Discovered Wordsmiths

Jeff has several boys, and like other authors, used what he learned raising his kids to write a book. He has been a lawyer and politician, and adds writer to his resume.

Besides this book, he runs a non-profit calls Can Do Canines where they raise and train service dogs.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1735913502/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1735913502&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=0c874f8f7f831d0d8f957086d6d9747b

Jeff recommends this book:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679746498/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0679746498&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=ad7ca1b5586ce5d5c30a7ddf4cf53503

TRANSCRIPT:

Stephen 0:47Welcome to another episode of discovered wordsmiths. Today, I've got Jeff Johnson, Jeff wrote a book called boy lessons, which is interesting, because last week, we had Doug noosed on talking about man lessons. So these two books are very similar. And it was kind of fun talking to both of them separately. If you like these types of books, the nonfiction books, the ones was self help the lessons in life. Let me know if we need more of these types of books on here. I'd love to interview more authors like this. But please, any of the books you listened to the podcast episode you listen to go check out the books, let the authors know where you found it. Let them know what you think of the books. These authors need some support. And that's what we do. So now listen to Jeff. Here we go. Well, Jeff, thank you for coming on the podcast and talking to me today. It's great to have you. Yeah. Thank you, Steven. I'm glad to be here from a from a distance. Right? Yeah, aren't we all? So before we get into your book, why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from a bit about your background and some stuff you'd like to do besides writing?

Jeff 1:54Sure. So I I'm a lifelong Minnesotan, save for a few years in Chicago and Washington DC. But I was born and raised in rural Minnesota and came back here about 25 years ago after I got married to to my college sweetheart, who is also from Greater Minnesota, and we've been in the Twin Cities now for that whole time. We've got two boys who are the subject of the book that we're going to talk about Thor is 22, I believe, and Ralph is 19. And we have a an 11 year old Bulldog who's kind of probably counting down his last months, hopefully not as last weeks. But he's been he's been a part of our family for a long time. My background professionally is as a lawyer, I practiced Employment and Labor Law both for a large corporation called Cargill, and a couple of law firms in Chicago and here in Minneapolis. But I stopped practicing law probably 20 years ago and entered the world of politics. So I served a few terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives. And now I just finished my last term on the Hennepin County Board, which is the largest county area in the in the upper Midwest and the county seat is Minneapolis and ran for governor a couple times here in Minnesota was the Republican candidate twice. And, and that wasn't to be, but an unbelievably awesome experience despite election day. And now I've moved on and started just a few weeks ago as the CEO of a nonprofit called can do canines and we raise and train service dogs. service dogs for people with disabilities for people who have mobility issues, or hearing issues or diabetes, or childhood autism, or seizures. And it's it's been a wonderful change. And I'm just really excited about that. Outside of writing, and this is the only book I've ever written so I don't do a ton of writing but I love to valve m...

Doug and I discuss how life can influence your book. This is what he did when writing his book. He is a businessman and writing is not his main focus.

[Transcript]

Episode 34B Doug Knust Using Life to Influence Your Book

[Stephen] - Doug welcome back once again, since this is focused for writers tell us a little bit about the software and the services that you used when you were writing a book.

[Doug] - Well, I I happened upon a Reedsy just I'm not really sure I probably just did a search and found it and and I use that actually as the the writing tool because I was able to then publish in the in the in the different formats that I needed to send on to Amazon for the self-published to self-publishing really Kindle Direct publishing. I mentioned to you earlier I used my my daughter-in-law was my editor. My son was my graphic artist and the rest of it was kind of just you know, was shoe string stuff. Nothing fancy Steven.

[Stephen] - Okay nice, but that's great because you can make a good quality product even if you're not spending thousands of dollars.

[Doug] - Exactly you don't, I mean, you don't even need a word processor it's all online if that's what the way you want to do it if you're familiar with if you're comfortable with a word processor or what are I'm sure that works just fine but, yeah, you you don't even need the word processor.

[Stephen] - right. So when you we were talking a little bit about marketing you mentioned your target audience and I loved that because I mentioned may also do middle grade fiction and it is difficult because you want to write a book and you want to give it to the seventh and eighth graders, but they are not the ones buying it the parents are the ones buying it and the teachers the and you mentioned grandparents that you get a lot grandparents, so what are you doing to try and reach that audience?

[Doug] - I've had I've had pretty good success targeting grandparents on Facebook and I you know being a being a car dealer and I'm doing a little marketing doing a little marketing I have I I know that that demographic uses Facebook and especially, you know, the last six weeks during the Christmas season that was that was really surprisingly successful for me. I've used some of the Amazon ads kind of targeting some books that had the same subject matter had some reasonable success there as well and then you know, I I've given away some books. I put a little card in there asking people to go online and and give me a review and to recommend it and you know, it's the word of mouth is still a pretty darn good way to advertise.

[Stephen] - Yes and so I take it even though you were on Amazon that you actually probably sell quite a few printed books.

[Doug] - Yeah, the vast majority of my books are printed of the sales are printed books and I think again when you think about the the target end reader off the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade boy, not many of them are running around with an electronic reader. Most of them are if they're going to read it I think they're going to read the whole paper version of the book.

[Stephen] - Agreed and of course if you're talking grandparents, there's probably less ell, I guess that's the funny thing, you would think I am talking about grandparents so they're probably going to want a printed book but the demographics I've seen show that there are more people fifty and above using a Kindle and readers then younger people. So you're getting back to that your marketing of these one set of people that read e-books and hoping they'll buy a printed book to give to a younger set thats a different demographic.

Doug came to writing his first book in an interesting way. He felt there was a need to instruct boys in lessons for men and spent years running a group that helped accomplish that. Many of the lessons are bundled in his book, Man Stuff.

This helpful book is targeted to young men and designed to give them many things to learn as they grow.

By day, Doug owns and runs a car dealership, but loves spending his free time with his group - which is called The Explorers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089XX7LF2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B089XX7LF2&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=a4602412763c9ab7a9bd94b8b1869c65

Some of Doug's recommended leadership books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671027034/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0671027034&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=271be62f1ecc5fb89f43d62837d7ea15

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0718074084/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0718074084&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=27aa48000840251db99f26e1cd648b2c

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599869772/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1599869772&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=7c3f2460c7cadfdb54c404ff68656f82

https://www.facebook.com/505395892/videos/10156144017240893/

[Ttranscript]

Episode 34A Doug Knust Man Stuff

[Stephen]- Well to another episode of Discoverd Wordsmiths. We're in a new year and starting with some really great books. Here's the first non-fiction book of the year. It is written by Doug newest hero. He runs a group called The Explorers, which is a group for boys and he wrote a book called Man's Stuff which has lessons. He's taught to those boys as they grow up to be men and he's been doing this for many years. So sit back check out Man Stuff. I would had really good time talking with Doug about it and if you like the podcast get his book, give us some likes pass it on to a friend. I hope people are finding books that they like to read and here's Doug. Well Doug, welcome to the podcast and thank you for taking some time to talk to me today.

[Doug] - Well, thank you Stephen and I'm feel privileged to to be able to visit with you.

[Stephen]- Great. Well, I'm excited at first of all before we start talking about the book tell us a little bit about you who you are where you're from some of the things you like to do besides writing.

[Doug] - Okay. Well, I'm I'm a car dealer Stephen. I'm a small town car dealer. I have a small Ford dealership in Winner South Dakota. I live in Chamberlain. I used to have a another dealership took a Chamberlain. I got a couple of NAPA auto parts stores got some real estate interests and whatnot. So I'm I'm would consider myself a small town business man, you know, the some of the things that I like to do. I'd like to golf. I like the sale. I like to hunt. I like to ride bike. I enjoy volunteering and working with with young men.

[Stephen] - Wow, that's great and that we're going to talk a little bit about is what helped inspire your writing.

[Doug] - Yes.

[Stephen] - So that kind of leads into it with what got you to finally say, hey, I want to write and start writing.

[Doug] - Well, I have had a a blog off probably for I don't know why ten twelve years a...

Chad has some insight, and regrets, on choosing the title he did. We discuss what makes a good title and how to tell.

Episode 33B Chad Boyer Choosing a Title

[Intro] - Are you working on your other career? But struggling to get that first book published does the goal of being in a locker seem to like fifty or thoughts of having multiple books and making a full-time living or as fantastical is living in Cinderella's Castle? Welcome to Discovered Wordsmiths, a podcast where aspiring authors can be heard. Join Stephen Schneider as he finds and talks to authors you may not know, but authors they have gotten their foot on the author career path. Hear what they've done to get there and where they want to go now. Settle back it's time for a bit of inspiration and advice, come listen to today's Discovered Wordsmith.

[Stephen Schneider] - All right, so we're back with Chad Boyer and we're going to have a discussion about book titles. But first before we do Chad, let's talk a little bit about what software you use and what services you use when you're writing.

[Chad Boyer] - Yeah, so my day job is a software developer, and so I like all of the tools but I realized that for writing you don't need all the tools. So I basically use Word with the navigation tab open and write there. I outlined in Word ahead of time and then just right over my outline. I save different copies out as I go. I do have, I mean it's basically a notepad but it's called Visual Studio Code which allows me to open a folder up all at once which then is where I keep all my notes. So it's just text files in there but I keep all my notes. Basically, I think it does with Scrivener does happen for you and once Scrivener comes out with a Windows version I will probably be, I mean they came out with it, but they say they're going to update it so I'm not buying it just yet.

[Stephen Schneider] - Yeah, I got Scrivener One and I used it because I found with Word it was too difficult cause I ended up writing a whole bunch of scenes separately and then trying to move them around because of better story order was just impossible. So Scrivener jumped out to me and like you I'm a computer guy so I'm like, oh, well, this is more focused towards writing and has some nice features and I was using it for a while and they've been working on the version three for Windows and they're trying to make it match the Mac version and it was promised almost two years ago to be done. And their, I'll give them credit they are still working on it. They are still fixing it. They are still making improvements and to be truthful been using the beta version of three for at least the last year and I haven't had any problems and I like it. I think the compile is a little wonky and difficult to learn and figure out.

[Chad Boyer] - Right.

[Stephen Schneider] - But other than that, I'm I'm having no problems with it.

[Chad Boyer] - Hm. All right. Yeah, I mean basically, I just uploaded the word document directly to Amazon so they compilled it all for me. And then when I kicked out the mobi file, I just picked up and put it into I think it's Caliber and use that to convert it to the other formats. So that wasn't too bad.

[Stephen Schneider] - Does Caliber work well for you because I had trouble with Caliber. it seemed to break, not break, but make my manuscript looked worse than it was.

[Chad Boyer] - Yeah, I mean, I've only done it, I haven't done it for publication cause right now I'm exclusive to Amazon, but I did it for those friends and family that wanted an epub version rather than a mobi version. So I didn't do a full walkthrough checking the formatting.

Chad has been in the Air Force and is currently a computer developer in the medical field. He lives in California with his family.

He has written a sci-fi book called Raising Aces. It's a war story with giant robots - who doesn't like that?

http://chadboyer.me

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NZX536X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08NZX536X&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=3cb40d530aa797cec91ba8b793d3426a

Some of Chad's favorite books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380788624/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0380788624&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=724cfcb986e8fc535e0234568a8eab68

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O76ON6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000O76ON6&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=3e8655cdd054a6b3d73d12b10c29d430

Episode Transcription

Episode 33A Chad Boyer Raising Aces

[Stephen Schneider (Guest Introdution)] - Today on the podcast I want to welcome Chad Boyer. Chad rights military sci-fi with big robots, and that sounds great to me. We discuss a few authors that he likes and a couple we've known in the same style. So if you like that type of book, if you like that type of adventure and sci-fi check out Chad's book. It's called Raising Aces and we'll talk about it and some of the other books he likes and some of the things he does with his family and outside of writing. So please check out Chad's books and if you enjoy the podcast go give us a review give us some likes it'll help others find us help other readers discover the new authors and new books that I've been helping promote. Thank you.

[Stephen Schneider] - All right, well Chad welcome today. How are you this morning or afternoon?

[Chad Boyer] - Great.

[Stephen Schneider] - I appreciate you taking some time to get on the podcast and talk to us. Before we get started with your book. Tell us a little bit about who you are and a bit about your background and what you like to do besides writing.

[Chad Boyer] - Yeah, so Chad Boyer grew up in California did a short stint in the Air Force which took me to the lovely state of Oklahoma. So that was awesome, and then also had a quick little loop around England for a year in education abroad. So that was cool. Right now I work full-time job as a computer developer job and uh, yeah working in the health care industry so business is booming unfortunately.

[Stephen Schneider] - Yeah, would you do with computer development? Cuz that's what I do.

[Chad Boyer] - So I'm a software developer for a, they call us a full stack developer, I work with on the back end so on the servers themselves and on the front end so on the bits that you see when you are actually checking checking the web pages out and things. If we want to go super technical, I work on and an electronic health record, an EHR, in the medical industry and it's all web-based so, you know.

[Stephen Schneider] - Oh nice. Okay, so with all that and your background you have kids. Why did you want to start writing?

[Chad Boyer] - Yeah, so I've always, I feel it's difficult among most authors. I've always wanted to write I wrote some when I was a kid and I maybe about, I don't know back in 07 ,08 or so I took a creative writing course and I mean usually have some some some book idea kicking around in your head and so I took that t...

The discussion with Nosa continues as we discuss the growing rise in black culture in fantasy.

Part of this discussion is why it is happening now and what has changed to allow it to happen. It's interesting to see how we feel that independent publishing has helped bring about this growing diversity and how indie authors can meet these specific niches and still sell books.

Transcript

Stephen 0:50Alright, so welcome back once again. No, sir. Oh, we're now going to talk a little bit about some writers stuff. And we've got a great topic to discuss. But before we get started with that, tell us what type of software you use what services you use when you're writing.

Nosa 1:10So I tend to use I use Word Processor so I use word I just work on Microsoft Word and I use I use Grammarly as a as an add in so that there's just so that I don't make too many mistakes while I'm writing, grammar and so on and so forth. So you can get Grammarly for free online. And then that we've word dust why tend to work with i get i get a Grammarly premium, which is, which gives you more in depth sort of objects on to your paragraphs and your your sentences and whatnot. So yeah, if I just write one word Really? Yeah.

Stephen 2:00Okay. And then you just format and upload to the services. I think most of them take Word docs.

Nosa 2:07Yes, so so what I do is, I write on word. And then I download a template, the template of Amazon. So they've got like a template for the sort of for the page size you want to use. So I use nine by six. So our download nine by six is structured with the margins and the page size and some of the gaps and the goal is galis. I think it's good qualities. And everything there. It's all formatted. So you just need to make release, copy and paste, pasting from a Word doc. So onto the template, and just format each part of each chapter and all the different sections to make sure they all match and there's no sort of blank pages and what so Mmm, then why then do is then I change it to PDF. So I save as a PDF. So yeah, swan.

Stephen 3:06Just you say yeah, I think like Ingram Spark, do you put yours up there for print?

Nosa 3:13I tend to for print? No, I only only do it on KDP Oh, okay. Currently, on KDP, I might look at Ingram sparks, I don't quite understand how it works is a little bit more complicated than KDP.

Stephen 3:30They are simplifying it, I'll give them that. They've got some new elements to help build the book a little better. I went through a whole long process trying to figure it out because I write middle grade fiction, which is still more prevalent in print copy. So I've really got to up my game there. So for your book, what are you doing to market and get the word out? Get your book out there.

Nosa 4:00I think I think this was the most This is the one I'm most observe. We have most learned from obviously, like previous I mentioned, projects I mentioned about some of the market, the target audience and and so on and so forth. We initially I was doing initially was I was using a lot of Facebook ads and stuff. But what I realized is I used Facebook ads, and I was using a lot of not a lot but I was using Amazon ads as well. So user fees when Amazon just two running at the same time. And what I found is that, you know, is better when I sort of get out there, you know, speak to people in different forums. And I have I've had a couple of interviews like sort of similar to this one with both like both Both quarters we've done the same. But what what I have now is rather than doing my Facebook and in on Facebook and Amazon ads, which I've stopped completely.

Nosa lives in the UK, though he is from Nigeria. Besides writing, he is a mechanical engineer by day and has used his knowledge to make the buildings in his books stand out.

He is writing a fantasy series based on the culture and beliefs of Nigeria. Currently, there are two books available and he is working on his third.

You can find his books at:

https://www.ghagerianpublishing.com/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X353Q78/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07X353Q78&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=82b5fa6757de49e5f024be73eb0e8cbf

He also has several favorite authors, including:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316509841/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316509841&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=b062745d45f1b672fd6dfe9dce07b3b4

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316187178/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316187178&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=8694cb40864c4a5228bb6d2636871622

A favorite bookstore is in Crystal Palace - Bookseller Crow

https://booksellercrow.co.uk/

TRANSCRIPT:

Stephen 0:55Happy New Year and welcome to a brand new episode of discovered wordsmiths. I know I took some time off during the holidays, were allowed to I like to spend the time with the family. So I hope everybody had a great holiday. I hope the new year has started off well for you. Here's hoping it's better than last year, right. So to start off, this year, I've got a new author, his name is no sup. He writes fantasy. And it sounds like a very interesting book because he bases it on Nigerian culture. And then on second half of the podcast, we discuss the rise of black culture in fantasy. So if you like fantasy books, stick around, listen to what NASA has to say. And then if you're a writer, check out part B and see what our discussion on the rise of black culture in fantasy and what we discuss about it. Please, if you've been enjoying the podcast, if you've been finding new authors, go check them out, go get their books support them, what would really help new authors is leaving them a review letting others know what you thought of their books. And that would also help this podcast if you've listened to the episodes, if you've thought that you got something out of it and enjoyed it, please go leave a review somewhere wherever you get your podcast, give it some love. It'll help others find the podcast, the more people that find the authors, the more great stories we'll get. So without any further talking on my part, here's No sir. All right. Well, no, sir. Welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you on.

Nosa 2:32Yeah, well, it's nice. Nice. It's nice to be invited. And thank you for for having me on. Definitely.

Stephen 2:40Yeah, I'm excited. We got some fun things to talk about. So to get started, tell everybody a little bit about who you are, where you're from, what you like to do all the things about you you care to share outside of writing.

Nosa 2:54So I like I said, I'm not I am Nigerian. Nigerian descent currently live in the UK. My professional my profession outside of writing this, I'm an engineer. So like I studied engineering at university. I like obviously, I've always had a passion for storytelling and African history. So that's what led me to sort of writing about sort of fantasy in saying pre colonial slash medieval Afri...

I'm back with author David Rae and this time we discuss motivation. What it means and how to stay motivated.

Both of us have had issues with motivation, and we want others to understand what we've done to overcome a lack of motivation.

David's first book is a dark fantasy called Crow Man. He currently lives in Scotland and works in the medical field.

We discuss his book and some classic literature. David has great thoughts and advice for new writers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZG5N2R9/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07ZG5N2R9&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=04e5b2baa9d52668342ec200a0c68c34

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312890176/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0312890176&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=9a9968e12afeca0ed376acfa5a4fd494

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199217955/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199217955&linkCode=as2&tag=saschneider-20&linkId=44595a608f06020b359ed8512572beb5

TRANSCRIPT:

Stephen 0:48Alright, well, David, welcome back once again, and the magic of the internet. For most people, this is a set separate episode. But you and I haven't stopped talking since the episode where I interviewed you. So today, I wanted to talk a bit about motivation, and how that affects authors and how that can be a problem and ways to motivate yourself. So I'm interested because you brought up the topic, what made this a topic that you'd like to discuss, as it refers to new authors, helping patient is the key to

David Rae 1:23everything sounds like, I'm one of these people that think you've got to hohoho to the end of the row. I'm not like that. For me, whoa, whoa, whoa, mean Santa Claus. But we everything we do we do for a reason and understanding why we do things. And the reasons that we we behave and act and do certain things, is of great benefit to us in all sorts of walks of life. And it's vital for an author to know why they're doing something.

Stephen 1:58I you brought up the topic of talking about motivation. And I'm curious, what made you think of that as an issue for new authors? Or is it something that you've struggled with in your writing?

David Rae 2:13I, I think it is something is important to understand. I think it's a bigger, big topic. And it's only by understanding what motivates us why we do things that we can get the most out of them. And I think it's it's quite important that we realize what it is that motivates us what we really want, what we're looking for, and then maybe we can get it.

Stephen 2:42And so, I guess that naturally leads to the question, what are some of the things you wanted? That led you to writing?

David Rae 2:52Ah, that's a great question. As we already said, I, in a funny kind of, we I'm not motivated to write, I'm just motivated, to, I'm just not motivated to stop writing. It's something that I've always done to tell a story. And I love to tell a story. And every night, every, there's the stories going on, and all around me, you see glimpses of stories, you see, you see an old woman walking down the road, you wonder what's going on there. And just the most present in ordinary things. And once you start to think about these things, your mind goes into all sorts of tangents. And the reason I write is just because all of these thoughts and ideas is there, and it kind of makes them more manageable. Maybe it's just like a filing system. To get all these thoughts and ideas, though, and this to share the way I think the way I feel about things, and in some ways to get more understand people to understand for I thinking about more, until also for me to more understand myself.

Stephen 4:18So just those types of feelings,

On today's episode, I talk once again with Byron Gifford. We discuss how to overcome self doubt and dealing with self doubt.

This is a common feeling among new writers, and we have thoughts and ideas to help those that doubt they should be writing.

Transcript

Stephen 0:48All right. Well, Byron, welcome back to the podcast. We had your interview last week on the episode. So how are things going today? things are going really good. Hey, we're Chuck. We're chuckling at that, because we took two minutes in between both podcasts. little secrets we're giving out to everybody? Absolutely. So what we wanted to do with this half is more of a casual conversation, a topic for us to discuss. And you chose the topic of self doubt and overcoming self doubt, and maybe even what has caused self doubt for you. So let's start. Why did you choose this as our topic discussion?

Byron 1:36I chose this because it was the one thing that could have, it prevented me from doing this much earlier in life. And it easily could have been the thing that stopped me several times, was the self doubt. So I think it's so important, because I can't imagine that I'm the only one out there that experiences this.

Stephen 2:01No.

Byron 2:02Where Where does it stem from? I don't know, I think that's different for everyone. It could have been, you know, my early childhood, lack of confidence, you know, I was raised by a single mother of three. So imagine, you know, 50% or less parents structure always around with interactions being thin. Nothing, I regret, but certainly, you know, confidence may have been lower. So it always kind of used that self doubt was an excuse. But how do I overcome it? And that's really what I needed to discover, to kind of find, what would it take to get to give me that breakthrough, so that I could move forward and look back on this and say, I conquered it.

Stephen 2:52Which I think most people strive and struggle for most of their lives. Let me back up a second, ask you this. So when you were younger, you said you got a brother word processor, you typed all sorts of things. And you didn't. I mean, looking back now you realize, oh, man, those weren't really great. But at the time, you thought they were super wonderful. And you how many how many? Do you think you wrote back then when you're younger?

Byron 3:19Oh, wow, probably, I don't know, dozens, dozens of different stories. And I would pull like Spider Man and my own little, you know, one, two page stories, and I had a wonderful time doing it. But what it could have been is that those stories, they started with me, but then ended with me. It's not as if I tear it off the the brother word processor machine handed to a parent and immediately gets a get a read and get some feedback and encouragement. Again, you know, lack of time with with your parents. That could be is that I didn't have that kind of urging me along. And so I do take that forward in life to my two children today is where I where I can give them praise. Or we can sit down and talk about the experiences. I'm hoping that that is keeping them, you know, confidence levels high and helping them build self confidence in themselves that one day, they won't have to rely on someone else to fill that confidence cup up. They'll be able to help keep it for themselves as well.

Stephen 4:30Right. And I was gonna mention that. Let me ask you this. And this is maybe my personal thoughts bias or whatever. I'll get to my point, but I have a question for you. So I assume your parents, like a lot of parents would tell you Oh, this is great. This is wonderful no matter what you did. And then you hit the adult world in real life and you did something for work or you did s...