This week, I talk with Sara Hamdan about her journey from finance and journalism into fiction, and how writing What Will People Think became a way to explore identity, belonging, family history, and the freedom to define yourself outside of expectations. Through conversations about comedy, Palestinian representation, women’s choices, historical memory, and the many forms of love, the episode explores how fiction can create connection and make complex experiences feel deeply human.

Listen to hear about:

• How moving from finance into journalism—and eventually fiction—helped her discover storytelling as both a craft and a way to explore her own family history and identity.
• Why stand-up comedy became central to the novel, including Sara’s real-life experience taking comedy classes to overcome public speaking anxiety and how humor can deliver difficult truths with softness.
• Code-switching, compartmentalizing identity, and the pressure many women feel to justify life choices—while emphasizing the importance of autonomy and becoming comfortable showing up as your full self.
• Fiction as a way to preserve cultural memory and show everyday life beyond headlines, using family stories, historical detail, and personal experiences to create empathy.

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, I talk with return guest Karen E. Osborne about her newest mystery Justice for Emerson!

Listen to hear about:

• How Karen approached a dual-timeline mystery that blends a present-day murder investigation with the long emotional aftermath of the Vietnam War, addiction, race, and trauma.
  
• How Karen’s research process is deeply people-centered—drawing from her husband’s Vietnam experiences, veterans, recovering addicts, and sensitivity readers to create emotionally authentic characters without judgment.
  
• How she crafted her protagonist: a widowed nonprofit CEO balancing grief, self-doubt, romance, family tension, and danger while unraveling a conspiracy.
  
• The way survival—through volunteering, recovery, or writing—gives meaning and accountability can help people endure trauma, addiction, and reinvention.
  
• Karen's approach to writing, creativity, discipline, and timing, and how small daily habits (like 15 minutes a day) can build a creative life.

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, I talk with Aimee Poktwatka about her hew horror book Accumulation!

Listen to hear about:

• Aimee's unconventional path to becoming an author—from anthropology and veterinary work to creative writing—and how curiosity has shaped her storytelling.
  
• How Accumulation was inspired by Aimee’s real 18th-century home, a creepy doll her husband found in the yard, and her fascination with haunted house stories as metaphors for domestic life.
  
• How the novel blends haunted house horror, psychological suspense, and social commentary to examine motherhood, invisible labor, and the slow erosion of self.
  
• Aimee's “inefficient” writing process—heavy outlining followed by intuitive drafting—and how revision uncovers deeper emotional truths.
  
• Why horror, especially domestic and psychological horror, can uniquely explore trauma, gender roles, and the unsettling transformation of everyday spaces into something terrifying.

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

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Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, you get to meet the book girlies who I haven't been able to stop talking about! Kara Confer and Emily Hone are the event team at Wild Geese Bookshop, and they are bringing some incredible authors to Indiana. Hear about how they have evolved into their current positions, some book event BTS, starting their podcast Fill Your Cup, and books that define their reading tastes!

Books Kara Mentioned

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies — Deesha Philyaw
• The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman — Deesha Philyaw
• Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead — Emily Austin
• Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt
• Done and Dusted — Lyla Sage

Books Emily Mentioned

• The Hunger Games series — Suzanne Collins
• Superfan — Jenny Tinghui Zhang
• The Song of Achilles — Madeline Miller
• Exquisite Things — Abdi Nazemian
• A Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends — Jamie D’Amato
• The Strength of the Few — James Islington
• The Poppy War — R.F. Kuang
• Seek the Traitor’s Son — Veronica Roth
• Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It — Brooke Averick

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

Check Out My Stories Are My Religion Substack

Get Bookwild Merch

Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, I talk with repeat guest and friend Elizabeth Rose Quinn about her new, somewhat locked room thriller Payback!

Listen to hear us discuss:

• Payback’s fascinating “weekend prison” premise and how it critiques privilege within the carceral system
• Balancing social commentary with a genuinely fun, propulsive thriller
• Crafting a large cast of distinct, memorable characters
• The psychological implications of our current judicial and carceral systems
• How Quinn's work as a therapist informs how she creates character arcs

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

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Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, MacKenzie Green and I talk with Bridget Howard about her new Romantasy Lovers' Journal.

Listen to hear about:

• Bridget’s journey from book blogger to Bookstagram creator to marketing professional for publishers and authors
• How romantasy evolved from YA and paranormal roots into today’s booming genre
• Why romantasy, fantasy, and romance deserve the same literary analysis and cultural respect as “serious” fiction
• The creation of the Romantasy Lover's Reading Journal and how it helps both seasoned readers and newcomers engage more deeply
• Beginner-friendly romantasy recommendations, from gateway reads like ACOTAR to duologies and standalones

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Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

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Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, Gare and I talk about books we think deserve adaptations ASAP! Gare also brought a messy icebreaker to the episode.

Books We Talked About

Good People by Patmeena Sabit

The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson

Secret Lives of Murderers Wives by Elizabeth Arnott

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

Night Watcher by Stephanie Woolsoncroft

She Drinks the Light by Yasmin Angoe

Ours Is a Tale of Murder by Nora Murphy

The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

Check Out My Stories Are My Religion Substack

Get Bookwild Merch

Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

This week, I talk with Priya Parmar about The Original, her fictionalized portrait of Katharine Hepburn’s early life and Hollywood reinvention, diving into how academic rigor, obsessive research, and creative intuition shaped the book.

We discuss:

• Priya’s transition from academic and PhD research into fiction writing—and how scholarship still shapes her creative process
• The accidental Google rabbit hole that led her to Katharine Hepburn’s hidden early struggles
• A fascinating look at 1930s Hollywood as a surprisingly progressive, image-conscious, and socially fluid ecosystem
• Fame, performed authenticity, grief, reinvention, and how public myths are intentionally built
• Behind-the-scenes insight into writing historical fiction about a real woman whose voice, image, and legacy are already iconic

Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon

Check Out My Stories Are My Religion Substack

Get Bookwild Merch

Follow @imbookwild on Instagram

Other Co-hosts On Instagram:

Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland

Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba