Hey, wonderful's welcome to episode 391 of the podcast with my guest author Maureen Gu.

I want to just give you a quick heads up that this was an episode that I recorded kind of thinking I maybe had another lady guest

left in the sort of timeline of how the weeks were shaking out. So this is like early pandemic times so I want you to

enjoy not only the delightfulness that is Maureen but also enjoy the little

time capsule of this episode has quickly become because if you think back to the beginning

of the pandemic, doesn't it feel like it's six years ago?

I'm thinking of you guys, hope everybody's doing well, talk to you soon. I hopefully it will feel more like a hang and less like you're also working today on a Saturday

as if the days have any meaning anymore but they do they do have meaning and they have to have meaning or for I think

freelancers people who work or who work from home and are used to doing that you

know everything can flow together in a way that frankly is maybe not super healthy for

any of us so yeah I agree I'm like on a deadline right now so I've been in that

deadline mode where my days were together anyways and so it hasn't felt like a

the quarantine at all. It suddenly this is like the most normal I felt because it's like

oh yes this stress is very familiar. Oh my gosh is that

something that you I mean is yeah is that something that you that you that you

bump up against on a semi regular basis or have you had enough time between

deadlines in general in the last couple of years that this when this rears up it

really is like a very specific and different feeling. I've had it pretty

consistently you know so I had three books come out right after each other, so a book a year from 2017 to last year. And so I consciously

gave myself a break. I don't have another book coming out this year, which now I realize might be kind of a blessing in disguise.

You know, it just seems like a really hard time to try to get your books out there.

And I don't even know, I doubt I'm going to have a book out next year because I'm working on one

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