Courtney Maguire is a University of Texas graduate from Corpus Christi, Texas. Drawn to Austin by a voracious appetite for music, she spent most of her young adult life in dark, divey venues nursing a love for the sublimely weird. A self-proclaimed fangirl with a press pass, she combined her love of music and writing as the primary contributor for Japanese music and culture blog, Project: Lixx, interviewing Japanese rock and roll icons and providing live event coverage for appearances across the country. …

Meet Stuart McDonald:

I’m originally from the Lake District, where my family still live. Studied Graphic Design at Harrogate Art College and Middlesex University in London. My first job took me to Trowbridge, Wiltshire where I was tasked with re-designing the local paper from a tired old broadsheet to the more modern looking tabloid it is today. I’ve been here ever since and have worked for several different companies and also freelance over the years.

After receiving several poems from me, my girlfriend told me “You need to do something with that talent”. I also have a creative and talented…

I’ve lost track of what week of quarantine we’re in, but I do know that I haven’t written at all during this isolation period — until now. At first I worried about my lack of productivity. Then I got frustrated by seeing so many articles about the pandemic. Like many others, I started cycling through all the stages of grief. I’m still in that process.

Some things have helped, however. Slowly, I think that many of us are learning ways to cope and adjust. These methods range from the extremely creative to quiet meditation.

Little things make a big difference…

I have taught online for over ten years, previously serving as an online Course Lead for my department, which involves designing and maintaining an online course for other instructors to use. I also currently serve as one of my college’s Instructional Technology Coaches. As an IT coach, I help other instructors all over the college make sure their online courses are set up best to serve students. We are looking for consistency across the whole college, but also looking for opportunities for student engagement and interaction. Does the class meet accessibility standards? Do the links still work?

This is all…

Beth Overmyer is the author of several works of genre fiction, the middle grade novella In a Pickle being among them. Fueled by tea, loved by cats everywhere, she balances her home life with writing novels and leading a creative writing group at her local library.

Thank you to Beth for sharing her thoughts on writing and her own writing process.

Tell us about your book(s). What influenced you to write it/them?

I write in several different genres, but my focus now is fantasy — which is broad enough with all the sub-genres it umbrellas (epic and urban, for starters.)…

A spirited writer from the ripe age of seven, Alyssa DiCarlo finds joy in the simplest things in life — a pen, paper, and her vivid imagination is all she needs to be truly content. Published by 21 years old, DiCarlo dreams of sharing the deepest depths of her mind with all of those interested in her intriguing tales.

Born and raised in Florida, Alyssa and her husband have jumped from state to state before settling in Alabama. …

Born in 1954 in London of mixed Scottish and English parentage, Timothy Balding grew up and was educated on a British military base in Germany. He left school and his family at the age of sixteen to return alone to the United Kingdom, where he was hired as a reporter on local newspapers in Reading in the county of Berkshire. For the ensuing decade, he worked on local and regional titles and then at Press Association, the national news agency, covering politics in Westminster, the British Parliament. He exiled himself to Paris, France, in 1980, and spent the next thirty…

Shauna Alderson began writing teen fantasy even before she was a teen. After she “grew up”, she completed creative writing courses (and a BA in Development Studies) at the University of Calgary. When not reading or writing, she can usually be found teaching ESL, composing on the piano, creating art, or volunteering abroad. She also enjoys dessert, Studio Ghibli films, and being the silliest person she knows.

Her debut novel, Paragon, just published this month!

Welcome to Shauna and thank you for sharing your ideas about writing.

Tell us about your book(s). What influenced you to write it/them?

My debut…