February 14, 2025 • 57 mins
Ever wondered how a family man, golfer, and budding guitarist balances these passions while navigating a successful writing career? Join us in a captivating discussion with author Gary Parker as he shares the transformative impact of a sixth-grade teacher's encouragement and the journey that followed. Through Gary's stories, get ready to explore the intricate dance between personal growth and the craft of storytelling, fueled by his love for life and family.
Our conversation takes a nostalgic turn as we reminisce about the evolution of wedding planning, the unpredictability of Texas weather, and the joys and challenges of parenting a gifted child. Gary opens up about overcoming medical odds and the delicate balance between intelligence, hard work, and resourcefulness in educational pursuits. These personal anecdotes weave a rich tapestry of family, faith, and cherished memories that resonate with anyone who has faced life's unexpected turns.
Step into the thrilling world of high school football to hear about the inspiring journey of diverse characters led by a trailblazing female head coach. Gary discusses crafting narratives that echo the emotional depth of films like "The Blind Side" and "Remember the Titans." Plus, we chat about personal goals for 2025, the joys of travel, and the evolving challenges of social media for authors. This episode promises a heartwarming blend of inspiration, nostalgia, and motivation, leaving you ready to tackle your own personal goals with renewed vigor.
Brice Harney
Life On Record
Miles of Smiles Entertainment
Richmond Punch
TK Hair Salon
Ogden Ventures LLC
CEO of Ogden Ventures LLC
SnappBandZ
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Love & Light - Keep Hope Alive
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to Keep Hope Alive podcast.
My name is Nadine.
Today we have a wonderfulspecial guest.
His name is Greg Parker.
He is a big time author I can'teven talk right now Author and
we're going to be diving intohis story today and getting to
know who he is.
(00:23):
So welcome to Keep Hope Alive.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good to be with you and thank you for having me, and
I love your attitude.
It's just so uplifting,enthusiastic, it's let's get at
it.
It's great on a Fridayafternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Especially, yeah, Friday and what's today?
Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I feel honored that I'm your guest today.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Valentine's Day.
I feel honored that I'm yourguest today.
Yes, you should.
So happy Valentine's World andMr Parker, I'm so excited to
have you.
And while we're talking aboutValentine's Day, I'll show
everybody my favorite littlecandy.
I have it sitting here for whenI'm editing the podcast and
getting it out there.
That's my go-to snack onValentine's month.
But really quick, talking aboutValentine's, I have a quick
(01:11):
question, and it's funny becauseit does circulate around love.
So my question to you is so wegot invited to go to a wedding,
okay, so we're headed to thiswedding and then we're walking,
I guess let's say church, andright to the right is something
for us to sign to let the guestsare actually the couple know we
(01:34):
came to their event.
What are you signing?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I'm signing a wedding guest register.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yes, yeah, yes, correct you are.
So one of our biggest sponsorsis Life on Record, and what they
do is they have a vintagerotary phone that they set up
and it's so beautiful.
It's very antique looking.
I wish I had one here with me.
But your guests can go and pickup the phone and leave a
(02:03):
message.
Here's my phone Leave a messagefor one minute, five minutes,
30 minutes to congratulate thecouple.
Also, they put a QR sign rightthere in case your guests want
to use their own phone to leavethe message on that, either
before or after that event.
So they're collecting all thesemessages.
(02:24):
It could be likecongratulations, you guys, I'm
so happy for you, Wishing yearsand years and years the best.
Or you can have a groomsmangoing hey, it's about time
you're marrying her, I've beenwaiting forever for this
Congratulations.
And then what they do after allthese messages are collected
(02:45):
they will burn it on a 12 inchvinyl record.
Or you have a choice of akeepsake speaker box.
They're both cute, they're bothpersonalized.
I love it.
So just think with the weddingsand this goes for any events
what I tell a lot of peoplebecause you are going to get the
(03:06):
phone number for a year,starting at $99.
Yes, you got to return thephone, but you get the phone
number Like if it's a weddingcall back right before the one
year anniversary and leave happyanniversary message too.
So I think that's making themost of it.
But to find out moreinformation about Life on Record
, visit them atwwwlifeonrecordcom.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
All right.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So my big question today, Mr Gary Parker, who are
you?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, nadine, that's a great question and I think I
would answer it by.
You know the old story of thethree blind men who grabbed an
elephant.
And one grabbed the elephant bythe leg and said the elephant
is a tree, because he feels likea tree trunk.
Another one grabs him by theear and said no, the elephant is
a big broad leaf, because hegrabbed him by the big broad ear
(03:59):
.
The third one grabbed theelephant by the tail and said no
, the elephant is a rope.
And so I tell that story to sayit all depends on where you grab
on as to who I am.
You know, if you're grabbing onto my family, I'm a father of
two daughters.
So I knew the answer to thewedding question I'm a husband
(04:21):
to a sharp, intelligent, dynamicwife.
I'm a husband to a sharp,intelligent, dynamic wife.
I'm a grandfather to threelittle grandsons.
So if you grab hold to me atthat point the family side
that's who I am.
If you grab hold to me from youknow what do you do in your
spare time?
Well, I ride, play golf, ride abike the pedaling kind, not a
(04:43):
motorcycle and play the guitarabout a year and a half ago.
So those are the things I dowhen I'm just on my own time.
And then if you ask me in termsof my writing life well, I
don't think I could live withoutwriting, but it would be hard.
So if you grab me on kind ofthat, your imagination, the
(05:06):
stories you like to tell, if yougrab me on that piece, then
then you know that's kind of myart.
Like I said, I'm taking upguitar, but you know, I've been
writing for over 25 years and sothat's the art, that's what I
do when I really want to sort ofexplore my soul, what's inside,
(05:28):
and it all comes out on a page.
So, based on where you grabbedme, that's what I am.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Well, we're going to grab the book part today for the
podcast.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You shouldn't say grab me.
That's probably not the rightthing to say.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm sorry.
Then we're going to pull you inand have you talk.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I shouldn't say grab.
No, I can't say examine either.
I got to find a better word forthat.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Well, I totally get it.
So what I want to know?
You've done so many differentbooks and writing and everything
, so what motivated you?
At what age did you learn thatyou wanted to start writing?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You know, I can very distinctly remember a sixth
grade teacher.
If you're a teacher out there,this is just an indication of
the kind of influence you canhave.
But I remember in the sixthgrade we had a little short
story that we had to write insixth grade.
I think it was a paper or twoor whatever, maybe three pages.
My sixth grade teacher reallyliked it.
(06:33):
I won the little contest and soI had to read my story to the
class.
I don't know if that was areward or a punishment reading
the story to the class.
And then the irony is, when Iwas in the 11th grade, that
woman's mom was the Englishteacher at my high school and I
remember writing a paper and Istill remember these things.
(06:54):
And she said to me after classone day she said you know,
you're really right.
Well, you should do somethingwith that.
And so then I went to college.
I worked on a newspaper for twoyears while I was at Furman
University in South Carolina,and then when I came out, I did
a PhD at Baylor.
But you have to do adissertation that's 250 pages
(07:14):
approximately.
So I knew I could writesomething long that was long
form and and so I startedwriting.
I started writing articles onmarriage and family, which, to
be honest, I didn't know muchabout either one.
That is, when you're young, youdon't really know what you're
talking about.
When you're talking aboutmarriage and family, maybe you
know a little bit, but you havea lot to learn.
(07:34):
And then I wrote a nonfictionbook and it got published.
And then I'd always wanted totry a novel, and so I wrote a
novel.
I sent it to an editor that Iknew.
She came back and said yeah,we'll publish this.
Here's the check.
They wrote me a check that cameout it did well.
(07:54):
That same editor called andsaid, hey, do you have any more
ideas for a novel?
And of course I answered yes,even though I hadn't fleshed
them out yet.
And so I sold three more novelson about two pages plot outline
for a novel, and then I justkept writing.
Since then.
I took a break from novelwriting in 2011 and wrote five
(08:17):
screenplays and then got realclose to one, made a movie.
I sold one screenplay.
I had two optioned.
I got real close to getting oneon a movie.
I sold one screenplay.
I had two options.
I got real close to getting oneon a screen.
It hasn't happened yet.
But then I actually wrote theplaybook, first as a movie
(08:40):
script, and then we kept.
You know, hollywood over thelast few years has been kind of
in a mess.
During COVID, they didn't domuch has been kind of in a mess
during COVID they didn't do much.
Then they had the screen actorwriter's guild.
Nothing was happening there.
So I said you know, I thinkthis is too good a story.
I want to write it as a novel,which took me back to my first
love, which was novel writing,and that's when the playbook
(09:06):
came out.
So that's kind of the.
When did I decide I wanted to bea writer?
Maybe it was in the sixth grade, maybe it was in the 11th grade
, maybe while I was a newspaperreporter.
Somewhere along the way thewriting thing sort of hooked in
and I grew up, and then I'llstop because this is a long
explanation.
But I grew up.
My dad wonderful man did nothave much of an education in
(09:27):
seventh grade but he read booksall the time.
He was educated and I grew upreading books and as a boy we
didn't have a lot of money but Icould read books and go
anywhere, you know.
You can get into a book and ittransports you.
You can travel in a book.
You meet new people that younever knew you'd meet in a book.
You can be the hero of thestory in a book.
(09:50):
You can be the bad guy or thebad lady in a book, you know.
And so books from an early ageand I've said this at different
conferences where I've spokenI've said books in some ways
saved me and I've said books insome ways saved me.
They gave me life because theyshowed me other opportunities.
(10:11):
And again, we just didn't havemuch as a kid.
Nobody's fault.
My parents worked hard, butbooks reading them created in me
a desire for education, adesire for learning, a desire
for travel, a desire for meetingnew people.
So that's how I got started.
The public library card when Iwas seven, eight, nine years old
(10:35):
was my favorite possession.
It was in my baseball glove.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You know that's awesome because the last person
I interviewed she's a librarianalso and we were talking about
the car catalog and how today'skids, if they get a book and
they see that they're like, oh,this is from the old times, they
(11:00):
think it's the neatest thing.
Now you mentioned Baylor, soare you planted in Texas?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
No, I'm in Atlanta, georgia.
I did doctoral work at Baylor.
I met my wife at Baylor.
I don't know if I I used to sayI wanted to marry a woman who
looked like a Dallas Cowboycheerleader and went to Sunday
school, and that's what you did.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I bet.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That's what I got, yeah, see us Texas girls, oh
yeah.
They are the best.
Yeah and so, yeah, she was alowly undergrad and I was a PhD
student, and we met on theBaylor campus and eventually
started dating and 40-some-oddyears later, she's still letting
(11:47):
me stay with her.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Oh, that was so sweet .
Well, you just be grateful forthat, because I know in today's
world and trying to meetsomebody is really really hard
now, so that's a whole differentother topic.
But when you mentioned also youwrote about, you know,
(12:08):
relationships and marriage, lovelike that, it brought me back
to when I used to write for amagazine called Wedding Wishes
Magazine and then I rememberwriting an article for McKinney
Living and the article gotfeatured.
I loved it, but it was calledRSVP.
Why bother?
(12:28):
Because that was right at thetime everybody was complaining
nobody's RSVPing, we don't knowwhat to tell the caterer, and
dah, dah, dah, dah and it justkind of went away.
And then here comes the newthing on the computer where you
can do it online.
But you go, yeah, all thosepeople that did wedding
(12:50):
invitations and sold the littleRSVP cards, that was their bread
and butter.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Right, yeah, yeah.
Well, things change, that's forsure.
And you know I have twodaughters and they both met
their great husbands atuniversity when they were in
undergrad, and I don't know whatit would be like out there
trying to meet somebody now,because you know there's just so
many people.
You know it's a question oftrust really, and you know.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Amen on that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, do you really trust who they're saying?
They are that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, definitely, so okay.
Yeah, do you really care whothey're saying?
They are that kind of thing.
Yeah, definitely, so okay.
Well, georgia's, I've alwayswanted to go out there and see
alana I, I've seen it on tv.
What is that?
I won my lottery home.
David goes and shows and he'sout there quite a lot, and I go
oh, it's so pretty, you get tosee all the seasons out there.
I bet you know Texas.
(13:48):
We just get bipolar weather.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Texas, which city?
By Dallas yeah yeah, at Dallasthe trees don't get to a certain
height.
You get a lot of wind.
You know, living in Waco, mywife was actually from the
Dallas area so we went to Dallasfairly regularly and it can get
really cold and really icy.
But you know it's a differentkind of seasonality than you
(14:16):
have here.
Yeah, for sure tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I was so excited I'm going out, I'm taking a little
road trip tomorrow, and it wasfunny because everybody's like
oh Nadine, it's going to be warm, but then it's going to get
really cold.
So I think the high is 65,going to 70, but then it's only
going to last for three hoursand then we jump down to the 40s
(14:39):
.
So I don't know how to dressfor that.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So I don't know how to dress for that.
When I was in Waco one summer,we had over 100 degrees for 42
straight days topping out at 117.
And I've never been so hot inmy life.
It gets hot here, but that wasjust a stretch of heat that just
like, wow, this will bake youin no time, so good day I love.
(15:05):
Texas in a lot of ways, but theheat was tough.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Oh yeah, the heat is always tough and I think a lot
of us are like, oh, bring onfall and winter, and then when
it hits 20 degrees here, it'slike I don't do anything for the
sun, bring back the 100 degrees.
On bringing back the 100degrees.
Well, my next question is tellus something nobody knows about
(15:30):
you.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Somebody does.
You know that's a tough one.
Well, I'll tell you one.
I wish I had had a son.
I have two lovely daughters andI don't wish I hadn't had them,
but I wish I'd had a son, and Idon't say that I don't.
(15:58):
It's probably been 35 yearssince I've said that to anybody.
So that's something that mostpeople, most people, might say
well, that's, that's normal.
but not not many people, I wouldsay, would know that that
that's something I look back onand think well, you know, I'm
going to tell you that at some Imight have been too hard on him
.
Who knows, I think I would havebeen all right.
(16:18):
Girls are always lovely, that'sa hard question.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yes, definitely, and you know I grew up with the
doctors always saying I couldn'tget pregnant.
But it wasn't up to the doctorsI did get pregnant with my
daughter.
And then, 10 years later, I gotpregnant with my son.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Wow, wow, okay, those doctors, what do they know?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
They don't know.
It's up to God is what Ilearned.
They don't know, everything.
They know a lot, but they don'tknow everything.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
They don't know everything.
They know a lot, but they don'tknow everything.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yes, exactly, Exactly .
Oh, my goodness.
So going back to like as achild growing up, let me guess
your grades were probablyamazing, correct?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
They were I.
You know I was fortunate.
I was born with a certainintelligence level and you know,
when I was a kid I did whoops.
There's my phone.
Let me turn that off.
I didn't mean for that to be on.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I can't even hear it, so.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Can't hear Good, nope .
Okay, so I played sports,played baseball all through high
school, a little bit.
In college I played soccer andI played football.
I didn't play all the way mysenior year, but I played
football through my JV year.
(17:43):
I also had to work because, asI said, we didn't have a lot of
money, and so for me to buy acar, I had to work, and the
clothes that I wanted I had towork and so, and if I wanted to
go to college, I was going tohave to save for it.
But I was smart enough to where,you know, the night before a
test I could stay up and read,you know, three or 400 pages of
(18:08):
a book that I needed to read foran English essay or an English
test, something like that.
And so, you know, I was blessed.
You know, I believe God giftedme in some ways, like he gifts
other people in other ways, andso, yeah, I did all right, I
made good grades, I was able todo a PhD they don't let just
(18:29):
anybody come in and do those.
So, you know, I remember goingto Furman where I went to
college and I had somescholarship there and I went
home, and my first trip homeafter going to Furman, which?
is in Greenville, about 50 milesfrom my hometown, and I told my
dad.
I said you know, dad, there area lot of really smart people
there.
And he said well, there'snobody there smarter than you.
(18:51):
And I said well, I appreciatethe confidence, but that's just
not true.
There are people that aresmarter than me.
But I did okay.
You know I could read a lot.
I've always been able to read alot.
So I could you know, two daysbefore a history exam, I could
read 500 pages in two days.
You know you weren't readingevery word but I could read it
(19:13):
and get the gist of it and thengo in and do final tests and I
always wrote well.
And so because I wrote well,you know what you didn't know.
You could fake, yeah, or atleast try to fake yeah.
So anyway, yeah, you're kind,but I did to say what you said,
but I did, okay, for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
That's good.
I, I mean, I was picking up onmaybe because, um, my son got
diagnosed as a genius and I waslike all I told the doctors when
he was younger he could do like100 circles in seven minutes
and not get dizzy.
So they had to check him foreverything and I was in a board
room with a bunch of Allenpeople going well, you have a
(19:56):
genius on your hands and eventhough he's not going to school,
we want to start him early tohelp other kids.
Are you willing to do that?
And I was like yeah, but what Inoticed, you know, raising a
son with a high IQ, it's notlike young Sheldon or anything
(20:17):
for me.
But he memorized football plays, he studied, he's good at
football, so I have him nonstopin there.
But countries with the flags,he can go anywhere on the globe.
Like really quick, you can nameanything and he'll find it
anywhere on the globe.
Like really quick, you can nameanything and he'll find it.
And then, um, we were, we took abreak over a year from church
(20:42):
and, uh, he came up to me.
He, I guess he was readingscripture, he memorized it and
he said he read the.
Well, not, he said it to me andhe's like mom, it's time to go
to church, I'm ready to serve.
I was like for me.
I was like in my head oh, thankGod, that's great.
Like, so we did that.
So I find myself coaching himin the right direction with the
(21:03):
sports and school and gettingthe good grades.
He'll tell me, oh, my lowestgrade was an 86.
And I was like why'd you getget an 86?
Because it's usually like 98sand 100s and stuff.
I guess that was your fault,mom.
I go what do you mean?
It's my fault, we you didn'tlike.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
You did the podcast for me, mom, and you interviewed
me, but the teacher sent youquestions, the answer and you
never filled it out and I go, oh, okay well, he's smart enough
to figure it out, you know whereto where to say okay, mom, it's
on you, not on me, that's goodhow old?
(21:41):
Is this kid?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
he's 12, so he said this back at age 11 and I was
just like I'm just impressedbecause it's led me to grow a
church.
I joined their worship teamchoir, so, and the one thing I
memorize is lyrics.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Really good, I love singing, so yeah, well, you have
to keep that.
You'll have to keep himchallenged.
That'll be a good thing, justkeeping him challenged and some
kid that's smart they're.
They're going to be growing byleaps and bounds.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yes, yes, he is so definitely.
So, as far as the book, theplaybook, can you tell us the
gist of everything, with thestarting and where it goes?
Give us the good old cliffnotes, right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I'll show you just a copy of the book real quick.
The playbook yeah, that's thecover.
And you know the story of awoman, former big city lawyer
from Atlanta I said it in theGeorgia area from Atlanta, I
said it in the Georgia areaformer big city lawyer becomes
(22:57):
the first female head coach of asmall town football team.
And it's a variety ofcircumstances and one of the big
questions is how in the worlddid she go from a big law firm
making a lot of money to thislittle small town and become a
football coach?
So that's kind of the backstoryand part of the mystery all
along.
So the head coach the regularhead coach gets hurt in a car
(23:20):
accident.
She's an assistant coach andthe school board makes her the
head coach.
Well, there are a variety ofreasons for that and of course
some people don't like that.
They don't think a woman shouldbe coaching a male football
team.
So you get all of thatinterplay in there.
There's another coach whothinks he should have gotten the
job instead of her.
(23:41):
So there's kind of anantagonist there.
The first week she's on the jobshe finds out that her starting
quarterback, anAfrican-American kid, really,
really smart, a brilliant leader, wealthy.
His dad is an all-pro footballplayer former and so this
(24:01):
African-American kid finds outhe's got bone cancer.
The backup quarterback is a newkid in town who's got a mom in
rehab, he's got a learningdisability and he loves music
more than football, and so youhave these three very different
characters.
(24:21):
I don't know what the problemis with the phone.
I thought I had turned it off.
You have these three verydifferent characters who come
together and they're trying towin a state championship, and so
they're diverse.
They all have obstacles.
Her obstacles are you know,some people don't think she
(24:44):
should have the job.
The other coach who thinks heshould have gotten it and who
begins a campaign behind thescenes to try to sabotage her.
The African-Americanquarterbacks got bone cancer.
He may buy.
The white kid's trying to dealwith his mom and all of the drug
addiction that she has.
He's trying to deal with hisown learning disability and he's
(25:05):
very talented in music so hereally doesn't want to be on a
football field.
So you bring these people intoa mix and you see what happens.
That's kind of the gist of thestory and I tell people, it's
the tone if you ever watch theBlind Side or Friday Night
(25:27):
Lights or Remember the Titans,the football is only the canvas
on which the colors are painted,because it's not just a
football story.
So to my female audience I say,look, you know, this is not
just football.
And even if it was female headcoach?
And so the football is like theblind side, and so the football
(25:52):
is like the blind side.
The football is the backdropfor this very touching,
uplifting, encouraging,overcoming obstacles, mentorship
, friendship.
Because the woman, the headcoach and the African-American
quarterback come together to tryto teach this white backup
quarterback the playbook.
That's the gist of the story.
(26:16):
And the other thing is theplaybook itself becomes a
character in the story.
And this is how the playbook isa copy from the starting
quarterback, theAfrican-American player named Ty
, and Ty has quotes on everypage.
(26:36):
He's got a football play andhe's got a quote, and the quote
is from philosophers, religiousleaders and politicians.
And the quarterback, the backupquarterback, starts memorizing
the quotes.
He can remember the quotesbecause they're speaking to some
things he needs to hear, andthen, as he remembers the quotes
(27:00):
, he can see the plays.
And then his music comes intoplay because as he's playing his
music and thinking of thequotes in the plays come alive.
And so that playbook becomes areal big part of the story as it
sort of leads him into theeureka moment.
While he's playing his guitar,he can remember, he's thinking
(27:22):
of these quotes and then theplays behind the quotes come
alive.
So that's the gist of the story.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I like it.
I like that a lot.
I gotta go buy, buy your book.
It's just a no-brainer rightnow.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I gotta get that and read it it's got some humor, a
little bit of love story and awhole lot of heart.
That's kind of the way Idescribe it hey, it should be a
movie too.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I'll tell you what we're.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
We're still working on that.
We've got an agent we'reworking with.
If you've got a lot of richfriends or you have connections
to connections, you make ithappen and that's what they call
executive producers, so you canbecome the executive producer,
and I'm fairly serious with that.
I'm just, you know, if there'ssomebody who's got connections,
(28:09):
you know, let's chat.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, definitely.
I'll say that I'm looking for aproducer to keep up a lot of a
talk show, so come at me I likeit yeah yeah, so definitely, but
that is so exciting.
And then you know, as far aspurchasing your book, it's on
amazon.
Is that barnes and noble?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
yes, all the major, all the normal places amazon,
barnes and noble goodreads.
You know, wherever you buy yourbooks, it's there you can find
it.
Yeah, just so far.
You know.
It hadn't been out very long.
It's gotten 15 reviews andthey're all five stars, so good
good, good good and my, mywebsite website is
GaryEParkercom Real simpleGaryEParkercom if you want to go
(28:58):
there and get more information.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
My listeners.
They already know, so his bookis on the storefront already, so
you guys can purchase thatthere too.
So it's like watch the show andgo to the store.
But definitely that is super,super cool Now with the other
titles that you help you knowwrite books.
(29:22):
What were those stories allabout?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, and just so you know, some of those are out of
print.
I am looking to get those backin print, but some of those are
not in print now.
Some still are.
But I did a variety of genresand I've had people ask me from
time to time why don't you justwrite in one genre?
And my answer to that is Iwrite what interests me.
(29:48):
It's probably cost me somesales and all that sort of thing
, because if I'd just written inone genre maybe the audience
would have built at a differentpace or a different way.
But I only write what interestsme.
And so you'll find twodifferent trilogies of what I
call historical family sagas.
(30:09):
One trilogy is called theSecret Tides Trilogy that
happens during the Civil War eraof three books, and then
another series is called theBlue Ridge Legacy Series.
And that's another book and it'sthe story.
It started in 1900 at the birthof a young woman, and it
(30:29):
carries her forward into her oldage.
And it started.
I went to a family reunion whenI was about seven years old and
it was up in the mountains ofNorth Carolina.
I remember seeing a womansitting out on the porch of a
little cabin.
She had on a blouse up to herewith the buttons, button boots,
(30:50):
skirt, long skirt, sitting in arocking chair.
Looked to be 80, 85 years oldand in my little brain I thought
I wonder what kind of lifeshe's lived.
And that stuck with me until Iwas an adult and I said I'm
going to write a story aboutthat unknown woman.
And so that book and that bookwon a Doubleday Book Club Main
(31:11):
Selection Award.
It won a Christie Award.
The first of the series won aChristie Award top three for
fiction and it's called HighlandHopes and it really is a high
quality story.
And that's a trilogy.
It's three books about thiswoman growing through.
You know all of her life, soI've written those kinds of
things in the past as well.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
That is really cool.
So, yeah, and the journey ofwriting I finally understand and
feel that passion now, becausenot only all last year and into
this year do I interview authors.
And it's one thing to interviewbut it's another thing to start
(31:54):
writing and see that passioncome out.
And it makes you so excitedbecause either you know it's a
true story or fictional whatever, but you, you're connected and
it brings that energy, that goodvibe.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
So yeah, I think that writing whatever's in you comes
out on the page and you know itdoesn't have to be an immediate
emotion.
You know it may not be that Iwas angry yesterday, but at some
point I've been angry and whenI write a novel and I've got
somebody having to do something,something's just infuriating
(32:32):
them, you go back and touch thatangry feeling and you put it in
this character.
You know, or if you're sad, thesame thing You've been sad at
some point.
This character has gotsomething that's causing him to
be sad.
You put that into thatcharacter.
So, whatever is you past,present or you know, really
future is going to go into yourcharacters or into your memoir
(32:53):
if that's what you're writing.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
And I love taking the two hoursto write in the morning, and
then I make myself stop and Ithink that's best because I
don't want to burn out formyself, because my mind will say
, just write all day.
And then I'm going to secondguess what I wrote.
But I noticed that when I stop,you know at nighttime of course
(33:16):
, before going to bed what can Iadd that I'm missing?
And then it's just like I gotmy computer.
It's the happy moment I have mycoffee.
And then it's just like I gotmy computer.
It's the happy moment I have mycoffee, I have a blanket on me.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
So you know, I think it was Hemingway who said, ernie
Hemingway who said always stopwriting before you're ready to
stop writing, because that wayyou know there's more you can go
pick up tomorrow than withwhere you were when you left,
because you wanted to keepwriting, because there was more
to write today.
He said if you write untilyou're exhausted, then where do
(33:50):
you start the next day?
Because you've gotteneverything you had out on the
page and so it's harder to startwhen you don't have kind of a
kernel that's already in theground.
And if you stop before you'reworn out, then that kernel in
the ground, that seed in theground, has a chance to grow
overnight or until you writeagain.
So he believed in a dailywriting, but not to the point of
(34:14):
exhaustion, because then thenext day it's like well, where
do I go today?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Yeah, definitely that was really good advice.
I'm listening to everything yousay, so that is really good
advice.
I'm listening to everything yousay, so that is really good
advice.
Really quick.
Before we continue this, I dohave to do a little commercial
break for Snap fans.
Have you ever seen Snap fansbefore?
These cute little braceletshave you?
(34:40):
Yes, so right here is mine.
Says hope.
Imagine that.
So with this these are calledmantra words.
It comes peace, love, hope,faith, fearlessness.
So there's just so manydifferent ones with the
(35:01):
different color bands.
But what makes snap bands uniqueis this little thing here.
You pull it out and let it snapright against your wrist and it
helps with anxiety anddepression and I'm going to
throw PTSD in there it helps.
It's scientifically approvedthat it does go through the body
(35:23):
and can help relieve some ofthose stresses.
For example, when I'm at thehospital, I know I'm a heart
stick and I'll pull this and Ijust say a little prayer.
I hope that you do find my veinright away, because past it was
always like eight timesbringing an ultrasound, do you
(35:44):
drink water?
And you know it's always likeeight times bring an ultrasound,
do you drink water?
You know it was little thingslike that, trying to get through
it.
So with each sale of thesebracelets here, they take a
portion and give it to differentorganizations and charities
that help with those differentthings of depression and anxiety
.
With those different things ofdepression and anxiety.
(36:07):
You can visit their website atwwwsnapbandscom, and then, oh my
gosh, you know what I said?
There's bloopers.
I just realized I got lipstickon my teeth, so here I'm
cleaning this.
Go visit at snapbandscom,wwwsnapbandzcom.
(36:32):
And if you want the word faithin their code, you have to put
K-H-A for Keep Hope Alive andthen you can get the faith name.
So I hope everybody does checkthat out.
So let me see.
We're in the new year, 2025.
What are your set goals?
(36:53):
Do you have any?
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Well, you know my biggest goal is I do have
another book coming out thisfall and well, and it's a Civil
War novel based on true events,and so that's called Judgment
Tree.
So my goal is that.
You know we've got to get itedited.
It's published by a bankruptpress which is a traditional
(37:18):
publisher, and then I'm writinganother novel now.
So that's kind of on thewriting side of my goal, and you
know I enjoy exercising.
My goal is to get my golfhandicap back under 10.
It's like at 11 now, and Idon't know if you know much
about golf, but handicaps comeup and down based on how well
(37:42):
you're playing, that sort ofthing, and a single handicap is
not too bad.
It's not.
You know, I'd love to be ascratch golfer but I'm not there
.
But I do want to get it backinto the single handicap this
summer.
So that's a goal.
My wife may be retiring thisyear and if she does, we've got
some trips we're going to take.
(38:02):
We're going to Florida thisApril.
We're going to Florida thisApril.
Would we do that anyway?
We would do that anyway.
But we're thinking about doingthe see, the northeast, the
foliage in the fall.
We want to go up and you know,my idea is to fly into Portland,
maine, rent a car, drive downand drive down through the best
(38:23):
little towns and then fly outfrom, I don't know, boston or
somewhere like that.
So that's you know.
Those are kind of some goals.
Keep writing.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
I want to get to my guitar where I'll feel
comfortable playing a song forsomeone else.
I can play songs now, but I'mnot ready to make a debut.
I'm still working on it.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I hear you on that.
Yeah, definitely Like, I lovesinging, so I'm in church choir
but I also go to karaoke.
So there is a difference ofthose two types of singing.
But you know, that's one of thethings.
And taking those trips, it'swell worth it.
And congratulations on the newbook and her retirement too.
(39:09):
So that's fun and travelingseems to be what the doctor
ordered in this world right now.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
It's fun and you know my wife loves to travel and you
know it's my wife loves totravel and and sometimes I get
you know the the process ofgetting where somewhere is not
my favorite.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
But once.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
I'm there, I'm happy.
Yeah, so yeah, yeah, trafficand all that sometimes is a pain
.
That's for everybody.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, so I know you said golf, and how much do I
know about it?
That's a good question for me.
I used to work at country clubs, whether it was catering in the
grill or Bev cart girl.
I've done it all.
Can I play golf?
No.
Can I pop back?
No.
But I can do Mario golf and win.
(40:02):
I don't get it, so video gamesare easy for me.
But I did interview NeilYoung's brother, bob Young, so
he is on.
I wish I knew the episode.
You got to go through all theepisodes and see.
But he wrote a book, master ofGolfing, of how he does it, so
(40:22):
definitely go check that out.
That was amazing to do thatinterview, that's great.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Well, your son you said he's into sports and
football and everything.
He'll eventually want to trygolf.
I'm sure of it.
But you know, I tell people allthe time golf will cost you a
lot of money, it takes a lot oftime, it'll frustrate you to
death.
So if you're up for all ofthose, go do it.
Spend a lot of money, getfrustrated and spend a lot of
time, then it's perfect for younotice he didn't.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I hate seeing this.
It was just putt putt.
I took him but he was sofrustrated and because he
couldn't make a whole one eachtime and I was like, oh, this
very tense.
And then it was the same forbowling and I was like he would
just get disappointed and I waslike, Okay, so why does he get
mad when he's not doing so good?
(41:14):
I try to understand that.
I think he's a perfectionist,probably like I am, and I give
myself way too much on that,Like I wish he was not that way
and just open-minded.
What I did see we were talkingabout faith.
He has brought church intofootball.
(41:35):
I could not believe it.
And there was a show, somethingthat Defeating the Giants or
something.
It was a football movie orsomething.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Something the Giants Facing the Giants, I think,
maybe Facing the Giants, that'swhat it was called.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yes, and I've seen it twice and I love that movie.
But I remember this was a fewyears ago in our Denton team
Some kids, and it was justpractice, but they were arguing
and he made a comment Godwouldn't want us fighting with
(42:10):
each other and dah, dah, dah,dah.
And I was like when he told methat I go, son, I love you.
But in this world it could havegone two ways Either they're
going to listen to you and letit go, or they're probably going
to come and try to hurt you,and that's the reality.
So I go.
You're lucky it was the firstone.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
But you know, right then and there I just realized
how special he is like to havethat- yeah, and you know, I
think every kid gets frustrated,want to be great immediately,
but that's part of the learningprocess.
It seems like that.
You know they have to learn.
You're not going to be greatimmediately, but that's where
(42:50):
the hard work and theperseverance and overcoming
adversity and that sort of thing.
And you know, we all, we alllearn those lessons at different
rates and different times.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Yes, yes, and you know, I here, I am at age 47
right now and I realized I didnot know life in my 20s yet I
did not realize it in my 30s andI was like listening to another
podcast today while driving andshe was talking about why it's
(43:19):
so hard for adults, especiallywomen, to make friends and it
changes, it's just a season, andI was like man, I really am
happy that I was listening tothat podcast.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, if you think about it, I think of a single
woman.
And where does she find herfriends?
I mean, she makes a guy friend.
Well, is he married?
Is he not married?
Is he going to be the kind ofguy she wants to be a friend
with, or is he going to expectsomething else out of it, you
know?
So, yeah, that could bedifficult.
I can see that, and I guess thesame would be true of a man,
but maybe it's a littledifferent with men, I don't know
(44:05):
.
You know, I've got my golfbuddies, I've got a book club,
I'm a part of a bunch of guys,and so, you know, you sort of
find guys built into that.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
That's good.
Yeah, I started to make friendswith the people at church and
the choir.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah, that's so nice.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
And I was feeling so blessed about that.
I was just like, oh my gosh,it's so nice, but karaoke, when
I go there, of course, all thissimilar is singing and genre
songs and stuff and just havinga good time.
And I realized back in the dayI was alone after my divorce and
(44:48):
I just didn't know what to do.
I didn't have friends out thereor anything, but it just took
one simple conversation.
Walking into a donut storethere was an older man that
always said hi to me and one dayI just happened to have that
day off and I asked him can Isit with you?
And he's like, yeah, but webecame best friends for close to
(45:11):
eight years and he was like afather figure to me.
But he was the one who said,hey, do you do karaoke?
And I go, there's karaokearound here and it was in the
same shopping center and it wasa little place called
Bullwinkle's and I was soexcited.
He's like, well, you go andsing, I want to introduce you to
(45:32):
my friends.
And so I opened that door, thatjourney, and I think it was
funny because there was a lot ofpeople and I was like I'm not
shy.
I think I'm a free spirit I canfloat, but when I'm as a
photographer or event plannerit's easy.
But just sit there and be still.
(45:52):
I remember the KJ they call itkaraoke DJ came up to me and
she's so sweet.
She's like so what's your name?
And I was like I don't wantanybody to know my name here.
So I just said Jersey, becauseI'm from New Jersey and that has
stuck with me.
Everybody calls me Jersey tothis day.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
So that's great.
Well, now I have to ask youwhat is your go-to song at
karaoke?
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Sweet Child of Mine, Guns N' Roses, oh really Okay,
okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
That's good, but you knew immediately what it was
have.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I loved singing that song.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
I've entered a contest and it girl had this I
think you need to use the lineof it.
You need to sing a little bitof it.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
She's got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they
thought of rain.
I hate to look into those eyesand see an ounce of pain.
Her hair reminds me of a warm,safe place where, as a child, I
(47:04):
cry.
I wait for the thunder and therain to quietly pass her by.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
The end, what can?
Speaker 1 (47:16):
I say You're singing, you got the what.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Yeah, yeah.
This is going to be the mostpopular podcast ever because
everybody's going to want tohear you sing.
It's got nothing to do with meand my book.
It's got everything to do with.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
I'm singing for your book.
He's got a playbook he isselling and it has great
characters.
You open that book, you getdrawn in and you don't want to
let it go.
You fall asleep and said wheredid I leave off?
(47:48):
I'm going to read it tomorrow.
So go to the store and buyGary's book right away there you
go.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Jersey girl is doing it on Valentine's.
That's great.
Good for you, well, I thinkeverybody has a voice.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
That's great, good for you.
Well, I think everybody has avoice.
Everybody needs to be heard andI think it's fun, you know,
when people say you know, whenI'm at Carrie, oh, do you sing?
And I go, yes, and I go, do you?
And they're like, oh, no,people would pay me not to sing.
I was like you sing in theshower and the car.
(48:29):
I bet yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
That's why you sing only in the shower and only in
the car.
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
Well, good for you.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
I've never asked anybody to sing just on the drop
of a dime, but perfect.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
Hey, perfect.
Hey, well, you know, I askedyou some a tough question.
Tell something you know nobodyknows about you and you were
just game on with that.
So I was very happy about that.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
So that's fine, that's great yes.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
So let me ask you um are you on all socials, um
regarding with your book andbeing an author, do you do
tiktok?
Do you do instagram?
Do you do blue sky?
That's a new one to me, so I doinstagram?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
I don't really.
I'm not one to take pictures ofmyself somewhere and put it on
instagram because I'm like I gotother things I can look at
that's better than this.
But certainly Facebook,linkedin, my website.
I've got some publicist that'sdoing some stuff on TikTok and
Facebook and Instagram.
(49:43):
You know my publicist says OK,we need to get you doing more on
Instagram.
I'm doing a good bit onFacebook, a good bit on LinkedIn
and you know you can help mehere.
I look at TikTok and think,well, is that under 35, where
everybody you know that's peoplewho look at TikTok.
I haven't looked at thedemographics or anything like
(50:05):
that.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
So I still learn something new every day where
I'm posting.
It's amazing, and I think I'mgoing to start taking the course
of all the new AI stuff that'scoming out.
I'm very intrigued to learnthat.
I think, as I look for my nextnew job, if I have that under my
belt, it'll be beneficial to anew company, sure yeah, but
(50:32):
Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagramand I'm kind of bulking that up.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
So, YouTube I've got a YouTube channel.
I haven't done a lot on that,but I'm planning to.
That's something that I'm doingmore of now, trying to spend
more time doing that.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Yeah, youtube is my favorite, but I'm doing more of
now trying to spend more timedoing that.
Yeah, youtube is my favorite,but I'm still yesterday.
Somebody goes oh, you do thepodcast, you have shorts, I go,
shorts what?
Speaker 2 (50:57):
And maybe it's just my age.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
I was like, what is that?
And they're like, yeah, youneed to have shorts.
So I quickly learned how to doit, bought into a great program
that lets me make the shorts, sobut that's supposed to help the
CEO or, yeah, seo or whatevernot CEO and then also bring more
(51:21):
people.
I hope I'm praying, so you know, I think it's just, it's a day
by day thing, you know oflearning, and then you know
having merchandise.
I got led to a place to do that, so I've made a couple items
that I can sell, you know, andhave that on my website as well.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
So the social media is?
It can drown you.
You know, there's just so manyoutlets now that, you know,
really, in the last five years,it's just been this deluge and
you have to almost spend afull-time job keeping up with
all of it.
You know, and as I said, mypublicist keeps saying, well,
(52:07):
you need to do this, you need todo that, you need to do the
other, and I said, ok, but whenam I going to write?
Because my writing is, you know, the most important thing that
I'm doing as a you know I'm nottalking about family or anything
like that.
But in terms of you know thethings I spend my time on
writing is one and it's like OK,do I spend my time on writing
(52:29):
is one and it's like okay, do Ispend less time writing and more
time marketing?
Speaker 1 (52:32):
and trying to find a balance between those two,
because it is a flood out thereof social media yeah, and you
know what I noticed, like evenjust a year or a half ago, that
websites are starting to add alate podcast, the podcast that
you've been on and interviewed.
They want to watch those.
So that's becoming a thing.
(52:53):
And last year I remembertalking to the industry, I'm in
like this is going to be a newthing as we move forward in life
.
So it doesn't cost you anythingto interview and it's free,
it's you get to, it's freemarketing, you get to tell about
what your business is, yourproduct, everything.
(53:14):
So.
But then you know, for us,we're going to work and doing
this and I, even when I started,I timed myself how quickly of a
turnover could I get this?
How quickly of a turnover couldI get this?
And the reason I did that isbecause I'm a professional
photographer and everybody wouldgo, oh, when do I get to see
(53:37):
the pictures?
So I always did a sneak peekfor them.
But I was like, what are peoplegoing to say about the podcast?
And so I noticed it takes 50minutes at the most, sometimes
45.
I get everything posted.
Ai helps now, which I love, butthat's a little time consuming
as they're going through thewhole videos that I do and I
(54:01):
want to see which one I want touse, and then you know.
But to get that out right away,the same day or the next day,
that's huge on me.
That says a lot about mypassion of getting the word out
fast.
I've been on a couple showswhere, oh, you'll get this in
two months and I'm like evenquestionating.
I was like it's okay.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
So good for you.
Yeah, that you know you've gota lot of oars in the water.
Yeah, I do, and that's good.
You, the energy that you haveand, uh, you know the I don't
know the enthusiasm you have forall of it, it sounds wonderful
well, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
I mean I can work all week and put my heart and soul
in it, but it's all about timemanagement, like today.
I said I'm going to do writethe book, I'm going to answer a
few emails.
I'm not going to be fullycommitted because I want to take
three hours to go get my hairdone, get my nails done the
whole nine yards I need to takecare of me run to the store and
(55:06):
I came back and I was like okay,you know, I'm ready to get
started all over again and jumpinto it your hair looks very
nice well, I only went for ashampoo.
I go, I'm not gonna pay for youto blow dry my hair or anything.
She goes, get over here.
It's valentine's day and I waslike, okay so, but yeah, I'm
(55:31):
happy she did a little curlingto my hair today and everything.
So I feel good.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
Yeah, well, I would have curled mine, but at least I
still have you have that glowright now that gray hair glow.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
Yeah, all right?
Well, definitely so, to mylisteners listening over to us
talking.
Let me get my glasses.
I'm such a my son says theseare my grandma glasses.
So, as I said, we have Gary'sbooks on our storefront.
You can find us atwwwkeephopealivepodcastcom.
(56:09):
You can leave a message forGary or myself about this
episode on there too.
To the right of the website itsays leave message, and it's
really cool option.
They can say hey, I like thisepisode and stuff like that.
You know, come review us on thewebsite.
There's new things and stufflike that.
You know, come review us on thewebsite.
(56:29):
There's new things.
We're starting a new vendortalk page where I will have a
lot of the vendors logos withthe emails to go directly more
faster.
So that is coming in 2025.
I opened a VIP member group onFacebook so you may see that.
Come and check it out for KeepHope Alive podcast the VIP, so
(56:52):
you can be in touch with thepeople I interview too.
If they're doing any specialson a book or music or
merchandise, they're going tolet you know right away.
But other than that, whereveryou find your podcast, you're
going to be able to find us way,but other than that wherever
you find your podcast, you'regoing to be able to find us.
Super.
All right, well, thank you somuch for being on the show today
(57:16):
.
You were wonderful.
Remember, go buy his book.
I know I am so, but thank youfor your time and until our next
show.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
love and light everybody.
Bye-bye, thank you.
Hello and welcome to Keep Hope Alive podcast.
My name is Nadine.
Today we have a wonderfulspecial guest.
His name is Greg Parker.
He is a big time author I can'teven talk right now Author and
we're going to be diving intohis story today and getting to
know who he is.
(00:23):
So welcome to Keep Hope Alive.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good to be with you and thank you for having me, and
I love your attitude.
It's just so uplifting,enthusiastic, it's let's get at
it.
It's great on a Fridayafternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Especially, yeah, Friday and what's today?
Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I feel honored that I'm your guest today.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Valentine's Day.
I feel honored that I'm yourguest today.
Yes, you should.
So happy Valentine's World andMr Parker, I'm so excited to
have you.
And while we're talking aboutValentine's Day, I'll show
everybody my favorite littlecandy.
I have it sitting here for whenI'm editing the podcast and
getting it out there.
That's my go-to snack onValentine's month.
But really quick, talking aboutValentine's, I have a quick
(01:11):
question, and it's funny becauseit does circulate around love.
So my question to you is so wegot invited to go to a wedding,
okay, so we're headed to thiswedding and then we're walking,
I guess let's say church, andright to the right is something
for us to sign to let the guestsare actually the couple know we
(01:34):
came to their event.
What are you signing?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I'm signing a wedding guest register.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yes, yeah, yes, correct you are.
So one of our biggest sponsorsis Life on Record, and what they
do is they have a vintagerotary phone that they set up
and it's so beautiful.
It's very antique looking.
I wish I had one here with me.
But your guests can go and pickup the phone and leave a
(02:03):
message.
Here's my phone Leave a messagefor one minute, five minutes,
30 minutes to congratulate thecouple.
Also, they put a QR sign rightthere in case your guests want
to use their own phone to leavethe message on that, either
before or after that event.
So they're collecting all thesemessages.
(02:24):
It could be likecongratulations, you guys, I'm
so happy for you, Wishing yearsand years and years the best.
Or you can have a groomsmangoing hey, it's about time
you're marrying her, I've beenwaiting forever for this
Congratulations.
And then what they do after allthese messages are collected
(02:45):
they will burn it on a 12 inchvinyl record.
Or you have a choice of akeepsake speaker box.
They're both cute, they're bothpersonalized.
I love it.
So just think with the weddingsand this goes for any events
what I tell a lot of peoplebecause you are going to get the
(03:06):
phone number for a year,starting at $99.
Yes, you got to return thephone, but you get the phone
number Like if it's a weddingcall back right before the one
year anniversary and leave happyanniversary message too.
So I think that's making themost of it.
But to find out moreinformation about Life on Record
, visit them atwwwlifeonrecordcom.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
All right.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So my big question today, Mr Gary Parker, who are
you?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, nadine, that's a great question and I think I
would answer it by.
You know the old story of thethree blind men who grabbed an
elephant.
And one grabbed the elephant bythe leg and said the elephant
is a tree, because he feels likea tree trunk.
Another one grabs him by theear and said no, the elephant is
a big broad leaf, because hegrabbed him by the big broad ear
(03:59):
.
The third one grabbed theelephant by the tail and said no
, the elephant is a rope.
And so I tell that story to sayit all depends on where you grab
on as to who I am.
You know, if you're grabbing onto my family, I'm a father of
two daughters.
So I knew the answer to thewedding question I'm a husband
(04:21):
to a sharp, intelligent, dynamicwife.
I'm a husband to a sharp,intelligent, dynamic wife.
I'm a grandfather to threelittle grandsons.
So if you grab hold to me atthat point the family side
that's who I am.
If you grab hold to me from youknow what do you do in your
spare time?
Well, I ride, play golf, ride abike the pedaling kind, not a
(04:43):
motorcycle and play the guitarabout a year and a half ago.
So those are the things I dowhen I'm just on my own time.
And then if you ask me in termsof my writing life well, I
don't think I could live withoutwriting, but it would be hard.
So if you grab me on kind ofthat, your imagination, the
(05:06):
stories you like to tell, if yougrab me on that piece, then
then you know that's kind of myart.
Like I said, I'm taking upguitar, but you know, I've been
writing for over 25 years and sothat's the art, that's what I
do when I really want to sort ofexplore my soul, what's inside,
(05:28):
and it all comes out on a page.
So, based on where you grabbedme, that's what I am.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Well, we're going to grab the book part today for the
podcast.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You shouldn't say grab me.
That's probably not the rightthing to say.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm sorry.
Then we're going to pull you inand have you talk.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I shouldn't say grab.
No, I can't say examine either.
I got to find a better word forthat.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Well, I totally get it.
So what I want to know?
You've done so many differentbooks and writing and everything
, so what motivated you?
At what age did you learn thatyou wanted to start writing?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You know, I can very distinctly remember a sixth
grade teacher.
If you're a teacher out there,this is just an indication of
the kind of influence you canhave.
But I remember in the sixthgrade we had a little short
story that we had to write insixth grade.
I think it was a paper or twoor whatever, maybe three pages.
My sixth grade teacher reallyliked it.
(06:33):
I won the little contest and soI had to read my story to the
class.
I don't know if that was areward or a punishment reading
the story to the class.
And then the irony is, when Iwas in the 11th grade, that
woman's mom was the Englishteacher at my high school and I
remember writing a paper and Istill remember these things.
(06:54):
And she said to me after classone day she said you know,
you're really right.
Well, you should do somethingwith that.
And so then I went to college.
I worked on a newspaper for twoyears while I was at Furman
University in South Carolina,and then when I came out, I did
a PhD at Baylor.
But you have to do adissertation that's 250 pages
(07:14):
approximately.
So I knew I could writesomething long that was long
form and and so I startedwriting.
I started writing articles onmarriage and family, which, to
be honest, I didn't know muchabout either one.
That is, when you're young, youdon't really know what you're
talking about.
When you're talking aboutmarriage and family, maybe you
know a little bit, but you havea lot to learn.
(07:34):
And then I wrote a nonfictionbook and it got published.
And then I'd always wanted totry a novel, and so I wrote a
novel.
I sent it to an editor that Iknew.
She came back and said yeah,we'll publish this.
Here's the check.
They wrote me a check that cameout it did well.
(07:54):
That same editor called andsaid, hey, do you have any more
ideas for a novel?
And of course I answered yes,even though I hadn't fleshed
them out yet.
And so I sold three more novelson about two pages plot outline
for a novel, and then I justkept writing.
Since then.
I took a break from novelwriting in 2011 and wrote five
(08:17):
screenplays and then got realclose to one, made a movie.
I sold one screenplay.
I had two optioned.
I got real close to getting oneon a movie.
I sold one screenplay.
I had two options.
I got real close to getting oneon a screen.
It hasn't happened yet.
But then I actually wrote theplaybook, first as a movie
(08:40):
script, and then we kept.
You know, hollywood over thelast few years has been kind of
in a mess.
During COVID, they didn't domuch has been kind of in a mess
during COVID they didn't do much.
Then they had the screen actorwriter's guild.
Nothing was happening there.
So I said you know, I thinkthis is too good a story.
I want to write it as a novel,which took me back to my first
love, which was novel writing,and that's when the playbook
(09:06):
came out.
So that's kind of the.
When did I decide I wanted to bea writer?
Maybe it was in the sixth grade, maybe it was in the 11th grade
, maybe while I was a newspaperreporter.
Somewhere along the way thewriting thing sort of hooked in
and I grew up, and then I'llstop because this is a long
explanation.
But I grew up.
My dad wonderful man did nothave much of an education in
(09:27):
seventh grade but he read booksall the time.
He was educated and I grew upreading books and as a boy we
didn't have a lot of money but Icould read books and go
anywhere, you know.
You can get into a book and ittransports you.
You can travel in a book.
You meet new people that younever knew you'd meet in a book.
You can be the hero of thestory in a book.
(09:50):
You can be the bad guy or thebad lady in a book, you know.
And so books from an early ageand I've said this at different
conferences where I've spokenI've said books in some ways
saved me and I've said books insome ways saved me.
They gave me life because theyshowed me other opportunities.
(10:11):
And again, we just didn't havemuch as a kid.
Nobody's fault.
My parents worked hard, butbooks reading them created in me
a desire for education, adesire for learning, a desire
for travel, a desire for meetingnew people.
So that's how I got started.
The public library card when Iwas seven, eight, nine years old
(10:35):
was my favorite possession.
It was in my baseball glove.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
You know that's awesome because the last person
I interviewed she's a librarianalso and we were talking about
the car catalog and how today'skids, if they get a book and
they see that they're like, oh,this is from the old times, they
(11:00):
think it's the neatest thing.
Now you mentioned Baylor, soare you planted in Texas?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
No, I'm in Atlanta, georgia.
I did doctoral work at Baylor.
I met my wife at Baylor.
I don't know if I I used to sayI wanted to marry a woman who
looked like a Dallas Cowboycheerleader and went to Sunday
school, and that's what you did.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I bet.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That's what I got, yeah, see us Texas girls, oh
yeah.
They are the best.
Yeah and so, yeah, she was alowly undergrad and I was a PhD
student, and we met on theBaylor campus and eventually
started dating and 40-some-oddyears later, she's still letting
(11:47):
me stay with her.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Oh, that was so sweet .
Well, you just be grateful forthat, because I know in today's
world and trying to meetsomebody is really really hard
now, so that's a whole differentother topic.
But when you mentioned also youwrote about, you know,
(12:08):
relationships and marriage, lovelike that, it brought me back
to when I used to write for amagazine called Wedding Wishes
Magazine and then I rememberwriting an article for McKinney
Living and the article gotfeatured.
I loved it, but it was calledRSVP.
Why bother?
(12:28):
Because that was right at thetime everybody was complaining
nobody's RSVPing, we don't knowwhat to tell the caterer, and
dah, dah, dah, dah and it justkind of went away.
And then here comes the newthing on the computer where you
can do it online.
But you go, yeah, all thosepeople that did wedding
(12:50):
invitations and sold the littleRSVP cards, that was their bread
and butter.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Right, yeah, yeah.
Well, things change, that's forsure.
And you know I have twodaughters and they both met
their great husbands atuniversity when they were in
undergrad, and I don't know whatit would be like out there
trying to meet somebody now,because you know there's just so
many people.
You know it's a question oftrust really, and you know.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Amen on that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, do you really trust who they're saying?
They are that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, definitely, so okay.
Yeah, do you really care whothey're saying?
They are that kind of thing.
Yeah, definitely, so okay.
Well, georgia's, I've alwayswanted to go out there and see
alana I, I've seen it on tv.
What is that?
I won my lottery home.
David goes and shows and he'sout there quite a lot, and I go
oh, it's so pretty, you get tosee all the seasons out there.
I bet you know Texas.
(13:48):
We just get bipolar weather.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Texas, which city?
By Dallas yeah yeah, at Dallasthe trees don't get to a certain
height.
You get a lot of wind.
You know, living in Waco, mywife was actually from the
Dallas area so we went to Dallasfairly regularly and it can get
really cold and really icy.
But you know it's a differentkind of seasonality than you
(14:16):
have here.
Yeah, for sure tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I was so excited I'm going out, I'm taking a little
road trip tomorrow, and it wasfunny because everybody's like
oh Nadine, it's going to be warm, but then it's going to get
really cold.
So I think the high is 65,going to 70, but then it's only
going to last for three hoursand then we jump down to the 40s
(14:39):
.
So I don't know how to dressfor that.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So I don't know how to dress for that.
When I was in Waco one summer,we had over 100 degrees for 42
straight days topping out at 117.
And I've never been so hot inmy life.
It gets hot here, but that wasjust a stretch of heat that just
like, wow, this will bake youin no time, so good day I love.
(15:05):
Texas in a lot of ways, but theheat was tough.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Oh yeah, the heat is always tough and I think a lot
of us are like, oh, bring onfall and winter, and then when
it hits 20 degrees here, it'slike I don't do anything for the
sun, bring back the 100 degrees.
On bringing back the 100degrees.
Well, my next question is tellus something nobody knows about
(15:30):
you.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Somebody does.
You know that's a tough one.
Well, I'll tell you one.
I wish I had had a son.
I have two lovely daughters andI don't wish I hadn't had them,
but I wish I'd had a son, and Idon't say that I don't.
(15:58):
It's probably been 35 yearssince I've said that to anybody.
So that's something that mostpeople, most people, might say
well, that's, that's normal.
but not not many people, I wouldsay, would know that that
that's something I look back onand think well, you know, I'm
going to tell you that at some Imight have been too hard on him
.
Who knows, I think I would havebeen all right.
(16:18):
Girls are always lovely, that'sa hard question.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yes, definitely, and you know I grew up with the
doctors always saying I couldn'tget pregnant.
But it wasn't up to the doctorsI did get pregnant with my
daughter.
And then, 10 years later, I gotpregnant with my son.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Wow, wow, okay, those doctors, what do they know?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
They don't know.
It's up to God is what Ilearned.
They don't know, everything.
They know a lot, but they don'tknow everything.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
They don't know everything.
They know a lot, but they don'tknow everything.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yes, exactly, Exactly .
Oh, my goodness.
So going back to like as achild growing up, let me guess
your grades were probablyamazing, correct?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
They were I.
You know I was fortunate.
I was born with a certainintelligence level and you know,
when I was a kid I did whoops.
There's my phone.
Let me turn that off.
I didn't mean for that to be on.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I can't even hear it, so.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Can't hear Good, nope .
Okay, so I played sports,played baseball all through high
school, a little bit.
In college I played soccer andI played football.
I didn't play all the way mysenior year, but I played
football through my JV year.
(17:43):
I also had to work because, asI said, we didn't have a lot of
money, and so for me to buy acar, I had to work, and the
clothes that I wanted I had towork and so, and if I wanted to
go to college, I was going tohave to save for it.
But I was smart enough to where,you know, the night before a
test I could stay up and read,you know, three or 400 pages of
(18:08):
a book that I needed to read foran English essay or an English
test, something like that.
And so, you know, I was blessed.
You know, I believe God giftedme in some ways, like he gifts
other people in other ways, andso, yeah, I did all right, I
made good grades, I was able todo a PhD they don't let just
(18:29):
anybody come in and do those.
So, you know, I remember goingto Furman where I went to
college and I had somescholarship there and I went
home, and my first trip homeafter going to Furman, which?
is in Greenville, about 50 milesfrom my hometown, and I told my
dad.
I said you know, dad, there area lot of really smart people
there.
And he said well, there'snobody there smarter than you.
(18:51):
And I said well, I appreciatethe confidence, but that's just
not true.
There are people that aresmarter than me.
But I did okay.
You know I could read a lot.
I've always been able to read alot.
So I could you know, two daysbefore a history exam, I could
read 500 pages in two days.
You know you weren't readingevery word but I could read it
(19:13):
and get the gist of it and thengo in and do final tests and I
always wrote well.
And so because I wrote well,you know what you didn't know.
You could fake, yeah, or atleast try to fake yeah.
So anyway, yeah, you're kind,but I did to say what you said,
but I did, okay, for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
That's good.
I, I mean, I was picking up onmaybe because, um, my son got
diagnosed as a genius and I waslike all I told the doctors when
he was younger he could do like100 circles in seven minutes
and not get dizzy.
So they had to check him foreverything and I was in a board
room with a bunch of Allenpeople going well, you have a
(19:56):
genius on your hands and eventhough he's not going to school,
we want to start him early tohelp other kids.
Are you willing to do that?
And I was like yeah, but what Inoticed, you know, raising a
son with a high IQ, it's notlike young Sheldon or anything
(20:17):
for me.
But he memorized football plays, he studied, he's good at
football, so I have him nonstopin there.
But countries with the flags,he can go anywhere on the globe.
Like really quick, you can nameanything and he'll find it
anywhere on the globe.
Like really quick, you can nameanything and he'll find it.
And then, um, we were, we took abreak over a year from church
(20:42):
and, uh, he came up to me.
He, I guess he was readingscripture, he memorized it and
he said he read the.
Well, not, he said it to me andhe's like mom, it's time to go
to church, I'm ready to serve.
I was like for me.
I was like in my head oh, thankGod, that's great.
Like, so we did that.
So I find myself coaching himin the right direction with the
(21:03):
sports and school and gettingthe good grades.
He'll tell me, oh, my lowestgrade was an 86.
And I was like why'd you getget an 86?
Because it's usually like 98sand 100s and stuff.
I guess that was your fault,mom.
I go what do you mean?
It's my fault, we you didn'tlike.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
You did the podcast for me, mom, and you interviewed
me, but the teacher sent youquestions, the answer and you
never filled it out and I go, oh, okay well, he's smart enough
to figure it out, you know whereto where to say okay, mom, it's
on you, not on me, that's goodhow old?
(21:41):
Is this kid?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
he's 12, so he said this back at age 11 and I was
just like I'm just impressedbecause it's led me to grow a
church.
I joined their worship teamchoir, so, and the one thing I
memorize is lyrics.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Really good, I love singing, so yeah, well, you have
to keep that.
You'll have to keep himchallenged.
That'll be a good thing, justkeeping him challenged and some
kid that's smart they're.
They're going to be growing byleaps and bounds.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yes, yes, he is so definitely.
So, as far as the book, theplaybook, can you tell us the
gist of everything, with thestarting and where it goes?
Give us the good old cliffnotes, right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I'll show you just a copy of the book real quick.
The playbook yeah, that's thecover.
And you know the story of awoman, former big city lawyer
from Atlanta I said it in theGeorgia area from Atlanta, I
said it in the Georgia areaformer big city lawyer becomes
(22:57):
the first female head coach of asmall town football team.
And it's a variety ofcircumstances and one of the big
questions is how in the worlddid she go from a big law firm
making a lot of money to thislittle small town and become a
football coach?
So that's kind of the backstoryand part of the mystery all
along.
So the head coach the regularhead coach gets hurt in a car
(23:20):
accident.
She's an assistant coach andthe school board makes her the
head coach.
Well, there are a variety ofreasons for that and of course
some people don't like that.
They don't think a woman shouldbe coaching a male football
team.
So you get all of thatinterplay in there.
There's another coach whothinks he should have gotten the
job instead of her.
(23:41):
So there's kind of anantagonist there.
The first week she's on the jobshe finds out that her starting
quarterback, anAfrican-American kid, really,
really smart, a brilliant leader, wealthy.
His dad is an all-pro footballplayer former and so this
(24:01):
African-American kid finds outhe's got bone cancer.
The backup quarterback is a newkid in town who's got a mom in
rehab, he's got a learningdisability and he loves music
more than football, and so youhave these three very different
characters.
(24:21):
I don't know what the problemis with the phone.
I thought I had turned it off.
You have these three verydifferent characters who come
together and they're trying towin a state championship, and so
they're diverse.
They all have obstacles.
Her obstacles are you know,some people don't think she
(24:44):
should have the job.
The other coach who thinks heshould have gotten it and who
begins a campaign behind thescenes to try to sabotage her.
The African-Americanquarterbacks got bone cancer.
He may buy.
The white kid's trying to dealwith his mom and all of the drug
addiction that she has.
He's trying to deal with hisown learning disability and he's
(25:05):
very talented in music so hereally doesn't want to be on a
football field.
So you bring these people intoa mix and you see what happens.
That's kind of the gist of thestory and I tell people, it's
the tone if you ever watch theBlind Side or Friday Night
(25:27):
Lights or Remember the Titans,the football is only the canvas
on which the colors are painted,because it's not just a
football story.
So to my female audience I say,look, you know, this is not
just football.
And even if it was female headcoach?
And so the football is like theblind side, and so the football
(25:52):
is like the blind side.
The football is the backdropfor this very touching,
uplifting, encouraging,overcoming obstacles, mentorship
, friendship.
Because the woman, the headcoach and the African-American
quarterback come together to tryto teach this white backup
quarterback the playbook.
That's the gist of the story.
(26:16):
And the other thing is theplaybook itself becomes a
character in the story.
And this is how the playbook isa copy from the starting
quarterback, theAfrican-American player named Ty
, and Ty has quotes on everypage.
(26:36):
He's got a football play andhe's got a quote, and the quote
is from philosophers, religiousleaders and politicians.
And the quarterback, the backupquarterback, starts memorizing
the quotes.
He can remember the quotesbecause they're speaking to some
things he needs to hear, andthen, as he remembers the quotes
(27:00):
, he can see the plays.
And then his music comes intoplay because as he's playing his
music and thinking of thequotes in the plays come alive.
And so that playbook becomes areal big part of the story as it
sort of leads him into theeureka moment.
While he's playing his guitar,he can remember, he's thinking
(27:22):
of these quotes and then theplays behind the quotes come
alive.
So that's the gist of the story.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I like it.
I like that a lot.
I gotta go buy, buy your book.
It's just a no-brainer rightnow.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I gotta get that and read it it's got some humor, a
little bit of love story and awhole lot of heart.
That's kind of the way Idescribe it hey, it should be a
movie too.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I'll tell you what we're.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
We're still working on that.
We've got an agent we'reworking with.
If you've got a lot of richfriends or you have connections
to connections, you make ithappen and that's what they call
executive producers, so you canbecome the executive producer,
and I'm fairly serious with that.
I'm just, you know, if there'ssomebody who's got connections,
(28:09):
you know, let's chat.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, definitely.
I'll say that I'm looking for aproducer to keep up a lot of a
talk show, so come at me I likeit yeah yeah, so definitely, but
that is so exciting.
And then you know, as far aspurchasing your book, it's on
amazon.
Is that barnes and noble?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
yes, all the major, all the normal places amazon,
barnes and noble goodreads.
You know, wherever you buy yourbooks, it's there you can find
it.
Yeah, just so far.
You know.
It hadn't been out very long.
It's gotten 15 reviews andthey're all five stars, so good
good, good good and my, mywebsite website is
GaryEParkercom Real simpleGaryEParkercom if you want to go
(28:58):
there and get more information.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
My listeners.
They already know, so his bookis on the storefront already, so
you guys can purchase thatthere too.
So it's like watch the show andgo to the store.
But definitely that is super,super cool Now with the other
titles that you help you knowwrite books.
(29:22):
What were those stories allabout?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, and just so you know, some of those are out of
print.
I am looking to get those backin print, but some of those are
not in print now.
Some still are.
But I did a variety of genresand I've had people ask me from
time to time why don't you justwrite in one genre?
And my answer to that is Iwrite what interests me.
(29:48):
It's probably cost me somesales and all that sort of thing
, because if I'd just written inone genre maybe the audience
would have built at a differentpace or a different way.
But I only write what interestsme.
And so you'll find twodifferent trilogies of what I
call historical family sagas.
(30:09):
One trilogy is called theSecret Tides Trilogy that
happens during the Civil War eraof three books, and then
another series is called theBlue Ridge Legacy Series.
And that's another book and it'sthe story.
It started in 1900 at the birthof a young woman, and it
(30:29):
carries her forward into her oldage.
And it started.
I went to a family reunion whenI was about seven years old and
it was up in the mountains ofNorth Carolina.
I remember seeing a womansitting out on the porch of a
little cabin.
She had on a blouse up to herewith the buttons, button boots,
(30:50):
skirt, long skirt, sitting in arocking chair.
Looked to be 80, 85 years oldand in my little brain I thought
I wonder what kind of lifeshe's lived.
And that stuck with me until Iwas an adult and I said I'm
going to write a story aboutthat unknown woman.
And so that book and that bookwon a Doubleday Book Club Main
(31:11):
Selection Award.
It won a Christie Award.
The first of the series won aChristie Award top three for
fiction and it's called HighlandHopes and it really is a high
quality story.
And that's a trilogy.
It's three books about thiswoman growing through.
You know all of her life, soI've written those kinds of
things in the past as well.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
That is really cool.
So, yeah, and the journey ofwriting I finally understand and
feel that passion now, becausenot only all last year and into
this year do I interview authors.
And it's one thing to interviewbut it's another thing to start
(31:54):
writing and see that passioncome out.
And it makes you so excitedbecause either you know it's a
true story or fictional whatever, but you, you're connected and
it brings that energy, that goodvibe.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
So yeah, I think that writing whatever's in you comes
out on the page and you know itdoesn't have to be an immediate
emotion.
You know it may not be that Iwas angry yesterday, but at some
point I've been angry and whenI write a novel and I've got
somebody having to do something,something's just infuriating
(32:32):
them, you go back and touch thatangry feeling and you put it in
this character.
You know, or if you're sad, thesame thing You've been sad at
some point.
This character has gotsomething that's causing him to
be sad.
You put that into thatcharacter.
So, whatever is you past,present or you know, really
future is going to go into yourcharacters or into your memoir
(32:53):
if that's what you're writing.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
And I love taking the two hoursto write in the morning, and
then I make myself stop and Ithink that's best because I
don't want to burn out formyself, because my mind will say
, just write all day.
And then I'm going to secondguess what I wrote.
But I noticed that when I stop,you know at nighttime of course
(33:16):
, before going to bed what can Iadd that I'm missing?
And then it's just like I gotmy computer.
It's the happy moment I have mycoffee.
And then it's just like I gotmy computer.
It's the happy moment I have mycoffee, I have a blanket on me.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
So you know, I think it was Hemingway who said, ernie
Hemingway who said always stopwriting before you're ready to
stop writing, because that wayyou know there's more you can go
pick up tomorrow than withwhere you were when you left,
because you wanted to keepwriting, because there was more
to write today.
He said if you write untilyou're exhausted, then where do
(33:50):
you start the next day?
Because you've gotteneverything you had out on the
page and so it's harder to startwhen you don't have kind of a
kernel that's already in theground.
And if you stop before you'reworn out, then that kernel in
the ground, that seed in theground, has a chance to grow
overnight or until you writeagain.
So he believed in a dailywriting, but not to the point of
(34:14):
exhaustion, because then thenext day it's like well, where
do I go today?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Yeah, definitely that was really good advice.
I'm listening to everything yousay, so that is really good
advice.
I'm listening to everything yousay, so that is really good
advice.
Really quick.
Before we continue this, I dohave to do a little commercial
break for Snap fans.
Have you ever seen Snap fansbefore?
These cute little braceletshave you?
(34:40):
Yes, so right here is mine.
Says hope.
Imagine that.
So with this these are calledmantra words.
It comes peace, love, hope,faith, fearlessness.
So there's just so manydifferent ones with the
(35:01):
different color bands.
But what makes snap bands uniqueis this little thing here.
You pull it out and let it snapright against your wrist and it
helps with anxiety anddepression and I'm going to
throw PTSD in there it helps.
It's scientifically approvedthat it does go through the body
(35:23):
and can help relieve some ofthose stresses.
For example, when I'm at thehospital, I know I'm a heart
stick and I'll pull this and Ijust say a little prayer.
I hope that you do find my veinright away, because past it was
always like eight timesbringing an ultrasound, do you
(35:44):
drink water?
And you know it's always likeeight times bring an ultrasound,
do you drink water?
You know it was little thingslike that, trying to get through
it.
So with each sale of thesebracelets here, they take a
portion and give it to differentorganizations and charities
that help with those differentthings of depression and anxiety
.
With those different things ofdepression and anxiety.
(36:07):
You can visit their website atwwwsnapbandscom, and then, oh my
gosh, you know what I said?
There's bloopers.
I just realized I got lipstickon my teeth, so here I'm
cleaning this.
Go visit at snapbandscom,wwwsnapbandzcom.
(36:32):
And if you want the word faithin their code, you have to put
K-H-A for Keep Hope Alive andthen you can get the faith name.
So I hope everybody does checkthat out.
So let me see.
We're in the new year, 2025.
What are your set goals?
(36:53):
Do you have any?
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Well, you know my biggest goal is I do have
another book coming out thisfall and well, and it's a Civil
War novel based on true events,and so that's called Judgment
Tree.
So my goal is that.
You know we've got to get itedited.
It's published by a bankruptpress which is a traditional
(37:18):
publisher, and then I'm writinganother novel now.
So that's kind of on thewriting side of my goal, and you
know I enjoy exercising.
My goal is to get my golfhandicap back under 10.
It's like at 11 now, and Idon't know if you know much
about golf, but handicaps comeup and down based on how well
(37:42):
you're playing, that sort ofthing, and a single handicap is
not too bad.
It's not.
You know, I'd love to be ascratch golfer but I'm not there
.
But I do want to get it backinto the single handicap this
summer.
So that's a goal.
My wife may be retiring thisyear and if she does, we've got
some trips we're going to take.
(38:02):
We're going to Florida thisApril.
We're going to Florida thisApril.
Would we do that anyway?
We would do that anyway.
But we're thinking about doingthe see, the northeast, the
foliage in the fall.
We want to go up and you know,my idea is to fly into Portland,
maine, rent a car, drive downand drive down through the best
(38:23):
little towns and then fly outfrom, I don't know, boston or
somewhere like that.
So that's you know.
Those are kind of some goals.
Keep writing.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
I want to get to my guitar where I'll feel
comfortable playing a song forsomeone else.
I can play songs now, but I'mnot ready to make a debut.
I'm still working on it.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I hear you on that.
Yeah, definitely Like, I lovesinging, so I'm in church choir
but I also go to karaoke.
So there is a difference ofthose two types of singing.
But you know, that's one of thethings.
And taking those trips, it'swell worth it.
And congratulations on the newbook and her retirement too.
(39:09):
So that's fun and travelingseems to be what the doctor
ordered in this world right now.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
It's fun and you know my wife loves to travel and you
know it's my wife loves totravel and and sometimes I get
you know the the process ofgetting where somewhere is not
my favorite.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
But once.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
I'm there, I'm happy.
Yeah, so yeah, yeah, trafficand all that sometimes is a pain
.
That's for everybody.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, so I know you said golf, and how much do I
know about it?
That's a good question for me.
I used to work at country clubs, whether it was catering in the
grill or Bev cart girl.
I've done it all.
Can I play golf?
No.
Can I pop back?
No.
But I can do Mario golf and win.
(40:02):
I don't get it, so video gamesare easy for me.
But I did interview NeilYoung's brother, bob Young, so
he is on.
I wish I knew the episode.
You got to go through all theepisodes and see.
But he wrote a book, master ofGolfing, of how he does it, so
(40:22):
definitely go check that out.
That was amazing to do thatinterview, that's great.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Well, your son you said he's into sports and
football and everything.
He'll eventually want to trygolf.
I'm sure of it.
But you know, I tell people allthe time golf will cost you a
lot of money, it takes a lot oftime, it'll frustrate you to
death.
So if you're up for all ofthose, go do it.
Spend a lot of money, getfrustrated and spend a lot of
time, then it's perfect for younotice he didn't.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I hate seeing this.
It was just putt putt.
I took him but he was sofrustrated and because he
couldn't make a whole one eachtime and I was like, oh, this
very tense.
And then it was the same forbowling and I was like he would
just get disappointed and I waslike, Okay, so why does he get
mad when he's not doing so good?
(41:14):
I try to understand that.
I think he's a perfectionist,probably like I am, and I give
myself way too much on that,Like I wish he was not that way
and just open-minded.
What I did see we were talkingabout faith.
He has brought church intofootball.
(41:35):
I could not believe it.
And there was a show, somethingthat Defeating the Giants or
something.
It was a football movie orsomething.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Something the Giants Facing the Giants, I think,
maybe Facing the Giants, that'swhat it was called.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yes, and I've seen it twice and I love that movie.
But I remember this was a fewyears ago in our Denton team
Some kids, and it was justpractice, but they were arguing
and he made a comment Godwouldn't want us fighting with
(42:10):
each other and dah, dah, dah,dah.
And I was like when he told methat I go, son, I love you.
But in this world it could havegone two ways Either they're
going to listen to you and letit go, or they're probably going
to come and try to hurt you,and that's the reality.
So I go.
You're lucky it was the firstone.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
But you know, right then and there I just realized
how special he is like to havethat- yeah, and you know, I
think every kid gets frustrated,want to be great immediately,
but that's part of the learningprocess.
It seems like that.
You know they have to learn.
You're not going to be greatimmediately, but that's where
(42:50):
the hard work and theperseverance and overcoming
adversity and that sort of thing.
And you know, we all, we alllearn those lessons at different
rates and different times.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Yes, yes, and you know, I here, I am at age 47
right now and I realized I didnot know life in my 20s yet I
did not realize it in my 30s andI was like listening to another
podcast today while driving andshe was talking about why it's
(43:19):
so hard for adults, especiallywomen, to make friends and it
changes, it's just a season, andI was like man, I really am
happy that I was listening tothat podcast.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, if you think about it, I think of a single
woman.
And where does she find herfriends?
I mean, she makes a guy friend.
Well, is he married?
Is he not married?
Is he going to be the kind ofguy she wants to be a friend
with, or is he going to expectsomething else out of it, you
know?
So, yeah, that could bedifficult.
I can see that, and I guess thesame would be true of a man,
but maybe it's a littledifferent with men, I don't know
(44:05):
.
You know, I've got my golfbuddies, I've got a book club,
I'm a part of a bunch of guys,and so, you know, you sort of
find guys built into that.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
That's good.
Yeah, I started to make friendswith the people at church and
the choir.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah, that's so nice.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
And I was feeling so blessed about that.
I was just like, oh my gosh,it's so nice, but karaoke, when
I go there, of course, all thissimilar is singing and genre
songs and stuff and just havinga good time.
And I realized back in the dayI was alone after my divorce and
(44:48):
I just didn't know what to do.
I didn't have friends out thereor anything, but it just took
one simple conversation.
Walking into a donut storethere was an older man that
always said hi to me and one dayI just happened to have that
day off and I asked him can Isit with you?
And he's like, yeah, but webecame best friends for close to
(45:11):
eight years and he was like afather figure to me.
But he was the one who said,hey, do you do karaoke?
And I go, there's karaokearound here and it was in the
same shopping center and it wasa little place called
Bullwinkle's and I was soexcited.
He's like, well, you go andsing, I want to introduce you to
(45:32):
my friends.
And so I opened that door, thatjourney, and I think it was
funny because there was a lot ofpeople and I was like I'm not
shy.
I think I'm a free spirit I canfloat, but when I'm as a
photographer or event plannerit's easy.
But just sit there and be still.
(45:52):
I remember the KJ they call itkaraoke DJ came up to me and
she's so sweet.
She's like so what's your name?
And I was like I don't wantanybody to know my name here.
So I just said Jersey, becauseI'm from New Jersey and that has
stuck with me.
Everybody calls me Jersey tothis day.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
So that's great.
Well, now I have to ask youwhat is your go-to song at
karaoke?
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Sweet Child of Mine, Guns N' Roses, oh really Okay,
okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
That's good, but you knew immediately what it was
have.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I loved singing that song.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
I've entered a contest and it girl had this I
think you need to use the lineof it.
You need to sing a little bitof it.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
She's got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they
thought of rain.
I hate to look into those eyesand see an ounce of pain.
Her hair reminds me of a warm,safe place where, as a child, I
(47:04):
cry.
I wait for the thunder and therain to quietly pass her by.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
The end, what can?
Speaker 1 (47:16):
I say You're singing, you got the what.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Yeah, yeah.
This is going to be the mostpopular podcast ever because
everybody's going to want tohear you sing.
It's got nothing to do with meand my book.
It's got everything to do with.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
I'm singing for your book.
He's got a playbook he isselling and it has great
characters.
You open that book, you getdrawn in and you don't want to
let it go.
You fall asleep and said wheredid I leave off?
(47:48):
I'm going to read it tomorrow.
So go to the store and buyGary's book right away there you
go.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Jersey girl is doing it on Valentine's.
That's great.
Good for you, well, I thinkeverybody has a voice.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
That's great, good for you.
Well, I think everybody has avoice.
Everybody needs to be heard andI think it's fun, you know,
when people say you know, whenI'm at Carrie, oh, do you sing?
And I go, yes, and I go, do you?
And they're like, oh, no,people would pay me not to sing.
I was like you sing in theshower and the car.
(48:29):
I bet yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
That's why you sing only in the shower and only in
the car.
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
Well, good for you.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
I've never asked anybody to sing just on the drop
of a dime, but perfect.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
Hey, perfect.
Hey, well, you know, I askedyou some a tough question.
Tell something you know nobodyknows about you and you were
just game on with that.
So I was very happy about that.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
So that's fine, that's great yes.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
So let me ask you um are you on all socials, um
regarding with your book andbeing an author, do you do
tiktok?
Do you do instagram?
Do you do blue sky?
That's a new one to me, so I doinstagram?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
I don't really.
I'm not one to take pictures ofmyself somewhere and put it on
instagram because I'm like I gotother things I can look at
that's better than this.
But certainly Facebook,linkedin, my website.
I've got some publicist that'sdoing some stuff on TikTok and
Facebook and Instagram.
(49:43):
You know my publicist says OK,we need to get you doing more on
Instagram.
I'm doing a good bit onFacebook, a good bit on LinkedIn
and you know you can help mehere.
I look at TikTok and think,well, is that under 35, where
everybody you know that's peoplewho look at TikTok.
I haven't looked at thedemographics or anything like
(50:05):
that.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
So I still learn something new every day where
I'm posting.
It's amazing, and I think I'mgoing to start taking the course
of all the new AI stuff that'scoming out.
I'm very intrigued to learnthat.
I think, as I look for my nextnew job, if I have that under my
belt, it'll be beneficial to anew company, sure yeah, but
(50:32):
Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagramand I'm kind of bulking that up.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
So, YouTube I've got a YouTube channel.
I haven't done a lot on that,but I'm planning to.
That's something that I'm doingmore of now, trying to spend
more time doing that.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Yeah, youtube is my favorite, but I'm doing more of
now trying to spend more timedoing that.
Yeah, youtube is my favorite,but I'm still yesterday.
Somebody goes oh, you do thepodcast, you have shorts, I go,
shorts what?
Speaker 2 (50:57):
And maybe it's just my age.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
I was like, what is that?
And they're like, yeah, youneed to have shorts.
So I quickly learned how to doit, bought into a great program
that lets me make the shorts, sobut that's supposed to help the
CEO or, yeah, seo or whatevernot CEO and then also bring more
(51:21):
people.
I hope I'm praying, so you know, I think it's just, it's a day
by day thing, you know oflearning, and then you know
having merchandise.
I got led to a place to do that, so I've made a couple items
that I can sell, you know, andhave that on my website as well.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
So the social media is?
It can drown you.
You know, there's just so manyoutlets now that, you know,
really, in the last five years,it's just been this deluge and
you have to almost spend afull-time job keeping up with
all of it.
You know, and as I said, mypublicist keeps saying, well,
(52:07):
you need to do this, you need todo that, you need to do the
other, and I said, ok, but whenam I going to write?
Because my writing is, you know, the most important thing that
I'm doing as a you know I'm nottalking about family or anything
like that.
But in terms of you know thethings I spend my time on
writing is one and it's like OK,do I spend my time on writing
(52:29):
is one and it's like okay, do Ispend less time writing and more
time marketing?
Speaker 1 (52:32):
and trying to find a balance between those two,
because it is a flood out thereof social media yeah, and you
know what I noticed, like evenjust a year or a half ago, that
websites are starting to add alate podcast, the podcast that
you've been on and interviewed.
They want to watch those.
So that's becoming a thing.
(52:53):
And last year I remembertalking to the industry, I'm in
like this is going to be a newthing as we move forward in life
.
So it doesn't cost you anythingto interview and it's free,
it's you get to, it's freemarketing, you get to tell about
what your business is, yourproduct, everything.
(53:14):
So.
But then you know, for us,we're going to work and doing
this and I, even when I started,I timed myself how quickly of a
turnover could I get this?
How quickly of a turnover couldI get this?
And the reason I did that isbecause I'm a professional
photographer and everybody wouldgo, oh, when do I get to see
(53:37):
the pictures?
So I always did a sneak peekfor them.
But I was like, what are peoplegoing to say about the podcast?
And so I noticed it takes 50minutes at the most, sometimes
45.
I get everything posted.
Ai helps now, which I love, butthat's a little time consuming
as they're going through thewhole videos that I do and I
(54:01):
want to see which one I want touse, and then you know.
But to get that out right away,the same day or the next day,
that's huge on me.
That says a lot about mypassion of getting the word out
fast.
I've been on a couple showswhere, oh, you'll get this in
two months and I'm like evenquestionating.
I was like it's okay.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
So good for you.
Yeah, that you know you've gota lot of oars in the water.
Yeah, I do, and that's good.
You, the energy that you haveand, uh, you know the I don't
know the enthusiasm you have forall of it, it sounds wonderful
well, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
I mean I can work all week and put my heart and soul
in it, but it's all about timemanagement, like today.
I said I'm going to do writethe book, I'm going to answer a
few emails.
I'm not going to be fullycommitted because I want to take
three hours to go get my hairdone, get my nails done the
whole nine yards I need to takecare of me run to the store and
(55:06):
I came back and I was like okay,you know, I'm ready to get
started all over again and jumpinto it your hair looks very
nice well, I only went for ashampoo.
I go, I'm not gonna pay for youto blow dry my hair or anything.
She goes, get over here.
It's valentine's day and I waslike, okay so, but yeah, I'm
(55:31):
happy she did a little curlingto my hair today and everything.
So I feel good.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
Yeah, well, I would have curled mine, but at least I
still have you have that glowright now that gray hair glow.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
Yeah, all right?
Well, definitely so, to mylisteners listening over to us
talking.
Let me get my glasses.
I'm such a my son says theseare my grandma glasses.
So, as I said, we have Gary'sbooks on our storefront.
You can find us atwwwkeephopealivepodcastcom.
(56:09):
You can leave a message forGary or myself about this
episode on there too.
To the right of the website itsays leave message, and it's
really cool option.
They can say hey, I like thisepisode and stuff like that.
You know, come review us on thewebsite.
There's new things and stufflike that.
You know, come review us on thewebsite.
(56:29):
There's new things.
We're starting a new vendortalk page where I will have a
lot of the vendors logos withthe emails to go directly more
faster.
So that is coming in 2025.
I opened a VIP member group onFacebook so you may see that.
Come and check it out for KeepHope Alive podcast the VIP, so
(56:52):
you can be in touch with thepeople I interview too.
If they're doing any specialson a book or music or
merchandise, they're going tolet you know right away.
But other than that, whereveryou find your podcast, you're
going to be able to find us way,but other than that wherever
you find your podcast, you'regoing to be able to find us.
Super.
All right, well, thank you somuch for being on the show today
(57:16):
.
You were wonderful.
Remember, go buy his book.
I know I am so, but thank youfor your time and until our next
show.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
love and light everybody.
Bye-bye, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!