Ep. 232: Sonya Lalli on Using Romance Beats in Mainstream Fiction

Sonya Lalli is a Canadian writer of Indian heritage. She studied law in her hometown of Saskatoon and at Columbia University in New York, and later completed an MA in creative writing and publishing at City, University of London. Sonya has a black belt in tae kwon do and loves travel, yoga, and cocktail bartending. She lives in Toronto with her husband.

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Transcript:

Rachael Herron: [00:00:00] Welcome to “How do you Write?” I’m your host, Rachael Herron. On this podcast, I talk to authors about how they write, what their process is and how their lives fit together. I’ll keep each episode short so you can get back to writing.

[00:00:16] Well, Hello writers! Welcome to episode # 232 of “How do you Write?” I’m Rachael Herron and I am so glad that you’re here with me today, as I am talking to Sonya Lalli. And it was just such a joy to talk to her about her amazingly fun and wonderful book. So, I know that you’re going to enjoy that interview.  What has been going on around here? It has been very busy, very real. We are just getting painting done of the outside of the house. Painting of the inside of the house will be coming, because we, my wife and I, live like college students. We moved into this house, that was a bright post-it yellow when we moved in. It was really the yellow of a post-it, which is just, oh, isn’t it the most gorgeous color you ever saw? And it is now kind of white and we really didn’t even notice. So that has been fun. We’re painting it, and by we, I mean, the person that we hired to do so, is painting it a light gray with white trim, which I think is the most boring thing I have ever seen in my whole entire goddamn life. But my realtor says, it’s the hot color right now. How is light gray with white, a hot color? But I have to admit it, does look sharp. No, you know what? That’s giving it too much credit. It looks clean. 

[00:01:50] So, we’ve got that going on. What else? I feel like everything is really rolling forward. Yesterday, I printed out, and if you’re watching on YouTube, you can see it. I printed out a four-month calendar, that delineates, where we need to be at what time, what we need to do, in order to get on that plane in July to go move our whole lives to New Zealand. And here is the exciting part is that as I record this, it is April 8th, 2021. And I think we need to have basically ourselves out of this house in terms of all of our stuff by the end of April. So, in the next three weeks and one in two days, we need to have everything packed and sorted and put into a pod storage unit, which will then be put into a container ship we’re taking about, I think we’re going to take about, 60 cubic feet of stuff, which is about 40 or 50 boxes of things like books and some clothes and some pots and pans and that’s really all we’re taking. But meanwhile, our house is full. You will notice that I’m still sitting at the same eye level here because I’m still sitting at my beautiful roll top desk. Seriously, if anybody lives in the Bay area, San Francisco Bay area and wants a beautiful roll top desk that I love so much, I’m going to be getting rid of this. There are still these big things that we have to gear it up, our bed, our couch, our chairs, our dining table, the island in the kitchen that we jury rigged by buying old cabinets and putting a Formica table on top and I can tell you, it is very sturdy. It is a sturdy island. We made the Formica table hang over the edge of these cabinets so that we can sit at it with stools, we have been sitting at that thing in our kitchen for years and years and years and years. And it’s sturdy because we didn’t know how to attach it. So, we use duct tape and, what are those rubber band things called? I cannot think of the name for, bungee cords, bungee cords! We can’t give that to anybody. We can’t sell that to anybody. We can’t even give that to anybody, that just needs to go to the dump because those were dumped items in the beginning. So those kinds of things, getting them out of the house in order that we can have the guy put in some new carpet in order so that we could have people paint the inside of the house.

[00:04:27] I painted this when I moved in and I haven’t painted it since 15 years ago. So those kinds of things are rolling, but what I want to say about that is that something I’m looking forward to, is when the house hits the market. It’ll be staged, I think we’ll probably be living in it with the staging, which is going to be really strange. It’ll be nicer furniture than we’ve ever had, but we won’t have anything else to do. We won’t have anything, we don’t, we won’t have stuff. We will have the things that we keep with ourselves. I’m going to keep a couple of knitting projects, deck of cards, so I can play poker with Lala whenever I can talk her into it, and my Kindle and my computer. I will have a lot of time to do work, and that’s going to be great. I’m kind of looking forward to that. I’m not kind of looking forward. I’m really looking forward to that mental clarity where there’s nothing else I can do except wait for the house to sell and then get on the plane. All of our stuff is packed. We’re living out of suitcases. I have been struggling to write, I am writing. I am working on writing, but it is a struggle. Yesterday was supposed to be a writing day in the morning and it turned into hours of dealing with getting our stuff shipped. So that is something I’m really, really looking forward to is having that time and space. 

[00:05:46] Speaking of time and space, I do want to take a moment and thank some new Patreon followers because y’all give me the time and space to write the essays that I love writing. And thank you Patreon followers who really liked that first essay, which is going to be the first part of my memoir on moving to New Zealand. I got so many good suggestions of titles for the New Zealand moving memoir, right now I really love, I think it was the newest Kiwi or the new New Zealanders. I love that. Thanks Mona for that. And so, thank you to the patreons who support me there and who get to read these essays well in advance of the book coming up, which you know, will happen someday. So first of all, thank you to Rebecca Wendt. Thank you, Ken Guidros, I hope I said that right. Miley Topliff, thanks, Miley. Rose Ketchering, thank you, thank you so much. Bill Aprens, Bill is just such a darling dear heart and he’s a student of mine and he’s supporting me in a generous level and thank you, Bill, that just made me happy and grateful. Cassandra Leach and Heather James, who is Bill’s pal. And, thank you all of you. Thank you all of you who do support on the Patreon patreon.com/Rachael or who have supported in the past. Thank you to the people who cancel their Patreon support because they can’t afford to. That’s totally welcome. You can do that at any, any time. I understand, finances come and go. And if a dollar a month is too dear, is too hard, I, and I, that sounds facetious when I say it. I mean it. There have been times in my life where I could not afford that extra buck or two a month. And, when you stop that I never have hard feelings, never, ever, ever my darlings.

[00:07:39] So, thank you, thank you, thank you with all of my heart. Also, something I’m just going to say one more thing that I am excited about is that earlier today, I got an email from somebody who wants to adopt Waylon, who is, you can’t see him. If you’re watching on YouTube, he’s a black cat, sleeping on a black sweatshirt on the chair behind me, the darling of our heart, the brother of Willy who died last week. And, it has been the one thing that has been breaking my heart about this move. Like I’m sad about everything, about leaving my sisters and family and bothering our family and friends and my people and my place in the world. But Waylon has been breaking my heart the way he is so sad not to be around dogs and cats and people. And the people who say that they want to adopt him, have three kids and a cat. And I just can’t imagine a better place for Waylon than being around kids that he can go yell at and then get petted by. So we have an informational interview with that family tonight. So, wish us good things, because if I knew Waylon was well taken care of, oh, my heart would be so happy. So, I’ll keep you posted on that. 

[00:08:50] None of these things are writing related. So, we will jump into the interview with Sonia, which is writing related, completely relevant to you as the writer that you are. I want to take just a second to remind you that you are in exactly the right place. You are doing exactly the right thing. If you’re not writing, you’re getting ready to write. If you are writing, congratulations, keep it up. We just move onward. We take one foot, put it in front of the other and we do it again tomorrow. We just need to write a little bit at a time to move our books and our stories and our memoirs and our plays forward. And I know that you can do it. I know it’s hard. We talk a lot about that on the show. It’s hard. And you have the power to do it. You don’t have to do a lot, just do a little and you’re moving in the right direction. Thank you, my friends for being here and we’ll talk soon. 

[00:09:43] Hey, is resistance keeping you from writing? Are you looking for an actual writing community in which you can make a calls and be held accountable for them? Join RachaelSaysWrite, like twice weekly, two hour writing session on zoom. You can bop in and out of the writing room as your schedule needs, but for just $39 a month, you can write up to 4 hours a week. With our wonderful little community, in which you’ll actually get to know your writing peers. We write from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM on Tuesdays and 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Thursdays and that’s US Pacific Standard Time. Go to RachaelHerron.com/Write to find out more.

Rachael Herron: [00:10:24] All right. Well, I could not be more pleased to welcome to the show, Sonya Lalli. Hello, Sonya!

Sonya Lalli: [00:10:29] Hi. Thank you so much for having me. 

Rachael Herron: [00:10:31] I’m so pleased to have you. I am enjoying your book so, so, so, so much. Let me give you a little introduction. Sonya Lalli is a Canadian writer of Indian heritage. She studied law in her hometown of Saskatoon and at Columbia University in New York, and later completed an MA in creative writing and publishing at City, University of London. Sonya has a black belt in taekwondo and loves travel, yoga, and cocktail bartending. She lives in Toronto with her husband. But right now, you said you’re with your family in central Canada. Is that right? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:01] Yep.

Rachael Herron: [00:11:02] Is that like a holiday or? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:03] No. I, for family reasons, yeah. But we’re, I’m from Saskatoon, so that’s where I am right now.

Rachael Herron: [00:11:08] Okay. Oh, nice. Is it freezing? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:11] It was very, very cold. I’m thinking Celsius here, but it was like minus 40?

Rachael Herron: [00:11:17] Oh, no thank you.

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:18] 30 minus 40 for a few days. It was crazy. Yeah.

Rachael Herron: [00:11:23] I don’t even know how people do that 

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:24] It’s gone, it’s gone now. The cold snap is gone now. 

Rachael Herron: [00:11:26] Okay, thank goodness. Well, let’s talk about your lovely book, Serena Singh Flips the Script. I had not read you before. And then I noticed you just have a big catalog behind this, but it is so much fun. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:38] Oh, thank you.

Rachael Herron: [00:11:39] Your writing is so much fun to read and it reads as real and this particular book is about women’s friendships as well as romance, but you really get the women’s friendships front and center there. Is that what your books always have to do with or? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:11:56] No. So when I first started writing, I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think about what genre I was writing. And it turned out that, and sort of was molded better into, a romance women’s fiction book. So, my first book, Matchmaker’s List, that was more on the romance side, Grown-up Pose, my second book, and Serena Singh Flips the Script is more on the women’s fiction side. But for the third book for me, I started out thinking about it as a romantic comedy about finding your new best friend. So, I thought about in that typical, the tropes and milestones of a romance, I just applied that to the friendship and the book.

Rachael Herron: [00:12:38] I am a romance writer. Also, I write in a bunch of genres, but I’ve written a lot of romance and I’m enjoying seeing all the beats being hit. I don’t think a, you know, a normal reader wouldn’t pick up on that, but I’m like, oh, this is so romance, but it’s about friendship. It’s just, it’s beautiful. So, I would love to talk to you about your process of writing. Are you a full-time writer? Is this a?

Sonya Lalli: [00:12:59] No. So I work in publishing. And so, I write on the weekends and evenings. 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:06] Okay. So, 

Sonya Lalli: [00:13:07] Yes.

Rachael Herron: [00:13:08] I love talking to people about this. How do you fit that in, especially how do you wrap your brain around making that switch from the finished product side of publishing to the beginning side? How do you manage that? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:13:21] Sorry, you mean like between my day job and my? 

Rachael Herron: [00:13:23] Yeah, yeah. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:13:24] Yeah, so

Rachael Herron: [00:13:25] Where does, where does writing fit and how do you make that brain switch at the, when you’re writing?

Sonya Lalli: [00:13:30] Well, before the pandemic, it was easy because I would go to the office. I sort of, when I was, when I was there, I was sort of in this world where I’m part of a business, I’m one of a move, I’m one of the pieces in a bunch of moving parts, trying to create a book and help bring it into the world. And then I would go home and go on my other computer room, go back into my pajamas and write on my kitchen table. So, the pandemic has made that challenging. I still have two different computers, so at least there’s that like physical, I have to move one computer to the side to get the other one to like, to write. But yeah, I have found it more challenging while working from home to sort of, just switch back and forth. 

Rachael Herron: [00:14:11] And are you a morning writer, before work writer, or are you an after-work evening writer or all of the above?

Sonya Lalli: [00:14:18] I can barely wake up in time to go to get to my regular job. So, and often I’m late. So, no, I write in the evenings, and mostly on the weekends. So, it’s just my husband and I in our apartment. And we, I have a lot of time to myself. And so my weekends are my own. I typically wake up, around eight o’clock on Saturdays and Sundays and write as long as I can go usually until about one or 2:00 PM. And I get most of my work done there. And then in the afternoons and evenings on the weekends, I sort of see my friends and hang out and do other things. 

Rachael Herron: [00:14:57] You’re a normal person. Yeah. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:14:58] Yeah. 

Rachael Herron: [00:14:59] Are you, are you more of a pantser or a plotter?

Sonya Lalli: [00:15:01] I’m a plotter 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:02] Hardcore. Like you could, I can see it in your face, this is, you plot.

Sonya Lalli: [00:15:06] I need to know where I’m going. I always have a, like seeds of ideas or characters or hooks and that kind of thing. And then once I have that, then I sort of get my pen and paper out and I really go to town. 

Rachael Herron: [00:15:23] Serena Singh is such a strong character. Did she come to you fully fleshed out or did you have to work with her to bring her out?

Sonya Lalli: [00:15:33] So, I sort of elaborated on the parts of myself that are sort of anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment and sort of anti-convention, I guess you could say. I, in my personal life, I actually have made, have made quite a conventional person. But, I don’t like the idea that women have to, have to make these choices that they need to get married, that they need to follow a certain timeline to be happy because there are so many women, and I know a lot of them that are so happy with their lives and they’re single, or they have a partner and they don’t want children and that’s a choice that they make. So, I really sort of thought a lot about that and I thought a lot about, yeah, I thought a lot about the women who are sort of having to justify their decisions. And so, and put that in the character.

Rachael Herron: [00:16:28] Something I really am enjoying about her is that a conventional character arc, and this would have been pleased me in a book, right, is to watch somebody going from not knowing what their voice is to finding their voice and being able to stand up for themselves. But Serena comes onto the page, knowing that her choices, she’s made these for a reason and she’s already really strong and I just am really enjoying rooting for her. So what is your biggest challenge when it comes to writing?

Sonya Lalli: [00:16:54] What are my challenges? I sometimes I find I get too complacent if I’m starting a new draft and I find myself returning to things maybe that I’ve already written about, or even using phrases that I remember, I know I’ve used that expression before

Rachael Herron: [00:17:14] Yes

Sonya Lalli: [00:17:15] or that kind of thing or that sort of character, and then I get annoyed. And then the next draft that like, do my best to freshen it up. But that’s a challenge and I think I’m sure that’s a challenge for a lot of writers, especially when you’re writing multiple books that, so I guess what I try and do is just read a lot across genres and try, and not like actively study them, but just try and keep my brain more challenged, I guess. 

Rachael Herron: [00:17:42] Kind of absorbing new information. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:17:44] Yeah. Exactly. But I do, I, and especially, and that’s something I think about a lot is when I, you know, I hope to keep writing and maybe you have some advice for this, but like, how do you like, try and proactively stay fresh and think about things in a new way as you write more and more books.

Rachael Herron: [00:18:01] I wish I knew. I wish I knew the answer. I even have, I even have a shorthand to myself that if it’s all, all in caps, I don’t use a pair, a question mark or anything I just put used. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:18:10] Okay.

Rachael Herron: [00:18:11] And that is my that’s my tag to when I’m in revision, go back and like find, search and find other documents to see where I’ve used this phrase or, have I done this convention. But I think that, you know, our readers want to read us because they love our voice and they love the worlds that we create. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:18:25] Yeah.

Rachael Herron: [00:18:26] Right?

Sonya Lalli: [00:18:27] For sure.

Rachael Herron: [00:18:28] So, they want to come back to this, but yeah, I worry about that too. A lot. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:18:31] Yeah. I think some things it’s good to, like, so many parts of romance in particular, they’re so universal, right? And it’s just about doing it your own way. So. 

Rachael Herron: [00:18:40] Exactly. The way that only you can. What is your biggest joy when it comes to writing? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:18:45] My joy is when I have absolutely no distractions and nobody’s around and I can just sit there and not feel guilty about not answering my phone or not being, you know, I don’t need to do this or I should really be working or, you know, something like that? And just have like a heat, like an afternoon just to myself to write. That’s the best feeling.

Rachael Herron: [00:19:07] That is the best feeling. It’s, I had one of those days this week and it was the best. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:19:11] Oh, that’s nice. 

Rachael Herron: [00:19:12] Can you share a craft tip of any sort with us? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:19:17] Yeah. So I’m trying to think of a good one to share it. I mean, sorry. 

Rachael Herron: [00:19:27] Take your time.

Sonya Lalli: [00:19:28] I find that, especially for people who have, like me, who has very, very, limited time. So, let’s say we do have an afternoon off. We know we have to use that afternoon well, and it can be a lot of pressure to just kind of, okay, oh my God. I need to get 2,500 words out or 1500 words out. And if I don’t, then I feel like a failure and sometimes the words just aren’t there. So I just try. Like I don’t, like I do push myself, but if the words are not coming, I don’t force myself to write the chapter I was planning. I try and be like, okay, this isn’t happening. I’m going to skip forward and write the ending. So I know exactly what the ending is going to look like. And at least I’ll feel better for, and I will probably have to edit it a lot because I missed half a book in between. But that’ll feel good to get that out or edit the first chapter or, you know, do some research on some thinking like on a theme that you are incorporating to the book. Just, I also find that reading even for like a chapter of a really good book and then sometimes like, oh yeah, I love reading. I love writing. And then I can get back into it. Yeah, I just find, what’s the word? Doing what feels right at that time and there’s lots of different ways to be productive.

Rachael Herron: [00:20:39] Rather than continuing to beat your head into the brick wall, which is one of my favorite ways to write, honestly. I forget to do that too, to kind of follow what the next joy is, if you’re really, really stuck. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:20:53] Yeah. I mean sometimes like, okay. The only thing left to do now is to edit this chapter. Then I get, then the beating happens because I’ve done everything else I can possibly do and now I really have to do this, but yeah. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:06] Yeah, I love that. What thing in your life affects your writing in a surprising way? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:21:12] The weather. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:13] Oh, tell me more.

Sonya Lalli: [00:21:15] When it’s summer, and the windows are open and there’s a breeze and I’m wearing shorts, I feel like I should be on school holiday. And I don’t want to be inside. If it’s, if I’m hot, you know, like I, actually, winter, when it’s dark and it’s cold and I don’t want to go outside, those, that’s my most productive season. But actually that, those July, August, really hot days, it’s very, very difficult for me to write.

Rachael Herron: [00:21:42] It’s play time. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:21:43] Yeah.

Rachael Herron: [00:21:44] It’s time to be outside. Yes. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:21:45] Exactly. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:46] Yes. Can I ask you about the mug that you’re holding? Why does that look like an awesome mug? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:21:51] Because I’m at my mom’s house and she has nice stuff. 

Rachael Herron: [00:21:54] Okay. That’s beautiful. I thought maybe like it heated itself or no, it’s just beautiful.

Sonya Lalli: [00:21:58] No, no, no. I’ve heard a trend online that there’s smart mugs.

Rachael Herron: [00:22:01] This is what I was going to ask if that’s what that was.

Sonya Lalli: [00:22:02] Oh no. This is just a regular mug. Yeah.

Rachael Herron: [00:22:06] I did get it, I did get a mug warmer for my desk, which I really have been liking, but, 

Sonya Lalli: [00:22:11] Oh, that’s a good idea.

Rachael Herron: [00:22:12] Okay. So what is the best book that you’ve read recently? And why did you love it? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:22:17] I read, this was, like I said, I read all sorts of fiction across genres, and this was one of the more literary books that I read. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. And he, it’s like, he won the Pulitzer, I think. Like it’s like a very literary

Rachael Herron: [00:22:32] It did. Yeah. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:22:33] very good book. And the sequel actually came out. It’s coming out next week or something, and it’s called The Committed. And The Sympathizer is about a spy during the Vietnam war and eventually comes over to America and makes a life for himself as a spy and it is the best voice that I have ever read. Like I’m, I usually,

Rachael Herron: [00:22:56] Leaping to the top of my list. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:22:57] Yeah, it is, he is such a fascinating voice and I do love learning about like, you know, I didn’t learn anything about the Vietnam war in school or very little, right?

Rachael Herron: [00:23:07] Yeah, yeah.

Sonya Lalli: [00:23:08] And so, it was just learning of so much interesting stuff. And then he’s really, really very fleshed out characters and his voice again is just phenomenal.

Rachael Herron: [00:23:16] What does his voice do? What does it sound like to you? Because I can see you like brighten when you even think about his voice. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:23:24] I’m trying to think of how to describe it. He is, he’s very dry and very funny and very, just original, the way he speaks. And I mean, it’s the author and the character, but like, the way he speaks about the world is just so original and voice is something that I, that could be another challenge that I could mention to you is that, I have a very particular voice as a human woman, and I know that I parts of myself, go into my characters and I try and do my best to not have all my main characters’ sound exactly the same and sound exactly like me. But, when you’re writing a character whose life is similar to you and she would respond in similar ways, I kind of have that. That’s something I try and think about is, making the voices of my main characters, different. 

Rachael Herron: [00:24:20] Well, the voice of this main character that I’m reading is wonderful. And I’m loving spending time with this particular voice. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:24:26] Oh, thank you.

Rachael Herron: [00:24:27] So, speaking of Serena, can you tell us about this book? Tell us a little bit about what it is about. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:24:33] Sure. Yeah. So, Serena Singh is 36 and she has just gotten a promotion as a creative director, circa madman at an advertising agency. And her little sister has just announced that she is pregnant and Serena feels happy for her, but she also feels a little bit deflated because a lot of serene, her little sister, she considers her best friend, and a lot of Serena’s other friends, in their late thirties, have gotten married and had children and they don’t have time for Serena or at least that’s how she perceives it. And Serena’s actually quite judgy at the beginning of books about mothers and just assuming mothers are going to go be mothers and not have time for their friends, because Serena has a lot of baggage. She grew up in a very complicated household where there was not a quality between her mother and father. So, she grew up not having a good, healthy relationship with men and that’s informed a lot of her decisions. And so, Serena decides that, or with the help of her, with the guy she’s seeing, she realizes that, if she wants to make more friends and fill her life in this way, she needs to put in the effort. And it, kind of is like dating because, it’s hard making friends as an adult.

Rachael Herron: [00:25:52] I think I’ve really, I think I’m really attached deeply to this book because we are, my wife and I are planning a move to New Zealand this year in the next six months or so. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:26:00] Oh, that’s great.

Rachael Herron: [00:26:01] And I am just, I’m really worried about making friends. Like I have been in the Bay area for 25 plus years. All my friends are here. How do I go about making best friends? So, I was already like, oh, Bumble BFF. All right. I’m in. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:26:14] Yeah, it’s hard. Like when I moved at, to Toronto, I hadn’t gotten my current job yet. I was working remotely for my old company. I was with my husband. I wasn’t starting like a new college program or an office job where there’s this like a ready-made group of people you can hang out with. And it was really challenging. And I did to go on Bumble BFF, and I did go to super awkward book clubs and stuff like that. And it was really, really hard, but you’ll be great. You’ll be great. 

Rachael Herron: [00:26:40] Did you end up making friends from any of those attempts?

Sonya Lalli: [00:26:42] I did. I would say, I will say that the strongest friendships I’ve, new friendships I’ve made were probably at the office, just, 

Rachael Herron: [00:26:50] Which is just natural. That’s how,

Sonya Lalli: [00:26:51] Yeah. 

Rachael Herron: [00:26:52] I’m going to, I’m going to look for like a coworking space just to at least be in around other people. You know

Sonya Lalli: [00:26:59] For sure. Yeah. I think that’s a, that’s probably the way to go.

Rachael Herron: [00:27:01] Okay. So yeah, this is, I’m just enjoying it, so, so, so very much. Where can we find you online? 

Sonya Lalli: [00:27:08] I am on Twitter (@Sonya_Lalli) and Instagram, (Sonya_Lalli) and also, I have a website, SonyaLalli.com  

Rachael Herron: [00:27:17] Sonya, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. And thank you for writing this wonderful book that has just, it’s exactly what I needed right now. I have been, I’ve been doing a lot of dark and this is the kind of light and the kind of reality that I really needed to see, so thank you. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:27:32] Okay. Thank you so much for having me and have a great time in New Zealand.

Rachael Herron: [00:27:34] Thank you. Happy writing. 

Sonya Lalli: [00:27:35] Thanks, bye. 

Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of “How do you Write?” You can reach me on Twitter, twitter.com/RachaelHerron, or at my website, www.rachaelherron.com, you can also support me on Patreon and get essays on living your creative life for as little as a buck an essay at www.patreon.com/rachael spelled R, A, C, H, A, E, L and do sign up for my free weekly newsletter of encouragement to writers rachaelherron.com/write/

Now, go to your desk and create your own process and get to writing my friends.

At Rachel heron.com/right now, go to your desk and create your own process and get to write in my friends.