← Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read
Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read
E704 - Sasha Preston - The Sweetest Getaway, a gripping, girl-powered caper
00:40:51
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- [00:01]
A
Yeah. So a sweet scheme follows Martha, who is one of the core heist characters in the Sweetest Getaway, and it is her backstory. So she has her own business, and it's about her and her business partner and a competitor that tries to go against them in their mocktail business and tries to take them down. And so they put on disguises, they sneak into the competitor's headquarters, and. And they end up uncovering a scheme that's a lot bigger than they realized. So they have to go on a crime caper adventure to try and defend their business and stop this competitor from destroying it, basically. So it's the backstory of how Martha came to be so great at heist and crime caper situations, and you get to get some more insight into who she is as a person. And so it's. It's a. Another really fun time.
- [01:03]
B
Welcome back to the VMXT chapter. It's the author podcast. We get to meet amazing authors from around the world. If you want to take a getaway, like, and you want, like, a really sweet getaway, our guest today is going to be able to help you with that. She's got some great things to share with us from her journey as an author, and she's going to help any of those people who would consider themselves to be a daydreamer. So. So if that's you, stick around. You're going to love. Sasha's on the podcast. Sasha, welcome to Living the Next Chapter. Glad to have you here.
- [01:36]
A
Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited.
- [01:38]
B
See that. I got a little bit of stuff from the title of the book. Got a little bit of things from the book, just to throw them in there, make it a little bit curious for people. It's good. Sasha, tell everybody. Where are you in this big world of ours?
- [01:50]
A
I am based in the beautiful world of Southern California. So we still have pretty nice weather. We're in the low 60s right now.
- [01:57]
B
Okay. And I have a crackling fire going beside me as we chat because I'm in Canada and I'm jealous of where you are, so that's good. Awesome. Has that been home for you your entire life?
- [02:08]
A
No, I'm actually from Michigan. I'm from the wintry world of Michigan, so I understand your pain. Unfortunately, I've lost my. My backbone for it. I'm no longer the strong Michiganian that can handle the cold. Now when I visit for Christmas, I'm like, why do people live here at this time of year?
- [02:28]
B
What is wr with you people? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's. Yeah, I'm a little jealous because, yeah, I guess you would probably. Those skills and talents of driving in the snow and shoveling out your, your car out of a snow bank, you don't need to worry about that as much anymore. Right? So, yeah, it takes a lot of
- [02:45]
A
steps out of your day in the winter, I'll tell you that much.
- [02:48]
B
I know, I know. Yeah, that's why I'm super jealous. But anyway, that's good. We have authors on listen to the show Sasha, and they're, they're here because they're looking for inspiration for their project. They, they're just beginning. Right. To even be a guest on a podcast to talk about your book seems like a dream a years away for them. But you've done it. You're, you're here, you, you're a published author. You know stuff that could really help somebody listening. And I, it's funny because when I turn this question towards my guests, I'm like, you're the expert in the room here. And they're like, I'm not an expert. I just wrote one book. But you've written more than I have and I'm not an author. So out of the two of us, you can answer these questions better than anyone. So there's someone here listening right now and they, they're on this journey. They want to get to where you are. Can you kind of give them some motivation, some encouragement? What would have been helpful to hear when you first started writing the Sweetest Getaway that would maybe make it easier for you had you heard it from another author? What, what can we do to help somebody listening today?
- [03:53]
A
Yeah, absolutely. So I think the most important thing to bear in mind is that writing is never final. It's completely open to you to change and evolve and grow what you've created. And so putting so much pressure on yourself that each sentence or each paragraph or each thought. Thought has to be well done or has to emerge from you perfectly is putting way too much pressure on yourself. If you take a step back and you just allow yourself to let the thoughts flow and allow the story to be alive, allow it to evolve in the ways that it wants to evolve and bring in the support that you need the beta readers to look it over and tell you where your story could be strengthened and give yourself that space to edit, I think that will remove most of the roadblocks that people experience. I think people get in their own way by expecting perfection from the get go. And that's really not what writing is. I think it's. It's way more about, you know, just getting your thoughts out there, exercising your creative muscle, and knowing that it takes time. You know, these things do not emerge out of you immediately. Creativity needs to be, you know, nurtured. You need to go through the process of thinking things through and letting them evolve. And so just have faith in yourself. And the most important thing is just to write and just to see where it takes you and don't worry about the outcome. Right now, you can edit as much as you need.
- [05:36]
B
Okay, for you, during your writing process, what seemed to be like a natural, almost easy thing, it just kind of flowed for you as a writer. And then what was something that was a muscle that was harder and you had to develop, so something easier and something harder. What was it for you?
- [05:54]
A
Yeah, for me, I think I get a bunch of random ideas and I have such a good time just following them. And I think that that has helped me to add a lot of really interesting detail, a lot of quirks to the storyline, a lot of text, and it's helped to make the story a lot more rich and fascinating. And then the opposite side of that coin is that sometimes during the writing process, I will go off into a topic that's not really related to the plot. Luckily, I've fixed that. That's not in the final version of the book, but when I was initially writing, I would follow these side ideas that were interesting, but that didn't actually add to the storyline, didn't make the story more compell. So that was a big learning process for me. You know, having beta readers look at the book and say, hey, this doesn't really add to the storyline. It kind of slows it down. We need to cut this. So learning where to cut was a super beneficial process for me as I went through the editing experience.
- [07:05]
B
Is it intimidating to put yourself in your book in front of beta readers and have them read it and the feedback comes back and some of the things they don't like? Isn't that kind of intimidating or a little discouraging? Maybe?
- [07:17]
A
I can definitely see how that would be. Writing is so personal, and you're. You're putting yourself out there. You're putting something out that you might think is good or certain aspects of it you like. And then you get people's feedback and you realize, I think it's really important to be open to their feedback and to read it and say to yourself, does this make sense? Does this resonate with me? And ultimately, you're not writing for Yourself, you're writing for your readers, so you need to be able to listen to them and understand where they're coming from. Not everything's going to resonate, not everything's going to seem correct to you. But if you stop and you think about, okay, this person says they're not feeling this emotion at this time that they should be feeling, that checks out. I should strengthen that. And I mean, it is hard. It can be hard to read those things, especially after you've created something that you think is good or a passage that you enjoy. But I think you've got to learn how to be a little bit more strong and learn how to take those things and act on them. Because ultimately, beta readers will make your story so much better.
- [08:35]
B
Yeah, I've been listening and watching a bunch of movie, like script writers and stuff. And when they show a movie to an audience, you know as to get their feedback in a screening, they're watching the audience to make sure they're laughing at the right spots where it's funny. They're jumping when there should be a scare, they're crying when it's a really heart touching moment. And if your audience isn't doing any of those things at the right time, it's like, we need to go back and work on this movie because it's not connecting with people in the areas in the spots where we want it to connect. So that's great feedback. We have to go back and rework the story so that we're having the impact we wanted with our audience as they watch the movie. So it's kind of the same way with your beta readers. You want them to connect with those key points of the story so that the story meets your objective as the author. So it happens in movies, it happens in music, it happens in books. All of these things where you put your things in front of a community and to get their feedback. And as long as you're not threatened by the process, I think there's a lot of valuable lessons you can learn just by getting the feedback.
- [09:44]
A
Exactly. And if you just think about it as a process of, they're kind of like your coaches, they're helping you get stronger as a writer. You're investing in yourself. It's. It's part of your education. You know, if you were to take a class on how to become a better writer, they might teach you broad concepts that help, but they don't help anywhere near as much as getting specific feedback about your work from readers that would actually read your work. I think that is A much more valuable course than any teacher could give because it's personal to you. It's like a coach.
- [10:20]
B
Yeah. And when you rely only on people who know and love you closely, friends, family, they're more apt to say, oh, look at you with your little cute book. And they aren't. They're cute. You know, they're not giving you any context about the story. They're just like, well done. You wrote a book. Have you read it? No, but I'm just so happy that you wrote a book. I'm so proud of you. Well, I want feedback on the story. I'm. I'm thankful that you're proud of me, but I, I need some kind of help on making sure the book resonates right.
- [10:51]
A
Exactly. And the issue with working with personal beta readers that you know and love in addition to that is that, you know, oftentimes they might not read your genre. And also they're not experienced in looking for these issues, making an effective and compelling story. They can give you feedback, but it's, it's probably not going to be anywhere near to the level of a beta reader who's read hundreds and hundreds of stories and has critiqued and found ways to improve those stories. So it's, it's much better. And, and an actual beta reader will read your book. Like you said, a family member might read a portion. You know, they don't have the time to dedicate to it. So it's, it's much better to just go straight to someone with the experience and the chopsticks. Be able to help you.
- [11:43]
B
Yeah. So a follow up to that, then. What do you think constitutes a great beta reader? Like, what kind of elements are, are we looking for in a beta reader to give us good feedback? A casual reader who reads once a year or somebody who, like an author, a fellow author who writes, like, where's the kind of. Where do you see on the scale would be a good beta reader then?
- [12:04]
A
That's a great question. What? I know it's. It's probably hard to find someone on a platform such as Fiverr where you don't have access to any of their work and you don't know the types of feedback that they're going to give. But sometimes beta readers will give you samples of feedback that they've given to other writers. In my experience, what you want is someone who is very thorough and who will dive into your story and not just look within the confines of what you have, but consider how good this story could be and what elements are missing. To give the reader that experience that you want them to have. You know, if. If you're trying to transmit humor or joy or excitement or adventure, you know, what. Where is that missing? And how could your story be strengthened to make it more effective? So they're looking outside of the box of what you currently have and looking to the potential of what it could be. I think that makes them a lot stronger in terms of benefiting your book.
- [13:11]
B
Okay, great feedback. So that's for. That's why I like to do this at the beginning, because the authors are here and they don't know any of this stuff. Right. And they're just like, oh, I love this. This is great. So if there's an author, a new author that's starting their journey, and they would just love to send you an email, maybe ask you a few questions, we can always reach out to you, right? Because you'll always help another fellow authority.
- [13:33]
A
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Come to my website, sashapreston.com. i think there's a button that says contact or something along those lines, and there should be a contact form on there.
- [13:42]
B
Okay. Yeah. I want to connect not only readers with authors, but authors with authors, because I think we can do much better in community than we could ever do on our own.
- [13:52]
A
Oh, absolutely. And writing is such a solitary thing, and it doesn't have to be, and it can get really lonely. So it's good to have that community of other writers that you can lean on. I totally agree.
- [14:05]
B
Beautiful authors. As you hear this, reach out. Sasha love to help you. So we'll have a link for all her stuff in the. In the podcast right where you're listening. You can click right there and go right to her. So she'd love to hear from you. The readers are here, Sasha, and they're not necessarily here to write a book. They just want to fall in love with their next favorite author, which would be you. So let's talk to the readers.
- [14:25]
A
Who.
- [14:26]
B
Who do you envision would be your ideal reader? We talked about ideal beta readers, but actual readers of your finished book. Who do you have in mind? Who do you like to think of when you're writing? Kind of. Who's your audience? Can you expand on that a little bit for us?
- [14:41]
A
Yeah, absolutely. So the sweetest getaway is book two in the Sweet Escape series. Book one is a sweet scheme, which is a standalone short story that you can read in any order. You don't have to read it in order to read book two, but both of them are playful, joyful, adventurous, heist stories or crime caper stories that are in the women's fiction genre. So what I have been most excited by when writing these books is transmitting joy, excitement, playfulness, and giving women the opportunity to tap in and push themselves beyond their comfort zones. Do things that are more daring, try new things. Those are kind of the themes that I cover in these books. And so anyone that is looking for that escape, that wants to feel more joy just for the sake of feeling joy, no particular reason. I think these books are a great fit for them, as well as people that want to have a good laugh and experience an exciting heist.
- [15:50]
B
Okay, what are your characters escaping from then?
- [15:54]
A
Yes. So the second book, the Sweetest Getaway, is about Jennifer. She is a wholesome rule follower who has never broken a rule in her life. And her roommate Nahri is the complete opposite. She is a wild, freewheeling entrepreneur that's always coming up with crazy ways to make money. She never sticks with anything for very long. And they're not always completely legal ideas.
- [16:21]
B
Oh, okay.
- [16:22]
A
One night in the middle of the night, Nahri wakes Jennifer up and pulls her into this wild heist that is against a bad guy that Jennifer happens to know a little bit all too well. And Jennifer can't believe she's getting pulled into this. She fights it, and eventually she just gives in and they pull off this heist together. And much to Jennifer's surprise, it's much more fun than she thought it was going to be. So they need to pull off a second heist because their customer wants more product, and they need to bring in some additional, more experienced women to join their heist team to be able to pull it off this time. But then the cops are tipped off to them, and so they've got to go through all of these crazy schemes, all of these capers, to try and pull this heist off without getting caught by the cops. So the question is, will they get away with it, or will they spend the rest of their life in orange jumpsuits? And you'll have to read to find out.
- [17:21]
B
So my question to you, Sasha. Have you ever successfully orchestrated a heist of your own in your real life? Is that something you would like to talk about, or would you like to pass on that question?
- [17:32]
A
Maybe we should pass.
- [17:33]
B
I'm just kidding.
- [17:35]
A
I've never conducted a heist, but I. I love experiencing it through my characters without having to break any laws. Just opening the book, it's a great way to do.
- [17:46]
B
There you go. All right. So what inspires you to write this way you could write anything that you wanted to, but there seems to be some comedic parts to the story action as well, and a lot of intrigue as well. So why is this so exciting for you as an author, to write in this style?
- [18:06]
A
Yeah, absolutely. So when I first started to write the book, I thought to myself, what is the genre that makes me feel the most excited, the most joyful, and that gives me the most fun? And I immediately thought of heist stories because there's just something so fun about a team of amateurs pulling something off that they never thought they'd be able to pull off. And I think there's a lot of opportunity for playful humor, fun, chaos. And so that is something that really drew me to the genre.
- [18:40]
B
Okay. I know that in podcasting, true crime podcasts are huge for a female audience. Women love true crime podcasts, so there's elements of true crime here as well in a book format. So you've tapped into a very, very proud audience, a very. An audience that's very committed to those types of stories. So is that kind of a nice, like, secondary audience that's going to love your books as well? Anyone who loves true crime, Absolutely.
- [19:10]
A
But it's. It's important to note that this book is a cozy heist. So it's not going to be dark, it's not going to be scary. It's. It's like fun and thrilling and suspenseful, but all within the cozy side of things. So you know that you're having a thrilling time, but you know that you're safe and you know that it's always going to be fun and playful. So no trick.
- [19:35]
B
That's good. Okay. All right. Yeah. That suspense part, maybe that's kind of the part I was leaning into that question as well. That's something that people just find following a story and the puzzle pieces being put together for you in front of you, and you're like, oh, that's kind of interesting from. From a reader or a listener's perspective as well.
- [19:54]
A
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you get to try and figure it out as you go. It's fun for me to hear everybody's different theories and what they. They were set on. This is what was going to happen. And then they were shocked when it turned out a different way. So that's. That's been a good time too.
- [20:10]
B
Okay. As a non author kind of imagining you writing this, I imagine like in every movie, every TV show, you have the police have that board on the wall and there's photos of all the people that they're interested in. And they have strings and push pins, and they're attaching. This person, Sasha and Dave had a podcast together. So those two are linked, and this is linked, and this might be here and that might be there. And, like, this whole. And they're trying to make the world make sense up on the wall. Is that kind of a little bit for you as the writer? Are you trying to figure out how this storyline and how all these characters interact with each other? Is that part of the process of writing?
- [20:46]
A
Oh, absolutely. And that's a huge part of the editing process as well, I think, is discovering where those gaps are and figuring out how to fill them effectively in the story in a way that will add suspense, that will add surprise, in a way that makes sense, in a way that will develop the characters and move their arcs forward. You know, there are so many different things to consider as you're constructing the story, and I think that's why editing is such an important, iterative process, because as you change one part of the story, that impacts something that you did earlier, and you need to kind of evolve them all together to continue to have the story be effective and to make sense. So it's definitely an ongoing process. And I normally have notes in a bunch of different documents that I go back to and make sure that I'm addressing each one. And so there. There are so many layers, and you want to make sure that you're taking care of all those.
- [21:49]
B
We all know that term opposites attract, and it sounds like your two characters are opposites of each other. How? Without giving it away, if it harms the story, then please don't answer. But how do these two actually end up roommates? Because they seem like such opposites of each other, they don't seem like they'd get along as friends. So how. How did these two connect originally?
- [22:12]
A
That's a great question. So they met on an online roommate posting board.
- [22:17]
B
Oh.
- [22:18]
A
And the reason that Jennifer is so attracted to Nari is because she has wanted to be an entrepreneur for many years, and she's always just been kind of scared. She's never taken that next step. It's something that's just kind of always been in the back of her head. And throughout the story, she learns to be more daring and believe in herself and eventually take those steps potentially. And then Nahri is someone who has moved around a lot in her life and has lived in many different places. And she's a really strong and powerful person, but she does feel sometimes that sense of homesickness. So Finding Jennifer, who is this really wholesome Midwesterner, has been a really fulfilling and grounding place for her. So they both provide some of that support to the other person where they might be lacking in that area.
- [23:14]
B
Okay. So Jennifer and Ari come on this podcast. They burst in, the two of them, and they sit down and we can ask them any questions. We want these two characters from you as the author. You created these two characters, but there's still gotta be something you're curious about about them, their character, their background, something. Their favorite food. There's gotta be something you'd like to ask these to. So what question would you ask Jennifer if they were on the show with us? And what question would you ask Nahri?
- [23:43]
A
Great question. So Nahri, I think, has a little bit more mystery. She has started and run so many different schemes that I would just want to know more about them because, you know, I didn't have time to explore all of her background in this book. So I'd love to just hear more about her adventures and, you know, some of the schemes that she's had in the past, how she made money, who she worked with, all of that. Jennifer is a little bit more open. I might want to ask her. I feel like I would just want to hang out with Jennifer. She's just such a friendly, sweet person that I just love to have a conversation with her and see where it leads. And I'm sure I'd come up with questions during the conversation, but I think she'd be a good. They'd both be good. I'd love to hang out with both of them.
- [24:43]
B
It seems like Nari has a problem with commitment.
- [24:46]
A
Absolutely.
- [24:47]
B
Sticking with something. Right. So I'd like to know why, where that came from. That make me curious.
- [24:53]
A
That's a great question.
- [24:54]
B
Why can't you stay still? Why can't you just focus on one thing and do it well? It sounds like she's a successful person, so if she point all of her energies towards one thing, she'd really do well. But sounds like that's not interesting to her.
- [25:08]
A
Yeah, yeah, that's a very good question.
- [25:11]
B
And then Jennifer seems the opposite almost where she can pick one thing, do it really, really well, and be completely happy with it. Like, again, that's why I'm like, these two don't seem to match. And. Yeah, like this constant, you know, budding of heads where they're both trying to do what they. What makes them feel good and makes them feel happy.
- [25:28]
A
Right. Yeah. Well, you know, I actually, I've experienced a Lot of friendships where. With people that are very different from me. And I think that those can actually be some of the most fulfilling friendships because you expose each other to new ways of thinking and you end up pushing each other, not on purpose, but just through your differences. I think you question each other, you open new pathways. And I think that with Jennifer and Nahri, they actually end up really helping each other grow based on their own strengths. And I think that's something that I've noticed is. Is something that I really enjoy in my own friendship. So I wanted to bring that to the story.
- [26:14]
B
What's a positive aspect of Nari and a positive aspect of Jennifer that would impact you if you hung out with these two separately?
- [26:23]
A
That's a great question. You know, I love taking risks and trying new things, and I could definitely relate to that part of Nahri. But I think that she is often fearless and creative and coming up with new solutions in ways that I think she could push me even further in terms of finding opportunity and developing it and not questioning myself and just leaping into it. I think she's awesome in that area. And I think what I love about Jennifer is that she. Even though she doubts herself sometimes, she is much. She's very comfortable just being herself, and she is who she is, and she's not necessarily trying to cover that up. You know, even though she does question herself, she. She comes to the table as herself, as her authentic personality. And I think the. That is, especially throughout the book, she becomes stronger in that area. And I like that she. She embraces her own unique quirks. You know, she draws her own historic comic books and she loves ancient history from around the world. And she's always sharing anecdotes from these things. And I like that she has given herself the space. Space to explore new things that aren't necessarily cool and to be open and to share those things with other people.
- [28:02]
B
Okay, so someone's listening. They just bought the sweetest getaway. It arrived at their door today. They're super excited. They're going to sit down and read today. But before they do, before they even open the COVID you have a chance to speak to that reader. What's your hope for them? I like to frame it this way. What's your love letter to a reader about this book? From an author to the reader. What would you like to say before they start reading?
- [28:27]
A
Absolutely. I. I want you to enjoy this adventure. I hope you have a great time. I just want you to let loose, to laugh and to feel joy for no reason. Just To. To enjoy yourself. And I hope that you feel inspired after reading this book to try something new, to put yourself out there, and to do something that's a little bit more daring and to believe in yourself.
- [28:54]
B
Okay. You mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, there's also another book, A Sweet Scheme. Now, how does a sweet Scheme fit into all of this conversation? You said that it's kind of a standalone, but are we still talking about the same characters in this Sweet scheme? Like, can you expand a little bit more on that one as well?
- [29:11]
A
Yeah. So A Sweet Scheme follows Martha, who is one of the core heist characters in the Sweetest Getaway, and it is her backstory. So she has her own business, and it's about her and her business partner and a competitor that tries to go against them in their mocktail business and tries to take them down. And so they put on disguises, they sneak into the competitor's headquarters, and they end up uncovering a scheme that's a lot bigger than they realized. So they have to go on a crime caper adventure to try and defend their business and stop this competitor from destroying it, basically. So it's the backstory of how Martha came to be so great at heist and crime caper situations, and you get to get some more insight into who she is as a person. So it's another really fun time.
- [30:13]
B
Okay, and you said these books can be read separately.
- [30:15]
A
Exactly. You can read them in any order. You don't have to know Martha's backstory in order to read the Sweetest Getaway, and you can just read one at a time, however you want to do it.
- [30:25]
B
Okay, but there's elements that connect these two books together.
- [30:28]
A
Yes, exactly.
- [30:29]
B
Okay, so that's interesting. How do you. How do you. Okay, I'm not an author, so I have to ask. How do you. How do you know how to write two separate books that have some connections but don't depend on each other to tell the story? Like, how do you. How do you do that?
- [30:45]
A
Yeah, well, basically, Martha is the same character, but we're going back in time, so we get to see her, you know, not as fully developed in her heist capabilities, not as much of a mastermind, but kind of dipping her toes into the water for the first time and learning some of these skills. So we're taking the same character, but we're seeing her at a different point of time, which is really exciting for helping the reader to get to know her better. But there is nothing that in the storyline that's dependent on the other book, or vice versa for you to be able to understand it. It's a standalone from her past, basically.
- [31:30]
B
Okay, so there's a lot of stuff we can fall in love with. What have you heard back from readers for both the sweet scheme and the sweetest getaway? What are readers telling you? What are they enjoying? Because I kind of want to also get our audience to be aware of these things as they're reading. But what kind of feedback are you getting?
- [31:49]
A
Yeah, absolutely. So if people are loving the fun times, they're loving the witty banter. A lot of people are a fan of the female friendships and how central of a role that plays. It's very exciting and warm to read about that kind of found family vibe. So people are really enjoying that and just the cleverness required of the team, the chaos that they're going through, the excitement and the suspense. A lot of people have theories about what they think is going on, who they think is behind the cops getting tipped off, how the heist is going to go down, what's going to go wrong. People have tons of different theories about that. And then people have different favorite characters in the book, which is fun, and they root for different people and they see people in different lights. They see overarching themes in different ways. So it's. It's really fun to see how people interpret and experience the book as their own. That's been a fun experience, too.
- [32:58]
B
Any thoughts of an audio version of the books as well?
- [33:02]
A
Yes, absolutely. I'm in the process right now of working with different audiobook narrators and trying to figure out who to work with. You know, a lot of people just don't have the time to fit reading in throughout their day, but they might commute. You know, they might want to listen to something while they're doing chores. So audiobooks are really helpful for a lot of people to be able to read more. So coming to that realization has been important to me for creating that and putting that out into the world. So that is something that is currently in the works.
- [33:37]
B
Okay, see, there you go, everyone. I love audiobooks because I like to listen at work and a bunch of different spots. I also like to have the book and listen to the audiobook. I like to do both. I can buy two copies from you because I like hearing it, but also like following along in the story and. And seeing it happen in front of me. So for me, that really brings me into the story. It gets more of my senses involved, reading and listening. Right.
- [34:02]
A
That makes a lot of sense.
- [34:04]
B
Yeah, it's good. So the podcast is Living the Next Chapter. So it's a leading question for our listeners that love your books and love your stories. How are you living your next chapter? What's coming up down the road for you as a writer?
- [34:18]
A
Yeah, absolutely. So I am currently working on book three. Very excited to bring this book to the world. It is going to follow our same core heist team from the Sweetest Getaway. They are going after a new bad guy. They're conducting a new heist. And the exciting part about this book is that it's going to be set in a lot of different international settings. So instead of just Omaha, we get to go abroad, and it's going to be a lot of fun.
- [34:52]
B
Will there be a Canadian podcaster in the story? Maybe. I don't know. I'm just putting that out there. It came to mind while we're chatting Canadian podcast journalists, but that'd be interesting. No? And speaking about going international, you can come to Canada. We'll bring you up here.
- [35:07]
A
It's actually funny that you mentioned that. I think I can say this without it being a spoiler, but there is a Canadian subplot. Yay.
- [35:14]
B
Okay, well, now I'm happy now that that's great because now you're going to include us up here, so.
- [35:19]
A
Yeah, of course.
- [35:20]
B
Exciting. Okay. Do you have a timeline for. For that book at all is kind of where you're thinking it's going to land.
- [35:27]
A
I'm hoping mid next year. I don't want to necessarily set anything in stone, but for people that want to stay up to date with the timeline of when the book's going to be released, if you go to sashapreston.com newsletter and sign up for my newsletter, you'll get the first chapter for free of the Sweetest Getaway. And you'll also get updates of how the book's coming along and eventually when it's going to be released.
- [35:57]
B
You are good at being a guest, by the way. Well done. You just did that all. I don't even have to ask you. Just do it. You know what you're doing. I like this. Yeah. Okay. So for you, what do you like to do? What do you like to read when it's a downtime for you? What kind of books do you enjoy? Do you like to read similar to what you write, or do you like to read something completely different?
- [36:22]
A
Both. You know, I. Okay, I love a lot of different genres and I. I really enjoy keeping up to date in kind of the playful heist genre. The heist comedy genre to see what other people are doing to enjoy and entertain myself. And I also enjoy, you know, romantic comedy books. I enjoy thrillers, dramas, really across the spectrum. I enjoy a lot of different genres and I think there are so many. There are an endless number of amazingly talented authors out there and it's a fantastic way to just entertain yourself and explore what other people are doing creatively.
- [37:09]
B
And congratulations to you to being part of that group of amazing authors who write great stories. Because now we have you in our life and we're going to have your books on our shelves and not only that, we're going to be reading and sharing them with everyone. So Sasha, thank you so much for making time to be on the show. You've mentioned your website several times, which I'm thrilled. As a guest, everyone listening. As you're an author, as a guest on the show, make sure you mention your website, your book. Just like Sasha's done. She's done a great job. Tell us about the website one more time, Sasha, and then maybe about signing up to follow you again and we'll wrap up with that.
- [37:44]
A
Yes, absolutely. So you can stay up to date. Sashapreston.com Newsletter Once you sign up for the newsletter, you'll get the first chapter of the Sweetest Getaway for free. And then you'll also stay up to date on the audiobook that's being developed, the third book. When it's ready to come out, you'll have all of those updates ready to go, as well as fun behind the scenes stories about the process of writing and coming up with these stories. And if you're ready to go. Both books are available on Amazon in ebook and paper book format and the Sweetest Getaway is also available recently in hardcover. So go check those out on Amazon.
- [38:27]
B
Excellent. Thank you so much, Sasha. Come back, okay when you work on the next project and you're close to launch and we'd love to hear you pick back on the show and celebrate with Book three. It's just the audience loves to reconnect with past guests as well. And I love, I just, I'm selfish. I just want to have more time with you. So keep me in mind as you go out and launch Book three. We'd love to have you back.
- [38:49]
A
That sounds great. Thank you so much. I'd love to be back.
- [38:52]
B
Excellent everyone. When you buy not if, but when you buy A Sweet Scheme and the Sweetest Getaway, leave a great review where you buy the books. Tell in your review why you love the book so much. Not Just great book, great author. That's nice. But get into and say exactly why you love it, because that's going to help more people than make a decision as to this book is a good book for them. And while you're listening, you're thinking of somebody else who would also love this story, these stories, and you'd love this author. So please share this with them as well so that they can also then go and support Sasha and her dreams to continue writing. So, Sasha, thank you again so much for being part of the show. Glad to have you here.
- [39:30]
A
Fantastic. Thank you for having me.
- [39:35]
B
Hey, thank you so much again for pressing play. As you've heard, great guests on the show, and one thing you didn't hear in this conversation is what? What did you not hear? Think about it for a second. That's right. Not a single solitary commercial for a mattress or a supplement or whatever you call it. No. Why? Because we don't want to break up the conversation with commercials. So the fact that you're still here means that you are a fan of the show, I'm assuming. So if you want to help to keep the podcast going and to make me feel really happy, all I really care about is coffee. Okay. I just got to be honest. I love coffee. I'm drinking one right now. Starting to get cold. I need. I need to warm it up. Helping us with our Buy me a coffee link over at Living the next chapter.com and also in the show notes helps kind of keep the lights on around here. Remember, I'm doing this for free. I. I'm paying for everything, so I would love to have a little coffee donation. You know, even five bucks kind of fills up my cup. And I would love to enjoy a coffee from you. So if you're interested, again, thank you for listening, but you can use our buy me a coffee link and fill up the cup. Thanks for being here.