News – Jessica Maffetore

Hear Us Roar Podcast: Episode 306

February 21, 2026February 23, 20261 Min Reading

Hear Us Roar Podcast with Jessica Maffetore

Hear Us Roar: The debut author podcast with host, Maggie Smith, from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association

This week’s guest is Jessica Maffetore (Eleanora in Pieces, Black Rose Writing, September 2024). If you’ve ever wondered about what happens when a small press “ghosts” its writers and eventually breaks its contract, this is a must-listen. Jessica describes the process of surviving this challenge and finding another small press about losing a year in publishing purgatory, and the hidden pluses that came from that experience, including a longer runway for social media and the networking community of fellow writers that helped her navigate.

Hear us Roar Podcast Episode 306 with author Jessica Maffetore:

Listen on Apple Podcasts

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Top Reads of 2025

December 30, 20252 Min Reading

Another year, another chance to share my favorite books of the year. Here are the top reads of 2025 (in my totally unique and unbiased opinion)! So many great books, but these were the ones I enjoyed the most. They are each 100% worth a read!

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
A woman washes ashore on a remote island, home to an isolated family. Storms, secrets, and savage landscape made this a stunningly beautiful, gripping story.

Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein
As the daughters of a young single mother, the Lowe sisters grew up knowing the meaning of sacrifice. But life will push them so much further than they could have ever imagined.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach
On the worst day of her life, Phoebe accidentally crashes a wedding and the bride makes it her mission to fix everything.

The Eights by Joanna Miller
Four women form an instant friendship, despite their vast differences, when they become members of the first female class at Oxford University in 1920.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Eighteen-year-old Louisa, struggling to find her way in the world, comes to possess a famous painting, and makes it her mission to learn the story of not only the artist, but the incredible friendships that played a part in his life, and the soul of his work.

What were your top reads of 2025?

Introducing Somewhere Stories

December 28, 2025December 29, 20251 Min Reading

Introducing Somewhere Stories—a published anthology created by the talented writers from The Writers Group. We are a gathering founded in 2023, that brings together writers of diverse backgrounds and genres, all at different stages of our writing careers, who meet at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. We find encouragement and community through a love of writing and help one another to develop, workshop, strengthen, and share our work.

This newly published collection—the first for The Writers Group—centers on the idea of place. But “place” is more than location. It also symbolizes emotional or psychological places, places in our memories or event places in time. Our writers have contributed works of poetry, short fiction, personal essays, plays, and more. And we’re thrilled to share it.

I have contributed three works of poetry and a brand new short story to Somewhere Stories, and and very excited for their release! Somewhere Stories is now available for purchase on Amazon at the link below. All proceeds benefit the Chelmsford Center for the Arts.

Buy Here