Adventure Magic for Middle Grade readers with Susan Steinman

Join us on a riveting journey through the world of children’s literature, as we host renowned middle grade books author, Susan Steinman. Our captivating conversation uncovers the essentiality of reviews, and the difference tagging authors can make in a book's trajectory. Plus, we have an exciting peek into our forthcoming season and reminders on how to stay up-to-date with the Writers Parachute.

We delve deeper into the magical world of reading and its ability to foster kindness and empathy in young minds. Susan shares her inspirations for writing series and ways to overcome the inevitable hurdles that come with it. We also discuss the power of finding your author tribe and how to combat that pesky imposter syndrome lurking in the corners of success.

To cap off our engaging discourse, we dive into an exploration of the latest book in Susan’s Alex and Ace series, Adventure on Bigfoot Mountain. Susan weaves in compelling concepts of mindfulness, courage, meditation and teamwork into her stories. Added to this, we touch upon the vital aspect of marketing a book, and doing it with kindness and creativity. As we bid adieu to Susan, we reflect on how words can nurture children’s creativity and why it’s important to reinforce kindness and empathy. So, join us on the Writers Parachute for an inspiring chat with Susan Steinman, filled with tales of bravery, friendship, and adventure!


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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome back everyone to the Writers Parachute. We're a guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing. We have with us a very special guest at Susan Steinman and we're going to be talking to her about her two books. They're middle grade series. We're going to talk to her in just a minute, but of course we got to get that housekeeping out of the way first. We would love for you to hit that like button, hit the subscribe button and don't forget the bell so you get notifications when new episodes are up every Tuesday here on the Writers Parachute. We would also love for you to follow us on social media. We are on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, twitter, which is now X, and the new threads at Writers Parachute. That's Writers Parachute without an S, also new. If you would like to get a notification of new episodes every week in your email inbox, please go sign up at sendfoxcom. Slash the Writers Parachute. Of course, we'll have links to all of this in the show notes for you. Don't worry about grabbing a pen or paper Anytime we have. We mentioned a link or something for you. We will include that for you. Go ahead and do that, of course, here at the Writers Parachute we'd love to hear from you. If you have any comments or concerns, please leave us a message in the comments or you can reach out to us through the website at thewritersparachutecom. We're going to start off with our topic of the week.

Speaker 1: 1:28

As a ways, here on season two of the Writers Parachute, we've been focusing on reviews. Well, here we are. Towards the end of the season. We're going to do a review wrap up. We couldn't possibly cover everything that we've covered for the whole entire season two, but I just have some few thoughts for you. So when you're leaving a review, make sure that you tag the author, make sure that they're aware that you have left them a review. In fact, I'm quite certain that any author would love to hear from you directly if you are leaving them a review. If you don't know how to reach them, then you can generally do a Google search for the author's name or their book name, or you can reach them through the retailer wherever you purchase your book. They would be happy to put you in connection with them, at least to get them a message or through their website. So always do that.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Second of all, I would love for you to think about what it is that you want to hear about in a review. I know, when I buy books I always read the reviews because it helps me decide if I want book A, book B or book C. Sometimes it's the good reviews, sometimes it's the middle of the road reviews and sometimes it's the negative reviews. That kind of let me know whether it's something I want to read or not. So don't worry about what kind of reviews. What's a star rating review? Just think about what you're saying and how that would be helpful to some other reader that may not know a lot about the book. They may not have been given the opportunity to watch an interview with the author or see more information about the book. Maybe they just stumbled across it because of the subject matter or the author's name or something of that nature. So reviews are helpful. They are king for authors trying to get their books out into the world. It's how we're often introduced to new readers.

Speaker 1: 3:28

So next time you leave a review, next time you read a book, we strongly suggest and encourage you to leave a review. You can leave a review wherever you purchase the book, whether it is a physical book or a digital book, If you purchase the book online through the author or if you bought it at a festival or some event with the author. You could always go to Goodreads and leave a review. We always try to put the links to Goodreads for all the authors that we have here on the writer's parachute, but if, for some reason, you can't find them, you can go to Goodreadscom, search for the book or the author, and you should be able to find it and leave them a review. And then, last but not least, we would love for you to include the writer's parachute in your review process. We are available on all podcast platforms. We're available on YouTube. We're also available through Amazon and the Audible app. So if you would love to go to Amazon Audible app and leave us a review, we would be thrilled and please, of course, tag us here at the writer's parachute. My name is Donna Saker-Cowen, or you can just tag app writer parachute.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Honestly, there's not much else to be said about reviews. Just remember a review is your opinion of what you read, of what you enjoyed or didn't enjoy. Try to stay away from harsh criticism or unnecessary harshness in your reviews. This is about your opinion. It's about whether or not you thought the book was good about or somewhere else. If you find errors in the book, please reach out to the author directly. Don't leave that in a review, and if you're going to include a spoiler alert, please do mark the reviews with a spoiler alert.

Speaker 1: 5:13

So I hope you guys have enjoyed here season two that we focused on reviews. We'll come up with a different subject for you on season three, which should be coming to you very, very soon. So make sure that you hit the subscribe button and the alert bell so that you are notified anytime we have new pairs, we have new episodes and a new season coming for you. So that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the topic of the week. Of course, there's always so much more we could talk about. If you would like more information on this subject or any subject that we've covered here on the writer's parachute, please do reach out to us and let us know.

Speaker 1: 5:53

All right, well, let's get on to our show and we want to interview our very special guest. It's Susan Steinman. She's a middle grade author. She is a master of science and nursing and an RN. We're going to talk to her about her two middle grade books in a series. It is the Alex and Ace series. The first book is the adventure of the purple pendant. The second book is the adventure of the river of grass.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Susan is a mother, grandmother, and is pretty sure of the flame for her writing passion ignited her soul as a little girl. She's a wonderful career as a nurse and educator. Susan reignited that passion into writing and publishing books. The Alex and Ace adventure series was spawn. But Susan is just getting started. Alex and Ace, the adventure of the purple pendant, is the first in the series with Alex and Ace, the adventure of the river of grass, being book two, was just recently published and released for you and with writing. Susan loves to visit schools and clubs and talk to kids about the writing process and how they can connect to their energy and use through creative writing and harnessing the imagination. Susan lives in Colorado with her big pup, sadie, and loves exploring the beautiful state and enjoying as many adventures as they can together. Find out more about Susan at susansteimancom and of course we'll have that link for you in the show notes. And welcome to the writer's parachute, susan.

Speaker 2: 7:24

How are you today? How are you doing Well, donna? Thank you so much. I am so happy to be here to help our conversation today.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Oh, I am so glad to have you here. I've been looking forward to. This is like I myself am a middle grade series book writer, so it's like we're kind of a rare brain. I always love it when I can find a fellow author that writes in this particular age group and genre and everything, so I'm truly excited about this episode.

Speaker 2: 7:53

Me too.

Speaker 1: 7:54

Thank you, you're very welcome. Now I read the first one. I haven't gotten to the second one, but that's just time. Constraints and trust me I will be getting to it. I'm very excited about the second one, so your stories include magic and adventure and I don't know why you thought that was important for a young reader story.

Speaker 2: 8:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:16

So, donna, we live in a really busy, hectic world and we've gone through a lot in the last few years and as adults it can be hard to kind of process when there's a lot of kind of chaos in our world.

Speaker 2: 8:28

And for our kids I think it can be even tougher and I think it might even make sometimes the kids feel a little jaded, maybe a little cynical, maybe a little sad, depressed, when there's so much going on. And but truly, magic is everywhere and we tend to find magic when and where we least expect it, if we can keep our hearts open enough to see it. And I think books, stories like your series and like the Alex and Mason adventure series really can help kids connect to that innate creativity and in that sense of wonder that they that they were born with. And there's a great quote by Albert Einstein that I think about a lot, and he said there's only two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle, and the other is though everything is a miracle. And I think that's a good example of connecting to that magic within.

Speaker 1: 9:31

I absolutely agree. And you know and I'll take a step beyond we encourage people to become scientists and inventors through the imagination first, because you can't create something new if you can't imagine it. So we have to build that imagination muscle, and what's the best way to do it? Give them crazy, outlandish, magical, inventive stories to send them on these adventures, so that that muscle is strong and it does think so far beyond what is conceived as possible. And I think that that is the big thing that we do with these imaginative, magical stories is get them to think of what is not probable but possible.

Speaker 2: 10:24

Exactly exactly. It's nice to live in that realm of possibility.

Speaker 1: 10:29

Yes, yes, it is because you know, as my mother always told me, the only thing stopping you from going after your dreams is the wall you build between you and it. So knock it down and go for it.

Speaker 2: 10:40

Good, that was great advice from mom.

Speaker 1: 10:43

Yes, as I get older, I realize my mom was actually pretty smart.

Speaker 2: 10:47

It's just at the top of it, not so much. Very wise, very wise, yes.

Speaker 1: 10:52

Well, I know that you have. You know this middle grade series and, like we said, we talked about the imagination and adventure and the magic, but I want to know what inspired you to write these specific stories.

Speaker 2: 11:05

Sure, sure. Well, I'd love to read and write as a kid. So, nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, you know I loved all boxcar kids, all of those series I really enjoyed. And you know I always thought it might be fine to be a writer. You know, those just always kind of simmering back there in the back burner.

Speaker 2: 11:24

And then several years ago I was out hiking in Colorado and just one of those gorgeous, just gorgeous days blue skies, crisp air, just beautiful and I was walking along this path by a stream and I sat on this big rock and just kind of looked at the water going and I saw these rocks glimmering in the water, just kind of shining in the water, and I was just looking at them and I'm like wow, wouldn't that be cool if those rocks, if one of those rocks, was magical and what in it, you know, and maybe opened up portals to something that we didn't, we're not used to, like some kind of magical realm.

Speaker 2: 12:01

And wouldn't it even be cooler if maybe kids were the only ones that could see that magic? You know, they have less filters and you know, thinking about my grandkids at the time too, and so it was just sort of sitting on that rock and the rock in the water turned into a purple pool and into a purple pendant that was buried and you know, but and so forth. But basically that's where the ideas for the books were created.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Right, and it's amazing to me how something mundane and simple and just every day can spark through imagination these amazing stories. It's like I have that happen to me all the time. It's like I'll be standing in line waiting for my coffee and I'll see somebody walk in and it's like immediately my brain goes I wonder what their story is, and then I just make one up for them.

Speaker 1: 12:54

I mean it may not even be anywhere close to the truth, but that's where my brain goes, because I have a very active imagination. How did I get an active imagination? Through reading stories like your books, exactly.

Speaker 2: 13:08

Yes, yes, and it's fun because I think our brains, you know, when we're sort of in that relaxed state, maybe we're waiting in line, or maybe we're hiking, or whatever it might be but that tends to be the times when I think the barriers come down enough so that you know our ideas can come up and out.

Speaker 1: 13:27

Right and well. And how do we always communicate, even before words and language stories?

Speaker 2: 13:34

Yes, yes, we drew the walls, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 13:36

You know. We passed information and news along through stories. Through stories, yes, it's something that has been with us forever. So I want to know what you think readers should gain, or what you would like for them to gain, from reading your books Alex and AC the Adventure of the Purple Pendant and Alex AC the Adventure of the River of Grass.

Speaker 2: 13:59

Yeah Well, I think, a sense of fun. You know I want them to gain kind of a sense of fun, you know, just concepts like friendship, and develop a fondness for the characters too, and I think that just helps normalize for kids that kids can be heroes. Alex and AC are kind of the heroes of the series and that, you know again, the kids can be heroes, animals can be heroes, nature can be heroes and you know, really to reinforce to our kids that they're greater than they know and they're more powerful than they realized you know they really are and they have all of that within, and to see the magic that Alex and AC are involved with and bring maybe to see that magic in themselves you know so, and also recognizing that all of us have, all of our actions can have consequences, whether it's a kind word that we say to somebody, or maybe it's an unkind word that we say to somebody, or you know, it can have just far reaching consequences for our environment, for ourselves, for the people that we interact with.

Speaker 2: 15:11

So, just for them to really have fun, but also maybe to just, you know, have a little bit of contemplative time, to be like wow, that's kind of interesting, or I really like that, or that's kind of cool, I wonder if I could do something like that, or, you know, just to have fun with it.

Speaker 1: 15:27

Right and you. We will never know you, me, anybody else. We'll never know truly the people that we have affected their lives either in a positive or negative way. Yes, because you don't know what a simple gesture. You know letting somebody go online in front of you giving them a little bit of change to meet their bill, or you know just a smile or opening the door for them. You don't know what that means to them in their life and oftentimes these things go unnoticed and you know no conversation around them. But we don't know how that could have changed their lives, or maybe giving them that inspiration or that cheer or something made them pass it along to somebody else who really needed it. We don't know.

Speaker 1: 16:16

I mean they call this the butterfly effect and I think it's amazing.

Speaker 1: 16:21

I think it's amazing that, you know, one simple gesture can truly change so many people. You know, the smile instead of the frown, the generosity instead of the selfishness, it really does ripple out. It does. It does so many people. So I do agree with that, and it's so important that we not necessarily teach, but we reiterate the importance of that, especially when we're dealing with children of this age. We're talking to an age group of about seven to 12 year olds. These are the kids that are just figuring out themselves.

Speaker 1: 17:06

They're figuring out who they want to be, who they want their friends to be, how they want to dress, how they wanna talk, how they wanna walk, how they wanna be. They're setting their personality and this is the point. We need to catch them and say you can be all of those things, but you don't have to be mean, you don't have to be unsympathetic or in empathic or anything of nature. You can still be all of the things that you want to be, and even those beyond your current imagination and ideas right now. But being so as a generous person always takes you so much further.

Speaker 2: 17:46

And it's an interesting it really does. And as adults in the lives of our young ones, demonstrating that right. How are we demonstrating those concepts? Because the kids are going to learn by watching us. Yep.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Yes, yes, yes, they can come up out of it. You know, they say monkey see, monkey do, don't let the monkey see what you do.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Right, yes, yes, that's so true.

Speaker 1: 18:14

You know, and I think you know, stories like this reach deep into the psyche when they're this age. Simply because of stories stay with you. If you think back to your childhood, when you were this age, I bet you can rattle off the titles, as you did many books that made an indelible impression on you for different reasons. It could be something the character was dealing with, could be the subject, the topic, the place, the characters within or what they were dealing with. It could be a multitude of things, or it could just be them all together, or the fact that they showed or opened a world that they hadn't considered.

Speaker 2: 19:00

Yeah, the power of books, right, and the power of reading, and it's really so immense what that can give to a child when we can spark their love of reading and reading to them when they're young, but just encouraging them to read the books that are interesting to them. I mean, when I was a kid I loved reading weird books. You know I did all the Nancy Drew stuff but I liked the kind of esoteric stuff too. Like you know, I was fascinated by that and my mom was pretty good about letting me, you know, read whatever I wanted to read. But that was something interesting to me and it helped shape, kind of who I am and the person that I've become. And so I think it's I just love it. You know I love going to the library and, you know, having my books as a part of that, I feel very honored. You know that my books are included and just the vast amount of wonderful, wonderful stories there are for kids to read.

Speaker 1: 20:09

Absolutely, and you know, for me, I've always been a voracious reader because I love the fact that I could be anybody I wanted to be. I could do anything that I wanted to do and I could go anywhere I imagined in a book. Yes, Wonderful.

Speaker 1: 20:29

It's. You know, it's like living so many lives at the same time. It's like, yeah, lying on different pairs of shoes and going on that journey and then coming back and I get to get to decide whether that's a direction for me or not, and it's like you can't get that from anything else.

Speaker 2: 20:47

Right, and it's such a personal kind of internal activity. I mean, if you're reading to a child, that's wonderful, but for kids, when they can read by themselves, I think it's just so. You know, it's a respite from this crazy busy world, right to just be able to dive into a book and forget about everything else.

Speaker 1: 21:09

I know for me, people laugh about me and that in fact, my family. It's like the I'm reading and they'll come in and they'll stand there for a long period of time and then they'll rep me and I'm like you still need to wait a few minutes because I'm so deep in the story I've got to think of myself out of there. It's like after the first paragraph or two I don't see the words anymore. I'm really there doing whatever is going on in the story. It's like it's. It truly is another world for me and I so enjoy it and I look forward to every opportunity I get to jump into all of the, the worlds and the imagination of all of these amazing authors. It's so exciting because it's so far beyond what even I can imagine, which is saying a lot.

Speaker 2: 22:00

Yeah, I, I your books. I know I'm like oh my gosh, they're, yes, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Speaker 1: 22:10

Well, you know, it's like I always say just let the imagination fly, somebody will go on the journey with you. I like that Awesome. So if you can go all the way back to the beginning, when Alex and Ace and these stories were just a little tiny thought in your head, what do you wish you had known? Or that somebody had told you about writing and publishing before you started?

Speaker 2: 22:39

Well, I really wish they would have given me your website and your podcast. That would have been great, because I was floundering in the dark, for, you know, for a long time just trying to figure, figure it out. You know, I didn't realize how many steps there were, just from the writing in the book and it was the easiest part, right, the actual writing in the book but from the editing to writing the description on the back of the book to, you know, oh, you need an ISBN number, oh, you need an ISBN number for an ebook, and you know, it just goes, just smiles. You know, just, I guess, this way up there's just so much to do. How do you find an editor? What levels of editing do I need for my book? And you know, just, just, and I read books and I watched, you know, youtube videos and I Googled everything I could.

Speaker 2: 23:31

But it's such a vast, immense field to try to navigate, you know, as a new author, without having any experience, and there are definitely some growing pains along the way.

Speaker 2: 23:43

It's, you know, definitely a little bit easier now. But I wish someone you know would have just told me to be prepared and to be ready to learn a new skill Besides just the writing, this is like a whole nother skill set to be able to get the book actually on the shelves, to be able to get the books in front of your readers that want to read your book, you know. So how do you, how do you find, how do you, you know, get your, your book in front of the people that would like it? So you know, I wish and I would give this advice to a new author too but find your tribe. You know, I wish someone would have said find your tribe, find your support system, find the people that you know that you feel comfortable with and, and you know, kind of take it from there. But to really, I wish I would have known what I was getting into.

Speaker 1: 24:41

It's a lot. Yes, well, and I will tell you, it does get easier. But yeah, if you're a new author, I think it's always good to at least speak to multiple other authors who've been through it at least once or twice and then maybe see if you can find it. There's not a writing coach, a guide or somebody that you can bounce information off of, because, as you said, there is so much information out there and people are trying to be helpful when they're giving you advice about do it this way, do it that way, but the problem is is they don't understand why you would do it one way versus the other. What makes their book different from your book, whereas that may or may not work for you. And this is where it starts getting into a really tangled, sticky wicket where you're kind of going oh wow, I wish I had known that there was another path to take, you know, or there was another choice or something like that. So you know, but here's the thing and I tell people this because I do get authors after the fact and they're kind of like I wish I didn't know and I wish I didn't know, and I'm like you know, that's great, I'm glad to know that that's maybe something we should try and catch earlier. But it's not the end of the world. It can all be changed, it can all be fixed, it can all be corrected.

Speaker 1: 26:05

Your book, once it's published, is out there for your lifetime and beyond, but for some reason there's some errors or mistakes or whatever. It can all be fixed. So I don't want anybody to go into panic attack thinking they did it wrong and that's the end of the road and they just messed it up forever. That is not the case. It can all be fixed, it can all be corrected, it all can be changed. So you know we see this with authors all the time. They'll pull some of their books from their back catalog, rework them, you know, do new covers, change the story a little bit, make it a little more interesting and republish it. You know you can still do that, even as a new author. So want to add that reassurance in there. Yes, thank you. So I know we talked about this being middle grade and kind of hinted at the age levels and stuff like that. So what do you think would be the grade levels and the age range for your book series?

Speaker 2: 27:06

Yeah, I think probably seven to 12.

Speaker 2: 27:09

And you know my grandson. You know he read them when he was well. The first one he was a little over seven, I think, an early reader. You know he reads very well but he enjoyed it. And my daughter I mean I know he's my grandkid, he's four but she read him the River of Grass and they enjoyed that together. So you know that's a little bit younger but he did enjoy that hearing the story about that. And you know, up to probably 12 or so. I mean I had adults say, oh, I really like that story and I can't wait for the next one and that's kind of fun too right, and you get that kind of feedback, but I would say mostly seven to 12.

Speaker 1: 27:50

Okay, I tend to agree with you. That's what we call middle grade. And again, of course you know those are not set in stone. Of course you're always going to have, you know, overflow into other ages, you know where somebody's reading to them or helping them, or an advanced reader, or possibly you know a late blooming reader that might be a little bit older or something like that. But that's typically the target audience that we're looking for with this middle grade series. But I do highly recommend it. I so enjoyed it. I was having so much fun going on the adventure with Ace and Alex. So what do you hope that readers will say about your book in 10 to 20 years?

Speaker 2: 28:31

no-transcript. Something that was fun and inspirational and made them feel good.

Speaker 1: 29:07

Well, and I also like the fact that you include you know your home state of Colorado in there, talking about the environment and camping and being out in nature and also, along with all of the magic and, you know, thinking outside the box and discovering new things. I think those are all very exciting tools that kids will carry forward into their into their adult lives and it is the future and probably will return again with their own kids. So I think that that's a good one. So what advice? I mean? You sort of mentioned earlier you had some advice, so I'm going to put you on the spot here about what advice would you offer to other authors and writers wanting to write a book series, because that's a little interesting. So I think I'm going to put you on the spot here about what advice would you offer offer to other authors and writers wanting to write a book series, because that's a little unique in an extra kind of obstacle beyond just writing a book.

Speaker 2: 30:03

Or I think it's important for authors to really give some thought to their why, you know what, what is their purpose? And writing a book or a series, you know what, what kind of genre are they interested in, what age group are they interested in? And just really getting in touch with, with the purpose of what's going to drive them to get up every day, or you know as many whenever they write, to be able to move that story forward. And again, like we were talking about a little bit ago, you know, finding, finding your tribe, finding your tribe of fellow authors, of people who will lift you up right, and to also, I think it's important to really be in touch with our own energy right, and to be persistent and celebrate the wins. You know you figured out how to do an ISBN, your ISBN number. Celebrate that, you wrote your description for that, celebrate that and to really kind of build on each little win is just going to help lift you up to to the finish line.

Speaker 2: 31:19

So I think also is to defeat the imposter syndrome and when those fears come up and when those thoughts come up, oh my gosh, what am I doing? No one's going to like my books, you know. You know, I'm just going to throw this out and you know, you know, sometimes those thoughts can kind of run them up and we don't need them to. But really to defeat that, because I what I feel for sure is if someone has a wherewithal to actually write a book, write a series, to have that persistence to to publish the book, Well, you know, there's someone that's needing to read that series and there's someone that's needing to read that book and you're the only person that can write it. You know that particular book. So I think just, you know, kind of building ourselves up a little bit and and just making sure that you know we're having final, longer way to, I think that's important.

Speaker 1: 32:15

Absolutely, and I'm just going to briefly key on on the couple of things here. So the imposter syndrome we all deal with it. But what I've learned through my life is that a lot of times when those doubts and fears come in, it's because you're winning. Because, let's face it, if you were, if you were not winning, those doubts and fears would not come forward because you would be beating yourself up for not winning. So it's when we're close to getting there that that starts coming forward. And, quite frankly, it's not our job. We can't please the world. We can't write a book that everybody's going to be excited about. We're writing that book for the audience that we think will enjoy it, and whether or not they like it is not really our responsibility. That's true.

Speaker 2: 33:04

And I really like what you said. I think that's really powerful, you know, to really embrace our, to embrace our success right, to really know that we deserve it, that we deserve it and you're right, it really is none of our business If anybody likes our book or not? You? Know, so it's really none of our business. We just put our best efforts out and we know it's going to reach and influence the people that it's supposed to Absolutely that's what reviews are, for that's where people give you their opinion.

Speaker 1: 33:37

So you know, don't, don't, don't jump the gun yet. It's like you'll, you'll get the feedback. Trust me on this, yeah, yeah. And the other thing I wanted to kind of talk about was you know, you and I know that writing in a series is a little more complicated, because you're continuing with the same story with the same characters is just an ongoing story. So you have an episode and you know everything is concluded, but they come back and they come back to their adventure. So there's a lot of continuity issues that come into that.

Speaker 1: 34:09

What were they wearing? When you live at a mass time, you know, what did you know? Did this character have blue eyes or brown eyes? You know, were they this tall? And now they're this tall? Yeah, did they live on a different street in book to? It's like you need to figure that stuff out. It's like, yes, it can happen, but you better have a good reason for it. You know, the more books you write in the series, the more things like that. And what I always find is like my characters will say something in one book and then I'll refer to it in another book down the road and I'm like, oh wait, who was there when they said that? So it's like you know, if you bring it up again and you go remember what it's like, well, they can only remember if they were there when that, when that character said that.

Speaker 2: 34:59

It's definitely a lot to keep up with.

Speaker 1: 35:02

Yes, it is. But you know it's also fun to because you get to develop those characters and readers come to love them. I find it funny. It's like I have two main characters in my series. We have Simon the mouse and cat the cat, and so now we have, you know, this ongoing war between team cat, team Simon. It's like you never know what is going to develop beyond your actual books and the actual stories. So I find it so fascinating and it's so much fun because you know your readers get used to those characters and those adventures and they're waiting endlessly for you to put out that next book so that they can go join them again on another adventure. And it's so much fun and it's so enjoyable because they feel like family members so it becomes a little easier to write their story because you know what they're going to do.

Speaker 2: 36:00

They talk to them all the time and I'm taking a walk, I'm like, okay, alex and ace, you know, or your sentiment, yeah, what do you think we should do here? And you know, so we're just carry on this little conversation in my head.

Speaker 1: 36:14

Usually I have arguments with mine, because I usually go, so I'm going to make you do this. They're like no, and I'm like no, you know. And they're like I don't want to, you don't get a choice. And they're like You'll be fine. You'll be fine, you'll be fine in the end. And they're like, yeah, but I'm like It'll be an adventure, that's great. Well, I like to. I like to challenge them a little bit and make them do crazy things that they don't imagine themselves doing so.

Speaker 2: 36:48

That's good. Yes, get outside their comfort zone. It's, it's.

Speaker 1: 36:52

Exactly that's how we learn stuff, is? You know? We can't learn anything while we're just sitting here in our little comfortable Challenging ourselves. So but anyway, I absolutely love the book. I recommend it to anybody who wants to go out and grab a copy of either book. I'm not 100% sure. As I said, I haven't read the second book yet. Do you need to read them in order or can they be out of order?

Speaker 2: 37:19

Really no, and I tried to be mindful about that. That you know, because I know I've enjoyed so many series that I picked up halfway through this the series and then gone back and read them. So you absolutely could read the first one or the second one first.

Speaker 1: 37:36

Yeah, I try to do that, mine too. It's like they're they're they're they're much more enjoyable if you do read them in order, but if you happen to grab them out of order or you're not going to be lost.

Speaker 2: 37:46

Yes, exactly, you can still follow the story pretty well.

Speaker 1: 37:49

Yes, All right. So what keeps you motivated?

Speaker 2: 37:54

Well, I, you know, I, I. What keeps me motivated is just waking up in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee, coming down here to my office and just the joy that I feel when I sit there and in front of my computer, you know, and kind of type away a little bit, and even on the days when it's not easy, when it's hard and I might be a little resistance, it's just really that there's a joy in my heart when I write and I really like that feeling and I feel like I'm connected to my purpose. You know, at this time in my life I think I was connected to my purpose as a nurse and that was wonderful. But this is a different avenue that brings me a lot of joy and just like we were, we were just talking about just allowing those characters to grow and allowing the series to maybe take a couple little twists and turns that it hasn't before, and that is it's. It's just, it's fun, it's just fun to do that.

Speaker 1: 38:56

Well, yeah, I love making my characters have doubts and fears to you, because we all have those to you.

Speaker 2: 39:02

We all have those, and how do we deal with them when they come up?

Speaker 1: 39:05

Exactly so, you know, and you know it's like I write. You know it's a multi character series and I do that because I want them to work as a team.

Speaker 2: 39:17

Exactly they all have.

Speaker 1: 39:19

they all have gifts, but putting them together they're almost unstoppable.

Speaker 2: 39:23

And then they're right. Isn't that wonderful and what a great, what a great concept for kids to learn. Yeah, through fun, through a fun, you know, through fun stories like the ones that you write, yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:35

Thank you, that's great. All right. So here on season two, we've been focusing on reviews for the entire season, so we're going to put you in the hot seat and we're going to ask you to give us a review for your first book. Okay, Alex and Ace. The Adventure of the Purple Pendant.

Speaker 2: 39:52

Okay, well, let's see, I'll just put it up here. I don't know, it's a little shiny there, but that's okay, the little sparkle never hurt anything.

Speaker 2: 40:01

Hey right, sparkle is good. So in Alex and Ace, the Adventure of the Purple Pendant, magic meets adventure in exciting, inspiring ways. As Alex and Ace navigate a mysterious world with the help of their new, unusual animal friends, the story offers a general introduction to concepts like mindfulness, courage, meditation and teamwork. As they all work together to reunite a magical pendant to its rightful owner, there is suspense, adversity and unexpected twists and turns that assure to entertain kids from seven to 12.

Speaker 1: 40:40

Awesome five stars. So the reason that we're putting our guests on the hot seat for you if you haven't been watching here, I keep saying this, but it's bears repeating is we want to show our audience and listeners how simple and easy it is to write a review. Now, it's not easy to talk about yourself. It's kind of like reviewing your style. How do you do that? How do you know if it's good or bad? Well, it works for you. That's what a review is. It's about your opinion, about what you think of the book, about the author, about the characters and who you think would be benefited from it and who you think would not. So we encourage all of our listeners to take a moment the next time you read a book whether it's good, bad or not and leave a review.

Speaker 1: 41:32

Reviews are king. They are how authors and writers get their information, their books, out into the world and, honestly, a lot of times it's the only feedback they get on their book and their efforts that they put into it. Who knows, maybe something you say in a review might change them into thinking about a different thing for their next book. So you never know what you're going to spark in their imagination or their journey going forward, unless you write it in a review. And again, don't forget, reviews are how people find books.

Speaker 1: 42:10

Think about the last time you purchased a book or, quite frankly, if you're ordering online anything. You look at the reviews, you look at the good ones, you look at the bad ones, you look at the middle of the road ones and then you decide is this a good fit for me? So next time you check out a book, read a book, make sure you leave a review. As I said, you can always go to where you purchased the book. If you can't remember where you purchased the book, then you can go to Goodreadscom or you can reach out to the author on their social media or their website and they will be happy to accept your review and place it somewhere where they need it. So I appreciate you doing that. So what is next for you in the Alex and Agues series?

Speaker 2: 42:58

Sure, sure. And just to go back, thank you for stressing how important reviews are. I am 100%. I never realized how important reviews were until becoming an author, so it's such a great, powerful reminder, and even me with the books that I read, to make sure that I'm leaving those reviews. But what's next for the kids is they're going to be back in Colorado, so on the river of grass they go to Florida and they're down in the Florida Everglades for that adventure. But for the next one it's going to be Alex and AC adventure on Bigfoot Mountain, and Bigfoot Mountain is in Colorado. It's going to be fun. You know, might be an appearance by Bigfoot, but he's going to be definitely a good guy and working for the power of good as well. So that one's been really a lot of fun to write and I'm hoping to have that one out maybe by the very beginning of January. I'm thinking so. And then we've got the ideas are starting to kind of come together for where they're going to go after that.

Speaker 1: 44:09

Wow, that's amazing. So how many books do you plan to do in the series.

Speaker 2: 44:14

I'm hoping at least seven or eight Okay well, that would be great.

Speaker 1: 44:20

That's kind of where I think they hit the good spot and it's like, interestingly enough, I'm working on a spin off series that I had never anticipated writing. Nice, yes, I love it. So you know it's a lot of fun. So we'll actually have to have you come back on when this new adventure on Bigfoot Mountain is available, so we can talk about that one Absolutely love to All right? Well, we know that your books are available for sale across the United States and around the world, so what retailers can they find your books?

Speaker 2: 44:56

Sure Amazon, amazoncom for sure. Barnes and Noblecom through, and my website has more information about the books and that's Susan Steinmancom first name, last namecom. And but it will. That site would actually direct you to Amazon. My books are in some local bookstores here in the Denver area, which is really fun and nice, and but those are the main main places. Amazon, I guess Barnes and Noble would be the main retailers right now.

Speaker 1: 45:29

All right, awesome. Of course, we'll have links for those purchase links for you in the show notes for both books, but also just a reminder, if you would prefer to go to one of your local independent bookstores or to your local Barnes and Noble store. Her book are available for order if they do not already have them in stock. So just go to your favorite book retailer and request Susan's book and they will get it for you. Do you have autograph copies available on request if people want to contact you through the website? Absolutely Okay.

Speaker 2: 46:03

Absolutely. They just reach out on my website. I'd be more than happy to do that. I've done that for quite a few people already and I would be honored to sign a copy.

Speaker 1: 46:14

All right, Well you heard it here first. If you would like an author signed copy, personally signed, for you, then reach out to Susan on her website. We'll have that information for you in the show note. You're also active on social media. Yes, I'm exciting to see all of your stuff. So what platforms are you on that we can work into?

Speaker 2: 46:37

Yes, so I have a Facebook group. So Facebook Susan Steinman author group and on Instagram. So I'm on Instagram as well and those actually are the main two. And I on my website what I've been doing is trying to post different blogs and trying to kind of grow that a little bit too. But as far as the immediate sort of interaction with readers would be through Facebook or Instagram, Okay, great.

Speaker 1: 47:11

Well, again, we'll have those links for you in the show notes and we'll try to get a link to her blog for you as well. So do you have any upcoming events or anything such as newsletters or anything that you would like to share with our listeners, for them to sign up for or download?

Speaker 2: 47:30

Yeah, and if anyone would like to visit the website and sign up for the newsletter and it's just a newsletter, I promise I won't spam anybody it's just going to be to kind of stay in touch with upcoming events and things like that. But there's a free, downloadable ways to help your child connect to their inner genius. So just kind of a creative document that you might give to you for signing up and trusting me with your email address so I can kind of keep you up to date with the new books coming out and any other events coming up.

Speaker 1: 48:04

All right, Awesome, Of course we will have that information for you. Is there anything else that you would like to include before we jump over and do our tip of the week?

Speaker 2: 48:14

You know, I think, one thing I just would like to talk about a little bit, and we touched on it. But you know, our kids really learn from us, right, and to really be aware, as adults, how powerful our words can be to a child and or to anybody, right? But our words are so impactful and I can share kind of two quick examples on that. I remember being in, I think, kindergarten, first grade, just a little, a little little, and we were coloring. You know, our assignment was to color a picture and I was so proud of my picture I just thought it was the prettiest picture. And I remember the teacher came over and she looked at it and well, susan, you know this is good, but you know you colored outside the lines here quite a bit. And you know, next time make sure that you color in the lines. And you know trees, trees aren't purple and pink and you know red, they're brown and green leaves. So you know, be sure to think about that the next time.

Speaker 2: 49:20

And I, even though I was little, I remember feeling so deflated, like you know. And it was just an example, it was just an example of how, and she didn't mean any harm by it, you know she was just doing what she thought was was right and you know, but it was it. Just it kind of took a little bit of a spark away from me as a kiddo and then I can. And then, on the other side of the spectrum on that, I was in middle school and we had a it was language arts, and there I had a teacher, we had a writing assignment to write a story and I had fun with it and just kind of wrote it all up and turned it in and I got it back and she had a big A plus plus on it and a comment are you going to be a writer? And that was just wow. You know that really was impactful in such a wonderful, different way.

Speaker 2: 50:14

So you know anyway, as adults, to be aware of. You know, how are we living our life? Are we living our life as though nothing is a miracle or are we living our life as though everything is a miracle? Right, and in any way that we can to help our kids see the world from the viewpoint of possibilities and not limitations, you know, anytime they're creative, to just affirm, validate, support them. I love coloring with my grandkids, my grandson, and let me tell you purple orange, it doesn't matter you know he'll look at my grandma, you know, flower, all those colors on my book.

Speaker 2: 50:57

That's just the way I want to do it. You can do that too, I think, any way that we can, and just just sort of help the kids along by, by demonstrating, like we talked about before and, you know, just giving them a little bit of encouragement and validation and our presence with them. You know that one on one presence of you know I see you, you know your story deserves to be heard.

Speaker 1: 51:24

Right, let me hear your story Absolutely, and I think I think, as a teacher, I probably would have said you know, this is amazing. I've never seen pink and purple trees. Usually see golden, green and brown. I mean, and you're so brave going outside the lines, I mean, I don't know, whatever that brings, I still got the point across, still got the information across, but the field, fields empowered.

Speaker 1: 51:51

So I think that's the difference. We just have to think about how can we get the information to them without defeating their creativity, because nobody wants to feel like an outsider. They want to feel like they're doing something important and new and original, and we take that original thought away from them when we criticize. So and this just on a thought there people same thing applies to writers. When we're criticizing their work, there's a way to criticize without destroying them.

Speaker 2: 52:32

Absolutely there's yeah, always choose kindness, right, always choose kindness, because you can definitely get your message across in a kind way, supportive way.

Speaker 1: 52:41

Absolutely. There's always a way to say what you need to say without, you know, making the person feel like they didn't do it right. That's the bottom line. It's like trying to acknowledge the work that was involved and then add your thoughts yeah, always good, you know, spoon full of sugar. All right, well, we're gonna jump over to our tip of the week. So this tip of the week we're gonna talk about something that Susan and I talked about in the green room, that she struggled with when she was working on writing and publishing her books, and it was about how to market your book.

Speaker 1: 53:24

This is a very, very common thing that I see with new authors and even seasoned authors, because the act of writing is very creative. We're using the right side of our brain to be very creative and our excuse me the left side the left side of our brain to be creative. And you know we don't think in the logical terms when we're being creative. I mean there's a little bit of logic going in there, but most of it is creative and very freeing. But then you get to the end and you have this wonderful product, but now you have to get it out into the world. So it's really hard to make that complete shift over to the right side of your brain, the logical part of your brain. But I want you to think about marketing in this way Marketing is about finding and getting your book to the people who need or want to read it. So as long as you're focused on that and you focus on what it is you want to achieve from marketing it's like I hear the story so often, so I'm gonna share it again.

Speaker 1: 54:35

You guys have heard this, you know, we have authors A, b and C. We have author A did this promotion and it worked out great, or so she says, although she can't articulate what was so great about it. And then we have author B that did a marketing thing and she says it was great too, but again, no real articulation about what it is she achieved. So then we have author C that looks at author A and author B going you know, I'm going to do that because they say it was great for them. But then here I come and go well, what did you guys achieve from this? And they're like oh, I don't know, it just worked great for me. And I'm like well, but see, you're just chasing dreams, which is not always a bad thing, but when you're marketing it is, you need to know what it is you want.

Speaker 1: 55:20

Do you want more book sales? Do you want to find new readers? Do you want to have more followers? Do you want to get from, maybe, a podcast onto a TV station to from a local station to a regional station, to a national station? Do you want to have your books featured in magazines? Do you want to get into schools? What is it that you want? You have to figure that out first and then find the marketing plan that will get you what you need, not the other way around. You can't just hop, scotch around and going well, there's this idea, and there's this idea, and there's this thing, and there's that thing, and I'm just going to do them all and hope for the best. Well, yeah, I might get some of the things you want, but very likely you're going to be frustrated and find that you're just chasing things that don't ever happen. It's a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of money. So again, what do you want? You want to get your book to the readers who want and need to read it. How do you find them? Where are they? Where are you going to find them. What do you want from them? Are you telling them what you want from them?

Speaker 1: 56:36

I had an author mention to me that she's been listening to podcasts and she's been sharing her reviews, but she's not getting anything back. And I'm like, well, what do you want back? And she's like, well, I'd like to get some more reviews or possibly some more sales. And I'm like, ok, but if you just go on there and go, hey, I got this wonderful review, and then you share the review, that, ladies and gentlemen, is an announcement. Doesn't require anybody to do anything other than say, maybe, congratulations, good job, whatever. It doesn't feel like you need to do anything. However, a few little words at the beginning. It's like I got this amazing review. Have you read my book? Have you reviewed my book? Guess what? You just told them to go buy your book or review your book, or both.

Speaker 1: 57:22

Again, just a few key sentences. This is called a call to action. Make sure, if you're marketing, that you're telling them what you want from them. Go sign up for my newsletter, go buy my book, go review my book, go attend my event. You know, whatever it is you want, if you're not telling them, then they're just going to think you're making an announcement, announcements don't do anything. So remember that next time you're struggling with marketing and promotion. There is no right way or wrong way to market your book, as long as you keep the end in mind, front and center, what it is that you want to achieve. I know there is so much more we could talk about about marketing books. This is just a tip to get you started in the right direction.

Speaker 1: 58:09

Of course, if you have any questions or would like more information about marketing your book, please reach out to us here at the Writers Parachute. You can go to the website at writersparachutecom or you can leave us a comment on the show that you're listening to. So I don't have anything else to add. It's been amazing episode. This is the last episode for season two.

Speaker 1: 58:34

We're so glad that you've joined us here on season two at the Writers Parachute. We have all the plans in the world to come back for season three and beyond. I want to thank Susan Steinman for being our guest today. I encourage you to go check out her books Alex and A's the Adventure of the Purple Pandant Pendant and Alex and A's the Adventure of the River of Grass, and, of course, we'll have information for you as it comes through with her third book, alex and A's the Adventure on a Bigfoot Mountain. So, as always, I want to thank you for joining us here on the Writers Parachute. I am so grateful to get to be your host on the Writers Parachute, guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing, and I hope that you find that this is a safe, encouraging space for your dreams to land well too. Until next time, thank you for joining us, come back and see us again and goodbye, thank you, you're welcome, thank you.