Speaker 1: Hello, Good morning everybody. Hello, Hey, how are you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm fine? How are you?
Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic, man. I am so proud of you for
writing this book because I am such a major fan
of snorkeling, but the life underneath the water. In fact,
this morning my wife and I were talking about this
in the way of we we're having this hurricane in
this tropical storm right now, and we were worried about
the life underneath the surface of the water, and we
sat there and talked about this book that you know,
it all changes.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: For you to bring this book to life. What I mean,
that's got to be your picture in the back of
the book, is it not with the snorkel a it is?
Knew it. I knew it. I mean I looked at
that picture, going this has got to be her.
Speaker 2: Yes. I didn't get to snorkel until I was in
my twenties, unlike Gracie. But as soon as I tried,
like within ten seconds, I was like, I am doing
this for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget the first time that I went beneath
the water, and it changed my life because it was
like I didn't know this even existed until we took
those steps exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: I felt exactly the same way.
Speaker 1: And aren't you pretty much inside this book of inviting
readers to do the same thing, get involved with snorkeling
as well as scuba diving.
Speaker 2: I think yes. But I am acutely aware that it's
a great privilege to be able to snorkel, to be
able to travel to places where you can snorkel, and
so forth. So while I definitely want to share my
enthusiasm for snorkeling and wish that everyone could see what
you just expressed, the amazing things that are under the water,
I think that even more so, I just want people
to find a place where their passion can intersect with
saving the planet.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the things that readers need to understand
is that each one of these chapters represents a fish.
I mean, the butterfly fish. I'm not familiar with this fish.
I'm learning new things while I'm reading.
Speaker 2: Oh, I did too, I did too. I mean, obviously
I know about snorkeling, and there are certain things that
I knew, but I learned so much more by writing
this book. And it's one of the things I love
about writing is that it is for me a tremendous
opportunity to learn.
Speaker 1: You bring a lot of reality to these pages in
the way that when Gracie is kind of put up
against the QORL, that makes her anger and she says
things that she didn't really mean to say. But now
how is she going to unsay them?
Speaker 2: As you say exactly, I think that you know, I
don't know about everybody else in the world, but I
have those moments, and I always want to for the
age that I write for my wonderful young readers. I
always think of the books that I am creating for them.
I want them to be a safe place to practice
at life, because life is hard and we all need
all the practice we can get. And books and relating
to a character and seeing the mistakes that they make,
that's a way up to practice at life.
Speaker 1: It's almost like you have a serious calling to, you know,
reach out to these YA readers and say, hey, look,
I realize there's a lot of content on social media,
but climate change is very real, and we're going to
put it in story form so that you can understand
it better.
Speaker 2: I hope. So I think that there are a million
wonderful causes in the world, and it's terrific that people
all devote their time and energy and money to different causes.
But the planet needs to be on everyone's list, because
if we don't have the planet, you know, what's the
use of the rest of it.
Speaker 1: The lionfish grill is in an authentic grill because I mean,
this looks like something that I would run into down
in Charleston.
Speaker 2: The lionfish grill is based on restaurants that I have
read about, not eaten at, but read about in Florida.
In Florida, they're doing these things. So I transplanted it
to where Grazie and her family vacation on the island
of Roatan in Honduras. But yes, there are definitely restaurants
that serve up lionfish because of their invasiveness.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. I mean, have you ever tried it?
Speaker 2: No? I haven't, but it's supposed to be delicious.
Speaker 1: The actual format of the story, how did it arrive
with you as the writer? I mean to do? Was
it the beginning, middle, and end or did it come
to you in pieces parts?
Speaker 2: Well? I knew I wanted to write a story about
snorkeling because I think that writers do their best work
when they're writing from a passion, and I am indeed
passionate about snorkeling. So I gave Gracie basically what was
my own journey, which was from you know, wanting the
coral reefs to stay as wonderful as they are for
my own recreation, and then gradually realizing how much more
important they are than just that.
Speaker 1: See. And that's one of the things that I really
enjoy about this because as I read the story, what
happens is is it takes me to my own place.
It's almost like you've given us a free ticket to
ride to escape.
Speaker 2: I hope. So, I hope it's enjoyable and entertaining as
well as being enlightening and inspiring.
Speaker 1: Now, what other projects are you working on? Because this
can't be the only one.
Speaker 2: Oh No, I've been very fortunate. I have more than
thirty books for young readers. It's just the best job
in the world. And in February I have a picture
book coming out for very young readers called Smiling Eyes.
Speaker 1: Wow, will it be as colorful as this book, because
I mean, you picked out some seriously beautiful colors for
this from you know, for the cover.
Speaker 2: Oh I wish I could take credit for that. That
was the wonderful illustrator, Maxine v working with the book designer,
and yes, I think it's a fantastic cover. The illustrator
for Smiling Eyes is Lenny Wen and she's done an
equally wonderful job.
Speaker 1: So, now, what did you learn from this story? Because
you know, the thing is is that as authors, we're
also students when we're putting those words in action.
Speaker 2: Oh, I totally agree. I learned about the efforts that
are being made to restore coral I learned more about
coral reef's importance as one of the keystone ecosystems on
our planet, you know, along with things like wetlands and
rainforests and and how the planet just will not survive
if we don't protect those places very soon.
Speaker 1: Yes, so that that's one of the first things that
my wife and I did before we became married, is
she was down in the coral areas of Florida and
she was describing it to me and what it was
like to go through that experience and once you see it,
you're not the same person ever.
Speaker 2: Again, that is so true, And Gracie talks about that
in the book about how we just need to see
we can't see it. Most of us are not able
to see what's happening under the water and if we could,
if we could, we would all realize the urgency of it.
Speaker 1: Even readers that are in the central part of this
country that don't get to go to the ocean to
see these kinds of things, can't they practice something, you know,
because trash is everything, and trash is actually hurting the ocean,
and it comes from humans.
Speaker 2: Yes, I spent my whole childhood landlocked. I grew up
in Illinois, and I live now in far western New York,
which is still landlocked, hundreds of miles from the ocean.
And yet, as I said, I learned about how you know,
if the coral reefs die, the ocean will die, and
if the ocean dies, we're all in big trouble, no
matter how far inland we live. Wow.
Speaker 1: Wow, Where can people to find out more about you, Linda?
Because I want them to get into your writing.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I have a website which is just my
name Linda siouepark dot com. And for social media, I
am on I always forget to say X. I'm on Twitter,
and also my imprint. Ali Da Sorry Ali DA Books
A L L I d A is on Instagram.
Speaker 1: What do you offer for a little bit of help
for someone who is going to read this book and
Nato are going to pick up a pencil or a
pen or even on their computer, and they're going to
want to write because we were both there at one
time where we took that chance with words.
Speaker 2: That's right. I would say that first drafts are really important,
and the important thing is to get them written, not
to get them right. So to give yourself permission to
write really terrible first drefts very important.
Speaker 1: I always tell people give yourself permission to make mistakes.
Go make mistakes and learn from them.
Speaker 2: That's right. That's when I do writing workshops with young people.
I will walk through the room as they're writing and
I'll say, worse, Come on, you can be worse than that.
I know you can.
Speaker 1: I love it. Please come back to this show anytime
in the future. The door is always going to be
open for you.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you very much, and thank
you for your kind comments about my book, Gracie Under
the Waves.
Speaker 1: Well, I expect to hear from you in February. With
that new book.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks again.
Speaker 1: You'd be brilliant.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, you too.