Feb. 13, 2025
Michelle Brown's Storytelling Journey: Embracing Love, Family, and Resilience
Join us for an intriguing journey with the gifted storyteller Michelle Brown, whose novel "Love Always" has captivated many. Michelle opens up about her innate passion for storytelling and the magnetic pull that writing has always had on her life. We connect over our shared experiences of being natural listeners, drawing in unexpected stories from strangers. Our conversation uncovers the profound joys and inevitable challenges of being a storyteller, while Michelle shares the spark of inspiration that fuels her writing journey.
Meet an enthusiastic elementary school librarian dedicated to igniting a love for reading among young children. We revel in the delight of seeing the world through a child's eyes and explore the dynamic activities that modern libraries now offer. As we navigate topics like Ontario weather and the nostalgic charm of card catalogs, we share laughter over generational quirks and the ever-evolving educational landscape. Our discussion also touches on personal tales from tackling DIY projects to cherishing simple moments with family.
Tune in as we celebrate cherished family bonds and the crucial role technology plays in maintaining these connections across distances. Reflecting on the impact of strong women in our lives, we delve into themes of self-love and resilience captured in Michelle's writing. Discover anxiety relief tools and exciting future plans, including the potential adaptation of "Love Always" into a screenplay. With heartfelt gratitude for our guests, we look forward to future collaborations and invite listeners to join us on this exciting journey.
Brice Harney
Life On Record
Miles of Smiles Entertainment
Richmond Punch
TK Hair Salon
Ogden Ventures LLC
CEO of Ogden Ventures LLC
SnappBandZ
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Love & Light - Keep Hope Alive
Chapters
00:02 - Storytelling Journey With Michelle Brown
07:44 - Passion for Teaching and Gratitude
22:54 - Family, Technology, and Gratitude
28:39 - Overcoming Self-Doubt and Finding Love
33:02 - Anxiety Relief Tools and Future Plans
42:38 - Podcast Guest Appreciation and Excitement
Transcript
WEBVTT
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hello and welcome.
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To keep hope alive podcast boy, do we have a show for you today?
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I have michelle brown here with us, author of love always, and she has two other books that are just amazing, so we're going to dive into her journey.
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So welcome, I'm so glad you're here.
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Thank you so glad you're welcome I like your outfit.
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I gotta tell you that right away.
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You look pretty.
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I like the necklace and everything A little rose gold thing.
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I have a friend who sells Fifth Avenue jewelry, so I'm a little addicted.
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That is so cool.
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I decided, like I got this new one.
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I've seen it on Facebook, but it's the cross with the infinity symbol and I'm loving that too.
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But definitely, jewelry is always fun to show off, right?
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Yes?
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it is so but yeah, like, right before we get started, I got a question for you.
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You open to a question?
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Okay, absolutely, all right, perfect, perfect, perfect.
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So if you, let's say me and you got invited to go to a big event, like a wedding or something, and we were going into the ceremony part of it, and we're walking in and we see this saying we have to sign to let the couple know that we were present, what are they signing?
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The guest book?
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Yes, perfect.
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So one of our sponsors here at Keep Up Alive is Life on Record and what they do.
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This is so cool.
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I love this concept.
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They have a vintage rotary phone that the guests can pick up and leave a message and then right next to that they have a QR code.
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So if you didn't want to pick up and leave a message, and then right next to that they have a QR code, so if you didn't want to pick up the phone and leave the message there, you can use your own cell device and do it before or after or in the event, whenever you would want to leave that message.
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So all these messages get sent in and they're either burned on a 12-inch vinyl record or they can be added to like this keepsake.
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I call it the boom box.
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So, like for weddings, a year later you can sit back and listen to those messages and hear what your friends and family had to say.
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And then, other than that, you know I always talk about weddings, but these are good for reunions, birthday parties, anniversaries, big school events like prom, whatever it may be.
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I know I used Life on Record for my son's football game about two years ago.
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There was a really bad accident and one of the boys hurt his leg.
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They had the ambulance come in, everything.
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Parents were just.
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It was a nightmare.
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I even did a podcast called Hush on it and in that podcast I cried.
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That's the first time I did a crime podcast, but I used it for that.
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They were able to dial in and leave their messages.
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But the good thing is their plans start at $99.
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You get the phone number.
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You got to return the phone, but you get the number for one year.
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So to find out more information about them, please visit them at wwwlifeonrecordcom.
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All right, so the biggest question.
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My second question is going to be who is Miss Michelle Brown?
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Um, I think I'm a lot of things, um, and it changes day by day, you know, given depending on what's going on in my life, but I think, at the end of the day, probably what I ultimately am as a storyteller, I just feel like, even if I'm not writing, I feel like I still am telling stories and it's just something that I feel like I've just been born to do Like.
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Since a very young age, all I've ever wanted to be is a writer, is an author, and it just seems to be kind of in my DNA.
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See, I love that in the DNA.
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I think I can say that for interviewing, writing is.
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I tried it a few years ago.
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I'm proud of myself, but I was talking to a ghost writer and what I told him that I wanted to write back he was like whoa.
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Told him that I wanted to write back.
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He was like whoa, because it's kind of scary story, but he's just kind of like no.
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So I had to pray about it for many years and I decided today to start writing.
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So I mean, yeah, and it can turn into motivational speaking.
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There's a lot of good stuff that will go into that book to teach a world about spiritual journeys at least.
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But yeah, I see, as a writer, in you is the passion, is the glow you smile like this is what I was born to do and you can see that glow on you.
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So, and then storytelling too.
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I don't let me ask you with that when you go out to restaurants or wherever, do you hear other people talking at like we're not eavesdropping, but I can just hear them really good.
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I blame it on being pregnant and having two kids.
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My ears are sensitive and it kind of contributes into another story, right.
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I in our family we kind of joke because total strangers just come up to me and they just tell me the like, their entire life story.
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I'll be in a bank line, make absolutely no eye contact with somebody, and suddenly I'm hearing all about, you know, when they were 16 and the first time they drove a car and crashed into a tree or something you know and my, uh, my kids call it the curse, Um, and they've been blessed with it as well, where people will tell them things, but it's just, it's um.
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I think really what it is is somehow they just know that you're a good listener and if you're a good listener, people will give you that opportunity.
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So I joke that it's the curse, but I do quite like that.
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People share some of these things and just you know such a range of things that have been told over the years.
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So you know, file it away for your writing.
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I get the same thing.
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We're just alike in that way.
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I get a lot of stories from people I don't know and then I call this part the curse for karaoke.
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Of course, it's usually at a bar, but people will come in so sad and depressed.
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But I can pick up on somebody's energy being way too strong and there was only a couple of times that I've walked over and go let's talk.
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I don't know you, but I can feel your energy.
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My name is Nadine and he's like, wow, my name is Nadine and he's like, wow, he goes.
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I'm putting it out that much, I go.
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Well, it's a gift from God for me to pick up on that energy, I guess.
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But then I used to call it the curse why?
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Why is that affecting me?
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You know what is the purpose of going over there?
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So, but then I learned later on it was prayer.
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That was put into that as well.
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So, but yeah, the kids get that passed on.
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I know my son has it.
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I don't know that my daughter has it that much, but my son yeah.
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So with that, okay.
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So when you are not sitting there writing, what are you doing?
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Because that's your passion.
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I'm a teacher, librarian in an elementary school, ironically surrounded by books all day, and you know, creating that passion for reading and little people um, future customers, hopefully and uh, you know just that, um, that connection with with young people and um, that passion for learning and sharing that.
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Uh, you know their understanding and their.
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You know what they find interesting in a story and their perspective and their point of view on things and you know like they'll say things and you are just so flabbergasted by the, the directness of what they say a lot of times, but also the depth of what they actually understand.
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You know they never fail to shock and amaze in the most amazing, positive way.
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So you see, I think that's going to be one of my podcasts, because it's funny, you say it, I just witnessed it.
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I'm at my church choir and where we sit in the back room before we go out, there was a little boy there and he was so cute, like he was trying to tell me about some video game, and I forgot what I said and he goes.
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You don't know that.
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I was like, am I supposed to?
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I was like, so sorry, ask him questions.
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Have you seen Goonies?
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What's that?
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It's all different generation.
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I try my best.
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You know, as my granddaughter was born, I didn't know what Bluey is, or Miss Rachel, and I'm learning all about them.
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And I was like, well, is Blue's Clues still around?
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Like these are the things that I remember raising my kids up on.
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So, but definitely, yeah.
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So the kids, I'm sure you're reading, reading.
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Do you read the stories out loud to them?
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we do.
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We do a lot of read alouds, of course, um, I do a lot of um, uh, steam, so, like science and technology activities and stuff like that library has definitely evolved and changed over the years.
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Um, so we do a lot of uh, we call them centers, the kids call it games and playing.
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So, um, you can call it whatever they want, because they're learning really neat things and if they're loving it, enjoying it, they can call it playing if they want.
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That's fine with me, um, but uh, just, you know, engaging them and uh, watching them is just incredible.
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So that's a big part of my life and my day, and the rest of the time it's, you know, walking trails with the dogs.
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Or you know, trying to do a little DIY around my house.
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You know, buy a fixer-upper and, boy oh boy, you'll have to fix her up.
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That's always fun, yeah, I always.
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You know, I used to work in the home improvement industry and it's like how's your gutters?
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Because I remember, or roof you got shingles as a kid I would kick that ball up on the roof and watch it roll down.
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Or we had things stuck in the gutters because the shield I don't think it was really out yet.
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I'm sorry, guys, I gotta take a drink of my tea, but you know, those are the little things that I remember of doing and how to get that out there.
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But yeah, so family and dogs and beautiful trails.
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You're from Ontario, correct?
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Yeah?
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so I'm from a little area north of Toronto, about an hour-ish north of Toronto.
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Right now, as we're speaking, we're getting about 40 centimeters of snow, about 20 inches of snow.
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It's not as cold as it has been, but it needs to be a little bit warmer actually for us to get a lot of snow.
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Ironically, so when it's super, super cold it's awful, but it's usually bright blue sky, so at least it's pretty.
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It's a little bit gray, but there's a ton of snow coming down.
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You could send me a picture.
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I love blue skies and snow.
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I don't like gray skies for some reason, and it was so funny.
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A couple of weeks ago we had just a little bit of snow and the gray skies.
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My son loves it.
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He's like I'm going to move to Seattle one day.
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I was like I will never go there.
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I'm not following you, son, because that is depressing.
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But when the sun came out I was like, oh, it's beautiful.
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And I was like is it beautiful?
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Because it's just melting to me, which is amazing.
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So yeah, it is.
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It is very beautiful when it's sunny out, but right now, as everybody well, the schools are even closed today, which is very, very rare.
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Our buses get canceled, not like super often, but often as of late, but it's very, very unusual for us to have schools closed.
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I I think in my career, I think it's been twice or maybe three times okay, closed because yeah, gotcha, gotcha, yeah, so you gotta love those snow days.
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As a teacher, I my son he he's in seventh grade and he'll come in.
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Oh, it's like a four-day weekend.
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I was like what, because I wasn't paying.
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He's in seventh grade and he'll come in.
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Oh, it's like a four-day weekend.
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I was like what, because I wasn't paying attention.
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He's like and I think it's just because it's President's Day or something, maybe it's, I don't know, maybe I got the days wrong, but he was talking about a longer weekend and we're possibly getting wintery mix, and he's like life is good.
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And I go well, let's go back to this long weekend.
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Why do they need that?
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He?
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goes.
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I don't care mom as long as they want to have some time to do exercise.
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So let me ask you I want to go back into my childhood.
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Is the card catalog still out?
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No, Do they get rid?
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of that?
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No, so some of my books do actually still have it in the back and anytime a student finds one of those, they are just like they think that they've found you know some sort of treasure from an ancient land or something and I explain.
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I take some stop and take some time to explain to students how they used to work, because the little card inside still has stamps on it and you could see the date on them that they were last.
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But everything's in a computer now.
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It's all scanned and uh, yeah, whoa, yeah that has changed.
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I need to get to the library.
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I'll probably be so lost and confused how do I do this and that you know?
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So, um, but yeah, definitely, and it's.
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It's neat because I do interview a lot of authors on Keep Hope Alive.
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But every time I walk into a Barnes Noble I'm like I wonder if their book is here too, because I know it's on Amazon and stuff like that.
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But I love the journals and I noticed you have what is a gratitude journal that you did.
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Can you tell?
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me a little bit.
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So the gratitude journal, the take that I have on it is it's not just about gratitude, it's also about self care.
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So, gratitude towards yourself as well, because I think that that's one of the things that we kind of miss out on is oh, I'm drinking lots of water and I'm exercising, but am I, am I taking care of my inside as well?
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My, you know my, my heart as well.
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Right, just being on that, that positive peace and self love, peace and definitely, definitely like we need to eat well and exercise and, you know, stay hydrated and all those things.
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But we need to make sure that we are also focusing on our mindset in life and making sure that, you know, we, we add that aspect to things because you know what you put out to the world is what comes back to you tenfold right.
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And so if you, if you're just sort of, you know, even indirectly, you're not feeling great about things and you're kind of snarky and miserable all the time and you're wondering, well, why is everybody snarky and miserable with me?
00:16:01.077 --> 00:16:03.871
Oh, you know, it's kind of reflective, right.
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So, yeah, it's, it's just really good to, you know, get in that practice of each day kind of thinking to yourself, you know like what was great in my life today, and it doesn't have to be a massive thing.
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I always talk about glimmers.
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It was something I heard about a few years ago and it's not about giant shining joy, happiness balls right in the sky or whatever, about all these little simple things.
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You know, like I'm sitting here and I can see the snow falling outside and you know part of my brain is like there's gonna be 40 centimeters of that stuff.
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That's like oh.
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But then I can also hear in the background my neighbor's snowblower going and I know that he's doing my driveway and that just, you know, that just brings me such joy to know that I have these wonderful people around me.
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And yeah, and then tomorrow when the sun comes out, that snow is going to have a little shimmer on it.
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It's going to be pretty.
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So, out of that, 40 centimeters of snow, you know you have that community that you feel that when you all come together, and you know that beauty once it kind of settles down again.
00:17:10.260 --> 00:17:12.785
So yeah, oh, that's amazing.
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That's nice that your neighbor is helping you out too.
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With that I have lovely neighbors.
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I'm very lucky, you see.
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Yeah, I was just writing and you know I told you in the book, but I was reflecting on New Jersey's weather and growing up there that you could really see all the seasons and I was so in tuned with each season that it's a story itself.
00:17:42.144 --> 00:17:54.113
But definitely there's so much potential, like I think you being snowed in I'd be like cup of coffee or hot chocolate laid down with my computer.
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Just start writing away because it is fun, it's very fun, I love it so, and I'm just trying to make the best book without using any AI.
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Help, yeah it's.
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It's a long process.
00:18:10.654 --> 00:18:43.402
Um, next book that I'm writing, I'm I'm doing a little bit of a little more outlining than I did the first time, because when there was so much research that I had to do because it's it's based on true events, so I wanted to make sure I had things very accurate and very, you know, as authentic as I could yeah, tying them to my, my grandparents and stories that I told from them, and I needed to make sure that things actually lined up the way that they were supposed to.
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So most of my, my prep was in that research piece, and this next one isn't really based on, uh, so much true events, as it is, um, personally anyway, um, um, you know places and things like that.
00:19:04.131 --> 00:19:08.680
So, um, it's a little bit more of a darker romance.
00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:10.903
So it's just a different process.
00:19:10.903 --> 00:19:18.682
So I've really had to focus on who are the characters so that I can really create that piece to me in my own head.
00:19:18.682 --> 00:19:21.619
I need to be able to see it to be able to write it.
00:19:22.569 --> 00:19:27.259
Yes, yes, and I actually, oh, my book.
00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:32.141
It's just like I was crying as I was typing it out this morning.
00:19:32.141 --> 00:19:35.019
I will admit that because I'm a very honest person.
00:19:35.019 --> 00:19:47.823
It's a very hard book that is based on true things that happened and I don't think opening all that up is easy for me to do.
00:19:47.823 --> 00:19:55.517
When everything happened to me, I was just like do not open this again, like do not even talk about it.
00:19:55.517 --> 00:20:03.335
But then I was like you know what I want to be heard, because you know I just want to.
00:20:03.335 --> 00:20:21.455
So when typing that out today, just you know, it made me feel good that I was taking some of that and getting it out of my heart and soul and putting it on paper and it felt like a little way I could see past that pain that I had to go through.
00:20:21.757 --> 00:20:31.943
So some ownership and control over it, right, so you decide what narrative is going to go and how it's going to be impactful to you and to others down the road, right?
00:20:32.849 --> 00:20:40.603
Yeah, exactly, exactly, and I just I found a lot of joy and happiness today, even though the tears came out.
00:20:40.603 --> 00:20:48.848
It was just the best feeling, though, and now I'm kind of like, ooh, let the doggies wake me up again really early so I can start typing.
00:20:48.848 --> 00:20:51.535
Let the doggies wake me up again really early so I can start typing.
00:20:51.555 --> 00:20:55.761
And mine, I, you know my, my main character is my grandmother's character.
00:20:55.761 --> 00:21:08.162
It's based on her, it's based on my grandparents and how they met and fell in love during the war and he was Canadian soldier and she was a British soldier, and so on the surface level it's, it's a beautiful love story.
00:21:08.162 --> 00:21:19.824
But when you, when you dig a little deeper to it, it really is about my grandmother and what an incredibly strong and resilient person she was.
00:21:19.824 --> 00:21:24.339
You know, like just the just the idea of surviving war.
00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:42.451
She lived in London, like London like it was decimated during the war, and to survive that and thrive in that and just have the attitude of you know, you worry about what you can control and what if you can't control, then let it go.
00:21:42.451 --> 00:21:52.753
And it was such, a such a concept to me as a kid, like, oh, you know, like okay, and very hard when you're a young, immature person to let it go.
00:21:52.753 --> 00:21:57.693
You're like, no, I don't want to let it go, I'm going to hold onto this and be miserable about it.
00:21:57.693 --> 00:22:10.979
Yeah, yeah, older, just how much wisdom and how much strength it actually takes to to let things go but also, um, to push through.
00:22:12.141 --> 00:22:26.117
And you know to survive those kinds of events, to be a woman in that time period, you know women back then in Canada, women weren't even allowed to have a bank account on their own until 1972.
00:22:26.117 --> 00:22:29.844
You needed your husband or your father's permission to have a bank account.
00:22:29.844 --> 00:22:32.555
You couldn't have a mortgage, all of these things.
00:22:32.555 --> 00:22:46.838
And so you know, to be a woman in that time period and you know like we take so much for granted now and it was that's not that long ago that, yeah, types of things that were that existed for women, right.
00:22:46.838 --> 00:22:49.855
So women were expected to stay home.
00:22:49.855 --> 00:22:54.144
You didn't need to to work because your, your husband, worked, and things like that.
00:22:54.346 --> 00:22:56.893
If you had a child, it was very hard to get a job.
00:22:56.893 --> 00:23:01.482
My mom, when she had me, she had to go back to work.
00:23:01.482 --> 00:23:25.551
My dad wasn't around, so she had to go back to work when I was very, very little like three weeks I think and you know like the strength of that, but then having that community of strong women because my mom, my grandmother, took care of me when I was little to be able to have that, to have that community of women to rely on as well, and to show that strength, is such a like.
00:23:25.551 --> 00:23:33.404
I can't believe that I was given such a gift to be raised in that kind of a home and that kind of a family with so many loving people.
00:23:33.404 --> 00:23:46.346
You know my aunts and uncles just very, very tight knit group of people that you know always had your back, even if they were burying you in the snow up to your neck when you're little.
00:23:49.451 --> 00:23:50.915
I wasn't made to that part.
00:23:50.915 --> 00:24:11.740
I live with my mom right now and it's so funny because I'm grateful my kids get to be around her, and then I'm happy that my granddaughter gets to spend time with the great grandma too, because sometimes that's very rare, you know it really is, Especially with people living so far apart.
00:24:11.800 --> 00:24:22.955
Now, right, Like, we have these opportunities to travel for work and things like that, but it also means then we're not as nearby to family force, you know, to have that relationship.
00:24:22.955 --> 00:24:30.075
You know, when my children were little, my mom lived out in British Columbia, which is the other side of Canada.
00:24:30.075 --> 00:24:33.345
When my children were little, my mom lived out in British Columbia, which is the other side of Canada.
00:24:33.345 --> 00:24:41.414
But we just made a very like we made a conscious effort to make sure that she, you know, even when they were babies, she talked to them on the phone, so they knew right.
00:24:41.414 --> 00:24:50.556
So when she did come to visit they they had this really wonderful relationship with her right away and that that stayed right.
00:24:50.556 --> 00:24:54.114
So, um, yeah, hard, but it's not.
00:24:54.114 --> 00:24:57.142
It's not that it's not doable, it just takes more effort, Right?
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