SPEAKER_00 0:00

I think writers have a tendency to be perfectionists. I think we want every word that goes onto the page to be the perfect word. And that can really kind of block us. And so I think that we need to give ourselves the permission to be imperfect and be okay with putting down words and sentences that we might know are not our best, but to remember that this is this is not your last chance, that you can come back to it, you can revise it, and honestly, sometimes create something almost unexpectedly beautiful when you come back to it.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacy Fraser, a formally repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories: the one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Write It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hi, writer. Welcome back to another episode of the Write It Scared podcast, where we talk about the brave and messy act of crafting our novels so that we can do it with more compassion, more confidence, more clarity, and not feel so damn alone. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, and today I have an amazing guest interview to share with you. I'm in conversation with author Gloria Huang about her debut middle grade fantasy novel, Kaya of the Ocean, which is an adventure in exploring and embracing who you are and also touches on childhood mental health struggles, the immigrant experience, and the complexities of growing up in our complicated world. But before I give you her bio and we jump into the interview, I did want to remind you that my small group book coaching for commercial fiction writers who are working through the story development stages or in need of drafting support is going to open back up for enrollment. Cohort will start in September and run through the first week of December. So it's three months. And if you are interested in this level of support that will help teach you about story, story structure, character arcs, narrative drive, and also help you with the emotional roller coaster side of writing a novel and give you the structure and the accountability that will help you create a story that you're proud of and you want to do this in a safe and supportive community, then consider filling out the interest form now and getting on the list because I do expect these cohorts to fill up and the space is limited. So I will pop a link in the show notes for you to get more information. All right, now here is Gloria's bio. Gloria Huang is a novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, Kaya of the Ocean, was published in January of 2025 and was selected as a junior library guild cold standard, American Bookseller's Indie Introduced, and American Bookseller's Indie Next List Pick. Her short fiction has been accepted for publication in prestigious literary journals, including the Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, the Three Penny Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, and many more. She studied fiction writing and English literature at Stanford University and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is represented by Lauren Cameron and Amanda Orozco at Transatlantic Agency. Hi, Gloria. Welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy to have you on. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, so we're going to talk about your debut middle grade novel, Kaya of the Ocean, which was released in January of 2025. And as we were talking about before we hit record, the cover is beautiful. And I can't wait for listeners to hear about the premise behind the book. I'm starting to read it and really enjoying it. I've already recommended it to several people. So thank you so much that I know who are writing in this middle grade fantasy area. So yeah, so why don't you kick us off by telling us what the story is about and then we'll dive into kind of what maybe inspired you to write it.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

For sure. And I just wanted to start by saying I agree with you. The cover is so beautiful. It's by an artist named Alba Royal, who my publisher found, and I think she's fantastic. And I am really proud of, really proud of the cover, even though I did not have anything to do with it. But the book, so it is about a 13-year-old girl named Kaya song, and she struggles with anxiety and fear of the water. And she lives out in Hawaii, which can, as you can imagine, makes it a little difficult being surrounded by water. And she starts to notice it takes place kind of over a Christmas there. And so she has her friends and she's, you know, struggling with kind of everyday, day-to-day anxieties and dealing with the fact that her friends love surfing. But her aunt and her cousin Anne come out to visit from New York. And Anne is very different now than she was when she was younger and they they have a lot of friction. But that's kind of what's happening in the background. While Kaya starts to notice that really strange things are happening when she's around water, especially if she's anxious and it starts to become more kind of uncontrollable and she's she's really afraid. And so she does a little bit of research and she discovers that she's actually secretly descended from a Chinese water goddess named Matsu, who is the real Chinese water goddess, actually. And so Kaya needs to figure out, you know, what this what this connection means and how to control her new powers before before it becomes dangerous to herself and people she loves.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Wow. I can already see how the external conflict is pulling the internal conflict front and center. That's amazing. I can't wait to finish it. So what inspired you to write a story about a young person terrified by water, surrounded by it, and struggling with this internal anxiety that, you know, sometimes people can see that, sometimes they can't. Yeah. But so what inspired you?

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Yeah, well, I that's so the idea for it really came around when we were, when the world was kind of first emerging from the pandemic, and it was obviously still a really scary time. And there were these children in my life who I'm very close to who I could see struggling with anxiety for the first time. And it was really hard to see because it's something that I struggled with and struggle with now a little bit. So definitely as a child as well. And I think there's a tendency when children struggle with anxiety for the first time to kind of internalize it. And there's a lot of like, there's a lot of feeling like, what's wrong with me? There's a lot of self-blame, there's a lot of concern about like what did I do wrong. And that was really hard to see. So I remember I was standing by the ocean actually one night, and I was thinking how I would love to write a book, kind of to send a message to all these these brave children who are fighting this battle like deep down where no one can see that, you know, one, that they're not alone, that other people go through this too. Two, that there's nothing wrong with them. And that three, that all parts of who they are, even these parts that they might not love all the time or that they might see as like weaknesses or flaws, are still really important parts of the amazing, beautiful, complicated people they are. And so that's kind of where the idea came from. And standing by the water was kind of, I guess, fortuitous, but I also do tend to include the ocean and water in a lot of my stories. I think partially because I'm fascinated by it. It's just, it's powerful, it's terrifying, but it can be also such a source of solace and beauty. And then I think there's also really strong metaphor there about, you know, sometimes what you see on the surface of the waters hides what's underneath. And, you know, there's a lot of kind of metaphors about the depth of the ocean, the power of it. So I think that's kind of where the idea first came from. And then I I really wanted to couch it in this Chinese mythological framework. And that was partially because I think for me growing up as a child of immigrants, I often felt a sense of like displacement and you know, isolation and alienation. And I turned to books a lot for comfort and reassurance. And back when I was younger, there wasn't, there wasn't as much in terms in the way of diversity, and there wasn't as much in terms of like finding characters that look like myself and and my family. So, you know, so I read a lot of things like Greek mythology, which is beautiful. I still love Greek mythology, but I really wanted to to add to the diversity of voices and stories so that there can be, you know, other kids who were out there who might want to want to find themselves reflected back or or just you know find a new a new world that is interesting to them, you know, in addition to kind of all the voices that exist out there.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Thank you. That was such a beautiful and eloquent answer to what the inspiration that brought this book into the world. And see, I'm gonna disagree with you about having nothing to do with the cover with the book, the cover would be.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

I love that. I I love that. I will I will secretly think of that connection every time I look at this video.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

There you go. Yeah. I always love to hear where the origin stories come from. And you know, it's kind of a I don't think that I think it's a hard question to answer. Like, what gave you the idea for the book? And you're like, well, uh, it was an amalgam of things, but and just thank you for sharing your personal experience. I think a lot of us do write pieces of ourselves into you know, of our lived experience into the stories, and that can make it amazing, but also hard. Yes, I agree, because it's exactly right touching on something that sometimes is raw and still wounded. So when you were talking about the metaphor, the ocean being really powerful, but also a bit deceptive in that you don't know what's going on under the underneath. People are very similar, right? You what you see up front may not necessarily equate to what is going on underneath. I'm curious to how you went about portraying the anxiety that a young person might be feeling and how you were able to put that on the page in a way that the reader could experience it. Yeah. What was it like to try to write about anxiety in a from a young person's perspective? Even though and you yourself were writing as an you're an adult.

unknown 10:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah. No, I think that's that is a really important question to ask. I think writing about anxiety was one of the most, it was one of kind of the components of the novel that I wanted to be the most deliberate and careful about. I think the first thing I wanted to make sure was that I was not, I was not overgeneralizing and trying to speak as an authority to the, you know, the experience of anxiety because there's no such universal experience. I knew everyone will experience it differently. And so I really wanted to kind of just make sure that I was portraying this as like an experience. But while doing that, make sure that I was being as authentic as possible and pulling from, you know, a personal experience so that it wasn't, you know, that I my main goal was kind of to show children or or adults who read this, like, here is somebody who is experiencing anxiety one way, and here are some ways that it can be resolved or some the meaning you can take from it. So for Kaya, for example, one of the things she does throughout the first kind of part of the book is she really tries to hide the anxiety. And I think this kind of goes to your very astute observation about the ocean and you know being a metaphor for anxiety. She starts out and she's very kind of academic and she's very well put together, and she has these friends, she has this family, but she really tries to hide the anxiety. She wears, you know, long, long sleeves to hide the scratches from when she's scratching and she's anxious and she tries to keep make sure it's under her hair, partially because she's dealing with a lot of shame and doesn't want people to know about it. And that's one of the things I wanted to address, just like how important it is to be able to like reach out and talk to people and know that you're not alone and know there are people there for you. But the other part was that she is the daughter of Asian immigrant parents. And there is a tendency, I think, culturally, and again, I don't mean to overgeneralize, but there is often a tendency for that not to be as open a topic. Um, and so I think she encounters that a little bit where she tries to talk to her parents. And I think parents in general are very afraid to confront that there might be something wrong with their child or that their child might not be happy. And I think this is multiplied a lot with the cultural kind of constraints. And so her parents are very quick to be like, no, no, no, like you just need to sleep, you just need to, you know, exercise, you just need to eat well, and and almost like wishful thinking that it can take that away. And that becomes part of the problem that has to be addressed in the later part of the book. But to answer your direct question, I do think it is just such an important question how to portray something like anxiety or any mental health struggle. For me, the key thing was to always just try and stay authentic and always to try to remember that I'm not trying to present an authoritative universal view, but this is this is one way that someone experiences it and can learn to cope.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Right, right. I think that drawing on your own personal experience as a writer gives you the window to be able to do that, to speak of it as an experience, as you know, one experience, not as a universal, this is the way it is kind of kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I totally can align with the idea of it, of anxiety being minimized in in the young adult population and how it can be made worse in certain cultural, you know, and in certain like I know from personally, from my own and the type the way I was raised very straight least, nose to the grindstone, don't think about feelings type of people who are wonderful. And I love them, by the way. Uh if you're listening, love you. But but still, I mean, the the the room for emotional expansion and exploration was very small.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

And part of it is just, I think, linked into kind of a survival mechanism. Because at one point in time, what our needs were very low on the hierarchy Nasless chart. It was about food, shelter, survival. And so we didn't have, we weren't worried about those things, you know. Exactly. Whereas now today, those that paradigm has shifted.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

And and our mental health is more to the forefront because our physical health is you know, our or where we live and how we live, and and I guess our some of our needs are more provided for. So I think it's becoming more that's why books like yours are so important, because that is as a parent myself, it changes how I think about what my daughter is experiencing.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Yeah. Yeah. And no, I I want a parent. Yeah. I think that's exactly right. And I think you that's beautifully put. I think I'm so grateful actually that there we're in a time where we can begin talking about things like mental health, you know, in literature and then hopefully sparking those kind of conversations because I I truly believe that's a huge part of being able to kind of learn coping mechanisms is being able to talk about it. And and I think you're right. Like there's there's a joke in in a lot of between me and a lot of people in my culture where immigrant Asian parents sometimes it feels like anything can be solved by good sleep and good food. I think like growing up, I would I, you know, any anytime there's an issue, my my parents would be like, I think you need more sleep. And I it was partially a wishful thing, but it was also exactly as you said. I think at the time they were like, you know, we grew up kind of focusing on a different part of the hierarchy and it getting used to kind of having the the luxury but also the necessity to talk about these important emotions and mental health is is so key. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah. I mean, same, like all we needed was more food.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Right. You know, you're upset, you go to grandma and she feeds you. That was my experience, right? Actually, she fed the world as as many as she could because where she came from that was scarcity. That was something that was scarcity. So that was a solution, you know. So yeah, it's just it's so interesting how nuanced and layered our experience in life is. And, you know, I love, I don't know if I mean every I think almost a lot of people know this quote, but the I love the Maya Angelou quote that says something along the lines of you can't do better until you know better. And so I think it's books like this that kind of broaden our horizons and our scope and our experience, and then we can do better for the next generation, for the generation after that. So and it becomes a ripple effect in the world. So that's why I think that books have the power to change and shape lives and save them on some level. So yeah. Oh, so good. Well, thank you. I mean, we went deep. Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

We're excavating.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Oh yeah, no kidding. Okay, so well, thank you for sharing your inspiration, what drew you to write the book. What was the path of publication like for you?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

So let me think. I think I so I'm trying to remember this. So I started writing in 2021, I believe. And I'm a pretty fab strapter, but I actually already had agents at the time. So I worked on that, then went back and forth on that agents. They're wonderful. They're very editorial. Laura Cameron and Amanda Roscoe from Transatlantic. And we really kind of like worked together to get into shape to go on sub probably early in 2023. And I was really lucky and it sold really quickly, I think two weeks after it went on sub, my publisher editor made an offer to acquire it. But I do want to mention that the reason I had agents already is because it's not the first book I went out on sub with. I had a young adult and an adult novel at two different times that did not get picked up. And the reason I mentioned that, I think, is it's I think publishing is an amazing and complicated and occasionally frustrating industry where we tend to share a lot about success stories and not as much about the struggles. And I think that creates kind of a lopsided message to writers who are coming up. So I I want to make it clear that I was very lucky for Kaya that it was acquired quickly, but I'm certainly no stranger to the other side of the struggle. So it it definitely is not it can be it can be hard and then suddenly easy and then it's back to hard again, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah. I and I'm so thankful that you are willing to share and express that because I agree we tend to focus on success stories. And that's, you know, kind of like that saying, you know, an overnight success was 10 years in the making or longer. Right. Exactly. Exactly. No, it's so in so in that vein, a big part of this podcast is about exposing the unhelpful internal narratives that writers face when they're crafting their novels that keep them from writing their books. And my hope is if they hear things like that. This wasn't my first book. This is actually book number three that got picked up, or things like that, that they will realize that they're not alone, that the writing game is not about one night successes or, you know, one one-stop shop successes or anything like that. It's a practice and it takes time. And so if they are able to recognize that, then that they will stay and believe that they are a writer, that they do belong here, and we will have more books in the world for more voices that maybe we wouldn't have heard from because of that. So, in that vein, can you think of a time when you really struggled with your writing, when you got stuck, when it got really hard? And what was that like? And what did you do?

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, no, I definitely think I think everything you're saying is so important to kind of keep communicating to the writing world. I I think writing can be such an isolated experience and the publishing world can have so many kind of challenges and gatekeepers that it's important to figure out ways that we can help each other as writers and also to learn these these methods for kind of pushing through. So to that point, I guess I would say that when it comes to writer's block, which I think every writer encounters, one way that I've learned to deal with it that I think is helpful is first, I will step away because I I do think it's important to, I heard this phrase, so I can't take credit for it, but refill the creative well. You know, take a moment to consume art that you didn't create. So read other books and watch shows and watch movies and just take a break from, you know, kind of being in your own world of words. And when you're ready to come back to it, I think that the key is to write through the writer's block by kind of almost writing a bridge to the next passage. And what I mean by that is I think writers have a tendency to be perfectionists. I think we want every word that goes onto the page to be the perfect word. And that can really kind of block us. And so I think that we need to give ourselves the permission to be imperfect and be okay with putting down words and sentences that we might know are not our best, but to remember that this is this is not your last chance, that you can come back to it, you can revise it and honestly sometimes create something almost unexpectedly beautiful when you come back to it. So I think that that's one thing that I do to overcome writer's block. I did want to also mention the post publication process, there's it had been, there's been a whole host of challenges that I just didn't know before I was kind of, you know, out with my debut novel. And I think one of them, and I think this goes to what you were saying in terms of what's important to to remind writers. Is someone gave me the advice once that other people's writing journeys don't have anything to do with yours. And I think that was really helpful because I think that again, we're all kind of isolated, but then we form these communities. And then there's an aspect of marketing your book and being on social media. And it's really hard not to then compare yourself to other people and say, like, oh, this person had this milestone or this person took this long to get to this place. And and it's very hard not to do it, but I think it's so important to remember that everyone's journey is their own and everyone's writing journey is no more or less valid because of someone else's. So that's something I try to do.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

And their place in their journey is no more or less valid.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Yeah, it's the most individualized journey.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

It so is. It so is. And you really just can't tell like how what what's on the horizon for you, you know. So I think that's the important part about pushing through.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah. And I love the part about giving yourself permission to be imperfect. I was talking to another, another writer a couple of weeks ago. And one of the what kind of the double-edged sword is like I get so excited for other people when their books, you know, hit the world, and I'm so excited for them. But in the same breath, I'm like, how long have I been at this? And what do I have to show for?

SPEAKER_00 23:22

No, exactly. Exactly. No, I completely nature in that. It's very natural. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Like, oh, it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Yeah. No, I self-moot. No, I completely agree. I think it's, I think we all kind of have that where we're so happy for someone at the same time, worried, kind of like what this means. And it's so it's it's much easier said than done, but definitely something I try and I try to be.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

And then remembering how to narrow the focus and come back to the work.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Exactly. I was gonna add that somebody said something to me once that I also thought was important. And they were like, it doesn't, they're like, if you reach one person and you you affect them and you know, make them think or feel things, that is still worth it, and that's a magical thing. And so I try to remember that too, that sometimes when we get too caught up in the social media and the numbers, and just that that wasn't what it was about. That was it was about reaching like another human being.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Oh I love that. So you've been writing for quite a while. So what have you learned about yourself and your writing process along the way?

SPEAKER_00 24:28

So I've learned a couple things. One thing, I I love this. I love the writing community's love of kind of coming up with adorable labels. So I'm sure you've heard of the the plotter, the pantzer, and the plancer, the plotters being people who like very detailed outlines and pantsers who write by the sea of their pants and planters who are kind of a mix of two. I've definitely learned that I'm a plancer. So I the way that I write with is I'll come up with an outline, but it's it's very high level. I do like three bullet points per chapter almost. And then when I write, I kind of let the writing take me on whatever journey it goes. I've also learned that I I think I mentioned I'm a pretty fast initial drafter and I write pretty clean, but I'm definitely an underwriter. And this is something that, you know, I'm in a couple of writing communities, and it's amazing. There are people who are overwriters, and it it sounds like magic to me. Because I, for me, I definitely, when I'm done the first draft, I'm definitely always under kind of the target word count. And then when I do my revisions and edits, I end up adding and adding passages and getting up to there. So it's it's a very different experience, I think, than some of my call, my my writer friends who are like, yeah, I'm at, you know, act two and I'm already at this word count. So it's I'm sure challenges on both sides are equally valid, but completely different.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Yeah. I'm also an underwriter. And I think for I don't know about for you, but I know for me, like the piece of that I have a hard time bringing to the table is like the context.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

So it's like I have to come back in and layer in some of that interiority.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yes. Yes. I think I think as writers, there's always exciting passages we want to get to and exciting top points that we want to write. And so it's it's so hard for me not to feel like, I just want to be at that stage and writing about this one thing. So it's for me the editing stage is where you fell back some of that other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

I totally totally get it. I totally get it. Yes. I just want to write about the scene where they, you know, finally get together.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Right. Exactly. Exactly. I've waited.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Actually, I just I had to, I had this, I had this friend of mine tell me one time. She's like, basically, there was this one scene that I wanted to write. And what I realized is I had to write like 75,000 words before I could wreck that damn scene.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

I love that. I love that. That's awesome with it.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

It's so true. I still feel you. All right. So when you think back, what's a piece of writing advice that you've held on to that helps you keep going? That is keep keep I I I absolutely love the one about, you know, it's about reaching one person with your experience or with the experience that your book brings forth. I love that. So you get now, you gotta come up with another one.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Yeah, yeah. Well, I I luckily I do have another one, which is that I I don't know if it's a piece of advice, but it's more like a reframing. So I'm in, like I mentioned, I'm in a couple of writing online writing communities, and there's one group that treated rejections like badges of honor. So it was amazing where they would someone would get a rejection and they would message the group and be like, I got a rejection, and everyone would cheer. And it was, I just I loved that framing because I think that the way that they said it was all of these rejections are necessary to get to the point of success. And it's important to turn it around. So they, you know, some people had like, if I get to this many rejections, I give myself a treat. And it wasn't a consult, a consolation treat. It was like, I've achieved something. And it was just, it was such a great way to reframe it. And I think that's important because I think that this passion that we choose is full of it's inevitable. There's rejection at some point for every single person. And the ability to reframe that I think is really, really important. And it's it's hard sometimes because some rejections will hurt much more than others. And, you know, there's definitely, there's definitely something to be said about taking a moment and feeling it before you you get through it. But I think that reframing of like this is necessary to be on the path was was really important for me to to have that.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Oh yeah, I love that. And I can co totally see it because every rejection can be reframed as a celebration of you serving your own truth. Yeah. Right. Versus you being accepted by others finally, after all this time, I finally made it. Right. It's instead, it's like, no, I showed up for myself and I did the deal. So it's more about self-integrity and uh self and and self-honoring than it is about validation. Exactly. You're validating yourself in a way. Well, I ask every writer what kind of wish they would like to put out into the world for their fellow writers to just kind of pass forward, you know, pay forward the good. So what is your wish for your fellow writers?

SPEAKER_00 29:05

That's a great question. Because I actually haven't thought about this before because, you know, before the writing communities, I had kind of additional writer friends. And I think my wish is for my writing colleagues to have the kind of emotional strength of fortitude to kind of battle through all of the, all of that, all of the stuff that is publishing. So not just the rejections, but also the waiting and the silences and the the uncertainty. It's hard. It can be emotionally hard to put so much of yourself into a, you know, into a story or into a book and then send it out in the world and hope that it reaches someone else and that they want to keep moving it toward to have it reach other people. And I I say this because I do remember early on, a very good friend of mine was an amazing writer, but she really struggled, I think, with the rejection aspect and the silence aspect. She had a really hard time not internalizing it. And so even getting like a small short story rejection would would deeply upset her. And I I hope she's I hope she started writing again. But for a while she stopped writing because I think it was so painful. And so my wish would be that we had the armor to kind of let that bounce off of us and we can keep going. Because you're right, it's so important to get those stories on the world. It's so important to hear all those different voices. So I I hope they make it through.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Same. Same. Are you currently working on anything you would like to share?

SPEAKER_00 30:34

I am working on two things. I so one is that I've actually sold another middle grade novel. It's not been announced yet. So hopefully I'll be able to share more details about it soon. But I I can say that it's it's another contemporary fiction with light fantasy or speculative elements. So I I definitely have a type, I would say. And I also finished a young adult novel that is currently with my agents, and I'm I'm hoping to get feedback on that soon and see if we can go on sub for that. So and it similarly is contemporary fiction with light fantasy or speculative elements. And this one also has kind of light historical elements, as as does Kaya. So I mean I'm I'm definitely in a lane.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, for sharing your beautiful book with the world and so much of the process of what it took to write it. And just for your your grace and your vulnerability and your honesty. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, conversation.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Where can listeners find you and find your book?

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Sure. They can find me on have an author website, glorialefung.com. I'm also on Instagram and threads. The my Instagram handle and threads handle is Layla S Rights. It's a new thing, it's L-A-I-L-A-S-Rights. And in terms of the book, it's on, I think you can find it a couple ways, but I think a good aggregation would either be through my publisher site, Holiday House, or Penguin Random House, our distributor. And it's also on Goodreads as well. So those are the many places you can find me.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Right on. Well, I will make sure to post all of the links in the show notes. So thank you again for your time. And I hope you have a wonderful day. And I look forward to what comes next.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Thank you so much. It's been great being here. I've loved this.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Okay. Thank you for listening to the Write It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.