July 13, 2025 • 31 mins
From Author Kristy Mickelsen
A Short Read Memoir – “Sweet Inspiration”
“But later, when my high from the dope I had snorted early that morning wore off, I cried again for most of the night but not out of anger. This time it was out of fear. Fear of what was happening to me. Fear of what I had become. Fear of what was going to happen to my marriage, and the fear of losing my family – all to my addiction of the street drug, crystal meth.”
In this episode, Kristy Mickelsen shares the inspiration behind her memoir and the personal journey that shaped her path as an advocate, author, and podcast host. From overcoming challenges to finding her voice, Kristy offers a powerful and uplifting story that’s sure to resonate with listeners.
You can find Kristy on X @KristyBooks https://x.com/KristyBooks
and more Kristy Mickelsen links are here https://linktr.ee/Kristymickelsen
You can find Billy Dees on X @BillyDees https://x.com/BillyDees
A Short Read Memoir – “Sweet Inspiration”
“But later, when my high from the dope I had snorted early that morning wore off, I cried again for most of the night but not out of anger. This time it was out of fear. Fear of what was happening to me. Fear of what I had become. Fear of what was going to happen to my marriage, and the fear of losing my family – all to my addiction of the street drug, crystal meth.”
In this episode, Kristy Mickelsen shares the inspiration behind her memoir and the personal journey that shaped her path as an advocate, author, and podcast host. From overcoming challenges to finding her voice, Kristy offers a powerful and uplifting story that’s sure to resonate with listeners.
You can find Kristy on X @KristyBooks https://x.com/KristyBooks
and more Kristy Mickelsen links are here https://linktr.ee/Kristymickelsen
You can find Billy Dees on X @BillyDees https://x.com/BillyDees
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are listening to the Billy D's podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
All right, well, hello everyone, and welcome to the program.
If you are new here, we are primarily an interview
and a commentary based podcast. My name is Billy Dees
and we have an interview today. My guest is Christy Michelson. Christy,
so glad to have you.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
As always, always a pleasure to be here, Bill. I
can't wait to get into this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good good Now. Christy has a lot of different things
going on. I guess she has her own podcast, and
she's part of our production group here. It's the WWBA podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is that how you say it?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes, A lot of people get confused with it.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I know you don't say all the letters, so yeah,
so yeah, we're very excited to have her. But we're
not talking about that today. We're going to talk about
her new book. And her book is titled Sweet Inspiration,
Sweet Inspiration, and it's kind of like a short read.
(01:13):
I guess that's a category, a short read memoir, and
you're talking about your youth and all these other things.
Before we get into all that, some of the people
that are fans of yours probably know me and the
other way around. But you never know when somebody's kind
of new listening for the first time. So let's talk
just a little bit about you.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You are an advocate for many things, including lupus cancer.
So on, tell us a little bit about your advocacy
and what you do online.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
All right, thank you, Bill. Like Bill said, I am
an advocate for causes such as cancer, autism, lupus awareness,
and suicide awareness and prevention, along with many other different
causes that are close to my heart. And pretty much
what I do is I help people find a voice
for themselves. Number one. I use my podcast to help
(02:03):
them tell their stories and their struggles with topics such
as lupus and cancer and suicide prevention and awareness. But
also online I do what's called positive content creator modeling,
I guess you can say where I do different pictures
of myself in different situations and I add positive quotes
(02:26):
and that's really I don't even know the right word,
but people have really gotten into that and they've really
enjoyed it. So I've had a lot of fun doing that.
I also put together fundraisers and events to help raise
money for different causes such as suicide awareness and prevention, lupus.
(02:46):
We're going to be doing some fundraisers for autism next
year in July. So we have a lot that's going
on and a lot that I actually do, and we
teach spaces on some of these things, letting people tell
their stories and their struggles and what has helped them.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
When you talk about spaces, a lot of people aren't
going to know what those are, okay, And you don't
necessarily need to be a social media enthusiast to appreciate these.
I kind of like the idea of them. Spaces are
kind of what the name implies. They're little get togethers online.
They're audio only, and they happen on X, which is
(03:24):
the former Twitter. And this was something that started when
Twitter was still Twitter. Now it's X. Spaces has really
taken off because Elon Musk and some other really big
newsmakers have used them not only to talk about the news,
but to create news. A lot of people have made
announcements as far as what they're doing or running for
(03:46):
office or whatever in these spaces, So they're becoming a
recognized form of communication. And that's what you're talking about, right,
That's what these spaces are.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Absolutely. I liked to tell people it's like a big
chat room where all these people could come in and
you get to talk about different topics and it's like
you're talking to a room full of people. It's almost
like a zoom call without the video. So very informative
and very helpful to a lot of people on X.
I'm very glad that they're still around.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Actually, yeah, you know, it's just like anything else.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
You're going to find a lot of spaces, just like
you're going to find blogs or podcasts or anything else
that you know aren't worth the time of day. But
there's some that are absolutely fantastic and they bring in
all kinds of information and bring people together that have
a common cause, whether it be chronic illness or mental health,
any of these types of issues. So that's all a
(04:42):
great thing. Talking about your story and your memoir, let's.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Go a little bit there.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
What made you decide because you're still relatively of course,
a lot of people now they're twenty five years old
and they're writing a memoir, which I never quite understand.
You know, I was born, but you're still relatively young
to be writing a memoir. In my opinion, I could
be totally off base on this, and that's fine, But
(05:12):
what made you decide to write a memoir.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Well, that's a great question, Bill, And actually the idea
came from a couple of my fans. All we want
to know how you went from being a preschool teacher
over to being a full time author, a podcaster, a
brand ambassador for you know, all the things that I do.
They were like, how did you go from this to that?
And I was like, Oh, it's so much I could
(05:37):
write a book on it, and then I'll then do it,
make a memoir for it. And so I was like,
I asked everybody on Facebook and on Twitter. I did
a poll and I said if I wrote a memoir,
who's actually wanting to read this? And I had an
overwhelming response on both Facebook and Twitter about yeah, do it.
We think it would be interesting. So I went ahead
(05:58):
and did it. And the book contains a lot of
personal memories for me growing up, and it deals with
some of the depression I had growing up and some
of the depression I had when I lost some family
members and some loved ones. And it goes into detail.
I don't know how much detail you'd like me to
talk about with it, but it goes into some detail
and some things and then as I was reading back,
(06:18):
I realized I actually left out quite a bit of things.
So there might be a part two to this book
coming soon. You know, they always tell you don't give
your audience everything at one shot, so maybe that's what
I did.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Well. You know, that's true of anything. There's an old
saying and show is always leave them wanting more, and
a lot of artists forget that, especially at concerts. You know,
when you walk out of a concert and say, my god,
I thought that thing would never end.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It was too long, and you're not going to go back.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You always wish I wish they'd done this, or I
wish they would have done That's that's a good thing.
So a part two is probably a good way to
handle it.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
What about you?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
What about your childhood? You know, I thought here again,
we don't want to, you know, cover the book necessarily
in detail here, but just to give the audience an idea,
what was it about your childhood that had had these
kinds of impacts on you?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Great question, Bill. Let's see, growing up, I was in
an average family. You know, There's me, my mom and dad,
my brother. We grew up and we didn't have a
lot of money, and quite frankly, I didn't have a
lot of friends growing up. I was kind of the
nerdy tomboy girl. And then one minute I'm playing with
Barbie dolls, and the next minute I'm reading Sweet Valley
twin books. And the next minute I'm in the backyard
(07:34):
playing in the mud with Tanka trucks, you know. And
I was actually also while other girls were out, I
don't know, playing dress up, I was playing in the
din at my grandfather's house, having my own talent agency
to you know, oh so famous actors such as Tom
Cruise and Val Kilmer, and they were my clients, and
I would write up fake little contracts and I was
(07:56):
kind of the nerd, let's just put it that way.
Nobody really wanted to play with me. Back then. I
was kind of in my own little world, and so
that gave me some depression. But growing up, I also
struggled a lot with my weight. And when you're growing
up in the eighties, I grew I was born in
nineteen seventy eight. Growing up in the eighties, you have
(08:16):
a lot of teen rebellion. You have people looking at
your looks. You have another form of people that everything's
about success. The other people are all about looks. The
other people are like, we're onto rebellion, you know, And
I wasn't any of those things. I didn't have the looks.
I didn't have the thin look that most people were
going for back then, but some of my friends did,
(08:40):
and so I would always feel left out and I
always felt depressed, and nobody quite understood that. And I
didn't have the cool clothes like my friends had. My
family couldn't afford it. In fact, we were broke so
badly at one point that my glasses had broke and
we couldn't afford to go get them fixed. And the
only thing my dad could think of as he put
(09:00):
a straw on the end of it to keep my
glasses up, and that caused me to be teased in school.
There was so much there that that gave me an
early start to depression when I was younger, and then
it just goes on when I was a teen into
how I couldn't lose the weight, how you know, people
make fun of you. I couldn't date for a long time.
(09:21):
My dad was pretty strict, and when my friends were dating,
I was trying to figure out how I was going
to fit into the world. So I was kind of
a bad girl in high school and I was out
stealing cars, I was out doing bad I was doing
things that people would not think that I would do.
And then my life changed when I started meeting a guy,
(09:41):
which I get into the book too. So there's a
lot there. I don't know how far you want me
to go.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Ye, there's always a guy. There's always one of those
that's interesting, Always the guy. This is your latest book.
You've written a couple of them, just so the audience knows.
Tell us a little bit about the history of your
book writing, and it's typically like romance.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Right, for the most part, it is romance. I do
have one other nonfiction book, which is Nine Months to Autism,
and that was my rookie book. Had no idea what
I was doing, but I wanted to prove a point
to my children that you can accomplish anything that you
set your mind to. So I wrote my first short book,
which is Nine Months to Autism, and then after that
(10:20):
I wrote a book called Lady for Hire, which to
this day, everyone still loves that books, that's the favorite.
And then after that I wrote A Christmas to Remember,
which is half fiction, half nonfiction. The emotions in that
book were very real, based on my mom's feelings when
my dad passed away from cancer. And then this new book,
(10:42):
Sweet Inspiration, is all about my life and my story
and the guys that I dated and the drug use
that I did in the days, and my depression and
then how I got to where I am now because
people are constantly asking me how did you go from
a preschool teacher to a full time author, advocate and
all the things that you do. So I'm very proud
(11:02):
of the book, even though I've missed some things like
I said, that I didn't put in like I said,
maybe there's a part two in there somewhere.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Well, good for you.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Let's talk a little bit about your advocacy, because I
think that's one of the things that makes you very real.
I know, let's start with autism and that for some reason,
don't ask me how, But like so many other things, now,
you can't mention anything without becoming a political football. I
don't care. What is the sky's blue? Well, no, tell
(11:31):
us a little bit about what you would want people
to know about autism. What's what's the bottom line? Because
I hear so many things and you know, I know
a lot of people have drawn connections to different types
of food in the preservatives, which I can't believe is
a good thing for anybody. What is your feeling about
autism when when when you hear it tossed around so much,
(11:54):
what do you want to jump in and say, Hey,
wait a minute, and what would you want to say?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
That's a great question too. I think for me, what
I would like to say as a parent of two
people with autism is too many people feel that autism
is an illness or that people are crazy. That is
simply not true. Autism is a cognitive disability, usually caused
(12:20):
by genetics or in my kid's case, there's a different
wiring in their brain, and it doesn't mean they're crazy.
It means they think for the most part in pictures.
I could sit here and talk with you, Bill, and
we could understand each other. But if you're talking to
my daughter, she's going to picture. If you're talking to her,
(12:41):
say about a jar of honey, she's going to picture
a jar of honey. She's not going to understand the
word a jar of honey. She's got to run things
in her mind like a movie. And that's the main difference.
They are not different, they are not unusual, they are
not crazy, and it is not an illness that is
out there that is catchable. You don't catch autism. You
(13:06):
cannot catch autism if you go back through research for many, many,
many many years, which autism has been around since what
I believe that early eighteen hundreds, and then you cannot
catch autism. It is not an illness. It is a
cognitive disability, usually caused by different wiring in the brain
(13:27):
due to mutated genes, could be environmental. People don't know
that yet. There's still a lot of studies on that.
But that's what I would tell people because there's so
many misconceptions about what autism is or oh my god,
that person has autism. This is the hugest pandemic ever.
We've been fighting people like me who are advocates and mothers.
(13:50):
We've been fighting this for so long, trying to tell
people our kids are not ill. When you say the
word pandemic, people think of oh my god, that's an illness.
This illness is going to explode. It's not an illness.
It is simply a rewiring of the brain. And for
my son when he was born, he was born where
(14:12):
he couldn't breathe. But during the time that I was
in labor, the machines at the hospital weren't picking up
the contractions. They thought I had some type of infection,
and they kept pushing demarol through my system. But my
son was also born premature, and in my family, my
grandparents were cousins and they didn't know it. They were
(14:34):
first cousins, so they felt the doctors, the specialists felt
that since my grandparents were cousins, my dad had mutated
genes which caused some issues. His brothers all had mutated genes,
and then of course you got me and my children
have mutated genes which they believe caused my son's autism,
along with the pushing of demarol through my system which
(14:55):
got to my son. And when my daughter was born,
she was born with the umbilical wrapped around her neck,
causing lack of oxygen to the brain, which when the
babies are born, they don't have a fully developed brain.
So there's all kinds of different things there. But I
just want people to know that autism is not an illness,
and these people are real people. They are not crazy.
(15:19):
They are not a political agenda. They're real people. And
more and more autistics are losing their lives because of
bullying and all the things going on right now. It's
so hard for me to explain, but that's something that
really fires me up. Too many people with autism are
losing their lives right now because of online bullying because
(15:41):
people have a misconception that they're crazy, we're ill. I'm
sorry about that getting all fired up there, Billy.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
No, No, that's fine. I think a lot of people
in good faith when they talk about an epidemic, I
don't know that they necessarily mean like a flu epidemic.
I think, you know, back, I'm old enough to remember
school in the nineteen seventies, and I know that the
diagnoses for autism was very rare. Now that is climbing
(16:12):
all the time, and it seems like it's climbing every
time they do a study. And I think a lot
of people in very good faith just want to know
why that's climbing.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I've heard some explanation as well. The diagnosis has, you know,
has widened. You know a lot of people get put
in that autism category that maybe twenty years ago didn't
go into that category. But on a more practical level here. Again,
I went to grade school in the nineteen seventies, and
I went to one school for eight years because it
was one through eight, And you know, hundreds, if not thousands,
(16:44):
of kids came through that school in that almost of
a decade. And I can tell you that people with
cognitive issues of one kind or another were very rare.
I remember a few kids that did have them, but
for the most part, regardless of how you're defining it,
those kinds of issues were not as common as physical disabilities.
(17:04):
I remember a few kids who had crutches and things
like that, but not too many of them had cognitive disabilities.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Now, when I talk to.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Parents and when I go out into the community, it
seems like significant percentages of the class population have some
sort of an issue. Now, So I can't believe that
this problem isn't growing. I can't believe that there's something
There isn't something that's causing it, whether it be diet
(17:34):
or something else. And I'm not saying diet is necessarily
tied into autism, but there's got to be something going on.
Do you have an opinion on an observation about that.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Well, again, they are doing a lot of research right
now currently on environmental factors like what was the mother
doing while she was pregnant, you know, that kind of
thing to see if that could tie into autism. But
I think the growing rate that we're actually seeing is
partially and I don't know, I'm not a doctor here,
but partially I think it's because people are starting to
(18:10):
actually understand autism better, so they're recognizing signs faster. And
an example of that is growing up. But when my
kids were growing up, the people in our neighborhood didn't
know what autism was either until they met my son
and daughter and they're like, oh, oh, you know, and
they pick up things and they started to remember, well,
Cassie walks on her tiptoes, or you know, Josh has
(18:31):
the behavior issues or whatever the issue was. Well, one
of my neighbors across the street, when her grandson was born,
I think she started to see some things. So she's all,
Cassie was doing that when she was growing up, or
Josh was doing that. Maybe we should go get you know,
little little Tommy here, you know, see if we can
get a diagnosis. People are seeing things faster now based
(18:56):
off of what they're learning from autism, and I think
that's helping grow oh, the diagnosis. But I think one
of the other things that is causing an explosion of
diagnosis is and this is something I've I've witnessed. People
are out there making TikTok videos and stuff like that,
trying to give awareness of what autism is. And that's great,
(19:17):
but then you have people off to the side watching
these videos and they're like, hmm, maybe I stem oh,
maybe I've walked, you know, I've walked on my tippy toes.
Maybe I'm autistic. Oh wow, I do that. Maybe I'm autistic.
And so they go to the doctor and they say,
I think I'm autistic. And doctors these days, and I've
(19:37):
witnessed this, Okay, you're autistic, and they write it off
and there and there you go, and that's all it
takes to get diagnosed these days. Now. When my kids
were growing up, you had to go through several observations,
and you had to go through several doctors, and you know,
there were several things you had to do. But in
today's society, more and more people are doing that self
(19:58):
diagnosis because there's actually test online, there's the cars online,
there's was it cars one on cars too. There's all
different types of tests that you could do online, and
if you score in a certain percentage, they say, go
to the doctor, tell them you're autistic. And a lot
of people are doing that. I think that's what's causing
part of the rates to rise, because people think they're autistic,
(20:20):
but it could be they're actually dealing with something else
that's like a sister to autism.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I personally think.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
All interesting stuff, and I'll just close out this particular
part of the subject saying that anytime a disease starts
to become what's the room I'm looking for here a business,
and it becomes the thing and the treatment becomes the thing,
you have to be careful of that. So, yes, absolutely
I would. I certainly see all of those points of
(20:50):
view for sure. And another part of your wheelhouse is
the podcast itself. I know people don't necessarily like to
listen to podcasts about podcast and I don't want to
put them through that, but it is a big part
of your wheelhouse. I know it's something you've taken a
lot of pride in. Tell us a little bit about
because you've evolved. You started out with a certain wrestling element,
(21:12):
and you've kind of gone back to where I think
you kind of feel most comfortable, and that is, you know,
human stories, advocacy, things like that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
You want to tell us a little bit about what people.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Can expect when they find your podcast, and again, it's
the WWBA podcast and you can find it on just
about any podcast platform.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Go ahead, yes, thank you, Bill. Yeah. Basically, when I
first started the podcast, I was into wrestling my son.
I'm a wrestling sponsor for our local wrestlers here in Texas,
and my son was in wrestling, and so I wanted
to do something with writing and wrestling together because my
co host, Axel Savage, at the time, him and I
(21:51):
we worked well as a team together and we're very
good friends, and we wanted to do something different, and
so we started it. But all of a sudden, Axel's
career got very busy, and my career just kind of
went kaboom and it exploded into all kinds of different things.
I grew my a career pretty fast. And then I
was like, Okay, I don't have a co host. What
(22:12):
can I talk about that. I'm comfortable talking by myself
with a guest, And so I went back to I'm
comfortable with struggles personal struggles because I think I can
really relate to someone that's gone through a cancer scare,
or someone that has lost someonet a cancer, or in
my case, people that have lost somebody to suicide. I've
(22:32):
lost six people to suicide, so that's something that really
touches my heart. And then I do a lot of
research on the subject. I want to know what people
want to listen to, so I would do little polls
on Facebook what kind of shows would you like me
(22:52):
to cover? And I did some polls on Twitter, and
a lot of people were like, stick to relationships, you
know your automme diseases, your personal struggles. But they also
wanted to hear today's arts and entertainment industry. They wanted
more about music and actors and stuff. So I kind
of decided I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Do all of it.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Why limit myself to one subject. So I wanted to
do all of it, and I connected with a lot
of people. I have some really good talent agent friends
who are constantly sending me their talent their clients. And
then I've been every time I see someone with a
personal story that really looks like it's something that I
could connect with. I could contact them and ask them
(23:32):
if they would like to tell their story on the show.
And it's become a platform for people to tell their story.
And they tease me a little bit about my slogan,
be the voice, be the change, and be the one
to make a difference, And a lot of people can
relate to that. They love that. But at the same time,
it's gotten to where it sometimes can be very n
(23:53):
I guess the word would be pressuresome. It puts a
lot of pressure because some people take the slogan in
the wrong aspect and they expect me to fix their problems. Oh,
I've had people. I've had people come to me and say,
you're the voice. Get me, you know, get me an
autograph from these wrestlers. You can make it happen because
you're the voice. Or I'm autistic, you're the voice. Make
(24:15):
this happen. And that's not the purpose of the of
the podcast. The podcast is for you to share your
story and your struggles and how you came to victory.
So you be the voice and you be the change
and help others save a life. That's what the podcast
Ligan is.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, it's it's more of a man in the mirror
type thing. Not you know, don't ask me what I
can do for you. You know, it's about what you
could do for yourself and others around you. Absolutely, yeah,
absolutely don't let people. People will always take something you
do into some reason you have to do something for them,
and you know you nipped out in the blood right away.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
That's that's.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
That's probably one of the more unattractive things about my personality.
I don't have any problem saying no, that is a
lot I'm going to do for you. And then that's
not to say I I think I'm for the most
part a pretty good generous person. You know, it's one
thing too well, thank you. It's one thing to you know,
(25:18):
be willing to help somebody. It's another thing to get
strong armed into it. And uh that's uh, you know,
don't do what's the old saying. Now people are saying that,
don't take my kindness as a sign of weakness. Weakness, yes,
and if for somebody that's as visible as you are,
you know, whatever percentage you want attached to it, one percent,
two percent, three percent, those people are going to try to,
(25:41):
you know, leverage something into what you can do for them,
and most people won't, but there's going to be a
percentage that, well.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
There trusts me. There is. There's been times where it's like, Okay,
I'm going to try to help this person, and then
you realize you're not super woman yourself and you can't
help everybody out there, and so it is depressing it first,
but now I realize I'm only human. I could only
do what I can do, and if I can give
you a platform to tell your story, I'm all for it.
(26:10):
But I can't be the one to make everything perfect
in your life. You have to take the steps, and
you have to create your own path to success, and
you have to create your own journey to get there.
That's the only thing I can tell you. Yes, that's
the best advice I can give people.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
The book is called Sweet Inspiration, and you're using Christy
Michelson as the author name.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Correct, Yes, all my books will always be under Christy Michelson.
And now I want to specify one thing for future
listeners here. I used to use just romance books, but
I've decided that I really like doing romance and nonfiction,
so I'm going to explore a little bit with more
(26:55):
nonfiction and I'm going to continue writing romance because I
like my books to have relatable characters and you can
really do that through both the romance world and the
nonfiction world. And with Sweet Inspiration, I hope people will
really pick it up, read it and get to know it.
Because there's actually the very last chapter of the book
(27:16):
is my personal letter to everybody. And yeah, pick up
the book, everybody, and I hope you enjoy reading my
journey from childhood up to now and getting to know Billy.
There's actually a chapter about Billy D's in there.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Oh well, I hope, I hope I'm a good influence
something that's so much absolutely, Oh well, good, thank you.
Sweet Inspiration. Okay, it's available on an Amazon, of course,
Barnes and Nobles, where else.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Barnes and Nobla, Barnes and Noble, Hoopla, Cooebler, smash Words,
it's everywhere. Just type in Sweet Inspiration by Christy Nicholson
and I'm sure you would find it on any platforms.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Well.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Oh and we just actually got picked up by Ripped
Bodies in New York, so you can actually find some
books online through them, and if you call them then
they would order it and put it in the store,
but we have been picked up by rip Bodis, which
is a famous one for romance books. I'm very happy
about that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Awesome. That is great. Now where else can people find you?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Now?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Obviously you are online the w W double a podcast.
You can find on all the major podcast platforms. You
are on Twitter, as x and now at Christy Books
right to where else can people find you?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Where else? Where else? Do you want them to let
you know that you can be found?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Wow, I'm pretty much everywhere, Bill. You could actually do
a Google search and you'd find me there. But I
am on TikTok as author Christy Michelson, Facebook at Christy Michelson.
There's a couple of different accounts for that, but please
look for the verified account. That one is the one
I use the most. There's Lemons eight, I don't remember
(28:58):
the screen name for that is Comy. I'm on Christy
Michelson at comy dot io. There is my website, Christimichelson
dot com. I am pretty much everywhere, Bill. I try
to keep myself out there and in front of people.
So if you have a website, I'm sure I'm there somewhere.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yes, yeah. Otherwise you're on the wrong internet, right, all.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Right, so absolutely.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Christy Michelson is who we have been talking to, author
of the memoir. It's a short read. It's not something
that you know is going to you know, belabor you
to get through. It's short, inspirational and kind of gives
you an idea of what she's all about. And what
she's all about is being a good person. You can't
(29:42):
teach people that, and I'm very glad to know you, Christy.
I think you've been a good influence on me and
I've needed it.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
So thanks Bill. You've actually influenced me in a lot
of ways, and I talk about that a little bit
in the book.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
All right, Well, that's fantastic. I'm going to have to
check that out as soon as possible. Christy, thank you
so much for coming on the program.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Thank you. It's always a pleasure. Bill, and ladies and
gentlemen be looking for Bill on my podcast. He comes
onto my show and helps me co host and I
can't do things I do without him, So thank you
so much. Billy.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Well, thank you for saying that, and you're very welcome.
You can find me on the former Twitter. We always
have to say that people still don't understand. It's x
now and at Billy D's that's kind of like my
social media home. I do have gotten into politics and
news over the last year year and a half and
that has been good because I enjoy it. First of all,
(30:37):
I enjoy current events and the listeners are there, so yeah,
do check us out. We do a lot of other
things too on the podcast. You can find The Abilities
Podcast on any major podcast platform. We have a ten
year history. We do shows very similar to this. We
have advocates coming on all the time, interesting people, and
(30:58):
of course once a week we also do the current
Events episode. So thank you very much for listening. Thanks
to Christy again. Thank you very much, Bill, and we
will talk to you again very very soon. I'm Billy
D's and host of the self titled podcast, The Billy
D's Podcast.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
We are primarily an interview and a.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Commentary based podcast featuring authors and creators talking about their craft,
advocates for community issues, and myself in an array of
co host discussing current events. There's no partisan renting and
raving going on here, just great content. You can find
The Billy D's Podcast on your favorite platform and on
Twitter at Billy D's thank you, and I hope you
(31:44):
listen in
You are listening to the Billy D's podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
All right, well, hello everyone, and welcome to the program.
If you are new here, we are primarily an interview
and a commentary based podcast. My name is Billy Dees
and we have an interview today. My guest is Christy Michelson. Christy,
so glad to have you.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
As always, always a pleasure to be here, Bill. I
can't wait to get into this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good good Now. Christy has a lot of different things
going on. I guess she has her own podcast, and
she's part of our production group here. It's the WWBA podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is that how you say it?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes, A lot of people get confused with it.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I know you don't say all the letters, so yeah,
so yeah, we're very excited to have her. But we're
not talking about that today. We're going to talk about
her new book. And her book is titled Sweet Inspiration,
Sweet Inspiration, and it's kind of like a short read.
(01:13):
I guess that's a category, a short read memoir, and
you're talking about your youth and all these other things.
Before we get into all that, some of the people
that are fans of yours probably know me and the
other way around. But you never know when somebody's kind
of new listening for the first time. So let's talk
just a little bit about you.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You are an advocate for many things, including lupus cancer.
So on, tell us a little bit about your advocacy
and what you do online.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
All right, thank you, Bill. Like Bill said, I am
an advocate for causes such as cancer, autism, lupus awareness,
and suicide awareness and prevention, along with many other different
causes that are close to my heart. And pretty much
what I do is I help people find a voice
for themselves. Number one. I use my podcast to help
(02:03):
them tell their stories and their struggles with topics such
as lupus and cancer and suicide prevention and awareness. But
also online I do what's called positive content creator modeling,
I guess you can say where I do different pictures
of myself in different situations and I add positive quotes
(02:26):
and that's really I don't even know the right word,
but people have really gotten into that and they've really
enjoyed it. So I've had a lot of fun doing that.
I also put together fundraisers and events to help raise
money for different causes such as suicide awareness and prevention, lupus.
(02:46):
We're going to be doing some fundraisers for autism next
year in July. So we have a lot that's going
on and a lot that I actually do, and we
teach spaces on some of these things, letting people tell
their stories and their struggles and what has helped them.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
When you talk about spaces, a lot of people aren't
going to know what those are, okay, And you don't
necessarily need to be a social media enthusiast to appreciate these.
I kind of like the idea of them. Spaces are
kind of what the name implies. They're little get togethers online.
They're audio only, and they happen on X, which is
(03:24):
the former Twitter. And this was something that started when
Twitter was still Twitter. Now it's X. Spaces has really
taken off because Elon Musk and some other really big
newsmakers have used them not only to talk about the news,
but to create news. A lot of people have made
announcements as far as what they're doing or running for
(03:46):
office or whatever in these spaces, So they're becoming a
recognized form of communication. And that's what you're talking about, right,
That's what these spaces are.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Absolutely. I liked to tell people it's like a big
chat room where all these people could come in and
you get to talk about different topics and it's like
you're talking to a room full of people. It's almost
like a zoom call without the video. So very informative
and very helpful to a lot of people on X.
I'm very glad that they're still around.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Actually, yeah, you know, it's just like anything else.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
You're going to find a lot of spaces, just like
you're going to find blogs or podcasts or anything else
that you know aren't worth the time of day. But
there's some that are absolutely fantastic and they bring in
all kinds of information and bring people together that have
a common cause, whether it be chronic illness or mental health,
any of these types of issues. So that's all a
(04:42):
great thing. Talking about your story and your memoir, let's.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Go a little bit there.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
What made you decide because you're still relatively of course,
a lot of people now they're twenty five years old
and they're writing a memoir, which I never quite understand.
You know, I was born, but you're still relatively young
to be writing a memoir. In my opinion, I could
be totally off base on this, and that's fine, But
(05:12):
what made you decide to write a memoir.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Well, that's a great question, Bill, And actually the idea
came from a couple of my fans. All we want
to know how you went from being a preschool teacher
over to being a full time author, a podcaster, a
brand ambassador for you know, all the things that I do.
They were like, how did you go from this to that?
And I was like, Oh, it's so much I could
(05:37):
write a book on it, and then I'll then do it,
make a memoir for it. And so I was like,
I asked everybody on Facebook and on Twitter. I did
a poll and I said if I wrote a memoir,
who's actually wanting to read this? And I had an
overwhelming response on both Facebook and Twitter about yeah, do it.
We think it would be interesting. So I went ahead
(05:58):
and did it. And the book contains a lot of
personal memories for me growing up, and it deals with
some of the depression I had growing up and some
of the depression I had when I lost some family
members and some loved ones. And it goes into detail.
I don't know how much detail you'd like me to
talk about with it, but it goes into some detail
and some things and then as I was reading back,
(06:18):
I realized I actually left out quite a bit of things.
So there might be a part two to this book
coming soon. You know, they always tell you don't give
your audience everything at one shot, so maybe that's what
I did.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Well. You know, that's true of anything. There's an old
saying and show is always leave them wanting more, and
a lot of artists forget that, especially at concerts. You know,
when you walk out of a concert and say, my god,
I thought that thing would never end.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It was too long, and you're not going to go back.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You always wish I wish they'd done this, or I
wish they would have done That's that's a good thing.
So a part two is probably a good way to
handle it.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
What about you?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
What about your childhood? You know, I thought here again,
we don't want to, you know, cover the book necessarily
in detail here, but just to give the audience an idea,
what was it about your childhood that had had these
kinds of impacts on you?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Great question, Bill. Let's see, growing up, I was in
an average family. You know, There's me, my mom and dad,
my brother. We grew up and we didn't have a
lot of money, and quite frankly, I didn't have a
lot of friends growing up. I was kind of the
nerdy tomboy girl. And then one minute I'm playing with
Barbie dolls, and the next minute I'm reading Sweet Valley
twin books. And the next minute I'm in the backyard
(07:34):
playing in the mud with Tanka trucks, you know. And
I was actually also while other girls were out, I
don't know, playing dress up, I was playing in the
din at my grandfather's house, having my own talent agency
to you know, oh so famous actors such as Tom
Cruise and Val Kilmer, and they were my clients, and
I would write up fake little contracts and I was
(07:56):
kind of the nerd, let's just put it that way.
Nobody really wanted to play with me. Back then. I
was kind of in my own little world, and so
that gave me some depression. But growing up, I also
struggled a lot with my weight. And when you're growing
up in the eighties, I grew I was born in
nineteen seventy eight. Growing up in the eighties, you have
(08:16):
a lot of teen rebellion. You have people looking at
your looks. You have another form of people that everything's
about success. The other people are all about looks. The
other people are like, we're onto rebellion, you know, And
I wasn't any of those things. I didn't have the looks.
I didn't have the thin look that most people were
going for back then, but some of my friends did,
(08:40):
and so I would always feel left out and I
always felt depressed, and nobody quite understood that. And I
didn't have the cool clothes like my friends had. My
family couldn't afford it. In fact, we were broke so
badly at one point that my glasses had broke and
we couldn't afford to go get them fixed. And the
only thing my dad could think of as he put
(09:00):
a straw on the end of it to keep my
glasses up, and that caused me to be teased in school.
There was so much there that that gave me an
early start to depression when I was younger, and then
it just goes on when I was a teen into
how I couldn't lose the weight, how you know, people
make fun of you. I couldn't date for a long time.
(09:21):
My dad was pretty strict, and when my friends were dating,
I was trying to figure out how I was going
to fit into the world. So I was kind of
a bad girl in high school and I was out
stealing cars, I was out doing bad I was doing
things that people would not think that I would do.
And then my life changed when I started meeting a guy,
(09:41):
which I get into the book too. So there's a
lot there. I don't know how far you want me
to go.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Ye, there's always a guy. There's always one of those
that's interesting, Always the guy. This is your latest book.
You've written a couple of them, just so the audience knows.
Tell us a little bit about the history of your
book writing, and it's typically like romance.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Right, for the most part, it is romance. I do
have one other nonfiction book, which is Nine Months to Autism,
and that was my rookie book. Had no idea what
I was doing, but I wanted to prove a point
to my children that you can accomplish anything that you
set your mind to. So I wrote my first short book,
which is Nine Months to Autism, and then after that
(10:20):
I wrote a book called Lady for Hire, which to
this day, everyone still loves that books, that's the favorite.
And then after that I wrote A Christmas to Remember,
which is half fiction, half nonfiction. The emotions in that
book were very real, based on my mom's feelings when
my dad passed away from cancer. And then this new book,
(10:42):
Sweet Inspiration, is all about my life and my story
and the guys that I dated and the drug use
that I did in the days, and my depression and
then how I got to where I am now because
people are constantly asking me how did you go from
a preschool teacher to a full time author, advocate and
all the things that you do. So I'm very proud
(11:02):
of the book, even though I've missed some things like
I said, that I didn't put in like I said,
maybe there's a part two in there somewhere.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Well, good for you.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Let's talk a little bit about your advocacy, because I
think that's one of the things that makes you very real.
I know, let's start with autism and that for some reason,
don't ask me how, But like so many other things, now,
you can't mention anything without becoming a political football. I
don't care. What is the sky's blue? Well, no, tell
(11:31):
us a little bit about what you would want people
to know about autism. What's what's the bottom line? Because
I hear so many things and you know, I know
a lot of people have drawn connections to different types
of food in the preservatives, which I can't believe is
a good thing for anybody. What is your feeling about
autism when when when you hear it tossed around so much,
(11:54):
what do you want to jump in and say, Hey,
wait a minute, and what would you want to say?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
That's a great question too. I think for me, what
I would like to say as a parent of two
people with autism is too many people feel that autism
is an illness or that people are crazy. That is
simply not true. Autism is a cognitive disability, usually caused
(12:20):
by genetics or in my kid's case, there's a different
wiring in their brain, and it doesn't mean they're crazy.
It means they think for the most part in pictures.
I could sit here and talk with you, Bill, and
we could understand each other. But if you're talking to
my daughter, she's going to picture. If you're talking to her,
(12:41):
say about a jar of honey, she's going to picture
a jar of honey. She's not going to understand the
word a jar of honey. She's got to run things
in her mind like a movie. And that's the main difference.
They are not different, they are not unusual, they are
not crazy, and it is not an illness that is
out there that is catchable. You don't catch autism. You
(13:06):
cannot catch autism if you go back through research for many, many,
many many years, which autism has been around since what
I believe that early eighteen hundreds, and then you cannot
catch autism. It is not an illness. It is a
cognitive disability, usually caused by different wiring in the brain
(13:27):
due to mutated genes, could be environmental. People don't know
that yet. There's still a lot of studies on that.
But that's what I would tell people because there's so
many misconceptions about what autism is or oh my god,
that person has autism. This is the hugest pandemic ever.
We've been fighting people like me who are advocates and mothers.
(13:50):
We've been fighting this for so long, trying to tell
people our kids are not ill. When you say the
word pandemic, people think of oh my god, that's an illness.
This illness is going to explode. It's not an illness.
It is simply a rewiring of the brain. And for
my son when he was born, he was born where
(14:12):
he couldn't breathe. But during the time that I was
in labor, the machines at the hospital weren't picking up
the contractions. They thought I had some type of infection,
and they kept pushing demarol through my system. But my
son was also born premature, and in my family, my
grandparents were cousins and they didn't know it. They were
(14:34):
first cousins, so they felt the doctors, the specialists felt
that since my grandparents were cousins, my dad had mutated
genes which caused some issues. His brothers all had mutated genes,
and then of course you got me and my children
have mutated genes which they believe caused my son's autism,
along with the pushing of demarol through my system which
(14:55):
got to my son. And when my daughter was born,
she was born with the umbilical wrapped around her neck,
causing lack of oxygen to the brain, which when the
babies are born, they don't have a fully developed brain.
So there's all kinds of different things there. But I
just want people to know that autism is not an illness,
and these people are real people. They are not crazy.
(15:19):
They are not a political agenda. They're real people. And
more and more autistics are losing their lives because of
bullying and all the things going on right now. It's
so hard for me to explain, but that's something that
really fires me up. Too many people with autism are
losing their lives right now because of online bullying because
(15:41):
people have a misconception that they're crazy, we're ill. I'm
sorry about that getting all fired up there, Billy.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
No, No, that's fine. I think a lot of people
in good faith when they talk about an epidemic, I
don't know that they necessarily mean like a flu epidemic.
I think, you know, back, I'm old enough to remember
school in the nineteen seventies, and I know that the
diagnoses for autism was very rare. Now that is climbing
(16:12):
all the time, and it seems like it's climbing every
time they do a study. And I think a lot
of people in very good faith just want to know
why that's climbing.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I've heard some explanation as well. The diagnosis has, you know,
has widened. You know a lot of people get put
in that autism category that maybe twenty years ago didn't
go into that category. But on a more practical level here. Again,
I went to grade school in the nineteen seventies, and
I went to one school for eight years because it
was one through eight, And you know, hundreds, if not thousands,
(16:44):
of kids came through that school in that almost of
a decade. And I can tell you that people with
cognitive issues of one kind or another were very rare.
I remember a few kids that did have them, but
for the most part, regardless of how you're defining it,
those kinds of issues were not as common as physical disabilities.
(17:04):
I remember a few kids who had crutches and things
like that, but not too many of them had cognitive disabilities.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Now, when I talk to.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Parents and when I go out into the community, it
seems like significant percentages of the class population have some
sort of an issue. Now, So I can't believe that
this problem isn't growing. I can't believe that there's something
There isn't something that's causing it, whether it be diet
(17:34):
or something else. And I'm not saying diet is necessarily
tied into autism, but there's got to be something going on.
Do you have an opinion on an observation about that.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Well, again, they are doing a lot of research right
now currently on environmental factors like what was the mother
doing while she was pregnant, you know, that kind of
thing to see if that could tie into autism. But
I think the growing rate that we're actually seeing is
partially and I don't know, I'm not a doctor here,
but partially I think it's because people are starting to
(18:10):
actually understand autism better, so they're recognizing signs faster. And
an example of that is growing up. But when my
kids were growing up, the people in our neighborhood didn't
know what autism was either until they met my son
and daughter and they're like, oh, oh, you know, and
they pick up things and they started to remember, well,
Cassie walks on her tiptoes, or you know, Josh has
(18:31):
the behavior issues or whatever the issue was. Well, one
of my neighbors across the street, when her grandson was born,
I think she started to see some things. So she's all,
Cassie was doing that when she was growing up, or
Josh was doing that. Maybe we should go get you know,
little little Tommy here, you know, see if we can
get a diagnosis. People are seeing things faster now based
(18:56):
off of what they're learning from autism, and I think
that's helping grow oh, the diagnosis. But I think one
of the other things that is causing an explosion of
diagnosis is and this is something I've I've witnessed. People
are out there making TikTok videos and stuff like that,
trying to give awareness of what autism is. And that's great,
(19:17):
but then you have people off to the side watching
these videos and they're like, hmm, maybe I stem oh,
maybe I've walked, you know, I've walked on my tippy toes.
Maybe I'm autistic. Oh wow, I do that. Maybe I'm autistic.
And so they go to the doctor and they say,
I think I'm autistic. And doctors these days, and I've
(19:37):
witnessed this, Okay, you're autistic, and they write it off
and there and there you go, and that's all it
takes to get diagnosed these days. Now. When my kids
were growing up, you had to go through several observations,
and you had to go through several doctors, and you know,
there were several things you had to do. But in
today's society, more and more people are doing that self
(19:58):
diagnosis because there's actually test online, there's the cars online,
there's was it cars one on cars too. There's all
different types of tests that you could do online, and
if you score in a certain percentage, they say, go
to the doctor, tell them you're autistic. And a lot
of people are doing that. I think that's what's causing
part of the rates to rise, because people think they're autistic,
(20:20):
but it could be they're actually dealing with something else
that's like a sister to autism.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I personally think.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
All interesting stuff, and I'll just close out this particular
part of the subject saying that anytime a disease starts
to become what's the room I'm looking for here a business,
and it becomes the thing and the treatment becomes the thing,
you have to be careful of that. So, yes, absolutely
I would. I certainly see all of those points of
(20:50):
view for sure. And another part of your wheelhouse is
the podcast itself. I know people don't necessarily like to
listen to podcasts about podcast and I don't want to
put them through that, but it is a big part
of your wheelhouse. I know it's something you've taken a
lot of pride in. Tell us a little bit about
because you've evolved. You started out with a certain wrestling element,
(21:12):
and you've kind of gone back to where I think
you kind of feel most comfortable, and that is, you know,
human stories, advocacy, things like that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
You want to tell us a little bit about what people.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Can expect when they find your podcast, and again, it's
the WWBA podcast and you can find it on just
about any podcast platform.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Go ahead, yes, thank you, Bill. Yeah. Basically, when I
first started the podcast, I was into wrestling my son.
I'm a wrestling sponsor for our local wrestlers here in Texas,
and my son was in wrestling, and so I wanted
to do something with writing and wrestling together because my
co host, Axel Savage, at the time, him and I
(21:51):
we worked well as a team together and we're very
good friends, and we wanted to do something different, and
so we started it. But all of a sudden, Axel's
career got very busy, and my career just kind of
went kaboom and it exploded into all kinds of different things.
I grew my a career pretty fast. And then I
was like, Okay, I don't have a co host. What
(22:12):
can I talk about that. I'm comfortable talking by myself
with a guest, And so I went back to I'm
comfortable with struggles personal struggles because I think I can
really relate to someone that's gone through a cancer scare,
or someone that has lost someonet a cancer, or in
my case, people that have lost somebody to suicide. I've
(22:32):
lost six people to suicide, so that's something that really
touches my heart. And then I do a lot of
research on the subject. I want to know what people
want to listen to, so I would do little polls
on Facebook what kind of shows would you like me
(22:52):
to cover? And I did some polls on Twitter, and
a lot of people were like, stick to relationships, you
know your automme diseases, your personal struggles. But they also
wanted to hear today's arts and entertainment industry. They wanted
more about music and actors and stuff. So I kind
of decided I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Do all of it.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Why limit myself to one subject. So I wanted to
do all of it, and I connected with a lot
of people. I have some really good talent agent friends
who are constantly sending me their talent their clients. And
then I've been every time I see someone with a
personal story that really looks like it's something that I
could connect with. I could contact them and ask them
(23:32):
if they would like to tell their story on the show.
And it's become a platform for people to tell their story.
And they tease me a little bit about my slogan,
be the voice, be the change, and be the one
to make a difference, And a lot of people can
relate to that. They love that. But at the same time,
it's gotten to where it sometimes can be very n
(23:53):
I guess the word would be pressuresome. It puts a
lot of pressure because some people take the slogan in
the wrong aspect and they expect me to fix their problems. Oh,
I've had people. I've had people come to me and say,
you're the voice. Get me, you know, get me an
autograph from these wrestlers. You can make it happen because
you're the voice. Or I'm autistic, you're the voice. Make
(24:15):
this happen. And that's not the purpose of the of
the podcast. The podcast is for you to share your
story and your struggles and how you came to victory.
So you be the voice and you be the change
and help others save a life. That's what the podcast
Ligan is.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, it's it's more of a man in the mirror
type thing. Not you know, don't ask me what I
can do for you. You know, it's about what you
could do for yourself and others around you. Absolutely, yeah,
absolutely don't let people. People will always take something you
do into some reason you have to do something for them,
and you know you nipped out in the blood right away.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
That's that's.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
That's probably one of the more unattractive things about my personality.
I don't have any problem saying no, that is a
lot I'm going to do for you. And then that's
not to say I I think I'm for the most
part a pretty good generous person. You know, it's one
thing too well, thank you. It's one thing to you know,
(25:18):
be willing to help somebody. It's another thing to get
strong armed into it. And uh that's uh, you know,
don't do what's the old saying. Now people are saying that,
don't take my kindness as a sign of weakness. Weakness, yes,
and if for somebody that's as visible as you are,
you know, whatever percentage you want attached to it, one percent,
two percent, three percent, those people are going to try to,
(25:41):
you know, leverage something into what you can do for them,
and most people won't, but there's going to be a
percentage that, well.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
There trusts me. There is. There's been times where it's like, Okay,
I'm going to try to help this person, and then
you realize you're not super woman yourself and you can't
help everybody out there, and so it is depressing it first,
but now I realize I'm only human. I could only
do what I can do, and if I can give
you a platform to tell your story, I'm all for it.
(26:10):
But I can't be the one to make everything perfect
in your life. You have to take the steps, and
you have to create your own path to success, and
you have to create your own journey to get there.
That's the only thing I can tell you. Yes, that's
the best advice I can give people.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
The book is called Sweet Inspiration, and you're using Christy
Michelson as the author name.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Correct, Yes, all my books will always be under Christy Michelson.
And now I want to specify one thing for future
listeners here. I used to use just romance books, but
I've decided that I really like doing romance and nonfiction,
so I'm going to explore a little bit with more
(26:55):
nonfiction and I'm going to continue writing romance because I
like my books to have relatable characters and you can
really do that through both the romance world and the
nonfiction world. And with Sweet Inspiration, I hope people will
really pick it up, read it and get to know it.
Because there's actually the very last chapter of the book
(27:16):
is my personal letter to everybody. And yeah, pick up
the book, everybody, and I hope you enjoy reading my
journey from childhood up to now and getting to know Billy.
There's actually a chapter about Billy D's in there.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Oh well, I hope, I hope I'm a good influence
something that's so much absolutely, Oh well, good, thank you.
Sweet Inspiration. Okay, it's available on an Amazon, of course,
Barnes and Nobles, where else.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Barnes and Nobla, Barnes and Noble, Hoopla, Cooebler, smash Words,
it's everywhere. Just type in Sweet Inspiration by Christy Nicholson
and I'm sure you would find it on any platforms.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Well.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Oh and we just actually got picked up by Ripped
Bodies in New York, so you can actually find some
books online through them, and if you call them then
they would order it and put it in the store,
but we have been picked up by rip Bodis, which
is a famous one for romance books. I'm very happy
about that.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Awesome. That is great. Now where else can people find you?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Now?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Obviously you are online the w W double a podcast.
You can find on all the major podcast platforms. You
are on Twitter, as x and now at Christy Books
right to where else can people find you?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Where else? Where else? Do you want them to let
you know that you can be found?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Wow, I'm pretty much everywhere, Bill. You could actually do
a Google search and you'd find me there. But I
am on TikTok as author Christy Michelson, Facebook at Christy Michelson.
There's a couple of different accounts for that, but please
look for the verified account. That one is the one
I use the most. There's Lemons eight, I don't remember
(28:58):
the screen name for that is Comy. I'm on Christy
Michelson at comy dot io. There is my website, Christimichelson
dot com. I am pretty much everywhere, Bill. I try
to keep myself out there and in front of people.
So if you have a website, I'm sure I'm there somewhere.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yes, yeah. Otherwise you're on the wrong internet, right, all.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Right, so absolutely.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Christy Michelson is who we have been talking to, author
of the memoir. It's a short read. It's not something
that you know is going to you know, belabor you
to get through. It's short, inspirational and kind of gives
you an idea of what she's all about. And what
she's all about is being a good person. You can't
(29:42):
teach people that, and I'm very glad to know you, Christy.
I think you've been a good influence on me and
I've needed it.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
So thanks Bill. You've actually influenced me in a lot
of ways, and I talk about that a little bit
in the book.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
All right, Well, that's fantastic. I'm going to have to
check that out as soon as possible. Christy, thank you
so much for coming on the program.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Thank you. It's always a pleasure. Bill, and ladies and
gentlemen be looking for Bill on my podcast. He comes
onto my show and helps me co host and I
can't do things I do without him, So thank you
so much. Billy.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Well, thank you for saying that, and you're very welcome.
You can find me on the former Twitter. We always
have to say that people still don't understand. It's x
now and at Billy D's that's kind of like my
social media home. I do have gotten into politics and
news over the last year year and a half and
that has been good because I enjoy it. First of all,
(30:37):
I enjoy current events and the listeners are there, so yeah,
do check us out. We do a lot of other
things too on the podcast. You can find The Abilities
Podcast on any major podcast platform. We have a ten
year history. We do shows very similar to this. We
have advocates coming on all the time, interesting people, and
(30:58):
of course once a week we also do the current
Events episode. So thank you very much for listening. Thanks
to Christy again. Thank you very much, Bill, and we
will talk to you again very very soon. I'm Billy
D's and host of the self titled podcast, The Billy
D's Podcast.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
We are primarily an interview and a.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Commentary based podcast featuring authors and creators talking about their craft,
advocates for community issues, and myself in an array of
co host discussing current events. There's no partisan renting and
raving going on here, just great content. You can find
The Billy D's Podcast on your favorite platform and on
Twitter at Billy D's thank you, and I hope you
(31:44):
listen in
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