December 10, 2024 • 25 mins
LS Kirkpatrick talks with Trina Brettnell about her personal journey, the inspiration behind her memoir and books, and her writing process. They explore nonfiction, fiction, and children's literature, discuss visual storytelling, and highlight Trina's published works and upcoming projects.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Welcome to another episode of reading betweenwords.
What does that really mean?
It means that the author themselves
tell you their story.
They tell
you why they wrote it,
what they want you to get out of
it, and all the other
little details and secrets that
you wouldn't normally get to know.
So let's join in on this.
(00:32):
Yeah.
One book a week and probably more if we can doit.
And thank you, Trina, for being here.
Trina and I met Was it just for volume 1 of thegiving book or or had we met before then?
We had met in a I think we had met in aFacebook group before then.
(00:53):
Like, I think it was quite a few months before.
Yeah.
I think so.
Believe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and it was great.
You wrote in the first book.
I know you were were just kind of unsure aboutdoing stuff.
You wrote in the second book, and now you haveyour own book.
I am just thrilled.
(01:14):
And you have your own podcast.
I do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's great.
Thank you.
Yeah.
It was interesting because I remember meetingyou, and I remember that you reached out to me
a few months after.
We were chatting on Facebook Messenger, and youyou mentioned that I was a writer.
And I was like, no.
(01:34):
I'm not a writer.
And you said to me, you're a writer.
I said, no.
I'm not a writer, but thanks.
And you're like, I read your post.
You're a writer, and I don't think that youknow you're a writer yet.
And that got my attention.
So yeah.
And then you invited me to write in your firstin the the giving book.
(01:54):
Yeah.
The volume 1.
Let's see.
4.
Yeah.
Here we go.
I've got volume 3 back.
I don't have my microphone.
Sorry, people.
That was rude.
I've got volume Here it is.
Volume 1 that we started with.
Yeah.
It's one little heart in the ass.
There we go.
And then you were gracious enough ineverybody's pictures on the back, and then
(02:15):
you're gracious enough to write in volume 2,which is 2 hearts and and 4 hands, I guess.
And that one, we got to go to number 1 becausenot because that was the purpose of the giving
book, but some of the authors wanted to dothat.
And it's like, well, this is the giving book.
If they wanna do that, let's see if we can doit.
And it did.
(02:36):
And, yeah, you're definitely on that one.
Oh, you're in all 3 of
them.
There you are.
Yeah.
Woo.
Right again.
Yeah.
So in volume 3?
3.
Yeah.
And that one went to number 1 too.
That was so great.
I love that.
So with
that volume 4, I didn't even ask if you wantedto be on volume 4.
They're still fine.
(02:57):
I might have to send something.
Look through my files.
Yeah.
Love the memoir you did of your dad.
That was just so cool.
And it was cool that your dad drove thosecaterpillars like my dad did.
And it was like, oh, that's a nice connection.
Yeah.
It was.
That was really neat, wasn't it?
(03:19):
Yeah.
They're very similar.
And I am so surprised.
I shouldn't be by now.
We're on volume 4, but every time, people fromall over the world are sending in stories.
And it's like everybody got together and said,okay.
Let's make the theme this or let's make thetheme that.
(03:39):
And the stories just meshed together, so I'mreally excited about this one again, getting it
out.
And I was hoping to get it out in October.
It's not gonna happen because I still have morepeople who are still wanting to put stories in,
and I have to have a certain number of pages inorder to get it done.
And I think I'm almost there, but I don't wannadeny these other people of, you know, giving
(04:02):
them the chance to have their their whatever itis, whether it's it's the artwork, the story,
the poetry, the little quotes, anything thatthey have.
I shouldn't say little.
I mean, you know, there's not very many wordsis what I meant by that.
Yeah.
It's still real meaningful.
Yeah.
The biography.
Yeah.
It's awesome.
I'll have to look through.
(04:24):
I I might have I might have a couple storiesthere in my files that have been published.
I'll have a look for you.
Yeah.
I've been so focused on right because I have 2books on the go, but one I kinda put on pause
while I started writing my nonfiction here.
So
Oh, nice.
Nice.
And I loved what you were talking about atfirst that that, you know, before before the
(04:48):
show started, about why you want to write andthe process of going through of of tired of
being afraid of everything.
You know?
Because for those who don't know, here I am.
I'm jumping ahead of things.
Let's start over.
Trina, why don't you introduce yourself andtell us
(05:10):
a little bit about you, who is author Trina?
Alright.
Yeah.
Getting getting away with everything here.
Hey.
Yeah.
So hi, everybody.
I'm Trina Brattnell.
I am an author, and I also host a YouTubechannel for INFJ personality types.
So I'm an INFJ myself, and I started a YouTubechannel to help people like myself, INFJs and
(05:34):
autistic INFJs, because I'm also autistic.
And I just know from years of working onmyself, doing a whole bunch personal
development, there isn't a lot of resources outthere for our personality type and we're very
unique.
So a lot of the things that work for otherpeople don't always work for us.
So I wanted to start a channel, a place wherepeople could come for resources.
(05:56):
So I just you know, I couldn't find 1, so Istarted one myself.
And with that, yeah, and with that, I had quitea few friends reaching out to me.
They were bugging me for quite a few years thatI should write a book to help people like
myself because I would be it would be so muchhelp.
And I I kept saying, no.
No.
Not for me.
I can't do that.
(06:16):
I was I really enjoy writing fiction.
Like, dark fantasy, that's where my passion is.
Right?
So it kept coming up and I'm like, you knowwhat?
I think I need to follow this because it keepscoming up in my life.
So I started writing my book, which is mystory, which was scary.
So scary.
Oh, yeah.
Being vulnerable is very scary.
(06:38):
And I kept saying haven't written mine.
Yeah.
And, you know, I kept saying to my friends,like, oh, people don't wanna hear my story, and
they're like, yeah.
We do.
We wanna know how you got from point a to pointb.
Like, there's a whole bunch of missing.
So I started writing it, and it became verytherapeutic.
And I enjoyed every step of the way writing it.
(06:59):
So
That's the way it should be with writing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I I discovered once I started writing it, itwasn't near as scary as I thought it would be.
Awesome.
Oh, that's really good.
Yeah.
That one book that I've I've written, Iactually published this was before I even knew
what it what to do for writing.
(07:20):
I just thought, oh, write my stories put onAmazon.
It'll sell.
Right?
You know?
That's what everybody thinks.
Doesn't work that way.
So I pulled them off of Amazon because Irealized I had never had them edited.
The covers did not go with what was inside thestory.
I mean, there were some big mistakes I'd made,but I didn't know.
You don't know what you don't know.
(07:41):
But as I when I was writing it, I really fellin love with characters.
I mean, I cried with them.
I Mhmm.
I chuckled with them.
I'm we're in the camp trailer still, and I'mriding back there and I'm giggling and I'm
laughing.
And my husband says, what are you watching?
I go, nothing.
(08:02):
I'm writing my book and it's really good.
Like, I don't know what?
But, yeah, that's how we do it.
It is.
That's exactly how we do it.
Yeah.
Actually, I have a funny story related to that.
Oh, good.
Injured my shoulders, across the top of myshoulders.
And I think the injury was because I was alwaysscared and tensed up all the time my entire
(08:26):
life.
Right?
And I damaged my tendons across the tops of myshoulders.
When I write, I have to be very careful becauseit will irritate them, especially if it's in a
good scary spot of my story, like, lots ofaction going on because I tense up.
Yeah.
And I was in
a good spot on my story.
This was my fiction story.
(08:46):
And I'm just in there because we become ourcharacters.
Right?
When you're writing, we be like, we become thatcharacter.
That's true.
I never thought of that.
Yeah.
And all those emotions that our character ishaving, and we're taking those emotions and
we're putting them on paper so that people canexperience them too, but we're experiencing
them firsthand.
And my husband came up behind me, and hetouched my shoulders.
(09:09):
He said, you're tensed up again.
You're gonna hurt.
And he scared the living daylights out of me.
I just about knocked my laptop off the counterbecause I I stand to type lots, and it just my
heart was going, oh my gosh.
You scared me so bad.
It was in a good spot.
And we just had to stand there and laughbecause it was so funny.
(09:30):
I was just right in that moment.
Hey.
So That's funny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember I've watched couple of shows.
1 was about Charles Dickens writing his story,Oliver Twist, I think it was.
And or Scrooge.
I don't remember which one.
Anyways, he's in this upstairs room and thesecharacters come to life and he's talking with
(09:52):
them and he's interacting with them.
And and it's like, yeah.
I mean, because these are a brand new creation.
They've never existed before.
So you have to make them come to life.
You have to have them show it.
You know, it's it was like, Beatrix Potter whowrote the, Peter Rabbit books, and her little
(10:13):
rabbits are bouncing around.
She's scolding them and talking to them and andall these different things.
Just that one's kind of a heartbreaking story.
But but, anyways, yeah, I mean, it's just youhave to give them life because if somebody's
reading it, they want those characters to havelife.
(10:34):
And if you can't give it to them, the readersaren't gonna get it.
You know, they don't know how to make the thestory come to life.
That's our job.
That's exactly it.
Yeah.
I think that's why
I like children's books is because we canreally be creative, and things don't have to
make sense.
Yeah.
And you know what?
I've never haven't really written a children'sbook.
(10:56):
My son and I, he's 6.
He'll be 7 here right away.
Him and I are working on a book together.
We're writing it together.
It's going slow because I only do it when hewants to because I wanna keep it fun.
Yes.
But, we're having a lot of fun with it.
Oh, that's so cool.
I I was just talking with a friend of minebecause I'm launching my granddaughter's book
(11:16):
next Wednesday, and it's do not take my leaves.
And when she was here this summer, I'm goingthrough my phone and and she's, you know, at
this desk over here working on stuff, and I'mon my desk.
And and I'm scrolling through looking forsomething, and I have this place called color
notes.
And I can make them any color that I want to,and they stay in this nice folder.
(11:39):
It's just like post it notes that are in oneplace, and I'm going through it.
And I'm looking, and it's like, lucky.
You wanted to write a story about a tree losingits leaves, and that's all it said on there.
And she goes, yeah.
We should finish that.
So while she was here, we finished the story.
I mean, it was mostly her, and I'm like, well,that doesn't quite make sense for kids that are
(12:03):
this age.
You know?
And because you have to write your story forthe age that is gonna read it.
And, so we got it done, and then we're goingthrough and and we're actually using AI to do
the pictures because, you know, she didn't havemuch time here, so I couldn't wait, you know,
several months to have someone draw it all.
And so we have some pictures that were reallygood.
(12:26):
They were fun.
They looked like something for a kid's book.
Then we got the cover, and we found this justamazing AI that and we went through Canva.
I'll I'll definitely give them a plug becausethey did a good job, and here was this amazing
tree.
And it's like, this is so great.
And I'm looking at it, and I'm looking at thestory.
(12:47):
And as we're going about doing our work, I'mI'm seeing in my mind this cover, and I'm
opening the pages, and it's like, I'm sodisappointed because here's this great cover
for this tree, and it's perfect for the title.
And you open it up, and there's like I said, wehave to change this.
(13:07):
And and she goes, what are you talking about?
So I said, look.
So I showed her the cover, then I showed herthe page of 1 of the the pages in the book, and
she goes, oh, yeah.
We definitely need to change that.
So we did.
We did some Photoshop work and went throughthat, and we actually came up with some really
great pictures for it.
It's it's a fun book.
(13:28):
A little tree doesn't wanna let go of itsleaves in the fall.
So, yeah, working with with your child or witha grandchild on it, that's a great way to get
them interested in not just doing somethingtogether, but in writing or in reading or
understanding the process that goes on behindit so they can appreciate it more.
(13:51):
Yeah.
It really is.
And for my son, like, I see a lot of myself in
him.
Mhmm.
And I had lots
a lot a lot of struggles growing up.
Right?
Like, I was very different from the other kidsand so is he.
He has a hard time really relating to them.
So I wanted him to accept who he is because foryears, I couldn't accept who I was.
(14:15):
Like, I was always feeling like I was there wassomething wrong with me.
I was broken.
Right?
Yeah.
And I
didn't want that for him, so I want I wanted toshow him, like, you can open up this amazing
brain that you have that is so unique, and youhave different perspectives for a reason, and
this is what it will do for you.
So we're writing this about yeah.
(14:36):
It's about our basset hound.
Diesel is her name And a magical pickle.
So yeah.
We're having that.
Again.
I love that.
Oh, that's great.
So tell us about your book.
What what's the my book.
The fiction is is one you're doing now.
What what did you decide, might be the titlefor it?
(14:59):
For my nonfiction, that's my story.
I'm thinking I'm going to call it INFJ'sunfiltered, thriving, not just surviving.
Awesome.
Awesome title.
I think that's what I'm going to call it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My website is called INFJ's unfiltered becauseit's all about I just talk all about this
(15:19):
personality type without filtering.
Like, I just you know, I'm not not saying,like, I'm swearing and stuff like that, but I
just talk about topics that sometimes we justdon't really wanna talk about.
So it's unfiltered.
Right?
And the book It's hard
to talk about those things because it's notaccepted.
It
is.
Yeah.
And the book, I found that title to be I Ireally think that's what I'm gonna go with it
(15:44):
because the book is talking a lot about thingsI didn't wanna talk about.
Right?
Because it's my life.
And, like, that's being very vulnerable, andit's scary to do that.
So Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it was once I started writing it, I foundthat it's actually very therapeutic, and I
enjoyed it.
It wasn't so scary after all.
(16:06):
Yeah.
Oh, good.
Yes.
And that's something that taking that firststep through your fear is like, it's scary, but
I want to do this, so I'm gonna give it a try.
And it doesn't hurt to try.
Give it a try.
See if it works.
You know?
I don't know how many books I tried for years,and I finally decided I'm not a writer because
(16:28):
I couldn't get past the first chapter.
It's like I didn't have anything else to say,but it was because what I was writing about
were things that I hadn't really experiencedmyself except on the outside.
And so sometimes it's harder to write aboutthat.
So tell us about your fiction book.
My fiction my fiction book is a dark fantasy.
(16:52):
It's for young adults.
So it's dark fantasy sci fi postapocalypse.
Cool.
Yeah.
So what had happened was it was a nuclear a fewnuclear bombs went off, and the world just
kinda stopped.
And lots of people died and things mutated.
(17:15):
And this is 20 years after that.
That's when my book starts.
It's 20 years after that.
Right.
And it's a doctor.
It's it's her story.
And she was a surgeon when before everythingstarted.
And, yeah, it's her story of that she has to gothrough things she doesn't wanna do to save her
(17:36):
son who's actually he's the key to it all.
Her son is the key to stopping it all becauseit's yeah.
I mean, there's obviously a villain.
Right?
So You have to have a villain.
You have to have a villain and he knows how tostop the villain, but he's neurodivergent.
He's autistic and he's, for the most part,nonverbal.
(17:59):
But all of a sudden, he starts talking.
And when he does talk, he's it's like he's,reciting what he's hearing over a microphone,
like over a CB radio.
Yeah.
And it's because it's telepathy.
He knows what the villain is doing and thinkingand that's what he's reciting, but they don't
know that yet.
Oh, wow.
Oh, wow.
That sounds interesting.
(18:21):
Yeah.
So in her journey, she meets up with this guy.
So they live they live way up in the mountainsin in their trees.
They have to live high up because things havemutated and it's very dangerous to live on the
ground.
So they've built their community up in thetrees.
It's called Treetops.
And she met this guy.
(18:43):
She actually saved his life, and she brings himback.
And what he did back before the world ended washe worked with special needs kids.
So he is working with her son to be able tofigure out what's going on.
So Isn't that something?
The gist of it anyway.
(19:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I hope you don't leave out the mom factor inthere because moms of kids seem to be a little
more intuitive that, you know, there'ssomething else going on there because we see it
with our own kids.
It's like, you know, the doctor or specialistor whatever says, oh, this, this, and this, and
(19:26):
it's like, you better think again becausethat's not well, it goes with my child.
Yes.
Actually, yeah, that that part's written inthere because I thought, okay, if I was if I
was her, how would I see this?
So a friend of hers who helped build thiscommunity is also a doctor.
And he was telling her, oh, it's just, youknow, he's coming into his teens.
(19:49):
It's hormones.
It's an overactive imagination.
Let's just be happy that he's starting to talk.
Right?
And she she kept saying, no.
I think there's more to it than that.
Yeah.
There's it's
not just that.
There's something else
going on.
Good for her.
Good for Yeah.
When when you're writing this, do you think ofit like a movie?
Like, you're seeing it in front of you on a TVscreen?
(20:11):
Or or is it different?
It's like a TV screen.
I've been writing this story for years in myhead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
And I'm sure you you probably know what I meanwhen we write it in our head.
Yeah.
That's And it would keep the process there.
Oh, yeah.
That's when you need to get it on paper forsure.
Yeah.
(20:31):
It would keep me up at night because I would bewriting this story.
Right?
And, and then when I met you and you're like,no.
You're a writer.
And I shared a little
bit of this story.
Amazing things to say.
Yeah.
And I shared a little bit
of this story with you, and you're like, youknow, you need to write this.
We need to know how it ends.
And, okay.
(20:52):
Yeah.
So I started writing it, and I discovered Icould sleep.
Once I started writing it,
I could sleep because I was no longer writingit all night long in my head.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I do I see it.
It's kind of like a movie mixed with memories,if that makes sense.
Because I like I that's that's the best I coulddescribe it.
(21:13):
What's really interesting is I took a creativewriting course through University of Toronto,
and the instructor said to pay attentionbecause quite often our main characters are
essentially us.
So I went to the person
I looked in my story and I paid attention, andit it is like, she I'm not a doctor by any
(21:35):
means.
I'm not a doctor, but what she struggles withbecause at the beginning of the book, she
really lacks self confidence from herchildhood.
Right?
Oh, yeah.
Has to gain that self confidence and start tosee herself in a complete different light and
and see that she's stronger than she thoughtshe could ever be for her son.
Right?
And I'm like, wow.
Yeah.
(21:55):
You know?
Like, I can relate to a lot of a lot of thischaracter.
She is me in a sense.
So That's awesome.
I love it.
Really good.
In my little book, Mortise Jafe, which is gonnahave a different title.
Yeah.
I mean, I wrote it.
This this is a child, but there is a lot of meand my experiences in there.
I our time is already up.
(22:17):
I know these these short little half hour onesjust are not enough time.
So tell us again how they can how people canget ahold of you and see when your book's gonna
come out.
Sure.
Yeah.
So you can get a hold of me over on YouTube.
My channel is Trina Brettnell.
I am also on Facebook, and I'm also onInstagram.
And all of them, my handle is just trinaBrettnell, my name.
(22:42):
So that's the easiest way to get in.
I do have a website.
I just launched it.
It is infjsunfiltered.ca.
Nice.
That's c a
for Canada.
Yeah.
Oh, excellent.
Thank you so much for being here, Trina.
I really appreciate it.
And when you Thanks for having me.
Done, you've got to come back.
(23:04):
Yes.
For sure.
I will.
I will keep I will keep in touch with you forsure.
Yes.
And come back when I get that book published.
Yes.
Definitely.
Alrighty.
Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time.
Our audience on or hear from me next time on,52 plus new books.
Thank you.
Thank you so
(23:24):
much.
Alright.
I'll let you know when this comes out, andhopefully, it should be out next week.
Sounds good.
Yeah.
Do you do all your own editing?
Some of it.
I do.
I actually have an editor for my children'sbooks.
The one that my granddaughter and I did, Ididn't because it was just very, very simple.
(23:46):
Okay.
And, normally, I would because I'm sure they'llcatch 1, 2 things that I didn't catch.
But, yeah, I always try to find an editor.
I go through it myself and I read it again.
The editor goes through it.
You read it after the editor because you'd have20 eyes on it, and you're still gonna find it.
It's just just the way it goes.
Yeah.
But, yeah, if you need editors, let me know.
(24:07):
I've got a whole
list of them.
Yeah.
I'm using Grammarly right now.
So
Oh, good.
Good.
I love Grammarly.
Yeah.
I do tell you the only thing is it lacks thehuman touch.
So sometimes the way I worded it corrected.
I want it worded that way because that'sputting my emotion in there whereas Grammarly
(24:27):
is like, oh, well, this this doesn't makesense.
Well It does, I think.
It is if you're human.
If you're human, it does.
No.
It needs to be worded this way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's that's nice thing with with an editor isthey'll help keep your voice
in it too.
Yeah.
So because they're human.
Yep.
Okay.
(24:47):
We'll talk with you later.
Thanks so much.
Yeah.
Thanks for having me.
We'll do this again.
Yeah.
We need to talk more often.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's just so busy all the time, though.
Right?
Yeah.
It is.
Okay.
Well, it's
actually And I will get
back to you because I think I have a story foryou.
Okay.
Good.
You're good.
Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
I'd love that.
Yeah.
I'm just gonna run through it one more time forediting, make sure, and then I'll send it your
(25:12):
way.
Yeah.
Okay.
Sounds good.
Of the book.
Is there a specific theme?
Not this time.
Nope.
Okay.
Good.
I'm just gonna let them submit their stories.
This is about guardian angels.
So
It it's going to fit perfectly.
Oh, awesome.
Okay.
Good.
Alright.
We'll get back to you later.
You and hopefully send it to you by the end ofthis week.
(25:33):
Okay.
Sounds good.
I've just got someone else I've got to talk toso otherwise, I I would stay.
I would not let
you go.
I'll let you go.
K.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Bye
bye.
Thank you for joining us.
We'll see you next time on Reading Between theWords.
Go to www.readingbetweenthewords.com.
Welcome to another episode of reading betweenwords.
What does that really mean?
It means that the author themselves
tell you their story.
They tell
you why they wrote it,
what they want you to get out of
it, and all the other
little details and secrets that
you wouldn't normally get to know.
So let's join in on this.
(00:32):
Yeah.
One book a week and probably more if we can doit.
And thank you, Trina, for being here.
Trina and I met Was it just for volume 1 of thegiving book or or had we met before then?
We had met in a I think we had met in aFacebook group before then.
(00:53):
Like, I think it was quite a few months before.
Yeah.
I think so.
Believe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and it was great.
You wrote in the first book.
I know you were were just kind of unsure aboutdoing stuff.
You wrote in the second book, and now you haveyour own book.
I am just thrilled.
(01:14):
And you have your own podcast.
I do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's great.
Thank you.
Yeah.
It was interesting because I remember meetingyou, and I remember that you reached out to me
a few months after.
We were chatting on Facebook Messenger, and youyou mentioned that I was a writer.
And I was like, no.
(01:34):
I'm not a writer.
And you said to me, you're a writer.
I said, no.
I'm not a writer, but thanks.
And you're like, I read your post.
You're a writer, and I don't think that youknow you're a writer yet.
And that got my attention.
So yeah.
And then you invited me to write in your firstin the the giving book.
(01:54):
Yeah.
The volume 1.
Let's see.
4.
Yeah.
Here we go.
I've got volume 3 back.
I don't have my microphone.
Sorry, people.
That was rude.
I've got volume Here it is.
Volume 1 that we started with.
Yeah.
It's one little heart in the ass.
There we go.
And then you were gracious enough ineverybody's pictures on the back, and then
(02:15):
you're gracious enough to write in volume 2,which is 2 hearts and and 4 hands, I guess.
And that one, we got to go to number 1 becausenot because that was the purpose of the giving
book, but some of the authors wanted to dothat.
And it's like, well, this is the giving book.
If they wanna do that, let's see if we can doit.
And it did.
(02:36):
And, yeah, you're definitely on that one.
Oh, you're in all 3 of
them.
There you are.
Yeah.
Woo.
Right again.
Yeah.
So in volume 3?
3.
Yeah.
And that one went to number 1 too.
That was so great.
I love that.
So with
that volume 4, I didn't even ask if you wantedto be on volume 4.
They're still fine.
(02:57):
I might have to send something.
Look through my files.
Yeah.
Love the memoir you did of your dad.
That was just so cool.
And it was cool that your dad drove thosecaterpillars like my dad did.
And it was like, oh, that's a nice connection.
Yeah.
It was.
That was really neat, wasn't it?
(03:19):
Yeah.
They're very similar.
And I am so surprised.
I shouldn't be by now.
We're on volume 4, but every time, people fromall over the world are sending in stories.
And it's like everybody got together and said,okay.
Let's make the theme this or let's make thetheme that.
(03:39):
And the stories just meshed together, so I'mreally excited about this one again, getting it
out.
And I was hoping to get it out in October.
It's not gonna happen because I still have morepeople who are still wanting to put stories in,
and I have to have a certain number of pages inorder to get it done.
And I think I'm almost there, but I don't wannadeny these other people of, you know, giving
(04:02):
them the chance to have their their whatever itis, whether it's it's the artwork, the story,
the poetry, the little quotes, anything thatthey have.
I shouldn't say little.
I mean, you know, there's not very many wordsis what I meant by that.
Yeah.
It's still real meaningful.
Yeah.
The biography.
Yeah.
It's awesome.
I'll have to look through.
(04:24):
I I might have I might have a couple storiesthere in my files that have been published.
I'll have a look for you.
Yeah.
I've been so focused on right because I have 2books on the go, but one I kinda put on pause
while I started writing my nonfiction here.
So
Oh, nice.
Nice.
And I loved what you were talking about atfirst that that, you know, before before the
(04:48):
show started, about why you want to write andthe process of going through of of tired of
being afraid of everything.
You know?
Because for those who don't know, here I am.
I'm jumping ahead of things.
Let's start over.
Trina, why don't you introduce yourself andtell us
(05:10):
a little bit about you, who is author Trina?
Alright.
Yeah.
Getting getting away with everything here.
Hey.
Yeah.
So hi, everybody.
I'm Trina Brattnell.
I am an author, and I also host a YouTubechannel for INFJ personality types.
So I'm an INFJ myself, and I started a YouTubechannel to help people like myself, INFJs and
(05:34):
autistic INFJs, because I'm also autistic.
And I just know from years of working onmyself, doing a whole bunch personal
development, there isn't a lot of resources outthere for our personality type and we're very
unique.
So a lot of the things that work for otherpeople don't always work for us.
So I wanted to start a channel, a place wherepeople could come for resources.
(05:56):
So I just you know, I couldn't find 1, so Istarted one myself.
And with that, yeah, and with that, I had quitea few friends reaching out to me.
They were bugging me for quite a few years thatI should write a book to help people like
myself because I would be it would be so muchhelp.
And I I kept saying, no.
No.
Not for me.
I can't do that.
(06:16):
I was I really enjoy writing fiction.
Like, dark fantasy, that's where my passion is.
Right?
So it kept coming up and I'm like, you knowwhat?
I think I need to follow this because it keepscoming up in my life.
So I started writing my book, which is mystory, which was scary.
So scary.
Oh, yeah.
Being vulnerable is very scary.
(06:38):
And I kept saying haven't written mine.
Yeah.
And, you know, I kept saying to my friends,like, oh, people don't wanna hear my story, and
they're like, yeah.
We do.
We wanna know how you got from point a to pointb.
Like, there's a whole bunch of missing.
So I started writing it, and it became verytherapeutic.
And I enjoyed every step of the way writing it.
(06:59):
So
That's the way it should be with writing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I I discovered once I started writing it, itwasn't near as scary as I thought it would be.
Awesome.
Oh, that's really good.
Yeah.
That one book that I've I've written, Iactually published this was before I even knew
what it what to do for writing.
(07:20):
I just thought, oh, write my stories put onAmazon.
It'll sell.
Right?
You know?
That's what everybody thinks.
Doesn't work that way.
So I pulled them off of Amazon because Irealized I had never had them edited.
The covers did not go with what was inside thestory.
I mean, there were some big mistakes I'd made,but I didn't know.
You don't know what you don't know.
(07:41):
But as I when I was writing it, I really fellin love with characters.
I mean, I cried with them.
I Mhmm.
I chuckled with them.
I'm we're in the camp trailer still, and I'mriding back there and I'm giggling and I'm
laughing.
And my husband says, what are you watching?
I go, nothing.
(08:02):
I'm writing my book and it's really good.
Like, I don't know what?
But, yeah, that's how we do it.
It is.
That's exactly how we do it.
Yeah.
Actually, I have a funny story related to that.
Oh, good.
Injured my shoulders, across the top of myshoulders.
And I think the injury was because I was alwaysscared and tensed up all the time my entire
(08:26):
life.
Right?
And I damaged my tendons across the tops of myshoulders.
When I write, I have to be very careful becauseit will irritate them, especially if it's in a
good scary spot of my story, like, lots ofaction going on because I tense up.
Yeah.
And I was in
a good spot on my story.
This was my fiction story.
(08:46):
And I'm just in there because we become ourcharacters.
Right?
When you're writing, we be like, we become thatcharacter.
That's true.
I never thought of that.
Yeah.
And all those emotions that our character ishaving, and we're taking those emotions and
we're putting them on paper so that people canexperience them too, but we're experiencing
them firsthand.
And my husband came up behind me, and hetouched my shoulders.
(09:09):
He said, you're tensed up again.
You're gonna hurt.
And he scared the living daylights out of me.
I just about knocked my laptop off the counterbecause I I stand to type lots, and it just my
heart was going, oh my gosh.
You scared me so bad.
It was in a good spot.
And we just had to stand there and laughbecause it was so funny.
(09:30):
I was just right in that moment.
Hey.
So That's funny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember I've watched couple of shows.
1 was about Charles Dickens writing his story,Oliver Twist, I think it was.
And or Scrooge.
I don't remember which one.
Anyways, he's in this upstairs room and thesecharacters come to life and he's talking with
(09:52):
them and he's interacting with them.
And and it's like, yeah.
I mean, because these are a brand new creation.
They've never existed before.
So you have to make them come to life.
You have to have them show it.
You know, it's it was like, Beatrix Potter whowrote the, Peter Rabbit books, and her little
(10:13):
rabbits are bouncing around.
She's scolding them and talking to them and andall these different things.
Just that one's kind of a heartbreaking story.
But but, anyways, yeah, I mean, it's just youhave to give them life because if somebody's
reading it, they want those characters to havelife.
(10:34):
And if you can't give it to them, the readersaren't gonna get it.
You know, they don't know how to make the thestory come to life.
That's our job.
That's exactly it.
Yeah.
I think that's why
I like children's books is because we canreally be creative, and things don't have to
make sense.
Yeah.
And you know what?
I've never haven't really written a children'sbook.
(10:56):
My son and I, he's 6.
He'll be 7 here right away.
Him and I are working on a book together.
We're writing it together.
It's going slow because I only do it when hewants to because I wanna keep it fun.
Yes.
But, we're having a lot of fun with it.
Oh, that's so cool.
I I was just talking with a friend of minebecause I'm launching my granddaughter's book
(11:16):
next Wednesday, and it's do not take my leaves.
And when she was here this summer, I'm goingthrough my phone and and she's, you know, at
this desk over here working on stuff, and I'mon my desk.
And and I'm scrolling through looking forsomething, and I have this place called color
notes.
And I can make them any color that I want to,and they stay in this nice folder.
(11:39):
It's just like post it notes that are in oneplace, and I'm going through it.
And I'm looking, and it's like, lucky.
You wanted to write a story about a tree losingits leaves, and that's all it said on there.
And she goes, yeah.
We should finish that.
So while she was here, we finished the story.
I mean, it was mostly her, and I'm like, well,that doesn't quite make sense for kids that are
(12:03):
this age.
You know?
And because you have to write your story forthe age that is gonna read it.
And, so we got it done, and then we're goingthrough and and we're actually using AI to do
the pictures because, you know, she didn't havemuch time here, so I couldn't wait, you know,
several months to have someone draw it all.
And so we have some pictures that were reallygood.
(12:26):
They were fun.
They looked like something for a kid's book.
Then we got the cover, and we found this justamazing AI that and we went through Canva.
I'll I'll definitely give them a plug becausethey did a good job, and here was this amazing
tree.
And it's like, this is so great.
And I'm looking at it, and I'm looking at thestory.
(12:47):
And as we're going about doing our work, I'mI'm seeing in my mind this cover, and I'm
opening the pages, and it's like, I'm sodisappointed because here's this great cover
for this tree, and it's perfect for the title.
And you open it up, and there's like I said, wehave to change this.
(13:07):
And and she goes, what are you talking about?
So I said, look.
So I showed her the cover, then I showed herthe page of 1 of the the pages in the book, and
she goes, oh, yeah.
We definitely need to change that.
So we did.
We did some Photoshop work and went throughthat, and we actually came up with some really
great pictures for it.
It's it's a fun book.
(13:28):
A little tree doesn't wanna let go of itsleaves in the fall.
So, yeah, working with with your child or witha grandchild on it, that's a great way to get
them interested in not just doing somethingtogether, but in writing or in reading or
understanding the process that goes on behindit so they can appreciate it more.
(13:51):
Yeah.
It really is.
And for my son, like, I see a lot of myself in
him.
Mhmm.
And I had lots
a lot a lot of struggles growing up.
Right?
Like, I was very different from the other kidsand so is he.
He has a hard time really relating to them.
So I wanted him to accept who he is because foryears, I couldn't accept who I was.
(14:15):
Like, I was always feeling like I was there wassomething wrong with me.
I was broken.
Right?
Yeah.
And I
didn't want that for him, so I want I wanted toshow him, like, you can open up this amazing
brain that you have that is so unique, and youhave different perspectives for a reason, and
this is what it will do for you.
So we're writing this about yeah.
(14:36):
It's about our basset hound.
Diesel is her name And a magical pickle.
So yeah.
We're having that.
Again.
I love that.
Oh, that's great.
So tell us about your book.
What what's the my book.
The fiction is is one you're doing now.
What what did you decide, might be the titlefor it?
(14:59):
For my nonfiction, that's my story.
I'm thinking I'm going to call it INFJ'sunfiltered, thriving, not just surviving.
Awesome.
Awesome title.
I think that's what I'm going to call it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My website is called INFJ's unfiltered becauseit's all about I just talk all about this
(15:19):
personality type without filtering.
Like, I just you know, I'm not not saying,like, I'm swearing and stuff like that, but I
just talk about topics that sometimes we justdon't really wanna talk about.
So it's unfiltered.
Right?
And the book It's hard
to talk about those things because it's notaccepted.
It
is.
Yeah.
And the book, I found that title to be I Ireally think that's what I'm gonna go with it
(15:44):
because the book is talking a lot about thingsI didn't wanna talk about.
Right?
Because it's my life.
And, like, that's being very vulnerable, andit's scary to do that.
So Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it was once I started writing it, I foundthat it's actually very therapeutic, and I
enjoyed it.
It wasn't so scary after all.
(16:06):
Yeah.
Oh, good.
Yes.
And that's something that taking that firststep through your fear is like, it's scary, but
I want to do this, so I'm gonna give it a try.
And it doesn't hurt to try.
Give it a try.
See if it works.
You know?
I don't know how many books I tried for years,and I finally decided I'm not a writer because
(16:28):
I couldn't get past the first chapter.
It's like I didn't have anything else to say,but it was because what I was writing about
were things that I hadn't really experiencedmyself except on the outside.
And so sometimes it's harder to write aboutthat.
So tell us about your fiction book.
My fiction my fiction book is a dark fantasy.
(16:52):
It's for young adults.
So it's dark fantasy sci fi postapocalypse.
Cool.
Yeah.
So what had happened was it was a nuclear a fewnuclear bombs went off, and the world just
kinda stopped.
And lots of people died and things mutated.
(17:15):
And this is 20 years after that.
That's when my book starts.
It's 20 years after that.
Right.
And it's a doctor.
It's it's her story.
And she was a surgeon when before everythingstarted.
And, yeah, it's her story of that she has to gothrough things she doesn't wanna do to save her
(17:36):
son who's actually he's the key to it all.
Her son is the key to stopping it all becauseit's yeah.
I mean, there's obviously a villain.
Right?
So You have to have a villain.
You have to have a villain and he knows how tostop the villain, but he's neurodivergent.
He's autistic and he's, for the most part,nonverbal.
(17:59):
But all of a sudden, he starts talking.
And when he does talk, he's it's like he's,reciting what he's hearing over a microphone,
like over a CB radio.
Yeah.
And it's because it's telepathy.
He knows what the villain is doing and thinkingand that's what he's reciting, but they don't
know that yet.
Oh, wow.
Oh, wow.
That sounds interesting.
(18:21):
Yeah.
So in her journey, she meets up with this guy.
So they live they live way up in the mountainsin in their trees.
They have to live high up because things havemutated and it's very dangerous to live on the
ground.
So they've built their community up in thetrees.
It's called Treetops.
And she met this guy.
(18:43):
She actually saved his life, and she brings himback.
And what he did back before the world ended washe worked with special needs kids.
So he is working with her son to be able tofigure out what's going on.
So Isn't that something?
The gist of it anyway.
(19:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I hope you don't leave out the mom factor inthere because moms of kids seem to be a little
more intuitive that, you know, there'ssomething else going on there because we see it
with our own kids.
It's like, you know, the doctor or specialistor whatever says, oh, this, this, and this, and
(19:26):
it's like, you better think again becausethat's not well, it goes with my child.
Yes.
Actually, yeah, that that part's written inthere because I thought, okay, if I was if I
was her, how would I see this?
So a friend of hers who helped build thiscommunity is also a doctor.
And he was telling her, oh, it's just, youknow, he's coming into his teens.
(19:49):
It's hormones.
It's an overactive imagination.
Let's just be happy that he's starting to talk.
Right?
And she she kept saying, no.
I think there's more to it than that.
Yeah.
There's it's
not just that.
There's something else
going on.
Good for her.
Good for Yeah.
When when you're writing this, do you think ofit like a movie?
Like, you're seeing it in front of you on a TVscreen?
(20:11):
Or or is it different?
It's like a TV screen.
I've been writing this story for years in myhead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
And I'm sure you you probably know what I meanwhen we write it in our head.
Yeah.
That's And it would keep the process there.
Oh, yeah.
That's when you need to get it on paper forsure.
Yeah.
(20:31):
It would keep me up at night because I would bewriting this story.
Right?
And, and then when I met you and you're like,no.
You're a writer.
And I shared a little
bit of this story.
Amazing things to say.
Yeah.
And I shared a little bit
of this story with you, and you're like, youknow, you need to write this.
We need to know how it ends.
And, okay.
(20:52):
Yeah.
So I started writing it, and I discovered Icould sleep.
Once I started writing it,
I could sleep because I was no longer writingit all night long in my head.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I do I see it.
It's kind of like a movie mixed with memories,if that makes sense.
Because I like I that's that's the best I coulddescribe it.
(21:13):
What's really interesting is I took a creativewriting course through University of Toronto,
and the instructor said to pay attentionbecause quite often our main characters are
essentially us.
So I went to the person
I looked in my story and I paid attention, andit it is like, she I'm not a doctor by any
(21:35):
means.
I'm not a doctor, but what she struggles withbecause at the beginning of the book, she
really lacks self confidence from herchildhood.
Right?
Oh, yeah.
Has to gain that self confidence and start tosee herself in a complete different light and
and see that she's stronger than she thoughtshe could ever be for her son.
Right?
And I'm like, wow.
Yeah.
(21:55):
You know?
Like, I can relate to a lot of a lot of thischaracter.
She is me in a sense.
So That's awesome.
I love it.
Really good.
In my little book, Mortise Jafe, which is gonnahave a different title.
Yeah.
I mean, I wrote it.
This this is a child, but there is a lot of meand my experiences in there.
I our time is already up.
(22:17):
I know these these short little half hour onesjust are not enough time.
So tell us again how they can how people canget ahold of you and see when your book's gonna
come out.
Sure.
Yeah.
So you can get a hold of me over on YouTube.
My channel is Trina Brettnell.
I am also on Facebook, and I'm also onInstagram.
And all of them, my handle is just trinaBrettnell, my name.
(22:42):
So that's the easiest way to get in.
I do have a website.
I just launched it.
It is infjsunfiltered.ca.
Nice.
That's c a
for Canada.
Yeah.
Oh, excellent.
Thank you so much for being here, Trina.
I really appreciate it.
And when you Thanks for having me.
Done, you've got to come back.
(23:04):
Yes.
For sure.
I will.
I will keep I will keep in touch with you forsure.
Yes.
And come back when I get that book published.
Yes.
Definitely.
Alrighty.
Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time.
Our audience on or hear from me next time on,52 plus new books.
Thank you.
Thank you so
(23:24):
much.
Alright.
I'll let you know when this comes out, andhopefully, it should be out next week.
Sounds good.
Yeah.
Do you do all your own editing?
Some of it.
I do.
I actually have an editor for my children'sbooks.
The one that my granddaughter and I did, Ididn't because it was just very, very simple.
(23:46):
Okay.
And, normally, I would because I'm sure they'llcatch 1, 2 things that I didn't catch.
But, yeah, I always try to find an editor.
I go through it myself and I read it again.
The editor goes through it.
You read it after the editor because you'd have20 eyes on it, and you're still gonna find it.
It's just just the way it goes.
Yeah.
But, yeah, if you need editors, let me know.
(24:07):
I've got a whole
list of them.
Yeah.
I'm using Grammarly right now.
So
Oh, good.
Good.
I love Grammarly.
Yeah.
I do tell you the only thing is it lacks thehuman touch.
So sometimes the way I worded it corrected.
I want it worded that way because that'sputting my emotion in there whereas Grammarly
(24:27):
is like, oh, well, this this doesn't makesense.
Well It does, I think.
It is if you're human.
If you're human, it does.
No.
It needs to be worded this way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's that's nice thing with with an editor isthey'll help keep your voice
in it too.
Yeah.
So because they're human.
Yep.
Okay.
(24:47):
We'll talk with you later.
Thanks so much.
Yeah.
Thanks for having me.
We'll do this again.
Yeah.
We need to talk more often.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's just so busy all the time, though.
Right?
Yeah.
It is.
Okay.
Well, it's
actually And I will get
back to you because I think I have a story foryou.
Okay.
Good.
You're good.
Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
I'd love that.
Yeah.
I'm just gonna run through it one more time forediting, make sure, and then I'll send it your
(25:12):
way.
Yeah.
Okay.
Sounds good.
Of the book.
Is there a specific theme?
Not this time.
Nope.
Okay.
Good.
I'm just gonna let them submit their stories.
This is about guardian angels.
So
It it's going to fit perfectly.
Oh, awesome.
Okay.
Good.
Alright.
We'll get back to you later.
You and hopefully send it to you by the end ofthis week.
(25:33):
Okay.
Sounds good.
I've just got someone else I've got to talk toso otherwise, I I would stay.
I would not let
you go.
I'll let you go.
K.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Bye
bye.
Thank you for joining us.
We'll see you next time on Reading Between theWords.
Go to www.readingbetweenthewords.com.
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