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Books4Guys - Kristina Rienzi · Books4Guys

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're the first guest on the podcast from New Jersey.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's exciting.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's very exciting.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm at the Jersey Shore.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's lots New Jersey has a lot of a lot of parts, mountains, city, but yeah, I'm at the beach area.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I've been to New Jersey.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't been to the beach though.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Which I wish that was the area I got to go to, but I haven't made it there yet.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe one day.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Super chill.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: You would love it.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, Christina, super excited to talk with you today and talk about your book.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Says it's something I'm very interested in.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I love the scary paranormal.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I get into all of that myself.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I'm very interested to talk to someone else that also is and who even goes a little bit deeper and actually writes and creates stories around it.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, Christina, it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for doing this today.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for having me.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to be here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, just to kick it off, I know you've got you've got more than one book, but I got introduced to you from your latest book, Winter Road, which is the one I've got on the website.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: By the time this episode comes out, I'm gonna have your other work on the website too.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: As uh I actually didn't realize how many other books you had out, but Among Us, Shadows, you've got a lot, but I would like to kick things off and just kind of hearing your story on why and how you got interested in just writing this type of work.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't want to say genre because it's you know that can go a lot of different things, but you know, paranormal, scary.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: What what got you interested in that subject?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a great question because when people meet me, they're like, oh my gosh, you're so you know positive and kind and like why are you writing these crazy things?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: When I when you first jumped on, I was thinking the same thing.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I don't I don't believe Christina writes this stuff.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my Five Happy Choices book is probably more in line with who I am.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: But no, this is true.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everybody has multiple sides to them, right?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, nobody is one-sided, just like our characters are three-dimensional.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: We are sometimes, you know, four or five-dimensional as humans.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: But certainly as a from a young age, I've always been interested in writing.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've always written stories.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, as young as fifth grade, I wrote a kind of scary short story that I won a little award for in elementary school.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But it's interesting to think about like where all that came from.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I've always kind of been an introverted analytical type person who thought deeply about things.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would lay in bed at night, look at the stars, and wonder is there anything out there?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like I always thought about that kind of the other side of life.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and not in a morbid way, but but truly in my life, I have had a lot of people who have passed away at a young age.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was always kind of curious and also fearful.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I, and when I finally decided to get into writing more professionally, it was just natural for me to be attracted to the darker side of stories because I wanted to use it as a way to process things that have happened to me in my life.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I have, you know, a background in psychology, you know, and so that kind of went along with it.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I face my fears?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do I overcome these things?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And writing really was helpful.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that kind of thrilling feeling you get when you read a thriller or a paranormal is what I wanted to experience as well as for my readers.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it was kind of a natural, although it doesn't seem natural if, like I said, someone were to meet me in real life, like we're talking right now, and this is who I truly am.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just go, oh my gosh, like, you know, people go, you write like thrillers?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's so not what I would expect of you.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it is for me cathartic and a way to process life's events, so to speak.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I was gonna, one of my questions for you was gonna be, you know, have you ever experienced something that kind of led you to being more interested?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm I think mine's similar to you.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't have like a moment where I'm like, whoa, that was super paranormal.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've I believe in that stuff, you know, I've I've been around, I've heard things, you know, I've I've from a family who believes in that for one reason or another, and the experiences.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, I feel like there's been a couple moments where I'm like, yeah, this this could have been a little bit weird.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I definitely believe this stuff can happen.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and again, I think that's why, like, especially when it comes to movies, like anything paranormal, I'm like, these are the scariest because I believe this stuff's real, you know, and so it gets me good.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: But it sounds like you're kind of similar, like there's little moments that kind of got you intrigued, but not like a scary moment to where you were like, like you personally went through something crazy, and and that's where it triggered it.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, and it's funny because I always have believed, and I think this is kind of, and people may say, you know, that don't believe in this may not agree with me, but I've always believed that anything is possible, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: We just as human beings do not know it all.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: We think we do, you know, we look at the science, we look at the data, and I'm a clinical person, you know.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I went to school for clinical psychology.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like I look at the data, I look at the science behind things.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I also believe there's a part of life that's just unknown.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't need to know everything, and I never will.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's just some things that humans aren't meant to know.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, it's the unexplainable, right?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: The mysterious.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of where I was always attracted was like the mysterious, the unexplainable, the what ifs.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I like to keep an open mind to that and not as much to scare myself, but just to know, like, hey, I am limited by my human brain and its capacity.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And there are just some things that I we're I'm never gonna understand.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm okay with that.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have that open mind about like anything's possible.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I am open to that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And some things do scare me, you know.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote an entire book among us about um, you know, paranormal, you know, sci-fi.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is terrifying to me, you know.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, there's other things that are terrifying, but I think it's it's really about, and I, and you know, embracing the unknown to me has just been a very kind of cathartic thing to say because we just never know day to day how our lives are gonna go anyway.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think fear is something that can limit you.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you're willing to kind of have this perspective about, you know, hey, I don't have control over everything, even though I am a control freak, like I don't have a control over everything.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I can't know what tomorrow will bring, and I can't know everything.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: But having an open mind about like, I'm just gonna move through this life and like take it as it comes and trying to live that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't easy to do.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I still have my fears and anxieties like everybody else, but I really do try to think like, hey, we don't know it all.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want that to hold me back.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want that to open up my mind to explore further.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where my writing goes to, you know, exploring the things that scare me and having my characters face them.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's easier to write about someone facing them than for me to like have that experience and face it because I probably would freeze in any of these, in any of my book scenarios, I would freeze.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: My characters don't freeze, like they move forward and they overcome and they become stronger.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's like almost like a wish for myself, like that I can do that.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's so I write about these things because I believe anything is possible.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And like if it were to happen, how would I react?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I would hope to react like my characters, although I probably wouldn't.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'd probably hide under the blanket or you know, or like run out the back door.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I wouldn't be, you know, but uh yeah, so I I have an open mind about a lot of things, and I think that helps me have a healthy sense of exploration when I'm writing these stories that are don't seem real.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then stories like Winter Road, which are very real, it's domestic um suspense.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's up.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love everything you're saying, and and especially the the open mindness part, because that's just that's that's a core thing of books for guys is encouraging people to read just to learn things, and and maybe you learn something that you thought you knew something about, and it kind of opens you up to maybe considering a different alternative or just critical thinking in general.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love what you say too.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I in breaking down the way you write in the stories, like I'm just thinking of pure, you know, good and evil.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I believe in that stuff.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, so I think you can dig a little bit deeper, and like I do believe certain situations people have been saved because something helped that.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so there's just all these things, and you hear people tell stories too, and it's just like so fascinating.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, and I'm like, you I could listen to this forever and just be like, wow, like what is that?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: What happened?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why how did that take place?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, who's around me right now?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't, you know, it's not yeah, at the core of it is what you're saying.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: At the core of it is the good and evil, the battle between good and evil, which I think they're like my books, you know, are about, but you're absolutely right.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's at the core of it is that belief that if there's good, there's evil, and that is scary.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I like too that you are almost like motivating yourself with your writing, is like, hey, if I ever face this, I'm gonna be like my character, or I hope I am, and I'm gonna do this to because this is how I would get past this situation or how I would overcome this weird obstacle.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I did want to ask, Christina, because you kind of got into it a little bit, on just like your process of creating your story, because I know writers do different things, they either plan it all out and then they start.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Others, it's kind of on the fly.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Some people write the ending, figure out the front from there.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: What's how do you go about putting your stories together?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like a book nerd and uh like I love school, I love learning.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I always do a little bit of research before whether it's on the writing craft or the topic.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I love learning about writing and how to be better at what I do.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm always striving to do better and try different things.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So the first part, usually the divine intervention was what I call it, comes to me of like, oh, I need to write a story about this topic or this character.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like for Winter Road, it was the character.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I had an image in my mind of this character driving down this snowy road, going home for the holidays, leaving behind a life that she no longer wanted and not going into something she didn't know what she was gonna be going into.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was all I had.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew the title was Winter Road and I knew her name.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I could see myself kind of driving down the road.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of came to me.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm like, I built the story around that.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a pretty good idea of what was gonna happen.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of that book kind of wrote itself.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I consider that book a like a divine download.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I literally was writing 3,000 words a day.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I got up every morning at five o'clock.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of came out of me.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's not normal.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Usually for me, I do some kind of a plotting.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I do like a loose plotting structure, kind of save the cat is a plotting structure of beats that's really for screenwriting, which I'm getting into now.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: But for books, I use it for books too.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was helpful because it kept me on track.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I could get very easily, I think like many authors can go off on a tangent and like get lost in the story and to let the character take you away to a place that's there's never no end.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to have that structure.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I pull I loosely plot like 15 beats.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can take those 15 beats up to 40 beats, but I do like the 15.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I just start plugging and playing what I think is gonna be.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then of course, my books are always skeletal, like they come out very skeletal with just the story.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I go in and and add the the depth to it after the fact.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll build it up after, and then maybe something changes and I, you know, I move in, but or I have to edit something.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I really try to start with a very skeletal version so that I, okay, I've got the story down.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: That makes me happy.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: It it stresses me out.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: I am not a pantser.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people do really well writing by the seat of their pants.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I get very stressed out not knowing what's gonna happen and then having to rewrite something 10 times.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just how my brain works.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a left-brained person, even though this is a creative art.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am left-brained.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I like I need a structure.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then the creativity comes in the day-to-day writing.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: The creativity comes in the plot twists that I didn't see coming.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that because that happens a lot.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: That happens a lot in Among Us.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Plot twists I didn't expect in it.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the story kept twisting and turning, and that made me happy because I'm like, oh, this is exciting.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I had a roadmap, which was my like safety net, I guess.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, love that.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm curious to know too, because again, all of your stories are a little bit different.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and you kind of answered your question too, because you have a full-time job too.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always curious like how people would go about just finding the time.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it sounds like, you know, for this book, you were up early, you were motivated, you had stuff going.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: But do you, now that you've put out, you know, several pieces of work, is every book that you do, is it still, and I'm I'm thinking of like the approach of writing a book.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Do you sometimes feel stressed or pressured to put another book or story out there?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or has every book you've written been in an organically enjoyable experience and you don't feel a lot of pressure because you're still kind of on your own terms with it?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I know like as people become fans of your work and they want to see more books, I could see where maybe you feel the pressure to put more out there.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: But like, what's your experience, I guess, so far with your writing and what's kind of your what's your goals moving forward?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is it something you want to tackle and maybe one day this becomes like your work and your full-time author?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Or is that something you're if it happens, it happens.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't, it doesn't.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that's a lot of different questions there, but I'm just curious, like your overall experience as an author.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I would love nothing more, and I think a lot of authors feel this way, to write for a living, like full-time and do nothing else.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by a living is like that's my primary thing that I do besides like my family life, which is like number one.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a hard thing to do for me because I have so many different things going to have a young child at home.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have, you know, an elderly father, you know, I'm a family husband and friend and my own life.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: So to have all those things, my priority is always like taking care of me and the people in my life.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's always number one.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So writing has been like a passion of mine and a hobby of mine.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I see that it's it is a professional hobby.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I am, there is a professional element to it because I am writing for what I would like to be a full-time career.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: But on the flip side of that, yes, I regardless of what fans want or don't want, I always feel pressure to put more book.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I never feel like I'm doing enough.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like even though I have so many books out there and the last one was a long time ago, I should have had a book out by now.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm working on a screenplay, so that's a different animal.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I would love nothing more than to put more stories out.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's finding the time, right?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And my time is the morning or maybe a day off, or you know, I'm unwilling to write at night or on the weekends when I'm with my family.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: It really is hard to find that time.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, I'm always feeling that pressure as a writer.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I have to do more.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing enough.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's my own competition with myself.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that is just who I am.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I have that kind of like how you do one thing is how you do everything.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of feel like that about everything I do.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm never doing enough.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I need to do more because there's always more to do.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to find the balance of just relaxing and saying, like, this is on your terms, but not allowing it to be so relaxed that I don't do anything.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the balance of like it's easy when you don't have a deadline to just push it aside and pick up, you know, the other things you need to do that are pressing, that are screaming at you, the things yelling at you.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Writing isn't yelling at me.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Writing is something that's yelling at me in my mind, like in my heart, but it's not like it's fine.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't put a book out for three years, it's not gonna change anyone's life, but it will make me happier and it will make me feel good.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I have to remember that, you know, and I did write this book about happy choices and making and doing happy focusing on your psychological well-being.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's important for me to remember like part of my psychological well-being is writing.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's important.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I try to do a little bit when I can.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do it as often as I as I should.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I always do feel guilty about that because that's who I am.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it is part the flip side of not having it as a full-time career, is it is kind of nice that I can, I don't feel the pressure to produce from someone else.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's from me.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So there's that piece too.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it sounds like it truly is your outlet of enjoyment for you that you love to do and and you want to do more of it.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: We always want to do more, but we love to do, but it's cool that you have that approach and that kind of outlook over it all.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: But you mentioned writing writing a screen, you said a screenplay.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: So right now I'm writing a spec script, which I'm taking Winter Road and turning it into a spec script so that it can be reviewed and optioned for feature film.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, currently.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I have some contacts I'm working with.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's a completely different process.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what you were gonna ask, but that's just I like it's I was gonna ask just what the I've asked this question a lot to authors, especially fiction authors, and most say like, hey, it'd be such a dream come true to turn this into a movie or a show or something, you know, to put the story on the screen.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: But what is the process and what's the differences and I guess challenges of writing the screens, screenplay and script versus the story?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess why did you accept that challenge or or kind of steer in trying to do that?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I always am up for a challenge.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: I get bored easily.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: This was the next I always wanted to do something like this.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and this is gonna sound crazy because I know a lot of authors do say, like, I would love to see my book on film.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that is part of it.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: That would be very cool, of course.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, it was more about the challenge of learning the craft of screenwriting and learning how to do it and how to, even if like this book, which is a possibility of going somewhere, does didn't go anywhere with it, right?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if I could like, and I have written the script, by the way, I'm editing it now, but having it, having that process done and learning how to turn a book into a screenplay, my next challenge will be writing an original screenplay, right?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: But this is like I'm taking my books and I'm practicing with them, turning them into screenplays and seeing what, and then submitting them.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because hey, you never know, right?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't do it, you're not just never gonna happen.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's exciting and fun, it's a challenge.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I write, I told you before I writed I wrote skeletal.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I write my stories, very skeletal.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how my brain works.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a left-brained person.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I think in terms of like action and dialogue is easy for me.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: A screenplay is all action and dialogue.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's like very little narrative at all.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's action and dialogue.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's short.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to chop, chop, chop, delete, delete, delete.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm good at that.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I like to get things down to the point.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: So taking like a 400-page book and getting it down to a hundred pages, I like it.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: That feels nice to me.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's I'm editing.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to do because as a writer, you have these great scenes and this wonderful exposition.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And but that's not what a screenplay is.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the creative part becomes like if you read a screenplay, if you go to like um any website, there's free screenplays all over.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can put look up your favorite movie and get the screenplay.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you start reading it and go, that's it.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like it kind of looks so plain and like this looks easy.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's so not easy.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because even though the words they've put down aren't flowery or beautiful or like that, they're more, they're they're very important.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And every word, I know every word in a book is important too.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't mean to say that because I write books, but every word means something.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's taking, you know, a page of exposition and turning it into one paragraph.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And by a paragraph, I mean three or four sentences.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And picking the right words, it's hard.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard, and it's hard to delete the stuff you've written if this is like your adaptation.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thinking in terms of seeing it, you know, I've always written with a little post-it on my, and this is a James Patterson kind of key like point that he puts out there and a way to write.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I've always be in the moment, be there, he says.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: But also, can you film it?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Can you film it?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so whenever I write a book, I always have that posted.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Can you film it?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And not every scene is going to be filmable, but in a script, you have to be able to film everything.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's very hard to do.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was my challenge.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still working on it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I am going in the edit through the editing process before I pass it on for like professional screenplay edits and then, of course, submission after that.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's a process.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm excited, it's fun.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I actually think I like it better.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because it's new than writing a book at this point, because it's it's just exciting and fun to do something different.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm learning something and I love learning.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, completely different.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's a different language, it's a different process.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very, I think it would maybe be easier for someone who's never written anything before to start writing a script than for someone who's trained to write, I'm trained to write short story of all to try to write a script.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard because your brain is already programmed one way and you have to reprogram it.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and anyone I talk to says it's easy.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: You already know how to write a story.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not easy for me.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have to learn the, like I'm a process person, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have to learn the process.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been interesting, it's been fun, and I am happy, and not everybody would feel this way, but I am happy, even if my scripts don't go anywhere, that I did it.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I feel like I have another notch in my belt in terms of learning something I can use for the future creative things.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you never know that one script could become something, and then you can write more and more and more.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of fun and exciting to me.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's an exciting opportunity that is never gonna happen unless you sit down and do it yourself.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like no one's handing you that lottery ticket, right?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: I call it the book lotto or the story lotto.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like you never know.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: One story, one book out in the world could change and be blow up and become the thing that makes you do the thing you want to do for the rest of your life.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to do it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta put your books and stories out there.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: You never know who's reading it.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Someone could pick it up, you know, like a celebrity or somebody who's a producer and say, I love this story on Amazon.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: This needs to be something.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's happened to many people.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is it common?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, but it's possible.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in this world, we have to we have to think about what's possible, not what's common.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's possible, you gotta do it.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: 100% agree.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta do it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: To you gotta put it out there and then see what happens.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you with taking on the challenge?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is this something you're learning on your own and kind of self-researching on how to do it?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you're just kind of again putting in the work to see where it leads, or do you do you take classes?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Do you talk with other people?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have someone that helps coach you and guide you?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just how how's your learning process been?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is it more solo or do you have some different tools that you've used and leaned on different people to help with guiding guiding you on this, this, this new challenge for you?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done anything alone.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can honestly say that.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot give myself credit for anything because there's always someone that's helping me.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: I have questions.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I'm doing.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And my I tend to be a really easy person to teach because I want to know what I am doing wrong.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's great that I did that good.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's note that, but what am I doing wrong?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do better?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I lean on everyone and everything.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I take classes.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have like a writing group that I'm a part of that I like to take their like online classes and read different, you know, things.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: I talk to friends who are writing about and not just the script part, the story part.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's important.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is my story good enough to go from book to screen?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because you have to change the story a lot of times.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I had to change this story.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: I had to add scenes that weren't there and change because it's different when you're looking at on the screen versus just a book.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, and I have people, mentors, uh several in the film industry that I am, that I have worked with.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Some one of them is a family member, one is through an organization.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I ask for help, I ask for guidance, I ask for advice.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing the work, but I ask like, I want feedback.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I'm doing.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like you're taking on a new job that you've never done before and you're expected to be an expert tomorrow.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna happen.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be trained.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of that training comes from on the job.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can take all the classes in the world, but you need to do on-the-job training.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing to me.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I take the classes and now I have to put that to uh work.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: In reality, it looks different than what I learned.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you got to use your own brain.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and we don't have to go this this would be another conversation altogether in terms of AI, but the AI world is changing a lot for writers.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is really hard to compete.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that the industry out there is smart enough to know when something isn't written by a person.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's really important to use our own brains and to think for ourselves.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And these stories are from our minds and our hearts and our life experiences sometimes that AI can't replicate.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: So even though that there's good, a good use for that piece of it, I think when you're doing something, especially for the first time, if you want to be good at it, you need to do it all by yourself.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you need to really learn the learn the learn the craft.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you do that not just from reading and stuff like that, but from like people helping you along the way and saying this isn't good enough.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or this, you know, this doesn't marry that, or that's not how we do it in a screenplay, that's how you do it in a novel.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I definitely think having a community of supporters in the writing community is helpful.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I go back to basics, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like my save the cat, which I've used for writing novels.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I use that for the screenplay too.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm checking my beats in the screenplay to save the cat.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm I'm just like checking.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like an editing process.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's a lot of work to come from not doing the work.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: You got to do the work.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you seem to have like the perfect balance of no, you need to start.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you put in the work, you're learning on the go, you're gonna figure it out on your own, but you also have the perfect counterbalance of curiosity and seeking guidance and wisdom from others and asking for help, and you love to learn.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you you're constantly asking questions and trying to figure it out.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's like the perfect combo to accomplishing anything because if you're just learning and you never do it, well, then it never gets done.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: But if you just sprint, then you can probably make a lot of mistakes that you don't need to make if you can kind of learn from some others along the way and kind of mix those two together.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really cool to hear you.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I could just hear the aggressive balance of both sides where you're like, I'm a worker, I can do it, I'm gonna put this out there.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I also understand I do need help, I need a little bit of guidance, and I'm gonna go seek that out so that I do my best work when I am sprinting.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's really cool that you have that approach and that balance because uh again, when I talk to people, it seems like the most successful people have exactly that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're they they're doers, but they also are not uh prideful enough to get and to get people to invest in them and have mentors to help them along the way.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they give credit there a lot too.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, I couldn't do this without the help over here.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: I did put in the work, but I have a lot of help, and I want to make sure and give credit there.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think your approach and the way you go about that is very, very cool.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm glad you shared that because I think people need to hear that.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I appreciate you saying that.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's just, you know, drop the ego.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's really easy.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm proud of my accomplishments.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times people will read my bio and I'm like, hide.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that I'm not proud.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, I, you know, I do this because I love this.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this is this is what I love to do.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love to write.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: If I had all the time in the world, I would be writing story after story after story.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so the ego's gotta go though.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I it doesn't mean you can't be proud.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what I mean by that.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: You be proud of your work, you know, absolutely celebrate it, tell people about it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: No one's gonna know if you don't tell them I'm terrible at that, I'm terrible at that.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: But tell people, be proud, you know, hey, I worked hard for this and I'm proud of it.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And wherever it went, like I'm always proud of myself when I type the end or, you know, now fade out.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm always proud of myself because I did the work and that, like, I feel good about that.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the ego gets in the way when it's like I know it all and I don't need anyone to tell me.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's always somewhere higher to go.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: There'll always be somebody who's more successful than you, even if you are like a Stephen King.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, listen, Stephen King's learning and growing in his own way, his stories are changing, you know, and maybe it's a life experience that he has that that shapes how he writes something, but it's a learning experience.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think you always have to keep your mind open to learning and growing.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And as you get older and your life experiences change, you learn things and you lean on people.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have that kind of mindset in this industry, no matter what you're writing, people want to work with you.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I pride myself on being trying really hard to be a good person and to be kind and to show up and with everyone I interact with.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, I'm not perfect.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have, you know, no one is, but I feel like in this, I approach life the way I approach writing.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if I'm I'm gonna be kind, I'm gonna be open, I'm gonna be as good of a person as I can be.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna be, you know, proud of my work, but I'm I could always be better.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: It could always be better.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that and that's the fine line of like, is it good enough?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: It'll never be good enough for me.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Never.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I struggle with hitting the send button on submissions or sending it to the editor because it'll never be good enough.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: But you gotta let it go at some point too.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have to know when enough is enough and move that, move on to the next step.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you definitely should be proud of the work you've done.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we will do a great job of promoting your work and sharing it out there so people can find it and read it and help you out with that.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Since you said you don't like doing that as much, we'll we'll proudly push your work out there and celebrate you.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: But Christina, I've got one more question for you.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a question I ask everyone that comes on the podcast just from a book standpoint.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I know it's a tough question depending on where you're at in life or what you're doing or what you're reading lately, but I'm always curious to know what is a book or two that has meant a lot to you personally or professionally, and what's a book recommendation that you like to give to others when asked?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a that's a really hard question.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reading constantly.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what my latest readings um I have some nonfiction out there.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think for the writers out there, I definitely think there are a ton of great books.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I of course I love Stephen King's on writing.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's like just one of those very get to the point of what you need to do and keep going.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love for writers also save the cat, any save the cat book or novel writing, or it's really good to have structure.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to fiction, I love all kinds of fiction.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I am gonna say one of my favorite authors who is not a thriller author, her name is Jodi Pico, P-I-C-O-U-L-T.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: She writes stories that have um there they border on morality, but they also border on like a very objective.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: She always writes stories, difficult stories to write with two perspectives.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes you think about any, think of any controversial issue that you could think of in this world, right?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: She's got a book about it.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and the reason I love reading her books is because she takes the characters from both sides and she does them justice.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so you could really pick up one of her books, it's fiction, and you can read it like I'm interested in this topic.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that I've always felt strongly about or against, for or against.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you will cut walk away with a well-rounded viewpoint.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is really important.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's easy to, you know, have one way and the only way.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think when we have this well-rounded viewpoints, we can have conversations with other people, we can make choices about what is important to us and what isn't.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also entertaining.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I love the idea of having compassion and empathy for others that maybe you don't agree with and understanding their viewpoints.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And she does a really great job of that.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I always recommend her books because she's like one of my favorite authors for that reason.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I could do that justice, but I certainly feel like she does.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I recommend her books.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to add her to some of my uh want-to-read list on my goodreads because that's definitely I I like books like that too, that kind of make you think of see both sides, challenging situations.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm a big fan of that.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so But Christina, no, thank you again.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: This has been such a pleasure talking with you.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: And now that we've met, I can't wait to see all obviously we're gonna spotlight all the work you've done, but now that we've talked about all the things you want to do, we'll just put it out there and speak it into existence.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: We can't wait to see your stuff on the big screen.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: We can't see the books being successful.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: We can't see every we can't wait to see everything that you're going to accomplish.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're happy to uh to have you a part of our journey, and we will certainly be excited to be a part of yours.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really appreciate this, Christina.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: This was awesome.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Chris.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a pleasure.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: You have such an easy-going way about you, so easy to talk to, and your podcast is awesome.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be listening on and on, and thank you so much for everything.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Christina.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.