Kelly Yang: Hello, I'm Kelly Yang.

Kate: and I'm Kate DiCamillo

Kelly Yang: And you're listening to Story Kind. How are you, Kate?

Kate: Well, you know what I'm doing?

Kelly Yang: What are you doing? Are you writing?

Kate: I'm writing because I just can't help myself. And so I'm on the first draft of a story and that's always exciting and slightly terrifying. But it's like, ⁓ it's one those wonderful things. I don't know if it's like this for you. It's just like, ⁓ I don't real quickly. I just do a couple of pages a day.

Kelly Yang: Yay!

Kate: But then for the rest of the day, I'm like turning the story over in my head as I'm doing other things. So it's kind of like good company. What about you?

Kelly Yang: Yeah. Yeah, terrified by that first draft, because I know it's not gonna be good. And that is okay, that is part of the process. But that first draft always terrifies me. And it's like you say, ⁓ haunts you the rest of the day. And you'll come up with better ideas sometimes in the middle of the night. And then you're like, I hope I don't forget it. But you ⁓ write down, then you try to implement it. And sometimes it doesn't work. it's just a lot of trial ⁓ and

Kate: Right? You're like you're in your head a lot, you know.

Kelly Yang: Yes, yes, yes. And it's so you know, it's so fragile to that first draft. It's so easy to give up on it. It's so easy to doubt it. It is really like a brand new baby. You just you have to protect it. Okay, so today's question ⁓ is, what if I hate reading? got this from a kid. What if I hate reading?

Kate: Yeah. And you don't, you don't, you know, you to be careful about who, who you talk to about it. ⁓ And if you have somebody ⁓ read it that way, you also want to be very careful about who let know. It's just. Yeah, and have a lot of different ways that I approach this. It'll be interesting to hear what you say and think. But the first thing that I say is an acknowledgement of, okay, reading for me is my passion. It ⁓ is the thing that helps make sense out of life. And it might not be the thing that helps you make sense out of your life. And it might never be your passion.

Kelly Yang: Mm-hmm. Yeah. When did you, how did you realize that?

Kate: through being really, really, ⁓ like knocked off my feet, by the person saying something that just made me like doubt everything, not only about the story, but about myself. so, and, it's like, there are people don't want you to succeed sometimes, know? but it is a good skill to have in the world. And so it's like, I'm not gonna force you into, you you have to read this, you have to read that. I would coax you a little bit to say that sometimes what's going on is you haven't found a book that feels like it's for you. ⁓ And once you find that book, things might open up a little bit. But I'm not gonna say that you...

Kelly Yang: Wow. So did they say it in a way where it was obvious that they were jealous or what did they say it in a malicious way you think?

Kate: Yeah. I don't think that they intended to be malicious. But ultimately that was the effect. It was maliciousness, you know? And ⁓ think there was other stuff going on for them, ⁓ know? They a writer. ⁓ And that point on, I thought, ⁓ okay, this is another thing where, you know, that thing that we talk about all the time about not letting somebody else tell you who you are. That's one thing. have to love reading the way that I do. That's who I am. And you're on your own journey. But I don't want you to put it down and say, I'm never gonna read a book because it's a wonderful skill to have. Yeah, so what do you say, Kelly?

Kelly Yang: Hmm. Yeah. ⁓ my God. Mm-hmm. I agree and I would say that reading is so many different formats right now. I am a big audiobook reader because ⁓ am really busy ⁓ ⁓ reading is hard and I'll be honest like my eyes aren't so great anymore. ⁓ write a lot so I'm already really stressing out my eyes most of the day. Mm-hmm.

Kate: And also the other is just paying attention to you can put your baby, ⁓ whose are strong enough and gentle enough, you know? ⁓ So,

Kelly Yang: Yeah. ⁓ I love all parts of what you just said there, but the most important is don't let someone else tell you who to be in the world. That is such an important lesson. It is so hard to realize. for me these days I listen to books ⁓ that's fine. That is reading. Yes, that is reading. Yeah graphic novels. Those are great too. ⁓ ⁓ way you can if it interests you and I think it will interest you ⁓ absorb a longer story ⁓

Kate: Right. Absolutely. Yep, and we learn it and learn it and learn it.

Kelly Yang: what I think reading is really just absorbing a longer story. I I remember even like as a kid reading the subtitles on a movie, you know, that's a form of reading, you know, right?

Kate: Absolutely, right. And also, you know, ⁓ is a journey of self discovery, just like writing is. And it is, ⁓ might not always know exactly what it is that you're looking for. So it's like you're saying, Kelly, it's like be open to whatever comes your way. And ⁓ it's because I don't know who recommended this, but I'm watching. of brothers, which is about, soldiers, world war two. ⁓ And, I'm like, ⁓ God, there was a book. remember that book. And so when I'm, exercising, ⁓ I will to a nonfiction book ⁓ and, I'm to band of brothers and that's fascinating too. And it's not anything that you would ever think that I would be interested in, but yet I am. And so it's always that thing of like paying attention to yourself. And letting yourself explore and you'll find your, you know, there's all kinds of, not only like you said, Kelly, different ways to be in a story, but also all kinds of different stories that you might not ⁓ know that you to hear.

Kelly Yang: Yes, and as a person who learned English as a second language and English was really hard for me, I remember reading books, you know, over and over and over again, the same book, because it took me like three reads to really even understand it sometimes, and that's okay. I also remember other books where I couldn't get through a lot of the paragraphs, but I could read the dialogue. And I would skip right to the dialogue, and I love that.

Kate: Right? Right.

Kelly Yang: And it is okay. It is okay to consume it in all these different ways.

Kate: Right, right, I would say be generous with yourself and be curious with yourself and also be gentle with yourself,

Kelly Yang: Hmm. hopefully you'll find that magical moment when you forget the rest of the world that even if it's just for a fleeting second It is so magical when that happens when you're immersed in something All right, our fun question today is oh Yes, okay in Front Desk Jason likes Mia is that based off something that happened to you and the answer is

Kate: Right? Yep. Literally immersed. Yeah. That's for you, right? Mm-hmm. Ha

Kelly Yang: not Jason and didn't not like me. He was a real twerp and I hated him. But I thought it'd be fun to make him have a crush on me in the book. Because that's the power of being an author. can have crushes.

Kate: Right? And that's why you want to write a story, right? Yeah, yeah.

Kelly Yang: Yes, yes, exactly. That was hilarious. Of course, as a kid, I would have been mortified that I've created this fiction.

Kate: No, no, Kelly. I don't think so. I think that as a kid, I mean, let's just think about that for a minute about the adult you walking into the classroom with a third grade you in there and, you find out that you wrote this. Yeah. Now, I mean, you, it's like, what a dream. Talk about a fairy tale. Yeah.

Kelly Yang: You Like what? You wrote this book and you made this guy have a crutch? That's so funny. I know that's so funny. Okay, our shout out to the librarian today that we love. We love Miss Julie McCullough at Almond who is an amazing librarian. She goes above and beyond to encourage her students to read and experience adventures through books. Earlier this year, Lucille, who is the person recommending her, could not remember the name of a book and wanted to reread it. So she asked her mom for help. no matter what they did, they couldn't figure out the book's title or where to find it. So she asked Ms. McCullough at school and gave her a couple, just a couple details. Ms. McCullough worked really hard to help her find it. And after extensive research, she found the book. I know she says that she is not just a great librarian. She's also a great person. Last week she heard Willa twisted her ankle at a trampoline park. ⁓ no, Willa.

Kate: Wow, that's what librarians will do for you, right? Yeah.

Kelly Yang: you're okay. And Ms. McCullough shared a personal story about her son broke his arm at a castle. So thank you so much Ms. McCullough for being so kind and empathetic and nurturing to your students.

Kate: ⁓ boy. Yeah. And be careful in the bouncy castle. So I've got another one. This one's from Presley who would to shout out to a fourth grade teacher, Ms. Ferrell. She is ⁓ all capitals, AMAZING amazing teacher. ⁓ And I love this so If you mess up or get question wrong, she says, it's fine. And then she helps you get it right.

Kelly Yang: that's the best. That's the best. Because that is resilience. It's not being afraid, right? Not being afraid to make a mistake and getting right back up. I love it. You're teaching resilience, Ms. Ferrell. Thank you so much. And if you have a teacher librarian in your life that you want us to give a shout out to, would love to do that. Please email us your stories at kellyangauthor at gmail.com.

Kate: Yeah. Right? Right. Thank you. Thank you.

Kelly Yang: and we are so excited to see you again next week. Thank you so much.

Kate: Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you, Kelly, and thank you all of you for for conversating with us. Yeah. Yeah. Bye.

Kelly Yang: Yes, being in community with us. Bye, everyone.