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An Interview with Author Karen Meadows

Karen Meadows is a certified diabetes care and education specialist, a life coach, and a health and wellness coach who has lived with type 1 diabetes for over sixty years. In her first book, It’s a Tango, Not a War: Dancing with Type 1 Diabetes (May 2022), she “offers humor, empathy and practical recommendations for finding your own way with diabetes and living more easily, even joyfully.” You’ll find Karen on her website at KarenMeadowsDiabetes.com and on her Amazon author page. It’s a Tango, Not a War is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.


Who are your ideal readers, and what do you hope they’ll take away from It’s a Tango, Not a War?
My ideal readers are people with diabetes and those who love them. It’s a Tango tells stories, teaching ways to keep blood sugar in control, things that can go wrong, and why making diabetes your ally may serve you. Although this book will be helpful to anyone with diabetes, I concentrated on type 1 because that’s what I have.

What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
Knowing how much this information can help, I wanted to write for doctors and families and type 1s and type 2s and everyone on earth, so I was overwhelmed and couldn’t focus.

When did you know you wanted to write the book, and what was the push to start the project?
The book has long been on my mind. I attended workshops and conferences and wrote wonderful snippets that were never finished. The isolation of the pandemic gave me the opportunity to write. And a book coach and mastermind writers’ group provided structure and support.

Tell us more about how the book came together.
I wrote the book in a year. My book coach and fellow writers read chapters. I edited it myself and sent the finished text to three beta readers and two diabetes experts who read certain medical chapters. I hired artists for the book cover and to prepare the interior for publication. I figured out how to step into self-publication, gave myself a company name, copyrighted, sent a copy to the Library of Congress and purchased ISBNs. I signed up with IngramSpark and Amazon KDP at the beginning of June 2022. Once published I sent copies to those who had helped me write the book and notified everyone I knew. All that took another year. Now I have hired a marketer and am planning a virtual launch.

I have had doubts about my title and even my book cover, and considered changing them both. I don’t want people to think that living with diabetes is a dance for fun, or see my cover and think this book is about dancing. My theme is that making diabetes your ally is helpful, and life with a chronic physical condition is best lived as an adventure not a war.

Do you have a favorite quote you’d like to share from It’s a Tango, Not a War?
My last chapter asks, “Where’s Your Joy?” I suggest:

Joy is occasionally a huge gift—like a new baby or falling in love. But often joy is a grand moment in an ordinary day.

How can a person with a demanding, expensive, 24/7 life-threatening condition like type 1 diabetes be joyful? That, like every other aspect of being a human, is up to you.

Did you discover anything surprising while doing research for the book?
I was surprised to find that some people with long-term diabetes have no so-called complications. Their bodies have remained healthy and whole. I tell people that diabetes isn’t dangerous but high blood sugar is—so learn how to keep your blood sugar near normal.

What was the most rewarding aspect of putting this project together?
The beliefs I express in this book demand that I stand by them. Recently when passionately disagreeing with someone I remembered my book title. If I am not at war, I do not have to fight and instead I can enjoy relating appreciatively with someone who disagrees with me!

Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you started your writing/publishing career today?
I would get help early on to establish my website and start marketing my book.

What writing projects are you working on now?
In It’s a Tango, I warn readers that diabetes technology is changing so fast I would probably need to update sections of my book. However, the topic of diabetes is both comprehensive and controversial. I want to address intriguing issues in articles published in magazines or in online talks. These issues include: depression vs. diabetes distress; dealing with critical or clueless medical providers; ways friends and family can support loved ones with diabetes; how stress affects our health; and what is possible?


KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kat has a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.




2022 New Releases for SWW Authors #1

Lynn Barker, Robert D. Kidera, Carol H. March, Karen Meadows, and Lynne Sturtevant represent the diverse membership of SouthWest Writers (SWW) with books published in a variety of genres in 2022. Their new releases couldn’t fit in this year’s interview schedule, but look for 2023 interviews or updates for many of these authors.

A list of interviewed SWW authors with 2022 releases is included at the end of this post.


Futurus Rex (July 2022) by Lynn Barker. In this dark future, the denizens of outposts along primitive trading routes struggle to survive and grow under medieval conditions and the harsh rule of Techno-wizards. One popular young songsayer, Aliena, is encouraged to lead a band of misfits against the oppressors but she feels far from qualified. She needs a strong battle leader and the man awakened in a cave is destined to be that person for he is Arthur, the once and future king. As legend has it, he, along with his faithful knights who rest beside him, will come forth to save his kingdom in its hour of greatest need. Unfortunately, the only one of his beloved knights to survive the long sleep is…the traitorous Modred. Co-written with Star Trek icon Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana.

You’ll find Lynn on IMDb.com and Amazon.


Robert D. Kidera, Tony Hillerman Award Winner and author of the Gabe McKenna Mystery series, brings readers a new thriller in 2022: CHANDLER IS DEAD. An unbalanced killer-for-hire stops during a driving rain to pick up a naked, drugged-out teenage girl hitchhiking on a desolate two-lane highway outside a Colorado ghost town at 3:27 a.m. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? If you’re a fan of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake’s Parker novels, you’ll love this one.

Visit Bob on his Black Range Publishing website, listen to his Black Range Pub podcast, and look for all of his releases on his Amazon author page.


When Spirit Whispers: A Journey of Awakening (January 2022) by Carol H. March is a 2022 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award Winner. Do you struggle with important decisions? Feel depressed or anxious? Get overwhelmed, with no time to create the life you want? To recover, heal, and thrive, say hello to the one who knows you best. Your Wise Inner Guide can lead you to your natural, creative self. It knows your fears, challenges, and your heart’s desire. It can show you how to create a life of meaning and purpose at any age. When Spirit Whispers: A self-guided journal for accessing your intuitive wisdom — the companion workbook — is also available. Inspirational quotes, questions for reflection, and writing prompts invite you to develop an active relationship with your Wise Inner Guide who will lead you to your inner Creative Self.

Find When Spirit Whispers and the self-guided journal on Amazon.


It’s a Tango, Not a War: Dancing with Type 1 Diabetes (May 2022) by Karen Meadows. Are you dancing with your diabetes? Most of us are not. We have been told to go to war with diabetes! But It’s a Tango, Not a War is a book about partnering with T1D (or any kind of diabetes). Do you know what to do to stay well? Do you think you can do it? Do you want to? This book offers humor, empathy and practical recommendations for finding your own way with diabetes and living more easily, even joyfully. Discover current medical guidelines embedded in inspiring stories of how others have met diabetes challenges and triumphed. Think about new routines for living well with what some consider a curse.

You’ll find Karen on KarenMeadowsDiabetes.com. Look for It’s a Tango, Not a War on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.


The Ghost of Walker’s Gap (The Off-Kilter Chronicles Book 2) (April 2022) by Lynne Sturtevant. Visiting homemaker Ginger Stewart doesn’t believe in ghosts — until the spirit of a dead artist materializes in her backseat. New to Walker’s Gap, the most haunted town in West Virginia, Ginger soon discovers ghosts aren’t the only ones disturbing the peace. A mining company wants to strip the surrounding hills of their riches. But they’re searching for treasure in the wrong place. Something much more valuable than coal is hidden beneath the historic town’s brick streets. Ginger teams up with Birdy, an elderly woman with Appalachian magic running through her veins, and Ronnie, an expert in mountain legends and folklore. Can they discover the secret of Walker’s Gap and put its troubled spirits to rest before greed consumes them all?

Visit Lynne on her website LynneSturtevant.com. For all of her books, go to her Amazon author page.


SWW Author Interviews: 2022 Releases

E. Joe Brown
A Cowboy’s Destiny (Artemesia Publishing, August 2022)

Ed Lehner
Grandpa’s Horse and Other Tales (AIA Publishing, March 2022)

Chuck Greaves
The Chimera Club (Tallow Lane Books, May 2022)

Melody Groves
Trail to Tin Town (Five Star Publishing, June 2022)
Before Billy the Kid: The Boy Behind the Legendary Outlaw (Two Dot Publishing, August 2022)

Joyce Hertzoff
Winds of Change (August 2022)

Cassie Sanchez
Embracing the Darkness (October 2022)

Avraham “Avi” Shama
Cyberwars — David Knight Goes To Moscow (3rd Coast Books, May 2022)


KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kat posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.




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