Behind the Book Cover

Behind the Book Cover

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Behind the Book Cover episodes

  • Natasha Vargas-Cooper on Taking Ambien in Recovery

    Recover Girl takes to the stage again, as I'm giving you another episode featuring a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time—which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.

    This episode features previous podcast guest Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a wondrous sprite who graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy and has been published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned, was praised as “a well-versed primer” by The New Yorker and “likely to become a trivia-lover’s bible” by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show Public School.

    In this story, she asks the question many may have pondered: what happens if you're "sober" but take Ambien? (Hint: it may involve texting your boss that you bet he looks good naked.)

    13 min
  • From Party Chica to Sober Senorita with Writer Kelly Fitzgerald

    If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 


    Kelly Fitzgerald is probably the most successful sober blogger in the world. The voice behind The Sober Senorita, Fitzgerald launched to internet fame when she wrote a post about being sober a year, which The Huffington Post picked up and posted on its home page. Cut to the post going viral, being published in multiple languages and placing Fitzgerald in a position of authority on recovery. She's now been published on sites like Elite Daily, Ravishly and Thought Catalog, hosts her own podcast and offers a virtual coaching program.

    In this episode, we discuss being uncomfortable outing yourself as sober, what it is about her first blog post about sobriety that hit a nerve, being a member of my coaching program for writers and whether or not everything happens as it's meant to, among many other topics.

    NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Kelly, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

    41 min
  • From Party Chica to Sober Senorita with Writer Kelly Fitzgerald


    Kelly Fitzgerald is probably the most successful sober blogger in the world. The voice behind The Sober Senorita, Fitzgerald launched to internet fame when she wrote a post about being sober a year, which The Huffington Post picked up and posted on its home page. Cut to the post going viral, being published in multiple languages and placing Fitzgerald in a position of authority on recovery. She's now been published on sites like Elite Daily, Ravishly and Thought Catalog, hosts her own podcast and offers a virtual coaching program.

    In this episode, we discuss being uncomfortable outing yourself as sober, what it is about her first blog post about sobriety that hit a nerve, being a member of my coaching program for writers and whether or not everything happens as it's meant to, among many other topics.

    NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Kelly, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)

    40 min
  • Going From Gang Member to World Famous Tattoo Artist with Freddy Negrete

    If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 


    Freddy Negrete is inarguably one of the world's greatest legends in the tattoo world. The former Chicano gang member perfected the art of "prison" black and grey tattoos before going to work for fellow tattoo legends “Good Time” Charlie Cartwright and Jack Rudy in East LA. He logged time working with Ed Hardy (who, for the uninitiated, is a real guy and not just a t-shirt line) and now makes headlines when he tattoos famous folks like Henry Styles. Despite his current celebrity status, Negrete has hardly had an easy life: the son of a Jewish woman and a Mexican father, Negrete was pretty much orphaned when both his parents went to prison. He joined a gang, entered a life of crime, started going in and out of juvie halls and prison and, along the way, became a heroin addict. Now sober over a half decade, Negrete is the co-author of a memoir based on his life, Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs and Tattoos: My Life in Black and Gray. In this episode, we talk about how gangs provided camaraderie, making tattoo guns out of cassette tapes and his sudden spiritual awakening, among many other topics.

    52 min
  • Going From Gang Member to World Famous Tattoo Artist with Freddy Negrete

    Freddy Negrete is inarguably one of the world's greatest legends in the tattoo world. The former Chicano gang member perfected the art of "prison" black and grey tattoos before going to work for fellow tattoo legends “Good Time” Charlie Cartwright and Jack Rudy in East LA. He logged time working with Ed Hardy (who, for the uninitiated, is a real guy and not just a t-shirt line) and now makes headlines when he tattoos famous folks like Henry Styles. Despite his current celebrity status, Negrete has hardly had an easy life: the son of a Jewish woman and a Mexican father, Negrete was pretty much orphaned when both his parents went to prison. He joined a gang, entered a life of crime, started going in and out of juvie halls and prison and, along the way, became a heroin addict. Now sober over a half decade, Negrete is the co-author of a memoir based on his life, Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs and Tattoos: My Life in Black and Gray. In this episode, we talk about how gangs provided camaraderie, making tattoo guns out of cassette tapes and his sudden spiritual awakening, among many other topics.

    51 min
  • Eddie Pepitone on Neighbors Who Smoke Pot and Being Addicted to Self-Improvement

    If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 


    Recover Girl takes a turn this time, as I'm going to start releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time. It takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.

    This episode features previous podcast guest Eddie Pepitone, a national treasure to the part of the nation that knows him. This was the theme of The Bitter Buddha, the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny and many more.

    In this story, he talks about "sculpting a winner" and great thinkers who believe we were never born, among other (hilarious) topics.

    For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here. For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here.

    21 min
  • Eddie Pepitone on Neighbors Who Smoke Pot and Being Addicted to Self-Improvement

    Recover Girl takes a turn this time, as I'm going to start releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time. It takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.

    This episode features previous podcast guest Eddie Pepitone, a national treasure to the part of the nation that knows him. This was the theme of The Bitter Buddha, the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny and many more.

    In this story, he talks about "sculpting a winner" and great thinkers who believe we were never born, among other (hilarious) topics.

    For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here. For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here.

    20 min
  • Recover Girl Talks Creativity: Why You Never Run Out of Stories

    If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 


    In this five-minute episode, Anna David talks about how new ideas occur to her every time she thinks she's shared everything she has to say about recovery.

    8 min

About Behind the Book Cover

From the publisher's feed

A book can do more than sell copies. It can build your authority, strengthen your personal brand and create entirely new opportunities for your business.

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