Get to Know Our Friend Marybeth Whalen
A Deeper Dive With Our Most Recent Guest
A Conversation with Marybeth Whalen
A writing tip, book recommendation, and other great insights from Marybeth that were not covered in our on-air interview, which you can WATCH or LISTEN to now!
For any aspiring writers out there, would you please share a short bit of writing advice?
I think one of the best things you can do as you're starting out is to find writer friends. Between learning the ropes of the business, striving to become a better writer, and just the ups and downs of the publishing world, these people will be more valuable to you than you can anticipate when you are starting out. Get involved in writing groups on Facebook, reach out to local writers where you live, attend writing workshops in your area or travel to a writing conference — anything you can think of that would help connect you with other writers. In my experience, if you put yourself out there, the friends will come.
What is the last book you raved about and what did you love about it?
The Devil at His Elbow by Valerie Bauerlein is the book I’ve basically forced several people I love and care about to read. :) It will likely be the best book I’ve read this year. This nonfiction account of the Murdaugh case in South Carolina reads like a page-turning novel, but is actually both extensive in the depths Bauerlein goes to uncover just what made Alex Murdaugh who he is, and compassionate in her handling of the victims of his financial crimes. Even if you listened to all the podcasts and watched all the documentaries about this case and think you know all there is to know, you don’t.
What can you tell us about your work-in-progress?
My next book is about a hostage situation that takes place in a post office in a small beach town. After a domestic situation escalates and the suspect barricades them in, four women of different generations and walks of life find themselves trapped together, swapping stories and forming unlikely alliances as they wait, and hope, to be released. Three of the women came into the post office carrying packages that, if mailed, could change their lives forever and, over the course of the novel, what those things are, and whether they mail them, will be revealed. I say it’s like Steel Magnolias... but in a hostage situation. It will, Lord willing, be out in Spring of 2026.
What would you be if you weren’t a writer?
I would definitely be in law enforcement of some sort — I love justice, which informs what I write on many levels.
Is there a favorite independent bookstore or a particular library you’d like to shout-out?
I have to shout out my local indie: Pelican Bookstore in Sunset Beach, NC. Many years ago when I used to go there as a tourist, a trip to Pelican was an important part of our vacation. I could always count on the book mavens who worked there to press some book I’d never heard of into my hands, a book I would no doubt love. That is still true today, except now I live near the store and those book mavens are my friends!
Lots of people assume all writers are nerds. What’s the nerdiest thing about you?
I am a total stationery nerd. I love all things planners, calendars, journals, pens, paper. As a kid the school supply aisle was where I would hang out if we went to the drugstore — and that is still true now.
Watch The Friends & Fiction Show with Marybeth Whalen interviewed by Ron Block & Kristy Woodson Harvey HERE. Or listen on our podcast HERE.
About the Author
Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of the new novel Every Moment Since and nine previous novels. Marybeth received a BA degree in English with a concentration in Writing and Editing from NC State University a long time ago and has been writing ever since. She is the co-founder of The Book Tide, an online community of readers where “a rising tide raises all books.” Marybeth and her husband Curt are the parents of six children, with only one left at home. A native of Charlotte, NC, Marybeth now calls Sunset Beach, NC home.
About the Book
A small Southern town. An ordinary Saturday night. A little boy disappears without a trace.
Everyone in Wynotte, North Carolina, knows the name Davy Malcor. Knows the video clip of him juggling four balls, "All at the very same time!" Knows the Marty McFly jacket his mother made for his birthday that he wore proudly, and often. But no one knows what happened to him the night he went missing more than twenty years ago.
When the jacket is unexpectedly uncovered, the cold case reopens, and Davy's family is thrust into yet another media storm. But at the heart of the story are four people forever changed by one single night: Thaddeus Malcor, Davy's older brother, created the life of his dreams by writing a bestselling memoir about his family's experience and is enjoying success and notoriety as a result, even if the memoir doesn't quite reveal the whole story. Tabitha Malcor, his mother, is divorced and living alone, advocating for victims' rights and faithfully cataloging her regrets each week, never including her biggest regret of all. Anissa Weaver was just a kid herself when Davy went missing, and her connection to him is one she cannot reveal as she serves as the Malcor family's Public Information Officer. And, long suspected in Davy's disappearance, Gordon Swift has kept his head down and scraped together a decent life. But the new attention to the case makes it impossible to hide from the public, and the past.
With hauntingly vivid prose, Marybeth Mayhew Whalen peels back the curtain on the inner turmoil of those who were left behind in the small Southern community as they pick up the pieces that remain and press forward into the light to find hope and healing.
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"Thanks for the great tips on writing groups! Do you happen to know of any good Facebook writing groups? I’m staying one more year in a remote area of Taiwan, so finding other writers to connect with has been a challenge. I even tried starting my own FB group, but struggled to get people engaged. Ninja Writers is popular, but most of their services are paid now, and larger groups tend to get bogged down with spam. I know this sounds a bit negative, but I’d really love to find an active, supportive group on FB, Zoom, or any online platform where writers are actually interacting."