May 18, 2022 • 46 mins
In this episode, I sit down with Emily Krempholtz, a writer, creator, and an all-around amazing human that I have the pleasure of calling my book coach as I write my memoir. In her interview, she takes us through her life going from doing what she thought she should, to now doing what she loves. “I knew that writing books was what I wanted to do for a living. I knew that working with stories was what I wanted to be when I grew up. And even knowing that, it took me a really long time. I let a lot of people talk me into going to college for a major that was a lot more practical than what I wanted to be doing, which was creative writing.”
Emily believes in the magic of the world, infusing it into her books and passion projects while also acknowledging the need to pay the bills with her non-fiction work. While her work that pays the bills is compartmentalized in one half of her brain, her creative work is where her heart lies. “And it’s hard, you know. You put your book out there to say, “here is a little piece of my soul, I’m giving it to you,” and then to have someone come back and say, “no thanks, this isn’t for me.”
Inevitably, pieces of Emily’s life became woven into her novels and she shares how important it is for writers to give themselves the grace of being a human being. “So suddenly I was writing a book about grief when I was kind of actively grieving and that was really difficult. And so I poured a lot of that emotion into this book and then I also had to put it down for a little while. And that's something I think not enough writers talk about is sometimes, you know, it's okay to set something aside.”
Highlights from Emily:
“I think we have these points where, in a perfect world, we'd be able to go back and edit our lives and edit the way we did things in the past, but we don't have that. We are slaves to time in the real world in a way that we aren't when we're writing. And being able to take the hindsight, to take the lessons that we learned from that first draft of our lives, and take that breaking point and say, okay.”
“There is no one right way to write a book. There's no one right way to do something. There's a lot of different schools of thought about how to create a book, because it is, it's this huge thing. It is multi-dimensional, it is complex, and when done right, you should never be able to just sit down and spit out a book without, and say, okay, this is perfect. This is exactly what I intended it to be.”
“Let Perfect Burn means abandoning those shoulds—abandoning that sense of this is what I'm supposed to be doing to get to where I am, focusing on the things that you can control and saying fuck it to the rest.”
Don't Miss a Beat.
Follow my Instagram for news from me, Tara Beckett:
https://www.instagram.com/letperfectburn/
Emily’s Website:
https://emilykrempholtz.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tara Beckett (00:24):
Hi, I'm Tara Beckett. And I want to welcome
you back to Season Two of letperfect bird.
Hi, everybody, welcome back tolet perfect burn. I'm Tara
Beckett. And I am beyond pumpedto have in studio, Emily
(00:45):
crumples. And Emily is a writer,she is a editor, and she's a
book coach. And she's my bookcoach, I landed seriously the
best one in the business. For mymemoir that's coming out,
hopefully in 2020 to three,we're hopeful. And I couldn't be
happier to have her and Emily,welcome.
Emily Krempholtz (01:08):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me
on, it's been so much fun, kindof like following the let
perfect burn, you know,experience for you. And I'm so
excited to be here today.
Tara Beckett (01:20):
And Emily, I would love just to start off. So we
can give everybody a really indepth view of how you got to
where you are, you're in Denver,Colorado, and I would love to
know professionally andpersonally, how you landed to
where you are.
Unknown (01:35):
Um, it's, it's, it's one of those things where I kind
of always knew where I wasgoing. And it took me a really
long time to get there. I haveknown that I wanted to work with
books, since I was five yearsold, I was writing books, my mom
still has them somewhere at herhouse. You know, they were they
were very bad. A lot of themwere kind of like poorly
(01:55):
plagiarized versions of themovies that I loved and the
books that I loved reading.
Obviously, I grew out of that.
But you know, as I got older, Iknew that writing books was what
I wanted to do for a living, Iknew that working with stories
was what I wanted to be when Igrew up. And even knowing that
it took me a really long time. Iyou know, I let a lot of people
(02:19):
talk me into going to collegefor a major that was a lot more
practical than, you know what Iwanted to be doing, which was
creative writing. And I thenleft college and took an office
job that I thought was, youknow, kind of the path that I
was supposed to take I thoughtyou know, okay, I'll do this.
And I'll make money this way.
And I'll work you know, create acareer this way. And then I can
(02:39):
write on the side. And then allof that fell completely to shit
about that. I got laid off fromthis office job. I actually the
morning I got laid off. I waswalking into work, I was
hungover, I was miserable. Ihave like a massive cup of
coffee in my hand. And Iremember thinking to myself, I
(03:01):
just wish I could go home. And Igot into the office, I turned my
computer out of my boss said,Hey, can you meet me in the
conference room, we have to chatand I was part of this massive
round of layoffs. And so I didget to go home. It was not. It
was not at all like I thought itwas going to be but um, I kind
of I thought I thought my lifewas over. You know, I was 25 and
(03:22):
I thought it was like, oh shit,this is the end. Like I don't
know what to do. Now. This wasmy plan. So I ended up taking my
severance money and I left thecountry for a year and i i lived
out of a backpack. I volunteeredwith families all over Europe, I
worked at a site or farm Iworked at, like a horse ranch in
(03:45):
Croatia where we you know, tookpeople on on tours when they
came to visit. I worked in agrocery store in Luxembourg. I
work at a hostel in Zagreb, Itaught English in Poland. It was
an incredible year that allowedme to come back to myself and
figure out what the hell Iactually wanted. And during that
(04:05):
time, I started writing more Istarted you know, working on my
my own writing my books, Istarted editing a little bit
here or there because I veryquickly realized that I needed
money. So I started takinglittle jobs here or there. I
started writing for like atravel blog and I started
(04:26):
editing for, you know, peoplewho were writing brochures and
websites and things like that.
And I eventually realized, no,this is what I've wanted to do
my entire life. And this isfinally an opportunity where I
can start to do it. And so Istarted kind of building on that
(04:48):
I started, you know, creating abusiness for myself. And by the
time I got back to the States, Isaid okay, I'm doing this full
time. And that was seven oreight years ago and Here I am.
Tara Beckett (05:02):
Yeah. And Emily, I would love to know, up until
this point, is there aparticular piece of writing that
just really emulates what you'retalking about that you're real
and that you're honest and thatyou can put yourself out in the
world? Um, you mean like my,like a piece of your own right?
(05:22):
Yeah, yeah. So I'm currentlytrying to get a book published.
It's called black thorn.
Unknown (05:28):
I write fiction. So that's definitely one thing I
kind of learned along my journeyis that I work with nonfiction
for a living because it saves alot of my energy towards writing
my, my, my work, which is infiction, but this book
Blackboard was something thatwas born during that trip, I
started writing it in a little Iwas living in like a little
(05:50):
trailer on top of a hill inWales that overlooked you know,
this beautiful like mountainfull of sheep and this angry
little sheep farmer who everymorning at dawn, you get out
there and get on Drew brushstrokes. Like little golf cart
with his dogs. And it was it wasidyllic. And it was beautiful.
(06:11):
And we got to watch the youknow, the sunrise every morning
walk through kind of thesebeautiful, Misty mossy forests
on the way to town and, and itwas, it was incredible. And so I
started writing this book thatreally, I think, speaks a lot to
the magic that I want to see inthe world and the the messiness
(06:31):
of growing up and being in your20s and trying to figure out who
the hell you are, in a worldthat just keeps telling you, you
fit in this box. And so yeah,it's it's a book about, you
know, a group of women who livein a sentient house in a town
where magical things happen allthe time. And it speaks to kind
(06:53):
of the the difficultrelationships we have with each
other, and the difficultrelationships we have with
ourselves and the magic thatlives in and around and beyond
all of that. So it kind of youknow, I call it the book of my
heart, it's something thatreally, you know, speaks to that
something more that I havealways wanted that I believe,
you know, we all have alwayswanted, whether we know what it
(07:15):
is or not.
Tara Beckett (07:30):
You know, just so we can pause on your book for
just a second is like, before Iworked with you, I had not a
damn clue. effing hard it is towrite a book. Right? It was just
this like, I don't know, it justit felt flippant to me in some
ways, like, you have an idea andyou write a book. All right?
(07:50):
Could you walk us through like,the book is the baby that's like
the end like it is born? Can youwalk us through your process to
create this book that you loveso much? Hmm. Um,
Unknown (08:01):
I mean, you've and you've heard this from me a
million times, but you know,there is no one right way to
write a book, there's no oneright way to do something.
There's a lot of differentschools of thought about how to
create a book, because it isit's this huge thing, it is
multi dimensional, it iscomplex, and it when, when done,
(08:22):
right, you know, you shouldnever be able to just sit down
and spit out a book without, youknow, and say, Okay, this is
perfect, this is exactly what Iintended it to be. Because
whether you plan it outbeforehand, or whether you just
sit down at a computer and bleedor you know, like it's, it's,
it's a process, it's a discoveryof the story you're trying to
(08:42):
tell. And a lot of times, that'snot the same story that you set
out to tell at the verybeginning. I am an outliner I
love plans, I love being able toorganize what I want to do. When
I have an idea for a book, Igenerally start there, I start
with this feeling in this thiskind of a vibe of what I want.
(09:04):
Sometimes, you know, it's, it'sa sense of, okay, what's the
theme of this book? Or, youknow, what kind of message am I
trying to get across? Or, youknow, sometimes it's just saying
like, wow, it is a dark andstormy night, and I want to
write this weather and I kind ofsee what comes out of it. And
from there, like, you know, youkind of expand on those ideas
and say, Alright, you know, howdo I build this into something
(09:27):
that feels complete, but feelslike it can stand on its own and
really tell a story. I tend tobreak down my outlines into
parts, you know, I'll sayalright, you know, I go through
the three act structure or abeat sheet of, you know, the
hero's journey or, you know,there's a popular story outline
called Save the cat writes anovel, which has 15 beats that
(09:50):
every story has or whatever, andI kind of go through, you know,
these points that a story needs,you know, it's kind of opening,
you know, a turning point. Wait,rising action, inciting
incidents, the climax of thestory kind of the resolution and
build the story from there, Iget a feel for my characters, I
(10:11):
get a feel for the world thatthey're in, I get a feel for
what the hell they're trying todo and whether they are
successful or not. And then Ikind of fill in the blanks from
there. And once I have anoutline, then I sit down and
start writing. And that is theprocess which I know you know,
is, is a lot. And sometimes youknow, I've in the past, I've
(10:33):
I've written a book in 45 daysas my record, and I have also
taken years to write a book.
Sometimes it's all at once,sometimes you got to take big
breaks in between. But one factdrafting process is done. Once
you have a book a draft, thenyou get to work on the editing.
(10:53):
And you know, I always love tosay editing is where the magic
happens. There's a Anne Lamottwrote a really famous essay
called the shitty first draft.
That's basically just like, it'sso it's so true. It's basically
just saying, your first draft isjust you getting it all out
there. It doesn't have to lookgood. I think it was Terry
(11:16):
Pratchett, who said that yourfirst draft is just you telling
yourself the story. And thenediting and revising is where
you start to make it happen, youstart to make, you know,
sandcastles out of the sandboxthat you've just filled. And
that process is again, it cantake such a long time as you're
finding out right now.
Tara Beckett (11:36):
Yes. Yeah, I don't think I ever anticipated like
coming up on two years, and noteven close to the finish line.
Like there's just a lot of workthat goes into really,
especially creating somethingyou're so sort of personally and
like heart attached to you,right? It's like you want to get
it right. You want to say whatyou want to say. Right? Yeah.
(11:57):
And Emily, I just when you weretalking about the first draft, I
was thinking about even yourstory of getting laid off,
right. And I can also reallyfind that breaking point for me
was like the hospitalization.
And then I think of everythingbefore that as my first draft,
right? Like, like you said,putting it all out there pouring
the sand in the sandbox, you'reliving your life, you just don't
fucking know what you're doingyet.
Unknown (12:23):
And I think I think we have these points where, you
know, in a perfect world, we'dbe able to go back and edit our
lives and edit the way we didthings in the past, but we don't
have that, you know, time we areslaves to time in the real
world, in a way that we aren'twhen we're writing and, and
being able to take the hindsightto take, you know, the lessons
(12:44):
that we learned from that firstdraft of our lives. And, you
know, take that breaking pointand say, Okay, from this point
on, I've, I've learned how Iwant to revise, I've learned,
you know, how I want to editthis in the future and kind of
move forward with that in mindsaying, Okay, this is draft two.
This is me to point out
Tara Beckett (13:08):
I know we've spoken before about something we
share is like, you know, part ofour life happening in upstate
New York, right? Yep. And Iwould love to know, like, how an
upstate New York girl gets toDenver, Colorado, right? Like,
what what was that? You know?
Unknown (13:27):
So I again, it was it was a lot of weird shoulds in my
life. I feel like after college,I went to school in Ithaca, New
York, I love and Myka. It's abeautiful city. And you know, I
lived there for a while aftercollege, I lived there for
another year. And then I endedup just feeling like I was
(13:47):
treading water. I was working inrestaurants. I was working at a
barn where I ride horses. SoI've always worked with with
horses and farms and things likethat. And I was just like, I'm
not doing anything here. I endedup moving back in with my
parents in Buffalo. And I wasthere for a year. And I thought,
(14:08):
Okay, well, I love my parents,but this is not how I want to
spend my life. So I looked at acouple different cities. I
almost went to San Francisco, Ialmost moved to Boston. I ended
up a friend of mine. She wasmoving to Colorado because her
family had moved to Colorado andso she was going to move to
(14:29):
Boulder and her dad ended upsaying Oh, like you have a
communications degree. I workfor a telecom company, I can get
you a job. And I thought okay,again, I should have a job. I
should be doing something that'snot bartending at a Mexican
restaurant. And then I just wentI had never been to Colorado
before in my life. So I got my afriend of mine, I said, Hey, do
(14:54):
you want to go on a road tripand she and I took a week and we
drove out west and just I oftensaw some friends along the way,
I went to a couple nationalparks. But my like little Chevy
Cruze, just like packed full ofeverything that I owned. And
then I ended up in Denver and afriend of mine, one of my
roommates from college wasliving here. And she had another
(15:16):
three weeks in her apartmentbefore she moved in with her
partner. And so she said, Well,I'll just move in with him
early, and then you can juststay in my apartment. So I had
three weeks in a studioapartment in the city that I
knew nothing about. It wasgreat. And then, um, I yeah, I
got I saw my friend on theplane, so she could go back
East. And then I immediatelyfound another bartending job and
(15:42):
just kind of found my ownapartment. And I that was 2014.
So that's amazing. And that'sbeen there now. No, oh, God, no,
no, no, I waited, I guess Ithink I have like $235 in my
bank account. It was it wassomething it was, it was fun. I
remember paying the securitydeposit for my apartment. And my
(16:05):
first paycheck from the borrowerI was working was going to come
in that day. And I had like tipmoney. And I was like, okay, so
I'll give her this first check.
And then I'll go to the bankright after and hopefully the
money will hit my account beforeshe cashes this check. It was it
was Yeah, the whole thing.
Tara Beckett (16:19):
Yes, yes, I did, um, after college, went to New
York City. And I remember, I wasin my cousin's place for a few
weeks. And I remember I did themath, like, I was writing it off
on a piece of paper. And I waslike, even if I don't eat, I
can't pay the bills. It's like,maybe because you're an artist,
and you pick up and you gobecause your heart tells you to.
(16:41):
And that's the right decision.
And then you have to pay thebills.
Unknown (16:45):
Damn logistics giveaway every time. And that was really
honestly, it was why I alwaysworked in bars and restaurants
because they would meet me. Sothen I didn't have to worry
about groceries. And I couldlike at home leftovers and like
eat on that on my days off. Andit was it was an event.
Tara Beckett (17:01):
Yeah, it was. But it was totally worth it. Like
that time you never get backwhen like you're a post college
and you can just your I didn'treally have any strings. And it
sounds like you didn't either.
No. And
Unknown (17:10):
it was really, it was kind of the first time that I
took like a giant risk formyself. And I feel like it paid
off so much. I love it here.
I've become like thequintessential Colorado mountain
girl. I'm like, you know, like,Oh, look at pictures of me, on
top of a mountain wearing aflannel shirt with my blue hair.
Like it's so like, I'm I'm sucha basic bitch when it comes to
(17:31):
Colorado. Yes, give me craftbeer like that. Yeah, I remember
before I moved out here, I wason the phone with a friend who I
was kind of like taught likegiving, you know, going over my
options and saying, Well, Icould move here, I could move
here. But this just feelsstupid. I don't really know what
I'm doing. I don't have any ofus. And she told me leap and the
(17:53):
net will appear. And it'ssomething that has always stuck
with me. Because every time inmy life that I've made a big
leap. You know, when I movedwhen I moved out here when I
dropped everything and went toEurope for a year. Even like
when I met my partner, I feellike it was very much like, I
just kind of threw myself intothe void. And it worked out like
it wasn't easy. And itdefinitely you know, I ran into
(18:17):
roadblocks along the way. Butthose moments when we're kind of
afraid to jump and we'verealized I want to jump anyway,
I think are some of the mostimportant moments in our lives.
Because it's those moments thatyour intuition is telling you
like this is the right move andyou just gotta be brave for a
second.
Tara Beckett (18:35):
Absolutely. And yeah, I love I don't know, the
like you were saying like thenet will appear. Somebody told
me something to the effect ofI'm not gonna say it as
eloquently, but that like yourintuition and your knowing is in
there. And what we do with allthose like shoulds and life is
that we pile it on top. And ifyou could just let that
(18:56):
intuition be naked, you won'tmake the wrong choice. You just
won't tell ya intuition nudity.
Naked movies, intuition. That'sreally what it always comes down
to boobs with us. Why is italways Oh, I feel like we need
to get some context. Like, it'sprobably a good idea. Oh, yeah.
(19:17):
Um, so I go back and forthbetween being like a really
blunt, dirty mind dirty, girl. Idon't know what the fuck to say.
Unknown (19:29):
You're hilarious and blunt and raw.
Tara Beckett (19:33):
Thank you so much.
That's why she's my editor. Butum, yeah, and then I sort of was
ping pong with just very flowerylong simile, metaphor, blah,
blah, blah. And Emily would justwrite in the margins call a Boo
Boo boop.
Unknown (19:50):
I don't like I don't remember what the original
context was. You I don't know ifyou're describing like, I don't
like breastfeeding or something.
But you like you were talkingabout your boobs and your
writing and it was likeparagraph and a half long, and I
was like, just say boop. So nowit's become this shorthand, when
when we make things toocomplicated for ourselves, it's
just call a boo, boo boo.
Tara Beckett (20:20):
Emily, I would just be curious to know, you
know, what are those roadblocksyou're facing right now? What
are those things that tend toget in your way of that, you
know, sort of creative piece ofyou? Or where you want to be in
the world? Like, what what areyou up against right now. Um, I
feel like,
Unknown (20:38):
a lot of it is really a sense of, you know, it comes
down to trying to make the magichappen. Um, right now, you know,
I have a book, I love my book, Ilove the work that I've done on
it. We're in a moment in thepublishing landscape where
everything's very competitive.
And I know, this is somethingthat you are going to discover
(21:00):
very soon. And it's, it's hard,you know, to put your book out
there to say, here's a littlepiece of my soul, I'm giving it
to you. And then to have someonecome back and say, No, thanks,
this isn't for me, is reallydifficult. And that rejection is
something that, that it's noteasy to deal with. And it you
know, you have to, they say, youknow, develop a thick skin and
(21:22):
whatever and learn to loverejection and learn from your
rejections. But sometimes,unfortunately, there's not much
to learn from rejection,sometimes it's a matter of
timing, sometimes it's a matterof, you know, the stars
aligning, and you hittingsomebody's inbox at the right
time, on the right day, whenthey're in the right mood, and
they have had their coffee thismorning, and whatever. So that
(21:44):
has definitely been a roadblock,you know, hearing No, for
something that I care about sodeeply, and something that I
stand by, you know, so much, Ibelieve in this book, I believe
in my writing, I believe thatthis is what I'm put here to do.
And having somebody you know,reject that that's difficult.
(22:05):
And that's something that Ithink every writer deals with
every artist deals with. Mysister's an actor, I know, you
come from theater as well, youknow, it's, it's very much like,
you gotta get used to hearingNo, and after a certain point,
you have to stop taking itpersonally, or at the very least
learn to distance yourself fromit. So that's definitely been a
struggle. And I think the waythat I've kind of been
(22:30):
approaching it is, is lookingat, what can I do what's in my
control, because so much of thisprocess is out of your control,
and it's relying on someone elseto make decisions about you and
your future and your abilitiesand your talent. And so I have
been just trucking forwardworking on the next book,
(22:50):
working on, you know, my nextproject, trying to distance
myself a little bit from theheartache that comes with that
No, by saying, all right, I'minvesting myself in my future.
And the only way that I can.
(23:15):
A lot of the joy for me ofwriting fiction is that we, we,
we sow the seeds of truth instories, whether those stories
are real or not. And real, Ithink is even the wrong word
here, because to me, that's whatstories do is they are all real,
they all speak to something veryreal within us. And, you know,
(23:38):
there's there's absolutelytimely fiction, you know,
there's fiction that takes placein a modern era, that's very
easily dated, you can read abook written in 2008, and be
like, This talks about my space.
I know, and this was written,you know, the stories that that
book is trying to tell, haveprobably aged in their own way.
And a lot of times the joy offiction is that it still speaks
(23:59):
to that truth. Because I thinksomatic truth in in literature,
in movies in you know, a stageproduction in any kind of story
that we're engaging in. Thosethose themes are things that go
beyond time, those themes arethings that you know, are still
true, you know, years and yearslater. And even if they're not,
(24:21):
they don't mean the same thingto you. They still mean
something to somebody.
I'm currently working on a bookcalled long the way it is about
(24:43):
a treasure hunt. And it's aboutsibling love. It's about a woman
who lost her brother and kind ofgoes on to search for this local
treasure that he you know,disappeared looking for. And I
like to speak to A kind ofidioms and turn them literal.
So, you know, I wrote a bookabout demons that was really, it
(25:05):
was very much the the play onwords was battling your inner
demons. But you know onlyliterally and this one is about
being haunted by the ghosts ofyour past only you know, because
I write fantasy. I take theghosts a little bit literally.
So it's a book about grief. It'sa book about love and it's a
book about, you know, letting goand being able to move forward
(25:27):
with your life. And it is a bookthat has honestly started as
like a light hearted rom com andhas now turned into like this, I
don't know, supernatural horrorelements, like makes me cry half
the time when I'm working on it.
But it was really interestingtoo, because I, I was writing
it, I was doing really well. Andthen I said, you know, I said I
(25:49):
work with horses. My horse diedearlier this year. And it was
really hard for me. So suddenly,I was writing a book about grief
when I was kind of activelygrieving. And that was really
difficult. And so I ended up Ipoured a lot of that emotion
into this book. And then I alsohad to put it down for a little
while. And that's something Ithink not enough writers talk
(26:10):
about is sometimes you know,it's okay to set something aside
and say, I'm not ready, and thencome back two months later.
That's totally okay. Because weare still humans, we are still
people who feel emotions. Andsometimes those emotions are
messy. And that's, you know,that's okay. That's, that's
perfect. That's wonderful. Um,but yeah, so I let it go for a
(26:31):
little while. And I came back toit. And you know, I feel like I
came back to it with thehindsight of, of why I dropped
it for a while the hindsight ofeverything I've been
experiencing emotionally, andthen I, you know, jumped back in
both feet and feel like I'mbetter for it.
Tara Beckett (26:56):
Your horse? How did you become a horse lover?
And how did you? How did youfind her.
Unknown (27:03):
So I grew up at a summer camp, basically, my mom
and my sister did like a weekendGirl Scout horse camp thing. And
my mom really connected with theowner of the camp and the people
that worked there and ended upshe took the job at the camp for
(27:24):
the summer so that all four ofher children could come to camp
for the summer. And what startedas like a one year for two weeks
kind of thing turned into mostof my adolescence. And I started
going every single summer foreight weeks, um, with all my
siblings, my, you know, my momwas there, my dad would come and
(27:44):
like help out some times, like,during the school year, I would
go there on the weekends. And Iwould teach those same girl
scout clinics that my you know,my mom and my sister had
originally been to, and and Igrew up riding horses at this
camp. And, you know, I learnedbasically from scratch and kind
(28:05):
of came up through the ranks andI started teaching lessons, you
know, learning more and moreabout horses. As I went to
college, I started gettinginvolved with a bar in their
eyes. And when I moved out toColorado, I ended up getting
involved with a therapeuticriding center. So doing a lot of
work with animals, I think issuper healing and super great.
(28:26):
But one of the horses at thiscamp was her name was Maria and
I met her when I was I thinklike 12 or 13 years old. And she
was like this wild little thingwho had been born on a wild on
an island. And she she wasridiculous. She had like the
(28:46):
biggest mane you've ever seen. Ialways you know made jokes about
her. You know her name is Maria.
So maybe she's born with it.
Maybe she's Maria believed. Butum, and yeah, I throughout my
teenage years, I fell in lovewith this horse. And then after
college, the camp shut down. Andso I said, Okay, well I'd like
(29:07):
to buy her so I bought her forlike 600 bucks. It was like the
only I had to pay it in likeinstallments of like, I don't
know $600 But this is a greatidea. Not even thinking about
the fact that I have to like payrent for my horse for the rest
of my life, you know? Um, butyeah, so I I bought her I kept
(29:27):
her in Ithaca at a friend'shouse and we just kind of like
alternated doing barn choresbecause it was like in her
backyard. And then I when Imoved back to my parents house,
I moved her back to Buffalo andkind of, you know, had her there
for a while and then I moved herout to Colorado and she she's
she's very she was very welltraveled.
Tara Beckett (29:46):
And I she has a passport. Yeah. And
Unknown (29:50):
then when I left the country and went to Europe, I
moved her back to New York, andshe stayed with my mom's horse.
I at the barn where she kept herhorse, and then she was used as
a lesson horse there, it wasreally cool. I got to like, see
her being loved by little kidsin the way that I had always
(30:11):
loved her and see, you know, Ifell in love with this horse
when I was like a child. And soto see like, another little 12
year old girl fall in love withher and like, give her nicknames
and like, buy her like cutelittle pink, like, she'll like,
like little bows and stuff forher bridal and stuff. It was, it
was so cute. And it was reallynice to like, kind of come full
circle there. And then, duringthe pandemic, my parents decided
(30:36):
that they their pandemic projectwas going to be to clear a huge
part of their land and build apasture. And so they brought
home my mom's horse and myhorse, and she lived there very
happily until last June, shefast, but
Tara Beckett (30:51):
I love that story.
Like know a little bit moreabout her just because I do
remember what you were postingabout her and it's cool to get
her story.
Unknown (31:01):
Yeah, yeah, so I always joke, you know, she was she was
the great love of my life I thelongest relationship I've ever
Tara Beckett (31:10):
been. Yeah, yep.
Yeah. And then, you know,there's the, I just feel like
animals are an unconditionallove. And that's really, that's
not able, you cannot find thatin a lot of human relationships.
But no,
Unknown (31:24):
and I think it is, it's so it takes the complexities of
love and just makes it simple
Tara Beckett (31:42):
what would be your advice for them as they start
that career,
Unknown (31:46):
it takes time. I, you know, I'm a big proponent of I
think you have to invest inyourself in your life, in one
way or the other. And I thinktwo of the biggest ways to do
that are money and time. And youhave to, you know, find your
balance between those, those,those two components. And
(32:07):
unfortunately, a lot of times,they are very much related. I
was super fortunate in that Istarted my career as an editor
and, and a writer during a timewhen I had a lot of time, you
know, I had, I had the abilityto take on a couple jobs here or
there and I was working editingjobs for like 10 bucks, like it
was I was I was just desperatefor experience. And that sucked.
(32:31):
But you know, I wouldn't havebeen able to do that if I had to
pay rent at the time, you know,if I had to, you know, provide
for all of my utilities if mystudent loan payments weren't on
hold, you know. So, in that way,I was extremely fortunate, you
know, I was also like travelingthe world and like living with
people in Europe. And that wasreally cool, too. But, um, but
(32:54):
like, that time allowed me tobuild, it allowed me to start, a
lot of people who I know who gointo editing or go into any
freelance field, really, youknow, they either start working
more corporate, you know,they'll start for a big
publisher, or they'll start forlike, a big, you know, firm
doing whatever. And then theykind of go on their own
(33:15):
eventually. Because they havethat established experience,
they have an established clientbase, they have a name for
themselves already. But doing iton your own doing it, you know,
starting from scratch andsaying, Alright, I'm going to do
this means you need to build up.
And for a lot of people, thatmeans that it's a side hustle
for a long time. And you know,there's I think we live
(33:35):
unfortunately, in a hustleculture, where we're expected to
be busy, a lot of the time,we're expected to be constantly
working on ourselves andconstantly, you know, building
something, and we're Americans.
So we're in a society wherewe're like, bragging about how
much we work. And that'sdangerous. Like, that's not
that's not great. And it doesmean that it's really difficult
(33:58):
than to build something likethat for yourself. I mean, I'm
sure you experienced that with,with photography of with having
to kind of build and build andgrow. And I feel like it's it's
fighting tooth and nail to makepeople believe I'm good at this.
I'm worth this, like, pleasehire me.
Tara Beckett (34:17):
Yes. And I would say, you know, I don't have my
business anymore. But, you know,due to the pandemic, I closed it
down, when obviously, nobodywanted their picture taken in
large groups. But I do remember,always having, you know, even
within one business, having thecorporate stuff that paid my
bill so that I could go overhere and do the work that really
(34:40):
spoke to me in my heart, but youthe idea that oh, you just get
to do the things that feed youartistically all the time. If
that's your case, that'sawesome. It's not for most
people. So I sort of had tocompartmentalize my brain,
right?
Unknown (34:56):
I think that compartmentalizing is really
important in no matter what kindof field you're Going into I
think, for me, like I said, youknow, I focus professionally on
a lot of nonfiction I work with,you know, memoir writers like
yourself I work with, you know,people who are reading personal
development books or businessbooks or, you know, book
proposals. And then that allowsme to compartmentalize so that I
(35:17):
don't burn myself out creativelywhen I want to sit down and work
on my novels. And I think, youknow, to some extent that you
know, whether it whether it'swhat you're doing, how you're
doing it, you know, you need tobe able to compartmentalize, you
need to be able to say, Okay,I'm, I'm taking off my hat of
this, whatever this job is, andthen putting on this one
(35:37):
instead. Yeah, I feel likebecause even if you know, if
you're working, if you'refreelance job if you're you
know, your dream is your sidehustle for right now, you got to
be able to separate those twothings, or they're both just
gonna burn you the book out
Tara Beckett (36:12):
it seems like a creative outlet when I go to
your Instagram. Can you talk usthrough em bakes books?
Unknown (36:18):
Yeah. Um, so, I've always loved to bake I, um, you
know, I grew up in a familywhere food is our love language.
We we're, you know, constantlybaking, constantly making good
food for each other. If I gohome for a weekend, and there's
a Buffalo Bills game on, theentire family gets together. And
there's like, three differentfolding tables full of chips and
(36:42):
dip, and of desserts. And, youknow, like different things to
try. And we have a crock potfull of chili or barbecued
hamburgers or something. It'sjust a whole event. We love to
feed ourselves, we love to feedeach other. We love to try out
new recipes and like obsessabout our old favorites. So food
has always been so important tome. And honestly, I don't even
(37:03):
know how I started with thebookcase. But like, I don't
know, I don't even remember whatmy first one was. But like, I
just started for a book clubthat I was in I was Oh no,
here's what it is, I was doing abaking challenge that I found on
Reddit, where every week theygave me a new challenge. And it
was it was allowing me to tryout, you know, baked goods from
(37:25):
different parts of the world andbaked goods like some of the the
prompts were like a recipe frombefore 1900 Or like, you know,
like a recipe using floralflavors or something with the
color purple or you know, likeit was it was different every
week. And so it really made mestretch my boundaries as a
baker. And one of them I don'tremember what it was. But I
(37:48):
decided to take the design ofcake and turn it into look like
the book that we were readingfor book club that month. And
everybody loved it. And I hadfun with it. So I made another
one the next month and anotherone the next month. And it
turned into this thing I wascalling it have your cake and
read it too. It was you know, itturned into like this fun hobby
(38:12):
of of taking a book, andmatching the flavors to what
fits the story. Um, you know,and then and then designing it
to look either like the cover orlike something, some element of
the book. And it just, I don'tknow, it started as just kind of
like this weird little passionproject. And now it's something
that like, if I show up at bookclub, and I don't have a cake,
(38:33):
everyone's like, Oh, I mean,like, I'm not mad, because I
know that it's like a lot ofeffort. But also like I was
really looking forward to it. Soit's kind of expected but but
it's a lot of fun. And you know,I've done things, I have a
friend who's a teacher who did aproject with her kids last year
where she showed them myInstagram and then had them all
(38:54):
design and conceptualize cakesbased on their favorite book
that they read in English classthis year. And so she sent me
some of their pictures. And thatwas really, it was really cool
to kind of see that take on alife of its own. And the way she
told me that like, these kidswere thinking about their books
differently, because they werethinking okay, but like what
flavors are mentioned in thebooks, what flavors do I think
(39:15):
would fit kind of this genre ofbook? Yeah, it's just kind of a
cool, a cool project that tookon a life of its own. And now
it's just a lot of fun.
Tara Beckett (39:23):
That's awesome. I always I always wait for your
book club, like Instagram drop,just to be like, what's it gonna
be?
Unknown (39:30):
It's definitely like a weird balance too. Because like
I I, you know, I want to be ableto, like, showcase this in the
best way possible. And I thinkunfortunately, there's not a lot
of way to be an artist right nowwithout having to do all your
own marketing. And so there iskind of like a weird, that weird
component where you have to bestrategic about how you're
(39:53):
posting things and when you'reposting things and what you're
saying about things and it'shard because to me Like, that's
not my passion, my passion iscreating my passion is you know,
writing books, it's bakingcakes. It's you know, being a
goofball, doing whatever andlike, having to then be
strategic about how I sharethose things with the world and
(40:15):
sharing things about the worldthat I probably normally
wouldn't is a weird aspect ofart that I think is is probably
goes along with one of thoseroadblocks that you mentioned.
You know, I, it's, it's a lot.
Tara Beckett (40:30):
Yes, it's so yeah, I mean, you and I share that.
Kind of like, Oh, my God, ticktock videos. Like, I mean, yeah,
it's like, sometimes I have areally good time making them.
But I think that like, the thingabout being a writer is that you
don't get to just tick tockvideo, post, whenever you are
inspired, right? There's thislike, do it daily, do it
(40:50):
multiple times a day, do it thisway, use this hashtag. It's
like, all of a sudden, you'relike, Oh, well, this is not art
at all. Yeah, totally differentbeast.
Unknown (40:59):
And it's, it's really hard. And I think it's something
that, especially in nonfictionhas come to be expected of
authors, because you have tohave a platform before a
publisher will give you the timeof day. And it sucks. Because
how many amazing stories are wemissing out on because the
publisher is saying I don't wantto do the marketing work, I want
them to do the marketing workthemselves. And I think that's
(41:20):
really difficult. And that's notto say that I don't have fun
with it. You know, I every oncein a while, like, I'll, you
know, like, sit down and likemake like 10 Tick Tock videos
and be like, Okay, that was ablast. And they had some great
ideas and whatever. But a lot oftimes, it feels like a second
job. And it feels like a jobthat unfortunately takes you
away from the creative processand takes you away from the book
(41:41):
that you should be working on.
You know, the art you should bemaking the movie you should be
producing like it's, it'ssomething that it's just a layer
of extra.
Tara Beckett (41:51):
Yes, absolutely.
And like, Yeah, I mean, there'snot really much more to say
about it. Crap. Oh, crap. Right.
That's, I mean, that is true.
It's like, and I think how it istoday for writers and memoir
writers is that, like you said,it feels like they're far more
interested in the person, which,yes, that's fine to be
(42:14):
interested in me. Sure. But it'sthe story. Like it's the story.
It's Yeah, well, like, I'm notimportant, if that makes any
sense, right. So
Unknown (42:24):
as those stories are, that's, that's what should be
selling these books, it reallyshould come down to is this a
story that speaks to people? Isthis a story that like tears,
open your chest and looks insideyour soul? And says, Yes, I feel
connected to this. And, youknow, like I said, I, I worry
sometimes about the future ofthe industry, because I feel
(42:44):
like we are losing out on somany stories that have that
impact, and have that potentialto have that impact all because,
you know, it's easier to publisha book by an influencer, who's
immediately going to be able tosell 50,000 copies or whatever.
Right.
Tara Beckett (43:00):
I agree. And that's, you know, that is, most
definitely my one of my biggestchallenges, right is like, I'm
nobody, right? And like, I haveto do all that work in order for
anyone to care when that copycomes across their desk. Yeah.
But I mean, that's the workright?
Unknown (43:17):
Got to do it is but I think there's, it's, it's and
it's also it's one of thoseareas where like, we don't talk
about, like the unpaid laborthat comes along with art. You
know, in the same way, we don'ttalk about the unpaid labor that
comes along with motherhood inthe same way we don't talk about
the unpaid labor that comeswith, you know, being in a
society and being a human beinglike, there's there's so much
(43:39):
behind the scenes of anythingthat you're seeing of any small
business that's puttingthemselves out there any
individual artist who's tryingto make something work, there's
so much going on behind thescenes. And yeah, all you're
seeing is, you know, anInstagram story.
Tara Beckett (44:03):
So Emily, this has been so awesome to have you. And
I think that these two for youmight be intertwined somehow,
but if not, we'll do it in twosteps. But um, I would love to
know what you would say to your18 year old self. And what let
perfect burn means for you.
Unknown (44:23):
I think, to my 18 year old self in college for a degree
she doesn't really want and, youknow, trying to figure out where
she is in the world. I wouldwant to tell her, you know
yourself and you know what youwant. And it's time to tune out
(44:43):
the noise from the other peoplewho are telling you, you know
where you should be, and how youshould be moving and what path
you should be taking. Becauseyou know, that even if there
isn't a clear path before you toget to where you want you know
the destination you're trying toget to and it's not going to be
an easy road, but you're gonnaget there and then
Tara Beckett (45:03):
for you what lit perfect burn needs
Unknown (45:07):
um I think it really means abandoning those shoulds
abandoning that sense of this iswhat I'm supposed to be doing to
get to where I am focusing onthe things that you can control
and saying fuck it to theirchest.
Tara Beckett (45:23):
Yes that's amazing and I feel like fuck it to the
REST call a Boo Boo boop. Thenwhat is it? Intuition nudity?
Are we Yeah, but those I mean
Unknown (45:36):
honestly like I feel like this is this is a whole new
way of life. We're starting hereand this is absolutely
Tara Beckett (45:44):
and look for T shirts sold by let perfect burn
with those three things on it sothat it can pay for our unpaid
labor.
Emily, thank you so much forbeing with us today and Emily
cramp holds and definitely inthe show notes. Check her out
(46:04):
her website and ways to findher. I'm so fucking grateful
that you're my book coach and wehave a lot of work to do in the
new year.
Unknown (46:14):
Yes, we do. And we're gonna get there. It won't be
easy but we will get there.
Thank you so much for perfect
Hi, I'm Tara Beckett. And I want to welcome
you back to Season Two of letperfect bird.
Hi, everybody, welcome back tolet perfect burn. I'm Tara
Beckett. And I am beyond pumpedto have in studio, Emily
(00:45):
crumples. And Emily is a writer,she is a editor, and she's a
book coach. And she's my bookcoach, I landed seriously the
best one in the business. For mymemoir that's coming out,
hopefully in 2020 to three,we're hopeful. And I couldn't be
happier to have her and Emily,welcome.
Emily Krempholtz (01:08):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me
on, it's been so much fun, kindof like following the let
perfect burn, you know,experience for you. And I'm so
excited to be here today.
Tara Beckett (01:20):
And Emily, I would love just to start off. So we
can give everybody a really indepth view of how you got to
where you are, you're in Denver,Colorado, and I would love to
know professionally andpersonally, how you landed to
where you are.
Unknown (01:35):
Um, it's, it's, it's one of those things where I kind
of always knew where I wasgoing. And it took me a really
long time to get there. I haveknown that I wanted to work with
books, since I was five yearsold, I was writing books, my mom
still has them somewhere at herhouse. You know, they were they
were very bad. A lot of themwere kind of like poorly
(01:55):
plagiarized versions of themovies that I loved and the
books that I loved reading.
Obviously, I grew out of that.
But you know, as I got older, Iknew that writing books was what
I wanted to do for a living, Iknew that working with stories
was what I wanted to be when Igrew up. And even knowing that
it took me a really long time. Iyou know, I let a lot of people
(02:19):
talk me into going to collegefor a major that was a lot more
practical than, you know what Iwanted to be doing, which was
creative writing. And I thenleft college and took an office
job that I thought was, youknow, kind of the path that I
was supposed to take I thoughtyou know, okay, I'll do this.
And I'll make money this way.
And I'll work you know, create acareer this way. And then I can
(02:39):
write on the side. And then allof that fell completely to shit
about that. I got laid off fromthis office job. I actually the
morning I got laid off. I waswalking into work, I was
hungover, I was miserable. Ihave like a massive cup of
coffee in my hand. And Iremember thinking to myself, I
(03:01):
just wish I could go home. And Igot into the office, I turned my
computer out of my boss said,Hey, can you meet me in the
conference room, we have to chatand I was part of this massive
round of layoffs. And so I didget to go home. It was not. It
was not at all like I thought itwas going to be but um, I kind
of I thought I thought my lifewas over. You know, I was 25 and
(03:22):
I thought it was like, oh shit,this is the end. Like I don't
know what to do. Now. This wasmy plan. So I ended up taking my
severance money and I left thecountry for a year and i i lived
out of a backpack. I volunteeredwith families all over Europe, I
worked at a site or farm Iworked at, like a horse ranch in
(03:45):
Croatia where we you know, tookpeople on on tours when they
came to visit. I worked in agrocery store in Luxembourg. I
work at a hostel in Zagreb, Itaught English in Poland. It was
an incredible year that allowedme to come back to myself and
figure out what the hell Iactually wanted. And during that
(04:05):
time, I started writing more Istarted you know, working on my
my own writing my books, Istarted editing a little bit
here or there because I veryquickly realized that I needed
money. So I started takinglittle jobs here or there. I
started writing for like atravel blog and I started
(04:26):
editing for, you know, peoplewho were writing brochures and
websites and things like that.
And I eventually realized, no,this is what I've wanted to do
my entire life. And this isfinally an opportunity where I
can start to do it. And so Istarted kind of building on that
(04:48):
I started, you know, creating abusiness for myself. And by the
time I got back to the States, Isaid okay, I'm doing this full
time. And that was seven oreight years ago and Here I am.
Tara Beckett (05:02):
Yeah. And Emily, I would love to know, up until
this point, is there aparticular piece of writing that
just really emulates what you'retalking about that you're real
and that you're honest and thatyou can put yourself out in the
world? Um, you mean like my,like a piece of your own right?
(05:22):
Yeah, yeah. So I'm currentlytrying to get a book published.
It's called black thorn.
Unknown (05:28):
I write fiction. So that's definitely one thing I
kind of learned along my journeyis that I work with nonfiction
for a living because it saves alot of my energy towards writing
my, my, my work, which is infiction, but this book
Blackboard was something thatwas born during that trip, I
started writing it in a little Iwas living in like a little
(05:50):
trailer on top of a hill inWales that overlooked you know,
this beautiful like mountainfull of sheep and this angry
little sheep farmer who everymorning at dawn, you get out
there and get on Drew brushstrokes. Like little golf cart
with his dogs. And it was it wasidyllic. And it was beautiful.
(06:11):
And we got to watch the youknow, the sunrise every morning
walk through kind of thesebeautiful, Misty mossy forests
on the way to town and, and itwas, it was incredible. And so I
started writing this book thatreally, I think, speaks a lot to
the magic that I want to see inthe world and the the messiness
(06:31):
of growing up and being in your20s and trying to figure out who
the hell you are, in a worldthat just keeps telling you, you
fit in this box. And so yeah,it's it's a book about, you
know, a group of women who livein a sentient house in a town
where magical things happen allthe time. And it speaks to kind
(06:53):
of the the difficultrelationships we have with each
other, and the difficultrelationships we have with
ourselves and the magic thatlives in and around and beyond
all of that. So it kind of youknow, I call it the book of my
heart, it's something thatreally, you know, speaks to that
something more that I havealways wanted that I believe,
you know, we all have alwayswanted, whether we know what it
(07:15):
is or not.
Tara Beckett (07:30):
You know, just so we can pause on your book for
just a second is like, before Iworked with you, I had not a
damn clue. effing hard it is towrite a book. Right? It was just
this like, I don't know, it justit felt flippant to me in some
ways, like, you have an idea andyou write a book. All right?
(07:50):
Could you walk us through like,the book is the baby that's like
the end like it is born? Can youwalk us through your process to
create this book that you loveso much? Hmm. Um,
Unknown (08:01):
I mean, you've and you've heard this from me a
million times, but you know,there is no one right way to
write a book, there's no oneright way to do something.
There's a lot of differentschools of thought about how to
create a book, because it isit's this huge thing, it is
multi dimensional, it iscomplex, and it when, when done,
(08:22):
right, you know, you shouldnever be able to just sit down
and spit out a book without, youknow, and say, Okay, this is
perfect, this is exactly what Iintended it to be. Because
whether you plan it outbeforehand, or whether you just
sit down at a computer and bleedor you know, like it's, it's,
it's a process, it's a discoveryof the story you're trying to
(08:42):
tell. And a lot of times, that'snot the same story that you set
out to tell at the verybeginning. I am an outliner I
love plans, I love being able toorganize what I want to do. When
I have an idea for a book, Igenerally start there, I start
with this feeling in this thiskind of a vibe of what I want.
(09:04):
Sometimes, you know, it's, it'sa sense of, okay, what's the
theme of this book? Or, youknow, what kind of message am I
trying to get across? Or, youknow, sometimes it's just saying
like, wow, it is a dark andstormy night, and I want to
write this weather and I kind ofsee what comes out of it. And
from there, like, you know, youkind of expand on those ideas
and say, Alright, you know, howdo I build this into something
(09:27):
that feels complete, but feelslike it can stand on its own and
really tell a story. I tend tobreak down my outlines into
parts, you know, I'll sayalright, you know, I go through
the three act structure or abeat sheet of, you know, the
hero's journey or, you know,there's a popular story outline
called Save the cat writes anovel, which has 15 beats that
(09:50):
every story has or whatever, andI kind of go through, you know,
these points that a story needs,you know, it's kind of opening,
you know, a turning point. Wait,rising action, inciting
incidents, the climax of thestory kind of the resolution and
build the story from there, Iget a feel for my characters, I
(10:11):
get a feel for the world thatthey're in, I get a feel for
what the hell they're trying todo and whether they are
successful or not. And then Ikind of fill in the blanks from
there. And once I have anoutline, then I sit down and
start writing. And that is theprocess which I know you know,
is, is a lot. And sometimes youknow, I've in the past, I've
(10:33):
I've written a book in 45 daysas my record, and I have also
taken years to write a book.
Sometimes it's all at once,sometimes you got to take big
breaks in between. But one factdrafting process is done. Once
you have a book a draft, thenyou get to work on the editing.
(10:53):
And you know, I always love tosay editing is where the magic
happens. There's a Anne Lamottwrote a really famous essay
called the shitty first draft.
That's basically just like, it'sso it's so true. It's basically
just saying, your first draft isjust you getting it all out
there. It doesn't have to lookgood. I think it was Terry
(11:16):
Pratchett, who said that yourfirst draft is just you telling
yourself the story. And thenediting and revising is where
you start to make it happen, youstart to make, you know,
sandcastles out of the sandboxthat you've just filled. And
that process is again, it cantake such a long time as you're
finding out right now.
Tara Beckett (11:36):
Yes. Yeah, I don't think I ever anticipated like
coming up on two years, and noteven close to the finish line.
Like there's just a lot of workthat goes into really,
especially creating somethingyou're so sort of personally and
like heart attached to you,right? It's like you want to get
it right. You want to say whatyou want to say. Right? Yeah.
(11:57):
And Emily, I just when you weretalking about the first draft, I
was thinking about even yourstory of getting laid off,
right. And I can also reallyfind that breaking point for me
was like the hospitalization.
And then I think of everythingbefore that as my first draft,
right? Like, like you said,putting it all out there pouring
the sand in the sandbox, you'reliving your life, you just don't
fucking know what you're doingyet.
Unknown (12:23):
And I think I think we have these points where, you
know, in a perfect world, we'dbe able to go back and edit our
lives and edit the way we didthings in the past, but we don't
have that, you know, time we areslaves to time in the real
world, in a way that we aren'twhen we're writing and, and
being able to take the hindsightto take, you know, the lessons
(12:44):
that we learned from that firstdraft of our lives. And, you
know, take that breaking pointand say, Okay, from this point
on, I've, I've learned how Iwant to revise, I've learned,
you know, how I want to editthis in the future and kind of
move forward with that in mindsaying, Okay, this is draft two.
This is me to point out
Tara Beckett (13:08):
I know we've spoken before about something we
share is like, you know, part ofour life happening in upstate
New York, right? Yep. And Iwould love to know, like, how an
upstate New York girl gets toDenver, Colorado, right? Like,
what what was that? You know?
Unknown (13:27):
So I again, it was it was a lot of weird shoulds in my
life. I feel like after college,I went to school in Ithaca, New
York, I love and Myka. It's abeautiful city. And you know, I
lived there for a while aftercollege, I lived there for
another year. And then I endedup just feeling like I was
(13:47):
treading water. I was working inrestaurants. I was working at a
barn where I ride horses. SoI've always worked with with
horses and farms and things likethat. And I was just like, I'm
not doing anything here. I endedup moving back in with my
parents in Buffalo. And I wasthere for a year. And I thought,
(14:08):
Okay, well, I love my parents,but this is not how I want to
spend my life. So I looked at acouple different cities. I
almost went to San Francisco, Ialmost moved to Boston. I ended
up a friend of mine. She wasmoving to Colorado because her
family had moved to Colorado andso she was going to move to
(14:29):
Boulder and her dad ended upsaying Oh, like you have a
communications degree. I workfor a telecom company, I can get
you a job. And I thought okay,again, I should have a job. I
should be doing something that'snot bartending at a Mexican
restaurant. And then I just wentI had never been to Colorado
before in my life. So I got my afriend of mine, I said, Hey, do
(14:54):
you want to go on a road tripand she and I took a week and we
drove out west and just I oftensaw some friends along the way,
I went to a couple nationalparks. But my like little Chevy
Cruze, just like packed full ofeverything that I owned. And
then I ended up in Denver and afriend of mine, one of my
roommates from college wasliving here. And she had another
(15:16):
three weeks in her apartmentbefore she moved in with her
partner. And so she said, Well,I'll just move in with him
early, and then you can juststay in my apartment. So I had
three weeks in a studioapartment in the city that I
knew nothing about. It wasgreat. And then, um, I yeah, I
got I saw my friend on theplane, so she could go back
East. And then I immediatelyfound another bartending job and
(15:42):
just kind of found my ownapartment. And I that was 2014.
So that's amazing. And that'sbeen there now. No, oh, God, no,
no, no, I waited, I guess Ithink I have like $235 in my
bank account. It was it wassomething it was, it was fun. I
remember paying the securitydeposit for my apartment. And my
(16:05):
first paycheck from the borrowerI was working was going to come
in that day. And I had like tipmoney. And I was like, okay, so
I'll give her this first check.
And then I'll go to the bankright after and hopefully the
money will hit my account beforeshe cashes this check. It was it
was Yeah, the whole thing.
Tara Beckett (16:19):
Yes, yes, I did, um, after college, went to New
York City. And I remember, I wasin my cousin's place for a few
weeks. And I remember I did themath, like, I was writing it off
on a piece of paper. And I waslike, even if I don't eat, I
can't pay the bills. It's like,maybe because you're an artist,
and you pick up and you gobecause your heart tells you to.
(16:41):
And that's the right decision.
And then you have to pay thebills.
Unknown (16:45):
Damn logistics giveaway every time. And that was really
honestly, it was why I alwaysworked in bars and restaurants
because they would meet me. Sothen I didn't have to worry
about groceries. And I couldlike at home leftovers and like
eat on that on my days off. Andit was it was an event.
Tara Beckett (17:01):
Yeah, it was. But it was totally worth it. Like
that time you never get backwhen like you're a post college
and you can just your I didn'treally have any strings. And it
sounds like you didn't either.
No. And
Unknown (17:10):
it was really, it was kind of the first time that I
took like a giant risk formyself. And I feel like it paid
off so much. I love it here.
I've become like thequintessential Colorado mountain
girl. I'm like, you know, like,Oh, look at pictures of me, on
top of a mountain wearing aflannel shirt with my blue hair.
Like it's so like, I'm I'm sucha basic bitch when it comes to
(17:31):
Colorado. Yes, give me craftbeer like that. Yeah, I remember
before I moved out here, I wason the phone with a friend who I
was kind of like taught likegiving, you know, going over my
options and saying, Well, Icould move here, I could move
here. But this just feelsstupid. I don't really know what
I'm doing. I don't have any ofus. And she told me leap and the
(17:53):
net will appear. And it'ssomething that has always stuck
with me. Because every time inmy life that I've made a big
leap. You know, when I movedwhen I moved out here when I
dropped everything and went toEurope for a year. Even like
when I met my partner, I feellike it was very much like, I
just kind of threw myself intothe void. And it worked out like
it wasn't easy. And itdefinitely you know, I ran into
(18:17):
roadblocks along the way. Butthose moments when we're kind of
afraid to jump and we'verealized I want to jump anyway,
I think are some of the mostimportant moments in our lives.
Because it's those moments thatyour intuition is telling you
like this is the right move andyou just gotta be brave for a
second.
Tara Beckett (18:35):
Absolutely. And yeah, I love I don't know, the
like you were saying like thenet will appear. Somebody told
me something to the effect ofI'm not gonna say it as
eloquently, but that like yourintuition and your knowing is in
there. And what we do with allthose like shoulds and life is
that we pile it on top. And ifyou could just let that
(18:56):
intuition be naked, you won'tmake the wrong choice. You just
won't tell ya intuition nudity.
Naked movies, intuition. That'sreally what it always comes down
to boobs with us. Why is italways Oh, I feel like we need
to get some context. Like, it'sprobably a good idea. Oh, yeah.
(19:17):
Um, so I go back and forthbetween being like a really
blunt, dirty mind dirty, girl. Idon't know what the fuck to say.
Unknown (19:29):
You're hilarious and blunt and raw.
Tara Beckett (19:33):
Thank you so much.
That's why she's my editor. Butum, yeah, and then I sort of was
ping pong with just very flowerylong simile, metaphor, blah,
blah, blah. And Emily would justwrite in the margins call a Boo
Boo boop.
Unknown (19:50):
I don't like I don't remember what the original
context was. You I don't know ifyou're describing like, I don't
like breastfeeding or something.
But you like you were talkingabout your boobs and your
writing and it was likeparagraph and a half long, and I
was like, just say boop. So nowit's become this shorthand, when
when we make things toocomplicated for ourselves, it's
just call a boo, boo boo.
Tara Beckett (20:20):
Emily, I would just be curious to know, you
know, what are those roadblocksyou're facing right now? What
are those things that tend toget in your way of that, you
know, sort of creative piece ofyou? Or where you want to be in
the world? Like, what what areyou up against right now. Um, I
feel like,
Unknown (20:38):
a lot of it is really a sense of, you know, it comes
down to trying to make the magichappen. Um, right now, you know,
I have a book, I love my book, Ilove the work that I've done on
it. We're in a moment in thepublishing landscape where
everything's very competitive.
And I know, this is somethingthat you are going to discover
(21:00):
very soon. And it's, it's hard,you know, to put your book out
there to say, here's a littlepiece of my soul, I'm giving it
to you. And then to have someonecome back and say, No, thanks,
this isn't for me, is reallydifficult. And that rejection is
something that, that it's noteasy to deal with. And it you
know, you have to, they say, youknow, develop a thick skin and
(21:22):
whatever and learn to loverejection and learn from your
rejections. But sometimes,unfortunately, there's not much
to learn from rejection,sometimes it's a matter of
timing, sometimes it's a matterof, you know, the stars
aligning, and you hittingsomebody's inbox at the right
time, on the right day, whenthey're in the right mood, and
they have had their coffee thismorning, and whatever. So that
(21:44):
has definitely been a roadblock,you know, hearing No, for
something that I care about sodeeply, and something that I
stand by, you know, so much, Ibelieve in this book, I believe
in my writing, I believe thatthis is what I'm put here to do.
And having somebody you know,reject that that's difficult.
(22:05):
And that's something that Ithink every writer deals with
every artist deals with. Mysister's an actor, I know, you
come from theater as well, youknow, it's, it's very much like,
you gotta get used to hearingNo, and after a certain point,
you have to stop taking itpersonally, or at the very least
learn to distance yourself fromit. So that's definitely been a
struggle. And I think the waythat I've kind of been
(22:30):
approaching it is, is lookingat, what can I do what's in my
control, because so much of thisprocess is out of your control,
and it's relying on someone elseto make decisions about you and
your future and your abilitiesand your talent. And so I have
been just trucking forwardworking on the next book,
(22:50):
working on, you know, my nextproject, trying to distance
myself a little bit from theheartache that comes with that
No, by saying, all right, I'minvesting myself in my future.
And the only way that I can.
(23:15):
A lot of the joy for me ofwriting fiction is that we, we,
we sow the seeds of truth instories, whether those stories
are real or not. And real, Ithink is even the wrong word
here, because to me, that's whatstories do is they are all real,
they all speak to something veryreal within us. And, you know,
(23:38):
there's there's absolutelytimely fiction, you know,
there's fiction that takes placein a modern era, that's very
easily dated, you can read abook written in 2008, and be
like, This talks about my space.
I know, and this was written,you know, the stories that that
book is trying to tell, haveprobably aged in their own way.
And a lot of times the joy offiction is that it still speaks
(23:59):
to that truth. Because I thinksomatic truth in in literature,
in movies in you know, a stageproduction in any kind of story
that we're engaging in. Thosethose themes are things that go
beyond time, those themes arethings that you know, are still
true, you know, years and yearslater. And even if they're not,
(24:21):
they don't mean the same thingto you. They still mean
something to somebody.
I'm currently working on a bookcalled long the way it is about
(24:43):
a treasure hunt. And it's aboutsibling love. It's about a woman
who lost her brother and kind ofgoes on to search for this local
treasure that he you know,disappeared looking for. And I
like to speak to A kind ofidioms and turn them literal.
So, you know, I wrote a bookabout demons that was really, it
(25:05):
was very much the the play onwords was battling your inner
demons. But you know onlyliterally and this one is about
being haunted by the ghosts ofyour past only you know, because
I write fantasy. I take theghosts a little bit literally.
So it's a book about grief. It'sa book about love and it's a
book about, you know, letting goand being able to move forward
(25:27):
with your life. And it is a bookthat has honestly started as
like a light hearted rom com andhas now turned into like this, I
don't know, supernatural horrorelements, like makes me cry half
the time when I'm working on it.
But it was really interestingtoo, because I, I was writing
it, I was doing really well. Andthen I said, you know, I said I
(25:49):
work with horses. My horse diedearlier this year. And it was
really hard for me. So suddenly,I was writing a book about grief
when I was kind of activelygrieving. And that was really
difficult. And so I ended up Ipoured a lot of that emotion
into this book. And then I alsohad to put it down for a little
while. And that's something Ithink not enough writers talk
(26:10):
about is sometimes you know,it's okay to set something aside
and say, I'm not ready, and thencome back two months later.
That's totally okay. Because weare still humans, we are still
people who feel emotions. Andsometimes those emotions are
messy. And that's, you know,that's okay. That's, that's
perfect. That's wonderful. Um,but yeah, so I let it go for a
(26:31):
little while. And I came back toit. And you know, I feel like I
came back to it with thehindsight of, of why I dropped
it for a while the hindsight ofeverything I've been
experiencing emotionally, andthen I, you know, jumped back in
both feet and feel like I'mbetter for it.
Tara Beckett (26:56):
Your horse? How did you become a horse lover?
And how did you? How did youfind her.
Unknown (27:03):
So I grew up at a summer camp, basically, my mom
and my sister did like a weekendGirl Scout horse camp thing. And
my mom really connected with theowner of the camp and the people
that worked there and ended upshe took the job at the camp for
(27:24):
the summer so that all four ofher children could come to camp
for the summer. And what startedas like a one year for two weeks
kind of thing turned into mostof my adolescence. And I started
going every single summer foreight weeks, um, with all my
siblings, my, you know, my momwas there, my dad would come and
(27:44):
like help out some times, like,during the school year, I would
go there on the weekends. And Iwould teach those same girl
scout clinics that my you know,my mom and my sister had
originally been to, and and Igrew up riding horses at this
camp. And, you know, I learnedbasically from scratch and kind
(28:05):
of came up through the ranks andI started teaching lessons, you
know, learning more and moreabout horses. As I went to
college, I started gettinginvolved with a bar in their
eyes. And when I moved out toColorado, I ended up getting
involved with a therapeuticriding center. So doing a lot of
work with animals, I think issuper healing and super great.
(28:26):
But one of the horses at thiscamp was her name was Maria and
I met her when I was I thinklike 12 or 13 years old. And she
was like this wild little thingwho had been born on a wild on
an island. And she she wasridiculous. She had like the
(28:46):
biggest mane you've ever seen. Ialways you know made jokes about
her. You know her name is Maria.
So maybe she's born with it.
Maybe she's Maria believed. Butum, and yeah, I throughout my
teenage years, I fell in lovewith this horse. And then after
college, the camp shut down. Andso I said, Okay, well I'd like
(29:07):
to buy her so I bought her forlike 600 bucks. It was like the
only I had to pay it in likeinstallments of like, I don't
know $600 But this is a greatidea. Not even thinking about
the fact that I have to like payrent for my horse for the rest
of my life, you know? Um, butyeah, so I I bought her I kept
(29:27):
her in Ithaca at a friend'shouse and we just kind of like
alternated doing barn choresbecause it was like in her
backyard. And then I when Imoved back to my parents house,
I moved her back to Buffalo andkind of, you know, had her there
for a while and then I moved herout to Colorado and she she's
she's very she was very welltraveled.
Tara Beckett (29:46):
And I she has a passport. Yeah. And
Unknown (29:50):
then when I left the country and went to Europe, I
moved her back to New York, andshe stayed with my mom's horse.
I at the barn where she kept herhorse, and then she was used as
a lesson horse there, it wasreally cool. I got to like, see
her being loved by little kidsin the way that I had always
(30:11):
loved her and see, you know, Ifell in love with this horse
when I was like a child. And soto see like, another little 12
year old girl fall in love withher and like, give her nicknames
and like, buy her like cutelittle pink, like, she'll like,
like little bows and stuff forher bridal and stuff. It was, it
was so cute. And it was reallynice to like, kind of come full
circle there. And then, duringthe pandemic, my parents decided
(30:36):
that they their pandemic projectwas going to be to clear a huge
part of their land and build apasture. And so they brought
home my mom's horse and myhorse, and she lived there very
happily until last June, shefast, but
Tara Beckett (30:51):
I love that story.
Like know a little bit moreabout her just because I do
remember what you were postingabout her and it's cool to get
her story.
Unknown (31:01):
Yeah, yeah, so I always joke, you know, she was she was
the great love of my life I thelongest relationship I've ever
Tara Beckett (31:10):
been. Yeah, yep.
Yeah. And then, you know,there's the, I just feel like
animals are an unconditionallove. And that's really, that's
not able, you cannot find thatin a lot of human relationships.
But no,
Unknown (31:24):
and I think it is, it's so it takes the complexities of
love and just makes it simple
Tara Beckett (31:42):
what would be your advice for them as they start
that career,
Unknown (31:46):
it takes time. I, you know, I'm a big proponent of I
think you have to invest inyourself in your life, in one
way or the other. And I thinktwo of the biggest ways to do
that are money and time. And youhave to, you know, find your
balance between those, those,those two components. And
(32:07):
unfortunately, a lot of times,they are very much related. I
was super fortunate in that Istarted my career as an editor
and, and a writer during a timewhen I had a lot of time, you
know, I had, I had the abilityto take on a couple jobs here or
there and I was working editingjobs for like 10 bucks, like it
was I was I was just desperatefor experience. And that sucked.
(32:31):
But you know, I wouldn't havebeen able to do that if I had to
pay rent at the time, you know,if I had to, you know, provide
for all of my utilities if mystudent loan payments weren't on
hold, you know. So, in that way,I was extremely fortunate, you
know, I was also like travelingthe world and like living with
people in Europe. And that wasreally cool, too. But, um, but
(32:54):
like, that time allowed me tobuild, it allowed me to start, a
lot of people who I know who gointo editing or go into any
freelance field, really, youknow, they either start working
more corporate, you know,they'll start for a big
publisher, or they'll start forlike, a big, you know, firm
doing whatever. And then theykind of go on their own
(33:15):
eventually. Because they havethat established experience,
they have an established clientbase, they have a name for
themselves already. But doing iton your own doing it, you know,
starting from scratch andsaying, Alright, I'm going to do
this means you need to build up.
And for a lot of people, thatmeans that it's a side hustle
for a long time. And you know,there's I think we live
(33:35):
unfortunately, in a hustleculture, where we're expected to
be busy, a lot of the time,we're expected to be constantly
working on ourselves andconstantly, you know, building
something, and we're Americans.
So we're in a society wherewe're like, bragging about how
much we work. And that'sdangerous. Like, that's not
that's not great. And it doesmean that it's really difficult
(33:58):
than to build something likethat for yourself. I mean, I'm
sure you experienced that with,with photography of with having
to kind of build and build andgrow. And I feel like it's it's
fighting tooth and nail to makepeople believe I'm good at this.
I'm worth this, like, pleasehire me.
Tara Beckett (34:17):
Yes. And I would say, you know, I don't have my
business anymore. But, you know,due to the pandemic, I closed it
down, when obviously, nobodywanted their picture taken in
large groups. But I do remember,always having, you know, even
within one business, having thecorporate stuff that paid my
bill so that I could go overhere and do the work that really
(34:40):
spoke to me in my heart, but youthe idea that oh, you just get
to do the things that feed youartistically all the time. If
that's your case, that'sawesome. It's not for most
people. So I sort of had tocompartmentalize my brain,
right?
Unknown (34:56):
I think that compartmentalizing is really
important in no matter what kindof field you're Going into I
think, for me, like I said, youknow, I focus professionally on
a lot of nonfiction I work with,you know, memoir writers like
yourself I work with, you know,people who are reading personal
development books or businessbooks or, you know, book
proposals. And then that allowsme to compartmentalize so that I
(35:17):
don't burn myself out creativelywhen I want to sit down and work
on my novels. And I think, youknow, to some extent that you
know, whether it whether it'swhat you're doing, how you're
doing it, you know, you need tobe able to compartmentalize, you
need to be able to say, Okay,I'm, I'm taking off my hat of
this, whatever this job is, andthen putting on this one
(35:37):
instead. Yeah, I feel likebecause even if you know, if
you're working, if you'refreelance job if you're you
know, your dream is your sidehustle for right now, you got to
be able to separate those twothings, or they're both just
gonna burn you the book out
Tara Beckett (36:12):
it seems like a creative outlet when I go to
your Instagram. Can you talk usthrough em bakes books?
Unknown (36:18):
Yeah. Um, so, I've always loved to bake I, um, you
know, I grew up in a familywhere food is our love language.
We we're, you know, constantlybaking, constantly making good
food for each other. If I gohome for a weekend, and there's
a Buffalo Bills game on, theentire family gets together. And
there's like, three differentfolding tables full of chips and
(36:42):
dip, and of desserts. And, youknow, like different things to
try. And we have a crock potfull of chili or barbecued
hamburgers or something. It'sjust a whole event. We love to
feed ourselves, we love to feedeach other. We love to try out
new recipes and like obsessabout our old favorites. So food
has always been so important tome. And honestly, I don't even
(37:03):
know how I started with thebookcase. But like, I don't
know, I don't even remember whatmy first one was. But like, I
just started for a book clubthat I was in I was Oh no,
here's what it is, I was doing abaking challenge that I found on
Reddit, where every week theygave me a new challenge. And it
was it was allowing me to tryout, you know, baked goods from
(37:25):
different parts of the world andbaked goods like some of the the
prompts were like a recipe frombefore 1900 Or like, you know,
like a recipe using floralflavors or something with the
color purple or you know, likeit was it was different every
week. And so it really made mestretch my boundaries as a
baker. And one of them I don'tremember what it was. But I
(37:48):
decided to take the design ofcake and turn it into look like
the book that we were readingfor book club that month. And
everybody loved it. And I hadfun with it. So I made another
one the next month and anotherone the next month. And it
turned into this thing I wascalling it have your cake and
read it too. It was you know, itturned into like this fun hobby
(38:12):
of of taking a book, andmatching the flavors to what
fits the story. Um, you know,and then and then designing it
to look either like the cover orlike something, some element of
the book. And it just, I don'tknow, it started as just kind of
like this weird little passionproject. And now it's something
that like, if I show up at bookclub, and I don't have a cake,
(38:33):
everyone's like, Oh, I mean,like, I'm not mad, because I
know that it's like a lot ofeffort. But also like I was
really looking forward to it. Soit's kind of expected but but
it's a lot of fun. And you know,I've done things, I have a
friend who's a teacher who did aproject with her kids last year
where she showed them myInstagram and then had them all
(38:54):
design and conceptualize cakesbased on their favorite book
that they read in English classthis year. And so she sent me
some of their pictures. And thatwas really, it was really cool
to kind of see that take on alife of its own. And the way she
told me that like, these kidswere thinking about their books
differently, because they werethinking okay, but like what
flavors are mentioned in thebooks, what flavors do I think
(39:15):
would fit kind of this genre ofbook? Yeah, it's just kind of a
cool, a cool project that tookon a life of its own. And now
it's just a lot of fun.
Tara Beckett (39:23):
That's awesome. I always I always wait for your
book club, like Instagram drop,just to be like, what's it gonna
be?
Unknown (39:30):
It's definitely like a weird balance too. Because like
I I, you know, I want to be ableto, like, showcase this in the
best way possible. And I thinkunfortunately, there's not a lot
of way to be an artist right nowwithout having to do all your
own marketing. And so there iskind of like a weird, that weird
component where you have to bestrategic about how you're
(39:53):
posting things and when you'reposting things and what you're
saying about things and it'shard because to me Like, that's
not my passion, my passion iscreating my passion is you know,
writing books, it's bakingcakes. It's you know, being a
goofball, doing whatever andlike, having to then be
strategic about how I sharethose things with the world and
(40:15):
sharing things about the worldthat I probably normally
wouldn't is a weird aspect ofart that I think is is probably
goes along with one of thoseroadblocks that you mentioned.
You know, I, it's, it's a lot.
Tara Beckett (40:30):
Yes, it's so yeah, I mean, you and I share that.
Kind of like, Oh, my God, ticktock videos. Like, I mean, yeah,
it's like, sometimes I have areally good time making them.
But I think that like, the thingabout being a writer is that you
don't get to just tick tockvideo, post, whenever you are
inspired, right? There's thislike, do it daily, do it
(40:50):
multiple times a day, do it thisway, use this hashtag. It's
like, all of a sudden, you'relike, Oh, well, this is not art
at all. Yeah, totally differentbeast.
Unknown (40:59):
And it's, it's really hard. And I think it's something
that, especially in nonfictionhas come to be expected of
authors, because you have tohave a platform before a
publisher will give you the timeof day. And it sucks. Because
how many amazing stories are wemissing out on because the
publisher is saying I don't wantto do the marketing work, I want
them to do the marketing workthemselves. And I think that's
(41:20):
really difficult. And that's notto say that I don't have fun
with it. You know, I every oncein a while, like, I'll, you
know, like, sit down and likemake like 10 Tick Tock videos
and be like, Okay, that was ablast. And they had some great
ideas and whatever. But a lot oftimes, it feels like a second
job. And it feels like a jobthat unfortunately takes you
away from the creative processand takes you away from the book
(41:41):
that you should be working on.
You know, the art you should bemaking the movie you should be
producing like it's, it'ssomething that it's just a layer
of extra.
Tara Beckett (41:51):
Yes, absolutely.
And like, Yeah, I mean, there'snot really much more to say
about it. Crap. Oh, crap. Right.
That's, I mean, that is true.
It's like, and I think how it istoday for writers and memoir
writers is that, like you said,it feels like they're far more
interested in the person, which,yes, that's fine to be
(42:14):
interested in me. Sure. But it'sthe story. Like it's the story.
It's Yeah, well, like, I'm notimportant, if that makes any
sense, right. So
Unknown (42:24):
as those stories are, that's, that's what should be
selling these books, it reallyshould come down to is this a
story that speaks to people? Isthis a story that like tears,
open your chest and looks insideyour soul? And says, Yes, I feel
connected to this. And, youknow, like I said, I, I worry
sometimes about the future ofthe industry, because I feel
(42:44):
like we are losing out on somany stories that have that
impact, and have that potentialto have that impact all because,
you know, it's easier to publisha book by an influencer, who's
immediately going to be able tosell 50,000 copies or whatever.
Right.
Tara Beckett (43:00):
I agree. And that's, you know, that is, most
definitely my one of my biggestchallenges, right is like, I'm
nobody, right? And like, I haveto do all that work in order for
anyone to care when that copycomes across their desk. Yeah.
But I mean, that's the workright?
Unknown (43:17):
Got to do it is but I think there's, it's, it's and
it's also it's one of thoseareas where like, we don't talk
about, like the unpaid laborthat comes along with art. You
know, in the same way, we don'ttalk about the unpaid labor that
comes along with motherhood inthe same way we don't talk about
the unpaid labor that comeswith, you know, being in a
society and being a human beinglike, there's there's so much
(43:39):
behind the scenes of anythingthat you're seeing of any small
business that's puttingthemselves out there any
individual artist who's tryingto make something work, there's
so much going on behind thescenes. And yeah, all you're
seeing is, you know, anInstagram story.
Tara Beckett (44:03):
So Emily, this has been so awesome to have you. And
I think that these two for youmight be intertwined somehow,
but if not, we'll do it in twosteps. But um, I would love to
know what you would say to your18 year old self. And what let
perfect burn means for you.
Unknown (44:23):
I think, to my 18 year old self in college for a degree
she doesn't really want and, youknow, trying to figure out where
she is in the world. I wouldwant to tell her, you know
yourself and you know what youwant. And it's time to tune out
(44:43):
the noise from the other peoplewho are telling you, you know
where you should be, and how youshould be moving and what path
you should be taking. Becauseyou know, that even if there
isn't a clear path before you toget to where you want you know
the destination you're trying toget to and it's not going to be
an easy road, but you're gonnaget there and then
Tara Beckett (45:03):
for you what lit perfect burn needs
Unknown (45:07):
um I think it really means abandoning those shoulds
abandoning that sense of this iswhat I'm supposed to be doing to
get to where I am focusing onthe things that you can control
and saying fuck it to theirchest.
Tara Beckett (45:23):
Yes that's amazing and I feel like fuck it to the
REST call a Boo Boo boop. Thenwhat is it? Intuition nudity?
Are we Yeah, but those I mean
Unknown (45:36):
honestly like I feel like this is this is a whole new
way of life. We're starting hereand this is absolutely
Tara Beckett (45:44):
and look for T shirts sold by let perfect burn
with those three things on it sothat it can pay for our unpaid
labor.
Emily, thank you so much forbeing with us today and Emily
cramp holds and definitely inthe show notes. Check her out
(46:04):
her website and ways to findher. I'm so fucking grateful
that you're my book coach and wehave a lot of work to do in the
new year.
Unknown (46:14):
Yes, we do. And we're gonna get there. It won't be
easy but we will get there.
Thank you so much for perfect
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