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How a Thriller Writer Wrote a Cozy Mystery in Four Weeks
What do you do when the story you can't stop thinking about doesn't fit the genre you're known for? Thriller author Dina Marie (Dina Santorelli) took a ghost, a Salem mansion, and a big risk, and ended up with a paranormal cozy mystery series. She started with zero readers, and her first draft took four weeks. The cost of not knowing how she did it is another year of sitting on an idea that won't leave you alone. Hit play to hear what she learned, and why one very popular ghost is about to ge...
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30
Oct. 9, 2026
How a Thriller Writer Wrote a Cozy Mystery in Four Weeks
What do you do when the story you can't stop thinking about doesn't fit the genre you're known for? Thriller author Dina Marie (Dina Santorelli) took a ghost, a Salem mansion, and a big risk, and ended up with a paranormal cozy mystery series. She started with zero readers, and her first draft took four weeks. The cost of not knowing how she did it is another year of sitting on an idea that won't leave you alone. Hit play to hear what she learned, and why one very popular ghost is about to ge...
31
Oct. 7, 2026
Podcast to Book to Press: Our Big Napa Announcement
We're back in Napa, where the Writers With Wrinkles podcast was born five years ago, with a new book and a new self-publishing press for writers. Every self-published author we've talked to says the same thing: it was a lot more complicated than they expected. We spent the last year learning why, and we want your manuscript to get out of the drawer with fewer surprises along the way. Hit play, then visit writerswithwrinklespress.com to send your questions or book a call with us. In this episo...
29
Sept. 28, 2026
Want to Write a Graphic Novel? A First Second Editor Explains
Your graphic novel isn't a novel. It's a screenplay, and editors can tell from page one whether you know the difference. First Second Books editor Ivan Taurisano explains how to write and submit a graphic novel script that gets read. Kids ages 8 to 12 head straight for the graphic novel shelf, and prose writers are trying to follow them there. But Ivan says a submission that misses the format doesn't just earn a "not for me." It can earn a "don't send me your next one." Here's what he wants y...
28
Sept. 21, 2026
150+ Episodes of Publishing Advice, Now in One Book
We just turned 150+ episodes of hard-won publishing wisdom into one book — and it's finally here. Write, Revise, Publish: Essential Lessons from the Writers With Wrinkles Podcast is up for pre-order now, and today Beth and Lisa are pulling back the curtain on why they wrote it, what's inside, and how it can save you from making the same missteps they did. If you've ever finished a podcast episode thinking "that's such a good tip" — and then completely forgotten it by the next day — this book ...
27
Sept. 14, 2026
Why Middle Grade Books Got Too Long For Kids To Read
Harry Potter didn't just create a fantasy phenomenon — according to one Big Five editor, it quietly helped break middle grade publishing. Every book that tried to chase that success got longer, older, and harder for actual kids to read, and now imprints are shutting down because of it. In this encore episode, literary agent, bestselling children's author, and founder of At-Home Author Vicki Weber breaks down what's really happening in publishing right now — the layoffs, the imprint closures, ...
26
Aug. 31, 2026
An Acquiring Editor Reveals What She's Buying Right Now
Most rejected picture book and middle grade manuscripts aren't turned down because they're bad — they're turned down because an editor has already seen five just like them. Susan Marston, the new editorial director of Albatros Books' US expansion (and former 25-year editorial director of the Junior Library Guild), joins us to lay out exactly what's landing on her acquisitions list right now — and what's already been done to death. We talk about why Albatros — the largest publisher in the Czec...
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Oct. 9, 2026
How a Thriller Writer Wrote a Cozy Mystery in Four Weeks
Have you ever had an idea you loved so much you couldn't shake it, but you had no idea what genre it belonged in? That's where author Dina Santorelli (who writes the Salem Spirits series as Dina Marie) found herself. She'd been writing thrillers fo…
Oct. 7, 2026
Why We Started a Self-Publishing Press (and Wrote a Book to Learn How)
Five years ago, in Napa, we hatched a plan for a podcast. That plan became Writers With Wrinkles. Today we're back in the same spot, sitting side by side (which almost never happens), glasses raised, with an announcement that's bigger than a normal …
Sept. 28, 2026
What a Graphic Novel Editor Wants You to Know Before You Write One
Watch kids in a bookstore and you'll see where they go first: straight to the graphic novels. Lisa says she could be standing there holding her own book and they'd walk right past her to grab the latest Investigators. No wonder so many prose writers…
About the Hosts
Beth McMullen
Author
Beth McMullen is the author of the Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls series , the Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter series, and The Secret of the Storm series (Aladdin/S&S).
She is also the author of the Spy Mom series (Hyperion).
Beth lives in Northern California with her husband, kids, and very grumpy cats. She's obsessed with podcasts and might give up writing in order to have more time to listen. Could happen.
