You can love writing and still want to quit every week. That tension sits at the center of this Stacked Keys Podcast panel, where we get real about writing and publishing when you’re already juggling a full life. Join a group of women with completely different genres and the same stubborn drive: Tori Stackhouse, a law enforcement officer drafting a fantasy escape as an outlet; Tori Applegate, building a fantasy horror series that unexpectedly holds her religious trauma; Ashley Wall, a children’s book author and publisher at Mom Bear Books creating imaginative adventures that empower kids; and Dr Samra Zafar, bestselling author of A Good Wife and Unconditional, blending lived experience with mental health science and healing tools.

We talk about the unglamorous parts of the author journey: rewriting chapters five times, switching point of view midstream, building believable characters, and learning to accept feedback without losing your voice. Samra shares what it takes to write about real people ethically, how publishers and legal teams handle fact-checking, and why “vulnerability requires boundaries.” Ashley brings the publisher perspective, including how editing can transform a manuscript and why you have to write for the readers who will love your book, not for everyone.

You’ll also hear practical, modern strategies for follow-through: managing creative energy, pacing a series, staying patient with a long publishing timeline, and even using AI tools to spot clunky sentences and continuity issues in complex worldbuilding. If you’re trying to figure out how to write a book, how to publish it, or how to keep going after rejection, this conversation is a steady push forward.

Subscribe for more conversations with women building bold lives, share this with a friend who’s stuck on page one, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the show. What’s the one thing you need to finish your book?

Go listen to each of these women on their original guest spots on Stacked Keys Podcast. You are in for a treat!!!

Tori Stackhouse Episode 125 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stacked-keys-podcast/id1478690459?i=1000553276748

Tori Applegate Episode 103 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stacked-keys-podcast/id1478690459?i=1000525674762

Samar Zafar 52 Episode https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stacked-keys-podcast/id1478690459?i=1000477700491

Ashley Wall Episode 258 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stacked-keys-podcast/id1478690459?i=1000764159931

Music "STOMP" used by permission of artist Donica Knight Holdman and Jim Huff

Danielle Frank spent six years in entertainment publicity at Miramax — red carpets, film festivals, the New York media world. At 29, she left it, without another job lined up, because the work no longer felt right. That decision led her into the wine and spirits industry, where she's now spent 21 years, the last 12 with Moët Hennessy.

The conversation centers on a different turning point, though: the end of an engagement, and with it, the path to motherhood she'd expected to be on. Rather than treating that as a loss, she began writing — and thirteen years later, that writing became her book, A Wine Lover's Guide to Parenting, a rhyming, satirical guide that pairs parenting lessons with wine terminology.

The episode moves through her career shift, the long road to publishing the book, how she built a lasting network across coasts, and how she thinks about setbacks — not as unfair, but as pivots. She also talks about what's next: a second book pairing whiskey with dog breeds, and a children's book about cultural acceptance she's hoping to place with a publisher.

Connect with Danielle Frank:

• Book: A Wine Lover's Guide to Parenting — available on Amazon and BarnesAndNoble.com
• Website: DanielleFrankAuthor.com
• Instagram: @createagreatstory

Music "STOMP" used by permission of artist Donica Knight Holdman and Jim Huff

Your kid is brilliant, your schedule is chaos, and your old creative self feels like a distant memory, so what do you do with that gap? We sit down with Jamie McMahon, a realist artist known for soulful dog portraits, a former teacher and dance coach, and now a full-time stay-at-home mom of three, to get honest about identity, purpose, and making meaningful work in the margins of real life.

We talk about the invisible labor of motherhood and why it can feel like you’ve worked all day with nothing to “show” for it, then shift into the tools that help Jamie stay grounded: trusting her gut, running decisions through faith, and learning discernment when parenting advice is coming at you from every angle. Jamie also shares what led her to homeschool her oldest, and how a flexible, curiosity-led approach can protect a bright child’s love of learning while strengthening the parent-child relationship.

Then we go deeper on ambition and resilience. Jamie shares her own turning point between wishing and doing, the discipline that took her from struggling with health to dancing at the highest levels, and how she’s rebuilding healthy rhythms now with goalposts like dance reunions. Finally, she walks us through creating her children’s book Handy Pandas, from rhyming story concept to teaching herself digital illustration, and why creative problem solving is a life skill for kids and adults. If you’ve been craving community, creative momentum, or a way to feel like yourself again, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a parent or creative friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.

Music "STOMP" used by permission of artist Donica Knight Holdman and Jim Huff