What do you do with a major life change? If you are Laurie Woodford, you leave your safety net and travel the world. Oh, and teach English in several countries, too. As you listen to Laurie, it is hard to imagine she spent time in the reserves as a Drill Sargeant, especially when her passion is romantic comedies. Laurie published her memoir before finding her joy in the entertaining world of love and comedy.
Amazon.com: Unsettled eBook : Woodford, Laurie: Books
What do you do with a major life change? If you are Laurie Woodford, you leave your safety net and travel the world. Oh, and teach English in several countries, too. As you listen to Laurie, it is hard to imagine she spent time in the reserves as a Drill Sargeant, especially when her passion is romantic comedies. Laurie published her memoir before finding her joy in the entertaining world of love and comedy.
Amazon.com: Unsettled eBook : Woodford, Laurie: Books
Hello and welcome to How to Write a Book from A to Z podcast hosted by me, Lisa Greinert, a newbie to the writing scene. Our focus is on new writers those who have The Story rattling around in their brain, but just don't have the insight or coaching or even the experience to transfer ideas and vision into well constructed sentences and stories. Today, we are going to hear from an author who has spent years traveling the world, teaching English, also traveling the world by herself. And did I also mention the fact that she was a drill sergeant? The fact that she was a drill sergeant I think you'll find quite entertaining because the word drill sergeant and romantic comedies, I'm not sure it typically goes together. So let me tell you a little bit more about Laurie laurie is the author of Anita Farleigh Unpacks, which is a book forthcoming with Burroughs Publishing Group. She's also written Unsettled, which is a travel memoir, which is also forthcoming with Unsolicited Press. Both of these, if we cross our fingers, should hopefully be out in January. Before writing full time, she taught college English in the U. S., China, and South Korea. She earned a Master's in Fine Arts from Queens University of Charlotte. Her short stories and essays have appeared in the Antioch Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Minnesota Review, and the Little Pet Knocks Review, which hopefully I said right, and also the Catamaran. So, let's go meet Laurie
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:hi, Lisa. It's so nice to be here.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:exciting to talk to people who have been on the writing journey like you have.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:actually started writing in the 1990s.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:been on that journey while. Where did it all come from to even start to think, I need to write a book? That's a great question. I actually started writing in the 1990's
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:While I was going to graduate school part time and ended up with a master's degree in English. So, obviously, through coursework, I did some writing workshops. But then, after I graduated, I did things like, I wrote a weekly column for a local newspaper, which was really good practice because you had that deadline every week and I was putting my work out there. And I wrote a few articles here and there for other local newspapers. And then just kept going. And probably like most writers, really inspired by reading. You know, once you read that book that you just love, that cracks your heart open, I was just hooked with a wonderful story.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:what was the book? Do you remember a specific book?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:Well, there have been many throughout the years and trying to think, 1990s was a long time ago.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:time ago. But
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:I think Margaret Atwood probably Handmaid's Tale or some of her short stories for sure.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:Tale. Some Poisonwood Bible, or not? Maybe
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:I don't
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:Okay,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:okay. But,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:Wonderful. You ended up getting a degree, a master's degree in creative writing.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:ended up English with a focus in creative writing. And then I ended up teaching as an adjunct, you know, teaching English comp for many years. And then writing in literature and various courses from there. Okay. Did you learn
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:Writing of your, your writing skills? In that class, teaching that class, or where did you learn how to start formulating what you needed in order to write a book? I think
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:write a book? I think the, the workshops, I took a couple of workshops during college with one of the facilitators with Judith Kitchen who has now passed, but she's a wonderful essayist and And so I, I think through those workshops, I also took a fiction writing workshop. that's what really got me going and starting to take it more seriously. And with the feedback you receive from your professor and your classmates, it was easier to realize where I needed to improve, what I needed to focus on. But probably more than anything, the teacher is reading. You know, reading books. I mean, that's, you don't need a degree for that.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-2:I, agree. I've really writing my memoir well, attempting to, and it's definitely been reading a lot of them that has really kind of helped me to kind of formulate what I want it to look like. But again, having no experience with it.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-3:to me,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:So, let's go back to, I know that your first book was a memoir, is that correct?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:So,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Tell me a little bit about that and how that came about.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:let's go back to, I actually started writing this my travel memoir, Unsettled
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:About four years ago. It
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Was a labor of love during my MFA program, which was a low residency MFA program that I did while I was I was teaching English, and it started out as a book of personal essays, and then I decided to make it more linear, and that's coming out in January, let's talk about how,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:do you want how how did you decide what to put in it? How do you know what to put in and what to keep out?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:That's a great question, and it was such a challenge for me in the beginning. Just where do you, well, I knew that I wanted to focus on the four years that I had moved overseas. So, like, that, that helped, but having a timeline actually helped for me, and I think people who are really wanting to know where to start can do this just with their lives in general. I actually, and you don't need to, But I actually put a big, long piece of butcher block paper. I tacked it to my wall and did a timeline and filled things in. And I've known people where that can be helpful for them choosing a time in their life that that they really want to focus on. And what I would advise with that is, Because, you know, write down, okay, when you were born, when you were, unless you know that you're going to be really focusing on certain years, but write down on that timeline whatever events or memories come into your mind and don't worry about it making sense or saying, well, wait a minute, why am I thinking about this? Because sometimes you'll be very surprised. Something can come up that. makes you realize, oh, there really is something there. Or at least this is a place to start that is really saying something about my life that I want to explore further. Because the bottom line, in my mind, with writing, especially writing memoir, is it's truth seeking. You know, you're trying to understand your life, the human condition roles that we play in our life, what we're looking for. So that's how I started. The timeline was really helpful. That's
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:actually a great idea because I found a little cork board at Goodwill that's long and I thought of doing the same thing. I'm in a little critique group which has helped me a lot. We're new. We're all writing our memoirs. They've done a little bit more than I have but that was kind of what we talked about. So I found this cork board and I've got index cards. Haven't done it yet, but I have a blank wall that I'm looking at right
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I'm looking at
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:go on.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:it's gonna
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Because I have so much, I feel like I don't have a theme yet. I feel like I've just started at the beginning and I've got a lot to say. Did you, did you know what your theme was beforehand or did it kind of start evolving as you did your timeline?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:got a theme developed as I wrote. Yeah, and I think I realized, or maybe I had an idea that it was about travel and discovery and midlife. I mean, I knew it was, had to do with that, but then as I wrote, I realized it had to do also with search for home, search for Love, search for figuring out that something that felt missing and that, through the process of writing, you can discover so much. So I wouldn't put too much pressure on yourself in the beginning just to sort of get writing and it's, it's a process of discovery, really. That's exactly
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:That's exactly what has been happening to me and what's been fascinating to me is the things that pop up out of my brain that I totally forgot about. It's like you're, you're kind of just reflecting back, as a memoir for me, it's been reflection back and like you said, it's been total self discovery.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I felt like
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Like wow, that's a lot. That's kind of how I felt like after I put all my stuff down, but in, in wanting to provide. This journey to others
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes. That
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:may be going through the same thing.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:And that's, I think, really important. This does not have to happen during the first draft, or the second draft, or the third draft, but at some point, especially with memoir, making that universal connection. You know, you're writing your story, but what are the bigger connections, that everyone sort of goes through to some extent. So I wrote my memoir I guess all together. Yeah, they're two and a half years since it started as personal essays. It was all sort of a different Process than it is now when I write but yeah about two and a half years And I actually signed the publishing contract over two years ago And and they in the contract said it would be published January 2nd 2024
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:So you knew it was going to take this long?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes, I knew it was because it's a small, wonderful press called Unsolicited Press in Portland, Oregon. And, they have a certain number of books that they're publishing. And so they had a timeline and they're delivering on their timeline. So it's here, but it's a little bit strange because since then strange in a good way. I've also published a novel, a romantic comedy, and I signed that contract in the end of May or June, and it will probably be published right around the same time. So that, you know, moved much more quickly.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:I wonder why. Same publisher, or is it...
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I wonder why. Same publisher, Okay. Yeah. So I think it just really depends on the genre and
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:So you went from writing your memoir to rom com.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes, I did.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Tell us about that.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Tell us about that. It's been a fun journey. I've always written humor, and so my memoir while it's my true story, it's very quirky. It's you know, humorous. And I realized as I was writing about And all the places I was traveling, what interested me more, rather than travel writing, it was more about the relationships and the seeking and the last third of the book is me returning to the U. S. and I met a man who ended up becoming my husband and I, I wrote about the relationship and all that transition and going from being fiercely independent.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:being fiercely independent,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:by myself for that time, and deciding on, a relationship and marriage, and I thought that's what's really at my heart. Like, that's what I love to write about, really. The human connection and relationships are so ridiculous in so many ways.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:You
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:You know, what we do, how we, how we navigate them, you know.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:a great word for it, because yes, that's appropriate. They are ridiculous. And the things that we do and argue about. It's always, like, fun.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I, I started, I just happened to read this wonderful romantic comedy by Beth O'Leary called The Flat Share. And I loved it and I thought, let me look into this genre more. And I just, I love the diversity of the genre. And so I think I found a home with that. So,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:we're talking fiction and non fiction here. What you found to be the biggest difference between the two. So, just having to be creative and, where do you come up with this
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:the two. So, with this memoir, you're tied to the
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:truth, right? Yeah. That's, that's kind of important.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:and so with, with fiction, there's, for me at least, there's a freedom. in being able to create a different character. It's also, I'm realizing, is, the books are about ready to be published that there's a vulnerability with writing memoir that there's a vulnerability with publishing anything, with writing anything, but especially when it's your life, that's a whole different animal. But I think I learned so much, like you were talking about, you know, the journey of discovery and learning things about yourself, so I'm so glad that I did it. But that's probably the main difference. Okay. But you can be super creative with memoirs, so.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Yes, absolutely, I'm kind of saying that, but it is interesting because you don't get, you don't have the play, you gotta be honest, you know and how much do you want to share?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:you know. Right. And how much do you want to share? Exactly, yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:tough one. It's like, do you really want to put all that out there? So I, I'm definitely struggling with that piece, too. But, you know, in the end, I think that's the point. When you're writing a memoir, it's about what has been your life experience and how you were able to handle it.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:handle it
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:In hopes that someone reads it and goes, Okay, well maybe, yeah, I can do this. Because mine's about resiliency which I know a lot of memoirs are. But we all go through these different little stories or different little journeys and your little piece might be helpful to that one person reading it. That's why we read, right? It's like sometimes you get this little piece, little nugget, and you're like, Wow, that just really affected me.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:and It can be cathartic writing it, and then it can really help someone else. I mean, if it's a story of resiliency, and that's wonderful. So,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:when we're talking about writing, okay, you started with your board, And then, how did you go from there? Were you, just writing and putting all your information down while you were doing this timeline, just getting it out? Or did you do the timeline first? Cause everybody's got, you know, everybody's got their little way.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:we're I did the timeline first, but then I, I write very differently now. I I spent so much time trying to really polish every little part of it. And maybe for my memoir that worked, because I, I do think it was probably easier for me to kind of start with these. essays and then go linear, but now, with writing fiction, I definitely do a first draft where I just pour it out, I think about it for quite a while, maybe a month or two and then I, I pour out the first draft, and then from there, with the second draft, really start understanding maybe, oh, the story and the characters and I think that's
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:The story and your brain, your characters, and your theme, and your plot, and your setting. So you're saying you've kind of already thought through a lot of that probably before you start writing.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I, I do.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:just kind of start coming?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:start coming? I do, but then I write the first draft, and then it compiles.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:can completely
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:change, but it changes a lot. For example, I'm writing another novel, another rom com. And I'm on the third draft. And the subplots that occurred in the first draft are, most of them are no longer. You know, it's a whole different thing. And, and that's okay. Like, I mean, and everyone has a different approach. And whatever works for you.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:And I love that because I totally agree. But man, I'm telling you what, I don't think, I know I didn't because again, I just started writing one day. But I didn't realize, my gosh, I've, I've got so many drafts to go through. And I don't know if everybody realizes how many drafts and how many edits.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:didn't, because I I don't think it's fun until I'm at the point where, now draft three, I'm actually starting to feel like, Oh, I can, this is starting to come together a tiny bit, and that's for me when it starts getting fun. I hate the beginning, I hate generating, the, the generative part, but, you know, that's where, so that's where it's helpful for me now to just get it, all down, cause then That part's over with. And I love the parts where you're just polishing and polishing. In fact, that's one of my challenges is to be able to get to a point where I can stop and say, Okay, this needs to be sent out. But oh, so many. I can't even count the number. I mean, Gosh, probably a hundred drafts. I
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Oh God. Don't say
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:not, not full drafts, but like with going over. I
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:believe it though. I believe it, it, it, it, it's mind boggling when you, it makes you appreciate a book now.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Because it's like, oh wow, look, they wrote a book. Oh my goodness. And then when you start doing it, you're like, this, it's an act of love.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:of
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:It's, you have to want to do it.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:But it's worth every piece of it, right?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I, I think so for sure. So for.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:So tell me again, your publishing and tell me the names again of what people should be looking for.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:My, my travel memoir, Unsettled, is coming out January 2nd. And then I have a romantic comedy novel called Anita Farley Unpacks that... is coming out. I don't have a release date yet, but it's anticipated between the end of November and the end of January. So, soon. It depends. It's in copy edits now with the publisher, so.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:with the publisher, so. Is Anita just a made up name.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:It is a made up name, yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:interesting name. Just out of curiosity, did it just come out, I mean, from somewhere?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:did it just come out a of visualize my characters, and a lot of times a name will certainly pop up, but then I actually do research and I'll look at, okay, if she's this age, what was popular at that time, but also would her parents have named her a popular name at that time? Maybe they would've named her, her grandmother's name or whatever. So I, I do spend a little time kind of playing around researching. Nate,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:names. I love that because that makes a lot of sense. You're not just having to research names. I'm sure you're, you, if you're writing a fiction. You've got to research every piece of it. If it's in a town, if it's in the 40s, what they're wearing, and...
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yeah,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Wow.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I mean, I mean,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:probably fun because you're probably only putting things in there that you kind of really like anyway, so it might be kind of fun to research that stuff.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:yeah, it's for me, I, I mean I do I guess a fair amount of research, but just very sort of sporadically as I'm going along because I don't write. For example, historical fiction. That would
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:big difference. Yeah, you gotta love to research.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yeah, you'd have to love to research. Yeah. But, that's where the internet is helpful with some of that just basic research.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:That's I'm in a critique group. Tell me, have you done any of that, a critique group, or do you have people reading it?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:people reading it? Throughout the years, I've spent so much time in various workshops. I lived in the 90s when I started writing. I was living in Rochester, New York. And they had this wonderful organization called Writers and Books. And I took workshops there and classes there. And then throughout the years, I've continued to do that. But now this, for this past year, I haven't been doing workshops. But I actually for my rom com, my beta reader was my amazing husband, Bruce.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Nice! I bet that was fun. And
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:and I actually, I read chapters out loud to him and he gives feedback. That's just been a wonderful process and a wonderful way to sort of involve him in the process. And he's so helpful and he's really good. That's kind of all I, I do now with, with my fiction. Yeah.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:That's great. So is there anything else that, again, as a new writer, that I haven't asked that you think, wow, this is the things that really helped me that people need to know?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:people need to know? Well, I think probably one of the main things is, you know, really to, to read
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:genre or
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:the genre or the, The type of writing that you want to do if you want to write poetry, read poetry, if you want to write short stories or thrillers or whatever, to, to really look at those books as a resource. And there are wonderful writing craft books out there. So, for example, I remember when I was writing my memoir, Mary Carr wrote a wonderful memoir The Art of the Memoir? There it is, it's right
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:There it is. It's right on my...
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Oh, The Art of Memoir. Yes, that's a wonderful one. And for fiction, I know for myself, I really like Matt Bell's Refuse to Be Done. And Jessica Brody's Save the Cat writes a novel. But, you know, there's a ton of them out there, so to find something that kind of fits for you is important. And and I know people struggle a lot with devoting time to the writing. But just to try to find a way in your life to carve out the time. And you can even be creative and plan stories while you're on your walk or when your kids are at the playground. Or, I mean, I know that can be a big challenge. But if it's something that you feel that you really need to be doing to work hard at finding the time for it.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:What I've also found is sometimes I'm done and I just have to put it away for like a week or something because it's like I can't, I can't keep thinking that way. It kind of starts to be kind of overwhelming sometimes thinking about it. I've found just put it, away for a week and it's like you have these fresh eyes. You come back and you look at it and you're like, what was I thinking when I wrote that?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yeah, that can be so important to put it away and then come back to it. That's a really good point. I've definitely found that. So, I also
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:And then come back to mention, you are doing a workshop. So, just so you know again, Lori is a member of the San Gabriel Writers League, which is where this will be housed on their website. So, tell us about what's coming up for you. What do you have for our audience?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:On January 19th I'm teaching a class called Writing Your Life Stories for legacy or publication and it takes people through a lot of what we were talking about where to start with writing and with organization and I have four different approaches, timelines and. themes and questions and that sort of thing. And then resources and some, information on the publication process. And it's a lot of fun.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Some information on the I already have it on my calendar.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:So exciting. I cannot wait
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:wait to go there. Have you been a member of the San Gabriel Writers League for long?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:I think my one year anniversary is coming up very soon, but yeah, that's been so wonderful. I mean, I met you there and, so many wonderful people.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:It's like we all have this common goal and I feel like everybody I talk to just brings a different perspective of what it is that might help me in my own journey.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes, absolutely.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:And it's interesting what some people choose to write about. It's kind of humorous when you meet a lot of writers because it's like, wow, that's an interesting topic.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:so you know.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Yes. And you have to come join San Gabriel Writers League to know what I'm talking about just so you know.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes, there's never a dull moment with a bunch of writers in a room.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:never. It's quite entertaining. Well, thank you so much. Is there a way that people could get in touch with you?
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:You can reach me on Instagram. My username is AuthorLoriWoodford. You can contact me directly through my, the contact page on my website, which is www. LoriWoodford. com. Loriwoodford. com. So we're seeing a theme here. And yeah, I think those are the easiest ways. Substack, I have a newsletter on Substack called Happily Ever After with a period after each word. Before we
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Before we go, I do love that because I was looking at your website and I loved that not only, well that's right, you were a Drill Sergeant in the Army Reserves, which is pretty impressive.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:That was a ways to go, yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:That was a ways ago.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:fun is that? Your website, you have, uh, Laugh Out Loud, period,
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Laugh Out Loud, period. Yes.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Heart Tugging, period, and about that
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Stories. Yep, I
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Okay, and it's about strong ass women just trying to find their way.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Yep.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:That makes me want to read it right there.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:That makes me want to That might be
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Aren't we? Especially women these days. That might be another podcast.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:Exactly.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-4:Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And good luck to you on what you already have getting ready to be published. I'm sure they will be a great success.
Analogue 1 + 2 (Focusrite USB Audio)-5:success. Thank you so much, Lisa.