This week on the podcast, Angela speaks with teacher and author Laura Warrell. They discuss Laura's new novel, Soft, Sweet, Plenty Rhythm, and the 20-year journey to getting it into the world. Laura's book is about Circus Palmer, a trumpet player and the women in his orbit. They talk about Laura's work to make these characters as rich as the man as at the center of the story. They also talk about Laura's 2019 viral essay, I Gave Up On Love, And It Was One Of The Best Decisions I Ever Made. Seeing as they recorded this in LA, they also complained about traffic. Laura's essay on Writing While Black can be found here. She also wrote a piece for Lit Hub about her devotion to Jazz. Angie mentions Lisa Lucas at the beginning of this interview. Here is a NYTimes piece about Lisa. Laura's book Soft, Sweet, Plenty Rhythm, can be found at your favorite local bookstore, or here. We'll be back in two weeks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices