Truth and Other Lies: Maggie Smith on Writing Debut Novels

Every Soul Has A Story® LIVE episode with guest @maggiesmithwrites.​​​​​​​​
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Maggie is a former psychologist and CEO/founder of a national art consulting company. In 2017 she pursued her dream to become a full-time writer.​​​​​ Maggie is also the host of “Hear Us Roar," a podcast for the Women's Fiction Writers Association. ​​​​​​​
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Her debut novel, TRUTH AND OTHER LIES, will be released next week. The novel is at its heart about how, at a formative age, young women often pattern themselves after someone older and seemingly wiser and how that choice can affect the trajectory of their lives.
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At 26, Maggie Smith opened a retail store in a mall—despite having never worked in retail or business. That fearless, "how bad can it be?" attitude would carry her through careers as a journalist, art gallery owner, PhD psychologist, and finally, debut novelist. Next week, her novel Truth and Other Lies launches—a story of three women, two secrets, and one lie that explores everything from feminism across generations to the complicated dance of mother-daughter relationships. In this conversation during Women's History Month, Maggie reveals how her own contentious relationship with her mother informed the novel's most difficult scenes, why she believes fiction's truth lies in psychological authenticity rather than plot, and how characters like her protagonist Megan Barnes helped her revisit what it felt like to be 25. With a cover designed to represent three women through flowing scarves, her book—and this interview—reminds us that women's stories matter, that friends are the family we choose, and that it's never too late to become who you were meant to be.

0:00 - Intro and tech difficulties
2:21 - Maggie joins the conversation
3:39 - Cover design and collaboration
6:07 - Art career and business journey
8:18 - Journalism, psychology, and writing
10:38 - Feminism across generations
13:36 - Mother-daughter relationships
17:54 - Writing difficult characters
19:40 - Going deeper with the "why" question
21:05 - The hardest thing you'll ever do
27:08 - Truth in fiction
29:57 - Friendship and "framily"
35:10 - Megan's journey to self-worth
38:08 - Writing ideas in the shower
40:25 - Final thoughts and launch

• https://www.instagram.com/dara.levan/
• Website: daralevan.com3
https://maggiesmithwriter.com/

QUOTES:

"Somebody should have told me how hard this was. When I said I was writing a novel, there should have been somebody that slapped my hand and said, do you know what that is?"
– Maggie Smith

"There are so many blessings and silver linings in having more life experience from which to draw upon."
– Dara Levan