The Resilient Writers Radio Show

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How to Finally Finish the Book, with Debra Hunt Jul 23, 2026

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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.

How to Honour the Story, with Crystal AJ Smith Jul 16, 2026

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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.

Writing and Marketing a Rom-Com, with Alexa Bigwarfe [aka Lexi Haddock!] Jul 09, 2026

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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.

Books Take the Time They Take, with Christine Fischer Guy Jul 02, 2026

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In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by Toronto writer and journalist Christine Fischer Guy, author of The Umbrella Mender and her new novel, The Instrument Must Not Matter.

Christine’s latest novel follows Lila, a gifted young classical pianist who leaves Toronto for New York City after being chosen to study with a prestigious mentor. It’s an exciting opportunity, but also a terrifying one. Lila has to leave behind everything she knows and step into a world of artistic pressure, ambition, loneliness, and possibility.

What I loved about this conversation is how Christine talks about the way her novels begin: with character. For The Instrument Must Not Matter, the spark came from walking past the statue of Glenn Gould outside the CBC building in Toronto. That small moment of curiosity led her into biographies, research, music, and eventually into the world of this novel.

Christine isn’t a classical pianist herself, but while writing the book, she took piano lessons and even learned to play a Bach Partita in C. I loved hearing about that kind of immersive research—the kind that lets a writer feel their way into a character’s world, even when that world is technically demanding and unfamiliar.

We also talk about the deeper family history behind the novel. Lila’s grandmother was a violinist in Prague in 1968, when Soviet tanks rolled in after the Prague Spring. On the night before her planned debut, she goes out after curfew and plays the piece she was meant to perform—an act of artistic resistance that leads to her arrest and to a lifetime of silence as a musician.

One of the most fascinating parts of our conversation is Christine’s discussion of writing about music. Music exists beyond language, so how do you put that on the page? For Christine, part of the answer came through Lila’s synesthesia. Lila experiences sound as colour, which gives the novel a vivid, sensory way to bring music into language.

And of course, we talk about the writing process. Christine describes herself as a discovery writer. She doesn’t begin with an outline. Instead, she writes a messy first draft to find out what happens, then shapes the book through revision.

The Instrument Must Not Matter took ten years and at least ten major revisions, including one big change: in the first draft, the pianist was a man. When the protagonist became a young woman, the story truly opened up.

This is such a generous conversation about research, revision, artistic courage, and trusting the long process of writing a novel.

For any writer who is deep in the messy middle of a project, I think you’ll find real comfort here. Some books take the time they take—and sometimes, the long way through is exactly what allows the book to become its best self.

How to Write as a Neurodiverse Writer, with Catherine Quiring Jun 18, 2026

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What if the way your brain works isn’t something to fix, but something to understand, support, and work with?

In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by Catherine Quiring, a licensed mental health counselor, podcast host, empath, mystic mom of two, and writer, for a thoughtful and deeply validating conversation about neurodiversity, creativity, and what it means to support yourself as a writer.

Catherine specializes in neurodiversity, and much of that work began with discovering her own neurodivergence. Over time, she noticed that many of the clients who were drawn to her were also late-diagnosed with ADHD, autism, or both.

Together, we talk about how neurodivergence can show up in ways that are often missed, especially in women and highly sensitive people.

Catherine explains that the “female presentation” of ADHD often looks less like outward hyperactivity and more like internal overwhelm, perfectionism, difficulty organizing thoughts, struggling with task initiation, or feeling like the brain is constantly jumping from one thing to another.

For writers, this can show up as starting a shiny new book idea, getting 10,000 or 15,000 words in, and then abandoning it when the project starts to feel hard or boring.

And if that sounds familiar, you are definitely not alone.

We also talk about the gifts of ADHD, including creativity, intuition, and the ability to hyper-focus once you’re able to get into flow. Catherine shares practical ways writers can make writing feel more inviting again: creating a writing ritual, using music or silence, lighting a candle, bringing in a favourite drink, trying dictation, taking walks, using body doubling, or finding ways to “gamify” the writing process so it feels more enjoyable and less like a chore.

One of the most powerful ideas Catherine shares is the difference between fixing yourself and supporting yourself. So many writers carry shame around how they “should” be working, especially when they don’t fit the traditional advice of writing every single day or producing at a consistent pace.

Catherine invites us to ask better questions: What do I need? What helps me focus? What lowers the pressure? What makes this feel possible?

We also discuss her Define Your Neurodiversity Workbook, the idea of a “Goldilocks nervous system,” and how writers can create environments that feel “just right” for their brains and bodies.

Catherine also reminds us that while a diagnosis can be helpful, you don’t need one in order to use tools that support your executive function, creativity, and writing life.

This conversation is a beautiful reminder that your brain is not a problem to be solved. Your writing process does not have to look like anyone else’s. The more you understand what supports you, the easier it becomes to return to the page with compassion, curiosity, and maybe even a little more joy.

How to Write a Memoir About Abuse, with Boni Woodland May 28, 2026

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Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of domestic abuse, coercive control, religious trauma, sexual assault, and emotional abuse. Please take care while listening.

In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by author, artist, and survivor Boni Woodland to talk about her memoir, Turning Survival Into Words: From Houses of Fear to Freedom.

This is a powerful and tender conversation about survival, voice, healing, and the courage it takes to tell the truth about a life that was once shaped by silence.

Boni’s book began in therapy. After her life had settled enough for her to look back, she realized that her past was still affecting her present. But speaking about what had happened to her was incredibly difficult.

For much of her life, Boni says, it “wasn’t a privilege to speak my mind.” So before therapy sessions, she began writing down the incidents she wanted to discuss. Over time, those pages became a collection of memories, painful moments, and turning points — and eventually, the beginning of a book.

In our conversation, Boni shares what it was like to grow up inside a controlling religious environment that shaped nearly every part of her life: what she could wear, what she could eat, who she could spend time with, who she could marry, and what was expected of her as a woman.

Those beliefs followed her into marriage, where she moved from one controlling situation into another. What she hoped would be freedom became another form of captivity.

One of the most striking parts of Boni’s memoir is the way she organizes the story around the different houses she lived in. Each house becomes a marker of a particular stage in her life, and the chapter titles — including “The House of Non-Consent,” “The House of No Money,” “The House of Hunger,” and “The House of Chilling” — help readers understand the slow progression of abuse, control, isolation, and fear.

Boni wanted to write the book she once needed. She talks about how hard it can be for people outside an abusive relationship to understand why someone doesn’t “just leave.”

As she explains, when you have no money, no family support, no access to education, no safe place to go, and children to protect, leaving is not simple. Her hope is that readers will better understand that reality — and that anyone who sees themselves in her story will feel less alone.

We also talk about one of Boni’s first acts of quiet resistance: sneaking to the library. Surrounded by books, she began looking for language, understanding, and hope. She wanted to read a story from someone who had survived and found a way forward. In many ways, Turning Survival Into Words became that book.

This episode is a deeply moving conversation about writing through pain, reclaiming your voice, and turning a difficult past into something that may help someone else find their own path toward freedom.

How to Write Autobiographical Fiction, with Annie Dike May 15, 2026

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In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, Rhonda is joined by Annie Dike, author of Clovis, her debut literary fiction novel.

Annie’s writing life is anything but ordinary: she’s an attorney by profession, a long-time sailor, the author of several bestselling sailing books, and a travel writer whose work has grown out of years spent cruising the East Coast of the United States and the eastern Caribbean with her partner, Phillip, on their 46-foot sailboat.

But Clovis comes from somewhere much deeper.

Annie grew up in Clovis, New Mexico, and the novel is rooted in the memories, atmosphere, grit, and emotional truth of her childhood. In this conversation, she shares how her life as a sailor unexpectedly connects back to her upbringing as a cowgirl—both worlds requiring resourcefulness, problem-solving, toughness, and the willingness to fix whatever breaks.

Rhonda and Annie talk about what it means to write autobiographical fiction: how much truth to include, how much to fictionalize, and what it feels like to write honestly about real people you love.

Annie opens up about the vulnerability of portraying her father and brother in the book, and how writing truthfully allowed her to connect more deeply with the story.

They also dig into the craft and business of writing. Annie shares how Clovis began as a huge 255,000-word manuscript, and how working with editors helped her see what needed to stay, what needed to go, and how revision ultimately made her a stronger writer.

She also speaks candidly about querying agents, self-publishing, marketing, and the emotional resilience required to keep going when the book world feels discouraging.

Annie also gives us a glimpse into what’s next: Austin, the sequel to Clovis, and a third book, Roswell, which will go back in time to explore Callie’s mother’s story. Through it all, Annie’s fascination with mother-daughter relationships, memory, place, and identity shines through.

This is a beautiful conversation for any writer who has wondered whether their own life, family stories, or complicated past might become fiction—and how to write from truth without being trapped by it.

How to Write Voice-Driven Fiction, with Aga Maksimowska May 07, 2026

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In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I’m joined by Aga Maksimowska, author of Becalming and Giant, for a thoughtful conversation about voice, literary fiction, and what it means to return to a character after more than a decade.

Aga’s latest novel, Becalming, is anything but calm. It’s propulsive, emotionally layered, and deeply attentive to the messy, often contradictory experience of early adulthood—something Aga knew from the beginning she wanted to capture on the page.

We begin by talking about Gosia, the protagonist of Becalming, who readers may recognize from Aga’s earlier novel Giant. Though Aga never intended to write a sequel, Gosia returned—older, more complicated, and shaped by the difficult work of becoming an adult while still carrying the imprint of childhood.

Aga shares what it was like to revisit a character she already knew and discover how much more there was to uncover once Gosia was placed in new relationships, new responsibilities, and the complicated emotional terrain of adulthood.

Aga also talks about her deep love of first-person narrative and voice-driven fiction. We explore why she’s drawn to intimate, character-rich storytelling and how her background in journalism shaped her curiosity about people and the stories they carry.

She reflects on the craft choices behind Becalming—particularly her desire to write about frustration, disappointment, and emotional upheaval without creating an angry narrator. Instead, she leans into humor, tenderness, and the kind of emotional complexity that feels deeply human without tipping into sentimentality.

One of the most fascinating parts of our conversation centers on language, migration, and identity. Aga shares how writing across cultures allows her to explore the ways personality shifts through language, and how Gosia is, in many ways, a different person in Polish than she is in English.

✨ It’s a rich conversation about inheritance, history, and how identity is shaped not only by where we come from, but by the language we move through.

We also talk about titles, process, and Aga’s affection for difficult books—the kind that ask readers to do a little work, to make leaps, and to trust what’s unfolding on the page. She shares why Becalming became the right title, how she wrote much of the book at 5 a.m. and in Toronto libraries, and why she believes some books are meant to stay in the drawer. It’s a generous, thoughtful conversation about writing with depth, trusting your instincts, and allowing the work to become what it wants to be.

Writing the Police Procedural, with Melanie Anagnos Apr 30, 2026

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There’s something fascinating about stories that sit just outside the spotlight—moments in history that don’t always get the same attention, but quietly shape the world we’re living in now. That’s exactly where this conversation with Melanie Anagnos begins.

Melanie’s novel Night Swimming is set in the 1970s—a decade often overshadowed by the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, but one that was just as complex, just as charged, and in many ways, still echoing today.

As she shares in this episode, it was a time of enormous social change: the women’s movement gaining momentum, early conversations around gay rights, and shifting economic realities. It’s also a moment that feels surprisingly familiar when you look at today’s cultural conversations.

What’s especially interesting is how Melanie came to write this book. Like so many writers, she had a first novel that never made it out into the world.

But instead of being a dead end, that project became the seed for something new.

A minor character from that earlier manuscript—Jamie—grew into the central figure of Night Swimming, a young police officer navigating both a homicide investigation and a rapidly changing cultural landscape.

And here’s where it gets even more compelling: Melanie didn’t set out to write a police procedural. In fact, she initially felt completely unqualified to do so. But inspired by a David Bowie quote about pushing beyond your comfort zone, she leaned into the unfamiliar—and discovered not only a new genre, but a new creative energy in her work.

We talk about the deep research that went into bringing this story to life—from listening to police interviews and podcasts like Small Town Dicks, to digging through archives on Newspapers.com to capture the everyday details of the 1970s. Because when you’re writing in a pre-digital world, every small detail matters.

But at the heart of it, this isn’t just a story about crime—it’s a story about character. Melanie is deeply drawn to character-driven fiction, and that’s clear in how she approaches Jamie.

He’s not perfect. He’s not heroic in the traditional sense. But he’s decent. He’s trying. And that, as Melanie points out, is often what makes a character feel real—and worth following into a series.

We also explore one of the most nuanced challenges of writing historical fiction: how to portray women accurately within the constraints of the time, while still creating characters that resonate with modern readers. It’s a delicate balance, and one Melanie approached with thoughtfulness and care.

This conversation is such a beautiful reminder that writing often asks us to step into uncertainty—to try something we’re not sure we can do, to follow an idea even when it feels unfamiliar. And sometimes, that’s exactly where the most interesting work begins.

How to Write with Emotional Impact, with Rebecca Pickens Apr 16, 2026

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If you’ve ever found yourself polishing the first chapter of your novel over and over again while the rest of the story stubbornly refuses to move forward, this episode is going to feel very familiar—and very reassuring.

In this conversation, I’m joined by editor, author, and book coach Rebecca Pickens, and we talk about something that doesn’t always get as much attention as plot or structure, but might actually matter more than anything else: emotional impact.

Rebecca works with a lot of writers on their debut novels, and she sees a very common pattern. Writers learn all the craft tools—story structure, narrative arc, opening hooks, character arcs—and they apply them carefully and thoughtfully. But somewhere along the way, they start to lose touch with the very thing that made them want to write the story in the first place: the emotional heart of the story and the characters they fell in love with.

As Rebecca points out, writers often love craft, but readers love characters. Readers remember characters who feel real, complicated, and emotionally alive, even more than they remember perfectly structured plots or beautiful sentences.

We talk about how emotional impact often comes from two key tools: interiority and subtext. Interiority is what the character is thinking and feeling inside—the things they don’t say out loud. When readers are given access to those private thoughts and feelings, they feel closer to the character and more invested in what happens to them.

Subtext, on the other hand, is what’s happening beneath the surface of a scene. Instead of telling the reader exactly what a character is feeling, we show it through their behavior, their reactions, and what they don’t say. Readers get to connect the dots themselves, and that makes the story more engaging and more emotionally powerful.

Rebecca also talks about how emotions become more compelling when they are connected to a character’s identity—who they believe they are, what they fear, what they want their life to mean. When conflict threatens a character’s identity, the emotional stakes become much higher and the story becomes much more compelling.

We also talk about when writers should think about emotional impact—during outlining, drafting, revising, or editing—and why, for many writers, it’s actually easier to put all the emotional material into the first draft and then shape it later, rather than trying to add emotional depth after the story is written.

Finally, we talk about endings—why writers often get stuck when they reach the end of their manuscript, and why a satisfying ending usually depends less on the final chapter and more on whether the character has truly earned that ending through a believable character arc.

Rebecca has also created a free workbook to help writers craft stronger endings, with prompts and checklists you can use to evaluate whether your story is landing the way you want it to. You can download that free workbook here and use it as you revise your ending.

This is a thoughtful, practical, and encouraging conversation about how to make readers not just read your story—but feel it.

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