On the Artsy Raven, Sonia Daccarett discusses what inspired her to write a memoir, her process of publishing the book, and the universal theme of being an outsider while coming of age.Sonia Daccarett is a writer and communications professional. Born in Colombia to a Christian Palestinian father and a Jewish mother, she moved to the United States and received an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a master’s degree in international and public affairs from Columbia University. For more than two decades, she worked on strategic communications initiatives with corporate and non-profit clients and currently writes and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.At time 11:05 she reads from The Roots of the Guava Tree.Author links:https://www.amazon.com/Roots-Guava-Tree-Growing-Colombia/dp/1647429404/https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-roots-of-the-guava-tree-growing-up-jewish-and-palestinian-in-colombia-sonia-daccarett/ba0426d1848e8569Artsy Raven links:For more about The Artsy Raven Podcast or to join our exclusive Artsy Raven club to receive free books and other cool stuff, visit: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcastIf you really like this show, please feel free to send us a digital tip https://ko-fi.com/jfgarrardPatreon subscribers, remember to access your bonus content for each episode: https://www.patreon.com/jfgarrard
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Ep86 Writing Realistic Crime Plots with Alice Fitzpatrick
Alice Fitzpatrick speaks about the importance of research tocreate realistic crime plots, participating in twitter pitches to find a publisher, and piecing together her family history. Alice Fitzpatrick has contributed short stories to literarymagazines and crime anthologies and has recently retired from teaching in order to devote herself to writing full-time. She is a fearless champion of singing, cats, all things Welsh, and the Oxford comma. Her summers spent with her Welshfamily in Pembrokeshire inspired the creation of the Meredith Island Mysteries. She was a third of the way through the first draft of Secrets when she realized that this story of lost family history and the mythologizing of people who are no longer with us was inspired by her own family. The second book in the series, A Dark Death, was released in June, 2025, with the Meredith Island Christmas mystery, A Killing Cold, scheduled for release in June of the following year. She is currently working on the fifth book in the series while looking for a publisher for a standalone suspense novel set in Massachusetts and inspired by a horrific accident that killed eight teenagers in her hometown of Oakville,Ontario, fifty years ago. The traditional mystery appeals to her keen interest in psychology as she is intrigued by what makes seemingly ordinary people commit murder. Alice lives in Toronto but dreams of a cottage on the Welsh coast. At time 16:00 she reads from A Dark Death.Social media links:https://www.alicefitzpatrick.comhttps://www.facebook.com/alicefitzphttps://twitter.com/alicefitzphttps://instagram.com/alicefitzpatrickauthor Artsy Raven links:For more about The Artsy Raven Podcast or to join ourexclusive Artsy Raven club to receive free books and other cool stuff, visit: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcast If you really like this show, please feel free to send us a digital tip https://ko-fi.com/jfgarrardPatreon subscribers remember to access your bonus content for each episode: https://www.patreon.com/jfgarrard
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Ep 85 Monetizing Memories with Yiming Ma
Yiming Ma shares why he transitioned from the tech andfinance world into writing, what inspired his dystopian novel These Memories Do Not Belong to Us, and why he sees his memories in monochrome.Born in Shanghai, YIMING MA spent a decade in thetech and finance world across New York, Toronto, London, Berlin, and South Africa before writing the dystopian novel These Memories Do Not Belong to Us, set in a world where memories are bought and sold. He attended Stanford for his MBA and also holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College, where he was named the Carol Houck Smith Scholar. His stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, The Florida Review, and elsewhere. His story “Swimmer of Yangtze” won the 2018Guardian 4th Estate Story Prize. At time 20:30 he reads from These Memories Do NotBelong to Us.Visit him at www.yiming-ma.com.Artsy Raven links:For more about The Artsy Raven Podcast or to join ourexclusive Artsy Raven club to receive free books and other cool stuff, visit: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcastIf you really like this show, please feel free to send us a digital tip https://ko-fi.com/jfgarrardPatreon subscribers remember to access your bonus content for each episode: https://www.patreon.com/jfgarrard
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Ep 84 The Accountant Who Became a Crime Writer with Anthony Bidulka
Anthony Bidulka shares how he transitioned from an accountant to acclaimed author, breaks down the importance of a character bible, and reveals why the crime genre keeps him coming back for more.In 1999, Anthony Bidulka left a professional accounting career to pursue writing and never looked back. Anthony has dedicated his career to writing traditionalgenre novels in an untraditional way, developing a body of work that often features his Saskatchewan roots and underrepresented, diverse main characters. He tells serious stories in accessible, entertaining, often humorous ways.His books have been shortlisted for Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, Saskatchewan Book Awards, a ReLit award, and Lambda Literary Awards. His book Flight of Aquavit was awarded the Lambda Literary Award forBest Men’s Mystery, making him the first Canadian to win in that category. Going to Beautiful won an Independent Publisher Book Award being named Gold Medalist as the 2023 Canada West Best Overall Fiction novel and was awarded the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence as Canada’s Best Crime Novel for 2023.At time 12:23 he reads from Home Fires Burn.His website is: https://anthonybidulka.com/Artsy Raven links:For more about The Artsy Raven Podcast or to join ourexclusive Artsy Raven club to receive free books and other cool stuff, visit: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcastIf you really like this show, please feel free to send us a digital tip https://ko-fi.com/jfgarrardPatreon subscribers remember to access your bonus content for each episode: https://www.patreon.com/jfgarrard
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Ep 83 What Is a Soul-Identification System? with Rebecca Danzenbaker
Rebecca Danzenbaker speaks to the Artsy Raven about howshe transitioned from photography to writing, what a soul-identification system is in Soulmatch and how she got a book deal. Rebecca Danzenbaker believes in trusting your gut and chasing your dreams. That probably explains her massive career jumps—from teaching elementary school music, to managing a team of twenty-five at Congressional Quarterly, to running an award-winning photography business, to writing young adult novels. When she’s not editing words or photos, she’s either reading, hiking, sending memes to friends, volunteering, planning incredibly detailed travel itineraries, being a goofball on social media, or cheering on her husband and two children as they chase their own dreams. Soulmatch is her debut novel, the culmination of five years of blood, sweat, and tears. She did it! You can visit Rebecca's website at rebeccadanzenbakerbooks.com orfollow her on socials at @rebeccadanzenbaker.At time 21:14 she reads from Soulmatch.Artsy Raven links:For more about TheArtsy Raven Podcast or to join our exclusive Artsy Raven club to receive free books and other cool stuff, visit: https://jfgarrard.com/arpodcastIf you really like this show, please feel free to send us a digital tip https://ko-fi.com/jfgarrardPatreon subscribers remember to access your bonus content for each episode: https://www.patreon.com/jfgarrard
About The Artsy Raven Podcast about Writing and Art with host JF Garrard
JF Garrard (writer, editor and publisher) has frank conversations with writers, editors, publishers, artists, actors, directors and other art professionals about what inspires them to create and what led to their success. Writers on the podcast will showcase their work by reading from their book.
Free Artsy Raven club featuring a monthly newsletter: https://jfgarrard.com/artsyraven
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Listen to The Artsy Raven Podcast about Writing and Art with host JF Garrard, Dish and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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