Beyond the Draft

At 67 years old, Beth Brookhart published her first book, the humorous historical fiction The Four Queens of the Buttonbush Museum. Drawing on 17 years serving on her local historical museum board, Beth turned the wild, sometimes chaotic reality of volunteer leadership into a story anyone who's ever served on a committee will recognize.

In this episode, Beth shares how nearly two decades of museum board drama became the foundation for her debut novel, what it was like breaking into publishing later in life as a former agricultural journalist, and why she believes volunteerism can both wreck an organization and create something spectacular. She also opens up about her second book, a novel she calls a "Field of Dreams" for women.

What We Talked About:

1. Publishing her first book at 67
2. How 17 years on a museum board became a novel
3. Writing humor rooted in real volunteer experiences
4. Transitioning from agricultural journalism to fiction
5. Encouraging others to pursue their dreams at any age

Connect with Beth Brookhart:

Website: bethbrookhart.com

Facebook & Instagram: linked on her profile

Hidden conversation with Angela page

Mohamed Nabil is an independent philosopher and author of multiple books, including The Bachelors of Egypt and My Interview with ChatGPT. He created AIDOP, AI Debates on One's Publications, prompting AI tools to critique his own work and publishing the unedited transcripts within 24 hours, and he's codified the concept of Enlightened Populism as an alternative to blind elitism and ignorant populism.

In this episode, Mohamed explains what AIDOP actually is and why radical transparency in argumentation matters, the difference between Blind Elitism, Ignorant Populism, and Enlightened Populism, and why he believes the world should be united under a single government ruled by citizen assemblies. He also breaks down his controversial stance on wealth caps and universal basic human rights.

What We Talked About:

1. What AIDOP is and how it works
2. Blind Elitism vs. Ignorant Populism vs. Enlightened Populism
3. Why he advocates for a single global government
4. The case for direct democracy through citizen assemblies
5. Setting a global wealth cap and universal basic rights

Connect with Mohamed Nabil:

Website: mohamednabil.world

Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram & LinkedIn: linked on his profile

Ken Webb served 33 years in the U.S. Army, rising to Lieutenant Colonel with combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. But his battles began long before the military, growing up in a home marked by trauma and chaos. After retiring from the Army and later from American Airlines, Ken walked away from a contractor job to finally pursue something more meaningful: writing his debut psychological thriller, Trapped in Deception.

In this episode, Ken shares how much of his novel is drawn from real life, what he learned about leadership and mental toughness from decades of military service, and how surviving a difficult childhood shaped the resilience that carried him through it all. He also opens up about why he moved to Peru and what that shift has taught him about rebuilding a life on his own terms.

What We Talked About:

1. How much of Trapped in Deception comes from real life
2. Lessons in leadership and mental toughness from military service
3. Overcoming a difficult, trauma-marked childhood
4. Starting over and moving to Peru later in life
5. Advice for veterans rebuilding after trauma or loss

Connect with Kenneth Webb:

Website: kenwebb69.com

Facebook & YouTube: linked on his profile

Catherine Crestani is the author of My Virtual Obsession, a psychological novel exploring how loneliness and modern connection are reshaping relationships. With a background in speech pathology, business, and intuitive guidance, she's spent years observing how people communicate, attach, and often override what they know to be true in order to maintain connection.

In this episode, Catherine unpacks why people become emotionally attached so quickly in the digital age, the difference between real connection and something that just feels like it, and why loneliness plays such a powerful role in the relationships we choose to stay in. She also explores whether technology is pushing us toward a world where artificial connection starts to replace real intimacy.

What We Talked About:

1. Why we attach quickly, even in shallow connections
2. Real connection versus something that just feels real
3. The role loneliness plays in relationship choices
4. Confusing emotional intensity with true intimacy
5. How technology is reshaping modern dating and connection
6. The story behind her novel, My Virtual Obsession

Connect with Catherine Crestani:

Website: willowhealing.org/my-virtual-obsession

Podcast: Willow Healing Matters

YouTube, Instagram, Threads & Substack: linked on her profile

Wes Towers didn't learn marketing in a lecture hall, he learned it building his agency, Uplift 360, from scratch over more than 20 years, helping builders and trades turn websites and SEO into steady, qualified work. He's also the host of the podcast Built. Trusted. Chosen.

In this episode, Wes explains why so many construction companies still struggle to stand out online, the most costly website mistakes business owners make and how to fix them fast, and whether SEO is still relevant now that AI is reshaping how people search. He also shares how smaller firms with limited budgets can actually beat bigger brands online.

What We Talked About:

1. Why construction companies struggle to stand out online
2. The most costly website mistakes, and quick fixes
3. Whether SEO still matters in an AI-driven world
4. How smaller firms can outcompete bigger brands online
5. Building trust and credibility so buyers choose you first

Connect with Wes Towers:

Website: uplift360.com.au

Podcast: Built. Trusted. Chosen.

Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn & TikTok: linked on his profile

Frank Joseph is the award-winning author of the Chicago Trilogy, three novels, To Love Mercy, To Walk Humbly, and To Do Justice, that tell the story of a city torn apart by racial turmoil at mid century. As a white boy growing up on Chicago's South Side, Frank lived through the disruption of a racially changing neighborhood and the "white flight" that followed. Later, as an Associated Press journalist, he covered the '60s riots firsthand.

In this episode, Frank shares what it was like growing up as race became an inescapable presence in his childhood, what it felt like to cover an inner-city riot as a young journalist, and why he chose fiction over memoir to tell this story. He also opens up about the Jewish and Christian threads running through his trilogy, and why he left Chicago in 1969 vowing never to return.

What We Talked About:

1. Growing up on Chicago's South Side during racial upheaval
2. Covering the '60s riots as an AP journalist
3. Why he chose fiction over memoir to tell this story
4. The Christian and Jewish threads throughout the trilogy
5. Why he left Chicago in 1969 and vowed never to return

Connect with Frank Joseph:

Website: frankjoseph.com

Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram & LinkedIn: linked on his profile

After 46 years working inside large corporations and governments, Kevin Coleman realized that all of that work was silently slipping away, and that at the end of his life, there would be little to show he'd been there. So he wrote a book. Then another. He's now the owner and publisher at Northern Forest Publishing, an independent hybrid publisher specializing in professional business books, and he's working on his sixth book of his own.

In this episode, Kevin shares the realization that pushed him to start writing after decades in the corporate world, how that first book led him into building a full publishing company, and what he tells someone who knows their topic but isn't sure they have enough ideas for an entire book. He also breaks down the different ways a business book can actually be used once it's published.

What We Talked About:

1. The realization after 46 years that pushed him to start writing
2. Turning self-publishing knowledge into a publishing business
3. What to do if you have a topic but aren't sure you have "enough" for a book
4. Four effective ways to actually use your business book
5. Choosing the right publisher in a noisy marketplace

Connect with Kevin Coleman:

Website: northernforestpublishing.com

Facebook & LinkedIn: linked on his profile

Robert J. Wolf, MD, is a neuroradiologist and the award-winning author of Not a Real Enemy: The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man's Fight for Freedom, a biography about his father, a four-time escape artist who survived both Nazi and Communist Hungary. Ervin Wolf escaped the Nazis twice, only to later risk everything again to flee communism in the dead of a winter night.

In this episode, Robert shares why he felt compelled to tell his father's story now, what it was like uncovering a chapter of the Holocaust so few people know about, and why he's donating 10% of his book proceeds to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He also talks about his mission to bring this history into classrooms to help address rising antisemitism.

What We Talked About:

1. His father's four escapes from Nazi and Communist Hungary
2. Uncovering a little-known chapter of Holocaust history
3. Why he wrote the book now, given today's rising antisemitism
4. Donating proceeds to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
5. His mission to bring this story into classrooms

Connect with Robert Wolf:

Website: robertjwolfmd.com

Book: mybook.to/I3hEA5

Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram & LinkedIn: linked on his profile

Nancy K. Napier spent over 35 years as a Distinguished Professor at Boise State University, studying organizational creativity and leading executive programs in Vietnam, before becoming a mystery novelist. Her debut, A Case of Too Many Deaths, follows a rookie lawyer racing to save an aunt on death row, while her second novel, The Art of Lies, set in Hanoi's art world, explores a museum curator uncovering forgeries tied to her own family.

In this episode, Nancy shares what it was like becoming a beginner again after decades as the expert in the room, how her academic research into creativity shaped, or complicated, her own creative process, and what she calls "formalized curiosity," poking and prying with purpose in service of a story. She also opens up about researching genetics, courtrooms, and art forgery for her two very different novels.

What We Talked About:

1. Becoming a beginner again after 35+ years as an academic expert
2. How studying creativity shaped her own creative process
3. Researching genetics and courtrooms for her debut novel
4. Uncovering how art forgery works for The Art of Lies
5. Finding ideas from Vietnam to Botswana to her own backyard

Connect with Nancy Napier:

Website: nancyknapier.com

Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn: linked on her profile