Talk Wordy
Welcome to TALK WORDY, where bestselling romance and fantasy author, Sydney Applegate, dives into the wonderfully chaotic world of books, TV, movies, and writing—with a healthy dose of humor and the occasional personal overshare. Whether you're a fellow word nerd or just here for the hot takes and plot twists, you're in the right place, so settle in as I talk wordy to you *wink*
Talk Wordy
love is a drug - feat. alyssa burns
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Hey y'all! Thanks for tuning in to a very special author interview, where I had the pleasure of chatting with Alyssa Burns about her debut novel, THE LAST SPECIAL THING. Why is this so special, you may ask? She's one of the hot girls in my Hot Girls Who Write writers group! Cheers to the first of many friendly interviews with my incredible writing peers. Be sure to check out her bestselling novel which is OUT NOW! (Recorded March 2026).
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wordy, my hub for all of the words that I read, write, or otherwise want to yap about. Today, I have a very special author guest on the pod. She is the Amazon best-selling author of The Last Special Thing, which is available now. Please welcome Alyssa Burns. Hi, I'm so excited to be here. This is an extra, extra special episode, you guys, because this is my first friend from my wonderful, beloved writing group, Hot Girls Who Write. I have been so like giddy and nervous at the same time to bring on one of my fellow hot girls onto the pod. So thank you for popping my cherry in that sense. You are wonderful. I'm so, so excited that you're here today. Thanks for having me. I'm excited. Okay. So what I like to do with my guests to just kind of break the ice and kick off the episode, I like to discuss and debrief everything that we are reading, watching, and listening to. So I'm gonna let you do the honors. You go first. What have you been reading, watching, and listening to these days?
SPEAKER_02I am currently reading Dear Future Husband by Taryn Christine. I'm about halfway through. I'm obsessed with it. She's a fellow hawk girl. I read her other book and she just does emotional so well. Like she really gets you in there. So I'm reading, also kind of taking notes because I'm so jealous of that writing talent that she has. And then let's see.
SPEAKER_00Oh wait, so you read Dear Me first, and then now you did.
SPEAKER_02I read Dear Me. Because I was an art reader for that. And that kind of happens sometimes. I feel like in the ARC world, where sometimes you go out of order.
SPEAKER_00I like that though. Okay, so that's what you're reading. What are you watching and listening to?
SPEAKER_02I am a big reality TV girly, and especially especially challenge shows. So, as you know, I got Dancing with the Stars with you, waiting for that to come back. We just finished traitors, so right now I have Survivor. Survivor's up. That's what I'm watching every week. I'm locked in. Because it's Survivor 50, right? It is Survivor 50. It's in the hands of the fans. I'm obsessed. There's a lot of people in the cast that I'm excited to see back. And uh yeah, always cheering for Suri. I don't know if you've watched Survivor, but she's a legend somehow. She pulls off the social game that she doesn't need to do anything else but smile sweetly. And I'm amazed by her.
SPEAKER_00Spoilers, she won the traitors, didn't she? That's the same one.
SPEAKER_02She did win the traders. She did win the traitors. Well deserved. I want to see her again on a trader's all-stars. I hear they might be having something like that in the works.
SPEAKER_00I would love to see a trader's all-stars. I feel like we need a couple more seasons across all franchises first. It still feels a little early. Also, speaking of dancing with the stars, it's about time we get another all-stars season. We've only had one. It was season 15. We are past season 30. Bring in the all-star season, please. God.
SPEAKER_02And I'm a new Dancing with the Stars girl. I'd say in the last like three years or so. So I totally missed the All-Star season. So that'd be fun for me to be like, bring them back. I've never seen them back before.
SPEAKER_00It is incredible. They get the partnerships, like the OG partnerships, pretty close. There might be some changes depending on like if multiple of the all-stars competed with the same pro in the past, but it was really, really good.
SPEAKER_02Well, then my votes for uh Whitney and Mark, they got they gotta come back. They need a redemption.
SPEAKER_00Yes, they do. I agree. Okay, and then listening to.
SPEAKER_02Listening to. I'm on a big Bella Kay fix right now. So that I like it, I like it, I like it. And uh oh my gosh, there's another one that I'm not gonna be able to tell you the name of on the spot. But it's all my ex is calling me crazy, but all my ex is call me baby. That's the name of the song, Call Me Baby. There we go. That's good. That's my hype song right now. I'm into it.
SPEAKER_00Incredible. Okay. Reading wise, I'm gonna be so honest, I'm in a horrible, horrible slump. But I am about 40% through the audiobook of um A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann. Um, so immersive and just very like, I don't know if meta is the right word, but it's so unlike anything I've read. It is so engrossing. She's gonna become like a future, oh my gosh, I would keel over and die if you came on my podcast type of guest. Um, she's this book is so good. Um, but I'm also starting the audiobook arc of um, oh my gosh, The Shippers by Catherine Center. I adore this woman so much.
SPEAKER_02Like so are you an audiobook really then?
SPEAKER_00If you had a pick a mode, that's you. I think I would pick audiobook because um my favorite method of self-care besides a hot and I do mean hot bath is just driving somewhere, getting in my car, putting on a music or an audiobook and just roaming. Um which in this economy with the gas prices right now, that's a really bad time to have self-care practice. But um yeah, I I think I'm definitely an audiobook girly now. Um but I do I love holding a physical book and seeing how many pages I've conquered. So I think e-book is my lowest tier. But like, don't counter out. Sometimes when we're sleep and it's dark, Kindle dark mode, I'm set. Um, so that's what I'm hypothetically reading right now. Um watching wise, um, I have I'm going through a career change, and for you know, reasons you can probably infer, I am really deep into Abbott Elementary. Um I love anything kind of in that like sitcom style, but like no laugh track, breaking fourth wall. I love that style of TV show. And I just think the cast is freaking incredible. Um it's so cute. I I think that's like the only thing I've been watching lately. Um, and then listening to uh besides we've already covered audiobooks, so I'm gonna say this is more so like music-wise. I'm about to go on sub. So I've been listening to a ton of ABBA because that like bolsters me and like makes me feel happy because um first time on sub and I'm still in it, it's been rough and it's been really trying. And um I need some joy. So I've been listening to ABBA in a ton of dad music, like cities music, which I love. I feel like the I think it's bittersweet symphony. There's like a lyric that's like, but I'm a million different people from one end to the next. Yeah, a couple of those million different people are middle-aged men on a yacht listening to music from the 70s. Like that's that's actually who exists. I'm just wearing the husk of a 20-something year old woman.
SPEAKER_02So I want to put you on that boat.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I need to go back. The it's 90 degrees here, and I'm just it's time to tan again. The index is above a seven, nature is here. You're happy. Yeah, I am a happy camper. Okay, so enough about me. Let's talk about you. Let's talk about this book. Um, okay, so with this being your debut novel, um, tell our listeners who may not be very familiar with you um a little bit about your personal author origin story. How did you know that you wanted to write a book, let alone this book?
SPEAKER_02Sure. So I was the little girl growing up who wanted to be an author. I told people that I took creative writing classes, I took news editing classes, I took broadcast journalism classes, I took it all until I finished high school and then was the time to go to college. And pursuing creative writing just wasn't a practical avenue. So I got as close as I could without doing it. So I majored in communication and I was like, here I'm still using some of these skills, but not totally creative writing focused. And then I went out in the real world and I got a big girl job and I went kind of the corporate track. I ended up going and getting my MBA, but I always stayed writing adjacent. And so from the time I graduated college, so the last 12 years, I've been writing for my neighborhood newspaper, just articles once a week or something. Uh, I enjoy talking to people and I enjoy telling their stories. So it's fun for me not paying the bills. And so that's kind of been how I've approached writing is it's something that I do that's fun on the side, but don't make it my whole life because I've got to be practical and reasonable and all those other things. And so I did all that and then I started having children and it changed my life because I had these two tiny humans. And all of a sudden, the nine to five that I worked so hard to get just did not appeal to me anymore. I've got other things I want to be doing. I want my time in the home. So I ended up going part-time at my corporate job. Very grateful for that to still help pay the bills. And I started thinking about like what I wanted to do as a mom, as a person with my own life. And it was write a book. And at the time I was like, even if I do nothing but write this book and put it on my bookshelf, I'm happy I've made my dreams come true. Like that was the goal was to print it out and put it on my bookshelf. And then I'm a tandem writer. So I started actually writing two books at the same time. Um, they are about girls who are like 18 to 20. That is a time frame that I found really interesting. I feel like you're out of high school, nobody's guiding you in the same direction, but you're not a responsible adult with bills to pay. So it's a really exciting self-discovery coming of age point in life, which is why I'm so drawn to that. And so I kind of had these manuscripts, and then I saw on TikTok Alyssa De Regard De Regadis. I was like, what is this book she wrote? It's called What You Want. Started following her. She started posting on her Instagram about these Zoom writings that she was doing. And I was like, okay, let me try that. I don't know. I knew nothing about the publishing field. Again, I did not go to school for this. So I joined that group. And there's a wonderful author like you who was already self-published at the time and was already in the trenches and doing all these things. And I was like, oh my gosh, so what is this path? Because I don't know anything about this path. And by being in the Hot Girls Who Write, I learned about all the paths, not just traditionally published. And so that's kind of how I started writing. And I did do the query trenches. I feel like that's a very normal thing to put your foot in the water, see what is this like. And I did that for four or five months, I would say. And I got a bunch of form rejections back. I feel like that's also very typical. And then I decided to make the move to go all in on the indie publishing. And it is so perfect for me. It is so right for me. I'm so happy being in the indie space. I feel like again, my MBA that I've kind of learned marketing, accounting, how to build a business, all these things kind of played into the indie market. And so, yeah, now as of this episode, the book is out in the world and I'm loving it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's so awesome. Okay, so um, going back to the hot girls, because shameless plug, join in, it's the best. Um, I think it's so interesting that it was being a part of Hot Girls that made you go, oh wait, like there are different routes to publishing. There's different hurdles I can either hop or opt out of or go this way. So kind of expand a little more on how you knew indie was the route that you wanted and was gonna fit you best. What about indie made you like really fired up and say, yeah, this is for me?
SPEAKER_02I think from an outside perspective, before you're in this, you kind of think that maybe indie is lesser or less validating than being a traditional author. And when I joined the Hawk Girls, I was like, oh no, it is not. There are some talented indie writers. Like in my head, I was just thinking, like, okay, if you're talented enough, you get in the industry, and if you're not, you're not. And then I learned that there's so many other things that go into the industry, like where your book fits on a shelf, what's trending right now, all these other components that really has nothing to do about talent. There's so many outside factors. Of course, you have to be talented, but there's more than that. So being a part of Hot Girls Who Write and seeing like HK Green is a very successful indie author and seeing other people do it and find joy in it. And it didn't feel like a plan B to me. It felt like a plan A that I was really interested in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh my gosh. No, seriously. Also, shout out to HK because hold out. She's one of those girls in the indie sphere that I'm like, she's building an empire. Like, truly. Oh yeah. I I can just see it in a matter of like, I really don't think it's gonna take her that long. Can I be so real? I really Oh, she's going, she's on fire. She what three books a year, something like that. Four, if you're not a bella, she just put out. I genuinely feel like we are watching somebody who like already she's really big, but like she's gonna be a staple. I'm gonna put that out there. The sweetest, too. She is like the opposite of a gatekeeper. She supplies you any information you want to know. And can I be so real? That's something else I love about the indie community. The gatekeeping is non-existent, at least in my experience. Any indie author that I have encountered has been more than forthcoming about hey, here's how you do your ISBNs, here's you know, watch out for this kind of a scam. Here's how you get your properly formatted, here's the pros and cons of these publishing platforms. And I just chef's kiss to all of them. Indies are so hardworking, and I love what you said about people sometimes think it's lesser than or a plan B. And I'm just like, now more than ever, I'm seeing so many authors where Indie is the plan A. There's so much creative control, there's so much more creative freedom. Um, and that's honestly like, especially because you know, I'm not gonna knock Trad for this, but Trad is very, very slow. Um and I mean, if your goal is to just have the book and like it still has the potential to go crazy berserk in the industry. I mean, look at Daggermouth. I mean, Agent Wolf and I shared an editor at one point, and now she's got a seven-figure book deal, which like mad props. It is not impossible for Indies, and it is so not lesser than I could I could go on a soapbox about it, so I have to limit my time. Um, but staying on the indie route, let's talk a little bit more about the last special thing. So I personally really love how unique this book is because it tackles what I would say is a fairly adult subject matter, but consumable and appropriate enough for the YA audience. Um, tell our listeners a little bit more about the ins and outs of your book.
SPEAKER_02Sure. So the last special thing follows 18-year-old Amelia. She just graduated from high school and her high school sweetheart breaks up with her. And so she's determined to have an adventure of a lifetime. She's just gonna have the most fun summer ever. And then she meets Art, who gives her the most fun summer ever. And as we kind of go through meeting him, falling for him, and learning more about him, it turns into a cautionary tale about drug exploration. And I think that that is so important for high school college age, because I think that that's when they're gonna be presented maybe with some of these things and not know how to handle it. I think if I offer uh a drug to a 30-year-old, they're gonna be able to stand firm in their belief of whether they want to do it or not. But I feel like at this earlier age, it's so impressionable. So for me, it's a very important story to tell. And this is the time to tell it, and it's in a responsible way. Again, this is a cautionary tale. She doesn't have a ton of fun with all of these. In fact, I don't know that she has fun on any of them. Um, and so this is the time to be able to have these conversations openly and honestly. And I just think of myself as a parent, and I'd rather my child read about some of these in a book, know what to expect, know how to talk, talk about it to people before they're out in the world in a situation that they didn't foresee and don't know how to handle it.
SPEAKER_00This book kind of kicks open the door for productive dialogue about it, which uh again, like is so important for that specific age because young adults, yes, the 18 to 20 year olds, but also like I feel like the further we progress as a society, the younger these kids are that when they're finding these things. It's so early now. I feel like, you know, mind you, I was oblivious at certain points in my childhood, but like I I didn't know what Red Ribbon Week was really about until I was like 14. I was like, oh, I see the problem here. You don't want me pouring cough medicine into my Diet Coke. Okay, right, right, or like all these other things, but um, okay, so even though it's a cautionary tale, I feel like there's still something for you know the everyday reader to enjoy. Um, what would you say? I like to ask authors like what's on the microtrope menu? Like, what can we expect from is there like yes, main tropes, but is there anything microtrope-wise that like readers should expect to latch on to?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I'd say that trope-wise, it's definitely a twin flames love, it's a fast grown love. We've got summer fun, which I think this book is perfect coming out spring break. Let's get your tip your toes in the water. But I think my favorite is that we definitely have a lady in the tramp vibe going on where she's from some privileged family and his bed is an air mattress. And so I think the dynamics of that are super interesting. And I think, too, how they then approach the drugs is super interesting because she's thinking that she has to go home and see her mom and she's got different consequences than somebody else who doesn't have that same family involvement.
SPEAKER_00That's fair, yeah. And let me tell you, more Laney and the Tramp vibe books, please. As but like reverse traditional, I don't care. I love that vibe so much. I've loved it since I was like four years old and watched AristaCat. So it didn't scrip itself, but um, and then for you both, whether that's as an author or as a reader, what are some of the YA books that you've read um that sort of inspire you?
SPEAKER_02So growing up, uh, I read Ellen Hopkins, which definitely talks about the drug world. Uh, but I think that in general I was drawn to kind of some of those darker books like Jay Asher does and uh 13 Reasons Why. And so for me, being an author, I wanted to add to the books that I loved, which has been so cool to see on Amazon that when I scroll past my book, I do see some of those. That is so much fun. Uh, present day, I've started the Voice of Tommen, which is an Irish set, yeah. And she started out Indian too, which is just amazing. But again, kind of navigates those darker themes. So I'm always drawn to the dark side.
SPEAKER_00I immediately was like, Star Wars, oh my gosh. I was like, I could insert Star Wars into any conversation. I'm like, okay, don't say it. And the intrusive thoughts won, but that's okay. Okay. So um for a lot of our listeners, they are either like authors themselves. Maybe they're teetering on the edge of becoming an author, they're thinking about it, or they're just interested in the process. So, as a debut author, I think it's so fun. I wish I personally would have reflected more on my debut author journey. So, um, out of that, I would love to talk a little bit more about your journey step by step. What would you say was the most fun moment of the process for you? And what was perhaps the most challenging?
SPEAKER_02So I would have to say the most fun has been working with my editor, Meg Rosenthal. She's been amazing and just writing it is so, she's a hot girl too. Writing is so solo, but only to a certain point. Then you want feedback. You want to hear what's working and what's not. So having the editor's been super great. And then when you moved on to the beta readers to get more opinions, more feedback, people who are making your story better, beta readers are the nicest people in the world. Like they get zero out of it. It's not even a finished book, it's not your best work. But the fact that they're willing to come and read your stuff and make it better for the next people, just that that's the best. So that's been the best. Challenging, okay. My biggest challenge is actually happening right now with getting your book into bookstores. I had no idea what that process is like. I actually was able to hire somebody, uh resident book gal. And so she's sending me emails on my behalf. And it's still a lot of work for me to be like, okay, what's this form? This person has a different. Form it's like college applications all over again. There's 20 different ways to do it. Some want you in person, some want you online, some don't want to talk to you at all. So, like that's been the biggest challenge right now is uh getting my books out into physical shops.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm so glad you said that because I feel like it's this invisible battle that like nobody prepares you for. You know, because in as an indie, you know, if they're in certain online real retailers, anybody in the world can buy it, but at the same time, a lot of us prefer going to support our local indies. Right. If they're not in there, what are you gonna do? I I feel so validated because of that. Oh my gosh. I mean, so glad you have somebody that also does that for you because as somebody that was doing that alone during my debut, keep it double it.
SPEAKER_02Research that you have to do. Like again, I only have to do the email and fill up the forms part of it, but the research to even find the Indians get all the yeah, yeah, absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I think easily something that every author like loves, at least up there, if not the most, is seeing the cover for the first time. What was that like for you seeing your book cover for the first time?
SPEAKER_02The cover was crazy five different times. Like it's crazy when you see the first mock-up, and then you go back and forth a few times, and then you find one, you're like, yes, this is it. And then it gets in your hands, and you're like, wow, this is like really it. What I do want to mention that nobody prepared me for was the sneaky how I would feel about the interior formatting. I had Sabrina Grimaldi, hot girl, sorry, hot girls just make books happen. I don't know what's like hot girls all day. She did my interior formatting and seeing like the bubbles, the text bubbles, seeing my name at the top, I was not emotionally prepared for that.
SPEAKER_00Let me tell you something. I majored in English, and I thought that it was just gonna be like I'd have grammar tweaks for the rest of my life, like, you know, silently correcting people's grammar. When I started like really reading books and looking at like the spacing, what font was used, you know, the formatting, the margins. Oh my goodness, it makes such a difference. There are right and wrong ways to format a book, and she killed it. Sabrina. You killed it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I also do want to say, kind of on the indie published journey, that that's something that we don't talk about enough either, is what are you paying for and what are you not? So, like I went and I found all my ISPNs. There's a lot of things I did on my own, but it's also important to know where you need help. Like, I know that my cover, I am not artistic. That was someone that I really wanted to help me. On the flip end, I've been doing social media pretty well. So that's something that I've really kept to myself doing. But find out where you're comfortable, where you're thriving, and find out what you're lacking and allocate your budget that way. But everybody's gonna have a different budget and different things that they're skilled for.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I like to tell new authors when they're like, you know, what do I spend money on? What do we do? I'm like, releasing a book is like planning a wedding. You have certain that you know you're gonna drop bank on because that's what's to you. And you know you want this to be really nicely tailored versus you could probably DIY this. It's the same thing with releasing a book. So for me, number one, number one was the cover. Truly, like oddly, even more than editing. I was like, I feel kind of strong. If I had to pick one, I would just, you know, my editing might suffer a little, but at least it is visually what I want it to capture, um, especially if it's on a shelf, like if it's in an indie bookstore or somewhere, it needs to look pretty. So again, like I will I will shout it from the rooftops. Uh releasing a book is like planning a wedding. And I think that's a great analogy. It is like, you know, even if you're single and you're like, wedding's not really in my future right now. So I mean, plan a party. It's like planning a party. Right, right. Anyways, um, what was it like? Oh my gosh, yes, we have to talk about this because I think this is the first time you're like being recorded talking about this since it happened. What was it like seeing your book hit a bestseller category?
SPEAKER_02I cried. I cried a bunch. I called my mom, I called my husband, called everybody I've ever met. I let them know. But um, no, it's crazy. So it debuted number one in new releases for teen and young adult drug and alcohol abuse. And so uh, I mean, again, I talked about before that these were the books that I was drawn to reading. So the fact that I wrote one that hit number one in the book at the time this happened, the book is not even out yet. So I just I feel like I had so many goals. And again, my first goal was put it on my bookshelf, and the goals have gotten bigger and bigger. This was not even on my radar. This was not something I was like trying to aim for. I didn't even know what happened. Somebody else brought it, pointed it out to me, and I was like, what are you talking about? Like, that's not real. I've taken so many screenshots, it it's very real, it's very real. So um, I'm excited, and it just shows that there is a market for this, and I hope other people get to see this book and get to enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00Also, love that you called everyone. Flex, on everyone, and also all of those screenshots scrapbook them, frame them. Like, I have a whole bin of stuff with like my little author milestones, not little, I'm not gonna put any of them. Like, they're big deals. Like the first time that I got mentioned in a local newspaper, like it's in the bin. Like, yeah, my screenshots of bestseller status, like it's in the bin. Like, my gosh. So own that. Own that.
SPEAKER_02I would like so excited.
SPEAKER_00Every time something cool happens to an author, I need you guys to have the attitude of prepare to be sick of me. Because you deserve it. You were you wrote a whole book. Do you know how few people do that in the grand scheme of things? I understand that there are a ton of authors, but like, let's be real, especially in the age of AI. Think about how few people are actually writing books full on.
SPEAKER_02Well, and my note too to everybody is don't sell yourself short. Like, I at first when I this first happened to me, I was like, okay, well, I was number one in this like subgenre of a subgenre. And it's like, who cares? I did that. Not nobody else is doing that. That the in the whole world, or at least in America, for this time, I was the one. So never sell yourself short, never humble yourself, humble yourself later. Right now, celebrate all your wins.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Okay. And again, I feel like you know what, we should just carve out some time for our hot girls because I did have this in my notes. I was like, so we actually met because of hot girls and we've established that. But who are some of the hot girls with book releases that are currently on your reading radar? I want to shout them out. I feel like we're gonna do every time I feature a hot girl, but like, oh my gosh, like I can't stop you, obviously. I was so pumped.
SPEAKER_02Um, Meg Duty, Meg Duty, she'll have released hers by the time this comes out, so go get it. Yep. Nicole Michael just released uh her novella. That's great. Cassidy's on my radar for coming up. We got Cassidy coming soon, and then um Sierra Zinky, she's got another one coming. Uh, it's a sports romance, and Cassidy's is a musician PR, which I'm super intrigued by. So I signed up to ArcGreed that fingers crossed.
SPEAKER_00I for I need to sign up if it's not closed already because it's gonna haunt me, it's gonna haunt me in the best way, and I'm ready for it. Oh my goodness. No, and again, I'm gonna plug Hot Girls hardcore now. Genuinely, if you are an author and you've been needing a community, but like you don't have time to meet people physically or whatever your excuses, we do write-ins once or twice a month. We have workshops, we have author panels. We actually care about each other, and there are so many different authors of different publishing styles, genres, processes, plotter versus pancer, um, indies, trads, you know, just now writing their first ever book and they don't know if they're gonna actually publish it, they're just trying to see if it works for them. Wherever you are in your journey, you you will find a home with us, truly. Also, we have a hot boy, so even though we're the hot girls, boys are welcome. But hot girls are mindset to welcome anybody.
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Uh okay. My last few questions for you. At this stage in your life, um, given Amelia's options, um would you choose a quiet life but a comfortable one? Or would you take a risk and live on the edge and have a life of adventure?
SPEAKER_02I quit my corporate job to book write, and I hope that'll pan out for me. But no, you you always gotta choose adventure responsibly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Possibly. Uh, this book is gonna go hard during Red Ribbon Week. Perfect. And then what is the biggest lesson that writing and publishing this book has taught you?
SPEAKER_02That the only person saying no is you. Like, I was the one telling myself I couldn't do it. I once I stopped telling myself no, then I wrote it, then I found a cover designer, then I did this, then I did that. So, like nobody's stopping you. If you're not walking, that's your own fault. So start walking. You could do it. Anybody can do it. You just gotta stop telling yourself no.
SPEAKER_00Incredible. Oh my gosh. Literally got chills. Anytime that like the writing advice is like, you're the only one that's in your way. I'm like, let me just back up a little bit. Not to call you out, but yeah. No. That's you. Okay, girl. This has been so, so much fun. Absolute pleasure to get to interview you. Um, please tell our listeners where they can find you, whether that's your website, social medias, all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_02I'm Alyssa A L Y S S A K Burns everywhere. That's the website, that's the Instagram, that's the TikTok, that's the threads. Uh, there's something called Lemon Eight. I don't know what's happening over there, but you can find me there too. I don't know. But happy to thanks for having me on. Happy to meet new readers. Hopefully, come follow me. Come check out the book, The Last Special Thing. You're the special thing. Can't wait for you to read.
SPEAKER_00Obsessed. Also, I feel like lemonade is proving that I'm getting a little bit older and it makes me sad because I've heard I'm I don't know. Okay, well, there you have it. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to Talk Worty, and my thanks again to Alyssa Burns for coming on the show. Don't forget to follow the podcast on Instagram at TalkWordypod, same on TikTok, and I will see you in the next one. Bye, you guys.
SPEAKER_01Bye.