Latest / DA CREW Podcast / 2-21-25 SEASON 3 DA CREW PODCAST HOST BLAQUE DIAMOND

Transcript

2-21-25 SEASON 3 DA CREW PODCAST HOST BLAQUE DIAMOND · DA CREW Podcast

1:00
Speaker 1: Gentlemen, may I have your attention please? The show starts
1:08
Speaker 1: in say nine eight seven, six, five four three two
1:25
Speaker 1: one go.
2:01
Speaker 2: Phenomenal first time authors d D.
2:04
Speaker 3: Scott and Patricia Wallace who are he had to share
2:08
Speaker 3: their journeys into writing, the inspiration behind their stories, and
2:12
Speaker 3: the impact they hope to make.
2:15
Speaker 2: D D an.
2:16
Speaker 3: Adoptee from the Bronx, New York. So you know I'm
2:18
Speaker 3: gonna be woo woo because that's New York and it's
2:20
Speaker 3: the Bronx. She has contributed her deeply personal story to
2:25
Speaker 3: From Their Eyes Anthology or from the Help her heartfelt
2:30
Speaker 3: look into her experiences and tell you I've spoken to
2:33
Speaker 3: DD and there's some experiences that woof. Meanwhile, Patricia an
2:38
Speaker 3: award winning author. See I told you I had a
2:40
Speaker 3: good lineup for you. She has captivated young readers with
2:44
Speaker 3: Christopher's Time Out. Now let me tell you I need
2:48
Speaker 3: Christophers Times Out in my house because I got some
2:50
Speaker 3: little ones. But this is a children's book that delivers
2:53
Speaker 3: valuable life lessons in a fun and engaging way. Tonight
2:57
Speaker 3: we'll dive into their creative processes, the challenges in triumphs
3:01
Speaker 3: of writing, and what's next on their literary journey. You
3:05
Speaker 3: won't want to miss this conversation, So grab your favorite drink,
3:09
Speaker 3: get comfortable, and let's.
3:10
Speaker 2: Get into it.
3:11
Speaker 3: Please welcome DEDI and Patricia's The Basic Black after Dark.
3:20
Speaker 2: Hey, ladies, good evening. Oh my gosh.
3:28
Speaker 3: I am so so, so so so super psyched that
3:31
Speaker 3: you ladies have joined me tonight.
3:33
Speaker 2: And when you said yes, I was like, yes, not
3:36
Speaker 2: for the price of one, but two. You know, I'm happy.
3:41
Speaker 2: I am happy. I'm just like the first office.
3:46
Speaker 3: I would say fresh meat, but I'm not gonna call
3:48
Speaker 3: you ladies meat. I am so happy to talk to
3:51
Speaker 3: first time authors because sometimes you know. Don't get me wrong.
3:54
Speaker 3: The other authors that come on here, I love speaking
3:56
Speaker 3: with them as well. But now I have two who
3:59
Speaker 3: are straight out out of the box who can just
4:01
Speaker 3: about tell me exactly how they're feeling, not something that
4:04
Speaker 3: they have said over and over and over again and
4:06
Speaker 3: they get a little tired of saying it, but here
4:09
Speaker 3: they can say it here. First, here, tell us a
4:13
Speaker 3: little bit about yourself and your journey to becoming a
4:15
Speaker 3: first time author.
4:16
Speaker 2: What inspired you to start writing?
4:19
Speaker 4: Wow?
4:20
Speaker 5: Well, what inspired me to start writing? Well, it seemed
4:23
Speaker 5: like every time I shared my story with anyone. They
4:26
Speaker 5: would immediately tell me I need to write a book.
4:29
Speaker 5: And I was just like, I'm not a writer. I
4:33
Speaker 5: don't think so I can tell you my story better
4:35
Speaker 5: than I can write it. That's what my thought process was.
4:38
Speaker 5: So I was like, I don't think I can do that.
4:41
Speaker 5: But of course, when God tells you it's time to
4:45
Speaker 5: do it, you have to do it. And of course
4:47
Speaker 5: he made it upon Latanya to hit me up.
4:50
Speaker 4: And say, okay, we're.
4:52
Speaker 5: Doing an anthology and the doption you want to do
4:54
Speaker 5: it here, let's do that. And then I get up
4:57
Speaker 5: the phone here and say, father, what am I doing anything?
5:02
Speaker 6: What is happening in here?
5:04
Speaker 4: She said, it's time, it's time. If fel okay, well get.
5:08
Speaker 5: The writing, and it just happens to be it's actually therapeutic.
5:16
Speaker 5: It's actually therapeutic.
5:17
Speaker 2: Wo.
5:18
Speaker 4: Yeah.
5:21
Speaker 3: Some people have said that the writing has become therapeutic
5:24
Speaker 3: for them and it was something that they hadn't planned
5:26
Speaker 3: on doing, but now that they're into it and they're
5:28
Speaker 3: really into it, they're really into it. Patrician, congratulations on
5:35
Speaker 3: your twenty twenty four Distinguished authoris guild a ward and
5:39
Speaker 3: the book Best Way. Now, let me tell everybody. The
5:41
Speaker 3: Distinguished Authors Guild a ward. It's going on for twenty
5:45
Speaker 3: twenty five and you haven't intered it yet. I think
5:48
Speaker 3: there's still time for you to get involved and into it.
5:50
Speaker 3: So it's called the DADS, but it's also the Distinguished
5:54
Speaker 3: Authors Guild Awards. And you can go on my page,
5:57
Speaker 3: you may see it. You may just pop in Distinguished
5:59
Speaker 3: Authors Skill. You may go on Patricia's page, you may
6:01
Speaker 3: see it.
6:02
Speaker 2: There's so many DAG Award winners that day. What's your
6:13
Speaker 2: journey as an author?
6:15
Speaker 6: So, first of all, thank you so much, Thank you
6:18
Speaker 6: so much for allowing me to be here tonight on
6:20
Speaker 6: your platform, and congratulations to you on being named an
6:24
Speaker 6: International Impact Book Award winner. So kudos to you for
6:31
Speaker 6: absolutely so regarding the awards. They allowed me to walk
6:38
Speaker 6: this writing journey with more confidence the recognition. It's given
6:43
Speaker 6: me a perspective in the sense of how this journey
6:46
Speaker 6: is bigger than me, and how writing has the power
6:49
Speaker 6: to reach others in such an impactful way that I
6:52
Speaker 6: didn't realize that that could be an outcome. And so
6:56
Speaker 6: this for me has solidified that my book has connected
7:00
Speaker 6: my attendant audience and that I am on the right track.
7:03
Speaker 6: And so the awards have also shown me that this
7:07
Speaker 6: is that's tangible proof that says God has put this
7:11
Speaker 6: gift inside of me. It is already destined to succeed
7:15
Speaker 6: in ways that I couldn't imagine because He has begun
7:18
Speaker 6: a good work in me, and he is faithful to
7:20
Speaker 6: perform it. And I'm seeing that being revealed every single
7:23
Speaker 6: time someone tells me how it has impacted them and
7:27
Speaker 6: their children.
7:30
Speaker 3: Wow, I'm just so excited for both of you. You know,
7:35
Speaker 3: you're going above and beyond DDI, You're sharing some personal
7:40
Speaker 3: things about yourself.
7:42
Speaker 2: Now.
7:42
Speaker 3: I've worked with children and families and forster care and
7:45
Speaker 3: adoption for over forty years. And many of them grow
7:49
Speaker 3: up and they go on to live successful lives, and
7:52
Speaker 3: some of them talk about their stories and how they
7:56
Speaker 3: journey through forcetercare and some of them eventually was adoption.
8:00
Speaker 3: What was it like growing up as an adopted child
8:03
Speaker 3: in the Bronx? Now, up, let me tell you, Bronx
8:06
Speaker 3: is tough, but it's not what some people painted to
8:11
Speaker 3: be because well, I still have family that lives in
8:13
Speaker 3: the Bronx and it is family oriented. As a matter
8:16
Speaker 3: of fact, I wrote a book on a place in
8:18
Speaker 3: the Bronx thirteen eighty Prospect Avenue, not another Bronx s
8:21
Speaker 3: till but growing up which I did not grow up
8:23
Speaker 3: in the Bronx from my family, a lot of them
8:26
Speaker 3: grew up in the Bronx, and many of them, like
8:27
Speaker 3: I said, it's still there. What was it like growing
8:30
Speaker 3: up as an adopted child in the Bronx And you
8:33
Speaker 3: may not even have seen yourself as adopted, but others
8:35
Speaker 3: may have.
8:36
Speaker 2: What was it like?
8:36
Speaker 3: And how was your upbringing shaped you to who you
8:39
Speaker 3: are today? Because you're fantastically.
8:41
Speaker 5: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.
8:45
Speaker 4: It was.
8:46
Speaker 5: It was, it was a regular childhood. I mean, it was,
8:48
Speaker 5: it was. It's definitely it's definitely different from New York
8:53
Speaker 5: to Virginia. It's definitely a whole nother aspect of life.
8:59
Speaker 5: So it was good.
9:00
Speaker 4: I mean, my my a.
9:02
Speaker 5: Doctor parents got me when I was two and a
9:05
Speaker 5: half years old, and I wasn't officially adopted until I
9:08
Speaker 5: was eight. Me and my other sister were adopted together.
9:11
Speaker 5: And the reason why I was memorable because I had
9:12
Speaker 5: a chicken pox that year. So but it was, it was,
9:18
Speaker 5: it was, it was good.
9:19
Speaker 4: I mean, I love New York. I loved the Gronk.
9:22
Speaker 5: It was you didn't feel like you stood out being
9:25
Speaker 5: I'm just able to have final bids. I have hidreds
9:27
Speaker 5: with list. In New York, you don't stand out. It's
9:30
Speaker 5: like a melting pot of everybody's just everybody, and so
9:34
Speaker 5: coming from there to Virginia the whole another ball.
9:38
Speaker 4: You stand out in the gin. So yeah, but I
9:43
Speaker 4: mean my parents.
9:44
Speaker 2: You left New York and what and what age did
9:46
Speaker 2: you leave?
9:47
Speaker 5: My parents retired and what New York about fifteen?
9:53
Speaker 2: I was about fourteen and fifty, So you really did
9:56
Speaker 2: grow up in New York.
9:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it was.
10:00
Speaker 3: I mentioned something about the chicken pox, and that's it. Well, yeah,
10:04
Speaker 3: leaven New York is a shocked to anybody's system. Because
10:06
Speaker 3: I'm still shocked at where I'm at. I'm gonna you
10:08
Speaker 3: I cried for the first six months.
10:10
Speaker 2: That was where I'm at. I thought I was in content.
10:15
Speaker 2: Sometimes I still wake up. I can't believe I spent
10:17
Speaker 2: all my life here. I just I really can't. But hey,
10:19
Speaker 2: it is what it is, and what what are you
10:22
Speaker 2: gonna do?
10:22
Speaker 3: But you had mentioned something about the chicken pox, and
10:25
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go off a little bit because I remember
10:27
Speaker 3: when I had the chicken pox. My niece, whatever she had,
10:30
Speaker 3: she brought home and gave it to me. Did you
10:33
Speaker 3: get the chicken pox first? And did your sister get it?
10:36
Speaker 7: No?
10:36
Speaker 4: I think I got it first.
10:37
Speaker 5: And what I can remember, the reason why I was
10:39
Speaker 5: so memoried to me and funny how God did that,
10:41
Speaker 5: is because the day I had to we had to
10:43
Speaker 5: go to court, my mom basically just trying.
10:45
Speaker 4: To stop me from scratching. That's all I can remember.
10:48
Speaker 5: She was trying to make sure my hands would not scratch.
10:52
Speaker 5: So I just remember going to the courthouse and the
10:55
Speaker 5: judge asking me do I want to be in this family?
10:58
Speaker 5: And I was like, yeah, that's only thing I really
11:00
Speaker 5: remember saying yes.
11:02
Speaker 4: And that's it. And then when we got back home
11:04
Speaker 4: and I went straight to bed.
11:09
Speaker 2: All right long day. How did you come?
11:11
Speaker 3: How did you come to be part of the from
11:13
Speaker 3: from Their Eyes anthology? And what made you want to
11:15
Speaker 3: share your adoption story?
11:18
Speaker 5: Okay, well, let's Tanya was a part of it at first,
11:23
Speaker 5: and they were looking for some more writers and she
11:27
Speaker 5: said she merely thought about me, but she wasn't sure
11:29
Speaker 5: if I would do it because we always talked about
11:31
Speaker 5: it and I would say no, it's.
11:32
Speaker 4: Not time, no, not now, no, And she.
11:37
Speaker 5: Caught me in a relaxed state of mind, and the
11:41
Speaker 5: father said, yeah, Yeah, she caught me a good relax
11:46
Speaker 5: state of mind. And I appreciate it because she didn't
11:49
Speaker 5: really have to think about me.
11:50
Speaker 4: But it's just what we do for each other. And
11:53
Speaker 4: so when she said you know that I want to
11:55
Speaker 4: be a part of it, I said yeah.
11:57
Speaker 5: I said yeah, not thinking, just said yeah there and
12:00
Speaker 5: then got off the phone.
12:01
Speaker 4: With him and it was like, God, what are we doing?
12:04
Speaker 4: What are we doing now?
12:05
Speaker 5: He said, it's times talk you to write it and
12:07
Speaker 5: I said, okay, So I was. I was really doing
12:10
Speaker 5: it in honor of my parents, because not everybody's adopt story.
12:14
Speaker 4: Is a good one, and my parents were a.
12:17
Speaker 5: Gift from God. You I tell people all the time.
12:21
Speaker 5: They put me in the right family and my neighbors.
12:24
Speaker 3: How did you, I see, how did Johnny and Dolores
12:31
Speaker 3: write influence your life and your perspective on family? See
12:34
Speaker 3: we're spoken before for those of you wondered how did
12:36
Speaker 3: she do the name of her parents? We're spoken plenty
12:38
Speaker 3: of times, and now that she's an author, we're going
12:40
Speaker 3: to continue to speak on war.
12:42
Speaker 2: So how did they influence your life and your perspective
12:44
Speaker 2: on family?
12:46
Speaker 4: Oh, they were they were loving.
12:48
Speaker 5: They didn't us like because every had four kids of
12:50
Speaker 5: their own and their doctor three more so, they were
12:53
Speaker 5: almost practically finished when they when.
12:55
Speaker 4: They got us.
12:56
Speaker 5: My sister, their baby girl was I think in college
12:59
Speaker 5: and and so they were pretty much finished. But my
13:02
Speaker 5: mom says she always wanted six girls and one boy.
13:05
Speaker 5: She had she already had three girls and she had
13:07
Speaker 5: a boy, so she adopted him. So family was big
13:11
Speaker 5: for us.
13:11
Speaker 3: I mean, so, what role has your faith played in
13:17
Speaker 3: your journey, both as an adoptee and as a writer.
13:21
Speaker 5: Oh, my faith is everything. I can't do anything without God.
13:25
Speaker 4: I don't even I don't.
13:26
Speaker 5: Even move move without God.
13:29
Speaker 4: I don't even do anything without the Father.
13:32
Speaker 5: I try to make sure that everything I do is
13:34
Speaker 5: lined up with what he wants. I'm not perfect at it,
13:37
Speaker 5: but I definitely try to make sure that I speak
13:40
Speaker 5: him first. And if I know that he wants me
13:42
Speaker 5: to do this, and I know he got a plan,
13:44
Speaker 5: I know that he's got a planet.
13:45
Speaker 4: And I mean I grew up in a church. We
13:48
Speaker 4: grew up in you know, going to church.
13:49
Speaker 5: He grew up going to a Mount Nebo Baptist church,
13:52
Speaker 5: so I don't you know, so yeah, and then we
13:56
Speaker 5: we just grew up, you know, baptized around. I think
14:00
Speaker 5: that was abound. Maybe I'm gonna.
14:02
Speaker 3: Tell you being in the bronx, you're going to get
14:04
Speaker 3: you're going to get baptized. You in that bronx, you're
14:06
Speaker 3: gonna get baptized one way or the other, either do
14:08
Speaker 3: your family or through the communities. It's somebody gonn baptize.
14:11
Speaker 3: You're not gonna walk around in the bronx and not
14:13
Speaker 3: be baptized.
14:14
Speaker 2: It's just the thing.
14:17
Speaker 3: Chrisha you I heard you once mentioned that you had
14:20
Speaker 3: a front row seat to your children's learning process. How
14:24
Speaker 3: did their adventures and imagination shape your approach to writing
14:27
Speaker 3: for children?
14:29
Speaker 6: So I paid a lot of attention to the kids'
14:33
Speaker 6: emphasis on trying to engage their classmate's attention. So my
14:37
Speaker 6: book is about a little boy who wants to act
14:40
Speaker 6: a fool and be the class clown in class. Right,
14:43
Speaker 6: So he wants to perform in front of in front
14:45
Speaker 6: of his friends. So I'm I was always paying attention
14:48
Speaker 6: to that either with my son at home and my son,
14:52
Speaker 6: my older son, Jordan Christopher a while is the inspiration
14:56
Speaker 6: for the book, and so I was paying attention to
14:58
Speaker 6: what he was all with trying to do and trying
15:01
Speaker 6: to engage his friend's attention. And I became a substitute teacher,
15:06
Speaker 6: and then I saw how the kids were acting in class.
15:08
Speaker 6: They're always trying to get their their peers' attentions to
15:12
Speaker 6: that was always seeming to be their goal, and so
15:15
Speaker 6: it was always something they didn't want to be doing
15:17
Speaker 6: or that they knew they weren't supposed to be doing.
15:19
Speaker 6: They didn't want to act right, and so they were
15:21
Speaker 6: always trying to just being able to do something silly
15:26
Speaker 6: that might be not that might not be the smartest thing,
15:29
Speaker 6: and not paying attention to the consequences of poor behavior.
15:32
Speaker 6: So I chose that that's why I chose the classroom setting,
15:35
Speaker 6: because that's where the real life Christopher my son, that's
15:39
Speaker 6: where his nonsense was going down when he was in kindergarten,
15:42
Speaker 6: and it's the setting a lot of times for where
15:44
Speaker 6: the kids tend to act out because that's where their
15:47
Speaker 6: peers are. And so I could see as I moved
15:51
Speaker 6: long from class to class with the kids as they
15:53
Speaker 6: got older, I saw where they were growing and learning
15:56
Speaker 6: in those areas, not just in the academic sense. And
16:00
Speaker 6: so the classroom was always a great setting because school
16:03
Speaker 6: is a place that sets the foundation early in their
16:06
Speaker 6: lives for rules and for values surrounding social behavior that
16:10
Speaker 6: they need to learn as soon as possible.
16:18
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly how does your son? Is he an adult?
16:26
Speaker 2: For your son?
16:27
Speaker 6: I'm sorry, can you say that one more time? How
16:29
Speaker 6: is he?
16:34
Speaker 2: I was wondering if, okay, I can hear is an adult? Still?
16:40
Speaker 4: Oh?
16:41
Speaker 6: He's an adult. Oh, he's an adult. Now he's an adult.
16:44
Speaker 6: He's like grown grown, So.
16:47
Speaker 2: Question, how does it feel about you? Right about it?
16:53
Speaker 6: He totally embraced it. Now this he's grown grown, and
16:56
Speaker 6: so a lot of the stuff that he then he
16:59
Speaker 6: didn't even realize it now he doesn't realize it then.
17:03
Speaker 6: I mean, but he totally embraced it. I did talk
17:06
Speaker 6: to him first and I literally said, okay, I want
17:10
Speaker 6: to put you on blast? Are you okay with that?
17:12
Speaker 6: And so he chuckled and laughed and everything, and he
17:15
Speaker 6: was like, yeah, that's fine, that's fine. And also I
17:18
Speaker 6: let him read. I got his collaboration on it. Although
17:22
Speaker 6: he didn't remember doing things he was caught up in
17:24
Speaker 6: that it was engaging and that it was funny to him.
17:28
Speaker 6: So and he was also one of my beta readers,
17:31
Speaker 6: so he was involved in it every step of the way,
17:33
Speaker 6: from the actual story context to the illustrations as well.
17:38
Speaker 6: So he's all for it. He's totally supportive. And that's
17:42
Speaker 6: been like the icing on the cake because you know, now,
17:45
Speaker 6: if he had a problem with it, I may have
17:48
Speaker 6: still done it because I think it needed to be told,
17:50
Speaker 6: but we would have worked something out. But I did
17:52
Speaker 6: tell him I putting you on blast. He was all
17:54
Speaker 6: for it, and so we just went on from there.
17:56
Speaker 2: Gat that's nice.
17:59
Speaker 3: So with the background in English literature and corporate copywriting,
18:05
Speaker 3: tribute to your transition into writing book books for young readers.
18:09
Speaker 6: So actually that was that was very helpful for me.
18:12
Speaker 6: It was actually a natural part of my book writing
18:14
Speaker 6: process because all I knew was reading and writing growing up.
18:19
Speaker 6: I was a bookworm. I stayed in the library, so
18:21
Speaker 6: it was natural for me to be an English major.
18:25
Speaker 6: And so that was a seamless transition from you know,
18:28
Speaker 6: my background and educational wise, my personal interests and then
18:33
Speaker 6: deciding that I'm going to write a book. And so
18:36
Speaker 6: because I always felt like telling a good story has
18:38
Speaker 6: the same basic elements as well, regardless of the type
18:41
Speaker 6: of writing, regardless of whether you're a marketing writer or
18:44
Speaker 6: trying to write a children's book, the certain certain foundations
18:48
Speaker 6: are the same. Why are you writing it? What's your intent?
18:51
Speaker 6: What are you telling your story? What are you telling
18:53
Speaker 6: your audience? What do you want their takeaway to be
18:55
Speaker 6: based on what you're trying to sell to them? And
18:58
Speaker 6: so the goal is always, Again, regardless of the type
19:03
Speaker 6: of writing, the goal is always you want them to
19:07
Speaker 6: go from one line to the next. You just want
19:09
Speaker 6: them to keep reading. So you have to keep them engaged.
19:13
Speaker 2: And I'm so glad you said that.
19:14
Speaker 3: You know so many people they just write because they
19:17
Speaker 3: feel as though they can write.
19:19
Speaker 2: Some people don't think about their readers at all.
19:27
Speaker 4: But.
19:30
Speaker 8: You can.
19:48
Speaker 2: Can you hear me, Patricia.
19:50
Speaker 6: Yes, I can hear you. You said you were speaking
19:52
Speaker 6: about some people don't take into account their audience and
19:57
Speaker 6: what the purpose.
19:58
Speaker 2: Is h m hm mm hmmm mm hm m hm.
20:07
Speaker 2: See you're not coming focus. H Can you hear me?
20:18
Speaker 6: It's going in and out.
20:24
Speaker 2: I was I was asking how do you balance education
20:27
Speaker 2: and m and.
20:35
Speaker 6: How do I balance my education with my writing? Progress
20:39
Speaker 6: we have in particularly.
20:43
Speaker 2: Mm hmm and entertainment, yes, well, and the story that you.
20:58
Speaker 6: So just trying to to create that formula for because
21:03
Speaker 6: it's a children's book. I started out with the engagement part,
21:06
Speaker 6: the entertaining part that begins with even before I put
21:08
Speaker 6: the work down. You know, it was attracting people to
21:11
Speaker 6: a children's book, most likely it's the illustrations. So it
21:13
Speaker 6: had to be colorful, it had to be engaging, and
21:15
Speaker 6: you had to see what was going on to want
21:16
Speaker 6: to open it up and read about what's going on.
21:19
Speaker 6: So I set the foundation that way and then told
21:22
Speaker 6: the little funny stories about you know, a few incidents
21:26
Speaker 6: about what he was doing in class, and then laying
21:29
Speaker 6: the groundwork for the lesson that had to be learned. Okay,
21:32
Speaker 6: if you keep acting a fool in class and not
21:35
Speaker 6: doing what you're supposed to be doing, there's a time
21:37
Speaker 6: and place for everything. Somebody couldn't get hurt, and so
21:39
Speaker 6: that get weaved in. I got weaved in. One of
21:42
Speaker 6: his imaginary friends got hurt in a dream sequence. And
21:46
Speaker 6: then at the end he learned that, Okay, that I
21:49
Speaker 6: can do what I do, the things I can be
21:53
Speaker 6: funny and silly, and everything, but there's a time and
21:55
Speaker 6: a place and then you can continue on to still
21:59
Speaker 6: exhibit the proper behavior that you need to exhibit at
22:02
Speaker 6: the proper time. And so just understanding how to weave
22:05
Speaker 6: those different elements in there together to again hold the intention,
22:10
Speaker 6: to engage and hold the attention of your intended audience,
22:14
Speaker 6: which you know kids are very attentive when it's something
22:17
Speaker 6: that strikes their interest.
22:24
Speaker 3: Well, it's so important that when you write a children's book,
22:26
Speaker 3: and I'm not saying nobody else can, but when you're
22:28
Speaker 3: an English teacher and you're writing it, you just seem
22:31
Speaker 3: to have all those little nuggets that you're able to
22:34
Speaker 3: tap into everything as far as what the child should
22:38
Speaker 3: be reading, what the parent would love for their child
22:41
Speaker 3: to read, and what the Department of Education would want
22:44
Speaker 3: children to know and to read. And it's just like
22:47
Speaker 3: it's a well oil thing when you have a teacher
22:52
Speaker 3: that's writing as well. But DEDI let me ask you
22:55
Speaker 3: a question, what message or lesson do you hope reading
23:00
Speaker 3: take away from your kind attribution eyes the anthology?
23:09
Speaker 5: I would hope that they would see that not everybody's
23:12
Speaker 5: adoption story is a bad one, that there are good outcomes.
23:17
Speaker 5: There are great outcomes, and that if you're thinking about adopting,
23:22
Speaker 5: thinking about parsing.
23:25
Speaker 4: You should do it.
23:26
Speaker 5: If you have love in your heart for a child,
23:28
Speaker 5: you should do it because there are so many kids
23:30
Speaker 5: out here that need that kind of love and a brand.
23:34
Speaker 5: And I just wanted to basically honor my parents in that.
23:43
Speaker 2: Wow, I can just imagine how proud they are of you.
23:47
Speaker 2: You know, what you have written and just the way
23:50
Speaker 2: that you turned out.
23:51
Speaker 3: I'm sitting there smund like, I'm your parents Trician. What
23:55
Speaker 3: was the most challenging part of bringing.
23:58
Speaker 2: What was the most.
24:06
Speaker 6: The most challenging part of bringing like, the most challenging
24:15
Speaker 6: part of bringing it to putting the story together?
24:18
Speaker 2: Christopher's turns out.
24:22
Speaker 6: Right, So actually the most challenging part. Yes, it wasn't.
24:26
Speaker 6: It wasn't the storytelling.
24:28
Speaker 2: Say, because you lived with your son, you knew how.
24:29
Speaker 6: He was in school, right, I knew how he was
24:33
Speaker 6: in school and all of that, And so putting it together,
24:36
Speaker 6: it wasn't the writing part, because he gave he fed me,
24:38
Speaker 6: he like overwhelmed me with the material because of all
24:42
Speaker 6: the nonsense. But then and couple that with the fact
24:45
Speaker 6: that English is my background, That's what I majored in,
24:48
Speaker 6: That's what I did in my day job. So the
24:50
Speaker 6: storytelling was not challenging at all. I knew how to
24:53
Speaker 6: put a good story together, so I wasn't concerned about that.
24:55
Speaker 6: But then it was after that I knew how to
24:58
Speaker 6: work with an illustrator because as a market writer, I
25:01
Speaker 6: dealt with graphic designers all the time, so I knew
25:03
Speaker 6: how to speak their language to tell them what I wanted.
25:06
Speaker 6: But the issue came when Okay, now I have this document,
25:13
Speaker 6: this manuscript. Now what how do I copyright it? I
25:16
Speaker 6: know I'm supposed to, but I don't know how to
25:19
Speaker 6: do that. And then what publisher do I go with?
25:21
Speaker 6: I know I want to self published, but there are
25:23
Speaker 6: millions self publishers. So then this is where I really
25:26
Speaker 6: stepped out on faith because I just knew, Okay, complete
25:29
Speaker 6: the manuscript and then you know what to do next.
25:32
Speaker 6: What It'll be time for you to know what to
25:34
Speaker 6: do next, because I'm still wondering in the back of
25:36
Speaker 6: my mind. And so about just a few week or so,
25:40
Speaker 6: what's very long after I had a complete, solid manuscript,
25:44
Speaker 6: I saw and noticed a flyer about a publishing workshop
25:51
Speaker 6: held by Natalie R. Murphy from the Distinguished Author's Guild,
25:55
Speaker 6: and it's called from pan to Published. I saw this
25:58
Speaker 6: flyer and one of the first things is was are
26:01
Speaker 6: you ready to publish your book? Do you need to
26:03
Speaker 6: know how to copyright it? So that was for me,
26:07
Speaker 6: and from there I went to the writing workshop. I could,
26:10
Speaker 6: I was running to it. I couldn't wait. I was excited.
26:12
Speaker 6: I got all of those questions answered, and I was
26:15
Speaker 6: ready to cross the publishing finish line. But then even
26:19
Speaker 6: after that, okay, so now what do I do? How
26:22
Speaker 6: do I once I publish? What happens next? So and
26:27
Speaker 6: Natalie again. Then she strongly encouraged me to submit my
26:31
Speaker 6: book to the Distinguished Author's Guilt for award consideration. And
26:35
Speaker 6: I was hesitant at first.
26:36
Speaker 7: I'm like, what do you mean?
26:37
Speaker 6: I just I just published it and the ink is
26:39
Speaker 6: not dry. What do you mean award what? And so
26:42
Speaker 6: she's like, you need to do this, and I thought
26:45
Speaker 6: about I took a step back. Wait a minute, She's
26:48
Speaker 6: an award winning, accomplished author. She's telling me to do this.
26:51
Speaker 6: I believe she knows what she's talking about. So I
26:54
Speaker 6: decided to follow her advice, and therefore it was through
26:59
Speaker 6: the Distinguished Author's Guild Doctor Carolyn and Jan along with
27:02
Speaker 6: my fellow nominees, that I learned the nuances for showcasing
27:07
Speaker 6: my book in public. That was the most challenging part
27:09
Speaker 6: because being the first time author, I didn't know what
27:11
Speaker 6: that journey was supposed to look like after publication, and
27:15
Speaker 6: I certainly didn't have any clue about or any idea
27:18
Speaker 6: that I could be submitting it for awards. And so
27:21
Speaker 6: they provided that guidance and that supert like me, and
27:26
Speaker 6: so I'm very thankful for that.
27:27
Speaker 3: You you had some and the ones that you've mentioned,
27:32
Speaker 3: I heard about them, and I've spoken to some of
27:34
Speaker 3: you have some powerhouses behind you, and this is what
27:37
Speaker 3: I keep saying about the Distinguished Author's guilt.
27:41
Speaker 2: Join it and this is what.
27:42
Speaker 3: You're going to get out of it and more. You know, DIDDI,
27:45
Speaker 3: What was the most challenging part of sharing your story
27:48
Speaker 3: and what did you learn about yourself in the process.
27:53
Speaker 5: The most challenging part for me is just thinking about
27:58
Speaker 5: uh times of being with my parents, because both of
28:01
Speaker 5: them have going on, so to have stories where I'm
28:05
Speaker 5: incorporating them into it, it gets a little emotional, It
28:10
Speaker 5: gets a little emotional because my mom. My mom was
28:12
Speaker 5: not everything. She was my cheerleader, she was my support system.
28:16
Speaker 5: She was she believed in me more than I probably
28:19
Speaker 5: believed in myself. She saw something in me I didn't
28:22
Speaker 5: even remotely see for a long time. She helped me
28:27
Speaker 5: to kind of just see that my disabelief doesn't have
28:30
Speaker 5: to stop me from doing whatever I want. You always
28:32
Speaker 5: emphasized that. She said, yes, you was physically challenged, but
28:36
Speaker 5: you don't have nothing's wrong with your brain, so you
28:38
Speaker 5: can do whatever you want.
28:39
Speaker 4: But she always pushed me.
28:40
Speaker 5: So having those stories to be able to tell and
28:44
Speaker 5: thinking about her and what she would be saying and
28:46
Speaker 5: hearing her voice, those were challenging because I would have
28:49
Speaker 5: to kind of pause a little bit because it would
28:51
Speaker 5: make me emotional because I would miss her.
28:53
Speaker 4: I miss her every day.
28:54
Speaker 5: I miss both of them every day, and I'm just
28:57
Speaker 5: hoping that I am making them proud because that is
29:00
Speaker 5: my goal.
29:01
Speaker 4: My goal.
29:04
Speaker 2: If you had two, well, what author would you most
29:09
Speaker 2: like to meet?
29:10
Speaker 4: And why?
29:13
Speaker 2: M manage you're in the game. What author would you
29:18
Speaker 2: most likely like to meet? And why what author?
29:27
Speaker 5: I'm not really sure right now. It's I'm a big
29:32
Speaker 5: Terry McMillan fan. But that's kind of kind of wild.
29:37
Speaker 2: It's not a wild for me. But I like writing.
29:44
Speaker 5: I mean I used to read from her books. So
29:47
Speaker 5: and then I was also a big mind Angeloue fan.
29:51
Speaker 5: So I love I love my Angelue.
29:54
Speaker 4: So I would I wish I couldn't meet her?
29:57
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Patricia, how about you? What what what author
30:04
Speaker 2: would you most like to meet?
30:05
Speaker 6: And why I would love to meet Michelle Obama. I
30:09
Speaker 6: enjoyed her book. I thought it was exciting, it was insightful.
30:13
Speaker 2: See now, wait a minute, she is more than an author.
30:18
Speaker 2: She is more than an author. So she's just about
30:21
Speaker 2: any category we love to have her. But she's in
30:25
Speaker 2: so many different.
30:27
Speaker 6: Grow end but she her book really captivated me. That's
30:31
Speaker 6: when I felt like once I read her story, you
30:34
Speaker 6: know what I mean. You saw her on the big screen,
30:35
Speaker 6: you saw what she's doing it from the public eye,
30:38
Speaker 6: but to hear her personal, you know, journey in life
30:42
Speaker 6: and you know how she didn't want to be in
30:44
Speaker 6: the political scene and you know all of that. And
30:47
Speaker 6: she was a Chicago girl. You know, I'm from Chicago,
30:49
Speaker 6: and I could a lot of the simple nuances like
30:52
Speaker 6: that I could relate to and so it was very
30:55
Speaker 6: authentic to me. And I feel like just the nuggets
30:58
Speaker 6: that she gives as an author, you know, telling her memoir.
31:02
Speaker 6: You know, I thought those were just valuable, very valuable
31:08
Speaker 6: lessons that are you know, just never ending.
31:14
Speaker 3: But I wouldst been the most surprising rewarding part of
31:17
Speaker 3: your publishing journey so far.
31:21
Speaker 6: For me, it's been the responses that I'm getting from
31:25
Speaker 6: other aspiring authors. You wanted me to repeat it.
31:33
Speaker 3: Back, No, I'm just saying that you guys are gonna
31:37
Speaker 3: you're both of you, young ladies, are going to continue
31:39
Speaker 3: to get the responses that you're getting, plus much more.
31:42
Speaker 2: So prepare yourself because this is just the beginning of
31:45
Speaker 2: this journey for you.
31:47
Speaker 3: It's a lot out there. It's a lot more to
31:50
Speaker 3: both of you, and I can see that. So don't
31:54
Speaker 3: think that, Okay, I wrote that one book. I'm gonna
31:56
Speaker 3: sit back and relax and that's gonna be it.
31:58
Speaker 2: No. So, you know when you think that somebody's knowing
32:03
Speaker 2: that you do, yeah, somebody's knocking down once, So open
32:09
Speaker 2: it up, let them in.
32:11
Speaker 5: Kay.
32:12
Speaker 2: Yeah.
32:12
Speaker 7: So, but I also want to say, who else do
32:17
Speaker 7: you like? Can you say that again?
32:23
Speaker 2: What other author? What other author do you do you
32:27
Speaker 2: like would you most like to meet, you said to Obama.
32:30
Speaker 6: Yeah, Victoria Christopher Murray her latest book, Harlem Rahapsy. I'm
32:35
Speaker 6: reading that now and she's just phenomenal as well. And
32:40
Speaker 6: I'm hoping that I've seen on Facebook that she's trying.
32:43
Speaker 6: She mentioned that she's trying to come to Chicago. I
32:45
Speaker 6: would love to see her, you know, just those authors
32:48
Speaker 6: who aren't thriving and showing the way of how to
32:51
Speaker 6: do this, that it can be done, and just the
32:53
Speaker 6: reception of what a story can do for people, whether
32:57
Speaker 6: it's fiction or nonfiction, you know. And so that was
33:01
Speaker 6: one of the things I wanted to continue on with.
33:05
Speaker 6: Just people's response is just when they come to me
33:09
Speaker 6: and say, you've inspired me to write my own story
33:13
Speaker 6: because I either have a manuscript that i'm having dusted
33:17
Speaker 6: off or I'm constantly working, I'm currently working on something,
33:20
Speaker 6: and I didn't have the courage to go out there,
33:22
Speaker 6: but I see that you did, so now I think
33:24
Speaker 6: I can do it too, you know what I mean.
33:27
Speaker 6: So that's very That's something that I didn't think about.
33:30
Speaker 6: That's very rewarding. How just your simple taking your walk
33:35
Speaker 6: of faith is allowing them to see what you're doing
33:38
Speaker 6: because you never know who's watching you. And if she can,
33:40
Speaker 6: I tell them if I can do a so can you,
33:43
Speaker 6: you know. And so that's very that's very rewarding, and
33:46
Speaker 6: just like an icing on the cake type of a
33:48
Speaker 6: thing that I didn't think anything about. You know, I wasn't.
33:51
Speaker 6: My head wasn't on that level. It was just trying
33:53
Speaker 6: to get it written down, you know. But you never know.
34:00
Speaker 3: We'll get yourself ready to be on that level because
34:02
Speaker 3: I'm going to have plenty of interviews and I'm going
34:04
Speaker 3: to be asking some of these authors the same questions
34:07
Speaker 3: and when they say that, my favorite is D. D.
34:10
Speaker 2: Scott or Patricia fall Sudden like I know them. I
34:14
Speaker 2: interviewed them, Yes, so I already met them. So don't
34:17
Speaker 2: be too surprised it happened to you, because I like
34:21
Speaker 2: that guarantee you that's going to be coming very soon.
34:25
Speaker 4: Crave God.
34:26
Speaker 6: I received it.
34:27
Speaker 2: Saying that in your books, because that's where your book
34:29
Speaker 2: is going to go. Please we see it, because I'm
34:32
Speaker 2: telling you, I got it.
34:34
Speaker 3: Ain't nobody around here seeing me saying all of this,
34:36
Speaker 3: but I've seen them on my shelf. I haven't met
34:40
Speaker 3: the person, but I'm able.
34:42
Speaker 2: To talk to them.
34:43
Speaker 4: Praise God.
34:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, so go back and look, go to YouTube there
34:51
Speaker 2: on now you'll see me.
34:52
Speaker 4: So hey, well, I appreciate you saying that.
35:05
Speaker 2: Can you give us a little bit?
35:07
Speaker 5: You do you think?
35:08
Speaker 2: I was? What can you tell us about your autobiography?
35:12
Speaker 2: What might it include?
35:14
Speaker 4: Mm?
35:15
Speaker 2: They don't want to give everything away, but what might
35:17
Speaker 2: your autobiography?
35:19
Speaker 5: But in the anthology, I only gave like snippet of
35:24
Speaker 5: of my story. So I'm continuing, you know, visit part
35:29
Speaker 5: of what they've probably already read. But it's just gonna
35:31
Speaker 5: continue to keep going. And I'm just gonna kind of
35:34
Speaker 5: just put it out there. God wanted me to put
35:37
Speaker 5: it out there. I'm gonna put it out That's as
35:39
Speaker 5: I know how. So yeah, I guess all I'm gonna
35:43
Speaker 5: do is just continue to write what I've been writing
35:46
Speaker 5: and kind of just.
35:48
Speaker 4: Expand.
35:56
Speaker 2: Well, be comfortable with whatever you're writing, because that's the
35:59
Speaker 2: key is this whole thing. Be comfortable in it.
36:02
Speaker 3: What advice would you get to someone who was considering
36:04
Speaker 3: sharing their personal story but might be a little hesitant
36:07
Speaker 3: or afraid to do so?
36:08
Speaker 8: Did he.
36:11
Speaker 5: Pray about it first?
36:12
Speaker 4: I'm big on prayer.
36:14
Speaker 2: So let God leave you.
36:16
Speaker 4: And then just step out there.
36:18
Speaker 5: Because like my friend told me, she said, you never
36:23
Speaker 5: know that your story is the is the story that
36:25
Speaker 5: could save someone.
36:27
Speaker 4: And I never thought about it like that.
36:29
Speaker 5: I never thought my story would have any major impact.
36:33
Speaker 5: I just shared my story because I felt blessed to
36:35
Speaker 5: grow up in the family.
36:36
Speaker 2: I grew up in.
36:38
Speaker 5: But my story can help someone, can encourage someone. So
36:43
Speaker 5: that's that's my goal, is to encourage others to just
36:46
Speaker 5: just put it out there.
36:48
Speaker 4: You have a story to tell. Everybody has a story
36:50
Speaker 4: to tell.
36:51
Speaker 5: Everybody has a story, so it's just a taking a
36:55
Speaker 5: step of face to put it out there.
37:01
Speaker 3: So, Patricia, what advice would you give to aspiring authors,
37:05
Speaker 3: particularly those writing children's books and about creating and engaging
37:09
Speaker 3: impactfuls stories.
37:12
Speaker 6: I would tell them very similar to what D D said,
37:16
Speaker 6: write from your heart. Know your audience. You're writing for children.
37:20
Speaker 6: You have to know what well with any audience, that's
37:24
Speaker 6: for sure, but with children, you know attention span a
37:26
Speaker 6: lot of times. You gotta be mindful of certain things
37:29
Speaker 6: and that the importance of the written word along with
37:33
Speaker 6: the illustrations, that is key. So know your audience, don't
37:36
Speaker 6: be afraid to take chances on how you tell your story.
37:41
Speaker 6: Your story, I would tell them, if you're compelled to
37:44
Speaker 6: write it, that means that you do have an audience
37:47
Speaker 6: that will be compelled to read what only you have
37:49
Speaker 6: to say. Well, how in a way that only you
37:51
Speaker 6: can reach them. And I would tell them that the
37:54
Speaker 6: purpose of their storytelling, whether it's fiction, whether it's nonfiction,
37:59
Speaker 6: whatever the g is to is to share with others.
38:03
Speaker 6: So whenever you're doing that, just be mindful, whether it's
38:06
Speaker 6: you're inspiring, whether or not you're encouraging someone, whether you're entertaining,
38:10
Speaker 6: it is to share with others.
38:12
Speaker 2: So share.
38:12
Speaker 6: The purpose is bigger than we are. We're the vehicle
38:17
Speaker 6: that these stories are being pushed through so that we
38:21
Speaker 6: can speak to others with our unique voice. So I
38:24
Speaker 6: would tell them to be mindful, little thing of those
38:26
Speaker 6: things go forward because you have nothing to lose.
38:30
Speaker 3: You have nothing to lose, right, So what's next for you, Patricia?
38:36
Speaker 3: Can we just look forward to more adventures with Christopher?
38:39
Speaker 3: Or do you have a new project coming out?
38:41
Speaker 6: Well, since I was asked from the beginning what's next
38:45
Speaker 6: from Christopher even before the ink was dry, yes I do.
38:48
Speaker 6: I'm working on some apparently people want to see what
38:52
Speaker 6: it gets in to next, so I'll have to collaborate
38:56
Speaker 6: with the real Christopher.
38:58
Speaker 7: But yeah, I do have.
39:00
Speaker 6: I do have something in the works regarding his next
39:06
Speaker 6: learning experience so to speak, you know, because I have
39:09
Speaker 6: a formula there and it seemed to be well received.
39:12
Speaker 6: And again he gave me plenty of material, him and
39:15
Speaker 6: his classmates and so and my other children as well.
39:22
Speaker 6: So yes, youna be writing for a while.
39:27
Speaker 4: I love it.
39:28
Speaker 6: I love it.
39:29
Speaker 4: I'll take that.
39:31
Speaker 6: So, yeah, there is a next assaument for Christopher. So all,
39:34
Speaker 6: like I say, is stay tuned on that.
39:41
Speaker 3: So dd now here that you're right in that autobiography,
39:44
Speaker 3: but I know something else is gonna come through, and
39:48
Speaker 3: I'm quite sure you're probably working the other things because
39:50
Speaker 3: the doors, like I said, the doors are going to
39:52
Speaker 3: be opening.
39:53
Speaker 2: And you're probably you know when when you're right through
40:01
Speaker 2: and you.
40:01
Speaker 3: Start to see what your potential is something that you
40:03
Speaker 3: didn't even tap into. So I know that you're just
40:06
Speaker 3: tapping away. Yeah, yeah, definitely, because at first you will
40:14
Speaker 3: hesitate supporting you.
40:17
Speaker 2: What is it that besides your photobiography, what is it
40:21
Speaker 2: that you're thinking of tapping in into because I'm want
40:24
Speaker 2: to tap into to that. What is it that you're
40:28
Speaker 2: tapping into?
40:29
Speaker 5: I kind of have been thinking about because attorney, Yeah,
40:33
Speaker 5: they're definitely turning. I've also thought about and I've been
40:38
Speaker 5: praying about it to see where God wants me to
40:39
Speaker 5: go with that.
40:40
Speaker 4: But I've dealt with suicide and suicide thoughts.
40:44
Speaker 5: In my life, and so I want to basically do
40:48
Speaker 5: maybe a self help book to kind of help others,
40:50
Speaker 5: to encourage them and keep going to keep pushing.
40:55
Speaker 4: So I'm kind of trying to figure out if I
40:59
Speaker 4: want to do that or just encourage other people.
41:03
Speaker 5: Who have disability to you know, keep pushing forth.
41:08
Speaker 4: You know, just like my mom deal with me.
41:10
Speaker 5: You know, there's nothing that there should be, nothing that
41:13
Speaker 5: if you want to do it, you can do anything
41:15
Speaker 5: you put your mind to, is what she would always say.
41:17
Speaker 5: So I just want to be able to encourage people
41:20
Speaker 5: because I feel like that's one of the things that
41:23
Speaker 5: God has me here for is to encourage. So that's
41:28
Speaker 5: definitely those are the two main.
41:31
Speaker 1: Them.
41:32
Speaker 3: Afterwards, have you thought about reaching out to maybe the
41:38
Speaker 3: adoption agency that you came from and letting them know
41:42
Speaker 3: who you are.
41:43
Speaker 2: That you're a famous author and that you can come
41:46
Speaker 2: and do speaking engagements for them.
41:48
Speaker 5: But you know, it's funny that you would say that
41:51
Speaker 5: growing up we came from and most people would think
41:54
Speaker 5: that it's kind of interesting. But the Salvation Arms, that's
41:57
Speaker 5: where me and my sisters came from. So it's like,
42:00
Speaker 5: I don't even know if they're really doing that anymore.
42:02
Speaker 5: But I have stopped to some other Forster par systems
42:05
Speaker 5: to let them know about the book and things like that.
42:08
Speaker 5: I haven't got too much hit yet, but I'm waiting
42:11
Speaker 5: for God to do what he's gonna do, because I know.
42:12
Speaker 4: He got a plan, So yeah, I would like to
42:16
Speaker 4: do that.
42:18
Speaker 3: They have so many support groups for Forster parents and
42:23
Speaker 3: there's some that you can join and let them know
42:25
Speaker 3: who you are and see.
42:26
Speaker 4: I give me out there, Auntie.
42:31
Speaker 7: I tried to.
42:32
Speaker 2: They kicked me out. They kicked me out because and
42:34
Speaker 2: I understand why, because I'm a social worker and I
42:37
Speaker 2: couldn't belong to the group because they was gonna be.
42:39
Speaker 3: Talking about things that I shouldn't hear. But the thing is,
42:44
Speaker 3: I'm a Forester. I was a force a parent too,
42:46
Speaker 3: and I needed that type of support.
42:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I didn't want to hear the regular stuff
42:51
Speaker 2: that forced the parents, you know that other social workers
42:54
Speaker 2: talk about here heard all day or the day. But
42:57
Speaker 2: I wanted to hear, you know, and shared someone Mike's too,
43:01
Speaker 2: because so what I work for the system, I have
43:03
Speaker 2: experiences exactly the court system I deal with. I wanted
43:08
Speaker 2: to be able to do that as well. You know, Hey, Trevida,
43:12
Speaker 2: thank you so much for what you listen.
43:17
Speaker 3: Tuning in so you know, there's so many support groups
43:20
Speaker 3: that that you can you can go to and and
43:23
Speaker 3: speak them. And and Patricia Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald's house.
43:28
Speaker 3: They would love this story about Christopher's time out because
43:31
Speaker 3: it's just so much fun for them and it takes
43:33
Speaker 3: their mind off of it. And then you're there the
43:36
Speaker 3: actual published auth this is him now. They would go ooh,
43:44
Speaker 3: I be looking and whatnot. One question I wanted to
43:46
Speaker 3: ask you, Patricia, was do your son have children and
43:50
Speaker 3: what do they think.
43:50
Speaker 2: About that book about what their dad used to do?
43:54
Speaker 6: Well, no, he doesn't have children yet, so we will
43:57
Speaker 6: have to let the journey. You have to put that
44:00
Speaker 6: on hold, you know. But but again he was he
44:04
Speaker 6: was excited about it, and my family members were all
44:07
Speaker 6: just like, yeah, that's definitely what he used to do.
44:10
Speaker 6: So everyone was very engaging with it.
44:15
Speaker 7: But again, he gets a kick out of it.
44:17
Speaker 2: He loves it.
44:17
Speaker 6: And he actually went to a book fair with me.
44:21
Speaker 6: My husband typically goes with me, and he wasn't able
44:23
Speaker 6: to come that particular time, so I was like, Christopher,
44:26
Speaker 6: you need to come, and we had the T shirts
44:28
Speaker 6: on and people asked him. They were like, are you
44:31
Speaker 6: the bad little boy that was doing all that stuff?
44:33
Speaker 7: And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that.
44:34
Speaker 6: Was me, that was me, And so he was totally
44:38
Speaker 6: engaged and he is he's enjoying it. So yeah, so
44:42
Speaker 6: I'm sure when he does have children, I will be
44:44
Speaker 6: the first one to make sure they have a copy
44:46
Speaker 6: and will read it to them and tell them all
44:49
Speaker 6: about the inside scoop on how that story came to me.
44:57
Speaker 3: Funny, it was like, tell me what it was like
45:02
Speaker 3: when your author's copy of your book a rime and
45:04
Speaker 3: you saw your name on it.
45:06
Speaker 2: What were your thoughts?
45:08
Speaker 6: Oh, you want to go first?
45:12
Speaker 8: Dd?
45:12
Speaker 7: Now you go?
45:13
Speaker 4: You go fresh? Emotional? It was.
45:18
Speaker 6: It was surreal. It was like in my hands is
45:24
Speaker 6: all of this work, all of these years of saying
45:28
Speaker 6: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, and then
45:30
Speaker 6: for it to be a tangible something I could hold
45:34
Speaker 6: in my hand that I could share with whomever. You know,
45:38
Speaker 6: It was just it was surreal and I just I
45:42
Speaker 6: had to take a breather. I had to just sit
45:43
Speaker 6: down and and just look at it and think. I
45:48
Speaker 6: was thankful, of course, very very thankful for the opportunity
45:51
Speaker 6: to get it across the finish line. And then it
45:53
Speaker 6: was like, okay, Then it really started to settle on me,
45:57
Speaker 6: like now you really have to go out there and
45:59
Speaker 6: share this. You know, you've written it down. You have
46:01
Speaker 6: to make sure that people do what you can to
46:03
Speaker 6: make sure they see it and they can engage with it.
46:07
Speaker 6: But it was very surreal for me, and I had
46:09
Speaker 6: to really just sit. I did just I sat in
46:12
Speaker 6: the moment. I didn't rush the moment. I sat there
46:15
Speaker 6: with that, because there's never a first time receiving your
46:18
Speaker 6: first author's copy, you know, of your first book. So yeah,
46:23
Speaker 6: I sat in it, and I just relished what that
46:27
Speaker 6: meant for me.
46:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, the booth that you're going to write, because each
46:36
Speaker 3: book is different and it's a different meaning.
46:38
Speaker 2: D D.
46:39
Speaker 3: How about you, what were your thoughts when you first
46:42
Speaker 3: got your book and you saw your name, Oh my goodness.
46:46
Speaker 5: Well, I immedily called a client because that's one of
46:48
Speaker 5: my best friends, and she kind of, you know, was
46:53
Speaker 5: going to phone me when I opened the box, and
46:55
Speaker 5: I just started crying because I was just like, God,
46:59
Speaker 5: you did that, you did that, because I just did
47:02
Speaker 5: not see me as author in front of my name,
47:07
Speaker 5: fall behind my name, and so to see my name
47:11
Speaker 5: on a cover was very very emotional.
47:15
Speaker 4: And then I just immediately thought about my parents, and
47:17
Speaker 4: I thought about my.
47:18
Speaker 5: Mom, and I just knew that if she was here,
47:20
Speaker 5: she'd buy every copy and send it to everybody she knows,
47:23
Speaker 5: and then she go tell them to go buy copies,
47:25
Speaker 5: and then everybody gotta get a copy and da da dad,
47:30
Speaker 5: it's my baby girl. So it was very emotional because
47:34
Speaker 5: I could literally almost see both of their faces smiling.
47:37
Speaker 4: I could literally see them smile them and it's just like, Okay, God,
47:41
Speaker 4: just happens. I am an author, and.
47:45
Speaker 3: You put a picture of both of them. You take
47:49
Speaker 3: you take your book and you take a picture of them,
47:52
Speaker 3: and you put it on both sides and you let
47:54
Speaker 3: it like kind of face the book. There you go
47:57
Speaker 3: then you go there forever looking at your book. Yeah,
48:00
Speaker 3: it's gonna be okay because.
48:01
Speaker 2: You're gonna write many more, many more. We'll be with
48:04
Speaker 2: you when you do your journey.
48:05
Speaker 4: So yes, ma'am, you're about to be fine.
48:08
Speaker 2: So ladies, yeah, yeah, no, please thank you. How can
48:14
Speaker 2: listeners if you connect with you?
48:24
Speaker 6: How can listeners connect with us?
48:27
Speaker 2: Do about? Yes?
48:29
Speaker 3: How could they connect with you? They want to get
48:30
Speaker 3: in contact with you to talk to you about it
48:32
Speaker 3: or to have you come in and do a book signing?
48:35
Speaker 3: How could they reach you?
48:37
Speaker 6: I can be reached on Facebook and then Patricia Wallace
48:41
Speaker 6: and then also if they want to copy, they can
48:45
Speaker 6: get it through BookBaby dot com. But I can definitely
48:48
Speaker 6: connect through Facebook and we can go from there.
48:53
Speaker 5: I would say this, I would say the same thing
48:55
Speaker 5: me on Faith Well, d how could they connect with you? Yes, ma'am,
48:58
Speaker 5: you can reach me on faithbook book.
49:00
Speaker 4: The book is on.
49:01
Speaker 5: Amazon, and like you said, you can you know b
49:05
Speaker 5: and me and you can get the book off off
49:07
Speaker 5: of Amazon and yeah, just message med and me and
49:11
Speaker 5: let me know and we can go from there.
49:16
Speaker 2: Wow, this has been an absolutely inspiring conversation. I'm going
49:21
Speaker 2: to give you a huge thank you to D. D.
49:24
Speaker 3: Scott and Patricia Wallace for sharing their journeys, wisdom and
49:28
Speaker 3: personal stories with us.
49:30
Speaker 2: And of course be sure to like, cheer.
49:34
Speaker 3: You're so welcome and subscribe so you never miss an
49:37
Speaker 3: episode of Basic Black after Dark. You can catch us
49:40
Speaker 3: on Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
49:43
Speaker 5: All of the.
49:44
Speaker 2: Links are going across the bar right now. Thank you
49:47
Speaker 2: all for tuning in.
49:49
Speaker 3: Join us on March seventh for National Reading Month with
49:52
Speaker 3: my guest Ranic Randa's stay.
49:55
Speaker 2: Tuned for our panel discussion.
49:57
Speaker 3: We're gonna have something coming up new with Basic The
50:00
Speaker 3: Black after Dark is called Cracks in the surface, Strengthen
50:03
Speaker 3: the core, not easily broken. It's coming soon. Until next time,
50:08
Speaker 3: remember your story matters, your voice is powerful, and the
50:11
Speaker 3: best is yet to come. And that goes for you ladies.
50:14
Speaker 3: Thanks for keeping it basic. Good night everybody.
50:18
Speaker 7: Thank you,