The Bodice Ripper Project

Podcast Episode 23 – Interview with Liz Solar

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by

maren
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Maren sits down with author and voiceover artist Liz Solar to talk about perfectionism, the art of storytelling, and finding our zone of genius.

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Purchase Maren’s debut book, Pandemic Passion: A COVID-19 novella on Kindle

Transcript

(orchestra tuning)

Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.

I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.

In this episode, you’ll hear speak with author, podcaster, and voiceover artist Liz Solar. Our chat runs the gamut from perfectionism to how to find our zone of genius.

So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!

(intro music plays)

Interview

Maren: I am so excited to have Liz Solar here with me. Liz Solar is a voice actor, writer and communications coach, actually presentation coach, but it sounds yucky, who believes in genuine storytelling and that our stories connect us and make us feel less alone in the world. She’s in what she hopes is the final revision of her first novel. And is a founder of the writers’ blog “Acts of Revision”. Liz’s voiceover clients include Nature Conservancy, USAA, PBS Acura and PBS. She’s worked on camera, in live storytelling, and as a conference speaker. Her signature talk is “‘No’ is Not a Four-Letter Word.” And she is a yoga devotee, likes cooking to music, hikes with her Goldendoodle and lives with her husband in the Boston area. Liz, thank you so much for joining us.

Elizabeth Solar: Thank you. I sound wild. Like on the edge.

Maren: I love it. I absolutely love it. And, I am so excited to talk to you today specifically about storytelling, because that is your wheelhouse. So why don’t you just give us a little bit of an idea of who you are and how you got into storytelling.

Elizabeth Solar: Oh my. It all started at a 5,000 watt radio station. Actually, that’s true. It did start at a 5,000 watt radio station in the middle of nowhere in Massachusetts. And I needed three credits my senior year in college, and I’m like, “I’ll intern at a radio station.” So I did and I got hooked, and they actually had me on a track to do sales, which is much more money than people make, I mean, you know creatives do not make a lot of money. But then I looked around at the island of misfits that are in the programming and creative department and I’m like, no, those are my people. So I ended up working in radio programming, promotions, news, for a very long time. And I noticed everything I did had to do with writing, and I like to write. So there you go.

Maren: That is amazing. So you also do memoirs? Do you ghost write memoirs? Or how do you help people with memoirs?

Elizabeth Solar: I actually do not do memoir. And I’m sorry for putting that down. I actually put it as, I have a pet peeve.

Maren: Tell me about your pet peeve.

Elizabeth Solar: And I do have an opinion on this. I feel that there are so many memoirs that come out. I was in a writers group and one of the instructors said, “Oh yeah, like seven or eight people can’t get published this year because Lena Dunham is publishing her memoir.” We’re like she’s 24. What has she done? She had a show on HBO. Okay. That’s good. All right, but what else? Why are you compelling?

Maren: Yeah. Wait until you’re like 50 or 60 or towards the end of your life.

Elizabeth Solar: Or live some life. You know have a life that’s lived in and reflected upon because I don’t think you can write memoir and still be in the moment of that life. I think that memoir is all about looking back and that’s one of my pet peeves about memoir in general. We write them according to our own memories which is really faulty, and the more we tell the story from memory the less true it becomes. It’s our viewpoint. And in writing we call the first person narrator, who is “I”, we call that the unreliable narrator. And it’s for a reason. It’s all through one viewpoint and sometimes we don’t get the entire story.

Maren: That’s so interesting. So my father is working on writing his memoir, so this is why I brought it up.  And hi Dad if you’re listening.

Elizabeth Solar: Hey Dad. No offense.

Maren: And he has lived quite a very interesting life. And during his twenties and thirties and even into his forties he had pretty extensive journals. He wrote in his journals a lot. So right now as part of his memoir writing experience he’s just going through these old journals scanning things and kind of like reliving some of those moments and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. And it has been such an interesting experience for me to watch him go through this because some of these memories are still very clear in his head, you know and his feelings and everything like that. And some of them he’s very clearly grown out of and said, “I can’t believe I thought this way. But here it is, I did think this way, I wrote it down.” You know?

Elizabeth Solar: Well that’s the interesting thing. Your dad’s story is one exception to the rule. I mean it feels like he has earned the right. And I feel like I’m being very rule driven by this but, there does seem to be something earned about somebody at a certain station in life who has done quite a few things, writing that down, committing it, sharing that story. So yeah, he’s all good with that.

Maren: I totally agree though, I don’t think that a twenty three-year-old probably has enough to put in. Yeah sure, you might have some cool stories for maybe a book. Just don’t call it a memoir. Maybe?

Elizabeth Solar: Right. And you know it happened, oh maybe 15 years ago with “A Million Little Pieces” I think it was called “A Million Little Pieces”, James Frey. And he was being heralded for this really raw upfront autobiography, memoir. And Oprah was like, “this is my book.” And then it turns out that a lot of it was untrue. And the next day Oprah said “I disavow all knowledge of James Fry.” So it also says something about who we are as readers or consumers of whatever the medium is that we’re so quick to turn. Woo.

Maren: Yeah. Can you talk about voice and like having a unique voice when you’re storytelling? You know you talked about how the first person narrator is the unreliable source. How do you bring in a voice that is compelling and authentic and that somebody is going to want to read about?

Elizabeth Solar: Well I think first of all you can have a first person narrator. Holden Caulfield comes to mind who is first person. You can’t stop reading that. So there is that person. And it doesn’t have to be somebody that I particularly like or believe for it to be compelling. And I think we want to be moved, compelled, either brought out of our experience or have our own experience validated. I feel like that’s the contract that the consumer of art makes with the artist. We’re both coming in with a certain viewpoint and the books that I may have moved away from as a younger person I see the value in now because I’ve lived much more life.

Maren: Have you ever had any books that you keep coming back to that throughout your life you find different sort of things about them?

Elizabeth Solar: You know it’s funny. There are certain books that I love. One is Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go because it mixes so many things. People think “Oh it’s about clones.” So it’s this futuristic book. That’s my little Goldendoodle who’s greeting at the door. Hey Jessie.  It was seen as one thing but I felt that there was a human experience in lost opportunities and what happens when we don’t really go for it with the things that are most precious to us. So there was a real sadness to it. Another one is Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood which I have read and re-read. I have a son who lives in Louisiana so really track with that lifestyle. It’s Catholic, it’s voodoo, which kind of tracks with my upbringing, and it’s the mother and daughter and it’s the messiness and the joy and the love and the not understanding until we’re older what our parents are about. And so the richness of it, it’s a really entertaining read. But also it always kind of makes me cry a little bit for that mom and daughter to get together and just really enjoy each other.

Maren: Yeah that’s really great. I love that book and I actually don’t know the other book so I’m going to write it down and check it out for sure. Do you have any other authors or favorite creators? People who are inspirations to you as a creative yourself?

Elizabeth Solar: Well since I worked in radio and listened to a lot of music, we won’t even touch music cause there’s too many to even talk about here. We’d need a half hour. Films are the same way. I’m that mother who dragged her kids to see like Bergman movies you know when they were 11 or 12. So I am that crazy. Although, Bridesmaids is also a very good viewing. But I would say in terms of creatives, because I really love certain writers, I would say Ishiguro is definitely one. And he has that first person narrator who seems very detached and very stiff upper lip British. They always kind of leave you in a puddle by the end of the book. There’s nothing sentimental and maybe it’s in their stead fastness and their repressed disappointment in life that comes out. I would have to say Gabriel Garcia Marquez who just… there’s one story and it’s the story of the old man with the feathers.  This old couple finds an old man in their backyard and he’s molting, he’s got feathers in his back, like an angel, and they essentially rescue him. And then it comes to a point where they just can’t get rid of him, And they’re just dying for him to leave. But what’s so great about Marquez is that he was a journalist, so he was really astute at listening and picking up details, and he could write pages of description which I would just follow to the ends of the earth. So he could write both journalistically and in this really fantastic other-worldly way.

Maren: Wow, yeah I love Marquez so I’m so glad you brought him up. So I have a question about you, about your journey as a novelist. Tell me, you’re writing your first novel. Where did you come up with the idea? What is it about?

Elizabeth Solar: Was it Fellini who said ” if I made a movie about fish or spaghetti,” it depends on who’s quoting him, “it would still be about my life.” So, apropos to the memoir, when I first started taking writing classes about ten or so years ago I used my life as a model and would write about that. And after a while I’m writing and I’m like, “Oh she’s such a whiner,” because a lot of it was therapy in the beginning just getting it all out. And what prompted this novel was a trip to Santa Fe about the same time, maybe nine or ten years ago. And I went and I was absolutely taken back with the geography. It’s so different. I live on the East coast near the ocean. That’s my happy place.

This was dry, it’s high desert, it’s beautiful formations of gold and orange and red rock. And I was really taken with Georgia O’Keeffe, her life, and sort of the protectiveness of everybody around her. And I started to write a snarky essay about it and I thought, “Oh that’s the voice.” This is the voice of a character that needs to be sustained throughout a novel.

And that’s how this came about, where Georgia O’Keeffe is an actual character in the book. And the action really surrounds a woman who has this similar background to me in some ways but very different in other ways. So there’s a skeletal piece of me in it but most of it is purely fiction.

Maren: Oh that sounds amazing. Did you go and visit Georgia O’Keeffe’s ranch and do all of that?

Elizabeth Solar: I did. You cannot get into Ghost Ranch, but you can go into her house in Abiquiu, which is really the place that was one of her main residences. And she used to love to grow, I guess she wasn’t doing it, she had a gardener who did it, but big vegetable gardens. Her house really looks like a nun lives there or a monk. They’ve kept everything as is. It’s really beautiful but it’s sparse and there is something about the bare bones beauty of that area and how she lived her life.

Maren: That’s so amazing. So now you’re in the final stages. What does that mean for you? That means that you’ve taken it to the editor and it’s kind of ready to go? Or

Elizabeth Solar: I did work with a developmental editor, sort of the first third of the book. Just do I have these right? And there were certain things they’re like, “Do you need this? I don’t really get where this fits in.” And that’s the greatest type of feedback rather than someone who’s being prescriptive: “I would do this and I would do that.” And then they’re doing line edits on all of your work.

But when somebody really asks questions, it made me reflect on, okay, why is this here? Is it necessary? I had written a scene that was really raw and it was a little, actually, cheeky at the same time, and it had to do with a sexual harassment, actually more than a sexual harassment. And I was able to go back with the lens of getting the feedback. It was an entertaining scene, but I thought, hmm there’s way too much going on in her head rather than coming out of her mouth. And I was able to really insert some of her history, backstory, what the stakes were in this and how it affects the outcome going forward. So really the revision has helped me both shorten pieces and also expand on pieces that need more explanation.

Maren: That is so interesting. So one of the things that I found super super helpful when I was developing my one woman show was to have somebody there. You know we would read through drafts and then just kind of take it in chunks, and she would ask me, and she was my director so she would ask me like why are you saying these things? What exactly is this? What are you getting to? You know? And it’s so important to have that kind of feedback when you are working on any kind of creative project. You can’t do it alone. Art does not exist in a vacuum.

Elizabeth Solar: And I think we live in such an entrepreneurial world, Maren, that almost everybody now you see, it’s kind of a joke, there are so many coaches. But there needs to be because we can’t do it alone, and we do not have the objectivity. Even if you’re doing something like accounting, or you’re doing marketing, you’re still telling a story. And what story are you telling, why are you telling it now, and who are you telling it to? The rules of writing apply, the rules of storytelling apply no matter what you do.

Maren: Absolutely, no completely. I feel like when you’re writing a sales page you need to be thinking about who are you talking to and why are you telling them these things? What do you want them to be feeling, thinking? What’s the connection that you have with them? And I talk to my clients about when they’re putting together an album or a performance project or something like that, it’s the same kind of thing. Well who is this for? Are you trying to provoke a response? Are you trying to inspire? What are you trying to do? These are really important questions.

Elizabeth Solar: Maren and we all struggle with them. Truly, at the beginning it’s good to have clarity. It’s good to know who you are and why. Why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that really takes being clear. I’m not sure that many people are clear about who they are or what they’re doing before they kind of dive in, and you can spend a lot of years spinning wheels.

Maren: Do you feel like you’ve ever had that time in your life when you were spinning your wheels?

Elizabeth Solar: Oh years, yeah sure. Yeah. Plus in the middle of it sort of in the middle of I had this career in broadcasting and then I had two small children. So I was trying to think of, what’s the thing that will keep me home when they get home from school and still give me the satisfaction of doing the things that I like to do.

Maren: Yeah, so I have a question. I heard that you were once hired by Raytheon to make, to make their white papers funny. Was that a part of when you were raising your kids? When was that? Tell me about that.

Elizabeth Solar: This was probably when I was raising my kids but a friend of mine who he used to own comedy clubs. And for some reason he thought that I could be funny so he said, “Hey Raytheon is looking for people to write.” And I’m like don’t they have staffs of writers? Yeah but they’re you know, they’re a little complacent so they’re not going to ask them. But they want to punch it up. So I’m interviewing with this engineer and I’m so lost, I have no idea what he’s talking about. And so I’m trying to take this very complicated engineering, and I’m truly right-brained, so if you put in science, math, anything that’s too technical, I’m out the door. So that was a real challenge. I got through it.

Maren: Do you think you, I was going to say do you think were there laughs? Like did you achieve it?

Elizabeth Solar: I think it might’ve been a little sassy in places. I’m not sure whether it was like fall down hilarious. You know we all have a different language that we speak and so it could have gone right over their heads.

Maren: Yeah. You know it’s funny when I was reading about this, you know when you told me about it I was instantly reminded my grandfather worked on one of the first computers, he worked at IBM. And so he had a very much of a like logical mathematics kind of brain but he was also very very funny. We have lots of family stories of him writing these silly stories and stuff. And he actually has several papers out there that are exactly like this. They’re white papers that are about programming code but with you know, I think there’s a programming code called Apple, APL. And uh he wrote this poem like, “I found you in APL blossom time.”

Elizabeth Solar: Obscure to most people but

Maren: So you know I know that there are engineers out there who would appreciate a little bit of humor put into their white papers. I’m sure you amused a few people.

Elizabeth Solar: I hope so. It reminds me, Maren, that we have this world that has become contracted, smaller, more intimate in where we’re dealing with all kinds of people right now. And the communication probably needs to be more simplified, not dumbed down. But how can I understand this and raise enough enthusiasm to really want to interact with you? And I think going forward there’ll be a lot more of that.

Maren: Yeah it really is, it’s about communication and connection and that’s where the storytelling comes in for sure. So I want to take a little bit of a right turn and talk about your podcast. You have a podcast.

Elizabeth Solar: Thank you, I do, I do. I started at the end of August 2020. Um It’s called Embark and it’s about change because it was something that I had thought about and then COVID happened and things really changed. And I also thought about people that I really admired. And most people what is it, like nobody gets out of here alive? That you get to a certain point in life and something has happened. You know something probably traumatic. And I do believe that we don’t change unless we get a nudge. Nobody says, “this is great I’m gonna just stay here.” I’m going to go and uproot myself and do something completely different. You know we change often because something has become uncomfortable or untenable or traumatic and I think to survive we must change. And how we change one thing and then what we do with that. What we do with that look-back to our lives, like what happened and how do I bring that into the present so it doesn’t define me but it gives another dimension to my life so I’m a little bit more connected to other people because I want to be.

Maren: That’s amazing. And so you are using these stories to connect to other people who might have these stories or are maybe looking at their own lives and seeing like maybe I need a change. That kind of thing?

Elizabeth Solar: Absolutely. And it also goes like so there’s the personal change and then there’s the societal or business changes or changes in, say, science. I had a guest who worked in a group that was working on a vaccine for cancer. So as we’re talking about the COVID vaccine there’s a whole group of people who have had cancer that really predates COVID. What are the options for them? You know what will make their lives if not curative, like what helps them go on with some comfort for the rest of their lives whatever time they do have? So there’s that, uh somebody who was talking about how technology can make the workplace a little bit more human.

Maren: Yeah. Yeah. You’re right it is not just ourselves that need changing. Our society especially now that COVID is a thing still, we’re still in a pandemic, that I can see a lot of sort of systemic change that’s happening. And this is very uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable for everybody but it’s the only way for us to move forward is for us to change. I’m really glad that you’re talking about that.

Elizabeth Solar: Thank you I’m glad you asked the question. You know we think about revolution, and it’s so romanticized, and you know really revolution is bloody. And the things that really provoke change are the nerdy guys in Washington who are behind the scenes writing policy. They’re really the unsung heroes of change.

Maren: Absolutely, completely. I want to talk a little bit about bodice rippers and, I mean maybe this is slightly related. You know change happens when things get too uncomfortable. And I look at bodice ripping, the bodice ripper is a metaphor. We’ve talked a little bit about the objective correlative which I know you love.

Elizabeth Solar: Another nerdy grammar term. Yes.

Maren: But that if the bodice is restricting us and maybe it’s too small and it’s so uncomfortable we need to rip it off so that we can let our true selves out. These are the stories that I’m the most interested in. So what what in your life has been your bodice that you want to rip off?

Elizabeth Solar: Well first of all I’ve given up on Spanx. That feels like that ship has gone. But seriously I think it’s my own self-doubt, limitations, the procrastination. Which I think is all part and parcel of perfectionism. You know for a long time I thought you’re not a perfectionist you just kinda let it rip. But I am. Hi my name is Liz, and I’m a perfectionist. I’m coming out of the closet on your show, Maren. We have these expectations of how it should look whether it’s our careers or lives or you know our hair on a certain day. And the reality can never be what we cook up in our minds. Sometimes it’s actually better, and we kind of need to, for me it’s letting go, letting go of it has to be a certain way and let it be what it is.

Maren: Yeah I love that, I absolutely love that. And you know I, I’m also a perfectionist, hello. So every single day I need to be constantly thinking about that and recognizing that voice in my head and thinking to myself is that actually necessary? Do I need to go through this you know uh the fifth time? You know maybe it’s good enough, like maybe it’s fine. This is a big thing now that I’m doing podcasts like when I’m editing them. Oh boy the perfectionist comes out.

Elizabeth Solar: It’s brutal. I agree.

Maren: Speaking of editing I know you do voiceovers. Do you do any of your own editing or do you just sort of like… Actually why don’t you talk a little bit about your voiceover business and what it is you do.

Elizabeth Solar: Okay well this is the track I got on about 15 years ago when I decided like what can I do at home and make money? And it was the beginning, or actually home studios had been in vogue a little bit at the time, and I got a home studio. And it’s kind of funny you know, “if you build it they will come.” The day it was done practically I got a couple calls saying, “Hey do you have a home studio? We have a couple long-term projects.” So it really started and it was a very encouraging start. So I do record. Sometimes I work with people and before it was ISDN where it was kind of a two channel phone line where you could record over this big heavy piece of hardware. And now there’s so much software, I mean we’re doing it right now, speaking over Squadcast. So, shameless plug for Squadcast.

Maren: They’re not giving me any money right now but you know,

Elizabeth Solar: But just in case you guys want to, we’ll give you our addresses at the end of this. But now there are so many ways that we can communicate with people this way. So most of the time, to answer your question succinctly, sometimes people just email me their script and say we need this, you know, in two days can you turn it around? And of course I say yes. But they also have in-house editors for the most part who can do that. In the off chance that somebody doesn’t have that editor I will do that editing. If it’s a really big editing project and I feel like I don’t really want to do that, little diva-ish of me, but I send it to a friend who can really do a much better job. I believe in outsourcing the things that someone else can do better.

Maren: Oh yeah definitely. This is something that I’m still struggling with again as a perfectionist because I, part of it is that I want to be in control of everything but then the other issue is like if I’m doing all of these tiny little tasks then I’m not actually getting the larger things done. So yes, so important to outsource, especially if it’s something that’s not in your genius zone. You know, definitely.

Elizabeth Solar: I love that, in the genius zone. I’m searching for mine, any day now.

Maren: That term came from a book called The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. There’s like several different zones, zone of competency, wait zone of incompetence, zone of competence, zone of um, shoot there’s four, but the last one is the zone of genius. And you want to spend most of your time in the zone of genius And a lot of people spend their time in the zone of competence, which is basically like I’m good at this, I’m good enough at this, and it doesn’t necessarily feel like I want to hand it off. But the thing is that if you hand something like that off to somebody who’s it’s in their zone of genius then actually everybody wins. So yeah, it’s just hard to get your head into that.

Elizabeth Solar: That’s an interesting concept, Maren, and I know that, you know I’ve seen different configurations or similar types of things, how often do you think as creatives, or perhaps anybody, we don’t acknowledge where our competencies, incompetencies, our geniuses?

Maren: That is a great question, okay. I’m so glad you asked. You know, so I think that when we are artists we often undersell ourselves. I see so many people who are you know really don’t think that they’re as good as they are. It’s that imposter syndrome thing. And when they actually do, and I’m myself included, right, when they actually do step into that zone of genius, like step into your power and everything like that, things kind of fall into place. But it really requires you to make that mindset shift, because if you don’t believe it then it’s never going to happen.

Elizabeth Solar: Right, our minds just do what we tell them to do. They’re very obedient.

Maren: Yes. So same question back to you, like do you find, do you know where your zone of genius is?

Elizabeth Solar: Um, some days. Some days I really do and I think it comes with just the doing and the flow. Like those days it’s like this is so easy for me, this is so much fun. And I think when you start to have fun rather than, “I could do this in my sleep,” I think that’s the genius.

Maren: That is exactly it, yeah. When it’s fun and it’s easy and you’re really good at it, you know? Yeah. Well you’re definitely very good at the voiceover thing for sure, and I’m very excited about reading some of your stuff as well you know and your novel that will be coming out. And actually, speaking of novels, I’m going to ask a question that I ask everybody which is when was the first time you read a romance novel if ever?

Elizabeth Solar: You know what? I think probably in middle school and it was probably Jane Eyre. Yeah I don’t read like pulpy romance novels. It’s just not in my wheelhouse I used to read those steamy like Sidney Sheldon like…

Maren: Yeah, yeah

Elizabeth Solar: I’m not above it. You know I will go very low status. But I loved all of those period pieces. You know Pride and Prejudice and I feel like Pride and Prejudice is like the blueprint for every romantic comedy in the eighties and nineties: “I hate you!”

Maren: Absolutely. Right right, well it’s because there’s so much you know, Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books by the way. But one of the things about it is, and talking about storytelling, is just the fact that these are two people who actually really like each other but because of, you know, miscommunication and like they get in their own ways, They aren’t able to actually make that connection until the end. But that’s the whole story right? Like it’s about that conflict.

Elizabeth Solar: And you kind of know where it’s going but it is the journey. I mean that’s what makes a book or a movie or an opera enjoyable. You know there are no secrets about how most operas or most great plays end. You kind of know it’s not good. It’s how it gets there.

Maren: Totally. Well and speaking to opera have you ever been to an opera? Are you an opera fanatic?

Elizabeth Solar: In fact as a kid my mother dragged me because her family’s Italian and you have to go. Because I just find Italians so operatic in their countenance and there’s lot of fun but they’re, you know it’s a handful. So we did see a lot of opera and it was, you know my dad wouldn’t go, so it was either my sister and myself who would go to this beautiful old building in Boston. It’s the old opera house and just exquisite, beautiful scroll work and all the moldings. So that was really fun.

Maren: Do you have a favorite opera?

Elizabeth Solar: You know what I think I don’t want to say it’s my favorite, but I think La bohème. I just kind of love all that. The consumption was awesome. You know it’s just the way you die. But it’s so sweet. I love that it’s filled with romance and heartbreak and I think that heartbreak is a really great component to any good romance. But I would say Madame Butterfly, even though Madame Butterfly on its face may not be, um it’s very powerful, but I saw it in Santa Fe and they have this big open air opera house. I mean, it’s open, and you see just a panorama of mountains and they have the stage and it’s just , it’s transformative. It’s just beautiful.

Maren: That’s so interesting that it’s not just the piece itself, but also the space in which it is performed that has definitely made an impression on you. You know, I think a lot about space as a singer because I think about acoustics. So, you know, when I walk into a space and I’m going to be singing in, I really, my ears are like wide open. And I really try to figure out where the best spot is to be, how I can hear other people, how best I’m going to sound. But for you as a consumer it sounds like it’s not just the acoustic part. It’s not just the sound, but it’s also the visual and like the architecture.

Elizabeth Solar: I’m very, um, I’m big on atmosphere. I’m really big on atmosphere and that really can enhance the performance. Having said that, you know, if you view or hear any great piece of art, it really doesn’t matter what the venue is. It’s a joy in and of itself.

Maren: Yeah, well, that’s true. That’s true. But the venue does help to uh, enhance for sure.

Elizabeth Solar: Can’t hurt.

Maren: All right, let’s see. So tell me about one good thing 2020 has brought into your life.

Elizabeth Solar: You know, more than one would think. I mean first of all, we met. And, and that’s a very good thing, but I’ve met a lot of people. And have you ever been in a book group and somebody recommends a book and it’s something that you would never read, but you end up reading it and being so glad and it adds another dimension? I feel like as much as I feel that Zoom has become the devil, it actually has enhanced a lot of life and gotten me to open up to certain things that I wouldn’t have done if there wasn’t COVID.

The other piece, so in one way it’s broadened my network and I have these great new friends. On the other hand, it’s really made me much more self-reflective about what I want to do with my life going forward and how to best serve not just myself, but the people around me. And also I guess, the preciousness of the people in our lives that we love. And in some ways I’ve kind of contracted those people. Like who’s essential in life and who in a crisis or even on a really great day, who are my people? And it’s really clarified that in a way that I hadn’t really considered as much.

Maren: That’s really interesting. I think that I feel the same, actually, that there has been a lot of introspection on my part, so I’ve really turned inward and yet my network has expanded and I’m meeting people that I would never ever ever have met otherwise. So as strange and as painful as this past year has been. Yeah, it also has brought about some really necessary change in my life, speaking of change, you know and, yeah.

Elizabeth Solar: You know, totally agree with everything. I think we’re kind of of one mind about many of this. And I do believe that there are a lot of people who feel the same way that it’s in some ways clarified bits of life that you know we either take for granted like health, food in the refrigerator, roof over the head, kind of the basic things that many people don’t have.

Maren: Well, are there any other things that you want to talk about, with your business, or how can people find you?

Elizabeth Solar: They can go to LizSolar.com. It’s L I Z S O L A R. And they can either check out demos or read, uh, you know, I have the, um, Embark podcast, and affiliated with that is a blog. So I basically recap a lot of what has gone on in, in the podcast. So for people who don’t have 20 or 30 minutes, say, have a two or three minute read.

And so many of the things that I’ve started the year off with really have a social bent to them of, hey, you know, there’s a lot of hunger going on. There’s some really bad mental health going on. And, you know, not just presented as a problem, but what are the ways that we can help? Because I really believe that, and we’ve seen it over the last several years, if one person can mess things up, like one person or many, one peoples can actually help mend those things. So we have it’s that stepping into the power and actually doing something that’s serviceable.

Maren: That’s really beautiful. I’m so glad you’re doing that.

Elizabeth Solar: I’m sorry I kind of got on a soap box there and you’re just asking me like, Hey, where do people find you?

Um, so, so that’s why that’s one

Maren: Stay on the soapbox!

Elizabeth Solar: You know, with the you know the Italian hands, gesticulating. One other thing is Acts of Revision, which is really it’s the little baby that was birthed through my writers group. We really talk about the craft of writing. A lot of it is through the lens of society and politics. We even write about the objective correlative. So that’s another place. If you just want to be entertained, if you’re a total grammar nerd and you know, want to nerd out for a few minutes, that’s a place to go.

Maren: I know there are a few nerds in my audience, so definitely go check that out for sure.

Elizabeth Solar: Well, thank you.

Maren: Okay, well, Liz, this has been a pleasure. I am just so excited that we have connected and that you were able to come on the podcast. And I wish you much luck and lots of good wishes for finishing the novel. I can’t wait till it comes out.

Elizabeth Solar: Maren, the pleasure is mine.

Just so you know, my internet was having problems through all throughout that interview. So right as Liz was signing off, my internet went completely caput. I’m just grateful I was able to save as much audio as I did.

Next episode, we are back to Desire’s Peak, where Stetson meets a mysterious woman bathing in the river.

He grasped her face in both his hands and pressed his lips to hers. She opened her mouth eagerly and soon their tongues were dancing an intimate dance that sent waves of electricity coursing through his body.

I love hearing from you guys as always. So if there was something that struck you about this episode or any of the other episodes, let me know, reach out to me on Instagram. I’m @supermaren.

The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived by me, Maren Montalbano. It was edited by Andrew Carlson, and the theme music was also written by yours truly. If you liked what you heard, I invite you to give this podcast a five star rating. Actually, you know what? Rate it whatever you want, but you know, the five stars are always the best. And I’ll see you next time.