Ever wondered about the journey of your favorite authors? We have a special treat for you as we reminisce and celebrate with beloved authors from Season 1, Andrea Olatunji, Sherry Brown, and Adria Gabrialla. We revisit the cherished narratives from their books, with tales from Andrea's 'Omar El Jaguar' painting vibrant pictures of Latin American fauna, Sherry's 'Mind Your Mouth' offering insights on finding success, and Adria Gabrialla's 'From Disbelief to Assurance' guiding us in our search for answers.
We continue our lively conversation, focusing on the upcoming works and events from these talented authors. Sherri Brown shares her journey on creating a 90-day motivational moment prayer journal, while Andrea Olatunji gives us a sneak peek into her third book about an Anaconda. Adria Gabrialla talks about her soon-to-be-published Energy Enhancement Guide, shedding light on her creative process and inspirations. These stories not only enthrall but also offer insights into managing energy.
Join us as we traverse the world of being authors with our guests. Each has their own unique journey, and it's a joy to explore the many facets of their work, from Sherry's forthcoming prayer journal and study guide for 'Mind Your Mouth', to Andrea Olatunji's focus on enhancing her social media presence, and Adria Gabrialla's efforts on her second book in the 'From Disbelief to Assurance' series. As we celebrate the success of our guests, whose episodes all have over a thousand views, we also reflect on the significance of connecting with our audience, the unexpected moments that podcasting brings, and the sheer joy of seeing our work resonate with our listeners.
✨🎙Subscribe to our channel to join our writer community for tips, tricks, author interviews, and more. We can't wait for you to join us as you embark on your writing adventure!✨🎙
🎙📖✒️ 👉 All episodes are available to view on YouTube and listen anywhere where podcasts are played every Wednesday!👈
➡️ Check out our website to learn more about us, our mission, podcast episodes, be a guest on the show, and follow us on social media. ⬇️ https://thewritersparachute.com
As always, we hope this podcast is a helpful landing on your unique, creative journey. 🪂
Ever wondered about the journey of your favorite authors? We have a special treat for you as we reminisce and celebrate with beloved authors from Season 1, Andrea Olatunji, Sherry Brown, and Adria Gabrialla. We revisit the cherished narratives from their books, with tales from Andrea's 'Omar El Jaguar' painting vibrant pictures of Latin American fauna, Sherry's 'Mind Your Mouth' offering insights on finding success, and Adria Gabrialla's 'From Disbelief to Assurance' guiding us in our search for answers.
We continue our lively conversation, focusing on the upcoming works and events from these talented authors. Sherri Brown shares her journey on creating a 90-day motivational moment prayer journal, while Andrea Olatunji gives us a sneak peek into her third book about an Anaconda. Adria Gabrialla talks about her soon-to-be-published Energy Enhancement Guide, shedding light on her creative process and inspirations. These stories not only enthrall but also offer insights into managing energy.
Join us as we traverse the world of being authors with our guests. Each has their own unique journey, and it's a joy to explore the many facets of their work, from Sherry's forthcoming prayer journal and study guide for 'Mind Your Mouth', to Andrea Olatunji's focus on enhancing her social media presence, and Adria Gabrialla's efforts on her second book in the 'From Disbelief to Assurance' series. As we celebrate the success of our guests, whose episodes all have over a thousand views, we also reflect on the significance of connecting with our audience, the unexpected moments that podcasting brings, and the sheer joy of seeing our work resonate with our listeners.
✨🎙Subscribe to our channel to join our writer community for tips, tricks, author interviews, and more. We can't wait for you to join us as you embark on your writing adventure!✨🎙
🎙📖✒️ 👉 All episodes are available to view on YouTube and listen anywhere where podcasts are played every Wednesday!👈
➡️ Check out our website to learn more about us, our mission, podcast episodes, be a guest on the show, and follow us on social media. ⬇️ https://thewritersparachute.com
As always, we hope this podcast is a helpful landing on your unique, creative journey. 🪂
Welcome back everyone to the Writers Parachute. We're guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing. Today we are bringing you a very special celebration on the Writers Parachute. We're bringing you some of our best and top episodes from guest over season one that were highly rated on YouTube. So today we are going to speak with episode number 37 is Andrea Olatunja Olatunji. Sorry. We're also going to speak with from episode number 38, sherri Brown, and from episode number 36, andrea Gabriela. So we want to welcome them and celebrate with them.
Speaker 1:
So, of course, we would love for you to go back and take a look at these episodes. We will link them for you at the end of the show and in the show notes will, of course, have all the information for each of these authors and we're going to talk a little bit about their episode and their books and get some updates from them. Of course, we would love for you to go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Go ahead and hit the bell so you get a reminder every time there's a new episode. Don't forget to like and share and if you want to get a Wheeler reminder direct to your inbox, you can go ahead and go to sendfoxcom, slash the Writers Parachute and sign up for our email, and that will send you information on all of the new episodes week after week. Of course, you can always go follow us at Writers Parachute that's Writers Parachute without an S on Facebook, instagram, twitter or X TikTok, and now on Threads. So we're so excited, so let's talk a little bit with each of them.
Speaker 1:
So, as I said, andrea, andrea Olatunji is episode number 37. It's called Revealing the Story Within and we were talking about her book, omar El Jaguar. It was released back in September 28th 2022. So, welcome, andrea. How?
Speaker 2:
are you? Hi, hi everybody. Thank you, donna for having me. I'm so excited about this episode.
Speaker 1:
Well, we're very excited too. This is something new that we're trying here, and we'll see how we do. So you know, you never know. People get excited about celebrations.
Speaker 2:
I always am excited about celebrations and a very big congratulations to you on 70,000 downloads on your podcast. That's incredible, that's huge kudos to you, awesome.
Speaker 1:
Thank you. Yeah, that was a surprise this morning in my inbox, so I was so excited about that. We're also going to be speaking with Sherri Brown and her episode number 38, a Path to Success, and we were talking with her about her book Mind your Mouth. It was released on October 8th of 2022. How are you today, sherri?
Speaker 3:
I am very good and yes, thank you so very much, donna, for inviting me. I did not realize this was going to be an elite audience and that I was going to be included. I did not realize that all of our episodes if this was episode 36, 37 and 38, that would be called a trifecta. Did you hit a trifecta?
Speaker 1:
No, boom, boom I was a part of it. Well, you know and I honestly didn't even know that they hit an order like that until I was looking up the episode numbers last night to tag it she's like, wow, okay, something was in the water that month. That was exciting and, of course, we have with us Andrea Gabriela. She's episode number 36, looking for answers, and we talked to her about her book From Disbelief to Assurance, and her episode was released on September 22nd of 2022. How are you, adria?
Speaker 4:
I'm great it is Adria. We have too many Adrias and Andrea's in the room. Hi.
Speaker 1:
Lou.
Speaker 4:
But, yes, thank you so much for inviting me. I didn't like Sherri, I had no idea that it would be such an elite company and I'm just so proud of you and so grateful to you and appreciate you, Donna, for all that you do for writers and for people like me who never imagined they could really complete the project. So thank you so much for inviting me.
Speaker 1:
Well, you three ladies are soaring and I'm just so honored to be part of that journey. And you know, you guys make what I do easy because I just get to talk about some of my favorite things, which is writing and books. And you guys just show up week after week and talk to me and tell me everything which is exciting for me, not only because I get to learn about new authors in books, but I get to introduce them to a whole new world of readers and listeners who may never ever hear about those books or those authors. So I'm always excited when it does well and I'm always so grateful to you guys and I'm thrilled that you guys are doing so well and thank you, thank you, thank you for joining me and congratulations. So I'm going to start with you, andrea. I'm pointing at this straight in my head. So can you remind listeners a little bit about your book, el Jaguar?
Speaker 2:
Sure, well, I published my first book. I decided to become an author out of necessity, to find resources for my own students. I'm also a teacher, a Spanish teacher, and I was always trying to find resources for my students that were authentic and that they were inspiring and validating for them. And it was a little bit hard to find books that were, you know, original, authentic. I could find some translations when translations were not so good. So when the moment was right, I said okay, this is my moment to publish my own books. So I publish El Maré Jaguar this is the one that we talked about in our episode and then it's a series. The second book is called Guillo El Armadillo. So these books highlight Latin American fauna.
Speaker 2:
You can find lots of animals in there that are from our continent, the Americas, and I find storytelling a very effective avenue to help children, to help people in general, learn languages, because I mean, who doesn't like a story, right? So every time I mean I have taught all ages and every time I came with a story into my classroom, everybody was like immediately engage. And if I tell any person of any age, any background, oh, I have a story, immediately there's this link, this connection. So when learning languages, that lowers what is called the effective filter, so all your stress goes down and you don't even realize that you're speaking another language. So I use my stories to teach content, to help teachers deliver content and also to teach about culture. You can learn about these animals from the Americas. You can learn about the Amazon rainforest and also many of the problems that we're having in the environment and with this little animal. So yeah, it's been an amazing journey.
Speaker 1:
Well, we're so thrilled that you made the top episodes and you are joining us from.
Speaker 2:
The Dominican Republic.
Speaker 3:
I'm originally from.
Speaker 2:
Uruguay, but I live in the Dominican Republic right now with my family.
Speaker 1:
All right. Well, we're so thrilled to have you, and writing and books are truly international, and we're so glad that you're here. Of course, I wanna talk, thank you. Likewise, I wanna talk with Sherry, and we wanna talk to you and remind listeners about the book that we talked about in your episode. So can you go ahead and tell us about that?
Speaker 3:
Well, yes, and again, thank you, donna.
Speaker 3:
This would not have come to fruition without you, and I know I keep telling you that, but it's very true, and it is called Mind your Mouth, and I'll get it to where the glare is not on it, because if you do not like your life that you have today, it's based upon the words that you spoke yesterday.
Speaker 3:
And so Donna was able to help the e-book format come out in 2020 and then the paper book format came out in 2021. And it was just phenomenal realizing that you can hold something in your hand you know that you've held in your heart for so many years and you put it on a paper and then it got stuck in a file somewhere, that it's actually something you can hold in your hand and the inspiration behind it you can tell it's a very slim line. It is truly a quick, fast read, which I wrote it like that on purpose, but it is also biblical. Truths is the foundation of the book and how it all starts with that thing that's just a quarter of an inch below your nose. It truly is about the words that's coming out of your mouth.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. I love talking to you about this episode and I could go on and on and on about you know. It's not even just the words coming out of your mouth, it's the words going in your ears, it's the thoughts coming through your brain and, yeah, it's. You know. I love the part in your book where you talk about you know, if you want to change a lot, change the way you talk, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So, that's amazing. And of course, we don't want to forget Andrea Grafarella, and we talked to you about your book, so can you remind us about your episode and your book?
Speaker 4:
Yes, thank you, donna. Again, my book is from Disbelief to Assurance and it is a story of the transformation I experienced across time with my spiritual journey, developing myself, trying to find answers to why I was afraid of so many things, why I had so many medical issues, and coming out the other side learning that some of the roots of that trauma continued into my present. The energy of the traumas from the past, from the past lives, continued into my present. And by revisiting the past and releasing all those energies and traumas, I was healed in the present. So I'm sharing that journey to help other people realize there are ways to help yourself and to get free of some of these fears and things that hold us back.
Speaker 4:
And also, I felt so alone and so isolated. I felt so different, I'm so weird, I don't know what's wrong with me, why do I have these weird things going on? And it turns out we all feel a little bit isolated, a little bit weird, and I discovered that we're not alone. And how wonderful is that to feel the presence of spirit around you, to know that you're not alone, that you're not isolated, that you have help if you just ask for the help, and it ties in energetically a little bit with what Sherry is saying is that if we think it, we feel it, the energy of what we ask for is really powerful, and where there are beings listening to us, we do get prayers answered.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, well, and I did love talking to you about your book too. I mean, it was just like a very eye opening to me and I was so intrigued by some of the cliffhangers that you left, and now we're gonna talk in a little bit about some stuff coming up, but yeah, that was a little frustrating.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, well, see book two. Yes, yes, there's where we're gonna go. I couldn't fit it in one book.
Speaker 1:
All right, well, I'm gonna jump around here a little bit. So, sherry, I know because I work with you that you haven't answered to this. Do you have any new books coming out?
Speaker 3:
I do have an answer to that. We are currently working on a 90 day motivational moment prayer journal and, as I shared with Donna the other day, I'm on the clock. I'm on the clock because we are diligently working hand in hand to get it published to before the end of the year so that people can start the new year. It is a right. In journal form I share inspirational, encouraging, motivating stories. I do a motivational thought and then a motivational action for each day and then we provide open lines for you to share your thoughts, for you to do journaling. Again, there is so much power in writing down your thoughts, writing down what's in your heart, writing it down and to be able to go back and refer to that. In the Bible, david had a book of remembrance, and we all should, because sometimes our memory fades a little bit. But even the fadest of a pencil or the fadest of a pen last longer than our memory. So we are diligently working on a 90 day motivational moment prayer journal.
Speaker 1:
All right, well, and I'm very excited about it, and we're very, very close to having that done for you, so I'm gonna ask you to stay in DRAAD. Do you get any new books coming?
Speaker 2:
Yes, I don't have a date yet, but I'm working on the third book on my series. The first book, as I said, omar El-Jawar it's about celebrating diversity, appreciating our differences, and then the second in the series, the Armadillo. He discovers his unique talent. He discovers that he has a talent that makes him special and unique and is inspiring many of my students. And this third book is going to be an Anaconda. I always pick these animals that are not the most traditional children book animals, I know, but the Anaconda I thought it was a very fun animal to feature. So the Anaconda is swallowing lots of stuff and I like playing around with the pagination and the story, because every time I write a story I imagine reading it aloud to the kids, right, obviously. So there's a lot of guessing. The kids have to look at the Anaconda and guess what she swallows, what she ate and the message there. There's also a message that is about learning to eat healthily, eating good foods. So I'm very excited. I'm working hard on it.
Speaker 2:
I took some time off after I published my second book because I wanted to come back into the classroom. I came back to teaching kindergarten, which is my main audience, and I wanted to be with them, to have these conversations with them and get inspiration. Also, living here in the Dominican Republic, I'm surrounded by oh my goodness beautiful nature, so I get inspiration every single minute and I do my illustrations by hand. You know, in these times of artificial intelligence and digitized pictures, my illustrations are cutting paper and glueing and using pencil, so it takes a lot of work to do each illustration, but it's a lot of fun and definitely my flow and I'm very excited. Hopefully I'm guessing just to throw some time there. I guess in like fall 2024, it will be out.
Speaker 1:
Okay. Well, we'll look forward to that. We're very excited, and I'm going to ask you the same thing, adrienne, because I know you've got something in the works very close to being done.
Speaker 4:
Very close.
Speaker 4:
Yes, I'm working on the final edits of an energy management handbook, energy enhancement guide to help people with their personal energy, and in that it's we're being bombarded now with some things that are coming at us from all directions and from people and their emotions and their thoughts and their words and to the media, and even places have energy that can affect us, and so I've put together this energy enhancement guide based on my experiences as a Reiki master, as a regression therapist and also with I do energy clearing and I work a lot with energy.
Speaker 4:
So I've put together I used to teach energy classes about so people can learn how to manage the energy so they're not always feeling so bombarded or so drained because I'd have clients and customers come and just feel drained or overwhelmed and there are some simple, easy, non-denominational things that you can do to just help keep your energy high and to feel better, immediately better. So it really important information I want to get out there. Just a small handbook and trying to keep it really simple under a hundred pages that's my goal, but I keep thinking of more things to put in, so hopefully it's still. It'll be a quick, easy read, easy to access the information when you need it.
Speaker 1:
All right. Well, and I'm very excited about that because I, as well as many people, is like I'm a very moody person, and I don't necessarily mean a bad mood, but I do find that I catch moods from other people. Exactly, I know what you're talking about. They were catching those emotions and energy and stuff from other people and it's like I'm desperately waiting for that book because I need some management on my energy.
Speaker 4:
We just need to get you in anyway, so we'll just yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, yes, all right. So I'm going to start with you, adria. Do you have any new book or new events coming up that you want to share with audience?
Speaker 4:
New events Right now I'm working on my branding and marketing, so that's kind of behind the scenes. But the new events that I have a spiritual development meetup group called Bright Heart Transformation and I teach classes and we do workshops on helping people develop their intuition and learn to trust their voice and learn how to connect to higher wisdom. And one of the things that's new for me is I've developed a I guess you could call it a workshop. It's I don't know how to describe it yet but it's basically questions and answers with higher wisdom. So I act as a channel and people come with their questions and I relay the answers directly from the spirit. So it's a two-way conversation. It's not just here's reading, it's people have their questions and they get answers. It's really exciting and super fun. All right, Very powerful.
Speaker 1:
Sorry, awesome, no, not that Super fun too, but it's very powerful Again we'll go ahead and get that information from Adria and add that to the show notes for you, for anybody who's interested. So I'm going to ask you the same question in Drea Do you have any new events coming up that you would like to share with the audience?
Speaker 2:
I do, I do, I'm always doing events with teachers. I do webinars and workshops to help teachers incorporate storytelling in their curriculum not only Spanish teachers, but any teacher, I think. You know. Many times you know teachers are not aware of the power of storytelling and how it can enhance your teaching and inspire and validate students. So I do a lot of workshops with them, helping them using my books and other books, like helping them structure their curriculum in a way that you know can connect better with the students. Also, to help the teachers be more culturally responsive. Nowadays, I think you know, our studentship is changing. Last year I had a small group it was about 15 children and I have six different nationalities in my class, two kids who didn't speak any English or Spanish. So you know how do you respond to that. And again, opening a book sharing a story, pictures, you know it can be very, very effective in many, many dimensions. So, yeah, if people are interested, they can always check out my website. I'm always posting about new events.
Speaker 1:
All right, well, awesome. That's a very important part of teaching and reaching out as far as authors, especially with children's books, so of course we're going to add that information. So you can reach out to Andrea if you're interested in any of that information about teaching and using books and culture and diversity in your classroom, and so of course, we want to include that. So, sherry, do you have any new events coming up that you want to share?
Speaker 3:
I do. As a matter of fact, I have an event on Saturday. Our church is doing a community event and I was able to get an opportunity to be there to display my books, and so I'm going to have the book displayed. And then I'm also going to take the pre-cover and say coming soon for the 90-day prayer journal and give them just a bump or a boost to say, hey, it's time to maybe consider doing a pre-order or something of that nature.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, we'll definitely have that for you, and, of course, christmas is coming, so now would be a perfect time to order each of these beautiful ladies book, and we'll have all the links for that in the show notes for you, so I do encourage that. Yeah, I'm going to start with you and Drea. Tell us about any updates on your overall journey since the last time we met and talked on my overall journey.
Speaker 2:
Well, it's been interesting because, as I said, I took a year to come back into the classroom to teach. Now I'm back, full-time author and about a year and a half ago we moved out of the United States to this island and it's very different. It gives you a very different perspective and also I had to rework the way I work. So I feel very blessed that I can sit at home and write and illustrate but at the same time, in terms of marketing and how to reach out to schools, to teachers, it has been a lot of a reworking, I can say, which I like. I like the challenge. It makes me creative. You start looking for different avenues, different ways to connect and to help. So basically, I can say that that's my update in my journey right now.
Speaker 1:
All right. Well, we're very excited for you. How about you, sherry? What's the update on your journey?
Speaker 3:
So focusing diligently on the 90-day motivational moment prayer journal to get that released and published and get that out there Coming quick on the heels. Behind that is a study guide that I am working on for the Mind your Mouth book. I have had many, many people ask isn't there a study guide? I need a study guide. I want to do this with my community group and my church. I want to do this with my ladies' Bible study group. So quick on the heels is going to be that one. So, donna, that means our friendship is going to continue, because I cannot do this without you.
Speaker 1:
Well, I would hope that it would continue anyway, but I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:
Yes, I think we've shed tears and joys and mountains and valleys together. So you are indispensable and I'm keeping you forever.
Speaker 1:
Oh well, thank you, and I just have to tell you that Sherry and I met in the most serendipitous way. We did not know each other. We come from different sides of the United States she's in Ohio, I'm in California and we just met on Facebook, yes, and we clicked and it has just kind of been this just unusual story since then and it's like we didn't know we needed each other, but somehow we found each other. So it was great. Yes, so I appreciate that friendship and we'll keep moving forward. So how about you, andrea? How about you? Do you have any updates on your journey for us?
Speaker 4:
Well, I feel like as an author, the journey is continually evolving and I feel I'm more comfortable saying I'm an author because it's kind of soaked in.
Speaker 4:
I do have my second book in the series of the From Disbelief to Assurance series, so that's coming up because I did leave it on a pretty big cliffhanger. So I've been working on that. But, like the others were saying, sometimes you need a little break to get back into the swing. So I've taken a break from that and been really focusing on getting this ebook the Energy Enhancement Guide out, because it's so important and will help so many people immediately. I've written it, so even if you just read the first few pages, you will benefit, and I'm looking forward to getting that completed Very soon. I'd like to get it done before the end of the year, but I feel like I put myself in a pressure cooker last time, so I'm not going to do that. But my goal is to get it out as soon as possible and do the audiobooks for both these books, both this one and the ebook, because I have several people saying when do we get the audiobook?
Speaker 1:
So, yes, yes, yes, yes it's coming.
Speaker 3:
It's coming.
Speaker 1:
I'm doing the best.
Speaker 4:
I can so.
Speaker 1:
Well, you know, and what I love about you guys are you perfectly illustrating something that I talk about all the time. It's like writing and being an author and getting books out into the world is a marathon, it is not a sprint, and there are so many other things that you have to do before and after a book comes out. They kind of just keeps going. It's like you know you're always going to be marketing. I mean, at this point I have four books out. I've got two books that are mostly done, but I've got to find time to finish them and market them, and you know. But I've been able to help over 250 authors in the last three years get their books out, which is just astounding to me, and you know. So I have to give myself grace, just like everybody else does. It's like I only have so many hours in a day, there's only so much I can do, and just keep plugging forward. So, jerry, what is next for you?
Speaker 3:
What is next for me? Next for me is to beef up my social media to stay on top of my marketing, because what you say, donna, it is just a continuum. It is absolutely a continuum, and you have taught me to learn something new every day and every single time I have a conversation with you, and every single time you challenge me to go to a whole new level, which that's very refreshing for me, because I'm like that to so many people in my life and you know you just keep. Come on, sherry, now do this. Oh, sherry, you need the social media platform. Oh, sherry, now, sherry, your screen with me. We're doing this now.
Speaker 1:
Well, you know that, that that teacher attitude kind of never goes away.
Speaker 3:
And I'm very appreciative for that.
Speaker 1:
Thank you I so. I'm glad that that's working for you.
Speaker 3:
I tell my husband you know, donna, I tell my husband all the time. I said every single time, every single time I get off the phone with Donna. She has challenged me, she has stretched me and this is not a bad thing.
Speaker 1:
No, it's not, and you know, and that's. You know, that's my second job title, cheerleader.
Speaker 3:
It's like come on, I want to other people too. So yes, it is.
Speaker 1:
I might have a bad hit, but I can still do a her key, Andrea. What is next for you?
Speaker 4:
For me. I am just going to keep moving forward. There's so many books, not only that I have drafted, but in my head I still haven't got on paper yet. So that's going to be an ongoing process. But but more before that happens, the marketing dragon I'm going to. I'm going to jump on that marketing dragon and try to figure that out, and it's been very overwhelming and kind of fear provoking for me. But I moving forward, I'm going to get all the cool classes taken and I'm going to sign up for more. So it's just going to have a whole file folder full of tips from Donna. So they're through the folder and the other part is just just continuing to work on balancing my time more, because it's easy to get lost in the shuffle of trying to get all this stuff done. So those are, those are what I'm what I'm working on now.
Speaker 1:
And I'm just going to add in another tip for you Don't forget to celebrate those, like we're doing here today, because they don't come around but once, and if you don't celebrate that, that that moment is gone, and then you don't have those high points to look back on when you're in a low point and you need something to pick you up and keep you moving forward. So, yes, no matter what you're doing, go ahead and celebrate every single win. Even if it means nothing to anybody else, it meant something to you, so I'm excited. So what about you, andrea? What is next for you?
Speaker 2:
Well, I'm a perpetual learner, I love learning new things and since I became an author, I realized that publishing a book is not just publishing a book. So I agree with my fellow authors here. Like, marketing is huge, and I knew nothing about marketing when I bought from a book, so I've been in an ongoing process of learning. I wonder myself why is this not a mandatory subject in school, right?
Speaker 4:
Everybody should graduate with a marketing degree.
Speaker 2:
They are like do it, it's going to be useful for whatever you do with your life. So, anyway, I want to continue learning about different avenues to market my products, to be able to reach out more and more teachers. I'm a teacher myself again. I've been there, I've been in the classroom and I know that teaching is getting more and more stressful by the minute and teachers don't have time and they're overwhelmed by a million things. So I find it my mission to really reach out to them and show them hey, no way, there's fun in this, there's still some good things in what you're doing, and when you see your kids inspire by what you do, it's just super validating. So every time I do a school visit or I work with teachers or I'm in front of a kids audience, I mean I get totally pumped up and getting feedback for me is super, super important. So I hear everybody, kids and adults and when they tell me, hey, why don't you? I take notes. So yeah, I'm working on all of that and yeah, I'm just trying to reach out, to reach out to more and more people.
Speaker 2:
And I was listening to you all talking and I think we all share something in common and I can say I can dare to say I speak for all of us that one of my best treasures since I became an author has been the community connecting with other authors, mentors, people who go like, hey, come on, cheer you up, you know when you feel like, oh no, what am I doing here? This is so good. So having this community of people who understand what you're doing, who cheer you up, who you can bounce ideas, for me has been like priceless, absolutely priceless. So anybody out there who wants to publish a book, I would say please connect, connect with with community of authors. That's been fascinating.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. And you know, like I said, you know there, there, you know. There's so many tips and tricks I could talk about marketing. The bottom line is we do know how to market. We do know how to market is just we don't see those those easy connections. And you are the toughest customer you will ever meet. So if you can satisfy yourself, then everybody else will just fall in line.
Speaker 2:
And I think also, you know, like, as authors, most of us are pretty introverted. I mean, we work by ourselves, we like being in silence with our craft, and then you have to go out and put your face in social media and I can empathize with Andrea the first time I went to the library and the lady turn around and play she's an author, oh my goodness. So yeah, just just believe it and push yourself out of the box, you know, and put yourself out there and and try to, you know, communicate and connect and tell people what you're doing. It can be a challenge, it can be a challenge for a lot of us. So again, connecting with, with fellow authors, I think it's, it's always good because you know they can give you tips and help. You have different strengths so we can help each other. So, yeah, it's wonderful.
Speaker 1:
Well, you know, and I and I work with a lot of authors who are introverted and this is like a big hurdle for them, and so what I say is really I mean, you're the author and we should celebrate you because a lot of time and energy that you put into this, but you're not the product the book is. So draw attention to the book. If you're feeling a little little overwhelmed, go back my book here. Look at the book, isn't it pretty, isn't it shiny? So so try that. So try that next time you're feeling a little overwhelmed. I am going to dive in here with my last a few questions for you, ladies, and I'm going to send you on your way and I hope that you go and celebrate this amazing achievement. So I am going to start with you, sherry. I want you to tell us what was your best or most surprising or most memorable moment from when we did your episode.
Speaker 3:
I would say this I did not know, when you asked me earlier in the week if I would be able to jump on and help you out with this, I did not know that my episode was one of the episodes of season one that was in your top five podcasts. I was like, oh, I mean, I did not know that. So that would be one of the most, oh, my goodness. And then the second one I would have to say is actually the day Then, if you recall, and I'll share with our audience, the day that the book actually hit Amazon, it actually released.
Speaker 3:
I was in Florida, my husband and I we were renewing our wedding vows, 25 years of being married, in Panama City Beach, and I was on a Zoom call with Donna and I'm just sobbing and I'm trying not to cry and my husband comes in on the Zoom and it was really like the first time Donna and my husband finally had a chance to connect with each other.
Speaker 3:
All my family and friends were in this house we rented and Donna's like Sherry, you need just celebrate this. And my husband, you know, and Donna, donna's having a full blown conversation with my husband and I'm just like, oh, you know, and just chillin', and you know that's. The other thing I would say is and, as I stated earlier, you have these manuscripts in your mind and you have them tucked away in your notes. And I don't even if I shared this with you, donna, but I had a whole nother book manuscript in my notes and I lost my notes on my phone. I don't know if I even shared that with you, but it was a whole nother book I was working on and my husband said look, you did it before. You can do it again and you're gonna be great at it. So I would say those two main things here right now and the actual day it launched and it hit the airwaves.
Speaker 1:
Well, see, I really thought that you were going to bring up and this was kind of one of those embarrassing moments for a podcaster. We did her entire podcast and I forgot to record. It wasn't recorded, yeah.
Speaker 4:
Oh no.
Speaker 1:
It's just we can't do all of it all over again. It was a little surreal and I was like, and I'm just sitting there going Sherry, it didn't record. And she's like, what do you mean? It didn't record. And I'm like, yeah, I forgot to hit the record button.
Speaker 3:
But see, obviously, look, you had this trifecta. You know episode 36, 37, and 38. I mean, obviously there was something.
Speaker 1:
Obviously there was something, so maybe try to was better. Obviously. Maybe, yeah, but I thought that was what you were going to say, which was your most memorable moment, because I was just like, yeah, of all the people that it could have happened with, I was sort of glad it was you.
Speaker 3:
And you kept saying that. You're like oh my gosh, thank you for understanding. Oh my gosh, Sherry, thank you so much. I'm like Donna, it's okay, Just do, we got to do it again. Yeah, we got to do it again, All of it all of it, all the whole thing all over again.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it was quite fun, but you know so, sometimes you just have to have your friends there for those moments. So, Andrea, so what was your best or most surprising or most memorable moment from your episode?
Speaker 2:
I don't know if I can put a finger in some surprising moment, but in general it was fun, lively, You're very easygoing. So I felt like you know who were just having a chat, Like I felt like I knew you from before. You know Like it was very easygoing conversation. So very nice, very enjoyable. And I agree with Sherry also, knowing that you know I was on the top episodes, I was like wow, okay, I'm so happy to come back, I can chat with you, Nice lady. So, yeah, it was yeah very nice.
Speaker 1:
Well, and I was so excited to see that you were on that list. It's like you know, as a podcaster, I never know what is going to hit with people. I never know what they're going to connect with, what's going to seem important to them. You know, there's so many analytics and factors into. Did I get the title right? Did I get the length right? Did I do all the editing right? Did I get the show notes good, you know, is the subject matter brought across and all that I mean. There's just so many factors.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, really it was a big surprise. And yeah, I'm humbled and it's very validating. I mean, nowadays, with all the stuff you can find out there on the social media and the internet, you know to know that people like what you were talking about. That found it useful. Found it helpful. It's very humbling, so I'm very grateful for that.
Speaker 1:
Well, and you guys did amazingly well. You're all over a thousand views. So that's very exciting, so that's very impressive. And, like I said, I feel like sometimes I'm just doing this day after day, week after week, and I'm just throwing the spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Definitely you three ladies stuck really hard. I appreciate that. There you go. Very exciting, that's it. That's it.
Speaker 3:
I'm doing my happy dance.
Speaker 4:
I'll do it there we go.
Speaker 1:
I wish I had you know. It's like it's like it's a little early for New Year's. It's like we need those like whistles and stuff.
Speaker 2:
Those are poppers, absolutely yeah, we need it, we need to celebrate.
Speaker 1:
All right. So what about you, Andrea? What was your best, most surprising, most memorable moment from when we did your episode?
Speaker 4:
Well, we had to re-record the first part but I don't think that was the most just the beginning, so we were just warming up for when Sherry came on.
Speaker 4:
But I think the most surprising thing for me was just that I was actually on the podcast with you, because I've always been so shy and not speaking and speaking up has been hard for me. And to be on the podcast with you and have completed my book oh my gosh, after so many years of working on it, it was just surreal. And then I didn't really fall completely flat on my face and stumble with my words and stutter because it was so nerve-wracking. I was really a lot more nervous less nervous today, but I was just trying to just stand up and speak up for myself, which is one of the lessons I've been trying to learn. So I'm just so grateful to have been on it. I'm shocked that a thousand, a thousand down those that's amazing. So feeling a little tongue tight, but it was such an amazing experience for me. I really appreciate you, dawn, and giving all of us authors the opportunity to share our voice with a broader public and hopefully help those that we were trying to get to reach.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Well, you know and it's funny that you mentioned that you were that nervous and I do remember now that we had to go, but it was more my mistake than it was yours. It's like I was like I had about five or 10 minutes in and it's like, man, I pushed my tongue into knots and I'm like, OK, we got to sleep, we just started out, it was just like yeah, I'm going to get so mad.
Speaker 1:
But you know, days like that happen. But you know, I find that people are just themselves and the more they are themselves, the better they connect. And you know, I went back and watched all of you guys' episodes and I don't recall thinking that you were nervous for one moment. You were just very passionate about your book and your story and that's you know what I love about my job. It is literally me sitting down with an author, an amazing author and talking about books and writing. I mean it doesn't get any better for me than that.
Speaker 4:
Well, I mean throwing some coffee, and I'm. It must have coffee.
Speaker 1:
Yes must have coffee included. Well, I have one more question for each of you, ladies, and you sort of shared this, but I want to try and get you to encapsulate it into one word. So, andrea, what was your reaction when you received the word that you were a top episode for season one?
Speaker 2:
Super grateful, right, how about you?
Speaker 1:
Sherry Humboldt. How about you, Andrea?
Speaker 4:
She said delightful right.
Speaker 1:
That was my word. You can use it again, let me say fantastical, All right.
Speaker 1:
Well, I am so thankful to you ladies, I am so excited to have you here. I'm so glad for getting back together with you so we can update you on your journey. We do hope that you come back here to the Writers Parachute and you know, for choosing to be part of the Writers Parachute and the DC Storology family, and I can't thank you enough. Congratulations. Hopefully we'll see you back again when we come back and celebrate our all time highest episodes. I hope you keep trudging along. For those of you who are listening or watching, we want you to go ahead and check out the episodes for each of these ladies that we're tagging at the end here of the episodes. Go check them out, go check out their books, go check out their websites. I think you will be genuinely pleased with the variety and the quality of their work and their books. So until next time, I hope that you guys enjoy us here at the Writers Parachute and you come back again. Bye everyone.