Whitney McGruder (she/her) always knew she wanted to be an author. 📖 Along with her husband Travis, Whitney offers editing services to upcoming authors and writes her own, with two book published in her The Destiny Seeker series. Her passion for writing and creating content on Instagram for other authors aims to spread the ✨good vibes✨ and information that she's received in the online writing community. Whitney wants to destigmatize self-publishing and chats with Gio and Renée about navigating the goals of being a published author without engaging in traditional publishing, and how creating connections with fellow writers instead of viewing them as 'competition'. Sidebars include The 10th Kingdom fanfiction; the importance of #ownvoices in traditionally published fiction; and Whitney's partnership with bookshop.org. Find Whitney on social media @whit2ney, connect with her at witandtravesty.com, and sign up for her newsletter here! Want more L2M? Go to patreon.com/listen2mepod to find out how you can keep the show going! See more of our work: Gio at giografik.com and Renée at reneewrought.com.