Journeys of Romance

Author Moni Boyce talks about pizza reward programs, coming from the film industry (and what that's brought to her writing and career), transforming her process, being entirely indie, cover shoots and flexibility in the time of COVID. 

USA Today Bestselling romantic comedy author Andie Christopher talks to Jess about big bags of romance novels, representation in romance and writing her own background, "difficult" heroines, her process (when not in a pandemic) Chris Evans, not ever feeling worthy and Archie and Gus content for us all!

Erotic romance author Louisa Bacio speaks to Jess about creating accountability for creativity, her process, the advantage of the system of traditional publishing, relationship building in romance and a little about RWA.

Jess talks to cover models Drew Leighty and Courtney Rood about modeling vs acting, coming to romance covers, working together on The Broken Duke and how it lead to the illustrated version, Graham: The Broken Duke. 

Jess talks to rising star Vanessa Riley about fairytales and historical romance, bringing faith into historical romance journeys, breaking the mistruths of what we "know", her publishing journey, telling stories that are important to you, making career decisions with larger goals, adding historical fiction to her repertoire, balancing her day job and writing, her process and believing in it.

Reese Ryan talks to Jess about being a high producer and life intervening, her process and how it has changed over the years, the importance (and challenges) of love scenes, being a hybrid author, her gorgeous and groundbreaking covers and RWA. 

Bestselling historical romance author Cat Sebastian talks to Jess about how she started writing romance, the path to her first sale, queer historical romance, outside stuff impacting output, the value of experience in knowing what you can do, finding your ceiling and letting it adjust, her indie experience, her process, the getting to know characters during writing, and editing when things change mid-book. 

Piper Vaughn joins Jess Michaels to wax poetic about Good Omens and The Mandalorian, their publishing journey, the process of co-writing versus individual work, taking ideas from real life, the nerves of writing OwnVoices and boy do we get into Dreamspinner.  

Jess speaks to author and editor May Peterson about processing our own experiences through writing, how reading was a refuge to her, the perception and reality of diversity in romance, her ever-changing process, making micro and macro decisions in a book, how being an editor influences her process and sensitivity editing is different than developmental editing.

Jess is joined by her husband Michael where they talk about the explosion of RWA, a roundup of 2019 and hopes for 2020. 

USA Today bestselling and RITA winning author Minx Malone joins Jess today. We talk about Twitter relationships, working with a writing partner, linking brand to voice, taking the risk of going indie and her groundbreaking RITA win. 

Jackie Barbosa joins Jess to talk about sweeping romantic sagas, Star Wars fanfic, creativity meaning more than fear, her process, grief and writing, providing a voice to issues in our books and taking a hard look at our own biases. 

Editor Angela James talks to Jess a second time, this time about transitioning and redefining throughout our careers, we wax poetic about Becca Syme and understanding your strengths, publishers losing the trust of authors, the advantages of traditional publishing, managing expectations, creating broader diversity from the top of publishing and the rare beauty of long term strategy. 

Jess is joined by historical, contemporary and sci-fi romance author Samantha Kane. We talk about the very NON romantic life of the average romance author, being jolted into following her dreams, figuring out her writing weaknesses and learning how to strengthen them, her process, pivoting after loss (professional and personal) and whether or not working to the bone is a good thing. 

Jess talks to historical romance author Anna Campbell about pen names, giving up writing, the importance of community in writing, her process, not wearing pants and we accidentally plot a book (or three). 

Jess speaks to former executive editor of Samhain and Carina, Angela James about impostor syndrome, choosing books as an editor, taking on the issue of diversity in publishing from the publishing side, disruptions in publishing, letting go of ego, her recent departure from Carina and what's next for her and in publishing.