How do you balance pursuing your dreams with living real life? Episode 26, Amy Gentry

The Changed Podcast with Aden Nepom

Amy Gentry, the best-selling author of novels Good as Gone & Last Woman Standing, sat down to talk with, The Changed Podcast host, Aden Nepom at the end of last year. Since talking, her newest novel Bad Habits has taken the world by storm!

Author Amy Gentry is what I like to call a 'practical dreamer.' While she is attracted to the magical, spiritual, intuitive elements in life she recognizes that there is typically a pragmatic approach to get where you want to be.

She is the author of the thrillers Good as Gone, a New York Times Notable Book, and Last Woman Standing. She also wrote a book on Tori Amos's album BOYS FOR PELE for the 33 1/3 series. Her book reviews and essays have appeared in numerous outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Paris Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Austin Chronicle. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Chicago and lives in Austin, Texas.

In this episode of the Changed Podcast, Amy shares with us that becoming a novelist of female-driven thrillers, wasn't initially what she set out to do. Amy lays out that getting to a place of success is a mix of elements... including luck and privilege and but not exclusively beholden to those qualities and points out that there can be a practical dollars and cents approach to pursuing your dreams, including breaking your life into quarters to get after smaller goals.

In examining her own relationship with change, Amy Gentry shares a bittersweet story of recognizing when something isn't the fit you think it is... even when that thing was a person whom she believed to be her soul mate.

There is an interesting balance between fear, excitement and patient knowing that influences how people feel about change. Each persons balance between these elements is specific to their perspective and experiences. And somehow, knowing change is inevitable, isn't always enough to tip the scales from fear to excitement. It's all contextual!

And often it is in retrospect that we can look back on the experiences, the choices we've made, and the opportunities that have crossed our paths to see what elements have shaped and changed our view of the world.

Links to things we talked about in this episode

Hey there humans identifying as women... Looking for fun ways to move your body in a low-pressure way?! Learn more about Dance Dance Party Party! Here's the link: https://dancedancepartyparty.com/home.html

Amy's book recommendation, The Artists Way, is an excellent way to seek your creative center. You can pick up a copy from Powell's Books by visiting this link

While you're there, make sure to grab a copy of Amy's latest novel! Order Bad Habits!

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Get full access to Making This up as I Go at makingthisup.substack.com/subscribe
Get full access to Making This up as I Go at www.newsletters.artofchange.com/subscribe