What’s it like to become a debut author at seventy-one? Pretty exhilarating! I had a fantastic time speaking to our 2024 alum, Marianne Lonsdale, about the journey to publish her novel When the Road Curves (Sibylline Press, June 2026).

Marianne’s journey started a while back—when she was a new mother at forty-one, she started writing personal essays, sharing with a small group of writers. Little by little, she decided to pursue publication for those essays and later, she began to dabble in fiction. She founded the group “Write On Mamas,” a gathering of about forty mothers one day a month at the Mill Valley library. Their goal was to write for at least an hour and then they would have local authors come speak to them. It was this community and the writing community she’s continued to meet throughout her writing journey that has helped sustain her through this long road to publishing! It was a joy to get to speak to Marianne, and I hope you’ll take a listen!

Marianne Lonsdale writes fiction, personal essays and poetry. Her work has been published in several print anthologies and various online journals including The New York Times, Literary Mama and Pulse. She’s read at many events including San Francisco’s Litquake festival, and is honored to be an alumna of the Community of Writers, and The Napa Valley Writers Conference. She’s committed to youth literacy efforts and volunteers with 826 Valencia and the Oakland Literacy Coalition. She lives in Oakland with her husband and their dog, Ricky Ricardo.

About When the Road Curves: When The Road Curves follows thirty-six-year-old Nora as she navigates love, friendship, and loss in the Bay Area in the 1990s. Returning home to Oakland after spending a decade working and playing hard in New York City, Nora is at a crossroads—evaluating career choices and wondering if she wants marriage and children.

Then she meets Paul—a singer-songwriter who is gorgeous, attentive and great in bed—but struggles with anger issues. The road curves once more when her best friend Linda is diagnosed with AIDS forcing Nora to make life-altering decisions.

Buy Marianne’s novel on Bookshop.org!

I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Thanks for reading and listening,

Heather Lazare

founder + director, Northern California Writers’ Retreat

When Lina Patton finished college, she did what every responsible adult (who secretly wants to be a writer) should do: she went into advertising to make money. For years, she fought the idea of being a writer—it was not the smart, organized, Type-A thing to do. But when she applied to the George Mason MFA program and got in, and then to the 2018 Northern California Writers’ Retreat and also got in, it seemed the universe was trying to tell her something.

Lina was working on a dark literary novel when I first met her. She signed with a literary agent for that novel (hi to our former Guest Literary Agent Danya Kukafka!). So how did she end up debuting with a soapy thriller rather than that dark literary novel? The answer is reflective of many stories we hear from debut novelists—the first book didn’t sell. Rather than give up, Lina kept going, and with the support of her agent and writing friends she made at NCWR, The Lake Club was born.

On the Book Journey Podcast, Lina and I talked about her persistence in becoming an author as well as her other artistic outlet: drawing. She calls herself a “doodler” and enjoys being able to sit down for ten minutes or an hour to create something tangible that doesn’t need hundreds of edits before it’s ready for a reader—it can immediately be appreciated. Here’s a bookmark she created for the retreat years ago:

Lina Patton​ is a writer, illustrator, and teacher. Originally from Maine, she moved to Minnesota at thirteen, trading the ocean for 10,000 lakes. Her work has appeared in ELLE, The Cut, Narrative, and Driftwood Press, among others. After seven years living abroad, she and her husband currently reside in Washington, DC, where she teaches Creative Writing at The George Washington University and co-produces the storytelling series Generation Women DC. The Lake Club is her first novel.

About The Lake Club: When Danika Crawley attends events at the Aldon Lakes Country Club, heads turn. Danika has it all—beauty, money, a successful husband, and two perfect children. She plans on making this summer her best season yet and has a secret weapon to secure the envy of her neighbors.

Augie Elling has lost it all. Reeling from a post-grad scandal amidst her now-former life in New York, she returns to Aldon Lakes with her tail between her legs. Augie wants to keep her head down, save money, and find a way to leave her hometown for good, but someone keeps distracting her.

Danika and Augie have one thing in common: they are both a little obsessed with Chat, the male nanny Danika hired for the summer. But, unbeknownst to either woman, Chat’s appearance in town sets off a chain reaction that threatens Aldon Lakes’ carefully maintained ecosystem. As the heat rises between the three of them, the truth behind a long-buried scandal comes to light, and everyone at the club must reckon with the consequences.

The Lake Club is both an addictive, rollicking beach read, and a stylish, deft exploration of a lesser-known region of American wealth.

Pre-order Lina’s novel on ​Bookshop.org​! Visit her Etsy shop at byLinaPatton!

I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Thanks so much for listening,

Heather Lazare

founder + director, Northern California Writers’ Retreat