Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Author Courtney Psak discusses career, THE AUNT on Conversations LIVE

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Author Courtney Psak discusses career, THE AUNT on Conversations LIVE · Cyrus Webb's tracks

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Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
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Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again.
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Speaker 1: For our radio audience tuning in in Mississippi, WYAD 94.1
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Speaker 1: FM and WYADonline.com, we're glad that you all can be
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Speaker 1: with us. Also, join us online worldwide via our podcast
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Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio and Amazon Music, as well as our Conversations
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Speaker 1: Radio Network. We're glad you all could be with us
0:19
Speaker 1: as well. It's a big day for our next guest.
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Speaker 1: We're excited to welcome author Courtney Pesak to our broadcast today.
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Speaker 1: Courtney is celebrating her brand-new book called The Aunt that's
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Speaker 1: out today. I want to talk to her not only
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Speaker 1: about her writing journey, but what it's been like for
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Speaker 1: her to do what she loves and to share that
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Speaker 1: with readers. What is it that inspires the newest book? And,
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Speaker 1: of course, we'll let you guys know how to stay
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Speaker 1: connected with her as well. Courtney, welcome to the broadcast.
0:41
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
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Speaker 1: Glad to do it. Again, congratulations to you on the book.
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Speaker 1: Of course, it's officially out today. This is something I
0:48
Speaker 1: know that you've been preparing for for a while. How
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Speaker 1: does it feel to finally be able to introduce these
0:53
Speaker 1: characters to the world?
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Speaker 2: It's very exciting, you know.
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Speaker 3: What's funny is I have a UK publisher, so actually
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Speaker 3: the audio and digital have been out since June 11th.
1:03
Speaker 2: So it's nice to finally have all versions of it
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Speaker 2: out today. Yeah, yeah.
1:09
Speaker 1: And I think what's so interesting, and I mentioned this
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Speaker 1: to you before we went live, Courtney, I'm always fascinated
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Speaker 1: by the journey. And, of course, you take us on
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Speaker 1: the journey with these characters, especially with Amy. We're going
1:18
Speaker 1: to get into that. But I want to talk about
1:20
Speaker 1: your own journey because a lot of people, of course,
1:22
Speaker 1: got to know you for your debut, 30 Days to 30.
1:25
Speaker 1: Talk to us about what it's been like for you
1:26
Speaker 1: to reflect on this decade and what it's been like
1:29
Speaker 1: for you to build up your writing career. Thank you.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so I initially started 10 years ago as a self-publishing.
1:36
Speaker 3: I had written a romance novel that, you know, more
1:40
Speaker 3: of like a romantic comedy. And I had actually gotten
1:43
Speaker 3: feedback from a literary agent, which pretty much around that time,
1:46
Speaker 3: if you weren't writing about vampires or 50 shades, they
1:49
Speaker 3: weren't really.
1:50
Speaker 2: Doing much with it.
1:51
Speaker 3: But I had this one literary agent that was nice
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Speaker 3: enough to reach out and, um, you know, said, I
1:55
Speaker 3: really like this. It's just not something we can sell
1:57
Speaker 3: right now, but you should self publish. And I was like,
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Speaker 3: I don't know anything about self publishing. Like, I don't
2:01
Speaker 3: know what I'm doing here.
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Speaker 2: And so I kind of had it like sit on
2:04
Speaker 2: my shelf for a while. Um, but the story is
2:05
Speaker 2: called 30 days to 30.
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Speaker 3: And it's about this woman who, um, You know, it's
2:10
Speaker 3: kind of your resolution list, all the things she thought
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Speaker 3: she wanted to accomplish by that point and then naturally
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Speaker 3: didn't and then had a month before her 30th to
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Speaker 3: do them all. So my husband looked at me before
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Speaker 3: my 30th and was like, you know, you should practice
2:22
Speaker 3: what you preach, you know, publish your book. So it
2:25
Speaker 3: was really... I'm really glad I did that because it
2:28
Speaker 3: taught me so much about the industry. And it's not
2:31
Speaker 3: just you write something and then go, okay, here you go.
2:34
Speaker 3: Now everybody else handle it. You really have to put
2:37
Speaker 3: the hard work into marketing, into editing, into connecting with
2:41
Speaker 3: your readers.
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Speaker 2: It's something that whether you're.
2:44
Speaker 3: Traditionally published or self-published, you're still putting in a lot
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Speaker 3: of work. And so I was really glad that I
2:50
Speaker 3: had that background to And then I took, you know,
2:53
Speaker 3: my husband and I were talking about having kids.
2:54
Speaker 2: So I took off for a couple of years.
2:56
Speaker 3: And then when my youngest started school, we decided to
3:00
Speaker 3: go at it again. And, you know, I was reading
3:03
Speaker 3: Lucy Foley's book, The Paris Apartment. And I always read
3:06
Speaker 3: the acknowledgments. And she had written about this woman who
3:10
Speaker 3: was her mentor during this book. And her website is
3:13
Speaker 3: the writer's space. And she was a former literary agent.
3:16
Speaker 3: And so I reached out to her and she was,
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Speaker 3: you know, offered to mentor me through my book, which
3:21
Speaker 3: was amazing because, you know, as a writer, especially early on,
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Speaker 3: unless you're published, you don't feel validated. You know, at
3:27
Speaker 3: least I was very, you know, full of imposter syndrome
3:31
Speaker 3: because you.
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Speaker 2: Say you're writing a book and everybody's writing a book.
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Speaker 2: They're like, oh yeah, okay.
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Speaker 3: So it was really nice to be able to like
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Speaker 3: talk to somebody in the industry and, you know, understand
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Speaker 3: that I was, you know, what I was doing right,
3:41
Speaker 3: what I was doing wrong. And I was taking a
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Speaker 3: lot of classes too, just, you know, Writer's Digest as
3:46
Speaker 3: a thriller and online course that's just amazing and just
3:49
Speaker 3: a wealth full of knowledge that I do every year
3:52
Speaker 3: because every book's different and you'll pick up knowledge that
3:55
Speaker 3: you didn't think about before and it helps you think
3:57
Speaker 3: about things in a different way. But yeah, so after that,
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Speaker 3: I wound up writing the book faster than expected. This
4:05
Speaker 3: is actually the aunt that I was writing with her.
4:07
Speaker 3: And so she reached out. She helped me not only
4:12
Speaker 3: finish editing the book, but she helped me with my
4:14
Speaker 3: query and my synopsis.
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Speaker 2: And I thought, okay, great. I'm golden.
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Speaker 3: Like I'm set to go. I've had a literary agent
4:20
Speaker 3: literally help me do all this stuff. And I still
4:24
Speaker 3: had like 140 rejections. And, you know, you couldn't, you know,
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Speaker 3: you're kind of going like, well, what am I doing wrong?
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Speaker 3: And it's not always, you know, about whether or not
4:33
Speaker 3: you have a good book. It's about whether it can be,
4:35
Speaker 3: you know, they can sell it and things like that. Yeah. I, um,
4:39
Speaker 3: you know, started thinking like, what can I, what should
4:41
Speaker 3: I be doing differently? And I thought about some of
4:43
Speaker 3: my favorite authors are B.A. Paris and Lucy Foley and
4:46
Speaker 3: Ruth Ware, and they're all in the UK. And even
4:48
Speaker 3: though the US has a bigger, um, market in general,
4:52
Speaker 3: when it comes to the thriller space, uh, the UK
4:55
Speaker 3: is actually, you know, high in demand with that. So
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Speaker 3: that's when I found my agent and, um, you know,
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Speaker 3: she was great. She believed in me and, She was
5:03
Speaker 3: a former editor herself, and so she took a chance
5:07
Speaker 3: on me that I've been very grateful for.
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Speaker 1: Well, and now here we are. And I'm so glad
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Speaker 1: you shared that bit of your story, Courtney, because I
5:14
Speaker 1: think that's going to be inspiring for other people, which
5:17
Speaker 1: goes to something else I noticed when I was prepping
5:19
Speaker 1: for this, because you are not only building your own career,
5:22
Speaker 1: you're also able to connect with others in their own
5:25
Speaker 1: journey and encourage them and be able to network with them.
5:28
Speaker 1: What has that been like for you to have this
5:29
Speaker 1: literary support system, as it were, and that you could
5:32
Speaker 1: be able to not only to have to, you know,
5:35
Speaker 1: support you, but also that you can support.
5:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I love, one of the things I really
5:40
Speaker 3: do love about social media is, you know, the ability
5:42
Speaker 3: to connect with readers and bookstagrammers, but also other authors.
5:47
Speaker 3: And so, you know, I was, you know, another kind
5:50
Speaker 3: of interesting fact was The Ant was the first book
5:53
Speaker 3: that I wrote with my, that I had sent to
5:55
Speaker 3: my agent, and yet it's the last of my three-book
5:58
Speaker 3: deal that was published. Because the first time it was
6:02
Speaker 3: sent around, you know, especially in the UK, I don't
6:05
Speaker 3: think a lot of people knew about Palm Beach and
6:07
Speaker 3: they weren't sure how to market it. And then I
6:10
Speaker 3: had written The Tutor, which at the time I actually
6:14
Speaker 3: had written it like more like an eager puppy and
6:16
Speaker 3: was like, I wrote another book.
6:17
Speaker 2: But it wasn't when I started to.
6:20
Speaker 3: Think about it, I was like, you know, I know
6:22
Speaker 3: the concept's good and the editors are interested in it.
6:25
Speaker 3: But my story was predictable and I was like cliche.
6:28
Speaker 3: And it was almost like that sort of idea of like,
6:31
Speaker 3: you study for a test, you study for a test,
6:33
Speaker 3: but if you know that the answers are going to be,
6:35
Speaker 3: you know, your answers are going to be displayed for
6:38
Speaker 3: everyone to see, suddenly you study harder. So I started to,
6:42
Speaker 3: you know, that actually taught me, you know, write like
6:45
Speaker 3: a writer, but edit like a reader. So if there's
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Speaker 3: something that's predictable or something that's going to like irritate
6:51
Speaker 3: you that you either, if you take too long to
6:53
Speaker 3: get to the point or the plot twist is predictable
6:56
Speaker 3: or whatever it is, you got to think, what would
6:58
Speaker 3: your reader do? Your reader is probably going to put
7:00
Speaker 3: this book down. So how do we switch that? So
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Speaker 3: I did that with the tutor and the editor I
7:06
Speaker 3: had at Hodder loved it so much. She gave me
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Speaker 3: this three book deal. And, you know, within that timeframe too,
7:12
Speaker 3: the more people were became aware of Palm beach and
7:16
Speaker 3: you know, we're really into, you know, stories like succession
7:19
Speaker 3: and the Palm Royale and rich people behaving badly. And
7:23
Speaker 3: so it suddenly did eventually find an audience and, So
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Speaker 3: even if you die on sub, it's not forever.
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Speaker 2: It's just all about finding.
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Speaker 1: Right. And I think, too, you just said something a
7:35
Speaker 1: couple times here, Courtney, I think that ties in really
7:37
Speaker 1: well for our audience and kind of leads us to
7:39
Speaker 1: the end, and that is finding your space, right? I mean,
7:43
Speaker 1: you were able to find your space, like you mentioned,
7:45
Speaker 1: with the UK and being able to find someone who
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Speaker 1: got it. And I think that's the big thing. But
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Speaker 1: the other side of that, too, now talking about the readers, Courtney,
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Speaker 1: is that you found readers now that have either discovered
7:58
Speaker 1: you or have stayed with you along this journey. I mean,
8:01
Speaker 1: and they were very excited about the new book as well.
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Speaker 1: Talk to us about that experience of, as you were,
8:06
Speaker 1: you know, preparing for the U.S. release of The Aunt,
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Speaker 1: how you had these other people championing your book for you, too.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that has been such, you know, such an amazing experience.
8:16
Speaker 3: And I have to thank Hodder for the fact that
8:19
Speaker 3: most people, they write a book and it takes 18
8:21
Speaker 3: months to get out the door, and then their next
8:23
Speaker 3: book doesn't come.
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Speaker 2: Out for another two years.
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Speaker 3: I was grateful that when they did give me the
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Speaker 3: three-book deal, one, that they were pretty much already written,
8:30
Speaker 3: so I was just doing editing, not starting from scratch,
8:33
Speaker 3: but also that all three of these books came out
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Speaker 3: within a year. So not this recent August, but the
8:39
Speaker 3: August before the Tudor came out and paperback in November came.
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Speaker 3: And then The Hostess came out January, Audio Digital, and
8:47
Speaker 3: then UK, and then April for the paperback. So, you know,
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Speaker 3: it's given people, you know, a chance to read and go, oh,
8:53
Speaker 3: I like this. What else has she written? And then
8:55
Speaker 3: I thankfully have something else. But also, you know, one
8:59
Speaker 3: thing that's interesting with the UK is, you know, as
9:02
Speaker 3: great as supportive as they have been, you know, over
9:05
Speaker 3: here in the US, it's a little, you know, it's
9:08
Speaker 3: harder to kind of get my name out. So, What
9:11
Speaker 3: I started doing was just finding every author I could.
9:14
Speaker 3: If I found out an author lived in my area,
9:17
Speaker 3: I would reach out on Instagram and buy them coffee and.
9:20
Speaker 2: Just go, tell me everything you know.
9:21
Speaker 3: The Palm Beach Library has an author's live event. And
9:27
Speaker 3: so I went there and met David Ellis, who just actually,
9:32
Speaker 3: his pub day is today too. He co-wrote a book
9:35
Speaker 3: with James Patterson. But he's also an amazing writer in
9:38
Speaker 3: his own right, and he's written his own set of bestsellers.
9:42
Speaker 3: But he came in along with Carter Wilson was another
9:44
Speaker 3: one that I showed up 30 minutes beforehand and was
9:47
Speaker 3: just like, here's my life story. Tell me what I
9:49
Speaker 3: should be doing, how I want to make sure that
9:53
Speaker 3: with three books coming out this year, I'm doing everything
9:55
Speaker 3: I possibly can. And so they came out and told me,
9:58
Speaker 3: you know, hire a publicity agent. I actually, both Carter
10:01
Speaker 3: and David Ellis, I use their K publicity as their
10:05
Speaker 3: book publicity agent, who has been absolutely amazing. And my
10:10
Speaker 3: agent also said, you know, go to conferences, go to
10:13
Speaker 3: writing retreats, go to anything you can. And I just
10:17
Speaker 3: did that. I went to everything. I met everyone. I
10:20
Speaker 3: got connected with authors. I went to Sluice Fest. And
10:24
Speaker 3: I remember my publicity agent was like, Lisa Unger is
10:26
Speaker 3: going to be at Sluice Fest, which is in St. Petersburg,
10:29
Speaker 3: which is like three hours from me. So you need
10:31
Speaker 3: to go and get her to blurb your book. I'm like,
10:32
Speaker 3: what do you mean get her to blurb my book?
10:34
Speaker 2: She's Lisa Unger. What are you talking about? And they're like,
10:37
Speaker 2: go do it.
10:38
Speaker 3: And what was nice about that author event was it
10:43
Speaker 3: was There weren't that many authors there.
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Speaker 2: It was a lot more intimate.
10:46
Speaker 3: It was more of a craft sort of weekend. And
10:50
Speaker 3: so I was actually able to get to know her
10:52
Speaker 3: a little bit. And I never brought myself to flat
10:57
Speaker 3: out ask her, but I kind of did this trick
10:59
Speaker 3: where I asked her to sign my book. And then
11:02
Speaker 3: when she did, she's like, how do you spell your name?
11:04
Speaker 3: Especially my last name is so complicated, like P-S-A-K. that
11:08
Speaker 3: I gave her my, my author card that had my
11:11
Speaker 3: book on it. And she was like, Oh, you're an
11:12
Speaker 3: author too. And then I was able to kind of
11:14
Speaker 3: go into how I'm just getting started out and things
11:17
Speaker 3: like that.
11:18
Speaker 2: And then I left that weekend and I was like,
11:20
Speaker 2: you know what? Uh, they're going to kill me.
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Speaker 3: I didn't ask her, but like, I just couldn't bring
11:24
Speaker 3: myself to do it. And then I looked on Instagram
11:26
Speaker 3: and she had sent me a direct message and said,
11:29
Speaker 3: you know, please have your, uh, please have your publisher send.
11:32
Speaker 2: Me your book.
11:32
Speaker 3: I want to support you. And I just like started
11:34
Speaker 3: freaking out right there.
11:36
Speaker 2: That I couldn't believe, you know, she did that. And
11:38
Speaker 2: it was amazing.
11:39
Speaker 3: And David Ellis actually also blurbed the aunt.
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Speaker 2: So, you know, I see them at all these events.
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Speaker 3: And I'm able to continue having a relationship with these people.
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Speaker 3: And again, like offering to blurb their books and, you know,
11:51
Speaker 3: also just connecting with the, you know, the books.
11:53
Speaker 2: To grammars as well.
11:54
Speaker 3: And just have some really great relationships with them.
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Speaker 1: Right, and I think that's what makes the writing community
12:02
Speaker 1: so special. I want to say for those who are
12:04
Speaker 1: just tuning in, welcome. You all are listening to Conversations Live.
12:08
Speaker 1: We're excited to welcome author Courtney Pesak to our broadcast today.
12:11
Speaker 1: Courtney is celebrating her new book called The Aunt that's
12:13
Speaker 1: officially out here in the United States today, which is
12:16
Speaker 1: a great book for those who are looking into thrillers.
12:19
Speaker 1: So let's talk about these characters that you've given us
12:21
Speaker 1: in the newest book. Courtney, as you said, it's interesting
12:24
Speaker 1: now hearing the back story of that this was the
12:27
Speaker 1: book you initially started with, and yet it's the third
12:29
Speaker 1: one in the book deal that you had. What was
12:33
Speaker 1: it about Amy that really spoke to you that kind
12:36
Speaker 1: of started the chain reaction for this book?
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, what's funny is, so I grew up
12:42
Speaker 3: in New Jersey, and my husband and I, you know,
12:45
Speaker 3: we lived in New York, and, you know, he was,
12:48
Speaker 3: him and I are high school sweethearts, so we also
12:50
Speaker 3: just had this big group of friends that all lived
12:52
Speaker 3: in New York together, and then Hoboken, when we started
12:54
Speaker 3: having kids, And we kind of just expected that was
12:56
Speaker 3: going to be, you know, where life was going to be.
12:59
Speaker 3: And he comes to me and his, the CEO of
13:03
Speaker 3: his company said, I'm moving to Palm Beach and starting
13:05
Speaker 3: something else. And I want you to come with me.
13:07
Speaker 3: And it was just an offer that he couldn't, you know,
13:10
Speaker 3: couldn't turn down. And so, you know, I, we agreed
13:13
Speaker 3: to come down here and I felt so out of place,
13:16
Speaker 3: you know, we had a 18 month old at the time.
13:20
Speaker 3: And so we had, you know, we were trying to
13:23
Speaker 3: figure out where to go for like, you know, early
13:25
Speaker 3: primary schooling.
13:27
Speaker 2: And we, our boss, his, you know, the CEO was like, oh,
13:31
Speaker 2: my kids go here.
13:31
Speaker 3: And it was 10 minutes from where we were living
13:33
Speaker 3: and 10 minutes from his office.
13:35
Speaker 2: And we're like, okay.
13:37
Speaker 3: And, you know, we pull in for orientation and it's
13:39
Speaker 3: just Lamborghinis and Gorsh's.
13:41
Speaker 2: And I'm like, where are we?
13:43
Speaker 3: And we're having parent orientation and people are asking where
13:47
Speaker 3: you summer and we got invited to a kid's birthday.
13:50
Speaker 2: Party and they had champagne and caviar for the adults.
13:54
Speaker 2: And it looked like an Instagram dream.
13:57
Speaker 3: And then I was invited to, uh, you know, a
14:00
Speaker 3: breast cancer charity gala that they held at the Breakers.
14:04
Speaker 3: And at the end, they had a Versace fashion show.
14:06
Speaker 3: And I was just like, we're not in Kansas anymore.
14:08
Speaker 3: And so I kind of started to feel really insecure.
14:12
Speaker 3: So I was, you know, I was never that person before.
14:14
Speaker 2: I was always comfortable in myself. And all of a
14:16
Speaker 2: sudden I.
14:16
Speaker 3: Started second guessing, like what I was wearing and things
14:19
Speaker 3: like that. And, you know, I felt like it was
14:24
Speaker 3: strange because it felt like you were trying to be
14:26
Speaker 3: friends with a celebrity. Like you didn't want them to
14:28
Speaker 3: think like, oh, I just want to be friends with
14:29
Speaker 3: you because you have money. And, you know, I was
14:32
Speaker 3: really having just my own anxiety issues about it. And
14:35
Speaker 3: then I remember one of the parents at the end
14:37
Speaker 3: of the school year threw like a karaoke party for
14:41
Speaker 3: the parents at a dive bar.
14:42
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, I don't know if anyone's going
14:43
Speaker 2: to go to this because it's at a dive bar.
14:45
Speaker 3: Everybody went, everyone had a great time. And I started
14:48
Speaker 3: to realize like, All that insecurity was in my own head.
14:52
Speaker 3: I got more compliments on my outfits that were from
14:55
Speaker 3: TJ Maxx than they were the designers that I was overthinking.
14:59
Speaker 3: People didn't care what you wore. They didn't care what
15:02
Speaker 3: they wore. People just want to be friends with you
15:05
Speaker 3: because if you like who you are, then people will
15:08
Speaker 3: like you too.
15:08
Speaker 2: It was kind of this big... lesson for me.
15:11
Speaker 3: And I feel like when I wrote about Amy in
15:13
Speaker 3: The Aunt, it was me kind of working my way
15:17
Speaker 3: through all of that insecurity and being self-conscious and having
15:21
Speaker 3: that imposter syndrome.
15:22
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think for myself as a reader, Courtney,
15:26
Speaker 1: what I thought about is, you know, the idea, and
15:29
Speaker 1: we know this about life, and of course the book
15:32
Speaker 1: is a fast-paced read, but it also makes you think
15:35
Speaker 1: about your own relationships with people, your own relationship with
15:39
Speaker 1: the past, and also not living with regrets, right? And
15:43
Speaker 1: it's so interesting, not to give anything away, literally the
15:46
Speaker 1: way you begin the book is Lexi thinking about that fact,
15:50
Speaker 1: and then you have Amy kind of dealing with it,
15:53
Speaker 1: you know, as well, right? Was that one of the
15:56
Speaker 1: things you knew would be a theme in the book,
15:58
Speaker 1: or did it just kind of grow as the characters
16:01
Speaker 1: and the storyline evolved?
16:03
Speaker 2: It was a little bit of both, you know.
16:06
Speaker 3: You know, it's for people that are just understanding what
16:09
Speaker 3: this book's about. It's these two sisters are estranged from
16:12
Speaker 3: one another. Amy's the older one and Lexi, the younger one,
16:15
Speaker 3: was always the perpetual screw up. And Amy always had
16:18
Speaker 3: to clean up her messes until finally one day she
16:20
Speaker 3: was like, you know what, I'm done with you. And,
16:24
Speaker 3: you know, as the universe would have it, like Lexi's
16:26
Speaker 3: the one that, you know, marries this rich, wealthy husband,
16:29
Speaker 3: has a mansion in Palm Beach and a three month
16:31
Speaker 3: old daughter where Amy is on the verge of financial
16:34
Speaker 3: ruin after countless failed IVF treatments. And it literally, you know,
16:39
Speaker 3: breaks her and she separates from her husband. So they're
16:42
Speaker 3: on like opposite ends of the spectrum. And she gets
16:45
Speaker 3: a call that Lexi and her husband have been killed
16:48
Speaker 3: on it on their boat. And suddenly she starts to
16:52
Speaker 3: look at all the facts that like, you know, how
16:53
Speaker 3: many missed opportunities when she could have reconnected. And she
16:57
Speaker 3: starts to try to understand like who her sister really was.
17:00
Speaker 2: And if only she had been there, would she.
17:02
Speaker 3: Have been able to help her and how much she
17:05
Speaker 3: missed these opportunities all because she was holding a grudge.
17:08
Speaker 2: And when really they just should have, you know, talked
17:11
Speaker 2: to each other. Yeah.
17:14
Speaker 1: It's a, it's a powerful book. And I think as
17:16
Speaker 1: the story evolves and we get to know, um, Not only,
17:19
Speaker 1: of course, more about Lexi's journey, but also Amy gets
17:22
Speaker 1: to understand better about her own life, really, in many ways,
17:26
Speaker 1: and what's possible for her. I think that's one of
17:28
Speaker 1: the things that makes it interesting to converge. Now, you
17:32
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, which is why I'm so glad we got
17:34
Speaker 1: kind of the backstory here, Courtney, that this was a
17:38
Speaker 1: three-book deal that you had. But when it came to
17:40
Speaker 1: the aunt, I mean, did you feel like that story,
17:44
Speaker 1: that Amy story, that you were done with her? Or
17:47
Speaker 1: is she someone that still lingers with you now?
17:49
Speaker 3: You know, I think at the, what I really, you know,
17:52
Speaker 3: I write fast paced thriller novels, but I always like
17:55
Speaker 3: there being a happy ending in the sense of like,
17:58
Speaker 3: there's a sense of growth with the characters. And I feel,
18:01
Speaker 3: you know, when Amy starts to realize that her insecurities
18:05
Speaker 3: are her own and just also, you know, just understanding
18:11
Speaker 3: how important it is to, you know, it's not about
18:14
Speaker 3: being right. It's about, having these relationships that are going
18:18
Speaker 3: to be the real key to happiness. It's not about
18:20
Speaker 3: the material things. And so those were the lessons that
18:25
Speaker 3: she starts to learn. And she realizes her own limitations
18:28
Speaker 3: were self-inflicted. She made these an issue when they shouldn't
18:32
Speaker 3: have been. She should have been looking at the bigger picture. And, yeah,
18:36
Speaker 3: so I feel like I kind of went on that
18:38
Speaker 3: journey with her and came out the other side.
18:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now we get to do the same thing. Again, everyone,
18:43
Speaker 1: Courtney Pesak has been our guest. Her newest book, that's
18:47
Speaker 1: another page turner, is called The Aunt. It's available now
18:50
Speaker 1: for you guys to get either through our friends at Amazon.com.
18:53
Speaker 1: You can get the print, Kindle, as well as the
18:55
Speaker 1: audio book there. But also, of course, from your favorite
18:58
Speaker 1: local bookstore if they don't have it. I know they'd
19:00
Speaker 1: be more than happy to be able to order it
19:01
Speaker 1: for you. Courtney, congratulations to you on the book and
19:05
Speaker 1: your career. And I think how inspiring it is for
19:09
Speaker 1: our audience to think about how this all began for
19:11
Speaker 1: you with 30 Days to 30 and where you are
19:13
Speaker 1: today today. How can our audience stay connected with you
19:15
Speaker 1: and keep up with what's coming up?
19:17
Speaker 2: Of course. Thank you so much.
19:19
Speaker 3: Well, I have a newsletter on Substack that I send
19:21
Speaker 3: out about once a month. One actually went out today.
19:24
Speaker 3: I'm also very active on Instagram, so at CourtneyPasak underscore author.
19:30
Speaker 2: And you can follow me for updates there as well.
19:33
Speaker 1: All right. Well, Courtney, congratulations to you again. Thank you
19:35
Speaker 1: again for spending part of your pub day with us
19:38
Speaker 1: and looking forward to our next chat together.
19:40
Speaker 2: Of course. Thank you so much for having me. It
19:42
Speaker 2: was wonderful chatting. Thanks.
19:43
Speaker 1: Glad to have you as well. And we thank your
19:45
Speaker 1: audience for tuning in to another great segment of Conversations Live.
19:48
Speaker 1: Until next time, I'm your host. Cyrus Webster. As always,
19:51
Speaker 1: enjoy your day, enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank
19:54
Speaker 1: you for being with us here at Conversations Live. And
19:55
Speaker 1: it's going to make today amazing. Take care.