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Overview

JD lives in San Francisco with her husband and a turtle. Besides writing she likes British TV shows.

She wrote her first book, which she didn’t publish, for her nephew. She has written a fairy tale – Marigold and the Snoring King which got an honorable mention in the Writers Digest awards.

Her other grade is called Melanie on the Move – which is loosely based on a summer camp from her childhood.

Book

Favorites

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092W9X625/ref=as_li_tl

And her favorite book to read:

J.D. Rempel is a California native, whose passion is writing speculative and contemporary fiction for all ages. Her books include a children’s picture book, Marigold and the Snoring King and her middle-grade fiction novel, Melanie on the Move. As a confessed Anglophile, she’s usually found watching British TV, especially mysteries. She loves to read, listen to music with her husband, and play peekaboo with her turtle, Applesauce.

Website

LINKS:

Website: jdrempel.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdrempel/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.d.rempel

YouTube

Transcript

Discovered Wordsmiths 49 – JD Rempel

Stephen: hey, welcome to episode 49 of Discovered Wordsmith. Today I have JD Rumble. She is a children and middle grade author. She’s written a fairytale and a book about her life, uh, in summer camp, a fantasized version. So if you have some kids, if you’re looking for some good books to read, check out j d’s books.

There are links in the show notes. And if you haven’t told anyone about the website or I’m sorry about the podcast, please tell people about the podcast. I would like these authors to get out there to get known. That’s what they all want. They want their books to be read, and that’s why I do this. So if you’ve listened to the podcast, a couple episodes, Even just one episode.

Tell others about it. Point ’em to the website. Let them find authors and books that they would enjoy. And also next episode is episode 50, which is a big, nice round celebratory number. So I’ve got a few special episodes coming up for 50 and beyond, so you wanna check those out. Again, uh, check out the authors, check out the website, see what other books are out there, and if you’ve listened to us, please give us a rating, give us a review.

It’ll help us be found by others to find these authors in their new books. So here’s jd. I. Well, jd welcome to, uh, today’s episode of Discovered Wordsmith. How are you doing?

JD: I’m doing well. Thank you for having me.

Stephen: Great. I’m glad to have you on. Um, let’s, let’s, uh, before we talk about your books, uh, tell us a little bit about you, what you like to do outside of writing, a little bit about where you live, things like that.

Oh, okay.

JD: Well, I live in the San Francisco Bay area. So I’ve lived in Northern California my whole life. Nice. I’ve been, um, married for 28 years. Um, we don’t have any children except a turtle.

Stephen: Wow. How, how long have you had the

JD: turtle? We’ve had, um, his name’s applesauce and we’ve had him for about three years.

Oh, okay. I found him in my pool. So that’s a little story in itself, but he was meant for me.

Stephen: Nice. Good.

JD: So what was your other question? Uh,

Stephen: so, uh, what are some things you like to do outside of writing? Other hobbies or things?

JD: I’m gonna be honest here and say I watch a lot of tv. I really like watching. Um, I’m an Anglo file and so I just love anything British.

So if I can, they have like a lot of streaming channels for the British shows. And so that’s usually what I’m watching

Stephen: if I can. So do you have a Britt Box subscription?

JD: I’ve been trying to write more, so I let my Britt box go for a little while and I’ll reward myself after my book’s done. Get it back.

And so what’s your favorite horn? Two. Oh, sorry.

Stephen: And Acorn two. Yeah. Yeah. So what’s your favorite British show?

JD: Um, well, they don’t make it anymore, but I like watching, uh, reruns as Inspector Lewis. Okay. And I, I also really like Vera. I haven’t heard of that one. Oh, Vera’s really good. Um, it’s, I’m trying to remember who the author is though.

’cause she writes all the books and then they made it into a TV series. She also has another one called Shetland, and they’re just very, they’re very good. Um, I, what I like about Vera is she’s a lot like, uh, is, she’s like a woman, Colombo. Nice. Yeah, I always love Colombo. Yeah, so she’s that kind of, she’s an older lady and which she’s really smart and she’s, she calls everybody like love or pet, so it’s kind of cute.

Stephen: Nice. Okay. So, um, what made you finally want to start writing?

JD: Um, I’d have to say it was, for some reason I just got this story in my head. Um, we were going through something in our family and I just, um, I just wanted my nephew to know how much he was loved, so I wanted to write a story about, of, about how much he was loved.

I actually haven’t published that book, but I’m hoping to someday. Okay. But that was the beginning of everything for me was just, you know, um, Uh, just wanting to, yeah,

Stephen: sorry. Okay. No, no, that’s fine. Um, and so you, you wrote, was that the first book you wrote, the one you wanted to be for your nephew?

JD: Yeah, I wrote it right away, but, um, I’m still editing it.

It’s not, I don’t think it’s right yet, so I’m still editing that. And I think a lot of times, um, when I’m going through hard stuff, I, it’s like I get a new story. That, that helps me. I mean, that’s, I had some other personal stuff going on and I, I felt like God gave me this story and I was just like, I can, I could get some healing out of it.

And that one’s not finished either. I think it’s because both of them are so personal, right.

Stephen: That that’s, and, and I, I get that too. The, the shiny squirrel that Mo you wanna jump and, oh, I got this great idea. Yeah. Okay. So your, your first two books tell us what they are called and what they’re about. And you said they’re not published yet, but you’re working on that?

JD: No, those are the, the ideas that I was just talking about. Oh, okay. The ones that I, that anyways, no, I have two that are published.

Stephen: Oh, okay. Okay. So, okay. So tell us, uh, what, what those two

JD: are about. Okay. Um, the first one is a, a children’s book fairytale. So that one’s called Marigold and the Snoring King.

And, um, it’s about a, um, a little orphan who tries to help a king stop snoring. And it’s, and everybody in the kingdom wants to stop, uh, try to stop the king snoring, but they won’t let her in to see him to help. Everybody else tries to help and they just make it worse. That one I’m pretty proud of because I one honorable mention in the, uh, 2020, uh, writer’s Digest, self-published book awards

Stephen: for Wow.

Nice. Yeah. That is pretty, that was actually the third book you wrote, is that, that the correct order. Well, I don’t,

JD: I think it’s one of my first, ’cause it’s the first I finished. I’m okay. I am a perfectionist, so it takes me a long time to, uh, really finish a book. I just have a very, uh, weird way of writing, so I’m very per, per well, my, uh, one of my friends calls me a writer snob.

So I kind of like to do everything as perfect as possible.

Stephen: Got it. And it’s a, is it a picture book? Yes. For young kids. Did you do the pictures yourself or did you get somebody to do those? I

JD: found a wonderful illustrator. Um, her name’s Kim Sponagle. She has beautiful work and when I saw her work, I was just like, I, it was just like, oh, this is it.

This is, this is the one. Right. And then when she read my book, she. I loved my book. She was just like, she said, she went, she got it through a friend and so, um, she was just praying that I would. Ask her to illustrate it because she loved the book so much. Cool. And so when I contacted her sh i, she was like, I was praying you would contact me.

So I was really excited. Wow.

Stephen: So it was kinda meant to happen.

JD: That’s great. Yeah. Yeah, it was. And she did it. She did a wonderful job. It’s, it’s just, it’s just gorgeous. It’s gorgeous. I, I’m, it’s so, uh, she just really brought it to life. She really did.

Stephen: And what was the, uh, second book?

JD: Um, it’s called Melanie on the Move and it’s a middle, it’s a Christian middle grade contemporary novel.

Okay. So, and that, um, I should say Marigold was self-published. Um, Melanie’s traditionally published through Ambassador International.

Stephen: So well, tell us about the second book

JD: a little bit. It’s about a girl who lives in the Bay Area and all of a, all of a sudden her parents announced they’re gonna move and she’s gonna live, she’s still gonna live in California, but it’s in this really small town.

She doesn’t really remember ’cause they have a cabin there. So they live at the cabin. She really doesn’t remember it. And she’s just, she loves to swim. She’s, she’s a swimmer. She just loves to swim and now she’s not gonna have a pool. And it’s just like her whole world unravels and everything seems to be going wrong.

And, um, through circumstances, um, her dad can’t live with them. And her sister goes somewhere else, and it is just, her whole life just goes up in chaos and she makes a new fr a friend, um, and who invites her to church and then she gets a whole bunch of new friends and all these wonderful things starts to happen to her.

It’s more about how um, God can use our circumstances to draw us to him and he will do beautiful things in our lives.

Stephen: Was the main goal to be something to help kids or did it come out just that way after you started writing the story? I. I

JD: really wanted, uh, with today’s kids and stuff, I always felt like they don’t get, I feel like when I grew up in the eighties, how idyllic it was and how, how fun life seemed to be back then and how innocent life was back then.

So I, I kind of wanted to have that for today’s readers. For the, like the middle grade. ’cause I just remember how tough, even though I had a wonderful life growing up, those junior high years are just so tough on some kids. Yeah, yeah. Really are. Yeah. And so I just wanted something that really showed, you know, um, kids what.

What life really is without all those distractions and stuff, this is what life is. God wants to have a relationship with you. You can have friends, you can, you know, it’s just, I just wanted something that would give them that today. And um, it also helps because, The area where, um, the book is, uh, focused on is I used to go up to family camp every year with my parents at this place called Alliance Redwoods.

And so the whole book series is around that area. And actually book two, which I’m working on is Melanie at Camp Redwoods, is at the Redwoods that I grew up at. So it’s just kind of giving, it’s. Given me the memories that I had and the fun times that I had, and kind of sharing them with other people and just having them experience it too.

Stephen: Nice. Well, that’s always a, a good goal and I like the, the helping kids. I, I’m trying to do some of the same types of things with my. Books, same target audience.

JD: Oh yeah. They, they really need it. That’s the time when they really, that’s when I started reading a lot, you know, that’s where I felt like I could find friends who would accept me for who I was.

I could go on adventures. Yeah, that’s, it’s just the right age to start reading and finding books that they love so much.

Stephen: You mentioned that you traditionally published one and you self-published the other. Why did you do that and how did you get the book, uh, published with, uh, ambassador

JD: Press, I, I decided with, uh, Marigold and this No King I.

I mean, who does? Nobody does fairytales anymore. It was an, it’s an original fairytale. I, everybody does like, retellings of fairytales. You are not seeing a lot of fairytales or they’re, um, you know, or Disney’s doing the fairytales. It’s like that’s, they’re not gonna wanna do my fairytale and I’m fine with that.

I don’t want them to, I wanted to do my own. I just didn’t think that I would find everybody I like sent it out to and stuff. It’s like they, they like it, but they, they didn’t know where they could put it. Who’s, who’s the audience, you know? And, It was just very difficult for that one, and so that’s why I just decided, you know, hey, I’m, I’m gonna self-publish this one.

And I actually work with, like, I wouldn’t call them, I guess some people would call ’em a vanity press, but they were wonderful to work with. I. They were great. I didn’t feel like I was getting taken advantage of. And that is Halo Publishing International. Okay. And they were just great to work with. I mean, what I had to pay was the stuff that you’d have to pay anyway for publishing your book.

And they really, they were actually really great because they loved the book too. And so they’ve been pub, they’ve been promoting it as well.

Stephen: So you’ve had a pretty good experience because I know, uh, I, I hear a lot of people that they don’t have a great experience or they’re. Like you said, trying to rip you off, but you, you didn’t have

JD: any of that?

No, no. It, it’s just from research. I mean, my illustrator is the one who actually said, you should work with Halo. They’re wonderful. And um, it wa that one was, how I got into Halo too was just, and, uh, another God story because it was really funny. It, that one was really funny too. So I’ll, I’ll share it if you’d like.

Yeah, please go ahead. But it was funny ’cause I, I called the number and the recording wasn’t like, when it went to the straight to recording and it, it was, sounded all crackly. And I was like, Ooh, I don’t know if I’m going to go with these people or not. ’cause I, I was just, I just hung up. I didn’t leave a message and then right away.

The number called me back and I was just like thinking, oh, it’s just, you know, it’s just the answering thing. Calling me back, accidentally, whatever, I’ll just answer and hang up. But it was actually like the lady who ran it was calling me back ’cause she saw that I, my number and she just called me back.

And so I just started talking to her and I told her, and she got so excited and she goes, you know, I have never ever called somebody back who didn’t leave a message. She goes, I’ve never done that before.

Stephen: Wow. Yeah. So you have had some guidance, it seems. Yes. Uh, with your illustrator and

JD: publisher. Yes, I should.

So you did ask about, um, Melanie on the move. I, um, put it in, um, two, uh, contest and, um, I won the contest. So I put it into those. Have you heard of Pitch Wars on Twitter? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I’m trying to remember who was doing, oh, it wasn’t like a pitch wars thing, it was an, it was a Christian one and so I just did it.

That day for that. And um, one of the editors from Ambassador said, send it to me. So I did. So I sent it it to her and that’s what

Stephen: happened. So sometimes it does pay to do those types of things. Uh oh, I know. There’s debate on that.

JD: Oh yeah. Yeah. I, I think and too, I was thinking too with contests, ’cause a lot of people.

Try not to do contests or whatever. I was like thinking, saying, being able to say, ’cause I don’t know how great my pitch was, but being able to say it won this. Or you can say it placed here, even if it’s a small one. You know, this one was, uh, um, the one I won was the Oregon Christian Writers one for the category for middle grade.

Well, congrats on that.

Stephen: Thank you. So, um, what’s the feedback you’re getting from readers on your books? I.

JD: Well, it’s been all positive. I’ve, most of ’em have all, well actually all my reviews have been five stars. Nice. Yeah. And they’re not friends. They’re not all friends. It’s, it’s hard, uh, the, with the characters.

The characters are so sweet. I, I feel. Like they’re very sweet that it’s kind of hard to not like the characters. They’re just, that’s how I think of them too. I don’t think of them as my characters. I think of, I just feel like I wrote their stories. I. So I, I’m not, it’s like I’m proud of them, but proud of them.

’cause I feel like they’re, you know, it’s almost like they’re my children, you know? And I’m just like, oh, they, they’re the ones who did all this stuff. I, I, I always, it’s like, I don’t remember that, you know, the, the world is so real to me that I’m like, oh, that really happened.

Stephen: I, I always liken it too. I, I, there was an old thing, I believe it was Michelangelo.

That said, you know, he didn’t carve the statue. It was always in the rock. He just took away the parts that didn’t belong, or something like that. And I kind of feel sometimes writing, uh, I’m not thinking up a story, but I’m like looking through to another world and just putting down on paper what I’m, what I see.

Right. That’s kind of what it feels like.

JD: I feel the same way. I feel the same way. So whenever someone like, um, like doesn’t. You know, well, I, I’m trying to, I’m trying to think. I have had some like negative critiques, which I know we’re gonna talk about later about the stories. Mm-hmm. But I’m, I, I just don’t understand ’cause I’m like, how could you not like that child?

It’s the book. It’s not that, you know, so, but usually on critiques, it’s usually about my part in the writing, so, yeah.

Stephen: Yeah. We’ll, we’ll get into critiques more. I’m excited about that. Okay, so your, your books for fun. If you had a choice, what would you rather see them made into? A movie or a TV show? I

JD: think Marigold would be great as a movie.

I think Melanie would be great as a TV show.

Stephen: Do you think animated or live

JD: action? I think Melanie would be great at live action. I. It’d be wonderful. ’cause I, I mean that place is really there, these pla, well not everything, but like the camp area. Mm-hmm. And the second book especially, there are so many characters, she makes you get introduced to some of the characters in the first book.

There’s just so many characters. It really has an ensemble cast, cast. So it would make a gray TV show.

Stephen: So your books, uh, they’re available online. Did you choose to do print versions also?

JD: Yeah, they’re, they’re all available, uh, hardback, well, Melanie’s not in hardback, uh, Marigold, the self-published marigold and the snoring king is available in hardback paperback because it’s a picture book.

Yeah. Ebook. And I actually just a couple months ago, I did the narration for Marigold, and it’s also an audio book with sound effects. It. The sound effects have, I love the sound effects. The

Stephen: um, now did you put those in and do that or did you have someone do that? Oh,

JD: I hired someone. It’s um, me. Nathan James Norman from Untold Productions.

Okay. And he did a great, great job.

Stephen: So are you releasing it as an audio book also then?

JD: Uh, it just, it just, uh, released like three weeks ago. Three or four, three weeks ago it

Stephen: came out. Is that available on Audible or where can people

JD: find that? Yep. Audible chirp. The, some of the, actually some libraries have been purchasing it and.

I was surprised. I was like, wow, there’s a, a library in in Tennessee who has my books. It has the audio book. That’s okay. Cool.

Stephen: Yeah, and I’ve always encouraged people, especially with kids’ books, you know, take your kids to the library, get some books out. Um, I still go to the library a lot and in fact, even before the pandemic, I would get on.

The website for the library and browse and find what I want and have it delivered and go pick it up. But I know my kids, I’ve always loved to go to the library and spend time there browsing around and finding things. My son, heck, he would check out 50 books at a time sometimes.

JD: Yeah, we, I, yeah, I was like that too.

I was like that too. I actually have, um, the, since you’re talking about libraries, I actually have on my Facebook page and my website, well, actually it’s on my website I should say, um, that I have a, a give, it’s called Give a Book, and I will give a book to. Uh, to a library if you win my contest, and all you have to do is enter.

And, um, I just draw names every month. And if your name’s drawn, then I will give that book to a library of your choice, whether it’s nice school or public library. And say your name as the donor.

Stephen: This. Nice. And is that just on your website or how are you advertising that? Um,

JD: I’ve been trying to advertise it on Facebook.

Um, I it, last year I gave away 12 books. I wanted to keep doing it, so, um, I haven’t had anybody sign up. So it’s open. So it’s more likely to win if, if someone signs

Stephen: up that, that’s interesting. ’cause I tried something similar, uh, and I got one person to respond, but when I sent them an email asking for more info, I never heard back.

So I, I, I think we had kind of the same idea. It’s just trying to get. People to actually, there’s a lot of noise out there with so many things. You know, people may think it’s, uh, some sort of scam or, um, who knows, you know, that may just get covered up. But I, I think that’s interesting. We thought the same idea, trying to get the book out there for kids.

JD: Oh, yeah. I, yeah. That’s where I want it. I mean, I want them to read it. I, what’s it, what’s use? Is it, you know, because I actually, I, I, I bought some of my own, and those are the, are the, I’m the only one who can sell the hardback. So I sent, I send out the hardbacks to those.

Stephen: And that’s great. Oh, I also, I don’t know if you guys have them there, but we have these little library, uh, dotted around, and it’s just in various places.

Uh, like at Kent, they have one by the one park and it’s this little box sitting next to the sidewalk. Um, and people put books in there and you could take books out. And I’ve put my book in there several times, uh, to get it out. And I know, I, I don’t know who gets it. It’s something I’m giving away, but I, I am obviously hoping to hear from people, you know, if they liked it, what they thought, things like that.

JD: Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. I, I, I’ve actually considered putting one in front of my house because I just love reading so much.

Stephen: That’s a

JD: great idea. I have room for it, but I’m like, okay. One thing at a time, one project at a time. Right.

Stephen: Um, okay. Do you, so what’s your plans for your next books? I know you said you have a couple you’ve written, you’re still working on.

Do you have anything planned for the next one you’re going to release?

JD: Yeah. I am working, well, I’m doing two things right now, is that I am working on the audio book. I. For Melanie on the Move ’cause I’m the narrator for that one, so I’m working on that. And also I am working on the second book in that series.

It’s actually called the NorCal Girls Series and it’s the Melanie at Camp Redwoods. I’m working on that one and I’m kind of one of these people who like to have a lot of projects. I do actually write for adult, young, adult and adult, so, but those are all on the back burner. For now, I’m doing one just a tiny bit just to, I give so much of myself into the Melanie one that sometimes I need to have a break and just kind of write and just write crazy and not.

Do a, you know, to do a rough draft rather than really focusing on a final draft. So that one I do for fun a little bit.

Stephen: That, that’s always good. It’s a good shift and change, uh, keep you going so you don’t get burned out.

JD: Yeah. I give it to myself as a, a reward too. Did you write as much as you were supposed to?

Well, then you can have some

Stephen: fun. Right? Not, you know, speaking of, write as much as you want to when you were writing the, the picture book, and if you do write any more picture books, I know some people would say, well, heck, there’s only a hundred words in that whole book anyway. Do you find writing a kid’s picture book to be, how, how do you find it different than writing the middle grade book?

JD: The, I think the younger I’ve. The younger they are, the more, I think it’s the harder that it is to write. I edited, uh, Marigold and the snoring king probably over a hundred times because you want to get kids. It’s just such a limited amount of words you have to have. It’s like poetry. You have to have, you’re, you’re giving this imagery and you wanna be as precise as possible to the kids.

And I find the same thing with Melanie. Uh, I, I admit that some of my descriptions get more of how I usually write. I really write kind of flowery. So, uh, I, I do a little bit of that on Melanie, but usually I try just to be very, um, precise as well. In things, but, uh, writing a picture book is, I think it’s the hardest thing to write.

It’s

Stephen: not as easy as some people would think.

JD: Yeah, well, you got, you also have to have, it really is poetry because when a lot of people are reading these books out loud and you want to have a kind of rhythm to the story as well, it really is kind of like kids’ poetry, except you’re not rhyming.

Stephen: Very, very concise.

Yeah. That’s probably why Stephen King hasn’t written any picture books.

JD: Yeah. He’s very descriptive, so,

Stephen: yeah. Okay. Uh, Janie, let me ask you, um, what are some of your favorite books and authors that you’ve read throughout your life that you like? Um, well,

JD: It’s so hard. I am, I write like I read. I just love multiple genres, so I am just like reading, like I think the only thing I don’t read is horror and I’m actually trying to like, I.

I have a, a, I know actually a few horror writers and I’m trying to read their books to just see the difference. But, um, my favorite, it’s gotta be Pride and Prejudice with Jane Austen. I just Oh, nice. Yeah, she, I just love her characters. Her characters are just so multifaceted. They’re just, and it’s always.

The time you really get, understand the time and what they were going through. I just, I like that historical part of understanding that.

Stephen: Um, there’s probably a good reason that it’s studied in

JD: schools. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, but I also, um, when I was a kid, I really loved, um, I really, my first adult books that I started reading were, um, actually romance was Jeanette Oak.

And the Love Comes softly series. I read those. I started reading those when I was a kid and that started me on regular, you know, older stuff. And then I also read, I loved, uh, Stephen r Lawhead. So he’s fantasy, Christian fantasy. And I really like reading a lot of fantasy too. I, I do write fantasy as well.

I write science fiction to fantasy too. But, so, um,

Stephen: you mentioned horror, uh, and knowing that you write kids and, uh, middle grade books, have you tried going back and reading any goosebumps? You know, I

JD: have, it’s, I, it’s probably gonna be put on my to, to be, to be read list, because I just, you get into the, I think you’ve probably run into this too, is that you end up meeting a lot of other authors.

And so you’re, you’re, you get, you meet them, you like them, you are like, oh, I’m gonna like their books. But you buy their book and then you’re just like, you’ve got this, you know, to be red pile that’s like, you know, a hundred books. Right. Or like, or like, you’ll buy their ebook. And so I have like, you know, 50 eBooks that I need to read,

Stephen: right?

Yeah. Yeah. I do. Um, I, I did, when, when I. Uh, the goosebumps was something I went and grabbed a couple of from my kids and read when I was working on writing to get the feel and the, you know, what made these popular and why do, why do people like ’em? Um, and there’s, there’s plentiful. You can probably find several at a used bookstore, uh, and they’re like 25,000 words.

So they’re almost, you know, like one of, uh, Patterson’s BookShots.

JD: Well, I think, didn’t they make one of them into a movie with, uh, uh, several? So, yeah, I think I saw the one with Jack Black. I, I really enjoyed that one. I’m trying to remember which one that

Stephen: was. I think it was just, uh, yeah, the newer one. The Goosebumps.

Yeah. I, yeah, I don’t remember which, what it was. Um, so do you also have there in San Francisco where you live, do you have a favorite bookstore that you like to go to? You know,

JD: I wish I could say that. I, I do. It’s, it’s just, I used to, when I went to the bookstore, I always went to Christian bookstores and those are, They’re just gone now.

Stephen: Yeah, it was. We unfortunately are losing bookstores.

JD: Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I mean, we have a Barnes and Noble close to our house, but I should go in there. My husband says, you gotta go in there and show me your book. And I’m like, yeah. You know, it’s like they have it online. They already sell my book. I. You know, so I have just a hard time putting myself out there.

I think I need to, you know, but I do, I you go into a bookstore, it’s like, oh, I wanna buy everything.

Stephen: Right? Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I have that same problem, so

JD: it’s easier. Sometimes to buy online because it’s just like, well, at least I know that I have, usually I’ll have a gift card or something. I’m like, okay, I only can spend my gift card.

Right,

Stephen: right. Alright, well one last question before we go, jd, tell everybody that’s listening why they should get your book and read your book. Um,

JD: I think it, um, if they enjoy that wholesome, like what I was talking about before, just um, stories that. If you’re gonna get it for your kid, it’s these stories that you grew up with.

These ones that have that, it’s not like, Like old fashioned kind of thing, but just the clean, when you’re looking at more problems that have to do with you as a person, like the kids are facing, um, how to make friends, you know, instead of all the social and political stuff going on, it’s more of showing the kids about having a life, what life is like about them.

Just giving them options and understanding their relationship to the world and just how they fit in. And to me, whenever I read my books and look at ’em, it just reminds me of, of yesteryear and how I used to feel. I. And I just want that innocence for them. I think they would enjoy it. And I have to admit that, uh, Mari Golden and the Snoring King’s pretty funny.

So if you Okay. Especially, especially, uh, with the sound effects. Those are pretty, those are pretty amazing. Well,

Stephen: thank you. I appreciate that. The books sound great and I, I love talking to other authors, writing for kids. Um, so. We’re going to, for everyone listening, we’re gonna pause here for a minute and then we’ll be back with the second half, uh, more author type talk.

Uh, JD, it was great talking to you. Thanks for being on today. Thank you

JD: so much for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening to Discovered Wordsmiths. Come back next week and listen to another author discuss the road they’ve traveled, and maybe sometime in the near future it might be you.