This week, Andrea and Krista sit down with Mary Lynn Cloghesy - mother, author, entrepreneur, and creative force. Her midlife years brought with them profound change: the end of a marriage, a significant brain injury, the dissolution of a company, and the unexpected challenge of starting over in school.
Instead of breaking her, these experiences became catalysts for transformation. Mary Lynn learned to listen to her intuition, care for herself deeply, and choose courage, joy, and new beginnings again and again.
Her journey weaves through storytelling, healthy living, and community-building, and led her to create the Leadership Literary Lab - a space that helps aspiring authors find their voice and navigate publishing. From children’s books to her debut novel The Chain Link Murder, and from resilience practices to rediscovering joy, Mary Lynn shares the lessons that carried her through midlife transitions and into her most interesting season yet.
If you’re navigating change, curious about writing, or seeking strength through storytelling, this episode is for you.
Bio
Mary Lynn Cloghesy is a fiction writer from Calgary, AB, and the founder of the Leadership Literary Lab, where she helps experts transform their knowledge into exceptional non-fiction books. Since launching in 2023, the Lab has already achieved notable success - her first mentored author secured a traditional publishing contract, a rare accomplishment in today’s market.
After returning to school in 2020 following a thirty-year hiatus, she completed two graduate degrees, including a master’s in creative and critical writing. Her work has been twice nominated for the Claymore Award, and while her longer manuscripts lean toward genre fiction, she also writes short-form literary fiction, with pieces published in a variety of magazines and recognized in competitions.
Linkedin - Mary Lynn Cloghesy
Website - Mary Lynn Cloghesy
Business - The Literary Lab (the program that takes your book from conception to completion in twelve months or less)
Instagram - @wild_rose_writer
Substack - Wild Rose Writer
Mary Lynn’s Five Words - Creativity, Kind, Strong, Entrepreneurial, Fun
Books
Mary Lynn Cloghesy - Augustus Bartholomew Bertrand and the The Super Computer Caper
John Gardner - “The Fictive Dream” from The Art of Fiction
Amy Schembri - “Making It… Or Not: The Real Journey Told by Professional Players”
Writer’s Conference Killer Nashville (Aug. 20-23 2026)
Sponsor Information
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Founder/Host: Andrea Rathborne
Creative Producer/Co-Host: Krista Gruen
Editors: Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
Audio Engineer: Ryan Clarke
Episode sponsors: LOBA and Voes and Company