Episode 53: Katie Groom Author Interview

R
Hello cinnabar moth, Mark you’d like to be welcome to the writers triangles and by moss podcast about all things publishing and books. Today we are here with Katie groom, the author of Fixed Moon. Katie, how are you doing today?

K
I’m doing really well. A little bit nervous. But that’s to be expected. But yeah, overall extremely excited.

R
I think that’s great. Are you so you said you’re feeling sad? Are you feeling sad about the interview? Are you feeling sad about the release of fixed Moon this upcoming Tuesday?

Both. I’m very excited about being able to be here with you and do the interview, but also extremely excited about fixed moon. It seems like it’s taken. I’ve spent a long time coming. And it’s just a big dream that I’ve always had. So

R
I think that’s awesome that it’s finally coming to fruition. You said that it’s been a long time coming. How long ago did you write fixed moon?

So I started it in I believe, 2018. But it wasn’t fixed moon then. But by the time I was done with everything, it was 2021. October, I think October 1 2021. was when I think I sent the final the final draft. You know, the final initial draft, I guess, to the public to y’all at the at cinnabar. Moth. But it the book started out as something completely different. But so it took about three years to write this.

R
Okay, so it’s been this process where evolved from something completely different into what it is now.

Yes. So that. So the story initially, I started in 2018. And it was called something along the lines of like, my this future imperfect or something, there’s a Star Trek Next Generation episode called Future imperfect. And it’s actually my favorite. And that’s kind of where I took that from. But it but the episode literally has nothing to do with what the book initially started out as. It was, initially a novella. And I did try to submit that to another like to a publisher, but it got rejected. And while that was disheartening, they gave me really great feedback. But I set it aside and I stopped writing for a while because back then I was easily discouraged. You know, that kind of thing. But in, I think 2001, there was a call for short stories that were set in winter. And in that novella, there was one character that really stuck with me. And his little origin story actually became what is Cardinal moon? That is in code Christmas in darkest of winters anthology, which is published by cinnabar. Moth. And when that got accepted, I started to think, oh, maybe, maybe you’re okay, this writing thing. So I started doing it again. And I pulled some more ideas that were from that initial novella. Um, not very many, but some of them, and it kind of went from there. And there was like, one version, and then, you know, I had to rewrite a big chunk of it, because, you know, it didn’t make enough sense the way it was. And it was, it was a long process overall, but it was really, it was really neat, because it’s the first time that I had ever really done this. So it was very eye opening as well. So yeah, long story short, yes, it took a while. But we got there eventually.

R
You did. And here you are the almost, it’s about to be published. And you say it’s been a long process. What would you say that process was like for you was it easy, was it painful? Was it tiring? What was it like?

K
I would say, it definitely wasn’t tiring for me. I loved it. I loved the process of everything that’s gone on from there all the way through to now. But there was a good kind of painful that it was. I’m not really shy about sharing things that happened in my past, or even mental health stuff. And actually fixed Moon did bring a lot of that stuff up. And actually the character who was initially created because way back in 2019, I kind of knew things in my marriage weren’t going well, and I didn’t feel entirely safe and things like that. And these are things that I’ve shared before so I’m not, you know, afraid to share them again, but But anyways, you know, and I didn’t feel like I had a man in my life that would protect me. And I know, you know, we don’t need protect, you know, or whatever. But I still wanted that, and I created you. And that’s what I did with him. And the more that I wrote about him, and the more that I wrote his story, there are some parts of him like his loyalty, his resilience, his stubbornness, the fact that he puts his hair in a bun when he’s ready to go to battle, like those things are actually a lot of me. And so they’re like, the strongest parts of me. So I learned that I was protecting myself. And so it was a very therapeutic thing for me to write. So, yeah, there was some pain involved. And I think every author, if they’re writing, like a difficult part of a story, maybe they cry when they write it and stuff. And there was moments like that for me, but I would say overall, any pain that was in that process was a growth opportunity, or a good kind of pain that took me to another like, understanding of who I am. That kind of thing.

R
Okay, so overall, while there may have been dips in such in the process, you’d say it was it was more of a positive experience, even with some of the pain that was involved. Yep, absolutely. I think that’s awesome. And you’ve gone through this entire process, and you’ve written the book. And with radiant, did you initially plan on submitting it to cinnabar? Moth publishing?

K
Yes. So when, like, the original original version, that was that one that, you know, I got the feedback. And I was like, I’m never writing again. No, but with fixed Moon, which we used to call Quicksilver and then we call it the novel formerly known as Pixlr. Silver. So this thing has been through a transformation, right? But yes, the entire time ever since I started writing it again, after I wrote Cardinal Moon cinnabar moth was the publisher that I wanted to submit to. And that’s just, I mean, so I’m lucky. I guess, that goal, like what I write, yeah, but I mean, that’s, I’ve never like I I know of other you know, small publishers, I don’t think I would ever want to do like one of the big ones. I feel like my story would, you know, my work might get lost or something like that. But yeah, I’ve always the intention was to submit to cinnabar. Moth,

R
yes. Okay. How did you discover Cinnabar Moth publishing?

K
So I feel like and I know the answer to this is not true. But I feel like I’ve always known cinnabar moth, like I remember a time now, where I didn’t like know, y’all. And I know that, you know, really, I think y’all started publishing books sometime last year, the year before, if I recall correctly, but so the answer to that was No, you didn’t know them forever and ever. Amen. But what it was is, I was on Twitter. And I followed another author that y’all have published. And she had been accepted. One of her pieces of work had been accepted to the anthology. And she had retweeted it. And I was like, I think I have an idea for this. And she encouraged me because we were kind of friends. You know, she encouraged me to do it. And so then I submitted, and I got accepted. And I was like, whoa. So that’s kind of it just was through a friend, um, via Twitter, which is where I make all my best relationships, I swears via Twitter, which is strange, but true.

R
I mean, you make connections where you make connections, I think Twitter is one of many avenues for that. And Twitter does have a rather large and thriving writing community.

Yes, for sure. I’ve met a lot of really great people through you know, the writing community on Twitter. So yeah, I agree with that.

R
100%. So you contacted us via Twitter, you got and you submitted for the winter anthology, Christmas and darkest of winters for the short story. And then from there, you had this expansion into writing fixed moon and you decided to publish with us was fixed moon and go through this entire process? Yes. What would you say has been the most surprising thing about publishing with us?

So I’m going to admit that I don’t really know anything outside of you guys. Period. Right? So, but so I always, I’ve heard things like, you know, I remember reading about an author who burned her own books, because she didn’t like the covers or whatever. The experience that I’ve had publishing through y’all has been the complete opposite. Everything is very, very collaborative. And that has been extremely surprising. Especially since you know, I get, you know, I know nothing about the industry, really. But also, you know, I have a specific, you know, idea of what I would want. And for whatever reason, it just, I don’t even mention it, but everything always seems to line up. But everything is very collaborative. And that might be why, or it might be that you guys, you know, everyone on the team just seems to understand me or something like that, I don’t know. But the most surprising thing is, how collaborative it is. But also, I’m very much in love with my little story. And I feel like you guys like everyone that I interact with that. That, you know, works with me on fix. Moon seems to be in love with it as well. And I think that that’s, that’s surprising to so. And I love it. Also, it’s very nice that everyone is so nice on the team. So that helps me too. But yeah, all those things are very surprising to me.

R
Well, thank you for this lavish praise. Yeah, we do aim to be collaborative. And we do want our authors to have to do it, at least feel in control of the process and have is going to give you guys as much say over how things work as we can, right? Because at the end of the day, you’re right, it is your it is your story. You wrote it, and it’s your baby. So we want it to feel like it’s yours. Once you’ve gone through the entire process, rather than feeling like it’s something that we took and made ours. Yes.

And I definitely feel like it’s just like, I feel like, I do feel like my like, Yes, I wrote this. I wrote Fixman right. But I also feel like, it is almost as much like yours too, because you’ve done so much with me. And you know, you’ve just been on this journey with me. So yeah, I guess, you know, you guys are like maybe surrogate, you know, the book.

R
Yeah, it’s, it’s a lovely story. And, you know, we’re excited. You’re excited. It’s great. With this process, there’s, you know, publishing with us specifically. But then there’s also just the general experience of publishing a book, with this experience of publishing a book, this is your first book, your first novel, what would you say has been the most surprising, general experience with publishing as a whole?

Oh, geez. Like, the whole thing has been surprised. I think the surprising part for me, when it first started happening was that it was actually happening. But I think that’s probably the general most surprising thing to me, as the process has gone on, is hot, actually, how much more confident I’ve gotten in like, my skills, and that’s that this is real, and that I’ve earned this and it’s not just like, you know, I’m going to wake up, and it’s not going to be there. So I think, like, the actual surprising thing is that I finally accepted that, you know, and realize, yes, you’ve earned this and, you know, you are worthy of actually doing this, you know, that kind of thing. And, I mean, maybe that’s not the exact question, but that, to me, is probably the most surprising thing to me. I really think I’ve grown in the process. So and who would think that going through writing a book and publishing a book would have you grow as a person, I guess, you know?

R
So for us, it’s the process and how it’s affected you rather than just looking at the boss and be like, Huh, that’s kind of interesting. Yeah.

I mean, because, I mean, I if I, you know, I guess it’s surprising that I have, you know, I was able to have input into my cover, because, you know, those kinds of things surprise me, but like, the biggest part is like, I didn’t get discouraged throughout the entire process. You know, like, I just for me, I I’d like I said earlier, back in the day, I would get discouraged very easily. If you know, something didn’t go exactly how I would wanted it or whatever I got, you know, negative feedback or something like that. But no, you know, everything has just made me feel more and more confident that, you know, I actually, you know, I’m good. This is happening, and it’s, you know, it’s real. And you’ve worked for this, Katie, you know, that kind of situation? I don’t know. It’s kind of I mean, it might not be the exact answer that you’d expect. But that’s kind of,

R
I think it’s a wonderful answer. I think that having your own experience with this is very important. And sharing that experience, it sounds like it’s been very positive for you. So that’s wonderful. And with going through this process, you’ve had all those growth, you’ve had all these interactions with the book, and how it’s affected you how the publishing process have, has affected you. And it’s finally around the corner. Do you have any plans to celebrate the release of fixed moon? And if so what are they?

So I would love to say, I’ve never really thought about that. And I kind of really haven’t, because I just, you know, again, dream come true. But like, I also live very, very far from my family and my partner, you know, almost 1000 miles from him. 700 For my family, so I’m kind of here in Alabama, like, on my own, but I did tell my family that I was like, I would like a cake that looks like the cover of my book. I said it jokingly so I think they thought I was joking. So I’m not getting that cake. But I seriously meant it. 600% Serious meant that. Um, so, you know, mom, staff, if y’all are listening better get on that cake. But no, I don’t really have any other plans. Just I don’t know, just to kind of just take it in for a second. You know, that kind of thing.

R
Okay, so no specific plans, but you you’d like a cake.

Yeah, I’d like to cake in the cover. Thank you.

R
So you, you said that you’ve told your family about the release of the book, would you say that they were they’ve been excited about it?

Yes, they’re very supportive of it, which is, I will be honest, that I didn’t tell anybody. At first. I’ve never really been very public about like my writing until all of this but like, because, you know, I used to write fanfiction, and there’s like gatekeepers that tell you fanfiction isn’t real writing, whatever, yada yada, yada. But anyways, I didn’t tell anybody at first. And then I finally decided to, and I, you know, I was like, they’re not going to take this seriously, you know. But they’ve actually been very, very supportive and very proud of me. My sister was the first person to actually read Cardinal moon, because she likes those kinds of stories. So I wanted her feedback. But I’m really excited for her to finally read fixed moon and get her feedback on that. Again, it’s the kind of story she likes. My mom, my sister, my brother and my niece. When we were going through the cover process, I actually let them see some of the, the like, I guess, mock ups and one of their feedback, especially for my sister and my niece, because they read these kind of books, and I wanted to know what they thought. And then my grandparents are all very excited as well, my grandfather actually published a book himself. So kinda like he’s excited that I’m kind of like following in his footsteps. And his wife, my grandmother, she edited his book, and she drew the cover. So she knows a little bit about the work that goes into this. And then my other grandmother loves to read. And that’s something that I always remembered about her. And, you know, even though I don’t see her very often, like, that’s just something we’ve always connected on. She’s always got a book with her. So when she found out about it, she just, she just said, she’s so thrilled that, you know, that she gets to witness this. And she has even you know, when I’ve talked to her on the phone every single time that I’ve talked to her on the phone, she’s said that she’s just thrilled and so proud. So yeah, every they’re very, very supportive, and I’m very happy that they’re excited for me. So hopefully they all like when they do

R
well, I think it’s amazingly have this great support from your family. And it sounds like you’ve had a very positive experience with not just writing the book but also she Sharing it with the people in your life and having them, you know, respond positively to it. Yes. And so following up on this whole positive experiences and things you might not expect, how does it feel to know that your book will be listed in the US Library of Congress?

So I didn’t know that that was like, even a thing that was possible. Because really, my experience with the US Library of Congress is national treasure to Nick Cage, and find that book. So when I found that out, and found out what that really meant, I was like, Wow, that’s incredible. Like, that’s just really incredible. And it’s going to open up like, you know, people that go to a library or have the option of reading my book, like, you know what I mean, they can check it out there, you know, and all that kind of stuff. It’s a lot easier for the library to get it and all that jazz. But also going back to that national treasure thing. Maybe they’ll make a national treasure three, and my book will be a key clue. Like in that magical world. No, I’m just kidding. No, no, it is a very, very neat experience. Something that that’s another thing that was just really surprising. I’m just like, that’s a thing. Like, I didn’t even know that that could happen. So yeah, it’s incredible, I guess is the only way to put that. So yeah. And unexpected.

R
Okay, so unexpected, but it feels great. To know that your book is going to be available in libraries all across the US. Yep. And you mentioned national treasure. Yeah, having a third. And, and potentially having a be there. That honestly, sounds pretty cool. I think that’d be neat. He’ll be like, That’s my book. Yeah, and even thought about being featured in films without necessarily being the Act of, you know, component in it. But aside from that, you you’ve now written, fixed moon, and you’ve got this entire process, it’s about to be published. And you mentioned that this has given you a lot more confidence with your writing. What do you hope happens next.

So once jokingly mentioned on Twitter that I’m like, I would love it, if I would sell a dozen copies to people that are not my family or my partner. I mean, hopefully, it would sell more than a dozen. But really, I think the thing that would mean the most to me is if one person read it, and said that, that work helped them or got them through something or made them think something different. Like, I’m just hoping that one person reads it. And it gives it makes them you know, feel something enough to, you know, just say, you know, your work meant this to me, and that would just or it helped me or something, I think helped would be like the most important, I love helping people. So if somehow, like my, my little story, you know, help somebody through something that would be absolutely incredible. And I think that that would be the one thing that I would hope that happens next.

R
So you’re hoping that it someone feels a connection with the story, and that helps them do something or even helps them grow? Or whatever it is that they they can connect to it and get something out of it.

Yeah, or who helps them like find a piece of themselves that they didn’t know was there? I’m not sure. Not sure if I can, like explain this on. You know, and obviously, this can be edited out if y’all don’t want this in here, but I specifically wrote one character. His name well, though, sorry, their name is Kade. And I intentionally never described what they look like. Just because I wanted anyone to be able to see themselves in that character. I just feel like, you know, just I want anyone to be able to see themself in the story and have a powerful character to see themselves with just discover something about yourself or, you know, help you get through something I just said that would be my biggest hope, you know, that kind of thing. Just help or get through something. That’s what I would want.

R
I think that’s a very positive thing to watch out for, for the book and I hope that You know, you’ll be able to get that feedback from somebody, they’ll, you know, they’ll write a review and be like, this book helped me and you can be like, I did it. I did it.

A little self serving or whatever. But I don’t know, my favorite books are ones that have helped me through something, you know. So I guess maybe I want to have somebody say That’s their favorite book. I have no idea. I just, you know, maybe it’s a little self serving or whatever. But yeah, I just even if I don’t get that feedback, it would be nice. If somebody just thought that, you know, this book helped me through this, you know?

R
You mentioned before that you’ve, with writing, you become more confident. And this process is really helped you to feel more capable as a writer, do you aim to have writing be a career for you?

That would be fantastic. I would love it. My wrote my very first story in kindergarten, actually, my mom gave me the book for Christmas this past year. And she was going through old pictures and things like that. It was about a bunny that wanted to dance. And he didn’t, you know, his friends were like, you know, making fun of them. And it, it and I, and he ended up dancing. At the end, it was like four pages, whatever. And I did the illustrations myself, definitely don’t want me doing that. In fact, my illustrations now would probably look the same as that. Anyway. You know, that was my first book. And then I actively remember, we got a computer. And I’m, you know, back in the Dark Ages, when Commodore 64 was the computer to have, anyways, we got that, and I would write little stories on there. And then I mentioned that I did like fanfiction, and stuff like that. And, you know, wrote that for a long time took a long break, but I’ve always wanted to do it. And a lot of times people would say, like, that’s not realistic, you know, like you would not, you’re not going to ever, you know, get anywhere with that, or whatever. But yeah, ideally, I would love to, I would love to write every single day, it would be, you know, and make that my thing that I would do, it would be fantastic. I would love that. I like I just, I like sharing stories and making stuff up. And I always love having a work in progress going on. But yeah, I would love for writing to be my career.

R
And so writing for you is just part of your life, basically. And it always has been. And if there was something they could do for a living, that’s a bonus.

You know, yeah, just be a bonus, you know, and, and who, you know, and I do love what I do now, like I really do. So it is the best of both worlds right now because I get to do both. But yeah, I would love to be able to write and just continue creating, like worlds for people to go to.

R
And so following up on that the the idea of you know, becoming a writer, Claire wider requires a certain level, you know, writing success and popularity for a career. So if fix moon were to become a best seller, what would you do?

I don’t know, cry. I don’t know. Is there a standard celebration for that? I don’t know.

It’s just, I would be I just, I don’t even know. Like, I can’t even answer that question. Because that’s not Yes, I have confidence but like, you don’t you don’t set out there to. Like, at least I don’t, I’m not sitting there being like, I want this to be a best seller. You know? No, that’s, you know, that’s like the pipe dream. So, yeah, if it became a best seller, what would I do? I would I would probably panic, like, oh my god, I have to follow this. Or whatever. But, um, no, I mean, it would be really cool but legit don’t know, how do you celebrate that? I don’t know what to do next. I probably would just be like, I would probably soak it in for a little bit and then just be like, then I’d have to figure it out from there because I that’s not something again, I had given up before I you know, submitted Cardinal moon and then subsequently Fixman so yeah, no, that was not something I’d ever would have thought would be in the cards. I haven’t planned for that yet. It’s not like when you you know when you’re a kid and you got the shampoo bottle and you’re like Grammy for Best New artists. No, you don’t do that. Do that. At least I didn’t.

R
That makes sense. It’s it’s something that you hadn’t considered. So you can’t really plan it out because it’s like, completely removed from what you currently thinking about, right? But now I have to ask you a follow up on this. We’re baking and builder, you know, becomes a best seller, it starts getting this popularity, right? Yeah. Now let’s imagine face moon becomes a movie or TV series. Okay? Now, do you have any idea of who you’d want to be cast for any of the characters? If you were to think about it? Do you think you have anybody in particular?

I’d want Jason Momoa to be in it. No, I’m just kidding. Anyone that knows me or follows me on Twitter? Actually? No, they’re like, Yeah, of course, she would say that. Um, but anyways, I’ve never really had in my head like anybody in particular. I, again, I don’t even know what one of the characters looks like. I mean, at all, because I just never did that. But there is one character that I vividly know what she looks like, I just don’t know what that person that actress would be that would portray her. I just, I vividly know what Stevie looks like, in my head. I’m not going to describe her because I want I like everyone to get their own imagination. But in my head, I have a version of her. And she’s just very colorful, you know, everything. But do I know who would play her? Absolutely not. I’ve never, I don’t know, I just didn’t do that with these characters, for whatever reason.

R
So when you’re writing the story, you didn’t necessarily imagine what the all the characters would? How they would be represented, physically?

Like, not really, I mean, Hugh is from 1830s, Scotland. So there’s a particular way he’s going to look, right. Also, he’s like, massively, like, yeah, he’s massively buff, like Jason Momoa would be the closest, but I mean, you know, Jason Momoa is not Scottish. So I guess he couldn’t play him. You know? Who else you know, Stevie. I just like she’s got big black curls, and like, colorful, big jewelry. And I just picked her her wearing, there’s this, this Barbie that I used to have back in the day that had this really ridiculously bright, vivid dress that Stevie would totally wear. But like, I just figured she would have like big geometric earring, like shaved earrings and things like that. But big curl, like a lot of like dark hair, you know. And she’s extremely southern too. So he has a southern accent and everything too. But she’s just a she’s just the one that I have the most vivid, you know, version in my head of her Oh, and Zoey would I just because and this is probably super self serving, but Zoey would have red hair. And she’d be plus size. That’s just something that is important that you know, the that at least one of the leading characters is overweight. And just you don’t see enough of that, you know, Zoe’s kind of a hero. So I liked I liked that. You know, but she also specifically has green eyes, that’s set in the story. But, yeah,

R
so you have some things, you just, you’re without necessarily having any particular individual that you’d have cast, you do want them to match what’s written in the story.

Right, but I don’t have a like, I just don’t know. I don’t know enough actors or actresses, to, you know, to say who it is. I mean, they’re all aged. Well, it’s, it’s difficult, because, you know, he was like, 190 ish, you know, so, but he looks 36. You know, so they’re all age somewhere between like, 24 and 36. So, I guess I don’t know, enough actors or actresses in that age group, to know who would play them. Because I wouldn’t want. The one thing that I definitely wouldn’t want would be like a 70 year old man playing Whew. And like a 20 year old girl like that. No, thank you. I don’t want that big age gap. You know, I want it to be appropriate. You know, that kind of thing.

R
Yeah. So with Fixman movie TV series, do you think they would fit one better than the other?

I used to always when when it all started out. I was like, Ooh, a limited series, like six, six episodes that are an hour long. So it’s basically a six hour movie, because you know, you wouldn’t go to the theater to watch a six hour movie but you totally binge of limited series. It’s six episodes long in one day, right? Oh, for sure. There’s no I thought maybe that would be something that would be neat. But I can’t speak for everyone else. But I’ve always been like, oh, a movie would be so cool. You could walk the red carpet, you know, that kind of stuff. I don’t know if you do that for television series or whatever. But, you know, for me, like, the pipe dream would be like, Oh, my gosh, it’s a movie, you know, or whatever. But, you know, again, I don’t know if that’s even possible.

R
And so we’re imagining that this is possible, and that’s coming to fruition, right? Yep. We’ll fix Monday coming a movie on say, what level of creative control do you think you’d want over the development of the movie?

So I would love to have some input in that. But I’m not a screenwriter. So things that I write are not good. Like, the way that I wrote them necessarily won’t translate into the screen, right? So I would love to say, like, I would love it, if they would Lau me to have input, you know, maybe as like, a consultant or something like that. But somebody else is an expert in writing screenplay, right? So they need to do that. I would love to have input as to like, you know, make sure this character, you know, looks has this particular, you know, if Zoey doesn’t have red hair, I would be upset, you know, that kind of thing. But it’s, um, you know, not too much. Because there are different mediums and I’m someone that under like, for me, I try to not compare the two. Because the things in a book would not translate, there are things that won’t translate to the screen, and vice versa. So. And also, you know, the producer, the director, the writers, like they see what I what I would have written on that page. And they interpret it their own way. So it’s interesting to see how they would interpret it to but yeah, to have a little bit of like, consultant, yes, but I don’t want to be like, hovering, like, I want to be the helicopter mom of making my book into a screenplay kinda. But yeah, I mean, I would like to be involved a little bit, but not too involved.

R
So it sounds to me like, you’d want to make sure things are consistent with your vision of the story. But beyond that, you understand there’s always going to need to be some adjustments for the different mediums and that’s fine. Yep. Exactly. So now we’re imagining, you know, it’s gone through this entire process. They’ve done all the screenwriting, the acting and everything. And it’s finally coming out, right? Fix the movie? Yes. Would you want to go to the mirror? And who are you taking with you?

Absolutely. Yes. would want to go? Um, I know, that’s like, I don’t know why. Cuz I’m like, I’m pretty shy. So like, I mean, of course, I’d be the author of the books, they wouldn’t be taking pictures of me. They want the actor. So you know, fine, I get to hang out in the background. But yes, I totally would want to walk that red carpet. And I would take my partner with me, because he’s been the perfect kind of cheerleader throughout the entire process. He never gives me unsolicited advice. And if I need a break, he understood that I would need a break. And he would encourage me, you know, when things maybe got a little bit more difficult, but he’s been the very, like, most perfect cheerleader, and he’s been with by my side, metaphorically, the whole way through it. So I would want to take him but if he wasn’t available, I would take my niece because I just feel like it’s something she would enjoy. And I would want her to experience that if given the opportunity. So yeah,

R
that’s great. You know, you have your partner has been biocide this entire time, but not, you know, your niece could have a really fun time.

K
She’d love it. She needed up. She probably put it on like tick tock or something.

R
I can imagine kids these days.

Yeah, she’s like 14 or 15 right now. So if you imagine she’d probably like set if it would happen 17, 18 Somewhere in there. So she would she eat it up, you know? Sure.

R
And so with, you mentioned that you’re a bit of a shy person. How would you think you’d react to becoming famous then? Would you like becoming famous? Or would that be something you’d be uncomfortable with? I don’t,

I think like there’ll be parts of it that I’d be uncomfortable with. Like I’m open about certain parts of my life, like I mentioned, like mental health and like, you know, struggles with like relationships and like me, you know, getting you know, out of that and making myself better like those things. I like A little bit of animated, you know, what can’t say that word I’d like, you know, privacy and stuff like that. But, um, if I was to, to, you know, maybe get like, I guess famous or whatever, I would at least hope that I could use that platform to do some good, you know, maybe bring forward change, or bring attention to things that, you know, need attention brought to them, and maybe make a little bit of change. But I always, I always say that if I got like Stephen King money, I would buy a stone cottage in the Scottish Highlands, and spend a lot of time there writing drinking tea, that kind of stuff, but but on the flip side, like, I definitely think that there’s a part of being in that kind of, in, you know, being in the public eye like that, I feel like there is a responsibility to make a difference somehow, you know, so I would hope that I could do that.

R
Okay, so fame for you, while there may be a little bit of discomfort with loss of your anonymity, there might be a little bit of discomfort with that, but you, you would still enjoy being able to make use of the platform to having a stage to present your your thoughts to try and make some positive change?

Yeah, I would, I think that would be the best part about it. Um, because I do, you know, there are, you know, there’s things that are invasive that I wouldn’t want to I would hope that people would be, you know, kind enough to keep it at bay at certain parts of my life. But, you know, if there’s a social issue that I, you know, believe in, and I think that needs to be brought forward. I mean, it is my, I would think that it would be my responsibility to take, you know, get involved in and help. I’ve said help, like, 3000 times in the whole dinner. Yeah. But yeah, that’s, it’s just, that’s just how I feel like, if I’m going to have, if I would have to be in the public eye like that, I would want to do something with it. That’s all,

R
I think that’s a, that’s a great thing, you know, you have an idea of wanting to help people. And that’s been consistent, you know, you if your book helps one person. And if you end up becoming much larger, being able to use that influence to help more people, is very positive message my opinion about you, but I think so. And I think that’s, that’s really nice. And I want to ask you, with the idea of, you know, helping people is that something that you think, runs through all of your writing is the desire to help people and something that you think about as you’re writing every story?

Um, so, the work in progress that I’m working on right now, there, there’s a couple things like, I actively, there are some times where I will take a difficult topic. And I never knew that, like, I never knew that, as I wrote, things would be political, even though they’re not like, obviously, like, conservative versus, you know, liberal, like, I don’t do that. Like, it’s not like that, this there’s hot topics, right. And so everything I write, there always seems to be, like a really hot topic, like button thing that we have to that I take us, you know, take us through, and, you know, I maybe I help people see another side of that, or something like that. But, actually, yeah, I mean, the more that I think about it, as I’m talking through this, yeah, I do think there are some, you know, helping like a bigger cause. I can’t say too much because spoilers, but, you know, things that I’m working on right now. Like as I think about it, I’m like, Yes, I am helping in the story, helping specific groups, but if you take it and think about it on a bigger scale, helping a bigger scale of people, if you think about it this way, like do you know what I mean? But yeah, I that’s probably in a lot of stuff that I write. I didn’t think about it until right now. But yeah, probably.

R
You This is something like another bit of this process where you’re just discovering more about yourself. Yeah. So, I’d like to thank you, Katie for talking with me today and for being on the writers triangle. And it’s been wonderful. And I would like to thank you all of our beautiful moms for listening. Be sure to buy fixed moon coming up this Tuesday. Katie, can you tell us where to find you on social media?

Yes, on Twitter. I’m at Vintage underscore Katie underscore, that’s vi n t a g e underscore ka ti e underscore and then on Instagram, and this is new so I’m still building this. So if you see it and it only has like a couple pictures, it is legit. On Instagram, it’s at Katie Groom writes K A T I E G R O O M w r i t e s.

R
There you have it. For everybody listening, be sure to visit cinnabar moth.com. Check out the transcripts and we’re also have links to all of key social media. Katie, again, thank you for being on. It’s been wonderful having you and talking with you today. Thanks for having me. Bye bye.