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Speaker 1: Hello, Good morning everybody. Hello, Hey, how are you doing.

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Speaker 2: I'm fine? How are you?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic, man. I am so proud of you for

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writing this book because I am such a major fan

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of snorkeling, but the life underneath the water. In fact,

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this morning my wife and I were talking about this

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in the way of we we're having this hurricane in

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this tropical storm right now, and we were worried about

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the life underneath the surface of the water, and we

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sat there and talked about this book that you know,

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it all changes.

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Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

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Speaker 1: For you to bring this book to life. What I mean,

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that's got to be your picture in the back of

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the book, is it not with the snorkel a it is?

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Knew it. I knew it. I mean I looked at

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that picture, going this has got to be her.

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Speaker 2: Yes. I didn't get to snorkel until I was in

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my twenties, unlike Gracie. But as soon as I tried,

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like within ten seconds, I was like, I am doing

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this for the rest of my life.

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Speaker 1: I'll never forget the first time that I went beneath

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the water, and it changed my life because it was

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like I didn't know this even existed until we took

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those steps exactly exactly.

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Speaker 2: I felt exactly the same way.

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Speaker 1: And aren't you pretty much inside this book of inviting

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readers to do the same thing, get involved with snorkeling

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as well as scuba diving.

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Speaker 2: I think yes. But I am acutely aware that it's

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a great privilege to be able to snorkel, to be

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able to travel to places where you can snorkel, and

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so forth. So while I definitely want to share my

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enthusiasm for snorkeling and wish that everyone could see what

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you just expressed, the amazing things that are under the water,

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I think that even more so, I just want people

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to find a place where their passion can intersect with

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saving the planet.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the things that readers need to understand

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is that each one of these chapters represents a fish.

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I mean, the butterfly fish. I'm not familiar with this fish.

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I'm learning new things while I'm reading.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I did too, I did too. I mean, obviously

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I know about snorkeling, and there are certain things that

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I knew, but I learned so much more by writing

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this book. And it's one of the things I love

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about writing is that it is for me a tremendous

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opportunity to learn.

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Speaker 1: You bring a lot of reality to these pages in

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the way that when Gracie is kind of put up

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against the QORL, that makes her anger and she says

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things that she didn't really mean to say. But now

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how is she going to unsay them?

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Speaker 2: As you say exactly, I think that you know, I

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don't know about everybody else in the world, but I

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have those moments, and I always want to for the

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age that I write for my wonderful young readers. I

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always think of the books that I am creating for them.

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I want them to be a safe place to practice

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at life, because life is hard and we all need

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all the practice we can get. And books and relating

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to a character and seeing the mistakes that they make,

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that's a way up to practice at life.

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Speaker 1: It's almost like you have a serious calling to, you know,

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reach out to these YA readers and say, hey, look,

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I realize there's a lot of content on social media,

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but climate change is very real, and we're going to

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put it in story form so that you can understand

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it better.

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Speaker 2: I hope. So I think that there are a million

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wonderful causes in the world, and it's terrific that people

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all devote their time and energy and money to different causes.

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But the planet needs to be on everyone's list, because

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if we don't have the planet, you know, what's the

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use of the rest of it.

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Speaker 1: The lionfish grill is in an authentic grill because I mean,

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this looks like something that I would run into down

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in Charleston.

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Speaker 2: The lionfish grill is based on restaurants that I have

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read about, not eaten at, but read about in Florida.

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In Florida, they're doing these things. So I transplanted it

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to where Grazie and her family vacation on the island

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of Roatan in Honduras. But yes, there are definitely restaurants

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that serve up lionfish because of their invasiveness.

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. I mean, have you ever tried it?

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Speaker 2: No? I haven't, but it's supposed to be delicious.

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Speaker 1: The actual format of the story, how did it arrive

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with you as the writer? I mean to do? Was

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it the beginning, middle, and end or did it come

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to you in pieces parts?

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Speaker 2: Well? I knew I wanted to write a story about

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snorkeling because I think that writers do their best work

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when they're writing from a passion, and I am indeed

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passionate about snorkeling. So I gave Gracie basically what was

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my own journey, which was from you know, wanting the

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coral reefs to stay as wonderful as they are for

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my own recreation, and then gradually realizing how much more

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important they are than just that.

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Speaker 1: See. And that's one of the things that I really

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enjoy about this because as I read the story, what

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happens is is it takes me to my own place.

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It's almost like you've given us a free ticket to

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ride to escape.

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Speaker 2: I hope. So, I hope it's enjoyable and entertaining as

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well as being enlightening and inspiring.

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Speaker 1: Now, what other projects are you working on? Because this

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can't be the only one.

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Speaker 2: Oh No, I've been very fortunate. I have more than

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thirty books for young readers. It's just the best job

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in the world. And in February I have a picture

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book coming out for very young readers called Smiling Eyes.

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Speaker 1: Wow, will it be as colorful as this book, because

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I mean, you picked out some seriously beautiful colors for

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this from you know, for the cover.

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Speaker 2: Oh I wish I could take credit for that. That

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was the wonderful illustrator, Maxine v working with the book designer,

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and yes, I think it's a fantastic cover. The illustrator

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for Smiling Eyes is Lenny Wen and she's done an

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equally wonderful job.

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Speaker 1: So, now, what did you learn from this story? Because

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you know, the thing is is that as authors, we're

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also students when we're putting those words in action.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I totally agree. I learned about the efforts that

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are being made to restore coral I learned more about

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coral reef's importance as one of the keystone ecosystems on

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our planet, you know, along with things like wetlands and

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rainforests and and how the planet just will not survive

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if we don't protect those places very soon.

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Speaker 1: Yes, so that that's one of the first things that

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my wife and I did before we became married, is

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she was down in the coral areas of Florida and

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she was describing it to me and what it was

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like to go through that experience and once you see it,

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you're not the same person ever.

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Speaker 2: Again, that is so true, And Gracie talks about that

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in the book about how we just need to see

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we can't see it. Most of us are not able

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to see what's happening under the water and if we could,

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if we could, we would all realize the urgency of it.

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Speaker 1: Even readers that are in the central part of this

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country that don't get to go to the ocean to

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see these kinds of things, can't they practice something, you know,

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because trash is everything, and trash is actually hurting the ocean,

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and it comes from humans.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I spent my whole childhood landlocked. I grew up

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in Illinois, and I live now in far western New York,

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which is still landlocked, hundreds of miles from the ocean.

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And yet, as I said, I learned about how you know,

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if the coral reefs die, the ocean will die, and

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if the ocean dies, we're all in big trouble, no

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matter how far inland we live. Wow.

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Speaker 1: Wow, Where can people to find out more about you, Linda?

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Because I want them to get into your writing.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. I have a website which is just my

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name Linda siouepark dot com. And for social media, I

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am on I always forget to say X. I'm on Twitter,

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and also my imprint. Ali Da Sorry Ali DA Books

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A L L I d A is on Instagram.

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Speaker 1: What do you offer for a little bit of help

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for someone who is going to read this book and

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Nato are going to pick up a pencil or a

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pen or even on their computer, and they're going to

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want to write because we were both there at one

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time where we took that chance with words.

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Speaker 2: That's right. I would say that first drafts are really important,

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and the important thing is to get them written, not

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to get them right. So to give yourself permission to

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write really terrible first drefts very important.

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Speaker 1: I always tell people give yourself permission to make mistakes.

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Go make mistakes and learn from them.

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Speaker 2: That's right. That's when I do writing workshops with young people.

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I will walk through the room as they're writing and

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I'll say, worse, Come on, you can be worse than that.

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I know you can.

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Speaker 1: I love it. Please come back to this show anytime

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in the future. The door is always going to be

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open for you.

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Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you very much, and thank

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you for your kind comments about my book, Gracie Under

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the Waves.

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Speaker 1: Well, I expect to hear from you in February. With

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that new book.

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Speaker 2: Okay, thanks again.

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Speaker 1: You'd be brilliant.

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Speaker 2: Okay, okay, you too.