Don't Write A "Perfect" Book (Write An Honest One) 📚 C. M. Cornwell on Writing The Memory Spinner

The best stories don't have to be "perfect"—they just have to be honest...

In this episode of A LITERAL JOURNEY, author C.M. Cornwell shares the winding path that led to her novel, The Memory Spinner and the lessons she's learned about creativity, grief, perseverance, and most importantly—hope.

From discovering her own creative spark, to rejection and eventual publication, and then to hearing readers discuss her characters in a book club, Christina offers a refreshing and deeply human look at what it means to create meaningful (honest) art.

Whether you’re a reader, writer, parent, teacher, or someone who is looking for hope after loss, I hope this episode encourages you to open a book (or pick up a pen) and embark on your own literal journey.

About C. M. CORNWELL:

C. M. Cornwell spent her childhood reading, climbing trees, and brewing imaginary potions with her seven siblings in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a degree in English Literature from Utah Valley University and lives in Pennsylvania with her family. THE MEMORY SPINNER is her debut novel.

📖 ORDER "The Memory Spinner" by C. M. Cornwell: https://amzn.to/4fmKjAr

📚 READ other Books by C. M. Cornwell: https://amzn.to/4e4LC4B

🎧 LISTEN on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1CvEfBcK1xALUswAkOwlNf?si=98cea0829ca145e6

🍎 LISTEN on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-literal-journey/id1839517342

🎥 WATCH more episodes of A LITERAL JOURNEY: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRTQ34vyf-9NkrTcSH0KEwXPOhdVqZRVZ

Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to A LITERAL JOURNEY for more exclusive author interviews, book recommendations, and thoughtful conversations about the stories that shape us. 📖✨

#CMCornwell #thememoryspinner #author #authorinterview #writing #writingadvice #writingcommunity #fantasy #fairytales #storytelling

My name is Seth Adam Smith. I’m a husband, father, and author who believes in the power of stories to inspire people forward.

Subscribe for:
📚 A LITERAL JOURNEY – exclusive interviews with bestselling authors
🎙️ THE NORTHERN LIGHTS Podcast – uplifting messages to inspire you forward
🕯️ AN AWE-FUL STORY – true tales that turn the “awful” into the “awe-full”

✨ My Books: http://amzn.to/2p7FXA8
🌐 Website: http://www.SethAdamSmith.com

Thank you for watching—and for being part of this journey!

Transcript

C. M. Cornwell 0:00

I think when I first set out to write a book, I was like, I want to write, I didn't think this consciously. This was all subconscious, but I was like, I want to write the perfect book. I want to write a book that people can't find fault in, you know, that I I study my craft so well that it will just be perfect. And um and now I'm like, that was so silly. What was I thinking? You know, um, because of course, not every book is going to resonate with every person because humans are so different. We, you know, we all have different lenses in in the way we view the world. And so um now I think my mindset has shifted for the better to not be about making the perfect book. I just want to make an honest book, you know, a book that reflects um who I am, who my characters are, the themes that I want to convey. And and that's the win for me, you know, and and if that book can find its readers, that's a huge win, you know. So um, yeah, it's it's not so much about a perfect book anymore. It's just um an honest one. Hello and welcome back to A Literal Journey, a place where I interview fantastic authors of great stories to help you as you author your own story. And in today's interview, I'm so excited. I I've got CM Cornwell, who whose her name is Christina, and I have to keep reminding myself not to say CM. I have to keep reminding myself to say Christina. Um CM Cornwell is the author of whimsical stories with magic and heart, including The Memory Spinner from Penguin Random House and the upcoming The Paper Ballerina, and that's 2027. She has a degree in English literature and lives in Pennsylvania with her family. When she isn't writing, she enjoys traveling, hoarding cardigans, and tangling herself in fiber arts projects. So I assume that's there's a connection between that and the memory spinner, correct? There is, yes. Thanks so much for having me on the show, Seth. I am I am so grateful, so honored to have you on here. For for listeners who may be discovering you for the first time, give us a little bit of background on your journey. What's your story and what pulled you into storytelling? Yeah, so I have always loved storytelling. Um, since when I was young, my sister and I were very deep into imaginary play. And um so I I knew that I loved stories, but I didn't, I wanted to be in a story rather than the one telling the story. I wanted to be a character in the story. So um it took me a long time to recognize that I was a writer. I um I majored in English literature in college and um I I loved it, but I avoided creative writing classes. I and mostly just wrote essays about other people's stories. So um yeah, I I didn't become a writer myself until I was an adult after my daughter was born. I was looking for a creative outlet and writing was there. And so I started with poetry, terrible poetry, and did some anecdotes and then finally attempted writing a novel. And I haven't looked back. I just I love writing and um I'm kind of surprised that it took me so long to get there. Wow, that's I mean, with the poetry thing, I think I think most poetry, once you once you look back on you're like, oh my gosh, I wrote this. Like seems to be the the path of poetry. It gets you gets you going into prose. Um yes, absolutely. Every author, you know, that I've talked to, they they have a something like an inciting incident, something that either really pulled them into writing stories, or maybe just an author or a book that really opened their eyes to another world. Was there a a book, an author, or uh, or an incident that really pulled you into the world of writing? Yes. So um when I was young, my mom was really good about reading stories to us, um, me and my little sister uh especially. And um she'd read us the classics, the stories that she grew up with. So we read like Little House on the Prairie, Kidnap, Swiss Family Robinson, and just really good books. I loved them, but we'd just take them in small doses. We'd read a few chapters at a time, and then one day my older brother came home with the Harry Potter books, books one through three. And um, it was the first time I read independently, really. And I didn't know storytelling, storytelling could be like that. It was so immersive, and I didn't want to put the book down. So I read the first book in a day, the second book in a day, the third book in a day, and then I had to wait because that was all that was out at the time. So I had to wait a year. We all know that torture until the next book came out. So um yeah, it just it's what made me fall in love with fantasy and also reading in general. So yeah, I, you know, it was the Harry Potter books. I think that's a common story for writers, is you know, the Harry Potter books are so popular now. Um, but yeah, they were so impactful for me. I I remember um I was eighth grade English, so the third one had come out, and I was in third grade English class in junior high and or third grade, eighth grade English class in junior high. And um, our teacher, Mrs. Marsh, had said, okay, guys, listen, I just got the third Harry Potter book. Please, please, only one at a time, you know, to read it. Please take, please pay and don't ruin it because I only have the one. And I I had never heard of Harry Potter. I'm like, what is this? Why, why are people so excited? And it took me maybe two or three years before I got into reading it. And then I was like, oh, okay, now I understand what this is all about. This is it it really is an incredible series. It is for sure. Well, um, when it comes to to writing, when you were, you know, when you decided to to pick up a pad of paper and write, what what story was it were you drawn to? Or what was it the same genre, kind of a fantasy genre? Yes. So the book that made me want to write was actually one of Shannon Hale's early books. It was The Goose Girl or Goose Girl. Um, and so after I read that one, I was like, I want to try to write a fantasy um and a reimagined fairy tale. And so that's where I started. Um and I wrote like two partial drafts, couldn't finish. And um, it took me a while to um start a new project, which was the paper ballerina at the time. And that one was inspired by um an old fairy tale, um, The Steadfast Tin Soldier. I don't know if you've heard of that one, but um, the Paper Ballerina is like a side character in that story, and so I started thinking, okay, what would her story look like? And um, so I dropped those first two unfinished manuscripts and wrote that whole book. So that was the first book that I finished was The Paper Ballerina. Really? Yeah. Has it? I mean, it's coming out in 2027. Has it changed uh much? It's changed a lot. So I originally wrote it back in 2019, and this was a book that I like I poured my heart and soul into. I was like, if I'm ever going to publish, it will be this book. And um yeah, it was a really bumpy journey with that one. I it's the book that got me my agent. Um it won a writing contest really early on. Like I was like, this is my book, right? And then it goes on submission and it fails to sell. So a year later, I was I was just devastated. I was like, oh my gosh, I don't know if I have another story in me. Um, but yeah, I'll I'll it was a bumpy road. Um, but it is super rewarding that it is now going to be coming out next year. It's gone through um significant edits because um, of course, the memory spinner came out first. So this book um has completely been rewritten and yeah, I'm excited to share that one as well. I I I love that. I don't think I've heard of that. I mean, I've interviewed a uh quite a few authors and they'll talk about their first book and they'll say it's never gonna see the light of day. Like that. But they I asked, I can't remember who it was. I asked, I said, and what was the name of that first book? And she goes, I'm not going to tell you. Like they're so embarrassed by the first manuscript. And so I'm amazed. That's that's wonderful news that a story you had written first is now coming out. That's I that's that's incredible. Congratulations. Thank you. It's been really rewarding to to see it change so much because it went through so many edits, so many beta readers, and um, and I, you know, I've stuck with it all these years, and I really believed in this story. And so it's awesome that it's finally gonna be in print. Well, then tell me about um I mean, see, without giving any spoilers, tell our listeners about the memory spinner. Uh, what's the premise and what inspired that story? Yeah, so the memory spinner is about a young girl named Lavender. She's 13 years old, and she loses her memories after her mom dies. And um, it makes her job as an apothecary's apprentice nearly impossible. But it also means that she's losing um her favorite memories with her mother who passed away. So she she's desperate and she seeks out the help of an enchantress in her town to help her get her memories back. I'm probably on chapter three right now, and I can send some themes that that are that are kind of coming to the surface. But what was the the inspiration behind this idea? So um there's a few things. One was I I love fiber arts, right? And so I thought it would be cool to build a magic system around crochet, which I knew was going to be a challenge because crochet is like very repetitive and kind of boring if you're not the one doing it, right? So um I I drew on that my love of crochet plus magical clothing. I've always loved books that that had enchanted clothes. Um, Howl's Moving Castle was an inspiration for that as well. Um, and then I originally, so this was my second manuscript that I attempted. Um, that partial draft that I hadn't finished uh at the time that I wrote Paper Ballerina. And it was supposed to be a Hansel and Gretel retelling, but it's changed massively since then, significantly since then. So I went back to that manuscript when I was struggling after the Paper Ballerina didn't sell. And I was like, I don't think I have another book in me, but maybe I can fix this book that um that's broken because it it only had like it was halfway written. But I was like, maybe if I can't write something new, I can go back to this old project and somehow finish it. But what ended up happening was I rewrote the whole thing and it just poured out. I I wrote it in two months, this new draft for it, and um, it was because I was going through grief at the time, and so grief became this underlying theme, and that is what pulled the story together. That's what it was missing this whole time. So um I feel like it it happened when it was supposed to happen. But you can sense that there is grief woven into the story, um, and it and it seems like, uh, based on your bio and the story, that crochet it plays a major part in not only weaving together a story, but that you yourself see some sort of magic in that. What was the what was the relationship between you know your hobby and then crafting something that is had has these magical themes in it? Yeah, so crochet. I I didn't find crochet until I was an adult too. And it was kind of uh it was a real struggle for me to learn how to crochet. Um, my older sister taught me, she's like this crochet pro, and she's like, oh, it's so easy, you know, and she taught me. And it took me, I was doing the service project for it when I was in college. Um, and I knit these, I crocheted these little baby hats. And each baby hat, you know, it can take her like an hour, tops, and for me, it was like hours and hours of work for each of these baby hats. And I was like, man, this is a struggle. But I that was the first time that I stuck with something that I really did not come naturally to me at all. Um, but it was so rewarding to see the outcome and to create something that didn't exist before. And so I felt that same reward from writing stories. Um, you know, something that maybe didn't come as naturally to me at first with creative writing. Um, but the the effort and working hard at it, I don't think I'm one of those people who had a super strong natural talent for it, but um I did put in a lot of effort and um I have a lot of resilience and persistence. And so I feel like that's really what drew what I learned from crochet and what I learned from writing. So it's been really fun to combine those two things in a book that I I haven't really seen crochet in a book before. So it was it was really fun. That reminds me, I mean, you said a service project, it was making hats for for babies for little kids. Yeah, it reminds me of um there's a nonprofit called the Magic Yarn Project where they they make wigs for kids who have cancer. I've heard of that. I heard of it more recently. That's amazing. My my friend runs it, she's up, she's in Alaska. I my family was we grew up in Alaska, but yeah, she runs the whole program. But I mean, the connection between the two, I mean, I was interviewing her for something different, and she was just talking about how because it's called the Magic Yarn project, and she's just talking about how the process of doing that, the service for the kids, how it brings light to them, but it also gives this opportunity for people to serve and to help. And yeah, it's remarkable. Yeah. Well, um, shifting gears, every good story seems to have an idea or a theme that you know that's trying to be conveyed. What do you feel like is the is at the heart of at least the memory spinner? Yeah, with the memory spinner, um, I mentioned that I was going through grief at the time. Um and and so that is a big a big theme in it. And um the main the main thing that I hope readers take away from it is that there's hope after grief. Um since I was in such a difficult, uh I was really struggling with my writing and with a family member who was going through cancer. Um, and so I kind of was in a dark place when I wrote it um and looking for more, I was looking for hope in my life. And so I felt like as I wrote this story, um not only does Lavender, my main character, she is finding hope after um she loses her mother. I was also, it's also a book that and a story that brought hope back for me in my life. So um I'll always feel that that connection with the memory spinner. It was it's a very special book to me because of what it did for me with with my hope. What was the the process of getting the story? I mean, you said you wrote it in two months, and then what was the process of getting it from point A to point B, getting it published? Um, and what was your reaction to when it was accepted? Oh man. Um, so I I had mentioned that I had been on submission previously with uh Paper Ballerina for a year, and um, and that was just a hard year, right? Um, and then I sent memory spinner off to my agent. It it did go through uh beta readers. Um, my critique partners were busy with other projects at the time. So I I ended up sending it to a few beta readers, not very many, and they gave great suggestions, they loved it. I sent it off to my agent, and she was like, This is ready, let's send it out on submission. And um, and that surprised me, of course. I was like, really? Because of how much time and effort paper ballerina had taken. Um, but the memory spinner, it just it came out how it was supposed to come out, and it got picked up in a few months um by Delcourt, and Delcourt's been an awesome home for it. I've been thrilled with them. So yeah, so I'm excited that um that memory spinner found a home with them and paper ballerina. So yeah. I sort of loosely structure these interviews, very loosely structure them around the idea of the hero's journey. It's something that's always fascinated me, you know, that you could go on this journey and you go through this abyss, you know, and then you come back out, you come back home with the whatever the reward is. I love that concept, and you can see it repeated in stories. And then I've learned that you could see it repeated in your own life. And as an author is authoring a story, they are also going through that journey. Um, and one of the key elements of the hero's journey is encountering resistance, and sometimes that resistance is very tricky to spot because it's it's not always external, it's sometimes internal. And it's not always before you publish a book, it sometimes comes after when you you know you you have these reactions to whatever somebody says or expectations not meeting reality. What's been some of the resistance that you've encountered along your journey to getting your story out there? Oh, there's been so many. There's so many obstacles, right? So many to choose from. No, but um, as as I was mentioning before, when the paper ballerina died on submission, I think that that was the hardest point for me because a lot of authors go through that. A lot, a lot of authors have don't end up selling their first book. And um, but I think the reason why it hit me so hard was because I didn't think I could write another book. I was like, I I think that's the only book I have in me. And so dealing with that writer's block, um, and thinking, okay, I've put all my eggs in one basket for this, for this manuscript. And if if it doesn't get picked up, like this dream isn't gonna happen for me. So I think that was the the hardest thing. Um, and so that's why memory spinner was such a healing thing for me to write, to be like, oh, guess what? I do have more stories in me. Um, and so it's been really cool. I'm working on another story now, and I'm like, okay, ideas don't come really naturally to me for stories, but um, like I said, I'm a hard worker and I can I can make these, I can make stories happen. Um, but yeah, sometimes hitting that that writer's block has been it's been rough. Yeah, talk to me about writer's block because I've I've encountered that and it's more of like uh you just get on well for me, it's unmotivated. It just goes boo, boo, boo, boo, everything shuts down and you lose sort of the enthusiasm because once you get into the thick of things, sometimes it's just it's frustrating to get caught up in a scene. But how have you found um how have you beat writer's block? Okay, so for me, most of the time, um it has to do with just feeling burnt out. That's where my erotic writer's block usually comes from. And so oftentimes just stepping away from the project. I step away, I spend time outside, I do activities with my kids, I listen to um audiobooks, I read a ton, I watch TV, I watch Netflix, and somehow it's it fills my creative well. And so when I go back to the project, um, and and I don't plot out a whole story very easily. It it's just like the next chapter. What am I doing in this chapter? And usually it works. Like I I haven't hit it since that that big one that I had with um with Paper Ballerina. So that that's what's working for me now. Who knows if it'll work next time, but hopefully it will. There was that um the oh, he was he was a member of the Monty Python group, um, and he is nearly headless Nick in Harry Potter. I think. Oh, I know who you're talking about. John John Cleese. Yes, there you go. John Cleese. He had written a book on writing on creativity, and it's very, very short. I'd recommend it to anybody, but he had said what kind of what you were just saying there is he said, I I found that it you know, I would write the night before. I'd go to sleep. You know, I'd get so frustrated. I'd go to sleep. I'd wake up and my brain was piecing things together in the background. And then I could fix something easy. Like, and I wasn't even thinking about it. It had just pieced it together. And so something about, like you were saying, taking a break, walking away because you're feeling burned out. Like I feel that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. That is the exact experience I've had where I'm just like, wow, everything is clicking now, even though it wasn't, you know, a day or two before. Um, so yeah, that method has really helped me too. Well, you mentioned working on a third book. I I don't want to ask you if you're not ready to share anything, but what can you say about that that third book? Oh so it hasn't found a home yet. I'm in the process of coming up with a pitch for it and working through the early pages with my agent. Um, but it's another middle grade. It's middle grade, it's fantasy, but it has a little bit of crossover with some other genres. Um, I'm really excited about it. I hope that I can talk more about it soon. Um, and I hope it finds a home. So yeah. What's what's it been like? I mean, because I've seen so from an outsider's perspective, I'm I used to be more directly involved in the publishing industry. I was working in a publishing company in San Francisco, but now I'm a little bit more of an outsider. Yeah, it was uh Barrett Kohler publishers out in San Francisco, and they're great. They're great, great nonfiction was what they published, but they're great. And but being on the outside, I get the advantage of seeing you when a book hits and how well it does kind of among the public, and not not from an insider's perspective, but like the reaction and your book I have seen over and over and over again. Like people are recommending it, it is doing so well. And like my question is how how are you handling? Because it from my perspective, it is it's doing fantastic. It is it is doing so well. And how what's your reaction to suddenly being in this this world and and the reception, the warm reception that your book has gotten? Oh, it's been amazing, and honestly, it's it's really reassuring to hear that that you're seeing it recommended because a lot of times I I don't see those things, and so you just kind of you put this book out in the world and you hope it resonates, but you're just like, well, I've I've done my part and hopefully it finds its readers. But um, it's been super rewarding to um hear from readers uh that that it's made an impact. I was able to go to a little book club of um teen readers close to where I live um and listen to them discuss my book. And it was so surreal in some ways because I was like, oh my gosh, they're talking about my characters and my story. Like it was really strange, but also so rewarding to be like, oh my gosh, they're seeing themes in the story and it means something to them. And you know, that's the dream is that the story will make an impact for someone else. Um, so yeah, that's it's it's really cool. What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are either struggling to finish their book or struggling to get it published? Oh I think, you know, oh, there's so many things. Reading and writing a ton is is what you hear the most, I think. But I would say equally as important for me at least was finding a supportive community. I started going to conferences, writing conferences, story makers was a huge one for me out in Provo. Um, and through that I found community. And then eventually I had the courage to tell family and friends, and um, they've been incredibly supportive. But um I think that is critical is having the support system because each time you hit one of those obstacles, it's it's really easy to give up, you know. Um, but I had people in my life who were cheerleaders no matter what. Like I'd call my little sister and she'd be like, Your stories are amazing, your stories are awesome, even the ones that weren't good. She was like, This is amazing, you should be published. And I needed that boost every once in a while. And I also needed the critique partners and the beta readers to help me improve my craft. And um, and having the those different support systems is what really helped me to um have a positive, like rebuild my mindset after every rejection or every failure. So yeah, I think no matter where you are in your writing journey, it's um it's super important to find those people who are gonna support you no matter what. I love that. Um, I'm I'm I love talking to authors because of that, because of the community. Like um Ryan James Black had said, he's like, you know, if you want to restore your faith in humanity, you got to talk to middle grade authors because they're just so true. Yeah, yeah. And I love what she said about your sister, your little sister. I mean, I've I'm the youngest in my family. I've got an older brother that I really look up to. And during a very, very, very difficult time in my life, I mean I was struggling with alcoholism, and he dropped everything to help me, to help me recover. And um, he dropped everything to help me recover. All right, I know I don't mean to, I'm getting kind of um, but it was it was that act, you know, three, four years later, you know, that really inspired the story that I'm working on now. Um, but I I was on the phone with him. I was like, yeah, I actually think I got I do have some interest on it. But I I was telling him, I was like, and the really the the reason why I'm writing this story is because of what you did. And he went really quiet. He said, He said, Yeah, I would do anything to make sure that you made it. So it's amazing. It's yeah, finding that that community is incredible. It really is. You know, writing changes the writer as much as it changes a reader. If you read a good story, uh it could really change you. How has this writing journey changed you? I mean, you've already listed quite a few things, but is there a something specific in ways the in a way that it has affected you? Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's so many ways because I feel like each book, um, as I'm going through this story with the characters, it changes me, right? Um, with memory spinner, it helped me find hope. With paper ballerina, I was struggling with um perfectionism. It's something I've always struggled with, is um just trying to live up to a certain standard. So I think when I first set out to write a book, I was like, I want to write, I didn't think this consciously. This was all subconscious, but I was like, I want to write the perfect book. I want to write a book that um people can't find fault in, you know, that I I study my craft so well that it will just be perfect. And um and now I'm like, that was so silly. What was I thinking, you know? Um, because of course, not every book is going to resonate with every person because humans are so different. We, you know, we all have different lenses in in the way we view the world. And so um now I think my mindset has shifted for the better to not be about making the perfect book. I just want to make an honest book, you know, a book that reflects um who I am, who my characters are, the themes that I want to convey. And and that's the win for me, you know, and and if that book can find its readers, that's a huge win, you know. So um, yeah, it's it's not so much about a perfect book anymore. It's just um an honest one. I love that because um there's been a question that's been coming up a lot about AI and AI generating books and stuff. And and and there is a temptation when you hit writer's block, at least on my field, it's like, well, maybe I could, maybe I could look at that, but it then it's not honest. It's not an book, right? And and so I love what you're saying. It's not a perfect book. I mean, AI could make a perfect book, a a robot can make a perfect score in a game or whatever, but it's not human, it's not honest, it's not a real journey. Right. And when you're making art, it's like, of course, it should be it should be about the human experience, right? So why would we ever want to outsource that to something that isn't human? It's just yeah, it baffles me. Well, and then it gets into that uncanny valley aspect where you know they say we're creeped out by something that looks almost human, but it's not human. Yeah. And and it's so weird that we have that instinct because when we look at something that's AI generated, there is this creep, there's this ick factor, you know, that so yeah, I love that having it's an honest book because again, you're you're affected as much as the reader will be affected if it's honest. Yes. I love that. If you could go back and speak to yourself at the hardest point in your journey where you hadn't experienced kind of this the success that you're experiencing now, what would you say to yourself? Um, for sure, I would say to be tenacious. I think um resilience, resilient people are the ones who stick with publishing. And um I, you know, at first I thought it was all talent and um and I learned, you know, I may not have as much talent as I would like, but I have lots of resilience. And so that really served me well. And so I would say just um at the low points to remember to pick yourself up, to have hope that things will work out and to push forward. And and that's eventually what what leads to success and um and achieving achieving your goals and your dreams is always just picking yourself back up, trying again, and having the right mindset. Um, I named this uh podcast a literal journey because I I see life as a literal journey and I've seen how people, I I mentioned alcoholism, uh, I do a lot of work in addiction recovery, and I've seen how when people adopt a story about their lives, they'll they'll live it out for good or for bad, you know. And so I I like finding good stories, I like reading stories that people are writing because it it shows that they believe in the future if they're if they're writing and publishing good stories. Um to that end, what is a story that inspires you to move forward? Oh I I would say um the books that I found when I was a preteen and teen are the ones that stuck with me and helped me through through a lot of difficult times. So um when I was young and the hardest, I I don't know why, but the one of the hardest times of my life was going through all the changes and the um trying to find my place in the world as a teen, a young teen. And the books that I found during that time became um so impactful. So I I mentioned how Harry Potter and Goose Girl, they were books that I returned to again and again anytime I was struggling with something difficult in my life. And that distance helped me work through the problem. Um, and to see the characters overcome these obstacles again and again, it gave me like this renewed sense of hope that I could overcome any of the any of the things life threw at me. And so I I think those stories were super impactful in that way. And that's what I hope to do with my stories is if a reader is able to pick up my book and find um find that they can overcome obstacles and um and to give them a renewed sense of hope, then that's all I can ask for, you know, that those are the books that impacted me, and that's what I want to do for young readers is create like a haven and an escape so that they can deal with um the real world when they're ready. But my my book's there to be a comfort and to be um a haven for them. So I like that. Um for obviously people, if they want to check out your books, uh they're available everywhere. But if people want to further support you, where can they find you? Where's your your website or anywhere else on social that they're likely to find you? Yeah, so I'm on um my website is cmcornwell.com. And um I'm most active on Instagram. I have most of the social media apps, but I'm not super consistent about it. Uh, but Instagram, I'm I do better on on there. So yeah, follow me on Instagram and if if you want to reach out, um, I have a contact me form on my website. So I'd I'd love to hear from readers and and writers and everyone.