The Peppered Sky, author Sarah Doran’s road from military kid to active duty to children’s book author

[00:00:00] Today we are talking to Sarah Doran, and Sarah is the author of a children's book about a military kid. And so Sarah's gonna share, , we talked a little bit beforehand, but you have a very unique military experience and that you grew up like your entire life as a military kid.

[00:00:18] Your dad was in the army as a chaplain and. You joined yourself and then you married a service member, , and then you got out. So you have a really, really cool military kind of lineage. So I would love to, well, first of all, welcome to the show, . 

[00:00:32] Thank you for having me. I'm so glad to be here. Awesome. And 

[00:00:35] then if you wanna just dive into that, just kind of share with us.

[00:00:38] I always like to start with your military affiliation, what that's looked like for you. So take it away wherever you wanna. 

[00:00:44] Yeah, for sure. So my dad was in the Air Force when I was a baby. I don't remember a whole lot about that time, but he joined the army as a chaplain when I was going into first grade.

[00:00:55] So most of my growing up years, in fact, all of my growing up years, we were a military family. And he served as a chaplain and. Like you said, I, I joined the military when I was 21 and served for six years as a Blackhawk helicopter mechanic and crew chief. I met my husband while I was in the service.

[00:01:17] He was also a service member doing the same job. And we did our six years and then we. Got out after that time and now I'm writing military kids books. . 

[00:01:28] Yeah. I love it. Okay, so let's just pause right there and backtrack just a hair. So I, we were like, I, we were, again, I always talked to my guest a long time, , we tried to keep it short this time so we can respect everybody's schedules.

[00:01:41] But like, just ahead of time, just kind of getting to know each other a little bit. And I was telling you that I am really curious to kind of dive into that military kid part of it because, you know, as a, it was your entire childhood, like as you grew up and got, went out of the house, it was military life.

[00:01:56] So I'm curious. Looking back on that now, are there things that stuck out to you that, what, like, I guess, what was your overall feeling as you reflect on your childhood? Like it was, I don't wanna say good or bad, but like, you know, how does that feel for you? And then maybe some of the challenges that you remember, or like what is your kind of overall feeling as you reflect back on growing up as a military kid?

[00:02:21] Honestly I think that my my takeaway from being a military kid, maybe not the norm.

[00:02:26] I don't know if that's even. I don't, I don't know if that's the right way of saying it, but I loved being a military kid. Okay. I have a personality that loves change and I get very bored very quickly if I don't have change to look forward to. And so the military life was very fitting for my personality.

[00:02:44] I enjoyed moving and seeing new places and meeting new people, and if I got tired of a place, I'm like, don't worry, I'm moving in another year. Sure. Yeah, for sure. I know that my brothers probably don't have that same perspective. Okay. And I know a lot of military kids don't have that same perspective.

[00:03:00] I think it depends on your type of personality and just kind of like, are you a go-getter? Are you an adventure seeker? You know, or are you more of a homebody who likes, you know, consistency? And so for me, I, I loved it. I just thrived in the military lifestyle. Okay. I loved the uniqueness of my life and I didn't necessarily realize it was so unique because, you know, you grow up in, in that little bubble and that military culture and yes, you don't realize , that your life is so different than anybody else's.

[00:03:32] Yes. I think it was once I started going to school off post you know, some of the bases wouldn't have schools on post, and so we'd go off post. That was really eye-opening for me because these other kids are like, very different from what I grew up knowing. And so sure that was very challenging in a lot of ways because, you know, a lot of them had grown up together and I'm, I'm a military kid, so like we make friends fast and we're very open and, and and so that was, that was hard.

[00:04:03] But overall, I mean, I, I loved being a military kid. I loved the change. I loved the things that we got to do and the places we got to go and see and. So I, I really thrived as a military kid, . So when, 

[00:04:18] How much did you guys move around? I don't know what the, what the Chaplain Optempo is. Did you guys live in a lot of different states?

[00:04:25] Did you stay for like three to four period years at a time? Did you move more frequently? Like what did that look like? 

[00:04:31] I think the average was probably two to three years at HPV Station. So when I was going into first grade, where we were at Fort Bragg, we moved from Fort Bragg to. Oh gosh. I'm being tested on the names of the basis.

[00:04:45] So Fort Brag to Fort Monmouth. Fort Monmouth to Fort Campbell. Fort Campbell To Fort Leavenworth. And then I graduated high school at Leavenworth. And they moved out to Italy.

[00:04:56] I went with them for a time And then they continued on and, you know, in my adult life I would kind of visit them where they were. They went to Germany and South Carolina and anyway, so yeah, , I would say two to three years is probably average. There were some that were a little shorter or longer than that, but Okay.

[00:05:14] And that's really interesting 

[00:05:16] too, because I don't know. That there are a lot of on post schools anymore. We've lived on post in two, three different places and none of them had schools. So we've, all my kids have only known going to school off post, which is. Which is a unique experience. I agree with you.

[00:05:38] Yeah. Yeah. Cause there's, it's, I think that's a real big challenge for military kids coming into a new school because you're going like the girl, the school that my girls are at right now, it's kindergarten, kindergarten through fifth grade. And Savannah came in as a fourth grader and. These kids have been in there since kindergarten.

[00:05:54] They know all the teachers. They know the staff, they know, you know, and she's like, ah, I don't really, you know, but, but I think you're right. I think it kind of lends itself depending on your personality. Luckily, I think both my girls are mostly outgoing that they, you do make friends quickly, which is which I think is a.

[00:06:08] A good skill to have. Right. To be able to adapt to those types of situations. For sure. Okay. So this is another okay. So I'm like throwing curve balls at you question wise. I'm sorry. I don't mean that's okay. But 

[00:06:18] I kind of like, like I feel like you know, 

[00:06:19] like conversations just kind of natural and I'm like, well, I just get cur.

[00:06:22] I'm super curious always about stuff. So so one of the other things I'm curious about too, Is so because this is something that our family personally is kind of wrestling with and that where we are in our career, we wanna be out. And then we're kind of starting to get close to as we're, okay, this one's gonna be two to three years and this tour's gonna be two to three years in high school, and how does that all work out?

[00:06:42] And then like in my mind, I have that I want us to be parked and settled and in our forever house while the girls are in high school so that we can. Stability of a home. So I'm curious because you're not the first person that I've heard that's continued through their military careers. Their kids are graduating high school and going off to school and they're continuing to move all over the place.

[00:07:04] Like I, I don't know. That to me just seems very, Challenging and unsettling. Maybe that's just me personally, like in my mind. So experience, like for you, experience wise? Like, I don't know, like, I feel like maybe because I grew up in one spot. Yeah. Like we had one house and my parents are, you know, they're all in the same spot and I just, I, so that's what I know.

[00:07:28] Yeah. So maybe as a military, I don't know what does that, what does that look like for you? What's that feel like for you? So 

[00:07:34] honestly you know, we talked about the culture of military. Living and how it's just kind of its own bubble for me. Anytime I'm on post, it feels like home to me. Okay. So it doesn't matter which post it is.

[00:07:48] Okay. It feels like home to me. I told somebody else the other day that when they took my ID card away, when I was an adult, I was that dependent age where they're like, you don't need this. Anymore, they take it away. It feels like they're stripping something from you. Because it's like, that's my home.

[00:08:03] I can't go on post now and I can't be in my like, comforting home space, you know? And it sounds weird to other people, I think when I talk like that. But getting back to your question, I think that for me home was where mom and dad were. So it, it never was really an issue for me as far as being a place like we were rooted in our family and you know, there were certain.

[00:08:24] Decorations and things that we're very familiar and like, okay. I think it's important to also just like root yourself in like your family traditions as well. Because those things can be the rooting, you know what I mean? Like Yes. Yep. So yeah, for me it was. I feel comfortable because this is a post too.

[00:08:42] It has the gates, it has the soldiers, it has the PX and the commissary. Mm-hmm. , like all of that is very, very familiar. Yeah. And . . Yeah. So, and then, you know, mom and dad's home had always changed. So it wasn't necessarily anything new that they were continuing on in their career after Okay. After I graduated, it was like, yeah, oh, I can't wait to see where you're living now.

[00:09:04] You know? 

[00:09:05] Oh, cool. Okay. That's an interesting perspective. That's a cool way to look at it. I like that. Okay. Awesome. So then kind of jumping forward , so your career , so you, you were a military kid, did you go to college and then you said you went into as a black ho you went in active duty and were in for six years.

[00:09:21] So just kind of run us through like what your career path has looked like to lead you to being an author 

[00:09:26] today. Yeah, so I started by going to college. I was in school for a couple of years and just really kind of struggled with like what I wanna do in life. You know, I picked a couple different interests that I pursued and I just wasn't totally feeling like I was finding where I wanted to be.

[00:09:44] And so, Like a good parent. Mom was like, well, just come on home and take your time. Figure things out. Yeah. So I went home. They were at Fort Bragg at the time and so I got a job was working there in, in Fayetteville and I was in this just kind of dead end job, honestly there. Yeah. And being very discontent with my life and yeah.

[00:10:04] I knew I wanted the military to be part of my life, but I just didn't know what that was gonna look like. I never really imagined joining the military, but like I said, I kinda came to this place where they took my ID card away. That was where it happened. Okay. I was like, what am I gonna do? Like, I want the military in my life.

[00:10:22] And it just really kind of was my, the driving force behind talking to a recruiter. And that place of, I guess desperation, of just. To be a part of the military still. Okay. So after speaking with a recruiter, I joined and knowing my personality, I wanted to be challenged in whatever I was doing.

[00:10:40] So I picked the thing I knew the least about, which was being a mechanic. I didn't know a wrench from a screwdriver, when I joined. And yeah. I got to learn all the mechanical things of being a mechanic and working on helicopters, which again, no experience. No, I have no, no prior knowledge of anything.

[00:10:59] Aviation. I thought airplanes were really cool, but Right. And I remember actually before I picked my mos, I said, dad You know, what's that job where the guy sits in the, in the helicopter and shoots that really big gun? I was like, that looks like a cool guy, cool job. And he's like, well, you would have to be a, a mechanic first, and then if you get chosen, you might be able to do that.

[00:11:21] And so I went and we, we met with a helicopter guy and they showed me the helicopters and I'm like, Yeah, this looks like fun. So , that's what I chose to do. I made like the minimum mechanical score I needed for my ASVAB . I couldn't take so many jobs cause I did very well with my asvab, but yes, I made the minimum I needed for the mechanical side of things.

[00:11:41] And so they're like, okay. So I went through and did all of my training and, and wound up at Fort Hood was where we were stationed the majority of our time here. And Let's see, , I, I did the, the mechanic thing. I did become a crew chief, so I got to fly and, you know, man, the big gun on the side of the helicopter, which was really cool.

[00:12:03] And yeah, husband. And so we got married and he was also a, a helicopter crew chief. So we had similar jobs and similar enlistment periods. Yeah. Out. And it kind of hit me What made you, what made you decide to get out? We , we were in a unit that felt very toxic. Mm-hmm. And being stuck. I, we kind of talked a little bit before the show about how Yeah.

[00:12:27] We were on these rapid deployment cycles and so they weren't people out to different duty stations during that time. Mm-hmm. , mm-hmm. . And so my unit. Became, not all of it, but parts of my unit became very toxic and yeah, we're just looking for a way out. I gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. I knew that we wanted to have kids and I didn't know what that was gonna look like with us both being in.

[00:12:49] Sure. And so we made the decision to go ahead and get out. Yeah. But shortly after getting out, I had that , that void in my heart all of a sudden again, that was like, I need to be part of the military. Like this hurts because it's my home. Yeah. And I don't have that anymore. And Sure at that time they weren't letting veterans on posts and stuff like that.

[00:13:08] They do now. That's a fairly recent thing. And so I knew that I wanted. The military to be part of that. I was going to school to be a teacher and I thought, oh, maybe I'll be a teacher for military schools or in military communities cuz that would be a great way of getting my foot back in the door and, and ministering to military families.

[00:13:28] So that's kind of where my heart was. And then I decided I was not gonna be a teacher, and I switched to business. And as I'm going through business school, I finally graduate and. I've always loved writing. I just never knew. How I wanted to express myself through my writing. And a friend of mine at one point was like, you know what?

[00:13:49] You need to write like what? You know. Cause I had tried writing some other random like FY type of stories that were not great . And it finally clicked for me. I'm like, I know the military. Yeah. I mean, I know the military. So by writing a military story and. Clicked. I mean like it just made so much sense and I feel like I'm finally finding my, my place with all of this, 

[00:14:16] so.

[00:14:17] Awesome. Okay, so tell us about the book. So is this your first book that you're releasing? Okay, perfect. So tell us about what the book is called, what's it about, and then how it came about because you are also self-publishing. Is that. I am. Yeah. So I, I like to hear all about that 

[00:14:33] too. .

[00:14:34] So my first, first book is called The Peppered Sky, and it's inspired by my memories of watching my dad perform in airborne training operations at Fort Bragg. Okay. And so we would go out as a family after school and, Mom would drive us for what felt like hours out to the drop zone, and then we'd wait for what felt like hours for the airplanes to finally fly overhead.

[00:14:57] And then it was always a competition to see who could spot the first paratroopers and then they'd all start just peppering the sky, which is where I came up with the title for the book. Yeah. Yeah. . And so just watching all of the jumpers and then they make their way out to where the families are waiting and there's this beautiful like, reunion.

[00:15:16] And so the story just really kind of captures all of those emotions and yeah, it's a super fun story. . Yeah. 

[00:15:23] So is the, so it's a kids' story though, like it's the, it's like what's the age range for like 

[00:15:28] the. So I think the standard answer is ages four to eight. Okay. Obviously children younger and older will also enjoy it.

[00:15:36] It's written in poetic forms, so it's rhythm and rhyme. Cause that's what I like to read and I'm like, yes. I want my, I agree with you while you're reading this too, , 

[00:15:47] I hear. Yeah. 

[00:15:48] Yeah. So yeah. And it's, it's just a beautiful story. I'm excited to share it with everybody. 

[00:15:54] Yeah. And is it, it's so it's not out yet.

[00:15:57] When is it coming out? It's not. So we are in the final stages of illustration right now. My, my illustrator, Beth Snyder is incredible. She has pri previously published, several other children's books, and so she's very experienced in the children's illustration field. I feel very fortunate to have found her.

[00:16:14] She also comes from a military heritage, her father. Oh. Father also served. Okay. And so anyways we're in the final stages of illustration. We should be about finished by the end of next month. Okay. And we are expecting to go to print in January. 

[00:16:30] Awesome. Okay. So then when will people be able to buy it?

[00:16:34] Like overly January, end of January. 

[00:16:36] Well, no, though I ran a Kickstarter to help fund the project because self publishing is a total beast of a of an experience and journey. And it's pretty very expensive. I had no idea for all of this how expensive it is. So anyways, okay. We ran a crowdfunding Kickstarter back in July, which was successfully funded.

[00:16:56] Good, good. And, That has funded this whole project. So those people will be getting their pre-ordered books that they helped to fund hopefully in January. And then I'm planning on having a launch date the 3rd of March. Oh, 

[00:17:09] nice. Okay, cool. I love that. Okay, so let's, so let's talk a little bit about, okay.

[00:17:14] Because I, I like to try to dive into careers especially on the show. And I've talked to a couple other people that. That have put books out and she also self-published. So we didn't dive into a whole heck of a lot what that was. But she did say it was a really challenging prospect too. So can you just like, so I'm just, so like speaking to other military spouses, cuz that's usually who listens to the show.

[00:17:38] They're civilians listens to the show too, but mostly military spouses if they're interested. So like, it just, if someone is interested. In, in publishing a book, what are like, so the typical route would be to find like a publisher, but that can be really challenging to do and there's a lot of nos and a lot of door closing , 

[00:17:55] right?

[00:17:55] So, So I went that route first. I thought I would be best suited for a traditional publisher because I wanted to make this a career for myself as opposed to like a one and done. Sure. And they typically, well from what I research, they would say, if you're gonna do a one and done, just self publish and just do yourself.

[00:18:13] But if you wanna make a career, you should go traditional publishing. But then there's a lot of traditional publishers that will not even talk to you unless you have an agent. So then before you can even go there, you have to, to quarry all of these agents. Well, I qued for a year and was getting door after door after door slammed because the military children's book market is so very niche.

[00:18:36] Sure. And they didn't see value in it. Even though what I both know, there is a huge value in military of. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So I said, you know what? I could probably do this better myself anyways, and I will have more control over the process, which is a big plus to self-publishing. It's just that it's a long and tedious challenging process.

[00:18:58] So anyways, I made the decision back in March of this year. Two self had found Beth at that point. So we signed a contract. Then realizing the costs associated. All of the, all of it. I decided to go ahead and run that Kickstarter, which was immensely helpful. . Yeah. And to make this dream a reality because without those supporters I don't know that we would've been able to financially, Sure.

[00:19:24] You know, support the project. 

[00:19:26] Yeah. Because you have to put all the money out first, right? Yes. Like you have to. Your pub, your your illustrator, and then you have to pay the publisher, obviously to put out the, the, to print the material for you. So, yeah, it's 

[00:19:39] a lot of money. Your designer and your editor and oh if you market it, you know, very, if you wanna do ads or you've also gotta pay for your ISBN and your Your barcodes and there's just so many parts and pieces to all of this that I've just been, yeah.

[00:19:55] Honestly, I feel like I still have no idea what I'm doing , even though I've been in it for a while, but Right. I'm at least learning so that hopefully by the next book it will be a little less challenging as I go through. 

[00:20:07] Yeah. Okay. So then again, talking to someone who might have a book idea or, Hey, I really think I'd like to share something, where would you suggest they start as you've kind of navigated?

[00:20:19] Is there like a resource that you have found that's been like, really helpful? I just go to that and I follow the steps? Or like, is there, is there any, any advice that you would have for someone that's interested in, in being an author? 

[00:20:29] First thing I would do is say, get somebody to edit your work, whether you pay somebody or whether you don't, just give it to your mom or your bestie because they probably aren't gonna do the kind of editing that it needs.

[00:20:41] Okay. I think that's been the biggest frustration in, in the self-publishing is that there's so many people who really have no business writing. Cause their writing not good. Yeah. They didn't go through and take the time that it needed to really develop their writing into something of quality.

[00:20:57] Okay. Just because you can self-publish doesn't mean that you should or that your work is ready to. Okay. Um, I do think that it's important that people just take their time and make it the very best that they possibly can. Okay. So using a professional editor is, is very wise. I thankfully had a very wise English major friend who also writes children's books and she was incredible in sharing her talents with me and her editing.

[00:21:23] So, oh, perfect. I was just, that's what I was gonna say. I was like, okay. So how did you find your editor, ? Yes, yes. Well, and there's, there's so many groups and things. If you just look on Facebook, I mean, there's so many like, self-publishing groups that are hugely beneficial for people just starting out. You can ask all of your questions in a very safe space and mm-hmm.

[00:21:42] and get all the information. So that would be another great starting point. Okay. If you decide you don't wanna self-publish, you want a traditional publish. There's a book out there called something about finding an agent. You can find it on Amazon. Okay. That was, that was really helpful in like drafting a query letter and exactly what agents are looking for.

[00:22:03] Although I wasn't very successful in finding an agent. So I don't know the best advice or sure. Or not. But I think understanding your market is really, really important. Cuz that, . I think that helped me come to the realization that self-publishing was more suitable for, for my stories. I gotcha. So those are some of the things.

[00:22:20] And then just researching, there's so many options for self-publishing and it can be very overwhelming, but just taking your time to absorb. All of the different options and then kind of narrow it down based on your market and your type of book and like what your goals are. You definitely have a lot more control with self-publishing, which was really important to me.

[00:22:41] I wanted to make sure that my story remained authentic, it held my own values. And my writing and just how I'm portraying people and families and mm-hmm. . I also wanted to ensure that the stories were authentic and how I'm representing the military. Mm-hmm. And my auth, you know, my illustrator also coming from a military heritage, I just feel like that will resonate with my readers, knowing , that both the writer and the illustrator were, you know, authentic in their creative outlets.

[00:23:10] Yeah. 

[00:23:11] I feel like, and I don't know if this is true cause I'm not a writer, , but I 

[00:23:14] feel like, 

[00:23:15] Like you would write your story, right?

[00:23:17] Mm-hmm. , and you're like, this is my, this is my baby. I've worked so hard on this and I love it. And you end it over to an editor and they kind, I don't know, rip it apart. I don't know like, how, so tell me a little bit about how that feels, because I feel like it would be really hard to, for that feedback. So how did that, how did that go for.

[00:23:39] Yeah. So I told you that when I first started writing, I wasn't writing military kid stories. I was writing more like Baby Babe. Sure. There's a lesson in there and there's animal characters and blah. And my friend who read it we talked about this actually many months afterwards. She said it really wasn't very good and I didn't totally know how to.

[00:24:03] Break that to you. But I told her, I'm like, you were encouraging enough though that I didn't wanna give up on writing. Okay. You encouraged me to keep trying to find that thing that was going to really drive my writing. Okay. And once I made the connection to military life, like my. My process and just the stories started flowing from me.

[00:24:26] So and then when she was working through this story with me it was like, you have to kind of like not take it personally. And it's very hard because you have poured your heart and your soul into these stories. And like, my memories are in the story and stuff, right. If you recognize it as being constructive and she didn't come from a.

[00:24:45] Background at all, which was actually immensely helpful because I wanted to have it be a book that not only was reflective for military families, but also kind of a window into the world of military family life for others who are curious about the military. Sure. I think that's smart . Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:05] Her perspective was so immensely valuable and when I, when I just kind. Let myself take in and I didn't, I didn't change everything that she encouraged me to change. Okay. Um, I still wanted to make sure it was still, you know, something I felt good about something That was my story still. Yeah. But I, I think that it changed so much more for the better because of letting myself hear what she had to.

[00:25:31] Okay. I think that that is really smart to make it, it is about military kids and a military family, but it's not so entrenched that a civilian can't, won't read it and be like, I don't, that doesn't make sense. What is that? I don't know what that is. So I think that was, that was really good advice.

[00:25:49] So it opens you up just a little bit more to kind of make it accessible for non-military families. If maybe they have a kid that's really into aviation, Hey, this is a cool, right, right. Or 

[00:25:58] just the military demo. I wanted to make a story that was very experiential, so a child getting to read the story would experience what I experienced as a kid going out and being super excited and yeah.

[00:26:11] And in the story you're like, what are they excited about? Like, I mean, you can tell on the cover, like they're gonna go watch some paratroopers, but you don't find out until halfway through the story that they're looking for their. Oh, in the, in the, in the paratroopers. And so like there's this building and as a patient throughout the story and then this, like I said, this beautiful re union where the family coming back together and I just wanted the readers to really be able to experience that.

[00:26:36] Cause not even all military kids know what it's like to watch paratroopers. Sure. So I've never seen it . Exactly. So, but being able to see like, oh, like my dad's a soldier and there's soldiers in this story, you know, I wanted, I kids are not, kids need to see themselves in stories. That was really important.

[00:26:56] And there are very, very few military kids stories out there, so I 

[00:26:59] agreed. I agree wholeheartedly. Yeah. So as when you were starting your, so when you were writing, when you were like, I feel like I wanna be an author, were you always thinking you wanted to write for kids? Like you wanted to write kids books, or were you kind of like, I just wanna be an author, and then it ended up being kids?

[00:27:15] Like how, what did that process look 

[00:27:16] like? No, honestly, I, I never really felt like I had the wind for long stories, honestly. Okay. Yeah, they intimidate me a bit. Like people have asked me, would you write something for either, you know, youth, young, adult, or adult? Yeah. And I'm toying with the idea. I think as I write more, I might feel more comfortable doing that.

[00:27:37] Now I've got so many kids stories in me that I'm, I just wanna share. In fact, I've already written my second one I was gonna ask. Yeah. I was like, no, you, I don't wanna push you. Cause I, you have like, this one's not even like out in the world for, for me yet. Right. So like, what's next? 

[00:27:51] Like, hold on. Take some pressure off.

[00:27:53] Right. Okay. You already have one? Okay. I do. It's 

[00:27:56] ready to go actually. Okay. In my illustrator's like chomping at the bit, she's like, I wanna get this story started. We've actually done a little bit of work on it already, but It's called Sleeping Giants, and it actually is drawing on my experiences as a Black Hawk mechanic.

[00:28:11] Okay. But it's written from a child's perspective, so, okay. Finn is the main character boy and he has an aviator mechanic mom and. He goes to work with mom one day and they're gonna be seeing something exciting, but you don't find out what that is until later but they get to the hanger and it's not time for the thing that they came for.

[00:28:32] So she's working on stuff and she lets him just kind of play, if you will, in the hanger. . And. The sleeping giants are the helicopters that are inside the hangar that are being worked on or whatever, so they're just sitting in there. Yeah. And Finn gets to kind of like pretend play Yeah. On the different helicopters and it's very imaginative and Yeah.

[00:28:53] Kind of takes you on a couple different little adventures and then you get to end with what they came for, which is watching a synchronized takeoff. So three different helicopters all coming up at the same time. Yeah. And then Target and then heading off into the sun, you know, sunrise. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:10] That's awesome. 

[00:29:11] Super fun. 

[00:29:12] Yeah, I love that. I think, I think that's awesome. And also what I love about that is that the black Hawk helicopter pilot is the mom. Let's see some more of that out there. Right? Cause there's no reason why. Oh my gosh, we just watched, this is totally random. . Well, we just watched a Christmas movie last night.

[00:29:33] It's called Noel. It's on Disney Plus. It came out in 2019, but I've never heard of it. It was so good. It's got Anna Kendrick in it, who's from Pitch Perfect. Yeah. And Shirley McClain, who's like a veteran, right? I mean, like, she's like a legendary actress. And and it's about, So she is the daughter of Santa Claus and, and she has an older brother and Santa passes away.

[00:29:57] And so one of, and so then the brother needs to step in to be the new Santa, but he doesn't wanna do it. And so it's kind of the. I don't wanna ruin 

[00:30:07] the story for anybody. I'll have to, 

[00:30:11] you should watch. It was so cute. It was, we all loved it. We watched it together as my family. My husband even liked it too, so it was, it was super cute.

[00:30:19] And it's just, it flips that paradigm. Like why not? Why can't, why can't be a woman? Right. Right. BlackRock helicopters can be women. Like why not black cop helicopters? Oh my gosh. Blackhawk helicopter mechanics. Like . 

[00:30:32] Yes. Helicopters 

[00:30:33] are 

[00:30:33] not men or 

[00:30:34] women. Well, actually one of my favorite lines from the story is he's playing and in his playing and imagination, he's like, oh, the helicopter's going down.

[00:30:45] The engine stalled. And, but wait, my aircraft mechanic mom is here to save the day. And Oh, I love that. He's like, It's so cute. Yeah. My husband said it's actually his favorite story. The pepper sky is, is like, it gives you all, the heart feels like a lot of women cry cuz but like happy tears, it's happy.

[00:31:03] Sure. But the sleeping giants just has a lot more like play and imagination involved in it. So yeah, they're totally different feeling books, but they, they're written both in the rhythm and rhyme flow and. So anyway, I think that people are really gonna enjoy both of them. And I can't wait to start on the next one.

[00:31:23] Yay. 

[00:31:23] Oh, I'm so excited. Well, it was so nice talking to you, and I am really excited for you and for this journey that you're on with your stories. And let us know what we can do to help support you. And so how can we find you, how can we find out more about the book and when it's published? Give us all that information.

[00:31:43] Yeah. So the best way to follow me right now is on Instagram. Okay. Um, It's at author Sarah Dorin. But I am actually in the process of getting a website set up. And it will be www.authorsarahdorin.com Okay. And I plan on having the book available on Amazon and Etsy, and then I'll be doing some face to face things as well.

[00:32:04] But I really wanna get involved with schools. So if y'all know of a school that is interested in having me come, like that's really where my heart is. I wanna share with schools, so. 

[00:32:14] Okay. Beautiful. And you are located in, so that's gonna be, that's a challenge, . So you are really looking for schools like locally.

[00:32:23] So what it, like, you guys are in, where are you guys? 

[00:32:26] We're in central Texas, outside of Florida. Okay. Okay. And but my goal is actually to get in with the Department of Defense so that I can hopefully travel to the different installations. Oh. So talk to your, your FRGs and talk to your commanders and say, Hey, we wanna have this lady come and read or whatever.

[00:32:45] think there are people that we can have doing that the better. And it's, it is a. Long, tedious process to, to form a partnership with the Department of Defense. It's been insane. Yeah. But I'm working on it and so good. Or. The more support I can get in that regard, the better I think . Okay. 

[00:33:04] Okay.

[00:33:04] Cool. All right, so I'll make sure that I link your Instagram in the show notes for sure. And so we can follow you there. And then I'm sure you'll share on there when the website goes live and when we can Yeah. Purchase the book and it, so it's not, is it available for, for. Pre-purchase now or it's just, it'll just be once it comes out.

[00:33:22] Okay, cool. Yes. All right. Awesome. Okay. All right, Sarah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your journey and your book, and we look forward to that and for the books that you have coming out in the future as well. 

[00:33:32] Thank you so very much for having me. It was such an honor to be here.