Celebrating Two Years: Hosts Reflect on Best Episodes and Books -104

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Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:01

Welcome to Author Express. Thanks for checking us out. This is the podcast where you give us 15 minutes of your time, and we give you a chance to hear the voice behind the pages and get to know your new favorite author in a new light. I'm Shawna Rodriguez, one of your hosts, a fellow author, host of The Grit Show and Authenticity Amplified Podcast, and the founder of Authentic Connections Podcast Network, which makes this podcast possible. Let me tell you a little about today's guest. We are doing something a little different today on Author Express. It is our 2 year anniversary. So you actually get an episode that has all of your hosts and we're going to do a little bit of recapping of the last year of the Author Express podcast.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:56

So we're going to do a little introduction of each of us and share a little bit more about the podcasting side of things and a little bit about some of our favorite books, as well as our favorite episodes. I'm Shawna Rodriguez, one of your 3 co hosts. I'm a podcast strategist, the founder of the solopreneur sisterhood, and an international best selling author, which is why I'm part of this group. My primary book is Beyond the Pear Blossoms. It's a women's fiction novel that's a journey through the moments of being lost, a reminder of the places where we feel found, and ultimately, what it takes to choose our way. I'm from the Rogue Valley in Oregon. And as you know, if you've listened to us, we always share something interesting about where we're from. In a previous episode, I was on as a guest.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:41

I talked about the pairs and Harry and David, so I had to come up with something new. And the other big interesting thing about where I was from is that my hometown actually was where the Alameda fire happened in September 2020, and we lost 26 100 homes in less than 24 hours, which is isn't that isn't that terrible? And I was like, when that is really interesting, but it's kinda sad. Yes. That was a very sad and tragic thing. It's actually right around the time I finished my novel though, and I had part of the proceeds for my book. My book was actually dedicated to the rebuilding of my hometown in that area. And about $900 for the proceeds of my book actually went to Habitat For Humanity and then helping to rebuild home, because that was my hometown when I grew up. There's only 3,000 people that lived there.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:26

So it had twice it was lost in that. It it was huge. It was a huge deal. It's obviously much larger now than it was when I grew up there, but that's a lot. So big deal. So, Christy, why don't you go nest next and do your introduction and tell us something interesting about where you're from?

Kristi Leonard [: 00:02:41

Alright. Well, I am the newest host on the Author Express podcast. And when I am not immersed in crafting novels, I'm orchestrating writing retreats through my business, Writers in the Wild, or lending my voice to nonfiction audiobooks on Audible. And I also lead the Women's Fiction Writers Association as the president of the board and will start querying my first book in 2025. So I'm the only one that's not published in this group, but I think it gives me some perspective.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:12

Uh-huh.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:03:12

And it makes me appreciate a lot. The most interesting thing about where I grew up, I grew up in Florida, in Sarasota, Florida. And it just so happens that right now, I also live in Florida. But currently, as we are recording this, I'm visiting my daughter who lives in Omaha, Nebraska. And there were some little ant traps in her house. And I said, well, do you guys have bugs? She's like, oh, yes. No big deal. But I think it helped growing up in Florida because I don't have a big deal about things like bugs because it's such a prevalent thing where we're from.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:49

There you go.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:03:54

I know. It seems like a weird thing to be, but my husband grew up in Connecticut, and he just, you know, is not used to the cockroaches and the, you know, lizards and the things that people in Florida are you know, don't think anything of. Alligators, snakes. Like, it's not a big deal at all. Like, I can handle anything because of where I grew up. So it's more of a personal thing that's interesting about where I grew up.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:04:15

I like it.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:04:16

Yeah. So Kathleen, how about you?

Kathleen Basi [: 00:04:19

I am Kathleen Basi. I'm the 3rd of your cohosts, and I am an author, but I am also a musical composer. And in 2022, I had a song of the year from the Association of Catholic Publishers. And I am a mother of 3 boys and one chromosomally gifted daughter, which means she has Down syndrome. My novel, A Song for the Road, follows a musician who's on a cross country pilgrimage to honor her lost family. And I like to think that my fiction highlights the best within ourselves and with and in each other, which isn't that what we need right now? Yeah. I grew up on a farm in North Central Missouri.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:04:57

And the most interesting thing that I can come up with today is that because I grew up on a farm, the first vehicle I ever drove was a tractor with a loader on the front of it, and it didn't even have a gas pedal. It had a throttle. So when I went to take my car to the dealership a few weeks ago, this, you know, good old boy comes out when he sees who's coming to pick the car up, and he goes, well, that's unusual. And I was like, thank you. But I learned to drive on a a you know, it's not just that I know how to drive a stick. It's that I know how to drive a tractor.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:05:32

There you go. Awesome. See, we get built character from the places that we grow up. That's true.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:40

I love it.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:05:42

So to keep with the usual theme of the podcast, books, and the usual flow of the podcast, getting to know the guest or, in this case, your host a little better, why don't we move to some questions that do that? So let's start with Shauna. You, Shauna, spend a lot of time in the car traveling. So what is the book that was the best for you to listen to on long drives this year?

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:06:02

Oh, yes. I did listen to a number of books. A lot of times, I listen to nonfiction because I do have my own business. But one of the books that I got to listen to was Anna E Collins. She's actually a Pacific Northwest writer. We've actually had her on the podcast. And Her Secret Life was one of her books that came out this year, and I really enjoyed listening to it. I was hanging on it.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:06:25

It was definitely intriguing because you're not sure whose secret life we're talking about because it's about.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:06:32

Oh, fun.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:06:33

It's about sisters and about their mother and about relationships, and it is just such a good book. And it was also it was largely in the northwest in the Seattle area that it was actually centered around too. So it was kinda fun to know some of the places they were talking about. And the sisters are so different. And following them along and connecting with them, it was such a great book. So I really enjoyed listening to that. It was definitely one that helped the miles go by. So that was that was great.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:06:57

Yes. What about you, Kristi? What's a book that really impacted your year this year and you got a lot out of?

Kristi Leonard [: 00:07:03

Well, it's actually directly related to this podcast. Oh. Because I read this book by Shonda Rhimes called The Year of Yes. A lot of people, I feel like, are trying to say no, and I do need to get better about saying no to some things. But I think the idea is more that you are saying yes by putting yourself in situations that you wouldn't normally put yourself in and, you know, maybe pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone or whatever. And so it is related to this episode because I read it right before I said yes to becoming a host to being on this podcast.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:07:40

Well, we're glad you did.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:07:41

Yep. Definitely.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:07:42

Yes. And we're right about at your year anniversary too. So it's been a year of you being part of this.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:07:46

Yep. I know. It's so exciting. What about you, Kathleen?

Kathleen Basi [: 00:07:50

I write a lot of books about and read a lot of books about family because family is really where my focus is. And I think the book that really there's actually 2 books that really, really stuck with me this year that were around family, but I think I'll focus on Hadley Leggett's All They Ask Is Everything. And that one is about a couple of girls who fall asleep in the car. The mom leaves them in the car while she runs into the grocery store. And then, of course, your nightmare happens and somebody calls the authorities on you. And it's it's this exploration of all of your fears in motherhood, but also how the biological mother and the woman who ends up taking care of these girls and the children's grandmother, that all three of them are portrayed in this incredibly sensitive and sympathetic way. And you just, again, learn that even in the hard times, there's beauty to be found if we can just be open to it.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:08:43

I read that book. That was a good one.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:08:45

I read that one too. We all read that one.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:08:49

It was a beautiful one. It was a beautiful one showing the challenges of being a foster parent and a grandparent and a mother and all those pieces together. It was kind of great how she managed to show all those angles.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:08:59

All of the above. Yeah.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:09:00

Yeah. I thought it had a lot to do about perspective too. Like, you Right. What you think you know about people.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:09:07

Right. Again, you know, it just goes to show that fiction is where we learn to see through somebody else's eyes. And there's something that that we just need so desperately right now in the days and times in which we live.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:22

Yes. Very well said. I love that.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:09:24

Thank you. Yeah.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:09:26

So shall we move on to talking about our favorite podcast conversations of the year?

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:32

Oh, yes. We could probably spend, like, an hour doing that. This is a hard episode to give you 15 minutes. Right?

Kathleen Basi [: 00:09:38

So, Shawna, we've been starting with you. Let's have you start that one.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:42

Oh. Yes. There were so many good ones. It was so funny that that when I first went to think of one, I'm like, oh. And then I found out it was from August 2023. And I was like, how is that Time flies.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:09:51

You go. Yes. Wow.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:53

This is kinda funny. I guess we've been doing this for a little while. It is 2 years in. Right? So the one that is from this year that I cope with was episode 95 with Yvonne Battlefelton. And I love that conversation because it was so unique to talk to a writer who has written like, we were talking kind of the book we talked about, the Curdle Creek is a little bit more of kind of a horror story that she was writing. Like and yet, she has this other stuff she's done with historical fiction and these other pieces. Like, her first book remembered when we talked about it was so beautiful. And just like the variety that she's written in her books, and it was really a great conversation because I think as writers, it's interesting that what we wanna write and who we are comes through our writing so much, but yet we had to fit it into genres.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:38

And it was such a beautiful conversation of how she's been who she is and done this amazing writing, and it's kind of spanned across these different areas. And yet, it was so clear in the conversation how much of her and these themes were so important in her writing. And it was just a beautiful conversation. And she also lives in the UK, but she's from the East Coast because the book Girl of Creek, we talked about where some of the starts from that came from. So it was a really great conversation and I loved it. And she also was somebody who has was having, like, a dance party in the UK for her book release. I just wanted to go join.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:07

It was yeah. I was literally like

Kristi Leonard [: 00:11:08

Oh, wow. That sounds amazing.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:10

Yes. I know. I just I just wanted to get on a plane and go join it. So, yes, I need to go I told her I'm going to visit her in the UK at some point in time. She's amazing. So I really enjoyed that conversation because she's somebody that I wouldn't have met because she's in the UK probably if not for the podcast. So I think that also made it really fun to have that conversation with her. So, yes, very good.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:26

And I'm, yes, reading that book too, which I don't know if I would have ran across if not for that conversation too. So that made it really fun. What about you, Christy? What was a conversation that really sticks out for you from this past year?

Kristi Leonard [: 00:11:38

I guess, I'm kind of cheating because I just started doing this podcast this year. So the one that sticks out for me is clearly the first one. I chose someone that I know to do the first podcast. I am part of a small group of writers in Florida where I live. We get together and hike together. We call ourselves the writer hikers. So one of those gals, Sheila Athens, came on, and she wrote a book that was so clever and so fun. And I got to talk to her about it on many a hike.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:12:13

Not I wasn't part of, like, her street team or anything, but just to be part of this along the side and then see this book come to life, which is really cool. And then the idea that she had for the book and how it came about was just really was almost like it was meant for her to write, which reminds me of another book, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, where stories are out in the world. And if you capture some of it and you don't write it, someone else is gonna write it. It's gonna find somebody else to write. So that was just the most fun to be able to start off my journey of podcasting with somebody that I knew.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:55

Yes. That was one of our most popular episodes too. And so we're rereleasing that because over the holidays, we do rereleases. And so the January 1st episode, 108, you're get people can listen to that one again. So that's exciting.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:13:07

Yeah. It's a super fun book and a great conversation. Well, I was just gonna say, Kathleen's gotta have a turn. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? Kathleen is also going to cheat because I couldn't decide on 1.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:13:15

So I thought there are 2 that really stuck out in my head. One was episode 70, which was Michelle Kwasniewski, and she was talking about the dark underbelly of teen fame and Hollywood and just her background in movies and working on things like Independence Day. It just listening to that, just talking to her, I could've talked with her forever about that. It was just so fascinating. Everybody should go listen to that. And then Pamela Stockwell in episode 83 was talking about she has this so, non dramatic. She's just so matter of fact in the way she talks about everything and just the one of the calmest people that you know.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:14:01

And she's talking about living in a trailer park, growing up in a trailer park, which is something that none of us ever think about. And the way that that experience shaped her, it was just fascinating to listen to. I just really enjoy the those two conversations.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:15

That's awesome. Yes. And we're already getting we're already like, our time is pretty much up, so we should probably get on to our closing out. So where is the best place for folks to find you all? So, Kathleen, where's a great place for people to find you?

Kathleen Basi [: 00:14:30

I would send people to my Substack because I send out a monthly newsletter, and that is kathleenbasi.substack.com.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:40

Perfect.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:14:40

Kristi?

Kristi Leonard [: 00:14:42

Yeah. Mine, I don't have a website. So the best place to find me where I have, like, the link in my bio with all of my material information is on Instagram, and that is you're gonna laugh. It's at kristianthamum, which is a play on the word chrysanthemum, and it's a nickname that my husband gave me. So it's kristianthamum. So kristianthamum.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:09

That's awesome.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:15:10

And, Shauna, what about you?

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:13

Yes. That's perfect. And this will all be in the show notes too, so don't think you have to memorize how you spell that. Yeah. Yeah. Instagram is the best place for me as well. Just at Shawna Podcast, and so you can find me nice and easily there. And we're also about to open up to get more authors on for January.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:30

We're all booked up to the end of the year. But in January, we're gonna start having more folks, and we start doing those interviews probably in December. So if you're interested in being on the podcast, if you have a book out and you're an author, send us an email at authorexpresspodcast@gmail.com. And if you send us, usually, we like to have a little blurb about the book. Tell us what genre it's in. Give us a place to go find it and look at it and check it out, and we'll start getting back to folks about possibly being, interviewed on the podcast this next year. So yeah. And if we do can we do a 2 sentence about where everybody is at with their writing right now? Because where are you at, Kathleen?

Kathleen Basi [: 00:16:07

I am waiting on one and starting a new one.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:12

Very exciting. And you mentioned Christie, 2025. Yeah. But tell us more.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:16:18

That is my goal. I am knee deep in my rewrite of my second novel. My first novel is in a drawer, but I am feeling really good about being ready probably mid year to start querying.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:31

So Very?

Kathleen Basi [: 00:16:32

Super exciting.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:33

Very exciting.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:16:33

Is that? No.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:34

That's very exciting. And my mind is a little bit in the back burner. Mine focused on podcasting, but my husband and I actually have an idea. We are talking about working on some together, so that's kind of exciting. Fun? Yeah. That sounds like fun.

Kathleen Basi [: 00:16:45

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:46

We've got a whole trilogy planned out for that stuff. So that

Kristi Leonard [: 00:16:48

Oh, wow.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:49

Wow. She's ambitious. Ambitious. We're very ambitious. And we had to end with our always. So, Christy, tell us what is a book or story that inspires you the most?

Kristi Leonard [: 00:17:00

Maya Angelou is probably the person who got me writing originally. And it wasn't really her books, although I did read her books eventually, but her poems got me into writing.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:10

Oh, that's beautiful. I love it. Thank you both for making time for us to all be here together. And thank everyone for listening, getting us to 2 years. This is so exciting we've been here this long. So thank you guys for being here. Thank you for joining us. I hope you take a second to give us stars or a review on your favorite podcasting platform.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:31

It really makes a difference in folks being able to find us. We'll be here again next Wednesday. Follow us on Instagram at author express podcast to see who's coming up next. And don't forget, keep it express, but keep it interesting.