Mother Tongue - Interview with Linda Petrucelli (and Join our Reader Review Event)

Wednesday, April 22, 2026


Travel across the world today with author Linda Petrucelli and her memoir Mother Tongue: A Memoir of Taiwan. Enjoy today's author interview and a sneak peek at a memoir of her time as a clergyperson in Taiwan in the 1980s.


For more information about reviewing this book contact jodiwebb9@gmail.com or sign up at 


 About the Book


Standing by the window, I tried to understand what happened to me to take such an unfathomable leap… What I hadn’t realized was that first, my one and only assignment would be to learn the language.”


In 1984, when Linda Petrucelli arrives in Taiwan with her husband Gary Hoff, she assumes she will learn Mandarin Chinese. Instead, her local church partner, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, assigns her to learn Taiwanese, an eight-toned ancient tongue that few Westerners ever attempt. What began as a daunting assignment turns into a transformative journey of faith, identity, and resilience. Set during the world’s longest period of martial law, Mother Tongue offers candid insight into Taiwan’s nonviolent struggle toward democracy, the political power of language, and the universal search for belonging. In her odyssey to communicate in the island’s mother tongue, Linda learns the political implications of language, insight into her own ethnic identity, and the value of finding humor in her mistakes.


Publisher: Koehler Books

ISBN-13:   979-8897471195

ASIN:   B0GNCKK6QV

Print length: 178 pages

Genre: Memoir


We're also inviting readers to participate in our Reader Review event. You can sign up by emailing: jodiwebb9@gmail.com and she will get you a copy of the book! You don't need to be a blogger to join in on this event; anyone who can leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon can participate and receive an ebook copy of Mother Tongue. By leaving a review, you'll also be entered in a drawing to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!


Mother Tongue: A Memoir of Taiwan is available in print and as an ebook at Amazon, BooksaMillion and Barnes & Noble. Add it to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Linda Petrucelli’s creative nonfiction essays have earned Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, and her fiction accolades include first place in the Women on Writing Fall 2018 Flash Fiction Contest. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Linda holds degrees from Yale Divinity School and Chicago Theological Seminary. For ten years, she served as a missionary in
Taiwan, becoming fluent in the Taiwanese language. Her wide-ranging ministerial service includes work as a humanitarian relief executive in New York City and pastorates in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and on the Big Island of Hawaii. She now resides in Hawi, Hawaii, with her artist husband, Gary Hoff, and writes on the lanai of their tin-roofed rancher overlooking the
ʼAlenuihāhā Channel.

Connect with the author


Website: http://lindapetrucelli.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaSPetrucelli/

IG: @linda.petrucelli


--Interview by Jodi M. Webb


WOW: Tell us a little about how you began writing.


Linda: I’ve kept a journal much of my life as a way to sort through my feelings, but writing played a significant role in my professional life, too. I've been an ordained minister and for much of my career each week I wrote a flash CNF essay, aka “a sermon,” and delivered it live before a congregation. From time to time during my ministerial years, I published nonfiction articles that leaned toward journalism, including one about capital punishment in Taiwan that appeared in The Christian Century. 


After I retired, I finally had the time to dedicate myself to the craft of writing and to enjoy a consistent practice. I started by taking online classes, many of them WOW! offerings, joined our local writer’s guild, and began reading lit mags and memoirs. My first efforts were short form prose—flash fiction and personal essays.


WOW: So how did you go from flash fiction to a memoir focused on your time in Taiwan?

Linda: Current events got me thinking. How, in my opinion, Taiwan and the US had reversed roles over the last several decades. I am concerned about what I see as authoritarian tendencies infiltrating our national life. Book banning; disruption in transferring power; curbs to freedom of expression. These were the tactics of Taiwan’s one-party dictatorship in the 80s when I lived there. How ironic, I thought, that Taiwan has made incredible strides toward democracy in the shadow of China, slowly overcoming its authoritarian history, while my own country has moved in the opposite direction. I wanted to tell my story against the backdrop of Taiwan’s resistance and resilience as a hopeful reminder that courageous individuals can change oppressive systems.

WOW: It's amazing to see our current world through the lens of your experiences decades ago. How did you write Mother Tongue? Did you have journals or other written works
to draw from or was it all from your memory?

Linda: I had made several attempts at writing a memoir but I never finished any of them. Finally admitting that I was a “Plotter” not a “Pantser,” I drafted a three-act structure using a list of detailed scenes. The outline periodically shifted and rearranged itself but it helped me when I felt lost or overwhelmed trying to get the story down. I committed to 500 words a day for four months. The first draft was pretty awful but not beyond saving and I went on to edit the manuscript over a period of nearly two years. I actually wrote the last chapter first, in hopes that the preceding chapters would move toward and culminate in that final scene.

For background material, since it happened so long ago, I utilized journals and letters I had written to my father. I also was lucky to have my husband Gary who was with me in Taiwan as a sounding board. His recollections were indispensable, as well as the extensive photo collection we had assembled. Towards the end of the second draft, I contacted some of my Taiwanese colleagues with a few questions. I even got some information I didn’t expect… After I messaged Lim Bi-iong, one of the Taiwanese women who appear in my book, she sent me declassified government surveillance records on my activity at the Fishermen’s Service Center where I had worked!

WOW: You write about the difficulty of learning to speak Taiwanese. Was it difficult to capture the sound of the Taiwanese language in your writing?

Linda: That is a super insightful question, Jodi!

Of course, I used the romanization system I had learned to show the language I was speaking, but to evoke the sound is another thing altogether. As a writer, I think sound is one of the more challenging senses to describe. So, I got a lot of practice writing this  book! 

During my research, I discovered a journal written back when I was studying Taiwanese where I wrote about “laughing in eight tones.” This memory inspired the scene where I am practicing saying “HA” using eight different intonations. Later in the scene, where I am practicing saying MA, you’ll find my favorite line in the book:

“Eighth tone: MA (high and stopped). I forced a soprano glottal stop and squeaked. It was the same tone of my surname in Taiwanese. Not the gently modulated “Bai” of Mandarin, but mousespeak. Peh!”

WOW: I often find that the memoirs I read change my outlook on life. What do you hope readers will take away from Mother Tongue?

Linda: Life and learning are better with laughter!

WOW: Isn't everything! What’s up next for your writing career?

Linda: I continue to take online classes and keep practicing, word by word. I participated in 
Novnov last year and wrote a 50K-word cozy mystery in a month. This kind of writer’s marathon had been an item on my literary bucket list for a while. I’d like to see, with a few months of hindsight now, what I might do with that “vomit draft.” I’m hoping to explore chapbooks, too. Maybe compose several short-short collections around the theme of ‘belonging’ and my spiritual experiences with nature in Hawaii.

WOW: You sound super busy with so many different possibilities. Personally, I would love to read about the connections you've made during your time in Hawaii.


Join the Reader Review Event


Readers, if you'd like to receive a copy of Mother Tongue by Linda Petrucelli for review, please email jodiwebb9@gmail.com or signup at https://forms.gle/LhLatdbbS8i6cuBT9 . Book reviews need to be posted by  on Goodreads (required) and one other bookseller online site. We'll be sharing all the reviews in a Reader Review Event and Giveaway post here on The Muffin on June 15! In addition to receiving the book, you'll also be entered to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!
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Interview with Rose Brown: Fall 2025 Flash Fiction First Place Winner

Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Rose is an ICU nurse who was raised in Hawaii and now lives in Georgia with her husband, toddler, and cat. She took up writing in 2025 and has been published in Elegant Literature, was a 2025 ACFW Crown Award finalist, and is shortlisted for a current Uncharted magazine flash contest. She is working on her debut novel, a Southern folk horror–drama.

--interview by Marcia Peterson

WOW: Congratulations on winning first place in our Fall 2025 Flash Fiction competition! What inspired you to write your story, “Sack of Bones?” It’s a powerful piece, and I loved everything about your writing style.

Rose: Thank you so much! I'm honored (and shocked) that I won. I actually wrote it last year during my lunch break at work. I'm not sure why this specific family member came to mind while I ate some crappy hospital cafeteria Salisbury steak, but he did. He died years ago, and his funeral, the eulogy, everything felt like it was for a stranger. The only ones I found myself grieving for (and confused by) were his still-living victims, who seemed genuinely lost and torn up over his death when I thought they'd finally feel free.

I'm much older now (was nineteen then) and understand how incredibly complicated abuse is, and how victims can be left with many mixed emotions. Basically, parts of the story (like the setting, since I grew up in Hawaii) were changed, but it was inspired by a very real moment of struggling to grieve someone who had caused a lot of pain in my family.

WOW: In your bio, you say that you “took up writing in 2025.” You’re already having success with publications and awards. Did you have an interest in writing and make any attempts at it previously?

Rose:  My twenties were busy with college, nursing, getting married and moving across the country (my husband is in the Air Force). Long hours at the hospital exhausted me so much that I didn't have energy to pursue much outside of that, especially something that can be as difficult as writing.

But things changed after having my daughter. I worked much less to stay home with her, and finally had time to breathe. One day I came across a Reedsy ad for a writing contest, tried it out, and soon started winning. I had no idea how much writing short stories could help me de-stress (and help pay for groceries!).

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

Rose:  One of my goals for this year has been to read much more, specifically flash fic and short stories. Spending more time reading than writing has actually strengthened my writing way more than I expected! I wish I prioritized it much sooner!

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

Rose:  Last year I completed my first try at a novel, a thriller, then trashed it. I hated it! My writing style and preferences have changed so much in just a year, and I had to start over. So since late last year I've been working on a southern mystery. The south, especially Appalachia, has fascinated me since moving here, so my story incorporates a lot of Appalachian folk-lore and spiritual themes. I'm only on chapter seven, and have a lot going on this year (a baby due this summer, deployed husband, and possibly moving to Japan), but I'm hoping through all of the craziness I can still work on it!

WOW: My, you have a lot going on, and we wish the best for you and your family with all of these things!  Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Rose. Before you go, can you share a favorite writing tip or piece of advice?

Rose:  It's funny how the stories I think are my best and most polished don't place. The ones I almost don't submit to contests because they feel so raw and unedited almost always do well. So, don't write to sound good, or like someone else, or to win. Just write a story you can't not write, one that speaks deeply to you.

***
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Moving to My Dog's Hometown by Betsy Vereckey: Podcast Tour & Giveaway

Monday, April 20, 2026
 
Moving to My Dog's Hometown by Betsy Vereckey

We are so excited to announce the launch of Betsy Vereckey's podcast tour. Podcasters will be talking with her about her newly released memoir, Moving to My Dog's Hometown. You'll have a chance to read more about the author in our interview and enter to win a copy of the book for yourself. 

Before we get to that, here's more about the book:

Betsy Vereckey was thirty-seven and newly divorced when she rerouted her life from New York City to a tiny town in New Hampshire she knew virtually nothing about . . . except that it was her dog’s hometown. A lot of people switch up their lives after a divorce, but only a dog lover would drive a rental car north with just a duffel bag and a Glen of Imaal terrier named Ronan in the backseat.

While Betsy’s decision to move to Hanover was motivated by a desperate need for change—along with the fact that Mercury was no longer in retrograde and she’d been offered a “garden” apartment she could almost afford—sometimes challenging circumstances and a cosmic hunch lead you right where you’re meant to be.

From the author of the essays “How my dog helped me find love again” (Newsweek) and “This recipe is the best thing I got from my divorce” (Washington Post) comes a relatable, funny and inspiring memoir for anyone feeling stuck in life. As Betsy discovers in writing these stories, taking a leap of faith to find your personal authenticity isn’t wrong—it’s the key to happiness.

Purchase a copy of Moving to My Dog's Hometown on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. You can also add it to your GoodReads reading list.

About the Author, Betsy Vereckey


Betsy Vereckey is a journalist, memoirist and astrologer who lives in Vermont with three very opinionated terriers in an old farmhouse. Her debut memoir, Moving to My Dog’s Hometown, is about an impulsive decision she made in her mid-30s to move to Hanover, New Hampshire, a town she knew nothing about--except that it was the town where she and her ex-husband adopted their dog Ronan. The book was published in January by Rootstock Publishing, a small press based in Montpelier, Vermont. It is a Kirkus-recommended pick, and the Vermont Weekly Seven Days called the book “a feel-good story with some bite.

Betsy started her career as a 24-year-old reporter writing for the Associated Press in Athens, Greece. Her personal essays have appeared in the highly competitive New York Times’ Modern Love column, The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, The Washington Post, and New York Magazine. Her Modern Love column was chosen by comedian/actress Abbi Jacobson to read on the NYT Modern Love podcast. 

Betsy is the daughter of a Hungarian immigrant, has been a vegetarian since she was 7 years old, and grew up near Youngstown, Ohio, home of the best pizza you’ll ever have. She is an avid birder and volunteers at the Center for Wild Bird Rehabilitation at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. 

Betsy is also a practicing astrologer and has written numerous essays on astrology, including one for The LA Times about what it was like to do her mother’s chart, decades after she died. You can find her on Substack as Moonlight in Vermont.

Find her online at:


--- Interview by Nicole Pyles

WOW: Congrats on your memoir, Moving to My Dog's Hometown. There's so much I love about your memoir. Can you tell us why you decided to write a memoir about your experience?

Betsy: I was 36 and going through a divorce when I started working on this memoir, a time when many of my friends were settling down and having babies. Writing was my therapy (and cheaper than seeing a therapist)! I wasn’t sure that anything would make sense in my life again. I was working in a dead-end job writing insurance copy for a marketing agency and throwing all my money into my Brooklyn apartment, which was infested with mice. They were everywhere—even in my oven. Well, you know how the saying goes—bad for real life but amazing story material. If I didn’t find the humor in it, I probably would have gone crazy.

I decided to move to Hanover, New Hampshire, a college town that I knew nothing about, except that it was where my now ex-husband and I had adopted our dog Ronan. I moved in with an older retired couple who were suffering from empty nest syndrome, and they became my surrogate parents. We had the best time playing “Jeopardy!” I had only expected to live in New England for six months or so until I moved on to something better, but it's been almost 10 years, and I’m still here and loving it. So, I think my memoir is an exploration of how and why this random decision ended up working out for me.  

WOW: What a scenario! I love how that turned out for you. And you basically lived out a daydream of mine, and that is moving to a random city to start a new life. What gave you the courage to take such a drastic step in changing your life?

Betsy: I had no other options? I’m kidding, but I think there’s actually something to that! If one thing had worked out for me (a date, a job, an apartment), I’d probably still be living in New York City. When everything goes to hell, you really have no choice but to start over. Also, when you change one thing, it becomes a lot easier to keep on taking chances. Once I quit my job, it wasn’t long until I left the city. I really had nothing to lose, and I was tired of sleeping with one eye open to fend off the mice. Plus, I had big dreams of having my own washer and dryer. 

WOW: Ha! I think there is a LOT of truth to that statement. This is certainly not your first rodeo in terms of writing. But what was different writing a memoir in comparison to other types of writing you've done?

Betsy: I workshopped my memoir with a wonderful editor named Joni Cole at the Writer’s Center of White River Junction in Vermont. I met with a writers’ group every Thursday night. It was collaborative and creative, and far less solitary than how I used to work. I think I will always be in a writers’ group from now on. I find that it helps me pull a draft together much faster. 

I also felt like I had more freedom on the page when working on my memoir (hello, swear words!) than if I were writing a personal essay that would appear in a newspaper. I feel like people always say this, and I never believed them until I experienced it myself, but the best part of writing a memoir was actually writing it. In addition to divorce, there were other setbacks in my life I was desperate to make sense of—my mother’s death, for example—and writing a memoir helped me find some peace. 

WOW: Memoir writing can be absolutely healing. As you look back, what lessons would you have wanted yourself to know, whether it's a life lesson or a writing lesson?

Betsy: Sometimes, you can’t think your way out of things; you just have to act. I think I hesitated to leave New York because I was paralyzed that I would make another wrong decision, but you actually can’t move on if you’re just sitting around doing nothing. I think the same lesson applies to writing. More often than not, you can’t write the story in your head. You have to handwrite in a journal and put some words on the page and get out of your own way so that your subconscious can take over.  

WOW: Great advice! What would you say to authors who aren't sure their lived experiences are "memoir worthy"?

Betsy: Great question. I wrote an entire book about living in a stranger’s house, so I bet your lived experience is a lot more exciting than mine! Any story that completely transforms you is worth putting on the page. I have found that some of the best stories are in the mundaneness of everyday life. By going smaller, you can actually go bigger. Often, it’s not the story itself that matters; it’s how you tell it. 

WOW: I completely agree. Where do you like to write? Any photos you can share?

Betsy: Sometimes, I’ll go to King Arthur Bakery, which is right down the street, but usually, I write at home. My husband and I live in an old farmhouse, and my office is in a small one-room building next to the house that used to be the former owner’s carpentry studio. 


His family buried his freaking ashes under the floorboards after he died, so I like to think he’s my spirit guide. I have three Glen of Imaal terriers who never fail to steal all the good spots on the furniture, so I’m normally at my desk, which is right in front of a big window. 





Sometimes, I’ll see an owl or a hawk. Once, I saw an otter, but I’d love to see a bear or a moose walk past one of these days. A girl can dream. 

WOW: How fun! You have great writing company. Thank you so much for joining us today.

--- Podcast Features

Creative Conversations with Roger Humphrey


Beach Chair Chats

Who We Become

One Starfish with Angela Bradford

The Written World

Teatime with Miss Liz

Moving to My Dog's Hometown Giveaway

***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****

Enter the Gleam form for a chance to win a copy of the memoir Moving to My Dog's Hometown by Betsy Vereckey! The giveaway ends May 3rd at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly choose a winner the next day. Good luck!

Moving to My Dog's Hometown Giveaway
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Interview with Bethany Bruno, Runner Up in the Q1 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest with “Half of What I Hear”

Saturday, April 18, 2026
Congratulations to Bethany Bruno from Huntsville, Alabama 
for her amazing nonfiction essay titled: Half of What I Hear 

 Check out Bethany’s submission, 
Half of What I Hear as well as all the other winning entries 
and then stop back here to read Bethany’s engaging interview with 
Crystal J. Casavant-Otto from WOW! Women on Writing. 

 
Bethany’s Bio: 
Bethany Bruno is a Floridian author and amateur historian. She holds a BA in English from Flagler College and an MA from the University of North Florida. Her work has appeared in more than a hundred literary journals and magazines, including The Sun, McSweeney’s, River Teeth’s Beautiful Things, Brevity, and The Huffington Post. A Best of the Net nominee, she won 2025 flash fiction contests from Inscape Journal and Blue Earth Review. She is the winner of the 2026 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. Learn more at www.bethanybrunowriter.com. 

WOW: Thank you Bethany for being with me today and sharing so intimately with the WOW! Readership. Keep up the great work and I look forward to working more with you in the future! 

What is the take-away you’d like readers to gain from Half of What I Hear? 

Bethany: For a long time, I treated my hearing loss as something to overcome. Instead, it taught me how to listen differently. I learned to pay attention to pauses, expressions, and what goes unsaid. Silence shaped how I move through the world and how I parent my daughters. I hope readers leave thinking differently about connection, and noticing how much meaning lives in quiet spaces. 

WOW: Bethany - that is such a beautiful explanation for those of us who can only imagine the silence. As someone who is often overwhelmed with an overabundance of noise I can’t really imagine it, but I try… I find myself searching for somewhere quiet when I need to study or write. That makes me wonder, if it’s different for you. Where do you write? What does your space look like? Where did you write your winning piece? 

Bethany: I write wherever I can find a little quiet. On telework days, that means writing at home while the house is empty. Most nights, it happens after my kids are asleep. Time is always the hardest part, so I’ve learned to write in short bursts and take what I can get. 

I actually wrote No Swimming at Monson’s, the piece that won the Great American Fiction Contest, in my husband’s computer lab at work. During the summer, the university is nearly silent, and I loved slipping into that empty space to focus. 

At home, I write at a large wooden desk I bought when we first moved to Alabama. I keep it mostly clear, partly by choice and partly because my toddler loves to grab anything within reach. I do keep a Far Side rip-away calendar on one corner, which feels like just the right amount of chaos. 

WOW: The computer lab sounds dreamy - but I feel like my children might find me as they just love those screens! What’s next for you? What are your writing goals for 2026 and beyond? 

Bethany: Over the past year, I’ve made a real shift toward writing more consistently. For a long time, I only produced a few pieces a year, which limited where and how often I could submit. Writing more changed everything. It opened doors I once thought were closed. 

In the last year alone, I’ve had work accepted by places I’d been submitting to for more than a decade, including McSweeney’s, The Huffington Post, and River Teeth’s Beautiful Things. I started submitting seriously in 2011, right after college, knowing this was the life I wanted. Those acceptances felt like quiet confirmation that persistence matters. 

Looking ahead, my goals are simple but big. I want to keep writing, keep submitting, and keep aiming higher. I’m also starting a new book. I’ve written two books in the past three years and queried widely without landing an agent, which has been humbling. Still, that goal hasn’t changed. I want to build a sustainable writing life. A Pushcart nomination is high on my list, not just as an honor but as a sign that the work is reaching beyond me. 

WOW: You have an impressive bio. What’s one strange story about yourself that may surprise us? 

Bethany: I’ve had a lot of interesting jobs, from English teacher to National Park Ranger to records manager for the Army. But one of the strangest experiences came when I was an undergraduate at Flagler College in St. Augustine, where I worked as a ghost tour guide. 

For two years, I dressed in full nineteenth-century mourning clothes and played a grieving Spanish widow, hoop skirt and all. In the summer, it was brutal. I used to joke that I was slowly roasting as I walked people through the city. 

One night, while leading a group of Girl Scouts, I stopped in front of the gates of the Tolomato Cemetery. As I was telling a story, several of the girls started pointing into the cemetery and whispering. One of them finally said, very calmly, “There’s a little boy in the tree.” 

What unsettled me was that there’s a well-known local story about a young boy buried there whose spirit is said to appear playing in a tree nearby. I’ve always wondered if they knew the story or if they truly saw something I couldn’t. I never saw anything myself, but that moment has stayed with me. 

WOW: Well if that isn’t the most surprising job I’ve ever heard of! Thank you for the photos - what fun! 

Who is your support? What sustains you in writing and in life? 

Bethany: Support has always been a complicated idea for me as a writer. The people in my life are kind and encouraging, but most aren’t deeply connected to what literary work means or how long the road can be. When something gets published, they’re happy for me, but the scale of it often lands differently. 

My husband supports me in the way that matters most. He knows writing makes me happy, and he believes in the part of me that needs to keep doing it, even when the process is slow and quiet. What I’ve learned is that writing requires a certain self-reliance. You do it because you want the work to exist. In the end, you become your own support system, and your own reason for continuing. 


WOW!: Bethany - next time we chat I want to know more about being my own support system and my own reason for continuing… If only we had more time. 

 Thank you for sharing so much about yourself and your life - you’re amazing and I’m so thankful for our time together!


Today's post was penned by Crystal J. Casavant-Otto 



Crystal Casavant writes. 

 Everything...

If you follow her blog you have likely laid eyes on every thought she has ever had as well as most of the recipes she's tried. She's a lot and she's not for everyone.

Her debut novel, It Was Never About Me, Was It? is still a work in progress and shall be fully worthy sometime in 2026...or maybe 2027. She has written for WOW! Women on Writing, Bring on Lemons, and has been featured in several magazines and ezines relating to credit and collections as well as religious collections for confessional Lutherans. She runs a busy household full of intelligent, recalcitrant, and delightful humans who give her breath and keep her heart beating day after day. 

Crystal wears many hats (and not just the one in this photo) including college student, mom, musician, singer, administrator, writer, teacher, and friend. She fully believes in being in the moment and doing everything she can to improve the lives of those around her! The world may never know her name, but she prays that because of her, someone may smile a little brighter. She prides herself on doing nice things - yes, even for strangers! 


 Check out the latest Contests: www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php

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When Busyness Becomes a Dog Run

Wednesday, April 15, 2026
 
A photo of a stranger's dog from Pixabay to represent my metaphor

The last month or so has been quite the doozy. It began when I had an idea for a Substack featuring podcasters looking for guests. I launched it, not sure about the time investment or whether it was worth it, but I wanted to give it a try.

In a few weeks, I went from roughly 400 to about 800 subscribers. That's remarkable, right? 

Well, when I had a really bad day that hit me really hard, I knew something had to give with my schedule. I ran across someone's newsletter that asked, "Is your schedule full but not increasing your income?"

In reality, I think they were selling a course or their coaching business, but that question came back to me on that particularly bad day. The few weeks of reaching out to podcasters did require extra time. It took several hours on Saturday to find and compile the information.

And it wasn't just that feature on my Substack that drained me, as I was also doing a fairly regular "Weekend Care Package" post. It was all fun...but...had I really just built myself a dog run?

I think it's my need to control my circumstances that sometimes leads me to create a busyness that feels productive but doesn't really go anywhere. That doesn't fit my goals. That is really taking up space without leaving room to really grow.

So, I sent out a more solemn-than-I-meant-to Substack post advising people of my pause on all features, including my posts featuring podcasters looking for guests. I braced myself, because I knew I'd feel guilty. And I did. I mean, someone even volunteered their time to help me when they read my announcement.

But I thought to myself: give it time. I asked myself to reflect at the end of the week to see if there really was room for this feature. Maybe I could go back if I felt it really benefited me this way (hey, it's a marketing funnel to the podcast service, really! my inner busyness addict said).

Well, now that a week has gone by, I've come to accept I made the right choice. 

And if you feel like you are too busy to write, or even more importantly, too busy to rest, make sure you haven't accidentally generated a busyness for yourself that is just a dog run. 

And you have to know what's right for you. For example, some people do fantastic with their newsletters. And it works for them. They had the time and room in their life for it to grow, and it's now a success. But we shouldn't base our goals on what worked for someone else. Don't be afraid to accept that something isn't right for you. 

In an ironic twist of fate, soon after that, I ended up picking up an extra writing gig, and another might start next week. It made me realize the importance of leaving room for things.

So if you feel like you are running around like a chicken with its head cut off (I knew one day that metaphor would enter into my writing), pause, do a busyness inventory, and see what you can stop doing for a while. See if it works and leaves you with breathing room.

Nicole Pyles is a chronic busyness addict who promises she'll stop adding unnecessary things to her plate. Check out her writing blog for updates at https://worldofmyimagination.com. Or say hi on threads at @BeingTheWriter.
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Interview with Jewels - WOW! Q1 Creative Nonfiction Essay Runner Up

Sunday, April 12, 2026


Jewels, a runner up in the Q1 2026 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest for Headbanger's Mask, joins us today with some thoughts on memoir. As a writer and artist based in the Pacific Northwest, has been trying to speak her truth since before she had the language for it. Her work explores identity, masking, and the long, uneven process of becoming audible—to herself first, and then to others. Her writing is informed by a parallel practice in systems, culture, and narrative analysis. 


You can read more of her work on Substack at https://www.jewelsfromcoal.com/ where she shares reflections, writing, and creative work.


WOW:  “Headbanger’s Mask” was a powerful essay. What message do you hope will remain with your readers?


Jewels: What I hope readers carry with them is the idea that the masks we wear often begin as protection. For many of us—especially those navigating race, identity, or belonging in environments that weren’t built for us—masking can be a survival strategy. But over time, those masks can also become prisons if we never take them off.


Writing the essay helped me understand that the version of myself I created to survive wasn’t fake—it was adaptive. The real work now is learning how to keep the strength that mask gave me while still allowing my true self to breathe.


WOW: Do you think all people recognize that they wear a mask?


Jewels: I don’t think everyone does, at least not right away. Many of the masks we wear are learned so early that they feel like personality instead of performance. For people who exist at the intersection of multiple identities—race, gender, class, sexuality, neurodivergence—the awareness often comes earlier because we’re constantly adjusting ourselves to different environments. But even then, recognizing the mask and understanding why it exists are two different things. Sometimes writing is the first place where that realization happens.


WOW: Has writing been an important way to learn about yourself?


Jewels: Writing has been part of my life since I was young, though I didn’t always understand its importance at the time. It started as journaling, then poetry, then essays. Over the years it became the place where I could ask the questions I didn’t always feel safe asking out loud. Writing helped me make sense of the spaces between identity, family history, culture, and belonging. Looking back now, I realize writing wasn’t just expression—it was also a form of listening to myself.


WOW: Do you have a preferred type of writing or genre?


Jewels: I’m most drawn to creative nonfiction and memoir because they allow me to explore lived experience while still using the tools of storytelling. That said, I also write fiction and speculative work. Sometimes the truths we’re trying to explore become clearer when they’re placed inside a story. I enjoy moving between those spaces because each genre reveals something different about how we understand ourselves and the world around us.


WOW: Can you tell us a little about the progress of your memoir?


Jewels: The memoir I’m working on explores identity, belonging, and the long process of learning to love oneself after years of navigating systems that encourage masking and survival over authenticity. Right now the project exists as a series of interconnected essays and narrative moments. Pieces like “Headbanger’s Mask” are part of that larger exploration. The process has been both challenging and rewarding because it asks me to revisit moments in my life with honesty and compassion. It’s a slow process, but it’s one that feels deeply meaningful.


WOW: What’s up next for you?


Jewels: Right now I’m continuing to build out my memoir through interconnected essays that explore identity, belonging, and the long process of becoming. I’m also actively submitting my work and expanding my presence as a writer. 


In addition to my own writing, I’ve begun offering sensitivity reading and editorial support, particularly for stories that engage with race, identity, and lived experience. That work feels like a natural extension of my writing—helping other storytellers bring honesty and nuance to the page.


I’m also exploring ways to bring storytelling into community spaces through workshops and conversations. At this point, my focus is on creating work that is both personally meaningful and in dialogue with a larger audience.


WOW: Good luck with achieving the balance between writing yourself and writing for others. We look forward to updates on your memoir.

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Caio - Interview with L.S. Delorme (and Join our Reader Review Event)

Wednesday, April 08, 2026


Today Lexy Delorme is back with another book from her Limerent series, Caio. Because of the unique design of her series you can read Caio as a standalone and a great way to enter into to Limerent world. In today's interview Lexy talks about writing craft but you can enjoy her first interview and information about Bright Midnights HERE.

For more information about reviewing this book for our Reader Review Event contact jodiwebb9@gmail.com or sign up at https://forms.gle/KvrVVU955aeHtFL86

About the Book


Sarah Baker is a paralegal in a law firm in modern-day Brooklyn. Her life is bouncing between her abusive lawyer boyfriend, the voices she hears in her head and her soul-sucking work at the law firm. On a New York spring day, she meets Caio as he plays basketball on a street court.

He is alluring, intriguing and young. Yet that’s the least of his mystery, for Caio was beaten, thrown into a hole and left to die. In 1905.

Sarah tries to understand this enigmatic stranger while juggling the dubious ethics of her law firm and the ghosts in her head. As she struggles with loss, grief, love, beauty… and lawyers, she will need to summon the strength to break all of society’s rules, save several lives and step into a new and potentially magical life..


Publisher: Limerent Publishing

ISBN-13:  979-8987488096
ASIN:  B0DVQ6VX3R

Publication Date: Feb. 11, 2023
Print length: 307 pages


We're also inviting readers to participate in our Reader Review event. You can sign up by emailing: jodiwebb9@gmail.com and she will get you a copy of the book! You don't need to be a blogger to join in on this event; anyone who can leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon can participate and receive a copy of Caio - both print and ebooks are available. By leaving a review, you'll also be entered in a drawing to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!


Caio, a book in the Limerent series, is available in print and as an ebook at LS Delorme, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Add it to your Goodreads list.


About the Author


Author Lexy Shaw Delorme, writing as LS Delorme, is the award-winning author of The Limerent Series, a genre-defying collection of emotionally resonant novels that blend supernatural mystery, psychological thriller, historical fiction, and romantic suspense. With a background as a lawyer, pop musician, and science writer, Lexy brings intellectual depth and lyrical prose to every story she tells. Now based in Paris, she lives with her French husband and two very cool sons. Her work explores themes of limerence, memory, identity, and the echoes of past lives—and she’s not afraid to push boundaries along the way.


Connect with the author

Instagram: @ls_delorme

Learn more about Lexy on Upcoming Podcasts:




--Interview by Jodi M. Webb


WOW: Welcome back, Lexy. Earlier this year we featured Bright Midnights from your Limerent series and this time we’re featuring Caio. Although your books are all in the same series each has a different feel. What types of readers do you think will enjoy Caio?


Lexy: Each of my books explores a different theme. Bright Midnights looked at the different forms of attraction.  The good the bad and the ugly, if you will.   Caio explores the theme of appearance versus reality.   I want to explore the full spectrum of people situations and concepts within this thing.  Ouch, that sounded way too “final examine a literature class”.  In short, I think the sort of people who will like Caio, will be the sort of person who likes or will like most of my books.  


They are perfect for somebody who doesn’t mind something different, isn’t afraid of looking at things from different angles, isn’t afraid of introspection, and likes a story that will make you feel something.  I mean really feel something.   Caio will make you feel a lot of things.  


I have triggered warnings for all my books.  It’s absolutely for a reason.  Part of that reason is because of what it will make you feel but another part is because I push the envelope.  I don’t do that to shock. I do that to point out things that are really happening but that we often look away from.   In Caio, I’m looking at appearance versus reality in terms of appearance of age versus real age, appearance of kindness versus real kindness, appearance of honour versus real honour and a lot of others    One issue that people have had with this book and with Bright Midnights is that my bad guys are BAD.   And a lot of times they are in positions of power in which we would want people to be paragons of virtue.   



WOW: Talking about bad guys...actors often say it’s more challenging to play villians than nice guys. Your book has characters with a villain streak. Would you rather write for the villians or the nice guys?


Lexy: I write morally grey character.  That’s because I don’t believe in “good guys “and “bad guys”.   Mostly I see characters and people as being narrow spectrum or broad spectrum.   So how they’re perceived depends on where they are on that spectrum.   People who have a narrow spectrum will usually be viewed about the same.  If we think of the spectrum being like a pendulum that swings between creating and destroying, broad spectrum people are those who can swing between being a monster and being an angel.   The broadest spectrum sort of entity would be a god, capable of miracles and horrific atrocities.  I used to use this analogy all the time saying that if someone is behaving like Mother Teresa then they are also capable of being a monster.  Then I read a little bit about Mother Teresa and realised I was closer than I thought.   As someone who has acted, I love playing villains.  I love playing villains because I find the other part of the spectrum and find a way to weave it in.


WOW: I find it illuminating that you look at your characters as what they are capable of doing - both positive and negative. You’ve been upfront about the fact that Caio has trigger warnings. Although those aspects are key to the plot, have you had any blowback from readers who feel your writing is too dark?


Lexy: Oh yes, of course.  My writing is not for people who can’t deal with that.   The main reason is I do write about things that actually happened in the world.   If you look around there is a lot of dark.  But there is also a lot of light.   So if people are either unafraid or uncomfortable with that, they definitely should not read my books.   That being said, I find that people who are “survivors”  tend to like my books.  But if you’re looking for something cozy, be warned that there is nothing cozy about anything that I write. 


WOW: Consider us warned. We've talked about characters now let's move on to pacing. What’s the secret to maintaining the excitement and fast pace in Caio?  


Lexy: It’s interesting that you ask that.  Because the beginning of Caio is very much a woman who is not in a good place in life, I’ve had very different responses in terms of pacing.  Most people have given really positive comments about pacing, but occasionally I’ve had people have trouble with the fact that I lean into the difficulties of Sarah’s life in the beginning of the book.  I knew that would be something that could be difficult so I did a few things to keep the pacing tighter.   For example, I used a date at the beginning of each chapter.  That helps people feel grounded.   The chapters are fairly short.  Also, I pepper set ups throughout the beginning help you get a sense of what’s coming.  In all my books I aim to make the last third of the book as engaging as possible.  One of my readers said “Unputdownable”.   


WOW: I can sense the focus you put on the third part of the book. It is like going up the hills of a rollercoaster and ending with the huge descent. The Limerent world feels so addictive for readers, what about as the writer. Did you ever suffer from writer’s block?


Lexy: For me because I am neurodivergent, it could be very easy to lose focus.  But I found a way to harness that.   What I do is that I always have two or three projects that I’m working on at the same time.  That sounds counterintuitive but that means when I block on one, I can just go to the other.  Right now, I’m working on a new trilogy, and I’m writing them basically at the same time.  This means I never get bored.   


WOW: Can you tell us a little about your editing process. Do you have beta readers, professional editors, or is it just you and endless rounds of writing and re-writing? 


Lexy: This is a really good question.  I think you can only edit yourself through two or maybe three rounds.   After that, you either stop seeing it or you start picking at it in a way that hurts more than it helps.   So for me, I’m very lucky in that my family is very involved.  My youngest son is my developmental editor.  After I get about a third of the way through writing a book, I start reading him the chapters.   He helps me with structure and that core spine of a story.   Once I’m finished, I will do a first round edit of myself.   I then turn it over to him to do a second round edit.  And then I give it to my husband and oldest son to read.   My husband is the one who tells me if I’m getting too wordy.  My oldest son helps me with my themes and set ups.   He also writes my blurbs.  And then it will go back to me to make changes.   After that, I sent it to my wonderful Editor and she and I have usually around three back-and-forth rounds of editing.   I am a strong believer in having an editor.   I really lucked out because my Editor is also a reader.  She likes my books.  I would tell people if you can spend money on anything spend it on your cover and editing.  You want to be able to draw people in and then you want to be able to keep them once they start.  



WOW: What led you to shift gears well into writing one very long book and divide that manuscript into several novels? I can only imagine it was an overwhelming decision process.


Lexy: I have a very logical side of myself, as well as a very emotional one.   I think the logical side of myself stepped in and told me that it was unreasonable to expect anyone to read through 1 million word book.   And what I want at the end of the day is for people to read my books and love my characters as much as I do.   That’s what success looks like for me.   But forcing people to read through a gigantic novel feels a bit like putting a burden on people.  It also means I’ll lose them.  In today’s world, people are very busy.  And when they’re not actively doing things there is that lure of the phone.  So I want to do the best that I can to keep people engaged, which I’ve discovered means shorter books, but more of them.


Mind you, I didn’t just immediately come to this idea.  There was a Deep internal fight with my ego about this, but it ended in a good place. 



WOW: Any words of advice for those who dream of their byline on a novel?


Lexy: Yes, I think people get crushed or overwhelmed when they think about the big picture.  So I’ve learned that if you take the art of writing a novel down to its components, it’s easier to focus on the next component.  If you told me 10 years ago that I had to write 10 books within 10 years that would’ve been really overwhelming.  But if I tell myself, I need to write down the key events for a book, then the next step into outlining is much more natural and not as overwhelming. That makes things much easier.


WOW: What authors or teachers have influenced your writing?


Lexy: Flonnie Anderson, my 11th grade AP English teacher.  This woman made us write a five paragraph essay every Friday in class.   When I started doing that, I sucked.  But by the end of the year, I was becoming quite good at it.   And once you grasp the basic concept of the five paragraph essay, you just want to build on it for everything else   I’ve actually tried to track her down, but I haven’t been able to.   So thank you for Flonnie Anderson.


WOW: Yes, thank you Flonnie Anderson. Without you, we might never have had the opportunity to travel to the Limerent universe. 


Join the Reader Review Event


Readers, if you'd like to receive a copy of Caio by LS Delome for review, please email jodiwebb9@gmail.com or signup at https://forms.gle/KvrVVU955aeHtFL86. Book reviews need to be posted by  on Goodreads (required) and one other bookseller online site. We'll be sharing all the reviews in a Reader Review Event and Giveaway post here on The Muffin on May 15! Besides receiving the book, you'll also be entered to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

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