Episode 30: Rachael Shares How She Finally Publishes The Story She Lived

A book can start as a private coping tool, then slowly turn into the one thing you can’t ignore anymore. From our new studio setup, we walk you through Rachael’s long road to publishing her memoir self-help book “Drowning” this August, including why the release week lines up with a major anniversary in her life and why that timing feels full circle instead of accidental. 

We get specific about what’s inside the pages: nine water-themed sections that track the feeling of suffocating in a relationship, the slow climb toward air, and the newer “lighthouse” lens of learning to be the light in your own life. We also talk about what it takes to write honestly when your real-world circles overlap with the people you’re writing about, how aliases work, and why some chapters had to be rewritten after a breakup even though the manuscript was already in motion. If you care about divorce recovery, relationship red flags, healing after heartbreak, and women’s empowerment with a sense of humor, this conversation stays real while still leaving room to laugh. 

On the practical side, we break down hybrid publishing, monthly accountability, beta readers in a shared Google Doc, editing rounds, copyright limits on song lyrics, and the new end-of-section playlists plus reflection questions that turn memoir into a tool. We also cover launch strategy, why books release on Tuesdays, Amazon categories, Kindle pricing, and what a “launch team” actually does. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review, and then tell us: what would make you show up for an author on launch day?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to Girl Gang Podcast. My name's Rachel. And I'm Brandy, and we are your host for this episode. Guess what, people? We're tuning in from our nice comfy chairs in the new podcast studio. I'm loving it. If our mics sound terrible, you know, that's on the next upgrade. So eventually we'll get the new mics. Baby steps, okay, guys. Baby steps. But hey, we have some comfy chairs. We got some nice little books to look at. We got some ottomans. So we're living life right now.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

It's like a legit studio now. It looks like a legit studio. So slowly we're upgrading. We'll get a couch, get some new mics,

New Studio Setup And Upgrades

SPEAKER_00 0:34

we'll be living life. So I think this week we're talking about book stuff, right? Yes, because that you've announced that it's coming out in August. It's coming out. Yeah. So for anybody who is new to the podcast, I have been working on a book for the past couple of years, actually. I know. I was getting ready to say, I was like, I think it's been a couple of years now. It's been a couple of years. So I started my therapy sessions actually with Gina, writing these SNID bits of information, like key

The Book Announcement And Why Now

SPEAKER_00 1:09

moments in my life that I have struggled with. And as I, you know, I kind of word vomited all of the situations, and then I wrote about each of them, and we slowly went through them in therapy. And as we started going through them in therapy, I just thought these could probably help people, like talking about these situations.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Um and so in 2022, I started heavily like Have you been going to Gina that long? Oh girl, yeah. Like this year will be five years. Dang!

SPEAKER_01 1:42

You gotta get her a gift. Five year anniversary.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Five-year anniversary. So like it's it's actually very full circle because this will be the five-year anniversary of leaving my ex. And it's coming out the week that I left. Yep. Yeah. Yep. So yeah, I started speaking. I saw Gina once and I left my husband. I forgot about that. I remember that though. Yeah, so it's it's actually very symbolic for me that it's coming out on the five-year anniversary. Um, but I was writing it in 2022, and you know, this is the time where I was secluded in my apartment, nobody could come. I had all these poster boards, and I had a poster board that just mapped out the whole book, every section, every chapter. I drew the cover, and I was like, by my 30th birthday, I'm gonna publish this. And we missed that mark a little bit, but missed the mark just a little bit, but you know, I blame love for it, honestly, because I started dating somebody and I fell in love again, and it was like the first person that I loved after my ex-husband, and I kind of just sidetracked. I was like, oh, it's fine, like I found love, everything's good, like why would I want to fuck up my ex-husband's life? He's with somebody, like, he's doing good. Why should I rock the boat? Things are cool. So I was just like, nice little beau. I'm done with this story, and all is well. Um and now look at it. All the men included in this book. And actually, I never uh really wrote about blues guy. So blues guy was the guy that I loved and like first relationship after my ex-husband. So actually, going back to this book, I wrote about blues guy, I wrote about my most recent ex. Yep. So there's three new sections that were not a part of the original book. What's the third? The lighthouse. And oh, right, your lighthouse, like this whole new aspect of being the light in your own life. Um, so when I was thinking about this book, when I was in my marriage and getting out of my marriage, I just thought about drowning a lot. I felt like I was suffocating, I felt like I was never gonna come up for air. Yeah, and so that's where my book title came from, Drowning. And so the whole there's nine sections. Every section has a different water theme. So um you have things like driftwood and ebb tide and hurricane and storm and open sea and and eventually you kind of, you know, it I started, I actually went back. I went back to my childhood. Things that triggered me in my childhood. You were a beta reader, you know. Uh oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

I'm excited to see what you've added though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

So, oh yeah, there were a few ones that I added. You're like, why didn't you write about that? You need to add that. Um so I went through my childhood, my parents, a lot of situations that I grew it, uh grew up dealing with, and then, you know, dating

Water Themes And The Story Arc

SPEAKER_00 4:45

so young, doing long distance in college, getting married so young. Yeah. Um all my worst nightmares. I'm just kidding. I mean, hey, hey, you live and then you learn.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Um thank you for making those mistakes for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah, I got you. I got you. I'm here for you. See, I can help others on this journey. Like, don't get married until you're at least 35 and you'll be good. Um, so yeah, went through all of that, went through like really the red flags that started to appear in my marriage, and how that was going, and how I got out of my marriage, how I went into like this very isolated time of my life of really reflecting, but also like meeting other men and like learning life outside of one penis because I had only seen one penis.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

I was gonna say, while you were a bit of a recluse, you were also I was getting up there. You were learning a lot about yourself. Yeah. In more internally and in other ways.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Romantically. So it was very much a time where I had a lot of guilt about ending my marriage, but also a lot of freedom, but also a lot of freedom and a lot of mental health issues, so a lot of emotions and feelings. So wrapped it up with a nice little bow in 2022 and said, hey, like mentally, I finished this. But then last year, I one of my old professors that um I had during my master's program had written a book. She came out with a children's book, and I had reached out to her. I had been kind of following her along um on her journey, and her and I had met for coffee, and this was kind of the time where you probably remember this, but I was like, I want deeper friendships. Like, I'm tired of the surface level bullshit. Yeah, this is where I made you like. That was only 2000. That was so it's technically two years ago. So, like in 2024, I said this.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Okay, before we go into that, let me circle back real quick before we get too far off topic. Okay. In 2022, you said you had it like wrapped up and done. Yep. Why didn't you go further with it? Like, why didn't you pursue publishing at that time?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Um So I was actively working on it, and I was at the part in the book where it's very much like living in the gray, how to know when to start dating again, how to know when to start loving again. And I changed some of this book, obviously, to flow a little bit, but

Why Publishing Felt Too Risky

SPEAKER_00 7:23

I had actually ended it with like, but hey, I met somebody and like I'm in love, and like it all worked out in the end.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

And well, we we know we know we know that's not how it actually worked out, but like were you just happy like keeping it as like a journal at that point? Because you weren't really looking into getting it published at that time.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

I had definitely wanted to publish, but I was actually too scared to do it because of my ex. Like I didn't want to hurt him.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah, there was a lot of like friendship big events happening where you guys were gonna be lots of friends, events, lots of weddings still happening. Yeah, where you were both gonna be in the same place, kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

So given the timing of everything, and our friend group was still very interconnected, I was just like, I don't want to piss him off. And like he seems like he's doing fine. I feel like I'm doing fine. Yeah. And then you just start partying with a lot of like random I mean, aren't I always the bigger person? Come on.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Mentally and physically.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Exactly. Um, so yeah. Um but yeah, I and I felt fine with it, like with that decision. And when we started the podcast, I felt like that's great, because then I can just use the podcast to kind of talk about what I've struggled with and have my blog and things like that. But so two years ago, it was deeper friendships. Yeah, and then I was taking that kind of whole year to kind of weed out the people in our friend group that I that didn't really matter, hone in on the people that did matter. And then last summer it was I came back from vacation and I was like, Oh my gosh, do I need to get a new job? Because I'm like mentally not okay being at home.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

And that spurred the whole, like, maybe I just need to do community service. And so that's kind of how I came to reconnect with my professor because um she had written a book, we had coffee, um, she had told me about a couple of organizations that I could join, be it uh, you know, small women like business owner, women's group, or a civic engagement organization. And then I asked her about the book and how she published it, and she had said that she had gone through a hybrid publishing company and worked with them. So that's what sparked it. She gave me the contact information for the founder of Little Black Book Women in Business, and so it's a St. Louis-based organization. You were in it for a period of time. Yeah, yeah. Short period, but yes, I was in it. So she introduced me to the founder of that. I emailed her and we had a Zoom call just to kind of understand should I join Little Black Book? What would that entail? I

Choosing Hybrid Publishing For Accountability

SPEAKER_00 10:16

didn't really feel like I should join because I don't own a business. I mean, yeah, we're not even though we do the podcast, it's mostly for fun and like we haven't really there's no monetization of it. There's no monetization.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Hey, if you would like to sponsor us, we are taking we have ad spots open if you want to help us monetize this.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

But um, yeah, we paid for these chairs out of our own paychecks. Like, we don't make any money off this, so we are Venmo us.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

We're very much in the red for this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Very much so. But hey, we just enjoy it. It's like a nice Thursday night together. So good time. Um so but I was intrigued by the publishing aspect because I had been kicking around that idea again, and so she sent me the information on how to work with them. And so what I like about them is they're a hybrid uh publisher. So they project manage you, you sign a contract with them, and then they project manage you. So I Which you definitely needed. I needed, yes. Because there was no fucking way I was gonna publish this thing on my own. Like, I I know that I could have done it, but I would not have kept myself accountable to actually self-publish my book.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Well, those yeah, they kept you like this is your due date. Like, I feel like while you're not as big of a procrastinator as I am, I love a good crunch time. Yeah. I still feel like you needed that because you'd probably still be editing indoors.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Like two days ago when I told you I finished my manuscript two minutes before it was due. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Or the extensions you needed, or exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

So, needless to say, I liked the idea of somebody keeping me accountable. Absolutely so I signed a year-long contract and I pay them monthly to work with me. And so she'll meet with me monthly. I have a project plan, and she would basically map it out and say, Okay, 12 months, you know, 11 months, 10 months, what do you need to be doing? So the first couple of months, it was all about I needed to write. Yeah, I needed to get between a certain word count. I think when I started, I think I was at like 36,000 words.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

And she said I needed to be between 40 and 60, was pretty good. Okay, you were pretty close to begin with. I was pretty close. I ended at 67. So I ended at 67,000 word count. Um that's crazy. You doubled it. I know, I doubled it. So, and I I really just went back through and I wrote all of the shit that I hadn't written the past couple of years. Yep. And I wrote those, and then I went back and I read the original stuff, and it was really clear that it sounded different. Yes. I wrote it different. This was feedback that you did. Yeah. So part one and part two, like now they sound more cohesive, but they were very different at the very beginning. Yeah. Um, so basically from August of last year, so 2025, to December, I wrote all of it. And then So did you start, was your one year did it start in August? It started in August. Okay. I was wondering where we were. Okay. Yeah. So started in August of last year. So finished it in December. And then from um January.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Well Well, she took a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I was yeah, I was done. And um Oh, beta readers. Forgot about that. Oh, beta readers. My part in the Okay, so in December, I finished it, and then I sent it off to beta readers. So from like mid-December to mid-January, we had beta reading. Yep. And I had like 15 people maybe do it, maybe less. So everybody had kind of a shared document. They could put in comments. Tell me what your experience was like with that.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, um, so it was like a shared Google doc, which I thought was a great idea, because then you could see other people's comments too, because like even in my professional world, I hate like sending something out for review and everyone has their own copy, and then you get five or six back and they all have the same comments in it.

Beta Readers And What They Caught

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

So it's kind of a waste of time for everyone if they're just repeating. So I did like that I was able to see what other people were posting in the document and commenting on. Um, it also helped me kind of understand what other people were like getting out of the book and what they were looking for. Because I mean, I was going in and I was correcting grammar and all kinds of stuff for you as well, because that's just my nature. Um, but there were several comments from from other people as I was reading it. I was like, oh yeah, that's a really good point. Like, you know, they're like, hey, this is um just kind of a random thought kind of thrown in this storyline. Um, can you elaborate on it? Or who is this person? Because you use aliases.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

And sometimes the alias wasn't Yeah, it was the original name still. Yeah, yeah. So people were like, you know, what's going on here?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Um Or like I mentioned them, but I didn't give them the backstory. Yes, that's so I had to go back through give people their backstory.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

I mean, it's hard because you know these people, and I mean that's just one of the biggest parts about writing that kind of style is you have to go in and talk to someone like you don't know who any of these people are.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Um, so I like I said, I am a known procrastinator. I did it. Well, first of all, I forgot what date it was due, and I was like, I think you missed the original deadline.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Did you miss the original?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Well, she had a like a stretch, like there was the original date, and then there was like a a week later where it's like Absolute Absolute deadline. And both of those were listed in the email. So my memory remembers the last one. The last one kind of. I was like, you know what, that due date's coming soon. And so I just so happened to finish this, and then I saw the email because like there was a a survey at the end too. And I realized I had finished like an hour or two before it was due. Dang. And I was like, I'm glad I decided to look because I hadn't looked at the date again. I was like, I just know it's coming up, and once that time hit, it was locked and everything.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Um so I think he even said, like, hey, I might have missed a few things, like because of the deadline, but maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah, well, and then I did the survey, and as I was answering those questions, I was like, and thinking about the book. There were things that those questions kind of had like the thought process. I was like, oh, this probably needed to be. Oh, yeah. So then you added that in and so I added it into the survey just based on how like those questions. I hadn't really thought about those when I was doing the the live reading. Um but it was kind of thought-provoking, and I was like, oh yeah, like this probably should be a little different. Or um I think that's when I kind of voiced the difference in the Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

So all the feedback was anonymous, but then I talked to Brandy about it a few days after, and I was like, hey, so this was the c this was the feedback, and she's like, Oh yeah, all those were my comments. So I was like, good, I agree with all of that, and like I'm gonna change it because uh based on that. So thanks, Brandy.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

I I read it like I do any other like beta arc reading, like I love doing that kind of stuff. So I you you weren't one of my best friends, you were just a reader that or an author that needed some some advice from an advid reader.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Yeah, and what was interesting is I had I had a good mix of guys and girls, and the two people that surprised me the most were two of our guy friends. One said, as soon as I started, I couldn't stop. Like he just read it straight through.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

And the other one said, You made me cry.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yep, I know that one.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

And I was shocked because of who this person was. So I was like, Holy shit, I'm also getting through to men, which is very exciting.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

So I when you were originally writing it, I don't think that was really in your I mean it was it can be for anybody, but like I lean into like women's helping women, and like I went through this.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

It wasn't your intention, it was just kind of a an added bonus that it really resonated with men. Yeah. Which I because I mean it's hard to do because you're speaking from a women's perspective a woman's perspective. Yeah. And that is going to be different. Um, but at the same time, there's men out there that have also experienced what you have with their their wives and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

So that was exciting. Yeah. But uh so everybody did beta reading until through January. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

And then up to the last minute.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yes. And then I had to change it because my partner and I broke up. And we had broken So my partner I was saying, a lot has changed since August. Yeah, yeah. So actually, people who beta read will actually be surprised by the changes because um we had broken up in December, but I had already like sent it to my publisher, like people were already getting it and like reading it when we broke up. And for the whole month of January, I was kind of like, do I change it or do I just leave it the way that it is? Yeah, you sat on that for a while. I had to sit on it for a while because my ex

Rewriting After A Breakup

SPEAKER_00 20:04

and I are still friends and we still run in the same circle. And I You didn't want to rock that boat. I didn't want to rock the boat, and I did bring it up to him and because it was kind of a sore subject when we were dating. Like he What? Some of the things you wrote about were the reasons you broke up. Well, he when I was writing it, he was worried about what I was gonna say. And oh my gosh, you should see Brandy's face right now. Um, so he was kind of worried about how it would approach certain situations when we were dating. And out of respect for my partner, I wrote about it slightly differently. So then when January came and I was sitting on it, I just mentioned to him, like, I might have to change this and I might have to write about it. And he said, It's your book, like you gotta do what you gotta do. And to be honest, I don't think he's gonna read it. Like he pretty much told me, like, he's never listened to the podcast, like he won't read the book because he doesn't want to, you know. I don't think he wants to go through those hard emotions, but I don't know if he wants to know, honestly. Yeah. Um I can see that for sure. So I went back and I rewrote. And I can't fucking wait. So there are some really hard chapters in I'm sure it was hard to write too, because it was pretty fresh. It was very fresh. So section eight, uh I'm skipping to that section first. Yeah. So section eight is pretty rough. Um but it's part of your story, so it's part of my story, and I have never been so bold in standing up for myself as I did in this past relationship. Because you're growing. I'm growing, exactly. So it's like even though I was put into some, you know, I was in some sh shitty situations. I really stood up for myself. I learned from that situation and I was able to move on and process it. So it all has been processed and written. And now that we're in end of April, it has gone. I know. It has gone through my editor. So my editor has gone through like two full rounds of editing and we restructured it.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yeah, because you had some copyright potential issues too.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Yeah, at the end of each section, I wanted to quote a song and I had lyrics from songs, and they said you can't do that because we have to get approval from the artists. So um when I don't know if I can't remember if it was structured like this when beta reader beta reading happened.

Editing Rounds And Playlist Reflections

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Well, it was structured like this. So at the end of each section, there's kind of like a pause, listen, reflect section. When I had taken all the feedback from beta reading, I just did an end of section one, end of section two. But because I couldn't use those song lyrics, my editor put back the pause, reflection, listen shuffle. And we like really hashed that out. So that was where a lot of hours were spent.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

And that's actually what took me up till the last hour was because instead of one song with lyrics, I could now map out like all of the songs that represented that time in my life.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

So I'm like, this song in this song, in this song. And so it's like a playlist at the end of each section. Okay. And so at the end of each section, it will state the red flags that came up during that part of the book. Um, the questions. So it'll ask questions like, when was a time that you didn't listen to your gut? And how can you start to listen to your gut? Or um what are what's a current toxin in your life, whether it's a person or thing, and how can you remove that from your life? So reflective questions, then you've got a mini playlist, and then you've got a shuffle, and it'll say, like, no matter what, trust your gut or know that you have a voice or something like that, just to remind people that even though you've dealt with these hard situations, you don't have to continue to be in those hard situations in the future. You can always shuffle and change and grow and learn and excited to be able to do that. Come so far in five years. Um that so just got done with that, and then so that was just a few days ago. So I she went through two rounds of editing, and then I took a good couple of weeks to read through all of her comments, finish everything, and then I submitted it back to my publisher. Now my publisher is going through and doing grammar review. Yeah. So she'll do grammar review. So things that I have to work on while she's doing grammar review is I had to fill out a couple of forms of like what do I want my voice to sound like for social media posts. So I had to fill out like my author bio, um, like keyword tags if people search for my book. Um, so I had to do kind of like an author bio sheet, and that's how they took the information to do my social post. So I had told people that I was publishing, but they just posted on their own social media like a week ago, stating that I was joining them as an author.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Um, so that was exciting. And I had to fill out like a design request form,

Cover Vision And Author Logistics

SPEAKER_00 25:48

and so they've done a couple of rounds of book cover designs for me, and I just don't like any of them. I haven't.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

I've seen them, but they're not they're not great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

So I just I don't like what they've designed for me, and so I have a couple of conversations out to some other designers. I don't want anything AI generated, I want it to be like a unique cover, and I have a very specific vision in mind.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

I think that's the hard part for you is other people maybe don't have a cover in mind or they're a little more open to ideas, whereas you've had, like you said, you were in your apartment post-divorce and you had your cover visualized. Yeah. And to sit on that for five years and it not change and everything, like that's what you want.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

And originally when it was just drowning and the lighthouse piece wasn't part of it, it's one thing. Like, I think we could have gotten there, but now that I have like this lighthouse aspect, it's like everything needs to be dark and heavy except for the lighthouse, and the lighthouse needs to be very bright, watercolors, everything like that. So we'll get there, but it's just kind of debating like, do I try to design it myself? Do you try to do it for me? Like, do I find a designer to do it? Can my publisher like understand my vision and go with it? Yeah. So I meet with her tomorrow and we'll talk about it. But yeah, basically within the next month or so, we have to wrap that up. Um, and then I have to be applying for my I think it's called Library of Congress number or something. So that makes sense. I have to apply for that. I have to set up my like Amazon um and my Ingram Spark like accounts. Okay. Because it'll I'm basically tagged as like an author or whatever, and then when people buy them via print on demand, then it it gets tracked through my accounts. Got it.

unknown 27:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Because with hybrid publishing, they're only project managing me, and they'll get me up to launch, and then once I launch, all of my royalties stay with me. Nice. So that's why everything's set up in my name, and that's why I have to set up all the accounts. They're helping me get my ISBN number created, and like they'll help me get it into the you know, the book into the digital systems, right, get them designed, all that kind of stuff. But everything I keep once people start buying them. That's exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

And you better buy it, everyone. Comes out.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

And I'm learning. I'm like, I you know more than I do about this kind of stuff, but like apparently books come come out on Tuesdays.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

So books come out on Tuesdays, and the goal is on the day of release, the Kindle price is like hella cheap. It's like $1.99. So buy the Kindle version. You can also buy the paper version, but buy all the copies. But the more copies that are sold on launch day means that I could fall into like

Launch Day Plan And Release Party

SPEAKER_00 28:45

a bestseller category or like most popular category on Amazon. And you're gonna be seeing more in all that. So, you know, that little tag that's always like Amazon's choice, like it would basically be like reader's choice or something like that. And so I'll probably fall into the memoir self-help side of things, but there are sub-genres that I can fall into, and we'll probably try to research to see like if I fall into this category, like how many do I need to sell to kind of get on the list? Yeah, like there's not an exact method, but we kind of know like what we need to aim for. Yeah. So as of right now, if nothing changes, August 18th, it's a Tuesday, it'll come out, it'll be available on Amazon, and Ingram Spark is like Barnes and Noble's print on demand.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

So it'll be available via those items. And then the following Tuesday will be I'll do like a little party. I don't, it's not gonna be like anything crazy, although my dad is like super jazzed about this thing.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I don't have to be like, um, girl, I've already got some ideas, so maybe I need to get done with your dad.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Because my dad is like, when is this happening? Can I pay for it? Like, just we're gonna rent a room and like I'll pay for all the food. And I'm like, Dad, I've people are just gonna show up at a bar and like I'm gonna sign some books. I don't know. Like, that's what I'm envisioning. Boo. No. Okay, okay. So boring. I don't know. It's like a Tuesday, and honestly, like I was thinking it would be cool to do it on a Saturday, but we're gonna be at girls' float trip that weekend, which would be like the five-year anniversary. So I'm like, float trip is like solid. It's locked in. We're not changing that.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Look, we're 33, not 83. We can go out on a Tuesday, okay?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

We're getting crowned on a Tuesday. Dad come out on a Tuesday, dad's coming out on a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

We can go out on a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Although I am kind of worried for him to read it. Because I have told I'm like, Dad, this isn't like PG. And like I do talk about you in the book. I also reiterated that to him last night. I was like, just let you know, like you and my stepmom are mentioned.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

And he's like, the truth hurts sometimes. Like, you gotta write what you gotta write.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

See, and I wasn't even thinking about those parts because deep down he knows those parts happened. Yeah. I was more concerned about all of this, the all the sex talk and sex. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

I'm like, I don't want my dad to know like what I've done and what situations I've been in.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

When I think about different dicks.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

So, but he like people are on board. He shared it on, he doesn't even really know how to get on Facebook, but I got him reorganized on Facebook. He shared, he like, he shared it at. Yeah. So he's shared it on Facebook. He's told all my aunts and uncles, and they're like, Rach is writing a book? What?

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Like, whoo, the next family reunion's gonna be awkward.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah. So no, it'll be fine. But I'm just kind of like pre-warning people, like this is not PG. Like I do. Do you have a trigger warning in the beginning? I don't have a trigger warning, but I have like um I have changed, I disclose that I've changed names of characters and that this is kind of a hard book, but it's meant to be as a tool to help others. Yeah. I mean, I don't none of the situ I mean, some things could be triggering for people, but maybe I should add in trigger warning.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

I mean, you talk about like alcoholism and things like that. Yeah. Trust me, what they what people put as trigger warnings now. Yeah. I mean your book covers quite a few of those.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Okay, note taken, talk to publisher about trigger warning. But um I think that I do a good balance of like I talk about hard stuff, but I try to make it light in other areas as well. Oh yeah, you dropped some pretty funny lines throughout the book. I don't know. I know going back and reading some of it, I was like, oh my god, I can't believe I fucking wrote that.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

So you know me, Miss Emotional. Um, I did not cry during it, but I laughed a lot. You laughed a lot, okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Because some of the stuff I was just trying to picture you saying in real life.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

I know. And you're like, yep. Okay, she would say that. Yeah. Um, some of the last chapters, I got emotional. Like I really should. I mean, I I got kind of emotional um reading some of it, but there's this one chapter that like I wrote and it's towards the end. Is it section eight? It's section nine.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Cause like section eight and section nine bleed together with the X. Okay. But I'm sorry, I think I took a picture of it. I could take a picture, like I could pull it up and I could read it, but I I'm like, I think out of the whole book, like that is the most powerful section for me. It's called um what is it called? I'm just gonna look it up because I so if I had to say the most emotional chapter for me was if I can find it right away, but maybe I can't find it right away.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Weren't you just working on this like three or four days ago? I'm just kidding, my memory sucks too. I'm sure it all blends together as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Yeah. I think it's called four loves. I think that's what the chapter is called. Four, like F-O-U-R?

The Hard Parts And Four Loves

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Yes, like the four loves. And basically the chapter is I've loved three men in my life, and they all treated me like shit. And I love myself enough now preach to know that I don't deserve what they gave me. And I learned a lot. Like I needed to go through those situations to know that I deserve better. Yeah. And that's probably the most emotional chapter for me.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Okay. I'm excited for that one. Four loves, that's what it's called. I like that. That's a good chapter, Cut Idol, too. Yeah. You did well on that.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

And if anybody has ADHD like I do, it's very much like one to two pages.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Like they're just they're quick little section chapters, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

It's like, you know, I thought of a memory, I chatted about it, and then we move on to the next one. And it goes through a span of my whole childhood until I'm 34 years old. Thir well, 33, technically.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Yeah. I I I've read, I know it book you based the kind of um model, like the short stories and everything. Like I read that one. And for for me it's it's just not the style that I would have like wrote in. But I know your influence and how much you like that. I will say though, as someone that reads before bed, and I usually like try to close out a chapter, but like I don't like to try to Yep. It's very easy to read in like short stints. So if you're not a big reader and you know, you just want to kind of pick it up when you have like five to ten minutes here or there, you've got like young kids and you just want to take like a five-minute break and get a book read. Yeah. The layout of this and how you uh did the formatting and everything makes it very easy for a busy person to just sit down and and read small sections at a time. And and I think for a like memoir self-help book, having them in smaller sections allows people, especially if they have gone through similar things like you, uh it gives them time to process before you jump to the next the next thing. Um, you know, they can read the story, they can process it, they can kind of see how it was similar to them, how their their story was impacted and you know, learn from that. So I think I think it's a it's a good way for people to take some of the heavier stuff in small doses.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

I think it took me eight hours to reread it. By the time I because I've reread this thing um a lot of times, but it's about eight hours just reading it through. Because you're the writer. I stop, I look at things.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Oh no, I was saying you read faster. Oh, you already kind of know the flow.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Yeah, maybe know the flow, but I would say it would take less than eight hours for somebody to read it.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

But if I had to guess. Which I mean, if you only got 10-15 minutes a day to to read, that adds up. So um okay, so you know, we'll be we'll be advertising this more as August approaches. Yep. And I did kind of have a question. I mean, we have the ability to record. Have you th had any thoughts on making it an audiobook in the future?

SPEAKER_00 37:37

I have thought about it. Um, they do offer that as a package through the publishing company. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Um they probably have a better studio too.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Potentially. If I were to do it as an audiobook, even though I hate my voice, I was gonna ask if you were gonna- I think I would still want to read it because I think it's gonna personally anytime I listen to an audiobook, if it's from the author, I just feel like I'm more connected to it.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah, especially the memoirs and the self-help. I really feel like you

Audiobook Dreams And Voice Nerves

SPEAKER_01 38:06

put you're not just some stranger reading pages, whereas on a page you're feeling all you wrote.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Would I cried during it? I don't know. But I mean that's the whole point.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Like, that's what editing and cutting and you might have to pay a little extra because of all the stops are probably gonna have to do. But, you know, I feel like um like that's why I loved Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey. Uh what's the other one I read? Let them the Let Them Theories.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

She reads them. Yeah. She reads it.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

And while I liked like Brittany Spears' memoir, she didn't read it. Which I understand why she didn't, and she had a close friend do it, but it just doesn't hit the same way. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Uh Fahrenheit 182, Mark wrote. Yes, that's the other one I was thinking. Yeah. So I'm just like, yeah, it just it it it resonates with you more for sure.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Well, and like if you wrote a funny line and you like giggle about it, like that just adds Oh my god, but my giggle.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Apparently it scares nine-year-olds. Did I tell you the story? Okay, so I visited our friend on Easter and I giggled, and his son was like, your laugh scares me. It sounds like a horror movie. And I was like, Your dad loves my laugh. He's always said that that's like one of my best qualities, and he's like, No, I don't like it. It's scary.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Okay, first of all, what kind of movies is this child watching?

SPEAKER_00 39:31

I don't know, but he's nine, and I'm like, bro, nobody's not.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

No, you don't have a scary laugh at all. If anything, it's this like cute little timid hee hee. Yeah. And I'm the obnoxious hee-haw over here. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Well, I guess I don't resonate with nine-year-olds, but maybe like 34, 35, something year olds that read the book will resonate, and I'll giggle when I read the audiobook version.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Yeah. I I love a good audiobook, so I'm kind of hoping you do that. Once the dust settles and you maybe take a little break, because this has been a very um busy and kind of hectic, chaotic. Eight months? Nine months. What are we at? I mean May, June, July, yeah, roughly eight months.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Yeah. So next steps will be social media start going out. So if you um I am looking for like a launch team. So if you feel like you listen to the girl gang or you follow me on social or anything like that, launch team would basically consist of sharing it out to your people on the day that it launches. Maybe a few days leading up to it, just letting people know like, hey, this book's coming out. But really on launch day, it's like sharing it out, spreading the word, buying the copy on the day of um would really

Launch Team Details And How To Join

SPEAKER_00 40:55

love your support. And then if you buy a physical copy and get it, then I'll sign it and do like a personalized letter in your book on that following Tuesday. So how does one join your launch team? Just text me, call me, DM me. Okay. We text us via the girl gang.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

If you don't know us personally, um, we'll make sure on the girl gang socials and maybe even on the website, we can we have a texting link through our podcast.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you text our podcast link and just say, Hey, I want to be on Rachel's launch team, then I can get in contact with you and get you the information that you need. But probably put your name and like email. Yeah, do that.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Um, but if we do if I do a post on Facebook and Instagram, their name will be on the comment and they can just comment. I'm interested.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

And then you can side message you and we can talk about the details. Slat into your DMs. Yeah, slide into those DMs. Um, but no pressure. I would just, you know, share it out. If you can't afford it, um it will be like it's going to be less than $20, you know. Yeah. So I think it's gonna be like $19.99. Also, Amazon just chooses when they discount books, so I'm sure at some point it'll be like 50% off.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

There's a lot of um self-publishers and like smaller authors that can be a little critical. Like Amazon looked after Amazon, yeah, but it's it's such a solid platform that everyone goes to that it's hard to not use them.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Yeah, you know. Like at the end of the day, I would love support from friends and family, but truly this was for me as a P form of therapy, and I feel like the only way I could process all these things in my life was to write about it, and if it could help one or two people when they're struggling, that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Well, it already helped one person, it helped you. It did help. Yeah. A second person would be good.

unknown 42:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Okay, at least I got a few laughs out of my beta readers, so you know, I'm doing something right. Laughs and tears, apparently. Laughs and tears, so we're here for it.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

And a little bit of um um stress from waiting too long. But that was all that wasn't you, that was me. No, that's life. That's life.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

So well, thank you everybody for listening to this episode. Really excited to launch the book. I know August will be here before we know it. I know. So we'll definitely be promoting it on social. Um, if you have questions or anything, let us know. But as always, thank you for supporting us.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Um, when we get a few more upgrades to the podcast room, maybe you'll start seeing us on video. And I'm sorry in advance. So, new things coming later this summer for the girl gang.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

We're getting there.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

We're getting there. Slowly. Yeah, slowly. Follow us on social, check out the website. We'll

Closing Thoughts And What’s Next

SPEAKER_00 43:52

see you all soon. So, until next time, stay bold. Stay empowered, girl gang out.