Meet Leslie Hooton

Leslie is the author of three novels. Her most recent book, After Everyone Else, was the winner of an Indie Book Award. Leslie says her best quality is her village of friends. Her second book is dedicated to them. Leslie often remarks that some people have a stroke of luck, she had a stroke at birth. The limited use of her right side and numerous surgeries have allowed Leslie a unique perspective, which she brings to her writing. Leslie uses dictation for her writing and often jokes “I haven’t typed a single word.” 

You can find more information on Leslie’s book on her website and on Instagram.

Highlights from my conversation with Leslie:

Leslie: My beloved Wellness Center closes, and I swear to goodness, Nina, it was like a death in the family. I don’t have any exercise equipment here at my house, so I was completely freaking out. I mean, I understand that I should have been freaked out about Covid, but no, I was freaked out about how the heck am I going to walk? I was talking to a friend of mine one day and she goes, Leslie, I got you covered. And I said, what? And then all of a sudden, she had somebody for me to walk with Monday through Friday. Monday is Nan, Tuesday is Maryanne. Wednesday is Leslie, Thursday is Lisa, and then Friday is Susan.

“It was cold, it was rainy. But if they were willing to walk with me, I donned my raincoat or my coat and we would walk outside, except for a few days, we rarely missed. And that was, to me, not only, I’m gonna choke up–

Nina: I know I’m going to choke up, it’s so sweet.

Leslie: It was an act of love, an act of friendship. I don’t know if, you’re spiritual.”

Nina: I am.

Leslie: It is what the divine looks like to me. And so we walk and so it is just an amazing, I call it the friendship of the walking partners, You know, instead of the traveling pants, it is the walking partners and they are as committed as I am. The DNA of each walk is different. . . .. It’s just being together. It’s helpful for all of us mentally. I see that they have come to appreciate the walks too. It’s not only physical exercise, but it’s mental exercise because there have been so many studies now that it’s great to be outside and you get a little socialization in. So I am grateful for these five friends who walk with me every single day and they are wonderful.”

Leslie: “You can put somebody on the outer ring, but I don’t advocate throwing somebody out of the galaxy completely because you just never know. That is sort of my philosophy on friendship; maybe somebody needs to be on the outer ring for a while if they’ve done something to hurt you, but keep them in the galaxy.”

Leslie: “I say you’re never too old to publish a book, and it’s never too late to make friends.”

Leslie: “The other thing I would like to say about friendship is we can never have enough friends because you just never know what life is going to put it your feet. It’s nice to have a lot of friends. One or two friends don’t want to do all the heavy lifting if you’re in a fix. And so it’s nice to have a big village to spread it around.”

Leslie: “Soup is love, Nina.”