Transcript of CS#106: Susie Lloyd Bless Me Father For I Have Kids

Transcript of Interview with Susie Lloyd about Bless Me Father For I Have Kids. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Bless Me Father For I Have Kids at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004820/Bless-Me-Father-I-Have-Kids/

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Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the podcast that we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash director of E-Commerce from catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today, in the spotlight we have Susie Lloyd; she is a homeschooling mother but also a Catholic funny woman. And she has two books out right now. The older one is called Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water, the other one is Bless Me Father for I Have Kids. Welcome Susie.

Susie Lloyd: Hi Chris.

Chris Cash: You know I can certainly relate right off the bat to both of these titles you know. Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water, well, my kids aren’t so prone to drinking the holy water as to jump – to trying to jump into the holy water, the Baptism *** [01:11] especially those really big ones that – my former church had literally massive bath tub type one that the kids were always just hanging over and trying dip things, and well, you know that splashing it out.

Susie Lloyd: Yes, in our church there is Baptism by immersion, so we go to the *Byzantine** [01:37] church. So, it’s a huge holy water pond.

Chris Cash: So, yes, yes, I am with you there. And so, tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and what brought you to start writing these books?

Susie Lloyd: Well, see I’ve been married 20 years to a great guy named Greg. And we have seven kids, kind of a strange configuration, six girls and then the baby is a boy. And I talk about that in my new book, because that was one of the big shockers of my life. So, the first chapter is about unto us a son is born. Now it’s…

Chris Cash: I can kind of relate to that. I have four girls and one boy, although my boy too so.

Susie Lloyd: Well, you know its funny when you have a big family, people always think there must be some reason for it. You know and its – you know other than that you know you’re trying to just accept them as God sent them. That whole idea is so passé, so with the girls people always thought we kept going so that we would have a boy. You know like we missed it again, oh sorry, oh another, oh, another girl this try. That’s what people thought. And you know it’s tough to convince them that we really wanted whatever kind God wanted to give us. And in fact, we got pretty complacent about having girls, like oh this is easy. You know what they wear, what they do. They all do the same activities, they all sleep in the same rooms, you know we would *** [03:20] with same toys…

Chris Cash: *Getting* [03:21] down the clothes ready and they’re…

Susie Lloyd: Oh, and it is – it gets easy you know. And then, you know you get so that you’re like oh, I hope you know we do this going, don’t shake things up. And with each one of them, we didn’t know what we were having until, she was born. But God in his providence ordained that I accidentally find out before our son was born, about a month before. And I just had a knock down, and I told my husband and we decided to keep it to ourselves, and wait and surprise the girls. And it’s a – it is a really cute story, because we just did not know what to do. So, you know I cover that in the very first chapter. And his name is Joseph by the way. You know we talk all – about all the names we’re going to give him. You know my husband wants to name him you know everything he is ever wanted in a boy’s name. You know all the best saints; you know even the ones with kind of funny names you know. And…

Chris Cash: Yes, yes.

Susie Lloyd: Yes. It’s that…

Chris Cash: And you talk some sense into him huh?

Susie Lloyd: Well, we – you know I wanted to put a limit on it. Like he wanted to name him you know four, five, six, seven names you know, like he was you know a royalty or something.

Chris Cash: Right.

Susie Lloyd: It was good, yes.

Chris Cash: So, what got you involved in starting to write new stories? What influenced you to get going with that?

Susie Lloyd: Well, years and years ago, I started freelancing for Catholic Magazines and that was kind of accidental. I didn’t go looking for it. I was writing letters to a seminary and a friend of mine, who works for the Legionaries of Christ in their newspaper, the Register. And he said – he called me up one day and said, “You know we’re looking for writers for our sister publication, Faith and Family.” And this is a long time ago when Faith and Family was still a tabloid, I don’t know if you remember from those days. And it was kind of a wishy-washy production. It wasn’t doing too well you know when I started there and then, but I – you know I was really happy to have a little part time job, because you know with lots of kids you’re struggling and you know. I always loved writing anyway. And he liked my Christmas letters and he said, “Oh, you – you know you should be writing for a magazine.” So, I said, “Okay, you know, and I started that and Faith and Family then went through a change, a wonderful change where you know they got a new editor and they got really high gloss and nice good articles, everything really crisp. You know and it began to be a very, very successful magazine. It started winning all these awards.

Chris Cash: Is that when Daniel Bean came on, somebody else?

Susie Lloyd: No, maybe – yes. And it doesn’t…

Chris Cash: Daniel is a friend of the show as well. She’s been on with it…

Susie Lloyd: Oh, yes, I just met her a couple of weeks ago. But this is more like many years before that. And it was a lot of a fun to be part of it, and its still fun. It’s been fun all these years, and then I branched off from there to Wright Brother Magazine. And somewhere along the line, I mean I started – I don’t know I started to loosen up. I – when I started writing, it was all serious you know, and academic and pretty soon, I don’t know it’s just isn’t in me to write that way. I went back to my letter writing style, which is pretty loose and conversational. And I did pretty well with that, I started to win awards myself. And so – excuse me, my editor, one of my editor said you know you should write a book. So, you know I kind of looked around and I said I really don’t want to write an advice book, I’m not that kind of a person, not everybody’s situation is the same and you know I was kind of young anyway to be giving out the advice. I think maybe I’ll write one when I am you know ’85 or something. I should write just for my children. But…

Chris Cash: It’s about the time when they are ready to listen to your advice again.

Susie Lloyd: Oh, yes, that’s when they want to know you know. You know its fun to write so far, you know there is a – I’m always loved Erma Bombeck, I’ve always loved Dave Berry; he is a fixed favorite of mine. And there is nothing that they’re really trying to teach you in there. They’re just having a lot of fun with life. You know that’s what these two books are all about, just taking all the crazy things that happen and stretching *** [07:52] asking yourself what if this and what if that, and running with that idea. And it acts – and is it being kind of true in the end, even though it’s also crazy. It has to be based in reality for it to be – to really resonate with people.

Chris Cash: Now, what kind of people are going to benefit from this book? Because you know I’ve heard lots of really good reviews. And then, there is a couple of who are – have been a little disappointed with the content, So, I just want to give you a chance to make it clear, what kind of material is you know people are going to find in here, so that they’re not surprised and…?

Susie Lloyd: Well, you know *** [08:37] as far as its not – you know its not meant to make you feel you know – its not meant to edify you in a overt way. You know its more like for just pure fun. But it does have a therapeutic value. What kind of people will like it? People who kind of have a hard time, they are home a lot, they don’t get out much. Boy, I remember those years before I had teenager. Where you’re just – you get pretty lonely, and you know what you need is a little fun to make you feel like you’re not the only one out there who is preserving in your vocation. You know nobody needs to write these things overly too or persevere, persevere is all worth. I mean, that’s great too. I mean, that’s definitely a place for that, but sometimes there is a place just for a funny story, where you can see yourself. Oh, I’ve been through that you know. Oh, I have – I’ve had you know my kids who don’t want to clean up the kitchen you know and it sits around for hours and hours or my husband drives too fast too. It scares the *Jeeves* [09:50]. You know just different things and then it gets crazier and crazier. I always like to throw in some stuff that is not your typical essay. You know like quizzes or you know I have the game show in here, Hollywood Squares, great cartoons, just fun stuff to uplift you in an indirect way.

Chris Cash: But you are not going to give advice on how to get that child to come in and start cleaning, right?

Susie Lloyd: No, definitely not. It’s that – like I said there is a place for that, but that’s not what I’m trying to do here. And…

Chris Cash: Darn I can use that.

Susie Lloyd: I know that’s what I say. Someday when I am 85. No, you know I have – it does – I have an effect, I have a note in my hand and it says, Dear Susie, after lessons in the morning, I am a mental zombie. I pull myself over to my book shelf, read just a random page or two and feel normal again. My hit for the day. And then, she says, thanks so much. Now, this lady has inside a cancer. This lady was very sick when she wrote me this letter. And you know that she has lot of children, a lot of responsibilities, homeschooler and was battling illness. And what it did for her was it just made her laugh and feel normal again, and that’s all it’s meant to do.

Chris Cash: Wow. So, you have any other interesting fan notes to share with us?

Susie Lloyd: No, I may not have any right handy, but this one I kept in my drawer since I got it. This was – she sent me this from the first book. I – but I do get a lot of feedback, I get e-mails, once a while I get phone calls and I just you know – when I meet people in person, you know we talk. The second book is doing really well on account of the first one; you know people have enjoyed the first one. And so if I go to a curriculum fair, you know that’s where you sell books that people want to buy for home schoolings, you know you might – I’ll go to one of these things and *** [12:12] will be there…

Chris Cash: *Your home stores* [12:11] well, I understand.

Susie Lloyd: Oh, okay, yes. So, people will come up to me, oh, I read the first one you know. Is this the new one, I want to get it you know? So, I’m having an easier time now that I have broken in the first one.

Chris Cash: Now, did your appearance of – or did the appearance of your book in the That Catholic Show do anything to help your relation? Did you even know about it?

Susie Lloyd: I did know about it and I really tickled about it. I did an interview with them about a month ago; we had a lot of fun with Greg and Jen. I don’t know – I am not the one who tracks these things. You know I’m really just – yes, they know can tell me these things at Sophia, but they – even they don’t know right away.

Chris Cash: I understand. So, who – obviously, you said Erma Bombeck and Dave Berry were great influences on your writing style. Was there anybody else who has really influenced you as a writer?

Susie Lloyd: P.G. Wodehouse. You know P.G. Wodehouse?

Chris Cash: No, I am not familiar.

Susie Lloyd: P.G. Wodehouse. I – of course, I do not *** [13:30] to say I write like P.G. Wodehouse I’m not saying that, but I do love P.G. Wodehouse. He was British, very prolific writer. He died in the ‘70’s, early ‘70’s. It would be about 90 something; he published many, many, many stories. You know the Jeeves stories, Jeeves and Wooster?

Chris Cash: Who? I’m sorry about that. No.

Susie Lloyd: Well, he published the Jeeves stories. He writes about a particular period of time, as 1920’s, about pretty much just the upper class and all the crazy fun times that they had and nothing serious whatsoever, zero. It’s all pure fun. And the neat thing about P.G. Wodehouse is that he was loved by Evelyn Waugh, G.K. Chesterton. They loved his work and that’s because his writing was, he has – he had – he didn’t just tell a story, he made sure that he used the most colorful language. You know he was a Shakespeare of comedy. Like he never said you know when I walked in I saw a fat lady, he never said that. He said she fits into my tightest armchair, like they were wearing armchairs, tight about the hips that season you know. Oh, my largest armchair yes. It did you know – you got the idea that she was fat you know. I just love that. I love the – I don’t – anybody can write you know, he was that right? But how many people can write she fit into my largest armchair, like they were wearing armchairs. He was tight about the hips that season. Just a beautiful man of the English language.

Chris Cash: Yes, it sounds similar to the style of Douglas Adams in more recently that imagery is that – that’s not a name that…

Susie Lloyd: Okay. Not a name.

Chris Cash: I think you would have appreciate his works for his imagery, although he is more of a science fiction *** [15:33].

Susie Lloyd: Okay, yes.

Chris Cash: Well, we’re going to take a break here for just a minute to hear from our sponsor. But we’ll be back in just a moment to hear more from Susie Lloyd about Bless Me Father for I have Kids and Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

[Break]

Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Susie Lloyd. We’re talking about Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water and Bless Me Father for I have Kids. So, are you just the life of the party whenever you go out?

Susie Lloyd: That depends on whose at the party and if they are serving drinks. So, I’m just an ordinary person. I am a kind of a serious person. Basically, who does any kind of art form – this is my opinion here you know maybe people will disagree, but it’s usually a melancholic person. You know a person is – not melancholic in a sense of sad, I’m not a sad kind of person but reflective, introspective, an observer of what’s going on, an observer of reality. So, even if you write silly, silly stuff you – it generally comes from people who are introspective and reflective. Does that make any sense?

Chris Cash: Yes, oh, I understand you’re sitting there observing what’s ironic in this situation rather than yakking it up the whole time.

Susie Lloyd: Right, exactly.

Chris Cash: Now, do your kids and your husband appreciate your books as much as the – those of you in the outside do?

Susie Lloyd: Yes, thank God they do. When I wrote my first book, I was very, very careful to run everything by them, and my kids loved it. They – especially, my oldest, she loves to make fun of herself, you know she is now almost 20. And I guess probably the others all took their queue from her or something. But – and that was the second book, I did the same thing. You know I said common now you guys are in this one, I want you to see it before I send it to the publisher. Just in case there is something you object to. And we just sat around the living room laughing and going over, they loved to see themselves in print. And my husband has a really positive attitude about my writing; he is a very supportive guy. And I am sure I wouldn’t have even got into it if it weren’t for him, because being a melancholic, I am more like oh you know this isn’t any good or anybody can do this you know kind of attitude. And my husband was always there going, no you’re wrong, this is really good, you need to do this. He is a really outgoing kind of person, he is more – he usually likes the party. He is and he has a big *** [19:29].

Chris Cash: So, he gives you lots to write about.

Susie Lloyd: And so – what’s that?

Chris Cash: So, he gives you lots to write about then?

Susie Lloyd: Well, he is a very colorful person, and a very supportive person. So, yes, in that sense I have a beautiful combination. I have a husband who’s a lot of fun and who likes my writing, so I – so we’re in good shape you know.

Chris Cash: Now, do the kids ever find themselves in the situation where they’ve done something kind of crazy and they look at you and say mom, is that going to be in your next book?

Susie Lloyd: Oh, yes, oh yes. And you know sometimes, there are something’s that where I really do draw the line. Like with this book, you see my kids have just started dating, and my editor Todd who’s a great editor. He used to be with Sophia, now he’s moved on *TAN* [20:10] that’s recently. But he – we went through both books together. And he wanted a piece about dating; I said oh, you know I don’t think so. I draw the line; you know that’s a little too sensitive you know. Maybe somebody when everybody has grown up and married you know but not know.

Chris Cash: When it’s not so personal anymore.

Susie Lloyd: It’s too much you know, so yes. I do have one piece where I teach and it’s about having to tell the kids the fact of life. And it’s funny, once in a while. I – first I published it on Inside Catholic, which is the crises Magazine online. And you know I guess, they must be expecting more serious stuff or something, I don’t know what but I got a couple of people who really thought, I wouldn’t talk to my kids about the fact of life. It was funny time. I am just – I was actually just explaining how nerve racking it can be you know. I thought ever parent would relate to that you know. So, we do that in a general silly sort of way.

Chris Cash: And I guess you know with every first writer, there is always the danger of somebody looking at your work and saying, this is serious, oh, my gosh.

Susie Lloyd: Yes, yes. Like one reviewer was like, the only negative review I got – she said that I made fun of smoking and drunkenness. Well, no, I did not. And just a little reference to both things, not making light of a serious matter especially drunkenness. And none of here smoke, none of us think you know highly of smoking. In fact, my sister and my brother are heavy smokers and I – every time I see them, I think oh you know. It’s been how many years now and I’d like to see them quit, but anyway you have to be able to you know tease about things, especially and people have to realize that no, no this is not my dairy. This is the foibles of humanity you know, we are all falling creatures.

Chris Cash: You know it reminds me of a friend of mine who was a columnist in college and he wrote *** [22:42] single pieces. And he wrote one about the great things about being a Saintanist. You know not being a Saintanist himself, he just found some funny thoughts on it, and put it in a newspaper article. And for the next three or four months, he found Bibles outside in his story, every time he came outside you know.

Susie Lloyd: Yes. Yes. People point me to read resources, like in my first book, I do the family rosary and this was the favorite chapter hands down to the first book. Just about the kids acting up in the rosary. How little kids are, everybody is kneeling down and facing it the same way. They get in front and they start hamming it up. Everybody, I heard from millions of people saying, oh, we do the same thing, it’s just the same. But a couple with one person, one lady, she wanted to send me some tapes, where I could flip them in the VCR and have the kids look at the rosary tapes and then, they never be distracted again. You know it’s like well I mean it was really sweet of her. A really lovely grandmother, but it wasn’t the point you know. And same with the Facts of Life Chapter in this one, a couple of people, oh, here is a book you can use.

Chris Cash: Sure, let me put you in touch with Greg Popcak, he’ll help you.

Susie Lloyd: Yes, exactly. I assure you we are handling it.

Chris Cash: Well, with a 20 year old, I hope so.

Susie Lloyd: Yes, we definitely are in our own way.

Chris Cash: Well, we’re about out of time today. Was there anything else you want to share with our audience before we did have to get going?

Susie Lloyd: Well, thanks a lot for having me on.

Chris Cash: Well, you’re absolutely welcome you know. I tried to make sure that we have a variety of different topics that we cover on the show, and this was definitely something that we had not had before. So, it’s made it a lot of fun. For all of those out there who want to see Susie in person, do you have a place where people can go to find your schedule?

Susie Lloyd: No, I don’t. And I have been resisting having blogs for years, because I can’t keep up as it is. There’s a lot of people who have asked me do you have a blog and I am huh, I’m sorry. The best I can do is Facebook.

Chris Cash: Okay, so find Susie on the Facebook. Do you have your schedule posted there?

Susie Lloyd: No, I don’t. But it’s now that you mentioned it, see I’ll do that. I’m not on the – I am not the most organized person in the world; I have that in my book too. I only do is write the stuff and then the rest kind of just falls into place. That’s how I handle it. While I receive my *fans* [25:32]?

Chris Cash: Well, with that army of *** [25:32] you should put at least one of them to work on having a Webpage for you, right?

Susie Lloyd: You’re so right and I think I’ll do that first on the summer project.

Chris Cash: No, you don’t have to blog; just have your kid’s blog.

Susie Lloyd: I should do that, because they are all over Facebook you know. Now, you mentioned…

Chris Cash: I need a calendar page on Facebook, so people can find my engagements. All right, well…

Susie Lloyd: Yes, because I’ve got three teenagers.

Chris Cash: We will look at your Facebook account and we will put a link to it in this show notes, so people will be able to find you. How many friends you have on Facebook now?

Susie Lloyd: Well, I just started on Facebook, I have about 70 friends, not too many.

Chris Cash: Okay, you know *** [26:12] now.

Susie Lloyd: I got on for some reason, just to see my daughter pictures, ‘cause she is away at college. And after that, I – it just started loading up you know, I got all these friends so.

Chris Cash: I tell you – I’ve been using Facebook for work, for over two years now and when I first go on, there was almost nobody from my high school in it. But now it’s like – one of my old classmates contacting me at least once or twice a week, so it’s…

Susie Lloyd: That is the best thing, isn’t it?

Chris Cash: Oh, yes, it is, because you know even if you don’t start a conversation with people, at least you get to see some pictures of them, and their kids and find out what they did with themselves.

Susie Lloyd: Yes, yes, I love it too.

Chris Cash: It’s like an online high school reunion.

Susie Lloyd: It is, yes.

Chris Cash: Well, anyway, it is been so nice to talk with you Susie, and hopefully we will hear from you again with some more great material in the future.

Susie Lloyd: We will see, thank you.

Chris Cash: All right, God bless.

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Transcript of Interview with Susie Lloyd about Bless Me Father For I Have Kids. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Bless Me Father For I Have Kids at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004820/Bless-Me-Father-I-Have-Kids/