Soul SiStories
Soul SiStories was born out of a mutual desire to bring forward hope and healing through sharing our lived experiences. Hope is embracing life despite adversity. Hope is our reason.
Soul SiStories
From Theater to Page: A Writer's Journey of Healing and Hope w/Gail Priest
Gail Priest, award-winning author of Soul Dancing, shares her journey from theater teacher to novelist and how her background in education and counseling psychology influences her storytelling. Her passion for writing stories about healing from trauma and family secrets offers readers hope and the possibility of second chances.
• Background in theater and education provides foundation for character development
• Theater training translates directly to novel writing through understanding narrative arcs
• Soul Dancing won 2024 Book of the Year by American Writing Awards
• Stories focus on healing within families and second chances
• Nature and coastal settings serve as characters in her books
• Being "productive without attachment" helps overcome creative blocks
• Annie Crow Knoll trilogy inspired by time spent on the Eastern Shore
• Theater education builds transferable skills including teamwork and empathy
• Finding confidence is an active choice rather than something that magically appears
• Connecting with others on a soul level creates meaningful relationships
• Hope appears as "an eternal flame that will not go out"
If you enjoyed this episode, you can find Gail's books on all major online retailers and in independent bookstores. Visit gailpriest.com to sign up for her newsletter and follow her on social media to keep up with her upcoming novel "Hope is a Thing with Feathers."
Gail Priest — Author of the Annie Crow Knoll trilogy and Eastern Shore Shorts
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Welcome to Soul Sisteries.
Speaker 2:What a great conversation we've just had with Gail Priest, a fabulous author of many, many, many award-winning books most spectacularly I will say the Soul Dancing book and we've just had a great conversation with her about her journey and her experience and just really kind of offering hope to all of her readers.
Speaker 1:And I feel like I totally met a soul sister right there. So everybody listen in. I think you will too. Amazing woman, Great story.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, well, welcome to Soul Sisteries, where we are here with Gail Priest, a fabulous author who I was introduced to after reading her award-winning book Soul Dancing. Gail has a passion for women's fiction. Her degrees and work in theater, education and counseling psychology inspire her stories of healing from trauma and secrets within families. A dash of romance and her love of second chances are always in the mix. The settings of her novels are influenced by her time spent on the coast of New Jersey and the eastern shore of Maryland.
Speaker 2:Soul Dancing is Gail's most recent book and it was selected as 2024 Book of the Year by the American Writing Awards and it placed first in the Bookfest Awards for Paranormal Romance, women's Fiction and Book Cover. It was a Kindle Book Award semifinalist for Romance and an American Fiction Award semifinalist for Women's F fiction. Firebird Book Awards awarded it first place in cross-genre and second place in women's fiction. Her other award-winning books include A Collingswood Christmas inspired by Gail's hometown and her fondness for the winter holidays, the Annie Crow Knoll Trilogy, which includes Annie Crow Knoll, sunrise, sunset and Moonrise, and Eastern Shore Shorts her collection of short stories set in various eastern shore towns, and I recommend all of them. Gail lives in New Jersey with her husband and their Havanese dog, annie. When she's not writing or teaching, gail can be found reading or looking for birds and sea glass along the beaches and bays of the East Coast. So welcome Gail.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I'm very happy to be here with you and Donna.
Speaker 1:Yes, Well, we're so pleased and so grateful, and so looking forward to spending this time together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great. So I'm going to let Gail just kind of share what she wants. But I have to point out a couple of things, because of course I love your books and that's what I know, and of course now I'm seeing your dog's name is Annie, so I'm assuming that's where the character Annie in the trilogy comes from, but maybe I'm wrong. And looking at your background, my background is in education and counseling psychology. Donna's background is education and theater, so there's definitely this connection, and Donna is also a writer. So I am just really hoping that you will share with us kind of your journey from this background in education and theater and how that got you to writing these award-winning books.
Speaker 3:Boy, it's so exciting that we have so much in common. Yes, yeah definitely.
Speaker 3:I actually wrote the trilogy before we got Annie, so Annie is named after the character in the trilogy. I love, I love that. Okay, if we had gotten a male dog, we would have named him Packard after Annie's love. Yeah, gary picked up this puppy and said this is the one. So we went with it, sweet.
Speaker 3:So I started doing theater really in high school and I knew I wanted to be an educator and continue to do acting. So I began with a theater degree at Rowan Well, it was Glassboro State College, now it's Rowan University and then I got my master's in counseling psychology, which led me to guidance counseling at Temple University in Philadelphia. But while I was doing my career in theater and in education, I started writing about 25 years ago, seriously writing, and I wrote a couple of plays and a screenplay. And then Gary and I started renting a cottage in this little group of cottages on the eastern shore, on the uh, on the Chesapeake Bay. And while we were there we were there for 17 years, but that first year we were there I started coming up with this idea for a novel and I'm like I haven't written a novel. I have to figure out how to do that. But I did figure it out, and so that's how the Annie Cronall trilogy happened.
Speaker 3:I didn't know I had a trilogy in the beginning. I just thought I was writing one book, but it became two and then three. So, yeah, I really love the Eastern Shore and the setting is very important. In most of my writing it's like another character, almost, yes. And then I wrote Eastern Shore shorts and soul dancing. And then the last winter, well, in the fall, I took an older short story and turned it into a novelette and that's A Gollllywood Christmas and I put that out for the holidays. Yes, yes. So I still teach. I'm part-time, I retired from full-time but I still teach. I'm an adjunct in the theater department at Rowan University.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, interesting. So that's interesting to me because you're adjuncting in theater and I was thinking, oh, are you working in the clinical psych program at all? So that's interesting that your focus is theater. So I have to say I'm new to the East Coast. I think I shared that with you before. I'm originally from the West Coast, so I love just the way that you portray the East Coast and I've not been to the Chesapeake Bay, but it's certainly on my list. But I've gone to the Jersey Shore so far and I'm looking for the sea glass and all the things that you talk about in your stories. I just want to be in those settings. So it's just absolutely a beautiful, beautiful portrait and for me, with the theme of our podcast here, which is hope for me, it gives me just a lot of hope, and as did your book, soul Dancing. So I want to talk about that a little bit, if we can.
Speaker 1:Can I jump us also into something I'd love you to dig more into? It was just a throwaway comment you made about, you know, learning to write a novel and I needed to figure it out. And you said and I did figure it out. Well, there's a whole lot. I did figure out how to write a novel and I would love for you to talk a little bit about that as well. But let's turn it over to you to share what you'd like.
Speaker 3:All right, Diane, what was your original question?
Speaker 2:Well, I just want to talk a little bit more about soul dancing, because that is that's what sucked me into just kind of this world that you were describing in that book. And then, of course, I went to the Collingswood Christmas and then I went to the trilogy, went to the Collingswood Christmas and then I went to the trilogy and so much hope found through this. It's funny because it says the Paranormal Award and I didn't quite think of it as paranormal, but I guess it certainly is.
Speaker 1:Well, you and I, sis, live in a different world. It's all just paranormal, is just okay, that's just life paranormal is just okay.
Speaker 2:That's just life. Yes, just life.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious about that hope that was created in that soul dancing story, and I guess maybe did you think about that when you were writing it. Was it your intent to write this hope-filled book? Or I don't understand the writing process like you two do.
Speaker 3:Well, I really write about healing within families, which gives you hope that it could happen and second chances that you may be able to forgive yourself or forgive others. And it became a very significant element in soul dancing. It's in my other books, but this one I feel is the strongest and I wanted to put my characters kind of through their paces where they were going to be able to resolve some very difficult family situations and see what came of that. But the idea of the vehicle just was a gift from the universe that Charlene would wake up in a younger woman's body and be carrying a baby, delivering a baby. That really wasn't a plan, it just sort of came to me and so I ran with it and I didn't worry about the paranormal element. I didn't even know really what to call it. Diana, I, I, I felt like I was writing women's fiction with a romance. But then when I had to market it and um answer questions about the genre, I thought, well, there's this body switching thing.
Speaker 3:I guess the closest thing is paranormal. Yeah, I say it's women's fiction with a paranormal twist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think I guess my original years ago thought of paranormal was like never going to happen, not reality. So that was my old belief. Today I'm like it doesn't seem too far fetched. I think that could happen and so I think it did just really, myself and the group that read the book with me, we very much thought this is real life. We loved it.
Speaker 3:So yeah, Good, I'm glad it came across as a possibility.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I understand that in authoring I mean there are of course we know in publishing there are certain tags that we need to attach to our writings and that you have a set list from which to choose. And this is how things are marketed and you have to fit and adapt whatever it is you've done into those that phrasing. So I understand completely when you say well, that's the one I guess I need to select, because that makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I hear that, yes, I hope so. I mean some people their face lights up when I say paranormal and then other people go, oh, I'm not interested. So I just go with it. Whatever happens happens.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, donna, the question about how did I write this novel, the first novel. Yeah, you're going to understand, being a theater person, how much the theater trains you to write Absolutely. And also I'm a theater teacher, so I'm even more aware. I directed shows. I had to mark beats in scripts, so the arc of the play is the same as a novel, it's just longer. Yeah, character description, development. I was an actor for a long time so I understood getting into the character's head. Yeah, and then the whole concept of kind of reaching the audience is very theatrical as well. And when I'm writing it's cinematic to me. I hear my characters talking to me and a lot of times I see imagery. So that helps with all of that. And I also took some workshops and I had great editors, so I had a lot of help to figure out what I was really doing. Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of how it happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think that everybody understands the collaborative nature of writing. Yes, there is that author who's doing this work, but boy, we, none of us do that in isolation, in a vacuum. There is that beautiful collaboration with an editor, In isolation, in a vacuum. There is that beautiful collaboration with an editor. And well, you can't give too little credit to a good editor. A good editor is an amazing, an amazing gift, and, of course, the whole production team. It really is that collaborative effort. So what do you think? I hope this isn't too nebulous a question, but what do you think it is that gave you the inner assurance and that confidence that you could in fact do this thing, Because many people dream it and they I have an idea and the execution of it is a lot of hard work and that, of course, can be off-putting but also just that belief in yourself that you could do this thing and you could bring it to fruition. Where do you think that came? From within you? How did you come by that?
Speaker 3:The funny thing is that I still question that. When I started a new novel, I'm like can I really do this? So it's a struggle, but I the first. The first uh influence that pops into my head is my father, because he instilled in me a sense of being confident and asking for what you want and doing what you want and not to be afraid of how people will react. Just just try it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that was the start, and I had to face some demons early on because I was not tremendously successful in high school and I was being trained to be a secretary or a receptionist, oh dear God. So nothing wrong with that. It just wasn't going to be right for me to be cooped up in an office. So they're brilliant assistants and I've depended on them myself, but I really wasn't going to be happy and I was terrible at it. I couldn't remember the shorthand. I really wasn't going to be happy and I was terrible at it. I couldn't remember the shorthand. I typed like a pianist, because I played the piano earlier in my life. No, I was a mess. So anyway, then I realized I took a gap year and then I thought I really want to go to college for theater. So that's what I did and I sort of faced those demons and pushed forward and I found some professors who were very supportive of me, luckily, and that made a big difference.
Speaker 3:When I first went into the classroom I was pretty much of a disaster. We didn't prepare teachers well back in the 70s. Now we do, and I'm a part of that. Two of my classes are theater education courses and I'm doing exactly that, helping the students prepare to go into the classroom. I love that. Anyway, I had two teachers veteran teachers take me under their wings and if it weren't for Kitty and Ruth, I probably wouldn't have had a career in education. So you know, it's just keeping at things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, partway through my graduate degree I was like what am I doing, you know? And I was working full time, I was going to temple at night. It was a lot. But my father also taught me you finish things, that you begin. So I'm glad that I finished it, because that whole background has influenced my teaching and my writing and characterizations when I'm acting, getting into the character and what they're going through. Then I started writing a play and I thought, well, this is something new, uh-huh. But it went well and I had a very positive experience. So I just kept building on that. Yeah, you know, it's a matter of trust, trusting the universe, trusting yourself, listening to your inner voice, yeah, and not listening to that negative inner voice, turning that off.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely so interesting. Thank you for all of that. Part of my journey is what I've realized in doing what I do is that confidence is a choice. I choose confidence. It's not just this thing that magically washes over me and I now am confident and here I go, but I am electing confidence, and that feels akin to some of what you shared there. I also want to just comment, boy, the theater arts are transformative, aren't they? They just are powerful and potent, are powerful and potent, and even if one is not a famous stage performer or what have you, what the work in the arts can do for a person is on a very personal level, is so powerful and strong.
Speaker 3:Wouldn't you agree? Yes, absolutely, and I would. To parents, uh, whose students were in high school performing arts programs and they'd be like, how are they going to make a living? How are they going to make a living? And, and I would be honest, they may not make a living as an actor or a designer or whatever right some of them have yeah, some of my have, but most of them will not. But I want the parents to understand the skill set that you get from doing theater translates to any possible career.
Speaker 3:You know they have to problem solve, they have to work as a team, they have to deal with time management, they need to be empathetic, they need to communicate.
Speaker 1:It's so many skills you learn from theater have you and you need to hire somebody with these skills. Hire a theater kid. They have got what you need, and that is certainly true. We've discovered.
Speaker 2:Very true, yeah. Yeah, it's fun listening to this discussion just because, knowing how deeply embedded my sister is in theater and writing, and then just hearing the similarities with you two, it's very interesting. I didn't know all of this before coming in today.
Speaker 1:I feel like we have a new soul sister.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so speaking of soul, your book, soul Dancing, and of course we are soul sisteries. I would love to hear if you can share how do you make soul connections?
Speaker 3:I feel as though I'm lucky. I have relationships in my life that are connected on that deeper spiritual level and that's why, even though it happens quickly in soul dancing, stan knows that Charlene, even though she's in another body, and Hattie, after some testing, realizes it is her best friend Charlene in this other body. So I believe we have these deep spiritual connections and I feel like I have that with my husband and also I have four very dear girlfriends and we call ourselves the Solstice Sisters. Oh, after my mom passed away, I started celebrating the winter solstice with these women, and that was like 45 years ago, and we get together often, but specifically during the equinoxes and the solstices, to celebrate and we have a very, very deep connection.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's absolutely beautiful. We have a very, very deep connection. Wow, that's absolutely beautiful. And something that I've found since I've moved to this coast also is a group where I am celebrating those very things, and it's been absolutely amazing. Good for you, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's so intriguing you share that For many, many years a couple of decades I had a group of friends and we called ourselves the GGs and we said it was either girl gathering or goddess group. But we did it. We met regularly and we shared those type of experiences, encounters, and were fully open-hearted with each other. And, boy, that is a powerful thing to exist. I understand what you're saying when you say you've got those relationships, and they are a lot of the reason why you are where you are and you have those connections. It's beautiful, wonderful, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, thank you yeah.
Speaker 2:You shared with us a little bit of your start. I think you said in high school, in theater in high school, and then went into college and master's degree in clinical psych and then writing and publishing all of these books. Now I am curious, if you think back to maybe your first theater experience in high school I don't know how old were you you 13, 14, 15, maybe what would your younger self looking at you today? What would she say about you? What would she think about you?
Speaker 3:I think she would be surprised and proud and also probably feel better about herself that she would be able to take this journey. Because I was a junior in high school and I really was very insecure and my father had told me to be confident. The reality was that I was a bundle of nerves and didn't know where I was headed and confused about what I was supposed to do with my life and had a not great boyfriend and all kinds of things that mess with. You know kids' heads and particular girls, but I know boys suffer too. So when I did my first play, it was a comedy and I made the audience laugh I mean belly laugh and I went off stage and I could hardly breathe because I realized that really made me happy.
Speaker 3:I loved it. I love to make people laugh. It felt so good. So that was kind of the beginning of the book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I love that. I feel that you know it's funny because I can think back on times in which I've performed. Some of those most memorable moments for me are exactly that, when you just really got that powerful audience reaction and a laugh is one of the most potent, of course, so I can understand that certainly. You also commented that you really were a bundle of nerves, and isn't that true of so many who find themselves in theater also that there's just there tends to be, a rampant sort of insecurity, and through that there's this powerful discovery of self, of life, of others, and wonderful connections made. It's just, it's an interesting combination, I think.
Speaker 3:I agree and I have found as an educator that a lot of the kids who feel like they don't fit in anywhere, they fit into the theater. Oh for sure.
Speaker 3:And they're accepted and they start feeling more confident. That's the other thing that I'm so happy about. They may not become an actor, but they're more confident about who they are and they understand themselves a lot better. I would avoid very much ever doing therapy with my students. I would guide them and ask them questions that would help them to be able to portray a role and, in hand with that, they get more confident in themselves.
Speaker 1:And it's very exciting. And self-discovery. You said so beautifully, exactly, so I've seen it again and again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Well, and as a therapist who has watched my sister do her work with children's theater for many years and seeing the amazing support and growth and development in these kids during that process, I mean definitely different than therapy, but so therapeutic at the same time.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, amazing, so well, let me ask you a question, gail. Do you, through your life's journey, have you discovered or do you live by any sort of life philosophy, a motto, something that you really tie to, that has helped you move forward in all of these endeavors?
Speaker 3:Well, I belong to this wonderful national group called the Artist Conference Network and I meant to mention them before when you wanted to know how did I know I could do whatever I was doing? Yeah, we were a coaching community and there's no critique, and you were trained to look at your language and what you're telling yourself and how to step out of those stories, those negative stories, and we have specific questions that we use in our coaching. And you set goals. That's the big thing. I used to have my students set goals too, especially my seniors, and these goals are mostly artistic goals, and you also come up with a vision that helps you for that particular year, that supports you, so that you can, when you start feeling like you're veering off course, you can say your vision or something that really you attach to, that gets you out of your negative space. So one of my lines that I say to myself that really helps is be productive without attachment, because I want things to go a certain way.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I want this and I want that. Well, that can stop me from working, because I'm not getting those things that I'm getting. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm writing that down.
Speaker 3:I'm going to get out of that. Yeah, be productive without attaching anything to it. Whatever happens happens, but here I am. I'm creating.
Speaker 1:For the sake of creating.
Speaker 3:I love that Take it, creating Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I love that and I love that that be productive without attachment and I'm thinking just so many areas of my life how valuable that is, because we tie this being productive to the outcome. Like I'm going to be productive because this is the outcome and if I'm not getting that outcome, well then I'm not doing this production piece and that's not really what it's about. It's just about producing regardless of the outcome. Right, I do.
Speaker 1:I do love that yeah, you know we do a lot of celebrating of the outcomes as well and whatever this product is, and you know, and that the yes, there's a sense of accomplishment, but it really isn't all about that. It is that, that way of living, that productive, creative way of living, which is the good stuff. Right, that's what feeds the soul.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely yes, and we need to celebrate while we're taking that journey. Yes, that's a journey to find a way to acknowledge that in yourself and in others who you're helping, along with their journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, Gail. Who or what inspires you?
Speaker 3:The first thing that pops into my head is nature, and that's why my settings are usually in some kind of an outdoor not always, but usually an outdoor setting. I love nature. I love to be on the beach. I enjoy swimming in the bay, watching birds. My husband and I are both birders. There's so much healing potential in nature If we get outdoors and take a deep breath and get away from all the things in our heads. Nothing makes you more present than trying to find that bird, because you know it's in the area and you heard it and you haven't seen it. Wow, you're right there with your binoculars, right? You're not thinking about anything else or worrying about anything else, right?
Speaker 2:Right Beautiful yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Right. Beautiful, yeah, Absolutely. So, yeah, you know, and it's interesting birding you mentioned that seems to be just on the rise right now. More and more people are getting involved. Yeah, and I've not been a birder. It sounds very therapeutic actually, and even and like meditative, Is it? Am I understanding correctly?
Speaker 3:Yes, I do find it meditative. It's funny how things come into your life and my husband and I, after my mom passed away, I went on a yoga retreat to Cape Midpoint in New Jersey. It's the most southern point in our state and it's on the Delaware Bay and on the Atlantic Ocean and I was like whoa, this place is so charming and so beautiful and there's all this nature. So we started vacationing there because I didn't really know about that particular spot before then and it's a huge hotspot for birding.
Speaker 3:People come from all over the world to bird in Cayman Point because there's a great deal of migration movement in the fall and also in the spring, of migration movement in the fall and also in the spring. They are coming. The young birds are coming down along the coast because they don't know any better, Right, and they see the Delaware Bay and they're like, oh my gosh, I don't want to go across that. And they kind of come up into the point to sort of figure out what they're going to do. And some of the birds will travel up the bay and cross at a more narrow area. Some of them just power across because they can. But you see all these fabulous hawks and in the spring you see all these warblers.
Speaker 3:It's a great place to be, and the monarch butterflies also migrate through Cape May Point.
Speaker 2:Oh, I might need to go check that out. I was actually just thinking this morning. I don't see many butterflies where I am, and in California I had them all the time, so I may need to make that trip.
Speaker 1:So beautiful, beautiful, yeah. So, gail, in this life journey, you clearly have accomplished a great deal and you've been really intentional about how you live. How do you hope, or do you give it any thought? How do you hope, that others will remember you when it's your time to move on?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah that's a really deep question. Well, I hope my students will remember me as a compassionate teacher and someone who encouraged them and really cared about them and I do. That's why I'm still teaching. My friends are like when are you going to retire Totally? And I'm like, nah, I don't know, I may never because it's still. So'm still teaching. My friends are like when are you going to retire Totally? And I'm like, no, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I may never, because it's still so rewarding to me and it's been super fun because I've been teaching, experiencing, acting for several years. But then we started these education courses that I had the joy of developing the curriculum and when I get to work with these young people who think they might want to become theater teachers, that is a real kick.
Speaker 3:So I hope that they remember me fondly and that my little part in their life was positive, and I hope that my readers come away from my various books with a sense of well at first, kind of an escape from all the toughness in life. You know, you just sort of get into a book and get lost and fall in love with the characters and don't have to worry about real life stuff for a while. Watch the characters struggle instead. But I hope they see, uh, the potential for yeah, or healing, for, um, taking control of their lives. I mean, that's a struggle for all of us. I, I still struggle. It's not like I have all the answers, not at all you learn.
Speaker 3:Hopefully you're learning until you do go over.
Speaker 1:You know to the other side, I think that's kind of the point, right, that we're all here learning as we go, and if we had all the answers, we maybe wouldn't be here, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. So I think that this is kind of probably time for us to get into our rapid fire questions, which aren't so rapid, Gail. We're just going to ask you questions. These are not deep, I don't think, and just kind of off the top of your head, the first thing that comes to mind. If you're like walking up to the stage to get your award, your next award, and they're playing the music, what would be your walk-in song?
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, this is not going to be rapid fire on my end. Let's see. Oh my gosh, it's a okay, maybe it's um, maybe it's.
Speaker 1:These boots were made for walking. I love it. That's so fun. I think you're like the second person third maybe that's come up before and uh, I think that song is deep in all of our psyches. I love that, yeah. So here's another question what book changed you?
Speaker 3:And there are a few, but the first one that pops into my head is Siddhartha. I can't say it right now, siddhartha, because I was in high school when I read it and it just opened up so many questions for me. I reread it. I don't know potential to allow things, to let go of things and to not attach yourself to outcomes. Yeah, that was a big one. The other one was the. Prophet, I did my senior English term paper on the Prophet.
Speaker 3:And I had all of his, all of Gibran's books. I really had a whole collection for a long time. I loved his poetry and, again, the sense of peacefulness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, beautiful. Yes. What movie lives rent-free in your brain? Tootsie.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's such a good one.
Speaker 3:It is just so charming and timeless and funny. And I just love, love, love, the actors.
Speaker 1:The performances are stellar yeah.
Speaker 3:Gosh, it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1:Might be time for a rewatch. Exactly, I need to revisit that one. Yeah, what did you love doing as a kid that you love doing to this day?
Speaker 3:Taking long walks on the beach. Yeah, you know, back in the day our parents didn't know where we were. We didn't have cell phones, we just sort of ran around like little banshees and we came home. I had to come home at six o'clock and there was a church chime that I knew. When that was chiming I had to head for hours and wander around the beach and walk and look at the birds, even though I didn't know what they were because I wasn't a birder. But I was fascinated by them and smelled saltwater, yeah.
Speaker 2:Sounds amazing, even right now just picturing that you paint a good picture.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:What in your world is lighting you up right now? Just yeah that, so you paint a good picture. Yes, yeah, what in your world is lighting you up right now?
Speaker 3:oh, I don't know if I feel so lit right now.
Speaker 1:I can hear that.
Speaker 3:you know it's challenging right now. We're in a difficult time. It's a little extra challenging, but quite a lot challenging because I don't know what's going to happen and I find myself worrying about what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:I hear that.
Speaker 3:But my writing still lights me up, Even though I struggle with it. My dear dear husband and dear dear friends light me up. The dog lights me up, so I'm lucky and I can go out. I can go outside. I'm so grateful to be healthy and be able to enjoy nature.
Speaker 2:Yeah, beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And just to say you're not alone in that feeling of overwhelm and concern and I think you know all people of consciousness and compassion are right there with you.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So if hope had a color, what color is hope?
Speaker 3:I, it's a. The first thing it came to me was red, but I want to be more specific. It's, it's this glowing, burning red. It's the eternal flame that will not go out yeah, I that I love that so much.
Speaker 1:And, boy, that is a writer's answer, but that's gorgeous. And I think you're our first read, but I love that eternal flame nature of it. Oh, I'm going to like think on that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it is that eternal flame. Read what does hope sound like?
Speaker 3:I'm going to sound so redundant, but it's the sounds of nature, it's the ocean, it's a river flowing.
Speaker 1:It's the beautiful smell and sound of wind through the pines. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. All right, complete the statement.
Speaker 3:Creativity is possible for everyone yes, yeah, yeah um, let's see how about compassion is. Stepping outside of yourself and considering what the other person's going through.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, the meaning of life is.
Speaker 3:Service to others.
Speaker 2:Gorgeous. And what about hope? Hope is.
Speaker 3:A thing with feathers.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is Emily Dickinson.
Speaker 3:Yes, my favorite Also the title of my next novel.
Speaker 2:Is it really Okay? I'm ready for that one. I can't wait. I can't wait.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, gail, this has been just such a joy talking with you. I absolutely do feel that we are kindreds, but I honor your journey and really appreciate you sharing here with us. It's been lovely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so will you share, Gail? I know we talked about what books you have. Fun that another one's coming out. I'm curious if you have like a deadline for that one or if it's, you know, still a ways off. But I would love for you to share where anybody can find you maybe your web page, socials, where they can find your books.
Speaker 3:Yes, my website is gailpriestcom simple and everything's on there. Okay, my books, usually, where you can find them, how you know, you just click on the uh, on the uh image, and you'll of the title sorry the cover and you'll get links. Um, my newsletter sign up is on there and that's a really great place to know what I'm doing, what I'm up to, where you'll find me, yes, but that's also on my website. I try to keep that up and accurate. Great, my books are available on all the online retailers, but also in a lot of indie bookstores. I really support indie books yes, let's support independent booksellers.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, so they'll have me on there. Yes, yes, beautiful. You know, I have a Facebook page. I have an author Facebook page. I have. I have a group on Facebook called Gail's Birds of a Feather it's a running theme and I'm on Instagram too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, I'm impressed with your media game.
Speaker 2:Very good and robust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we will definitely share those things. We'll share them with the listeners and we'll share them on our social media so people know where to find you. And I just want to say that it was so much fun having you join a scale today. I will say how much I appreciated you joining our book club when we were discussing your book. That was just so very gracious of you to join us. I know the ladies absolutely loved it and I will continue to follow you. I will continue to read your books and I cannot wait for the next book to come out. So you know we'll be in line for those, Maybe at your next book signing.
Speaker 3:I love going to book clubs, either in person, if they're not too far away, oh wonderful. It's fun and I'm always happy to do it, and I was so happy to come today and you both are lovely, oh, and it's so cool that you're sisters we are, that's another special element. I didn't grow up with a sister, so I have friends that are like sisters, but having a sister is very special.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 3:It is so welcome and comfortable, and I just think we're kindred spirits.
Speaker 2:Yep, I know we are. I agree there's this soul connection and I believe that you know we come into, you know each other's lives for a reason, and so I think this is pretty amazing. So, and I will thank my friend, Catherine, who turned me on to your book in the first place, and I think she got to you because she met you down by the shore and that was pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:So just how we're another soul sister that we hope to have a conversation. Yes as well. Amazing, yeah, this is. This is lovely and very inspiring. Everyone go grab a book, listen, read and listen. Listen in to that, to all that Gail has to share Definitely words worth making part of your world. Thank you so much, Gail we appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Gail. We'll talk soon. Thanks for joining us today on Soul Sisteries.
Speaker 1:And thanks for sharing stories with us. We'd love to hear your stories as well and keep the conversation going, absolutely keeping the hope going. So we're really hopeful that you'll connect with our guests as well, who have great stories to share. Go ahead and follow them in various social media platforms or live venues, wherever it is that they're performing and sharing what they do.
Speaker 2:We would love to have you follow us on all of our social media platforms, subscribe and rate, as that will help us get our message of hope out to others. Thanks for listening to Soul Sisteries.
