Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Soprano Trouble and Alto Secrets : ) | A conversation with Victoria Kimble

Transcript

Soprano Trouble and Alto Secrets : ) | A conversation with Victoria Kimble · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Hi friends! I am here with the lovely Ashley Pittman and we are going to introduce you to Victoria Kimball, friend and author of the Choir Girl series.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: She has recently just released her first book in the series, and we found out today a lot of interesting things.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: One of them being in fact she's gonna release all four of them this year, all four books in the series.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Which is amazing.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: She produced one of them was already written, but three of them have been produced in a year.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was in less than a year.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think she wrote them and has gone through the whole process.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Ashley, what was one of the things that you really loved about this interview?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I loved is that her personality is so different than mine, is I'm not highly disciplined and organized, and she is.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, sometimes that sounds like, oh, what a downer, I have to be organized and disciplined and stuff.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: But um, as one I like to write as well.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And um and so for me, I think what I loved about her is that it is her discipline and her organization and of her life that has allowed her to use her creativity.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so she sets apart these times to do the things that she has to do.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that part maybe doesn't sound fun, but it opens the door for her to be creative and and produce these books that she's produced.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, discipline and uh creativity seem to be they seem polar opposite.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: They do seem to be opposites, but they do not have to be.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they don't have to be.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I think when they go h hand in hand, that what that's what sets people apart.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Is that then they're actually able to share with the world um the creative gifts of the world.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's one of the elements that's missing from my life is the discipline part.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is something I need to incorporate.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Challenge for sure.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I'm excited to share uh about her life, but then also these books because my 10-year-old has really loved the first one.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I I we're gonna talk about this more, but it's just kind of tricky to find great books that um have have healthy stories that moral and ethical and just good values that I think our kids can lean from and lean from and reinforce the things that we're talking about at home.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right, because the kids don't necessarily want to hear it from us or they they they think they don't want to.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always good, I think.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'll pull from any resource I can, whether it's other people, mentors, books, movies, TV, whatever I can find to reinforce values.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's good.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, without further ado, here's our interview with Victoria Kemple.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Victoria, we're so excited to have you.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um excited to be here.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk about your book and uh Soprano Trouble.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk all about that.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: We have lots of questions, but before we dive into that, I wanted to share with some of my friends how I first got to know you and to introduce you a little bit more to my friend here, Ashley, who's my co-host sidekick, and my element of hilarity.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um I so how I first heard about you is your sister, Jamie, would always brag about how organized you were.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, there's the four of you girls, and then you're I know your little brother there.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, three girls, three girls.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Three girls, and then your brother.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and where do you fit in the birth order again?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm number two.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: So Jamie, Jamie's.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I was thinking, but I was like, oh, yeah, I know.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that's the thing that always throws me off because you have a lot of like firstborn character traits.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, interesting.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: I love Jamie, but that I think that's why she and I get along really well.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Is I'm a firstborn and she's a firstborn, but she doesn't act like your traditional firstborn.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: She's pretty bossy.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: She is, she is, and she'll totally announce to it.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: She knows she is.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: She's a great teacher.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: I always learned from her.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, anyway, besides that, even though you were her younger sister, she really admired you and your ability to be organized and how you ran your life.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: And then we were all having kids and babies, and she'd tell me about like, okay, so this is the day Tori goes grocery shopping, and she sticks to it and it works.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I was just like, oh man, you know, I want to be able to do that too.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I still haven't figured it out, and I'm a lot of years in.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and then um, so we'd lived in different states now for a while, but you uh heard about Norwex, you fell in love with it, and I was a Norwex consultant and I was running my business big and you hosted a Facebook party for me that what went gangbusters.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was like the biggest Facebook Norwegs party I ever had.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: It was awesome.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I still don't know why.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just did what you told me to do.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: So Well, thank you.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Trust me, it did not work like that with everyone.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's because, well, one you were organized, so you actually followed through.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: And two, it showed what influence that you had, like with your community and with your circle, which is really awesome.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like you, you obviously have a real positive uh influence in what you say and how you conduct your life and and everything.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: So it's no noteworthy.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: You're a mover and shaker for sure.
• 5:04
  unknown: Yeah, okay.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right then.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, okay, so now that you know, obviously you've you're kind of an organized person and stuff like that, but you have um continued throughout your years of getting married and having kids, you've been a steady writer.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: What um what is it that it's been, you know, in your inspiration for writing and your journey in writing and all of that?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: What's that look like for for you um in your married years or even before you got married?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when did that start and how's that looked as you've had kids and added to your family?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I've always wanted to be a writer.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I went to college as a journalism major.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and after, I mean, it was the first year I realized I did not want to do journalism.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I hate journalism.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Mostly because I I'm not really a nosy person.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, honestly, that's the thought of asking people questions about themselves like makes me panic.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's none of my business.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what journalism does.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, which is hilarious because that's exactly what I love to do.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is why I have a podcast.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, and that's great.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been able to make, you know, I've never found the good balance.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's a good balance.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so I decided no, journalism is not what I want to do.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: I just but I wanted to write, so I ended up changing my major to just communications with an emphasis in writing.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: I went to a really small Bible college.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there weren't too many major options for me.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but whatever, you know, communications, fine.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I took every writing course that I could, and that was fine.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but mostly from the time I was young, I've wanted to write stories, and bec I've wanted to write stories because I've loved to read.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, stories were a big part of my childhood, and I just I wanted to see my name on a book and you know, have my name, you know, all that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I always tell people um that my biggest inspiration is Robin Jones Gun.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know who she is?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, absolutely.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, amazing.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Her the Christy Miller series was instrumental in my teen years, and I'll never forget in college, I was talking to a friend who also liked her books.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we were talking about Todd and Christy because when we were in college, that's when Todd and Christy were getting married.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're going on and on about Todd and Christy.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And our our another friend of ours was sitting there listening to us for a while, and she finally went, Wait, are you talking about a book?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Stop talking about those people like they're real.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I've always wanted to create characters that like people think of as their friends and as they talk about them, you know, that there's a real blurred line.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we went to California when um I was always in college, I don't know, it was a family vacation, and we drove by Escondido, which is where Christy was from.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I wanted to go there, but she's not there, she's fictional anyway.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's hard to separate the two, right?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's a big problem.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I just I've always wanted to do that, but um being a fiction writer, especially, is really scary.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I would have to say that I really never did anything with that until oh, I think it was after the birth of my second, or maybe it wasn't.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was after I'd had my first and I'd stopped working, so I was a stay-at-home mom.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I took a course through the Institute of Children's Literature.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: They have at-home courses.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that is actually when I wrote Soprano Trouble.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that was six years ago.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it just sat there.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote it, yeah, and it sat there because it's really hard to get published.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then about a year ago, um, my parents had told me about a writer's conference here in Colorado, one of a tiny one, not one of the giant ones.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so I went there and I took uh well, first of all, I was like one of the first peop nine people to register, probably because I'm so organized.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm sure.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was one of the first nine, so I got a free critique.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh I sent them my first chapter, and then I took some of the chapters with me, and I got up in front of everybody and I read it because we were doing that.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I got really good feedback on it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and it was the first time that anyone outside my family had ever said, Hey, this is pretty good, you know, because your family will say it all the time.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, yeah.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: You try to blow it off.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the critique, the the gal who did the critique, she's a published author or whatever.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: She had like very little to say about it, which is good.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, just hey, this is great.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I was waiting for, I don't know.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for her to kind of dissect it and tear it apart.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she did it, and so I had talked with them, and there was a a publishing company there that's a hybrid, so it's kind of like a self-publishing company.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they really responded favorably to it.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: But it's self-publishing, and you gotta have capital to do self-publishing.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was talking with another friend, and I was just telling her, Oh, I just don't think it's just too hard to get published or whatever.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, You haven't even tried, just try.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, whatever, do it for a year.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Just so I started sending it out to um agents because that's the route you should go.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and um, I got a response back from this one, and they asked for the full story, and I was like, Great.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it turned out that this wasn't an agent I was talking to, it was a publishing company.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so they sent me a contract, like out of the blue.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was, I was, I thought I was dealing with an agent, and all of a sudden I got this book contract.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so, anyway, so all of that to say, I feel like my my fiction writing journey is just brand new.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, within the last year.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um it was just it was last year that I really decided I'm gonna do this.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've always wanted to, so now I'm gonna do this.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, because before you have published this book, I have seen you post, you know, on your Facebook page your kind of your musings and your blog.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: You want to talk a little bit about that element of writing?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's more of a the the nonfiction piece um for you.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and uh funny enough, I uh yeah, I used to do um, I haven't done it in a long time, but for years, I did this thing called the quick five.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually stole it from a friend of mine.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so every Friday I would sit down and I would just say five things about our week.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it would just share a picture or whatever, you know, just and they were always real short, just real little ditties, you know, about something funny the girls did, or straight up, you know, we went here, you know, all that kind of stuff.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: But it was just a way to keep you know a chronicle of our life, and um so that's what I did.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then I did have another blog.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the blogging world, boy, that's something in itself, you know.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I I I don't know.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know if I wanted to go that route, but I had a blog that if I ever felt like I had something to say, that's when I would post on that blog.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, but but I guess that's how, yeah, from the time the girls were tiny up until about this year.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: I actually have found um since then that when I am creating fiction, I have a real hard time creating the non-fiction.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's two different worlds for sure.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, much to the dismay of my family.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, there was an outcry.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I told them I wasn't gonna do it anymore.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, no, I'm like, honestly, I can't.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm focusing it all on this one side, and I I've got nothing left for the other side.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that's just the way it goes.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome though, because then you're then you're fully focused.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, any project, you know, there's only so many things that we can be giving our best to all at once.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, in this season of life that you're in and and what the Lord has offered you to do, I mean, this is this is where you can focus and and things like that.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean it's awesome.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Then you can produce something better and higher quality.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I love how you you just you know, you just went after it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then also, I mean, in those six years, uh you you know, you wrote it six years ago, and then you didn't you didn't not practice your talent.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: You still continue to do something, even if it wasn't for publishing sake or for you know the end goal.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: You just stayed steady and continued to practice your gifts and um explore the writing world.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, definitely.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm I'd love to um also share with my friends the inspiration behind the choir girl series.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: And you've published so far the first one and you're continuing to write.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so obviously maybe you have a few more that you've written and let collect us a little bit.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: But um my 10-year-old, you shared an advanced copy of Soprano Trouble.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: She's loved it, and so I went ahead and ordered her the real deal so she could hold her.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, awesome.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Very good.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, I you know, as a mom, I'm still trying to develop the love for like real books and not just the electronic version.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: So um, but okay, so you know, that this is totally like you said, the uh fiction and fun and fantasy.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: What um besides I mean, besides just wanting to have your name on that, what you know prompted the the idea of the characters and the setting and all of that?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um well choir was a big part of my life, okay.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um all through high school and college.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And my mom was a music teacher, she was the music teacher at the school we went to and all that.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I just the choir world was just totally fun for me.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: But um obviously, my yes, I've grown beyond just wanting to see my name in print.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know kids have so much to learn.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes I feel bad for them.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much they need to know.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I just know that story is a great way to communicate that.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you as a mom can tell your kids something all day, every day, and you're right and you mean it, but kids don't always hear that because you're their mom for whatever reason.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so, I mean, it's always my hope that these stories connect with the kids so that it I don't know whether they'll remember that their mom has told them this or not, but it is something that I mean, as a mom is what we want them to know.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so hopefully they can connect with the characters and you know, even though it's a fictional world, be like, Wow, I've always thought that, or you know, I've gone through that too.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I see, you know, and just just to awaken, you know, truth in their lives.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um for me growing up, a lot of that was uh Avengers and Odyssey started when I was, I think, 10, maybe eight, even.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so you know, we listened to that, and there and then there was a time in the teen years that I wasn't into that sort of thing, but my younger siblings were, and so I heard it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: But all the life lessons and stories that I heard from that, and then I I think of some of my my favorite books, and some of them fiction, some of them nonfiction, but I felt like I learned you know character traits from from quality material, and sometimes things I didn't want to be, uh, but certainly things that you know inspired me to to maybe make some different choices than I would have naturally been inclined to do.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: So definitely.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I said, the Christy Miller series was so instrumental in my teen years.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And as I think about it now, it's like, wow, I love those so much.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like I want my girls to, but you know, she wrote those and they're they're slow, they're a little bit dated, although they're not.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're timeless to me, and yes, I do still read them.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: I still pick those up and read those.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I I just recognize that uh my girls might not want to simply because mom likes it, you know.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like, I gotta write, but there's gotta be new stuff.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I mean, and I'm not the greatest at market research, but yeah, I haven't been able to find a lot of this stuff that's true, yeah.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like, well, then I will write it.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: So no, I am I am really grateful as a mom and and just as someone who wants to help mentor young women and and fellow moms to be able to find good choices.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: I have looked for choices, and there's a couple out there, but uh they're they're really hard to find, they're few and far between, and some of them um maybe start out pretty good, but then just kind of the direction that they go, um, or they're just not really purely faith-based.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's tricky to find.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: You can find it for some of the older, like you said, high school years, but these these in between tween and and young teenage years, it's it's really hard to find good quality stuff that they will actually enjoy reading, and you're not like bribing them or forcing them to read.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely, definitely.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, as um, so Paige, I let her, I told her that I was gonna interview you, and so she was so excited, she was like, Oh, you know, can I meet her too?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Well, someday I'm sure we will.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I said, Okay, well, one question that you had about the series, what would it be?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so she just finished it and she said, Um, you know, she kind of gave me the I idea of it about it was about friendship and the challenges with that.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: So she wants to know if the the old friends that were at the beginning of the book, if they will be continued to um find her and interact with her in the future books.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yes.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: The uh there's four books in the series, they're all written, they were all be released this year.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's really the whole series is kind of about the journey of the four main friends.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yes, they are yes, that's the answer.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: You will see them, you will even get more in-depth into even the old friends as the series goes on.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, they are they are still there.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because I mean that I think that's the thing how you talked about having art reflect life.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's what Robin Jones Gunn did with her books really well, is that her her narrative was very realistic.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I honestly, I didn't really read them because I was just a little bit past it.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: But my sister, who's your age, just I mean, sh I think she owns every single one that Robin Jones Gunn has written and she loves them.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing, like Christy and Todd are real people.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: And um so you probably probably could talk for hours.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: But that that whole idea of I want something that that makes sense in real life that tells stories of you know very similar of what really well, you know, did happen or what could happen in life, um, I feel like really healthy instruction follows that.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Instead of just creating a a pure fantasy world of, you know, when it always resolves exactly how you want to.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: And yet at the same time, when I I when we're following the Lord and we're, you know, just walking in his path, we can also see some really, you know, like maybe what we thought was a bad ending be restored and be redeemed and have a positive ending in the end if both parties can can come to that.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, definitely.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of see that as that that's our little hints, a preview, a theme of uh the books are.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: So all of those are gonna be published this year then.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the next one I was I've been uh hoping, I was hoping I'd have like I could tell you when the next one's coming out because it's coming out soon.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um I just don't have the specific date for you, although I'll probably have it maybe even later this afternoon, but I don't know.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we'll be sure and put it in the show notes too.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the next one, they they told me it was gonna be released early April.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um I bet it'll probably more like mid to late April, but it'll be soon for the second book.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, can I do a little shameless plug?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, please.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you go to my if you go to my website, which I you you said you're gonna put in the show notes, it's www.victoria Kimmel.com.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you sign up for my newsletter, you will get the first chapter of the next book for free.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you can go ahead and do that, and yeah, it'll you'll just it'll pop right back up and you can read the first chapter of the next book already.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then that's a great way that you can continue to communicate.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're not ready to buy the book yet, or if it's not ready yet, then they'll you'll be able to keep in touch and then remind them, especially especially when summer comes and you need some, you know, more creative, fun reading for your kiddos.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yeah.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I don't like I said, all four will be released this year.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So if the next one's released in April, the third one could be as early as June or July.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's right in the middle of the summer, and then you know, August, September for the that last one.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's so great.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm excited.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's been so fun.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Way to go.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask a question?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: On the logistical side.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you've produced four books, and it sounds like this journey really started over um well for you six years ago, but then over the last year.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: So did you produce three more books in the last Year and I'm wondering what that look like.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: How did you organize your life with children to produce three more books in a year?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, first of all, I fully recognize that not everyone is a mourning person.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: I am, which I'm sure you can assume.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know what Jamie tells you about me, but yes, I am a morning good things.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Only good things.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So last year when I decided, all right, I'm gonna be a writer, the the first thing you have to do when you decide to be a writer is write.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Which sounds filling, but honestly, that's a big, it's a giant step that you have to just decide because it's just hard to decide um to write because there's no promise of that this'll go anywhere.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but anyway, someone I mean, no one may see your words ever.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: I might just stay on your computer and end up in the trash can.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so last year when I went to that conference and that that um hybrid publishing company was interested in it in talking to me about it, the gal said to me, This would do well as a series.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, series work great for this age group.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you know, all right.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I I don't believe in coincidence, I know it was the Lord.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um I decided, so I decided I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna write.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna write the next books.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Who, you know, who knows what'll happen, but I'm gonna do it, just if anything, for practice to get me in that habit.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, it was the first Monday of summer break.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: So my my oldest was finally out of school.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: I decided, okay, I'm gonna get up at five o'clock every day.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And this, you know, during the school year, I had been getting up at 5:30.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, just whatever.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna get up at five.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I get up at five, I get showered, and I eat my breakfast.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then at six, I go down to the basement and I take my laptop and I write.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my middle, she's my early bird.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: She's usually awake by then, but she's old enough to know you play by yourself.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And my husband's usually getting around and getting ready for work and stuff so he can talk to her.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: But so throughout the summer, um, every weekday from five from six to seven, I would write.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when I started writing the second book.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, these are tween books, so they're a little bit shorter than you know.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, these books are about 20,000 words.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, an adult novel is usually about 80,000 words.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I was so I I don't know.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, it sounds crazy that I was able to write three books, but they're less than it.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: You discipline even though it was an hour a day.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think people think, oh, well, you know, I have to have half a day at least to give time to it.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or go rent a room somewhere and hide out for two weeks.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right, right.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: But you just did a little bit every day, and then you you have a finished project.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: You have four books in a series.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because really, that that was just like a half six year, six months or eight months in where you've produced that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, really, that just took I can't remember when I finished the fourth one.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: It might have been September.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was only a few months.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: It really was.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, all that being said, these are my first books.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: I have already learned so much about writing.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I am working on another project.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Again, there's no guarantees for this one I'm working on.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I still don't have an agent really praying that the Lord would provide one of those because I'd like to get this next series uh published.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's for a little bit younger crowd.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've already worked harder on this 10,000-word story, you know, for a younger set than I ever did for these other ones.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that's just, I don't know.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's just for you.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: Where I that's where I see God's hand, you know, in helping get it those out.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's like, I don't know, it's like, oh wow, I could have made these way better, you know, knowing what I know now.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's fine.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's fine.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you're you're allowing yourself to be stretched and to grow and expand your gift.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: You're not just okay, well, I did that one thing and that's good enough.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: You're continuing to pursue ways that you can challenge yourself and grow.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: So so I was gonna say now during the school year though, it still looks a little different.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: I still get up at five, um, but then I have time to get dressed and eat my breakfast and read my Bible so that when I send the girls off to school, um, my older two are in school now, and then I still have my four-year-old here at home with me.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: She has room time.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: I never took away morning nap.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the kid the babies have morning naps, and when they drop that nap, I just call it room time.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Nine and so until until they go to school.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: So from eight to nine, my four-year-old is in room time, and that's when I I write now.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: It I don't I find it's not as easy to write during the school year.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Just because by that time I've already talked to people, I've probably already checked Facebook, it just messes.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: But in the summer, when I can write from six to seven, I've like seen and talked to nobody, and I I don't know, it just flows better.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, whatever.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: I do what I can.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: I just there's something so powerful, and I know not everyone's a morning person, but that's kind of how I'm wired more in those early hours before everyone's awake and you're tiptoeing around to try not to wake anyone.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's you and your coffee and the Lord, and then you know, inspiration comes out of that.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I I don't know, some of yeah, for sure, some of my better stuff.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I try sometimes in the afternoon when there's a little bit more space, but that looks different.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: What what comes out of that time looks completely different.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's hard to gear back down once the day's taken off for me anyway.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and like you said, you know, you've talked to people, other influences, different things, kind of scattered thoughts, but right kind of download.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's obvious that you live your life wholeheartedly.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh the name of our podcast, Simply Wholehearted.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I so appreciate I mean because we're both, you know, Ashley and I are are striving to live that way.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: And we love getting to talk to people who are doing that and doing that well, and um who have have figured out, you know, some of those elements.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of our last question here before we let you go, because we promised, you know, your window of time, and we appreciate using the electronics during the time.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um but as as you balance not only just your schedule there, how do you I think part of that element you shared, but then how do you switch gears well so you can be fully focused and present with your family or just the other tasks of womanhood, of motherhood that that you know life has you in right now?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm still working on that.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel like I can give uh this is what is the best.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um mostly it's just uh being disciplined in turning things off when it's time to turn them off.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my husband's been a big help um too, because this whole writing thing, I mean sometimes I wish I'd started it earlier because I don't know, I just feel like, well, I wasted so much time.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: But on the other hand, it's especially having a book published, it's um it's pretty consuming with the marketing I need to do and all that kind of stuff like that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but my husband's been great about letting me do that.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, I just have to I just have to shut it off.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I could probably work on it all day, every day.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just have to determine, you know.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's a choice.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: After dinner, you just let it go and work on whatever you can tomorrow and all that kind of stuff.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that's awesome.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think even though you maybe haven't mastered it, I think that's really, really good advice and and wisdom because I mean all of us, no matter what we've got going on, we have to kind of get that mindset to to different aspects of our life.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's awesome.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Victoria, thank you so much.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: We I've loved this.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I think Ashley's enjoyed getting to this absolutely questions and inspired.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll be sure and link to all the ways to find you in the show notes.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: But again, would you just tell us where our listeners and our friends can find you?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the best place is my website, www.victoriakimball.com.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there you can sign up for my newsletter.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can get um all the information about my books that are coming up because there are, I mean, that stuff is happening.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm also on Facebook, and from my website, you can find me on Facebook and Twitter.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but um, and then you said you're gonna put my Facebook, it's just Victoria Kimball on Facebook.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: You can find my author page there.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's always a great, great place too.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm sure my friends are gonna want to go check you out and get some great book choices for whether it's their grandkids, their children, or their their nieces.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I know that a lot of people will be blessed by your your faithfulness and your diligence.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, have a great rest of the day.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: You too.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, friends, thanks so much for joining us.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoyed our time with Victoria as much as we did.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: Learning how she lives her life wholeheartedly.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: Now, in the meantime, I hope you go live simply wholehearted, finding more ways to live unplugged, purposeful, and intentional.