Women Like Me Stories & Business

Frank Talaber - The Storyteller's Mind Never Sleeps

• Julie Fairhurst • Episode 137

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Step into the imaginative world of Frank Talaber, a prolific Canadian author who has mastered the art of blending mystery, spirituality, and the supernatural. 

Frank's journey began with "Ravens Lament," inspired by the sacred golden spruce of Haida Gwaii. What makes his creative process truly remarkable is his connection to the stories themselves. At Victoria Museum, he experienced voices attempting to communicate with him, which a First Nations reader later suggested was spirits reaching out to someone who could share their narratives. This profound experience shaped Frank's approach to weaving Indigenous and Celtic traditions into contemporary fiction that resonates with readers on a spiritual level.

Unlike many writers, Frank dismisses the concept of writer's block entirely. Through a technique learned in his high school creative writing class, writing continuously without concern for grammar or punctuation, he allows his creativity to flow unimpeded. 

Frank's commitment to authenticity shines through his research process, which he considers foundational to great storytelling. 

His advice to aspiring writers is refreshingly straightforward: persist through rejection (he received 398 before his first acceptance) and trust your creative instincts.

Email: twosoulmates@shaw.ca 

Webpage

https://franktalaberpublishedauthor.wordpress.com

Novels on Amazon. 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Frank-Talaber/author/B00UC407R0

https://www.amazon.ca/Autumns-Summer-Felicity-Talisman/dp/1738658376 

My Novels on Audible

 https://www.audible.ca/author/Frank-Talaber/B00UC407R0

https://www.audible.ca/author/Felicity-Talisman/B0D322DCBR

My YouTube Channel. 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx5ki4gpdokN-9KAIZzu53w



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Who is Julie Fairhurst?
Julie Fairhurst – Speaker, Author, and Founder of Women Like Me

Julie Fairhurst is a champion for women’s empowerment and the founder of the Women Like Me Book Program. Since 2019, she has published 30 books and 300+ true-life stories—at no cost to the writers—giving women a platform to heal, inspire, and reclaim their power. Dedicated to breaking generational trauma one story at a time, Julie’s mission is to uplift women emotionally and financially, helping them create better lives for themselves and their families.


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Speaker 1:

Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Women Like Me, stories and Business. I am your host, Julie Fairhurst, and today is a very special day and it's a very special guest. And why? Why is our guest so special? Because he's the first man on our podcast. We have about 278 videos on YouTube and I think 183 podcasts done. None of them are men, and I thought you know I met this gentleman at the Chilliwack Book Festival and I was so impressed by what he did and I thought you know I got to start getting some of these guys on the podcast because we can learn some stuff from them. So I want to welcome you, Frank. You are our first man on our podcast.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me on your show, Julia. It's a great honor actually, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Okay, I'm going to start off by letting everybody know a little bit about you, and then we'll dive into the amazing stuff that you've been doing with all of your books. So I am thrilled to welcome Frank Talber, a prolific Canadian author known for weaving tales that blend mystery, spirituality and the supernatural. With over 15 novels to his name, including the Joining a finalist in the 2020 Canadian Book Club Awards, Frank's storytelling transports readers into realms where the mystical meets the everyday, so let's dive into the mind of this writer by soul and explore the stories behind his story. So, Frank, again, thank you so much for doing this. Hey, let's start off by what really sparked you into your journey.

Speaker 2:

In writing you into, uh, into your journey in writing? Oh, uh, well, that's an interesting story. I, um, I uh. The one of the first novels I ever wrote was was ravens of mint um, published about 30 years ago originally. Um, it's based on a true story of the cutting down the golden spruce tree in hadagwai. So if people don't know, it's all about this guy in protest of logging while things cut down this extremely rare tree to the height of. They consider it sacred because they believe there's a prince trapped inside the tree and leaves it during golden sorrow for the prince. Um, so that that, that was that's kind of the original tale. I may have woven a lot more into it. I involved raven and I involved a reporter who meets a lady up there and they fall in love with each other and her uncle, charlie, who's a shaman, end up battling raven to stop him from changing the world back to the way it was. So after that story came out, um, I was.

Speaker 2:

I went over to the victoria museum and if you've ever been there, the downstown, the downstairs room is where all the totems are. It's kind of a dark, quiet room. I remember sitting on the bench and my former wife had walked away and looking at all the stuff I'm I'm just sitting there and I swear to God I could hear voices talking to me or trying to talk to me and I thought, wow, that's crazy. And later one of my best readers is a First Nations fellow and he said you know what? Your novels come more from a First Nations viewpoint and most First Nations peoples do. He says the problem with our culture was that we all we died out by the thousands and we're oral based, so we didn't have a chance to tell anybody our stories and our legends. He says we're always reaching out because they believe in reincarnation, always reaching out to people that could hear them, and we'll take the stories in or at least, you know, transpose them. And wow, that's crazy, but yeah so that was that.

Speaker 1:

So what were they saying to you when you were sitting there?

Speaker 2:

Well, I don't remember that's 30 years ago, but I do remember I could hear these whispers and voices and I'm thinking there's, you know they're trying to communicate with me. And I had kind of, I had I had just read two weeks earlier that article and I kept it, because I keep a lot of articles, clip them out and I went back to that and I thought, yeah, you know what Something's compelling me. So then after that, I started doing tons of research on traditions, beliefs, especially the Haida in particular, and I've always said, if you want to work on something, a lot of research, because the research, uh, not only gives you an idea for the story but it also develops other ideas down the road as well and give me a lot of ideas and different you know crazy things and people say I don't know how you sleep, really, because the stuff you come up with is insane yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that's how I work, wow and so, but before that you were writing, were you?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, I was so originally I was in high school. I'm in my sixties now. I was in high school and I took creative writing course in grade 12, grade 12. And I thought, well, this is easy, I kind of like writing and I wrote some stories and people loved them and, and the opening of the class, I always remember this. So the teacher says, here's your course material, and of course me. I open the book and it's just lined paper and I put my hand up. I said, excuse me. I said there's nothing in here. He goes yeah, your job's to fill it. I said what he says yeah, he says so, 20 minutes of each class you write.

Speaker 2:

The whole idea is the circular thing just just write, no grammar, no punctuation, just get it down and and eventually the flow starts happening. And, um, I always remember to myself the first couple of days are well, the walls are still blue, there's a blonde girl in front of me. I haven't asked her out, I'm too shy. Uh, you know stupid things, right. But then it kicked in and I, and after, before the end of that class, I would sit down and write two, three, four, five, six, five, six, seven pages. I was just pouring it out, wow, and that was the whole idea. And now if I'm working on an idea or something, I can just sit down and just pound it out instantly. In fact, another funny story, my dentist. He said to me and I've known him for like 20 years and he loves my writing he goes well, why aren't?

Speaker 2:

any dentists in tv series and so you guys are all kind of like dweebs. He goes yes, that's right. He says, give me a story. So I did so. I wrote that afternoon I pounded out a story about this dentist that meets this alien guy that's got like a set of too many teeth because I did the research and and then he starts looking after looks, ghost has gone, the guy's kind of stranded on earth. So they become friends, golfing buddies, he. At one point he enters his, his, his, his garage because he sees a weird vessel down there, which is the ship that's broken down. And uh, he gets. So the guy's alarm system goes off, it transports him back in time to dinosaurs and then the guy's got to come rescue him.

Speaker 2:

So you know, and he said, you wrote that in one afternoon I said yep and then, after I started doing all the research about the proper tools he'd be using, you know that kind of stuff, just to make it accurate, yeah, and then I actually then wove it into another. Just last year, another event came up called Put Yourself Into a TV Series, and so I used that story, I shortened it and I wove it into a Doctor who show. Okay, hang on, I got this. So then they made that, so I put myself back to the time of the dinosaur.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and she wove in the Doctor who's time box, you know, and me running away from the dinosaur, wow.

Speaker 1:

Well you've got. I mean that's part of the problem, I think. I find I mean my writers are writing true life stories, so it's a little bit more emotional. I'll say, like men were, yeah, with that creativity, and you know where to start and how to. You know and how to get the flow and how to get the hook and and those kinds of things. But you seem to have. I mean, I can't believe how the creativity just flows to you.

Speaker 2:

It does it does and like originally from that course in grade 12 and I'll tell you. But if you want to be a writer because I've had a lot of people could see me advance, go. I want to write a book, I want to write. Then just sit down and write um, commit to you know, like 20 minutes. You just write. Don't worry, you can. You do the grammar, the punctuation. I mean if you do right by hand, I still write by hand and then I put it on my computer. That stuff comes later. Just get it out, just so that you, because you know, instead of stop and go, oh, I no, just just right.

Speaker 2:

And then once you kind of get into that flow, that rhythm, it's kind of like the universe is. You know the whole circular thing and it works. For me it works crazy.

Speaker 1:

I agree, and, and that's the thing, editing can come later. All of those things just get you. You don't have anything to edit if you can't get it onto paper.

Speaker 2:

That's right, and it's funny you say that, because often I'll write the end scene first and then I'll work backwards to that one, like I've got. Not always, but most of the time I'll write an end scene to a book I'm thinking of and then I get a case. Now I got to go backwards and figure out how to get to there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wow, so you've got 15 books in total, was I right?

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

And so what's your favorite? Like I know, I know I've asked other people and they're like that's like asking what's your favorite child, but you know we all have a favorite child.

Speaker 2:

Mine is the lure, which I wrote after the Raven's Zoment. It's book two in a series with Charlie Stillwater. It's a three book series. So it's based on another urban legend that the Coastalish have that out in Stanley Park they believe has been a witch transformed and trapped in a rock. That's their legend and that came from Pauline Johnson, which in her time this is the 1910s, 1920s she was like a cutting-edge feminist and she befriended Joe Capilano, the chief, and he. So he told her all the stories and and that they were put into a book called the Legends of Vancouver. So if you're into that kind of stuff, check that out. So he told him he was the first, she was the first one he told all his stories to Legends of Vancouver and the lure is in there. So I read that one and it tweaked me. So basically the book opens with A female detective who's now into another series of mine, carol Ainsworth.

Speaker 2:

She's kind of taken over, done a lot of stuff. She does ghost stuff and investigations. She's a police person. So we have the Vancouver's mayor is dead opening scene Vancouver's mayor is dead, wife and child are missing, no clues, and she's on stakeout trying to figure out what the hell happened here. And that scene originally was written for the Vancouver Sun. They had a weekly contest. They put a scene up and you had to write to it and if you got accepted then they used your scene for the next one. And I wrote into every single one of those. I never got well. I made the finals on a couple of them, but I never got accepted, anyways.

Speaker 2:

So the shaman shows up in the middle of the night, charlie, and goes. You know, the clues are all there, you just don't know what you're looking for. And he virtually vanishes in front of her. Only he's left clues. He knows exactly what he's talking about. So she's got to find this guy.

Speaker 2:

But how do you track down a shaman, of all things right?

Speaker 2:

So she starts doing investigations and it's tied into another urban legend that we have that people say you go out drinking a good and drunk and you don't remember crap about the night before. So the boy right next to Stanley Park if you get drunk enough, spirits are hanging out. They take over your body and use your boy or the user for until you sober up. If they let you sober up, and One of them's the Hells Angels type guys come back for revenge against his mates at often. He's the guy that in has inadvertently released the lures Angels type guy that's come back for revenge against his mates at Ofton. He's the guy that has inadvertently released the lure and that's why Charlie's there. So he's trying to figure out what to do with her and how to get her back, because she's like I made her like a succubus, so she lives off of people's sexual energy and stuff and she's trying to absorb enough so that she can come back to our reality now and of all the books I've written.

Speaker 1:

That's by far my my favorite. Wow, wow. Why is that not a movie?

Speaker 2:

I know, um, I'm trying to get my stuff into movies.

Speaker 2:

Right now there's a there's a site called stage 32 where you can you can pay to have somebody do an interview with yeah and uh, and it's like 35 bucks, most of them somewhere more um, and you do, you do interview somebody to see if they want to accept you. My biggest problem right now is I love writing books, writing a script I haven't done yet, so some of them will just take the book and then use that script writer they have. But yeah, all my work is very visual and I love doing lots of research as well. I learned this from an old Western author, louis Lumiere. I hate Westerns. I tell everybody. I write in every single genre out there except Westerns, because I hate riding horses.

Speaker 2:

But he said if I set you and I read this in the back of a book of his my friend was reading if I set you in a pub in 1862, that town, that pub, that creek, they were all there at that time and I thought I really admire that. So when I started writing novels, if I put you in a street corner, if I put you on a scene like the scene that Stanley Park and the lure everyone's read that scene go wow, I've been there and it's exactly like you say and I could see everything happening around me that you described and I said that's, that's very visual. And I said that's, that's very visual, and I also believe in weaving all the senses into a scene too, to make it accurate.

Speaker 2:

And actually I had one guy who read the Raven's event. He lives up, lived up in Haida Gwaii, and he said to me one time so so that scene, you know where the pub is, in the street corner and the second floor of the pub, it's exactly how like you say it is how much time you spend up there. I, it's exactly how like you say it is how much time you spend up there. I said, be honest.

Speaker 1:

I haven't even gone up there yet.

Speaker 2:

I'm going up there next summer to do my research more to see if it, how accurate it is, so I can use it for another book. And he goes wow, it's crazy.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow. I love the the research thing. I've talked to a couple of other writers who do a lot of research for for their writing and and, yeah, to be able to get that where people can really connect, especially if you're writing, like you say, around Stanley Park or Haida Gwaii, in areas that a lot of people might be familiar with and to be able to go wow, I see that. I see exactly what you've done there. That's just amazing. What challenges have you faced in your writing career and how have you overcome them?

Speaker 2:

Probably the biggest challenge is I've been with three other publishing houses. I'm with one right now, wild Rose Press, which is huge. I think they have 600 authors. The biggest problem now is with the way the whole industry is changing. You get a lot of hybrid presses and people ask me questions about that. Some are good, some you have to be really careful. Most of my problems are currently self-published. I was with one. The biggest problem I have with most publishing houses, unless they're massive, and that's what I'm trying to get into now is they don't spend a lot of time doing the covers.

Speaker 2:

So if you see probably see some of those covers behind me there- yes, um I use a company to to make my covers, and when people walk up they go, wow, that those covers are stunning. And and so then they want to grab the book and take a look, see what it's all about, or I'll explain it. Um, but most publishing houses will only do um, like one or two goes at a cover, and they don't spend a lot of money and time putting it together. Typically and that's the problem I had I was with one company which I won't name. I had five novels with them and I said you know what I'm willing to pay to get new covers made up, ones I want, because I was looking at these guys, and these guys are out of the Ukraine, by the way, they're called my blart um, and they work with you until you're happy.

Speaker 2:

Some of these covers have taken 30 goes before I'm satisfied. Wow, yeah, so, yeah. So which publishing house won't? And like they said no, I, you know that that's it. What else? What do you want to change here? And that we're done like no, are you kidding me? Um, because the covers were not very attractive or appealing, I thought. But then, and then she, so she said no. She says, if you want to just tear up the contract and you can have them all back as a deal. Because I thought, well, why am I going to spend, you know, an average cover, and this company costs around three hundred dollars, and so why am I going to spend that kind of money and I only get half the profits anyways. So yes they'll publish.

Speaker 2:

You know. In hindsight, you know, if I would have stayed with them, they were doing quite well, I might've been a better move, but you still have these lousy covers that wouldn't appeal to people at events.

Speaker 1:

Well, exactly, and and it's the cover they're going to see first before the cover is going to make them pick up the book, turn around and read the description or open, or open it up and and I agree, the covers are so important to be able to draw people to you. It's like. It's like gift packaging, right.

Speaker 1:

You know, it's all about the package. It's all about the package and I think the cover of your book is the package which hopefully is going to make people go, oh, that looks interesting, that's oh, look at that cover. Wow, what's that book all about?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I had that many times, that one in the top corner, the Awakening. People walk up and go, wow, that phoenix, that strikes me and they say what's that about? And that's the third book in that series with Charlie. That's in Prince George, the second is in Stanley Park, the first one's in Haida Gwaii. Of course, my whole series is set mainly in Victoria with Carol Ainsworth, who's a female detective, like I said, because for people that haven't heard, that's probably the one of the most haunted cities in North America.

Speaker 1:

Dozens of ghost stories in in victoria is crazy and love it. So what about? So what about the self publishing? So you're? On amazon right presently, so people can go to amazon to find your books, um so, so what do you do for marketing? How do you get your books sold?

Speaker 2:

I know a lot of people out there have trouble on amazon yes, um, amazon, you could, you could promote on Amazon, and I tried it. It wasn't very good. Typically, I go to book events. I'm actually in the middle now of also getting audio books made up. I got two out and I got about three or four more. All of them will be because I have so many people now saying, oh, I just do audio Because, as you know, they're driving to Vancouver, vancouver, and they want to listen to a book. And in the research, yeah, audio is almost as big as eBooks. Now More and more people are doing those, so they're getting me into audio as well. So that's one thing. And then I have little coupons to give at the events for the audio books I have out already. Most of the time, I'm just advertising, promoting myself on Facebook, on TikTok, instagram, all the all the sites. I can think LinkedIn, all those sites. Yeah, typically is what I'm trying to do with all my stuff.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a, it's yeah, the, the, the traditional publishing houses. If you hit one that can take you there, then you can get there. But yeah, I find for myself, I just we just do self-publishing ourselves, so and it works for what we're doing for sure, yeah, for sure. So what advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Speaker 2:

oh well, simply don't give up. I had, um, I had 398 rejections, but for my first novel, raven's lament was accepted by by that company I was talking about honestly, honestly, um, I was also had about 80 short stories published, um so far and I just keep putting them out there. There are sites If anyone wants to contact me on my email there are sites that send weekly updates about people. Look for contests and short stories you can submit to. Basically, don't give up If this is something you love to do. I mean, the story of Stephen King is a perfect example.

Speaker 2:

He his first novel, carrie. He sent it out to some like 30, some publishing houses and then and he was an english teacher, and he and he threw his, the novel in the garbage says that's it, I'm done, I give up. And his wife said, um, he said I'm just gonna do an english teacher. She says no, you tell me you're a writer, you stick to it. So you pick that damn thing up and then take it one more time, send it out there. The next, the next publishing house is going to accept it.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, you just don't know what's around the corner.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly. So I just keep putting it out there. Like I said, I submit lots of my short stories to contests and when people ask me for a list of my credits, I have about four pages in there because of all this stuff. And then I do a lot of live interviews. This is probably my 15th live interview, I think now. Yeah, just keep going.

Speaker 2:

If in your soul you say you're a writer, keep at it, and if nothing else, then you love doing what you love doing. Now that I'm semi-retired, I can sit down and I spend. I almost find I have less time than I did when I was working. I've got actually I've got four more books on the go right now in different stages. Yeah, and I just finished two. One's a collection of short stories. That one's entitled what I'd Say to Agatha Christie if I Met Her in the Knitting Circle. Oh, I have a weird off-the-wall kind of humor. That's why I call myself off-the-wall and uh. And the other two are uh, what I would say to buddha if I met him in the pub. And the other one is is uh, what I would say to einstein if I met him on the dance floor, and it's all in a collection of my short stories I've had published right and and um, and the other thing is like doing different things. So in in one of those I I always put the first chapter one of my novels in those.

Speaker 2:

And this one guy, one event, last harrison he walked to me. He says he says raven cement, you're the guy that wrote that. I said yes. He says I want that book. As, why is that? He says I picked up my wife bought that collection of short stories and that was in there and I read that. And he says I gotta get this book. And actually the best review I ever got, um, happened about four months ago. This guy walks up to me another event, it's about raven's men. He goes. He walks up. In his first words you're a bastard. And I said excuse me. He says he says my wife bought that book. I. I thought why is he reading I don't know this woo-woo, spiritual traveling through the earth stuff. And he says so, um, I started reading the first chapter. I'm like, oh man, this is incredible. He said I was hooked the other night. I'm reading this book for three hours. He says I couldn't put it down, thinking I got to go to work. Damn it. That's their view. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow, that is. You are a wealth of knowledge for what you're doing and I appreciate that so much. And your books are just, yeah, they're so interesting. I typically my favorite book that I've read is the Mist of Avalon. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's a king, you know. Yeah, yeah, way back then, and that was very mystical and very spiritual and that kind of thing. But I mean, the person who said that to you is so right, because you get that book and you can't put it down. Yeah, and reading is better than a TV show.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, because you can create the scenes in your head. Yes, so one of the newest books I wrote is what I call Celtic Fantasy, autumn Summer. I don't have a copy to show you, but anyways, it's all about a lady that's an empty nester and her kids are gone and she's got nothing to do with her life. She's done nothing with her life and she starts looking out for people and she runs into a spiritualist called Summer Her name's Autumn and they kind of hook up and she says, well, you know, she doesn't really believe her and, long story short, she proves to her that she's for real. The thing is they both find out is that they're both Celtic and they're called Anamkeros, which is like soulmates, so they've gone through generations. They're called anim caras, which are like soulmates, so they've gone through generations and sometimes as women, man, man, woman, man, man, in this case, woman, woman, somehow always finding each other.

Speaker 2:

But the premise of this book is what if your mother and she's adopted, autumn's adopted? What if your mother gave up her adoption? Not because she didn't love you, she was trying to protect you from an ancient curse. No-transcript curse starts. Wow, now they have to deal with the curse and and I weave in, like I said, all our research. I've woven a lot of celtic legends, traditions, beliefs, uh fascinating stuff I learned and people that, and at the end of the book in that one, I put a bunch of them in there, just just so people can get a grasp of some stuff that celtics believe in and the different things that they've done, uh, their, you know, their stories and stuff and um and yeah and same thing. Some people said, wow, that's that.

Speaker 1:

That book's insane, you know so where do you, where do you do your research? How do you know? How did you just get on google and go?

Speaker 2:

I want to write a book about celtic, something or other, and most of the time it all appears most of the time, although I'm also very like an empath and very intuitive um, I'll go to a lot of bookstores and I was at this one here in chile. I had to book man and, um, I was looking purposely for a book and often I've walked in. I trust my gut. So when I walk into a store, if what I'm looking for is there, I'll find it and I'll just reach up. Sometimes I just reach stuff and pull the book right off the shelf I want.

Speaker 2:

And so I'm sitting there and this lady's on her knees beside me, she's going through his books and we're in this kind of mysteries occult section and I'm kind of looking for a book and I just don't know what I want to find. She goes, oh, she's. Well, you, you're probably interested in this author, and then that one up there. So she points to that a book and and I and I pull it down. I go, yeah, that's exactly what I'm looking for, thank you. And I said and I said just so you know, I'm a local author and my books are here and she said, well, which? Which ones? I said, well, ravens have met one of them. She goes I've read that. She says the scenes where the prince traveling to the earth are mind blowing. She says they're they. They just just mesmerized me.

Speaker 2:

I've never read anything like that and I just thank you wow, how, oh, that's beautiful yeah, how you, how you meet somebody like that that's read one of my novels, didn't know it, and yet she points me to another one and and many times, like I said, I'll, I'll be looking for something and I just trust my guts and finding it where I want. Yes, a lot of times now it's google, but I still pick up books and buy them to do research on different things out there. Yeah, because you can't. Google's got articles, but, but a book has usually got in-depth discussions or or you know things in there that you can't find and, and, if nothing else, just reading it, like I said, it twigs me. Often, doing all that research, I get the idea for two or three other stories or novels.

Speaker 1:

It's just bananas. As I'm listening to you, I'm thinking about you and I'm thinking you've been able to remove that writer's block. Like that creativity, it just flows through you and I think that. So have you ever experienced writer block? No, it just yeah. So what do you think writer's block is?

Speaker 2:

Well, that's a good question, or someone doesn't have it. Actually, it's somebody that's not willing to just release their mind to work on something. Really, one of my courses I took a self-development course back in the 80s and they talked about you. Basically, if you want to change your beliefs, you need to change the way you view the world, which I get. But they said you, if you believe in something, let's say you want to become a millionaire, so you need to put in your head that I will, I am rich, I will be rich, I am rich, and you keep saying that to yourself. So when I start reading something, I I'm kind of putting back my mind.

Speaker 2:

An idea for a story like that whole thing about autumn, summer was about um. It started with, I read somewhere and it's just a line, that um, this guy finds out his wife's having an affair with another woman. He didn't know about it for 30 years and I and I. That just twigged me. Then I started, for some reason, all the celtic things just started weaving in there and and the rest of the whole book came out from that yeah, wow, yeah, it's just um, yeah, it's just, you're right, it's releasing whatever that block is.

Speaker 1:

that lets you go so far, and then just start writing things down.

Speaker 2:

You know, when I see, as an author, I always kind of watch people in crowds and go, wow, there's a story there, this person. So I might quietly take a picture or something, but I'll write down when I get home. But this person was wearing what they're like, and then almost instantly, um, I start getting the story, like, oh, this happened, blah, blah, blah and and then it just starts going once, once you get that, it's like from that creative writing course in high school. Once I get that, then I can just start pounding ideas out and just let it out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think that it's just a matter of trusting. Trusting as well, yeah, and curiosity, because I do the exact same thing. I have always been so curious about why people do what people do. People do what people do, and I know some of my girlfriends earlier in life I would they'd be going. Why are you even talking to that person? And I go well, because they're so interesting. I just want to know why. Why do they think these things that they think?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and wear what they wear, and, and and act the way they do, and, and, and, and. As a writer, my head's already thinking well, what started that belief? Where did they come from to do that in their lives?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I know I even throughout my day and I I bet you do the same thing. I'll be standing at the till watching the cashier and I'm thinking you know what's going on with her today, or him? With her today, or him what's? Yeah, all the time. What's the story? There's a story there.

Speaker 2:

There's always a story always a story and some, some of the cashiers are. You can tell that they're, they're upset or like oh man, yes, jokes, I have to. But then I hit my head. I'm thinking so why are you in this position now, then? Why don't you do something else that you more love to do, which is, you know, I love to write and, and, and. Now that I have more time to do it, I do it because that's what I enjoy doing.

Speaker 2:

That, that's the you know I'm probably the purpose of my soul is to is to write, hopefully entertain people. Whether I make a million dollars, I don't really care when. When somebody said to me like that Barry guy, oh, there's another review I got for the joining, uh, carol Sainsworth and, and the guy's wife bought the book, and I said so, and I knew the guy quite well, I said so, was your wife enjoying the book? And I said so, and I knew the guy quite well. I said so, was your wife enjoying the book?

Speaker 1:

He goes no, he says, I hate you.

Speaker 2:

I said why is that? He says she's bought that book, she's on sick leave in the bathroom and I can't get bloody in. I says that's for you. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1:

I love that, wow. Well, frank, look what he's done and look at this interesting topics and themes that he's got going on, and I'm going to grab one of your books. I am I love reading all of our true life stories, but there's nothing better than just curling up with a book that just sends you places in your mind and I just feel like that's where your books are going. So I'm definitely grabbing a book. I'm going to find one of the ones that interests me and and, and I'm going to get it. I'm going to read it and then I'm going to leave your review.

Speaker 2:

Thank you very much. I'll be doing a couple of events coming up. But one's in Langley at the farmer's market, but here in Chilliwack they have the local threads artisan fest, the market that's on Sunday the 15th. I'll be there, stop by.

Speaker 1:

Perfect, perfect. Oh well, thank you for letting me know that and for anybody who cause, we have a lot of people from Chilliwack that have done podcasts and listened, so go out and meet Frank, if you're close by, and have a look at his books and purchase one. That would be great. Well, frank, again, thank you so much. It was, yeah, I just I learned a lot. I learned a lot from our conversation, so I appreciate that very much. Now, if any of you want to reach out to Frank, his details will be in the detail section so you'll be able to. There'll be links there. You'll be able to find his books easily. As he said, if you want some information, he's happy to chat with you. So don't be shy to reach out and see what Frank's got to offer.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I love true stories for people because I've always said you can't write the stuff that some people have lived or experienced, and I've woven several of those stories that they've told me into my books. In fact, autumn, summer and there was a lady at an event, if I got enough time, and she said I don't have any ghost stories because I'm talking about ghosts but I have this story. So she says I found out on my wedding day I'm adopted. I said are you kidding me? And so she said so we're in Ottawa and my husband would go to the graveyard, business mom and lay flowers and talk, and I'd just always wander off.

Speaker 2:

And I always stopped by this one gravestone that always somehow appealed to me. I don't know why. I had no clue and it kind of was woman's grave and after I found out adopted, I thought I'm gonna research that name. That's her mother, wow. And she found out. Later she met the brother and sister, looked just like her and they said, oh yeah, she gave someone up for adoption. So I wore that that story into Autumn Summer because it was such a fascinating story and it just twigged my mind like whoa.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow, that's. You are a very creative person and obviously intuitive as well. So, wow, that's great, okay, well, frank, thank you so much for doing this. Everybody, make sure that you check out Frank's details in the details section and grab one of his books. Take care till next time.

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