Podcasts about book two

Janet and Dante are joined once again by Bryan Konietzko to talk about one of his favorite episodes! Expect a ton of great insider info for this recap and discussion surrounding the mysterious “City of Walls and Secrets,” Episode 14 of Book Two of ATLA. Explore Ba Sing Se under the watchful eye of Joo Dee as more and more walls and rings of the city are revealed… to some degree. But many secrets remain, and Janet, Dante and Bryan dig into them all! Plus: listen up for an important message about a new school of etiquette founded by an unlikely character!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bending the Elements boys continue their Book Two journey by taking a side step into the past, and find out what's been going down with The Big Boss Bison since we last saw him during the closing moments of The Library. Has Appa been trading Avatar secrets with the Fire Nation in secret in order to make ends meet on his own? How will Appa fair without Aang or Momo to help fill his Bison sized belly? Wil he take up a life of crime?! Or will Appa decide he's tired of traveling, and instead take up a career as a circus performer? Find out all those answers and more in this exciting edition of Bending the Skies: An Air Bison Story.   This episode was recorded on Nov. 26th, 2022.   Email the show at tnebendingtheelements@gmail.com or reach out to us on twitter @bendingtheE

Avanti Centrae is an international best-selling author who blends history, science and suspense into pulse pounding action thrillers. And she's here today talking about her latest book, Cleopatra's Vendetta. ‘Born a goddess Cleopatra died a prisoner, but the cobra's deadly kiss was just the beginning.' Hi, I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler. And today on binge reading, Avanti talks about how she melds ancient history with contemporary politics, how history is told by the winners and why she wants to restore Cleopatra's reputation as a world changing woman. Book Giveaway This Week But before we get to that, just let's talk about our giveaway for this week. Sadie's Vow Book One in the Home At Last series by myself, Jenny Wheeler, free this week. We're preparing for the launch of Susannah's Secret, Book Two in the series, next month. This gives you a chance to read Book One before Book Two gets published. All the books can be read as standalone stories. The offer is limited to 50 copies. And it's for a limited time, only for one week or until all the copies are taken up. GET SADIE'S VOW HERE You'll find all the links for this episode plus the links for the giveaway in the show notes for this episode on www.thejoysofbingereading.com and remember, if you enjoy what you hear, post a review of the show on your favorite podcast host so that others get to hear about us as well. Things you'll hear about in the episode: How the story combines Cleopatra's legacy with a contemporary thriller involving Think Tank Special Ops leader Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie during an Italian holiday. How Avanti was influenced by popular fiction heroes like James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Clive Cussler. Books Avanti recommends for thriller readers. (think Steve Berry and Gregg Hurwitz among others.) The power of propaganda down the centuries The party Cleopatra threw for Mark Anthony Was Cleopatra particularly beautiful? How Avanti made the change from Silicon Valley IY expert to best-selling international author. Links in the episode Steve Berry:  The Columbus Affair, https://steveberry.org/books/the-columbus-affair/synopsis/ James Rollins: https://jamesrollins.com/ Clive Cussler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler Dan Brown: https://danbrown.com/ Andy McDermott: http://www.andy-mcdermott.com/ Gregg Hurwitz: https://gregghurwitz.net/ JF Penn: https://jfpenn.com/ David Wood:  https://www.davidwoodweb.com/ Dan Brown: https://danbrown.com/ Octavian:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus Stacy Schiff: Clepatra, A Life; https://www.amazon.com/Cleopatra-Life-Stacy-Schiff/dp/0316001945 Deep Fake – Just how good is it?  https://www.creativebloq.com/features/deepfake-examples  Gal Gadot - May be doing a Cleopatra Bio pic; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal_Gadot Where to find Avanti Online Website: https://www.avanticentrae.com/ On Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Avanti-Centrae/e/B07TJVDLM4/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/avanticentrae/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avanti.centrae.author/ Note: What follows is only a partial transcript... hear the full episode on your favorite podcast provider. Introducing thriller author Avanti Centrae Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Avanti. Hello there, Avanti, and welcome to the show. It's so good to have you with us. Avanti Centrae - international best selling thriller author Avanti Centrae: Hey Jenny, thank you so much for having me. I love your podcast and recently got to listen to one with Lee Goldberg and I just couldn't be happier to be here with you. Jenny Wheeler: Thank you so much. Look, you are a number one international best-selling author who blends history, science, and suspense into pulse pounding action thrillers, rather similar to what Lee does. But today we are talking about your latest work, which is Cleopatra's Vendetta.

Meet two wonderful friends of the podcast, who also happen to work at Avatar Studios! Janet and Dante welcome Isabella Boettcher and Pramodh Manian for a chat about their work at Avatar Studios, how they discovered the Avatarverse, and some of their favorite moments in Book Two of ATLA! Find which Avatar character Isabella would go on a vacation with… and her answer may surprise you! Learn which character Pramodh would feel most comfortable loaning money to, and why! All this and more with two of our favorite folks who happen to spend their days working with our Two Dads.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bending the Elements arrives at another milestone as we discuss Tales of Ba Sing Se, one of the beloved entries from Book Two. And apart from the fame favorite elements, we also arrive at the beginning of the end for one of our favorite actors on the show. Will there be disagreement among your hosts on the beloved reputation of this episode? Only one way to find out...▶️   This episode was recorded on Oct. 9th, 2022.   Have you enjoyed our Book Two coverage? Let us know over at tnebendingtheelements@gmail.com or reach out to us on twitter @CalebAlexader

The timing couldn't have been more perfect for our guest Christina Black to share her story. November is recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month & Christina's new book "Two Grandpas & a Truck" that shares part of her family's adoption story was recently published as well. Christina is an adoptee. A title she shares first because it has made her who she is today and clearly defined family for her. And that is to love & be loved by others. She is a wife. Married to her high school sweetheart. They were both born and raised in Mound City, KS and recently moved to Des Moines, Iowa area for a job promotion. She is a momma. By adoption and biologically. Her trio is beautifully and wonderfully made, and she does not take for granted what an incredible gift it is to be their momma. She is a writer and now published author. Not intentionally at first. But her thoughts and experiences through adoption led her to her first ever children's book about adoption and family. She is a believer. In Jesus and the work he can do with open hands and a grace filled heart. To connect with Christina: INSTAGRAM: @mrs.christina.black EMAIL: cbbookco@gmail.com To learn more about Both Hands Project and First Baptist Church- Mound City, KS YOUTUBE LINK TO THE BLACK FAMILY'S BOTH HANDS EXPERIENCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F24aKXtI4VI WEBSITE: http://www.fbcmc.com/ To keep up with the podcast on social INSTAGRAM: @CowgirlConfessionsPodcast FACEBOOK: CowgirlConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com Follow your host INSTAGRAM: @DakotaDawnJohnson FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DakotaDawnJohnson/ WEBSITE: https://www.dakotadawnjohnson.com/ *********************************************************************************************************** Thank you for spending your time with me on the Cowgirl Confessions podcast. I am so glad you stopped by. If you could take a moment to share this episode and tag us on social media- I'd be happier than a cowgirl in a sea of BOGO vintage turquoise. Subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. New episodes will be released bimonthly. Please leave us a review if you feel so led by going to I tunes. Your feedback will really help us breath the idea of grabbing life by the horns with a COWGIRL STATE OF MIND into women across the globe, some that may have never even had the privilege to throw their leg over a horse but could most certainly use the cowgirl state of mind while navigating life. Until next time, keep pursuing your dreams with that All Go & No Whoa mentality. Remember- You're writing a story that's worth saddling up for sister. God Bless, Dakota

Jennifer Lieberman comes by her writing and creativity honestly. She has been writing, organizing, and working toward a career in theater writing ever since she was a student in school. She has written her own one-person play as well as a book entitled “Year of the What” based on the play.   As Jennifer tells us about her life, she discusses living in New York City during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. She will discuss how her life changed after that day.   Jennifer clearly is a person who set goals for herself and then worked to achieve them. She is absolutely unstoppable. I think you will enjoy this interview and the creative personality of this wonderful person.   About the Guest: After years of pounding the pavement and knocking on doors with no success of breaking into the entertainment industry, Jennifer decided to take matters into her own hands and created the solo-show Year of the Slut. This show proved to be her break and the play went on to win the Audience Choice Award in New York City and is now the #1 Amazon Best Selling novel Year of the What? and was awarded the Gold Medal at the Global Book Awards 2022 for Coming of Age Books. Since deciding to make her own break Lieberman has appeared in over 30 international stage productions, has produced over 40 independent film and theatre productions and has helped over 100 creatives make their own break through her coaching and consulting work. She has penned a number of stage and screen plays and her short films have screened at the Festival de Cannes Court Métrage among other international festivals. She is currently gearing up to direct her first feature film.   Social Media Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamjenlieberman Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjenlieberman/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamjenlieberman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lieberman-33b20426/       About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:21 Hi, again, it's Michael Hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset, the podcast where inclusion diversity in the unexpected me. And today, Jennifer Lieberman, our guest I think certainly has lots of unexpected things that she's going to tell us about. If you don't know, Jennifer, and you may or may not know who she is, I will just tell you that you want to talk about unexpected. She wrote her own one person play called The year of the slug, and we're gonna get into that I am sure, along with a lot of other things. So Jennifer, welcome to unstoppable mindset. How are you?   Jennifer Lieberman  02:00 I'm fabulous. Michael, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to chat with you today.   Michael Hingson  02:07 Well, we're really excited that you're here. And I know you do have lots of stories and you faced a lot of challenges. And it will be good to go through some of those. Why don't we start new sort of telling me a little bit about your early life and how you kind of progressed a little bit?   Jennifer Lieberman  02:21 Sure. So I started off as the competitive gymnast. And I was in competition. By the time I was five, and was training almost every day after school. By the time I was eight years old. I kind of had a natural aptitude for the sport. And that was my main focus for a really long time. And then I ended up coaching, I founded a high school team. And I think it's relevant because from a very early age, I had to have like a certain amount of discipline. And that discipline has really helped me with longevity in the creative world where it's It's a thankless business a lot of the time.   Michael Hingson  03:11 So where are you from originally?   Jennifer Lieberman  03:13 Oh, yes, I'm from. I was born in Toronto raised in Maple, Canada, just outside of Toronto. I went to York University in Toronto, I studied philosophy and English Lit. And when I graduated, I moved to New York City to pursue a career in theatre. I started writing at a young age, I was about eight years old when I started writing scripts. Originally, it started off as fan fiction for shows that I wanted to be on as a child. And then by the time I was 12, I my imagination evolved enough to create my own plots and characters and storylines that weren't borrowing from worlds that were previously created by other writers. So it was always something in me. But like I said, gymnastics was the main focus, you know, until halfway through high school when I had a career ending knee injury. But like, I still love the sport and love being in the gym. So coaching kind of allowed me to stay in the world that I was used to. And then in university is when I started taking acting classes, and I just kind of never looked back like I am in love with the creative process, whether it's writing performance, filmmaking, and I've developed a lot of skills over the years in order to stay working and stay in the game. Because especially as an actor, you don't have a lot of agency or control over when you get picked And what you get picked for.   Michael Hingson  05:02 So for you, philosophy ended up sort of being a means to an end, as opposed to being a career that you are going to go into in some way. Well,   Jennifer Lieberman  05:11 actually, I studied philosophy, it's interesting that you bring it up, but the Greeks are who invented theatre. That's where a theater was born in these Greek Dionysian festivals, and, you know, East Escalus. Like all of these writers wrote, theatrically, and that's kind of, you know, philosophy played on these stories, or at least in the earlier days, so it always felt connected to me. Philosophy, Greek philosophy, mythology, it was all kind of wrapped up in some sort of performance.   Michael Hingson  05:53 But you went through and got a degree in philosophy, and then you move to New York, is that because you wanted to go into Broadway? Oh, yeah. And   Jennifer Lieberman  06:01 also, like, my parents didn't consider a degree in theater a degree, you know. And I knew, I also knew that I was a writer. And then I wanted to tackle, you know, topics that were, you know, that would challenge people. And that would make people think and different points of view. So I thought, for the writing side of it, because it was never just to be an actor, it was always an actor who wrote projects. So the philosophy and the English Lit just seemed like a great jumping off point in order to develop my skills, grappling different difficult subject matters and structure and theatrical writing and all of that stuff.   Michael Hingson  06:49 Well, so you move to New York. And I guess something that none of us would know. Listening to you and talking with you here is your half African did that have a an impact on you and being able to break into this industry? Or?   Jennifer Lieberman  07:07 No, not at all, because I look, I look like a white girl, I'm my dad's side is Polish. My mother is tunisienne from Tunis. 10 is yeah, she immigrated to Canada with her parents and siblings, and she was the young girl. So so nobody has any inkling of my African roots, unless I actually mentioned it. So, um, so yeah, that's kind of something that's very unexpected, and people don't really place me in that category. Even though I really identify with my 10 ASEAN, heritage and culture, especially traditions, you know, family traditions, things like that my was very close to both of my 10 ASEAN grandparents, I they grew up five houses away from where I grew up, so I saw them almost every day. And that is just ingrained in who I am.   Michael Hingson  08:12 So does that make you essentially a bi racial person?   Jennifer Lieberman  08:16 Um, you know, it's funny, cuz my sense, it's, my family is North African. And like I said, like, my grandfather had dark skin, but my grandmother had light skin. I don't even know if I would be considered biracial. Because once again, like, by looking at me, you couldn't really tell I don't appear to be bipoc. So it's not something that really comes up. Actually. I don't even know what people would consider me to be honest.   Michael Hingson  08:49 A writer and an actress. Yes, so so it really didn't have much of an impact, which is, which is cool. Well, it shouldn't anyway, but it seemed relevant to ask the question. You know, so you, you move to New York. Tell us about that. Where did you go? What did you do in New York? And and what's your favorite bagel place? You know, all the important things?   Jennifer Lieberman  09:17 Yes. Um, so I basically after my last exam, I didn't even wait around for graduation. I wasn't there. On the day, they gave out diplomas because I really didn't care about a diploma. I felt like that was more an obligation I had to fulfill for my parents sake, and then I could start my life. So I showed up in New York and like I say, with a duffel bag and a dream and I was just like, I'm here and stumbled my way. I had rented an apartment sight unseen, which was not a great apartment and last in there very long. And I'm Just basically there was a newspaper back then called Backstage, it used to be a physical newspaper, now you can get an online subscription. And I just started looking in the newspaper that was specifically for the acting world and started circling different auditions I could show up at or submit to. And that's how it all began. And I was fortunate enough to get in with a couple of different theatre companies. And I was able to work with the same people. consistently over time, there were three different companies that I was working with consistently. So that helped me grow and develop as an artist. And one of the companies I ended up becoming a producer at 22. So I learned every aspect, from carpentry using power tools to help get the sets made to running the lighting and sound stage management, costuming, anything that was needed. You just kind of when you're an off off Broadway company without any real funding. You just scraped together whatever you can to make it happen. But also, pardon? Go ahead. Oh, but also those lessons have been invaluable for where I am now. Because, you know, not having the perfect sort of circumstances, or the amount of money we wish we had has never deterred me from making something happen.   Michael Hingson  11:37 So you wore many hats. And you obviously learned a lot as you went along. What was kind of the biggest challenge that you had back in those early days?   Jennifer Lieberman  11:47 Oh, well, I grew up in a really small town. My neighbors were trees. So getting used to the fast paced kind of hustle and bustle of New York City. It was a huge culture shock for me, I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and then move to the center of the world, with everything happening. And just as I was starting to get my footing in New York, 911 happened. And   Michael Hingson  12:18 where were you at the time,   Jennifer Lieberman  12:21 I was on my way to work. I was walking towards the subway at Astor Place, I was living in Alphabet City, and witnessed the first plane, fly into the World Trade Center and thought it was a fluke accident and got on the subway and continued with my day.   Michael Hingson  12:49 So for people who don't know where is Alphabet City, and what is   Jennifer Lieberman  12:52 Oh, yes, so Alphabet City is like the East most part of the East Village. So I was at Avenue D and 10th street. That's where I was living. I didn't last very long in that apartment. I moved in there. And on September 1, and I think by the 15th of September, I had packed everything up and went back to Canada for a while because I couldn't handle the reality of what happened. And I needed to go home. As   Michael Hingson  13:31 I went, he didn't last long either. You just   Jennifer Lieberman  13:35 got damnit, I'm going back to New York.   Michael Hingson  13:38 So you, you said you argued with people, as you were going on the subway and so on. Tell us about that if you want.   Jennifer Lieberman  13:46 I argued with people who were saying it was a terrorist attack. Because at that age, you know, the level of innocence being raised very sheltered in a small town in Canada. I was just like, This doesn't happen, like we're living in, you know, 2001 like, What do you mean? No, this is impossible that somebody hijacked a plane and flew it into a building in the United States. Like it's impossible. I just thought it was a freak accident and continued to work. And you know, there were arguments on the subway because some people saw it as we were all getting on the subway together. But then there were other people who had been on the subway for a while and are hearing it for the first time. So there was a panic. And then I got to two I was working at 34th and Park at a real estate company. That was my side hustle at the time. And I told my boss what happened. And he got really angry with me. And he said that it's not funny, like we don't joke about these things. And I was like, I'm not joke like, who wouldn't joke about these things? Like, turn on the radio. And he did. And that's when we heard about the second plane. And I just remember, like my soul leaving my body at the realization that it couldn't be an accident if there were two that happened in that short amount of time. Like, it was just literally, I felt my innocence Leave me. And yeah, I became a different person that day.   Michael Hingson  15:32 I think a lot of us did. One of my employees was on the PATH train paths stands for Port Authority, trans Hudson, it goes under the river. But he was on the PATH train coming in from Hoboken. They just pulled into the path station under tower Well, under the central part of the World Trade Center. Yep. At the fourth sub level when the second plane hit. And he told me later, the train just started shaking and so on in the pilot, the pilot, the conductor, and the engineer just said, don't leave the train. And they just literally turned around and went back. Right, in Hoboken, because I think they may have known that something was going on. But they didn't know, of course, about the second plane, because it was happening in real time. But nevertheless, they just turned around, went back to New Jersey. Yeah. Yeah, it was just Well, and, of course, who would have thought, right? Exactly. It's one of those things that it's really hard to imagine. And I can understand your reaction. And it did change all of us who were there. And as I've said to many people, and my wife has really pointed this out the problem for most people, certainly the people outside of the immediate area where this occurred that is outside New York City and so on, or further away, who just couldn't see what was happening. Your view, not yours, because you were there. But the view of people was only as large as your TV screen or your newspaper. And you couldn't have the same impact in your mind as all of us who were there at the time did. So you went back to Canada for a couple of months. And that's sort of understandable. You had a place to escape to as it were.   Jennifer Lieberman  17:33 Yeah. First I went to the Poconos. So I had a good friend Heather. She was initially my roommate. And then we, you know, we both ended up living in Alphabet City, actually. But she moved in with a boyfriend. And you know, no cell phones were working. As you know, all the cell towers were down because they were in the Trade Center. So we couldn't get I couldn't call my parents. I couldn't call anyone in Canada. But Heather and I somehow found each other on the street. And I guess it took two or three days for her dad to be able to drive to the city and get us because the city was closed. They weren't letting any vehicles in or out of the city. And I ended up going her dad picked us up. It was her boyfriend at the time. She and myself. And we went to their house in the Poconos for a few days. And then I got back to the city. And I don't know if planes were back up in the air yet, but I took the train home to Toronto, it was like a 12 hour train ride. And I just like packed up everything I had and just hopped on the train. Because I also felt like my dreams were so trite and insignificant compared to the weight of what happened. And I felt silly. I felt you know that everything that was so important to me the day before, was completely superfluous after that incident.   Michael Hingson  19:12 Yeah, what could you do? And it it makes perfect sense that you just left. You're fortunate to be able to do that. Some cell phones were working that day because I was able to call my wife in New Jersey. She couldn't call me. But I could call her interesting. And we were able to, to communicate learned later that day that the trains had started running from Penn Station in New York to Penn Station in Newark. So I was able to get a train later that evening, back to Newark, and then catch the train going from Newark out to Westfield, where we lived. So we got home at about seven that night. It was interesting being on the train, going from New York to New Jersey, people came up to me and said, You're really dirty. Were you downtown? And I said, Yeah, I was in Tower One. And it was interesting while we were going to the train station, from the apartment of a friend of my colleague, David's who I was with, although it wasn't the same as typical, still cars were moving, there was traffic. And it seemed like even only being a few miles away, it was already so significantly different than what we were experiencing downtown.   Jennifer Lieberman  20:40 Oh, yeah, the whole world stopped. If you were on the island of Manhattan, the whole world stopped, you know, and I ended up in New Jersey as well, actually. Because I was beneath 14th street and they didn't really want anybody coming back home if you were below 14th street because they didn't know. Like we talked about before we started recording, you know, gas leaks, fires under the city, things like that the fires could travel through the subway lines, you know, through the tunnels and stuff. So I ended up in New Jersey at a colleague's place for I guess, the first couple of nights. And yeah, it was it's It's surreal. It was just, that's the only word. You know, I can think   Michael Hingson  21:30 of was just how did you get to New Jersey?   Jennifer Lieberman  21:32 I believe I took a train from Penn Station.   Michael Hingson  21:35 Okay, so you were able to catch a train too, which was cool.   Jennifer Lieberman  21:39 Yeah, I was able to catch a train. Yeah, it was. I can't even   Michael Hingson  21:45 Well, let's, let's go back to you. So you moved back to Canada for a little while. Yeah.   Jennifer Lieberman  21:50 Canada. And you know, that didn't last? No, it didn't last because, you know, after I got over the initial shock of what actually happened. I was like, Yeah, you know, my dreams are important to me. And art is just as important as ever, especially during a crisis, having writers and having theater and having stories and people who are able to tell stories in compelling ways. And I basically did a, I did a one ad. And when all I went right back to what I was doing before, with an even stronger conviction than I had previously.   Michael Hingson  22:37 So what happened?   Jennifer Lieberman  22:40 So I continued with the theatre company that I was with, and I got into, like I said, couple other theatre companies I was performing off off Broadway pretty regularly. I was with a mime company called the American mime theatre, and trained and performed as a mime for a few years. And this company was quite special. It was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. And it was its own medium. It wasn't a copy of French pantomime. It was its own discipline. And that was actually coming. You know what, when we got to the one woman shows, but doing the mind training was the best foundation I could have asked for moving forward and doing one person shows where I was playing multiple characters and had to snap in and out of them very quickly. And being able to just snap into a physicality that made it very clear to the audience that I was somebody new, or somebody different as to the character who was previous. So yeah, I ended up producing a bunch of shows off Broadway got into film production. I was in New York for about six years and, and just try to learn as much as I could and craft as much as I could. I started working with a director named Jim craft offered rest in peace he passed a couple years ago during the pandemic, not from COVID. But he was a phenomenal writer and director he studied under Ilya Khazanah at the actor studio, and his play to patch it was a real tipping point in my artistic career. I had to play a mentally challenged girl who was raped and murdered. And once I was able to get through that, I realized like yeah, I really prove to myself like okay, this is where I belong. You know, I have the I have the chops. I have the stamina, I have the drive and you You know, that was like a big milestone, also, in terms of it was the most challenging role that I had ever come across. And I really had to rise to the occasion. And a lot of times in creative work, like until you were given the opportunity to rise to the occasion, you don't know what you're made of. So that was a huge milestone for me. And then, while I was working after I was working on capatch it, my grandma got sick, and I ended up back in Toronto for about a year and a half to help my mom, and my grandma got better and which was great. And then I decided to give la a try. One of the films that I had produced in New York was in a festival in LA and I went to the festival, the film won a couple of awards. And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna give Hollywood a shot now. And that's, that's what happened next.   Michael Hingson  26:01 Well, typically, people always want to get noticed and seen and so on. So what kind of was really your big break? And in terms of whether it be Broadway or wherever? And why do you consider it a big break?   Jennifer Lieberman  26:16 Okay, um, so I, when I was in LA, I had been there for about a year and this is where Europe the sled came into play. A friend suggested that I create a vehicle for myself that, you know, everybody comes from all over the world, to have their, you know, hat in the ring and give it a try to be a star in Hollywood. And very, very, very few people make it. And you have to kind of come up with a way to get noticed. So a friend of mine suggested, do a one woman show, showcase your writing, showcase your acting ability, and you can invite agents, you can invite directors, you can invite people that can hire you people that can represent you, and that will be a good vehicle. So I did what she said. And nobody from the industry really showed up, I kind of compare it to the movie lala land with Emma Stone where she does this one woman show and there's like one person in the audience, I had more than one person, because I had supportive friends from acting class and my mom came from Canada. But in terms of industry, nobody, nobody who could represent me or hired me show up showed up. However, I had so much fun creating the characters working on the show, and taking so this was like the next plateau in my career to patch it, where I played the mentally challenged girl was like the first kind of plateau of being like, okay, you know, you really have to rise to the occasion, doing an hour and a half on stage by yourself playing 10 characters was a whole different level of rising to the occasion. And I did it successfully expecting to fail. And not only that, so much of my time in LA up until that point, had been trying to get in the door, trying to get the job trying to get the audition. And none of that was actually doing what I went there to do, which was being creative, and performing. So I realized, like, okay, of course, I'm still going to submit to auditions. And I'm still going to try and get an agent and all of that. But in the meantime, I have the agency and the ability to create this piece and develop it and keep going with it. And I did and I did a few different workshops in LA and then I got invited to be in a festival in New York, I won the Audience Choice Award at the festival and then Doom like that was the next kind of plateau because now not only could I did I prove to myself, I could do a one woman show, but I proved that it could be recognized and successful. And that led to another one woman show in Australia. And then when I got back from Australia, because at this point in time, I had been a producer for hire for many, many years I had been producing since I was 22. And I had produced well over a dozen film and theatre projects at this point. And I was like huh, I I can help other actors who are frustrated spinning their wheels achieve what I achieved. And that's when I founded my company make your own break. So you know, nobody ever gave me a big break. I'd like them to if anyone has a big break waiting, I'll take it. But, um, but also realizing that I could do this for myself and I can do this for other actors and writers on a small scale was really exciting to me, because I love the creative process. And I love working with actors, and I love working with writers and storytelling, and I love helping I call it I love helping people dig for the gold that's inside of them, because everybody has a treasure buried inside. But a lot of times we're we're not put in situations that push ourselves to actually dig for it. Especially when we're in situations where other people are giving us opportunities, as opposed to us having to really dig down inside and figure out how do I create this opportunity for myself?   Michael Hingson  30:53 Well, and it's also true that oftentimes, we don't necessarily recognize the opportunities are right there for the taking.   Jennifer Lieberman  31:02 Exactly, exactly. And then so creating the one woman show set me on this whole trajectory of I'm just going to keep creating my own stuff. And I created a web series with a friend of mine from acting class, we wrote it together, we produced it together, we both starred in it. You know, it wasn't like commercially successful, like, there's dismal. You know, we did this almost 10 years ago, and there's like dismal YouTube views. It's very embarrassing, but it's also one of the things I'm the most proud of, I had the most fun working on it, I loved everything about it. And it's one of those projects where all the problems with it could have been solved if we had more money. And, to me, that's a success. Because, you know, we couldn't help the fact that we didn't have more money to make it. And the fact that you know, okay, fine, you know, the, the camera work wasn't fantastic, or the stats weren't fantastic, you know, but all the actors were fantastic. The directing was fantastic, the writing was fantastic, you know, so so I'm so super proud of that. And then Rebecca, my partner on that we made a short film together. And then I finally finally after decades of being a writer, because I started writing when I was eight, had the confidence to produce something that I had written on my own. And that was my short film leash. And that ended up screening at the short film corner at the Cannes Film Festival, which was like another huge milestone, I still couldn't get any agents or managers or anybody to take me on or represent me. But at this point, it's like, I got my film that I made that I wrote that, you know, that I produced that I was in to the biggest, most important film festival in the world. And I'm like, okay, that like, you know, even though the industry quote unquote, you know, hasn't recognized me yet. In terms of like, the agents and the managers and staff that's like, there must be something valid to my creativity. And then I made another short film, and it also got screened in the short film corner at the Cannes Film Festival on screen at the Cambridge Film Festival in the UK, and it just kind of, you know, so all these little bits of validation, they haven't turned into, you know, the career that I'm aspiring towards, but it's all encouragement. That helps me keep going.   Michael Hingson  33:57 You certainly are unstoppably optimistic.   Jennifer Lieberman  34:01 Well, the thing is, I don't even think it's that. I think it's just I don't have a choice. This is just who I am. It's what I do. I just keep creating, I can't help it. There was this movie years ago with Jeffrey rush called quills about the marquis decide, and how he was imprisoned because of his writing and how he was persecuted. And, you know, he kept writing no matter what he kept writing, he would write in blood on his bedsheets. And eventually he was just nude in a in a cell with nothing, because they needed to stop him from writing the depraved material that he was writing. And, you know, it was just I wouldn't say my my compulsion is that extreme. But yeah, I don't feel like this is something I chose. I feel like it chose me It's something inside of me. And I get very depressed when I'm not able to have a creative outlet. You know, it's almost survival, which I know sounds completely absurd, but any other creative who has the same conviction? I do, it makes complete sense to them.   Michael Hingson  35:23 Well, you wrote starred in and did everything regarding, of course, your, your one woman show your of the slot what happened to it? Because it did oh yeah appear and you had some awards with it and so on. So what happened?   Jennifer Lieberman  35:39 So, um, in the interim, so once we won the award in New York, some people, like lots of people, actually friends, colleagues, people that I didn't know, suggested that it would be a great Chiclet book, and that I should write the novel. So I did, I wrote, I wrote the novel and shopped it around for a couple years. But once again, I was so green, it didn't even occur to me, like, oh, you should hire an editor, and you should hire a proofreader. And you should get a whole team of people together before you start sending it to agents and, and, you know, publishing companies. So I gave up on it. Over a decade, I probably gave up on it about three times. You know, the first time, I was completely unprepared. The second time, I did hire an editor, and she just was the wrong fit. And it didn't resonate with her. So she was just very cruel in her feedback. And I couldn't look at it for another two years. And, and then finally, a friend of mine encouraged me to finish it and self publish it not to be successful, but just to get to the finish line, and not have one more project hanging over me that's unfinished. So with that state of mind, it was actually kind of a relief, because it's like, Oh, I'm not even trying to make this book successful. I'm just trying to get to the finish line. And then I did, and I, I self published Europe, the sled and it was censored. And for a good year, I tried my damnedest to get around the censorship issues with Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, in terms of advertising. It was allowed to be on Amazon, I was allowed to have a Facebook page, I was allowed to have an Instagram account, but it couldn't do any advertising, which means I couldn't break through my audience of peers. So if you weren't already my friend, I couldn't get the information to you. Which kind of made it dead in the water. A colleague of mine after a year suggested to change the title since that was the only barrier. And I was like, No, the title is what's you know, is why it was a success in the first place. That's what packed houses. Village Voice had no problem. Printing ads with the title timeout in New York had no problem none of the, you know, none of the entities that came to review the play had problems publishing the title. But I guess since it was published after the ME TOO movement, the climate had changed a little bit. And we weren't able to. Yeah, well, I just wasn't able to get it out there. So after a few months of hemming and hawing over the whole situation, because I had the title before I had the story. I'm just I was just pretty good at coming up with catchy titles. So I was really married to it and then finally revamped it, retitled it, rebranded it, relaunched it. And it's now a number one bestseller on Amazon. It recently won the gold medal at the Global Book Awards for Best Coming of Age book, it won a bronze medal at the independent publishing Awards for Best romance slash erotica ebook. And, yeah, it's won a couple more, but those are the most notable and it served me well to to retitle the book so,   Michael Hingson  39:30 and the title of the book is   Jennifer Lieberman  39:32 near of the what, so it rhymes with slut. But it's not as controversial. And it actually serves me because in the process of, of publishing this first one, I realized that it's a trilogy and Book Two is going to be year of the bitch and I'll have the same problems. So I'm just going to keep it under the year of the white umbrella. a lot.   Michael Hingson  40:01 I would I would submit, maybe not. I know there is, well, I suppose anything's possible. But my wife and I love to read a variety of books. And we've written or we've read a number of books by an author Barbara Nino. So she wrote the Stasi justice series. Have you ever read any of her books? I haven't been on familiar with her. So she's also written the bitches Ever After series published with that name, so maybe it won't be quite the same? Well,   Jennifer Lieberman  40:34 there's a big book out called the ethical slut, that? Well, you know, and they had no problems with censorship, either. But I think sometimes it can, it depends on who your publisher is and who you're connected to. But um, but anyway, I think the year of the web series serves me because as soon as someone opens the first page of the book, The subtitle is right there, right. Yeah,   Michael Hingson  41:00 so people should go look for year of the what? Yes. Well, I'm glad it has been really successful. And you have worn a lot of hats on, off off Broadway and Hollywood and so on. And now you're back in Canada, and so on. What do you like best of all those hats and all those jobs or opportunities.   Jennifer Lieberman  41:27 That's number one. That's always been my number one passion. That's why I started writing fan fiction when I was eight, is because I just wanted to be in these movies and shows that I watched, and I really enjoy writing, I actually really enjoy producing and helping bring projects to life, whether they're mine or somebody else's. But the there's something magical about performing and living and breathing in somebody else's skin and a different world that a writer created. And it's just incomparable. So   Michael Hingson  42:14 year of the well, we'll, we'll do the slot. What? Is it funny?   Jennifer Lieberman  42:21 It is yes. So what are the words that one was best rom com of 2021. So when I submitted it to book life through Publishers Weekly, one of the reviews was that it doesn't fit neatly into the romance genre. And it doesn't fit neatly into the erotica genre. And it doesn't fit into this genre and doesn't fit into that genre. They didn't even review the book, like didn't even give like a positive or negative review. All they did was list all the genres it didn't fit into. And, but it is quite humorous. Because it's about these dating misadventures, and coming of age and coming to terms with sexuality, being a young woman in New York City, and kind of having to reevaluate a lot of the stories or, you know, kind of expectations that were ingrained in the character. So it's not even about her being a slut. It's about her reevaluating what that word means to her, because she only planned to be with my one man. So anything more than that would put her in the slot category. But yeah, so it was her kind of, you know, reevaluating her perception of what is the slot? And, you know, how many partners is too many and all of that stuff? Because, also, in today's world, how realistic is it? For someone to be with just one partner for their whole life? I don't know. Especially like in Western society? I don't know.   Michael Hingson  44:14 Well, since you have been involved in writing something that's humorous and so on, have you at all been involved in comedy stand up comedy or any of those kinds of things?   Jennifer Lieberman  44:26 Yeah, I did do stand up comedy. I do it from time to time. I wouldn't call myself a stand up comedian. Because I don't love it enough to be hitting the clubs every single night trying to get on stage, which if you're trying to make a living as a stand up comedian, you have to be hitting the clubs every night. All of the legit stand up comedians, I know will hit 234 Different clubs at night to get up. And I'm not that committed to it. It's a nice muscle to flex, it's nice to know that I have the courage to get up and do it that I can make an audience laugh. But I'm no by no means a professional stand up. I got into it by accident, I responded to a casting notice looking for females who could be funny. And it was a promoter looking for more female comics to be on his shows. And he was willing to train and coach to coach women because he just felt like he wasn't getting enough women applying to be on his on his lineups. And he wasn't meeting enough women. This was this was a few years ago, this was like I think 2014 is when I started, it was just before Amy Schumer, like, had her breakout success and became a huge household name. Now, now when you go into the comedy scene, there are so many more women than then there was, you know, about eight years ago. So now, it's not the same climate. So his name? Matt Taylor, his name's Matt Taylor. So he kind of convinced me to give it a go and try five minutes. Because I was like, oh, no, like, That's too scary. I don't do that. But after doing two one woman shows where I was on stage by myself for over an hour, each one I was like, Okay, what's five minutes. And I did it. And when I was a hit, it was great. Nobody thought everybody thought I was quite seasoned. All the other comedians on the lineup thought that I had done it dozens of times before. And I, I did it pretty consistently for a couple of years. But once again, like I said, I just didn't love it enough. Like I'd rather I would run, I would run to a theater every night to do Shakespeare or Tennessee Williams, I wouldn't run to a theater every night to do stand up. So it's just not the type of creative that I am. But once again, nice to know that, that I can flex that muscle.   Michael Hingson  47:14 So how many books have you written so far? One novel,   Jennifer Lieberman  47:17 which we discussed, and then under Mike, my consulting business to make your own break business I've published to during the pandemic, I always intended to publish books, under the Make Your Own break umbrella, about low budget, film production, low, no budget is more accurate, no budget theatre production, how to develop a solo show. So all of those are still coming. But during the pandemic, I was asked to coach a few executives, to help them with their presentation skills and engaging their team. And I'm kind of like a nerd and I didn't feel qualified to coach these people. So I was like, Okay, I have to come up with a system before I feel confident enough to like go and actually, you know, do this and charge money. So I came up with these seven steps on how to master your virtual meeting. So that's one of the books make your own break, how to master your virtual meeting in seven simple steps. And then I also recorded my AUDIO BOOK during the initial lockdown, and I messed up a lot. And I had to I recorded the entire book and had to throw it in the garbage and start again from scratch. And then the same friend colleague who suggested I changed my title suggested that I write a how to book geared towards self published authors and indie authors on how they can record and publish their own audio books. So that's book number two how to record and publish your audio book in seven simple steps once again under the Make Your Own break umbrella. And yeah, so there are those two books and like I said, I I will be publishing more How To books under the Make Your Own break, but those will probably pertain more to film theater production and creative process.   Michael Hingson  49:23 And then the what? At pardon. And then more year of the what and then more   Jennifer Lieberman  49:28 year of the wet because that I've realized as a trilogy. You know, when women are young, if people want to attack us in our teens and 20s Regardless of what our personal lives are, people call us a sloth. Whether it's male or females, it's a woman it's a it's a word is weaponized against women. And then as we get older, more assertive, more confident, we're we're called a bitch. So I'm kind of going through the trajectory of words. are used as weapons against women, and how we can reframe them and own them, instead of being ashamed of them.   Michael Hingson  50:09 Then you can write the fourth book what bitch. But anyway, that's another story. Exactly. So did you publish an audiobook?   Jennifer Lieberman  50:18 I did, yes. This year of the what is available on Audible? Yes. So I did I, I was I finally recorded a successful version. And it was after that, that I decided that okay, yeah, maybe I can write the how to book on how to do this. And it's specifically encouraging self published authors. Because if you have enough conviction to write your story, you should be the one telling it.   Michael Hingson  50:47 It's interesting in the publishing world today, that and people will tell you, this agents and others will tell you this, that it isn't like it used to be, you have to do a lot of your own marketing, even if you get a publisher to take on your book and take that project. So the fact is doing an indie publishing project certainly uses a lot of the same rules, you still have to market it, you're gonna have to do it either way, you're still going to be doing a lot of the work, the publishing industry can help. But you still got to do a lot, if not most of the work.   Jennifer Lieberman  51:29 Yeah, and not just that, I don't know, if if you follow any celebrities, on on Twitter, or Instagram, but I believe nowadays, like I'm a, I'm a member of the Screen Actors Guild, that union in the US, and a lot of contracts now have social media obligations written into them, that you have to tweet that you have to post a certain amount to help promote the show. And a lot of decisions are based on how big of a following you have, there's actually, I'm not sure if you were a Game of Thrones fan, I was a big Game of Thrones fan. But one of the characters, it was between her and another actress and she had a bigger social media following. And that was the tipping point of how she got cast. So it you know, self promote, like that's what social media is, it's all self promotion. So it's not just the publishing world, it's the acting world, I think it's just become the norm of it doesn't matter what business you're in. It used to be that you needed a.com. In order to exist now you need a social media following in order to exist.   Michael Hingson  52:53 I know when we originally did fender Dogg, and Thomas Nelson put, picked it up and decided to publish it. Even then back in 2010, and 2011. One of the main questions was, how much will you be able to contribute to the marketing of the book? How much will you be able to help promote it? Now? We have a contract to do our next book, A Guide Dogs Guide to Being brave, unless the publisher decides once we're done to change the title. But still, it is all about how big of a following do you have? How much are you going to be able to contribute contribute to the book because you're probably not going to get some sort of big book tour or anything like that paid for by the publishing company, unless there's some compelling reason to do it. And it is all about what you can do. So publishing is changing, the landscape is changing. mainstream publishers are great, they do add a lot of value. But you do need to learn to sell and to market and be intelligent about it as an author, no matter how your book gets published.   Jennifer Lieberman  54:03 Yes. And, you know, it's a double edged sword, because it gives lots of opportunities to indie, indie authors, but it also, it's sad for me because it becomes a popularity contest. And it's not necessarily about how good your book is, or how good your work is. It's just if you, you know, have a buzz factor. And if you have a following or if you had, like some mishap in your life that went viral, then all of a sudden, you have this huge platform for all these opportunities, regardless of how talented or prepared you are for those opportunities. And you know, it like I said, it's a double edged sword. There are benefits to it. And there are, you know, there are detriments to it but also like I'm the type of artist. I'm gonna I'm willing to go outside of my integrity. So let the chips fall where they may.   Michael Hingson  55:05 Well, you have written both in the literary world, if you will. And in the theater world, which do you prefer? And why? Oh, that's a toughy. Because you're doing a lot with each one, aren't you?   Jennifer Lieberman  55:21 Yeah. And I'm still like, I'm, you know, and that's the thing, like I write plays, I write scripts for film, and I'm writing a TV pilot right now. And in the literary world, the benefit of writing in the literary world, is once the writing is finished, and when I mean writing, I mean, also the editing and the proofreading. Your job is done, like the project is complete. When you're writing theatrically, whether it's film or theatre, that's just step one, there's still a very, very, very long road ahead of you, you know, and trying to get into the right hands, trying to raise the money, trying to, you know, get the right team together, and the right actors, the right, you know, then you had, then there's the feat of filming it, and then the post production process, and then the distribution process. So there is something very satisfying when writing a book that's finished. But there's also something very exciting to me, you know, in the whole process of getting a project produced from you know, from step one to step 55.   Michael Hingson  56:45 So, as a writer in the theatrical world, you really can't just be a writer, and then you turn it over to someone, if you're going to make it successful, I gather, what you're saying is, you really have to be the driving force behind the whole project, not just the writing part.   Jennifer Lieberman  57:01 Well, at my level, because like I said, I don't have an agent, I don't, I'm trying to get things into other people's hands. So right now, I'm shopping around here of the what for theatrical opportunity, I went to the Cannes Film Festival to the market there, I've met with a certain number of people. And one of the questions was, how involved would you want to be in this project? And my answer is, however involved you would like, you know, because I'm not married to this project. Like I, I've been living with this for a decade, between writing it, workshopping it, and then the novel between the play and the novel, like, I'm ready to let this go. If somebody wants to write me a check. Go ahead, do what you will with it. You know, but then there are other pieces that are closer to my heart that I'm like, oh, no, like, this isn't for sale. We can partner on this and make this together. But this is, you know, staying under my under my wings, so to speak. But I have another I have a short piece, a short film, that a friend of mine is shooting in LA next month, and I'm not really gonna have any creative involvement in it.   Michael Hingson  58:26 Out of curiosity, when somebody asks you that question, is there sort of a general trend as to what do they want the answer to be? Or is it really something that varies? They they're not necessarily looking for you to be involved typically, or they'd like you to be involved typically, as a really an answer that makes more sense to most people than not,   Jennifer Lieberman  58:47 you know, it's interesting, because I've gotten both, I've gotten both opinions. You know, for, I guess the higher up people are on the food chain. They're very relieved to hear that I don't need to have any involvement in it at all, because they know how hard it is to get something made in the first place, let alone having all of these, you know, kind of stipulations. It's like, well, I can only get made, you know, she gets to approve the script and this and this and this and that, you know, so the less I think the less involvement I have, the easier it is for the producer because they have more freedom to negotiate. Right. But that's an instinct once again, I don't know, you know,   Michael Hingson  59:32 it probably does very well. How do you keep such a positive attitude and keep yourself to use the terminology of our podcast unstoppable as you get a lot of rejections as you face a lot of challenges. And as you said, you haven't had that huge break. But how do you keep yourself going?   Jennifer Lieberman  59:51 I love it. This is a love affair. This is a lifelong love affair for me. And I was on a podcast A few days ago, we had to write a creativity statement. And my creativity statement is that being a creative is like being in a one sided relationship, and you have to love it enough for both of you. Because the the industry isn't necessarily going to love you back. But if you love it enough, if you love the creative process enough, you're just gonna keep going.   Michael Hingson  1:00:22 I want you to extrapolate that to just anyone even outside the theatrical world. What would you tell somebody if they come up to you and say, How can I just keep myself going,   Jennifer Lieberman  1:00:35 find something that you love and do it as often as possible? It doesn't have to be your job, you don't have to make money at it. You just have to have something in your life that you really love and enjoy doing. You know, whether it's dancing, whether it's singing, you know, and that's the thing like, you don't have to be a superstar. I'm not a superstar. Maybe one day I will be universe. But I, I'm not going to stop what I do, because it just brings me so much joy. And I'm so happy and I do I get in a funk. I get in a funk when I'm not able to create. And, you know, for some people it might be hiking or kayaking or camping or connecting with nature. That's something that that I love to do. Also, that brings me joy. But yeah, I think a lot of us get so caught up. And also I would say close your screen. Go dark, go dark for a few days. Don't worry about what's going on on social media. Don't worry about the internet, like go outside and actually be in the real world connect with real people connect with nature. Be in your body. I find when I get in my head, too much I can spin out. But when you're in your body, you can you can feel your you can feel your essence. You   Michael Hingson  1:02:04 know, always good to step back.   Jennifer Lieberman  1:02:07 So that would be my advice.   Michael Hingson  1:02:10 It's always good to step back and look at yourself and just relax. And we don't do that often enough. We get too involved in that social media and everything else as you point out.   Jennifer Lieberman  1:02:22 Yeah, exactly. And it's proven like there are statistics, social media makes people depressed. People only put their Insta life best moments on social media. I'm sure someone will mention if they're going through a hard time or whatever. But that's not the majority of people. People will sift through their life find take a million photos of one of one scenario, find the best photo doctorate with with face tune filters and whatever and make their life look fabulous. And you know, everything's curated. I'm actually I wrote a poem about this. Would you mind I've never shared this publicly. Can I? Really?   Michael Hingson  1:03:09 Sure. Go ahead.   Jennifer Lieberman  1:03:11 Okay. It's called Black Sabbath. And basically, it's about going dark. Can we all just go dark for a day? Turn off the devices be still be silent and pray? No posts, no distractions? No waiting impatiently for strangers reactions. Can we all just go dark for a day? No selfie indulgence? No curated inspiration. No unsolicited motivation. Be present. Be awake. Meditate. Can we all just go dark for a day hold our loved ones dear if not in our arms in our consciousness spear. Make amends with our Maker, the true force of nature and submit to the power of our sublime creator. Can we all just go dark for a day, shut our screens, search our souls reclaim our minds that get hijacked every time we scroll. And finally take back our grip of the only thing we can control. That's it.   Michael Hingson  1:04:24 That's as powerful as it gets. And it is so true. Yeah. Yeah. It is absolutely so true. So what you've already alluded to it, what do you do when you're not writing and being creative? What do you like to do to relax? You said some of   Jennifer Lieberman  1:04:41 it. Yeah, I'm a yoga Holic. Like I said, I spent the first half of my life as a competitive gymnast. So I'm super active. I love physical activity. I don't work out in terms of like, I don't go to the gym and I don't do a certain amount of reps and I I'm on a treadmill for 20 minutes a day I do physical activities that I enjoy, so I enjoy yoga. I'm quite advanced at it with a gymnastics background so it's fun and acrobatic for me. I love hiking. I love connecting with nature whether it's stand up paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, waterskiing, I love all of that stuff. Not much of a snow skier though I don't really love the cold, even though I'm Canadian.   Michael Hingson  1:05:30 How lucky you were you live in? You don't like to call it okay.   Jennifer Lieberman  1:05:34 Yeah, I don't. But basically anything active and outdoors. There's a treetop trekking course not far from where my parents are. And like, that's next on the list. I'm really excited to do that. What is that? Basically, they have these like, kind of obstacle courses up in the trees. So you're on harnesses, and you know, whether it's like platforms that you walk across, or ropes courses that you have to, you know, I don't know, I haven't been but it sounds fun.   Michael Hingson  1:06:12 Well, you have to let us know what it's like after you, you get to go clearly not wheelchair accessible. So I'm sure my wife's not gonna want to do it. But nevertheless, you got to let us know how it goes once you do it.   Jennifer Lieberman  1:06:27 Yes, I will. I will. It's very exciting. Oh, and I love live music. So like rock shows. That's my jam. I'm a rocker chick.   Michael Hingson  1:06:36 There you go. Well, I want to thank you for being here. And spending the last hour and a little bit more with us. This has been fun. Clearly, you keep yourself going you do move forward, you're not going to let things stop you, you are going to be unstoppable, as I said, using the parlance of the name of the podcast, but I want to thank you for being here and inspiring all of us and telling us your story. If people want to reach out to you and contact you and learn more about you find your books or anything else. How will they do that?   Jennifer Lieberman  1:07:10 Okay, so year of the what.com is the website for the book, but it'll link you to almost everything. Or you can go to make your own break.com. Both of those have links to all of the books and all the social media. And they also have contact pages that will come to my inbox directly. So that's the best way. If you want to find out more about me, and on social media, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I am Jen Lieberman. So the at sign, and then I am Jen. J e n Lieberman L i E,B E R m a N.   Michael Hingson  1:08:00 Well, I hope people will reach out oh, I should ask you you written in your writing the How To books? Are you going to do anything like create any online courses or anything?   Jennifer Lieberman  1:08:10 You know, it's funny I was doing in person courses. I haven't gotten around to doing the online ones yet. But yes, that is also in the works. There's a laundry list. Bed. And like we talked about, I wear many hats. And I'm always more interested in the creative stuff. As opposed to the as opposed to the business side. So I you know, I always feel like, oh, there'll be time for the course there'll be time for that. And as it as it so happens, the more successful my creative career is, the more validity I have to teach these other courses. So it's all in good time.   Michael Hingson  1:08:49 Great. Well, again, thank you for being here with us people, please go visit your of the what.com or make your own break.com. And reach out to Jen, she would love to hear from you. And I would love to hear from you. I'd love to know what you thought about today, I would really appreciate you giving us a five star rating. Jennifer Lieberman needs a five star rating. So let's give her one you all. And I want to thank you all for for being here. Reach out to me, feel free to do so by emailing me at Michaelhi at accessibe.com Or go visit WWW dot Michael hingson.com/podcast. Or just go to Michael hingson.com and learn more about the things that I do. But either way, please help us give Jen rave reviews. And Jen one last time. Thank you very much for being here.   Jennifer Lieberman  1:09:48 Thank you so much, Michael. This was such a treat. I really appreciate you having me on.   Michael Hingson  1:09:53 Well, the fun and the honor was mine. So thank you you   1:09:59 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Liz and Emily are still tangled up in all the limbs of Lola's pack full of filthy rich men with “Lola & the Millionaires: Book 2” by Kathryn Moon. There's even more knotting, more spice, and a lot of men making dumb decisions in the name of Lola. Check us out on: Instagram @smutandswearwordspod TikTok @smutandswearwordspod Got a spicy book we need to read? Email us at smutandswearwordspod@gmail.com Want to read the book? You can buy it here on Amazon. Check out Kathryn Moon's other popular books: “Tempting Monsters” series and the “Sweet Omegaverse” books.

Caleb and Isaac continue their Journey to Ba Sing Se, now finally arriving within the city walls. But things don't go as smoothly in the Earth Nation as the Gaang is used to. How will our group stand up against governmental bureaucracy? Will Aang finally reunite with Appa? Hit that play button and find out!   This episode was recorded on Oct. 9th, 2022.   Have you enjoyed our Book Two coverage? Let us know over at tnebendingtheelements@gmail.com or reach out to us on twitter @CalebAlexader

Proper 24 First Psalm: Psalm 30; Psalm 32 Psalm 30 (Listen) Joy Comes with the Morning A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple. 30   I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.2   O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,    and you have healed me.3   O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.1 4   Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,    and give thanks to his holy name.25   For his anger is but for a moment,    and his favor is for a lifetime.3  Weeping may tarry for the night,    but joy comes with the morning. 6   As for me, I said in my prosperity,    “I shall never be moved.”7   By your favor, O LORD,    you made my mountain stand strong;  you hid your face;    I was dismayed. 8   To you, O LORD, I cry,    and to the Lord I plead for mercy:9   “What profit is there in my death,4    if I go down to the pit?5  Will the dust praise you?    Will it tell of your faithfulness?10   Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!    O LORD, be my helper!” 11   You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;    you have loosed my sackcloth    and clothed me with gladness,12   that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.    O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! Footnotes [1] 30:3 Or to life, that I should not go down to the pit [2] 30:4 Hebrew to the memorial of his holiness (see Exodus 3:15) [3] 30:5 Or and in his favor is life [4] 30:9 Hebrew in my blood [5] 30:9 Or to corruption (ESV) Psalm 32 (Listen) Blessed Are the Forgiven A Maskil1 of David. 32   Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,    whose sin is covered.2   Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,    and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3   For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away    through my groaning all day long.4   For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;    my strength was dried up2 as by the heat of summer. Selah 5   I acknowledged my sin to you,    and I did not cover my iniquity;  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 6   Therefore let everyone who is godly    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;  surely in the rush of great waters,    they shall not reach him.7   You are a hiding place for me;    you preserve me from trouble;    you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah 8   I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.9   Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,    or it will not stay near you. 10   Many are the sorrows of the wicked,    but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.11   Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! Footnotes [1] 32:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 32:4 Hebrew my vitality was changed (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalms 42–43 Psalms 42–43 (Listen) Book Two Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul? To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 42   As a deer pants for flowing streams,    so pants my soul for you, O God.2   My soul thirsts for God,    for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?23   My tears have been my food    day and night,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?”4   These things I remember,    as I pour out my soul:  how I would go with the throng    and lead them in procession to the house of God  with glad shouts and songs of praise,    a multitude keeping festival. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation3 6 and my God.   My soul is cast down within me;    therefore I remember you  from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,    from Mount Mizar.7   Deep calls to deep    at the roar of your waterfalls;  all your breakers and your waves    have gone over me.8   By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,    and at night his song is with me,    a prayer to the God of my life.9   I say to God, my rock:    “Why have you forgotten me?  Why do I go mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy?”10   As with a deadly wound in my bones,    my adversaries taunt me,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?” 11   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Send Out Your Light and Your Truth 43   Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause    against an ungodly people,  from the deceitful and unjust man    deliver me!2   For you are the God in whom I take refuge;    why have you rejected me?  Why do I go about mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy? 3   Send out your light and your truth;    let them lead me;  let them bring me to your holy hill    and to your dwelling!4   Then I will go to the altar of God,    to God my exceeding joy,  and I will praise you with the lyre,    O God, my God. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Footnotes [1] 42:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 42:2 Revocalization yields and see the face of God [3] 42:5 Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5 (ESV) Old Testament: Ecclesiasticus 15:9-20 New Testament: Revelation 10 Revelation 10 (Listen) The Angel and the Little Scroll 10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. 8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (ESV) Gospel: Luke 11:1–13 Luke 11:1–13 (Listen) The Lord's Prayer 11 Now Jesus1 was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:   “Father, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come.3   Give us each day our daily bread,24   and forgive us our sins,    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation.” 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence3 he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for4 a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Footnotes [1] 11:1 Greek he [2] 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow [3] 11:8 Or persistence [4] 11:11 Some manuscripts insert bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for (ESV)

Please join Sarah Massiah and me as we talk about Are you your own best friend? Letting go of disturbing and disruptive patterns we hold!  Igniting the smile within! and so much more, as well as live Q&A and processes. Join Sarah Massiah where we shall be examining ‘what it is and what is meant' holding onto disruptive patterns of behaviour and how they may be in always be bubbling in the background disturbing and disrupting our journey. -Have you thought about what disruptive patterns you may hold? -Do you react in certain situations no matter how much healing you have done?   -Do you always tend to exhibit a disruptive pattern of behaviour when you have a bad day? -Do you revert back into disruptive pattern of behaviour in certain social situations? -Have you thought about your own disruptive and disturbing patterns? -Have you lost your smile within? -Gain great clarity on shifting from deeply entrenched energies, emotions and examine how our patterns of behaviour may be greatly affecting our happiness and health. -You will also receive a short live meditation to assist you  with the releasing of disruptive patterns. -* Plus an activation to aid you know you supported by Creator on your healing journey. (Melchizedek, Many Angels, Ascended Masters and Star Light Beings join Creator and Sarah during the meditation) 
Sarah is a Founding Member of the Elohim High Council of Light, working closely with Melchizedek, Ascended Masters and Angels.Sarah Massiah is an award winning author whose book,‘The Cosmos, Ascension and the Golden Keys from Melchizedek' won the Mind Body Spirit Book Award in the channelled category. She is currently looking to publish Book Two in the Series. Sarah recently won the South of England Prestige Award for ‘Best Holistic Practice'. She is the Founder of ‘The Golden Key Energy Healing System' which works directly with Creator. This fast and uplifting healing modality enables those in receipt to clear many stories that hold them back within the Akashic Records, as well as contracts and programmes held with Creator. Such contracts aided the duality of existence and the continuum of life. Now at this time, the ‘Time of Ascension on Earth,' Creator wishes many Souls to be freed of the burdens of their pasts. Now is the time, so they may walk forward in Glorious Light, knowing they ARE Divine Beings of Light and Part of Creator, without separation. Sarah reports it is the wish of Creator that souls walk forward with Glorious Joy, Love, Peace in Mind, Heart and Soul. Sarah Massiah had been working as a qualified nurse for over 20 years. She gained much experience with working with the most vulnerable groups within society.Her educational background in nursing gave her an excellent base. She then went on to study many energy healing modalities. Receive 20+ Gifts:  https://alara.at/show/   Sarah's Packages: https://alara.at/show/sarah10/   #alaracanfield , #awakentohappinessnow, #healing, #energy, #transformation, #consciousness, #love, #thealaracanfieldshow, #consciousliving, #joy, #empowerment, #wellness, #spirituality, #spiritualawakening, #awareness

Dennis shares the story behind his latest children's book, The Puzzle. It is Book Three in The Bairns of Bren series. His grandchildren are the heroes of the story and their quest? To piece together the puzzles of their own lives while trying to piece together the puzzle of the spell cast upon their grandfather. They find themselves transported into the magical realm of Bren and are faced with the evil sorcerer, Sepeleo Parkinson. It is an allegorical way of teaching his grandchildren how to respond to his real-life battle with Parkinson's Disease. This book will go a long way in helping children understand how to face the sometimes harsh realities of life with hope and a positive attitude. The Puzzle is available in both ebook and paperback format at https://a.co/d/bBu8jjC   Book One is called Hide and Seek. Book Two is called The Light Eater. To get all three books in this ongoing series, go to https://tinyurl.com/bdfzahpj The song, Live The Adventure, is from the three book series called The Chronicles of Bren. Find our more about this series at https://www.thechroniclesofbren.com

Appa noooooo

Book Two, While the Gods Laugh, Chapter Eight of The Weird of the White Wolf, Book three of the Elric Saga

Book Two, While the Gods Laugh, Chapter Seven of The Weird of the White Wolf, Book three of the Elric Saga

Book Two, While the Gods Laugh, Chapter Six of The Weird of the White Wolf, Book three of the Elric Saga

Book Two, The Dreaming City, Chapter Five of The Weird of the White Wolf, Book three of the Elric Saga

Our Guest: Author/Illustrator Tim Davis. See his portfolio here. Schedule him for a three day school visit here. Find a free literary database containing books we discuss on the podcast here:Links on our website are often affiliate links- they don't cost you any extra to use but they greatly help support the costs of running this site. Thank you- we truly appreciate it!Featured books in this episode:The Tim Davis Mice BooksMice of the Herring Bone by Tim DavisMice of the Nine Lives by Tim DavisMice of the Seven Seas by Tim DavisMice of the Westing Wind, Book One by Tim DavisMice of the Westing Wind, Book Two by Tim DavisThe Island Rules trilogyThe Island Rule by Tim DavisThe Island Rules? by Tim DavisThe Island Rules! by Tim Davis (video and song accompaniment) Mort the Mushroom (trilogy) by Tim DavisMort and the Sour Scheme by Tim DavisMort Finds His Roots: Mushroom in the Wild by Tim DavisMort's Circle by Tim DavisPirate's Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long Treasure Island by Robert Louis StevensonMuppet Treasure Island (movie)The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan (watch free on YouTube)On Reading Well by Karen Swallow PriorThe Hobbit by JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings by JRR TolkienBecause of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamilloHoles by Louis Sachar Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit Midsummer's Nights Dream by William Shakespeare Midsummer's Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca (correction from the episode- I (Ambre) said the little Indian boy in the book represented Puck when- duh! he obviously is simply the little Indian boy from the play.) Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRoccaThank you for spending time with us! Please join the conversation in the comments below!Did you read the Mice books as a kid too? Did you know there were five in the original series‽ GIVEAWAY DETAILS: For every 5 reviews left, we will give away a book recommended on one of our episodes! To enter, leave a review on your podcast player of choice or in the comments here and email StoriesFromTheAshesPodcast@gmail.com! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reshelvingalexandria.com

Dave (AKA SÖNUS) is back in Derry and Toms to pick up the second and concluding part of our quest for The Mad God's Amulet.   Join us as we discover the greatest NWOBHM band to never exist... THE MUTANT WAR JAGUARS OF ASIACOMMUNISTA... and Lord Shark's Ostentatious Couch returns.   Things mentioned in the show include Gates of Londra - a must have if you dig your industrial black metal with a Moorcockian twist.   Imrryr's latest release The Dreaming City III is out now featuring Dave and Allister Thompson AKA The Gateless Gate.   Massive thanks to Dave Dempster for the Maegan Lemay poster. Check out her web and store page.   Our banner art and logo is by Simon Perrins. Follow him on Twitter and check out his store. Listen to BITR Breakfast in the Ruins Radio on Radio Garden.

So what is a “polymath”? Come on in and listen to this week's episode to find out from our guest, Pat Daily. After hearing my conversation with Pat, not only will you know the definition of the word, but you will see why Pat fits the Polymath mold.   In his life, Pat has served as a pilot in the military, a pilot for a commercial airline, a successful employee at Honeywell, participated in starting a company and he is now even a successful science fiction author.   I very much enjoyed reminiscing with Pat about some of my and his early days around aircraft as we both have similar experiences in a lot of ways.   By any standard you can invoke, Pat is not only inspirational, but he also is easy to talk with and he is easy on the ears as well. I hope you like this episode and that you will please reach out and tell me what you think. As always, please feel free to email me at michaelhi@accessibe.com. Also, I hope you will give this episode a 5 rating after hearing it. Thanks for listening.   About the Guest:   Pat Daily is a polymath, serial entrepreneur, gamer, and the author of SPARK, a near future science fiction novel. Pat began his professional career as an engineer and Air Force test pilot. After leaving the military, Pat worked at NASA's Johnson Space Center on both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs before launching his first company. He has worked globally as a human performance and safety consultant.     When not writing or trying to bring new airplane designs to life, Pat can be found gaming. He is a fan of role-playing games – particularly open worlds with engaging storylines where actions have consequences. Pat and his wife live in Houston.   Social media links:   Website: https://thepatdaily.com Blog: https://feraldaughters.wordpress.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patdailyauthor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patdailypics/ Twitter: @patdailyauthor Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21521042.Pat_Daily   About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is an Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes* Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:20 Hi, wherever you happen to be, and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to chat with Pat Daily, who describes himself as a polymath. He is also an author, and entrepreneur. And specifically, he's the author of a book called spark. And we're gonna get into that, but I'm gonna start with tell me what is a polymath? Because some people won't quite probably know that.   Pat Daily  01:47 That's a good question, Mike. And I appreciate the opportunity to be here and talk about that. The I fell in love with this word when I discovered it just a couple of years ago. And really all it is is somebody that's polymath is someone who's had professional success in different lines. So not all sales, not all leadership, not all engineering. Cool.   Michael Hingson  02:15 So where have you had success? Well, I've   Pat Daily  02:18 been an Air Force Test Pilot. I've been an engineer at NASA. I've started my own business. I've been a safety consultant. I've been   Michael Hingson  02:30 now an author. There you go. Well, tell us a little bit about you maybe growing up just to learn about you and your background and stuff. And we'll go from there.   Pat Daily  02:38 Sure, sure. I grew up in Seattle, Washington up in the rainy northwest corner of the country. From there, I graduate from high school, went into the Air Force Academy, graduated from there and started pilot training in the Air Force flew was a pilot in the Air Force for about 13 years and then decided that my, my life lay in commercial aviation. And so I went to went to work for American Airlines. And they agreed with me up until about the one year point, and then they decided that they had too many pilots and furloughed, me. And at that point, I thought, maybe I need to rethink this, this whole pilot as a career thing. So I went off and did some other things.   Michael Hingson  03:29 So you when you went to the Air Force Academy, did you miss Pike's fish market?   Pat Daily  03:38 Yeah, yeah, I actually worked there a little bit when I was in high school at a restaurant whose name I can't even remember right now. But But yeah, that's a place that's got a lot of interesting energy.   Michael Hingson  03:51 It does. I've been there just once. And I know someone who worked there in in one of the places in the market, but it does have a lot of interesting and somewhat unusual energy.   Pat Daily  04:04 That's certainly true. So   Michael Hingson  04:07 you, you worked for American, why did you go off and do after American?   Pat Daily  04:11 Well, after American, I went to work for Honeywell and ended up working for Honeywell, Defense and Space electronic systems. And we did guidance, navigation control stuff for the space station and the space shuttle down at Johnson Space.   Michael Hingson  04:30 So what what did you do there? Can   Pat Daily  04:31 you talk a bunch about it? Oh, yeah. And then there's, we didn't do anything classified there. I mean, the whole human space thing, at least as far as NASA is concerned, is pretty much an open book. The probably my favorite project that I worked on was a thing that was supposed to be a lifeboat for the space station and it was the x 38 project. And it was kind of a lifting body. So it had some have swept back and swept up wings that that became well we ended up calling a rudder Vader because it was a combination of an elevator and rudder, although it was way more rudder than it was elevator. And, and it was a lot of fun. Got to actually watch it do a few drop tests from NASA aircraft. And then of course, somewhere along the way, it was decided that we were going to use Sputnik capsules and Soyuz capsules to to get us back from orbit so we no longer pursue that project. So it was a sad day when they shut that down but still a lot of fun to work on.   Michael Hingson  05:43 I grew up and near Edwards Air Force Base. So my father worked out there as the supervisor, the head of the precision measurements equipment lab, so he was in charge of calibrating all test equipment and things like that. So worked with Joe Walker, of course, who was famous with the x 15. Going back a long way from the x 38. And, and was there actually at the time of the m two lifting body which was kind of probably the precursor of all of that   Pat Daily  06:10 down. Were bounced because I spent a bunch of years at Edwards. Whereabouts Did you live?   Michael Hingson  06:15 We lived in Palmdale. Okay, and one of my favorite memories, boy I don't know about today, but was when my dad would come home from work and tell us that he left our street, which was Stan rich Avenue in Palmdale, California, and drove all the way to Edwards without stopping once, which was, which was definitely amazing back in those days, just in terms of no traffic, no cars to interfere. And he oftentimes did it both ways. And in the evening, when he was coming home, I would talk with him, we both got our ham radio licenses. When I was 14, he waited for me because he could have gotten at any time. And we would chat as he was coming home from work and had a lot of fun just talking up on the two meter band a lot. And he would just keep going and going and never stop until we got to our street and there was stop signs. So we had to stop.   Pat Daily  07:09 That is really neat. That was a great memory to have your dad.   Michael Hingson  07:13 It was and you know, there were a lot of things that happen that he couldn't talk about a couple times we went out and visited him. And we would go to his lab and he said, Well, I can't let you in quite yet. We have to hide things that you can't see. Well, that really didn't matter to me a whole lot. But I guess my mom and my brother were there. So they had to do that. But it was it was fascinating going there. And he introduced me to Joe Walker. He knew Neil Armstrong, but I never got to meet Neil. But did spend some time with Joe Walker, which was a lot of fun. Of course. Yeah. He was one of the first real astronauts taking the x 15, up above 50 miles. What an airplane that was oh, and we actually would occasionally sit on our roof at home. And watch as the B 52. Took it up and dropped it. And they they didn't have anything on the radio that we could listen to. But he would he told us where to look. And so we actually looked and and watched it drop and then fly and do the things that it did. It was pretty fascinating.   Pat Daily  08:17 Could you hear the sonic booms? down upon do?   Michael Hingson  08:19 That is a really good question that I'm glad you asked when we first moved to Palmdale in 1955. We heard sonic booms all the time. Never thought about it didn't bother us that they were there. And I remember once we knew that we're going to be playing war games between us and a couple of the other bases in Southern California. And the way you scored, especially when they did it at night was to see how close you could get to the other bases General's house without being detected. And break a sonic boom. So I gather we at Edwards were pretty successful at getting getting close to the generals house. But yeah, we heard a lot of sonic booms. And then one day, they just weren't there anymore.   Pat Daily  09:06 Yeah, I wasn't there during that. That era. But but when I was we had a we had a corridor, we actually had a low altitude and a high altitude supersonic corridor. And that's where if we were going to intentionally go supersonic, that's where they wanted us to be. And that ran mostly east west. Yeah. So so that Sonic Boom would have had to propagate quite a ways for folks down in Palmdale to hear it. But yeah, don't ever do. We heard them all the time.   Michael Hingson  09:39 Well, yeah. And I would I would expect that. And the reason that they disappeared from us was because I guess too many people started complaining but you know, GE, it never bothered me. I guess, however, that they decided that they could be somewhat destructive, especially if they were close enough or loud enough to buildings and so on. So they had to do it. And then I didn't hear any until actually, we were down near Cape Kennedy once when the shuttle was coming back in for a landing, and we got to hear the sonic booms, which was fun to hear.   Pat Daily  10:15 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've   Michael Hingson  10:16 heard them loud enough to be startling. But the ones like the shuttle threw off. It was always like, Ah, good. They're home. Boom, boom, the double sonic boom, yeah, which was great. We were at a number of Armed Forces Day, events doubted it out at Edwards. And it was really fun when the Thunderbirds were there. Other people were flying the jets, and they would come almost right down on the deck, past us. And we were we were all together. So my dad said, well, here they are. And I said, I don't hear anything all of a sudden boom, and you hear the whole sound, because they had already gotten faster than the speed of sound. So the plane was there about two seconds before the sound of the engine, which was kind of fascinating. Yep. But we, we enjoyed it. And it was part of growing up. Never thought about it. And then all of a sudden, one day, I haven't heard sonic booms in quite a while. And it was I know, because people were complaining about the noise. Oh, what a world war two world. You know, the sonic booms were there before they were but nevertheless, as I said, probably there were some complaints about the noise. And I've read in recent articles that they they did decide that some of the the sonic booms could be destructive to structure. So   Pat Daily  11:35 I know they've they've broken windows before. And I know that sometimes livestock react poorly. And now NASA and industry are working on a thing called Quiet spike, which was programmed to reduce the the intensity of the sonic boom, so that an airliner for example, that would be traveling supersonic. To hear them Passover would be no more loud than the sound of a car door closing.   Michael Hingson  12:05 Right? There was I think something on 60 minutes about that either earlier this year, or late last year, which is where I first heard about it. So far. I guess it's still somewhat theory, because they haven't built the airliner yet that they believe will be able to have that low level of noise. But it'll be pretty fascinating if they can make that happen.   Pat Daily  12:26 It will be because it it seems like we've been stuck, essentially traveling around the world at about point eight Mach. Yeah, for for 50 years, and forever, longer now forever.   Michael Hingson  12:38 And it will be I think it will be great if we can really do that. And also have it on an aircraft that's small enough that we could even do supersonic inside the United States that will speed up a lot of air travel.   Pat Daily  12:52 It will. It will no it'd be wonderful.   Michael Hingson  12:54 But if I recall, right, they said they were going to have the first generation of that aircraft sometime later this year. Do you know anything about that? I know they've got the   Pat Daily  13:03 flying testbeds already. In fact, one of them is flying out of Palmdale.   Michael Hingson  13:08 Oh, okay. Well, we are now living in Victorville, so maybe we'll hear it on Victorville.   Pat Daily  13:15 I used to live in Victorville when I was able to George Air Force Base.   Michael Hingson  13:19 There you go well, and when I was growing up, compared to Palmdale Victorville was hardly a blip on the radar scope. And now, we have over 120,000 people in Victorville. And in the whole Victor Valley area here we have over 600,000 People go the heck and figure it out.   Pat Daily  13:37 I had no idea that it had grown that much.   Michael Hingson  13:39 And continues to we just learned that there is a new housing development, about two miles from here that will have 15,000 new homes, low cost housing, but still 15,000 new homes. Oh, my gosh, I know, go figure. Now. It'll be interesting to see how more how many more come along, but they're building a lot of stuff up here. And at the same time we see open stores that is vacant stores that don't understand why they're doing the building that they're doing when they got all this vacancy. And where are those people going to work? Are they are they commuting down into the LA basin? I work? Yes, that's I guess that's what's happening. And there is of course, a lot of that but I hope that they come up with something other than just going down I 15 Because already the traffic on Interstate 15 going from Victorville down through Cajon Pass and down the other side is horrible. Almost 24 hours a day. I've gone to Ontario airport early in the morning like at four and still take an hour and 20 or minutes or an hour and a half or longer to get to Ontario.   Pat Daily  14:52 And Ontario has got to be getting busier and busier too because I remember that that was when I first moved out to that area. It was the like the secret gym that the airport nobody knew about and had very little traffic and and you didn't have any jet bridges you just walked walked out to the aircraft and up the stairs. But still it was so much easier to navigate than lax,   Michael Hingson  15:18 sort of like Burbank airport. I don't think that they've gotten totally into jet bridges. At least the last time I flew into Burbank they hadn't. And the value of that is that they have people exit the aircraft from both the front and the back. So it hardly takes any time at all to evacuate an airport. Not evacuate, but get people off a plane when they land. Yeah. Which is kind of cool. Much faster. So as a test pilot, what kinds of of aircraft Did you test? What was kind of maybe the most unusual one? No flying saucers, I assume are   Pat Daily  15:52 flying saucers. Got to fly a bunch of different things. Most of my test time was in variants of the F 16. But probably the most unusual aircraft that I got to fly was the Goodyear blimp. There you go. Yeah. And I mean, did going through a test pilot school. And it felt an awful lot like climbing into someone's minivan because the gondola was that spacious that that roomy had plenty elbow room, plenty of people could sit around. It certainly wasn't, was a passenger compartment back in the days of the Hindenburg or anything, but it was, it was still pretty roomy for a modern aircraft cockpit. And we we went in and got to fly out over Long Beach and that whole area and I was the only airplane I've ever flown that only had one wheel. And I know because they tie the nose of the blimp to a big mast. And it just has one large wheel that casters around and as the wind blows it, it can weathervane into the wind and just pivot around on that little wheel.   Michael Hingson  17:09 Did you ever have any involvement with the flying wing? No, no at the time was probably before, well,   Pat Daily  17:17 well before but then the b two is a streamline wind design. And other than watching it, you know seeing it fly around. I never had any any interplay with it or never got to fly it. I do remember having to go out to their facility for something, a meeting or a test mission. And if you weren't cleared into the program, they had to turn on a beeper and a flashing light to let everybody know that that uncleared scum were entering the area and hide all the secret stuff,   Michael Hingson  17:54 tell people what the flying wing is a   Pat Daily  17:56 flying wing is if you can imagine, and airliner with its left and a right wing. And now take away the fuselage where all the people sit and where most of the gas is and the luggage, and then just join those two halves of the wing together. Now you're gonna have to beef it up a little bit, scale everything up. But it turns out that the flying wing design can be incredibly efficient. But it also comes with some pretty scary instabilities that you have to have to be ready to deal with. And so the earlier version, I think the XB 49 was the original flying wing. And it had small rudders to to help it maintain its directional stability. But the b two comes out at completely differently by using kind of differential speed brakes and spoilers. And, you know, that gave us differential thrust, I guess, but it's, it's a much more efficient and much more UFO like looking aircraft than we're used to seeing.   Michael Hingson  19:11 Yeah, well, it will. It will be interesting to see, well, I don't know whether they'll ever use that and probably not for an airliner or anything like that, because there's just not room for much in the way of passengers is there?   Pat Daily  19:23 No, although I've seen the whole design Yeah, and the whole design every once in a while when you see something in Popular Mechanics or something like that, where it's a hugely scaled up flying wing design. And of course, the downside of that maybe it's an upside is that everybody is now stuffed in the middle and and very few people get window seats, but the the times I've found recently hardly anybody is looking out the window anyway. And they tend to close the window shades and just get on their electronic entertainment devices   Michael Hingson  20:00 he up and it has its pluses and minuses to do that. But you know, I put on my earphones but I do try to listen to what's going on around me and try to stay aware. But you have people do that. And, of course, lights are brighter or when you're 30,000 feet or more. You're you're dealing with a lot of things. And as you said, people just want to get on their entertainment devices and escape. And so so that happens and then there you go. I'm still waiting for flying saucers and jetpacks, I'm ready for my jetpack. Yeah, that would be fun. I'm not sure how well I do with a jet pack. We need to get more information that comes in an auditory way rather than visually, but we can get there. Down. Yeah. Or tactically? Well ordered and tactically tactically. Yeah. Which would be both. There's an experiment that the National Federation of the Blind did actually now it's it started. Well, it started in 2001. Soon after September 11, I was at an event in Baltimore when a new building for the National Federation of blind was started called the Jernigan Institute. But one of the things that the President of the National Federation of the Blind back then did was to challenge private industry and the school systems, the college technical college systems to build a car that a blind person could drive. And in 2011, what they created was between Virginia Tech and some companies that worked with Virginia Tech came up with this device, they actually modified a Ford Escape. And what they did is they put a number of different kinds of radar and sonar devices on it. Other technologies that they felt would ultimately not even cost very much. But then the driver sat in the car and had some very long gloves on that would go up their arms, that had haptic or tactile devices that would vibrate, there was also a pad that he sat back against. And there were also something similar to the gloves that would would go around their legs so that there are a number of different kinds of vibrating things that were available to them. And a person was able to drive a car successfully. In fact, there's a demonstration of it's still on the National Federation of the Blind website or a subdomain. It's called www dot blind driver challenge.org. And what you see if you go to that website is a video where the now president of the National Federation of the Blind Mark Riccobono, gets in this device and drives around the Daytona Speedway right before the January 2011 Rolex 24 race, going through obstacle courses, driving past grandstands, and people cheering and all that driving behind a van that is throwing up boxes that he has to avoid, and then passing the van and eventually getting back to homebase. But no one's giving him directions. It's all from the information that the car is transmitting to him. And the reality is that, that it is doable. And he was driving at something like 30 miles an hour, so he wasn't going slow, and had no problem doing any of that. So the reality is, I think it's possible to develop the technology that would make it possible for a blind person to have a safe and good driving experience. And especially as we get into the era of autonomous vehicles, where things are not necessarily totally as failsafe oriented as we would like. And as perfect as we would like, I see legislatures already saying, well, even if you're going to have an autonomous vehicle, someone has to be in the driver's seat who can drive the car, and there should be no reason why that can't be a blind person as well.   Pat Daily  23:51 No, absolutely not. I mean, it's, it's all just a matter of data and input channel, right? I mean, right, whether it comes tactically or haptically, or auditorily, or we could have olfactory cues, maybe, but that that starts sounding a little messier,   Michael Hingson  24:09 probably a lot less efficient to do that. But but the fact is that Mark did this. And I think that car has been driven a number of times, I think he drove it around the streets of Baltimore as well. But the fact is that, that it is possible, which is another way of saying that eyesight isn't the only way to do stuff. But unfortunately, it is the main way that most people use and I understand that but the fact is not using some of your other senses, I think limits drivers a lot. I'm still surprised that for example, with Apple who has constructed all of its technologies to be accessible. So VoiceOver is built into every device that it releases. I'm surprised I haven't done more to make voiceover involved with interactions in automobiles. And there's an android version of, of all of that called TalkBack. But I'm surprised that with cell phones in cars, that they don't use more auditory output. And then like, you've got the Tesla where everything is driven by a touchscreen, which means no matter what you do you still have to look at the touchscreen. Why aren't they doing more with audio?   Pat Daily  25:20 Yeah, that's, that's a great question. And it, I think it gets to something I've heard you say on some of your interviews about sighted people have a disability in that we are light dependent, and you take away the light from us and and the world by and large becomes a navigable right to most of us. And that's just because we haven't tuned our other senses in the way that   Michael Hingson  25:49 you have. And there's no reason that we can't make it possible for people to use more of their senses. But the the automotive industry doesn't tend to do that. I think there's probably although it's still more emergency oriented. In aircraft, there's a lot of information that comes out auditorily, but probably a lot more could as well.   Pat Daily  26:12 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And so much in aviation now is, is really autonomous, that the biggest problem that aircraft like the the Boeing purple seven have is, how do we make sure that on a 16 hour flight, the crews are still awake? Yeah. And so they they build checklists to require them every so often to actually physically do something that the aircraft is perfectly capable of doing on its own. But we we want, it seems to still have that that pilot in the loop that pilot and control, do we get alarms or something that makes the pilot pay attention then to do whatever it is they need to do? Yeah, yep, get chart chimes, you get verbal cues, where the aircraft is actually talking to you.   Michael Hingson  27:05 Yeah, it makes perfect sense to to do that. And I've seen times where aircraft have flown, although pilots are still there, completely autonomously landed themselves gone right up to the, to the hangar or to the place where they let off passengers and so on. And all of that technology is accurate enough to do that today. Absolutely. There are several of us that are talking about the concept of trying to use some of the same technology I described with the the car that a blind person could drive to create, or build it into an airplane and have a blind person, fly the plane. And there's one person actually who wants to see this happen, and then be the first person to fly the same route Lindbergh did across the Atlantic, but be a totally blind person doing the flight.   Pat Daily  27:56 Well, that would be one heck of the demonstration of concept. But I'm with you. I don't think there's any reason they couldn't do that. There shouldn't be   Michael Hingson  28:07 any reason why we do have the technology today. It's the usual thing of a matter of finding a matter of will on the part of enough people to to make that happen. But I see no reason why with the technology we have today. We can't do that. Yeah, I think it all comes down to what you said. It's   Pat Daily  28:26 desire and funding. Sounds like a lot of fun down.   Michael Hingson  28:29 We'll see it be a fun project. Well, maybe you can help us. But oh, I have to ask this. In all your flying. Of course, you I'm sure you have flown in like the plane that everybody calls the vomit comment and had your experiences of weightlessness. Absolutely. And but you haven't gone yet fully into space?   Pat Daily  28:52 I have not. That's that's been one of my major disappointments. I always wanted to be an astronaut. And got a shot, got interviewed got to go down to NASA and then try to plead my case. And, and unfortunately, I was not selected, had a lot of friends that were selected, but I was not among them. You know,   Michael Hingson  29:16 Scott Parazynski? I do, we interviewed Scott, not too long ago. So he was talking to us about a number of the space station events and thought things that he has done. He wrote his book with the help of the same person who assisted me with underdogs. Susie Florrie. So that's how we got very good, which is which is kind of fun. So you went off and did Honeywell and and all that and got to work. I've never been to the Johnson Space Center. I'd love to do that sometime. I think it'd be a lot of fun. I have spent some time at NASA Goddard. And of course a little bit at the Kennedy Space Center but nothing really too involved in some didn't really get a chance to look at much of it but it'd be fun to go to the Johnson Space Center sometimes. So we'll have to come down and visit you and go there.   Pat Daily  30:05 Yeah, come on down, we'll take you.   Michael Hingson  30:07 But what did you do after Honeywell and all of that? After Honeywell, I,   Pat Daily  30:12 I launched a consulting company where we did safety consulting, and training and professionalism, professional development. And I really loved them, I really enjoyed the work. But after about 15 years doing that I was kind of done. So I left that behind, sold my share of the company to my partners, and wish them all well and, and move back into the flight test world. And so what did you go off and do? I went up to Moses, Lake Washington to work for Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation. And at the time, we were trying to build and certify a thing called the originally was called the MRJ, for Mitsubishi regional jet. And then they rebranded it, and called it the space jet, which, which, I don't know, I probably would have picked a different name, but hey, I'm not in marketing. And the thought behind the name was that they had reconceived reconceptualized, the way an airliner is built, traditionally, all the all the luggage, and everything goes in the belly. And that moves the floor of the aircraft up into the aluminum tube. And so you start losing head room and overhead, luggage space. And Mitsubishi had the idea, well, what if we just put all the luggage in the back, and then we have more room in the tube, and even fairly tall guys could stand upright in the in the aisle without having to duck. And that gave us the opportunity to build to build bigger luggage, overhead luggage compartments, and things like that. Unfortunately, that, you know, we, we got to flight test we built maybe seven of them that actually flew me see for here too, there are six that actually flew and then some that were just being used for structure testing. And then and then COVID happened and Mitsubishi decided that the program was far enough behind schedule and far enough over budget, that they needed to really rethink it. And so they they put it on what they call an extended pause. So extended that personally, I don't think it's ever coming back coming   Michael Hingson  32:39 back. It's yeah, permanently pause. So that kind of didn't help your job any?   Pat Daily  32:44 No, no, I got I got laid off from there. And thought that well, you know, I'm not I'm not working when I want to try writing. And so I'd already been playing around with the whole writing thing when COVID hit, and then just took it to the next level and got really serious about it finished the novel. And then, you know, long Behold, found somebody that actually wanted to publish it. You know, Michael, I don't know if you have this problem. But But I have a bit of an ego problem. I think that what I do is pretty doggone good. And so I wrote this book and draft one I thought, okay, it's no, it's no Of Mice and Men. It's it's not great literature, but it's a good book. And so I started sending it out. And and then I joined some writing groups, and the writing groups. It turns out, it's a little harder to get honest feedback than one would hope. Because everybody's worried that they're going to hurt your feelings and offend you. Yeah. And when they tell you you've got an ugly baby. But I had, I had a hideous baby. And it wasn't until well, she's become a friend of mine, another author, Alex Perry, who wrote a wonderful children's book, not children mid grade book, called pig hearted that she finally told me she said, Pat, it's boring. She said, your writing all makes sense. You can put a sentence together but it's like watching somebody else. watch somebody else play. A video came. And, and it hurt. But but it was exactly what I needed to hear. Yeah. And so I joined another writing group. And then I guess after about four or five revisions and 22 queries later, that Inklings publishing, said, Hey, you know, we think you got something here. So, you know, why don't we pair you up with a developmental editor and we'll see you We can do and they paired me up with a wonderful woman named Steph Mathias son. And she shepherded me through three more revisions of the book. And every time it got better, and largely because of the people that were willing to give me that honest feedback people like stuff, so that it you know, it got published and and now I've submitted book to to Inklings, and that should be coming out in December. And I've started on Book Three. So it's been, it's been a lot   Michael Hingson  35:34 of fun. And sequel is booked to a sequel, Book Two as a sequel. Yeah, great. Well, you know, there's nothing like a good editor, they're, they're worth their weight in gold and more. They're editing, right. And I learned that, not the hard way. But I learned it in a great way when we were doing fender dawg, because Thomas Nelson paired us with an editor who said, My job isn't to rewrite this in my own style. And to tell you how to write my job is to help you make this something that people will want to read, and to fine tune what you do. And and he did. We had, for example, I don't know whether you read thunder dog, but one of the parts about thunder dog is that it starts every chapter with something that was occurring on that day in the World Trade Center for me are around it. Then we went back to things I learned in my life. And then we came back and ended each chapter kind of continuing on in the World Trade Center. And what what our editor said was that your transitions lose me there, you're not doing great transitions from one scene to the other. And you got to fix that. And that was all he said. So I volunteered to do the transition examinations and try to deal with that, because it just clicked when he said that. I know exactly what he's saying. And I never thought about it. And and Susie says the same thing, you know, we hadn't really thought that they were as much of a problem as they are. But now that you mentioned it. So literally over a weekend, I've just went through and created transitions for every chapter. And I think that's one of the strong points of the book. And others have have said the same thing that the transitions absolutely take you where you want the reader to go. And it all came about because of the editor. Yeah, and I'm with you there. I   Pat Daily  37:31 think transitions are key. And I largely ignored them as well, in my in my early writing, that that of reading or consuming a book is actually requires work on both ends. And it's easier for the reader, if you pull them along as the writer if you seamlessly pull them into the next scene or seamlessly transition them. So yeah, transitions are huge.   Michael Hingson  38:00 They are and as soon as I heard that it made perfect sense. And the thing about it is I know now that I knew it, then I just never thought about it. So it's it's great to have a wonderful editor who can guide you. Well, your first book is called spark tell us about it, if you would. Spark is a near future science fiction novel, it.   Pat Daily  38:26 It takes place, mostly in Southern California, because when I was flying out there, I remember there being a solar power facility called solar one. And you could see it from probably 100 miles away during the daytime because it was one of these solar facilities where it relied on mirrors to reflect the solar energy up to a central collecting vessel that that normally has some sort of molten salt in it because it turns out that's really good for retaining heat. And then then they use that to transfer the heat to water turn that into steam to power a turbine and voila, electricity, by all always was fascinated by the whole solar power idea. And so spark itself is an acronym. It stands for Solar prime augmented reality Park. And, and as one of my readers pointed out, will pat that should be spark than not Spark as well. Yeah, but but spark doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. So I took a little license there. And the spark is a theme park for gamers. And it is an augmented reality theme park that makes use of both haptic technology as well as auditory cue News and visual cues in a thing I call augmented reality glasses that present the the player with a blended version of the real and the virtual. It's close enough in time to us that most people recognize a lot of the technology. But it posits some pretty impressive changes in artificial intelligence and solar power. And of course, it's it's got action adventure, there are good guys bad guys. The hero of the story a young man named wil Kwan shows up at the park, as you know, after his parents passed away, is his father dies in the second Korean War, which when I wrote it, wrote the book seemed much farther away than it does today. And, and that his his mom suffered mightily from the loss for her husband. And she ends up dying just few years later, and will is left as an orphan and things don't go well for him in foster care. And he ends up running away his goal is to run out to spark where his parents took him when he was younger. And he figures he's gonna get a job and just live there forever. Except that spark won't hire miners. And so he's got to figure out another way around it. And as he does, he realizes that there are far more layers to the game, and to spark itself than are normally perceived by others. And so he starts, he starts hunting a little bit, trying to learn more, he, he meets a young woman that or he has a disastrous first encounter with like, by the end of the novel, even though they still butt heads, they're now holding hands. And so you get a little little action, a little adventure, little romance, little mystery, and it ends up I think, just being kind of a fun novel.   Michael Hingson  42:12 So I would gather from augmented reality and everything else that, that there must be a lot of adventures and quests, and so on in the book. So if somebody were to buy the rights for the book, what quest would you like to see them convert into real life?   Pat Daily  42:29 That's a good question. That's a good question. I think my favorite and I D, detail a couple of the quests pretty deeply in the book, and one is called war on Mars. And I think it would be the most fun because it is the most expansive it, it takes place in mostly in Mariner Valley on Mars, which is so much larger than the Grand Canyon, in the United States. It is seven kilometers deep, that's four and a half miles deep. And it's it's nearly as wide as the United States is or long as the United States is east to west. And so I thought there were some cool things you could do with that out elevation change and, and of course, then there's got to be aliens involved in there, too.   Michael Hingson  43:28 I was just going to ask.   Pat Daily  43:32 Yeah, so So there are some aliens who don't take kindly to us being on Mars, and there's combat but but will is the kind of guy that he would rather think his way through things and fight his way through things. So he's, he's hung up on trying to find a more peaceful solution to our conflict with the aliens and I think that ends up being a lot of fun and wouldn't be a lot of fun to play out in real life.   Michael Hingson  44:03 Hopefully he figures out a way to get some peace and make some new friends.   Pat Daily  44:08 He does. Oh, good.   Michael Hingson  44:09 What character given that you're you're doing this a little bit future mystic kind of where what character was the hardest to develop   Pat Daily  44:18 the the young woman whose name is Shay Cree Patel, but her avatar name is feral daughter, and, and that name came out of something. My own daughter said that I misunderstood. We were on a on a vacation and they were in in shopping and I'd had enough of shopping in that particular store. So I just wanted to go stand outside for a little bit. Enjoy the fresh air. And she came out and she said something that I misunderstood as feral daughter. And I jumped all over that I said, that would be a great name for kind of a counter culture. clothing line, or, or you know, a boutique for women's clothes at a university or something like that. And she goes, Dad, what are you talking about? I said, Well, feral daughter isn't that we such no I and I don't even to this day, I don't remember what she actually said that it was not Farrell daughter. And it turns out that while I think I am a good husband, and good father, I am not very good at writing female characters. And again, my writing groups came in and were tremendously helpful. You know, some painful feedback, but also very good feedback to help me develop the female characters make them more authentic, so that, that neither of my daughters or my wife were embarrassed by the by them at the end   Michael Hingson  45:51 of the day, you mean, your daughter didn't help you? Right? She gave me   Pat Daily  45:55 one daughter, God bless her read all the way through one of the early drafts and gave me a lot of good feedback. The second one, the second daughter was far more interested after the book came out. And she was better at answering specific questions about well, you know, would this would this girl do this? Or? Or what do you think about this? Or how should he or she approached this? So they both been helpful in very different ways? Like, yeah, I, I was embarrassed enough by my writing that I put them through too many revisions of the of the novel   Michael Hingson  46:36 well, but if they, if they looked at it, and really helped unless you just were way too graphic with the sex scenes?   Pat Daily  46:44 No, no. And, and honestly, them that factored into it, I wanted to write a book that I wouldn't be embarrassed for my goats to read any of eventually, their children to read a call. They're calling you now. They're calling me now Dad, what are you saying? So, you know, interestingly, when I got the idea for the book, I was pitching it to my wife when we were out to dinner one night, and she's a fourth grade school teacher. And she started asking me all these questions, what about this, and this and this and this, and it would not be an understatement to say that I reacted poorly to the feedback. And at the end of the night, we ended up still married and still loving each other. But she told me that she was not going to read it until it was published. And so I lost my opportunity to have my first best writer critiquer   Michael Hingson  47:45 How about now with future books and the book you're working on now?   Pat Daily  47:49 Now, I think she is much more open to it.   Michael Hingson  47:52 And are you more open to Yes,   Pat Daily  47:55 yes. And I I'm better at taking feedback. And that helps tremendously. Because now I can I can discuss it a little more dispassionately and talk about what works what doesn't work in a scene and, and how characters might actually react. How old are your daughter's daughter number one is 36. Donner number two will be 33. The end of this year?   Michael Hingson  48:27 Do you have any sons? Nope.   Pat Daily  48:29 Just daughters.   Michael Hingson  48:30 So you've got two daughters, and they still and your wife still has some time to read and comment on your writings. Indeed,   Pat Daily  48:40 although my I'm probably not her favorite genre. Now she she loves historical fiction. So she'll, she'll jump on one of those books more eagerly than a science fiction book.   Michael Hingson  48:56 Well, okay, science fiction book. I guess we have to get to some other questions about that. So if we're dealing with science fiction today, Star Wars or Star Trek?   Pat Daily  49:07 Oh, gotta say I love them both. But I was born and raised on trek. And so I'll always be a Trekkie, even though I am a little disgruntled with some of the decisions they've made and some of the recent movies.   Michael Hingson  49:21 Yeah, yeah, my I hear you. But I like them both. I, especially the earlier Star Wars movies. I think, again, they've they've lost something in some of the translated translations later on. But they're fun. There are a lot of really nice Star Wars and Star Trek books, however, that are fun to read.   Pat Daily  49:44 Yeah. Yeah. And I actually, I actually tried to write a Star Trek book years ago, and I thought it was it was going to be good but it never I never finished it and The series move beyond one of my central characters I made Lieutenant Saavik a central character and, and things just move beyond her.   Michael Hingson  50:11 Mm hmm. Things happen. Yep. Well, and I was, you know, I like all of the Star Wars movies and I guess they they dealt with it but like the the last well of the original Nine with Luke Skywalker I guess in a little in a sense I was a little disappointed of course, I was disappointed that that Han Solo son killed him and what was that number? That would have been what number seven? But nevertheless, they're they're, they're fun. They're great adventure scores. So was Indiana Jones.   Pat Daily  50:46 Yes, yes. Indiana Jones that Raiders of the Lost Ark was actually the first movie I took my wife to go see   Michael Hingson  50:56 her you go down and how she liked it. She loved it.   Pat Daily  51:01 She loved it. I knew nothing about it other night heard other people say great things about it. And so I was delighted that it turned out to be such a good movie. I think it made a positive impact.   Michael Hingson  51:13 And were you afraid of snakes? I had to ask.   Pat Daily  51:16 I hate snakes.   Michael Hingson  51:21 Then as far as more I guess you could say science fiction, probably more fantasy, but something that I think has had a major impact on the lives of a lot of people, especially kids and helping them read is Harry Potter.   Pat Daily  51:33 Yes. That completely hooked. My daughter's my my first daughter got hooked on the red wall series. Brian jocks but then as soon as the Harry Potter's came out, she started devouring those and that is what really turned my second daughter into a reader was all the Harry Potter books. So II and that's the point, right? Yep. Yep,   Michael Hingson  52:01 I think we discovered Harry Potter with the third one in the series, prisoner basket band, we heard about it, and saw some new things about it. And at that time, there was still this company books on tape and we went in and we got copies, we got a copy and started reading the first one. And we got hooked. It was a little while getting into it. But it was a little boring at first, but we got hooked on it. And so we read the Sorcerer's Stone. And then we were hooked and couldn't wait for each of them the rest of the books to come out. So we read the first three pretty quickly because we were already on the Prisoner of Azkaban when we learned about it, but then we grabbed books as soon as we can. We got the audio books because my wife liked to listen to them as well, although we also got a print copy of all of the books, but we enjoyed listening to them. Jim Dale was such a great reader. And one of my favorite stories about all of that is that he was scheduled to read part of the fourth book in the series. I think that was the one published in 2001. When September 11 happened and he was supposed to be in Manhattan and was in Manhattan. He was supposed to do a reading outside of scholastic publishing, publishing. And so when the Goblet of Fire was published, he was going to be there doing a reading at Scholastic because they're the publisher of it. And of course, it was on September 11 And September 11 happened so he didn't get to read it. And we didn't get to go up and listen. But I remember that that was supposed to all happen on September 11.   Pat Daily  53:41 Oh my goodness, I never knew that. So she was going to be an evening thing. We're going to have to take off work, go play a little hooky to listen to the reading Oh,   Michael Hingson  53:50 we we could have gone up there without any difficulty during the day because we were working with scholastic publishing and sold them tape backup products. So it's not even a hard problem to go off and deal with going up there. Ah, okay. And when only going from the World Trade Center up to Scholastic, which is Midtown Manhattan, so was likely we'd be up in that area. Anyway. My favorite though thing about scholastic was we went in once I and a couple of wire other people. And one of the elevators was out of order, and they had a sign on the one that worked that said, this is for muggle use. And then the one that was out of order for wizard use only, which was really cute. I like that. Yeah, it was kind of fun. But you know, I really admire authors and books that promote reading and encourage people to read and I'm glad that that Harry Potter has done that and, you know, I'm looking forward to reading spar have gotta figure out a way to get access to it. I assume it may not be in audio format yet or is it?   Pat Daily  54:53 It is not. But I just started conversations with someone who could be the the narrator and I I've just learned that there's a huge difference between narrators and voice actors. And so I may need someone with voice acting skills, rather than just narration. Because I've got a lot of characters and some drama, and I want somebody that that can do more than simply read the words off the page. But I don't know how long it takes from day one to final release of an audio book. But I will let you know when it happens.   Michael Hingson  55:30 It you do have to get somebody who can read it. Well, I enjoy books where the reader is a as an actor and puts different voices into it. I've been reading talking books from the library of congress, of course, my whole life and early on, especially, they sought actors to do the reading. One of my favorite series has always been the wreck stop series near wolf, the private detective. Yeah, in the in the reader who did the best job was a radio actor named Carl Webber, who I never heard much of in radio, although I clicked radio shows, he did do a show called Dr. Six Gun. And I've discovered that and listened to him. And it does sound like our a Weber. But he read the neuro wolf books, and they were absolutely incredibly well done. So it does make a difference to have someone who's a good actor reading it, as opposed to just somebody who reads the lines, because they will help draw you in. Yeah, yeah. And I actually   Pat Daily  56:35 just downloaded thunder dog. I still do a fair amount of driving and I like to listen to books while I'm driving. So I'm I'm looking forward to hearing that. Well, Christopher   Michael Hingson  56:48 prince did a did a good job with it. I, I don't know how he would be at well, actually, I take that back. I have heard another book of that he read where he did. It was a fiction book. And I'm trying to remember the name of it, I'd have to go back and find it. But he did a pretty good job. He did this for Oasis audio. But there are some good actors out there. And so I hope that you have some success. Let me know. And if you need somebody ever to listen, I'd be glad to help.   Pat Daily  57:17 Oh, excellent. Thank you. I'll take care on that.   Michael Hingson  57:20 I have one last question I've been thinking about not book related. But talking about aircraft. Again, the 747 I keep hearing is probably the most stable passenger airliner that has ever been really produced. What do you think about that? Why is it so stable? Oh, I've   Pat Daily  57:38 got to agree with that a real champion of design. And it's got a couple things in his favor. One is one is the wings are Anhedral, which means that they can't up a little bit and especially when, when they get a little lift on him, they they get pulled up as all their aircraft wings do. And then the enormous vertical stabilizer lends a lot of a lot of stability to the aircraft. And then finally, I think Boeing just did an absolutely spectacular job of, of harmonizing the flight controls and putting everything together to make it a very docile airplane, certainly for something of its size. I mean, it carries so much fuel that he uses fuel for structural integrity when it's more full. And so we have that 747 is a spectacular airplane. And, and unfortunately, it's it's kind of aging   Michael Hingson  58:38 out. But how come they haven't done other things with that same level of design and stability? At least? I haven't heard that they have. But yeah, I   Pat Daily  58:48 think I think the triple seven is close to it. There have been very very few mishaps with the with the triple seven. And it's it's another marvelous airplane. I don't think they got exactly what they're hoping for with the 787. They did have some design issues, some manufacturability issues, but it's it's certainly a highly efficient and remarkably quiet appointment. So   Michael Hingson  59:20 what prompted the question was when you were talking about the Mitsubishi aircraft and so on, and putting the luggage at the backs of taller people could stand up. It reminded me of the 747 with the upper level for first class, the lounge where the pilots and so on were so it almost was to a degree at least a double decker aircraft.   Pat Daily  59:38 Yeah. Yeah. And of course Airbus has made the a 380 which is a true double decker full length. But that's that's another aircraft that hasn't exactly lived up to its hype. Well,   Michael Hingson  59:51 still holding on for flying saucers. There you go. Well, Pat, I want to thank you for being on unstoppable mindset. How do people reach out and maybe learn more about you? Where can they get the book? You know, love all your contact information and so on.   Pat Daily  1:00:08 Okay, probably the easiest way is the website, which is thepatdaily.com. And it's t h e. P a t d a i l y.com. And that has links to to my blog to the bio to all my other socials. I'm on, of course on on Facebook at Pat Daily, author and on Instagram at Pat daily pics and then Twitter at at Pat Daily, or I think it's at Pat Daily author, but easiest way, just the website, everything is there. Down. Cool.   Michael Hingson  1:00:48 Well, I know I'm looking forward to finding a way to read spark and your other books as they come out. That will be fun being a science fiction fan, of course. And I think we talked about it before we were doing this particular episode. But we've talked about science fiction and some of my favorite authors, I would still like to see somebody take Robert Heinlein to the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and make it into a radio series. Talking about actors. I just think that do. I think you're right. I loved that book.   Pat Daily  1:01:19 I loved so much of what Heinlein wrote, you know, one of the one a great masters of the genre.   Michael Hingson  1:01:25 Yeah, yeah. And I think that's his best book. A lot of people say Stranger in a Strange Land was and it was very unique, and so on. But the Moon is a Harsh Mistress is so clever. And there's so much to it. And of course, then there are books that follow on from it, where some of the world's the same characters are involved. Heinlein created a whole universe, which was fun, did it just sort of like as I did with the foundation series? Well, thanks, again, for being here. We need to do this again. Especially when you get more books out, when you get your next book out, we got to come back and talk about it. I'd love to.   Pat Daily  1:02:02 And and thank you so much for having me on your show, Mike, I really appreciate it.   Michael Hingson  1:02:05 Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to be here. This has been fun. So people go find the Pat daily.com and contact Pat reach out and enjoy the book. And let me know what you think of it. I'm going to get to it as well, I'm just going to find a way to be able to read it. So we'll get there. But for all of you who listened in today, thanks very much for being here. If you'd like to reach out to me, please do so. My email address is Michaelhi@accessibility.com. That's M I C H A E L H I  at A C C E S S I B E.com. Where you can go to www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast where you can reach out to us as well. I hope you'll give us a five star rating. And Pat, we didn't talk about it. Well, we should probably at some point, talk about how accessible your website is and get you in touch with people in accessibe.   Pat Daily  1:03:01  Absolutely. I did check out accessibe and it looks like something that once I get the website fully developed, we'll be in contact.   Michael Hingson  1:03:09 Well, we'd love to help you with that. But again, everyone thanks for being here. Please give us a five star rating and we hope that you'll be back again next week for unstoppable mindset. And again, Pat, thank you for being here as well.   Pat Daily  1:03:20 Thank you, Mike.Take care,   Michael Hingson  1:03:22 you too.   Michael Hingson  1:03:26 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Prolific author among other things. Diane Bator has written 13 mysteries and has five more in process. In addition, she works for a theater where she lives which has given her the opportunity to begin work on her first play.   Diane is a mother of three adult children. She is extremely active in the writer's community in Canada.   If you were to ask her about writing your own book Diane would encourage you to do it. Personally, I agree. Everyone has stories they can and possibly should tell. As an author coach, Diane puts her money where her pen is. That is, she actively encourages aspiring authors. After listening to our episode here, reach out to Diane and see where her coaching may take you as a writer.   About the Guest:   Diane Bator is a mom of three, a book coach, and the author of over a dozen mystery novels and many works-in-progress. She has also hosted the Escape With a Writer blog to promote fellow authors and is a member of Sisters in Crime Toronto, the Writers Union of Canada, and a board member of Crime Writers of Canada. When she's not writing and coaching authors, she works for a professional theatre. No surprise she's written her first play, which may lead to more.     About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.     Michael Hingson  01:20  Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today we get to interview Diane Bator, and gee, what can I say she's a mom. She's a coach. She's written a bunch of books, 12 mysteries specifically. And she also says she has many works in progress. That sounds scary, maybe she'll give us some clues. She also has been writing and been involved in the escape with a writer blog escape, we'll have to explore that. But she's been very involved in writing in a lot of different ways. And that's really kind of exciting, and really looking forward to learning more about all of that. So Diane, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Diane Bator  02:05 Oh, thank you, Michael. It's so great to be here.   Michael Hingson  02:08 And before we started, we've been been talking about all sorts of things like one of my files disappeared. And so the aliens came and took it, obviously, and maybe Diane can write a mystery about that and solve it. But you know, we'll go on. Well, tell me a little bit about you growing up or anything that you want people to know. Oh,   Diane Bator  02:27 my goodness.   Michael Hingson  02:29 How's that for an open ended question? Huh? Right.   Diane Bator  02:31 Oh, my goodness. No, I'm, I'm, I live in Canada. So I grew up in Alberta, in the prairies. And I currently live in Southern Ontario in a small town, which actually was the inspiration for my very first book that I got published. The bookstore lady, I set in two places in town, a local coffee shop, as well as a local bookstore, which is kind of fun to go to both of them and say, Hey, your story is in here. So that was that was very cool. I have three boys who are all young men now off doing their own thing. And they've all been very encouraging of my writing. And when I told my one son who was doing podcast, he was so excited for me. So it's a lot of fun.   Michael Hingson  03:21 Well, that's pretty cool. And so you, you obviously went to school, did you go to college,   Diane Bator  03:28 I went to college, I actually took Business Business Business Administration, and I did a couple of years of university, but I just couldn't get into what I wanted to get into. I guess I just wasn't enjoying it as much as I hope to so I just went off and did business school and got into life and had got married had kids, that sort of thing. So   Michael Hingson  03:50 So college and university, it just wasn't you.   Diane Bator  03:53 Well, I like I said, I got my diploma in business, but the university stuff was Yeah, I had a bit of a struggle. So   Michael Hingson  04:02 happens. Yeah. So you got your business degree as it were. And then what did you do?   Diane Bator  04:08 Um, basically, I got married, had kids. And then I started to working once we moved across the country. Basically, I started working in just was trying to find a job I really liked. And I ended up working at a karate school. So I was a receptionist at a karate school, which inspired a whole other series of books on my Gilda write mysteries. And currently I work for a live stage theater. So I run the box office at a theater and I've written my very first play. So we're, I'm waiting on that we're supposed to be workshopping it, so we'll see what the future   Michael Hingson  04:52 brings. When you say workshopping and what does that mean.   Diane Bator  04:55 That just means they bring in some actors and they just sit around a table and read the script. At or do it virtually whatever works the best.   Michael Hingson  05:02 Right? So when you do that, and you get to hear other people reading what you wrote, does it also cause you to maybe think about, oh, I need to change this? Or does it cause you to reflect? Are you pretty satisfied by the time that happens?   Diane Bator  05:18 Usually, that's why you workshop, the play before it ever goes to stage is that you can listen to it. I've been fortunate I actually did a writing conference last fall, and a couple of members of the group said, Hey, can we read a little bit of your play during the open mics section? So I got to hear a little bit of it. Actually workshopped then and went, Oh, okay, well, there's a couple little tweaks I have to make here. So it works. So that's I mean, that's what workshopping is for is to actually listen to it, make sure everything works. I mean, you can read something 100 times, but until you hear it out loud, in your, your, your words coming from someone else. It's like, oh, okay, I get that this works. This doesn't work, that sort of thing. Yeah, I   Michael Hingson  06:05 know, as a speaker, I always enjoy input from people. But also, how do I say this, I enjoy hearing myself speak because I think that I tend to analyze probably more critically than anyone else, because I'm close to the subject. So hearing myself, and when I do these podcasts, I go back and edit them, and listen to them. I listen to every one. So I also get a chance to listen to how I deal with questions and, and deal with everyone. But I also get to hear the other people again. And it's one of the ways that I learn a lot, not only about subjects, but I do get to learn a lot about how I'm doing and hopefully improve over time. Right. And that's, that's an important thing to do. I I'm a firm believer and people who have listened to this podcast before have heard me say I'm a firm believer in self appraisal and sales analytics, analytical behavior and introspection. And I think that we should all do a lot more of that than we do. So I'm glad you're doing the the workshop that'll that'll be pretty interesting.   Diane Bator  07:12 Oh, absolutely. I'm looking forward to it.   Michael Hingson  07:15 Well, I want to be in the audience when you win a Tony.   Diane Bator  07:18 Yeah. Me too.   Michael Hingson  07:21 I think it would be I think it would be kind of fun. We watch the Tonys every year. I guess. Angela Lansbury is getting a lifetime award this year. And that'll be fun. As always, like Angel and spear. Yeah. We've seen her and, you know, not just Murder She Wrote, but we actually saw a few plays with her on television. never got to see her live, but I bet it would be a lot of fun.   Diane Bator  07:43 Oh, a bat. She's just so in such an interesting person, for sure.   Michael Hingson  07:48 Well, what I learned this morning is she started performing at 17. And she is 96. So go Angela.   Diane Bator  07:55 right within inspiration.   Michael Hingson  07:59 So you were in a karate school now. Where was that?   Diane Bator  08:03 Um, that was here in orange Ville where I live. Okay, it's a goes your roof. So it's hard, soft, you know. And they trained for a few years along with working there. Which kind of gave me the inspiration for the series and everything.   Michael Hingson  08:19 You said you moved across country. So where did you come from? Um, we   Diane Bator  08:23 lived in Edmonton, Alberta. Ah, okay. So it is kind of a cross country. It's kind of a cross country. Yeah. It's about 2000 miles.   Michael Hingson  08:32 So cold is cold in the winter. So you know,   Diane Bator  08:35 yeah, yeah. I'd mentioned cold is a whole lot different than, than Southern Ontario cold.   Michael Hingson  08:42 But it's still cold. It's still cold. It's   Diane Bator  08:45 dry cold when your nostrils freeze shut that sort of   Michael Hingson  08:48 Yeah. Yeah. More humidity and in Ontario?   Diane Bator  08:53 Absolutely.   Michael Hingson  08:55 We're live on the high desert in California in Southern California. So we're very used to the dry heat. And here, we did live in New Jersey for six years. And before that I lived in Boston several years before that. So had my own exposure to the humidity. And I was born in Chicago, but don't remember much about the weather for the first five years when I was going to Well, growing up to be five and going to kindergarten and all that. I don't remember the weather much. But Chicago also has its level of humidity in the summer and of course cold weather in the winter. Oh, yeah. So how did you get into writing?   Diane Bator  09:33 You know, it's one of those things I've always kind of done. I've always written stories and that sort of thing since I was in school. And actually, I still have copies of things I wrote when I was in junior high. So though in when I was actually in the ninth grade, I wrote a poem and my teacher physically grabbed me by the arm and took me down to the school newspaper and said, Okay, you need to publish this. So that'd be became my first published piece. So it was a really good that particular teacher, Mr. Coleman was fantastic and very encouraging and, and really opened my eyes to different genres as well as whatever, you know, silly things I was doing on my own thought, ah,   Michael Hingson  10:19 is the newspaper try to grab you to be a writer for them?   Diane Bator  10:23 I ended up being a writer for the newspaper. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  10:26 There you go horoscopes? Did you? How did you do that? How did that work?   Diane Bator  10:33 Wing in a prayer. Sometimes, you know, people going through things and kind of make a little thing directed at them, but not really. So yeah. And it was funny how many people would come over and go, Oh, my gosh, that was so true. I don't know how you knew that. Like?   Michael Hingson  10:53 Did you do? Or do you do any kind of research to look at whatever's going on with the stars and so on on a particular day to help with the process? Or do you just make it up as you went along? Oh,   Diane Bator  11:04 not back then I was only, like, 1415. So yeah, it was just make it up as you go.   Michael Hingson  11:11 Hey, whatever works. That's it. But it it made it into the newspaper and help with copies. And so the editor must have been a little bit happy.   Diane Bator  11:20 Oh, yeah. And she had fun doing it.   Michael Hingson  11:23 Did you do any other writing for the paper? Besides the horse cup? Did you write any other poems or articles or anything?   Diane Bator  11:30 Oh, my gosh, that's such a long time ago. Um, yeah, I know, I wrote little bits here and there, just depending on what we needed to, if we needed space fillers, or whatever the case, so   Michael Hingson  11:40 I didn't write much. I did a little bit of writing in a couple of English courses. But I went into radio as opposed to the newspaper, the new university, the new you at UC Irvine. We had a couple of radio people who were pretty talented. And one was especially a writer, he actually went to work at some point for the Philadelphia Inquirer and just retired not too long ago from doing that. But I remember some of the articles that that he wrote, and he had a lot of fun doing. And he also had a lot of fun doing radio, so we got to to work together. I was the Program Director of the station at the time. And John and a friend of his Matt had a show on Sunday night right after my show. So there's a lot of fun, they did a lot of creative things. And yeah, like writing, radio, and writing are creative. And you can do some some things. The only thing I kind of miss from radio that I never did was really created something from the beginning, there are some science fiction things I would have loved to have seen, actually turned into radio broadcasts or radio series and still have not done anything with that. But it'd be kind of fun, because I can see some of the some of the things would be great. Well, so you got into writing, which was great. How did you get from writing of one sort or another into the whole idea of fiction? And mystery specifically?   Diane Bator  13:10 You know, I always kind of wrote fiction stuff. I've never really been big on the nonfiction, I'll read it, but I don't really write it. It was my gosh, but 2010 and I stumbled across. It was a contest, it was called murdering, Inc. and it was put on by a small publisher here in Ontario. And the premise was you take one of those old murder mystery party games. And they would give you all the characters, all the clues, everything, you had to work it into a story, you had to write it into 10 chapters, and each chapter was in the point of view of a different character, and kind of going, Okay, well, if I can do this, I can do anything because this is crazy. But I did it. And I also won the contest, which was my very first novella that was published. And it was just really a great lesson in making your characters voices and everything. It was a lot of fun. And it was, what was really cool is the very first copy that came off the press, the publisher, put it in an envelope, which it's still in the envelope to this day, it says on their first book, and it's still on my shelf as my first book in the envelope on touch. So that was very cool. But doing that I kind of sat there and let you know, I kind of like writing this mystery stuff. And that's how I started on the path down the mystery genre.   Michael Hingson  14:39 So if all of your books been separate books, or do you have a series   Diane Bator  14:44 actually have four series. One of them the Khan lady, which has just come out in March is the final book in my wildblue mystery series. And that's the one I started to write when I moved to Ontario and kind of That loosely on the small town where I live now,   Michael Hingson  15:03 can you have three other series?   Diane Bator  15:04 I do. Sorry, I have a dry spot. dry throat. Yeah, I have my karate series. So Gilda right mysteries is based on a karate school. Glitter Bay mysteries is in a small town in Oregon with two young ladies who run a small vintage boutique. And my fourth series is sugar with mysteries which is set in a small Ontario town. And Audra and her friend merrily run a craft store, and it's cozy mystery. They get into all kinds of trouble.   Michael Hingson  15:39 I've heard the term cozy mystery referred, while referring to a lot of different kinds of mystery books. What are cozy mysteries,   Diane Bator  15:47 cozy mysteries are set and smells when we were talking about Angela Lansbury. Right. Murder She Wrote, she wrote a sick, classic, cozy mystery sweat in this small town normally, or a small town character who has a reason to solve these mysteries. There's usually not a lot of swearing, blood, guts, Gore, that sort of thing. It's just quaint, small town. You know, just a nice, light friendly read.   Michael Hingson  16:16 For me, I like those kinds of mysteries more than most anything else I really although we we read some James Patterson and stuff like that. I like puzzles. And I like mysteries that really present puzzles. That's one of the reasons I think I've always been a fan of the Rex Stout, and now Robert Goldsboro follow on Nero Wolfe, because Rex Stout always wrote puzzles. And if you really read them, you you may not be able to figure them out. And usually, I had a pretty hard time I worked hard at figuring them out. I was more successful figuring out Mary Higgins Clark, but Rex Stout I had significant problems with but by the time we'll solve the cases, yeah, that was pretty obvious. Why didn't I pick up on that? Which was of course, the whole point.   Diane Bator  17:07 Yeah, I know. That's for me. That's always been a big thing. I love puzzles. I love just the mystery of it all. And just trying to put things together. And, you know, I love throwing up the red herrings because I don't like it when somebody beta reads a book and goes, Oh, I knew that from page three. Yeah, like, well, that's not fun.   Michael Hingson  17:28 Yeah, that doesn't help the mystery. The mystery process at all? No, no, my favorite one of my favorite television shows it was only on for three years. Start Georgia part. It was called Banacek Banacek. Assurance investigation. I love Banacek I've got to go find them somewhere because I'd like to watch those shows again, but he always was involved with puzzles. Yeah,   Diane Bator  17:51 yeah. We got a channel called cozy TV and I found Banacek on there a couple of times and Murder She Wrote all those great   Michael Hingson  18:00 ones. Well, yeah, a Hallmark Channel down here. He has Murder She Wrote most every night. And of course, obviously that's worth watching and, and a number of murder. She wrote stories have been in books on Donald Bane and others have written murder. She wrote books. So they are fun, man. Again, it is puzzles, which is great. Until you see Angela Lansbury. And something like Sweeney Todd. But that's another story.   Diane Bator  18:25 Actually, one of one of my Facebook friends just started writing the murder. She wrote series, Terry Morin. She's just taken over for the last two, I think she's done to one or two now. Just trying to remember but   Michael Hingson  18:40 look her up and see if we can find any of any of hers because that would that would be fun to be able to to get them and have access to them. But Murder She Wrote is is a fun series by any standard. So they're, they're fun to have.   Diane Bator  19:00 I was enjoyed, like one of my first real cozies I started reading was the Kathy series.   Michael Hingson  19:07 Yes, yeah. Lily in Jackson Browne. Um, we have read all of those. I've taught my wife along the way to listen to books, she, she also has a disability. She's in a wheelchair, but she sees and likes to read. But since we don't find a lot on television, usually worth watching. And obviously, if you're watching television, it's kind of hard to do a lot of stuff if you're really focusing on the screen. So I read audio books anyway. But I've taught her to be able to listen to an audio book as well. So we pipe audio books around the house. And so we've done a whole bunch of the cat who books that way. And the ones that she didn't read that way she has read in paper form, but also we've we've put them out there so she gets access to them anyway. Now she's really into what we bought With our JD Robb Oh, yeah. Which is a little bit more in the violence side, but still always a great puzzle. So, Karen, well, we're both on number 22 in the series. And so we've got a ways to go, Well, how do you come up with the plots? How do you create a plot and create an idea for a mystery?   Diane Bator  20:23 You know, it sounds silly. So well, sometimes, they just kind of come, you just kind of get an idea out of the blue. And sometimes it's things you see in the newspaper or on television, even something else spark of thought that goes a completely different direction. Just things you see things you hear, like just about anywhere,   Michael Hingson  20:45 so something, something piques your interest, and then your brain just starts to work and you create a story around it.   Diane Bator  20:54 Yeah, pretty much.   Michael Hingson  20:56 It's, it's fun to be creative, isn't it?   Diane Bator  20:59 It really is. And you can take things, you know, like you said, even if you see something on television, and it's just like a little blip of a thing that you just go, that's pretty neat. I could make this different and do a different spin on it. And that's, that's the part that I love doing.   Michael Hingson  21:18 Have you ever looked at real life events of one sort or another and turn them into some sort of a mystery and use that as the springboard for it, or even just taking something that happened in life, that was a mystery that maybe got solved and thought about writing a book about it? It's kind   Diane Bator  21:35 of funny, my publisher, they've decided to do a Canadian historical mystery series. So they have one writer from each province, and you have to come up with kind of a local mystery that you write about, and it has to be historical. And as soon as she mentioned that, to me, I started kind of Googling and going local mysteries, I don't really know too much. The story that came up out of all the weirdest things in the world. There's a local rumor, and it's only a rumor. Nobody's ever substantiated it, that Jesse James buried gold, about 20 miles from here. So I'm like, oh, you know what I can take that. It's sort of has a weird basis in truth, but not really. And I can just take it and run and make it a totally fun, historical mystery.   Michael Hingson  22:30 Well, do we know that Jesse James was ever up in Canada,   Diane Bator  22:34 there is rumors, and that's pretty much all it is, is a rumor, because the story goes that somebody from his gang was related to somebody that lives in a town nearby. So they had reason to come up and hide out in the area. And they, you know, the guest is, oh, he buried all this money from this last for one of these heists. Right. And, and it's like, it's not completely true, but it's not completely false either. So there's just no proof. Yeah. So when possible, but yeah, yeah. That's what makes it fun, though. That's it. That's what I figured.   Michael Hingson  23:13 So your books have been published more traditionally, as opposed to doing self publishing? Yeah, I   Diane Bator  23:19 actually, big long story. But I ended up with this wonderful little together a little bit. They're not exactly a small publisher. They're a little bit bigger than that. But they're out of Alberta. And they've been fantastic. I've been with them for my gosh, but 10 years now 11 years, and 13 books in and we're still going and they still ask me to write stuff. And they pick dates and say, Okay, can I send you this one for this time? And they're like, Sure. So it's, it's been really good, a great learning experience for sure.   Michael Hingson  23:57 If any of the books made it to audio, or they just all been print,   Diane Bator  24:02 right now, they're all just in print. Audio, they don't do audio there. Because it's just too much for them right now. But I've been looking into it. I just have to know sometimes money can be kind of a little bit of an issue, but   Michael Hingson  24:20 I don't know how it works. But what about something like Audible? They have audible originals. So they take they've taken books from other people or had work specifically created for them and they've converted into audio. Have you explored that?   Diane Bator  24:32 I have not? No, I definitely will though.   Michael Hingson  24:36 It seems like that might be an interesting way. If you've had success as a writer and you obviously have and you've had success with publishing books, then maybe it would be something that audible would be interested in doing. It'd be a little bit of a different process for you, but it would probably be kind of fun and they think their own people to do it.   Diane Bator  24:57 Now that sounds like a great plan to check I do when   Michael Hingson  25:01 we did thunder dog, and it was published in 2011, Thomas Nelson Publishers had arranged for Oasis audio to record the book. So I don't know how any of that happened and what the arrangements were. But the book did get recorded, and then was also sent to Audible. And so it was done. So I don't know all the ins and outs of it. Some people have also explored just using computer generated voices to, to if you will play or read out loud a book and the problem was computer generated voices are still not totally human sounding. So it isn't as natural.   Diane Bator  25:41 Yeah, I have a couple of friends that they listen to their books with the computer generated, and   Michael Hingson  25:47 oh, I can do it. But it isn't the same. And it's not something you have to concentrate more on. So it is still where an issue where human reading is better. Maybe someday it will get to be better than it is to be able to have a computer generated system, but not yet. Yeah. So it's a process. Well, so you've done 13 books today. They've all been mysteries. Yeah. So with that in mind, how many books do you have coming up? Or projects do you have going on right now?   Diane Bator  26:24 Right now? I'm probably oh my gosh, I've got one book for this year, for sure. Two more for next year. And then probably two more for the year after that. So probably about five than that. That's the only things from my publisher that doesn't include any little side projects or anything like that.   Michael Hingson  26:46 Have you started on all five to one degree or another? If they're   Diane Bator  26:51 not, I don't really plot them out. But I do have like little blurbs about what I'm going to write about. So everything is kind of got blurbs, at least the one for this fall, I'm just finishing the rough draft to get into editing. So a new series or? No, it's actually Book Two of my sugar wood series.   Michael Hingson  27:16 Yeah, so all of your series are like three or four books long, and then you end the series.   Diane Bator  27:23 Um, it depends my first series, The Wild Blue mysteries, the con ladies book five. And that was, that was the final book in this series. But it still kind of leaves me a loophole to come back later if I want. And continue on. But for the most part, I aiming for about three, but we'll see how the series goes.   Michael Hingson  27:48 I interviewed someone a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about writing series, he's not a great fan of series, because he says he likes to see things in and wants to stay alive long enough to see the end of a series. And I can appreciate that. But we mentioned JD Robb A while ago, the the other side of the fact that she's written now what 353 or 54, in the in depth series. They're still all standalone. That is you can read any of them without reading the ones before or after. Although if you start from the beginning, the beginning you can see an evolution in the process. And so, you know, I went when you write a series, is it really probably best and most important to start at the beginning and go through the series? Or can each of the books be read by themselves without too much of a problem?   Diane Bator  28:43 I think in particular for wildblue mysteries, I think they can all be read as a standalone until the end. And I know somebody said well, the last one's great, but now I want to go back and read the rest. So I don't know if that meant that they didn't quite get something or they just wanted to go read the rest of the books. But for the most part there, you can read them as a standalone.   Michael Hingson  29:08 We started reading the Joe Pickett CJ box series. Have you ever read those? I have not. CJ box is the author. The protagonist is a game warden in Wyoming. And when we discovered it, we we started reading book 18 and fairly close to the beginning. We got very intrigued but they made a reference to something that happened in the previous book. We could have gone on and read it but we just decided to stop and because we were intrigued and we really liked the portrayal of the character is weeping. My wife and I. We went back and started at the beginning. So it was like over a year before we got back up to book 18 And what happened in the previous book was relevant and interesting. It wasn't necessary for the reading of book 18. But it sure made it a lot more fun to go back to the beginning. And so we we did and, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, I'm anxious to to have the opportunity to read some of yours, maybe I'll have to figure out a way to download them. Or maybe they'll get converted to audio at some point. But if we, we get a chance, I'll have to go hunt them down some way and be able to read them. Are they available? Are they available as ebooks anywhere?   Diane Bator  30:32 They are? Yeah, they're all over anywhere. You can buy ebooks, so   Michael Hingson  30:36 Okay, so we can, can go find them. And that's pretty important. How sales been obviously enough to please your publisher, but if you had any that people classified as bestsellers,   Diane Bator  30:48 I wish not really at this point. I mean, it's a lot of it is the marketing as well. And it's hard to juggle, raising kids working full time doing the marketing, doing the writing, and it's. So I've hired a PR guy lately, just to see if that will kind of help give a boost. And Mickey's been really great. So we'll just see how that goes. Has he?   Michael Hingson  31:15 has he gotten you some good PR?   Diane Bator  31:17 Oh, excellent stuff. It's been a very busy couple of months, that's for sure.   Michael Hingson  31:22 Yeah, I've met Mickey. And we actually started working with him. I think we talked about that, and so anxious to see how that how all that goes because we did thunder dog, but that was published through Thomas Nelson. And we couldn't get running with Roselle to be picked up by a publisher. It was written more for youth, although more adults by then than youth. But in the time that we had when it was written, no one seemed to want to pick it up. So we self published it. And so we're looking forward to Mickey helping to make that one more visible. We just started writing our third book, which is going to be talking about controlling fear and continuing not the story, but to teach lessons of things I learned that helped me survive on September 11. But doing it from the standpoint of the fact that I've used a guide dogs, and so we're going to have a very strong animal involvement in terms of how animals help enhance what we do, and a faith involvement as well. So that one, however, has been picked up. And we've signed the contract and we're riding away on it.   Diane Bator  32:34 Oh, congratulations. That's exciting. So that   Michael Hingson  32:37 will be a lot of fun. And I hope it will help people learn that they don't need to let fear overwhelm them. And by not doing something that just allows you to be completely as I would call it blinded by fear. You can make more intelligent and substantial relat well reasonable decisions in your life, rather than just doing it out of fear. Yeah. So we're hoping that that goes, well. Well, what do you think the best thing is about being a writer,   Diane Bator  33:06 I get to make up all kinds of stuff and do all kinds of stuff in my head. I think it's really awesome to be able to sit down and make up like whole worlds whole towns, whole, all kinds of people and to be inspired by people and things around.   Michael Hingson  33:23 So as you're making things up here, you're obviously using your own experiences to create the towns and the scenes and so on. Oh, absolutely. Do other people give you ideas for scenes Do you? Do you let anybody look at your writing and they come along and they say things like, you might want to consider adding this in or adding this scene in or making it appear differently than maybe you originally started? Not normally.   Diane Bator  33:48 Usually nobody sees it until at least the rough draft is written. I get lots of people going, I have an idea for a book you should write. So I have a few of those kicking around. And I actually have a friend of mine. He's been wanting to write a book his whole life. And he's 65 now. And he doesn't he doesn't consider himself a writer. But he makes the line and gives it to me for every chapter so that I can do the writing part of it. So one day, we'll get it done.   Michael Hingson  34:25 Collaboration. Yep. There's nothing wrong with with doing that. So what does your family think of you being a writer and having all these things that you create and so on?   Diane Bator  34:37 My kids love it. They think it's very cool. My youngest when he was I think I can't remember if it was kindergarten at grade one. He needed to pack a shoe box for school. And he's got this shoe box and he's got all these things in it. So I'm like, Well, what did you bring in your shoe box? I'm curious and one of the Things was my very first book my novella. And so why do you have my book in there? And he says, Well, I know from this that if you can write a book, I can do anything. So I just say it was always like, Oh, he got me right in the heart. So, so that just was always cool. And one of his brothers, my middle son always tells me well, when your books are made into a movie, we're going to take the limousine down to the premiere, like, okay, fine, there you go. Right. So they're very encouraging. Well, we're   Michael Hingson  35:33 looking toward the day, the thunder dog will be a movie, we've got some people who are working on it. And we're making progress, nothing that we can talk about yet. But it should be a movie, in my opinion, and a lot of other people have said the same thing. And if it if it is, hopefully, it will be able to keep the same kind of motif and theme of the book, and that it will help teach people about blindness, and it will help people maybe learn some lessons about September 11. But also, it's important that it be entertaining. So it'll be kind of fun. No, that's so cool. My, my agent for writing thunder dog is still advocating to this day that he wants Brad Pitt to play him not that he had a big part in any of it. I said, Well, that seems fair to me, you know. But, but we'll see. Yes, any   Diane Bator  36:25 input on the script, he'll have a bigger role.   Michael Hingson  36:30 We haven't given him that. But it will be kind of fun to just see how it goes. How old are your kids?   Diane Bator  36:38 Oh my gosh, my youngest just turned 21. It makes me feel really old. 2123 and 25.   Michael Hingson  36:49 Yeah. Well, so now what is your husband think of all of this?   Diane Bator  36:54 I'm actually divorced. So divorce, so he doesn't think about it. He didn't think a whole lot of it. So it kind of contributed No   Michael Hingson  37:03 fun.   Diane Bator  37:04 No, no,   Michael Hingson  37:05 but you got? Yeah, go ahead.   Diane Bator  37:07 No, I was gonna say when somebody tells you writing is not a career, then that's yeah, it doesn't work out. So well.   Michael Hingson  37:15 Gee, what did he do for a living?   Diane Bator  37:18 Um, I'm not sure what he's doing. Now. He was not a plant manager. But he works for big plant. Well, operations and stuff. Very logical thinker.   Michael Hingson  37:31 Well, that's fine. But even managers have to write budgets and other things. So what a thing to say to you. Yeah. Ready comes in all forms. And people, and people have made writing a great success. I know Suzy Florrie who I worked with on thunder dog does a lot of writing. And then the book we're writing now Carrie Wyatt, Kent and I are working on the carries a friend of Susie, Susie is in a Ph. D. program. So didn't have time. But Carrie and I are working on this. And we're we're very excited about the directions that this book is going to go. But clearly, she also has made a career out of it. And needless to say, there have been a number of people who make careers out of writing. Of course, it's a career of course, it's a worthwhile endeavor. Yeah, I just told them never say that to Stephen King. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Partly because you never know where you might end up in a book, or, or in real life. You know, you could be the next person in pet cemetery, but you know, right. And he continues to be sick and look at his kids.   Diane Bator  38:40 Go, yeah, yeah, it's amazing.   Michael Hingson  38:44 And going back to mysteries, not with too much more graphics, but Clive Cussler, and the directed series and so on. Yeah, he's had a little success at making making books a good career. And he did. And, of course, he's passed away, but the family is continuing it.   Diane Bator  39:00 Yeah, I was fortunate to get to have a video chat with Robin Purcell, who was riding with him as well. So ah, yeah, that was very interesting.   Michael Hingson  39:10 Then there's always the Louis L'Amour family. And of course, talk about, you know, everybody can scoff about westerns and so on. But he made a an incredible career out of it. And they're continuing that process. And I've never got to meet any of those people. But I think it'd be a lot of fun.   Diane Bator  39:29 Very neat. It would be really great discussion, that's for sure.   Michael Hingson  39:33 I think it would well, if you ever get a chance to to know any of them and, and get a chance to refer them to us to talk on the podcast. We'd love to do it. I think it would be a lot of fun. Well, so if you had something that you wanted to advise people who are interested in writing to do or, or thoughts that you would have for people about being a writer, what would you say to   Diane Bator  40:00 do it anyways, you know, just write what you love to write, find an editor, somebody who actually knows how to edit a book, not just, you know, the guy next door who likes to read, and just do it, give it your best shot, you got nothing to lose.   Michael Hingson  40:20 Good editors are hard to find. But also good editors really understand what it means to help you shape the book, rather than trying to write it the way they want it written. Yeah,   Diane Bator  40:33 there's nothing worse than having somebody edit your book and take your voice out of it. And it's just, it's very frustrating. And I know I've worked with a few different writers as well. And in a very intentional to leave in things that are them. Things that are obviously very wrong, we can we can have to tweak that, because that doesn't work. But things that are very much them and how they're, how they would speak and how they would write, those things have to stay.   Michael Hingson  41:06 So when you're, when you're working with people, you've you've, you've done some things you we talked about your blog, writing the blog piece, and so on. And you've been a writing coach, tell me more about that, if you would,   Diane Bator  41:18 I that was something I started through COVID. So I've only worked with a handful of people. But I was working with people before then. And doing the same thing, just doing the edits and helping to make sure that book flowed and worked. And the story made sense. I was just doing one for somebody not too long ago, he's actually doing rewrites right now. And the very first read of his very first chapter, I sent it back to him. And he said, This reads like a textbook, or a movies scripts, like it's a very point for more than an actual story flow. So he's reworking right now. But we'll see what ends up happening.   Michael Hingson  42:00 I wish we could get textbook writers to make their books less boring. I think even even the most calm, well convoluted or incredible textbook could have stories in it. You know, a lot of people when I was getting my master's degree in physics, a lot of people talked all about the math and physics. And they talked about the philosophy. But the books, did all the math and never really discussed in in a more engaging way the philosophies of physics or these authors who were very famous physicists didn't tell stories in them. And I submit that they would get a lot more engagement from people, if they really talk not just about the math part of it, not just about the physics itself, but the philosophy and tell stories of how they got where they did and engage people to be more interested, especially at the undergraduate level, I would think,   Diane Bator  43:03 Oh, yeah, I agree with that. Just make it more relatable and more. Yeah, I think that's great.   Michael Hingson  43:10 How do you get how do you get people to do that? It's a challenge. So tell me about the blog, what kind of things have happened with your blog, and what that's doing for folks.   Diane Bator  43:22 I started escape with the writer in September 2018. Because I'd had a blog forever, and I was awful at keeping it up and writing stuff on it. So I thought, You know what I'm gonna share. And I started sharing other people's works on my blog. I still, you know, once every so often I take a day, and this is my stuff. But I work with Mickey, I've got a bunch of his writers who I post their stuff on it, and the people that I find that I post personally, I always send them questions to answer and we make it really personable and fun. And you get to know more about the person, the writer, as a person, as opposed to just here's my book. Yeah. So I think that's, that's the part I have a lot of fun with.   Michael Hingson  44:15 Well, it makes it more engaging and more relevant all the way around, because it's, it's great to read books and so on, but it is nice to know more about the writer, the people who are writing the books and getting more engaged with them, and then makes you more interested and fascinated in what they write. No, absolutely. So you've had some success with the with the blog.   Diane Bator  44:39 It's still going. I started with two days a week and now I'm at three days a week and I could probably do four if I want to. But it's takes up a lot of time. So three is just right for now. Yeah, I   Michael Hingson  44:54 haven't had the discipline to keep my blog up like I need to and that's one of the things that I have to Want to work toward Chris being involved with accessibe and helping to make internet websites more accessible? Takes a lot of time. And the podcast is probably the things that keeps me the most busy right now. But even that engagement, we need to be out there doing more writing stuff. So it's one of the efforts that's gotta happen over time. Yep, exactly. But it is all fun to do when it is fun to interact with people. What do you think that social media has done in terms of affecting the writing industry affecting what you do and so on, not just your blog. But in general,   Diane Bator  45:40 there's lots of good and bad for sure. I mean, in the good side, you can get connected with writers all over the world. So I've been fortunate because of that, that I've had writers literally from just about every country can think of that had been on my blog that I've gotten to know in a different way than just, you know, liking their posts. And then other ways, you get people that are just downright nasty, and they know everything and tell other writers, you know, give up what you just posted as awful. Or there's a typo in the meme, you shared that somebody, you know, 80 people removed for you and had posted, right? So it's just you have to, there's lots of good, but sometimes you just have to take the bad with it.   Michael Hingson  46:26 Yeah. And you kind of wonder about some of the people who just do that sort of stuff. I wonder if they would do it face to face, you know, and that's the problem with social media is that you're not really making the same level of connections. Yeah, that's very true. And we lose and have lost so much of the art of conversation, because that happens. And it's so unfortunate that we don't connect like we used to. And I realized that the other side of that is that we live in a world where there is so much technology that gives us the opportunity to connect and so on. But we don't really connect if we don't take full advantage of that. And when we just get in social media, and we don't have conversations and other things like that, then we're really missing a lot of what's available to us.   Diane Bator  47:18 Oh, absolutely. That was one thing that I know. Canada In particular, we had a lot of lockdowns, especially in Ontario. So there was a lot of things we could not get to do. But joining some of these groups, like I part of Sisters in Crime and crime writers of Canada and that sort of thing, and being able to sit in on some of these really great webinars, and even just a meeting where people are chit chatting back and forth, which was really great, because you get to meet different people and learn different things. And, you know, people, we have a writing group that literally has writers from Vancouver, all the way over to Halifax, so from west to east, and everybody in between, which is really neat, because we never would have met otherwise. And you can have those kinds of conversations,   Michael Hingson  48:11 all sorts of different writing styles. So not just mystery, and not just fiction.   Diane Bator  48:16 No, it's the one particular group was with the writers union of Canada, and everybody's very mixed genres. You know, we help each other out, we give each other support and it's just just a really nice group to hang out with.   Michael Hingson  48:31 Do you ever associate with any of the writers groups or whatever? Through writers in Canada? Do you associate with any of the groups in the US?   Diane Bator  48:40 Absolutely. Sisters in Crime has been really great because they have groups all over the place and I've been able to sit in on different webinars and different meetings. Oh my gosh, Grand Canyon has a great group Arizona together group I was with I can't even remember where they were New Jersey, I want to say something like that.   Michael Hingson  49:04 There's a lot of crime to talk about back there. But there's a lot of   Diane Bator  49:07 crime everywhere. It's been really great to get all these other perspectives and and just some great ideas. Well, that   Michael Hingson  49:18 is, you know, really cool. And that's of course, the whole point by connecting with other people. You do get other ideas, don't you? So now you have to create a a book or a series involving all the Sisters in Crime and but you can have a lot of fun or that   Diane Bator  49:35 actually, I've had some kind of a similar idea to that. But yeah,   Michael Hingson  49:40 how about brothers in crime?   Diane Bator  49:43 Maybe you know,   Michael Hingson  49:44 equality after after   Diane Bator  49:46 course. Well, Sisters in Crime also has brothers in there. So it's not just sisters out there.   Michael Hingson  49:54 There you go. Have you thought of writing any other genres like you know, science fiction or, or, or other kinds of fiction types of things.   Diane Bator  50:04 Actually, this, the book that I'm collaborating on with my friend is fantasy. So he's a huge fantasy buff. And he's, like I said, he's making all the notes and making all the little fine tune details. And I just have to sit down and write the story. I also have a YA fantasy that I've been working on, when I have nothing else to do. And that will come out one day as well. And I also wrote my first stage place. So that's when they, you know, we'll end up doing the workshop with and then we'll see what happens. So like, what can you tell us   Michael Hingson  50:39 about the play?   Diane Bator  50:40 It is a ghost story.   Michael Hingson  50:43 Now we're getting there, right?   Diane Bator  50:45 Because I work in the theater. It's a very old book. The building was built in 1875. And, yes, we have our ghosts. I haven't seen any of them. But every now and then you something will happen. They get let go. Okay.   Michael Hingson  51:01 Of course, down here in California, in San Diego, there's the Del Coronado hotel. I don't know if you're familiar with the del, but they have ghosts, there is a one room where a woman has died. And she she haunts that room. And a number of people have said that they have seen her. She's not a mean ghost. Now they've stayed in the room. And they've seen her in the halls. But people have said they've seen her in the room. So everybody wants to stay in that room, of course. But the Dell apparently has several ghosts, and nobody is near as I read. Recall, her understand, seems to be a bad ghost, which is good. Yeah. And it's, it's a lot more fun. But well, I'm looking forward to hearing more about the ghost story when it's done. So you don't have to come up and do a book with a blind character. And I'll be glad to help you with that. But we haven't seen that many that are that are really portraying blind people very well, in in a lot of things with disabilities in general. There have been various books of one sort or another. And of course, there have been plays in movies and television shows. But a lot of the time the actors aren't people with disabilities, which really leaves out dimensions that we would add to it. Dakota, of course, won the Oscar this year for Best Picture. And I think part of what made it successful was that they were really dealing with people who were deaf, which is important.   Diane Bator  52:24 Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, we should   Michael Hingson  52:27 should talk about doing a book with blank character   Diane Bator  52:30 works for me characters.   Michael Hingson  52:31 There you go. Well,   Diane Bator  52:33 we can do that's great. For sure.   Michael Hingson  52:34 Well, any last thoughts that you have? We've been doing this for a while, are there any last thoughts that you'd like to bring up about anything we discussed or advice you want to give to people?   Diane Bator  52:45 Just as I say, you know, if you if anybody out there you're looking to write a book, do a little research, find out anything you need to know any questions you have. Find people who have written books, ask questions, contrary to what you may hear on social media. And my favorite saying is there are no stupid questions I've already asked them. So ask the questions, look for people to help support you and write the book.   Michael Hingson  53:15 I am a firm believer, and there is no such thing as a stupid question. Or I think that when people ask what you regard as stupid questions, sometimes you do wonder how much they observed. For example, I once spoke to a book club, they said, we read your book, we read Thunderdome, we'd really like you to come in and talk with us. And we happen to actually be in Novato, California, where I was living at the time. And all these people said, we read it, we really want to talk with you about the book. I go and we start talking and I open the floor to questions. And the first question that someone asked is, why were you in the World Trade Center? Now, we spent a lot of time talking about that in the book, which makes you really wonder what they were thinking and maybe they were just trying to be engaging. But to ask that question. Is is still what have you been observing? And how much did you absorb of what you read? There are so many other ways to have asked that and gotten more content into it. But then I took the question and said, well, the vision issue isn't what I was doing in the World Trade Center on that day, but how I got there, so I you know, you can you can deal with that. But still, I'm amazed sometimes at what people observe and don't observe. Yeah. Which goes back to your comment about negativity on social media a lot of the time, but we we we cope. Oh, absolutely. Well, if people want to learn more about what you're doing, if they want to learn about the blog and possibly start reading it, if they want to find your books and so on. Can you tell us all about that? How do they do that?   54:58 easiest place to find it Everything is my website. And it's Diane Bater.ca. Links. Yeah, D I A N E B A T O R are all one word, dot a, you're saying you have links. I have links to all kinds of fun things that needs a little bit of updating the blog, the escape with the writer blog, I've got some fun little videos that I do up, we go up on to Lake Huron, and I take a bunch of little 22nd videos, which just kind of peace and quiet and calm. All of my books, there's links to buy sites for all of my books. I've got, oh, my goodness, books that I'm helping other people with, or have helped other people with. You name it stuff about book coaching.   55:52 Well, great. Well, I hope people will go to Dianebetor.ca. And check it all out. And we'll engage with you, I assume that there's a way to contact you on the website. Yeah, definitely. Cool. So I hope people will do that. This has definitely been fun and informative. And I think that it's always exciting to to meet people who are creative and write and are able to express themselves and engage other people. So I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us today. And giving us a lot of your time and information.   Diane Bator  56:31 Oh, thank you. I appreciate being on cares. I loved reading about your story and finding out what you do. So this has really been fascinating for me as well.   56:41 Well, it's definitely figuring out ways to work together, I'd love to explore that. That sounds terrific. And for all of you listening, reach out to Diane and Dianebator.ca and engage her. And also we'd like you to engage us so please feel free to email me if you've got thoughts or comments about this or any of our episodes. You can reach us at Michaelhi, M I C H A E L H I  accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. So MichaelhI at accessibe.com. Or you can go to our podcast page, which is www dot Michael hingson.com M I C H A E L H I N G S O N.com/podcast. And we'd love to hear your thoughts. I hope that you will give us a five star rating after listening to this episode. And when this goes up, Diane, we will definitely make sure that you know about it and you can share it everywhere you'd like to share it as well.   Diane Bator  57:45 Absolutely. I'll put the link on my website as well. So well thank you   Michael Hingson  57:49 all for listening. And we hope that you enjoyed this and that she'll be back next time and Diane once more. Thanks very much for being with us.   Diane Bator  57:56 Thank you as well Michael, really appreciate it.   Michael Hingson  58:02 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

If you liked the sound of the Rarkyn's Familiar, don't miss out! You can grab a copy here. And check out Nikky Lee's website for updates on Book Two of the Rarkyn series, as well as the other upcoming projects mentioned in the podcast! And while you're at it, why not check out the Talking Fiction Discord group? We chat about the things we've read and watched, as well as writing and editing. Talk soon!

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalms 42–43 Psalms 42–43 (Listen) Book Two Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul? To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 42   As a deer pants for flowing streams,    so pants my soul for you, O God.2   My soul thirsts for God,    for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?23   My tears have been my food    day and night,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?”4   These things I remember,    as I pour out my soul:  how I would go with the throng    and lead them in procession to the house of God  with glad shouts and songs of praise,    a multitude keeping festival. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation3 6 and my God.   My soul is cast down within me;    therefore I remember you  from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,    from Mount Mizar.7   Deep calls to deep    at the roar of your waterfalls;  all your breakers and your waves    have gone over me.8   By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,    and at night his song is with me,    a prayer to the God of my life.9   I say to God, my rock:    “Why have you forgotten me?  Why do I go mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy?”10   As with a deadly wound in my bones,    my adversaries taunt me,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?” 11   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Send Out Your Light and Your Truth 43   Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause    against an ungodly people,  from the deceitful and unjust man    deliver me!2   For you are the God in whom I take refuge;    why have you rejected me?  Why do I go about mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy? 3   Send out your light and your truth;    let them lead me;  let them bring me to your holy hill    and to your dwelling!4   Then I will go to the altar of God,    to God my exceeding joy,  and I will praise you with the lyre,    O God, my God. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Footnotes [1] 42:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 42:2 Revocalization yields and see the face of God [3] 42:5 Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5 (ESV) Pentateuch and History: 2 Samuel 3 2 Samuel 3 (Listen) Abner Joins David 3 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. 2 And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; 3 and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; 4 and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; 5 and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. 6 While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. 7 Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father's concubine?” 8 Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. 9 God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the LORD has sworn to him, 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.” 11 And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him. 12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf,1 saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you.” 13 And he said, “Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” 15 And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. 16 But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned. 17 And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. 18 Now then bring it about, for the LORD has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.'” 19 Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do. 20 When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. 22 Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” 24 Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? 25 You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.” Joab Murders Abner 26 When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. 27 And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. 28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. 29 May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!” 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon. David Mourns Abner 31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. 32 They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. 33 And the king lamented for Abner, saying,   “Should Abner die as a fool dies?34   Your hands were not bound;    your feet were not fettered;  as one falls before the wicked    you have fallen.” And all the people wept again over him. 35 Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!” 36 And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. 37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. 38 And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? 39 And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The LORD repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!” Footnotes [1] 3:12 Or where he was; Septuagint at Hebron (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Ezekiel 2–3 Ezekiel 2–3 (Listen) Ezekiel's Call 2 And he said to me, “Son of man,1 stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.' 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions.2 Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. 8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” 9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. 4 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel—6 not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. 8 Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9 Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” 10 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they hear or refuse to hear.” 12 Then the Spirit3 lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice4 of a great earthquake: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from its place!” 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great earthquake. 14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me. 15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling.5 And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. A Watchman for Israel 16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for6 his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” 22 And the hand of the LORD was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into the valley,7 and there I will speak with you.” 23 So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face. 24 But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. 25 And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.' He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. Footnotes [1] 2:1 Or Son of Adam; so throughout Ezekiel [2] 2:6 Or on scorpion plants [3] 3:12 Or the wind; also verse 14 [4] 3:12 Or sound [5] 3:15 Or Chebar, and to where they dwelt [6] 3:18 Or in; also verses 19, 20 [7] 3:22 Or plain; also verse 23 (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Luke 9:1–50 Luke 9:1–50 (Listen) Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles 9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.1 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Herod Is Perplexed by Jesus 7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9 Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces. Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ 18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” Jesus Foretells His Death 21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” The Transfiguration 28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure,2 which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One;3 listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit 37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. 40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God. Jesus Again Foretells His Death But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus4 said to his disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. Who Is the Greatest? 46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” Anyone Not Against Us Is For Us 49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” Footnotes [1] 9:3 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [2] 9:31 Greek exodus [3] 9:35 Some manuscripts my Beloved [4] 9:43 Greek he (ESV)

Episode 56 is Episode 3 of Season 4 of this podcast and it focuses on the second book in Homer's epic, the Iliad. This episode is a wonderful short summary and the next ones will delve into detail of the next seven books in the Iliad. I will soon be launching a beginner-intermediate level Economics Podcast and more updates will follow on my Twitter page (@ShortMyths) so stay tuned!

Tonight, I'll be reading The War of The Worlds Book Two, Final Chapters by H. G. Wells.  Welcome to Send Me To Sleep, the World's sleepiest podcast, designed to help you fall asleep through relaxing stories and hypnotic meditation. If you find this podcast effective, please consider subscribing, so you can stay up-to-date with new weekly episodes and fall asleep consistently, each night. Enjoying the show? Leave us a rating and review: Apple Podcasts - Spotify Sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on all of the sleepiest news: https://sendmetosleep.com/podcast/ Visit our website: Send Me To Sleep - World's Sleepiest Website Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sendmetosleepco/ Do not listen to this sleep story whilst driving or operating machinery. Please only listen to the Send Me To Sleep podcast in a safe place where you can relax and fall asleep.

Psalms 40–45 Psalms 40–45 (Listen) My Help and My Deliverer To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 40   I waited patiently for the LORD;    he inclined to me and heard my cry.2   He drew me up from the pit of destruction,    out of the miry bog,  and set my feet upon a rock,    making my steps secure.3   He put a new song in my mouth,    a song of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear,    and put their trust in the LORD. 4   Blessed is the man who makes    the LORD his trust,  who does not turn to the proud,    to those who go astray after a lie!5   You have multiplied, O LORD my God,    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;    none can compare with you!  I will proclaim and tell of them,    yet they are more than can be told. 6   In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,    but you have given me an open ear.1  Burnt offering and sin offering    you have not required.7   Then I said, “Behold, I have come;    in the scroll of the book it is written of me:8   I delight to do your will, O my God;    your law is within my heart.” 9   I have told the glad news of deliverance2    in the great congregation;  behold, I have not restrained my lips,    as you know, O LORD.10   I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;  I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness    from the great congregation. 11   As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain    your mercy from me;  your steadfast love and your faithfulness will    ever preserve me!12   For evils have encompassed me    beyond number;  my iniquities have overtaken me,    and I cannot see;  they are more than the hairs of my head;    my heart fails me. 13   Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me!    O LORD, make haste to help me!14   Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether    who seek to snatch away my life;  let those be turned back and brought to dishonor    who delight in my hurt!15   Let those be appalled because of their shame    who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” 16   But may all who seek you    rejoice and be glad in you;  may those who love your salvation    say continually, “Great is the LORD!”17   As for me, I am poor and needy,    but the Lord takes thought for me.  You are my help and my deliverer;    do not delay, O my God! O Lord, Be Gracious to Me To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 41   Blessed is the one who considers the poor!3    In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;2   the LORD protects him and keeps him alive;    he is called blessed in the land;    you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.3   The LORD sustains him on his sickbed;    in his illness you restore him to full health.4 4   As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me;    heal me,5 for I have sinned against you!”5   My enemies say of me in malice,    “When will he die, and his name perish?”6   And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,    while his heart gathers iniquity;    when he goes out, he tells it abroad.7   All who hate me whisper together about me;    they imagine the worst for me.6 8   They say, “A deadly thing is poured out7 on him;    he will not rise again from where he lies.”9   Even my close friend in whom I trusted,    who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.10   But you, O LORD, be gracious to me,    and raise me up, that I may repay them! 11   By this I know that you delight in me:    my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.12   But you have upheld me because of my integrity,    and set me in your presence forever. 13   Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,    from everlasting to everlasting!      Amen and Amen. Book Two Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul? To the choirmaster. A Maskil8 of the Sons of Korah. 42   As a deer pants for flowing streams,    so pants my soul for you, O God.2   My soul thirsts for God,    for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?93   My tears have been my food    day and night,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?”4   These things I remember,    as I pour out my soul:  how I would go with the throng    and lead them in procession to the house of God  with glad shouts and songs of praise,    a multitude keeping festival. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation10 6 and my God.   My soul is cast down within me;    therefore I remember you  from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,    from Mount Mizar.7   Deep calls to deep    at the roar of your waterfalls;  all your breakers and your waves    have gone over me.8   By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,    and at night his song is with me,    a prayer to the God of my life.9   I say to God, my rock:    “Why have you forgotten me?  Why do I go mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy?”10   As with a deadly wound in my bones,    my adversaries taunt me,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?” 11   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Send Out Your Light and Your Truth 43   Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause    against an ungodly people,  from the deceitful and unjust man    deliver me!2   For you are the God in whom I take refuge;    why have you rejected me?  Why do I go about mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy? 3   Send out your light and your truth;    let them lead me;  let them bring me to your holy hill    and to your dwelling!4   Then I will go to the altar of God,    to God my exceeding joy,  and I will praise you with the lyre,    O God, my God. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil11 of the Sons of Korah. 44   O God, we have heard with our ears,    our fathers have told us,  what deeds you performed in their days,    in the days of old:2   you with your own hand drove out the nations,    but them you planted;  you afflicted the peoples,    but them you set free;3   for not by their own sword did they win the land,    nor did their own arm save them,  but your right hand and your arm,    and the light of your face,    for you delighted in them. 4   You are my King, O God;    ordain salvation for Jacob!5   Through you we push down our foes;    through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6   For not in my bow do I trust,    nor can my sword save me.7   But you have saved us from our foes    and have put to shame those who hate us.8   In God we have boasted continually,    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9   But you have rejected us and disgraced us    and have not gone out with our armies.10   You have made us turn back from the foe,    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11   You have made us like sheep for slaughter    and have scattered us among the nations.12   You have sold your people for a trifle,    demanding no high price for them.13   You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,    the derision and scorn of those around us.14   You have made us a byword among the nations,    a laughingstock12 among the peoples.15   All day long my disgrace is before me,    and shame has covered my face16   at the sound of the taunter and reviler,    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17   All this has come upon us,    though we have not forgotten you,    and we have not been false to your covenant.18   Our heart has not turned back,    nor have our steps departed from your way;19   yet you have broken us in the place of jackals    and covered us with the shadow of death.20   If we had forgotten the name of our God    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21   would not God discover this?    For he knows the secrets of the heart.22   Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23   Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24   Why do you hide your face?    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25   For our soul is bowed down to the dust;    our belly clings to the ground.26   Rise up; come to our help!    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Your Throne, O God, Is Forever To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil13 of the Sons of Korah; a love song. 45   My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;    I address my verses to the king;    my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 2   You are the most handsome of the sons of men;    grace is poured upon your lips;    therefore God has blessed you forever.3   Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,    in your splendor and majesty! 4   In your majesty ride out victoriously    for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;    let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!5   Your arrows are sharp    in the heart of the king's enemies;    the peoples fall under you. 6   Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.    The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;7     you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;8     your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.  From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;9     daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;    at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 10   Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:    forget your people and your father's house,11     and the king will desire your beauty.  Since he is your lord, bow to him.12     The people14 of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,    the richest of the people.15 13   All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.14     In many-colored robes she is led to the king,    with her virgin companions following behind her.15   With joy and gladness they are led along    as they enter the palace of the king. 16   In place of your fathers shall be your sons;

Tonight, I'll be reading The War of The Worlds: Book Two, Final Chapters by H. G. Wells Welcome to Send Me To Sleep, the World's sleepiest podcast, designed to help you fall asleep through relaxing stories and hypnotic meditation. If you find this podcast effective, please consider subscribing, so you can stay up-to-date with new weekly episodes and fall asleep consistently, each night. Enjoying the show? Leave us a rating and review: Apple Podcasts - Spotify Sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on all of the sleepiest news: https://sendmetosleep.com/podcast/ Visit our website: Send Me To Sleep - World's Sleepiest Website Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sendmetosleepco/ Do not listen to this sleep story whilst driving or operating machinery. Please only listen to the Send Me To Sleep podcast in a safe place where you can relax and fall asleep.

Proper 17 First Psalm: Psalm 30; Psalm 32 Psalm 30 (Listen) Joy Comes with the Morning A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple. 30   I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.2   O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,    and you have healed me.3   O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.1 4   Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,    and give thanks to his holy name.25   For his anger is but for a moment,    and his favor is for a lifetime.3  Weeping may tarry for the night,    but joy comes with the morning. 6   As for me, I said in my prosperity,    “I shall never be moved.”7   By your favor, O LORD,    you made my mountain stand strong;  you hid your face;    I was dismayed. 8   To you, O LORD, I cry,    and to the Lord I plead for mercy:9   “What profit is there in my death,4    if I go down to the pit?5  Will the dust praise you?    Will it tell of your faithfulness?10   Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!    O LORD, be my helper!” 11   You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;    you have loosed my sackcloth    and clothed me with gladness,12   that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.    O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! Footnotes [1] 30:3 Or to life, that I should not go down to the pit [2] 30:4 Hebrew to the memorial of his holiness (see Exodus 3:15) [3] 30:5 Or and in his favor is life [4] 30:9 Hebrew in my blood [5] 30:9 Or to corruption (ESV) Psalm 32 (Listen) Blessed Are the Forgiven A Maskil1 of David. 32   Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,    whose sin is covered.2   Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,    and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3   For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away    through my groaning all day long.4   For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;    my strength was dried up2 as by the heat of summer. Selah 5   I acknowledged my sin to you,    and I did not cover my iniquity;  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 6   Therefore let everyone who is godly    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;  surely in the rush of great waters,    they shall not reach him.7   You are a hiding place for me;    you preserve me from trouble;    you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah 8   I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.9   Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,    or it will not stay near you. 10   Many are the sorrows of the wicked,    but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.11   Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! Footnotes [1] 32:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 32:4 Hebrew my vitality was changed (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalms 42–43 Psalms 42–43 (Listen) Book Two Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul? To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 42   As a deer pants for flowing streams,    so pants my soul for you, O God.2   My soul thirsts for God,    for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?23   My tears have been my food    day and night,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?”4   These things I remember,    as I pour out my soul:  how I would go with the throng    and lead them in procession to the house of God  with glad shouts and songs of praise,    a multitude keeping festival. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation3 6 and my God.   My soul is cast down within me;    therefore I remember you  from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,    from Mount Mizar.7   Deep calls to deep    at the roar of your waterfalls;  all your breakers and your waves    have gone over me.8   By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,    and at night his song is with me,    a prayer to the God of my life.9   I say to God, my rock:    “Why have you forgotten me?  Why do I go mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy?”10   As with a deadly wound in my bones,    my adversaries taunt me,  while they say to me all the day long,    “Where is your God?” 11   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Send Out Your Light and Your Truth 43   Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause    against an ungodly people,  from the deceitful and unjust man    deliver me!2   For you are the God in whom I take refuge;    why have you rejected me?  Why do I go about mourning    because of the oppression of the enemy? 3   Send out your light and your truth;    let them lead me;  let them bring me to your holy hill    and to your dwelling!4   Then I will go to the altar of God,    to God my exceeding joy,  and I will praise you with the lyre,    O God, my God. 5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation and my God. Footnotes [1] 42:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 42:2 Revocalization yields and see the face of God [3] 42:5 Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5 (ESV) Old Testament: Job 22:1–4; Job 22:21–23:7 Job 22:1–4 (Listen) Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great 22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2   “Can a man be profitable to God?    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.3   Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,    or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?4   Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you    and enters into judgment with you? (ESV) Job 22:21–23:7 (Listen) 21   “Agree with God, and be at peace;    thereby good will come to you.22   Receive instruction from his mouth,    and lay up his words in your heart.23   If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;    if you remove injustice far from your tents,24   if you lay gold in the dust,    and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,25   then the Almighty will be your gold    and your precious silver.26   For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty    and lift up your face to God.27   You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,    and you will pay your vows.28   You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,    and light will shine on your ways.29   For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride';1    but he saves the lowly.30   He delivers even the one who is not innocent,    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” Job Replies: Where Is God? 23 Then Job answered and said: 2   “Today also my complaint is bitter;2    my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.3   Oh, that I knew where I might find him,    that I might come even to his seat!4   I would lay my case before him    and fill my mouth with arguments.5   I would know what he would answer me    and understand what he would say to me.6   Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?    No; he would pay attention to me.7   There an upright man could argue with him,    and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. Footnotes [1] 22:29 Or you say, ‘It is exaltation' [2] 23:2 Or defiant (ESV) New Testament: Acts 13:26–43 Acts 13:26–43 (Listen) 26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,   “‘You are my Son,    today I have begotten you.' 34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,   “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' 35 Therefore he says also in another psalm,   “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.' 36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed1 from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: 41   “‘Look, you scoffers,    be astounded and perish;  for I am doing a work in your days,    a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'” 42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. Footnotes [1] 13:39 Greek justified; twice in this verse (ESV) Gospel: John 10:1–18 John 10:1–18 (Listen) I Am the Good Shepherd 10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (ESV)