Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Author Jasmine Guillory discusses her new book IT'S ONLY DANCING on Conversations LIVE

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Author Jasmine Guillory discusses her new book IT'S ONLY DANCING 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 a 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 iHeartRadio and
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  Speaker 1: Amazon Music, as well as through Conversations Radio Network. We're
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  Speaker 1: glad you all could be with us as well. We're
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  Speaker 1: so excited to welcome New York Times bestselling author Jasmine
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  Speaker 1: Guillory to our broadcast today. She's gearing up for the
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  Speaker 1: release of a book that's great for young readers, but
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  Speaker 1: also for us adults as well. It's called It's Only Dancing.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Jasmine not only about her
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary writing career, but also what it was like for
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  Speaker 1: her to bring these characters to life and what she
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  Speaker 1: hopes you have to take away from the main characters,
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  Speaker 1: Kat and Jordan. Jasmine, thank you so much for the time.
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  Speaker 1: Really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, exciting times for you as you're gearing up
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  Speaker 1: for the book that'll be coming out really soon. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you have been able to thrill readers of different ages, Jasmine,
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  Speaker 1: through your career. How does it feel, though, to have
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  Speaker 1: this new book in ready to come out and to
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  Speaker 1: share these characters with the world?
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's so funny because this is my 10th book,
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  Speaker 2: but I feel like with every book, I feel very
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  Speaker 2: nervous and tender when it's about to come out. I
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  Speaker 2: just want everyone to embrace the book. And I feel
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  Speaker 2: like you know, my characters are about to have their
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  Speaker 2: debut on the world, really. But I'm also just really
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  Speaker 2: excited to be able to talk about this book. I
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  Speaker 2: feel like, you know, writing can be a very solitary thing.
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  Speaker 2: You're kind of sitting alone with your computer for months
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  Speaker 2: or years and this whole world and these characters. So
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  Speaker 2: it's really exciting to finally have them out in the
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  Speaker 2: world and be able to talk to other people about
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  Speaker 2: the book.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think the interesting thing, I had a chance
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  Speaker 1: to get an early copy of the book, Jasmine, so
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  Speaker 1: I did get a chance to read it. And one
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  Speaker 1: thing I can say is that this book is really,
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  Speaker 1: it's a great, it's a fun story, but it's also
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  Speaker 1: the story, I think, that will have people talking. Some
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  Speaker 1: of the issues you're able to bring about, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there's that one scene, and I won't get into it here, but,
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  Speaker 1: you know, with the book event that's taking place with
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  Speaker 1: the kids, so you have a more serious scene that's
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  Speaker 1: kind of ripped from the headlines there, but also just
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  Speaker 1: this idea of growing into yourself. So I'm curious, What
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  Speaker 1: was kind of the initial seed for you? Was it
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  Speaker 1: Kat's journey or how did the book initially come to you?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I love that you say that growing into yourself,
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  Speaker 2: because I really feel like that is absolutely what this
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  Speaker 2: book is about. It very much, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this book is kind of a contemporary spin on dirty dancing.
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  Speaker 2: So it does have that like learning to dance element
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  Speaker 2: and the performance. But I was really thinking about Kat
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  Speaker 2: and like, her relationship with dance and kind of learning
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  Speaker 2: who she is. I think that's something that a lot
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  Speaker 2: of teenagers go through. I mean, I think we go
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  Speaker 2: through that kind of every 10 years, sort of like
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  Speaker 2: learning who you are at this age. But I think
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  Speaker 2: it's especially difficult when you're a teenager because it's the
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  Speaker 2: first time you've really thought about like who you are
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  Speaker 2: as a person and outside of your family, right? Who
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  Speaker 2: you are as an individual and what you want to be,
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  Speaker 2: what you want to do with this world. And this
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  Speaker 2: book is really Kat figuring that out and learning how
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  Speaker 2: to do something new, learning how to be bad at something, right?
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  Speaker 2: As she kind of learns to dance hip hop, she's
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  Speaker 2: not good at it at first, and that's hard for her. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, thinking about her goals for herself in the future,
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  Speaker 2: learning how to make friends, you know, I think that's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of what kind of teenagers go through, but
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  Speaker 2: some of that kind of can be universal. And so
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  Speaker 2: I was really thinking about all of that as I
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  Speaker 2: wrote this book.
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  Speaker 1: Jasmine, when you were talking, I just thought about there's
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  Speaker 1: that one thing that initially came to me as you
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  Speaker 1: were just talking just now about Kat, and that is
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  Speaker 1: even with her parents, you know, what they're going to
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  Speaker 1: call her, you know, what she wants to be called,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Kat or Catherine, you know what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that whole idea, but also I think, you know,
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  Speaker 1: being able to know the big thing I took away
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  Speaker 1: as a reader, Jasmine, is that that Kat realizing it's
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  Speaker 1: okay to want what you want. It's okay to be
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  Speaker 1: what you want instead of worrying so much about others, which,
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  Speaker 1: you know, kind of feeds into the whole narrative of,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the dynamics between Jordan, you know, and Kat,
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  Speaker 1: but also the idea of what she wants for herself too.
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  Speaker 1: What was that like for you to explore the idea
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  Speaker 1: of not only realizing that she was her own person,
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  Speaker 1: but it was okay to be her own person? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that is, And that was really
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  Speaker 2: something that I thought about a lot as I wrote
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  Speaker 2: this book. I think that's something that you go through
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  Speaker 2: as a teenager, but I feel like I've gone through
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  Speaker 2: that a few times in life, right? In figuring out
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  Speaker 2: who do I want to be? I don't have to...
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  Speaker 2: I don't have to think about what other people want
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  Speaker 2: me to be. I can think about what I want.
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  Speaker 2: And that can be really hard because especially at that
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  Speaker 2: age group, you really had other people's input on your
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  Speaker 2: life throughout your life. And so Kat is really getting
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  Speaker 2: a little bit of independence for the first time and
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  Speaker 2: learning that she can come up with her goals for
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  Speaker 2: her life, that she can kind of, think about who
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  Speaker 2: she is independent of all of the things that her
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  Speaker 2: parents think of her as, right? And I think that's
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  Speaker 2: something that a lot of teenagers go through.
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  Speaker 1: I want to talk about Jordan for us guys for
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  Speaker 1: a moment. You know, I love a book, Jasmine, they
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  Speaker 1: give guys a great representation of us, especially the good guys, right?
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  Speaker 1: That want to try to be good, want to try
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  Speaker 1: to do good, and just want to be themselves. Jordan is,
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  Speaker 1: I think, a great compliment to Kat in that way
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  Speaker 1: talk to us about what it's like for you to
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  Speaker 1: create him and have him being someone that people were
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  Speaker 1: attracted to but also was just a good guy.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah you know it's interesting because in thinking about Jordan
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  Speaker 2: you know I I know a lot of teenagers right
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  Speaker 2: and so I was really you know I had people
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  Speaker 2: saying like oh teenage boys etc and and I think
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  Speaker 2: people people always look down on teenagers girls and boys
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  Speaker 2: in in different ways you know People think teenage girls
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  Speaker 2: are kind of hysterical and that teenage boys just make
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  Speaker 2: messes all the time. Right. And are interesting. But like,
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  Speaker 2: I know a lot of teenagers and I find them fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: I think they, I have really interesting conversations with them.
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  Speaker 2: They do want to do good in the world. They,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they think about things. We'll have a conversation
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  Speaker 2: and then a month later we'll come back and revisit it.
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  Speaker 2: And they'll think, you know, I was thinking about that
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  Speaker 2: when this happened and I realized, that you were right
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  Speaker 2: about this, but I was right about this. And I
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  Speaker 2: can agree that they were right, you know? And so
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  Speaker 2: I think I really wanted Jordan to be someone who
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  Speaker 2: is thoughtful and considerate in that way that I know
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  Speaker 2: that teenage boys can be.
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  Speaker 1: So true. And I think that is what makes this
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  Speaker 1: story so great. Did you know automatically, Jasmine, that you
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be able to explore this story in Kat's voice?
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  Speaker 2: You know what's so interesting about that question? All of
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  Speaker 2: my other books I have written in the third person.
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  Speaker 2: Some of them have been dual point of view. Some
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  Speaker 2: of them single, but they've all been in third person.
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  Speaker 2: And in this book, when I first started writing it,
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  Speaker 2: I started writing it in third person, kind of as
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  Speaker 2: I always have. And then I kind of started thinking
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  Speaker 2: of some scenes in the first person, like in Cat's Head.
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  Speaker 2: And I thought, you know, let me experiment with that.
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  Speaker 2: Let me try it.
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  Speaker 1: And see how it works.
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  Speaker 2: And it felt like it just really worked for this
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  Speaker 2: book and for this character. And so I went with it.
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  Speaker 2: But that was something that I didn't quite know initially.
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  Speaker 2: And then as I was kind of playing around with it,
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  Speaker 2: it really felt right.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's a great story, Jasmine. I really enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: it myself. I know that readers are going to as well.
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  Speaker 1: And again, again, Yes, for I think teenagers will love
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  Speaker 1: this book, but I think us adults, there's so much
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  Speaker 1: we can glean from not only these characters being able
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  Speaker 1: to get to enjoy life, but also getting to know
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  Speaker 1: that it's okay, that maybe they have a different path
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  Speaker 1: in mind than those around them, whether we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: parents or even their friends, as they would imagine as well. Again, everyone,
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  Speaker 1: New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory has been our guest.
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  Speaker 1: Her new book is called It's Only Dancing. Depending on
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  Speaker 1: when you guys are joining us, if you're joining us
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  Speaker 1: for the radio side, it is available for pre-order for
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  Speaker 1: you guys right now. So make sure you guys do
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  Speaker 1: take advantage of that. And Jasmine, let our audience know,
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  Speaker 1: how can they stay connected with you?
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  Speaker 2: You can find my website at jasminegillery.com and on Instagram,
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  Speaker 2: I am at jasminepix. And I will have, I have
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  Speaker 2: a national tour coming up. And so if you're nearby
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  Speaker 2: a bunch of cities, you might be able to come
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  Speaker 2: see me on book tour. I love interacting with readers
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  Speaker 2: and seeing what you really think about the book. I
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  Speaker 2: think you know, writing can be such a lonely thing.
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  Speaker 2: And I love when a book comes out to kind
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  Speaker 2: of finally get to talk about it and to get
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  Speaker 2: to talk to readers. So I really hope to meet
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people in the next few weeks. Awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Jasmine, congratulations to you again. Appreciate you stopping by
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  Speaker 1: and looking forward to our next chat together.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It was really lovely to talk
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  Speaker 2: to you.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, same here. And we thank your audience for tuning
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  Speaker 1: in to another great segment. of Conversations Live. Until next time,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host Cyrus Webb saying as always, enjoy your day,
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  Speaker 1: enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank you for being
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: with us here at Conversations Live and let's go make
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  Speaker 1: today amazing. Take care.