Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Amy Sarig King discusses career, new book It Came from the Creek on Conversations LIVE

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Amy Sarig King discusses career, new book It Came from the Creek on Conversations LIVE · Cyrus Webb's tracks

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: For our radio audience tuning in at WYED 94.1 FM
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  Speaker 1: and WYEDonline.com, we're glad that you all can be with us. Also,
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  Speaker 1: join us online, worldwide via our podcast at Heart Radio
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and Amazon Music. We're glad you all could be with
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  Speaker 1: us as well. We're excited to welcome back bestselling author
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  Speaker 1: Amy Sarah King to our broadcast today. Amy is celebrating
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  Speaker 1: a brand-new book that is one of those stories that
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  Speaker 1: is really ripped from the headlines but is great for
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  Speaker 1: readers of all ages. His colleague came from the creek.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Amy, not only about her
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  Speaker 1: love of storytelling, but sharing great messages, I think, for
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  Speaker 1: readers of all ages, but also what inspired the newest
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  Speaker 1: book as well. If you guys are not staying connected
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  Speaker 1: with Amy, we'll let you guys know how to be
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  Speaker 1: able to do that too. Amy, thank you again for
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  Speaker 1: stopping by. I really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me, Cyrus. I'm always happy
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  Speaker 2: to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, look, the pleasure's definitely always mine. You know, you
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  Speaker 1: were one of the authors I look forward to talking to.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, we had some great conversations around the book,
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  Speaker 1: Attack of the Black What has it been like for
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  Speaker 1: you to see already, Amy, the early response to It
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  Speaker 1: Came from the Creek?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it's really nice. You know, it's always good to
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  Speaker 2: just sort of see what people are going to pick up,
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  Speaker 2: you know. You don't really know what they're going to like.
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  Speaker 2: You know what you like about the book, but you're
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  Speaker 2: not sure what they're going to pick up from it.
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  Speaker 2: So it's always really nice to see. to hear from
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  Speaker 2: whether it's my independent bookseller just down the road who
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  Speaker 2: loved it because she also grew up in the 70s
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  Speaker 2: and 80s, or if it's a review venue that liked
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  Speaker 2: it as well.
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  Speaker 1: It's always good. You have this knack, Amy, of being
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  Speaker 1: able to draw us into a great story, but also
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  Speaker 1: sharing some important messages as well. Is that marriage something
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  Speaker 1: that you look forward to doing, especially when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to writing for younger audiences?
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  Speaker 2: 100%. I look forward to doing that. And I look
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  Speaker 2: forward to finding this sort of people often say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: your work's so heavy. I'm like, yeah, but it's hilarious.
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  Speaker 2: Like there's parts that are funny because real life is
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  Speaker 2: such a mix of all of these things. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you're never going to have a sunshiny day every day
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  Speaker 2: of the year, right? And yet we sometimes expect this
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  Speaker 2: of young people because we're older and we're like, well,
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  Speaker 2: they don't have to work or whatever it is. And
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  Speaker 2: it's sort of like, no, young people have dark days,
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  Speaker 2: light days, and they know about dark things and light things.
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  Speaker 2: And And they're no different than we were when we
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  Speaker 2: were kids, curious. And now they just have way more,
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  Speaker 2: you know, far more ways to find out the information
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  Speaker 2: and answer the curiosity. It's one of the biggest reasons
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  Speaker 2: why we need to keep having conversations with young people
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  Speaker 2: so that they are getting the information and getting it right,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and being able to talk about it and
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  Speaker 2: have the more difficult conversations around those, let's say, heavier things.
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  Speaker 2: But at the same time, hopefully we can also laugh
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  Speaker 2: and giggle with them, too, because that's what life's about. Right.
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  Speaker 1: I got a chance to get an early copy of
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  Speaker 1: the book, Amy. Of course, for our radio audience, they'll
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  Speaker 1: be able to get it this week. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: remind them of that, of course, and stay connected with you.
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  Speaker 1: The thing that I thought about when I was reading
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  Speaker 1: the book, of course, the characters are relatable. You have Katie,
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  Speaker 1: of course, Jewel, but also the situations they find themselves
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  Speaker 1: in and how the world is changing around them, right,
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  Speaker 1: and how it impacts not only them but also, of course, others.
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  Speaker 1: And then, of course, the whole idea of being able
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  Speaker 1: to protect the environment. That's one of the things, of course,
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  Speaker 1: that's so big, too, and how we are impacting the
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  Speaker 1: world that we live in. But the other thing that
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  Speaker 1: you did with Katie that I thought was interesting that
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  Speaker 1: I definitely want to talk to you about, Amy, was
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  Speaker 1: she is someone, too, who is different, right? She processes
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  Speaker 1: things a certain way. You know, she kind of even,
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  Speaker 1: the way the book is written, even kind of questions
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  Speaker 1: being called gifted. What was it like for you to
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  Speaker 1: kind of create a character like Katie and to see
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  Speaker 1: how she's navigating the changing world around her?
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  Speaker 2: So glad you brought this up. So I completely forgot
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  Speaker 2: until you just said it because no one's asked me
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  Speaker 2: this question yet, but I loved writing about a young
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  Speaker 2: person who is deaf. likely neurodivergent because gifted people tend
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  Speaker 2: to fall on that scale. And oftentimes the word gifted
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  Speaker 2: is that thing where people think, Oh, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: sun shines, you know, around this person. And it's like, no,
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  Speaker 2: actually I just have a very challenging brain. And, um,
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  Speaker 2: and so Katie is, is really modeled on me simply because, uh,
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  Speaker 2: of how this book connects to another book that I
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  Speaker 2: released called me and Marvin gardens. It's a companion book.
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  Speaker 2: So it's kind of a prequel, but more companion book. Um,
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  Speaker 2: And so it was easy for me to slot myself
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  Speaker 2: right in there at 10 years old in 1980, which
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  Speaker 2: is the case for me. But I really liked writing
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  Speaker 2: about that part of Katie's brain because I still struggle
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  Speaker 2: with it. And I'm only coming to terms with sort
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  Speaker 2: of what was really going on with my brain as
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  Speaker 2: a young person. And so I'm, I'm in my late
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  Speaker 2: fifties now and I'm sort of in that space where
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  Speaker 2: I'm going, wow, I wish I would have known this
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  Speaker 2: much about my brain back then. Um, And also I
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  Speaker 2: get to appreciate my brain at the same time. But
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  Speaker 2: writing about it was, you know, it was nice to
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  Speaker 2: be able to talk about the fact that it's challenging.
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  Speaker 2: It's not just sort of like, Oh, we think, you know, we're,
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  Speaker 2: we're God's gift. In fact, it's the, it's the opposite.
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  Speaker 2: We often are double guessing ourselves and we're quite, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I know for me, my self-esteem was just kind of, uh,
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  Speaker 2: challenged often, um, by simply like being a gifted kid,
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  Speaker 2: but not, not always getting great grades just because it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't the topic for me, I guess, you know, things
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  Speaker 2: like that. So, It's nice to be able to go
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  Speaker 2: in there because there are so many young people who
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  Speaker 2: have sort of different brains. Neurodivergences is certainly something that's
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  Speaker 2: talked about a lot more, and these generations know what
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  Speaker 2: their situation is, so they have more information.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I appreciate you sharing that, Amy. And like
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  Speaker 1: I said, I definitely picked up on that, and I
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  Speaker 1: thought about it, too, with one character that I think
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  Speaker 1: some of us will roll our eyes at, and that
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  Speaker 1: is Miss G., and even Miss Olivia, because as we
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  Speaker 1: are able to see with Katie, you know, there's that
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  Speaker 1: whole thought of how Katie thinks maybe Miss Olivia sees
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  Speaker 1: her versus what is her reality, right? The way that
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  Speaker 1: she actually lives and processes information. You know, there are
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  Speaker 1: some lighthearted moments, as I mentioned. Family is a big
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  Speaker 1: part of this book as well, Amy, which has also
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  Speaker 1: been a theme of you. I want to talk about, though,
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  Speaker 1: the idea of using one's voice. We definitely discussed that
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  Speaker 1: when it came to your other bestseller, Attack of the
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  Speaker 1: Black Rectangles. But what was it like for you to
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  Speaker 1: kind of have Katie be someone, and even Joel too,
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  Speaker 1: who wants to do something, but sometimes feel helpless in
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  Speaker 1: what they can do?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's what all of us feel at
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  Speaker 2: some time, right? We all come up against challenges, whether
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  Speaker 2: they be in our community, in our neighborhood, or in
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  Speaker 2: our lives, or with people, interpersonal relationships, that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: So I think when it comes to, um, how to
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  Speaker 2: handle those things, oftentimes alone and quietly is not the
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  Speaker 2: way to do it. Sometimes it is okay to just
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  Speaker 2: sort of distance yourself from person, let's say a relationship
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  Speaker 2: that's not going well or whatever. But when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to something this big, which is technically, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: poisoning of the creek, the poisoning of the river, um,
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  Speaker 2: and which is all based on a true thing, um,
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  Speaker 2: what was needed with the community. And in the case
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  Speaker 2: of what happened with this particular place, it went as
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  Speaker 2: far as township supervisors at the time, but people themselves
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  Speaker 2: never really, um, came together in that, that larger way,
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  Speaker 2: but it's mostly because it was in a rural area. Um,
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  Speaker 2: but I think the most important thing is that you
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  Speaker 2: keep the relationships, you hang out with people who stick
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  Speaker 2: up for things and who are curious and who, you know, um,
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  Speaker 2: who want to change the world. If it's, if something
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  Speaker 2: needs changing, you know, you can change it. And like,
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  Speaker 2: like you just said, I always say your voice is
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  Speaker 2: so important and our voices are so important. So are
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  Speaker 2: our votes. Um, and so especially local votes, which we
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  Speaker 2: often sit out those elections and we should not, uh,
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  Speaker 2: they actually really, um, they are what controls what's around us.
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  Speaker 2: They are what happens to our kids in schools. They are,
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  Speaker 2: you know, all those things. Um, So I think it's important,
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  Speaker 2: I guess, I think I want kids to understand that
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  Speaker 2: if they can stick up for their friends, they can
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  Speaker 2: stick up for themselves, but they can also stick up
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  Speaker 2: for their communities. And they can get the attention of
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  Speaker 2: adults and help the adults understand that there's a problem,
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  Speaker 2: which is a heck of a thing to say because everybody's, well, no, adults, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: adults numb themselves the older they get. And this is
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  Speaker 2: why we ignore the concerns of young people. But in fact,
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  Speaker 2: the concerns of young people are usually today's concerns. You
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  Speaker 2: know what I mean? They're pretty urgent. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Amy, once again, you've given us a great book. I
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  Speaker 1: know readers are going to enjoy it. Again, officially out
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  Speaker 1: this week. It came from The Creek. You can go ahead,
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  Speaker 1: of course, for our radio audience, go ahead and preorder
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  Speaker 1: it so it'll be ready for you guys when it
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  Speaker 1: comes out. on October the 7th. And make sure you
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  Speaker 1: guys are staying connected with Amy on social media as well. Amy,
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate you. Congratulations on the book and looking forward
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  Speaker 1: to our next chat together. Thanks, Cyrus.
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  Speaker 2: I look forward to it too. I'm busy in the
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  Speaker 2: next few years, so I might be talking to you
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: next year. You never know.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds great. I look forward to that for sure. And
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  Speaker 1: we thank your audience for tuning in to another great
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  Speaker 1: segment of Conversations Live. Until next time, I'm your host,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Cyrus Webster. As always, enjoy your day, enjoy your life,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: enjoy your world. Thank you for being with us here
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: at Conversations Live. And it's going to make today amazing.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Take care.