The Resilient Writers Radio Show

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.
What if the thing keeping you from finishing your novel is not a lack of talent, discipline, or ideas?
What if it is fear about what happens after you finish?
In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by debut novelist Mel West, author of Now Is Not a Good Time for a Breakdown, for an honest and deeply relatable conversation about creativity, mental health, publishing, and the fears that quietly shape our writing lives.
Mel’s novel began with snippets of dialogue and a character whose voice would not leave her alone. 
It was not until Mel moved to New York City that the story fully came into focus. Suddenly, she understood where this character lived, how she moved through the world, and what kind of life she was trying to survive.
We talk about Mel’s discovery-based approach to drafting and how she eventually turned to plotting when the story began to lose momentum. She also shares why the pandemic became an unexpected missing piece of the novel and how returning to the manuscript helped her finally understand where the story needed to go.
One of the most powerful parts of our conversation is Mel’s realization that fear was one of the biggest obstacles between her and a finished book. Not fear that she could not write it, but fear of what would come next once the novel was done.
I think many writers will recognize themselves in that.
We also explore how Mel used dark humour to write about the fragility of mental health without making the novel feel heavy-handed. Her main character is not especially self-aware, which allows humour, discomfort, and emotional truth to exist side by side. Mel even shares how The Sopranos influenced the way she thought about revealing a character’s inner life.
Mel is refreshingly open about her publishing journey too. After exploring traditional publishing, she chose a hybrid path with Archway Publishing. She talks candidly about what she wishes she had known, how emotionally vulnerable it can feel to hand over your “book baby,” and why writers need to approach publishing with both creativity and clear-eyed research.
We also discuss author platforms, building community, and why TikTok has felt more natural and conversational for Mel than Instagram.
This episode is especially valuable for writers who are close to finishing a book but feel themselves pulling back. Mel’s advice is simple and important: learn what comes next, research your options, and pay attention to the fear underneath your resistance.
Because sometimes finishing the book is not the scary part.
Sometimes the scary part is becoming the writer who finished it.
Listen now for an honest conversation about fear, mental health, publishing, creative courage, and what it really takes to follow a novel all the way through.

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.
Some books begin with a carefully planned premise. Others begin with a conversation you suddenly realize you do not want to lose.
In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by Maureen Howley, author of Small Shoes, Impossible to Fill, a memoir that began when Maureen sat down with her terminally ill mother during the COVID lockdowns and started recording her stories.
Maureen had recently retired from a long career in nursing and midwifery and had travelled to Scotland to be with her mum. Her mother had always been active and involved in her community, so the isolation of lockdown was especially difficult. 
Their shared storytelling project became a way to pass the time, stay connected, and preserve memories that might otherwise have been lost.
But as Maureen listened, recorded, and wrote, she realized something important. The story was not only about her mother’s past. It was also about what was happening between them in the present.
That discovery shaped Small Shoes, Impossible to Fill into an unusual and deeply personal blend of memoir, fictionalized family history, and reflection. Maureen wrote her mother’s memories as scenes, drawing on her background in musical theatre to imagine the people and places almost as if they were appearing on a stage. She then wove those scenes together with journal entries from their final months and reflective passages written in her mother’s voice.
Creating one cohesive book from those three strands was not easy. Maureen’s early draft reached roughly 150,000 words, and she had to work carefully to shape it into a unified story. She studied three-act structure, character arcs, and the hero’s journey to make sure each strand contributed to the book’s emotional movement.
We talk honestly about that long revision process, the moments when Maureen nearly gave up, and why finishing the first draft was only one part of finishing the book.
Maureen also shares what she learned through assisted self-publishing, finding the right cover, and continuing to revise even after proofreading. We also discuss the unexpected challenge many authors face after publication: becoming their own marketing department.
One of my favourite parts of our conversation is hearing how Maureen transformed her book launches into meaningful events. Through readings, family photographs, music, and personal stories, she created celebrations in Scotland, Monaco, Sligo, and the south of France that brought the world of the book to life.
At its heart, this episode is about more than writing a memoir. It is about listening closely, honouring family stories, finding joy in difficult seasons, and trusting that a book does not need to fit neatly into a category to deserve to be written.
Listen in for an encouraging conversation about memoir writing, family history, revision, self-publishing, creative book launches, and what it really takes to keep going until your story is finished.

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.
What does it take to finally finish the book that has been living with you for years?
In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by Debra Hunt, author of the contemporary women’s fiction and domestic suspense novel Unlikely Hero. 
Debra’s story is such a wonderful reminder that it is never too late to return to a long-held dream, build the support you need, and bring your book into the world.
Unlikely Hero follows Jesse, a woman trying to rebuild her life after a devastating loss, with only her loyal dog by her side. The original spark for the novel came from Debra’s own curiosity about working dogs, loyalty, and trust. She began wondering what might happen if a powerful dog had to choose between obeying a trainer and protecting the person he truly loved.
That question stayed with Debra for years. In fact, her earliest notes for the novel date back to 2002. Like so many writers, she worked on the story in starts and stops, sometimes putting it away for years at a time. 
Eventually, the unfinished book began to feel like a personal failure. She had always wanted to become an author, but she kept asking herself: Where was the book?
Everything began to change when Debra joined my First Book Finish program. She already had a draft, but the structure, accountability, coaching, and community helped her stop treating time as unlimited. 
Instead of endlessly revising as she drafted, she learned to finish the whole story and then approach revision step by step.
Debra shares how beta readers helped her strengthen the plot, deepen her characters, and expand what was initially closer to novella length. Just as importantly, their feedback helped her realize that other readers were often far kinder than her own inner critic.
We also talk honestly about self-publishing. After spending roughly 25 years with this story, Debra knew she didn’t want to wait through the traditional publishing process. She wanted the book in readers’ hands. 
She discusses what she learned from using a publishing-services package, why she might choose a more à la carte approach next time, and why authors need to understand which parts of publishing they want to handle themselves.
Of course, publishing the book introduced a whole new challenge: marketing it. Debra talks about building a street team, connecting with local bookstores and libraries, collaborating with fellow writers, creating a newsletter, pitching podcasts, and slowly becoming more comfortable with social media.
What I loved most about this conversation was Debra’s definition of success. It isn’t about phenomenal sales. It is about being able to say, “I did this, and you can do it too.”
This episode is a beautiful conversation about consistency, accountability, courage, and finally allowing other people to read the work you have carried for so long.

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.
Some conversations stay with you long after they end. This was one of them.
In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I'm joined by writer, poet, playwright, and activist Crystal AJ Smith to talk about her powerful debut novel, Gitwaałtk. 
Crystal is Haisla and Ts’ymsen, was adopted into the Heiltsuk Nation, and brings both lived experience and deep cultural knowledge to every page of her work.
Our conversation begins with Crystal introducing herself in Lik̓wala, honoring the land she lives on and the ancestors who continue to guide her. 
It immediately sets the tone for a discussion about identity, language, storytelling, and the responsibility of carrying stories that matter.
At the heart of Gitwaałtk is the Highway of Tears, the stretch of Highway 16 in British Columbia where countless Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered. 
Crystal explains that while there are documentaries, statistics, and news stories about the Highway of Tears, she wanted to create something that would help readers do more than understand the facts. She wanted them to feel them.
We also talk about the novel's unique structure. Rather than following a traditional beginning-middle-end format, Gitwaałtk weaves together prose, poetry, Indigenous oral storytelling, and Sm'algya̱x language. 
Crystal shares that she didn't consciously design this structure—it simply arrived that way. The story came through her, and her role was to listen, write, and honor it.
One of my favorite parts of our conversation is our discussion about ancestors and creativity. Crystal describes writing as something much bigger than inventing a story. For her, it feels like the stories already exist, and she has the responsibility to receive them, tell them truthfully, and pass them on. 
We also talk about language revitalization, why she's learning Lik̓wala, and how reconnecting with language has become part of both her life and her writing practice.
Crystal also speaks candidly about balancing creativity with motherhood. As a mother of four, she's spent more than a decade bringing Gitwaałtk into the world while completing her education, leaving an abusive relationship, raising children, and continuing to learn her language and culture. Her honesty about protecting time for both family and creativity will resonate with many writers trying to hold all the pieces of their lives together.
This conversation is about much more than writing a novel. It's about resilience, remembrance, community, healing, and the power of stories to create empathy where facts alone sometimes cannot.
Whether you're interested in Indigenous literature, writing from lived experience, or simply want to hear one of the most thoughtful conversations I've had about why stories matter, I think you'll find this episode both moving and unforgettable.

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.
In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by Alexa Bigwarfe, USA Today bestselling author, publishing coach, founder of Write|Publish|Sell, and creator of the Women in Publishing Summit.
Alexa has spent years helping women and underrepresented voices publish professional books, build author platforms, and grow businesses around their work. But in this conversation, we also get to talk about her fiction side: the romantic comedies she writes under the pen name Lexi Haddock.
Alexa shares the story behind her Paris-inspired fiction series, beginning with 4 Days in Paris, a book that was more than ten years in the making. The novel began with real-life inspiration from Alexa’s own time living and working in Paris, including a romantic New Year’s Eve encounter in 1999. As she says in our conversation, she wrote the story the way she wished it had ended.
We talk about what it means to draw from real life while still creating fiction that works for readers. Alexa opens up about the challenge of honouring real people and true memories while also shaping the story into something with enough tension, conflict, and emotional movement to become a satisfying novel. She also shares how friendship, Paris, and even the Eiffel Tower itself became central characters in the book.
One of the things I loved most about this conversation is how candid Alexa is about the timing of creativity. She began the original version of the book years earlier, but it wasn’t until 2020, while going through a divorce and living through the pandemic, that she returned to it. At a moment when writing something heavy felt impossible, romance gave her a way back into hope, possibility, and joy.
We also talk about the other books in the Sparks in Paris series, including the Christmas novella set in Strasbourg, France. Alexa shares how much she loves European Christmas markets, how she brought in elements of her military background, and how a small character from an earlier book found her way into the starring role.
Of course, because Alexa is also a publishing coach, we talk about marketing too. She shares what it’s like to market her own fiction while also running her businesses, and why tying a book to a theme, season, or reader mood can make a big difference. 
Her Christmas novella gave her a chance to connect with readers who were already actively looking for holiday books, and she got to see some of the strategies she teaches authors actually working in her own author life.
In the second half of our conversation, Alexa shares what’s changing with the Women in Publishing Summit and why she’s moving toward a more community-based model. We talk about networking, business skills for authors, content strategy, and the importance of having a generous writing and publishing community around you.
And yes, there are more Lexi Haddock books on the way, including Back to Paris and a World War II novel set in France.
This is such a lovely conversation about romance, reinvention, publishing, community, and the long, winding path a book can take before it finally becomes what it was meant to be.