Wife Mother Drunk With Emily Redondo

You can find Emily on IG at https://www.instagram.com/emilyredondo_author/

And her book can be found here:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/wife-mother-drunk-an-intergenerational-memoir-of-loss-and-love-emily-redondo/3c1d717f0ac20a42?ean=9781959524076&next=t

Or at your local bookstore. 

I’m Samantha Perkins and this is Why You Write That?!?!?  This podcast is for anyone who wonders what authors were thinking when they shared that really detailed secret or their most embarrassing moment.  For writers, future writers, readers, and those who love words Join me as I interview authors and writers to uncover the truth behind why they share all the of those cringey details and what it feels like to air it all! So press play and get ready to hear the story behind the words

Transcript

0:35

I'm so excited to be hosting Emily Redondo today. She and I met many years ago, actually, we were together in a writing group, which was called The Inner Circle, and it was with legacy Launchpad. And, now we're reunited. So let me just tell you a little bit about Emily. She is a writer, a bookworm, and a proud mother of four whose articles on recovery and motherhood have been featured in Love What Matters, genius Recovery and Legacy Launch Pad. Her interests include gardening. Camping, collecting antique curiosities and tinkering with her latest DUYI projects in her workshop, which is super fun. She lives with her husband, Pete, and they have a lively household in McKinney, Texas. She's also the author of her debut memoir, wife, mother, drunk and Inner. Generational memoir of loss and love. So welcome Emily, and thank you for being here. Thank you. I'm so excited. Yes, me too. So I had the privilege of having an early copy of wife's mother drunk, and I just gobbled it up. I had to read it from on my phone, which is a very old phone. I have like a. Like a five-year-old iPhone, which as those things, how do I, and so it would just shut off constantly as I was like reading. And so I'd have to turn it back on, start it over, and then get back to the spot that I was. But I read every last word on my tiny little old iPhone and I am eagerly awaiting my copy, which I've already pre-ordered so that I can get it in hand.'cause it's a beautiful cover by the way. It is. I wish I had it. Hang on. Let me see if I have it. Of course, I don't have a copy in here. I have this one, which is like the pre-release. Yeah, but it's actually a hardcover book. It's really. Yeah, I agree. It's pretty, how would you describe the process of getting to that cover? Because it looks like something, I know that the book is about your intergenerational life, and that's what I'm seeing. Like when I look at it, I'm like, there's some grandmother love coming through here. Yeah. It's really interesting the whole process once you do have a publisher because. Like certain things that you're usually obligated to, take responsibility for now somebody else is doing it. And in some ways that's good and in some ways it's really terrifying. Yeah. Even the title of my book I didn't come up with my title and. I've come to really love it. But at the beginning I was like, Ooh that's really out there. Yeah. Like my kids are gonna be like, my mom wrote a book, it's called Wife, mother Drunk, so I was a little nervous about that. And. It has really grown on me because, somebody asks about my book and really all I have to do is just say the title and they're either, running for the other side of the room or they're leaning in. But as far as the cover goes, we tried like multiple different kind of things and, They asked what my favorite colors are and so I threw out,'cause I love oranges and bright pinks and those kind of sunset, sunrise colors. Yeah. Except. Really out there, yeah. And it turns out that palette is, they looked it up and it was like the, like chaos colors, and we were all like, oh, perfect. But then I did love the handwriting, the font that they use. Yeah, the font. And I, here again, like we don't always know what's best because I. I was real hesitant on it, especially like the grandma. Because it was like, this is Oregon Trail, that, that is so funny. Yes. So it's do I really, is this really it? The more I sat with it, I was like actually it does make sense because, one of the things that really grabbed, my editor was when I said, okay I come from pioneers. And she was like, whoa. That's something right there. Yes. And they did do a wagon train, with OX and pulling their covered wagon and so I was like, hey, I like it. Yes. And I'm I'm into that stuff. I love old crap and antiques and. History stuff. So it does fit, it fits very well, but I couldn't see it at the time. I wanted a title that was super literary. Yeah. Like the John of New. Horizons or something like that. I don't know. Oh my gosh, I love this. Yes. My gosh. But I, it's funny because I, when I got back on, we were just talking about how, we were both off of social media for a while, and so I got back on right at the time that your, you announced that your book was coming. And I wa I was surprised by the title because I think maybe I heard, or I just listened to some of the things that you were writing about a long time ago. Like pre. Pre-draft, first draft, Yes. All the shitty draft. Yes. Yeah. And but I just, after reading it, especially like it just fits so well. And yeah, the cover, it does just pull you in. And I wonder too if, because of the cover title, people will be drawn because they're like, Ooh like you said, it is out there. But also I don't know that a lot of people are titling books that way. And so I think people are gonna be really drawn to reading that. Yeah. And I think also when you put those three words together, first of all, the acronym WMD. Also stands for Weapons of Mass Destruction, which I think might be my next tattoo. I dunno. But, I love it. The, all of those roles, the wife, the mother, and the drunk, it's not just me. Once you. The book yeah. It relates to other people in my family, which I think is really provocative for people to open up to thinking about those things. Yes, 100%. I felt like after reading it, I got, of course this is not true, but as a reader and a person who just loves I forgot halfway through that, like I, I actually know her and then I'm just like. Sucked into the story, oh, that's right. But I'm like falling in love with your family, oh, you, I just really felt just connected. As a mom, reader, I think like I'm connecting to the motherhood piece and as someone who had issues with alcohol, I'm connecting to the drunk piece and as a wife, I'm connecting to the wife piece. So I really right. Think that the title is awesome and just congratulations, you Oh, thank you so much. You made something really awesome and beautiful and I can't wait for Thank you everybody to get their hands on it. What I'm asking guests to do is really, I wanna talk to. The part that writers struggle with the most, which is how can I write a memoir? And I think it's funny'cause you mentioned this earlier, and I know for myself I wanted to write like a self-help book. I didn't have the skills, honestly, to write a self-help book. And so I ended up writing a memoir and it was funny'cause Anna, David, when I signed up for one of her classes, she was like, no, you're writing a memoir. And I'm like. Am I, like, how am I gonna tell a story about myself and just overcoming the vulnerability, like how can I share this for not only like my family and like my husband's family and all these, people I work with for them to read about it, but, for strangers are they gonna judge me and how are they gonna feel about me? Part of this is just like helping writers get over that hump of it's gonna be okay. You can write these vulnerable pieces. And by the way, every author who's ever done so, felt that vulnerability too. And I know that your book is filled with vulnerable pieces. Hard things to talk about. Yes, definitely. And, there's so many different aspects, but it's, there's like a process of being okay with the fact that, there are points in my book where I'm not a good person. I'm not being beha, I'm not being the good mom. That people, and some people just cannot. Come to grips with those types of things. So there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes of writing a memoir, I think. Because, I was not a good mother. I was also not. Not a good just human. And it's more a question of why wasn't I? Yeah. Instead of, this is how I was so crappy. Because I think there's a level of kind of artificial vulnerability when we say we're being honest, but we're more we're not really connecting with the feelings of it. And, the feelings part is really where I think readers can relate. Yeah. Not so much like what I think or what I do, but how I feel. Yes. Thank you for saying that. That's exactly the essence of what I was trying to get at. Yeah. And that is really, hopefully connects people. Yeah. We don't have to relate necessarily to your story, but just to feel like hush if she can live through this, and if she can accept and forgive herself, like that's really hopeful, for anyone. Yeah. And it's it's like even in, okay,'cause obviously I eventually get sober. But, what are the aspects of sobriety that we're not really focused on? And for me it was like, I. I could not live with myself in sobriety because I could see the, and feel and experience everything that I had done while I was in addiction. And that's a really ugly place. Yeah. And thank you for saying it that way, because that is true of your story. It is yeah you do get sober, but then yeah, you're left with, having to look back and that's just super, super painful, and you're not, you don't have your tool, your one coping tool to survive that one thing we're getting way off track here, but I Yeah, we're sorry. That's a No, that's okay. I love it. That's what I wanna do. I'm getting my readers on. Yes. The conversation can go where it goes, but one thing that just was something that stuck with me from the book and something that I know in my work,'cause a lot of times I do have a chance to talk to people about changing the way that they look at, just alcohol addiction in general, substance use. And one of the things that you said in the book was. You saw this mom who was like going through cancer and she, she was ill with cancer and like people were taking them food and people were hugging their spouse and they were offering support. And you said gosh, I wish that not, I wish I had cancer, but I wish that people would look at my illness this way. Look, when I was deep in, and I use the word alcoholism. And I know it's not, it's. Taboo now, but I definitely qualify as an alcoholic. This is what one looks like. Nowadays, we're not under the bridge. But I did want cancer. I was like, I'll trade this for cancer, please. And that's a terrible thing to think number one. To put that out into society and different circles, and it's like how, that's, it's a terrible thing to admit to, but do I really think that I'm the only one who's ever thought something like that in the depths of the despair? I doubt it. Yeah, but here's how, but here's how bad it was. Like I wanted cancer. Yeah. And also this is illness. Don't be mistaken. And I think like just with my own mental health battles yeah, I thought would I rather have this so that I could literally wake up and function and not have debilitating anxiety, so I, I just think that like looking at alcoholism and, mental health issues in the same way that we look at cancer or other severe illnesses is helpful as a reframe for people. And I was really appreciative of you putting that in the book.'cause that was profound to me. That's great. I'm glad to hear that, yeah. It's all worth it. Yeah. Okay. So speaking of vulnerabilities and things that you're writing in the book that you felt were maybe like a little tricky to share are I'm asking our authors to read a part that was like tricky to write about and something that you had to like, choose basically am I really gonna say this? Even though there might be a little bit of backlash. And I'm excited for you to read a little bit of a part of your book. That was a little tricky to share. This is taken from chapter 14, and all of my chapters are dated with a timestamp. So this is July of 2012. What does it do to a child to have a parent who refuses to love them? How does it feel for a child of any age to wonder what they did wrong, then spend a terrible amount of time trying to crack the code and win their parent over a spattering of memories along with photographs from when I was very young, proved a loving bond once existed between my father and me. In a blink, I never understood why I no longer lit up his eyes. It's not unusual for a little girl to want affection and attention from her dad. His approval confirms that we matter in this world because no man is more powerful than our dads. When we're young, they're the head of the house, the providers and protectors. I loved having him in my corner, and my best days were the ones where I made him laugh until his shoulders shook. I could see that he liked me. More importantly, I could say I made him happy that I kept growing, ruined what we had, and I could see with my 7-year-old eyes, the way my dad let up lit up. When Adam was born, my mom was right when she said a new baby brought us happiness when we needed hope. But I wonder how much of we included me. My little brother was immensely lovable. He crawled around the house with that blonde hair barely visible on his bald head, and both my parents would follow him with their giddy shitted in grins. I'm surprised my dad never tripped over me to get to Adam as he videotaped his every move with an eighties camera, almost an entire VCR slung over his shoulder. As the years progressed, I realized that Adam, who I loved, was the favorite, which I hated. He was my dad's perfect chance to start over. As a parent, my mother was similar in more subtle ways, but clearly in our house, Adam received the best side of dad, the better side of dad than my older brother Peter and I did. He got a different childhood than us. That's what happens in families like mine when kids get caught in the insanity of addiction combined with emotional and verbal abuse. By different versions of the alcoholic mom and dad. I couldn't recall a single time when my Dad's Fury shot off at Adam. Never had I witnessed my father humiliate or insult my little brother in public, nor did I see him brought to tears at the kitchen table and the effect it all had on me complicated the way I thought about myself. To be fair, the collapse of my relationship with my father stretched well beyond Adam. But at night when we gathered in the family room to watch television, all five of us stuck in the tension of togetherness. I stared across the room at my dad and his recliner with Adam tucked beside him in the space that used to be mine. I wasn't mad at my brother, not even my dad, because that's not the way a child thinks. I was mad at myself and the parts of me that caused the rejection, did he get bored of me? Bored of brushing my hair at night. Was he disappointed? I never played little league sports like Adam did I get too fat in fifth grade? Too ugly in middle school. Did I yell at him too much as a know-it-all teenager? That first wedding invitation that didn't have his name on it, or was he still mad? I blew the cover off as drinking because it takes an awful lot of anger to fault a family member for the way life turned out, which is precisely where we ended up. I blamed my father for everything when I was younger, and he blamed me too, but I was also his daughter endlessly searching for the love for the one love I could not seem to earn. Wow. I just love, I love your writing. It's just so good. Oh, thank you. Yeah so what was. That I can imagine that was hard to write, especially for, your brothers to maybe read and hear. So just tell us, about that. The reason I put that, that in there is it's a lead up to what, what ends up happening in that chapter as it relates to my dad and Adam and I, but I think that part of the tricky thing is thinking about what other people are gonna say Yeah. When they read it. Especially people who know my family and who knew my dad and my mom. And also it's my, my dad is not alive. So it's like, how could you. Be so insensitive. And also one thing about writing, about, the family that's in alcohol and abusing alcohol family is so much of it happens behind the scenes. So much of it is not put out there. At even family reunions or, whatever. There's a lot that happens behind closed doors that if you open those doors people aren't gonna believe you. Yes. And that's that was really something I had to completely deal with. And It's. It's a very isolating thing in a little ways to like for example, I have an uncle who, his thing is that he wants, your dad really wasn't like that. And I'm like maybe for you he wasn't right. And how do I not, kind of backpedal and soften the story to make the naysayers or the opinions quieter. Yeah. One thing I do when I'm working with women is really like using writing as a tool to heal and see yourself. Because I always say, and I may have even gotten this from you, but like the page reveals, right? Like when you write this shit down, like you see it back in a different way than maybe what you experienced when it was happening, and it, and in, in that scene where I can, I just. Picture you guys sitting in the family room and Yeah, there's nothing being said. There's nothing, no one's doing anything, but you're looking over and seeing Adam and with your dad, and you were having all of these feelings and you're finally, at the age now able to share that. And it is like super vulnerable to, to go back to that time and to say it. But yeah, nobody else would've seen or even maybe known in that time that's what you were feeling. Yeah. And also to say, I didn't feel like my dad loved me. Yeah. And whether he did or not is irrelevant. It's what did Emily feel? Yes. And back to what you said about what writing, how it can heal and stuff like that. I think it's also for me, because there was a lot of things like, you don't talk about this. You don't have a different opinion, I live in Texas and the whole state of Texas has its own voice. Yes. And growing up there, there's things that are like big no-nos. You gotta be careful what you say in certain aspects. That it's our first chance. It was my first chance to be able to speak freely. Yeah. And say whatever I wanted, whatever I needed to say on paper, because it was open to nobody was gonna read it. And it was almost like there wasn't this pressure to. Have an audience. Yeah. To be going in a certain direction to have a theme. And I started that really young, actually. I started writing experiences and thoughts to try to like, feel something. When I was young, probably starting when I was, I'd say 10. Because you couldn't say anything in my house. And you couldn't feel anything. It was really under the threat of like really serious, getting in trouble and Right. Facing rage, yeah. Which was very unpredictable. So it was like a safe space to just, and it wasn't really a diary so much as like an exploration like, I don't know. Sometimes it's like I should feel a certain way, but I don't, and it's is this really how I feel? Do I really feel angry? Am I allowed to be angry? Yeah. Because women, I'm a woman. Yeah. It's risky to say. I'm mad, versus I'm frustrated. But I'm not frustrated, I'm mad. There's a difference. I love it that you used writing back then and I'm just so glad that it's something that stuck with you and that you then were able to write your story and share your legacy. And I know this book has been a long time in the making for you, and I'm just so happy that you wrote it because not only do you really. Address. I think a lot of what people are maybe feeling but can't say or don't have the platform or don't have the skills in writing, I do think you're gonna give a lot of people a voice to. So some of the things, like even motherhood, it doesn't even have to be all of the alcoholism, but just the motherhood stuff and the, so many women, like you just said, just feel ashamed for saying anything other than I'm sorry, and, and or I'll do better or, let me try again. And so I think you just really. It's like an exhale is what your book felt like to me. Like you're just putting it out there and this time on your terms and that is just so cool. And also it's, I think it's really important more than like story content when you start writing. Because the first time I wrote an entire manuscript and ended up with something that I hated is because I was over focused on the rules. The way things are done, like the how tos and I lost my, not just my story, but I also lost my voice. Yeah. Because I was trying to sound, I'm just trying to sound like a better writer than I really am. And that's the cursive comparison, because it ended up sucking. So I think, with the second time around, it was like, okay, what are the most important things? So I don't do another two and a half years in the wrong story. And the first one was I have to tell the truth. I have to be like, no matter how it makes me look, no matter how it makes someone else feel, I have to tell the entire truth. And then the other thing was I like pulled an iron gate on. What happens after it's finished. Yeah. And I just wanted to end up with something I was proud of. And do you feel proud of it? I do. Yeah, I do. It's not perfect. It's never gonna be perfect. No. You're, this is true. Even if you're like a bestseller, master. Yeah. But it's, you just have to end up at a point where you're like. Okay. I have to let it go. Yeah. To, I have to just let it be what it is. And in terms of these parts where either somebody else isn't gonna look good or I'm not gonna look good all of that took place in, in private spaces. If I'm not okay with. I hate the word acceptance because, it's so much bigger than that. But yeah. I needed to really know my own self, my own all of my selves, right? Like even the ugly ones and care about them. And see them with compassion. Before I was able to like, toss'em out into the world. Yeah. And that's something really wonderful that came out of it. And I think that once you really know every ugly aspect of who you've been, what you've done, who you are, why it hap your own version of it. Other people's opinions. It's okay. There's more of a, it's okay. Like it's Right. It's almost expected. Yeah. That's such so true that Yeah, you can take that on. You can tolerate those opinions because you've already done the work, yeah. Yeah. And the other thing is, i'm a judgey, opinionated person. You know what I'm like, we're the, it's not like I'm some saint over here, i'll have the wrong judgment of somebody. And I'll have an opinion that it turns out a year or two later what the hell was I thinking? I was so wrong. Yeah. And that's just, that's being a human right? Yes. So if I can, it's almost like I would understand why someone would read my book and think this because, hey, if I was reading this woman's story, I wouldn't like me either. Nor did I. But I've already dealt with all of that. My older brother read the book and one of the first things he said is what are you gonna do when people like, have an issue with some of the stuff that, that you say or that kind of a thing. And I just told him, I said it's not like I haven't thought or said those things to myself, right? And it's not gonna kill me. I know. It's really pathetic. Place to be when like you're measuring stick is, am I gonna die or not? But there I am, oh, I do love that though, because I think, it's not gonna kill you. And sometimes, this might be the thing that opens up a conversation that not only doesn't kill you, but could heal something. Or it could mend something, a relationship with someone or, help someone else. Anytime you put something out there, you're gonna have, you're asking for someone's opinion, right? You're saying, here, read this, and what do you think? What do you think about it? Even though you really just want them to say, good job writing a book. And so I just try to remember, yeah. A lot of times when people said something negative, it was like they just honed in on the one thing that I felt insecure about anyway, and it was a reminder like, okay, I probably need to work on this a little more. I need to heal this part. And two, not everyone's opinion really matters. And, I can't take. Whatever, what, so and so on. Instagram says, at face value, I don't even know this person. And also what you said, Yeah, I'm also judgy and opinion opinionated too, so I've done it too, yeah. Although I think that knowing that's gonna come at you makes you do the harder work of. Of being less like that, yeah. It's like there's always a backstory. There's always something that's underneath what we see. Yeah. The face value of people, and I think the, that's part of the reason why I really. Steered completely away from anything That might be like a suggestion or, yeah, or advice or a how to, it's this is purely memoir. It's just my experience and, it's a way to just be open to other people, Hey, if it's not true for you, then that's okay.'cause this is just my story. Yeah. This is my thing. And it is expected and it's okay. Yeah. That wasn't the, that wasn't my point of writing what I wrote. Yeah. And I think that's what I want, authors or soon to be authors to hear too. It's still worth it even if someone, has an opinion. Like what happens when you write something like this and when you allow your, the light to shine on some of the darkest moments, I think it's worth it. It's absolutely worth it. There's no way that I would have the relationship that I have with myself had I not written this memoir. Yeah. And that's a little bit of a exciting thing to think about, but it's also a warning because, there were times I still have A-A-P-T-S-D diagnosis and there were times where like I had to stop, I had to stop. And. For a month, maybe even two, and walk away from it. And get, recalibrated because I was I was like a walking trigger. It was affecting every single aspect of my life. It was totally disrupting the family. Because part of writing is going back into that. Yeah. That experience like you're there. Yeah. Whether, no matter how much, you know here, your nervous system and all the rest of it are right there at the scene of the crime. Yeah. And I don't think in the beginning I was prepared for that at all. Yeah. So yeah. I'm glad that you took breaks and Yeah. Just rested. And I think that says something too, when you're working on something that means this much and that matters. This the, as much as it does, like it needs to take time. You, it's not like a write your memoir in two weeks, kind of thing, right? This is just whatever it takes, whatever you need to do. Because if you miss out on the healing part, like that would just, it would be okay, but it would be such a waste, right? Like you got to do both. I did get really insecure about the whole thing. Yeah. It was like, who's gonna care? What am I doing? Yes. Why is this, what is the deal? This is, why would someone wanna read this, this sort of thing. And it's also why I do, I push back a lot on the need to. Think about writer's block because there were days where, maybe I got two sentences out of like hours of sitting there trying to get something, to happen. Yes. And it had nothing to do with writing, right? It had to do with the material. It had to do with 10,000 other things like, we're not. Me this isn't my quiet sanctuary where I'm off at a retreat for, six months. And all I have to do is think about myself and my writing. I'm in like the mayhem of, children turning into teenagers. Finances and Yeah. Other stuff. And it's and then here I'm dealing with, all this other stuff that's in the book. And it was the best thing to do for my writing was to say I'm taking it, I'm tapping out for right now. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, part of why it took me, over seven years to write it. Worth the time, that's for sure.'cause it is. It is beautiful and awesome and I just am really excited for people to read it. And I think it really shines light on just so many things regarding just women, I guess I don't wanna give too much away, but I think it's just the expectation for, women as a wife, mother, and someone battling alcoholism. Like you really lay it all out there, like the trenches, what it's really and I'm just really, I mean of all the, when I thought about this podcast of like really putting it out there, like you did it you put it out there, but in such a beautiful way that. Hopefully people will read and either feel connected, maybe they'll get, they'll see something in themselves that they couldn't see before. You know your words, or they, like you said, just feel connected to the feelings that you had, or, even just hopefully be a kinder human. Honestly, like when I finished your book, I was like, God, if everyone reads this right now, it just reminds us not to quickly judge people and to not quickly, put people into boxes. It's so complex, it is complicated and as we all are, yeah. And there's so many times where I used to say I used,'cause I have people who shockingly don't like me. Don't figure, and I had this thing that I would say where it's I, and this is true today. It's if. If someone doesn't like me or doesn't agree with me, hey, I, I really don't have a problem with that as long as it's based on the truth. Yeah. And when someone hears, like a rumor or gossip or makes these assumptions about me that irritates me. Because I'm like, at least. At least know the truth and then decide if you don't like me, if you don't like me, fine. And I think that's part of the motivation for writing this book is because what is the truth? What is the real story? And I had so much happening. In my past that I couldn't keep it straight and it was I need to see what the heck happened back there. What was going on. And I do wanna also mention something that just popped into my head about just starting Yeah. Is the fact that I did end up with kind of the wrong story in my first manuscript was. Was actually a gift because it takes, it's like taking all the fluffy frosting and decorative things that are up there on the surface. Like getting it out of the way. Yeah. And being able to see like what else is under there. What's the other part of the story? And so you might feel like it's a failure at the time, but it's actually not. It's working in your benefit. Yeah. And. You just get to know the story so much. So much more. Yeah.'cause we are super self-centered people, yeah. This is my story, but then what if actually it's more than my story. Yeah. Yeah. And you did such a beautiful job of that, and people will have to read to, to figure out what we're talking about. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Yeah, thank you so much for you're being a part of this and I am just really excited for, like I said, for people to read it on so many levels. Like it's not for people in my opinion who have alcoholism, but it could be. And it's just, it's. For people who also for me as a writer and as a person who works with a lot of women writers, I think it's a way to look at your writing style, like you said, like you just used your voice and figured out how to hone it and then how beautifully it worked to your advantage because, it is the worst thing someone can do is try to sound like someone else in their book. It's just never gonna work, and you did such a beautiful job of just being exactly who you are and that really shines through well. That's that I really appreciate hearing that, because the other thing about writing is, we just, we don't know where we. How we measure up. Yeah. And it's, you can be writing and think it's crap. Maybe it's not, maybe it's actually really good or just the opposite. You think you're brilliant and actually no, you're not. Yeah, and I've had both experiences for sure. Yeah. But it's well worth the process and, it's an adventure. It really is. It's, it might not even be the story you think you're writing. It's really amazing. That's awesome. I will be sure to share in the show notes how they can, how people can purchase your book. Is there anything else other than I know it's gonna be for sale on like Barnes and Noble and Bookshop and Amazon and your social media. How can people follow you on social media? Yeah, I think it's Emily Redondo author. Okay. This is how much I really hone in on social media. Sorry about that. But there's also, I'm pretty sure there's a good summary with an excerpt and stuff like that on both the Simon and Schuster website. Oh yeah. And also the I think Amazon has that up. I always wanna say. That if you're able to support local, independent bookstores in your town and then., If they don't have it, they can order it. If you just go into your local bookstore, you can ask them to order the book. It was such a pleasure hosting Emily. She is an amazing person and I really admire and respect her, and so I highly encourage you to check out her book, wife, mother Drunk, and to support Emily in her work and to be a part of this incredible project. Thanks for listening. Can't wait to host the next guest.