Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Vamoose Stories Women Wo Take Center Stage From Kathy Anderson

Transcript

Vamoose Stories Women Wo Take Center Stage From Kathy Anderson · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There is so much to choose from on aero dot
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: net a r r oe dot Net. One of the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: most popular is that voice. I've spent over ten years
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: with those who have been featured on NBC's The Voice.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Listen to those conversations as they make their way through
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: that competition. That voice only on aero dot Net a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: r r oe dot Net. Enjoy your exploration. Hello Ero, Hello,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and good morning, miss Kathy. How are you doing today.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I'm doing great. It's nice to talk to you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I'm very excited to talk to you about a word
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: vamouse because it seems so old fashioned and yet I
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: want to dance with it today with maybe some Bieber
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: in the background or something. There's just something about it
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: that gets my attention.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm really glad to hear that. It just felt
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: like the perfect word to sum up stories that are
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: very different from each other, but they're somehow related to
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: that word.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Don't you love the way that stories do do that
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: because we all think that we're individuals out here, but
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: in reality that you all have the strings of others,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: because it could be through inspiration, it could be just
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: by listening to somebody. I mean, it's just amazing on
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: how many stories are really tied together.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, and it's a very subconscious process. I think it's
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: kind of like when you're in a conversation, a great conversation,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and one subject leads to another and somehow they're related,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: but on the surface they might not seem so well.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: This is very important to me selfishly, and the reason
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: why is because my daughter and my granddaughter are both
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: actively involved. But I'm seeing that physical change in them
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: from being the go getters they were in the early
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: part of this millennium to where now it's like they
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: want people to back off, and I'm going I need
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: a book like Vammuz to sit there and re inspire
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: or as you talk about, reinvent that drive that was
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: once there that took them up to levels of total respect.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's a really interesting interpretation of it. Amazed that
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: you could bring it to that personal level. That's very cool.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: But that's the way people. They've got to be seeing
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: it in their personal lives because there's so many changes
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: going on, and I think the future is sitting in
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: their eyes. And I don't want to be the innocent
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: bystander here. I want to make sure that we can
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: continue to grow that next generation.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And you know what makes me? That made me think
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: of something else. I'm getting a lot of feedback. Now
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: this is a book about older women and older lesbian
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: in particular, but yet I'm getting a lot of wonderful
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: feedback from young people. And I think what you're saying,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: if I'm getting you correctly, is that the essence of
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: what they're getting is the same no matter what the age.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: And sometimes the older women have been through it all
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and they are at the other end, and this is
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: where the younger people can learn from them.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You are spot on, because that's the way that my
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: martial arts teacher always instructed us. If you do not
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: know your past, do you do not deserve to wear
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: that black belt around your waist. And that's why I
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: put so much concentration on the older generation. They have
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the stories, they have the concentration. In fact, I was
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: talking with Alexa from Amazon and she was going, I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: only have data. You have real life experience. And I'm going,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: what is an AI unit saying that to me? For
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and then and then and then I have your book,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: and I'm going, now I get it. We do have
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the experiences and you, Kathy, are bringing them to us,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: not through AI, but through your writing.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I am really happy to hear that that's how it's perceived,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: because absolutely true.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: And to open that door, because this is where people
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: want to emulate, they want to be inspired. And it's like,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: where would you suggest, I mean, because this is one
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of those books. I can't start in the middle. I
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: mean in the at the beginning. I have to start
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: in the middle, go to the end. I bounce all
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: over the place because every every chapter is something that
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: is in my mind of now, wow.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I think reading is a very individual thing. And now
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: some people need to read a book of short stories
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: beginning to end, feeling like there's an internal rhythm to it.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Even they might not get it right away, but maybe
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: a couple of stories in they would say like ahh.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: But then other people, my own self, as a reader,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I'm just like you. I will pop around in a
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: book of short stories I mean not a novel, of course,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: and then the ones that call to me in that moment,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: that grab me right away, I'll read those first, and
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: then maybe some take more time and slower pace and
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: more concentration, and you do those later.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: You have a story in here that really does resonate
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: inside my world, and we're starting to see a lot
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: more of this on our everyday streets. I just wanted
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to be with people, and my wife goes, then go
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: get a job at a grocery store, since you have
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: to be with people, and I said, yeah, I'll go
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: do it. The nuns because we have a beautiful, beautiful church,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a seminary that's not too far from us, so we
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: have a lot of nuns. And so of course that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: nun story that you share is very deep in my
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: heart because it's like, oh my god, I sit there,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I talk with them, I share stories, and of course
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about this book with them because
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: they want to know as well. They're just as human.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: And you're proving that.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: That is exactly what I hope that someone would look
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: at a nun and like any figure that we have
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: in front of us, like you say the word old woman,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: A stereotype comes with that. None a stereotype comes to
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: our head to that. But if you can connect at
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: a much deeper level and talk to anybody at one
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: to one in a real way, everyone contains so many stories.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Their lives are full of stories. People often say to
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: me where do you get these ideas from And I
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: sit anywhere and I can hear stories almost a constant stream.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: You can. We're here people talking and it's a little
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: kernel of a story like that. You can, you know,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: be just having the opportunity to ask somebody really about
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: their life, and then it turns into something that's deeper
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: than that stereotype.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Do you see you personally, I'm really.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Glad you meant I'm sorry. I'm really glad you mentioned
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: that story because to me, it's like such a twisty story.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: And even when I was writing it, I didn't I
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: didn't know where it was going. I didn't have a
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: plan for that. I had an idea of her, and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: it surprised me as I was writing it. So that's
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: a cool feeling.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Well see, I'm glad that you share that honesty with us,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: because I always envision the moment I pop on this microphone,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: there is a listener sitting somewhere in their house or
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: their business office, and they are sitting on stories they
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: want to share, but they're in boxes or they're in
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: their heart. And if we don't get those stories out,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the generations after them are not going to get them.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: And That's why I want books like yours out there,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: so that these writers or these people at home can
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: have some sort of path that gives them permission to
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: take the walk.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And the walk does not have to be an extraordinary person.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I think ordinary people, everyday people. We all have such
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: worlds inside us and so many experiences, especially when you
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: get toward the end of your life, and I think,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that holds people back thinking like
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I need to write something larger than life. For myself,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: I think life is pretty amazing, astounding, surprising, It's enough
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: to write about, more than enough.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Please don't move. There's more with Kathy Anderson coming up next.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: The name of the book vamoose. Oh You're gonna love this.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: We are back with Kathy Anderson. Did you give your
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: inner writer a name? Because? I mean, it's because we're
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: all different personalities. That's one of the reasons why I
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: take a transition walk every day is because of the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: multiple personalities or is it like you say, the multiple
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: stories that we are carrying. They need to be listened to,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and taking a walk is a great way to do that.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: I'm quite a walk or two, I would would I
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: don't think of it that same way as to having
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: another side of me because of being a writer and
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: having these stories with me and these characters speaking to me,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: it's pretty constant. If I'm lucky. It's when they get
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: quiet that I get a little you know, have to
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: take a longer walk, and then they come back. But
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: you know, I feel like, you know, to be in
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: touch with the flow of creativity is the main thing
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: that I try to get to as a writer, Like,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: just don't go far away from it. Let the stories
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: keep bubbling up. Let the words some exact word you're
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: searching for for like a year, and then finally it'll
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: bubble up. But if you can keep that channel open,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: that's the main thing to do.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: When a foster a former foster child, a classroom, a
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: yoga classroom. I think one of the reasons why this
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: really became a major part of my heart is because
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: we live in this day where we don't know who
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the foster kids are, and I think that this gives
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: an identity to somebody who is a foster child that
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to talk about it, but you're talking about it,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and that gives them a place of see, I'm not alone.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Somebody knows that I exist out here, and and it's
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: stories like this and that really really really are so important.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: And I think that story is very close to my
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: heart as well. And it really came about because I
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: had this persistent question what happened to foster children when
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: they grow up and try to go on into different
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: you know, whatever it is that their dream is. And
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: I don't feel like we know that story very much.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And this particular character, you know, she was just so
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: strong and insistent. Curi took me on long time to
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: write because I wanted to get it right, because I
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: wanted to get it right for whoever could connect to that,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: you know, oh body of feeling.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: So where did you gain the confidence to take on
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the word loss and make it a subject that you
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: don't run away from. You look at loss and it's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: almost like you're saying, we can learn from this, or
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I can make you stronger if you really do plan
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: on growing forward. It's just that a lot of people
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: will look at it and then run away from it.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: You don't.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I would say probably is taking me very many
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: years in my own life. We all have losses along
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: the way. My losses started quite young, so probably I've spent,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: you know, literally a lifetime figuring out tools, being helped
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: by many people. I have therapists in that book for
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: a reason, and you know, I think it informs your
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: whole worldview and outlook and my writing life. So I
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: don't know any other way forward but through it.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's my favorite word, moving through it. Moving
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: through it because so many people, you know that they'll
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: try to dig underneath it. I'm going, why A, You're
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: wasting so much energy. Just go through it. Take it down.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: One rock at a time. That's what we were trained
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: in martial arts. One rock at a time.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: That's that right.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I love your story about the librarians, and the reason
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: why is because being an author and being just a
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: fan of books in general, I get to speak and
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: share conversations with real librarians. So this one I can't
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: wait to go to Monroe, North Carolina and sit inside
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that library with those two little people that I just
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: love so dearly and say, I want you to read this,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: and I want you to give me your interpretation. I
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: swear to God, that's my weakness. I want to know
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: what they say. And because it just feels so good
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to hear other people talk about it.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, you would be great at like organizing book
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: clubs to talk about a certain book or topic. I
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: think that story again very close to my heart is
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: because it's a subject of friendship being more enduring in
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: many people's lives than the search for true love or
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: marriage or partnership romantically. So this is a platonic friendship,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: and yet it is the strongest thing for both of them,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: the strongest bond. And you know, I just feel like
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: that's important. I like to write about things that to
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: me feel important and also that have you know, there's
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: a there's a point to it. It's about something, it's
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: about big feelings, and I think sometimes I read things
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, well, I don't feel anything. It might
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: be beautifully written, but I don't feel anything. This leaves
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: me cold. So my goal is always to like to
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: definitely make those feelings being about something important that somebody
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: will want to know about.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: See you talked about platonic relationship, and right away, I'm thinking,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: how many regular weddings or marriages that have been together
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: for years are platonic, but they just don't talk about it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: That we're together because we just happen to love each
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: other as friends where we're just together because we just
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: fit well together. Because I believe that's why I've been
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: thirty three years with my marriage. It's like we're we're
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: just the best of buds. And so to read a
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: story like this, I'm going, you know what, she just
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: says it right here, we can be buds and get
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: along with it.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: It's very important. Friendship. It is probably I'm not going
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: to say it's more important than truelove. I think both
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: things are amazing, but it is incredibly important. And those
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: people in life who have found life long friends, they're
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: just they have it made and I feel like you
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: can almost see it on their faces and in how
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: they move through life. People who are you know, have
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: worked to get those life long friendships strong.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about you?
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Because man, I've already overstayed my welcome and someone's going
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to step on my toes. So where can they go
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: to find out more?
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Well, everything they need to know is that my website,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: which is Kathy Anderson writer dot com or just look
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Kathy Anderson vamoose and it will lead you to my
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: wonderful independent publisher. They can get the book at or
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: any online bookseller.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I love it. Please come back to this show anytime
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: in the future. Kathy. The door is always going to
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: be open for you.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you. What a pleasure.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you,