0:05  
Welcome back to positive talk radio. Our goal is simple to explore evolving ideas, one conversation at a time. So come on over into our world. I know you'll like it. Because on today's show today we have a world traveler. She grew up in Germany, she's traveled all over the world. She's a screenwriter. She's an author, who's got a great book out that we're going to be talking about. And her her name is Olivia. And it's her whole new name is Oh,

0:40  
hold on. I'm on the wrong page, your website. That's that's the problem.

0:48  
Olivia Berry, and she is a wonderful writer of notes. And we're going to talk about our books, and her screenwriting Anthro travels. But first, I have to say hello, my friend Eric. How are you, Eric?

0:59  
Hey, good afternoon, Kevin. And Olivia, wonderful to have you join us on the air. As you do every Wednesday at this time.

1:07  
I do. I'd say it's pretty amazing. You guys keep inviting me back. It's like the bad pay me. But it's great to be here. And and by the way that I hope I didn't have a chance to talk to you. Did you have a great Christmas?

1:19  
I did. Yeah. It was very mellow. And very nice. How about yourself?

1:24  
I had a very mellow Christmas. You know, then my Seahawks lost. And that kind of kept the whole weekend. So that's one of those things. And you got planned for New Year's Eve you going out partying?

1:38  
Probably not partying per se, but hopefully get some dinner somewhere and watch those fireworks go off with the needle. And I think that'll be a good, good enough time.

1:51  
No, have you heard they've also are going to do a laser show there as well. Have you heard that?

1:56  
You know, I haven't actually looked into it too much. But I'll look into that. That sounds cool. And hopefully it won't be too windy. Like it was a few years back and then they couldn't do the fireworks. So

2:08  
I know what's the weather supposed to be on the weekend? Yeah. Are you? Are you focused that far?

2:12  
Yeah. So far, it's looking fairly warm and a bit wet. So we'll see.

2:19  
Wow, that's what it does here. Absolutely. But that's what we get. So anyway, I you know, I've got it. I've got to tell you, Eric that Olivia has lived in workplaces then, that she uses. Let's see. She was in Germany. And then she went to London, Florence, Milan, Brussels, Los Angeles, and New York City. And she's actually lived in those places for more than a year. So she's been out and about doing that before she wrote books she is was a screen writer, for TV and for movies. And with that, Olivia, it's great to have you here. Welcome to the show.

3:01  
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

3:04  
Well, we're excited to have you here. And we're going to talk about all of the things that you've done. But you were born in Germany, and did you grow up there and then start your travels?

3:16  
I actually yes, I was born in low town close to Frankfurt. I lived in Germany about nine years, and I then went to boarding school in Switzerland. And after that I lived in what what you said already in London in Italy. I lived a long time in Italy in Florence, Milan. I lived one year in Brussels. And yeah, I lived in Los Angeles and New York City.

3:51  
Yeah. Now, I don't know that I've ever met anybody that actually went to I've met people that were in foster homes. But I've never been anybody that actually went to a boarding school. Was it an all girls boarding school?

4:04  
It was an all girls boarding school and a little little town. Close to some moments.

4:11  
And how long were you there?

4:13  
I was there. Six years, almost six years? Yes.

4:20  
So what's it like being in an all girls boarding school? Did you ever have any guys sneak in?

4:28  
All right, when I was nine.

4:31  
When you when you were close to a teenager?

4:34  
Yes. You know, you know, it was very close to a boys boarding school. So we had a lot of events that would combine both schools, you know, but it's not a it's not the craziness of experiences.

4:49  
I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it didn't wasn't the perfect thing for you. But that's, you know, that's okay. So when did you start deciding that you were going to be that you wanted to be a screenwriter?

5:01  
Alright, I always wanted to be a writer. I didn't know that I wanted to be a screenwriter until I was like, in my early 20s. But I always wanted to be a writer. As long as I can remember, I loved books. I mean, my, I had a friend, like in elementary school, and we would go home and we would exchange books and, and go to the library together and just sit there and read books because I was fascinated by stories. And so I remember when I was about 12, that I really thought about writing a book or wanted to write a book at least and and in my 20s, I came across an article about screenwriting. I never thought about it. Honestly, I never thought, oh, I want to write for movies. It was so far away. For me somehow, I like movies, is that I was not like, thinking and dreaming movies every day, I was more like a reader, like a book reader than somebody who would love to think about screenwriting or plays and stuff like that. And so I came across that article. And I thought, oh, I should go out and try to write a screenplay. That would be fun, it would be interesting. And then I got hooked.

6:36  
You got hooked on writing screenplays now, is a difference between writing a novel and writing a screenplay.

6:44  
Alright, that a lot of differences. First of all, a novel is a real one year commitment, I would say it has 300 pages, 350 pages. Usually that's about what people expect nowadays, a screenplay you can write much faster. A screenplay has a maximum of 120 pages. Every page is one minute. So a TV show has maybe 60 minutes, 60 pages, 45 pages. or less if you write a comedy. The difference is, in books you write, you can write all the thoughts of characters in screenplay, everything you write, somebody needs to see, you cannot write thoughts I can write about my feelings about the world, in a screenplay, you have to visually see it, it has to be visual. And that's the big difference. There are far more rules also, you know, in screenwriting, you have a certain structure, you have to commit to that structure. I mean, maybe if you're Quentin Tarantino or something, you you bend it. But otherwise you have a structure you have. There's a beginning, there's a middle, there's an end. And you'll have to structure that with the minutes when something happens in screenwriting minute 30, something has to happen if not much earlier, there's an inciting incident around minute 15 Where something turns around for the character, and then a 30 Something has to happen, then there is the mid point in a round, minute 45 or up to 60 minutes, 60 depending how long your movies and then minute 90, the world falls apart. And then everything is put back together and the last 1020 minutes. In a novel. You're just free. You can have any structure you want. You can write about thoughts about the character of first person you write in third person or first person there are big differences. So it's a lot of structure. But I can tell you now that my knowing so much about structure helped me a lot writing my novel.

9:33  
Now I wanted to ask you because I don't think I asked you before because we've we've talked before on the podcast or in our in our little meeting. And I don't think that I I mentioned the fact that in the screenwriting situation like it like in a play, the players got blocking that they carry this character is going to move here. This character is going to move down right to stage left over here and is going to turn around as Going in when you're writing a screenplay, are you developing that or is that more the directors prerogative,

10:07  
that is the director you should never do that as a screenwriter, unless it is so important unless it is essential, you know, that I place the person in a certain angle because something right happens there, you know, in the left corner of the room or something. But in I described the overall setting, you know, in a screenplay, you describe a certain room, the atmosphere so that the director gets an, get an idea of where we are, and you know, a screenplay should always read. When I write a screenplay, I want the reader to read it in a way that they can see it, that you can see the movie, in front of your eyes. When you read the screenplay, not when you see the movie, actually, when you read. Read the screenplay. So that's all things I described, but I do not describe exactly what the actors are doing, or, or the level or cut, you know, or action, or zoom in or zoom out. That's all director stuff. Usually writers don't do that, unless obviously, your writer director, then you're in a different position, but otherwise, you leave that trust out.

11:42  
Well, and that's why that's why they say that. I don't know who they are. But whoever they are, says that movies and screenplays are more of a director's medium, and the actual plays and, and things like that you do is more of a more of an actor's medium. So it's like an actual play more of an actor's medium, then what a director would do with a movie.

12:12  
When it comes to play writing, I mean, the actors, obviously, I would say, you know, without a screenplay or a play, there would be no movie. Or there would be no theater play. But without the actors, it wouldn't work either. So I think the power, if you actually can get a play made. As a writer, I think you'll have quite a bit of power. And the actors are as important. Because obviously, if you don't have the right actors, it's not going to be a good play, if the actors are not created, you know, and their input input is also very important, I find even even on a movie set, you want the writers input. To understand the story even further, the more you understand everybody on a movie set, the better the movie is going to be. That's my opinion. Maybe somebody else says, oh my god, what is she saying, but I feel, you know, if I understand the cinematographer, and where the cinematographer comes from, and when I understand the writer, as a director, then I really know my movie, and I can direct that movie.

13:39  
You know, for those of us that have never been on a movie set, it's amazing. Actually, how many people are involved you know, at the end of the movie, if you watch the credits, roll and stuff you see all of these names up there of all these people that do all these things. It is a really big production to make a movie isn't

14:00  
it is it is it can be let's put it this way. There are some some great directors out there they they managed to do a lot of things with less people. But in general it's a big production it's a big production as a lot of wedding auto you know, you need people who do all the sound and the lights and the settings and the makeup and I mean there's a lot going on on a movie set. Yeah,

14:29  
I even know of a young lady that I've talked to on the show several times I didn't even know this position existed, but apparently it does. And that is that when you are the star and they need to set up for lighting and and for direction and get that all set the scene set up. You don't have to be there. They hire somebody to be your stand in who stands there while they're getting all the lighting and all the all the stuff together. So the hi had no idea that it was that involved that there were so many. So like a Meryl Streep, who doesn't have to stand there while they're doing the lighting and getting all that ready. They have a stand and do it and then they call her when they're ready to shoot the scene. Does that make sense?

15:14  
Yes, that's correct. But you're talking about big movie sets? Yes. The smaller ones, the more independent movies they don't have. They have the actress standing in the cold for two hours.

15:32  
Which, which is why you want to be in a big budget movie. But you got to pay your dues and do the small budget movie first. And all that. But you decided at one point in time that screenplays were too restrictive for you? Would that be good word restrictive?

15:46  
Yes, yes, that's correct.

15:50  
And that was because when you write a screenplay, and you present the screenplay, and they say, Oh, I love this, and then the director gets a hold of it and says, I like it. But there's a couple of things that I'd like you to change here. And I'd like this character to change here. And then then you get to somebody else, and they'll say, I don't like this much at all. And, and, and so you have to do a lot of rewrites and a lot of working with a lot of different people.

16:16  
Yes, that's correct. I even made a little short movie called The writer. And that really talks about it.

16:26  
I imagine that frustrating as heck,

16:28  
yeah, it is, it is a little bit because you know, you put a lot of hope and work into a screenplay and, and it's just, you know, you're so excited. When somebody comes to you and says, Oh, we love it. We love your work. We want to make this. And then it falls apart 10 minutes later. So it's like, you know, you need a tough skin to be in screenwriting world.

16:57  
So does that mean? Did you were mentioning that if it's like a two hour movie, The screenplay is 120 pages long. Is that mean that during the entire production, that screenwriter needs to be there, so that if a director on any particular day wants to make changes to the dialogue, or what's what's happening, and does that mean, you have to be there the whole time.

17:21  
That is up to the director. So uncertain movie sets, you got to be there. On other ones, they don't want writers to be there at all. And they might call you, if you still on the set by then because they might have a different set of writers already. You know, you can sell, you can sell your screenplay. And then they get some other writer on it.

17:51  
Oh, so that's like the the, I can imagine doing a screenplay is like having a having a baby. It's like, you've worked at it. It's been nine months or 12 months or a couple of years and in production. And you've you've really got your heart and your soul into it. And they buy it from you. And you're like, good heavens, that's wonderful. And then some guy who'd never hadn't spent any time on it at all walks in and says, Man, I like that. That's got to be frustrating.

18:17  
It is frustrating. But you know, that is what you sign up for when you in Screenwriting. It's just like that. They call people in for different things, because they believe that maybe that person has more experience, or is the better writer? Or is for example, I never wrote an action movie. But if I would write an action movie, they might say, Oh, she never wrote an action movie. So she doesn't know exactly what she's doing. We like the overall story. But we want that right. Let's name him Tom, to come in. Because he is really created action. He worked with Tom Cruise, he did this and that, you know, and we want him to come in. And we pay him a lot of money. And he comes in and he takes it apart.

19:13  
Oh, that would be that would be so frustrating. I wouldn't like that at all. Of course, I have been known in my life. I have to tell you, I love you. I've been told by the employer, you know, you're not a very good employee. Apparently, you need to be in charge of this thing because you you don't take direction well, so that's that I would have the same problem that you did. That is

19:35  
the same for me. I'm, I think I like to be in charge. And that is not always the best in screenwriting because other people want to be in charge as well. So that is why I am writing novels now. Because now I'm in charge. I'm in charge of my destiny. Whoever I contact, whatever I want to do, I can do it.

20:00  
Wow. And the cool thing is you have a new book out. And it's a it's called the hours in between. And it is based upon the last six months of someone's life and what and the premise that which is the premise, what would happen if you got diagnosed with an incurable terminal illness? And you had, man, they said, you read roughly in six months to live, and then you then were able to take that character and decide what she was going to do in the last six months of life, right?

20:40  
Yes, that's correct. And, you know, it's about my book is not about medical stuff, and dying and hospitals, not at all. My book is about living life to the fullest. What can you do with six months? What can you really do? And what would you change to have no regrets or less regrets? Let's put it this way. So it is about living, it has nothing to do with dying. There's like about two pages about that have to do with like medical stuff, just to set it up to set up the character. But overall, my book is about living and what happens when you put yourself out there. What can happen to you, because we don't know, you know, we take one step forward, if I, let's just make a totally different example. But let's say I want to fly to Australia. And I'm a little scared of it. Maybe because it's far away. I don't know anybody traveling alone as a woman. But I don't know what will happen. You know, I put myself out there. Maybe I meet really interesting people. People I connect with maybe I'm meet somebody who says to me, oh, write a play in Australia, you don't know, I don't know what will happen. So that's what my book is about. My book is about Liz Tate. She is the owner of a gallery. She has a very settled life in New York City. It's very settled, she has been living in a brownstone forever. She has a privileged life also. But it's not a perfect life, by all means. Her husband is cheating on her. So she set out to change her life in the last six months. Yeah. So her

22:47  
husband's cheating on her if I had six months to live, and my wife was cheating on her, I know what I would do. And then I wouldn't have to worry about the last six months. I spent it in court or or No, I'm kidding, I would, I would never do that. But you know, it's an interesting concept when you think about it, because we're all mortal, and we're all going to die, a lot of us don't know, when the expiration date that's probably on the bottom of your foot will, will, will happen. But all of us would technically theoretically have six months to live. And if you live six months at a time, and you treat it that way, your life would be completely different than if you then if you wait for something to happen, is that true?

23:35  
I believe it is true. I believe that if you will treat your life as if you only have really six months or three months or nine months, let's put it this way. And you would like, like go out and really do what you want to do. That is you know, we are like so often we wait for the perfect moment, you know, the perfect you know, it's the weather right there is Do I have enough money in the bank? Is my is everybody taken care of. And then we have all these streams in the background and and we think about it but we don't do it because oh, it might be too dangerous, or it might be impossible or it's difficult. But I believe firmly that we should live life to the fullest now and not postpone things all the time. You know, it can be scary. I admitted. I'm not the most courageous person.

24:49  
You You've traveled all over the world, which a lot of people haven't done that.

24:53  
I like to travel also, you know, so after a while it becomes like easier because you do Would I went to Europe during the pandemic, at the end of the pandemic for two months, because I absolutely wanted to go to Europe and travel a little bit around and see some places I hadn't seen yet. So I traveled on my own for two months, and I really love it. Nobody tells me what to do. As you can see, I'm a little free spirited.

25:30  
Which is perfectly okay. By the way, we're talking with Olivia Berry. And if you want to find out more about her, you can go to our website, which is Olivia dash berry.com. And and you can find out all about her. And the books she's she's written and all the screenplays she's done. And if you want to, you know, like I don't know, buy a screenplay and make a movie out of it or a play. That would be fine. Sure. You're open to negotiations about that?

25:56  
Absolutely. Always. I'm always open to talk to people about any kind of projects always.

26:04  
Indeed, in the by the way, you're listening to the positive talk radio here on KK and w 11:50am. It's a Wednesday afternoon, and I hope you're having a great day. We need to take a quick, quick break real quick. But when we come back, I want to ask Olivia this was your first novel, right? That was my first novel Yes. And you had every you have this the world was your oyster, you can write about anything in the world that you wanted to write about. And you chose this topic, which could be considered dark by some. But I think it's probably a very, it's a very uplifting book. And it's a wonderful read. And and so if you'll wait right there, I'll ask you that when we come back from this break. So I want to thank everybody for listening and we'll be right back in just a moment.

26:55  
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27:32  
Hey there, I'm excited that you're listening right now. And if you like what we're doing here, you're gonna love positive talk. radio.net on positive talk radio.net. Each show which is recorded live is packed with positive information with real people discussing real issues and positive solutions that can work for everyone. I hope that you'll join us on positive talk radio dotnet and listen to all 340 Plus shows. I think it's worth your time. That's just me. That's positive talk radio dotnet your home for great progressive positive podcast

28:11  
Welcome back, everybody to positive talk radio. My name is Kevin McDonald. And you're listening to KK and W I gotta tell you, I lied. I lied, Olivia. I don't have 340 shows up. I've got 385 So I have to update my commercial messaging. And we're also on YouTube. We're also on Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok. Where the heck else are we We're L word per course a podcast. So we're on Apple, iTunes, Spotify, all those guys. And you can listen to any one of the 385 shows. And this will be one of them very soon. As matter of fact, this will be starting next week, I'm excited to say that we are going to be doing KK and W on audio and video. So we will be able to, you'll be able to go to your computer console and type in positive talk radio on YouTube. And you can watch the show being done live. And that was that'll be great fun. And we're, we're excited about that. And we're and we're just growing like crazy. And if you'd like it really go to go to Instagram, because we've got some great shorts, as well as YouTube, some great shorts with some wonderful messages from all of the guests that we've had over time. So it's, I hope that you will do that. And of course, obviously go to positive talk radio.net Okay, I love commercials there for me. And definitely we're talking with Olivia Berry. She is an author. And before we went to break I was going to ask her the name of the book that she's written is the hours in between. And it's it basically is about what happened what an individual can do if they We find out that they are they have six months left to live. And so I gotta ask you what, what decided you two you could have written about in your your screenplays, you've you've written comedies, you've written all kinds of different things. What decided you to write this type of book?

30:19  
You know, mainly because I talk a lot to people about their lives and what is going on. And I felt the theme of regret is coming up a lot, when you like, get to a certain age, maybe not when you're in your 20s. But when you get like, to 35 and above, people talk a lot about regret, oh, I wish I had done this, I wish I would have done that. And it just intrigued me there was just so much about the subject. And I also love to develop characters. And I wanted to dive really deep into a character. And that subject gave me that opportunity to really develop a character in depth. That's also why I wrote it in the first person. And I basically wrote kind of her diary. It's not like, exact diary like that you write everything, like in the morning, oh, I'm doing this and that. And that. No, it's not like this. I have warded as a novel. But I use the diary format, so that she basically every day is something about her and her life. And she is the main character, she runs the show from beginning to end and the book. So I, I utilized a little bit of a different structure than a normal novel structure.

31:55  
as it sounds, it's a very interesting way to do it. And it's, it's, but I wanted to mention, because you mentioned regret, and I truly believe that that is, and by the way, when you're 20, something you don't know anything anyway. So you have to wait until you're a little bit more mature. Before you can figure it out. Somebody's gonna send me send that send all your correspondence to Eric, at K K, NW, no, I'm kidding. But it takes a little seasoning, for you to be able to understand what even what regret is, and how, if you live your life in a certain way. I've known people that have. My father was one who had serious regrets at the end of his life, because he sacrifice things that he probably should never have sacrificed. Because it was easier, rather than doing what his heart wanted him to do. And I know that that's, that's a big issue. If you talk to hospice workers, and people that that work with people that are in their end of life, that is a virtual unit of uniform theme. Everybody will say, you know, I really wish I would have loved this person, or I wish I could have been better to my kids or, and it's very rare that anybody says, you know, I really wish I made more money. I really wish I could have bossed that guy around more, you know, it doesn't it doesn't come out like that. Because we are humanity comes out. In your, in your research putting this book together? Is that kind of what you found?

33:33  
Yes. People, you know, in the end, money goes only so far, I think I once heard that if you earn a certain amount of money, let's put it like a $200,000 a year, then everything else is more about experiences. It's not really about money, because we really cared that much that you flew first class. I mean, it's kind of nice, you know, especially long flights, believe me. You don't want to be squished in the back. But but it's not really what matters, what matters, our connections with people, our experiences that we have, you know, it's not about traveling around the world, going from city to city and see every museum I mean, how much art can you really see? But it's about the people you meet in that journey. It's about people. But I also wanted to say another thing because you said younger people might not understand regret that much in in my novel. I thought the same. When I wrote the novel, I thought, oh, maybe it's geared more to words, people Like 35 and above, but I was wrong, because I had a lot of young people approaching me via email, mainly telling me how much they enjoyed the book and how much they really learned about themselves and what they would like to do different, especially college students who said, I want to really change the classes I'm taking right now, because I really didn't want to do math that much. Or my parents expected me to study, I don't know, architecture, but I actually want to be an attorney, or a nurse or something else. So even young people understand somehow what it means to make choices, you know, and which way they should go. And maybe it's now the time to change it. And not later.

36:04  
Yeah, I personally happen to think that expecting a 18 to 22 year old to and to know enough about life to be able to say, Yep, this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. And so I'm going to take these classes so that I can be an architect, or I can do this, or whatever it is that they have been told over time, that that's what we would like you to do, or maybe dad's paying for it, or whatever it is. And I it's I didn't know what I still don't know what I'm gonna do with the rest of my life. Well, I have a better idea now. But But it's, you know, it's, it's like, it's important that kids get the opportunity to grow up a little bit and, and, and to take and to do what they want. And so this, this book is very important to somebody who's younger that says, you know, that wasn't really what I want, I don't think I want to do that. So maybe this is my passion. I think that we should be talking a lot more about passion and what our kids should be wanting to do with their lives, because they're only going to be here for a real short time. Speaking, speaking of which, I wanted to let you know that there was there was a rich man, and he was dying. And he said to his wife, I want to take all my money with me. I don't want to leave a thing for anybody. I want to take it all. And she said, Okay, fine. And so he died, and she wrote a cheque and stuck it in his casket. So that's, that's, that's a joke, by the way. Not apparently not a very funny joke, but it was a joke anyway. So but But I agree with you, it's important that that we all and that's what this book is really about isn't it is living your passion? living your best life?

37:51  
Yes, living your best life, living in the moment, living now, you know, doing what you want to do? Whatever that is, you know, go out, do it. Do it now. You know, take the first step. You know, even if it's tiny, tiny step, you know, if traveling comes up a lot. When I talk to people, they want to travel and see the world. But you know, we come up with so many excuses, all the kids are still little how I'm gonna do this. And yeah, talk to people as if you could exchange time with a friend that they take your kids for. You don't have to travel like two months. Do it for a week, maybe they can take your kids and you take their kids that you know, it doesn't have even to cost always so much money. But take one step forward or you want to study something. Look, look, look up online, what you could do, how you could do it, you know, it's like little things on or see your grandmother. Go now. Don't wait. Grandma is not the youngest anymore, right. So go now. Look up the schedule. When is the train going? If you don't want to fly or can't fly or something is too expensive. Try other ways, you know, I mean, there are ways to do things, you know?

39:28  
Absolutely. Well then just by to bring that point home on July 17 2021. My mother, while on the 15th She went and played bridge weather with a group of ladies who were also in their 80s and 90s and had dinner and had a great time on the next day. It was 16 she had she went out to dinner, had a great time. I talked to her that day and a little bit that day. Before and, and on the 17th, she passed away. And no had no prior knowledge had nothing. And it was it was a total shock to all of us. But those things happen sometimes. And when it's time for you to go, you go, so don't leave anything unsaid. Don't leave any animosity out there. If you've had an issue with somebody clear it up before, before they go, or especially a mom or dad, who and stop it. I've learned and it tells me if this is something that that you resonate with, as I've learned to try not to put in myself into situations where I create a negative thing happening that then I gotta go back and clean up later.

40:45  
Yeah, I, I don't like to create negative situations myself, you know, if if something negative happens in my life, it's usually because it just happened, you know, it happened to me, but it's not because I created it. I don't, I don't like negativity. In general, in general, I'm just a positive person, you know, I like I like kindness. It's, it's probably one of the values that I cherish the most. You know, just just a kind word to somebody. Like I like, for example, I like to work in coffee shops, I get a lot of three lattice here. Because I, because I really like people, you know, I really appreciate what they do. And over time, I get to know them. Because I say Hi, good morning, how are you? Or when it's really busy? Are you working really hard today? And I mean, it I mean it, you know, it's like, it's not that I'm just saying it. I mean, at the end, I say Oh, I like your new hair looks good and stuff like that. Because I mean it and it's just the tiniest little bit of kindness, you know, it's not a big deal. It takes nothing. But it makes such an impact in people's life. You know, they stand behind the counter, they make know, the 150 is coffee. I mean, they just saw that you say something nice, you know?

42:24  
Oh, absolutely, you know, it's gets to the to the point to your point is that if I am going out to lunch with somebody that I potentially am going to work with. And if we're sitting down having lunch, and this particular person is rude, or short, are not very nice to the server, I will no longer work with them. Because that is a clear indication because there are some people who think I'm the one that you're waiting on. So I have the power. And so therefore I have the right to be mean to you. Because I get to because I'm paying the bill. I call that horse pucky. And that unity, that being kind to people that are serving you, and doing the best they can even if they don't do a great job. I mean, it's so it's okay, you can you can still be kind.

43:18  
Yes, yes, there's always a way to be kind to people, you know, and the only times I might not be kindness, if somebody is really, really rude to me, you know, but they always I'm, I never wake up and would be rude to anybody. Now, just not in my DNA.

43:39  
And you're, you're a fine lady. And I want to thank you, by the way, Olivia Berry is our guest. And she's written the book, the hours in between. And it's a novel and I suggest that you get it you can go to Amazon or anywhere to pick it up and go to Olivia dash berry.com and get all the information about her. It's so um, how long is this book? How long is the hours in between

44:09  
now? And September 20? Is

44:12  
because Pam Judy, it's doing okay. And yeah, it's

44:15  
doing fine. It's doing fine, you know?

44:18  
So when do you begin writing your next book?

44:21  
Oh, I'm already writing my next book. There's no time in between. It never. It never stops. It never stops. Yeah, I have a nonfiction book coming out. And of February. You know, I usually don't write nonfiction books, but I just had this little idea and I wanted to write right of interest came to me and I thought oh, that would be fun. That's a little fun side project. It's not my main writing project, but it's like a side project and it only will be out in Kindle form. Kindle I mean for the tablets You know, and it won't come out in paperback. Because it has a some photography of mine in there, which was a hobby. I love photography. So that would be far too expensive to make it into a paperback or hardcover book. So it wouldn't make any any sense. And then afterwards, I'm going to have the first book of a serious coming out. It's called the matchmaker and and it will be lighter than the hours in between.

45:45  
This isn't a little Jewish lady from some places, the matchmaker because that that was an actual cultural thing. No way back when so?

45:54  
No, no, no, no, no, no, it's a young young woman who, who comes upon a house that nobody anymore wants, and she makes an in out of it. And it becomes the matchmaker and, but she builds and she rebuilds that house. And because people believe that goes, and, uh huh,

46:22  
that sounds like an intriguing, intriguing story, then the nonfiction one, are you able to tell us a little bit about that.

46:30  
It's called mornings and 50 words, and it is about it connects a little bit to the hours in between, in some strange way. And it's about writing 50 words in the morning. Just when you get up. And you see something that intrigues you, it can be anything I mean, you can stay out of the window and see some thing you would like to write, you can write about a thought you can write about an object. And it's, it's just also about soul moments. I always think about soul moments, what feeds my soul during the day. So if I go out and I see something can be tiny little bird or something, and it feeds my soul, that's a soul moment. And it's basically writing 50 words that feeds your soul.

47:34  
Is that one of those same, by the way, every writer that I've ever talked to, at one point or another says, Yep, I've got this writing pad and paper and pen by my bed, in case you wake up in the morning and have an idea, is that something that you do?

47:52  
Let's put it this way, I don't have a paper and pen by my bed. But if I wake up with an idea, I get up immediately to write it down.

48:07  
That's actually not a bad idea. Because some people tell me that they will. They will write down an idea because while they're lying in bed, while they're still thinking about it, and then they put it down, go back to sleep, and then wake up in the morning. They can't read hadn't read tails, or what they wrote.

48:23  
That could happen to me as well. So I get up, I get up usually, if that idea is that strong. I get up, and I write it down. Because otherwise you might forget it. It happens. I mean, I had ideas. And I thought, Oh, it was so fabulous. I was somewhere and I had nothing to write and I forgot it. But then again, maybe it wasn't that fabulous. No,

48:51  
no, but you know, you never know. But then most of the time, if you wake up with an idea, and then you go back to sleep without writing it down, you'll forget about it. Or you'll forget part of it or, or the reason why you thought it was special in the first place. And so it's important to do that. And you're also a big advocate of journaling, aren't you?

49:10  
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I love to journal. Yeah. I like to do my little drawings and write, you know, but my journaling is a little I use a bullet journal and I do little, little doodling things. I mean, I'm not very good at it. Believe me. I'm not like what I could show. What's a bullet

49:35  
journal.

49:36  
A bullet journal is you have just, you know, little dots on the page. Instead of craft paper or lines. You have little dots on the page and then you you it was created because people would write down bullets like bullet points what they want to do during the day. Oh God. So they're like little, little bullets. And then you can draw that and make little squares or circles out of it. And what I do is I work you know, I don't know, I think some actor once said you shouldn't break the chain. The guy from Seinfeld, Seinfeld?

50:23  
Yeah. Tell himself Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

50:26  
he said you, you should not prick the chain. And that is what I'm trying to do, I like to write every day. Because this way I can stay with my characters, I can. You know, it doesn't have to be always hours and hours, it can be able to just if I have a very, very busy day, it can be half an hour. And I just don't like to break the chain. And so in my bullet journal, I have little squares. And then at nighttime, I just cross it out. And no, I did the work. And I can go to bed and sleep.

51:05  
I mean, I've known known authors that have three little kids, and they will write while cooking dinner and and just just like you when you have a free moment, and you're inspired to do it, you can do it. And I it's amazing to me what authors can do. You guys, you guys, just like magicians you mystify me with with your creativity.

51:26  
Yeah, yeah, we, you know, we try to be creative. No, you know, it's just in in you at some point you want to do it, I just want to do it, because I love doing it.

51:41  
If you could give some advice, we're coming to the end of our time together. But if you could give some advice to somebody that has said, you know, I always have wanted to write either a screenplay or a novel. I've always wanted to write, but I don't know how to get started. Can you give them some advice?

52:01  
All right, I think there are two things. One is preparation. That means pick up a book about writing. Learn the craft, a little bit, but at the same time, or to start writing. So while you're reading this book, don't wait. Don't don't read 20 books, read, have one book, study it once in a while. But every day start writing, just write and start small. Just take some PayPal, or take the computer, whatever you like best. And start put the timer 15 minutes a day for a month, then 25 minutes or 30 minutes. If you have more time, do it more time, but just begin.

53:00  
Now, some people say that that writing on a tablet works best for them. Others will say the computers just fine. Would you Which do you prefer?

53:09  
I mean, I I make notes at the beginning when I outline by hand. And but I do write everything else on the computer on my laptop, because I like to carry it with me. So I use a laptop.

53:25  
Yes, and spellcheck is your friend.

53:28  
Sometimes it is.

53:32  
That's really important. By the way, we've been talking to Olivia Berry, and you can go to a website, Olivia dash buried.com. And you can get all the information about her. And you can even contact her I'm willing to bet and she could say hello. And and once you've read the book, please drop her a line to tell her what you thought. And congratulate her for a work well done. It's it's you've done. You've done a really nice work. And I forgot to ask you, I should have done this earlier before we ran out of time. Are you self published? Or do you have a publisher?

54:07  
And I'm self published, but it's by choice.

54:12  
You're you're one of those control things again?

54:16  
It just by choice? Because I mean, I had a couple of popular shows that were really interested. But the timeline didn't work for me. There no, because because it just they were talking about 2024 And I'm like, No, by 2024 I have three more books. This is like no not happening.

54:42  
You got to do it. When you're when you're passionate about doing it. You got to do in your own timeline.

54:48  
Yeah. And I think nowadays, you know, nowadays it's it's possible it's a business, you know, like any other business and it's really, really possible to Want to self publish your book and do well?

55:04  
And it's with the advent of Amazon it's a lot easier to be able to do that. Again one last time, Olivia Berry has been our guest and you can go to Olivia dash berry.com get all the information about her. We got I got 15 seconds for you. Can you give us any last words in 15 seconds?

55:26  
Just do it. Please do it. Don't wait. That's, that's all I can say. And I'll

55:31  
tell you, our writer, that's the best the shortest thing we could get, by the way, take care of each other. Please be kind to one another because each other is all we got. We'll see you Friday noon.