Season Four · Episode Thirteen · Janet Roberts
The Dreams That Wait for Us
How to Find Your Personal Power
What changes when you stop living by someone else’s scorecard?
Janet Roberts is a former global leader in cybersecurity education. Her books are set wholly or partially in Western Pennsylvania, where her roots run deep. Her readers know to expect a female character who awakens to the discovery of her own inner strength while facing adversity. Wired For Magic (2026), her first fantasy thriller, combines a strong woman, magical realism, suspense, and elements of cybersecurity. She’s also the author of the award-winning novel What Lies We Keep (2024). A member of Women’s Fiction Writers Association and Sisters in Crime, she lives in Pittsburgh and loves travel, wandering through bookstores, reading on her porch swing, and sharing a bottle of wine with friends.
Before · The change · What came next
Before
As a girl near Lake Erie, Janet carried stacks of books from the library and dreamed of becoming a writer. Without a clear path into fiction, she followed more conventional expectations around earning a living, relationships and achievement.
The change
A period of major personal and health-related change forced Janet to examine what she had built and which measures of success were truly hers. Therapy and stronger boundaries helped her stop centering other people’s expectations.
What came next
Janet reinvented her career, mentored women, traveled independently and eventually returned to western Pennsylvania. Retirement opened the door to publishing the books she had carried for years, while teaching her that personal power can also mean slowing down and choosing again.
“Your personal power is your magic.”
Janet Roberts
Listen to Janet Roberts’s story
The Dreams That Wait for Us premieres December 29, 2026. Listening links will be added when the episode is released.
Learn more about Janet and her books at BooksByJanetRoberts.com.
Connect with Janet Roberts
Website · Instagram · Facebook · Threads · Bluesky · Substack · Goodreads · TikTok