July 1, 2024 • 17 mins
Welcome to the Ladies Who Leap podcast, hosted by Certified Life Coach Lisa Andria. In this episode, we dive into the inspiring journey of Claudia Blood, an author who crafts mystical realms and futuristic worlds where underdogs defy authority and discover their destined family amidst chaos.
Claudia shares how she balanced her roles as a wife, mom, and IT business analyst while pursuing her lifelong dream of writing. She discusses the sacrifices she made, such as giving up TV and other hobbies, to make time for her passion. Claudia also talks about the importance of taking small, consistent steps toward achieving one's dreams and how she overcame the fear of starting.
Listen in as Claudia describes her unique sci-fi and fantasy series, including the supernatural dystopian fantasy "Merged World" series. She also offers valuable advice for women who have dreams but lack the courage or confidence to take the first step.
Join us for an episode filled with inspiration, practical tips, and a reminder that it’s never too late to leap out of your comfort zone and into a life you love.
You can learn more about Claudia Blood at https://claudiablood.com/
Claudia's books are available at any online platform including Amazon.
To learn more about Lisa Andria, visit ladieswholeap.com and set up a Leap Strategy call to start your journey to a fulfilling new chapter.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Lisa Andrea, Transformation Life Coach.
Welcome to the Ladies Who Leap podcast, where guests share their inspiring stories
of leaping out of their comfort zone, confidence and power, and into a life
of purpose and fulfillment.
Let's listen to their life-changing stories so that we can all learn how to
(00:22):
gain the courage to take a leap of faith into a life that we love,
so that we can all be Ladies Who Leap. Let's get started.
Hi, welcome to Ladies Who Leap
podcast, and I'm very excited because today my guest is Claudia Blood.
(00:43):
She's an author. She writes mystical realms and futuristic worlds where underdogs
defy authority, defeat defeat demons, and discover their destined family amidst the chaos.
Juggling her roles as a wife, mom, IT business analyst, stuck that in there,
and pet wrangler, doesn't leave much free time, but what Claudia has is filled
(01:08):
to the brim with creating sci-fi and fantasy novels.
Welcome to the podcast today, Claudia. It's nice to have you.
It's nice to be here. Thank you. You took a leap to becoming a fiction writer
and you've authored 13 books, which is amazing. It's a great accomplishment.
And you're doing this on top of a day job in IT and also taking care of an 11 and 13 year old.
(01:33):
Now, everybody, a lot of people are listening, can understand juggling a lot
in your life, as a woman, especially.
Especially, please explain how you came to start writing books and how you worked
it into your life having, I think what you said was the main breadwinner of
your family. How did that happen?
Well, you know, I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl.
It's like one of those things, but you know, they train you early to say that
(01:56):
writing and other artistic endeavors that you cannot support yourself.
And so I found myself getting trained in IT and doing that so that I could find,
I could support myself and my family.
Well, I hit a milestone birthday and I had that realization that if I didn't
do something now, it was never going to happen. It would stay a dream.
It wouldn't become a reality.
(02:18):
And so that milestone birthday inspired me and it said, there's 24 hours in
a day and there's only so much you can get done in a particular day.
And so what was I willing to get rid of in order to have the time to do this dream?
Because all dreams take time and work and energy to make it happen.
And so I don't watch TV, for example. I very rarely see movies,
(02:43):
for example, because I needed that time. I can't cut out my family.
I can only cut out so much sleep, right? There's only so much you can cut out
from the day job and the husband.
So, you know, a lot of those other extra things that I did that were like,
you know, I used to make jewelry, for example, and, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
I basically said, nope, those are going below the fold. I'm going to focus on the writing.
(03:06):
Wow. Talk about time management. I mean, I talk about that with clients and
friends even, that if you want to do something for yourself,
you need to schedule it in your life.
Now, this is quite a bit different as far as scheduling time to actually write
these fantasy novels, which is amazing.
Now, I know that because this is
a little different, it was something from childhood that you wanted to do.
(03:28):
But how did you get even the courage to start doing it? because writing a book,
it takes some guts is what I would say. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, honestly, I really think it was that milestone birthday.
It was one of those, like...
How many people say that they want to do something and then never do it in their lives?
(03:50):
And how many people have that? And I didn't want to be that person.
I wanted to be the person that wrote at least one book.
And if I hated it and it sucked and whatever else that I didn't want to,
then I could say I did it. Like I ran a marathon the same way.
So I've run a marathon, decided it's not for me and moved on from that.
(04:10):
So I think it was scarier not to than it was to, I think is also part of the
answer to that question.
So did you, when you first wrote it, did you give it to friends and family?
Did you actually put it right online to sell?
What did you? It took a couple. Okay. Being honest, it took a couple of years
to redevelop the writing skill because I hadn't written for a really long time.
(04:33):
So I started with shorter stories, found myself a writer's group,
did peer reviews, took an inordinate number of classes, trying to learn the craft of writing.
And then once I finally got it to something, to an actual book,
then I gave it to friends and family and an editor, right?
Like I wanted to be, I wanted this to be a passionate project,
(04:56):
but I wanted to make sure that it like met a minimum requirement.
I know that sounds, but I wanted to make sure that it had an editor and developmental
editor and other people looking at it and saying, yes, this is legitimately
a book that you have written. and not just, you know, random ramblings on a
page, which is a journal, which is great.
I mean, that is totally fine, but that's not what I wanted.
Yeah, no, this is a fiction story.
(05:19):
And it's really interesting because you did not even, and that's very healthy,
you did not expect it to happen overnight.
You knew that you had to take steps. You had to take training.
Like you said, peer review.
That's a really healthy way to explore what your dreams are and to take each
step and be patient about how much time it may take. Yes.
And unrealistic expectations with all of that. Sometimes I'd get 25 words in
(05:41):
a day and you just had to say, okay, that's what I could get done today.
Yeah. How long has it been that you've been writing these books?
Because you have 13 books now. I have 13 books.
I really hit a corner probably 2019 is when I finally was like,
okay, I think I'm ready skill-wise. Let's do this.
And then started ramping up to do the publishing.
(06:04):
How does it feel to be doing something that you love? What impact did it have on your life?
I felt it's kind of funny that there's both a positive and negative to doing
something like this, right?
The positive is that, yes, I wrote a book, right? Like I did it.
The negative is kind of feeling like because it is a dream and I hold it in
(06:25):
such high regard, I want to keep doing it. I want to get better and better.
And I always feel like that I'm, I'm still sort of striving forward that the
one book wasn't enough and I have to keep going. So.
That's good.
Raising your expectation even of yourself is a really nice place to be.
(06:45):
What do you feel the cost would have been or what you would have paid if you
never explored writing?
If you never brought this talent into your life and never did it,
what do you think the cost would have been? I think I would have regretted it.
I have a memory of my grandmother who loved to read and had lots and lots of mystery novels.
(07:08):
And she wanted to be a writer and she had never taken any steps to do it.
And she had written me this, this little sad story about wishing that she would
have taken that chance and whatnot.
And that really I know and I was like, and whether or not she was a great author
or anything else like that wouldn't matter.
It was just the fact that she'd never really been able to try and do it. Wow.
(07:30):
You're only on this earth for so long. And then back in the day,
probably when she was around, people didn't talk about even,
especially women, following their dreams and doing something they loved.
It was all about, okay, do this because it makes money and you could support
or help support her nine kids. Yeah, be a mom and take care of the kids.
I mean, you're living proof to say, I can do it all.
(07:52):
And it's about a lot about time management. And I'm sure what happens when you
do something like that, it's showing your kids that they can follow their dreams.
My house isn't the cleanest, right? So if I have to lower my standard on cleaning
to get a book out, you know, that's the choice that I've made. Wow.
So who do you lean on for support? Because there is a lot going on in your life.
(08:17):
So how do you kind of lean on someone for support, not only for just day-to-day
craziness of what you do, but also when you kind of have those days where you
may have some imposter syndrome or you don't feel that you're good enough to
do this and you might want to stop?
I mean, there's a lot of things that can happen. There's a lot of things out there. Yeah.
I happen to have a really good circle of friends that are, I've got one who's
(08:40):
not a writer, but she's into fitness.
And so she's always sending me these sort of uplifting things about fitness
and always trying and setting expectations and taking small steps and things like that.
And acting as if instead of pretending, I mean, it's just like,
it's very inspirational getting those, even though they're fitness,
it still sort of applies.
(09:00):
And then I've got other writing of friends who are going through similar things
where you finish your first draft and you're like, oh my god,
this sucks. What am I doing?
And they all go through it. Every single one of them go through it and think.
I suck at this, the imposter syndrome. And then you have their back and you
(09:20):
talk about it and you, you know, show them the reviews that they've gotten on
the books or you, you know, read it and say,
you know, but your four other friends who are also authors who would not lie
to you say that it is a good book or the editor has, right?
Like there's other ways to sort of bolster when people are feeling that way.
Yeah. And I didn't even mention the fact that writers block.
(09:41):
I mean, That's something as authors, you experience.
I am definitely afraid of even trying to write a book, but I know there's one
of them in there, nonfiction.
So I really wanted to delve, and I know everybody, come on, you're wondering
what does mystical realms and futuristic worlds, what is that all about?
So it's very an interesting genre.
(10:02):
Can you share some storylines with the audience, even some of the titles of
your books, so we can kind of get a taste of your writing? Sure.
So one series is the Merge series, which is a supernatural dystopian fantasy.
The premise is that the world of myth and the human world have crashed together
and have merged together.
(10:24):
And so it's chaos and you've got like real magic and science together.
And the science is kind of losing, quite frankly.
The humans are not the primary. They're actually more of like the prey species
going on in there. And it's all of these.
So everything that we thought was fantasy is now real.
So the urban tales and all the rest of it are there. So there's vampires,
(10:45):
there's zombies, there's, you know, everything is a part of that world.
And so I know, and so it gives a lot of- Sounds like a good movie is what it says.
But the first book is about a man who was there for the merge,
went through time forward and landed there, ended up hating the supernatural
creatures, became the head of
(11:05):
the human protection agency, and was a nightmare to the other creatures.
Like he was someone that was like the boogeyman for them. Well, he was betrayed.
And then he had to work with the supernatural community to try and save the world.
So it's very, yes, very chaotic, I guess, is one of the things to say about it.
But, and we talked about this before we started the podcast,
(11:28):
it sounds a bit like the hero's journey that is from ancient mythology,
goes, you know, you've got that hero, goes through step and things,
and then ends up in the end saving people.
Is it, it's a series though, this one particular one you're talking about?
This one is a series, yep. And it does take, it has different point of view
characters in each book. So his assistant is the next book, Rose.
(11:50):
And then the book after that is, you know, one of the wizards who helped them in the previous book.
And they each have their own contribution to saving that world.
Yeah, I was wondering, coming from a female perspective, are there strong females
in your books? Yes, ma'am.
Serene of the pack is a werewolf in the first one. And she thinks that the HPA had murdered her pack.
(12:11):
And so she's actually kidnapped him and was going to try and find out what was going on.
So yeah, she's very strong. And when she figures out what's going on,
she helps him because her ultimate goal was to figure out what happened to her
pack and to make sure it never happened again. Wow.
To the rest that are out there. What could you tell other women that have this
(12:34):
dream, they have this thing that they want to do, but they just don't want to
take the first step, be it lack of courage, confidence?
What would you say to them to get them just to take that first step like you did?
I think you said something earlier that's part of that equation,
the fact that it doesn't happen overnight.
This is not you're going to win the lottery. This is Come up with small steps
(12:58):
that you can do to get that dream, even just defining what the dream is.
So maybe it's writing one book and you're never going to publish it. That's fine.
Just to get you out that door or write five words, just small incremental steps
to get you going that direction and then keep going every day.
Keep doing something small, something tiny to keep you moving down that path
(13:21):
because it all adds up, right?
A year later, you have a book. That's so true. It's interesting because you're
talking from your own experience, but that is such a true statement.
Just to take that first step and pretty soon you're like miles down the road
and you realized, oh my gosh, it wasn't as hard as I thought.
And I actually do have the talent because usually if it's something you really
(13:43):
are passionate about and you love and it's something that interested you as
a child, and in your case, it was a grandmother that had the skills to do it
even. It came from your ancestors, right?
That it's something that you need to explore. So please, people,
explore what you love to do.
Don't waste any more time. We're only on this earth for so long.
(14:04):
And the smallest of step can get you going, right? You run a marathon by taking that first step.
Anything else before I ask for your favorite mantra, quote, or past information to share?
Is there anything else you want to share about your journey?
And maybe, I don't know if you want to talk about the kids at all and how much
they've supported you when you've gone through this process.
(14:25):
Have they been supportive also?
And do they, I mean, I don't know if these books are for their age group.
Not for kids, but it's very interesting because my daughter,
I think, is going to end up going down the writing path.
And I've been very encouraging of her to, you know, practice and write fun stuff
and, you know, and it doesn't, whatever makes you happy at this point,
just practice so that you feel good about what you're doing.
(14:48):
That's nice. So what is, as I ask my guests,
your favorite quote, mantra, or positive affirmation,
share that with our audience, because I believe even if even just one person can be inspired by that,
that is the right, that that's what I
believe is the way it's a reason to share this information
and I have to tell you that I had all sorts of different quotes kind of going
(15:12):
in my head and and for whatever reason this you know this is going to sound
really silly but it's a family mantra but it's like it is what it is it's is
and it doesn't sound inspiring except when I looked at that I said it is what it it is,
but I could make it something else, right?
So where I'm at, if I know where I'm at, I've got a direction to go.
(15:35):
I'm not, take away the illusion, take away the rest of it. Maybe you only have
10 minutes in a day that you can spend because of how busy you are.
That's 10 minutes you can put towards your dream and being who you want to be.
Well, Claudia, thank you so much for sharing your very unique, interesting story.
And the main thing I think you're really saying is take that first step.
(15:57):
Something that you love to do, if even one person is inspired to do that,
and it can really change your life.
And in my case, for ladies who leap, leaping out of your comfort zone is where the growth happens.
So take that first step, be uncomfortable and be okay with it.
Because the next step and the one after that, at some point,
you're not going to be uncomfortable.
You're going to be excited and you're going to make your life full of joy and
(16:20):
happy and much more fulfilled. So thank you so much for joining the podcast.
Where can people either learn about your writing or get your books?
I'm actually at ClaudiaBlood.com, and I am a wide author, so I'm on all of the
vendors, Amazon, Kobo, Apple, all the rest of them, Google Play.
Wow. Lots of fun. Yes, Barnes & Noble. Remember Barnes & Noble. Yep, can't forget them.
(16:45):
Well, thank you again for spending the time and sharing this information.
It's really appreciative. And I really feel that a lot of women are going to
not only people listening interested in your books, but get inspired by what you had to say today.
I appreciate it. I hope so. I hope so. Just like my grandmother did to me.
I hope that they can have that epiphany. Yeah.
(17:06):
Thank you so much, Claudia. Thank you. Have a great day, everyone.
Thanks so much for listening or watching. please subscribe to the Ladies Who
Leap podcast to be notified of new episodes.
And I would love to hear from you. Let me know what works, what doesn't.
And if you have a story to tell, please reach out.
(17:28):
Come join the Leap community at the Ladies Who Leap Club Facebook group.
Remember, leaping out of your comfort zone is where the growth happens.
Hi, I'm Lisa Andrea, Transformation Life Coach.
Welcome to the Ladies Who Leap podcast, where guests share their inspiring stories
of leaping out of their comfort zone, confidence and power, and into a life
of purpose and fulfillment.
Let's listen to their life-changing stories so that we can all learn how to
(00:22):
gain the courage to take a leap of faith into a life that we love,
so that we can all be Ladies Who Leap. Let's get started.
Hi, welcome to Ladies Who Leap
podcast, and I'm very excited because today my guest is Claudia Blood.
(00:43):
She's an author. She writes mystical realms and futuristic worlds where underdogs
defy authority, defeat defeat demons, and discover their destined family amidst the chaos.
Juggling her roles as a wife, mom, IT business analyst, stuck that in there,
and pet wrangler, doesn't leave much free time, but what Claudia has is filled
(01:08):
to the brim with creating sci-fi and fantasy novels.
Welcome to the podcast today, Claudia. It's nice to have you.
It's nice to be here. Thank you. You took a leap to becoming a fiction writer
and you've authored 13 books, which is amazing. It's a great accomplishment.
And you're doing this on top of a day job in IT and also taking care of an 11 and 13 year old.
(01:33):
Now, everybody, a lot of people are listening, can understand juggling a lot
in your life, as a woman, especially.
Especially, please explain how you came to start writing books and how you worked
it into your life having, I think what you said was the main breadwinner of
your family. How did that happen?
Well, you know, I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl.
It's like one of those things, but you know, they train you early to say that
(01:56):
writing and other artistic endeavors that you cannot support yourself.
And so I found myself getting trained in IT and doing that so that I could find,
I could support myself and my family.
Well, I hit a milestone birthday and I had that realization that if I didn't
do something now, it was never going to happen. It would stay a dream.
It wouldn't become a reality.
(02:18):
And so that milestone birthday inspired me and it said, there's 24 hours in
a day and there's only so much you can get done in a particular day.
And so what was I willing to get rid of in order to have the time to do this dream?
Because all dreams take time and work and energy to make it happen.
And so I don't watch TV, for example. I very rarely see movies,
(02:43):
for example, because I needed that time. I can't cut out my family.
I can only cut out so much sleep, right? There's only so much you can cut out
from the day job and the husband.
So, you know, a lot of those other extra things that I did that were like,
you know, I used to make jewelry, for example, and, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
I basically said, nope, those are going below the fold. I'm going to focus on the writing.
(03:06):
Wow. Talk about time management. I mean, I talk about that with clients and
friends even, that if you want to do something for yourself,
you need to schedule it in your life.
Now, this is quite a bit different as far as scheduling time to actually write
these fantasy novels, which is amazing.
Now, I know that because this is
a little different, it was something from childhood that you wanted to do.
(03:28):
But how did you get even the courage to start doing it? because writing a book,
it takes some guts is what I would say. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, honestly, I really think it was that milestone birthday.
It was one of those, like...
How many people say that they want to do something and then never do it in their lives?
(03:50):
And how many people have that? And I didn't want to be that person.
I wanted to be the person that wrote at least one book.
And if I hated it and it sucked and whatever else that I didn't want to,
then I could say I did it. Like I ran a marathon the same way.
So I've run a marathon, decided it's not for me and moved on from that.
(04:10):
So I think it was scarier not to than it was to, I think is also part of the
answer to that question.
So did you, when you first wrote it, did you give it to friends and family?
Did you actually put it right online to sell?
What did you? It took a couple. Okay. Being honest, it took a couple of years
to redevelop the writing skill because I hadn't written for a really long time.
(04:33):
So I started with shorter stories, found myself a writer's group,
did peer reviews, took an inordinate number of classes, trying to learn the craft of writing.
And then once I finally got it to something, to an actual book,
then I gave it to friends and family and an editor, right?
Like I wanted to be, I wanted this to be a passionate project,
(04:56):
but I wanted to make sure that it like met a minimum requirement.
I know that sounds, but I wanted to make sure that it had an editor and developmental
editor and other people looking at it and saying, yes, this is legitimately
a book that you have written. and not just, you know, random ramblings on a
page, which is a journal, which is great.
I mean, that is totally fine, but that's not what I wanted.
Yeah, no, this is a fiction story.
(05:19):
And it's really interesting because you did not even, and that's very healthy,
you did not expect it to happen overnight.
You knew that you had to take steps. You had to take training.
Like you said, peer review.
That's a really healthy way to explore what your dreams are and to take each
step and be patient about how much time it may take. Yes.
And unrealistic expectations with all of that. Sometimes I'd get 25 words in
(05:41):
a day and you just had to say, okay, that's what I could get done today.
Yeah. How long has it been that you've been writing these books?
Because you have 13 books now. I have 13 books.
I really hit a corner probably 2019 is when I finally was like,
okay, I think I'm ready skill-wise. Let's do this.
And then started ramping up to do the publishing.
(06:04):
How does it feel to be doing something that you love? What impact did it have on your life?
I felt it's kind of funny that there's both a positive and negative to doing
something like this, right?
The positive is that, yes, I wrote a book, right? Like I did it.
The negative is kind of feeling like because it is a dream and I hold it in
(06:25):
such high regard, I want to keep doing it. I want to get better and better.
And I always feel like that I'm, I'm still sort of striving forward that the
one book wasn't enough and I have to keep going. So.
That's good.
Raising your expectation even of yourself is a really nice place to be.
(06:45):
What do you feel the cost would have been or what you would have paid if you
never explored writing?
If you never brought this talent into your life and never did it,
what do you think the cost would have been? I think I would have regretted it.
I have a memory of my grandmother who loved to read and had lots and lots of mystery novels.
(07:08):
And she wanted to be a writer and she had never taken any steps to do it.
And she had written me this, this little sad story about wishing that she would
have taken that chance and whatnot.
And that really I know and I was like, and whether or not she was a great author
or anything else like that wouldn't matter.
It was just the fact that she'd never really been able to try and do it. Wow.
(07:30):
You're only on this earth for so long. And then back in the day,
probably when she was around, people didn't talk about even,
especially women, following their dreams and doing something they loved.
It was all about, okay, do this because it makes money and you could support
or help support her nine kids. Yeah, be a mom and take care of the kids.
I mean, you're living proof to say, I can do it all.
(07:52):
And it's about a lot about time management. And I'm sure what happens when you
do something like that, it's showing your kids that they can follow their dreams.
My house isn't the cleanest, right? So if I have to lower my standard on cleaning
to get a book out, you know, that's the choice that I've made. Wow.
So who do you lean on for support? Because there is a lot going on in your life.
(08:17):
So how do you kind of lean on someone for support, not only for just day-to-day
craziness of what you do, but also when you kind of have those days where you
may have some imposter syndrome or you don't feel that you're good enough to
do this and you might want to stop?
I mean, there's a lot of things that can happen. There's a lot of things out there. Yeah.
I happen to have a really good circle of friends that are, I've got one who's
(08:40):
not a writer, but she's into fitness.
And so she's always sending me these sort of uplifting things about fitness
and always trying and setting expectations and taking small steps and things like that.
And acting as if instead of pretending, I mean, it's just like,
it's very inspirational getting those, even though they're fitness,
it still sort of applies.
(09:00):
And then I've got other writing of friends who are going through similar things
where you finish your first draft and you're like, oh my god,
this sucks. What am I doing?
And they all go through it. Every single one of them go through it and think.
I suck at this, the imposter syndrome. And then you have their back and you
(09:20):
talk about it and you, you know, show them the reviews that they've gotten on
the books or you, you know, read it and say,
you know, but your four other friends who are also authors who would not lie
to you say that it is a good book or the editor has, right?
Like there's other ways to sort of bolster when people are feeling that way.
Yeah. And I didn't even mention the fact that writers block.
(09:41):
I mean, That's something as authors, you experience.
I am definitely afraid of even trying to write a book, but I know there's one
of them in there, nonfiction.
So I really wanted to delve, and I know everybody, come on, you're wondering
what does mystical realms and futuristic worlds, what is that all about?
So it's very an interesting genre.
(10:02):
Can you share some storylines with the audience, even some of the titles of
your books, so we can kind of get a taste of your writing? Sure.
So one series is the Merge series, which is a supernatural dystopian fantasy.
The premise is that the world of myth and the human world have crashed together
and have merged together.
(10:24):
And so it's chaos and you've got like real magic and science together.
And the science is kind of losing, quite frankly.
The humans are not the primary. They're actually more of like the prey species
going on in there. And it's all of these.
So everything that we thought was fantasy is now real.
So the urban tales and all the rest of it are there. So there's vampires,
(10:45):
there's zombies, there's, you know, everything is a part of that world.
And so I know, and so it gives a lot of- Sounds like a good movie is what it says.
But the first book is about a man who was there for the merge,
went through time forward and landed there, ended up hating the supernatural
creatures, became the head of
(11:05):
the human protection agency, and was a nightmare to the other creatures.
Like he was someone that was like the boogeyman for them. Well, he was betrayed.
And then he had to work with the supernatural community to try and save the world.
So it's very, yes, very chaotic, I guess, is one of the things to say about it.
But, and we talked about this before we started the podcast,
(11:28):
it sounds a bit like the hero's journey that is from ancient mythology,
goes, you know, you've got that hero, goes through step and things,
and then ends up in the end saving people.
Is it, it's a series though, this one particular one you're talking about?
This one is a series, yep. And it does take, it has different point of view
characters in each book. So his assistant is the next book, Rose.
(11:50):
And then the book after that is, you know, one of the wizards who helped them in the previous book.
And they each have their own contribution to saving that world.
Yeah, I was wondering, coming from a female perspective, are there strong females
in your books? Yes, ma'am.
Serene of the pack is a werewolf in the first one. And she thinks that the HPA had murdered her pack.
(12:11):
And so she's actually kidnapped him and was going to try and find out what was going on.
So yeah, she's very strong. And when she figures out what's going on,
she helps him because her ultimate goal was to figure out what happened to her
pack and to make sure it never happened again. Wow.
To the rest that are out there. What could you tell other women that have this
(12:34):
dream, they have this thing that they want to do, but they just don't want to
take the first step, be it lack of courage, confidence?
What would you say to them to get them just to take that first step like you did?
I think you said something earlier that's part of that equation,
the fact that it doesn't happen overnight.
This is not you're going to win the lottery. This is Come up with small steps
(12:58):
that you can do to get that dream, even just defining what the dream is.
So maybe it's writing one book and you're never going to publish it. That's fine.
Just to get you out that door or write five words, just small incremental steps
to get you going that direction and then keep going every day.
Keep doing something small, something tiny to keep you moving down that path
(13:21):
because it all adds up, right?
A year later, you have a book. That's so true. It's interesting because you're
talking from your own experience, but that is such a true statement.
Just to take that first step and pretty soon you're like miles down the road
and you realized, oh my gosh, it wasn't as hard as I thought.
And I actually do have the talent because usually if it's something you really
(13:43):
are passionate about and you love and it's something that interested you as
a child, and in your case, it was a grandmother that had the skills to do it
even. It came from your ancestors, right?
That it's something that you need to explore. So please, people,
explore what you love to do.
Don't waste any more time. We're only on this earth for so long.
(14:04):
And the smallest of step can get you going, right? You run a marathon by taking that first step.
Anything else before I ask for your favorite mantra, quote, or past information to share?
Is there anything else you want to share about your journey?
And maybe, I don't know if you want to talk about the kids at all and how much
they've supported you when you've gone through this process.
(14:25):
Have they been supportive also?
And do they, I mean, I don't know if these books are for their age group.
Not for kids, but it's very interesting because my daughter,
I think, is going to end up going down the writing path.
And I've been very encouraging of her to, you know, practice and write fun stuff
and, you know, and it doesn't, whatever makes you happy at this point,
just practice so that you feel good about what you're doing.
(14:48):
That's nice. So what is, as I ask my guests,
your favorite quote, mantra, or positive affirmation,
share that with our audience, because I believe even if even just one person can be inspired by that,
that is the right, that that's what I
believe is the way it's a reason to share this information
and I have to tell you that I had all sorts of different quotes kind of going
(15:12):
in my head and and for whatever reason this you know this is going to sound
really silly but it's a family mantra but it's like it is what it is it's is
and it doesn't sound inspiring except when I looked at that I said it is what it it is,
but I could make it something else, right?
So where I'm at, if I know where I'm at, I've got a direction to go.
(15:35):
I'm not, take away the illusion, take away the rest of it. Maybe you only have
10 minutes in a day that you can spend because of how busy you are.
That's 10 minutes you can put towards your dream and being who you want to be.
Well, Claudia, thank you so much for sharing your very unique, interesting story.
And the main thing I think you're really saying is take that first step.
(15:57):
Something that you love to do, if even one person is inspired to do that,
and it can really change your life.
And in my case, for ladies who leap, leaping out of your comfort zone is where the growth happens.
So take that first step, be uncomfortable and be okay with it.
Because the next step and the one after that, at some point,
you're not going to be uncomfortable.
You're going to be excited and you're going to make your life full of joy and
(16:20):
happy and much more fulfilled. So thank you so much for joining the podcast.
Where can people either learn about your writing or get your books?
I'm actually at ClaudiaBlood.com, and I am a wide author, so I'm on all of the
vendors, Amazon, Kobo, Apple, all the rest of them, Google Play.
Wow. Lots of fun. Yes, Barnes & Noble. Remember Barnes & Noble. Yep, can't forget them.
(16:45):
Well, thank you again for spending the time and sharing this information.
It's really appreciative. And I really feel that a lot of women are going to
not only people listening interested in your books, but get inspired by what you had to say today.
I appreciate it. I hope so. I hope so. Just like my grandmother did to me.
I hope that they can have that epiphany. Yeah.
(17:06):
Thank you so much, Claudia. Thank you. Have a great day, everyone.
Thanks so much for listening or watching. please subscribe to the Ladies Who
Leap podcast to be notified of new episodes.
And I would love to hear from you. Let me know what works, what doesn't.
And if you have a story to tell, please reach out.
(17:28):
Come join the Leap community at the Ladies Who Leap Club Facebook group.
Remember, leaping out of your comfort zone is where the growth happens.
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