Give Power to Author Voice by Confidently Drawing from Life with Lynne Golodner

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Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:00

Welcome to Author Express. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Shawna Rodrigues, one of your hosts and the founder of Authentic Connections Podcast Network, which makes this podcast possible. This podcast is where you discover the voice behind the pages of your next favorite book, and I'm excited about the author we have for you today.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:22

Lynne Golodner writes emotional novels with compelling Jewish characters who are determined to fill their lives with passion, purpose, and love. Her first novel, Women of Valor, joins a body of work that includes two poetry collections and 6 nonfiction books, including Hide and Seek: Jewish Women and Hair Covering, and The Flavors of Faith: Holy Breads. Lynne is a writing coach, marketing entrepreneur, and the host of The Make Meaning Podcast, which she has been doing for 5 years and we are totally excited about. Her creative nonfiction has been published around the world. With a BA from University of Michigan and an MFA from Goddard College, Lynne is a mother of 4 and lives in Huntington Woods, Michigan with her husband, Dan. Thank you so much for being here today, Lynne.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:01:07

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:10

Yes. Tell us the most interesting thing about where you are from.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:01:14

You know, I'm from Detroit, and I actually have been writing a lot about place. And I'm from Jewish Detroit, and I think that that matters because Detroit is a city of survivors. We are scrappy. We really will not be kept down, and I would say the same for Jewish people. So, it's a place of scrappy, hearty people who will not be messed with. And doesn't matter what you say about us, we are coming back. And so, I'm really proud of that. I'm proud of both parts of my identity.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:44

I love that, and I love that that's the place that they join together is that cannot be held back. It's a good place to come together and speaking of where you are from, like, tell us, who was your best friend growing up?

Lynne Golodner [: 00:01:55

Oh my god. Well, you know, my very, very first best friend who's still a close friend was Melissa Castleman, who's also a writer, very beautiful writer. And she lived next door to me, and I've known her since I was one and a half. My parents built a house that they lived in for 50 years, and

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:10

Oh, wow.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:02:11

I call her Missy. She goes by Melissa, but she's that person that you have that just knows you like no one else, and it's amazing. She sent me a birthday gift, I think, when I turned 50, and it was earrings from a particular Israeli jewelry designer. And I don't know how she knew that I love like, everything I own is I'm actually wearing some now, but is by this designer, Michal Nygren, and she, like, ordered them from Israel to send to me. I mean, how could she know.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:36

Oh, my gosh.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:02:37

Yeah. So, it was really cool.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:39

Oh, I love it. I love it that it was from way back then and she still totally gets you and that you lived next door to each other and are both writers. Like, that part too is, like, living next door, being closely connected, but also both writers. That is pretty incredible.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:02:51

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:52

You guys connect. That's awesome. I love that. And so, getting to your fabulous book that you've written, tell us a little bit more about, like, so place is important to you, characters. Tell us more about the characters. Are there any specific characters you really connect to from your book?

Lynne Golodner [: 00:03:08

Yeah. So, Woman of Valor is a story about a young woman named Sally who is from the Detroit area, moves to Chicago, and becomes orthodox in Judaism. And she grew up, she was Jewish, but she never did anything in terms of observing or being religious. And so, it's a complete surprise when she just falls in love with the religious community. And she's super happy in her life. She marries this wonderful guy. They have 3 kids. And 10 years later, everything sort of blows up in her face.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:03:35

Her ex-boyfriend from college finds her online and says, I never should have broken up with you. Her oldest son is abused at his day school. The community surprises her by their reaction, and she really has to decide, you know, what matters to her, where she's going to identify, does she stay, does she go, how does she get through it all? And there are a lot of characters that I love in it. I would say that one of my favorites is her husband, Barry, because he's this quiet, strong guy who knows himself but is also flexible enough to think on his feet when his family and his wife need him to. And I think that's surprising. I think it is.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:04:15

I love that. There was actually somebody I follow who's writing more about, it's called, a bit of, writing with a bit of grace, I think, is what she's doing. And she's talking more about being able to, so, she's a black woman talking more about us being able to write characters from experiences other than what we've had and how we need more of those characters, but how to be able to write them well. And she actually talked about writing male characters that have more depth and have more of that instead of feeding this narrative of, you know, toxic masculinity and the characters we put into our books. So, I kind of love that it speaks to that, that he has that depth and offers that to her and to her family. That's beautiful.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:04:51

Thank you. Yeah. It was fun to write him, and I think, you know, going forward, my goal is writing a book a year, and I'm working on revisions of the next novel. And I'm definitely giving a lot more depth of thought and planning to the characters than I did to Woman of Valor. So, the fact that they turned out the way they did is such a surprise and a delight for me because I wish I could say I really thought it all the way through, but I made a lot of mistakes and had to correct them, and that's where we ended up, so.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:18

They found their way. They found their way. They must come from Detroit and they must have that ability and they're Jewish. So, they have that ability to find their way. Make it happen.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:05:26

Yes.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:27

I love it. I love it. So, talking more about your writing career, like, I have been talking to authors more about this fact that when writing, like, you have nonfiction, you have poetry, you have the novels that you're moving into and this thread of writing. There's still this beautiful thread in your writing even though you've gone across, I guess, we call them genres, right, with poetry and fiction, etcetera. And so, let's talk a little bit about how you have this love of writing and how you bring it to these different types of work.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:05:58

Well, I think, like you said in the intro, I have been a marketing entrepreneur for a long time. And I work with a lot of writers on building their author brand and coming up with the book marketing strategy. But the author brand is really important, like to figure out who you are as a writer transcends. And so, in my nonfiction, I write a lot of creative nonfiction. It's published all over the world. And the consistency is really about, I write a lot about my Jewish identity. I write a lot about relationships. There are similarities across genre and that's my author brand. And so, you really want to find consistency whether it's subject matter or which is definitely true for me, but also style.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:06:40

So, I started as a journalist in my career, so I was, like, reporting and researching and really, like, gathering information. And then I did an MFA in poetry, which is about being really tight with language and only having the essential words that you need. And a lot of my friends from grad school would say that my poems were influenced by my journalistic experience because I've gathered those details and done the research. And then I think a lot of what I've heard from people who are reviewing Woman of Valor is that my fiction is poetic because I have that training. And so, I think that that literary quality, but also the attention to detail and specific information just sort of transcends genre. It's there in all my work. And so, you know, we show up to the page in the same way no matter what we're writing, for sure.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:07:32

No. That's beautiful. And I love that you've been able to really own that and see that and continue it throughout. And I think that it's really great that more authors are feeling less pinned into a genre and more into finding their voice and how their voice fits and what that through line is of what they bring to the table and how they can show up and show that in the writing that they're doing. So that's so exciting that with your work, you've been able to find a way of how you're still, you're still you in bringing that voice even though it's different ways of presenting it in your work. That is so exciting.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:08:03

Thank you. Yeah. It's really fun to see. It really is. And I don't think that it happens for writers until they're more into their career and they've done a lot of writing, you know? I remember in grad school, in terms of finding my voice, I read a lot of writers from, you know, from the Jewish canon of writing, from Michigan, from feminists, from all different kinds of identities, like, pieces of my identity. And I remember there were times that I was sort of, like, mimicking what I was reading. And I was horrified. And I thought, like, oh my gosh.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:08:30

Am I plagiarizing? And a grad school professor was like, no. You're unconsciously trying to learn from what they're doing, and this is a necessary part of finding your voice. And then I remember one day, I just sort of broke through and all that was done. It was unconscious, and I was, like, in my voice. And it's only gotten stronger since, but it is a necessary process, and you have to do that in order to get to this wonderful place.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:08:58

Yes. And it's so beautiful because you're there. I doubt you're to the point where, like, I'm ready to write a novel a year now because I'm there.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:09:04

Let's do it. Bring it on.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:06

Let's do it. Let's do it. So, with your writing career, so you've said, like, a novel year. So, do you feel like you've kind of moved into you feel like, fiction's kind of where you're at, or do you feel like you're still going to spend a lot of time on the creative nonfiction? What do you feel like you're going to focus on going forward in your career?

Lynne Golodner [: 00:09:20

Well, definitely the goal of a book a year, and by that, I really mean novels, but I still do the creative nonfiction essays. I have a bunch that are in process now or that are out there being considered by literary journals and magazines. And I like that that dichotomy because there are things that, you know, I'm processing that happened in the world or memories from earlier in my life that I think really lend themselves to a shorter form creative nonfiction. And then the novel I can sort of immerse in and really, like, build a world and get to know the characters and see where they're going to go. And 80% of writing is revision. And so, there's the time, which is for me about 3 months to write the 1st draft of a book. And then there's, like, a lot more months of making it pretty and perfect.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:10:08

And so, so when you're doing that, you can still be writing nonfiction. So, I hope I'll do that dance forever.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:15

Yes. And it's kind of nice the different audiences you can connect with and different ways of connecting with people with your writing as well.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:10:21

Yes. Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:23

That's beautiful.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:10:24

Thank you.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:25

I love it. So, what do you feel like is a good advice for people who want to write or have been interested in writing. What do you feel like is some of the best advice you've received?

Lynne Golodner [: 00:10:33

You know, I teach a lot of writing classes, and a lot of people come to me in midlife and say, I always wanted to write, but. And so, there's lots of voices in our heads that are discouraging us from doing it. So, I think the first thing is that if you want to write, you should write. Don't judge it. Don't critique it. Don't look for validation from outside of yourself or permission. Just write. And then you can always become a better writer, a stronger writer, take classes.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:10:59

More than anything, surround yourself with other writers and, you know, join classes, writing communities, go on retreats. You know, just do what you can to immerse in that world so that you don't feel alone, you don't second guess yourself. I think have the courage to follow your gut, really.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:17

Yes. And I feel like the community of writers is more welcoming than I think folks realize. And once they connect you with that, they realize they're not as alone and that there are other people who are struggling with those same pieces and those same voices and the same messages, they've heard all their lives.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:11:33

Writers are some of the most generous people that I know. They are always willing to promote each other to, you know, hawk their friends' books and post for them and on social media. Like, today, my friend's book came out. Go buy it. You know? Like, it's such a beautiful thing that I've found that, it's not a competitive world as far as I know. The people that I am surrounded with are just like, there's room for all of us, and let's build each other up, and that's so beautiful.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:59

Yes. And if you don't find those people, go look somewhere else because they exist. So, keep looking because that's what I found as well. And so, I think that those people are there. So, find those people. That's beautiful. What is the best way for people to connect with you and to find you if they want to keep connecting with you?

Lynne Golodner [: 00:12:14

Yeah. So, I'm everywhere, but lynnegolodner.com is my website. You can find a lot of stuff on there, including the sign-up form for my free monthly write along. So, that's once a month that people gather in community, on Zoom and we write together and it's really fun.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:28

Oh.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:12:29

Yeah. So, yeah, lynnegolodner.com. That's awesome. You can follow me on social media. I write a weekly newsletter that's also free. It's on Substack. It's called the Rebel author newsletter, and I would love to be in your inbox. So, just find me wherever, and you'll find me. Just Google, Lynne Golodner. You'll see me in a lot of places.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:46

You're easy. And we will have that stuff in the show notes. Easy to connect. I love that you have that. So, for folks who want to write, this is a great place to start. Join the monthly write in. That's a great place to start.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:12:55

Yep. Absolutely. Yep.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:56

Yes. And so, what is a story or book that you find the most inspirationally, the recently or just overtime you find inspirational to you?

Lynne Golodner [: 00:13:05

Oh my gosh. There are so many. You know, I love the Wilderness series by Sara Donati. That's a series of 6 novels that takes place in the 18th century in upstate New York, and it's so beautiful, but it also has a protagonist who's a strong woman, and that's at a time when, you know, you really did not see strong women. And we may not be that popular today, but we certainly weren't then. We were witches. You know?

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:29

Yes.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:13:30

So, I just got lost in these books. And when I finished book number 6, I remember I was sitting at my bed and my husband came in and I was, like, crying. And I just was so sad to leave these characters, and I ended up writing to the author and we've become friends, and I just, I was like, thank you for writing this. And she's like, thank you for the email, and this is what keeps me going. So, it was really, really cool.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:52

Isn't it great? Like, as an author, I love it when I get feedback from, I guess I still remember those notices in emails when somebody was like, oh my gosh. This character was this person I know. Like, you know, those connections you get. Like, people are, like, I think, nervous to send those, but they don't realize how much authors, like, this is why we write. Like, we love this.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:14:09

Exactly. So, if you love my book, tell me about it because it'll make me smile. It'll make me feel good.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:13

Yes. Yes. Get on our newsletter and reply to the newsletter and say, oh my gosh. This character. Oh my gosh. This book. Yes. We love that stuff. That's good stuff. That's how we do it.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:14:21

Yes.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:22

Perfect. Thank you so much, Lynne. It was lovely to meet with you and chat with you, and I appreciate you being with us today.

Lynne Golodner [: 00:14:26

Thanks for having me, Shawna. This has been a blast.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:29

Thanks for joining us. I hope you take a second to give us a review or a couple of stars on your favorite podcasting platform, and we'll be here again next Wednesday. Follow us on Instagram at Author Express podcast to see who's coming up next. Don't forget, keep it express but keep it interesting.