Introducing Myself and What I Write

It's Birthday Week!

It’s my birthday week, which seems like a good time to give a fresh introduction or review of what I’m doing in your inboxes or via Substack.

I also want to celebrate the day with some freebies for you. Keep reading!

Before I jump in, did you know you can pick and choose what pieces of my writing land in your inbox? Follow this link if you want instructions on how to make your selections.

Here’s what’s on the menu at Sheila Quinn Writes Home:

Roosevelt County Fiction:

Every couple of weeks, you’ll get an installment of my work in progress, The Gambler’s Daughter. You can start at chapter one or jump in to the most recent post. I also shared a couple chapters (more to come in 2025) of my novel So Long As It’s Wonderful, published a year ago. There are also short stories featuring the same characters. Most posts also include an audio version of the chapter or story.

Memoir of Infertility and Pregnancy Loss:

These posts are more personal, so they’re behind a paywall. I’m offering this post for free to give you an idea of the style and tone. This series also includes a folklore take on some of the key events in my story.

Gardening:

Come for the adventure, not the expertise! These posts usually begin with a brief reflection free to everyone. The videos are more candid and invite you to my garden, so those are behind the paywall. Here’s a free sample.

Cooking:

Similar to the gardening posts, there’s nothing polished or perfect happening in my kitchen. I’ll invite you in, tell you what I’ve been cooking, canning, or learning, and then paid subscribers get the recipes, instructions, or behind the scenes glimpse into my culinary life. Again, it’s birthday week, so here’s a freebie.

You can expect a few things to show up in everything I write:

Strong women.

From teachers to my ancestors and Baba Yaga, I’m drawn to strong women and desire to share their stories of resilience and connectedness.

Food.

I spend a lot of time (maybe too much?) describing food preparation in my fiction. I love growing food and talking about cooking. Eating is essential to life and something we all have in common, so how could I help writing about it?

The Natural World.

I’m convinced that the ways we work with and in opposition to the natural world shape who we are. From the Dust Bowl of my novels and short stories to my personal (and it’s very personal) battle against horned worms in my garden, you can count on references to the seasons, weather, and other miracles of the natural world.

About Me

For those who are curious about the person (me!) behind all these emails/posts, here’s the official bio:

Sheila Quinn (Delony) is a writer and life coach in Franklin, TN. She enjoys gardening, hiking, and reading good books with her husband and two children.

Sheila grew up in West Texas and spent significant time in Eastern New Mexico listening to the stories of her grandma, upon whose life and family her fiction is based. Sheila’s short fiction has been featured in the Concho River Review, El Portal and Cricket Magazine.

Sheila is the author of This Year, Lord: Teachers’ Prayers of Blessing, Liturgy, and Lament and So Long As It’s Wonderful: A Roosevelt County Novel. Sheila has twenty years of experience working with public schools and teacher preparation programs. She earned a Master’s degree in Language and Literacy Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas Tech University. She has published numerous academic articles in the field of education.

Thank you for a great year! I’m grateful to have you along for the ride!