Speaker 1: You see it all the time on the commercials. Go
to this side, go to that website. Hey, if you
go here, you'll get more and more, more and more
and more. But wait, there's even more. No, there's only
one place. When it comes to the podcast aro dot
net A R r oe dot net, seventeen different podcasts
to choose from. Thanks for being a part of the journey.
Speaker 2: How's it going?
Speaker 1: Fantastic? Is this Anna?
Speaker 2: This is Anna?
Speaker 1: Anna. I want to step inside your creative imagination because
you've got a way with words, and I want to
know how you were able to find the confidence and
the courage to design it like this.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to
talk about it.
Speaker 1: What seriously I mean as writers, because you know how
it is. You and I both had the courage to
set our stuff free. But what about those that are
currently sitting inside their homes. They're stuffing it inside boxes,
putting it underneath their bed or up in the attic.
But yet, when you've got a book like this one
Weathersfield Road, Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know it's it's a really scary thing to
kind of put yourself out there like that. My book
Weathersfield Road is semi autobiographical, and so it is a
lot about my own journey getting sober and healing from
mental illness, and so the idea of putting that out
in the world is really really terrifying. I don't think
it's supposed to not be scary. I think it's about
doing it anyway.
Speaker 1: So when you talk about going sober, where did you
learn that step to pick up a writing instrument and
even start writing? Because I mean, I mean, you've got
Julia Cameron's The Artist Way, which has always served as
a great tool for many people.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, you know, I actually started writing this book
as a therapeutic exercise, kind of like narrative therapy, like
rewriting some of the stuff that I wanted to be different,
or just expressing some of the thoughts and feelings that
felt too dark to let out at the time that
they were happening. And then it just kind of became
this therapeutic narrative that I hoped would be like a
showing others how I did it myself so that maybe
they could do it in their own lives.
Speaker 1: Stepping into the shoes of Amelia. I mean, you said
that it's based on your true life. Did you have
to change the name to protect the innocent?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, every name was changed except for the horse and
the book. I could not change her name because her
name was Hope and it was too perfect.
Speaker 1: Oh you know, then as that writing instrument put those
words on the page, what was that like for you
to release it? Because you know, once again back to
Julia Cameron, she says, you got to clean out your closet,
and that's pretty much what you might be doing here,
is that you're cleaning out the closet so that we
can move on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think Brene Brown has a term
that I really love. She calls it a vulnerability hangover,
and I absolutely felt that upon releasing this book, it
felt like taking the most tender part of myself and
kind of turning it inside out for the world and
then just being like, first, I.
Speaker 2: Hope you read it. But even if you read it
and I hope you like it.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's more than just to read. I
really do think it's one of those situations where it's
going to become the conversation piece and then somebody's going
to be strolling through their own personal journey. They're going
to go you know Anna was onto something. Maybe I
need to go take a step into that direction.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know that would be the dream. You know,
I've had a lot of women either my age or
around my age.
Speaker 3: Come up and say, you know, I didn't know anybody
felt like that until I read Amelia's Inner Dialogue, and
that let me know I was doing my job.
Speaker 1: So now this dialogue that you're speaking of, I mean,
how did it come into being?
Speaker 3: You know, I have been a journal writer, just kind
of a motor for as long as I can remember.
And a good chunk of the book is these entries
that I would just kind of like scribble in my
notebook or right on my laptop, just like really dark
thoughts or dark emotions that were coming up at the time,
and and I just saved them for some reason, and
they're woven throughout the whole story, like these thoughts that
I don't think we really have access to unless we're
in the depths of addiction or depression.
Speaker 1: So no, now here's the thing though, when when you
speak of Amelia and you're putting these thoughts into a book,
the thing is is that how are you able to
transfer that into a storyline? Because are you using what
I call hidden speak. In other words, you know the experience,
but you don't want to weigh things down, so therefore
you use creative writing in order to get the point
across but not so sharp.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And you know there's so much in the book
that you know, the timeline's not exact, and that was
the beauty of making it fiction is that I can
you know, bend the bend the facts to get to
the more emotional truth of the matter.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Anna binder Reardon
coming up next the name of a book, Weathersfield Road.
We are back with author Anna binder Rudin. Are we
crazy people to think that what we put on paper
or inside a computer really does have the power to
help somebody out? Because I mean, I've been a daily
writer since July of nineteen ninety four. The majority of
what I do comes from my journals and then here
you are, and it's the same.
Speaker 4: Thing, absolutely absolutely, And you know, I think it's like
what I tell myself is that, you know, maybe it
could change the world, but if it could change the
world for one person, it will have been worth it.
Speaker 3: You know, you know, I read once thatt One in
four people will be profoundly affected by addiction within their lifetime.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's the thing about it. What is addiction
to so many people? It could be your smartphone, it
could be something as simple as a you know, a
propel every day. Oh my god, I got to have
my propel or my ready. I mean, it's crazy what
addiction has become.
Speaker 3: Yes, we are a very addicted society. And I think
it's because you know, we have a lot of cane.
Then we have a really deep ache to to figure
out who we are in the midst of so much chaos,
and you know, we all have ways that we cope
with that.
Speaker 1: So did you go into the book knowing that? Okay,
so I experienced this, But there's some taboo areas I'm
not going to touch because I will do that. For instance,
one of the places that I will never go back
in and write about, even though it is featured in
my second book are the events that took place just
shortly before September eleventh and everything after. I had no
idea what might or even remember what I went through
after nine to eleven, and I one day I would
love to sit down with other people and say, can
we just compare notes here and then let's create a story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And you know there was there were
definitely things that felt uncomfortable to touch. But I will
say I kind of went back there and just still
and the gaps with my own, with my own kind
of interpretation of what might have happened. And it was
really healing because there's stuff that you know, the brain
protects itself, and there were gaps in there, but to
kind of fill them in was really healing.
Speaker 1: Well, one of the things that Amelia has, she's got
some vesties here that a lot of people can relate
with and or some people will admit to a bottle
and a bong. Now, one thing that I know is
going to start showing up in stories. Somewhere along the
line here. I realized that we do talk about the bottle,
we think of alcohol, we think of the bomb, but
THHC infused drinks are coming in. I one day there's
going to be a book that's going to say, well,
she became addicted to the THCHC and and because it's there,
we're always looking for that. Next up, so is writing
your addiction, because it's my addiction. I can't put the
darn stuff away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, one hundred percent. I look become an addiction
for me.
Speaker 3: I'm just constantly thinking of things and just pulling out
my phone, excuse me, and just like jotting down an
idea or like a sentence or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: You know, it does become an addiction.
Speaker 3: But but you know, I think the opposite of addiction
is connection, and writing is connection. It's it's sharing ourselves
with somebody and hoping they see themselves in it as well.
And you know, to your point about to see Amelia,
you know she she's a drinker, but she smokes.
Speaker 2: A lot of weed. And I smoked a lot of
weed and I was one hundred percent addicted to it.
You know that whether or not I was physically dependent
on it is you know, I'm not a doctor, but
you know it's it's absolutely possible to get addicted to
that stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's so easy, even as writers, to come
up with with the perfect excuse as to why you're
doing something. Oh, I'm doing it because I just want
to get some sleep tonight. Oh really, Oh really, so
we're going to do this instead. No, I totally get it,
because I mean, we all and it's not just one addiction.
I mean, because I mean one of the things. I mean,
you're talking about crash, landings, domestic violence, drug induce shame.
I mean, you give us a laundry list of things
here and then we get to go live it through Mellia.
But the thing is always that vicariously we live through
it and we see ourselves. Therefore we can just That's
what I like about it is that we can relate
with it. We can step into those shoes. And that's
why I'm right in the very beginning when I said
I love your writing.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: That that's uh, you know, I'm very new at this,
and so anytime it resonates with anybody, it just it's
still just kind of euphoric feelings.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much. And you know, it's been
a it's been a really exciting journey.
Speaker 1: Well, you've got something in this book that needs to
be on a poster or it needs to be on
a T shirt when it comes to marketing the book
Weathersfield Road and that and that is is the crossfaded
chaos Queen of Nobody's Dreams. I love that. That sounds
like a Freddie Mercury song man.
Speaker 2: It does sound like a Freddy Mercury song. That's the
best compliment ever.
Speaker 1: I mean, where does something like that come from? And
are you yourself shocked when something like that happens?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know it's we Me and my editor were
sitting so yeah, I'm an independent author, and me and
my editor sat down to write, like the blurb on
the back of the book, and that phrase came to mind,
and I was.
Speaker 2: Like, is that too kitchy? But I love it now,
you know, it's it speaks to the way the book
is written.
Speaker 1: What did you learn from this? Because once again, I
mean you said you're just getting started on this. I've
been at it since nineteen ninety four, so I've got
seven books from all of the writing. I can't wait
until you hit your seventh book so I can see
what your eyes look like and what your voice is
doing as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's.
Speaker 3: It. It's a I think that the second book is
proving so much harder to write them the first book.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, I thought the first book was hard,
this is hard.
Speaker 3: And you know, I just I have to like trust
my eye to point me towards what story needs to
be told next.
Speaker 1: Did they put you in the right category at Barnes
and Noble and on Amazon because they totally screwed up
on my first two books. I'm going, no, that's not
what this book is about. Come on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was weird, like I would call it women's fiction,
recovery fiction, and Amazon at one point had it under
like parent life fiction.
Speaker 2: Or like children and parents. I was like, children should
not read this book.
Speaker 1: See, and I think it should be under the hallmark
because is it not love? I mean, seriously, when you
dig deeper into the storyline, is this not a love story?
Speaker 3: It is a love story, and you know it's a
love story. Amelia refers to her love affair with the
wind at one point in the book because she's just
becoming aware of her five senses and being a human.
Speaker 5: Being, and it's a love story between her and her horse,
who actually ends up getting her sober because she rides
under the influence and crashes and then that's like her
big realization and she goes on to get sober.
Speaker 2: And it's about, you know, going through those toxic relationships
to learn how to be a better person and then
finding the relationship that's actually healthy. So it absolutely, absolutely
is a love story.
Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about
you and start following you?
Speaker 2: Anna?
Speaker 1: Because I love your voice and I can't wait to
continue growing with you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can find me at Anna A n n
A Dashwrights dot com. You can also follow me on
Instagram at millennial author Anna.
Speaker 1: Okay, you gotta explain that one to me here you
said you said dash white right, because I've got Anna
Binder Rearden weird in Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's like the same domain. So if you
go to Anna Reardon a n n A r e
A R d o n dot com, it'll take you
to the same place.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
Speaker 3: Anna.
Speaker 1: The door is always going to be open for you.
And during this process, if you ever find yourself in
a position of becoming the teacher, which I have a
feeling you're going to, then just always know this door
is always going to be open for you as well,
because there are a lot of creative people that need
guidance from people like yourself.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much. That's the end of the game.
It's finding really good mentors. So it's really nice to
meet you.
Speaker 1: Will you'd be brilliant today. Okay, you do.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much,