Sasha Preston - Empowering Women Through Writing

In this episode of the We Women Writers Podcast, host Jane Jones speaks with indie author Sasha Preston about her writing journey, the importance of creativity, and the empowering nature of storytelling. Sasha shares her experiences of rediscovering her passion for writing, the role of community and support in her creative process, and her decision to pursue indie publishing. The conversation underscores the importance of breaking rules, both in writing and in life, and encourages listeners to cultivate their creativity and take bold steps in their writing endeavors.

Quote:

“But something that's really important to remember is that you don't have to know everything right now when you get started. Sure, it's a vast world. There's a lot to learn. But you can learn. You will learn. You're capable of it.”

Takeaways: 

• Rediscovering fiction can reignite a passion for storytelling.
• Daily writing practices can lead to significant progress.
• Encouraging the next generation to embrace creativity is vital.

Resources:

Sasha’s Website: 

https://www.sashapreston.com/

Sasha’s Amazon Author Page: 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sasha-Preston/author/B0FJTGZX4S?ref

The Sweet Escape

https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Scheme-Escape-ebook/dp/B0FLWJFGGV/ref=sr

The Sweetest Getaway

https://www.amazon.com/Sweetest-Getaway-Sasha-Preston-ebook/dp/B0FND7RBHV/ref=sr

Chapters

• 0:00 WWW Intro
• 0:28 Meet Sasha Preston: Indie Author and Publisher
• 1:22 Sasha's Writing Journey: From Childhood to Adult Fiction
• 6:28 The Role of Support in Creative Expression
• 13:08 The Shift from Creative to Professional Writing
• 16:59 Reigniting Passion for Fiction
• 21:46 Collaborative Writing: Bonding with Friends and Family
• 24:25 Establishing a Daily Writing Routine
• 28:00 The Emotional Journey of Writing
• 31:17 Impact of Beta Feedback on Writing Growth
• 31:28 The Impact of Beta Readers on Writing
• 33:18 Choosing the Indie Publishing Route
• 35:44 Creating a Publishing Label
• 37:24 The Allure of Heist Stories
• 40:21 Empowerment Through Rule-Breaking
• 44:50 Creative Influence of Family
• 48:01 The Fulfillment of Writing
• 50:01 Advice for Aspiring Writers
• 52:29 Navigating Indie Publishing
• 54:53 WWW Outro

Transcript

Jane Jones (00:01)

Hi there, I'm Jane, and this podcast is designed for you. Five minutes of daily writing can change your world. Come with me as we explore the stories of women who transformed their lives through writing. Welcome to the We Women Writers Podcast.

Good morning, everyone, and with us this morning, we have Sasha Preston. And Sasha is an indie author publisher who writes women's fiction crime capers where close friendships and adventure come together to delight and inspire readers for their next big escape, or think about planning one. Her stories are inspired by her real-life explorations and plots hatched with her girlfriends, as well as her desire to encourage and to support her daughter as she discovers her own creativity and the world of strong women around her. Her books, “A Sweet Scheme” and “The Sweetest Getaway”, are the first two books in The Sweet Escape series. Welcome, Sasha.

Sasha Preston (01:20)

Thank you so much for having me, Jane.

Jane Jones (01:22)

Well, my pleasure. And we're looking forward to this conversation so much.  We'll begin with the question. Sasha, please tell us about your writing journey.

Sasha Preston (01:34)

Yes, absolutely. So I have loved writing ever since I was a kid. I was a super prolific writer even before I could read and write. So I would have pages and I'd just scribble on them and I would tell my mom later what I had written down and I would recount these stories to her. You know, sometimes she'd write for me, she'd be my scribe. I had a huge imagination, and I love telling stories, and that continued throughout my childhood. And then as I got older, you know, through college, through my professional career, I started to write more nonfiction, more professionally. And I kind of let the creative side go. I wasn't writing fiction anymore. And that was such an important part of me. And I had just kind of let it die, which was really sad, really unfortunate.

But it's just something; it wasn't something that I was prioritizing in my life. I didn't see it as important. And then a few years ago, I started writing short stories with my friend and then eventually with my mom, a couple other friends. And it was a super fun exercise where we would each take turns on alternating weeks. We'd come up with a new story theme. So, for example, one theme was hula hoop or Arugula, random, random themes. And the only rules are you have to incorporate the theme into your short story. It doesn't matter how long it is. It doesn't matter how you incorporate the theme. Doesn't matter what else the story is about. 

You just have to write a short story, and you have a week to do it. And so I got really into this with my mom, and we would take turns each week, and it was so much fun just seeing how different we our stories were on the same theme. We took them in completely different directions, and just doing this each week just got me really motivated and got me going creatively, like moving that creative muscle. And so I have a lot of friends who are writers, and after doing this with my mom for a while, friends started suggesting to me, Hey, there's a contest opening up. Do you wanna join? Maybe we could do this writing contest, and they would have prompts and it was kind of similar to the short story concept. And I didn't actually enter any of these contests, but the more that people mentioned them to me, it kind of planted a seed. Like maybe I can do something bigger. Maybe I don't have to stop at a short story. Maybe I can write something longer. And this wasn't an idea that I had had before. It's kind of something that I left behind in childhood. And I eventually with these nudges, it kind of took it as a sign. So I started to write The Sweetest Getaway. In the mornings, every morning, I get up really early, I make myself a big bowl of fruit for breakfast, and sit down and write and just let the ideas flow with wherever they're going to take me, just let the story kind of unleash itself. And so I wrote the book in about two months.

But I edited it for like eight months after that. So it went in a ton of different directions. It was all over the place. I didn't know where I wanted it to go, but the core of the story was always kind of there. I wanted it to be a high story. I wanted to make something fun and escapist and wholesome and exciting and adventurous. And I thought, you know, what is a story that makes people just feel joyful. What's the most joyful and excited and positive that a woman can feel reading a story? for me, I really enjoy heist stories and cozy heist stories. So I kind of settled on that as my form of inspiration, and I just took off. The character Jennifer was where I started, and kind of developed the world from there. So yeah, it basically - I started with short stories. That's what opened me up to the idea of writing a book. And then from there, I, you know, had a daily writing practice of every morning, which expanded and bloomed into every on my lunch break, I go for a walk. And so I would continue writing on my phone on my lunch break, which is not always the safest thing to do. But I felt like so overtaken by the story that I wanted to dive into it as much as I could. And so more and more of my spare time got devoted to writing. And that's just how it developed. So, it's been a super fun, exciting journey.

Jane Jones (06:28)

Perfect. There's so much here to come back to ask you about. Let's start where you started. As a child, this idea that you were writing before you knew how to write, you would scribble and then say what you had written, telling the story is very similar, if not exactly the same that a teacher will use when a child makes a picture, paints a picture, draws a picture, and then says to the child, please tell me about this picture. And then they write down what the picture is about. And so the little child is then telling them the story, and then the teacher or the parent is writing this down. And then they have it, but the story is already there, and the child has already expressed it in some way. And in that instance, it's a painting or a drawing, but yours is there an awareness already that there was a pen scribbling. Could you have reflected all any ideas or any memories, or thoughts that you had as a little bun of where that came from to scribble?

Sasha Preston (07:49)

That's a great question.

I learned to read at a very young age. I think I was four before kindergarten began. And I was always fascinated with stories and following along. And I think the way that I learned to read was by memorizing the books because my mom and dad would read them to me over and over again. And eventually, I connected the words that I had memorized to the words on the page. So I think the awareness of written text transmitting meeting was something that I had since a very young age. And so that's where that urge to scribble and to mimic that came from.

Jane Jones (08:34)

Okay, so this, and I want to use the word innate. That it was, there was a combination perhaps of innate using a pen and paper, and then also innate or being supported through a child's observation and experience, observation of the experience of being read to and being able to say what's on the page because I've had that experience with my children and my grandchildren before where, Nana, you've missed a page. No, Nana, you missed the word. Or they'll say, they'll read the words, and they'll say, is that on this page, on the picture? Because they're looking for the relationship, because the words are constructs, and they can see what they see, and they want to connect those things together. You have, it's like an innate thing, but it's observational in it, and it went with it, and you went with it.

Sasha Preston (09:49)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Jane Jones (09:51)

Okay, so your mom then takes it another step farther and then she encourages that in you. And as a young child and your experience of all of that.

How does that experience translate in you to continue or the kinds of creating that you did?

Sasha Preston (10:19)

Do you mean having my mom's support with the writing? Did that push me to?

Jane Jones (10:25)

Correct. Not just pursue, not just push you to pursue it, but some people's experience of a person supporting and encouraging them can be described one way or another way or another way. How would you describe that experience? I will learn to be more succinct, I promise.

Sasha Preston (10:46)

That's great. My mom is an extremely creative, vibrant person. And so she's always been a huge inspiration to me in terms of storytelling and being creative in general. And ever since I was a kid, she did such an awesome job of exposing me to fun, exciting, different ideas, and the process of being creative itself, and encouraging me to be creative in all situations. And she did really unique, interesting things with me and my brother. Like one example that pops into my mind is she would take us to the graveyard near our house. It was huge and beautiful with these big rolling green hills, and we'd stop at different graves. And then she'd make up stories about the person's life, and they'd just be like wild, interesting, totally off the wall. Who knew where she came up with these stories? And so she built storytelling into our lives in so many different ways and so many different facets that I think it kind of was inescapable for both of us. I mean, my brother doesn't write as much, but he's a voracious reader. He loves storytelling. Both of us are; it's a huge part of who we are. And I think my mom really encouraged that in us and just exposed us to that joy. So, I'm super grateful for that.

Jane Jones (12:22)

Yeah, excellent. When you said that it's a huge part of who you are, it translates into every facet of your life because she built it into every facet of your life, and you continued it.

Sasha Preston (12:35)

Exactly. Yeah, it was basically inescapable. was throughout the day there was storytelling, there was make believe, there was pretend. My dad as well is very creative and encouraged us to come up with really unique and interesting stories when we were playing. yeah, think the love of that art is something that I'm really lucky to have been exposed to from such a young age.

Jane Jones (13:03)

Excellent, excellent.

When you were in school, you sort of...Official, I called it official writing. Your more professional writing, the schools, the essays, things like that, those begin to take precedent. What was that experience like when you, either looking back as you were replacing and setting aside the creativity for this other, or when you discovered that you had done that?

Sasha Preston (13:36)

That's a great question. 

I don't think that I really realized it for a while, but it's funny because I actually made the shift, not just in my writing, but also in my reading. I switched almost completely to nonfiction reading, which I still love. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic. There's so much knowledge out there. It's amazing. But I had basically dropped all fiction because I felt that it wasn't doing anything for me, which sounds crazy now thinking back on it, but I wanted to learn things. I wanted to further myself. I wanted to grow professionally or grow in some way. And I felt like fiction wasn't doing that for me because it didn't have a tangible outcome that would cause me to grow. But I realized over time that that's not true at all. Fiction does cause you to grow enormously in terms of imagination and storytelling and empathy. think people don't talk about that enough fiction really shows you so much insight into other people. I think that's a huge gift that it provides and that is an amazing experience that you get from reading it. You can learn from other authors in terms of how they tell stories, what they focus on, who they develop and how all of that. So a few years ago, I want to say during the pandemic is when I really made the change. This was after I had started writing short stories, but I kind of made the goal of wanting to  read more. And I decided, I don't know what took over me, but I decided to start reading fiction again. So this was probably in 2020. I, because there was, there weren't many things to do at the time, I started to read way more and I was just burning through books and the passion for fiction reignited in me and it was really exciting to go through that transition and I'm really grateful for that.

Jane Jones (15:48)

Yeah, it is apparent. And the term you used burning through books, it made me smile, because there are people who would seek to limit people's knowledge by actually burning them. But it's like a it's like kind of taking the term back. It's like it doesn't stop the the actually the burning actually brings brings more learning brings more experience, and you're going through those and and you're going back to your roots and it and again that the pandemic is is showing up so often as a reset, an opportunity to reset, and you took advantage of that. Some people not so well, and some people didn't see it as a reset, but it is so often is one, and you saw it that way and you started to go back to your, what was the process like about, so you begin with the reading a lot and then you move into this little story writing group that you find with your friends. Could you describe what that was, that process, and what it was like for you?

Sasha Preston (17:12)

Great question. You know, I actually think the short story writing, I can't remember who initiated it, but it was between me and a friend, and we both loved to write. And we had talked about that, and we had talked about how we wanted to get more creative. like, we both felt like we…talked about creativity, we valued it, but we didn't actually take action to make it a part of our everyday lives. And so we wanted to change that. could have been her, could have been me. One of us suggested, let's start this short story process. And so she and I did that for a while. And then I, little by little, invited other people and started to do it with different friends. And that process was actually really fun as well because everyone brings such a different perspective that just reading all of these different stories, I felt really inspired by the different people that I was working with. And I feel like that process really pushed me creatively as well and encouraged me to kind of take the next step and move a little bit further with the writing process.

Jane Jones (18:26)

What about this particular experience, this process? Is there anything about it that surprised you? 

Sasha Preston (18:34)

Good question.

I think sometimes when you're getting started, the idea of writing can be really intimidating, and seeing that it's actually a lot easier. You just do it, you can just do it. You can just put your ideas out there. You can just get started. The only thing holding you back is you and your mental blocks. And once you get started, I think the...ability to write just becomes so much easier and your thoughts flow easier. And I think the main thing blocking you is yourself and thinking, this first draft isn't going to be good. This idea isn't any good. But it's very liberating to just get it out there and see that you can change it endlessly. It doesn't have to be how it comes out.

First, you know, it can go in any number of directions. You just need that spark of inspiration to get started. So I think I was a lot more intimidated by writing when I got started. And doing it so frequently with different people opened me up to seeing that it's, it's very accessible. And it's, it's something that gets easier the more you do it.

Jane Jones (20:02)

You bring up a particularly good point, right? The whole thing. This, in my mind, it translates into safety. A woman who is sitting alone, or she's with a bunch of people, and it doesn't feel safe to write. just doesn't feel safe. There's lots of things that it touches, and people don't feel comfortable, maybe just a vague feeling. Maybe it's a very poignant, maybe it's a very harsh, very rude awakening. I don't feel safe. Well, in community, in a safe community, you can, and you said at the end, you put it out there, and it comes back, and you realize that it's different from other people's. I can change it. You said that was a really important point in my mind is that I can change it. It's okay. Having it in my mind or speaking it or writing on a paper, it's not cast in stone. And it can, and with all due respect, even cast in stone can be changed because you could just smash the stone.

But it's a, it's that idea about being safe and feeling that it's okay. And you're coming to this experience with your girlfriends after having reawakened the joy that reading fiction brings you and that pulls up the past a little bit. Then you move into working with your mom again. Tell us what that was like. How did that happen?

Sasha Preston (21:58)

Yeah. So, my mom has always, like I said, she's been a huge storyteller. She loves to write. Every time we had this game that we used to play called Beyond Balderdash, where you have a prompt and you write a response, and then the group tries to guess what the real one is. And we had a twist where we would also guess we would also choose our favorite or whichever made us laugh the most.

My mom just wrote the most fantastic pieces, and then she started to write short stories, and she would use Facebook and social media as places to post her short stories and share them with people. So, you know, she's always been this huge writer. So as I started to write these short stories, I thought this would be a really good way to bond with my mom. This would be a really good outlet for both of us. And

So when I suggested it to her, she was really excited. And I think my mom is also one of those people that she has these fantastic ideas and she doesn't necessarily always put them down on paper. She might speak them, she might share them in other ways, but to actually sit down and write it into the form of a short story isn't something that she was always doing. So I think giving her that opportunity to formally do this with me every week, have that accountability, have that ability to share with each other, bounce ideas off of each other, grow our creativity together. I think has been a very fulfilling opportunity for both of us and has really helped us further cement and grow our relationship.

Jane Jones (23:43)

Excellent. That's, I keep using that word excellent a lot. And it really is the perfect word. I just keep looking for new ones, but that's the right word. That's excellent to hear. And heartwarming. Then you, you talked a little bit about this pattern that you had for writing. You realize that things were going really well, and then you're working with your mom. When did this pattern, this daily writing program that you created within yourself, when did that come about, and how did it come about?

Sasha Preston (24:25)

Yeah, you know, as I was using my morning time to write short stories, I was also using my lunch break walk time to write short stories and edit them. You know, I'd have a Google Doc that I'd bring up and go through and change things. And as friends were suggesting to me that I, because they knew about these short stories, I was collaborating with some of them. I was sharing them with them, and they were suggesting, you should submit to these contests, you should join these contests. And I started to think like, I could use this morning time to start a larger project. Let me just get started. And so I, you know, like I said, I had the idea for a heist story, and I just started writing, and I wanted a backdrop, I wanted a wholesome, friendly small town backdrop for the heist. I so I just pulled inspiration from some coworkers. They were doing an executive retreat in Omaha, Nebraska, which I still have never been to. But I thought this is perfect. You know, I was looking for a scene for a destination for the book. I wanted I'm from Michigan. I didn't want to do Michigan. That's a little too close to home. I wanted to do something different, although my main character, Jennifer, is from Michigan. But I thought that Omaha is the perfect setting. It's cozy. It's got that small mid-town, mid-western feel. But I also, growing up in a small town in Michigan, I felt like there are really interesting, fascinating, diverse people in the city that I'm from. Michigan is often underestimated. 

People think there aren't exciting things going on. People aren't that interesting. They're kind of bland, one-note. It's really unfair to be depicted that way. And so I thought, I feel the same way about other towns in the Midwest, that there are so many interesting multi-layered people, different adventurous things going on that you would never expect. So I wanted to choose a place that is often underestimated and set a million-dollar heist there. So that's why I chose Omaha. So that process of going in every morning, reflecting, taking inspiration from different places, just writing, and wherever I felt like the story was organically going, just following that. And then, of course, my mom was involved very early on in reading the book and providing her feedback throughout the entire process of both books. it's been basically consistency has been the most important thing to me, I think, is just doing it every single day to the point I basically was overtaken by this motivation, by this passion, this drive and wanted to do it in all of my spare time because it was so exciting to me and spending time writing felt like I was spending time with these people and I wanted to develop them and grow them more and see where they were going and build their adventure. And so it was like a book that I couldn't put down as a reader, but instead I was creating it, and that process of doing that every day was so exciting.

Jane Jones (28:00)

You made the reference to being overtaken.

Could you expand on that feeling of being overtaken, being engrossed, being driven, maybe, being pulled along into something? Could you expand on that a little bit for us, what that feels like? Were there any fears or anything?

Sasha Preston (28:30)

Absolutely. I definitely there were fears, and also I think you get very emotionally involved as you're writing this story. I was so excited that this ideas would pop into my head constantly throughout the day when I was doing something else. So I would send myself messages on WhatsApp related to whatever idea it was that I wanted to develop.

Or if I was free at that time, I would pull up my Google Doc and continue writing, try to get to that point in the story, whatever it took. So, it was on my mind frequently. And I think that really helped the story to develop and to evolve because I gave it that time. And it became influenced by my day-to-day experiences and everything like that. I do think during the process, I worked with a lot of different beta readers. And I wrote “The Sweetest Getaway” first and then “A Sweet Scheme”, which is the standalone short story prequel. I wrote that afterwards. So, “The Sweetest Getaway” is the full story, the full-length book. And that was my first full-length book, you know, since childhood. So, I made a ton of mistakes that, you know, you just make as a beginner. So, it was very emotionally difficult at times. I actually think I'm very open to other people's feedback. And I think I did a good job of just taking it neutrally, not personally, thinking, OK, does this make my story better? Yeah, I think it does. That's great feedback. Let me work on it. And just being driven to take that feedback and continue to improve my story, I think I was very open to that. But there were times that the feedback was quite difficult to hear. You know, where I felt like I had gotten the story to a good place, and people said things that I knew were true. I'd read them, and I think that's a really good point. That's accurate. I need to work on that. But it would just, at times, it would just be so hard, and I would feel so vulnerable. But I am extremely grateful to every single beta reader for doing such a fantastic job of supporting me and pushing me as a writer to grow and to improve my story. Even when it was difficult, I'd take that time to process my emotions and work through it, and then work on their feedback. I think it was like a boot camp, a little bit, in terms of just helping me to be better, and yeah, it was an awesome experience.

Jane Jones (31:17)

The beta feedback that you had.

How has it impacted or influenced your life and or your writing?

Sasha Preston (31:28)

I think life, I'm not sure. If I thought about that longer, I'm sure I'd have a better answer for you. In terms of impacting my writing, I think there are probably hundreds of ways that beta readers have helped me improve my writing. Specifically, because I hadn't written a story in so long, there were a lot of storytelling mechanisms that I wasn't, that I hadn't mastered. And one example that I can think of is, this is funny, but because I would just write based on inspiration where I felt like the story was going organically, I would bring in details that were fascinating, but that didn't contribute to the story at all, that were just kind of like extra junk that I pulled out that eventually I'd love and I think I can use later in different ways when they actually contribute, but I had so much stuff that I needed to remove that or streamline or bring it into the storyline better, make it actually contribute to the arc of the story. I also, in terms of character development, giving each character an arc and a struggle and an outcome that they come to at the end, a way that they grow based on their experiences, I needed to improve that ability. There are tons of different muscles like that that I learned through this feedback and rewriting, and editing process.

Jane Jones (33:06)

How do you, how did you come to indie publish? What was that exploration, that decision, coming to that decision? What was that like?

Sasha Preston (33:18)

Yeah, for me, it was a relatively easy decision in terms of I did research it a little bit. But in terms of economics, and the amount that you make per book in terms of royalties as a self-published author versus a traditionally published author, it just didn't make sense to me, especially because as a traditionally published author, you still have to do a lot of marketing. You know, you get the support from the publisher, and that's great, and they do a lot for you, but there's still a lot that you need to do. So I thought if I'm going to be, you know, building this marketing engine anyways, if there's a lot that I need to do and my royalty per book goes from, let's say, I don't know, eight cents to $2, then I don't think the publisher is going to help me sell significantly so many more books that somehow that would be a better deal for me. So, I wanted to make it a financially rewarding and exciting experience. And that seemed to be a much more logical decision to self-publish. And then also the ability to have more  autonomy over your decisions and to be able to pivot when you need to do what feels right to you, have more ownership over your work, all of that seemed like a much better fit.

Jane Jones (34:48)

You mentioned about the traditional publishing, they have a lot of control, what they pay you is less, but you still have a lot of work to do.

Did you ever seriously consider going that traditional route?

Sasha Preston (35:06)

I don't think I ever seriously considered it because of those downsides.

Jane Jones (35:11)

Yeah, so that's all you looked at all that before. because what I was getting at was this idea that this creative side, that is, that you've considered that that was not available to you under traditional publishing.

Sasha Preston (35:27)

I do think the creative freedom is greater under self-publishing as well. Yeah, for sure.

Jane Jones (35:34)

And so, do you have your own publishing label, or do you publish through a small indie publisher?

Sasha Preston (35:44)

I have my own publishing label called Heart and Horizon.

Jane Jones (35:48)

And you are just publishing your own right now, are there other any opportunity there for people or for another writer who doesn't want to or is not free, doesn't have the option of putting their own publishing label together to pick up pieces of that other people might write.

Sasha Preston (36:12)

Absolutely. That's definitely an area I'd be interested in expanding to in the future, taking on additional writers that kind of fit with the cozy heist theme or the crime caper theme, anyone under that umbrella, or similar women's fiction adventure pieces. I would be very interested in expanding in that direction and working with those people.

Jane Jones (36:37)

Because it's something that can be daunting for a person to do that. And also, there's often...ways of publishing for yourself that that if you don't know the ropes, you can kind of get it's a bit of a It's a bit of a swamp. It can be to find people that have integrity and in what they're doing is important, and so you talked about this idea of have this larger project idea you had, and it was a heist. Can you share with us where the heist, this keenness on the heist idea comes from for you?

Sasha Preston (37:24)

Yeah, absolutely. So basically, for me, I wanted something adventurous, escapist, fun, funny. I wanted to give women the opportunity to just feel joyful and feel like they were leaving all of their cares behind. And the idea of a heist is really exciting for women to just be breaking the rules, doing something chaotic. In the case of the main character, Jennifer, she's never really broken any rules in her life. So it's exciting for her to kind of be an amateur and step into that role and be terrified, but be learning and having a great time as she goes and grow so much as a person through that process. So I think the adventure aspect is really appealing to me as well as kind of the rebellious, they're fighting back against a corrupt corporation that Jennifer is very close to. And the idea of them fighting back, taking a piece of that abundance for themselves and for other women that have been exploited by the corporation is a very empowering and exciting idea. And so just being able to explore that adventurousness from a fun and carefree feel-good angle was something that really resonated with me.

Jane Jones (39:00)

And this idea of breaking the rules is really a big deal because we're all men as well, our focus here is women, given, we grew up with these rules. We have innate rules that have come down to us from history and society. And then we come into these rules that are created for us. And then we then have to create our own rules in order to you know, get along with the current rules, and it gets very complicated. And, this idea about some women who just, or girls who find some rule that they are going to try to break, but it's wholesome and it's fun and it's, it's inspiring. It's a little bit like dangerous, and you know, there's, there's a price tag to be paid if they get caught, things like that, because the concept of breaking rules are like, no. But you're looking at breaking rules in a delightful way. Does this delightful way of looking at rules and breaking rules and the experience of all that, does it impact or influence the wider subject of rule-breaking at a larger level without steering in any direction, just a larger level for you.

Sasha Preston (40:21)

Absolutely, I do think at a minimum, something that I'm hoping to give readers with this book is the ability to feel like they can push boundaries and pursue things that excite them and just be a little bit more daring and a little bit more bold in their day-to-day life, rather than shrinking back from opportunities that may be exciting to them but are scary in some sort of way. So even if they're not breaking the law, which hopefully they're not, I think it can encourage people to push past their fears and do things that they've, like you said, they've created their own rules around things that have stopped them from reaching for things that would actually excite them and make them happy. So I'm hoping to kind of encourage women readers to be able to push themselves and to be able to reach for those things that are exciting, even though they're a little bit scary.

Jane Jones (41:26)

Is your writing, your experience of writing, a little daring for you?

Sasha Preston (41:35)

Good question.

I definitely think so. I think writing is daring in general. It's very vulnerable to be creative and to take these ideas and form them into words and see where they grow and how they change and develop. think it involves pushing yourself in tons of new ways all the time in order to write. And I think that you grow so much through the process, and growth and change are scary. Enabling yourself to do that, you kind of touched on that safety idea earlier. Knowing that you're safe even through this process of pushing yourself into the unknown, think writing is a lot of unknown. You have to build that safety net for yourself. You have to know that you're safe and build that psychological safety through the process. And that enables you to be more daring and to continue to create. yeah, think writing is a bold process, and it asks a lot of yourself, and it's extremely rewarding.

Jane Jones (42:55)

You bring up this point about being daring, which is what we picked up on, was that the roots of writing were daring people writing and then publishing and putting it, nailing it on lamp posts or whatever street, whatever they did, roots of writing and thinking for yourself and putting it on a piece of paper first and then taking and then publishing it. That's an act of...  civil disobedience. And that's a kind of thing that one can do within their own selves is to sort of personally and privately disobey the rules that they've made and to become more aware of them and then to take in trends, create out of that something that is now sharing with other people as in your books, Sasha, where it's encouraging people to, in a way, in an appropriate, respectful way, to break some of those rules, to look at them and see this woman, this Jennifer, and she's got these rules, and she's going to break them, but there's this little Robin Hoodie thing going on. And women can think of that in their own selves, are they doing that? And it begins with this idea of writing. It requires some safety, and finding that safety, and then picking up a pen and starting.

Sasha Preston (44:49)

Yeah, absolutely.

Inserted Note: 44:50 - Hey friends! We hit a small technical snag and had to cut things a bit short, but don’t worry, we’ve rejoined it here with our final reflections, so you won’t miss a moment

Jane Jones (44:59)

So, we're going to pick up that conversation. And where I'd like to go, I'd like to observe a little bit about your experience of your mom, and then the experience you want to give your daughter. So, could you talk a little bit about how those two are similar?

Sasha Preston (45:22)

Absolutely. I think, you know, as I mentioned that my mom has really impacted me creatively in terms of just showing me just how wide and varied the world is and how much you can do creatively. And there really are no limits. And I really appreciate that she kind of instilled that value in me and exposed me to so much, you know, not only storytelling, she really took it seriously to expose me to art and museums and give me the opportunity to learn from so many real-world experiences. So that's absolutely something that I want to expose my daughter to as well. think creativity is extremely, extremely important to leading a fulfilled life. And I think that you have not only the ability, but the responsibility to make your life as rich as possible through choosing experiences and choosing ways of thinking that make you happy, and flex your creativity. You're not supposed to be a passive observer of life. You're supposed to go out there and find things and create things that make you joyous and that make other people joyous. That's something that my mom absolutely taught to me, and I think is really important to teach to my daughter as well.

Jane Jones (46:50)

Initially, at the beginning, we talked about how you want your desire for your daughter is that she experience creativity, and joy, and strong women. And would you call your mom a strong woman?

Sasha Preston (47:09)

Absolutely. I think my mom's ability to be her authentic self, enduringly in so many different situations, be true to who she is and not shrink back from that, not be embarrassed of who she is, of every range of herself, know, the parts that you're excited to show people, the parts that you're not. I think she's authentic, open, and honest. And that is very inspiring to me.

Jane Jones (47:40)

And that is an inspiring, that is a very grounded yet high, in terms of deep explanation or expression of what a strong woman really is.

Sasha Preston (47:59)

Absolutely.

Jane Jones (48:01)

Perfect. So now how is that creativity fulfilled in you through the writing?

Sasha Preston (48:08)

Great question. I think the fact that writing just offers you so many vast opportunities as you're writing the story can go in so many different directions. And there's, there's so much opportunity available to you to, to transform the story in different ways, to transform the characters in different ways. And the fact that you have that power, I think is very exciting and very empowering to be able to do that in your daily life, to take nothing, to take your inspiration, to start from the ground and just build and see where the story takes you organically, see where your inspiration takes you. And the story will probably change drastically from where you started because something won't seem right initially, or it will seem right initially, and then later on, you will need to change it. But the fact that it evolves and it grows and it changes, and that you're able to do that, you're able to make that impact to make those changes, I think, is extremely empowering and fulfilling to go on that journey as a writer.

Jane Jones (49:28)

That's...feeds really nicely into the next question is for you, what would be a piece of advice that you would give a hobby writer who has, I'm somebody that said that term to me the other day, and I went, that's perfect. Is somebody just playing at it? There was just like kind of, well, we write a little poem, or we have a little short story. What would your advice to that woman be?

Sasha Preston (50:01)

Yeah, I guess the fact that they're already writing, they're not shying away from it. They're putting pen to paper or they're typing on their computer, whatever their favorite method is. The fact that they're doing it takes a lot of courage and vulnerability, and they should be proud of themselves for trying and for experimenting and for creating things. That's awesome. I think that a lot of times what holds people back from taking that next step is fear of the unknown or fear of failure, fear of trying something new, whatever the case may be. You know, if they're used to just writing shorter pieces, it can take a lot of courage and push to take it to the next level. Something that I have found is that sometimes it's actually better for me personally not to talk to everybody about what I'm working on, to kind of create that emotional space and distance to kind of protect myself and protect what I'm working on and not talk to people about it until later. And I know that's not always what people advise, but I think, you know, if you're not sure, what other people are going to say, whether they're going to be supportive, whether you want to expose your work or yourself to questions. Sometimes it's safer to just keep it private, maybe talk to people about it generally. But if you're not ready to expose it and you only want to expose it to beta readers and editors and things like that, I think sometimes that can be a safer way to protect your creativity and protect your energy.

Jane Jones (51:53)

It's a little like a seed. Need to for it to germinate and grow, you need to keep it quiet and hidden for a little bit so it can be nurtured and it can do its work.

Sasha Preston (52:04)

Yeah, I totally agree.

Jane Jones (52:05)

Yeah. Now, what about for a woman who is got something, maybe she's got, maybe she has a book of poetry that she wants to put together, she wants to write, or somebody's got a book of short stories, or what would be your advice to somebody like that is kind of not sure about dipping their feet into indie publishing?

Sasha Preston (52:29)

Yeah, I think something that I've always thought is that a lot of times, indie publishing is very entrepreneurial, which I think is awesome, and also can be a little bit intimidating. But something that's really important to remember is that you don't have to know everything right now when you get started. Sure, it's a vast world. There's a lot to learn. But you can learn. You will learn. You're capable of it.

And so even though it may seem intimidating, all you need to do is just get started. And each next step that you need to learn will reveal itself to you at the time that you need it. As you uncover more and more, as you build new relationships, as you're working on  whatever piece it is that you're working on. And so I think rather than looking at this mountain and thinking, How am I ever going to learn all of this stuff? How am I ever going to conquer it all? You don't need to; it's all step-by-step. You learn as you go. Tons of people have done it before you. Tons of people will do it after you. So you're incredibly capable. And don't doubt and limit yourself just because it seems big. You can absolutely chip away at it and succeed.

Jane Jones (53:49)

Yes. Thank you, Sasha, for that really important and really helpful advice, and how you phrase it is, is particularly honoring the writers out there, the women out there that are listening. Thank you. Yeah. All right. So thank you very much, Sasha, for your time and being so open and honest and sharing your writing journey and your stories, and in the show notes, there'll be some links to your website and to your books that you've published on Amazon, and as you're writing along, I'd love to... You know, have you come back and have a little, like a sort of topping up the engine, up and up the gas tank a little bit, and giving us some more information about where you are and how things are going, and the development of this life that you are leading?

Sasha Preston (54:42)

That sounds fantastic. Thank you so much for having me, Jane. I had such a great time talking with you. This was such a good time.

Jane Jones (54:49)

Thank you very much. Take care.

Sasha Preston (54:51)

You too. Thanks.

Jane Jones (54:53)

Thank you for joining the We Women Writers podcast today. I appreciate you taking your time to listen in. I do hope that you've been inspired by this conversation, and I'd like to encourage you to pick up your pen today and write for five minutes. I would love to hear from you. Please subscribe and leave a review. Until next time, take good care and have a perfectly lovely day.