Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
Episode FORTY-ONE: Finding Healing Through Writing: A Conversation with Author Stephanie Napolitano
This episode explores the heartfelt journey of author Stephanie Napolitano and her debut novel, "Pretend for Me." Napolitano discusses the healing power of writing, the importance of healthy relationships in romance, and the transformative journey of creating narratives that resonate with readers' experiences.
• Stephanie introduces her book, highlighting themes of love and healing
• Discussion of the emotional and therapeutic benefits of writing
• Focus on character depth and authentic connection in storytelling
• Importance of exploring personal trauma while writing
• Advice for aspiring authors on overcoming fear and judgment
• Emphasis on finding a supportive community in the writing world
• Strategies for creating dynamic and relatable characters
Author bio-
Stephanie is a storyteller blessed (and sometimes cursed) with an overactive imagination. She loves creating flawed characters navigating flawed worlds, crafting stories that make people feel. When she's not writing, Stephanie enjoys spending time with her son, immersing herself in a good book, or exploring nature on long, peaceful walks. After experiencing her own heartbreak, she now writes her own happily-ever-afters, creating worlds where true love and hope are possible.
Book blurb- Cassie had always wanted a family of her own. Growing up in foster care only made her yearn for what she never had: a sense of security, comfort, and love.
Matthew coveted nothing more than a name: to be somebody to someone. In his pursuit of it, he risked the one person who had always been his real. Real love. Real family.
Childhood love didn’t stand a chance against the desire for something more. When one of them gets handed the opportunity for a fresh start, it means leaving behind the other.
An unexpected encounter ten years in the future forces them to face what happens when the lines of real and make believe are crossed. Can they find their way back to one another without pretending?
LINKS
Amazon : https://a.co/d/c3uLyRO
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220476845-pretend-for-me
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/snapolitanowrites?igsh=cnphcDdxNmw3ZHRs&utm_source=qr
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Editing doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth—it's the magic that transforms your story from “meh” to masterpiece!
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE Manuscript Prep Workbook: Take the stress out of editing with simple steps to organize your revisions.
Grab it HERE
📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support Writer's Haven: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 Website: https://victoriajaneeditorial.myflodesk.com/links
Welcome to Bookshop Chats. I am your host, victoria Hopkins. Bookshop Chats is the perfect podcast for authors, readers and writers alike. In these episodes, we chat with a variety of authors from all kinds of genres and help demystify and show you that writing a book is well, not necessarily easy doable. So grab a coffee and get ready to add a whole bunch more books to your TBR and let's dive in. Oh hey, it's Victoria, your host of Bookshop Chats.
Speaker 1:Before we dive into today's episode, I'm going to share a little bit about what's going on in my world. So currently, my books are open for developmental editing. If that is your jam, if you need a book edited, come reach out to me. Free samples for the first 1,000, 1,500 words, just to make sure that we jive with each other, because that is a very, very important thing. When you are looking for a developmental editor, you want to make sure that you guys jive with each other, because that is a very, very important thing. When you are looking for a developmental editor, you want to make sure that you guys jive, that the feedback is given is going to be what it is that you are indeed looking for, and if you are a busy writer like me, we need all the help we can get when it comes to planning. And if you are maybe a little bit more of a pantster, let me show you the power of having some kind of outline. So this is kind of the premise of the five minute planner that I put together for busy writers. So in there you will find a huge character sketch to really like dive into your characters and also a really simple planner outline that you can map out what you need to write each day. So this is a really great way to help kind of get clear of what direction you need to go, whether it's a scene or whether it's a chapter, and you can even utilize this throughout your whole book. It's really simple to use.
Speaker 1:I put it together with the intention of it being like a five to 10 minute kind of thing that you do maybe before you write, just so that you are maximizing the time that you have to write. Especially if you are low on time like me, we need all the help we can get. And finally, I also put together the Writer's Haven is a bite-sized audio training for the busy writer. So I put these little bite-sized audio clips together with the intention of you being able to listen to them on demand, as you need to, and they're really great for helping with things like, maybe, writer's block or you're feeling a little bit stuck on how to manage your busy life and fit writing into it. I've also added some meditations to help really support your inner artist and really just tap back into your creative spirit, and it is all available for you. I'll link it in the show notes if that is something that is your jam. Like I said, it is a super low cost $9 to hop in and the intention is I'll periodically add in a couple audios here and there throughout the year and it's kind of an ever evolving thing. So once you grab it, that's it, it's yours and you get access to any bonus things that I add in.
Speaker 1:Okay, friends? Well, I think it is about time that we dive back into today's episode. So grab a cozy beverage and let's add some more books to your TBR. Welcome back to Bookshop Chats. In today's episode, I am chatting with Stephanie Napoliano. I feel like that might not be as smooth as it was when I practiced before recording, but I'm so excited to chat with you and I feel like your book is going to be such.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited to hear more about your book. I was reading the notes that you had in the booking form and I'm like, ah, I want to hear more. So I will give you the floor right now.
Speaker 2:So excited. Thank you so much. It's an honor to be on and, yeah, my book is pretend. For me, it is a second chance romance about two orphans who grew up together in foster care. They are each other's everything from four years old to 18 years old. Somewhere along the way. At 14, one of them gets adopted and then the other one just ages out at 18. Subsequently, they want the one who gets adopted. They get adopted by a rich family and they aid in breaking them up at 18. And we meet them 10 years later and can they find their way back together without pretending? That's the question? It's, um, the tropes are second chance, found family, um, what else? Uh, it was always you. There's spice, dual plV, and I think that yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's like all of the things that I love um, in in those, in those romance books, there's something that's so yeah, I just I feel like that like found, yeah, that found family or the second chance, or like you know, you do the healing and then you come back together later on in life and it just I feel like that's a really cool and beautiful story. That just feels so like cozy and heartwarming and I feel like we need more of that in in our lives right now.
Speaker 2:They do, and somebody described it in a review like they had like the book was a hug in a book and healing and therapeutic and that was like such an honor for me because when I wrote it, that was all I wanted. You know, when you go through difficult times and you write like a writing and this was my first book I had ever like put into paper and I just started writing so this was really. It was healing for me because I was going through a really tough time with I just had my son and my marriage was starting to fall apart very early postpartum and I've always wanted to write and I said to myself you know, I think that there's a book in me and one of my son's nap times I had this. It was basically like the whole scene of the first. If you read the prologue, it's the first scene of um the first. If you read the pro, if you've read the prologue, it's the first scene of the prologue where they have this um huge fight right before they break up.
Speaker 2:And I couldn't get it out of my head. From about December 2021 until like April of 2022 is when I finally like put pen to paper and I was like, okay, like these, the scene I can't. The scene was just getting louder and louder and, okay, I really just want to know what happened to these two people, like what got them there? So then, that's why we have all the flash, we have flashbacks of when they're younger, because I was like I needed to like trace back like how did they end up here and then where did they go from here?
Speaker 2:Like this is like, if you've read the prologue, it's's such a you know it has a lot of it has a lot of heart because they're fighting for each other, but it also it's, you know, devastating, because they've been each other's everything and is there, is there time played out? Like it almost feels that it gets played out for that time, like you said, which was so beautiful that sometimes you need to. You know, come back and do the work. You have to go back and do the work before you can, like, meet somebody where they are, and I think that that's a lot of like. This book is like they needed to go through their separate things apart and then, when they come back together, even then they're not whole with cause. They weren't whole without each other, cause they're all each other's had, but then that can also be in a way that they still need to explore during therapy, which they eventually you know, I have them go through that because I think it's important for their healing process, because you can't, you can't love somebody if you're not healed properly.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that's so good and I love that this stuff is like. I love that, I think that's so good and I love that this stuff is like becoming mainstream in a lot of books now, where things like you know, going to therapy or having like, you know, we don't have like these misunderstandings, or like there's there's dialogue and you know, tension obviously in the book, cause you know that's amazing, but it comes from people are willing to like work on it, right, right, and there's a little bit more of that like, I guess, healthy relationship dynamics that's coming through, which I love, um, and I think it's so. Yeah, it's just so needed in in books, especially romance, I feel.
Speaker 2:I completely agree, I think, because I think sometimes, um, you know, and I love, you know, toxic romance as much as the next, but I think, like, like you said, portraying like the healthy way to get there to a you know a part, like a place where you know you have this undying love for each other, because we all want that, right, we all want to be loved, you know, so deeply and so, but how do we get there? So it's healthy for both of us and that we're, you know, our best selves and I think that that's just really what the journey of this book takes us through it and it's a, you know, parallels my own life, because I I'm doing that, I'm doing the work, like I want to become whole before I, you know any other you know avenue to be with anybody else in my life, because I wasn't probably whole when I was choosing certain partners in the past. I think that that's like very relationships is to, you know, really have a good sense of who you are before getting into these relationships.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that's so, so, so powerful. I'd love to hear a little bit more. Obviously. You talked about, like, your writing process with this book, but like, how did you find your way to writing? I always find that fascinating hearing other authors and how they ended up writing books.
Speaker 2:Yes, I well, I've always. I feel like I've had like a running in my notes app. I've had like a running you know list of things I want to write, like scenes almost of important scenes. And I remember as early as like 12 years old, 12 or 13, I was just coming off of reading the Twilight Saga and like I was like, oh, I really want to write, and which is I just mentioned this on another podcast I'm like that was my gateway drug, which it really was into reading.
Speaker 2:And after that I was, you know, I just I was like I want to write like that, I want to write something that like moves people, so power, like it's so powerful.
Speaker 2:And so I have an idea and I've never touched it and it's almost become so big because it's like it was so many years ago that this one idea I have in my I'm like I'm afraid to even do it because I'm like, am I going to do it? Am I going to execute it properly and am I going to give it the justice that it has in my head? So that'll be fun to dabble in one day. But my process is like I said it was. I feel like I alchemized my pain of what I was going through early postpartum with my marriage, into like almost manifesting, writing a book and following my dreams, because it's always what I've wanted to do, but I was always too scared to do so, and you know. And then I think about before I had my son, I had so much free time that I could have like been writing so many books and so now it's more of a planned.
Speaker 2:And so now it's more of a planned um, chaotic, um time to write, instead of like, uh, like you know, I'm gonna carve out this amount of time and so it has to be very planned instead of like uh, you know, whenever I get the inspiration hits kind of thing, um, but that's, it's all good because, you know, I finished my book and I think that that's there's something to be said to that. Like I finished my book and I think that that's there's something to be said to that. Like I finished my first book and I'm working on, I finished my what would be now my third book. I finished that already, which I know sounds, you know, screwy, but I then got an idea for a standalone for one of my characters in pretend for me. So now that will be my second book since pretend for me. You know we want it to be fresh in everybody's mind. While this standalone of one of the side characters, charlotte, comes back into. She comes back into the fold six years after Pretend for Me ends.
Speaker 1:I love that. I just I, I'm so glad that this has become like a thing uh, more so, uh. Now I feel like I think there was a few I remember reading a while ago. But I just love the characters and you get to meet all of the characters in the series in a deep, deep way and then that way you don't have to leave them because some of them are just like so fun and you're like this side character deserves a whole book.
Speaker 2:They need it they do, and my side characters, they in this story, um, my, all of my reviews say how they are such a integration, part of the story. Um, like the review, like my um pre-readers were saying that and it's such an they're. So they are a lot of a big part of the story and I think they need their own book. Like, especially, charlotte needs her own book and I have an idea for one more side characters book. I'm not sure that'll be like down the line further, but like further down the line, but she, um, charlotte, has a good story. I think it's going to be different than anything I've written before. Um, like I said, my third book is already kind of the first draft is finished and that's different than Pretend for Me entirely as well.
Speaker 2:But this is going to be definitely sexier and it's more emotional, like wild, which is a little bit of a clue for an Easter egg, a clue for an Easter egg, almost like a Taylor Swift Easter egg of what it's going to become for live at me.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. That's awesome. I think that that I feel like, did you find, like writing these I guess the obviously you've got your first one and then working on the third one, did you find that that was a different experience? Writing that like did it? Did you I find sometimes, yeah, I have I each book. I feel like it's just their own entity absolutely that is.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad you brought that up because it's I was thinking about this the other day and um, fall from it's gonna be called fall from grace, I'm pretty sure. Um, so I, so I will, I have no, I'm, I'm a spoiler person, so I can't, me too. Um, I'm very straightforward. I just I can't, uh, you know, hide my emotions or feelings and you know, I don't know if it's the like the New York, um, energy like, because I'm from like by right, by New York and uh, it's that fast paced, like go, go go mentality. But I'm a horrible, you know, secret keeper. But writing fall from grace will be my third book.
Speaker 2:It was like a breath of fresh air because and I don't I'm sure that parallels to like what I was going through when I was writing pretend for me, cause it was so heavy I like I felt very heavy and I was healing so much from, you know, not only just giving birth, but like, you know, things that were transpiring in my marriage and ultimately, like what was um, you know, becoming of me and my um, soon-to-be ex-husband, and so it was like it.
Speaker 2:Writing while writing fall from grace was like an exhale of um, like when you're holding your like so tightly and you're so tense, it felt like just an exhale of like relief, almost. Yeah, um, writing felt like everything felt very heavy and impossible and while writing um pretend for me and then writing fall from grace was like sunshine, like that's the only way to describe it. It was like a lighter book which is like different than the themes of pretend for me, which are a bit heavier, um, you know, and you know all consuming and not that like it's better or worse, it's just. It is like you know, that's just what the themes are and so it's definitely it was so different, it was like lighter and just, even though, like, the themes of Fall From Grace are heavier, as like have heavy elements, I feel like it was just like you said. It's a different experience all around, it's you have to meet like the characters in a different way.
Speaker 1:Right, like a character that is a side character, obviously, like you kind of know them, but then you're meeting them as like the main character and it's going to be a different like you learn. I feel like you learn so much about them and then yourself in the process it's, it's a wild thing that you don't often think like when you go to write a book, I didn't realize how healing the whole process would be. Uh, until you're like, wow, like this is experiencing and and moving through things that I didn't realize I even had inside me here you're healing your characters and they're healing you.
Speaker 2:It's, it's very, yeah, interracial and it's, it's beautiful. Actually, it's this, um, it's almost like a dance of like they give you a little bit and you, like, you give them a little bit, and it's really beautiful to watch and to experience. Um, and I never really booked that writing like that and now I'm just, I'm addicted, it's like I love it and I can't see see myself doing anything else because I really love it. But I do. I have goals of like doing my own podcast too, but you know, writing is like at the forefront of what I want to do, like it's, you know so, it's healing, it's cathartic, it's, it's, yeah, it's everything to me right now.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, I feel that I'm like as an overthinker.
Speaker 2:it's so nice to channel all of the overthinking into something productive and like create these stories and let the imagination just like yeah, yeah, brain dumps and journaling I've, I've gotten into that as well, I think, like those are like so helpful, even when writing pretend for me.
Speaker 2:I think my um rough draft was um like 170k um which is a lot and so none of, like you know, half of that didn't even make the paper, um, and so it's really funny, like what you cherry pick to put in and but, like you said it, you learned so much about your characters, your side characters, like I know so much about Charlotte, who will be having her own book, and that's helped me so much, having all that backstory that you know you don't even see, but I know, like certain things, or even about my main characters in Pretend for Me, cassie and Matthew.
Speaker 2:They had I have so many flashbacks of them throughout the years, from age four to 18 when they're in foster care, that I had written. But like, yes, I have some flashbacks in the book and it's dual POV, but in the book mainly there's some, but half of them didn't even make it. But I know all that info so it's so helpful when writing. Well, would they do that or would they do that? Well, I don't think so because of what they went through in their past and so I think like knowing them throughout their entire life really helps and even, like I said, if it doesn't make the page or still, you know that knowledge and it shows in your writing and I think it's a tighter and stronger story for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's such a great point. I feel like that, really like when like doing developmental editing, like connecting with, like that's what you want is those characters that just are like you feel them, like you know them so deeply, and always encouraging authors to really make sure that they like know their characters of, like who are they, and do does this version that you have, that you know, translate to the page for the reader, because that's like key and really making sure that, yeah, that there's that, that vulnerability and intimacy that I feel like, um, readers, they don't always know what it is, but that's what they're like, oh, like that, that's what makes them feel the things and the emotion and just like connect to and fall in love with your characters, because that's really what we want, right yes, absolutely, and there's a depth to them.
Speaker 2:Because I think that sometimes, um, when you're writing, it could also just turn out like a checklist and it's just like okay, check, like, I hit this part, I hit this part, I hit this part. But if you don't have that depth and that you know backstory almost behind it, and even if they the author, I mean, even if the audience doesn't know that backstory, but you as a writer uh know it when you're going in, it really helps add that depth and that um, beauty of their like who they are, and it really comes through on the page. And if you don't, sometimes it just feels like I'm just checking boxes and I don't like. I think I don't like my product when it's just like that yeah, I get like totally.
Speaker 1:It just feels a little flat, like there's there kind of, I guess, more 2d, like they're not like that full, like round, like almost like real people kind of characters, when when there's just that it's hard to put into words what it is and I think you as the author of the book always know your character best and sometimes it's hard to get them to do what you want them to do and then to actually like translate that onto a page or the scene right, like sometimes that I feel like that's a big struggle for for us writers of like I see it in my head but like it's not going onto the page how I want it to Absolutely and having that distinctive voice, you know, because especially I'm doing the dual POV, so you know at, you know getting into a man's voice, you know sometimes difficult, or even sometimes getting into Cassie's voice was hard because you know, while I did put a lot of myself into her, I think she, you know, has gone through traumas that I haven't.
Speaker 2:But you know trauma and I don't think you can say that trauma is trauma because it's. It's not everybody's. You know experience differently, everybody responds to things differently and that's where research comes in. But I think, like you know, also, putting pieces of times like I've been bullied as a child, so I think you know, taking those experiences and kind of manifesting them into what her trauma, what she would feel like in her traumas, had helped add, um, you know, a second element of why she was so maybe sensitive and why, she, like Matthew at one point, is trying to just talk to her about their past and she shuts down because that's her response and I think that anybody you know you can either fight, flight or freeze right, and so I think that that's just, she runs, she freezes like freezes and kind of runs.
Speaker 2:So I think, yeah, I think it really helps.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. I love that and I feel like, yeah, it's just those lived experiences just make the story right, like you can tap into it in a different way, and I think one really cool thing about that is that obviously your experience will be unique. So the way in which you kind of portray that is going to maybe help other people that maybe are like I experienced something similar, but nobody else really felt like I did and then this character does. So that's a really cool thing, I think, for readers and I love and that's always my hope I feel like of just having somebody be like, oh like.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm not the only one that feels like this.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I don't think. You know we're as human beings, we're really looking for connection and you know, in today's society, things can be so divisive and just really are just trying to cling on to. You know, in today's society, things can be so divisive and just really are just trying to cling on to. You know the similarities we have with each other and you know as sometimes, as sad as it is, our, our pasts and our traumas are the thing that can bond us the most if we're vulnerable enough to let them, let people in.
Speaker 2:And I think that I, you know, I'm very open with my story and what you know I've. I've went through singularly, but and then people have been so beautiful and reached out to me that's saying, oh well, I grew up in foster care and this is, um, the story. You know, I love the representation that you've given us and like that I've done it accurately. And it brings me to tears, really, because I mean, that's all I've wanted you know to do is you can do the research, right, you do. You check all the boxes again, again, going back to that, and you do all the research and you read the forums and read it or and try and piece together people's experiences. You've been in it. You don't know how to accurately portray that and so having that valid like validation of people who either have foster children or have been foster children and I've had quite a few people message me and it's been so really beautiful and I'm getting choked up.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that that's such a such an important thing and it's just. It's just so funny that you were talking about that, cause I got stuck in Instagram yesterday and it was all about like I don't know how I ended up on like the, the foster parent, like foster, like all of this sort of side of it. But it just is funny how that kind of happens and then, and then we're chatting about that today. So I think that there's something, yeah, especially as a parent, and then seeing the kids, and I'm like like it just yeah, especially as a parent and then seeing the kids and I'm like like it just it makes my heart hurt, right.
Speaker 1:Like it just makes me so sad to be like if I could take you all I would, but I don't have a big enough house.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you want to give them a good home, because I think everybody's deserving of that. And it's funny because, even as like a young, like you know, young like 14, 15, I would watch videos of Angelina Jolie speaking about and it's funny like the universe works in these weird ways and speaking about foster care and adoption, and I I've always been interested in it and so, and I always said, like one day, maybe in the future, I'd love to adopt, and so to write this that this is the story that came to me and was so like vivid and clear, cause I have had story ideas in the past and they've never manifested like further than just like my notes app. So for this to be the one it's. It's funny how the universe you know that invisible string. It's very funny, yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that. It's so cool. Uh, that's yeah amazing. Uh, as we kind of get to the end of our our chat here, I would love to hear what would be one piece of advice or some advice that you'd have for somebody who's just starting out their writing journey. Like maybe they're stuck in that notes app and they're like, how do I get it from there to like an actual book? Cause there is so much as we chatted about, there's so much fear that that often holds us back from from getting the words on the page, and I definitely echo the same thing of there's. I spent many years thinking and being like, oh, it'd be so cool to write a book and then being like, oh, I can never do it. So, yeah, I just feel like I'd love to hear what, what kind of helped you get to that space.
Speaker 2:I think that the thing that helps me, even when I'm posting on Tik TOK or even just writing my next book or thinking about writing my next book, is that I'm doing this for me. I need. This is a dream. It wouldn't have been put into my lap if it wasn't able to be like, able to happen Right, and I'm the only one who can do this. This is like my thing, right, it's. It's singular to my. It might not be a complete original idea, because how many times have we seen versions of the same thing, but this is individual to me. It's in my head, it was dropped into my lap by the universe, god, whatever, and this is, I need to execute it, because we only get one life and you know we're so. I don't know, I want to.
Speaker 2:It's the same thing I tell myself when I'm on TikTok no, but if people are going to judge you, they're going to judge you and we have to take chances.
Speaker 2:We don't know until we know, and you're the only one who could write the story that's in your head and that's amazing to think about and it's terrifying to put it out there, but I write, write like nobody's even like going to read it first draft, like nobody's gonna read it, then edit it ruthlessly and you probably have a really good story there and put it out there.
Speaker 2:Because you only and it's as cheesy as it is, you only live once. We're like and we don't want to have like life pass us by and, you know, say, oh, I could have written that really great story and you know, it could have been a movie and it could have been this, and it could have been that Like, let's not live in the could have, let's not live in the notes app, like let's live in the document, let's live so it's tangible and it's eventually on paper and it's in your hands. And because, you know, coming from just coming off of publishing my first novel, there's no better feeling than having that book that you've worked on, that's, you know, healed you in more ways than you've, you know, executed just the words having it in your hands. There's no parallel like and there's no feeling that like is, you know, aside from like the birth of my child has been, so you know profound.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that's so true and I feel like it really that echoes kind of a lot of what I felt of it. It's just like you have to stop being scared, like it is otherwise nothing's going to happen. And I think it can be hard, especially when it comes to like creativity, because I feel like people are really quick to judge that stuff and then knowing the amount of heart yeah, the heart and soul that goes into it.
Speaker 1:Like, even if there's a book that I don't love, I'm like I could never leave a bad review or anything like that to be like because I know that you you worked on it, like you put so much into it. I love that. Yeah, it's just. It's just not for me. That's basically how I believe and and, and I think it is such a vulnerable, scary experience to put your, your self out there, uh, especially in in writing, and I think, yeah, you echo a lot of it. It's just like it's. Yeah, the story might have been told before, but the way you tell it is going to be unique and you never know who's going to need to read it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and to your point, what you said is it's um, um. I now I've lost my train of thought, but I definitely want to help other people like be brave enough to write right and so.
Speaker 2:I definitely was scared when I started writing, but I kept and you have to think about it Like I'm sure that my book has gotten, or even my tech talks have gotten passed around, and like different group chats and stuff like that. But that's there, that's on them. Like you can, you need to do it Like it's you right. Once I wrote, I wrote my book, I said to myself when I put it out there, it's not mine anymore, and once it's not mine anymore, I'm going to just let it go. And even with the bad reviews because you do get them and that's, and a part of you wants to take it personally but this is the approach I've just done is that it's not mine anymore, it's the world's to judge, and that I have to be okay with that and I don't know if that's like a mentality, because I was, like I said, I've been bullied like in the past, you know, in school, and I've had, you know, different trials and tribulations with finding my tribe and you do find your tribe.
Speaker 2:I really just want to drive that home to people. It's like you do find your tribe, like, like, and I found my tribe so much with writing and different authors and my editor and I've been really blessed. So this has been like such a dual experience because I've never had such powerful female friendships and like it's so beautiful to watch and like other authors supporting you and, you know, sharing your stuff and being so like a champion for you. So that's another like a side note I don't want to forget. That was wanted to say before. But, like I said, it's not yours anymore when you put it out there and so you have to like almost disattach from it because it's everybody else's. And unfortunately, when it's everybody else's, there is judgment and we have to, you know, break, put that wall up so that you don't.
Speaker 2:You know that you put out the best possible product, and then there's always another book. There's always another book Like, and so that's what I'm doing. I'm going to write my other book I read. I read it, I see if there's anything constructive that I like the you know the critical things I'm like, and sometimes you do say to yourself, oh, okay, and I take that I'm like no-transcript book by the cover. But you do sometimes, and it's human nature and you know something. So I try, I really do try and put myself in their shoes and give them grace, because I, you know, I want the same in return.
Speaker 2:We all make mistakes or we all make choices that sometimes, you know, in time we might think about and say we're not proud of or whatnot, and maybe we do stand behind them, and then that's fine too. Like you know, if there's something to be learned from it, I do read the reviews and I, you know, I take it for what it is and we have to move on and, like I said, we keep writing and you just got to keep moving. Um, I love the movie meeting the Robinsons. It's a little children's movie and it's about foster care, which is so funny, and it says keep. The slogan is keep moving forward and I think it's such a really um great, like you know, and it's like, but it's also just like in Finding Nemo. I think those children's movies keep like, keep swimming. It's you know, you just have to keep going and that's it 100%.
Speaker 1:That's it 100%. I love that. I feel like that's solid advice, and I think that's often a big thing that people are afraid of. What if people don't like it? I'm like, well, that's the nature of it, but you wrote a book and you put it on in the world, so that's pretty darn cool thing. So, and you know, as as we wrap up here, I would love for you to share how people can get in touch with you and also get their hands on your book.
Speaker 2:Pretend for me by Stephanie Napolitano is on Amazon, it's on Kindle unlimited. It's on my website, stephanienapolitanocom, for signed copies. Um, I'm stephanie, I'm s. Napolitano writes on tiktok and instagram and yeah, and on threads yes, amazing, awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, everything will be linked in the show notes. It'll be super easy for people to click through and find you on social media and also find your book and get their hands on it, because I feel like I had such a great time. I know it was so much fun. I love chatting and I love yeah, I love hearing other authors and their stories and, yeah, it's so freaking cool to see people publish their books.
Speaker 2:I hope when I start my podcast, I can do as good as job because you're, you're really, you give the authors and you give people just space and I love that to like talk and you know it's so refreshing. I think you've done an amazing job. I'm so honored, thank you.
