1338: Writing Engaging Books for Kids (and their Parents) with Children’s Book Author Lisa M. Bell

Robert Plank 0:01 Hey, we're here, and we're back with Lisa M Bell, who is a children's book author. And she started by writing a children's blog to explain solar energy, and that turned into a book, and now she has six children's books and one Adult Bible study, and we're going to find out from Miss Lisa about her inspiration, about her writing process and ideas and what excites her, and just all these things that we all seem to have to do, right? We have to get on camera, we have to talk to strangers, we have to market ourselves, we have to write email copy who told us that we'd have to do this. Well, we're here where we're at. So Lisa M Bell, from Lisa elm bell.com is going to telling tell us about just this writer's lifestyle. She does health and travel articles, children's books and so many exciting things. So Lisa, glad to be speaking with you.

Lisa Bell 0:51 Yes, I'm glad to be speaking with you as well. I hope you're having a good afternoon.

Robert Plank 0:55 I am. I'm jumping from thing to thing and staying busy, but that's good, right? That's okay. If you're you're busy, as long as it's for a worthwhile cost and productive. It keeps the bad thoughts away and keeps that forward momentum, so it keeps you out of trouble, right? So nothing wrong with that. And as far as what you were all about, right? I introduced you as best as I could, but what did I leave out? What currently just has you so excited to jump out of bed in the morning?

Lisa Bell 1:20 Oh, well, I'm moving through some going through some changes right now. I've decided to leave a position to focus full time on authoring and my lifestyle membership, traveling a little bit. So that is what has me excited now.

Robert Plank 1:36 Nice. You're retired, you're living the dream. You quit that nine to five to be all in on you and your passions. And so what is that? If someone said, All right, you're a writer, what do you write? Where can I find it? What are you working on? What's the answer?

Lisa Bell 1:51 The answer is, I've got a few items in the fire right now, um, and that's the way I've always been. Oh, you're back. So today's journey was on doing more research on the mascots and also my very first book, I am working with a Nigerian intern, and he let me know that not only do they have regular power outages over there, but they also don't have the same lifestyle that we here in America have. And so my book was too expensive for parents over there, so I thought, well, what can we do? And I had always had an activity in mind to do, to show kids what goes on inside a solar panel, to act it out. And so I wrote that Today I'm having it reviewed by a science teacher, and then we are going to see about bringing it to school systems, both here in America as well as the Nigerians, and make it affordable for them, use affordable materials and so forth, and hopefully their kids will learn to appreciate solar energy and at least know what it does. Maybe they'll make improvements on it. Who knows? Or maybe it will just be something that they grow to understand how it can incorporate into their lives. Moving forward,

Robert Plank 3:16 very cool, very exciting. So you're educating that next generation, and you're making me think about when I was a kid and there were, there's things that still stick in my memory decades later, right? There's like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and learning about the four phases of going from Caterpillar to butterfly. I have all these super old memories of learning about, like, bernoullis principle and how airplanes fly, and it's all and I remember it was just like these, like 510, pages, real simple, big pictures of children's books. But I'm so glad that I just had these, these fun memories from a young age. And so why are you focusing on these children's books instead of, like the the books for us adults, you want the honest truth. Of course,

Lisa Bell 4:04 kids are more fun to write for. It doesn't go as long, but they also, and when you do a reading with them, they'll just start shooting out their opinions and their thoughts. And a lot of times I'll ask them to, but sometimes I don't, and they'll or they'll just start telling me their own story, which can be just as interesting. So they're kind of fun to work with. But I guess you could say I also have like, I like to write the shorter stories. So when I do write for adults, it tends to be things like, I wrote the Bible study that's maybe about 40 pages, and then I'm working on a collection of short stories right now because I cannot do the long plot twists and the down ties. I sit in an author group and I listen to them talk about how their plots go from chapter to chapter, and I'm like, that is not for me, but you have to decide your. Role in what you do. I know, like, for instance, if you're a nurse, you may love working in the ER, but not so much in the psych ward or vice versa, depends on what you're supposed to be doing. Lawyers, I think, have the same issue. You know, it's like, what type of law? Because there's a, I mean, you can go very, very deep with the law. And you know, not so much this. Like trying to know the overall law or overall medicine, sometimes can just be overwhelming. And overall writing is the same way, at least for me.

Robert Plank 5:34 And there's some marketing, business lessons in there, right? This idea of niching down, specializing, becoming really good at one thing that's in demand, that way you can get super good at it. You can have a process. You can charge those higher prices, but then also to jump over that really scary canyon of, well, if I'm super specific, then who will find me? And then you have to, you really have to deliver right as far as, like, finding your exact people and being dialed into the market and knowing what they want. So that way they say, oh my gosh, Nigerian books for kids about solar panels. This is exactly my person that I need to be getting in touch with. And so you figure out what suits your personality, right? I'm sure these writer groups, there's the people with the 10 book series and all this crazy, intricate plots, and that's great for them, if that's what they enjoy, but if it doesn't suit you, then it's refreshing. Because I imagine that some people want to be writers or want to put out books, but they come up with excuses and they say, Oh, well, I can't, I can't write 500 pages, and someone like you is like, Well, hey, you can specialize in something that's shorter attention spans, short stories, or even kids books. And so for for selfish reasons, I have a couple of questions about these kids books, because, as you know from us talking like, I've made a couple of just quick books for my son, and it was a lot of fun, but it was, it was slightly more work than I expected. It wasn't like a lot more, but I was like, oh, whip out 1020, pages, but I had to make sure, like, it kind of kept the attention throughout. And then if I made one stylistic change, and like, page three, it had to go and, like, do it so it was like a different sort of work. And what have you discovered, as far as creating these children's books, and also, specifically, like, how they differ from, like, regular books. What are the surprises that you came across making these kids books?

Lisa Bell 7:26 Well, each one has been a little bit of a surprise, because one's on solar, one's on Christmas, and then the length and most of the time. You know, fiction writers are just kind of liars, I guess you can say. So there are times when you can make things up as you go along, but when you're then, when I tried the non fiction, it was like, oh, in some ways this is easier. In some ways, not because you have the facts to pull from, but then you have to double check them to make sure that it's correct. So each one has been a little different with the solar book, I tried to incorporate reality of the solar panel with the fiction of the characters. So that's kind of a crossover, I suppose, and each one has brought its own little challenges, but my surprises have just it's usually in the details. It's not the major thing that comes at you, like the title or something else. It's always, how did you get this picture, or where did you get this information? And go back and quote the site, it's like, that's really a detail, but you should probably check it to make sure. And oh gosh, other surprises, like just some of the things that the kids will say at the readings. That's a surprise too, because you can get a group of five, and they'll all be on a different mental platform. You know, some of them won't say anything, but there's one that's always going to go, but what about? But what about, you know? And you have you thought about this or that, or, you know, and it's like, oh, okay, yeah, you know good idea. I mean, they're the best people to get your information from, I guess. But sometimes it has thrown me when I have done a reading with kids and the things that they come up with that I never would have thought it would have gotten out of it. So that's, yeah, those have been my surprises.

Robert Plank 9:23 And is there anything in particular that sticks with you as far as something interesting? One of these kids said, as far as the feedback or new ideas?

Lisa Bell 9:32 Um, yeah, when I was doing the reading for the Christmas tale, I asked the kids, you know, what they would like to see, and it's about a snowman reading to a reindeer, and they informed me that they would like a snowman zoo and the next story. So if I write a next story, I suppose I will write in a snowman zoo. What the heck it's done in the snowy area? Might as well add a zoo, right?

Robert Plank 9:57 Yeah, and that makes it a. Exciting, right? Because in this thing like you, compare present day technology to a couple of decades ago, one kid's book might have taken, who knows how many years, right? How much of the printing and the artists, and nowadays, we have all these tools at our disposal, right? There's the AI generators, there's the Canva, there's the print on demand, so we could easily make some kind of mock up, or just kind of figure out using our own software and create something and just iterate in this way, right? You come out with a cool book, you come up with a Christmas book. The kids say, Hey, can they read this? No man zoo, you put that out. You read that So kids, and then maybe they give you more ideas, and it's like they're they're literally handing you what they want to see more of. And it's an amazing time to be alive, right? Because I think a lot of us have daydreamed about, like, I wish there was a movie or a TV show that's this, but now you're the one that can provide that to these kids.

Lisa Bell 10:56 Yeah, and I think a lot of those things have come about, because a lot of people had that thing in their head that said, Wouldn't it be nice if? And then they went ahead and did it, because that's where you're getting your vision from. What you visualize you can make come true. Now there, and I'm sure you found this out with your books. You saw it. There were some details and some derailments along the way, but you made it to the end path of basically what you want. Sometimes it ends up being improved along the way, and other times you turn it like, oh, I hadn't thought like if I were to look at my first manuscripts on any one of these books, they almost look nothing like the the finished product by the time you go through editing, by the time you go through, just putting it down for a few minutes, and then you get back and you look at it, and it's like, Why did I write that? That doesn't make sense. Let's go back and fix that. So you fix it five or six times, and then you send it to the editor, and they're like, well, why'd you say that? And then they fix it. So it really it goes through many, many changes. The concept stays the same, but most of the time, a lot of the writing gets simplified, broke down, and my the one, the thing that I realized with my very first book was I had the wrong age range. I had way too many words for the beginning readers. So it's more like intermediate Elementary, I guess you would say maybe like nine, 910, and 11 year olds, that type of thing because of the amount of words. Now, had I broken down the concept, I would and I may go back and redo it at some point. I may not, or I may just, I don't know, go with the sequel and make that the one that is simplified, but, yeah, it's it's a process, and you have to learn you know who your audience is. And in my case, my audience is one and my customers are the other. Like many adult writers, their customers are the adults, the adults make the purchase. In my case, the parents and the grandparents make choices, aunts, uncles, that type of thing, for what they're going to buy for their, you know, child, family member.

Robert Plank 13:13 And I said, that's a little different. You have to feel to both, yeah, that's a fun distinction. Like, I knew I had a friend who would sell, like study guides, like how to, you know, study for your SATs and college entrance exams and things like that. And it was failing because he was trying to sell to the kids who didn't care about their grades, but then instead, when he says, I sell to the parents who then secondarily care about their own kids, then that it made sense. So it sounds like it pays to really think your audience through and to go through the tedium or the repetition of, like, going back and saying, Well, hey, the book's on the right track, but it's a wrong audience, the page count, the font size is wrong. We have to kind of go back and reiterate. And it's kind of just sometimes I wonder if I'm a weirdo, because I really enjoy that idea of the ideas taking shape, right, in a lot of ways, right? If you draw off your sketch, if you're right, if you do computer program, it's like, there's the perfection that is in your imagination, but then when you go to create it, there's unexpected obstacles along the way, and the end result is like, far different than, than what, what you end up with like, when I was a kid, I loved reading novelizations of movies, because when they would make a novelization, it'd be based on, like, a super early draft of like Star Wars, or home alone or something like that. And I liked the differences. I like how it would be like, way different. And I just, I wonder if I'm just like a weirdo, be enjoying how, uh, TV shows and movies like, take shape. I really like the the beginning stories of how they change stuff, versus the final output. Like, do you think about this, the way that like ideas form and take shape? Or am I a total weirdo?

Lisa Bell 14:57 No, you're you're really not. Um. Um, it's actually how you see the art or the project in your brain. You know, like, if you were to draw a project out on paper, you would have step one, step two, step three, and so forth. What you're doing is stepping it in your brain. Does that make sense?

Robert Plank 15:16 Yeah. And sometimes you you write step one, step two, step three. You're like, you know, I needed, like, step three and a half. I need step like, 3c and and just, does that ever drive you crazy? Because sometimes it's just, it's hard to to get through that, that thinking through process, and you end up sometimes, like giving up or getting discouraged when outlining or planning. Sometimes

Lisa Bell 15:38 it you can, you can, or you can just say, Look, you know, after you get through the discouragement, especially if you've been working out a long time, and I think if it's stressing you out, that's the time when you need to if you're not under a deadline, if you've given yourself enough time, you won't be in this position. But if you're under a deadline, that's going to be especially hard, and it's going to feel like what people call crunch time. I try not to ever have a crunch time. It's just It won't work for me. There are times when I lose it, like, you know, earlier with that, it's I'm getting better about catching myself, which is an improvement that I'm seeing. And it's through working through these steps, it's like, okay, you had this error in publishing. Now let's fix this one. You know this? You've had this experience. Let's not do that again. But the interesting thing with publishing is they change it almost as much as retail changes displays. It seems my publisher, one minute, they'll have, you'll have to have an ePub for one book, and two months later, when I publish the other, and they're like, Oh no, a worm docs. And I'm like, Okay, could we make up our minds here? Because this whip like this is giving me whiplash, but I think it's actually improving the process. It's just that you end up mentally preparing yourself for something a lot more sometimes that it actually needs to be. So the changes in some cases are good, but yeah, I think there comes a point when you have to stop letting it go around in your head and put it down on paper. And then if you just have to say, Okay, I need a page five, a or whatever in here, and you just renumber your pages. Say, for instance, if it's a book, if it's a drawn out project, then your next step just fits in between. Fit it in between, redo it. And then you can breathe easier, because one, you'll know it's the right thing to do, but two, you know you're not sitting there just fussing with it and having it go around in your head. It's all of a sudden, it's just like, Okay, it's here. I see it. I needed to add this here then. And in some cases, you have a takeaway too, you know, like, oh well, that doesn't look right. Now. That's too much information or something, you know. And so you go ahead and you modify that, because you gotta think about it. In my case, from, you know, 5678, year olds perspectives like, do they really need to know blank, you know, and, and so if they, if that's not something you know, like when I sit down and talk to a kid that age, if they're really not into that, it's like, Nah, don't need that. You know, it's, it's what's going to hold their interest. And I do my best to keep it that way. And I, I try to pick unique topics too, like not something you have a lot on. There are a lot of children's books, lot of em. I'm sure when you go to the library, you see this, but sometimes it's not on the thing that you need,

Robert Plank 18:43 yeah? Like solar panels.

Lisa Bell 18:46 Yeah, a lot. Well, I Well, you know that I told you how that started, right?

Robert Plank 18:52 I don't I think you might have but I forgot.

Lisa Bell 18:55 So back when I was selling the small solar project products like the lights and the solar charges for your phones and stuff like that, you know, off grid items like if the power goes out, that type of stuff. Somebody told me that if you explained it to a very young child, everyone will get it. So I started writing a children's blog, and I that's when I introduced characters. And then after a while, I was like, Well, I kind of like this. I think I might turn it into a book. So after a few years, I did, and we had Sonny and Ray shining on the earth, and, you know, the whole doggone thing that went through the book. But I talked to a lot of adults, they they have no idea. They know if something shines on the panel, the energy is created somehow. But beyond that, they really didn't know. And it's it's not that tough a concept, except it's done on a microscopic level, so nobody sees it. It's not like a pump that you. See moving or something like that. It's just something you can't see unless you have a microscope, of course. But so I'm working on a project to bring that out so that people will be able to see it, and then they'll understand, no, don't, don't. Put the solar light in your covered garden. Put it where the light goes, it'll work much better. You'll be much happier. Or at least, if you're going to have a light under shade, go ahead and put have a detached solar panel, the ones that have the cords, put that out in the sun, and then leave the light where you need it in the shade, or something like that. But yeah, the least little bit that gets covered up. Oh, my goodness, yeah, it, it can really cost you a lot as far as efficiency goes,

Robert Plank 20:48 right? So people need these instructions. And you imagine that adults have just stopped asking questions with a kid so much is new to them. They think, Okay, well, where does electricity come from? What like? Where's the power plant at? What are these radio waves going through me? What is light? What's that rainbow? And then adults just take all of it for granted, right? We've stopped asking questions, and so it's a very important, needed service to talk about these topics. But then also, it seems like a lot of attention needs to be put on to the refinement and making sure that it's accessible, that it's fun, it keeps attention, and that way, it appeals to all sorts of ages that the target is that young age group. But even adults can be educated about the photovoltaic cells and about the solar panels and about the proper usage and everything that goes in it. And I always try to keep these podcast shorts, but I'm having so much fun talking to you, and I just want to squeeze in a couple of last questions. And one is, you know, you mentioned about the doing the like, the readings for the kids, right, the marketing of the book. And I find that really interesting, because a lot of times with with any publisher, right, doesn't matter if they're traditional or the smaller ones, they kind of seems, they seem to leave authors on their own to do the marketing. And so when you say, I'm putting out kids books, I'm doing these readings. Like, how do you go about marketing? Do you call the local libraries or the schools? Like, how do you get yourself sort of booked as a guest speaker, but for kids so to speak,

Lisa Bell 22:20 well, that is challenging. And I have talked to preschools. I have talked to the libraries, and it's it's a limited thing. Currently, what we're doing here locally is having authors pair up with other businesses to promote so it may not be specifically to kids, but there's ways that you can get yourself out there. Yeah, so I've done readings at the library. I think I'm probably going to go into a learning center here soon. That was one of the businesses that responded. And just which you just have to let people know sometimes that you're there and you're willing to do it many times. These organizations, they're so busy doing their own things. And if you can imagine, like a daycare center, for instance, they've got kit, you know, they've got a list of rules a mile long about, you know, safety this that the other it's, it's extra for them to do this, but it's also part of their fun activities. So, you know, it's like, oh, when they're dealing with the day to day, then all of a sudden there's this refreshing thing that's like, oh, that might be nice treat for the kids, or whatever. So they'll think about it. But when you're just going about your day, it's kind of like a job, you know, you've got, okay, the kids checked in. Then they've gotta have their naps, and they've gotta have meds or whatever it is they're doing. And then by the time you finally get through answering all the telephone calls, catching up on all the paperwork, there might be time for another thought, maybe, but then it's time for the kids to go home, and you're checking everybody out. So I've been in those positions where, you know, you I can, you can maybe think of enough a different thing to do, but do you and your course of the day go out and have time to look it up? No, so if you're let so people like me let themselves be known that, you know, I'd like, I'm available for this, then all of a sudden it comes up on their radar. So that's, that's my thought. Anyway, I don't know it seems to be the way it works. You know, you put yourself out there and and some of the libraries have their own programs going on, like they have a schedule of things, I think that they have they want to cover. The one down here does, in fact, in all our local libraries here, they will do like a major, big walk through, I think at Christmas time they did something. They'll do something occasionally during the, you know, for their summer reading program. And they kind of go all out. But it needs to work with their theme, right? So if you work with their. Theme, it goes pretty well,

Robert Plank 25:01 and that's all the more reason to iterate and customize and be prolific and specific. So that way, if there is, and especially this whole theme that we've been talking about of mentally preparing and project managing ahead of time. So if you know that that learning center or that library is going to have such and such theme coming up in six months for Christmas. Maybe get that book figured out now and and don't necessarily just churn out stuff because it's random and it's fun for you, but figure out, like, what's your target? What's your goal? Okay, well, if there's going to be this Christmas theme stuff, let me get this Christmas kids book figured out, knowing that I'll then be doing some marketing prospecting, and it seems like, you know, everyone always has the problem with confidence, right, the low self esteem. And what you're saying is, if you're looking to present your book to these daycares or these learning centers or whoever will take you, you're do the added service you're providing is to break up the monotony of the day, and if they reject you, if they say no, there's so many reasons right, you might just not fit in the schedule. They might already have it taken care of, and all the more reason to put yourself out there and to do the amount of numbers that you need to make right. Make the phone calls, the letters, the emails. So that way you find your fit, you find your people, and that way you can get some of this experience under your belt, and kind of just open yourself to even more opportunities, right? And that way, hopefully, if someone is looking up, Miss Lisa M Bell, who has some excellent kids books, including, I believe, Boo goes Woo and we have what are some of the other titles.

Lisa Bell 26:43 So we've got who goes who. And that was actually the illustrator. And I had a little deal she illustrated for my book, and I put the words to hers. Her concept was when she worked at a zoo, um, she noticed that kids were were afraid of animals of the night. Her name's Sarah, and she wanted to make it them less scary. And so she thought, if we went ahead and said, why they look the way? They do, like they why do they have to have the big eyes? Well, in the dark, you you know, your eyes have to be bigger be able to see, you know, the the way, like you're pre like in the dark, our pupils are bigger, and then within the light, you know that there's that transition, because your eyes are your pupils are so big, and then when you hit the light, it's like, boy, well, wait a minute. And then your pupil goes down a little bit. So we adjust the animals of the night. They always have that, you know, the where they need to see or they have the bigger teeth because of the job they do, and somehow it seemed to make them less scary. And boo just doesn't feel like he fits in, you know, so he's trying to figure his way out the world too. Um, my other titles are the adventures of sunny and rain. Obviously, that's the solar book, a Christmas tale, that one I wrote off of this one picture. We had to have pictures added to it, because I thought the artist was actually an illustrator, possibly. And I asked her, and she said, No. I said, Well, do you mind if I write a story off of it? And she says, Yeah, that's fine. And so I sent it to her privately, thinking that was the end of it. And she said, Can we publish this? And I said, Well, we going to need a couple more pictures. We're going to do that, but, and so it went from there. And I thought it was kind of a cute little story, and so did she, and I've never met her either. It's interesting, um, these two kind of go together. Kenny was a deaf dog that we had at the shelter down here, and she was life of the party. Had no idea there was anything going on with her. She didn't know she was different, which is probably a good thing, but we think that's why she was astray. Uh, her kennel mate matrix came in due to no fault of his own, his owner was not able to take care of him anymore, and you'd have thought they were from the same litter, so the shelter checked see if they were good to play together, and they hit it off like you wouldn't believe now, they didn't speak the same language. They couldn't, because she's deaf, you know, so she had to watch her visual clues. But Lord, she would just pop you and, oh, getting a picture of that dog was some and so he was depressed because he was there again. He hadn't done anything wrong. And she was like, bam, come on, let's go run around, play with toys. They had an awesome time together. And he would let her know when somebody was coming up to the cage so that she could get her treats and so on and so forth. And they actually ended up getting adopted separate. But on the same weekend, which was good, because I don't know how they would have done separately, but CAMI used to do this little thing. When you come up to her cage, it lot people didn't read the sign, and she'd just go like this. And finally, the kennel tech would say to the people, because they're like, Oh, that's so cute. And she said, yeah, she's trying to figure out what you're doing with that hole in your face. She has no cliche. They're like, she's down, and that would kind of put the people off. Well anyway, now that they've been adopted, they are off to training in school, just like any kid would be. But they're learning sign language, and they're learning to make new friends, and people are learning to communicate with Cami, just like CAMI is learning to communicate with them. And the real animals. This is my truth teller. This is the first time I ever told the truth. I didn't make it all up, okay, the real animals of ships and submarines. I was working at the St Mary's submarine Museum, and when I was going through the earlier files, I noticed there were cats and dogs and chickens, and I had never known that they were on submarines before. So when I started asking, they said, Oh yeah, they were lot of them. And I started researching and found that there were many, many more in all branches of the service and around the world. So this was just kind of the, I don't know, the start of a lot of possible projects. There will be more on this. And then this was my anomaly. I had never planned on writing a Bible study ever. It's for adults. Um, since that is now out, you know how we talked about how one thing leads to the other this morning, someone said, Well, why don't you write a kids study on it? He's right in your areas. And I said, Okay, maybe I will. But so that was something I decided to try after much nudging from the guy upstairs, because I didn't want to do it. I like writing for kids, but this was kept short, so it was good, and I did teach it for the first time last night, and it seemed to be okay. So you never know where you're going to end up, right,

Robert Plank 32:08 right? And the the only way to know where you're going to end up is to do nothing and just to sit there and wonder what could have been but a way more exciting, adventurous life is to say, you know, I'll make that blog which will lead to that kids book, which will lead to the other kids book, and I'll make that Bible study which will lead a Bible study for kids. And I just, I love the forward momentum and saying yes to the opportunities and making decisions based on your reality and not your imagination, right? Imagination is great to get you started, but then the project takes shape. You put it out there, you get the feedback from the kids, you get the feedback from the publisher, you put it out there, and then that feedback leads to other things. I think that's a way more just better lifestyle to be living is based on the facts that come back, even though sometimes there's criticism, frustration, uncertainty, but hey, we have to power through and embrace that and go through that writer's lifestyle, while also balancing the the project management of it all, and saying, Well, I don't want to be crunched of a deadline and be stressed, because that's not, that's no way to live. So I want to get to things ahead of time and do my marketing of the book. And you think about like the Stephen King, like you write, you know, 500 words a day, 2000 words a day, and just kind of have that the writer's discipline, while also balancing the chaos of creativity. And somehow it all works, right? Somehow you've made it work to the point where you're you quit your nine to five now you're all in on this book, publishing, this book, authoring. And so we mentioned some of these books, which we can find at Lisa M bell.com there's that Bible study will you, which explores the reasons that you may be dismissing your desires, and if you know what stops you, then you can possibly change. There's these books for kids that we mentioned. There's CAMI the shelters, Deaf puppy makes a friend. Cami and matrix go to school, Adventures of sunny Ray and friends, which is that solar panel book, a Christmas Tale, which is now leading to the zoo for snowman. There's the real animals of submarines and ships. There's boo goes, who, and I'm sure many more to come. And so what are you currently working on what's the the next exciting project on the horizon for you, other than like, four things you already mentioned?

Lisa Bell 34:26 Oh Lord, yes, I know it's hard to keep up with someone, short stories with the mascots. See. What happened was, after I published that book, I had a ninth grade teacher write to me and say she used that in her class. And I thought that was a bit odd so, but then she got me started on something else. She said my dad was on the USS Senate, and the Senate is more famous for having the penguin on board that jumped on board. Okay, that that's a whole story in itself. But so I went back and looked through the. Pictures, and I said, yeah, there was actually a dog. It was a beagle type dog. Well, you know, I could see the picture, and she she loved it, but she's like, Do you know the dog's name? I still can't find that dog's name, but that has led me to reach out. What had happened was her dad had written her letter that said, we had to give up our dog today because he needed more sunshine and he needed a place to run around. So we gave him to the B 29 ers, meaning the B 29 bombers back then, this was back in the 1940s and she, like, I said, she asked me the dog's name, and I was like, Okay, I'll try. So I reached out to the B 29 ers. Well, I found out that they had a ton of mascots, the Air Army. Okay? United States Army, Air Forces. That's what they were called. Back then it was not always the Air Force. So they had a bunch of them, and sometimes they would put them onto what they would call their nose art, because that's, I don't know, I guess that was a thing in the Air Corps back then, or the Air Force back then was when you were trying to show how tough you were, or whatever, I guess, or just the fighting spirit, or to keep your morale up, you did nose art, And it was usually of the crew, or sometimes it would be something you a little bit of risque stuff. There was one I was looking at today. It was called the Jezebel. I would leave to your imagination what that looked like. But they did have a dog in the picture. And then that some of the dog the well, a lot of them were dogs, but a lot of them, those mascots, were not dogs. They were they had cats, chickens, George, there was one that's a very famous one chicken, little guy that sit on their neck. Um, little most of the time with submarines, it was the smaller dogs. Some of the ships, however, have had pigs. They have had goats. Submarines have had this, usually the smaller goats, bears, in some cases, monkeys. I've gone back as far as World War One and found lions in the camp, so you know. And if you look at the Polish army they had, I believe it's pronounced wo check, he actually got a promotion. He was adopted as an orphan. You have to remember that back then, we did not have the animal rules and rescues that we have today. So they found this orphan bear who took him in. Usually, it was out of a kindness, because they had been an orphan, and he actually worked, worked with the crew. He they, they taught him to move armament, and, I mean, he'd be taking fire and stuff like that. Well, one day, I believe it was they went into they met with the British, and the British said they did not want that bear in the camp. They weren't going to say whatever. And so the Polish said, Well, fine, we'll enlist him. And they did. So so then the British couldn't say anything, because he was actually officially part of the company, and then he went through a pretty fierce battle at one point, I believe it was, and I'll have to go back and read the story again. So don't quote me on any of this, but and he received a promotion to Sergeant Bucha, wow, and there was a big to do when the war was over with what to do with Bucha, because he had become a beloved member of of their crew, crew unit, whatever you want to call it, these animals, did they belong, but they belong to the entire crew. They weren't most of the time, they were not someone's pet. Occasionally you can read where a pet was allowed to be brought to the military with this the service member. But generally, they belong to the crew.

Robert Plank 39:03 Well, when is that kids book coming out?

Lisa Bell 39:05 Oh, that's more. I'm graduating. That's the short stories for adults. Because after that ninth grade teacher wrote to me and said, I use this in my class, I thought, well, maybe we need to do something for the little bit older people, because adults do show a great interest in it. There's and there's not a lot on them. So keeping the story short works within my wheelhouse, and that makes me happy. So putting a collection of them together, I can do it to say I won't write a novel someday. I won't say it, but it's not something I want to do right now. I just like the short stuff so

Robert Plank 39:45 you see what kind of opportunities present themselves. And I think a couple of years ago, I was reading some article about, like, with, with video games, like, say, like, super mario comes out, and they make this decision of, do we stay in that age group and keep making. For the the newer batch of kids, or do we follow the kids as they become teenagers and grow up? And it's just it's a lot of fun to think about right, like, where do you fit in the what niches and what age group and what kind of kids and what they're interested in? But it seems like you're definitely on a track, on a path to to staying on progress and putting these things out, putting out the kids books, because it's so important for kids to make time to read, especially nowadays with the screens and the tablets and the apps and the streaming. And you hear about how it's just a shame that a lot of kids like don't barely go outside compared to our generations. And so it's good to encourage that reading, readers or leaders and that website we sit as Lisa M bell.com and before we let you go, it's time for the scary part of the show where I ask for a quote or lesson that has served you. And it can be a little on the spot thing to ask of you. But what comes to mind as far as a final quote or lesson for our listeners,

Lisa Bell 41:02 okay, well, back when I was doing the very adult sales of solar energy, it's one I've already told you, somebody said to me once, if you can make a very young child understand it, everybody will get it. And that has stuck with me throughout. There have been other lessons, but I think that's the one that started the whole thing.

Robert Plank 41:24 I love it. They call that E, L, I five, right? Explain it like I'm five, and if they can get it, then the rest of us can get it, and that's helpful, just in general, right? When we're trying to get through to people, we can easily make ourselves look smart and throw in the technical jargon, but, like, dumb it down. So to speak, that way, it has this wider appeal. It might even take more work to make it more accessible, but it's worth doing and worth pursuing, and especially worth pursuing some of these very excellent books put out by Miss Lisa M Bell. We said, the real animals of submarines and ships, bugos who we said, The Adventures of sunny Ray and friends, a Christmas tale, Cami and matrix go to school and Cami the shelters, Deaf puppy makes a friend. And that Bible study book called will you, which is then coming soon, in at a children's version as well. Miss Lisa M Bell, it's been wonderful speaking with you, catching up, talking about like 52 topics and one. It's been a blast. So thanks for showing up and helping us out.

Lisa Bell 42:23 Thank you, Robert. It's been wonderful being on with you, and you have taught me much too. You are very good atwhat you do well.

Robert Plank 42:32 Thank you. Two way street, thanks for being here.

Lisa Bell 42:34 Okay, you have a good day

Robert Plank 42:36 you as well. Alright? You.