious dog and their indifferent cat.

-- Review by Jodi M. Webb

In The Me I Used to Be, the friend group are four women who have know each other for decades (although they are estranged at the time of their reunion). These are well developed characters. Their personalities could have revolved around their nicknames - the pretty one, the athlete, the lucky one, the smart one - but author Kristan Higgins made them much more than that. In fact each woman seems to have two personalities, the person people expect her to be and who she really is. I felt this made the women incredibly realistic and I find myself playing the "Which one am I?" game.

Although the book takes place during the group's 25th high school reunion weekend, there are really three timelines. The events of the weekend, the events from 25 years ago that splintered the group and the hidden crisis each woman is secretly living through. Because of this, the book jumps between time periods as well as changing point of view so each woman can tell her own story. This format seemed complex in the beginning but, as I got caught up in the story, I was surprised at how easy it was to make the shift to different characters and their stories. The shifting point of view (conveniently announced at the beginning of each chapter) pushed me to keep reading, to learn how different characters experienced the same event.

Although there are many sad moments in The Me I Used to Be, it is not a tearjerker. Like life, it combines sad moments with silliness, love, redemption, new beginnings. I feel readers will identify with this book because the characters are grappling with issues that we are all familiar with: mortality, the elusiveness of friendship, the road not taken, balancing parenthood with your own happiness. I'm guessing every reader will find herself within the pages of this novel - I know I did.

The Me I Used to Be Blog Tour

-- Blog Tour Calendar

September 21st @ The Muffin
Join us as we celebrate the launch of the The Me I Used to Be by Kristan Higgins. Read a review and enter the giveaway.

September 22nd @ A Wonderful World Of Words
Read an excerpt of Kristan Higgins' latest novel The Me I Used to Be. 

September 24th @ All Things Writing
Learn what Caitrin thinks about the latest Kristan Higgins novel, The Me I Used to Be.

September 25th @ Chapter Break 
Enter a giveaway for The Me I Used to Be by Kristan Higgins.

September 29th @ Cozy Home Delights 
Ashley reviews Kristan Higgin's story of the power of friendship in The Me I Used to Be.

September 30th @ What Is That Book About
Get a sneak peek at Kristan Higgins' latest with an excerpt of The Me I Used to Be.

October 2nd @ Words by Webb
Jodi shares her thoughts on The Me I Used to Be by Kristan Higgins.

October 6th @ A Storybook World
Need a new read for a new month? Today's spotlight is on The Me I Used to Be.

October 12 @ Musings of a Literary Wanderer
Stop by for a review of The Me I Used to Be by Kristan Higgins.

October 14th @ Boys' Mom Reads!
Enjoy an excerpt of the latest Kristan Higgins novel: The Me I Used to Be.

October 17th @ Boots, Shoes and Fashion
Find out what Linda enjoyed about The Me I Used to Be.

***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****

Enter to win The Me I Used to Be by Kristan Higgins. Fill out the form below for a chance to win. The giveaway ends October 4th at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly draw a winner the next day and follow up via email. Good luck!


The Me I Used to Be Giveaway
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Interview with Elizabeth Hoban: Q3 2026 CNF Essay Contest Runner Up

Sunday, September 20, 2026
Elizabeth is a traditionally published author of The Secrets That Save Us and The Cheech Room, and a historical nonfiction novel, The Final Mission, a Boy, a Pilot and a World at War. She has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles over the years. She has won several writing awards, including Bethlehem Writers Circle Best in Prose 2018, Writers Digest runner-up in Memoir 2019, Millennium runner-up for Best in Prose 2023, and Reedsy first-place award for two short stories and two short-listed. Her first winning story appears in 2025 Reedsy Anthology. She received the Miriam Chaiken Award for Best in Prose 2025, and is the 2026 guest judge for same. She won Women on Writing (WOW) Q3 Essay Contest Award 2025, as well as 3rd place in WOW 2026 Q1 Flash Fiction and 2nd place in WOW Q2 Flash Fiction.

Aside from writing, Elizabeth is a Nurse Practitioner who loves spending time with her kids and her four-legged antidepressants. She doubts any of her 6 adult kids have ever read her work – maybe her cat Seuss based on his pedigree.

--interview by Marcia Peterson

WOW: Congratulations on placing as a runner up in our Q3 2026 Creative Nonfiction essay competition! What inspired you to write “Boys and Noise?”

Elizabeth: Thank you so much and congratulations to the other winners and runners-up! This is a true story that happened to me when I lived in Baltimore and was raising boys as a widowed mom. The difficulties of raising kids as a single parent are numerous – and I have always said that the ratio of kids in the home should never be greater than the authority figures. I obviously didn’t heed my own rules!

WOW: We’d love to know more about your writing routines. Could you tell us when and where you usually write? Do you have favorite tools or habits that get you going?

Elizabeth: I write in the evening, after I've finished my other work and chores. Most writers say they hone their skills in the early morning, when one’s mind is fresh, but that has never worked for me. My biggest tool isn't watching television or reading books (I save those for audio on my commute because I love reading). If I watch television or read someone else’s novels when I should be writing, I feel guilty. I try to write for a couple of hours before bed every day but Sundays. I save Sundays for anything but writing – spending time with my family, reading books, streaming movies, cooking, etc.

Then come Monday, I am back behind my laptop.

WOW: You’ve also placed our flash fiction contests, and have written fiction and nonfiction in various forms and lengths. Do you find one more challenging than the others? Are you drawn to one form more than the others?

Elizabeth: I find creative nonfiction a bit more challenging because it must be steeped in reality – a memoir or anecdote. I am my own worst critic, so writing about myself is sometimes difficult to wrap my head around. I think it’s why I tend to write humor when writing about my own life experiences. That offsets the awkwardness of it.

WOW: Is there a particular memoir you think everyone needs to read?

Elizabeth: If I am being honest, my favorite memoir is one I wrote about my dad’s experiences in WW2 as a B-17 pilot and POW. It is not my story, but nevertheless, because it’s true, it’s riveting and fascinating because we didn’t know the whole truth of my dad’s story until he was in his 90s. The Final Mission, a Boy, a Pilot, and a World at War, published by Westholme 2017 (audio and hardcover). That book was a labor of love for sure!
 
WOW: Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Elizabeth. Before you go, do you have any tips for our readers who may be thinking about entering writing contests?

Elizabeth: Yes – enter away! Nothing to lose but a few dollars – you get better every time you enter – and WOW is the best because they offer a critique at such a low fee. And those critiques are honestly the very best – super thorough and very helpful. Worth the extra few bucks, 100%!!

***  
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Creating Trust Helps Make Sales

Thursday, September 17, 2026

 


Earlier in the week, I was listening to Susan Friedman’s Book Marketing Mentor’s Podcast. Her podcast is all about how we can market our books effectively. Many but not all of her clients are independently published. Her guest for the week was Scott Carley who teaches managers how to tell who on their team or in their department has a good trust score. He was talking with Susan about how these things apply to selling your book. You can find her podcast episode here. 

As I listened to how trust in your book and in you, the author, can help sell your book to readers, I quickly realized that it also applies to selling a publisher or agent on your writing. Here is how three of the five points that Carley teaches his clients to examine apply to your query.

Vibe 

As defined by Carley, this is all about the feeling that someone gets from your book. The cover is often the first thing they notice, and it has to make a good impression. What does this have to do with your query? We no longer send out queries on quality stationary, but we can make sure that they are well organized and easy to read. Good organization and white space are a must. 

Motives 

Carley explained that people aren’t going to buy your book or class if you are simply trying to make money vs giving them something of value. The same is true of the editors and agents you query. You have to be able to show them that this is a topic you are passionate about, and your book offers something of value to the reader. This might be a piece of nonfiction that solves a problem for the reader or a novel that takes the reader on a compelling journey. You don’t want the agent to think you are just writing a romantasy because you’ve heard they are a great way to make money. 

Expertise 

This is the one that gets tricky. Carley explains that what you know is important. And it can’t just be what you know. If this is nonfiction, show that you’ve done research right there in the text. “A 2025 study at MIT revealed . . .” In your query, you can include some of the most important sources. “My research includes scientific findings from 23 academic journals including the Journal of the American Psychological Association and the Journal of Culture and Education.” 

Your expertise will also include whatever hands-on experience that you have. Carley explains that this last part is vital. Research is good, but what is your personal experience with the topic? 

A problem in any one of these areas can present a problem. If your query is poorly organized, no one will know what your book is about. If this isn’t a topic that means something to you, it is going to come across as something you’ve developed just to make money and having zero hands-on experience in an area is going to exacerbate this impression. It may be a mistaken impression, but you need to make certain your motivation and expertise shine through. 

How does your query letter score when you examine it for these topics? Your manuscript? Your independently published book? Your website? Building trust is key at all of these points and more. 

--SueBE

Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 80 books for young readers. To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog.

She is also the instructor for 3 WOW classes which begin on the first Monday of every month. She teaches:

To get a free copy of Sue’s book, What to Do When Your Book Is Banned, subscribe to her newsletter, One Writer’s Journey, here.
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Interview with Mary Beth McGruder: Spring 2026 Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place Winner

Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Mary Beth McGruder is a native Nashvillian who moved to the North Carolina coast in 2024. She writes upmarket fiction, often with speculative elements, about grief, love, and the things families hand down without meaning to. Before turning to writing full time, she spent more than twenty-five years in user experience design and product storytelling. Recently signed with The Bent Agency, she is revising her debut novel for submission to publishers. She lives near the water with her husband, Bryan, and their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Mrs. Bigglesworth, and is at work on her next novel. Learn more at www.marybethmcgruder.com.

--interview by Marcia Peterson

WOW: Congratulations on winning first place in our Spring 2026 Flash Fiction competition! What inspired you to write your story, “Sixteen Hours From Now?”

Mary Beth: The story started with the phrase “sixteen hours from now, yesterday.” I loved the contradiction of time moving forward and backward at once and started wondering what kind of story could grow from it. I had also read the six-word story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” often mistakenly attributed to Hemingway, and was amazed by how much sadness could be conveyed in so few words. That became my challenge: to write a very short, tragic story about a grieving mother trapped between trying to change the past and moving forward, reliving that choice over and over.

WOW: You mention in your bio that your writing often includes speculative elements, as your flash piece does. What do you like about speculative fiction?

Mary Beth: For me, speculative fiction scratches the “what if” itch. What if a watch you buried suddenly appeared in your hand? What if you were caught in a time loop, reliving the same choice over and over? I love starting with the world as we know it, adding one impossible thing, and seeing what it reveals about the characters. Grief can make time feel circular. Regret can make us replay the same moment again and again. Speculative fiction allows me to make those internal experiences literal on the page and explore very real emotions from a slightly off-kilter angle.

WOW: What advice would you give to someone wanting to try writing flash fiction for the first time?

Mary Beth: Flash fiction is a wonderful way to experiment with different voices and writing styles. I tend to write very place-specific, voice-forward stories, often with a Southern setting. For this contest, I chose to write something more interior and atmospheric, with the quality of a fever dream and a slightly British sensibility. My advice would be to use the short form as an opportunity to take a creative risk. Focus on one moment, include only the details the reader truly needs, and trust them to understand what you leave unsaid. A flash piece should feel compressed, but still complete.

WOW: You’re also currently working on a novel. Can you tell us anything about it, and what your novel writing journey has been like so far?

Mary Beth: My novel, The Letters No One Signed, is upmarket fiction with speculative elements. It follows a forty-six-year-old woman who returns to her late mother’s Tennessee farmhouse planning to sell it and leave again. Instead, she inherits a pregnant barn cat and a growing line of ghosts who want her to write letters to the living on their behalf. The one voice she most wants to hear, her mother’s, remains silent.

I began writing seriously after retiring from a career in user experience design and product storytelling. I had no formal background in writing, although I have been a voracious reader my entire life. I was learning to write while I was writing, and I had a handful of earlier manuscripts rejected along the way. Some were not as well written as I believed at the time. Others sagged in the middle, lacked tension, or had query letters that did not accurately reflect the manuscript. But each one taught me something.

When I finished The Letters No One Signed, I knew it was special and the best thing I had written. This summer, I signed with Jenny Bent and James Mustelier of The Bent Agency, and I’m now preparing to revise the novel with their guidance before it goes on submission to publishers. My best advice is to keep writing. If you stay with it, the lessons begin to come together on the page.

WOW: Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Mary Beth. Before you go, do you have any tips for our readers who may be thinking about entering writing contests?
Mary Beth: My first tip is simply to enter. Do not wait until you are certain your work is good enough, because most writers are never entirely certain. Look for contests with a prompt, word count, or set of guidelines that excites you. Read some of the previous winning entries to get a feel for the contest, then use its constraints to push yourself in a new direction. Follow the submission rules, stay within the word count, and proofread one last time before you hit send. But remember, the goal is not to write something perfect. It is to write something that lands. Judging is subjective, and a story that does not connect with one reader may be exactly the story another reader has been waiting for.

Contests have given me deadlines, helped me find my voice, and offered welcome validation without requiring me to tackle an entire novel. I’m answering these questions today because of a story that won, but I’ve written many, many more that didn’t win. My number one tip: keep writing!
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Interview with Nicole Brogdon: Q3 2026 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest Runner Up

Sunday, September 13, 2026

With her runner-up essay in the Q3 2026 Creative Nonfiction Essay contest, "Big Fist: What to do When the US Begins Bombing Your Immigrant Husband's Home Country", Nicole Brogson gives readers a uniquely personal perspective of an event that to many of us was just a far removed event, a flash on our daily newsfeed.


Nicole Brogdon is an Austin TX trauma therapist interested in strugglers and stories, with fiction in Vestal Review, Cincinnati Rev, Cleaver, Flash Frontier, Bending Genres, Centaur, SoFloPoJo, Cafe Irreal, etc. Best Microfiction 2024, Best Microfiction 2025. 


You can find Nicole on Bluesky @NBrogdonWrites! 


WOW: Your essay "Big Fist: What to do When the US Begins Bombing Your Immigrant Husband’s Home Country" begins on the first day of the United States bombing of Iran in February 2026. But it feels like it has bigger themes. Family. Distance. When you read your essay what do you feel it's about?



Nicole: In non-fiction connected to a world event, it’s important and tricky to find a personal way into the story, without culturally appropriating someone else’s experience. Perspective. Being respectful of even a spouse’s subjective emotional experience. It’s equally important to find a subjective human personal resonance, compassion, with many of the troubling political issues that are afloat in this time. 



For this essay, I wanted very much to empathize with immigrants in this country, whose birth countries are experiencing war and conflict far away. Of course, on a personal level, I have a dear husband who migrated from Iran, and many Iranians in my life. Being an immigrant is a special kind of split consciousness. We can all relate to that split experience, as humans – childhood “Home”, and where we are now, as Adult individuals— particularly since we are all born from generations, immigrants, and travelers who embarked on a great journey. People traveled far, physically, geographically, genetically, to result in the “I” who is here now. Myths and stories are about journeys, our personal psychology is a journey, and our genetic histories as individuals, no matter how far back we need to go to find migration, are rooted in journeys.

 


WOW: Is there a common theme to your writing or do you write about many different topics?



Nicole: I am particularly interested in struggles. In fact, I have a flash piece in the lit magazine Ghost Parachute called “Strugglers”, that’s dear to my heart. The human condition is struggle. Fiction, of course is interested in heroes’ journeys, conflicts, struggles. There are many small, absurd struggles, too, in our everyday lives, even if we’re lucky enough to have relative comfort. 



Absurdism, surrealism, parables, dark humor, gothic elements, interest me as natural writing elements to use in depicting any of these absurd, perplexing problems of daily life. Dream logic, actual dreams, are rich fodder for our own fiction and poetry writings. I’m interested in the drip, drip of problems and absurd happenings on the characters in my stories. And ultimately, in the resiliency and overcoming of problems. 



WOW: Do you feel your work as a trauma therapist affects your writing?



Nicole: Absolutely. I try not to think of direct individual clients when I’m writing, out of respect for them, for confidentiality, and for my psychotherapist day job. But after 20 years working as a therapist, I believe more acutely what I’ve always believed: Everybody has a story, we just don’t know what it is yet. I tell myself that, when I encounter someone odd, rude, or struggling out in the real world. We don’t know what they’ve been through. We’re welcome to back off, use boundaries, whatever, but, ‘There but for some grace—and luck—for now, go I.



WOW: Do you have any favorite writers? What have you learned from them?



Nicole: I love all the great masters of the prose poems – the inevitable Charles Simon, Russell, Edson, Ada Limon, as well as other poets, such as Jericho Brown. These feel like virtuosos in terms of language. In my early adulthood, I read many Latin American, magical realist writers, particularly Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I love a good novel and someone who is skillful with letting dialogue reveal. I have recently been reading books by the talented Irish writer, John Boyne, as well as more prose poems, for their musicality. 



WOW: Do you belong to any writing communities (virtual or real life)? How do they help you with your writing? 



Nicole: Trusted beta readers help us grow. They need to “get us”, and they are hard to find. Right now, I belong to two different small group writing groups who are invaluable readers and now great friends to me. One group is a trio I formed, after looking for two years for the right people to share work with, in short term online writing classes. I met and subsequently chose these two women whose feedback and writing styles were admirable and resonant for me, in a writers.com online flash fiction class six years ago. The second group was formed by a male colleague at a writing retreat, when at the end, he invited three of us to join him for a monthly zoom meeting/writing exchange. I think it’s important to name the group, creating the feeling of a unified team. Thus, the first group is the Chicas, and the second group is the Moose. Makes me chuckle every time one of us says the group names. 



In both groups, in addition to critical feedback, I hear, and am emphasizing, stylistically what each one of us does best, so that each writer can continue to grow his or her authentic, self-at-best writing voice. Invaluable.



WOW: I find in intriguing that your writing groups concentrate on specific writing pieces but also the broader "this is who I think you are as a writer" question. What are you working on now?



Nicole: I am working on a larger project, called, “Mom Gets Around”, which I first pictured as a “novel in flash“, is now more like a novel, with chapters of varying lengths. 



Conversely, I’m also deeply reattached to reading, studying, and writing prose poems. I’ve had many pieces (that began as prose poems) published in various literary magazines, sometimes as “flash fiction” submissions (when I see, or add in, more escalation).



Of course, a clear distinction is not always obvious between microfiction and prose poem. I do like the freedom of thinking of short pieces as “prose poems”, where I’m able to focus on surreal subjects, lyrical sounds, and poetic language, and get in and get out in a short word count, often about 100–220 words. If it really wants to turn into more of a story, then I think in terms of escalation, adding in or working in three parts, beginning, middle and end, with escalation tending to occur in the middle.



Furthermore, I’ve benefited greatly from the poet Jose Hernandez Diaz’ zoom classes in prose poem (available usually as a package of 4 Sunday classes). He provides a weekly curated reading worksheet, small group discussion, and several in class 10 minute writing prompts—great for developing more writing fluency!



WOW: The idea that your writing has presence, "If it really wants to turn into more a story..." will stay with me. Thanks for your time and we look forward to hearing more from you.

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Breaking All the Writing Rules

Thursday, September 10, 2026

"So, you're saying we can just write something and then look at it and decide to start with the middle?" The woman in my casual writing workshop at my local library gave me an "Are you sure?" look. My class had the usual array of attendees: newbie writers, people who had written long ago (maybe in school) and were just finding their way back to it and a few people who just thought that this workshop sounded like an interesting way to spend a Tuesday evening. And they had what seemed like an unending list of questions about writing.


That question tinged with disbelief was the one that stuck with me. Initially it seemed like a question about attention grabbing starts for a writing piece but underneath it was a question about writing rules. Breaking writing rules.


If you're like me, at some point a teacher taught you the "rules" for writing, including the format for a piece of writing. An introduction, the body of the piece, the conclusion. And yes, that format works for school assignments. Personally, I hate it for personal essays. I like to dive right into my subject with a significant event or memorable image that will make the reader think, "I want to read more of this."


A long time ago I was that woman from my writing class, faithfully constructing an intro, the meat of an essay and then a conclusion that neatly wrapped back to the intro. Eventually I began breaking that rules. I didn't just break it, I ripped it to pieces and tossed it in the shredder.


Those rules taught to us by well-meaning English teachers who are just hoping for readable essays, reports and assignments get ingrained into our brains. My hat's off to them for tackling dozens of essays by 12 year old students who didn't want to write about "What I Did this Summer". But when you move beyond academic writing it's time to break some of those rules in order to create writing that our readers are eager to read.


Starting a sentence with a conjunction. Sentence fragments. Unreliable narrators. Statements with double meanings. Open-ended conclusions. Slang. All things that would earn a red mark from the English teachers of our past. But all things that we probably do regularly with our creative writing.


What rules did you learn in the classroom that you have abandoned in your writing life?


 Jodi M. Webb writes from her home in the Pennsylvania mountains about everything from apple pie to consignment shops to travel. She's also a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing. Follow her writing (and reading) life at Words by Webb. 

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Vacancy by Jann Alexander: Reader Review Event, Podcast Tour, and Giveaway

Monday, September 07, 2026
 
Vacancy by Jann Alexander

I'm excited to announce our reader review event for Vacancy by Jann Alexander. We'll be celebrating the event's launch by sharing reviews from our community and giving you a chance to win a copy of the book and an Amazon gift card. Also, don't miss hearing Jann talk about her writing journey in upcoming podcast episodes.

But before we get into what our readers thought, here's more about the book:

Helen is childless and widowed after a long marriage and gets a second chance with a long-lost love. But she's grieving her hidden regrets. She bonds with her quiet kindergarten student and doubts the girl's struggling single mother, Charlene, is fit to parent.

Charlene's hiding a secret of her own, and she resents Helen's interference. She's determined to make a better life for her young daughter, the teenage boy her ex left behind, and the baby on the way when a scarred veteran offers to lend a hand.

A tragedy no one sees coming forces the two women to unite, as small-town bias threatens to destroy innocent lives. But first, Helen and Charlene must confront the vacancy in their hearts. As they do, can they find new strength, acceptance, and a second chance at love?

Publisher: Black Rose Writing (September 2026)
ISBN-13: 978-1685137984
ASIN: B0H7XL45TB
Print length: 320 pages

Vacancy is available in print and as an ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Bookshop.org. You can also add it to your Goodreads list.

About the Author, Jann Alexander


Jann Alexander is an author, photographer, and public speaker. Her characters face down their fears in novels that are as close to true as fiction can get. As a central Texas resident for over two decades, she created the Vanishing Austin photography series and speaks on all things Texas to groups and book clubs. Jann’s lifelong storytelling habit and her passion for Texas history merged to become The Dust Series, comprising the historical novel Unspoken and the fictionalized true-crime novel Vacancy. She holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland. When Jann is not reading, writing, or creating, she bikes, hikes, skis, and kayaks. Jann always brakes for historical markers.

You can find her online at:


-- Interview by Nicole Pyles

WOW: Congrats on your book, Vacancy! What inspired your book?

Jann: Thank you! Vacancy had been germinating since 2005. That’s when two articles on the front page of a major newspaper’s Metro section jumped out at me. One story was joyful, the other horrific, and the characters in each were unrelated. But I wanted to understand how the two events came about, and why blame was being cast in a small, rural town.  

WOW: I love that real events in the news inspire you. Can you tell us more about that inspiration?

Jann: I was inspired to meld two unrelated true stories (from 2005) together into one novel, to explore the complexities of each situation. I created a mythical town in the Texas Panhandle for its small-town environment, where scenarios of second chances, and tragedies nobody saw coming, were believable. Names and locations were changed, and new fictional characters added, in my effort to work through how a terrible tragedy can envelop even those who are innocent. 

WOW: I think that's amazing that you did that. You also have a skill for vivid setting! How do you capture such realistic scenes and surroundings? 

Jann: Thanks for crediting me with vivid settings! I was an art director, photographer, and painter before I turned to writing novels, and that visual sense never leaves you. My eyes are like a camera that’s constantly clicking and recording, and I study everything around me in a scene. It’s a game I play, absorbing all the details. And when I am writing, I research, which involves lots of old photographs and old maps. That helps me visualize what I’m putting words to. 

WOW: I'll bet! I love that you set your book in Texas, your own home state. What do you love most about setting your books there?

Jann: The funny thing about Texas is that it’s my home state now, but not until I moved here from the D.C. area in 2004. In order to get to know my new state, I began to research it, travel around it, explore it, and once I uncovered some of its hidden histories and its wacky past, I couldn’t resist creating a mythical town in the Texas Panhandle as a setting for my books. Vacancy was actually the first novel in "The Dust Series" I wrote, but it’s second to be published. Each book in the series can stand alone, with the setting in small-town Texas tying them together, as characters connect, or move in, and move out, of subsequent books. Like people do, in towns across Texas.  

WOW: It seems like Texas pulled you right in! What draws to writing historical fiction?

Jann: I have always had a passion for times past, and since I can’t travel back in time, the next best thing I can do is imagine it—and write it. This gives me a reason to dig into old photographs, old maps, old paintings, oral histories, and out-of-print books for visualizing how things once were. I collect things from my favorite eras in U.S. history, too, such as a 1930 typewriter, 1940s Bakelite radios, even older boxes of cartes-de-visites, 1950s fold-out post cards, 1930s-40s refrigerator pitchers, hand-tinted photographs, colorful fruit crate labels, even books about the architecture, styles, and décor from former eras.

WOW: That's a fun collection to have! Where do you like to write? Can you share pictures?






Jann: I have made myself a great writing studio that can double as a research center, art studio, and place to read. I love going into my writing studio, and can’t imagine writing anywhere else. I have shelves for lots of books with my collectibles interspersed, storage for art and photo supplies, a great view of live oak trees and birds, a door to our deck for my Texas mutt, Ruby, and a door that’s sized for me, too. 

WOW: Where you like to write is beautiful! What are you working on now that you can tell us about?

Jann: I’m doing final edits on my third novel in The Dust Series, titled Overdue: Riding the Rails Across Texas in Hard Times. In the Texas Dust Bowl, fourteen-year-old Will Becker sets out for home but keeps riding the rails, chasing education, work, and a way to save his family farm—until history turns every detour into a reckoning.

Thanks for asking such fun questions!

WOW: And thank you for joining us! I hope everyone enjoys your book.



Review Event for Vacancy by Jann Alexander

Here's what WOW! Readers had to say about Vacancy by Jann Alexander:

"I was pulled right into Jann Alexander’s Vacancy. She knows just how to create a scene that captures each character's emotions and evokes vivid physical sensations and settings. There are multiple POVs throughout the book, but Jann knows just how to rope the reader into each perspective without taking them out of the story. Chapters are short, so the pacing is perfect. My heart went out to each character as they navigated the changes in their lives. Definitely recommend this one!" ~ Nicole P.

"This novel follow two women whose lives become intertwined and after a tragic accident they realize maybe there was a reason they were brought into each other's lives. Helen a widowed school teacher has taken an interest in a new student Jillie. She feels something isn't right at home and reaches out to her mother to try to get a little more insight. But the mother continues to ignore the meetings and calls from Helen. 

"When Helen's worst fear comes true, she carries the guilt that she should have done more. Charlene, a young mother stuck in a bad relationship just found out she is pregnant again. How could this happen? He didn't even want the first child and he never takes the time for his first child, the teenage son she helps care for. She needs to get out and finds the strength to do all it takes to get out of this situation. With the help of some friends, she gets out of there with Mick and Jillie, but the struggle is hard. 

"While stepping away for a few moments to make a phone call, a terrible accident happens and now the fear of her new life she was starting hangs in the balance as the town points fingers at her and labels her as another negligent mother that shouldn't have had children. With the strength of her friends and Helen who continues to reach out, Charlene has to learn to live for the new child growing within her and the guilt of what happened. I really enjoyed this read, the struggles these women had how they gave each other strength to move forward." ~ Chelsie S.

"There have been many books written about men hurting women, but have you ever read about a secret hiding place abusing the person who trusted it? How could that be? No, this is not sci fi, and yes, the main characters are hiding unspeakable secrets despite the love and trust that are shared in Jann Alexander’s Vacancy.

"Kindergarten teacher Helen is childless and widowed. She’s grieving her hidden regrets though an administrator sees right through her and advises her to see a psychologist. She stalls while she bonds with shy girl in her class and fears that the girl’s struggling single mother, Charlene, is not parenting well.

"Charlene’s hiding a secret too, while doing the best she can to keep her daughter and the teenager her ex left behind safe. She resents Helen’s judgments and interference, but she resents her former husband’s drunken violence more. When she meets a scarred veteran who offers to lend a hand, hope flourishes, until she begs for time.

"After an unexpected tragedy Helen and Charlene bond despite the harsh judgements of people who speculate about what really happened. Helen and Charlene must confront the vacancies in their hearts, creating an opening for new love.

"Author Jann Alexander is a skillful storyteller. Her characters resonate and you’ll find yourself reeling at the problems life brings to them. She has written an earlier book in the same series, Unspoken.

"If you’re drawn to women’s fiction, other people’s problems, or the Texas panhandle, this book is for you." ~ B. Lynn G.

"Vacancy is great from start to finish.

I felt for all the characters.

Helen is both a widow and kindergarten teacher.

Charlene is a single mother with a little girl, and her brother, a teenager, who both go through more than anyone should.

Vacancy is raw, gripping, and had me hooked. It’s memorable and had me thinking about it long after I finished.

It demonstrates life’s struggles very well in the characters, their backstory, and what they experience. It’s also about resilience.

Thanks to Jann Alexander and to Women on Writing. It was a pleasure to take part in the reader review event for this novel." ~ Katherine H.

"This is a touching novel of two women whose lives cross as they face the tragedies in their lives. They find strength, making it through to new life. Second chances give hope to them both. Alexander has written an emotional novel in which the women eventually find healing and strength to overcome tragedy, remorse and guilt and experience forgiveness and hope.

Potential readers should be aware that the tragedies include the death of a spouse and a child's death. Those may be trigger situations for some. There is also a threatening and dangerous past boyfriend. Those are hard experiences but the women find the strength to go on." ~ Joan N.

Listen to Jann Alexander on Podcasts

Beach Chair Chats

Bookaholic

Connor Reads Books

Sustaining Creativity


Women's Fiction and $25 Gift Card Giveaway


***** BOOK & GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY *****

Enter to win Vacancy by Jann Alexander and a $25 Amazon Gift Card. Fill out the form below for a chance to win. The giveaway ends September 20th at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly draw a winner the next day and follow up via email. Good luck!

Vacancy and $25 Gift Card Giveaway
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