Tag: writing

Meet The Author – Kayla Perrin – Romance, Mystery/Suspense and Mainstream fiction

Kayla Perrin is a multi-published and USA Today and Essence ® bestselling author with over forty books, for major publishing houses including St. Martin’s Press, HarperCollins Publishers, Kensington Books, Harlequin, Ballantine and Simon & Schuster. Kayla is published in a variety of genres, including romance, mystery/suspense and mainstream fiction. She has been featured on television shows such as Entertainment Tonight Canada, Who’s Afraid of Happy Endings (Bravo documentary about the romance genre), A.M. Buffalo, and the CTV News (among others). She has also been featured in Ebony magazine, Romantic Times magazine, The South Florida Business Journal, The Toronto Star, The Hamilton Spectator and many other Canadian and U.S. publications. She has been a guest on many radio shows (including CBC). In October 2007, she was featured in the Italian version of Vanity Fair after speaking at a women’s conference in Matera. Her works have been translated into Italian, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Please visit her website at http://www.authorkaylaperrin.com.

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Automated transcript:

Unknown Speaker 0:02
. Kayla, welcome.

Unknown Speaker 5:08
Thank you for having me. It’s my pleasure to have you now how have we figured out that eastern standard time and Eastern day? They don’t know. They don’t. They don’t coexist. I, you know, I’ve done that for years trying to not confuse people, because if I put Eastern Standard Time, they’re gonna think it’s an hour up because Eastern State with we’re actually at our different standard from day like diamonds an hour difference. So I tried to unconfuse people, but sometimes it confuses people. I understand that. I don’t know how many people understand the difference between standard time and Daylight Time. We just don’t. It’s Eastern time. And when it changes from Eastern Daylight Time to savings, I’m still calling it just Eastern time. And that’s probably what I should do. Just Eastern. Right. So

Unknown Speaker 5:57
okay. Is it called Eastern Daylight Time for everybody? Once it’s daylight savings time? Is that what you’re saying?

Unknown Speaker 6:03
Yeah, except, you know what, I don’t know if it’s the same in Canada, that might be the issue. But yes, it’s Eastern Daylight Time from from now for everybody who set who does that book. There are parts of the United States who don’t do that. So like parts of Arizona and New Mexico don’t Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 6:19
I thought last week that I missed an interview, because when I looked at said Eastern Daylight Time, and then I looked it up and it said it was an hour earlier and I was like, Oh my god, I missed the interview. But then I hadn’t. So I couldn’t figure it out, you know?

Unknown Speaker 6:38
But no, it’s always it’s Eastern Daylight Time here. Now, eastern standard time doesn’t exist until we get to November.

Unknown Speaker 6:45
I didn’t know that. So see something new every day? Well, I’m in Eastern Daylight Time. Okay, good. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 6:50
I’m gonna learn something new today. So I guess I probably gonna learn a lot. I’m not you know, they say shoot you when you first wake up is the best time to learn something new. So I guess I’m ready. I’m ready.

Unknown Speaker 7:01
Do you have your coffee as it seems you do?

Unknown Speaker 7:04
I do. I’m sorry. I did not bring any for you. I’m sorry. Oh, yeah. So you just did a television interview? What was that for?

Unknown Speaker 7:14
It was for I believe, one of the the news networks here CTV, which is a really big news network. It’s the one I watch. And it was an affiliate out in Alberta. But it’s going to air tonight. And as these things happen, it might get picked up across other affiliates across the country. Let’s hope.

Unknown Speaker 7:30
Right? What is the via event? Do you have a book coming out now? Cuz I haven’t found anything. That’s a new release. Do you have something coming up? Very soon tonight. Tomorrow? Well,

Unknown Speaker 7:41
it came out last week, actually. And it’s for Mother’s Day. Sorry about this, like, okay,

Unknown Speaker 7:45
direct? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 7:47
yeah, a second chance for love. So it was released, you know, just last week in time for Mother’s Day. So people could have ordered it for Mother’s days. Still, of course can order it. But the theme is for different stories that feature mother’s in some way or capacity. And there are four different connecting stories in that the characters make an appearance in each novella, even though like I had my own story featuring my hero and heroine, but her friends are the other heroines in the book. So each character makes an appearance and the other one stories, we’ve created a sense of community in the fictional seaglass Bay. That’s super interesting. Sounds

Unknown Speaker 8:28
like it would be a challenge with from the logistic side of how you make that work with the other authors Am I am I over complicating it? Because it’s No,

Unknown Speaker 8:40
you’re right. It is a challenge. And I think probably the biggest challenge came to the editor. Because as she read each story and then if she saw the inconsistency is when she said a weight and story one, this happened. And in story for this or like this characters describe this way. Or in my story in particular.

Unknown Speaker 9:01
I

Unknown Speaker 9:02
created a an element where I used there was a nosy ants from another story and I brought her into my story to kind of metal with my characters, but then the timing, didn’t work for the neck character story. So there was a little bit of finessing and making things work in that sense. Yeah, definitely. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 9:20
think Carla Lynn Webb is the only one who has not been on my show so far. Do you know the other lady, other authors?

Unknown Speaker 9:29
I I’ve met them all virtually. I had not known them before this, but those three are actually good friends and they’ve known each other about 20 years. Oh, yeah, I was brought into this with them like they they’re used to working with each other. And they’ve now adopted me so that’s good.

Unknown Speaker 9:48
You know what I’m finding and and correct me if I’m wrong about this, because people in the creative arts and we’re from people on the audio side, we’re showing the book cover and from the website Right now because the extra that I grabbed wasn’t was not loading in for some reason. So I went to the website. So we’re showing the cover of the book. But people in the Creative Arts General can be pretty catty. But I think some reason, authors seem to be more supportive of each other. Maybe it’s just my illusion. I’m just wondering how real my perception is of that. Authors seem to be far less catty, far less jealous and envious and backbiting and all that kind of stuff than say, comedians, musicians, filmmakers, and that kind of stuff.

Unknown Speaker 10:34
To some degree, you know, there’s definitely, I think, probably because we work alone for the most part, you would say there’s less of that cattiness. But you know, there are times when, you know, if you hear that one author got a really great deal. I mean, we are supportive, but of course, there’s going to be some envy, you know. But then there’s also that sense of pride, like and saying, Oh, I know, that person. For example, right now bridgerton, that the number one Netflix series, is, has been is created by an author friend that I’ve known for years, we were pregnant together. At one point, we were writing for the same publisher. And now she has the number one series on Netflix in the history of Netflix. So yeah, what I love that success. Sure, but you know what, I’m thrilled for Julia? It’s like, absolutely amazing. And you know, you can’t help but be happy for her. You know, it’s got to happen to someone. You want it to happen to some point but I doesn’t detract from the the pride I feel and Well, yeah, if

Unknown Speaker 11:36
you definitely seem like you have enough to be proud of I mean, your your resume or your your short, but short version of your bio, is one of the more impressive ones that I’ve read from any of the officers and I’ve interviewed probably more than 250 officers now. Wow. Yep. So congratulations.

Unknown Speaker 11:56
Thank you. And I think that’s a good point, it’s to remember what you’ve accomplished, because it’s, it’s always easy to look at someone else and say, Oh, look, they did that. But then you go back and say, you know, I’ve done this and be proud of what you’ve done, and just keep keep working, we all of our stories are going to be different. And none of us knows what’s around the corner. So you know, you just keep, keep doing what you’re doing. And as long as I’m in the game, you know, when I’m adding if I’m if I’m no longer getting contracts, that’s what I’m going to feel bad. But as long as they’re still publishing my books, I’m good.

Unknown Speaker 12:24
Right? Well, before we move on to exactly, cuz there’s a bunch of questions I had, including what mainstream fiction? Yes, yeah. You know, I want to talk about your writing and the genres and where you get your characters and all that stuff from, but we have a lot of aspiring writers, people who are writing their first book, or have published a couple of books, my audience is full of these people who really are interested in becoming authors, this just or they’re just starting out or been in the game for a little while, and are extremely frustrated by the self publishing process. And all it be illusions of, I’m gonna just publish a book and become a sell, best seller and open, it’s gonna be calling me and whatever. What can you say to those people to give them either encouragement, or a taste of what the reality of life is? You know what, I

Unknown Speaker 13:23
think that everybody has to realize that behind the book is hard work. You know, so I’ve heard and I have a friend who said this, this very specifically to me, she asked me to help edit one of her books, and I did. And then she’s like, I’m going to put this out, I’m going to make $100,000, you know, just like, she mentioned a certain author, and it’s not fiction. She’s doing nonfiction in the self help arena. And I thought, Well, wait a minute, you don’t even you have no following. You have nothing. You’ve mentioned someone who’s fairly, you know, as well known enough? How do you think you’re just gonna come up with a self published book and make $100,000 you know, like this. And so people can have unrealistic expectations. It’s not just putting a book out there. And especially now with self publishing, pretty much everybody’s putting a book out there, you know, everybody and their dog. So you have to a put out a good book, you got to make sure you put in the work to write a good book, you need to make sure that you’re figuring out your craft, because you know, it to me, it’s a little irritating, that everybody thinks they can write a story, just because you can write like, because you’re just because you’re literate. You know, there is a craft to it. And that’s why, you know, people, that’s why a lot of people got rejected before they were self publishing, because you put something out, and it wasn’t well put together, maybe your characters were lacking, or the plot was lacking. So you have to invest the time in either taking some courses to help you in those areas, if you’re lacking to bring other people in to help critique it. You know, find editors don’t just put something out in unexpected to sell that you haven’t put much effort into. And then when you have when you put the book out, you’re gonna need to figure out how to promote it. So you’re going to either have to be doing a lot on social media, maybe hire someone to help you get out there. But, you know, it’s it’s a tough game. And there’s more, there are more people in it now. So, you know, it requires some hard work as well as the talent,

Unknown Speaker 15:14
right to do the major publishing houses depend on you working as hard to promote it as if you were self published?

Unknown Speaker 15:22
Well, you know, they do, yes or no, yes, it they love that you promote your stuff. And when I first came out of the gate, I was promoting everywhere, and I was going to every event and the publishers loved that, you know, in some way to take their job away from them a little bit. But they still also do the big things, which is to get, you know, your books into bookstores. And it is really hard for a self published author to do that. So just by being published with St. Martin’s Press, I’m guaranteed I can go into a bookstore and find my book, which, you know, if you’re self published, and the book buyers don’t know about you and bookstores don’t know about you, you can’t get that foot in the door. But terms of in terms of promotion, like getting you on shows and so forth. It’s often the publisher who’s best at that or you hire an independent publicist to help you do that.

Unknown Speaker 16:12
Or when you were describing the B sea of people who are self publishing today. Yeah, it reminds me a lot of podcasting since the since the lockdown started and all that stuff. We’ve had two new podcasts every minute. So yeah,

Unknown Speaker 16:30
Yes, exactly. And just because you have a microphone, like you said, just because you can write doesn’t mean you’re a writer, or an author. Just because you have a microphone and speak doesn’t mean you’re naturally a broadcaster and know the broadcasting game. And so I resonate with that. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 16:49
Yeah, yeah. So now, tell me a little bit about where you learned your craft from Why were you always a? Was it your dream as a little girl to grow up to be an author?

Unknown Speaker 17:02
It was I always loved stories. And I was writing from the moment I could hold a pencil. And in fact, my aunt tells me a story that I guess they had recorded. They were recording me on like a tape recorder. And I was like, let me tell you a story. And I was five years old. And of course, no one, the tape, I guess was lost or destroyed. But I would love to hear what five year old Kayla had to say in terms of a story back then that would be nice, but I don’t know. But yeah, I was writing from the time I could hold a pencil. So with any spare time I had in my life and my classrooms, I was jotting down stories. And then I was 13 when I found out that there was a contest, a novel writing contest. And the prize was $3,000. And that’s when it clicked. People get paid to write books. Oh, my God. I’ve been writing all these little stories I you know, you’re a kid, you’re enjoying reading, you’re not and you’re enjoying writing, but I wasn’t thinking I wasn’t even thinking about the books that I was holding like that, that this was a business, you know, I was just a kid. Right? And that’s, that’s when it clued in that people get paid to write books. So I started immediately writing a story to try to send off for this contest. And of course, I was I was handwriting it on paper from my school notebooks. And it was never would never have ever been good enough to send in, I’m sure. But it was called the agony of divorce. And I didn’t get to finish it. So I didn’t get to send it in. And it was about four friends and the drama in school. I don’t know why I call it the agony of divorce because my parents were happily married. But

Unknown Speaker 18:33
every fifth my kids,

Unknown Speaker 18:36
I don’t even know where that came in. I honestly don’t. But look that that was my first foray into trying to write family drama, because I think I like to do that a lot in my books. You know, no matter what’s going on, there’s some level of family drama and usually some marriage that we’re relationship that’s got some issues. So I started Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 18:56
Did you come from a big family?

Unknown Speaker 18:59
My family’s five people, you know, so my nuclear family just like my sister, my brother, my parents, and like a lot of extended family. There’s like a lot because on my mother’s side, she has like nine siblings. And you know, there’s lots of cousins and on my dad’s side, there were six of them. My dad’s family stayed in Jamaica, though. So my mom’s family had a lot of them come here. So that’s where I got most of the cousins.

Unknown Speaker 19:22
Wow, from Jamaica to Canada. I

Unknown Speaker 19:26
yeah, from Beauty and warps to you know, depressing winters where writers can only you know, that’s why you write if you didn’t know that yet. That’s why we that’s what I do writers in Canada. Wow. By the winters,

Unknown Speaker 19:40
I saw I’m corrected my first time I’ve been writing about any daylight savings time in my life. Thank you for verifying that. So you write in a lot of well, not a lot, but more than one genre and I think the trend is for people to really niche down as well. I’m a romance writer, I’m just gonna write romance. I’m a mystery writer, I’m just gonna write mystery. Does it hurt you to branch out? Because in the music business, I know they like to put you in a box? They want the same thing from you every time. Yeah. And I think most businesses are going to try to do the same thing, whether it’s publishing or So does it hurt you at all to be tab of right variety of genres and things that you like to write about?

Unknown Speaker 20:25
You know, I go back and forth on that in my mind with that very question. Because sometimes I look at other writers who do romance who have just stuck to romance just done romance. And, you know, in some ways, I feel their readerships are growing within the romance, because the readers like that, and they go back to that time and time again. But I always like to have more elements to my story, like I would like one of my editors said, Caleb, you always have to put some element of suspense, like there’s there have to be a dead body, there has to be someone getting stocked. But I also like that. So I always felt, I guess, to some degree, I was bursting at the seams to do more. So in one hand, what happened was when I sold my romance, and then the editor at St. Martin’s Press had kind of learned about the book and liked my writing, I had to do something different for them. So to not compete with the other publisher. So I couldn’t do romance for St. Martin’s and romance for Kensington books, because it would become a competition. So that’s where the mainstream fiction, which is kind of just general fiction, but still, I’d say more geared to women. That’s where that came in. So I did, and I was able to sort of pepper my books with some intrigue, and, you know, with some elements of romance, but the romance was not the focal part of the story. But it also allows me like, you know, if I do a romance now that I can do something a little bit different next time. But yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know if it works fully, because I’ve had, I’ve had some people who will read my more generalized mainstream fiction, and they really liked that. But then they might not necessarily like the romance so much, but I still think I have a lot of crossover readers. So it’s a balancing act,

Unknown Speaker 22:07
my my thought is that it might be a help. And I hope it’s a help because it would, it would encourage the industry to try not to tend not to put people in a box and make them try to, you know, stick to producing the same McDonald’s hamburger over and over and over again, if it helps bring people because I’m, I’m not a romance reader. I mean, if you look at me, I’m not the typical. But if I was interested in some of your other books that weren’t so much romance, I might tend to be more open minded to start reading some of your romance books. So it might help you attract a wider audience in some way. And I hope it does just for what the effect it might have on the business and realizing that, you know, not everybody is so narrow minded. And just yeah. And even people I would imagine, they don’t do enough analytics on this stuff. I imagine that people who read romance novels, people who are big fans of romance novels, they’re very open to reading other stuff. They just happen to like romance doesn’t mean you have to feed them the same Donald Samberg every night. Right,

Unknown Speaker 23:16
exactly. That’s how I was as a reader. And as a reader. I like some variety. So, you know, I’ll read across the board and, and I so I that’s why I hope that the readers, like you said can be like you more open, if you read something else of me that’s not romance and you’d like that, then you might read my romance and say, oh, cuz I like this author’s voice. And I like the story together,

Unknown Speaker 23:38
I bought and everything, whether it’s film, music, comedy, I or books, I buy the author, the creator more than I never look at the genre. So I kind of assume that it’s going to be somewhat near the same ground. So sometimes I’m shocked when somebody is in a film or something that just is a stretch for them. You never saw them. And like the first time I saw Bill Murray and it was a non comedy movie, it was Yeah. Coming of Age or something. And I was like, wow, I was a big fan of Bill Murray’s. And then, but I still love the movie. And it opened me up to that. So I by the Creator, the author more than I by the gentleman, I never think of john or when I’m when I’m shopping for something or you know, when I’m in the mood for something. So that’s Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 24:25
good point.

Unknown Speaker 24:26
Um, tell me about how a story comes together for you. Because every author is completely different again, 250 or so authors never never got the same response for how a story comes together for you. Do you have the whole story in your mind before you start writing? Do you just have the characters in your mind? Tell me a little bit about how it comes together.

Unknown Speaker 24:48
Okay, so for me, I tend to think about an idea first, like a big idea that can open a story and then I think about, well who’s involved in the story. What When, where, why? So I kind of think of the initial idea. And then I think about the characters and the situation around them. So, for example, I have a book that came out some years ago was my, one of my books for St. Martin’s Press called the Delta sisters, where I have, it’s three generations of mothers and daughters, and a secret comes back to haunt Grandma, after 50 years. So it starts with a murder. No, it’s kind of like 1950s, something’s going on. And I don’t and so then I, I really wanted it to kind of open with that bang. And that’s when I’m like, well, who is this? who’s involved in this? And why would this matter to this family? And oh, okay, so this is a, this is an upper crust family in New Orleans, where this kind of dirty secret has to be kept secret, you know, and then you kind of start figuring out the story from it. That’s at least how I do it.

Unknown Speaker 25:52
Hmm, interesting. And you mentioned earlier was kind of, I didn’t know how to react to what you said, you, you were writing with pencil. Yeah. But today, I’m imagining its word processor, or do you did you transcribe it, I mean, how have had the physical part of writing the book,

Unknown Speaker 26:15
it’s all way it’s all kinds of ways. But one thing that I like to do now is I like to dictate and, and for me dictating is, is probably the closest thing to pen and paper. So when I’m on the computer, you can start typing. And then like, by the time you’ve done page one, you’re going back over, you’re already revising, and you’re not letting the ideas and the words just flow. So pen and paper I find I’m just kind of writing and the ideas are coming down. So now when I dictate, I can just get the words out, and then go back and fix it. It’s just, it’s for me. And for every writer, I think we can get caught up in making it sound perfect. And that will slow you down. So it’s really so important to get the ideas out, get the story down. And then at least for me, revision, that’s where I shine. So I you know, I will go and sit down at the computer. But you know, it’s hard with a pandemic, cuz I’m going to tell you, I did my best work at like a coffee shop, you know, Starbucks at my coffee, I had all this noise around me. And I could work when I’m at home. The dishes are calling the bathrooms like, hey, clean me. So it’s been tough in the pandemic. So I find it a little bit better now with with me, even if I’m in the car and I start dictating, it will help the free flow of ideas. Alright, when you said did you work at like Starbucks? I’m thinking you sitting there talking to a dictation machine? No, no, no, no. Yeah. No, not there. At a point like that, I’ve got my Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Crazy writer, crazy, crazy person over here.

Unknown Speaker 27:50
Now,

Unknown Speaker 27:52
are you do you show up in your books in some characters?

Unknown Speaker 27:57
Definitely, you know, certain books certain character. I think I’ve always been in there in some ways.

Unknown Speaker 28:03
That No, you recognize that?

Unknown Speaker 28:07
You know what, I think the people that know me are always looking for themselves. Oh, like, you know, my first book admittedly had, I think it was a sister in the story who talked a lot. And yeah, I have a sister who talks a lot. You’d have her on your show, and you wouldn’t be able to get her off probably for a few hours. And she’s like, is that character me? And I’m like, you know, maybe, maybe I do I sorry, I got a watering. I don’t know why you’re making me emotional.

Unknown Speaker 28:36
I feel good about that. That’s my job.

Unknown Speaker 28:40
Yeah, like some stories, like I have a book called obsession, and a lot of that kind of key and it’s, I’m in that one a lot. I’m in that way dealing with like, kind of a relationship I was in where the guy was crazy. But you know, there was a lot of passion. And you know, sometimes I kind of realize the crazier ones are, you know, can be more intense, let’s just put it that way. But you know, also crazy, right? So I there I kind of put myself into that with some of the stuff that I went through in that book. And

Unknown Speaker 29:13
inside there that now I have to ask you because it’s I have experienced this not you know, to a major degree have that because people know you do this now people your friends and people in relationships, know that in some way they might end up in one of your books as it makes them more guarded about how they react to you because for a while that people knew that not everything in my life ended up in a song that was published and, and and or performed and people didn’t want to be on the wrong end of song that went bad and be the main character of it, that you find that with people in your life.

Unknown Speaker 29:52
Okay, you know, what I find is interesting. It’s it’s like, it’s like watching reality TV because I think in the beginning, they’re aware that there’s a camera on them. But then they tend to forget. So people often say, Oh, I shouldn’t tell you this because you’re gonna write about it in a book. And then as time passes, suddenly they’re telling me about it. And I’m like, Yeah, I might, I might write about. So they think about it, and then they lose the guard as they kind of just want to, you know, share whatever it is, but I feel other people are kind of like, No, no, I’m not gonna tell you this cuz you’re gonna write about it, and they hold they, you know, they’re, they stick their, their feet in the sand and keep whatever I’m like, you know, I’m not gonna just I’m not just writing about everybody’s stories. But you know, if there’s something kind of interesting, that’s unique. I might, I might have to borrow it, you know, they should feel happy.

Unknown Speaker 30:39
Gotcha. Yeah, I know. I know that experience. Well, so we’re about halfway through here. It’s good time to again promote the book and the the website the website for the people on the listening side, which is lion’s share of the audiences. Author Caleb Perrin, that calm it’s all one word author, Kayla parent, parent, P e. r. i n.com. And the latest book, the latest offering is called a second chance of love. It’s a cooperative work between four authors. Now I have to ask about this. Is, is this as rewarding doing a novella? Do you feel like, wow, I was just getting started, I bet on that story could be so much bigger. It’s a full grown novel that hit you, you’re doing these Co Op, you know, cooperation, I don’t know how to quote collaboration.

Unknown Speaker 31:32
Yeah. Oh, it definitely, you know, there are times when I’m I write, I tend to write long and my short, shorter stories tend to have the ability to go on. So yes, that is a challenge. And so for this one, I really tried to keep the conflict, you know, minimal and, and even, you know, this is a couple extra characters in there, like the the surrounding cast, but I have kept it minimal, because once I start going with, you know, giving them a little bit more life and so forth, my stories can go on. So yeah, no, absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 32:06
That was satisfying for you. Because I would think, you know, you feel like a little bit handcuffed in some ways. No,

Unknown Speaker 32:13
well, you know, what I think what it’s good at is, is kind of teaching, you know, keeping you learning and, and honing your craft, okay, I’ve got to create create a conflict that’s sustainable for a shorter story, and still make it believable and get it to the end, that the readers feel that it was a satisfying story. So it’s another way to, you know, sort of hone your craft. And, you know, because then it’s not my strength to necessarily write short, I can do it effectively. But yeah, for the reasons I mentioned, I’m happier to kind of have a bigger story that goes on longer. But you know, this is, this is a fun change of pace. And it’s quicker to write as well, as long as you don’t overload yourself with too many elements you’ve got to cut out. But you know, it’s a different change of pace.

Unknown Speaker 33:02
Well, I’m on your website right now. And I should just kind of just bring this up and show people because they appear we have see a sea glass bay, bay romance book giveaway order by April 26. What is it? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 33:17
well, unfortunately, I have, that’s the one that I wanted to update my site. So that was if you ordered the book, before, by April 26, you were automatically entered into a drawing to win some seaglass. So the editor sister actually has a store. I think it’s seaglass, timeless creation, so she makes beautiful seaglass. But if you scroll back up to the Thanksgiving book, all of your anybody who’s listening or goes to my site, now you can click on the link and get that story for free. So it’s this, it’s the same authors in a second chance for love. So the Thanksgiving one, if you go up a bit, is called thankfully in love, or go down a bit, because

Unknown Speaker 33:59
I’m all the way up, go down.

Unknown Speaker 34:01
That there it is. So if you click on that link, it will take you directly where you can get the story for free. The whole thing, the novella version of it. So yeah,

Unknown Speaker 34:11
now I’m seeing a lot of these collaboration, I guess. I

Unknown Speaker 34:15
don’t know the first two. But these ones are mine.

Unknown Speaker 34:18
Yeah, undeniable. Oh, this one is this one is a collaboration as well, though, it’s

Unknown Speaker 34:22
not a collaboration. What happened with that is the the publisher decided to fold this line called commodity romance. So they ended up putting my book and this other book together. So became a two in one. Those are two full length novels that they put into one book.

Unknown Speaker 34:40
Gotcha. So that’s your most recent release. Now, you’ve published 40 books. That’s a lot. That’s a real life. Problem, perfect guy, I guess, man, you have

Unknown Speaker 34:52
to read them all. Now you have to read them all. That’s the requirement.

Unknown Speaker 34:56
I gotta get a picture of my back over there. I have at books I need to read from authors from four months ago that I haven’t gotten to read their books yet. The good thing about it interviewing so many authors is I get a lot of books. The bad thing about it is I just don’t have enough time.

Unknown Speaker 35:12
I know the feeling TBR pile the to be read pile is never ending.

Unknown Speaker 35:19
And every time I pick one up two more come in the mail.

Unknown Speaker 35:23
Exactly.

Unknown Speaker 35:26
So but that’s an incredibly prolific, you must be writing all the time and ideas come to you all the time. It’s not you. Yeah. So where do I get my ID? Yeah, where they come from,

Unknown Speaker 35:40
you know, they come from anywhere and everywhere, really. So some a lot, you know, when I’m sleeping, right? Sometimes it’s in a dream, or when I try to sleep and what keeps the keeps me up at night. I’ll think, Oh, this would be a good idea. Or sometimes I’ll hear something on the news. Or one time I was on a plane flying to Vegas, and there was a couple behind me. And they were talking about renewing their vows and how they were so happy. But then we were flying over Denver, and suddenly the wife says, I bet you’re thinking about her right now, aren’t you? And then as I was allegedly sleeping, I was trying to sleep and in all honesty, but when I heard that my ears perked up. And then they started to argue because the husband had had an affair. And you know, yeah, and then so then I’m like, Oh, you know, so again, being seemed happy. I’m hearing this couple happily going to renew their vows, then I hear the conflict. You know, someone had cheated, obviously, have you cheated, and the wife wasn’t so happy anymore. And you know, so sparks of ideas can come from anywhere. I keep my ears open all the time.

Unknown Speaker 36:42
Wow. Man, I want to know more about that story. But I want to I want to get that guy some advice. If you’re out there listening Mr. Derek Jeter. You shouldn’t be renewing your vows if you’re a cheater, go. Go be single.

Unknown Speaker 36:57
Yeah, you know what? And that’s I you know, and I wonder so many times why those guys are? were women just don’t want to just be single be single live that life. Just do it. No one’s stopping you. I mean, there’s no, just do it.

Unknown Speaker 37:12
Well, interesting enough. And maybe there’s a novel in this for you or an idea. somewhere down the road. I discussed the idea of monogamy with a lot of people because we have relationships I have, I interviewed tons of different kinds of people, relationship coaches, and psychologists and people like that, about the idea of monogamy and instead outdated. And because it sure seems to be with divorce rates so high and you know, infidelity so rampant. I just think in some ways. The human race is not necessarily cut out for long term monogamy at least for as we look towards the future, I think that’s a sad thing. Because I do, I just think there was a lot of value in, you know, nuclear families in mom and dad, and you know, Mom and Dad, we’re, you know,

Unknown Speaker 37:59
we’re committed to each other. Yeah. So it’s like, it’s like I said, I would always, you know, I would see my parents argue not all the time. But when they argued, I always knew that they would stay together. Whereas, you know, I’ve got married to a guy whose mom had cheated. And so when we argued for him, it was, it was like a devastating event. And ultimately, we got divorced. But I don’t think he ever could get over the fact that his mom had cheated. And she’d lied to him about it and moved him away saying, oh, Daddy’s coming. And he had three siblings. And as the youngest, he expected his dad to show up, he didn’t expect his mom to suddenly be moving in with someone else. So there’s a story there too. And that really messed with him, you know, and people react to things differently. And I think because he was young, and had she been open and honest, he might have been able to accept that more easily. But I think he always had a reservation in his mind about trusting women, because the big key figure in his life proved to be untrustworthy. Now, while I wasn’t untrustworthy, it caused so many problems on a relationship and it couldn’t survive. And ironically, he ended up being the one who was not trustworthy, and maybe because of all this psychology, if I had, you know, get her before she can get me I don’t know.

Unknown Speaker 39:13
Great. Well, does that play into your writing? Do you have Are you a somewhat a psychologist or you’re analyzing your characters and kind of getting into their heads or basically doing that with people in real life and then transferring that to characters in your in your work? You’re somewhat of a psychologist and

Unknown Speaker 39:33
i think that you know, what, I I think I am I want to wear that hat. And the one thing that I always did or people tend to do is come to me for romantic advice or relationship advice. So, in my books, I create characters like the one I just told you about my ex husband characters who are often you know, dealing with the stress and the reality of having been in a dysfunctional relationship for example. So in the My latest standalone release, the one that is they put the two books together, I have the heroine in the story is going back home, because her mother is now going to marry her biological father and the biological father and had a secret life with her mom. And now after his first wife has passed, he’s gonna marry this. This other woman is the one he had the secret child with. So of course, the daughter who is the product of the secret relationship is like, Have you lost your mind to her mother? Like, why would you do this, he denied you all these years, he was a cheater, and now you’re going to marry him. But there’s a complicated story that kind of shows that life isn’t always black and white, at least in his case, but she goes back to town to be there for her mother expecting the relationship to fail. And she’s so she’s not keen on love kind of girl. So for her even meeting this guy that now he was interested in her, it’s a tougher battle. And you know, sometimes I wonder if the readers like that, and I have some readers who just who love the reality of that, because, you know, maybe in the pages of romance novels, the security for some people is knowing that the guy is gonna meet the girl and things are gonna go okay, but I want to create this a little bit more realistically, where you meet a girl who maybe he’s got some issues or the guy has some issues, and you still know what’s going to be okay. But you see, the struggle that I deal with in my life, or my friends deal with, or people have dealt with, in reality to get to that happy ending. So just kind of make it a little more mad on dynamic, if that’s the word for it a little more complex,

Unknown Speaker 41:33
right? Well, it as I was listening to you speak there, or even before you got to be that that last part, I was thinking this probably probably determines who your audience is. Because I know a lot of romance fans when my travels are 1314 year old girls, but it doesn’t sound like doesn’t sound like those are the people who are you accordion accordion sounds like they would be more adult more in tune with the reality of Latin and the complications and how well do you know your audience?

Unknown Speaker 42:07
You know, you? You said that? And I thought, Gosh, am I like missing out on a 1314 year old audience?

Unknown Speaker 42:13
You don’t want? I don’t think you want them not? Because as you would say, Well, see, I’m not your target audience. But to me, what you were describing was realism, reality, and a sense of truthfulness, that Yeah, which is why I shy away from because I don’t like the idea of Oh, happiness and happy endings, and you get married. And that’s the end of the story. And they lived happily ever after. And that’s what romance represents to me. So when you were talking, you’re talking about all these complications in deep, you know, scars that people carry around. And people are complicated. And that appeals to me reality, you know, the reality of that, I think sometimes gets sugar coated, and are my perception of what romance is all about. So that’s why I’m not a fan of the agenda. But you describing it made me wonder why that’s a book I could read. That was the stories I could read. Of course, they would not be for teenagers.

Unknown Speaker 43:11
Yeah, that’s a good point. Because I think and that’s the difference between being like a teenager or a young person kind of going into falling in love with this blind, and I evety you know, like, Oh, it’s all gonna be wonderful. He’s just gonna whisk me off to Paris, and we’re gonna have, you know, this fantastic life. And then, you know, boom, comes the first heartbreak. And so I write about the people after they’ve had that heartbreak, you know, you’ll often find, in my book, you got a few women are sitting around bitching about their bad relationships, and they don’t necessarily want love, but into their lives, then come somebody who is great. And so you’re skeptical? Because in reality, I’d be skeptical. But then, you know, you go the distance, and you see, it’s the real thing. And, and then you really know, what’s the real thing as well, based on the scars, the battles and kind of how it gets there. It’s not just Oh, easy, wonderful, sweet. No, there’s been some struggle to get to the end, you know, they’re gonna make it.

Unknown Speaker 44:07
Well, what you’re saying, Now, this is a theory I just came up with, recently, and it could be wrong. But, again, meeting with some authors that I’ve read, I’ve met recently and read some of their work. It strikes me that in order and maybe I’m wrong about this, but in order to be a really, really, really good author, you have to be kind of a deep well and attracts me that you are an experienced person, a deep well, somebody who’s who’s lived and experienced life and know and been around the block a few times where we see people who just come at it from don’t don’t live a, you know, fair, indoor people, like you say they don’t get out much. And then because because introversion leads itself to writing that’s where a lot of writers come from from an introverted world and don’t have a whole world of experience to write for So they just sometimes a little too soft to about

Unknown Speaker 45:05
maybe that maybe that’s it because I you know, I’ve got too many experiences sometimes I’m like, you know what, I don’t need any more thank you I can do I got enough, but there’s always and then sometimes I wonder, am I attracting this like in the universe because it was you or to write about cuz I’m like I gotta I have to write about this now like Yeah, yeah I’ve got a new thing in my life that if this has to be written about but you know it’s there’s always something I kind of want that moment of just pause, relax and you know not have any drama but

Unknown Speaker 45:35
I mind me questioning the fact that your question that may made me kind of wait a minute of course you are. I know I know. And not to get too deep here. But isn’t this your purposes? Because it seems to me that you will, especially when when somebody like you, who comes and says they’ve been doing it their whole life is a calling me they felt their whole life? It seems to me that this is this is the reason you will put on honor to be a writer.

Unknown Speaker 46:04
Absolutely. No, I agree. And you know, you just you just said something. And I don’t know if you meant it that way. But it’s, it’s it’s my purpose. And now it makes me see like, I do know that when I have these experiences, it is for me to share or write about. But to see maybe that the the negative that I’ve gone through is actually a purpose to help my writing maybe. But I’ll tell you, the book that I wrote the Delta sisters, the three generations of mothers and daughters, I had a letter from a woman who said that my book gave her the courage to go home and face her mother, after 15 years of not talking to her, wow blew me away. Because the power of that because mother and daughter relationships can be complicated. So of course, it’s a Kayla parent book. It’s complicated. And to know that, that help someone like that. I mean, it was just, it made the writing of the book worth it just for that one response.

Unknown Speaker 46:57
I’m not one for getting goose bumps. But I and I think this is an important lesson for you aspiring authors out there. Because we do talk about purpose. A lot on this program. But until yesterday was was was the first time somebody brought it up in this context of purposes not I was meant to write purpose. Yeah, I was meant to write. And people were meant to read and use what I write a for, in some positive way. So attaching your purpose to something outside of yourself. Yes, I was born to be a creative person. This is my purpose, I’m on the right path. But the bigger part of my purpose is outward. It’s It’s It’s how I affect other people. And I think a lot of people are missing that part of the message of being on purpose. And so thank you for that. That was a really. And so now I really guess the answer to the most rewarding part of what you do is just that, right?

Unknown Speaker 47:56
Absolutely. Yeah. When I know that my stories have touched someone in their their lives. So it goes beyond the story or it goes, it goes to the power of a story to really affect a person’s life and reflect what people are going through. And that’s why for me, I write about the people with the scars or with the heartache, and, and how they get through it. Because I believe we still have to be optimistic and positive and we can get through it. But life deals, a lot of challenges. So, you know, it is rewarding when people can read one of my books, and it helps them get through some of the challenges in their lives. Amazing Good,

Unknown Speaker 48:33
good positive vibes here. I’m loving. I’m loving it. I’m really glad that we we got you on the program because I needed this conversation. It’s it’s uplifting, in a lot of ways gives me hope for, for the writing crap, because, you know, when you I don’t want to put anybody down, I don’t talk bad about anybody. But when you Oh interview as many people as I do, a comic told me this, he used to work in a comedy club when he wasn’t on stage. He said, I can’t stand I can’t stomach another bad act. And when you when you interview enough authors who are just struggling to try to make it and they just aren’t getting it the whole part of I need to do something bigger than myself and for more than myself, and yes, it’s about fulfilling my inner desire and need, but also fulfilling something for a higher purpose other than myself, I think so many people don’t get that. So I’m really, really inspired and, and grateful to have met you and had this conversation. So I just want you to know that. So thank you. Are you working on anything now for you must be as prolific as you are something for the future.

Unknown Speaker 49:48
I am and I have a few different things going through my mind, but I did just recently. Right and this is another as a shorter book that I plan to publish myself as an E book, but it’s going to be continuing story, and it’s called the Reverend. So it’s about a Reverend who, of course, is living this outwardly pious, wonderful life. But he’s got some secrets. So a lot of stuff is going to come to life and some drama. And it’s funny because I grew up in the church, and I wanted to I grew up in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and I have a friend who jokes that it’s their bad Ventus. And when I talked about naming the book that or dealing with adventism, the book, my mother said, Oh, no, no, no, like, you can’t do that everyone’s gonna be so upset. But some of the stories I’ve been told, you know, about these people who are a church every week living this, Oh, I’m so wonderful life and like, you pull back the doors and the layers, you’ve got, like, some serious, you know, stuff going on that would shock people. So I it’s not, I haven’t written it about the adventures per se, but just about a bit of the hypocrisy. But still, it’s going to have some, you know, redeeming hope at the end of it, but it’s going to be a little more of a continuing saga. And I’m going to see how that plays out with the readers. Like that, you know, but it’s true. There’s a lot of that in the church. Come on.

Unknown Speaker 51:05
I’m almost speechless right now. And you probably have no idea why. So I’ll explain. Since I started a podcast couple years ago, I have been saying, I don’t believe in coincidences anymore, because things happen, especially on on the show. Wow, that’s just too much to be a coincidence for me. Now, this morning, I woke up an hour ago, I had this idea in my head, and I still can’t connect what it was. But I said, Wow, that’s really profound. And it was about the word reverence. And, yeah, and and about how there was a connection to reference and reverence. And I was like, this, and I can’t recall what it was. It’s like one of those things you’re supposed to write. When you first get out. You have a dream like that. But it was about this idea of reverence. And, and so but I had a Seventh Day Adventist preacher on who’s now an author who has written a book against the Adventist. And to be be somebody commented on it just yesterday that I need to get the other side the pro event Adventist side on it. Yeah. And I was like, I don’t know any pro Adventist. But after talking to the guy who laid out the hypocrisy of the founder of the advantage and all that stuff. I can’t imagine what the positive side must be. And then here it is. The next day, I’m getting a little bit of bad back at me. So there’s a lesson that the universe is speaking Exactly. Through this podcast. Yeah. Wow. God is trying to teach me something. I just have to open my ears a little bit or be a little smarter to understand what it is. But when you say, reverence, I was like, Damn, I was I was when I first got out of bed. Like, what is what is it with that? Now? What was what was they thinking about that?

Unknown Speaker 52:59
Wow, really heavy stuff. Oh, my goodness. That is? Wow, that Yeah, no coincidences. Right.

Unknown Speaker 53:05
Right. Right. I don’t think there are. Because, you know, as you know, I put out a calendar and I just tell people pick the dates you pick the day? Yeah. And often, I will get them lined up where we’re talking about the same kind of subject every day in a row. You know, last week, I had something about artificial intelligence and the threat it poses to humanity and, and, and robots and all that stuff. And that for those authors all in a row that they picked those days, but wow, you know, it’s so that can’t be a coincidence. You know, that’s crazy. Yeah. So. So when did you start? Have you started writing on on the side?

Unknown Speaker 53:49
I have that. So the first book is done. My only my question for myself, I could have put that out already. But it’s like, I want to have this maybe I should have the second one done closer to one, the first one comes out, because when people read that they might want the next one. But I might put that out probably in the next couple of weeks. And then hopefully the next one could be maybe within a month. But yeah, that’s I think, you know, it’s gonna be a continuing saga. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll see how it goes.

Unknown Speaker 54:14
All right. Now, most authors when they ask this question, they’re kind of hesitant to say because it’s a dreamy type of questions. But I think when, if I were to write a fiction novel, I would always be thinking, this is gonna be made into a movie someday. Do you have aspirations of something your books turned into movies?

Unknown Speaker 54:36
Oh, absolutely. We all have. I don’t think anyone says no.

Unknown Speaker 54:40
Oh, yeah, I’ve gotten quit. Oh, no, no. That’s too hard. Oh, I know. They’re lying to me. I mean, yeah. But with that in mind, have you have you tried making it easy for filmmakers by adapting your own screenplay?

Unknown Speaker 54:59
Okay. I Haven’t adapted my own screenplay. But you know, I did tell you I work in the film business, right I’ve so I’ve, and I have access to people who are who know what they’re doing. So if it’s it’s a matter of me getting some funding, I can do that. But I have an idea for a script that I could that could be shot in one, one or two locations to make it easy for budget. And,

Unknown Speaker 55:22
you know, my lady already.

Unknown Speaker 55:24
Yeah. Because I realized the constraints of having like, several locations, you know, a ton of characters, which is something that a lot of even script writers, because I’ve in that world to people who don’t want to have their first movie producer like, Oh, it’s got like, 40 locations, and it’s got a helicopter, and it’s got like a, an explosion. What are you talking about, you’ve got to come up with something that’s gonna be more character driven, you know, it’s got to have an interesting plot, but the character is going to push that story where you can shoot it in like one location if you have to, and go from there. So I’m working on that as well. So like, there’s always something percolating, but that is something I’m hoping to see if I can pursue or by the end of the year, I’m trying to line that up. Yeah. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 56:05
hope I hope you get that done. I wish you a lot of success. I think you’re a bright star in a very kind of dark landscape right now where we need more authors like you more deep wells, more people who come at it from a really realistic sense, and not not sugarcoating the whole world and making everything all bunch of fluff and just I really appreciate where you come from. It’s been great to get to know you, I hope. I hope things work out for you with this movie, or movie idea. I should thank you.

Unknown Speaker 56:37
Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 56:38
So if you have we left anything on the table that I need to ask you that I’m forgetting because I just woke up?

Unknown Speaker 56:45
I’m not sure we covered a lot. And you know, I guess you mentioned my website author Kayla parent, calm and you can find me, you know, go to my website, you can find my social links. But if you put in Kayla parent, you should find me. However, there are imposters out there but you know, either. Yeah, you know what the I looked up Kayla parent on Facebook. And I’m like, Who are these other six people? Like what? I was the only Kayla parent that I know for a long time. So I still feel like I’m the original and the you know, I am Caitlyn parent. I reject all others. Of course,

Unknown Speaker 57:20
of course you are the original. Now on that note, I feel terrible for people named Matt nappo. Because if you google them all you’re gonna get is Me, me me for about 150 pages. And some of the stuff I’m sure they are not, you know, your friends might be saying You did what? What happened to you What? So yeah, sometimes if you don’t, if there is a downside to being the the were the only one. And I I do appreciate that I will put all the links not just a website, the social links will be in the description. The audio version will be out tomorrow, but the video version should be out this evening. And so all the links will be in the description there. I do appreciate your time. wish you great success. And please, when your next book comes out, please do consider coming back and then let’s help you get the word out there to the to the masses.

Unknown Speaker 58:11
Thank you so much. I’ve had such a great time chatting with you today.

Unknown Speaker 58:15
I’ve had a great time too. I really am happy I got to know you and happy you’ve been on the program. And hopefully some people out there not just me Will I’ve learned something from you today. So I appreciate you very much. And I wish you great success. And bye for now. Okay, bye. Thank you. Bye, Kayla parent, folks. Wow, what a great What a great inspirational author today. Great way to end the week. Yeah, I’m on a high now. And the coffee hasn’t even kicked in yet, folks. So really, really I just thought my big takeaway from there is, you know, again, and this is something I’ve come up on will come up with just recently but it really does take more than just being able to write a pretty sentence, one or even a bunch of pretty sentences right after another. It takes a world of experience deep characters. Deep character development only comes from knowing people and experiencing the world. And so that’s you know, you want to be a great author. You want to be a great author do what this lady does, and that’s it. That’s just live your life. Live your life. be interested in life be interesting people keep your ears open your eyes open, always, always interested in stories. That’s my takeaway. I’d love to hear what you think about it. And follow up mind dog tv.com info at mind dog tv.com. No shows this week and we’ll be back Monday we got Monday. It’s too far away for me to think about right now. Another oh actually. Mother’s Day is Sunday night and I’m going to be in trouble with this with my wife. I have an Australian also Liz put her on at 8pm. Eastern time. I’m not sure what time is in Australia all the time. Always time. So it’s going to be 10 o’clock Monday morning for her. It’ll be 8pm Sunday for me. Right here at my dog tv.com I hope you’ll join me then 8pm Eastern Sunday night. Thanks for coming. I hope you have a great rest of your day and bye for now.

 

 

Paz Ellis – Author – Just Finn


Paz Ellis has been writing since childhood. She began her journey as a writer with poetry and short stories. She grew up in a household of voracious readers. Her father used to write Cuban folk songs and one of her uncles is a poet. Like her older sister, she kept journals. When she was about twelve years-old her mother gave her a wonderful gift… her first hardcover book. It was a beautiful copy of “Little Women.” She looked at it and realized that her name would be on a book cover one day. However, her first book was a product of grief. She wrote a memoir, Plantains and the Seven Plagues several months after her mother passed away and has not stopped writing since that day.
Paz has also published a fictional book, “Just Finn”. It is a story about an autistic young man, inspired by her brother who has lived with Asperger Syndrome for over 45 years. “Just Finn” is the 1st of a two-part series. Part II will be available in the fall of 2020.

​Paz was born and raised in New Jersey and currently lives in Florida. She lived on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma for 20 years with her husband. She has two teenage sons. Paz is also a photographer, a history buff and an avid reader.

https://www.pazellis.com/

Sponsors:
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Lee Chambers – The Art Of Film – Writing, Producing, Directing

As a director Lee was nominated for a Directors Guild of Canada Ontario Award for Best Director for ‘When Life Gives You Lemons’ in 2011. The film won 14 other awards and nominations and was selected by 46 film festivals worldwide.
Lee’s website: https://www.leechambers.com/
Sum Of Random Choice book link: https://www.amazon.com/Sum-Random-Chance-Lee-Chambers-ebook/dp/B008I3SJPE/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=THE+SUM+OF+RANDOM+CHANCE&qid=1564493330&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Audio book The Pineville Heist: https://www.amazon.com/Pineville-Heist-Mr-Lee-Chambers/dp/0986494313/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Minddog’s Dollar Tree Link: https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1363046&u=1659788&m=64888&urllink=&afftrack

How To Write A Song

The most often asked question in social media songwriting groups is the most basic: How do I write a song? I’ll try to answer that and hopefully with a little help from my friends.
Inviting songwriters to join me via webcam or in the interactive chat.