Season 2, Top Guests, Part 2

What does it take to create captivating children's books or pen a riveting memoir? Find out as we reconnect with three of our top guests from season two - Lori Krein, Loori Poland, and Michael Stewart. Enjoy an intimate chat where they share updates on their books, upcoming endeavors, and insightful reflections from their writing journey. Lori Krein brings us further into her colorful world of children's books, Lori Poland reveals her powerful memoir's far-reaching wisdom, and Michael Stewart keeps us on the edge of our seats with his thrilling tales.

Delve deeper into what each author is currently working on and their involvement in various advocacy efforts. We shine a light on critical issues such as child abuse and neglect, discussing the role storytelling can play in promoting important causes. As the conversation unfolds, learn about the intricacies of the writing process, from the vulnerability of sharing personal stories to the joy of connecting with other authors in the writing community.

We're also taking a look behind the scenes of publishing children's books. Discover the importance of creating engaging lesson plans and activity sheets, and how a coloring book can serve as a unique promotional tool. Our guests share their strategies for juggling writing and marketing, and the significance of always having another book in the pipeline.

Check out their original episodes here:
 Ep. 8 —  A Thriller Education with Michael Stewart. https://youtu.be/MuCXrakw8OY

Ep. 4 — Beyond the Pain with Lori Poland. https://youtu.be/oMzsbSnlzZU

Ep. 3 — Writing Your Way Through with Lori Krein https://youtu.be/GQ7_UDwGiq4

Find books here:
The Hills by Shaken by Michael Stewart  https://amzn.to/3U8E2gZ
I Live Here by Lori Poland  https://amzn.to/47GREDq
Books by Lori Krein
Learn Chess  https://amzn.to/3SrosvN
Clean Bee  https://amzn.to/49357X2
Reason to Believe   https://amzn.to/48HMDeZ

Connect with these authors here:
Lori Krein —http://www.lorikrein.com
Lori Poland—https://endcan.org
Michael Stewart—https://michaelstewart.fun

👉 Be sure to follow the Writer’s Parachute on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @WriterParachute
https://linktr.ee/writerparachute

✨🎙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. 🪂

✨✨✨Want automatic weekly updates to your inbox?
Sign up here: https://sendfox.com/thewritersparachtue

Don't forget to check out Buy Me A Coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/writerparachute
Support the Writer's Parachute and become part of the TEAM!!!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome back everyone to the Writers Parish. We're guiding author and writer dreams to perfect landing. We want to welcome you. Today. We're a special bonus episode.

Speaker 1: 0:12

We are bringing back three of our top episode guests from season two on all the podcast platforms. We have with us Laurie Krine. Her episode is number three for season two, released on May 16th 2023, called Writing your Way Through. We're going to talk to her about the books we talked about then Learn Chess, reason to Believe and Clean Bee. Also joining us is Laurie Pullen. She is episode number four on season two, released on May 23rd 2023. The episode is called Beyond the Pain in her book I Live here. Also with us is Michael Stewart. He is episode number eight. A thriller education is the name of his episode, released on June 20th 2023. We're going to talk to him about his book, the Hills Be Shaking. They are the top episodes for season two.

Speaker 1: 1:13

We hope that you'll take a moment to go back and check those out. We will have links to those specific episodes in the show notes for you. Of course, we'd always love for you to go ahead and hit that like button, hit the subscribe button. Don't forget to share with your favorite fans and followers so that they get the benefit of joining us here on the Writer's Parachute. You can also follow us on social media. We are on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, twitter or X, and now on threads at Writer Parachute. That's Writer Parachute, without an S, of course. If you would like to get the episode alert every week in your inbox, you can go to sendfoxcom, slash the Writer's Parachute and sign up for our weekly newsletter. That will give you updates on all that is happening with the Writer's Parachute. Let's go ahead and welcome our returning guest from season two. Welcome back, lori Krine. How are you?

Speaker 2: 2:14

Hi Donna, I'm doing great. It's been a very busy year. I moved across the country and now I live in New Jersey. That's been fun. Finding a community of writers here down at the Jersey Shore, that's been really exciting for me.

Speaker 1: 2:35

All right, awesome. Could you remind your listeners a little bit about your books and what you talked about on the podcast?

Speaker 2: 2:43

Yeah, today I remind people that I'm going to focus on the three children's books that I've written. One is called Clean Bee. It's about a bee who doesn't want to take a shower. He then starts to stink and his friends don't want to play with him anymore. He decides it's time to take a shower. The second one is called Good Night Bee. This bee doesn't want to go to bed. He pretends to go to sleep and then has an interesting little journey in his bedroom. Then he gets a little scared. He comes back to his bed. In his mind it's all fantasy. The third one is called Learn Chess. It's all. Three of these are between the ages of three and eight. They're little poems and they teach kids a little bit. Listen to lessons about life.

Speaker 1: 3:27

All right, awesome. We're glad you're here and congratulations, lori Pullen. How are you?

Speaker 4: 3:35

I'm really good. Thank you for asking. Thanks for having me back on. Oh, you're welcome Well.

Speaker 1: 3:41

I think the listeners voted you on Well right, well, thank you listeners. I was talking to them actually, I see, can you remind our listeners about your books in Talk About on the Podcast?

Speaker 4: 3:57

Yeah, so my book is called I Live here.

Speaker 4: 4:00

It's a memoir, it's a story about my experience in life of being abducted as a three-year-old little girl and then discarded in the pit of an outhouse toilet and left for dead, only to be found four days later by birdwatchers. And then kind of the journey of healing and the ongoing experience of what happens after trauma not just myself, but two people around me in general in life as well. And we also spent quite a bit of time talking about the nonprofit that I'm the CEO of, which is the National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Inquirect, so it's a really great time talking with you.

Speaker 1: 4:45

Well, thank you, we're so glad you're here and congratulations to you as well, michael, how are you?

Speaker 3: 4:52

Doing. Great. Thanks, donna. Great to be back on here again and also, just you know, honored to be, you know, on the same stage with the other two other two writers that are here as well. So it's really cool to be a part of this episode. So I'll talk about my book here.

Speaker 3: 5:15

So this is the Hills Be Shaken. Here's the cover for, I guess, for the YouTubers, and it's a thriller. It's about a thriller mystery. It's about a dam that collapses in a small town and floods the town and causes tragedy, and they need to figure out what happened. Was it an earthquake? Was it a terrorist attack, possibly? So the FBI has to pull in some engineers to help investigate. And so it's about an engineer that gets trained to become an FBI agent and investigate the mystery. And so it I kind of like to think of it as John Grisham meets McGyver. It's kind of an engineering version of it's an engineering thriller because it has a lot of I'm an engineer, so I've got a lot of engineering in it as well as a kind of a conventional thriller mystery. So that's my book.

Speaker 1: 6:19

All right, well, congratulations. We're glad you're all here today, so I'm going to start with you, michael. You have any new books coming out or that are currently out since we last talked?

Speaker 3: 6:33

Not since we last talked. I do have a. The novel I wrote before this, one before the Hillsby Shaken is out that's called the Arch Emulator and the Seven Keys and it's a totally different. It's still a thriller, but it's a different kind of a totally different. It's more of an adventure thriller and it's about a secret organization that's searching for an artifact that'll grant them great power, and sort of an Indiana Jones goonie style adventure. So anyway, that's out. That was my first novel and but I've just been spending time promoting the Hillsby Shaken and also working on the follow up to it because it's been so successful. I want to continue the series and so I told you last time I would I'd be targeting 2024 for the release of the next book and the second book in the series, and I'm still working towards that.

Speaker 1: 7:28

So All right. Well, we'll look forward to that and we'll talk to you about that a little bit more coming up. What about you, lori Pullen? Do you have any new books out, any new books you're working on?

Speaker 4: 7:39

Nothing published yet I do have two books in the works. One is called Instructions Manual, the 101 on how to Parent, and then the other one is called Divorcing Right and just helping people to understand the impacts of both of those things. Parenting is the hardest job that I think any parent can attest to, and doing it right or doing it humbly, I think, is key. And then divorce is very similar in the same fashion. You know, it's just humans learning how to navigate a pretty significant and common thing in life, and it's both books. The divorce book has a lot more narrative of stories from other folks and their experiences, and then the instructions manual is more of like a how to and what happens when style. So both are really fun to be working on and I'm excited for them to come out. I want to say 2024, but I wish I had the same deadline goal, michael, but I certainly know myself and all the other things that I have on my plate, so I probably end up 24, maybe 2025, which I'm really excited about both of them, though.

Speaker 1: 8:58

All right. Well, we look forward to those. Sounds like a practical guide to parenting and navigating all of these big life events that we and I think. What's difficult about them is they're almost unexpected. It's like there is no preparation for either event.

Speaker 4: 9:19

Well, and I tell parents all the time you're going to do it wrong, like plan on failure, and the great thing about that is is that we are the safe people to catch all of the wrongdoings that our children need for somebody to catch. So and so we are the attributor to the amazingness that our kids can be. So you know, like there's just so many opportunities and, I think, the humility piece, a lot of parents feel shame around their errors and the way that they parents and the things that they either did or didn't do, and a lot of I see a lot of times in my clinical practice kids get very angry at their parents, and so you know how do we bridge those two things? To normalize it and humanize it. That's my goal.

Speaker 1: 10:12

All right, sounds like a plan. We look forward to that. What about you, Lori Crain? What do you got in the works? What have you got new out for us?

Speaker 2: 10:21

So this year I published the Good Night Bee, so that's been out for a few months and now we're almost finished, my illustrator and I. And when I say we, we're almost finished with the third book in the Bee series and it's called Green Bee and, just like the other ones, I have a little moral to the story. This is, this is also has a moral to the story. And this bee doesn't want to eat his vegetables, so he feeds the vegetables to the ants that are on the floor crawling around, and so then the ants have all this energy and strength and doing all these fun things, and the bee is very tired all the time and you can't do all the things that he wants to do and can't play with his friends. So he, you know, figures out that it's probably because of the vegetables, and so he starts eating them and then he has energy again. So I'm very excited to get that. It's going to be out. We're shooting for February 1.

Speaker 2: 11:17

And if anybody wants to get on the email list for when it comes out, they can just go to my website, loricrinecom, which I know you're going to put in the show notes later, but there's a form there they just have to fill out and then, once the book comes out, they'll get an email so that they can go ahead and order it. And I have a preview of I know it's hard to see on this little phone. Okay, a little more. There you go. Awesome, but this is the bee sitting at the table eating his vegetables, with the ants on the floor waiting in anticipation for him to drop them for him. So it's been, it's been really fun to work on work on this. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:57

All right, awesome. Well, hopefully we'll have a pre-order link for you guys in the show notes to go along with the information. So we're very excited for that. So are you planning on extending it beyond green bee?

Speaker 2: 12:11

Oh yes, oh yes, we're going to keep on going. Once that's finished, we're going to go on to the next one. We haven't quite come up with the title yet, but we have some ideas and the works.

Speaker 1: 12:22

All right, awesome, all right. Well, I have another question for you along the same lines. Do you have any events coming up that you'd like to share with our listeners?

Speaker 2: 12:31

Yeah, sure, it's really a local event at this point. So if anybody's on the East Coast and wants to head down to the Jersey Shore in April, on April 13th in Belmar, new Jersey, at the Belmar Pavilion, there's going to be a writer's like a book fair and it'll be. I don't know how many. I think 30 authors will be there and it's from 10 to three and they get. If anybody comes, it's going to be right on the boardwalk, so it's right across, it's right on the beach, basically, and it's a really great little town and there's a lot of other things to do here, so it's going to be a really great event. This is going to be the second writers like local writers book fair event that are taking place, so I'm really excited about that All right?

Speaker 1: 13:18

Awesome, I'll make sure we get all the information from you and we'll include that in the show notes. Don't run off and grab pen and paper. We'll have it all here for you, you don't need to worry about that. So how about you, michael? Any events coming up?

Speaker 3: 13:35

No, I don't. I don't have any upcoming events planned in the near future, just with busy holidays and everything kind of taking a little bit of a break from that sort of thing. So for the, for the winter, so probably be getting back into it in the spring, but it's got a lot of other stuff going on.

Speaker 1: 13:55

All right, awesome. Well, of course, we always encourage our listeners. If you would like to reach out to any of these authors to ask them for school visits or events or to be included in book fairs and book festivals, we will have the information in the show notes for you that you can reach out and contact them and get them to your event. What about you, lori? Pull in any events you have coming up.

Speaker 4: 14:19

I would. I would just love to plug an event for end can, which is the National Foundation, and child abuse and neglect. We at end can, we are all about promoting the voices of the voiceless. And so I'm April 11, from six to nine at industry, which is an adult, what I call play place. It's like it's like the play center of Donald's, but for adults and 21 above. So a really, really fun venue in Highlands Ranch in Colorado, and the evening is called release your inner child, and everybody's encouraged to dress up as their favorite childhood toy and I should just be a really good time of bowling and arcades and darts and all sorts of all of the other things that were made us happy as children. And really all of our events are just about bringing people together and we have three authors on our board, all of whom are survivors, and we just really promote similar to you, just that advocacy of educating and informing and sharing our voices with the world through writing and publications. So it's great.

Speaker 1: 15:31

Right, so now this event on April 11, that is, a fundraising event for in can. Is that correct?

Speaker 4: 15:37

Yeah, yeah, it should be a good time.

Speaker 1: 15:39

All right. Well, we will go ahead and include that information in the show notes for you, along with a link in case you are not in the Colorado area, where you can still participate and donate to the in can organization. So very excited about that. That's pretty thrilling. So, lori Poland, why don't you go ahead and update us on what's been happening with you your entire journey since last we talked?

Speaker 4: 16:07

Oh heavens, almighty. You know I feel like the older I get, the busier things become and the more complicated life is. But honestly, my, you know, I think we took. We did talk about this time. You know it's an answer.

Speaker 4: 16:24

I want to use a later question, but sharing my book was challenging. It was. My life has always been on a public platform because my kidnapping was so publicized Publicized, yeah, I know, that was the word, thank you and so I never really had like a choice in the matter and and then to actually choose to do it through my work, but then especially in publishing a memoir that I genuinely thought would take me six months to do, that did not happen. But it was this personal journey to write it and then this whole experience to publish it, and then this whole other experience after publication and the reaction and response and the you know the awareness of from my friends and community and people that just didn't quite understand or know a whole, all the details or even the aftermath. And so it's been.

Speaker 4: 17:30

It's been enlightening. It's been enlightening to be that vulnerable publicly I am. I've I've tried very hard to educate myself and become a respected professional. So then to put all of my dirty laundry in a book, in a memoir, per se. Right, it doesn't have all of it, but it certainly feels a little is really raw and vulnerable. So I've done a lot of processing and and also a lot of connecting with other writers in that same vein. I didn't think and realize how much I was not alone in that experience until our interviews. So that was great.

Speaker 1: 18:13

Well, and you know and and this is one of the things that people don't think about when they're writing books, where they're this vulnerable. As hard as it is to write it and get those words on the page, it's even that much harder to go on a podcast or television station or radio station and talk about these very personal and poignant events in your life. So kudos and you're getting that positive feedback because Lord knows it could not be that way, so that's always good in. You know, even in our darkest moments were always a shining light for somebody else.

Speaker 4: 18:56

Yeah, absolutely yeah, I appreciate that comment, thank you.

Speaker 1: 19:01

You're very welcome. So what about you, michael, once you give us an update on everything that's happening to you since last time we talked? What's going on with you and your writing journey and your life and the world around?

Speaker 3: 19:15

Yeah, I've had some exciting things going on the I reached last month I reached 1000 copies sold on my book, so I was really proud of that. And then also I a few weeks ago I hit 100,000 pages read on Kindle unlimited. So I'll just go ahead and plug that while I'm talking about it. But if anyone has Kindle unlimited, please, you know, jump in there and give it, give the book a try, please. But yeah, those were some milestones.

Speaker 3: 19:51

I was really happy that you know, you hear a lot that I can't remember the statistic, but I think I think 300 to 1000 books sold is kind of an average for you know, for a book. So to hit 1000, you know, I'm pretty, pretty excited about that. I did earlier this fall I did a book signing at a library that I knew was going to be a larger event. And you know, a larger event there was about probably 50 or 60 people there and so I wanted to do something a little special for it. So I designed a bookmark and you know, it kind of matches the book a little bit, but I've got a QR code on here, and you know, to buy it and to leave a review, so that way when they're done reading it they'll go back and leave a review. But I so I had to teach myself how to do a bookmark tassel, which I looked at a bunch of different methods and kind of came up with my own method and so if anyone wants to do a bookmark tassel.

Speaker 3: 21:00

I did do a tick tock describing how to do that. So because you know, I made the bookmark also myself. But so I and I've kind of just started dabbling in tick tock I. Last time I was on I I didn't mention my tick tock channel because I'm just kind of getting into it, but it is. It's Michael Stewart, 880. If you want to learn how to make a bookmark tassel the easy way, you can jump on and see that. And I'm always posting things, little things like that about writing and then other stuff on, just on life. So but yeah, that's some of the things I've had going on.

Speaker 1: 21:43

Well, I'm very excited and I'm mostly pleased that you remembered to ask for those reviews. We spent the entire season to talking about reviews and how important they are and it's like, and so when I see somebody being proactive that way, I'm just like me and my heart's doing like curve is like a doer, her key, but I'm a little old and I don't want to kill my head, so that's great. What about you, lori? Can you give?

Speaker 2: 22:14

us an update on everything that's been happening to you since we last saw, as I mentioned the introduction, moving to New Jersey and finding community here. There's a woman who has been her dream has been to create these, these book fair events for local authors. So I participated in the first one. That was held just a couple of weeks ago and on a nonprofit building in town and we had I think it was like 25 authors there. That was such a great experience.

Speaker 2: 22:43

It's really one of the first times I've been selling my books in person right, everything's been online and so I got to talk to people and share the story about the books and background and people want to be to sign the books and write you know who the who it's, who it's for and just having that engagement with, like, the audience and other authors and sharing my experiences and their experiences about what they've been doing and how they, how they market their books and and create you know buzz about that, so it was just all the way around so much fun to engage with this community and and finding out. You know that the woman who organized that, like she, has this big dream about doing these book fairs ongoing, like doing two or three of them a year and I just feel so blessed to have been part of the first one and ongoing, so so that was really great and I sold I don't know, somewhere between 10 and 15.

Speaker 2: 23:38

I sold about 15 books in that in that night and that's pretty good, based on the fact that there was 25 other authors. There was about eight of us that were children's book authors and then there was about the rest of it was other other kinds of books. So and we got to tell, read, read a couple of our books and a little story time, all the authors. So we got to read to the kids that were there and and you know that was so much fun to actually see their reactions. So, and then I did another event like a sort of a little holiday holiday fair and there was craft items and stuff and food that people were selling. I was the only person selling books and again I did pretty well. I sold. I sold again around 15 of my books there. So it's just been. It's been such a whirlwind of you know is the first time I get and getting it out there in public, I guess in person, and and I'm just looking forward to doing more of that. So it's been, it's really exciting for me.

Speaker 1: 24:35

Yeah, I absolutely love doing events. Now, I do prefer the smaller events to the larger events because sometimes it feels like you go to these big book festivals and it's like, you know, everybody's like a kid in this book candy store and you know it's thinking only by so many books, not only because of the expense but the, you know the ability to transport, you know books which do weigh a bit, you know, and so you know you have to think of really inventive ways to get their attention, yes, and also inventive ways to let them walk away with some kind of material that will remind them of your book. So they'll, you know, because I get just as many back sales as I do event sales and you know you have to really work hard about it. But what I love about it is is the conversations you get to have with your fans and readers.

Speaker 2: 25:29

Yes, and and I also so, because I have another book coming out. I was trying to think of ways to get people engaged with that. So I created a giveaway. So if they put down their email and their name on a piece of paper, they signed up. I was going to pick one winner for for the new book and and of course, then I collect other other potential readers and so, and so I will email them and be like, hey, I'm sorry, but the book will be out and just let them know when the book is out, so hopefully kind of get some traffic that way as well. So that was really fun and I created a little slideshow on my iPad of the of the illustrations that we've gotten done for the new book as well. So that was kind of going going on the whole time, so it gave people can get an idea of what it was going to look like. That's fun.

Speaker 1: 26:15

There's always so many more fun and interesting ways to promote books out in in public. It's a little bit different than you know. Again, some of the smaller fairs are a little more flexible with allowing you to do that, just on the whim. Some of the larger ones, you have to get permission to do that sort of thing to begin with.

Speaker 1: 26:36

But, you know it's just think outside the box. I mean, that's literally it. It's like one. I went to one festival and I really was. You know, you just saw a lot of the lucky lose, you know, people just walking by. I got my character puppet and I stepped outside and I started having a conversation with me and my puppet. It's one of my more famous photographs.

Speaker 1: 27:01

So we were having an argument with my puppet about who was going to hold the microphone, whether they were there to see me because I wrote the book or whether they were there to see him because the lead character and I turned around because this was just me getting into character and there was like a sea of kids and parents and they ended up sending security because the traffic flow had just suddenly stopped and they couldn't figure out. But you know you don't plan those things. It was just like well, you know, it's like I'm gonna at least have fun and do something that's fun and I'm always amazed at how quick, you know, just pulling out those, those puppets and characters and stuff like that draws the kids in. So sometimes you just have to be back to that child, childlike persona when you're trying to promote children's books. So I'm glad that that's working out for you, so I want to know what is next. What are your plans for 2024?

Speaker 2: 28:05

So while I was at this last book fair, I met this local woman who has her own little publishing company and so we talked about my books and she was super excited about the whole theme of the bees, because bees are very popular and and the fact that I'm doing a series right, because. So she gave me some ideas about once I get three done, making a little like a box set, because kids love a box set, and she was giving me other feedback about the format of the books and some other things that were very helpful. So I'm gonna meet up with her in January and have a one on one so that she can give me more and more advice or feedback or coaching about marketing and and just some ideas, because I have no idea, you know.

Speaker 3: 28:49

I mean, I have a little bit of an idea but it can hurt to get more, more help.

Speaker 2: 28:55

So I'm really excited about about that, because I really want to spend next year focused on getting the word out more about the books. I'm going to go to some local libraries and do some readings and there for the kids and maybe at some schools, and so I just have a lot of you know, kind of different ways of getting the word out, and that's that's kind of what I'm going to be focused on in 2024. And there's also another book fair it's happening and it's not until October, but so I'll be participating in that one as well. So, yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be fun.

Speaker 1: 29:31

Awesome, sounds like a big event for you. And you know, like I said, there's as many ways to promote a book as there are ways to write a book for children's books. I always recommend that that authors think about doing lesson plans If they want to get into schools. Activity sheets, you know, those kinds of things, downloadable items to, you know, to help parents reach out to homeschooling parents that don't have the resources of schools. So those are always, and you know, either way you go is just fine. Just, you know, make a plan and keep forging ahead. That's all you can do.

Speaker 2: 30:12

So I'm just doing a coloring book as well, so just having the outline of the characters, of the characters, and then kids can color them in. So yeah, working on that too.

Speaker 1: 30:22

I did. I did a coloring book for my book series and it's more similar to that where we we picked a bunch of the illustrations and decolorize them to do the outline. But we we put it together more as an activity coloring book where it's an introduction to the characters. You know, a lot of times we, you know, we we start with that book so that they get to know the characters and then get into the to the story in the series. So very cool. Yeah, All right, Laurie Poland, how about you? What is on your radar for 2024.?

Speaker 4: 30:58

So 2024 is really the year of. I just feel like it's the year of the digging, and so I do intend to dig in. I really would love to make significant headway on these two other books that I'm working on, as well as digging in to creating a greater and more consistent conversation with the general public about. You know, it's not what happens to us, but it's what we do with what happens to us. I've, unfortunately, I've never met anyone.

Speaker 4: 31:33

That is bypassed childhood, and so that childhood experience leads into who we become and how we exist in the world, the same way that the way that we write, you know, like we learned that somehow somebody taught us walking, talking, writing. All of it is things that we learned early on and we just we didn't even pause to say, well, do I, do I want it to be this way? Do I want to walk different? Do I want to swag? You know, like so. So it's really being intentional and helping to educate and inform people about that intentionality, and I would also just plug that my whole goal is to work my way out of a job. My dream is to just live on a little farm and write books and do yoga and meditate and garden have a safe place for my someday grandchildren to come and just enjoy life and pause. So if I can do anything that will work me towards that next year, I'll be very happy.

Speaker 1: 32:43

Well, I think you're well on your way. It's a nice plan. I always try to work myself out of a job, but I always end up working myself into a new job.

Speaker 2: 32:54

It seems to follow that way it's like yeah that job anymore.

Speaker 1: 32:57

But now I have to do this.

Speaker 4: 32:59

That's a type I think it's a personality type that just keeps going.

Speaker 1: 33:03

It is. It is I know me. I would be bored if I wasn't.

Speaker 4: 33:09

The idea is always better than the reality, right.

Speaker 1: 33:13

I wanted to retire, I wanted to have time to write, and then, when I retired, I didn't write because I was so bored, because I had very little interaction, and so there was nothing to spark that create inspire you. Sometimes it's like, you know, the vision isn't quite what we had in mind Exactly. Well, best of luck to you. So what about you, michael? What is 2024 look like for you?

Speaker 3: 33:44

I mentioned before that I don't have any near future events planned, and that's you know. Partly because I want to, I really want to kind of to echo what Lori said kind of dig in and I really want to get back to, you know, writing heavily again. I you know when, I think, when I was started writing. I think a lot of authors go through this, but you know, you think the life of a writer or a published author is, you know, just writing, but then when you publish it's, you know, the, it's marketing, the book, it's promoting, and so, you know, I didn't, I've been spending a lot of time doing that and not being able to actually write, and so I really want to get back into that heavily, other than just, you know, here and there, when I can squeeze it in, I want to really focus on it some more and and get back into it, because that's what, that's what we want to do as writers.

Speaker 1: 34:45

So yeah, it's always the next book, it's always the next book. And you know, and I mean, while I do encourage everybody to keep working forward, it's like also, you have to remember to give yourself grace, because there is so many hours in the day and life, life is disruptive. Life is what happens when you're making plans. So you know it's. You know, and I know our listeners are listening to you guys and they're like, oh my gosh, they're, they're writing more books, they're doing more and they're more and more and more and they're probably feeling a little. They're like, you know, like the underdog, not trying hard enough. But that's okay because it comes in seasons, like what Michael is talking about. It's like, you know. You know, after the book he had to stop writing so he could market and promote his book, which is what's going to be the vehicle to keep him writing forward. Without that, I doubt that he would have reached, you know, the pinnacle he's at right now with the number of books sold and the awards and things of that nature. So they all kind of work together. So just, you know, digging in and getting it done, and what I say about that is, you know, you just have to make a schedule to try and balance it out myself.

Speaker 1: 35:56

You know I actually make appointments twice a week to write. You know it's on my calendar. It's like nothing else goes in those time slots. That's my writing time, you know. Sometimes it's writing emails, sometimes it's writing books, sometimes it's writing marketing materials, but at least I get some actual writing time in. And then I also have on my calendar or on my schedule once a week to spend a day on marketing and promotion. You know what is my new ideas? What have I done to move those forward? So sometimes it's about organization too. So, yeah, all right. So I have another question for you, michael. What is next? What are you looking to do next? Give us a crystal ball, look into the future for you as a writer and author.

Speaker 3: 36:53

Yeah, just that same thing. Just, you know, continuing to write and get that next book in the series out, so I can. You know those fans that enjoyed the first book. I want to be able to let them continue reading.

Speaker 1: 37:11

So Okay, so do we have a potential title for it yet, or a possible release date, month, year?

Speaker 3: 37:21

No, no, I. One of the things I mentioned last time is I, I, I don't want to rush it. I think the right thing to do is is understand that it doesn't have to be right now. You can, you can take a little bit of time. You know, taking another six weeks, another six months is is okay it's not going to get it right and take your time and not rush it out. So I definitely don't want to do that. At the same time, I want to have aggressive goals to keep me moving forward and keep the ball moving. So, but yeah, I'm trying real hard to have, you know, probably in the second half of 2024, have something ready to go, all right.

Speaker 3: 38:08

I I yeah, but I don't have a, I don't have the title yet and still working through the the plot a little bit, so I'll I'll hold back on giving them any more of it away.

Speaker 1: 38:22

That's perfectly all right. Well, at least it gives us something to look forward to towards, you know this, the third and fourth quarter of 2024 and new book from Michael Stewart. We'll look forward to that. How about you, lori Polin, looking your crystal ball and tell me what's coming up next for you?

Speaker 4: 38:40

Yeah, I think I would love to take a piece out of Lori Crine's book. She talks I think it was meditation book about slowing down in the chaos. And I would say that in you know, I have a I have a DO doctor who is a phenomenal human being and she left her busy practice a couple months ago and is going and went into like her own small little private practice cash pay and I was like what are you doing? How are you going to, how are you going to survive? And she said I want to dig my holes deep not many holes and I thought, oh right, like that's the key. And you know, in order to do anything greatly, you have to do it with great intention.

Speaker 4: 39:26

And sometimes I am a person who loves her to do list and loves accomplished accomplishments and just the satisfaction of checking that box.

Speaker 4: 39:39

And even in my last answer, when I was like I'm going to work on these books and then I'm going to change the world and I'm going to do it also, that I can slow down and stop, wow, there was a little bit of an oxymoron and I in my clinical practice I oftentimes call that the graduation mentality, like as soon as I graduate, then everything's going to be better and we just keep moving the goalpost and I and I appreciated your comments about our listeners thinking like, oh, I'm comparing, like it's just carrying ourselves to other people and what they're doing and what we're not doing, or what we're doing and what they should be doing, and it just, it just gave me a little bit of pause of you know this, this next little bit, and I'm going to do what I can and hopefully do it with great intention and knowing what my end goal is and just trying to be as impactful as I can be on everyone and everything around me. Right, I can do that. I'll be happy.

Speaker 1: 40:43

There you go, I you know. I had one mentor tell me one time you should never have more than three goals. Yeah, you know, for the, for the next day, the next month, the next week, the next year, because that way you don't feel as scattered. Now, of course, you're going to be doing much more than just the three, but those should be the ones that you're focused on. So good advice, all right. What about you, laurie Fine? What is in your 2024 crystal ball?

Speaker 2: 41:14

Well, as I said, the green bee will be coming out in February, so that's the big. That's the big thing to get that done. And because this, this book, the illustrations the illustrator is going to be using watercolor to complete the drawings, but what we did before was he would give me the outline and then I was digitizing them. I did a lot of the work. Once the drawings were done, I had to put them into the computer and do all that, and this time we're just going to use the ones that he does. They're going to be complete. So we've already got. I think he only has two more to do. So it's it's pretty, pretty close to being finished, excuse me, so that's what I'm going to focus on is getting that out and getting getting it out in the world.

Speaker 1: 42:01

Okay, well, that takes you to February. What are you going to do for the?

Speaker 2: 42:07

other 10 months? Good question, I'm going to start working on the next book.

Speaker 1: 42:12

All right, we'll see.

Speaker 2: 42:15

So the idea for the one after that is going to be more of an environmental focus. I haven't quite got got it all solidified yet, but it's going to be something about saving the bees from what? From what's happening in the world and with the environment and and the pesticides that are being put on plants and the bees are dying.

Speaker 1: 42:34

So so I'm going to wrap my maybe be keep.

Speaker 2: 42:44

Be keep. I'll write that down.

Speaker 1: 42:49

Well, let's see what that happens is like. I'll be so excited. I love, I love working on titles. That's one of my fun, fun things. All right, now we're going to get to the serious part, so I want you to share with our listeners what your best, most surprising, our most memorable moment was from your interview that we did earlier this year.

Speaker 2: 43:16

Well, I have to think back on that. I think it was. You know, the focus of it, as we discussed earlier, was the doing reviews. So I hadn't, I had never really thought about it that much before. I was like, just get them out there and tell my friends about it.

Speaker 2: 43:35

And once we did the episode, I reached out to everybody, because at that point I hadn't sold that many. I reached out to a few people who I bought the books, especially people I knew, and I was like did you like it? Yeah, great, could you please write a review? And I and I so I specifically asked, you know, directly asked them and a couple of people were like I don't really have time or I'd love to do it, but I'm not sure what. It's why I wrote. I wrote a review for them. I mean, am I supposed to admit this? Probably not. You wrote a suggested review. Is what you did? Exactly, exactly, I did a suggested review and then they revised it, but giving them something to work on or to look at, and then they moved. You know they changed it or whatever, but that prompted them to do it. So that was really helpful.

Speaker 1: 44:20

Right. Well, and you know, as we talked about all the season two, reviews don't have to be complicated or complex. They can simply be I like this book, or I didn't love the book, or I think, you know. You know, children of this age group would like it, or adults of this age group, or or somebody that's on this particular topic would like it. It doesn't have to be complicated and you don't have to be a word Smith. You don't have to be an author or writer to write a review. It's honestly an opinion.

Speaker 2: 44:51

Exactly, we all have those.

Speaker 1: 44:52

We know we all have those.

Speaker 2: 44:54

And I think too, what happened was, after doing the podcast I kind of started to take myself a little, a little more seriously as a writer and because before that I kind of was. You know, this is just a little side hobby.

Speaker 2: 45:07

And and then after the episode, I was sharing the link to all my all my social media and I just felt like all of a sudden I was like a legitimate children's book author and that felt, you know, that was like kind of like, I felt like a leaf frog. A leaf frog from from here to there. So it just put me in a different mindset about it, like, hey, this is pretty cool and and I started to get a lot more feedback from people about the books and I was like my job is not just to write the book, I got to get it out there and they're good and they're and they're funny and and people respond to them. So thank you very much for for sort of helping me, helping me to take myself a little more seriously, because if I don't take myself seriously, nobody else will.

Speaker 1: 45:55

Well, this is true and and you're very welcome and all I do is sit here and ask a bunch of questions and read books and drink coffee. I mean it's like my joy trifecta here. So it's all I do and I love it. And if anybody else gets anything out of it, then I, you know, it's just extra gravy for me. Awesome.

Speaker 2: 46:15

Awesome, great the way it should be there.

Speaker 1: 46:18

You go All right. What about you, Michael? What was the best, most memorable or the most surprising moment from your interview back in June?

Speaker 3: 46:29

I think the thing that always keeps just popping into my mind with that interview and then the interview today really is I always forget how it's nice to talk to other writers who kind of, I guess, speak the same language.

Speaker 3: 46:49

Because you know, we all, the three of us, the guests here on today you know we've got a children's author, a fiction, a nonfiction author about a very serious topic, and then you know a thriller fiction author, and the three of us have a lot of differences but I think there we still have a lot of things in common being writers, and so anytime there's interaction like this, it just reminds me how we have this community and how we can again being. You know, a lot of times you don't in a day, in your day to day life, you might not talk to other writers or interact with other writers very often, and it feels a little lonely sometimes because, again, we kind of speak a certain language, that the same language, and so it's always nice to know that there's this community of writers, that kind of think what? Think the same.

Speaker 1: 47:47

Yeah, it is. And you know, I'm always so impressed with my audience that I mean, seriously, you guys are the top episodes and I'm a conference author. You know a thriller and education thriller and child abuse Like who would ever think that all of those would come together in a podcast and work and make it to the top? And I'm just so happy to be writing right. And you guys, whatever you're talking about is resonating with the audience and I couldn't ask for more than that. So, thank you. And yeah, that's what I want is a community of authors and writers so that they don't feel alone, so that they find a safe space to be together and talk and exchange information. I mean, I think you can get a lot of help. I found a lot of brick walls that I ran into, a lot of closed doors and I felt like, let me change that. We're not in competition with each other, we're in competition with the space on the bookshelf. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 48:59

All right. So what about you, laurie Poland? What was your favorite, most memorable, most exciting, most surprising?

Speaker 4: 49:08

moment. You know, and I think we've, we've, we've touched on it so much already Just in this discussion right here and that was you have a way of first you have it's like you have a whole book of quotes, first of all of just like good gems, oh right, oh, yeah, oh. Every time I heard that in our interview I felt like I was with like a mother figure that would just, it was like a sense of telling me that it's okay, it's that. You know, for me my book was so personal that I thought I was like out on this leprosy island, you know, in this personal world all by myself.

Speaker 4: 49:58

And then what I realized and even Michael just touched on it is that it's, it's the topic itself is, and I don't think it is like competition on the bookshelf, because it's really goes back to everybody has a different need and opinion and like, some days I don't want to read a fiction novel, some days I want to just get dirty with a nonfiction and then some days I need to read, you know, a self help book and other days I just want to read a funny poetry book or a shell Silverstein style, right, like. So it's. It's just neat that I'm providing as support and I didn't think that. I didn't think that that was when I wrote it. That was necessarily why I wrote it. I wrote it because I wanted people to understand and but it was become so much more and our episode really enlightened me on the writer world and said it's just like the lorry world, the lorry island out in the middle of the Pacific. It's just fun for me.

Speaker 1: 51:07

Well, awesome, you know, and and that's what I like to talk to people about is it doesn't matter what you write about, there's always somebody out there and there's always these crossover, because I know there are days that I want to read those books, because I want to laugh and I want to be joyful and I want to be happy and just you know, back to my childhood, there's days where I love Michael's books, where I'm like pushed to the edge and I'm biting my nails and I'm just like what's happening?

Speaker 1: 51:35

next what's happening next? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. And then there are days where I'm very circumspect and I want to read a book like yours and think about what that would have been like and try to understand that. You know, this is something more than I could ever comprehend, and you know. And then there's days when I want to read a self help book and just learn something new. So you know, that's why I say we're only in competition with space on that shelf, because I can guarantee if you go, look at my bookshelf, you'll see a plethora of genres and authors and styles and and stories and I'm really one of these books right here is totally different meaning.

Speaker 1: 52:22

But you know, but that's what I love about books, is they open doors rather than close them. So can't, can't think of a better thing. Alright, so I have one final question for you, lori Poland what was your reaction when you were told you were a top episode?

Speaker 4: 52:42

I was shocked. I was like what, seriously? I mean like all of these other writers who are like so gifted and talented. I mean I heard about you from somebody in North Carolina and you're on the West Coast, I think in Oregon, right, and I was like, I think, like in Sacramento California.

Speaker 4: 53:02

Okay, yeah, so as far west as possible. I was like there's no way. And then with the number of audiences, I think I am certainly my worst critic and so I was really surprised and humbled and grateful and like I, and I just sighed, I was like, hey, cool, so. And then to know that and learn about the two other authors on here, I was like I loved the diversification. I loved that it wasn't like all sci-fi or all self help or all poetry or all children. We really cover it all. I mean.

Speaker 1: 53:42

I'm really neat. Yes, yes. Well, I'm so glad you're here and, of course, you know all you're doing. You know the audience brought you here, they loved your episode, and so congratulations. What about you, michael? What was your reaction when you found out?

Speaker 3: 54:03

I just, I mean first of all, just honored, because I, you know, respect the show so much and you know, I know how popular, how popular it is and how many listeners and viewers you have. So to be a part of that is great and and and to be again, to be on with, with these two other authors which are, you know, be on the same stage, is just really cool. And you know, I, I think part of the reason I can at least speak for the episode that I was on, you know, I think it was a good listen because, because it's because it has a good host, you know how to ask questions and make the guest sound better than they would otherwise. So I really appreciate that I can speak for, at least for me that way.

Speaker 1: 55:02

It's like, beyond everything else, that I do all the other hats that I wear. You know, I'm also an author. I also get nervous when I'm being interviewed and it gives me unique perspective when I'm asking those questions to understand that they're going to be a little nervous, they're going to be a little hesitant and we're always waiting for that gotcha question. So what do I tell you guys at the beginning? No gotcha questions, no gotchas, we're not. We're not doing that and I usually try to get you guys the questions ahead of time. So there's no surprises either. And thank you, I appreciate that it's. You know, I try really hard to make my guests comfortable because I think that makes the conversation flow so much better and I think it provides the listeners in the audience with a much better interview in episode where they get to see the real you and see the passion behind all of the writing that you guys do. Yeah, all right. What about you, lori, crying? What was your reaction?

Speaker 2: 56:12

Well, I wasn't surprised at all. I mean, it was such a great episode. Now, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. So the funny thing is that I wrote the poems for these books 20, about 20 years ago, when my kids are little, and I think I think I mentioned on there that I sent them to actually mail to them because there was no internet back then. I sent them to 10 children's book publishers that I had to look up in the library or whatever, and I got back 10 rejections and then I stuck them in a drawer and it was took all this time for me to get, to get them back and find somebody who could do the illustrations and make them come to life. So when I you know, when you reached out to me to be interviewed, I was just again. I didn't feel like I was legitimate in some way. And so just to come full circle now, my older son just got married a couple of years ago and they're talking about having kids and it's just interesting, how come full circle after 20-something years to put these out in the world and then to have the response and hear that it was one of the top episodes.

Speaker 2: 57:32

I think my job in life is to show up If we can just show up to whatever it is that we're doing.

Speaker 2: 57:39

You're passionate about doing the podcast, so you're showing up by doing what you love, and if we show up and do what we love and the world responds to us in a positive way, then it just perpetuates itself. It's like a self-generating machine, like I put myself out there and people respond positively, so I put myself out there more and it just kind of keeps going, and so I think what we have to do is just give it a try and see what happens. And so getting these books out there it was a lot of work, but once I got it out there and then I started to get the responses, it just kind of kept going. So I just feel like there's like momentum happening, and being on this podcast was a huge pivot point for me in keeping momentum going. So I just again I'm so grateful for you and for you for doing and for you to show up in doing what you love and that helps us. So it's all amazing.

Speaker 1: 58:33

Well, thank you, thank you, Thank you and congratulations to you Also. Congratulations to you, michael, and you, lori Poland. I mean, you guys did an amazing job. Something about your words and your interview drew in the viewers and they voted you guys to the top. So I'm just very impressed. You're all new authors, so that's always exciting. You know you always tend to think, oh well, it's the established authors that are going to. But you know, here you are proving everybody that there is a way, there is, there is a world where even the new authors can rise to the top, and so I I'm so thankful that you guys took a chance with the writer's parachute and coming on here and choosing us and choosing me to bring your book out into the world and introduce you out into the world, and obviously it did well. So I'm just going to go around the room one more time and ask you if there's anything else that you would like to share with the audience while you have their attention, lori crime.

Speaker 2: 59:42

Um, I guess all I can say is check out the books. Go on my website, lori crimecom, and sign up for them by the books, and then sign up for the next one, and that would be. That would be great, and write me some reviews if you like them, all right, what about?

Speaker 1: 59:58

you Michael.

Speaker 3: 1:00:00

Yeah, we've. We're always talking about reviews and we've talked a lot about reviews, so I'm not going to try to sell my book one more time. I'll just ask you to go read a few reviews of it yourself and let the I'll let those sell it because there's good reviews on there and and so just check out the reviews and see if you might be interested.

Speaker 1: 1:00:24

Awesome, I think they will be. I think they will be All right. What about you, Lori?

Speaker 4: 1:00:28

pool? Yeah, I mean I would. I would say first thank you for making space for listening and following this podcast. In the first place, it means that you're invested in the power of story and the narrative of writing, and I think that is profound, and that is how history has. How our world has continued to grow and learn is just through writing it down all the way back to the very beginning. That's what hydrogliphics works. So, and then in terms of my book, you know I it is, it's a great. I feel like it's a strong blend of a hard story that's filled with optimism and hope because I'm literally sitting here and then also with a lot of self help, opportunity for people to better understand and and to become their best versions of who they want to be. No matter who we are or what we do. We we get to decide our own destiny, and I would just empower people to know that about themselves. So I never thought that I would be a published author and here I sit, so there you go.

Speaker 1: 1:01:48

Well, I want to thank each and every one of you for being here on the writer's parachute, being part of the DC story ology family, and I remind all of our listeners to go check out episode number three with Lori Klein, writing your way through, talking about learn chess a reason to believe in clean B. Also episode number four with Lori Pullen, Beyond the Pain and her book I Live here. And don't forget episode number eight with Michael Stewart, a thriller education in his book the Hills Be Shaking. Of course, we'll have in the show notes a link for you to reach out to each of them. We'll also link you to their books and any contact information and information that gave us about upcoming events.

Speaker 1: 1:02:38

As always, we appreciate you as our audience so much and this is a celebration. We wanted to thank you for voting these three authors to the top of the list and we hope that you come back and join us and keep watching. We're going to bring you more stuff and, of course, we'll bring these three authors back anytime they have new books that we can talk about and get an update on their journey. Until next time, keep writing, keep reading, keep reviewing. We'll see you guys next time. Bye.

Speaker 4: 1:03:11

And bye.