“You’ve got to learn to dance with fear”

Grief over her father’s death had Alexandra Chan writing down stories about him. She ultimately realized that she was writing a book, which turned into the hot-selling In the Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth and Magic.

Writing that book had a transformational effect on Alexandra, and reading it is – based on reviews – causing people to connect with it on a deeply emotional level.

Listen to Alexandra’s episode on the Write Like a Badass podcast to hear how this left-brained scientist discovered a whole other side of herself – one that embraces the magic and mythos that are ingrained in her family history and Chinese culture.

Alexandra Chan’s website is:https://alexandra-chan.com/

In the Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, and Magic is available from Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/34dsjccd

Slavery in the Age of Reason: Archaeology at a New England Farm offers a rare look into the lives of enslaved peoples and slaveholders in early New England.

Sign up for The Glimmering, a once-a-season community and newsletter for curious minds, eye-twinklers, travelers, and seekers and seers of magic. Get inspired and stay informed about Alexandra’s books.

Connect with Alexandra on Tiktok (Alexandra Chan|Author and Facebook (Alexandra Chan).

From Journalist to Mystery Writer: How Neal Lipschutz Made the Leap

After retiring from a career that included being an editor at the Wall Street Journal, Neal Lipschutz embarked upon a new career: writing suspense fiction. Fans of his debut novel, No Write Way to Die, are eagerly awaiting his second (in a series), Long Arm of the Past, which will be published in August.

Listen to Neal’s episode on the Write Like a Badass podcast to hear how he develops stories and characters, what is was like to find a publisher and what he’s got coming up. You will also get a sneak preview of Long Arm of the Past, when Neal reads an excerpt from it for Open Mic Night at the Badass Writers Cafe.

Neal’s website is: https://neallipschutz.com/

Neal’s books can also be found at:

https://www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page/no-write-way-to-diehttps://www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page/long-arm-of-the-past

Connect with Neal on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neal-lipschutz-3119b743/
and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neal.lipschutz

How Self Doubt Derailed a Multi-Creative for 20 Years

Lylanne Musselman is a poet, an artist, a playwright and a play director who lives in Eaton, Indiana. She spreads her love of writing to other by teaching – at the University of Indianapolis and Ivy Tech Community College. She’s also a mother, a grandmother and a furbaby mother. (How many cats do you have?) Her work has been featured in many literary journals and anthologies. She’s had six chapbooks published – so far – And she’s co-authored two books.

But Lylanne wasn’t always this productive. Listen to the Write Like a Badass podcast episode entitled, How Self Doubt Derailed a Multi-Creative for 20 Years to hear how Lylanne stopped writing at 18 – because she thought she wasn’t good at it!

Lylanne’s return to what she loves doing: writing and art, will inspire you. You’ll also hear how writing poetry and creating art helped her deal with caregiving for her unsupportive mother when her mother had dementia.

Her published chapbooks are:

Prickly Beer and Purple Panties (Bacon Tree Press, 2007), A Charm Bracelet For Cruising (Winged City Press, 2009), Winged Graffiti (Finishing Line Press, 2011), Weathering Under the Cat, (Finishing Line Press, 2016) and Red Mare 16 (Pink House Literary Arts, 2018); and Staring Dementia in the Face (Finishing Line Press, 2023), Consider the Doves (Local Gems Poetry Press, 2020). She has a full-length poetry collection, In My Life: A Pop Culture Poetry Memoir, which will be published by Chatter House Press in Autumn, 2026.

She’s written It’s Not Love, Unfortunately (Chatter House Press, 2018), and co-authored Company of Women: New and Selected Poems (Chatter House Press, 2013), and Marriage Maps and Driven Destinies (Chatter House Press, 2023).

Lylanne’s website is: https://lylannemusselman.wordpress.com/about/

Connect with Lylanne on:

How Getting Into the Flow State Can Help Your Writing

As a studio exec at 20th Century Fox and Dreamworks, Steven Puri dealt with screenwriters who earned million dollar paydays for their scripts. Fascinated by these and other high performers, Steven set out to discover what gave them the ability to immerse themselves in their creative projects without letting distractions affect them.

The result: The Sukha Company, a website Steven created to help people tune out distractions and get into the “flow zone.” Listen to the episode of the Write Like a Badass podcast entitled, “How Getting Into the Flow Zone Can Help Your Writing.”

The Sukha Company focus app is at: https://www.thesukha.co/

Connect with Steven Puri on:

LinkedI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-puri/

The book Steven refers to: The Net and the Butterfly: https://www.amazon.com/Net-Butterfly-Practice-Breakthrough-Thinking/dp/1591847192

“Growing up I was always the weird kid”

Nick Farrant’s writing has been published in a number of small press magazines and journals. They include two short stories published in F(R)iction Magazine. Nick’s debut horror/supernatural novel, The Light Between Us, is wracking up five-start reviews online.

Here’s what reviewers had to say about the book on Amazon:

“a fascinating mix of horror, otherworldly forces, and love story.”

“It made the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end. Very eerie, and hits all the feels.”

“I predict there will be a major-studio bidding war for the movie rights to this book. The dialogue is smart and screenplay ready, the characters are fully-realized, the settings and descriptions leap from the page (and would leap right onto the big screen), and the topic – ordinary people finding their lives menacingly entangled in the paranormal – couldn’t be more relevant.”

Listen to the episode of the Write Like a Badass podcast titled, “Growing up I was always the weird kid” to hear Nick talk about how he was inspired by research into folklore and mythology to place his tale in the Appalachian Mountains and create characters fit there...or do they?

The Light Between Us is available on Amazon: (https://www.amazon.com/Light-Between-Us-Nick-Farrant-ebook/dp/B0DX3LXBVY)

Read one of Nick’s short stories at: (https://frictionlit.org/the-forgotten/?srsltid=AfmBOoouDDsjhtEQe6zQuheSmPOK06CvOg8k62_–o2L4CfK06zIEoQE)

Nick has a Blue Sky account: (https://bsky.app/profile/bearishterror.bsky.social). 

“It’s gotten very ambitious”

Teacher, pet lover, musician, and avid reader, Jessica Glass is fascinated by fairy tales. She’s writing a novel based on a reimagining of a Snow White story – but not the one we all know. Her work in progress has been three years in the making. In the episode of the Write Like a Badass podcast, Jessica talks about where her inspiration comes from, what keeps her going, and who her readers will be.

Connect with Jess:
Instagram: jgmaid https://www.instagram.com/jgmaid/ 
Tiktok: @jessicaglass577 https://www.tiktok.com/@jessicaglass577?lang=en
Twitter: @jess_glasses 

“I’m asking you to fall in love with this guy” (the one with the bloody axe)

In episode 16 of the Write Like a Badass podcast, Laurie Kirk talks about the unusual route she took with her story Baby Marvin, which started as a screenplay. She reveals who in her life inspired her main character, how their may be some debate about Baby Marvin’s genre (psychological thriller? horror?) and her certainty that the story WILL get made into a movie.

Baby Marvin is available for pre-order on Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/55f27k7t) and will be available for purchase on May 26, 2026.

Baby Marvin is available at: https://tinyurl.com/55f27k7t

Laurie Kirk’s website: https://www.thelauriekirk.com/

Connect with Laurie:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelauriekirk/

Tiktok: @thelauriekirk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauriekirkfisher

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lauriekirk

The Write Like a Badass Podcast is by, about and for writers. Welcome to your tribe!

·        A video of the interview in this episode is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WriteLikeaBadass

You can also find Write Like a Badass on:

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writelikeabad

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writelikeabadass?igsh=b3YwOHU5MjAzbGE2

·        TikTok: WriteLikeABadass

Too Many Ideas, Too Little Time

Trae Dorn

Trae Dorn is a Wicca witch in Wisconsin who writes urban fantasies, comics and webcomics (they are an illustrator, too). In Trae’s free time(!), they host multiple podcasts. Listen to Trae talk about their creative process on episode 15 of the Write Like a Badass podcast.

Trae’s website is at: www.trhonline.com

Trae’s books and comics & etc. include:

·        The Mia Graves Saga, a series of queer contemporary fantasy novels

·        The webcomic Peregrine Lake 

·        The comic UnCONventional, a comic based off of their decades staffing conventions

·        Trae is also the creator of the Super Awesome Action Heroes Role Playing Game System

The Write Like a Badass Podcast is by, about and for writers. Welcome to your tribe!

·        A video of the interview in this episode is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WriteLikeaBadass

You can also find Write Like a Badass on:

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writelikeabad

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writelikeabadass?igsh=b3YwOHU5MjAzbGE2

·        TikTok: WriteLikeABadass

·        Website: https://writelikeabadass.com/

Buckle Up, Buttercup: This Writer Is In Her Crone Era – and Loving It!

Lydia M. Hawke has written and published 18 books! Several of her multi-book series feature heroines of a certain age who KNOW THEIR POWER.

She also writes a romance series, The Ever After Romance Collection, under the name Linda Poitevin.

On the podcast, episode 14, Lydia talks about reaching a crossroads in her life and suddenly finding a new direction for her writing, and how her books have found an enthusiastic array of readers. Getting older and fighting invisibility is just one of the many topics we cover.

Lydia is so enthused about her Crone Wars series (shown above) that she got a tattoo inspired by the stories.

Visit Lydia’s website: https://www.lydiahawkebooks.com/

Here’s where you’ll find that merch we talk about in the episode: https://www.lydiahawkebooks.com/shop/

Connect with Lydia socially: https://www.facebook.com/LydiaMHawke

Writing Humorous Horror Stories for Adults and Kids

Dustin Hendrix is on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dustin.hendrix.773

Dustin is co-founder of TinHen Productions: https://www.facebook.com/TinHenProductions and https://www.instagram.com/tinhenproductions?igsh=MTdlNmFpcm4xc2ZybQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

His first Creeptales story, Night of the Living Pizza, is available on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/bdh5dnxj

His short indie horror film, English Breakfast, is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQqwfneta2o

His Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinhendrix6?igsh=cGl5cGFkcmNra20%3D&utm_source=

His podcast, Empty Pages, can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeart Radio.


In Open Mic Night at the Badass Writers Café, Amina Mirza read from her novel, The Mermaid and the Mini Horse, which will be published in late May or early June.

You can find Amina on TikTok,  https://www.tiktok.com/@authoraminamirza, Twitter www.x.com/jaeswoon, and ko-fi, https://ko-fi.com/aminaamirza. She is also on Tumblr: https://jaehyofan.tumblr.com and posts in these writing communities on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/communities/writing-tea-tips and https://www.tumblr.com/communities/books-and-writing.

The Write Like a Badass Podcast is by, about and for writers. Welcome to your tribe!

You can also find Write Like a Badass on:

Email recordings of:

Help me keep this podcast going and get bonus content by supporting me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/WriteLikeaBadass

Here is the link my video-and-download course, How to Self-Publish Your Badass Book on Amazon: https://writelikeabadass.teachable.com/p/how-to-self-publish-your-badass-book-on-amazon

Find Connor Fischetti’s music on Bandcamp. Download the free app or go to the website (https://bandcamp.com/) and look for the albums:

  • Connor Fischetti (Connor Fischetti Band), and
  • Cricket (Boiler Room Band)