88TH EPISODE: Special Edition Featuring 8 of Our Listeners

Y'all. The 88th episode has arrived. Dun dun DUN!

Today’s milestone episode is proudly sponsored by Sun Basket and BookCon. It features eight incredible listeners from our 88 Cups of Tea community. I remember when I first launched this podcast, the 88th episode seemed so far fetched. I can’t believe the day is finally here.

Thank you all for getting us to the 88th episode, without listeners like you who tune in to kick it with us each week, we would not have made it this far. The selection process for this episode was incredibly difficult. We had a flood of listeners submitting applications that averaged 40 minutes to complete. There was a lot that I threw at you and I’m blown away by your thoughtful and lengthy responses.

All of the guests you’re going to hear from today have been long-time listeners and are a huge part of our community. They have all been so active, engaged, and vocal in our community. It was so nice to talk to each of them and getting to hear their voices for the first time!

I hope you have a fun time learning about your fellow tribe members in today’s episode! You’ll learn about how much you have in common with each other. We’re all going through similar paths where you can see it’s quite natural for us to be empathetic of each other’s struggles, and for us to celebrate each other’s accomplishments as if they’re our own, no matter how big or small.

Happy listening!

Xo

Yin

PS. Do you know anyone who would love our conversation? Please share this episode to help spread the word! 

PPS. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d really love your support in growing our community by subscribing to us on iTunes, and leaving a rating and review. These specific steps help to increase our visibility on iTunes which really helps new listeners discover us. A huge heartfelt thank you for your time and support! You can click here to go directly to our iTunes page!

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“Writing gave me my own identity, it gave me something outside of my family, something for me.” -Tia Bearden

“Part of our conflict drove my desire to write a very honest portrayal, I wanted a voice out there that discussed this cultural gap in a very raw way that other people could relate to.” -Gloria Chao

“You have to put in the work to get better and its something that you will constantly get better at for the rest of your life.” -Tara Creel

“It has always been my job to tell stories that are not my own and to try and do them justice and to be respectful even when there are people or perspectives that I either don’t necessarily agree with or know that I can’t fully understand.” -Amanda Connolly

“I put so much into my character’s life that’s from my own.” -Kristy Mauna

"This book is a love letter to my imagination." -Megan LaCroix

“What I really do try to do is that even if I’m not actively writing usable words down for the story that day, that I’m thinking of the story. So I’ll open up the document. If I’m not inspired to write, I’ll go and find a scene that I love and I’ll just read it.” -Kat Cho

“When I come home from work and I’m tired, I don’t feel like writing half the time and I sit down and make myself do it. It’s like going to the gym when you haven’t gone in a long time.” -Alyssa Colman

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Learn More About: Tia Bearden is an admin assistant by day. By night she is a part time writer and a full time fangirl. She resides (with her husband, daughter, and cat) in Alabama. She comes from a small town where the accents are thick and the tea is sweet. Tia loves Thin Mints and oversharing. She is always up for making new friends, so you can find her angsting about writing on Twitter.   Gloria Chao is an MIT grad turned dentist turned writer. She currently lives in Chicago with her ever-supportive husband, for whom she became a nine-hole golfer (sometimes seven). She is always up for cooperative board games, Dance Dance Revolution, or soup dumplings. She was also once a black belt in kung-fu and a competitive dancer, but that side of her was drilled and suctioned out. American Panda is her debut novel, forthcoming spring 2018. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world here and find her on Twitter.   Tara Creel lives in Utah with her husband and four boys. She is an editor for WriteOnEditing and Month9Books. She also reviews books for The Deseret News. You can find her blogging and on Twitter. When not writing books for children, editing, reviewing or reading, she can be found hard at work at a DIY project or out in nature.   Amanda Connolly is an award-winning Canadian journalist covering federal politics and national security. After having lived across the country, she is now based in the Canadian capital of Ottawa where she can be found either chasing down politicians or with her nose firmly stuck in a book, usually involving some kind of magic or superpowers. She is represented by Kristy Hunter of the Knight Agency. Find Amanda on Twitter!   Kristy Mauna: Outside of being a mother and eating lots of Chinese food, Kristy’s passion has always been writing. Through her work, she hopes to help others find their own voice and help people embrace our differences by learning from the art we share. Kristy is currently working on her first YA novel. Until then, you can find her writing about life in her 20s, motherhood, and more on her blog.

Megan LaCroix is a reader, a writer, a lover of the outdoors, and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She loves lush books with literary slants and hooky voices, and is currently revising a young adult fantasy that was chosen to participate in Pitch Wars 2016. Megan lives in Virginia with her handsome husband and their two adventurous daughters. You can visit her website and stop by her Twitter.

Kat Cho used to hide books under the bathroom sink and then sneak in there to read after bedtime. Her parents pretended not to know. This helped when she decided to write a dinosaur time-travel novel at the tender age of nine. Sadly, that book was not published. She loves anything that encourages nerding out, including reading, blogging, K-dramas, K-pop and anime. Currently, Kat writes YA sci-fi and fantasy and is represented by Beth Phelan at the Bent Agency. You can find her here and on Twitter.

Alyssa Colman holds a double degree in English and Theatre from Wake Forest University. As a playwright, she was a winner of the 2013 ESPA new play competition at Primary Stages in New York and was a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference. When she’s not writing, Alyssa loves reading every book she can get her hands on, baking bread from scratch, and hiking with her husband. You can find her on Twitter.