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karen glasser live i welcome guests from
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all across the globe who entertain us
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wow us and excite us so whether you're
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or on replay make sure you say hi in the
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tell us where you are watching from
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are welcoming mel greenberg go to author
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mel a southern california native is a
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best-selling author and publisher
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her debut novel running with her eyes
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closed explores marriage life
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and love after the nest empties and so
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welcome to the show hello
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hey i'm so excited that you're on the
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um we've been talking about this for a
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this is mel welcome to the show and
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welcome to author spotlight this is a
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new show that we're doing we are
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obviously authors um and so what i'd
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literally just jump right into the topic
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and that's empty nest
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um where do you go from there so this is
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this story is your story so why was it
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important for you to tell it
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well to to the extent that i was an
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the book itself is fiction
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my journey through empty nest life and
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being a full-time stay-at-home mother
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was the impetus for the story as was
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seeing friends and then people i
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male and female going through this time
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in life and typically it was a
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50 plus there were a few younger and a
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and seeing those dramatic changes
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just started to to create so much
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um because it was it was unexplored and
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the fact that that as we age we look at
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and where we are and all of a sudden you
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know the past 30 years you've had this
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this or 20 years excuse me you've had
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full-time job or part-time if you're if
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all of a sudden you lose it yeah kids
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are off to college it's your home alone
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and you look around and
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everything is different in the landscape
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the relationships everything changes
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right and there was a story to be told
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and it just sort of wrote itself
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and and when i said it was your story i
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was talking very specifically about
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empty nest and i know it's not your
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it's got some really juicy parts in
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well yeah and and it's a natural thing
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because i was going through people
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immediately thought of you know is this
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this you and you know every author
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injects themselves into what they write
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and but it is absolutely a beautiful you
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compilation of of life's transitions
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right right so we're you know we're if
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you're just tuning in we're talking to
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mel greenberg about her
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book running with your eyes closed with
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running with our eyes closed
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and we're talking about the empty nest
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you've gone through it i i'm probably
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one of the few people that was
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not as devastated when we got into the
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i was very happy i love my kids but i
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was very happy to see them go off
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on their own and for me it was the next
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um but it's interesting because not
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everybody has that feeling about
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emptiness would you agree
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i would agree and i my own personal
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i while i was not a helicopter parent
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i was very close to my children and
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there i was the ceo of the house and it
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very involved position and you know
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there was just this kind
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you kind of back and go what now and it
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re revisiting what i wanted from my life
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and going back to did i return to things
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that had interested me
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right you know back out of college my
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early professional career or established
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something new and really feeling a bit
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so let's talk about moving forward then
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because that's what you have to do
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after the empty nest you have to
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actually move forward and you talk about
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finding your voice and direction after
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what has that been like for you what
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well writing took me back to something
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number one had been a passion all my
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a professional endeavor however not as a
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novelist so it was a fabulous new
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and and telling a story and having it
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and the things that have come since then
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have been incredible but
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publishing independently which was a
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decision that we made and and then being
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asked to publish other
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authors has been a great experience and
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and through that also because of the
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becoming an advocate um worldwide i've
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become a speaker and for this journey
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and midlife and who we are um primarily
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as as women but in our relationships and
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where we want to go and doing that has
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been just silver lining
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the silver lining peeled back now
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clearly you love italy right because the
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takes place in in italy i love italy too
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what is it about italy is it the food
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the people well i honestly you know the
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to write about what you know and i
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wanted to set it somewhere
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um it felt right that the setting and
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the story that evolved
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for samantha the the main character and
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and it is in my opinion one of the most
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on the planet and a portion of this book
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um a series that's book one and and this
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it goes to their relationship and they
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are very much involved in deciding
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what's next and their
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romantic relationship which has become
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a fabulous story in and of itself
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typically in our age group sex
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and steaminess is you know kind of
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glossed over you know like you know
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the hot young things in our 20s that we
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story lines and you know i i sent the
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to my 91 year old aunt and i let her
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know that it was a little steamy
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and just she's very cool chick and and
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she laughed and she said i'm old i'm not
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resonated with me because we
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we are vital human beings and passionate
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and physical and romantic and sexual
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and so that was very much a part of
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their story and italy just feeds the
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physically emotionally you know
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it was a wonderful place i do know it
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well i spend a great deal of time there
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and it fit the story and
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um i will share so all your viewers will
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get a little insight into book two
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samantha is in melbourne australia
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she does love to travel and and we get a
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um of her spirit and how that also plays
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into her development of
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in her character and so yeah so
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do you pick locations that you like to
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or do you just close your eyes and put
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your finger on the map
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and that's where your next you know
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location is going to be
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well these two are um places i've been i
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don't know that i would probably write
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about places i've been because
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then i have a different perspective
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right um one of the most beautiful
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things that that has come from this are
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the people you know readers that write
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and reviews that they feel like they're
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that they are in italy and for those who
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haven't been there they're like oh my
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understand what it's like so that's
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really important to me into the
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integrity of the story
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and that comes from my own travel
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so probably that we're talking about um
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mel's book running with our eyes closed
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um and we encourage you to go pick it up
7:56
it's it's a it's a sexy book it's it's
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and i think it's it touches so many
8:04
right where they actually are it
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actually it does speak to me
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um i i totally loved it so we're
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encouraging go pick up a copy go look in
8:13
the comments there's a link there
8:14
click on it not now though stick with
8:16
the show right now and
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um go take a look at the book so
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so okay you are a prominent
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pro-age advocate i know what that is
8:29
why don't you tell our audience what a
8:33
it is someone i i support and and speak
8:37
coming are coming of age and to the
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had these jobs of raising our children
8:44
and moving on or we haven't had children
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i just turned 61 this year and i truly
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feel my most vibrant most alive
8:52
and there are so many topics health
8:55
um how we eat how we live how we enjoy
8:59
emotionally spiritually and so i speak
9:03
and and encourage women to to pursue
9:06
and education and continue to learn how
9:09
to move through these years
9:11
and enjoy them have you noticed that
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there are a lot of women like us
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that are saying we are powerful we can
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do anything we want to do it doesn't
9:23
55 64. i turn 64 in november i'm going
9:29
i think that there are a lot of women
9:31
out there that have finally
9:33
stepped into their power and i love
9:37
yeah i do think that's true and i think
9:39
that there's there's a sense of
9:41
reckoning that that you know we're this
9:45
50 60. and we we live a very good life
9:49
we are healthy we are making really good
9:50
choices in what we feed our body and how
9:53
how we live and take care of ourselves
9:55
and that's extending into these years
9:58
and there's no reason to stop as long as
10:01
you can keep going and the more you keep
10:03
going it feeds itself
10:04
the more you do the more active you are
10:06
the more engaged you are in your life
10:07
the more energy you have to continue
10:11
so i like to ask all my guests why they
10:15
what gets you up in the morning why do
10:22
you know it's twofold i i love it i feel
10:25
blessed that that i can do this and that
10:29
i'm in a position to
10:31
be writing something i love and have
10:35
and and to be out meeting people and if
10:38
that's why i do it if that's what i can
10:40
do and if i can impact one life
10:42
and do something positive to one person
10:45
then it was worth getting up in the
10:48
i love that answer who are your mentors
10:50
do you do you have mentors that that
10:52
led you and directed you in certain ways
10:56
i do um living you know i'm going to say
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my greatest mentor and she passed when i
11:03
but the way that she lived her life and
11:05
the courage and the ability to
11:08
to go on in spite of every you know
11:10
complication that she faced
11:13
still sticks with me like and that
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that's what i said earlier like you keep
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getting up you keep going you put one
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put in one of the other
11:19
and keep trying it um professionally one
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of my mentors very early on was camille
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and she was with npr for years and she's
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um news person and um
11:35
women who truly have found success
11:38
and strength in their pursuits and then
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share that pass that on you know i've
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been touched by so many in different
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blessed i i am as well
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let's talk about the process of writing
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as you said you also are publishing
11:53
other people's books so
11:54
let's talk about how many hours a day do
11:57
you write right now when you were
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writing the first book
11:59
was it like you read it wrote you were
12:00
actually writing a certain amount of
12:03
or is it different now what's your
12:06
i i don't have a timeline in that regard
12:09
i don't sit down say i'm going to write
12:10
for two hours or eight hours there are
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days that i do write
12:13
all day long and other days that i'll
12:15
write an hour here i try and write
12:17
every day and i find that if i if i make
12:21
it moves along and it keeps because it's
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very easy it's a very solitary
12:25
endeavor and it's very easy to to put it
12:28
off so there's you know i do at that
12:29
voice i have to talk with her sometimes
12:31
because it's you know
12:32
you look for things to put it off and
12:40
are you a journaler i'm a journaler and
12:43
also morning pages so i write my three
12:46
stream of consciousness pages every
12:47
morning and that is a lifesaver
12:52
journal i do a lot of you know
12:55
inconsequential writing as well as what
12:58
working on at any given time so so does
13:02
energize you or does it exhaust you
13:06
it energizes me i'm i communicate but i
13:09
mean i love that i'm doing this now this
13:11
has been this has been finding my voice
13:13
um being out and and speaking and
13:16
speaking in front of the public i'm i'm
13:19
and i'm gonna say i'm shy but i i'm i i
13:22
discomfort in that space but i don't
13:25
anymore and i think part of that
13:26
speaks to what we were talking about
13:30
you know you kind of you get to an age
13:32
and it's not that i don't care
13:34
but i don't care if i make a mistake i
13:37
by this age i didn't get here without a
13:40
you know stumbles and falls that it's
13:43
where you know 30 years ago i didn't
13:45
want to make a mistake i didn't
13:46
need to be perfect and you know that
13:49
that impedes you in so many ways so
13:51
um i do however i'm i find i communicate
13:56
so i it's not exhausting at all it's a
14:00
get it out of my head so
14:03
do you have a tip that you could share
14:06
with up-and-coming authors that say you
14:09
i think i want to write a book but do
14:12
you have a tip and i'm going to put you
14:13
on solo so you can share your tip
14:16
sure my tip is always to
14:19
either new authors or those considering
14:22
prospect that something is speaking to
14:26
from your heart and so there's a story
14:28
to be told and i would
14:30
wipe away all the doubts and the
14:33
questions and just start
14:35
write it begin tell your story and and
14:39
don't edit yourself too much
14:40
just let it go you know either you'll
14:44
a professional editor will get to work
14:46
on your work but do it
14:47
and and get your story out there because
14:49
it's resonating in you and it needs to
14:52
so basically just start and you know
14:54
it's it's funny that
14:56
i think that goes with a lot of things
14:59
you know well i don't know if i want to
15:02
do this so i'm just not going to do it
15:04
we would sometimes you just have to
15:07
whether it's writing a book whether it's
15:11
but specifically i think writing a book
15:13
you just have to start do you have
15:14
an interesting writing quirk that you
15:18
that somebody might say hmm why does mel
15:23
i i have to have i love classical music
15:26
and i have baroque radio
15:28
on pandora um and i have it on
15:31
that that suits my soul and and kind of
15:34
opens up channels for me
15:35
to to just relax and then but it doesn't
15:38
engage me to the extent that i start
15:41
so you know it doesn't hurt my attention
15:43
too much so i i do do that but
15:45
you know i was going to say with regard
15:47
to what you just spoke of
15:49
we especially creatives have that inner
15:53
that voice that tell you know kind of
15:54
that fraud voice you know
15:56
why you can't do that you're not good
15:58
enough and and it really is essential
16:00
that you quiet that voice
16:01
and move along and and
16:05
do just start we have a comment
16:08
um from kathy she says i get that me too
16:14
hi cathy thank you totally get that
16:17
totally get that so do you i we were
16:20
talking before we came
16:22
on you asked me do you have any books
16:23
that you can recommend you know what are
16:25
you reading right now and i think i said
16:26
you i'm not reading i i'm not reading
16:29
have you read any books in quarantine um
16:32
that you might want to recommend
16:33
other than your own book which of course
16:34
we want people to go out and get is
16:36
there a book that you can recommend
16:37
that you read during quarantine i do and
16:40
again i love recommending this book it's
16:43
and it's the first of a trilogy and the
16:46
author is actually from
16:47
australia and it's a debut it is the
16:51
witty fun it's heartbreaking
16:55
it's a fabulous story and i don't want
16:57
to say more than that because i really
16:58
don't want to spoil it i would encourage
17:00
everyone if you have the chance to to
17:03
goodbye the rosie project the rosie
17:06
project is number one
17:08
there is a trilogy so i would start
17:11
is that our i'm going to put it in the
17:12
comments right now is that ros
17:18
the author is graham simpson
17:21
simpson put that right into the comments
17:24
so that when people hear this they're
17:25
going to be able to see it here
17:27
hopefully it will pop up there there it
17:30
all right okay we're gonna we're gonna
17:32
keep on moving because i want to know if
17:34
favorite childhood book what was the
17:38
that you remember maybe reading to your
17:41
um that your kids now that maybe you
17:45
what's that book well my favorite book
17:52
for some i just my mom read that to me
17:54
and i love it and i have them all and i
17:56
still love them i have two boys
17:59
and i did they weren't as enamored with
18:03
so i we we there's a fabulous book and
18:06
it's out of print i actually just found
18:09
on ebay it's called the old man in the
18:12
cat and it is the most endearing lovely
18:16
they were very close to their paternal
18:19
so there's a lovely tie there but that
18:21
was their favorite book
18:22
and a little prince i love that mom
18:27
my personal favorite is good night moon
18:30
reading that book to my son every single
18:33
it's interesting about anything
18:35
especially children is that when they
18:37
adults and they have kids they remember
18:41
that sued them that they loved and i i
18:43
don't know if my if i would be blessed
18:45
with grandkids but i know that that's
18:47
my son's favorite book as well as a
18:50
um have do you get writer's block is
18:56
i tend to think writer's block is more
18:59
an ex for me i really do want to say
19:01
preface that because we all handle
19:04
it's more of an excuse and i
19:07
if i and there are times that i'm just
19:10
my mind's just not in it so i don't
19:12
again i don't know that that's actually
19:13
that i would qualify that as a writer's
19:15
block and if i step away
19:17
and go do something else or you know let
19:20
a couple days pass work on a completely
19:22
i will come back refreshed and so i
19:25
don't think of it as writer block
19:26
writer's block i think it's sort of a d2
19:30
a detour i like that it's a detour if
19:32
you're just tuning in we
19:33
are talking with mel greenberg and it's
19:38
running with her eyes closed and very
19:41
we're talking about the empty nest and
19:42
what happens when that all happens
19:45
and also how to write a book because mel
19:48
is a publisher as well um
19:51
i want to put into the uh screen right
19:54
now let me hide this
19:55
um ways for people to get in touch with
19:58
you and then i want to talk about
20:00
something that you have going in july
20:03
um that that i know that our viewers um
20:06
want to know about and we'll tell them
20:08
how they can go and find out
20:10
more but in the meantime i'd like to let
20:13
people know how they can get in touch
20:14
with you they can go to facebook
20:16
and you're at mel media llc
20:19
they can go to facebook to a group let's
20:22
talk about this the group is called she
20:24
is it i'm a member there you go you
20:27
started this with two other wonderful
20:29
uh with mary and uh kristen what is this
20:32
group about and can anybody join
20:35
they can it is a private group and it's
20:39
and an opportunity sort of you know
20:41
think of it as an ongoing happy hour
20:44
for women 50 and over although
20:47
i hate to you know we're going to let
20:49
you in if you're under 15. but
20:51
you know our demographic and we really
20:54
we speak on every topic you can imagine
20:57
we have a weekly show on thursdays
21:01
called midlife unscripted
21:02
and we interview some incredible women
21:04
who have truly reinvented themselves
21:07
on on global scales and that's a lot of
21:11
and because you know what midlife is
21:13
unscripted life is unscripted
21:14
and so this group is is an ongoing
21:18
about the things that we face every day
21:21
we have you know different people
21:23
weighing in that are in the health
21:25
and mental health physical health
21:27
spiritual health and just
21:28
everything we're going through mid life
21:33
empty nesting and what's wonderful about
21:35
the group it's very engaging you have a
21:38
a lot of engagement in there a lot of
21:39
women who are in there they they respond
21:42
it's a great place to meet other women
21:45
i encourage you to go enjoy uh kathy
21:47
says she loves your energy thank you for
21:50
um i know kathy's gonna go look for she
21:52
is it right now oh no don't go right
21:54
now yeah don't leave them not yet
21:58
um you are also on instagram at
22:01
uh g-berg which stands for
22:04
greenberger and you have a website that
22:07
people can find out everything else that
22:09
at mailmediallc.com you publish
22:12
um you've got a lot of different things
22:14
going on in your world which just tells
22:16
it doesn't matter how old you are you
22:19
can do anything you set your mind to i'm
22:21
passionate about this
22:22
and that's the message that that is the
22:26
message um somebody hide this
22:33
minute oh i promised we would talk about
22:37
yes what's happening in july going to
22:40
of course where else would i be going
22:43
the minute i can travel
22:44
um i'm doing i'm appearing as a guest
22:48
for a women's retreat um with kathy camp
22:51
and she's on instagram
22:53
you can find her at living agelessly and
22:57
it's a seven day retreat july 10th
22:59
through the 17th in sicily
23:01
and savoring sicily savoring the senses
23:05
and i will be hosting journaling
23:08
and and really it's a way of i'll be
23:11
speaking about journaling
23:12
as a way of working through whatever it
23:14
is i mean we just we're still in the
23:15
midst of it but we're coming through
23:17
you know a life-altering global pandemic
23:21
you know the mental aspect of what that
23:24
looks like and how that has processed
23:26
within each of us is profound and and
23:28
writing about it is one way
23:30
to help it out of you and the
23:33
yoga dining will be experiencing the
23:38
of sicily and it's a you know we got we
23:42
and coco the traveler the tour operator
23:45
in paris is we you know eventually we're
23:48
all going to be wanting to
23:50
travel and what did we want how did we
23:52
want to approach that
23:54
right as it starts to happen and as
23:56
everyone's vaccinated and we're feeling
23:58
safe and secure to make this trip
24:00
we really felt that this was a blessed
24:04
to welcome back the world like welcome
24:07
and get together with women and and it's
24:10
it's a fabulous villa and it's large and
24:12
it's co you know safe distancing and
24:15
measure has been put into place and i'm
24:17
really honored that they asked me to be
24:18
a part of it i'm really excited
24:20
oh my gosh it's so exciting if you guys
24:22
are interested in finding out more about
24:24
italy in the comments and we will make
24:27
and let you know about the trip and how
24:30
you can take advantage of it um
24:32
in case you guys didn't know because i i
24:34
haven't been broadcasting this
24:36
anywhere i'm kidding we are now on
24:39
the roku channel how cool is
24:43
that um i'm gonna put this here we go
24:47
um so you can go check out karen glasser
24:49
live on the roku channel
24:51
and but wait there's more we're also on
24:55
um you can go check out amazon fire as i
24:59
are everywhere well maybe not everywhere
25:01
but we're almost everywhere
25:04
almost the work work in progress and
25:07
that is that is we're a work in progress
25:10
mel i want to thank you for taking time
25:12
out of your day to spend time with
25:14
us and our audience any last-minute tips
25:16
any last-minute thoughts that you'd like
25:17
to share with the audience before we say
25:20
well i want to thank you karen for
25:21
having me and for everyone out there all
25:23
your fans and and your viewers um
25:26
you know where you can reach me on and
25:30
answer any questions you might have you
25:31
know message me privately
25:33
love the conversation um just you know
25:36
what life is a work in progress
25:38
and just go for it and keep believing in
25:41
your passions and your dreams because
25:43
i'm living proof that you can make it
25:46
through anything i i hear you on that i
25:50
hear you on that i want to thank
25:51
all of our viewers for tuning in whether
25:54
it's live or on replay we don't care
25:56
we just love you anyways i want to thank
25:58
you because we know that you have a
26:00
as to where you spend your time and you
26:03
chose to spend it with us today
26:04
so go out and give somebody an awesome
26:07
day and we'll see you next time