# An Interview with author Joanna Monahan Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/authors-talking-bookish-6426830/an-interview-with-author-joanna-monahan Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/authors-talking-bookish-6426830/an-interview-with-author-joanna-monahan.md Podcast: [Authors Talking Bookish](https://stenobird.com/podcast/authors-talking-bookish-6426830) Published: 2025-10-28T21:25:05+00:00 Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/authorstalkingbookish/2230081 Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/206287/2230081/authorstalkingbookish/2025_09_23_19_24_15_64d77ca9-e708-4ac9-8076-884c0796c918.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/authors-talking-bookish-6426830/episodes/an-interview-with-author-joanna-monahan Duration seconds: 1644 ## Resource Joanna Monahan lives in North Carolina with her husband, children, and two distracting cats. Before she began writing, Joanna worked a variety of jobs, including marketing, professional organizing, and setting up book fairs. She enjoys theater, baseball, and bookmarking recipes she will never make. A child of the 80s, she regrets that she no longer receives pizza coupons in exchange for reading. You can find her at joannamonahan.com talking about books, writing, and all things GenX or on Instagram where she regularly torments her characters by participating in fiction writing Challenges. Joanna is a proud member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, the North Carolina Writers’ Network and the Author’s Guild. About the Book: SOMETHING BETTER is a coming-of-(middle-) age tale of love, family, and the dangers of attending your high school reunion. It was published in June 2023 by Blue Ink Press. SHOW NOTES: Something Better Synopis Inspiration Gen Xer & Musical references “Every villain is the hero of their own story” & complex protagonist Welcome to Blooms , release date April 2026 Synopsis Inspiration Possible series Writing and things learned the hard way Writing process & schedule Personal branding Community & the WFWA Book cover creation Current WIP Trivia The title SOMETHING BETTER comes from the song “Start a War” by The National. The first lines are: “We expected something, something better than before. We expected something more.” Joanna’s favorite authors are Beverly Cleary and Jan Karon. Her love of the Mitford series was part of the reason her family chose to relocate to North Carolina from Colorado in 2015. SOURCES & LINKS https://www.joannamonahan.com/ Instagram: @joannamonahanauthor Full Show Notes are available on our website as w… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/authors-talking-bookish-6426830/episodes/an-interview-with-author-joanna-monahan/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/authors-talking-bookish-6426830/an-interview-with-author-joanna-monahan.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.