Episode #82: Turning Points
Welcome back to a fresh new episode in these pandemic times. Grace and Alvina discuss the many turning points in their lives, both personal and professional.
“How have you been?”
Grace started a writing group with Jonathan Auxier (author of Sweep) and Kate Milford (author of Greenglass House). She’s been writing very little though but all in good time. She’s glad she is doing it but it is a slow going process.
Alvina’s latest news is that she has stopped counting calories! This decision came after their great Body Positivity conversation with Phoebe Wahl in this podcast episode’s #79 and #80. She realized that counting calories was actually not making her any healthier and was getting a little too un-healthily obsessed with it.
Turning Points
What makes certain times in life “turning points?” Is it the big changes or the little ones? Grace and Alvina share the different moments that they consider turning points both in their personal and professional lives.
Some personal turning points for Grace: After Robert’s death, she became less afraid of things. She realized that if she could survive her worst fear coming true (Robert dying), then she could survive pretty much anything. Having her daughter Hazel was a turning point where she became a mother and realized that she wanted her daughter to see how to live whole heartedly. When A Big Mooncake for Little Star won the Caldecott award, her parents were still not caring as much as she hoped. It proved to her that it just didn’t matter anymore what they thought. Once she realized she didn’t have to try and prove herself to them anymore, she reached a turning point in life to be free of that heavy weight.
For Alvina, one of her personal turning points was when she moved to Taiwan. She thought if she could move there and not know anyone or speak the language and have such a great time, she thought she could do anything. Also when she was a in a personal crisis years ago, her family and friends really came out to support her and she knew that she could get through anything with that, including the death of her husband Greg.
Professional turning points: Grace talks about when Where the Mountain Meets the Moon came out and how she realized she didn’t want to make books just to make them. They needed to have meaning and be special to her. Her Ted-X talk was a huge turning point for her in the way she accomplished public speaking so well in front of so many people. It gave her the confidence to do other speaking events with more ease.
The 2016 election was another professional and personal turning point for Grace. She became more politically vocal and knowledgable when realizing how much racism truly did exist right in front of her.
Alvina’s time in Taiwan also proved to be a turning point professionally when a friend suggested that she go into book publishing. Another turning point was when she acquired four successful books on her own:
She also remembers a turning point when she had a job offer to be editor-in-chief at another company but then Little Brown counter-offered and she stayed.
“What are you grateful for?”
Grace is grateful for friends that are gracious, and for the educational pod that she hopes continues to work out for her daughter.
Alvina is grateful for their interview with Phoebe Wahl. She was reminded that she still can learn new things that change her mind and can shape the decisions in her life. She’s grateful for not calorie counting anymore.
*Speaking of guest speakers, the Book Friends would like to know from their listeners…Do you like it when we have special guests on the podcast? Or do you prefer just two of us talking? Please drop a note here and let us know!
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