Dakoda Mazzi, author of the dark fantasy trilogy The Fate of Astoran, joins us to talk about querying, landing an agent, and walking away to publish on her own terms. We dig into how she built a devoted fanbase through human-made art, newsletters, and giveaways, why she refuses to write to market, and why book three gets no deadline. Plus real talk about day jobs, risk, and why the author community needs to remember we're all on the same team.

Katie Jung joins us to talk about her debut romance, You're the One That I Haunt, and the surprisingly hard rules of writing a love interest who can't be touched. We dig into how Trip became a ghost in the first place, the logic she had to build so the "rules" of a paranormal romance actually hold up (turns out you don't need to explain everything, sometimes a ghost is just an octopus), and why every bit of magic in a story needs to earn its place in the plot.

What happens when the story you need to tell won't let you write it until you're ready? This week Jenna and Cait sit down with Kathy Sherbrooke (Katherine A. Sherbrooke), author of the new novel This Much Is True, out September 17th. It's a conversation about elapsed time, trusting your subconscious, and making the case for protagonists who have some real life experience behind them.

What happens when a sous vide nerd falls hard for a war college full of dragons? You get a cookbook. This week we sit down with Chelsea Cole, the mind behind A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant, the (unofficial) Fourth Wing cookbook that is embossed, spot glossed, and frankly prettier than most things in our houses. We get into how you build a recipe out of four passing food mentions, why aesthetic is the entire point, and how she turns a book launch into a full night at Basgiath (axe throwing, a maker's market, and a marketplace throne included). Come hungry. Leave manifesting Rebecca Yarros's phone number.

When Elizabeth Richardson's novel TRAD died on submission, she did something a lot of authors are told never to do: she published it herself, one chapter at a time, on Substack. In a single summer she built an audience of 800+ readers, turned her book into a twice-weekly must-read, and proved that a "dead" manuscript can have a very loud second life. In this episode, Elizabeth joins Cait and Jenna to talk about the highs and lows of querying and going on sub, why toxic positivity runs rampant in publishing, and how the no-rules era of indie publishing is opening doors that used to be firmly shut. She shares her surprisingly simple serialization strategy (it started with fanfiction), why she treats every release like a debut, and the hustle behind actually getting people to read your work. Whether you're querying, on sub, or just Substack-curious, this one's for you.

Travel rom-com author Kat Mackenzie joins us to talk about her new release, Experiments in Offline Dating, set around a real Irish matchmaking festival in County Clare. We dig into how she lived the research in Ireland, writing authentic dialect, her six rescue dogs, the art of a good insult, and her honest take on the indie vs trad publishing divide. Pour a marg and settle in.

This week we're pulling up a chair for Cara Alwill, and honestly, we could have talked to her for five more hours. Cara is a bestselling author, the founder of Pink Ink Press, and the host of Cara Says It All, and she built her whole universe the hard way, starting a blog back in 2008 while trafficking ads in a cubicle at MTV. We get into all of it: how she went from 19 rejection letters to selling 100,000 copies of Girl Code on her own, why she walked away from her Penguin Random House deal and never looked back, and what it actually takes to write memoir about your real life (exes included). If you've ever wondered whether you need permission to do the thing, this one's your sign that you don't.

Debut author Jasmine Smith joins us to talk Death Card, her witchy YA set in New Orleans, and the wild road that got it here. We get into how she sold the book on just ten chapters, why it reads like her tenth novel instead of her first, and how tarot, gentrification, and a grandmother's love all got woven into one story. Plus gold foil, sprayed edges, and why this one might just land on a banned books list.

Debut author Lavanya Lakshmi joins us to talk Leave and Come Back, her Bollywood-loving rom-com about an Indian wedding, family you've been avoiding, and a boyfriend who crashes the party. Plus her wild path from Twilight fanfiction to Penguin Random House.

Dumplin author Julie Murphy joins us to talk Vera Stein Is Fine, her first adult romance about a Palm Springs retirement home full of scandal and second chances. We cover the decade-long road to publishing it, the real story behind the Dumplin movie, and stories about Jennifer Aniston and Dolly Parton.