Positive Talk with Kevin McDonald and Tyler Jenkins

0:00There is a moment in every life when you decide to rise, to stand taller than your fear, to speak louder than your doubt, to chase the vision that sets your soul on fire. This is that moment and here. We walk it together with stories that awaken voices that inspire and truce that set you free. This is positive talk with Kevin MacDonald where hope has a voice, and that voice is yours. And welcome to the show, everybody. My name is Kevin MacDonald, and we will be joined shortly by Bruce Schell. I am hoping provided technology holds up. And in the meantime, we've got a great guest for you today. She is an author. She's got a collection of short stories and her genre. Well, I'm going to ask her what her genre is. We're talking with Tyler Marie Jenkins. And I hope her family is paying attention and listening. And it's great

1:00to have you here, Tyler. Thank you for coming. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to have this opportunity and to speak with you and talk about my work. Well, I'd love to talk about your work because you just got home from your day job. And so your your writing is not your day job yet, but it will be based upon the reviews that I've seen of your work. So tell me and by the way, you're the mother of well, more than five, but five live with you currently. And like I said before the show even began, I'm surprised it's so quiet where you are, but congratulations on that. And so tell me a little bit about yourself. I just turned 33. I work full time. I work in human services. I graduated from herkamer college with a associate's degree in business administration, which is funny, given that I work in human services and I write on the side. And it was actually

2:01a class that I took in college that kind of inspired me to pursue writing. What was the class? It was creative writing. Ah, very good. And did you discover when you were doing that class that you actually had a skill for writing? Yes. I received much praise from many of my classmates. And I am still good friends with my professor to this day. High professor David. I know you're probably watching. Oh, that's awesome. And by the way, if you're listening or watching, you can put in a chat in the comments and we can bring it up so that Tyler can talk to you and if your kids are listening in which some of them may be. And so that is just great. So let's talk about your book, which is which the title of your book is empty hours, a short story collection. And tell us about the motivation for writing that and the genre that it is. So it's a kind of a cross genre

3:03between horror and thriller. There's a bit of paranormal and supernatural elements to it. I've always loved those sort of stories growing up. I grew up reading the chain letter books, though I was a big fan of those when I was younger. And I've always wanted to create stories that would kind of keep a reader on the edge of their seat and would make them want to keep turning the page because they want to know what happens next. But I am also someone who likes to create stories that make people feel. And when I read some of my favorite works, there's this overwhelming feeling of a connection with certain characters, whether it is that you relate to them or you care about them or maybe you just really like that character. But there's almost a kinship that comes with it. And I've always wanted to create a story where my reader would feel that with one of my characters. Well, that's really cool because that is the essence of writing is to make people feel that they're there and to really enjoy it. By the way, Cap Cut,

4:09Lover 42, 45 says hi. That would be GG. Hi. Well, hi, GG. And so that's really cool. And let me do something real quick. I've got to do that. And then very good. And so Michelle, hopefully, is going to get here. But so what decided you to write this particular type of book? Is it just, is it because of like as an example, Stephen King, he has written a ton of stuff, but he's also written novelets and stuff, just things that just pop into his head. Is that how it works for you? So I'm what I feel a bit like George R Martin asking Stephen King how he writes so many books so fast. Because I tend to get a lot of really great ideas all at once. And I love the ideas. What I

5:10struggle with is putting them into action. So writing takes me a while. I'm not a fast writer by any means. And I tend to overthink what I'm writing. I second guess what I'm writing. So I rewrite it and rewrite it until I hate it. We always hate our own work for the most part. There's one story in empty hours in particular that I absolutely love. That is the candle stay lit. I believe it's the second or third story. I'm going to cheat and pull out my table of contents. Very good. And while you're doing that, CapCut says, I also write. And Lissander says, hi, hi. So yeah, my stepdaughter, she does write as well. And she's growing into a very solid writer as well. Oh, very good. Do you think it's something that your family was gifted with? Because writing is a unique talent to be able to kind of put into a concept of what you'd like to do. And then

6:14to actually get it down on paper and then make it look and seem ledger. I can't even do that. I'm sorry. I can't. I think it's a bit of both. You can be born with like the natural talent to create worlds and create characters and weave stories. But I do think writing in the traditional sense or as a practice is a skill that takes time to develop just like with anything. There's some things I've written that have absolutely hated. Some things I've written that I put barely any effort into because maybe it was an assignment and I just wanted to get it done and over with. Or like, there'll be something that it becomes very hard to write something that you don't care about. Oh, that's that's really true. Because it's, do you feel like you leave part of your soul on the page when you're writing the book? Oh, absolutely. So like my favorite story, The Candle Stale, which is the second one, I checked. It's sort of a paranormal story. It

7:16involves a nun that strikes a deal with a demon. So it kind of takes these themes of faith plus found family and familial love and all of these different elements from different things that I've watched or read or come to love in stories and the venture of storytelling and kind of woven them together into an experience that it has been told before in different formats, but this particular story is new. And I kind of, I like that theme that there is light in the darkness that even are perceived dark characters such as the demon in this case can have light in them. And not everything is black and white. There is gray. There is good and evil in any creature and any person. And I like exploring those themes and getting people to think about things that maybe they wouldn't have thought about before. That's it. That's, that's really cool. Now it's, it's interesting because you're right. We all have got two sides to us. We've got white and we've got

8:21some dark stuff and all that kind of stuff. How do you keep your, as an example, how to keep yourself from getting into the dark place and staying in the light place? It's a challenge at times. There can be times where you're writing a character and you maybe lean too heavy into those feelings and your natural progression is to want to take them to the end and take them to the full scope you want to go as far as you can into that feeling. But then you have to kind of step back and reread the sections and be like, is this the natural progression? Is this what this character would actually do? What this person that I have created would do based on who they are? Or am I just projecting my bias of what I think a person like this would be? Sorry, I got to ask you, no, the characters are you right? What is your process? Is it? Because I've talked to authors and they have all different kinds of processes. Some of them

9:21will do an outline and they will do a three-dimensional character and they'll do a back story of where they came from and some of the things that they went through to get to where they are today. Is that your process or do you do it differently than that? I'm very much a pancer, you know, I write by the seat of my pants. I wouldn't say I let the characters come to me, but I kind of get a rough idea of what I want the character to be when I'm making the story that I want to make and I give them kind of a mental background a bit. I really don't go too far into it because I have tried and personally I find it that I end up going overboard and creating such an elaborate back story that by the time I'm done, I've lost all steam to actually write the story with them in it. So you get tired of the character and then you're not even wrong or write the story anymore. Well, it's it's it's and so have you got you've got this book out it came out in September.

10:23How is it doing and have you heard and I know you've got a couple of really good reviews on it and have you heard more about it or what is your consensus and what was the process did this go through a publisher was a self-published how did this happen? I self-published through Amazon KDP. I haven't had a ton of sales. I think I've sold about 20. Not as well as I would want to do but I've also been pretty lazy with the marketing. That's the thing with self-publishing is you have to do all the marketing. Nobody's going to do it for you. Did you also have to do the editing? So if there's any type of post that's entirely my fault. Well and you know because there is there's a whole process that that when you go through a publisher and they have an editor and then you have an illustrator and then you have the that whole thing and you're right it's quite a process. Now what was your motivation? Is it because you would really like to transition to be a writer over time?

11:27I definitely would love to do that. Like you know a great goal would be to be able to stay home and write 24 hours a day. I would have more time with my family. I would have time to pursue my writing maybe do a little more reading than I'm able to do. I do think I would probably get bored with it. You know with my current day job I'm helping people with disabilities so that is very fulfilling. I work in an independent living center and so there would be there would be an aspect that misses that and misses going out and being able to do that kind of stuff. So I'm very much a wandering soul. Like I've got that wanderlust where I'm never quite satisfied with whatever I'm doing right at that moment. Well but that's going to get that's going to change and grow with time because as you get out more and you explore more things and you'll decide yeah like doing that and then not so happy with that and then stuff but thank you for being of service to the people

12:28that you work with on your in your day job. Now was that a motivation for you from a long time ago that you wanted to be of service in that way to disabled folks? Not specifically to disabled folks that kind of came as a surprise to me. I did start my career in health care as a certified nursing assistant in long-term care. So I worked on dementia units taking care of people with severe cognitive issues and I loved that for a long time and I actually went to nursing school. I was going to pursue my nursing degree but there is a saying it says nurses eat very young and it's absolutely true. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that because you will elaborate. So there is a certain level of politics that comes into health care and there seems to be this sort of doggy dog mentality when it comes to nursing for no particular reason either because no one unless you go and you get a higher education you're not going to be

13:34progressing or getting any sort of promotion in that so it doesn't make sense to me to dog on the other people that you're working with when you're already understaffed. It is the culture and it's very unfortunate. It is but I tell you some of the coolest people I've ever met in nurses and nursing assistants and you know because you're all about service and sometimes you guys get abused because of the number of hours you have to work and the number of things you have to do that makes it a little bit more difficult for you. I still have many friends that I worked with back then some of them are nurses some of them are still AIDS and I worked up until the first few months of the pandemic and that's when I left I left nursing and I started working in logistics which was a big jump. I was working in a warehouse and I worked there for just under five years. Oh wow. So tell me what it was like because the pandemic was really hard on the healthcare

14:39system. What was it like when the pandemic started and you guys started to hear that this was going to be a bigger deal than maybe some folks had said it was going to be. There was definitely a level of fear but it was mostly confusion and uncertainty at the beginning. The nursing home that I was working in was actually the first one in Central New York to receive COVID patients from the city. Oh wow. And yeah so we had the first COVID positive residents in the area at the time and we had to set up an entire different unit. We had to update our protocols for for dressing or donning and doffing or PPE. There was PPE shortages. We had masked shortages, gloves shortages. We didn't have the proper materials to be able to protect ourselves or the rest of the residents and things got very scary. We felt like we were out of control of what was going on. We felt like anytime we went from one resident to another we were putting

15:42their life at risk and nobody wants to know you don't want to end that and and and so many people who ended up on respirators and stuff but by the way we need to take our first break and when we come back I want to talk about more about your book and the stories that you've written because you know Stephen King wrote a short story it was called The Body and Rob Reiner the director and he got a hold of it and he made it in the movie stand by me. I want to ask you would you like to have your book made into a movie? We'll be right back stay with us everybody you're listening to Positive Talk with Kevin MacDonald and listen to this this is important. Here's another point to ponder from Positive Talk Radio. What is the easiest thing to justify? It is a small transgression the one no one will ever see no one will ever know the tiny exaggeration

16:49on the expense report the extra minute you took on your lunch break the packaging you tossed in the wrong recycle bin because it was closer in those moments the question isn't will I get caught? The question is will I know it isn't about avoiding punishment it's a silent agreement to make with yourself when you choose to do the right thing to return the wallet to fix the mistake to respect the empty space you aren't impressing the world you're earning your own respect that small choice made entirely in private is how you build a life you never have to look away from the only audience that matters is you and welcome back to Positive Talk my name is Kevin MacDonald and apparently Michelle's got connectivity issues and we'll not be here today unless she is as far as I can go and and Tyler Tyler Jenkins is with us Tyler Marie Jenkins she's a budding

17:55offer author and she's got a short collection of short stories out it's called empty hours at five star reviews on Amazon so you can pick it up there or anywhere that you can get books and stuff Tyler would you love to see one of your short stories become a movie well that's the dream is that you know every author would love to see their work adapted to screen see if it becomes difficult with horror and thriller genres or it can be at least when you're dealing in things that are paranormal or things that are supernatural because there can be a bit of a disconnect if it's not done right and there'll be some super fans that are really dedicated to your work that love your characters love your story that would like to see it very much adapted faithfully on the screen recently I watched the new the new version of Frankenstein with Jacob Ellority and Miagoff

18:57loving Mary Shelley's work seeing that on screen I would think if I would want my work adapted to screen that is how I would want it done because Guillermo del Toro did a fantastic job honoring Mary Shelley's work and that is one of the problems with you when when you have a book like or short story out and then you have a screenwriter who gets all of it I wanted to ask you have you thought about doing your own screenplay yeah and you know this is my first experience writing anything sort of long form I did decide to start with a short story collection figuring that be a good way to dip my toe in the water before committing to something long yes and I have you thought about something long something happy something dark something good or have you have you got a second book in the works I do well actually I have two in the works one is a little farther along than the other but I've kind of shelved that one for a moment to give it a break and give it some breathing room before I go back to it but that one is also a thriller that is

20:05oh god what did I name that one you know it's a working title um a churchy break until she breaks I uh called that one and that is actually there is a sample of that at the end of empty hours a sample a sample of one of my chapters I have about 30,000 words written into that one so far that's pretty good and so that's um definitely a long way through so it is a daunting task to finish it as well as once I finish it I have to go through and I have to reread it about 18,000 times to re-edit well have you thought about uh uh presenting the next one the long form and and sending it to some publishers and stop to see if they want to pick it up I have um you know I think I chose Amazon for my first one in a lot of ways out of fear also financial constraints um I I'm not rich by any means so I did the writing the editing the cover design all myself rather than hiring people simply because I wouldn't want to try

21:09to underpay someone to do that work when I know how much work it is well that's pretty you're pretty talented to be able to do all of that do do do you get that yeah um I had to ask for a lot of help from my good friend Mary uh she is also a published indie author um my name is Mary Leidick she's a good friend of mine and uh she is a seasoned KDP author so I've had to lean on her advice quite a lot good KDP is what does that stand for that is Kindle Direct Publishing ah got it got it okay and uh so you've got a couple of books on the way and you've also I have you thought about since you have five children at home have you thought about children's books at all I have I did write one um it's called because I love you but and that I did publish only an ebook format however I did unshelf that I think because it was important and I did dedicate it to my children but I think that's something um I decided to keep just with us rather than send it out

22:14and really a a lot more comfortable in the dark spaces I've always been a dark and spooky and moody kind of person so that's kind of where my home is where I feel most comfortable what was your favorite movie of that genre or type from from your childhood or what you remember is is there is there one particular that stands out there you know are there many so uh this one it is a Stephen King but it was actually a screenplay before it became written which is kind of backwards from his usual work and that's rose red I'm unfamiliar with that is that did that came made into a movie yeah it was um a TV miniseries like it okay so it it has like three chapters to it and it's about I think it's about four hours long or no it might be eight it's very long and it has Kimberly J. Brown as the main character and she plays a slightly nonverbal autistic girl

23:14who has the shine just like a lot of Stephen King's characters have the shine and her powers manifest a lot like carry whites do oh so when now when you say the shine what what what do you I'm unfamiliar with that term what does that mean exactly so it refers to the powers that the characters in Stephen King universe have um such as Dan Torrance in The Shining and Dr. Slaype he has the shine so does Dick Haloran so does John John yeah uh John coffee in the Green Mile has the shine um oh yes yeah they believe that there's fan theories that the loser's club in it all shine to a level um but I don't believe that's been confirmed I I tell you the Green Mile I'd forgotten that's Stephen King had written that that was that with Tom Hanks and and uh and uh Michael and I forget his last name and and all the all the carrot that was that was a wonderful movie and so

24:16much of it a wonderful book too I didn't read the book I didn't read it either I can't remember if that was a book or if that was a novella yeah I mean I don't know and Betty but do you know writing the story short how many short stories are in your book there are I'm gonna cheat again I should know this well you the more interviews you do trust me you will know everything about Daniel that you'll know every question that's ever gonna be asked of you yeah there are six I keep thinking eight because there were two that I was going to put in and then I caught them so there are only six now we need I and I don't know how this works when you develop short stories like that and do you show them individually to people and to get their their ideas and what they think of them and then put the best ones together in the in the book format in a way so there's a there's a culture among amongst indie authors where a lot of us will will put together google docs and send them to each other or we will enlist beta readers so people to read a first copy

25:20either a first or second or third draft of our work usually it's a second or third for beta readers if it's a first it's typically alpha readers and what they do is they read they proof read they give you feedback on storylines structure pacing that sort of thing so that you can then go in and make edits that is a huge thing when you think of it you know as a lay person sitting here and I think so somebody wrote a book but you're talking about pacing and you're talking about making sure that that the story actually makes sense from beginning to end that the characters are consistent with they started in the way and in a way that is both consistent and stuff that takes a lot of time and effort done and oh it does and that actually for the book that I'm working on the 30,000 word one it reminds me of something funny I did so in the first I think first three or four chapters of that there is a main character who I gave two children to in those scenes and

26:26about 20 chapters later I realized that I had completely forgotten those children existed and so they so they were there and then they were gone and that's pretty magical so there for one page and then it's like boof did you have to go back and rewrite that or and and to eliminate them all together yeah I was like I could have you know rewritten throughout and then I would have to weave them into the story I've already created for 30,000 words I figured it was easier to just cut them out yeah and trust me it didn't hurt at that all we were then because they were you know characters anyway by the way we're talking with Tyler Marie Jenkins and she's written she's written the book empty hours and it's a short it's a collection of short stories and speaking of short stories she's speaking of short

27:28stories per shell is here and and we're gonna take a break we'll be right back with more with Tyler and I think for show you get to meet for show that'll be kind of fun and we'll be right back yeah me neither I never mind I will be right back and and stay with us everybody you were listening to brushwood median at work the best and syndicated talk news and entertainment shows are you looking for your daily dose of inspiration they connected to all your favorite shows music and news with a brushwood median network app from positive talk radio to greatest vibes unplugged and so many more uplifting voices around the world everything you need is right in one place it's easy to use too always available and designed to keep you inspired 24 hours a day go to

28:30brushwoodmedia network dot com and download the app and you will always have brushwood media available on your smartphone download it now and make inspiration and music and conversation part of your every day and welcome back to positive talk and you know sometimes Tyler in your life and I know that you're you're younger but you're gonna find this it happens from time to time that people will come into your life and then they'll leave and then they'll show up again and it's just magical hey Michelle I can do it I'm doing okay now the internet went down and I thought it was gonna take maybe five minutes to reboot but I was wrong so I sat patiently and waited till the moment my video came on and joined into the show I've got Tyler's book pulled up I've been reading things about it and trying to engage in the conversation from a distance but

29:33it's truly an honor to have you here Tyler and learn about what you've learned and how it's how it's helped you just impact your own life to change people around you thank you so much for having me it's very nice to meet both of you and I'm super excited um you know it has been a journey going from you know I've always written when I was younger but I never thought that it would be something that I would do regularly or that I could pursue there's always that little sliver of doubt and that self doubt and just the monkey in the back of your brain telling you that it's never going to be good enough but you know there what I've learned is that there will always be someone out in that world even if it's one person your story will become their favorite story it's true and and by the way this is an instructive moment for a lot of people rather than you letting your your monkey brain get in charge and say oh no you can't do that or the people around you that say when you say I want to write a book and they say no you can't write a book

30:37what's matter with you uh you're too busy you've got five kids you've got a full-time job when you're going to have time to do that and then to persevere and to do it anyway so if you feel called to do something don't listen to your monkey brain or the other people who are acting like a monkey brain do it because that's why that's what you're supposed to be doing do you agree with that Tyler? Absolutely um and you know it's it's hard you know I um I had my children young and I didn't come from the best circumstances I came from a place where I had everything stepped against me and every reason in the world why I shouldn't make it every single problem that could ever be faced I had in my life and it comes it comes down to just keeping continuing to try as hardest things get just putting in that effort eventually something will give even if it doesn't feel like it's going to and a lot of times do you agree that it's the thing that you

31:38thought would be the hardest thing that to give that usually goes first and everything kind of trails behind that? Yes um so like I since I had my children young I ended up getting my GED and I didn't finish high school so I um I spent a lot of years kind of just working job-to-job trying to dig myself out of the hole that I was in and it was I was in 28 29 years old when I suddenly decided you know I'm gonna go to college you know here I am 33 I just finished at the end of last year I graduated in March I've read no I had my I graduated in December and I had my graduation ceremony in March so um my sister and I we are first generation college graduates for our family so coming from the circumstances that we did pursuing all of this even though I achieved these things later in life as hard as it was for all of those years

32:38what kept me going was proving to my kids that it's never too late just because you didn't do something right out of high school or right in the order that you were supposed to do it doesn't mean you will never do it you know kids I gotta tell you I gotta I look at it from a different viewpoint because I'm and it's all perception I suppose but when you say I didn't accomplish things until later in life it's like aren't you like 33 years old you're barely at a diaper what the hell are you talking about you're you've accomplished a great deal just like Michelle she's 26 about to be 27 and she's falling apart but other than that she's doing great um but but your life is a continual we continue them of great things and as you continue to go through that you'll discover that you're anywhere near done and congratulations on breaking the generational trauma of not getting a college education for your entire family now they can look

33:43up at you and say she did it and she had to come and she came from getting a GED and then going back to college and getting your your degree so congratulations that's a do you recognize how big of a deal that is I do um you know I did it while working full-time and when I was working in the warehouse I was working 12-hour shifts and picking up overtime and it was really hard physical manual labor and it was physically demanding it was mentally draining and doing that and raising five children and just going through everything life throws at you all at once and as much as it sucked at times and I really wanted to give up so many times I just kept going and it's you know it ended up resulting in quite a bit of burnout for a bit I did push myself very far I'm not going to say that it was all sunshine and rainbows and if I can do it anyone can do it it was hard and I burned myself out big time I paid the price for it but yeah um it's what worked for me it may not

34:45be what works for everyone they may choose a different path um but that's that's the path I chose and that's how I ended up where I am so all in all I can't say that I regret any of it yeah well since you got so much achievement from that hard work and dedication you put in for yourself and the future of your kids wasn't it so much more impactful to look back on when you achieved that and it was more meaningful to you and it created a form of um we talk about grace and and thankfulness of all things and didn't it just like put that into perspective a little bit different and make you want to work even harder at times and then there's other times where the self outcomes in again and you're thinking well I could be using this time to spend with them instead of um you know pursuing this because tomorrow is not promised and who knows what's going to happen but it's you can your brain can rationalize anything and it can tell you to do anything you know

35:48I knew if I didn't do it then I probably wouldn't finish and I would end up regretting that for the rest of my life well and the other thing is I'm sure if your kids are anything like mine they my my kids that are now uh smelly middle-aged men by the way aren't we're not really very interested in the things that I was doing and and stuff but they appreciate it now and I'm sure your kids are you are saying you know mom did some really cool stuff because she she went back to school at 29 and she raised all of us and I don't know how you did that and and Berna how many hours of sleep did you get at night? Not many um I will say my saving grace for a lot of it was my partner he um he stopped working during the time that I was in college so that you know more focus could be put by one of us on the kids since I was so busy I would I would get out of work at six o'clock in the morning

36:49and I wouldn't fall asleep until about nine because we'd have to get the kids up or I would try to fall asleep and couldn't because I had to wind down and I would sleep until about two p.m. and then I would wake up and I would do classwork um because I was an online student until about five o'clock or four o'clock um then I would get ready and go back to work at six p.m. And work six to six are on the graveyard shift. Wouldn't that be fun for sure? I felt like I was bionic at times. I bet but that example that you set for everybody around you also that bleeds into other people's life like you said there there's probably been so many people you're not even aware of that have heard your journey and seen your growth and everything that you have given as a mother as an individual for yourself um for somebody in the workplace and it probably shifted their mentality. Did you have somebody that came to at one point and was was like hey I see more in you and I want to help you achieve that or did you just start nitty gritty right down at the very

37:54bottom and work your way of all by yourself. A little of both um I had this one supervisor that kind of mentored me and very much took me under his wing. He saw that I had that drive in me and wanted to um his I was planning on being a supervisor there I was planning on being a lifer in that place and uh he pushed me and pushed me and pushed me and he would challenge me um eventually he ended up parting ways from that place um so I was left to take the lessons that he had taught me and put them into action on my own which I did for a long time um until circumstances came about that I chose to leave that place and now I work in independent living. And what made you make that decision? So a couple of factors I knew I needed somewhere like my health had been taking a downturn. I needed something less physically demanding I needed something closer to home with better hours so when I was looking and I was searching for jobs I came across mine on indeed and I had heard of

38:58it and knew about them from before but I wasn't really sure exactly what they did so I started looking into them and I realized you know one of the things that I've always wanted to do in life is be of service to others and to help somebody that is maybe downtrodden or like the broken people the the down on their luck people the cast out by society people anyone who is typically pushed to the back is who I've wanted to help because I've been there and because that's been me. So to find a position that is a two-minute walk from my house and you know helps people in that way and it is not physically demanding like that that ended up being a great choice for me and I'm very happy with it now I've made good connections with the people that I work with and we're a small team we are small but we are mighty. I believe it. There's purpose that's why. Oh yes. Well and did you ever stop to think that maybe because of all the work that you've done

40:04and stuff the things I I'm a firm believer that if you follow your heart and you never quit and you continue to work hard great things are going to happen for you and if one of your goals was to work closer to home well two-minute walk ain't bad I got to tell you so congratulations on that. Absolutely um I definitely I don't regret the change at all like there's aspects I miss about logistics I do now miss some of the physicality and I miss the people that I work with it was that was the biggest connection the people that I worked with lay it was a very blue collar job very industry job the people that you work there some of some of the most genuine souls you'll ever meet. I believe it. And they are by the way we are Ty who are we talking to per shell? Tyler Jenkins go check out her book on amazon empty hours a short story collection um and when we come back Tyler I really want to ask you how important it is that you find and create purpose

41:08and everything you do to keep you moving forward so Kevin I'll let you take us out. I will tan I'll take us out right now we'll be back in just 26 seconds. Not every song changes you what the right ones do at greatest vibes unplugged we share music that it's deeper no filters no noise just pure sound with soul this is your reminder that light still exists and sometimes it sings and remember you can look up in the sky and see the stars but still not see the light yeah welcome back to positive talk with per shell and I'm my name is Kevin and I'm just here but per shell is the star of the show and it's great to have Tyler Jenkins with us she is an author she's got a short group of short stories out and that is called empty hours and per shell

42:09I asked Tyler and I'll ask you what was your favorite horror slash suspense story and I'm oh they I don't have favorites of things so I'm probably the worst to ask that about but I'm a horrible movie watcher too it doesn't matter if it's a kids show if it's something animation if it's something based on a true story I've got my neck forward I'm hunched over I am fully engaged down because every story has meaning and you get to decide what purpose it has um so it's kind of exciting Kevin right because it's free uh yes indeed yes indeed and and she's got the collection of short stories one's about a none so Tyler you've got five kids when were you and none I'm just kidding what do you know about being an um only what I've read in books and watched in movies um I know my my stepdaughter and I we love the sound of music uh so that features none's pretty heavily

43:12I'm a good I'm a I'm a big fan of um call the midwife which is a show on Netflix about nurses in nurses and midwives in the 1960s in London um that are uh they live in a convent and they're you know going around in this very poor area taking care of these mothers and these babies isn't amazing that the sound of music is over 60 years old that is mind blowing I grew up watching that um you know my grandmother has a collection of a lot of old musicals she was a big fan of Rajasthan Hammerstein um she's got the sound of music she's got fiddler on the roof Oklahoma Cinderella you know I got a even be in fiddler on the roof have you ever watched that show oh I oh sorry I've seen the movie in time yeah yeah I've never heard me was it mash I believe that one nobody my age knows what mash is anymore but it was

44:16huge to me when I was little my grandfather loved mash oh and and guess what she was here and now she's got she's like a vision she was here and now she's gone again I don't know what's going on but uh uh but in any event Tyler it's it's it's great to talk to you and also your story because you are still a very young person and you've got incredible things ahead of you when you think about your your future and what it holds for you and I'd like you to fantasize just a little bit what would you like it to be ideally I would like to live somewhere warm not in central New York and I I would love I would love to be able to have 15 books out you know everyone everyone wants to be an author not so many people want to be a writer and that's where the difference comes in everyone wants the finished product but they don't want

45:18the work I very much want the finished product well willing to do the work well that's that that's really cool because it's it's important to and it's part of the process isn't it is the doing the work and watching it come together is that is that exciting for you to watch um and your idea that he was in your head and sometimes you know authors don't even know where the idea comes from and then it just comes to fruition that's that he's a really cool uh process that that a lot of people use or have for sure um you know even when I was formatting empty hours oh she's back all right I know why but it can't win huh when I was formatting empty hours um like I was I was very much trying to hit a specific page count because when you're when you're formatting it and you're putting your manuscript into KDP you can't have um you can't have spine text on a book

46:19that's less than 71 pages so I was trying desperately to hit that 71 page count which is actually why I added the sneak peak to my longer book at the end of it just to kind of shove some extra pages in there but then when I got my author copy here I took a look at it and I was like this isn't 71 pages so the um formatting when it's on a computer is different than what it is in the printed form oh I had no idea did you know any of that Priscilla? no is there is there like tools or things you can use so that you actually know what it will turn out to be yes and no um there are tools um on the amazon website when you're self publishing your dimensions in your manuscript have to be certain margins on the page because when they produce the books they mass cut them so they have to um all be within certain margins so that the excess paper that's cut off doesn't end up cutting off portions of your words so they're um when you put that

47:20in there there is a preview option and it'll give you kind of a rendering on the screen of what it's going to look like when it's printed and it will tell you if there's any errors and it will reject your upload oh that's actually pretty nifty I'll make sure to keep that in mind because Kevin's going to write a book someday she's going to make my book forward to reading that yes that's what I'm saying do you have another book in the works that you really want to she has two I wonder those about so um the first one is the one I put the sneak peek of in empty hours it's called until she breaks and it's sort of a domestic thriller about you know the classic suburban area but the twist is our main character is a 63 year old woman and I think that that's very important because you don't see a lot of main characters a lot of heroines a lot of people that come to save the day as being people that are maybe in their golden years or later in life

48:25you see them always in their teens or early 20s but I think it's important to show people that are of a older generation that um maybe don't get to see themselves in stories that they like to read well I love that why she but Michelle likes older people so one of these days when I become an older person she'll like me then too in 20 years yeah yeah I got into the 20 years until I actually like you I know because everybody serves their purpose everybody's important and if anything they've got the most experience and they have the most wisdom so they would tend to be um in your own personal life did you have somebody older that's kind of always been that figure for you as well I'd say there's never really been one particular person um I think I've experienced that in a way from multiple people throughout my life um it's it's like a a person will come in I very much believe

49:25that people are fated to meet for one reason or another either they are there to serve as a lesson or to serve as a guiding point or to serve as a connection it's patterns that I've noticed there's people that I've come across that have been mentors there's definitely people I've come across that have been lessons yeah and they're they've been hard ones but I don't think I could attribute it to one singular person I think a lot of people I've met in my life have served that role in one way or another that's fair when you get a little bit more seasoning under your belt young lady you'll find that there are people all the time they come into your life and then they have a specific reason and a purpose and then they go away um and uh for whatever reason and so that's but that's part of the this part of the charm of life because you never know who's going to stay and who's going to go and why they're going to be there and why they're going to leave and all that kind of good stuff but it makes it and that's by the way that's another book for you to write

50:28absolutely every way every which way but lose that no that's already been done um that was in so anyway but Tyler want to thank you for being here we've sadly run out of time but if somebody to get the book they can go to amazon right and uh have you thought of by the way about putting up a website for you i have and i actually did start it but the problem was every way to do it is hidden behind a paywall which i currently can't afford so if people could go ahead and by my book maybe i can afford a website and and and for shall you get to uh have the last word from us to for us to talk to Tyler so tell us tell us what you'd like to do next yes well Tyler thank you so much for all of this time i want you to take the last minute to share any other ways people can find you and all your personal little stories if you want to go on amazon people do it

51:30empty hours by Tyler Marie Jenkins a short story collection thank you for writing this book thank you for continuing to be the person you are and inspire the people that may not have had the most best upbringing but to be the example of what you can be not what you told you can be Kevin thank you for a beautiful week and Tyler i'll let you end us out with ways to connect to you and a message that you'd like to leave us for with the week thank you both very much i've enjoyed this thoroughly thank you so much for the opportunity i can be found on facebook under Tyler Jenkins author i can be found on tiktok under tm Jenkins author i have i i have a lot pad i sadly cannot remember what my handle is on there right now um but i'm also on instagram under manuscripts of dread perfect and also by the way by the way if you go to the youtube uh channel all of that is listed right there as if you go to positive talk radio dot net uh and that'll all be listed

52:36right there as well Tyler thank you so much for being here thank you for being part of positive talk with Kevin McDonald where stories inspire and voices remind us of what truly matters may today's conversation give you hope courage and a reason to keep moving forward and just remember till next time be kind to one another because each other's all we've got