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- [00:01]
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- [01:00]
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- [01:51]
Sarah Maurer
Welcome to the New Books Network.
- [01:56]
Rebecca Buchanan
Hi, this is Rebecca Buchanan, host at New Books Network and today I'm here with Sarah Maurer to talk about her book, A Good Animal. Sarah, thanks for being here with me today.
- [02:06]
Sarah Maurer
Thank you. We had. We had some crossed wires. We had some weather. We got here.
- [02:11]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yes, we are here and it's at least here. It's really. It's cold, but it's sunny, so I will take that. And it's not. Not super windy. Could you start out by giving a bit of a synopsis about what your book's about?
- [02:26]
Sarah Maurer
Yeah. My book is set in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in the upper Peninsula in 1995. Everett Lindt wants to graduate high school and take over his family sheep farm and carve a future from the land he loves. But then he meets the new girl in town, Mary, a coast guard brat. Her dad brings her to Sault Ste. Marie and she wants to graduate and get out of there as soon as she can. So they have these opposing future plans. What Happens, of course, they fall in love or some form of love that is typical of teenagers, and that sets the story off on how that unfolds.
- [03:14]
Rebecca Buchanan
So I was wondering if there was, like, what kind of inspired this, how this book sort of came to be for you? Was this something that you'd been thinking about for a while? Can you talk a little bit about that sort of process?
- [03:27]
Sarah Maurer
As I've been talking to people, I've realized different things about myself and what might have inspired the book without me actually realizing it at the time. But initially, how the book came to me was just this image of these two kids sitting in a truck on the banks of the St. Mary's river at the Sugar island ferry dock. And they're having this intimate conversation, and the boy just kind of reacts to it as a young farmer would. And it could be seen as humorous or insensitive, but it's honest to his character. And I knew that this was a character I wanted to write more about, and this was a story. I didn't know what their connection was, how the story was going to unfold, but I wrote that scene down. And I hadn't been writing. You know, I was working in corporate America, not actively writing at all. But this scene was so powerful. And I dusted off my laptop and wrote it down. But then I just set it aside for a while, went back to work and raising kids. And then another scene came to me, and this one was at the county fair. And I was like, oh, I'm kind of seeing the world that they're living in. And the threads of the story started forming in my mind. And then gradually, I just became more serious about actually writing the manuscript. But I think, like, behind the scenes, what was happening in me without me really realizing it, was that I had been thinking about my own journey in life as a someone who had been born and raised in the Upper Peninsula, and then felt these pressures to leave, go to college, make something of myself, live away from family, because that's what success equated. But then when I got married and had kids and had the opportunity to work remotely, I immediately wanted to go back to my home. But then when I was at my home and living that way, I. I felt like sometimes embarrassed that I was that person that had come back. Did that mean, like, I couldn't. I wasn't successful away? And so I had to come back. And it was just like, why can't I? Why am I worried so much about whether I'm here or not here? And why does that. Why does that have any bearing on whether I'm successful or self actualized? Like I had just internalized these narratives as a kid and that eventually worked its way out in the novel, I think through these two characters. Everett, who wants to stay and take over his family sheep farm, loves being rural and going to the fair and that's his life aspiration. And then Mary, his love interest, who wants to leave as soon as she can and explore in all of these ways. So that's the genesis of the book. It kind of came as this really distinct image. But then, you know, as I've written it and I've dredged up my own, my own feelings and life history as I wrote.
- [06:40]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah. You know, as you talk and reading the book and as someone, myself who's in a rural space, who grew up in a rural space, often when, you know, that sort of duality or that tug is looked at as this kind of negative thing or we don't see, see this how it can be positive or how it can be sort of a comfort or something that's really important to someone's identity. Right. Like, and so I appreciate, like you can really see that with Everett. Right. And with this, this idea that it is okay to be and stay in rural spaces. Right. And I think that's something we don't often see in like popular culture in general. Right. And more generally in popular culture, I
- [07:25]
Sarah Maurer
think the narrative is typically like this special or talented kid has to get out of their small town or their farming community and leave all the small minded people behind who are too afraid to actually make something of themselves. And you know, that's, I've read so many books like that where they have to get away and make something of themselves. But at the same time, you know, like what is that saying about the people who are in our small towns and our farming communities? What kind of judgment is that being placed on them? Are they then are their choices not as valuable? Are they, are they looked down upon? And I think in some sense they are. A lot of times they are. And so I just, I once I kind of realized that as I was writing, I very intentionally made Everett want to stay where he was and really celebrate who he was and not have any desire to leave at all.
- [08:22]
Rebecca Buchanan
Right. And also there and, and have a relationship with his, well, especially with his mother, I think. But like that talks about how their, even their parents choices weren't choices of regret. Right. Because we often see that too like the parent or you know, somebody is regretting that choice. And in this space, nobody right in that family. There isn't this idea that I regret the choices that I did make.
- [08:49]
Sarah Maurer
Yeah.
- [08:50]
Rebecca Buchanan
Could you. So you tell you set this book in 1995. Can you talk about, like, why you chose 19? Like, why did you. Why did you set it in 1995?
- [09:00]
Sarah Maurer
Well, I think it's just because that's when I was a teenager. I mean, short story. I mean, I just wrote about teens when I was a teen. And, you know, part of it was, I am a new writer. I just kind of wrote what came to me. And I did talk with my editor at some point. Like, should we place it in, like, current times? How would that change the story? And we really thought it might compress the tension or drain the tension a little bit too much because they could just be texting each other. They would always know where each other was, and they would have access to things online that you didn't have in 1995. And I just thought, like, by placing it in 1995, we can actually write about the future. Like, maybe the future we're heading towards by writing about the past. Because I think the situation they find themselves in without access to reproductive care is a future that many areas in the United States that we are currently living in or heading towards. And by writing about something that has happened in the past, we can see where the future is going. So I feel like I achieved what I wanted to with the book by setting it in 1995 and maintaining that tension of them not being immediately able to communicate with each other. There's a little bit of mystery, and I think it served the story well.
- [10:37]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah. And I do completely agree that, like, even though it's set in 1995, I had to remind myself sometimes because the events in the story are things that, especially right now, could. Could be hap. Right. Like, this is a very realistic depiction of things, especially in sort of more remote, more rural areas and rural spaces where you don't have access to that. To. To certain. Yeah. Things.
- [11:08]
Sarah Maurer
Yeah, I know it's hard to talk about without getting spoilers away, so. But.
- [11:13]
Rebecca Buchanan
But, yeah, it's like the. So Everett is like, his family are sheep farmers. Right. They. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like, was this something that you had to do research for? Like, what kind of research did you do? Or did you grow up in sort of a sheep farming space? Like, yeah. Can you talk about that process?
- [11:34]
Sarah Maurer
I grew up on a farm, and my parents still farm. I grew up raising sheep and cattle, beef cattle, and showing every animal you could think of at the county fair. I was a 4H kid. I went on to be a 4H leader. I was the rabbit leader. And I also had a 4H writing club, a creative writing 4H club. So 4H has been very important to my entire life. And one of the reasons I wanted to move back from, you know, living in the metro Detroit area was that I really wanted my kids to show animals at the fair and have that experience and understand where their meat came from and what it's like to take care of an animal and train it and how hard it is and how sad, but also joyful. But so I had. That had just been my experience growing up. And when I did move back to Sault Ste. Marie, I had a very small flock of sheep. And I, with the help of my sister, who is now a current sheep farmer, she. She was the one who encouraged me to get my sheep. And it's so funny because livestock can be very easy to acquire. As soon as somebody is like, oh, I think I want to get a sheep, you'll have more than enough people offering to give you a sheep, or whatever. So I found myself with a small flock of sheep and just. I loved it. I. I loved them so much. And I would just look out my window and I would see them. I'd come to the fence and they would come to me. And having them so close to me as I was drafting this book was just really important to. For the inspiration, for the vivid imagery, for the emotions I was feeling with my sheep at the time. And I bred a few times and actually had to assist in a birth. So all of that was like firsthand knowledge from my childhood up through adulthood. I don't have any sheep now. I gave. I gave some back to my sister. And, yeah, so I was. I was happy to have that avenue because sometimes once you get animals, you can't get out of them. But. But, yeah, so it was just part of my lifehood, my lifestyle, growing up.
- [14:05]
Rebecca Buchanan
So, yeah, during this, Everett, he has. He's going through a lot. Like, I think of the sheep, right? I think of. I still re. You know, when I was growing up, we had some cattle, but not a lot. Right. But I. My grandpa, I remember some of those memories, but I also remember doing this tour. The university I work at has a farm. And because we have an ag program, and a while ago we'd done this tour, I brought English students on a tour of the farm. And when they were going on the tour, one of the things that someone said was, you have to remember this is a working farm. So you will see dead animal, right? You won't. It's not all happy fun times in what you see. And so you also, this isn't a book where everything is sort of sugar coated on the farm, right. And so can you talk a little bit about that? Like how you had to think about, write about sort of death and grief in these ways. But, but there's some compat. There's compassion there, right? They're animals, but there's still some compassion there. So can you talk a little bit about that?
- [15:12]
Sarah Maurer
I think I very intentionally did not want to romanticize the farming lifestyle as I was writing. Like, I, I think it's, I think the whole book is kind of a pushback to way farming and rural people are often depicted in literature and the media like either as comic relief, like Napoleon Dynamite or something like that. I loved Napoleon Dynamite, but that again, it's just like depicts farming people in like this humorous, non serious way. And I feel like it underscores or it undermines the passion these people have for the animals, for their crops, for their lifestyle. And so as I was writing, it took me a long time to realize I was writing in chapters. What came to me first was the seasons. So like the book is divided into summer, fall, winter, spring. And that came immediately. And then after my editor got hold of the book, she was like, what do you think of the idea of chapters?
- [16:22]
Rebecca Buchanan
I was like, oh yeah, chapters.
- [16:24]
Sarah Maurer
I guess my book should have chapters. But she had to help me with that because I was just so, so in tune to what, what would be happening in terms of the story as far as the seasons go and like what happens on the farm at these different times. And so I was just really focused on depicting the farm as it would function as somebody raising sheep, what they would be doing at that time, what would be happening. And it'd be like training the lambs for the fair, selling the lambs at the fair, which comes with its own heartbreak. Breeding the ewes in the fall, getting ready for lambing in the winter. Up here, like to get lambs ready for the fair, we have lambing like in February or something. So it's more like a winter birth. And so that with its joys and heartbreaks would happen in winter and et cetera, et cetera. So I just felt like I was depicting farm life as it would occur. I didn't necessarily go out of my way to say, oh, I want to write about a child dealing with the grief of selling her first Lamb at the fair or I want to deal with competition between rams. It was just like this was. This is what would be happening at, on this farm at this time. And I'm going to depict it authentically.
- [17:54]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah. You answered one of my other questions for you about the seasonal. Right? Like that seasonal approach, which is great. Did you always know that you were going to tell this story with sort of Everett as your protagonist? Like from, you know, like from Everett's point of view? Or was this something, you know, that you came to as you were thinking through or crafting?
- [18:20]
Sarah Maurer
I think that very first image I talked about, I think that was written from Everett's point of view. I think he very clearly stood out as the person whose story this was like. So I always knew it was he who needed to. Who needed to change or him who needed to change. So. And he was, he was the one whose emotions and experiences I was most interested in exploring because I feel like a lot of stories like this are told through a female perspective, especially if it deals with like unplanned pregnancy or something like that. It's always what is good. What's the girl gonna do about it? How's it gonna affect her life? What are her decisions gonna be? And I really wanted again, like to focus on the other side and think about what. How, how would a boy be reacting to this? What emotions is he working through? How. What realizations about himself is he making as he goes through this process? Especially a boy who is so tender hearted and good natured as Everett, like, he's, he's driven to, he's driven by the traditions of his community and he's driven to support his family and be a good role model for his siblings. And I just want, and, and he's, he's the boy that I see everywhere around me and I, I don't see them depicted very often. And I wanted to really just sink into his experiences at the, at this time in his life.
- [20:04]
Rebecca Buchanan
You also. So Everett has this best friend, Charlie, right. And they have been best friends forever. Was this also a relationship like, as you were. And maybe this goes to thinking about or me wondering about sort of you writing and thinking about writing. Did you. Was this something that you wanted to portray as well, this relationship? Because it's a really close relationship between these two, two young men, right. These two boys. So again, was this something where he was going to always play this kind of role? Or as you wrote, you were like, I need to bring in a Charlie. I.
- [20:42]
Sarah Maurer
Their friendship kind of came to me early, but I think it was.
- [20:47]
Rebecca Buchanan
I think.
- [20:48]
Sarah Maurer
I think I really wanted to depict, like, a typical male friendship that I see at least around here, or maybe in typical rural spaces where it's a very long relationship, but at the same time somewhat superficial. Like, as long as Everett and Charlie stay in their roles, like, Charlie's kind of like the golden boy or whatever, and then Everett's his second fiddle, and as long as they stay in those roles, then their relationship goes along fine and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But then Mary comes along and she kind of starts messing up or messing with their relationship with each other and making Everett see Charlie in a new way and making him see himself in a new way. And then Everett starts pushing against the role that he's always inhabited. And when that happens, then conflict that has just kind of been smoothed over for, what, 10, 15 years has. It erupts and comes to the surface. So it's just kind of exploring this close relationship that at the same time is a little bit superficial or built on labels. And Charlie tries really hard to get Everett to go back into that role that he was in before, but Everett doesn't want to be in that anymore. And that's where the conflict between them arises.
- [22:20]
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- [23:33]
Rebecca Buchanan
So I'd love to talk a little bit about your writing process so like your process for this book? Like it. So it sounds like you had a short story. You were kind of writing different or. Or scenes, right? Writing different scenes. So is this the process that you went. Can you talk a little bit about your process for writing this book? Is this kind of typical. Is this how you wrote it? Or once you started to get some of these scenes, did you kind of sit down and hash it out?
- [23:58]
Sarah Maurer
I kind of was just writing scene by scene and didn't really know what I was doing. And I had like, I was an English major and stuff. I always kind of considered myself a writerly person, but once I started doing this, I was like, I have no idea how to write a book. Like, I can write these little vivid scenes, but I don't know how to put them together in any book form. So I thought about getting an mfa and I already have a master's degree, so I was like, maybe I should work on getting a PhD. Like, what should I do? And then I learned about Stanford Continuing Studies Online Certificate program. And it was just perfect for me because it was like a two year program, all online. And you know, I live in the Upper Peninsula, so there's not like there's a lot of MFA programs near me. There is one in Marquette, Michigan at Northern Michigan University. But even that is a three hour drive for me. So this was just the perfect answer for me. I. I got accepted and over the course of six classes and about two years, they gave prompts and assignments and workshops and critique groups, everything. And by the time I was done with that program, I had a manuscript. A lot of it came from, you know, like responding to class assignments or just writing prompts. And eventually I learned about causality and how one action has to predicate or cause another action later on because I had, I had these scenes and I was putting them in kind of like what I've got. I know the people on the podcast can't see, but this is book number two. And it's kind of was kind of like that where I just had these scenes that were kind of in chronological order, but they didn't necessarily. One didn't necessarily cause the other. So eventually I figured that out. Many, many revisions. Oh, many, many revisions. And yeah, so it was my first book. I feel like this book is my mfa, essentially. Like, I learned how to be a writer and how to put together a book through this process. I don't know if I'd recommend doing it again. I think I was just lucky that I didn't know what I was Doing and I didn't know how hard it was going to be.
- [26:31]
Rebecca Buchanan
So.
- [26:32]
Sarah Maurer
Yeah, but it finally, it came together and.
- [26:36]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah, but I think you know what that is. You're not the only one who gives that kind of answer. Like, if I knew how hard it was going to be, I don't know if I'd started it kind of thing. Right.
- [26:45]
Sarah Maurer
How long it would take. Yeah, I mean, writing it, like the writing, it probably was a two year process, like with the classes and everything, but then like trying to get an agent, finally getting an agent and then doing edits with the agent and then trying to sell it to a publishing company and then finally selling it to a publishing company and then they have more edits and oh my gosh. Yeah. So it's been a while.
- [27:13]
Rebecca Buchanan
Was there anything for you, like, during this whole process when you're, you know, revising, when you're doing all that work that you changed it? Like, you were like, this is a big change or a drastic change. Or you're like, oh, you know. You know, like you're like, oh, I thought I was going to go down this road, but actually this is the road I'm going to go down. Or did it kind of. Did your story pretty much stay the way you had kind of as you realized you were writing a manuscript envisioned it to be?
- [27:39]
Sarah Maurer
It really stayed. The story has remained intact from day one. From that scene when I saw those two kids by the river, I could just see, you know, the challenge that they were facing and what they were going to do about it. Not necessarily exactly what they were going to do about it, but that it wasn't right for them. And yeah, I just felt like every stage, like every critique group, every writing partner, my agent's feedback, my editor's feedback, it just revealed more and more of the story. And, you know, the biggest changes was like, with my editor adding a few scenes, like, it was never really taken away or anything. She helped me streamline the ending a little bit. Like when I submitted to her the ending, like people were driving around to all these places and trucks and whatever, and she's like, how about they just get in one vehicle and drive from here to there? I. It was just, I was like, oh, you're so smart. That's why you do what you do. But yeah, it was. I never felt any pushback or any, any. Anybody trying to change my vision for the story. They all supported it and really wanted to make it the best it could be.
- [29:01]
Rebecca Buchanan
So another thing I wanted. I mean, so this is not about Like, I wanted to ask you about like the winter in the Upper Peninsula because you have, right, you have this big. You have a scene where the. And I grew up in Minnesota, so I completely. And I've been to the Upper Peninsula for a conference that basically got. We all got snowed in in October, which I'm like, yeah, that sounds about right. So. But you have this. I think it's. I loved the, like, they all get snowed in, they go and do this. But did you. Was this like, I really need to make sure everybody understands like that the amount of snow we get in the winter kind of thing. When you were writing this, is this like, you know, typical winter kind of.
- [29:41]
Sarah Maurer
But the winter of 1995 is still historic in terms of Sault Ste. Marie. Like we. So I was a junior or senior in high school at that time and we did not have school for a week because we got five feet of snow over a five year period or a, a one week period. And I remember my dad having to drive to town in his tractor. I. And I would. I remember climbing up on the combine and just jumping off the combine into like a drift of snow that completely covered my head and it was like swimming. So that was historically accurate. And I. And when I was drafting the novel and I told somebody when it was going to be set, they were like, well, I know what I'm going to be looking for. Because if that was in 1995 and Sault Ste. Marie, that's the year we got five feet of snow. So I had to make sure that we had that. But that scene too, I just, I kind of wanted to give Everett a little bit of a. From all of his adult responsibilities because, like, farm kids tread this strange space where they're so innocent in some respects, but at the same time they are exposed to so much so early and they have so many responsibilities so early that they can seem very adultish. And Everett is, you know, carrying the mantle of his family in so many respects. Like, he's kind of like a surrogate dad. He is a surrogate dad to his little sister Katie. And in the scene where they get so much snow and they are snowed in, I have him going sledding with his younger brother and little sister and then they go inside and get hot chocolate. And for me it was just kind of like a breather and just letting Everett be a kid again. So that's what I was really trying to accomplish with that scene. But yes, it does also send the point home how much snow we can get Here. Although that was historic. But this winter that we just had was almost as bad. It never felt like it was gonna end.
- [31:55]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah. And it got. I do, you know, I think Minnesota got hit a bit that way, too. And hit late. Right. Because I was supposed to go up during my spring, and I am sort of south. South. Like, we're sort of closer to St. Louis, you know, that area. So we don't get the snow like that I'm used to. But, yes. I remember even thinking in, like, late March, I was supposed to go to Minnesota. I was like, yeah, no, I can't go, because you're going to get like, yeah, a blizzard over.
- [32:22]
Sarah Maurer
And you know what's funny? When I got the publication date for my book, I was like, are you sure you want to do this? Because my book came out in February, and I was just thinking, oh, I have to try and plan a book launch in Sault Ste. Marie in February. And it's like, what happened? Of course, we had a blizzard that day. All the schools were closed. But we went forward with the book launch and, you know, the Yoopers showed up. That's what we call ourselves in the Upper Peninsula of the Yoopers. People had their snow boots on and their mittens and hats and winter coats, and people still showed up to celebrate. And that just felt so special to me.
- [33:05]
Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah, you just ride your snowmobile and you're good to go. So. Yeah, yeah, that's all right. Like, yes. Trying to explain to people like, yes, you just ride your snowmobile to the bar. That's fine. You know, you brought up Katie, and I really kind of love Katie, but. And I like that relationship that you have with them. And also, like how Katie kind of shows Everett, like, because you'll hear these. Like, he'll be like, I'm never going to tell. You know, it's the kind of like, I'm never going to do this because my parents did this and I thought it was a bad idea and then realizes kind of why. Yeah. So can you talk a little bit about, like, Katie's kind of this, like. I think she's like this sassy little girl who's. Who knows who she is, right? Yes.
- [33:47]
Sarah Maurer
It's so funny because my sister, who I mentioned before, who's the sheep farmer, I would, while I was drafting, I would send her different scenes to read. She was always curious what I was working on and stuff. And I sent her a couple of scenes that Katie was in, and she was like, you're Katie. And I did not even realize it, but Like, I, I do think I was probably working through some childhood trauma through the character of Katie, you know, my own hurts and loves and. Oh, I, I, you know, I, I had a lot of animals that I loved really hard and lost. So in a sense, you know, I was on Everett's side. He's trying to protect her and help maintain her innocence. And, yeah, he, he, he thinks he's going to be firm and, and tell her the truth about what happens to animals after the fair. And in the end, he realizes how hard it is and how much he actually wants to preserve her innocence and keep her as sweet and innocent for as long as he can. But it's impossible on a farm, and she has to face that reality. And likewise, Everett has to face a lot of harsh realities as well. So I think they both lose a sense of innocence throughout the book.
- [35:17]
Rebecca Buchanan
And I'm guessing you, like, wanted him to be the eldest in that family, because then there's, like, so much going on for him to have to sort of deal with and think about.
- [35:28]
Sarah Maurer
I think I, the other thing I was kind of playing with, too, is Everett's 17. He's very much, like, on the cusp of adulthood. And he, you know, at the beginning of the book, he's very much in that role. Like, he wants to work. He just wants to get done with school, school, so he can work and live his life. And then you've got the middle child, Jay, who's 12, and he's, like, in this space where sometimes he can act like a kid or sometimes he can act big, and sometimes he wants to act big and do all the stuff Everett's doing, and. But then sometimes he wants to get away with being a kid. And then you've got Katie, who's very firmly in childhood. So I feel like you've got these three siblings in different stages of growing up. And Everett is sometimes angry with Jay or maybe resents Jay's ability to kind of be a kid when he wants to be a kid or be an adult when he wants to be an adult. And I think Everett misses being able to do that. And there's some poignant moments where he really wants to get comfort from his mom, and he feels that he can't or that he shouldn't ask for that. But I, I, you know, I, I am like all the readers. I wish he would, you know, if he would just reach out and ask for that, because I think she'd be more than willing to give it to him. But he thinks he, he's not allowed anymore. And so I think that drives him even more to protect Katie so that she always has access to that. That comfort that childhood gives people. But, yeah, so that's what I was. That's what I was trying to play with. With the ages of those siblings and the like.
- [37:16]
Rebecca Buchanan
I do. I think there is a point where you kind of even allude to their mom as, like, Mary says something to the effect of, like, your mom just kind of looks at you or thinks about you as, like, so happy that you are, you know, her child. Like, that kind of thing. So you see that the mother there, but this son, not really sure how to interact with his mother, even though everybody else knows your mom will listen. Like, your mom is gonna. No matter what, she's gonna be there. Well, I think he's.
- [37:51]
Sarah Maurer
I think he's aware of how highly his mom thinks of him and how much she does love him and. And he's so worried of messing that up, and that's kind of why he doesn't want to be honest with her. I think throughout the book, you know, Everett is seen as this good child. My mom calls him.
- [38:12]
Rebecca Buchanan
Oh, he's. He's such a beautiful child.
- [38:15]
Sarah Maurer
But he's really not honest with anyone throughout the book until almost the very last page. And he's certainly not honest with himself. And I think that kind of speaks to the weight of traditions or just like in agricultural communities, how people are supposed to act a certain way and how small communities self monitor and
- [38:46]
Ross Store Advertiser
you
- [38:47]
Sarah Maurer
have to abide by these patterns that are established for you, and it's so hard to break those patterns or to think differently. So he's feeling that way, but he tells himself he's not throughout the book, and he tells other people that he's not throughout the book.
- [39:10]
Rebecca Buchanan
So, yeah, yeah, I think, like, there's also a lot of, like, how do I continue to kind of represent my family and my. What is my legacy?
- [39:19]
Sarah Maurer
Right.
- [39:20]
Rebecca Buchanan
And that kind of thing that happens throughout. Right? Yep. So we've been talking a while, so I'll ask you, like, my final question. So the book, like you said, came out in February, so promotion for yourself. Were you working on anything new you can or want to share or anything with the book you want people to know? So, yeah. What do you want to promote?
- [39:42]
Sarah Maurer
I still have some events coming up. Most of them are in Michigan. People can go to my website, sarahmowerwrites.com and I have an event page and I also am on Instagram at Sarah Mower Writes and on Substack, Sarah Mower writes and it's Maurer. M A U R E R. There's that silent R in there that always trips people up. But I am working on a second book right now and it's also set in the Upper Peninsula. This one, I I like to joke that it's going to be set on a cattle farm and not on a sheep farm. So I'm really pushing myself. But yeah, it's still in the stages, drafting stages, so I don't want to give too much away. But yeah, I am working on something else. So hopefully people will see that sooner than sooner rather than later because I know how long it took for this first book to come out. Hopefully this one won't take as long. We'll see.
- [40:46]
Rebecca Buchanan
Well, Sarah, thank you so much for talking with me on New Books Network again. Sarah Maurer and her new book is A Good Animal.
- [40:53]
Sarah Maurer
Thank you so much. This was fun.