Being Creative Through Tumultuous Times

I know I'm not the only one feeling distracted and distressed lately. There's a part of me that thinks I should not look away, that a minimum is to witness what's happening in Minnesota. 

At the same time, for most of us, the rest of our lives continue. We have our usual things to balance: work, family, and (what often gets squeezed in last) our creative work. 

Sometimes I try to compartmentalize, and when I write an email letting people know about another interesting interview with a Michigan writer or illustrator, I just write it like I normally would without acknowledging horrific scenes that almost all of us have seen on the news or social media. Sometimes it feels strange to not acknowledge what is going on in the world and the feelings of fear that many are experiencing and to just proceed with business as usual. 

So, while acknowledging that our primary purpose on this blog is to talk about writing and illustrating books for children, I also wanted to have a space available for you to talk about how the state of the world affects you and/or your creative work, as well as to offer advice for your fellow writers and illustrators.

How are you feeling? Are you continuing with your writing/illustrating/submitting like usual? If not, what has changed?

Writer Spotlight: Christina Wyman

Cannolis, trauma, Pleasantville, Byline Bible, obituary and other endings: Author Christina Wyman

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author Christina Wyman.

Christina and Alfred

Rescue cats named Alfred and Greta ​Cannoli. Are Alfred and Greta a couple? Cannoli like the Italian dessert?

I love questions about my cats! Alfred and Greta are quite the pair. She is completely bonded to him – he is less enthusiastic. Actually, he’s a jerk. And yes, Greta’s middle name is indeed in honor of one of my most favorite Italian desserts.


She grew up in a tiny ​apartment with her family in Brooklyn, New York, where she dreamed ​of becoming a writer. Did you also grow up dreaming of having a wildlife sanctuary in your tree in midwest Michigan?

HAHA! If you told me twenty years ago that I’d be married to a Midwesterner and living in the middle of Michigan (and surrounded by wildlife), I definitely would have looked at you sideways.

Jawbreaker, Slouch, and now Breakout. It seems like a new novel a year. What kind of working schedule does a novel a year entail?

It’s a lot of sweat! A lot of tears! Honestly, I generally have about 2k words in me per day – and that’s if I’m having a great day. And I wrote Breakout twice, and am currently rewriting Mean. That’s just the way these things go sometimes! 

When I’m drafting, we’re talking 7-day workweeks. So maybe it entails adding days to the calendar that did not previously exist? I wish I had a good answer. It just entails hard work, the way all hard work entails hard work.

You do have more time, now that M.S.U. has shrunk their budget on you. Before then, how long had you taught teachers? What was the most rewarding part of the job?

I have been teaching teachers since 2008. So, nearly 20 years. Teaching is the second love of my life (writing is the first, and I’ve known that since the 6th grade). 

My absolute favorite part of teaching is the relationship building. I’m still in touch with many students, and I’m also in touch with one family from my days as a middle school teacher. That student is now in his thirties. Which I think means I’m old.

Books that dealt with life-altering bullying didn’t seem to exist when I was growing up—and I’m not sure that they’re plentiful even now. That was your final sentence in relaying your first rejection, a short story for Highlights. It’s funny that you felt you didn’t read the room, that kids’ stories needed optimism. But the reason you were scathingly rejected was because they thought the bullying wasn’t realistic. Was trauma part of your growing up?

Ha! You’re a good sleuth, because I don’t recall naming them in that piece!!!

Yes, trauma was a very real part of my childhood, both at home and at school. I would say it defined my childhood. I don’t think we’re supposed to say that negative things define us sometimes, but to hell with that. Trauma defined my childhood and I have the therapy bills to prove it. 

I cannot think about childhood without also thinking about the bullying and trauma and family dysfunction that narrated it at the time. I’ve seen and heard things no kid should see or hear. That’s just the damned truth. 

Some things just can’t be divorced from each other, and childhood shapes who (and how) we become as adults. I would not be able to write my books divorced from that “shaping.”

And now you’re an author writing about the bullying that happens to young people. Are you giving today’s kids knowledge that you wish you had when growing up and going through it?

What I hope is that children are feeling seen and heard in my stories. I do wish I would have identified with books a bit more when I was growing up (still, I was an avid reader). 

I don’t really try to dictate the knowledge gleaned for kids. That piece is up to them, as individuals, and I’m also delighted to learn what kids take away from my stories.


That’s a rich vein you’re mining, adolescent angst. What’s next?

I mean, are there other topics? I’m not sure! Maybe YA? Maybe adult fiction? I have lots of stories in me. Terrifying, now that I think about it.


Essays are how you got your big break, and you’ve had a lot of yours published. How do you sell essays to Rolling Stone and Writer’s Digest and more obscure publications?

I have one word. Okay, several words. Susan Shapiro’s book, The Byline Bible: Get Published In 5 Weeks, teaches more about this than I ever could, and explains it far more eloquently. I strongly suggest that anyone interested in selling essays should buy that book and/or take her classes!


This kid from Brooklyn wanted to feel like she could be anything and go anywhere. That’s what going to Pace did for me. Tell us about the college life in Pleasantville.

Ha! Bucolic. Fairy tale-esque. I went to college on a Pell Grant up the road from where Washington Irving imagined The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to take place, and also where several Judy Blume novels take place. It was a magical place to be. Still is. Everyone should visit Sleepy Hollow and neighboring Tarrytown. It’s just stunning.

Unboxing with feline approval

My writing teacher and mentor Susan Shapiro, author of The Byline Bible: Get Published In 5 Weeks, often uses a quirky, eye-catching line in her bio: Susan Shapiro is the bestselling author of several books her family hates.

You give Susan full credit for your children’s book career. Tell us about Susan, and as her student, spill the tea.

Sue is an unbelievably generous teacher. Generous with her wisdom, her time, her connections, everything. She’s also an unbelievably talented and successful writer, but she is a consummate teacher – she takes tremendous pride in watching her students succeed. That’s the only tea I got. Anyone who wants to write so much as a grocery list should take her writing classes. I will die on that hill.

At a bookstore event  with
Ruth McNally Barshaw and Sondra Soderborg.

I am a big believer in what is perhaps Anne Lamott's most famous (and controversial) commentary about writing. In her book Bird By Bird, which functions as part memoir, part guide for writers, she asserts the following: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

Have you ever crossed paths with Anne Lamott?

I, sadly, have not. But I’d love to.


This Woman's Controversial Obituary For Her Mom Caused Outrage — But We Need More Like It. This was the essay that made it to WaPo? You had written tons of essays on tons of topics. Did you wish you had gotten famous for one of your other essays?

That essay was first published by HuffPost, and then picked up by Buzzfeed, who I believe is their parent company (I don’t know how these things work). And you are very kind – I wouldn’t say that I’m famous. And I just like seeing what my different essays do out in the world. It’s been a wild ride.

Essay writing is a whole different genre than, say, children’s book writing. If someone wanted to follow your footsteps by writing essays, what would you tell them?

Here again, pickup up Sue’s Byline Bible book and take her classes! Or, they can email me directly, and – because I get asked this question so much – I put together a document of tips that I would happily share with them, most of which center on getting Byline Bible and taking Sue’s classes. But they can certainly start here, with an article I wrote for Writer’s Digest about how my success story began with getting over myself.

As for my family, I guess they hated my essay. Which means I found my voice. But I’ll take it one step further: I not only found my voice, I found my truth. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, is there any reconciliation within your family? Anybody getting any therapy?

The one person in therapy is the person writing to you here. And now that I know what I know about healing from trauma, I would argue that reconciliation isn’t always the desired endgame, nor does it have to be. 

For adult survivors, there’s often too much trauma and too much lack of accountability for reconciliation to even be possible (and this is not by my choice). 

A lot of people believe that estrangement is a tragedy. This is not a mentality to which I subscribe. I don’t believe that healing can take place while connected to that which made the healing necessary to begin with. I will die on all of these hills.

You are a doctor. And you wrote an essay about Dr. Jill Biden that caused some controversy. What did it take for you to earn your doctorate?

Six years of unrelenting study, committed mentors, and a profound interest in understanding teachers and education! You know, all of the things our current administration doesn’t believe in. Oh wait, did I say that out loud?

The Cannoli Cats

It seems at times you are fully immersed in the zeitgeist. Do your essays have to provoke emotion in order to be successful?

Ha! Honestly, I have found that my most successful essays are the ones that piss off the most people. But yes, provoking/evoking strong emotion is a huge part of that formula.


Also, be wildly open to feedback but learn how to filter out the garbage. A few years before I wrote Jawbreaker, someone told me to stop writing for children, essentially because they didn’t think my stories were believable or relatable. (Spoiler: What they’d read at the time was a short story I’d written which was based on an earlier version of Max Plink, Jawbreaker’s main character.) One person’s opinion should not define whether you keep going, and you get to decide which opinions matter and which don’t. I can be really hard-headed, which is why I kept going.

On that note: Keep going. Is this pretty much your advice to writers?

Yes! But I’ll offer one more: Before I was a professional writer, I had gotten my hands on a book by bestselling romance novelist Kristan Higgins. This was strictly by chance. And I loved her book, and from there, sought out everything else she’d written to that point.

I also sent her an email asking, “How on earth do you do this?” I just loved her writing and I wanted that to be my life. She wrote back (first author to ever respond to me!) and said, “Butt in chair, Missy!”

It was the best advice I’d ever received, and it turned out to be true every time. The writing doesn’t happen unless your butt is in that chair and you are writing. I am so grateful to Kristan and her wise words. So much so that she’s in my Jawbreaker dedications page.

You mentioned that a key writing moment came for you in the sixth grade, when your task was to rewrite the ending of a famous children’s book. Gary Schmidt asked the writers he was tutoring in jail to rewrite the ending of Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down.

What is it about endings that inspire writers? Would you want readers to rewrite your endings?

I think endings are the piece that stay with us. It’s the thing we think about most, for better or for worse, after we’re long done with a novel. And as a class assignment, it’s so much fun! I would absolutely love to learn how readers rewrite my endings!

What’s next?

I am currently revising my fourth MG novel, MEAN. And boy, is the MC mean with a cherry on top.



Please share any social media platforms:

https://www.instagram.com/christina.wyman.books/

Writer Spotlight: Dave Stricklen

 

Trilogy, budget, Ripley II, Tween Lit, book sales, Art Prize, and bikes: Author Dave Stricklen

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI. In this piece, meet  author David Stricklen.

I remember meeting you in a Grand Rapids-area coffee shop when you first joined SCBWI. When was that? How fresh from your airport job were you then? 

I was fresh at learning what to do with my free creative time. Wow, that was about 12 years ago! I think we met halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing. You were teaching me the ropes in running an SCBWI-MI conference.

Did you have the first book in your Blackwater Pond trilogy written at that point? What prompted you to write an adventurous middle grade novel? 

Yes, the first book was in print in 2011. I’ve always thought that if I had any special gifts, they were a result of my active imagination. I thought writing a MG fantasy adventure would be a way to take full advantage of that.

Did you always conceive of the series as a three-book deal, or did the story keep growing as you wrote it? 

The story grew. It was as if the characters had more to say and more adventures to explore and who am I to argue?

Did you attempt the traditional publishing route? How did you find your publishing team, the artist, editors, designers, and printers.

Finding the traditional publishing doors locked up tight despite glowing reviews, I hired Beachhead Publishing. They had an editor with 30 years experience in the industry, a type setter and my best friend happened to be an amazing illustrator with 40 books to his credit. 

I used a quality international printer, (Color House Graphics) in Grand Rapids. Being competitive as I am, my goal was to put out a product that exceeded what the traditional houses were producing. I basically hired my dream team.

The BlackWater Pond books are a middle grade fantasy adventure series: Beneath and Beyond (a Midwest Book Review Bookwatch Selection), Through the Eyes of the Beast and The Heart of the Swarm.

Did you set a budget on what you would spend in order to create your dream of writing for young people? Were you ever at the point where you considered pulling the plug on the whole publishing thing? 

I was always willing to spend whatever it took to produce a quality book. Glossy hard covers, best paper, best art, quality editor, typesetter, printer, etc. I have never considered pulling the plug. Every door that was closed had me crawling through a window. The books have paid for themselves. The money from my book sales paid for each addition book and my website. Profits always go toward my next creative project.

You added a standalone novel. How did Ripley come to put worms under his spell? 

I started with the idea of finding the craziest competition that I could find. I then wrapped the plot so tightly around it that how many worms come to the surface in a half hour becomes the most important thing in the world. Ripley Robinson and the Worm Charmer, is reviewer recommended by KIRKUS Review, featured in their October 2019 magazine and on their 35 great indie books worth discovering list.

Any more novels in the works?

I am currently working on a Ripley II. I also have three PB drafts in a drawer that were written after having grandkids.

You incorporate magic tricks into your school visits. What age were your youngest audience? Your oldest? 

I normally present to 6^th or 7^th grade. I will go as young as 5^th grade when requested.

Covid disrupted your school visit regimen. Were you able to do Zoom visits? How have your sessions changed since then? 

My presentation is very interactive which does not work as well over zoom.  I made the decision to wait and do it right…I just didn’t know it would take so long for Covid to go away. 

I did however, produce a zoom video with MA, MFA Erin Brown through her True North Book Club. Erin Brown created the entire very cool program. In the program, students read a chapter from Beneath and Beyond  then watch a video and learn how the chapter was written. Erin interviews me on word choice, plot ideas, vocabulary, critical thinking, etc. BTW: The 1^st chapter is free…

Below is the link:

https://truenorthbookclub.com/middle-grade/

I also created a website with author Kristin Lenz and retired principal Sue Spahr and called Tween Lit Review. The idea was to have students (the target audience) be the actual reviewers. That would give authors the ability to take on the big titles on an even playing field. I got the idea as I had been beating the popular titles on ground level in school libraries. It was ready to launch when Covid hit. It’s in the can and ready to plug in as soon as the schools catch back up and have time for something new. 

You sell a lot of your books when you visit a school. How do you do it? 

Normal for me would be 60 to 80 books sold per grade. My record was 147 which was more books sold then students. I don’t go in as a book salesman. I share the creative process and the fun of creating stories on the fly with the students. 

I do use my books as examples during my visit and sprinkle in magic tricks as memory cues. I hand out order forms after the presentation. I always come back the next day to deliver books. For more about what I do, simply see the below link to the school visit video that I did for the SCBWI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjn7SI_M0PM

 

How about that 3-D art you’ve been doing for Art Prize? What inspired your first reverse perspective painting? It was a big piece. How and where did you paint it? 

I discovered that I have some kind of a geometric reverse perspective knack for it. I love solving the complex puzzle of angles and then paint the lines and shadows in reverse to make the painting move. My largest painting was 9ft long, however, all my paintings are large. 

You’ve done different paintings since then, all employing the painting chops that makes the painting seem to move with you. Were you able to streamline your process each year? 

Yes, I get a bit faster and more complex with each painting. I am seeing it all a bit more clearly than I did when I first started.

Below is a link for videos of some of my favorite reverse perspectives showing the movement. 

https://www.blackwaterpond.com/artprize-entries/

You’ve won awards, even sold a few paintings. How many years have you entered ArtPrize? Do you have plans for next year’s entry? 

I have entered ArtPrize 7 years. I have already started working new angles for 2026.

Exhibition History & Recognition

·      Multiple Grand Rapids ArtPrize 3D Popular Vote Finalist placements. (largest attended art competition in the world)

·      Several Colors of Community Popular Vote 1st Place awards (post ArtPrize)

·      1st Place 3D at the IQhub Museum Art Competition

 

Ripley’s Believe It or Not, has purchased two of my paintings:  “Guardian Angel” is hung at the brand-new Ripley’s Pigeon Forge Illusion Lab in Tennessee. They also recently purchased my “Space and Time” from this year’s ArtPrize. It is currently planned for their museum in Queensland, Australia.

You were the Police Chief at the Grand Rapids airport. What are some of the stories you’re willing to share about your time as the Top Cop at the airport? Any plans to write a memoire?

There are too many stories and not enough room here, but I could easily fill several hours at a coffee shop. There were many over the top crazy incidences, like pulling onto the runway to block a departing Lear jet with a possible kidnap victim. The plane stopped, the door sprang open and a screaming girl (and others) spilled out. 

Other things like: organizing/orchestrating security for presidential visits, drunks on planes, working with DEA, grabbing bank robbers trying to get out of town, running into yellow flames in shirt sleeves and fire extinguisher to save the airport from burning down, etc…each life story another cup of coffee.

Dave and President George W. Bush

You are a steampunk rocker and sometimes host a Strickapalooza. Set the scene for the uninitiated.

I do dress up on Halloween. This year was my steampunk costume. We had a few Saturday afternoon concerts in my large backyard over the years and called it Strickapalooza. My son Jordan is an amazing musician. We had 120 people, beach balls in the air, shade tents, dunk tank, 3 bands, you get the picture…a real good time. 

You drove editor Arthur Levine partway to a Mackinac Island conference. What do you remember of your encounter? 

It was fun, I liked him…we had several hours to chat about books and writing, etc. What I recall the most is him saying, “Your books exceeded the national average.”

You’ve worked in various positions for SCBWI-MI over the years. Would you list a few, what you did, how long you stayed? 

Grand Rapids Shop Talk coordinator 9 years.

Michigan Shop Talk Liaison (Overlord) 6 years off and on again.

Michigan Indie Coordinator 4 years?

Co-chaired the Eberhard Conference with Jay Whistler in Grand Rapids as well as assisted in multiple conferences anytime requested. Co-presented at a few conferences.

Started up the 1^st Critique Carousel with Anita Pazner

Some of the non SCBWI events include speaking at the Rochester writers conference 3x, Rally of Writers in Lansing 2X, Gun Lake Women’s Club 2X.

You had some surgery, but now you’re riding your bike again. How’s the biking going? 

I had full knee replacement about 6 years ago. I can’t run on it anymore but I can bike as well as I ever have. I co-lead a bike group every Tuesday called The Tuesday Trail Trek. We ride a different trail within an hour of Grand Rapids every week. Our distances are 25 – 45ish and we average 16-18 mph. We have several pics of our fun trip in the Michigan Trails Magazine every year. I have always been active and don’t sit still much.

Please share any social media you care to:

My Website: 

WWW.BlackWaterPond.com

My video on independent middle grade fiction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjhi7dsA6eQ

My video on How to Rock Your School Visits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjn7SI_M0PM

The True North Book Club:

https://truenorthbookclub.com/middle-grade/

My 3D Reverse Perspective Paintings:

https://www.blackwaterpond.com/artprize-entries/

 

 

 

Writer Spotlight: Janice Broyles

Teaching, Kitchen Table, Late November, Shay, Michal, and England in May: Author Janice Broyles

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author and educator, Janice Broyles, aka Shay Lee Giertz.

• I am a Michigan native. Born in Royal Oak, I lived in Madison Heights most of my childhood. After my college degree, I resided for thirteen years in Gaylord (snowbelt of Michigan). I moved to Cadillac, MI, to teach college and lived there for five years. My family and I moved to Winston Salem, North Carolina in 2018. We had enough of the snow and cold (but I’ll always be a Michigan girl).

So many moves. Did the moves get easier?

All the moves were desired, which made them more of a positive experience. Moving up to Gaylord was the start of my teaching career, and it was there, I met my best writing bud, Rachel Anderson! 

Moving to Cadillac was exciting because I was stepping into a full-time college instructor role and into my doctorate program at CMU. 

Moving to North Carolina was probably the most stressful out of all of them as I’ve always been a Michigan girl, but there was still excitement at the prospect of leaving behind the snow. 😊

You’ve earned so many degrees, I’d love to see all the letters that follow your name. What would that look like?

Haha, oh my, I’m not sure if I could show it all accurately! Does this look right: Janice Broyles, Ed.D., MAE, MAEL, BAE

That said, just call me Janice.

You must have been very organized and dedicated to keep achieving more. What did you learn about yourself over the course of your educational career?

I found I have multiple layers to my life and career, and each of them are quite valuable to me. I’m a life-long learner, but I’m also a mentor, coach, and instructor in a lot of areas, so earning degrees helped me fine-tune this part of who I am. Helping students write well is a highlight of my career, just as much as becoming a published author.

• Teaching is what I do. I’m a veteran educator. Fourteen years teaching K12 high school (with some middle school thrown in…), and several years teaching at the college level. Currently, I am English & Communications faculty at Davidson-Davie Community College.

That’s a lot of teaching experiences. What are your favorite memories being a teacher?

Teaching is a joy. Inspiring others to write more, teaching them the proper technique to writing well, and discussing classics and all sorts of books and stories that somehow all connect our common humanity, what’s not to love?

When students tell me that I’ve inspired them to write more, that’s a win for me. All of our voices need to be heard. Helping create that spark within a student is a highlight of my career.

Book festival

Your first published book appeared on July 25, 2016. This year will be your author tenth anniversary. And you’ve been prolific since then, with more non-fiction, a series or so, more than a half dozen titles.

We met a couple of decades ago. I remember being in a kitchen with you across the table, and I think we were talking about writing, specifically how hard it is. You hadn’t yet published.

You obviously found a way to publish novels, and you could give a class on it. But, what’s the secret to your publishing success?

It’s not really a secret, but it’s my mantra when it comes to my own creativity: Never stop writing.

When I finished one novel and was seeking an agent, I was already working on another one. When I landed an agent, and she was sending my book out to publishers, I was writing another. None of it was easy, and none of it happened the way I desired. I didn’t get the major book deal. 

Instead I found small publishers who liked my work and wanted to give me a shot. When my agent left the business, and then my second agent switched companies and ended our contract, I kept writing while pushing the couple books I had out. 

The publishing company that signed me for The Secret Heir and for the other two books in the series ended up deciding not to publish the other two books in the series because I hadn’t sold enough for them to want to keep investing in me. Yikes. That hurt a lot! 

I had already written the books, so with my husband’s support (and Rachel’s…my writing bestie), I started my own publishing company: Late November Literary. The goal was to learn everything about the publishing business and do my best as an Indie author to get my books out to any and all potential readers.

That was six years ago. Since that day, 23 of my books have been published (some continue to traditionally be published, others are published through my own company), and I have successfully added several authors and their books to my publisher list. 

I have five more books set to be released through Late November (other authors and my own) by May 2026, so I’m excited about them!  

• My first novel to be released is actually the first book to the David series: The Secret Heir. It is a retelling of the story of David and Michal. It was released July 2018, by Heritage Beacon press (an imprint of Lighthouse of the Carolinas). The two other books in the series are The Runaway Heir and The Anointed Heir. They are available now for purchase. 

Biblical David, I presume? Did you conceive of the story as a three-book series from the start?

Yes, it was always a story arc that moved through three different books. The story evolved into becoming Michal’s story just as much as David’s. Told in alternating points of view between David and the princess, The Secret Heir begins with David as a young man, newly appointed to King Saul’s court as a lyre player. 

It progresses covering major events most of us know and love, but it’s the story behind it all that I really wanted to delve into. How does a princess go from being madly in love with the lyre-player turned warrior only to despise him ten years later?

Now THAT’S a story I want to read, so that’s the one I wrote. It’s still selling copies today! Then again, it’s a timeless story, so that probably has a lot to do with it. 

You’re a proudly Christian writer. Are there any Jesus-upending-the-money-lenders’-tables conflicts between being godly, and being a working writer?

One of the agents I worked with would tell me repeatedly that she loved my writing style but that my writing was too clean for a YA author. I never knew how to take that (um, thank you?). I really don’t think she meant it rudely, so I didn’t take it that way. That’s one thing I love about books: each book holds a little bit of the writer’s heart. How beautiful is that?

That said, my faith is who I am, so I truly believe it comes out in my writings, although I do have fiction that is not expressly Christian or faith-based. 

I have a pen name (Shay Lee Giertz) that was specifically for edgy, suspenseful YA books. Basically, I write all over the place. I’ve been told I’d be more successful if I focused on one genre. Yeah, my brain doesn’t let me do that.  

All-in-all, I want to write books young people will stay up all night to read. I want my books to uplift and remind readers that they are valuable just as they are. I don’t necessarily shy away from having parts of stories reference God or a deity because it’s one way to look at and embrace the world.

• My first teen novel was signed on with Illuminate YA, The Road Back Home from Here. Since then, I have released other teen novels that feature male protagonists (because we need more boy books, right?): Tubbs and the 200 Dares and Marco’s Next Move.

You’ve written non-fiction inspirational, a series based on biblical David, and several stand-alone YA books. In what order were these titles written and published? Are you involved in any publishing aspects?

I love books. Lots and lots of books. I read most everything, so it makes sense that I write books that match that variety! However, it hasn’t been the best marketing move to publish so many different genres and titles.

My very first novel that I wrote was not the first one published. My first written novel is what is now Marco's Next Move. My first published novel was The Secret Heir, which is honestly about the fifth novel I wrote.

 I’ve been blessed to be published by Heritage Beacon Press for my historical fiction and Illuminate YA for some of my teen fiction. However, several of my titles I’ve indie-published through Late November.

I’m involved in indie-publishing from start to finish with my books, but Late November hires a small team that edits the books and designs the covers and interiors. 

I find that investing in professionals helps my books—and the books of the authors I’ve worked with—really shine and do better in an overly saturated market.  

You were the first in your generation to graduate, from University of Michigan, no less. You got your Masters there too. What’s to love about U of M?

Neither of my parents finished college, but my dad loved Michigan football. I thought if I could get into Michigan I could get my dad tickets to the games. That’s the honest-to-goodness reason. I actually went to Oakland Community College in Royal Oak and transferred to U of M. Once there, I fell in love with all of it. Ann Arbor is incredible. Even when I had to start commuting, I still wanted to be on campus as much as I could.

Sunday School Superintendent. Any tales you want to tell out of school?

When you ask little children if they have prayer requests, prepare yourself for brutal honesty. One little girl asked us to pray that God would take away her newborn little brother. She had decided she didn’t like him and wanted her parents all to herself. Another time, a child patted my belly and asked if a baby was in there. There wasn’t. 😊

Kids are awesome. They are brutally honest, but they’re awesome.

Janice Broyles holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and is a Learning Coach with North Carolina Education Corps. She is also a prolific writer, editor, and speaker. Writing clean fiction and inspiring nonfiction is another one of her passions. What she loves most of all is a good story, and telling a good story is even better. Find her at janicebroyles.com.

A Michigander most of your life, you moved to North Carolina. How did that come to be?

Born and bred Michigan gal, but the Northern Michigan winters are brutal. We were starting to travel down south a couple times each winter, so we started discussing making a move. John, my husband, is from North Carolina. One of our visits to his dad only solidified our resolve.

Since moving, I’ve acclimated more and more to the beautiful state of North Carolina. There’s a lot to love. It’s not Michigan, and Michigan will always have my heart, but I find I’m getting along just fine down south!

This is a story of a warrior, fueled by the love for awoman beyond his reach, driven by a desire to be someone great, and anointed byGod who saw him as something more than he was.

This was an enthusiastic reviewer of The Secret Heir. That’s quite a tightrope act, tiptoeing through physical human attraction and interaction, with God watching. How do you mix lust with good morals?

Very, very carefully. 😉

Building romantic tension between characters is hard to do, but I find it truly enjoyable to write. I have a closed-door policy for all of my romantic scenes in terms of explicitness, but there are aspects to falling in love that must be on the page because it just makes for good storytelling.

Another reviewer raved about your characters: I absolutely loved Michal’s sassy, spit-and-vinegar personality as well as David’s fierce-yet-sensitive warrior persona.

Did you have as much fun writing Michal as the reviewer had reading her?

Princess Michal is by far my most favorite character to write. She’s considered a “bad girl” in church traditions, but why? I’ve never liked that. So, studying her and learning about her was like becoming friends with her. I needed to tell her side of the story.

You wrote an educational piece for The Mitten. Would that lesson be part of your coaching? What kinds of topics do you cover in your presentations?

I’m part teacher, part coach, and all writer. That’s my formula in everything I do. Part of being a successful writer/author is sharing with others what worked and what didn’t work, along with all the other bits of information in-between. 

I’ve written educational articles in several online and print magazines, most of which focused on how to incorporate writing in one’s life, how to fine-tune writing to get closer to publication, and how to navigate being a writer with being a book marketer and developing a platform. 

That said, I don’t feel like an expert. There is still so much to learn, and I’m sort of winging it and hoping for the best.

What’s next for Janice Broyles?

Lake of Mysteries, the sequel to Lake of Secrets, comes out in early 2026, under my pen name: Shay Lee Giertz. The third book to the Broken series is set to be released by May of 2026.

In my personal life, my youngest son, Benjamin, is graduating high school this year, so I’m excited for our family bucket list trip to England in May!

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