Kirsten Pursell on Heartbreak, Midlife, and Writing the Women We Actually Are
About this episode
Kirsten Pursell discusses her novel and the impact of personal heartbreak on her writing.
What do you do when life dismantles everything you thought you were? For Kirsten Pursell, you write about it. In this episode of the Fresh Fiction Podcast, Samantha Tennant sits down with award-winning author Kirsten Pursell to discuss her latest novel, THE UNABRIDGED LIFE OF MISSY KINCAID — winner of the Literary Titan Gold Award and an Editor’s Pick from BookLife. It’s the second book in the Scarlet’s Harlots trilogy, and it’s the kind of story that follows you long after you’ve finished the last page. Kirsten and Samantha dig into what it means to write characters who are messy, flawed, and fiercely determined to keep going. Kirsten shares how her own experience of heartbreak at 57 — and the grief of leaving a 29-year marriage — found their way into Missy’s story. She talks about writing in two voices (past and present), what it felt like when her real-life Travis fact-checked his chapter, and why she believes you don’t become a strong woman overnight. They also explore Kirsten’s memoir ON BECOMING ME, her rapid-fire Fresh Fiction facts (yes, she won a Mercedes on Hollywood Squares), and the cover reveal for the third Scarlet’s Harlots book — AMBER UNSCRIPTED, coming June…
People in this episode
Host: Samantha Tennant
Guest: Kirsten Pursell
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Literary Titan, BookLife
Books & works: THE UNABRIDGED LIFE OF MISSY KINCAID, ON BECOMING ME, AMBER UNSCRIPTED
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