Ann Crawford is and author and award-winning documentary filmmaker. She accompanied a group of vets back to Viet Nam and filmed them doing humanitarian work, returning to their Areas of Operation, and healing their wounds of war. A few years later, she traveled around the world and interviewed people from all walks of life—heads of state, street kids, academics, artists….the folks of this world—on how they envisioned creating world peace. Meet Ann:

Did you always want to be an author? Yes! My mom was very sick throughout my childhood, and she died when I was a teen. When she felt well enough to read to me, those were our most memorable, magical times together. I grew up wanting to create that special magic for other people. Interviewers often ask me when I started writing, and I say, “As soon as I could hold a pencil.” I would write in the back of those books my mom read, continuing the story, even before I knew what I was writing. My mom had wanted to be a writer, too, but didn’t get very far along in it. I loved reading, writing, and English classes all through school, but after she died I kind of turned that whole thing off, decided to be practical, and studied marketing in college. (Whaaaaat? It did come in handy over the years, though.) But Writing said, “That’s okay. You do whatever you want. I’ll be here in the meantime, waiting patiently for you.” And it did wait. I took a grief workshop when I was in my early twenties, and after that the writing floodgates opened.

What is your most recent book and what inspired you to write it? My latest book, released this past spring, is Bazoomerangs. Here’s what that one’s about: An ex-flower child still living like it’s 1969, a Buick-driving religious Trumper, and a twenty-year-old trans woman living all under one roof….What could possibly go right?

This book came to me many years ago when a gay friend of mine posted on FB about how his mom, an evangelical Christian, did not see or get him at all. I completely understood his point of view, but I did find myself trying to imagine how she was feeling, to picture her side of things. Over the years, the trans movement came in all its glory and beauty, and I know a few trans folks, including one in the inner circle of my life…and this story burst forth. My specialty is deep and funny. A dear friend once said to me, “You use of humor is majestic. It allows your deep messages to have a greater impact.” I love that! I sure adore riding high on the funny, diving into the deep, and having my messages make an impact.

How do you hope your book uplifts those who read it? I wrote this book primarily for the family and loved ones of trans folks, the ones who might not “see” or “get” them yet. Interwoven between the family drama and the laughs, though, are inspiring words of wisdom, but not delivered in a teachy/preachy kind of way. And I’m getting lots of messages from folks saying, “I didn’t know! I didn’t know the terms. I didn’t know what they were going through. I didn’t know any of this.” And that’s why I wrote this book.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to succeed in your professional industry? “Seat of the pants to the seat of the chair,” is how the writing adage goes. I recently did an interview that I named, “Sit. Stay. Write a Book.” If we set up a certain time in a special place to show up every day, after a while our writing response becomes Pavlovian. More advice would be to keep going! Keep writing; keep doing the current-day author stuff of social media and interviews, etc.; keep reading. Some writers forget that last one. Author Anne Lamott tells her young writing students, “If you want to be a really great person, read a lot.”

How do you handle setbacks and criticism? A friend of mine once gave me the best idea about criticism: imagine your work is a painting that you put up on the wall—apart and away from us, our tender heart, our sensitivity, our pride of ownership, our mama-bird protective instinct. Then accepting criticism can be saying to people, “Thank you for helping me make this art better.” And our art, even our life, does get better when we can take in constructive feedback.

Being an author today is like running a business. How do you manage all your publicity, social media and keep your engagement up with readers? That work is literally endless, so the best thing is just to set aside time to write, then time to handle all that, then time for all the others things that go into our days, especially family and self-care. Doing it by time and not by task keeps it easier for me to get it all done.

How do you hold yourself accountable and achieve the goals that you set forth? I’m a “finisher”—I love to finish what I start. And I just keep going. A friend once said, “You never gave up!” My response was, “There wasn’t anything else I could do!” LOL.

How do you structure your day and make time for writing? Writing takes priority—early in the workday after my waking-up routine (breakfast, coffee, Wordle, stretching and meditating, etc.). Then comes social media and marketing. After that I do freelance gigs, including editing books.

What do you find most fulfilling in the career that you’ve chosen? I love getting notes from readers that say, “Your book changed my life.” I also love seeing people make changes in their lives over the years and then have them say, “Thank you. You helped me do this.”

What book uplifts you? I love Anita Moorjani’s Dying to Be Me. She had end-stage cancer and died—her body completely shut down. She heard the doctors talking (down the hall, away from where her body was), plus she saw her brother on a plane flying to see her. But Anita came back and her body completely healed. She then changed the track she’d been on and devoted her life to sharing with people about the beauty, love, and grace that surrounds us and is us.

Connect with Ann and grab your copy of her latest book via her website.