Category: Uncategorized

After my husband suggested I listen to a Hidden Brain podcast about the difficulties of long marriages, I decided to brainstorm about my own thoughts on the matter before listening. I didn’t think we were having any problems (and we’re not, really)!

This is a humorous look at aging in relationships, and

how to make them work!

 

 

 

 

Listen Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• Laurel discusses long-term relationships and how humor helps in an aging marriage
• The Hidden Brain podcast
• Polly Iyer’s post on The Blood-Red Pencil: Love is 365 Days a Year

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

“What should my next short story be about?” I asked one of my sons and his girlfriend recently.  They gave me a couple of challenging suggestions, and The Foxhole is the result! It will be included in a “linked short story” collection I’m working on with the link–or common element–being West Point, The United States Military Academy.

Enjoy! Please “Like” it (if you do) and leave me a comment or another suggestion!

Listen Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• I read my short story! Take a listen and check out some of my previous episodes and short stories!
• Link to short story Anchors Aweigh!
• My author/editor friend Stephanie Spong‘s Amazon Author page
• All about West Point, USMA

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

Author Howard Levine talks with Laurel about “Last Gasp,” his new political thriller, and about his writing process and where he finds inspiration.

Laurel still can’t believe Howard hasn’t read Dan Brown . . . !

 

 

Watch the interview here:

Listen to “audio only” here:

Show Notes with Links:

• 

  Howard Levine introduces himself and his work.

• Laurel is reminded of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code.
• Link to Howard’s interview in The Big Thrill (Oct ’18).
• How Howard was able to make readers feel some compassion for his villain.
• Religious zealotry and its manifestation in our world.
• Laurel discusses Howard’s stunning sentences and sense of place, and asks about when he knew he could write well. (He had a short story class with author Joseph Heller, who validated Howard’s writing! YIKES!)

• 

  Who inspired him to write “Last Gasp”?

• Howard discusses his characters and how he comes up with names.
• Blues singer Susan Tedeschi.
• Developing the brother relationship.
• Vietnam Vets Against the War (VVAW)
• Howard talks about his writing routine and offers advice to writers and authors.
• Transcendental Meditation in his daily routine.

• 

  Shout-outs!
  Black Opal Books
  Literary Agent Donna Eastman
  Authors Carol Bellhouse and Stephanie Spong (Laurel’s editors!)

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

Award-winning author Kathleen Kaska visits with Laurel and discusses “A Two Horse Town,” the second book in her Kate Caraway murder mystery series.

An animal rights activist herself, Kathleen focuses on those she relates to best: the underdogs.

She writes in multiple genres, including historical fiction, and also talks about her Sydney Lockhart mystery series and mystery writer “triviography”!

Watch the interview here:

 Listen to “audio only” Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• Kathleen Kaska’s Amazon Author page

  

• Her website

Kathleen introduces herself and talks about her involvement in publishing world, and then answers the following questions:
• Why an Animal Rights mystery series? What in your background set you up to be an animal rights activist?
• What did you do as a child for fun?
• Who inspired you to write?
• Would you read a passage from A Two Horse Town, your  most recent novel?
• What is your writing routine?

• Please discuss your character’s greatest fear (in “Run Dog Run” Kate’s is failure). What’s her fear in A Two Horse Town?
• What’s YOUR greatest fear?
• IDA! Counterweight to her twin sister Veda. Real people?
• Another scene to read?
• Any personal experience with Native American tribes?
• What’s next for Kate Caraway…how many?
• Sydney Lockhart historical fiction series–Might you come to the Delaware Hotel in Leadville?

• San Juan Islands
• West, Texas

• How many more books are waiting for you to write them?
• Do you have a favorite book of yours?
• Shout-out to Black Opal Books
• Preserves?

 

 

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

Visit with me as I share a humorous essay about my experiences with medically induced menopause and discuss the (oftentimes ridiculous) realities of aging!

Listen Here:

Watch this episode on YouTube Here:

Show Notes with Links:

(coming soon!)

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

I believe we do birthdays wrong! To celebrate the start of my 6th decade, I honor those who raised and tolerated me, and those who’ve helped to make me the person I am now.

In addition to pieces I wrote about my Mum and Dad, there’s also a poem I wrote for them while they were still alive called “Don’t Leave Me.”

Listen Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• SuperMum part 1 with more photos
• SuperMum part 2 with more photos
• Poem “Don’t Leave Me”
• Waterwight Breathe available for Kindle pre-order!

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

In this last episode of 2018, I do what everyone says we should do every day: I consider the things I’m grateful for.

Okay, fine, I consider the things for which I am grateful! Like prepositions . . .

Listen Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• 

  I thank some of the people who have been influential in my life (the podcast would be hours long if I mentioned everyone)

• I share the essay I wrote for the Redbook‘s America’s Hottest Husband contest (read it in the introduction of my book Hunt for Red Meat (love stories)
• The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
• Watch for Waterwight Breathe: Book III of the Waterwight Series in 2019!

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

 

In this episode, I describe my unusual experience with fruitcake over the years and I make many excuses for  why this month’s newsletter is late!

(“NOT” on that last part!)

 

Listen Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• 

  My inspiration: Thank you, Chip Armstrong!

• Bighorn Book Club
• Collin Street Bakery
• Episode 42: The Blessed Biscuit short story link
• Sign up for my newsletters (or read them from the Newsletters tab in my menu bar!) and email me at laurel@strackpress.com with your fruitcake story!

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

 

I’m sharing my 9th short story with everyone–a Christmas story about work/life decisions and a man presented with a dilemma.

As a bonus, I read my personalized version of the beloved poem “The Night Before Christmas.”

Listen Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• Short Story #9: “The Blessed Biscuit” narrated
• Epiphany
• The idea of having enough
• I read my version of “The Night Before Christmas” (The Lead Ass Inn is the name of our home, Klaus is our life-size nutcracker, Charlie is our guest cat, Melanzana is a Leadville shop which makes hoodies and all kinds of good wear-gear right in shop)
• Link to my version of the Christmas poem

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!

 

Jerry Fabyanic–author, columnist, radio show host, and denizen of Mother Earth–talks with Laurel McHargue about his novel Sisyphus Wins and about growing up as a gay man in a time when coming out was not acceptable.

He discusses his philosophy of life, strides in the LGBTQ community, and the Georgetown Christmas Fair where he and dozens of other authors will have their works available (December 1-2 and 8-9, 2018).

Listen Here:

Watch the YouTube Interview Here:

Show Notes with Links:

• Jerry talks about his relationship with Mother Earth
• and about “bagging 14ers”
• He discusses how his novel Sisyphus Wins–“a novel about self-acceptance, forgiveness, and triumph”–reflects his love of nature
• Discussion of Mount of the Holy Cross and Jerry’s actual fall
• How much of the main character, Jonathan Slovanco, is autobiographical?
• We discuss our Catholic mothers
• “Voice” in his work and how it might influence readers
• Discussion of Moby Dick and Ahab’s struggle with the universe
• The idea of revenge in Moby Dick
• Growing up poor and why he moved to Colorado
• Why Sisyphus Wins is for readers looking for literature that is more provocative

• 

  We joke about why Jerry chose to live such a “mundane” life…NOT!

• Jerry discusses growing up as a gay man in the ’60s, his coming out experience with friends and family, and his fears for the LGBTQ community today
• The book Boy Erased by Garrard Conley and the film based on the book. Link to film Trailer
• Psychological traumas we carry from our childhood
• His teaching years
• Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA)
• Georgetown Christmas Market
• KYGT Radio
• JerryFabyanic.com with Higher Living Reflections blog
• BighornBookClub.com
• email: Jerry@jerryfabyanic.com

More Links:

If you enjoy my podcasts, you might enjoy my books!

• Laurel’s Amazon Author page
• https://leadvillelaurel.com/writing-tips/
• https://www.facebook.com/LeadvilleLaurel/
• https://twitter.com/LeadvilleLaurel
• Intro/outro voice by Nick McHargue,
  Podcast music from Jamendo Royalty Free Music

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please subscribe to Alligator Preserves on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and tell your friends about it! I’d love it if you “liked” the episodes you listen to, and I’d love it even more if you’d post a quick comment!

Please support Alligator Preserves on Patreon.  You will be rewarded!