Explore Powerful Social Issues Through Fiction with Author Paulette Stout -114

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Kristi Leonard [: 00:00:03

Welcome to Author Express. Thanks for checking us out. This is the podcast where you give us fifteen minutes of your time, and we give you a chance to hear the voice behind the pages and get to know some of your favorite writers in a new light. I'm one of your hosts, Kristi Leonard, owner and host of Writers in the Wild retreats, nonfiction voice over artist, and president of WFWA. I'm excited to share with you a little about today's guest.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:00:35

Read in 43 countries, Paulette Stout is the 17 time award winning author of fast paced contemporary women's fiction that tackles social issues often ignored. Fans call her work brave, spicy, and a mesmerizing tapestry of realism. Her stories feature brave characters finding their voices and transforming into their best selves while finding love along the way. Paulette is also the co-host of the best of book marketing podcast and works by day as the director of brand marketing at a global software company. Her fourth novel, What We Give Away, released in February. Welcome, Paulette.

Paulette Stout [: 00:01:20

Hello, Kristi. Thanks so much for having me on. It's been a while.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:01:25

It has been a while. So I always say this is one of my favorite things that I get to do because I basically just get to interview all the people that I know, which is really fun. So I know you through WFWA, which is gonna get tiring for a lot of people, but, you know, I just know a lot of people. So I actually I read something somewhere in one of your bios or something that you have a collection of grammar t shirts. Did I read that right?

Paulette Stout [: 00:01:52

I do. I do. Yes.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:01:54

What's the most pithy? Like, what's your favorite?

Paulette Stout [: 00:01:57

I kinda like Metaphors Be With You, and it looks like the Star Wars. It looks like the Star Wars, you know, like the when the text is coming in at the beginning of the movie, like that one.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:02:10

That's awesome.

Paulette Stout [: 00:02:11

I had some made for one of my teams that says no m dash no p. It's a little bit more radical. I guess those are my favorites.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:02:18

That's awesome. Well, we always start with the same question. Tell me the most interesting thing about where you're from.

Paulette Stout [: 00:02:26

I'm from Manhattan and there's lots of interesting things. And then I think you had a recent guest from Manhattan. I think one of the more interesting things about Manhattan is that because there's so many people and because no one really cares what you do, it gives you, like, this freedom to kind of be yourself, to where would you want to be your authentic self at every moment because that's almost like the mantra of the city is just come as you are and be you.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:03:00

Oh, I love that.

Paulette Stout [: 00:03:01

If you don't like it, you know, who cares?

Kristi Leonard [: 00:03:03

Yeah. Oh, totally. Well, I think we saw a little bit of that in your book, I think.

Paulette Stout [: 00:03:10

Yeah. Just a smidge.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:03:11

Just a smidge. So before we get to the book, let's get to know you a little bit. Let's see. How do you balance your personal and your professional life? We were talking when we got on just about how crazy your life is, and we're both very busy people, but I feel like you got me by a thousand.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:03:32

How do you balance it?

Paulette Stout [: 00:03:34

I think that, you know, I'm in midlife now. My kids are fully grown, and I think I've just really dove into being Paulette now, who I am now, and enjoying the moments because a lot of time we spend in our lives, especially as caregivers of women and that are always taking other people's needs first before our own. So I just like, I turned 50 a a bit ago, and I just have just really embraced this doing what I wanted every moment every day. So I get up really early. I write before work, then I do work, then I do family things, then I kinda have the second shift as I call it, and I do, like, book things later, or I do nothing. I'm trying to give myself a little bit of grace lately to slow down a little bit and just, like, have some quiet time and embrace that I don't have to have this, like, toxic productivity all the time. I have been going, like, full tilt since, like, 2020 with the writing and the publisher, the writing and publishing. So I'm gonna start with a little bit.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:04:33

Yeah.

Paulette Stout [: 00:04:34

Yeah. Plus an apology. So, yeah, it's been a busy time.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:04:40

Yeah. So if you could redo one decision in your life, would you? And why or why not?

Paulette Stout [: 00:04:50

It's really interesting. I think in my publishing life, one decision, I made a pretty tragic choice with my first book book cover that people don't know. If you were watching, it was like it's like the mantra of covers. It was like I started off with, like, a rom com cover because I didn't know better. I didn't know how to match the content to the genre and all that stuff. And then I got freaked out. Everyone thought it was romance.

Paulette Stout [: 00:05:16

So next cover was a little bit spicy, and then we landed on the new cover, which is the purple one, which, of course, I can't reach right behind me anyway. It's purple with an orchid on it, and it's really gorgeous. And it's the new style of all my books. So I think one thing I would redo is maybe not have that tragic beginning for my first book. But it's made a lot of fodder for podcasts. It's helped me learn from my mistakes, and it helps me kind of remember that as tragic mistakes as we make as authors, nothing is forever and everything can be you can grow from it. So it it was a bad experience, but I learned a lot from it. So I don't know if I I don't even know if I would change it.

Paulette Stout [: 00:05:57

Maybe a little bit.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:05:58

Well, so that's what I was gonna say. Like, the question was, would you and maybe not?

Paulette Stout [: 00:06:04

At the time, it was harrowing to go through it because a big fear started before the book even came out. It was just people were arguing on Goodreads, and I was like, oh my god. I've made a tragic mistake. I should never have written this book. And I wanted to, you know, just cruel I I want to turtle.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:06:21

Well, here you are four books later, and you're good.

Paulette Stout [: 00:06:25

Maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe we leave it as it is.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:06:28

Absolutely. Well, let's talk about the book. I'm so excited to talk about your book. It was such a unique concept, and I really felt like I went to school. Like, I learned so much reading that book. You packed so much information into a creative piece of writing. Like, I gotta say, it was it was really kinda masterful. So in order for our folks who haven't read your book yet, we ask you to summarize your book in one sentence.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:06:56

We really like to challenge people on this podcast.

Paulette Stout [: 00:06:59

Yeah. I well, I've already failed. So it's gonna be two sentences. So Okay. Give away.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:07:03

Thanks for letting us know.

Paulette Stout [: 00:07:05

Yeah. Just letting you know it ahead of time. Maybe one sentence. So what we give away is about a woman who is, you know, going on a journey. She's a journalist, and she's diving into the diet industry. So she as she's investigating the diet industry, she's learning about her learning about food, her body, and all the relationships with people in her life to come out on the other side. So she's has a second chance with someone that that she loved. That's really an inarticulate way of saying the book, but it is a delicious book that takes on the diet industry.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:07:37

It is a delicious book. Yes. I enjoyed that a lot. So it has a lot of information, like I said, about diet culture, and there's some pretty complex themes in that book. How do you balance writing, like, a compelling story, but then including all of that complex information?

Paulette Stout [: 00:08:00

Well, thanks for saying that, Kristi. Because I do that in all my books. All my books have a different social issue. This one was food and weight and body size. And it is a challenge, but I think that what I like to do is I like to take the character on a journey, and the reader can go along with it. So as the reader and the main character are kind of jointly discovering new information, they can react in whatever way that's mean for them. I try not to be so box preachy in my books. I try to present the information and let readers come away with their own conclusions.

Paulette Stout [: 00:08:31

So I think that's the approach I take. It's just kind of an organic introduction of information that advances the plot and the story. And so, hopefully, you feel like it's seamless. You're learning things, but you kinda don't even realize it till the end how much you've gained. And that's kind of the approach I take in all the books I write.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:08:50

Yeah. Definitely. What is piece of feedback from early readers that surprised you?

Paulette Stout [: 00:08:58

I think the biggest piece of feedback that surprised me is the impact it's making on people. People are changing how they live their lives because of this story, and it feels to your point, it is nonfiction. I mean, it is fiction, but it has, like, a nonfiction kind of aesthetic because you learn so much. We are all have a lot of pressure in our lives to continually be on the hamster wheel of chasing fitness, and not all of us are meant to be in small bodies. And, you know, I've had different body sizes in my life. As we age, we, you know, gain weight, and we're always told that we've let ourselves go. And, actually, that's our body's natural way of protecting ourselves as we age. So I think that that's just a really important piece of the stories is that we we just let ourselves be who we are and who our bodies that we wanna be.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:09:50

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I definitely see the whole diet culture in a completely different I mean, it was one of those things that happened somewhat slowly as I was reading through the book, and then I was like, wow. I think it definitely has the chance to make some pretty big waves. So I'm excited for it to get more widely read.

Paulette Stout [: 00:10:10

Yeah. So I think one of the surprising pieces is, you know, people who read the book who are restricting their diets, they started to eat it. I have one reader tell me that she stopped smoking because she was using the smoking as a way to control her appetite, and she was realizing that that wasn't a healthy behavior. So I think those are two I think it's the impact that people are reading the book and feeling really empowered and motivated to make active change in their lives, like, immediately. And I think that I think that was what was surprising.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:10:40

Yeah. That has gotta be the most rewarding piece of writing a book like this is to actually feel what impact it's making on the readers. Have you seen a big conversation online?

Paulette Stout [: 00:10:54

Well, the book's not out yet. So That's true. Wasn't maybe when the party You will. I promise you will. I'm hoping to. I did get a prose by, you know, a body positive influencer who, I guess, was seeing something and wanted to get the story. I'd you know, I'm gonna be on some, you know, some kind of body and food podcast coming up, and it was nice to have someone reach out that had seen the book and was interested. And I I guess that's the power of just getting out there and talking about the story.

Paulette Stout [: 00:11:25

Yeah.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:11:26

Wow. That's amazing. Well, let's talk a little bit about the process of writing. Tell me about the research. So you literally delivered, like, a college level class. What kind of research did you have to do? Did you know all this stuff?

Paulette Stout [: 00:11:43

Well, some of it I knew. Like, I went on my own journey to try to figure out how to make peace with my body about, you know, six years ago, and I began reading about the topic. There were some great I have a great resources. I can, you know, link you to it for the I have a resources page on my website for this book specifically because it's got a lot of very counterintuitive information about food and diet and what we think is healthy and not healthy and about our body. So there's a lot you know, read a lot of books. I always work with sensitivity readers and experts. So this book went through Meta, m e d a, which is eating disorder association. I always like to have people read it and make sure that there isn't anything that I'm being insensitive about.

Paulette Stout [: 00:12:26

I went also to a nutritionist, a licensed nutritionist that I worked with, and she read it to go through it and make some feedback. When I first started the book, I really thought it was gonna be more of, like, a larger bodied experience book. And what I realized for my main character was I needed the character and the readers to come along on the journey of learning about diet culture before she could kinda get to that space where I'm living in a different body and what are the the consequences of that. So that's something that took me years, and I needed the readers to kinda go on that journey. So I had to dial back a little bit at the beginning to let everybody catch up to where I wanted them to be by the end of the book. So lots of research, conversations with people, videos, and sensitivity readers, I think, are the main. And then just my own lived experience as a person who is, like, you dieted for decades. You know? I I had my first diet when I was 17.

Paulette Stout [: 00:13:17

So I've been on a lot of different things so I could draw on those experiences as well.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:13:23

That is so awesome. Well, we are actually out of time, which goes by so fast. It happens all the time for me. I tend to go over. But what is the best place for people to find you? I assume you have a website.

Paulette Stout [: 00:13:36

Yes. paulettestout.com has every place, has my social, has everything. And on social media, I'm on most places at Paulette Stout offer. Same handle every place. So, hopefully, you can check me out and buy "What We Give Away" when it comes out on February 4.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:13:52

That's awesome. So we do always end with the same question. I tried to warn you ahead of time. Hopefully, you've done your homework. What book or story inspires you the most?

Paulette Stout [: 00:14:04

This is a little bit, again, counterculture, but and it's not a new book. But when I read, Fanny by Erica Jong and if you read Erica Jong, you know she writes spicy stuff. So but what that book was like this epic, you know, pirate. She went from this Victorian air you know, in this house to being a pirate, and it was just so freeing. And she was exploring the world, and she was exploring her own sexual appetites. And all of that mixed together just felt like, wow, you can do that? You can do that in books? So it really was, for me, very inspiring that I can do whatever I want in a book. She broke the fourth wall talking to the audience. Like, she just did everything that maybe you're not supposed to do in a book like that, and she did it anyway.

Paulette Stout [: 00:14:53

So I feel like that was what was inspiring to me. It was just a very freeing way to approach my writing life.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:15:00

That is awesome. That's a great place to end. Thank you so much for joining me. This was awesome.

Paulette Stout [: 00:15:05

Thank you.

Kristi Leonard [: 00:15:09

Thanks for joining us. We hope you take a second to give us stars or a review 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.