🎙️ Welcome back to the Project Seed Money Podcast!
In this episode, Sharissa Bradley sits down with author Kim Lengling to talk about her unexpected path to writing, gathering and preserving stories, and creating anthologies centered on faith, hope, pets, and lived experience.
Kim shares that she did not grow up wanting to be an author. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, she spent years in administrative work before being encouraged by others to recognize her writing voice. Her early work began with interviewing veterans and sharing their stories in newspapers — including combat veterans and former prisoners of war — experiences that deeply shaped her as a writer and as a person.
She speaks openly about the emotional weight of holding space for those stories, navigating PTSD, and learning how to release what she carried. From there, Kim transitioned into anthologies, first contributing her own story for the first time, then going on to create and publish six anthologies of her own.
This conversation explores faith, empathy, persistence, self-publishing, and why getting stories into the hands of the people who need them matters more to Kim than sales numbers.
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⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome to Project Seed Money
00:07 — Introducing Kim Lengling
00:39 — Growing up without plans to be a writer
01:00 — Military service and life after the Air Force
01:45 — Discovering writing through interviewing veterans
02:45 — Being told "you're a writer" for the first time
03:35 — Holding space for veterans' stories
04:40 — Interviewing a POW and the impact of that story
05:20 — Writing with heart before skill
06:15 — Empathy, PTSD, and learning to release stories
08:29 — Stepping away from veteran interviews
08:54 — Sharing her own story for the first time
10:00 — Discovering the power of anthologies
12:30 — Creating faith-based anthologies during COVID
14:00 — Starting Page Turner Publishing
15:00 — Writing Nuggets of Hope
16:00 — Money, book sales, and reader messages
18:00 — Marketing, networking, and learning continuously
21:00 — Advice for writers feeling behind
22:00 — Writing a letter to your five-year-old self
24:15 — Where to find Kim and her work
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Join us on the Project Seed Money Podcast as we delve into the journeys of inspiring female authors, sharing their challenges and triumphs to empower your writing path. Don't miss an episode—subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform. For additional resources and to connect with our community, visit projectseedmoney.com. If you have a story to share, reach out to be featured in an upcoming episode.
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 Watch this on YouTube: https://youtu.be/11gwHge7St4
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