Into The Woods Of Imagination

We sit down with author and veteran teacher Judith Husker to explore how a childhood of forts and frogs became a debut fantasy full of born ones, chasm guards, and a reluctant hero learning to trust himself. Along the way we talk craft, teaching, and why celebrating your own life is the bravest magic.

• Growing up on a family farm and building a lifelong imagination
• Translating teaching into storytelling that feels real
• Writing process as a pantser and embracing surprise
• The Dreamer The Seeker world, magic systems, and stakes
• Kaori’s arc from insecurity to strength
• Villainy with purpose and creatures that raise the tension
• Themes of self-worth, identity, and belonging
• Easter eggs, cliffhangers, and a sequel in progress
• Practical encouragement for aspiring writers to just start
• Where to find the book on Amazon and Kindle

Go pick up The Dreamer The Seeker on Amazon; the link is in the show notes

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 1:52 Childhood Imagination On A Farm
• 5:28 Keeping Wonder Alive Through Teaching
• 9:45 Writing In The Classroom And Beyond
• 13:22 Plotter Or Pantser: Process Revealed
• 17:33 Introducing The Dreamer The Seeker
• 21:05 Worldbuilding, Born Ones, And Magic
• 25:20 Monsters, Chasm Guards, And Stakes
• 29:12 Themes Of Self-Belief And Identity
• 33:20 Sequels, Easter Eggs, And Cliffhangers
• 37:35 Creative Blocks And Surprising Endings
• 41:10 Guiding New Writers To Start

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Every conversation tells a story, and the best ones begin with honesty, courage, and a little curiosity. That's where Elsa Kurt comes in. She's an author, podcaster, and independent media personality, and this is where she brings real life to the table. Authors, thinkers, creators, leaders, everyday folks with extraordinary journeys. We sit down, we dig in, and we talk about what matters, what's messy, what's beautiful, and what just might inspire you to look at the world a little differently. So pour a cup of something good. Settle back and join me. This is Elsa Kurt Interviews, where truth has a seat and everyone's welcome.

SPEAKER_02: 0:41

Well, hello, my friends. It is time for another one of my favorite things. They have so many favorite things, but this is absolutely highest on the list. I love interviews, and I have a wonderful, beautiful, lovely, amazing guest today. Her name is Judith, and she is going to tell us all about her latest. I'm sorry, her debut book. I'm saying latest because I know there's going to be so many more to come. Um, but here is a little bit about her.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Today we're welcoming Judith Husker, a woman whose life reads like a quiet adventure story all its own. She grew up building forts in the woods, spent 40 years lighting fires of imagination in her students, and now she stepped into the world of fantasy writing with her debut novel, The Dreamer the Seeker. We'll talk about the childhood that shaped her, the classroom that sharpened her voice, and the stories she's bringing to life today. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:38

Well, hello, Judith. How are you? I am fine. How are you? I am good. I'm so happy to meet you. I'm so happy to hear about your book. You know, when I was reading your bio a little bit, it felt in some ways so relatable. We had such a similar childhood and just love for imagination. So um, you grew up on a small family farm. That part I didn't get to do, but I had a really big yard. Um, you were surrounded by woods and animals and what sounds like endless, endless rooms, room to just imagine. And I would love to know that how did that childhood world of forts and fairies and dragons shape the storyteller that you eventually became?

SPEAKER_01: 2:28

Well, it was not only that, going out in the woods with my brothers, helping build forts, and then imagining all the things that were coming after us, and we were attacking them or flying somewhere. And then I would go in the house and create a club, like I had the garden club, and I'd make everyone little songs and little booklet and things they could do. And this was like when I was just 10, 11, 12, I was already doing these things, and um we might do a dragon club, you know, where we would draw dragons and talk, you know, because we knew dragons were real. I love like that.

SPEAKER_02: 3:07

Oh, how fun! Were you able? So I I feel like I was able to hang on to that mindset for so long, and yes, even into adulthood, but I always I also feel like it slips away a little bit. But you were very fortunate because you worked with children for a very long time. Did that help you? Did that help keep that sense, that type of imagination alive for you?

SPEAKER_01: 3:32

Definitely. Um, I was already into being a very creative person and just like creating a club, and we'd have a sometimes we'd have a fair going on, or just all kinds of interesting things in the backyard. And uh, there were six kids in my family, so we were all very busy, we enjoyed each other, and uh my dad was busy things like digging out a swimming pool, just cluttering it with black tarp. That was all this big hole. But and my mom would dump bleach in it every once in a while to make it supposedly clean.

SPEAKER_02: 4:12

That was that was our answer back in the day to everything, right? Right, yeah, good old bleach.

SPEAKER_01: 4:19

Right. But there were all kinds of things in the pool too. That one time a frog got in there and that was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02: 4:25

Oh, my favorite.

SPEAKER_01: 4:27

Right. So it was kind of a little live pond, not I mean, you know, it wasn't just a swimming pool.

SPEAKER_02: 4:35

Right, right. Oh, I remember that as a kid too. Or the I remember the swimming pool, and that was like my big excitement. So I grew up in an apartment complex, but um, we had a big in-round pool. I thought it was rich, by the way. We were not, nowhere near it. And you know, the um the little drains that they would have or baskets, filters, that's what it is. Um, we would always find frogs in there. So that was like the greatest thing ever in my mind, right? Oh, loved it. They all had names. Every frog I ever caught got a name. Most of them had the same name, right? Right. Oh, I love that. It's like you're bringing me back to my own childhood. It's so sweet. Good, I'm glad. Um, were you were you writing back then as well, or were you just living in that imagination?

SPEAKER_01: 5:23

I was kind of living in it when I wrote these little booklets for kids. I would make them into every all the neighbor kids got a booklet, and we would sing the songs and read the stories. And so that was my beginning of my writing. And then it just continued from there. That's enjoyed writing and creating things and being very creative, which really helped it when I became a teacher.

SPEAKER_02: 5:47

Oh, absolutely. What um what what did you teach? Was it general studies or was it English?

SPEAKER_01: 5:52

Was it yes, general? I taught grade school and because it was so long, I taught all the grades, K through, and I went to fifth grade then in the school district I was in. So uh, and I love being in different grades because they're all wonderful. And I thoroughly that was my passion, really. Teaching always was from the even before I started teaching. And so, and I love creating things. I didn't just like the math program. Oh, I just don't like this math program, it's not progressing right. So I redid it. Oh wow. I didn't tell everybody else because they would have a fit, but it really made sense to my kids to learn to do math in a way that made sense and was practical. I tried to create things that were real life, like if we were doing measurement, we found someone was building a house and we went over and got to measure the house, the inside. That was oh wow.

SPEAKER_02: 6:47

Uh, where were teachers like you when I was growing up? I didn't have, I just I did not have, I was the ADHD kid before ADHD was a thing. So I was just, you know, uh had potential, but never uh applied herself.

SPEAKER_01: 7:03

I was the ADHD teacher, and so I would talk to the kids and I would explain, you know, this this has nothing to do with intelligence. You can be very intelligent and still have this kind of your your brain is just going at all times. Yes, yes, absolutely. I had a contest once with one of the girls that let's see how long we can sit still without even moving an inch. I lost.

SPEAKER_02: 7:31

I love that. I love that. And for an ADH year, we love a challenge, like, oh, if you're gonna challenge our brain to do something or or tell us that we can't do it, now we have to do it. Now we must. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 7:41

Oh, that's so awesome. Yes. Another part of people, it isn't, and I think for a while we kind of condemned kids who are like that, and it should never have happened. It was just a part of a personality. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 7:55

It's so true. You're so right. It just it's just a simple little difference, that's all. And you know, when you think about it, every every child, every person is different, right? Like this is just yet another difference that we have. So that's right. Yeah. Oh, well, thank you. Because I I I have a very strong feeling that you sent so many children onto really terrific paths in their life. So oh, God bless teachers like you. The um the early spark obviously stayed with you throughout your entire life, and it has shown up beautifully in your debut novel. So let's talk a little bit about that. You spent 40 years inspiring young minds in the classroom. How did your career in education influence your approach to storytelling? And in go ahead, yeah, go ahead, answer that one.

SPEAKER_01: 8:45

I was gonna just say that I even wrote in the classroom. I wrote for all the fifth grade uh classrooms in my district a book, um, you know, Unit on Chemistry and a human unit on the human body, and everyone liked it. Wow. And um it was so I was always writing, and when I wrote, I would throw in fun things, you know. Like if you're want to learn about your heart and how that it beats all the time, get a sponge or a softball and try to squeeze it for a minute. You will not be able to, you'll find my goodness the heart does this all day long. That's brilliant. Things like that.

SPEAKER_02: 9:24

Uh that's actually amazing to me. We can go back to the other question, but that's amazing to me because uh you're so well rounded in the different types of, we'll call it genres for lack of another word. Uh the genres that you can write in, that you can write technical writing, that you can write fantasy, that it's that's really impressive. And I don't, I I feel like that's not as common as, you know, a lot of people will, a lot of authors, writers will pick a lane and they'll generally stay in it. They may switch over a little bit here and there, a little to the left, a little to the right. But uh that's pretty diverse. So I'm incredibly impressed right now and jealous. I'm really envious right now. So, how did those years with those kids? Because I would imagine just listening to them and interacting with them teaches you what they want to, what they want to read, right? What they what resonates with them. So you had that leg up where somebody else who, you know, just sat down one day with no childhood education background. Um, so I'm gonna write a fantasy book for for children and young adults. I don't think it works that way, but it just doesn't, right? But there are people who have tried it and you can see that they haven't made that connection. So tell tell me how that helped you make that connection.

SPEAKER_01: 10:42

Well, first of all, it was in the choice of books. We read a lot of fantasy books about dragons and all kinds of things, and the kids loved them. And we would write about it, we would draw them, we would do, we would learn like dinosaurs and really go into what they were like and uh what the ones how the ones got food that had short hands and the ones who walked around on all fours and how long ago it was. It was amazing. People don't, we don't totally comprehend what millions of years are. Yeah. So each of that, um, and in fact, while I was teaching, I wanted to start writing something. And I did start the fantasy. I but I had three kids getting my master's teaching full-time, and I started writing this fantasy. I fit it in. I only did it once in a while, though, because my life was busy. Sure. But I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and just slowly getting along, building up these characters that were just coming out of my mind. Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 11:48

And you kind of have to with some with something that with such an undertaking as a fantasy novel, like you really do have to take a lot of because it's world building. You're building worlds from scratch, from your just from your right. You know, you don't have you can't go on um uh Google Maps and you know, look at a right, you know, and like it's really coming from your own mind. So I, you know, that's such a a cool, cool ability to be able to to just do that to build like that.

SPEAKER_01: 12:21

I know that a lot of authors, since I heard about the Harry Potter, she literally wrote outlines of everything. Oh, yeah. I would never stay on the outline, I know. I would just say, I don't know what I'm gonna write today, and I would start and it would just like come out of my head. All of the scramble of stories that were there came out, and they just came out, and I went, Oh, that's good. I like that. I love that.

SPEAKER_02: 12:46

I have a name for it. I always asked my fellow author friends, people, I always say, Are you a plotter or a pantser? And they're like, What are you talking about? I said, Well, do you have to write out the whole outline that get your whole plot together, or do you just sit down and fly by the seat of your pants, a pantser, and write? And I'm a pantser. I do the same thing that you do. I have I sit down and the words just they the story starts telling itself, and I'm just the person right?

SPEAKER_01: 13:15

I just on the typewriter, that's all.

SPEAKER_02: 13:18

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love it. And it's so fun. And I always, I don't know about you, do you like look back after you've written like a big chunk of writing and you maybe take a break from it for a little while and then you go back and read it, and you almost don't remember writing, like it's almost unrecognizable. You're like, I wrote that? Really? That's for me.

SPEAKER_01: 13:36

I remember once just opening up part of the the book as far as I got and started reading. I went, boy, I like how that lady is that um troll is our elf is talking. That is amazing. She really got hey, wait, I wrote that.

SPEAKER_02: 13:52

It's so fun, isn't it? So I love I love hearing somebody else that does that because most of the people I talk to will say, oh no, no, no. I I put I have the outline and I have like character studies for each character, and I do like a bio for them, and they you know, and they have like the you know, the strings and the things and the circles and all. I'm like, no, no, I can't, I can't.

SPEAKER_01: 14:15

My brain would not allow it, right? My brain wouldn't either. I would just and besides, I would get halfway through and then stop and think of a better idea and just keep going. That's kind of the way teaching is some people write outlines and just really detailed, and they have to follow it. And for me, it was okay, we're going to do this thing on uh social studies, say we're gonna learn about American history. Well, we'll start out here and then I'll learn about some other people, and so we'll go and do something else about American history, but in a different uh different angle, and to keep it moving and keeping it alive is important. Yeah, uh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 14:55

Did you have a lot of kids that were? I'm sorry, I'm sidetracking here. Did you have a um a good mix of potters and and panthers in your classrooms, or did they seem to be more?

SPEAKER_01: 15:04

Yeah, um I mainly had panthers, I think. I worked really well with kids that had disabilities, and so I my classroom was always loaded. Yeah. In fact, when I was being switched to a different grade level, the one who was going into fifth grade told the fourth grade teachers, don't you dare do to me what you did to Judith. I don't want all those kids.

SPEAKER_02: 15:31

So let's talk a little bit about your book. I keep picking your brain about everything else now. Let's move on to the book. So, for someone picking up the dreamer, the seeker for the first time, how would you describe it to them?

SPEAKER_01: 15:44

Okay, the first thing I'm going to explain is that I wrote a book and it looks like this. Ah. And this was my first book. It's the same plot, but I did it through a free company that is free and you get what you pay for. And I thought they were going to format it and correct it and you know, edit it. No, they didn't. So it has all kinds of errors in it. This is the book. This is the one you want to find. And the only place I've seen it on is Amazon or Kindle. And if the wrong book appears, then you go either to my name, try my name first, and then try the name of the book. But um, this is incredible because I had a lot of help.

SPEAKER_02: 16:32

Tell me a little bit about what readers can expect in like in terms of the story's premise and you know, the storyline and the emotional experience that it offers.

SPEAKER_01: 16:44

First of all, it's very unique in the sense that every time you turn a page or a part of the story, you don't know how it's going to turn out. And that's what my son told me. My son, who's older, said, Mom, this is so creative because I never expect what's going to happen to happen. And I have all kinds of magic, but it's not anybody else's stuff I've invented myself. And the P, there's a there's uh dwarves and elves and humans and trolls and orgs, and then of course the monster part, the terrible monster and all his uh associates. But it starts with this young boy. Now I don't want to say too young, he's probably about 16, but he's a he's a mixture of it. He's a dwarfson. And there are also these people called born ones, and born ones are people who connect with the universe, and the universe gives them strength and power and directions of how to to help people. So um that's and he discovers that he is a born one. And the problem is that he has no, he's very insecure and he thinks this is this can't be true. I don't I can't do magic. I I I can make a coin disappear in my hands, that's about it. And so the story is about this young man developing into seeing himself more positively, able to help others, and going through a lot of adventures, you know, like the ice witch, who he has to uh find and deal with her. And of course, she captures him and freezes him, and his friends are there to help him and get him out of the problem, and just constantly falling into more problems and more adventures. Like there's an innkeeper who uh, when they are kind of lost, they're going around. There's three other friends he has, and one is an elf who's really good at tracking, but he gets lost, and they end up in this inn and they get food and dinner, and then they find out they're trapped in there, they can never leave. And um, so a battle kind of starts out, and he every time he feels that he can't really do much. One time he's been given by um someone this belt that has all these crystals on it, and the the crystal explodes when an an evil person comes near, and his friend said, What happened? He says, I don't know. I had my eyes closed, I was too scared. I love this. And then there's a marmouse, and a marmuse is about five foot. She's not a mouse at all, she's um just a critter that um no one else likes. In fact, trolls like to find them because they have them for dinner, and uh but and she seems so scatter-brained and so out of it. But what she is hiding is the fact that she is the ultimate born one, and um how she helps Kaori through this is just really amazing. And then she passes on to him what she has, and that becomes exciting. Is there anything I've left out now? Because I haven't really said, well, Kaori does this and then this and this.

SPEAKER_02: 20:08

I don't want it to be too Yeah, no, we're not gonna tell him the whole story. You all have to go buy that book. You're not gonna get the whole story right now. No, but I love so what's striking me so much is that I I feel like I can see the characters, which is so cool. And I I I love that they're so unique and different from each other, but yet there's also a familiarity to them, like they have like relatable qualities that you know we can relate to as humans too. And I think that's what makes what makes it so endearing that you can be taken into the story and feel this the sense of wonder and fantasy and otherness of it. Um, but then you also feel like you're relating, you know, and and I think that's really a special and difficult thing to do. Do you have, speaking of your characters, do you have, I mean, everyone would probably guess it's the main character, but do you have a character in the book that you especially connected with or was just simply your favorite character of the book?

SPEAKER_01: 21:17

It would be Kaori, and I say his name clear carefully because sometimes people don't know how to pronounce it. And Kaori is the main character, and it talks about how he just develops and becomes this very strong person and then develops until he is the ultimate born one. And um the other person who has a unique name is I Aja. And when I don't know where I got these names, they just came to me. And so she's a top-born one, and she gives all her power and strength to uh, she's like hundreds of years old, so she's ready to go on to the up in the sky wherever they go, and uh so she gives her power to him, and he that really changes his ability, what he feels about himself. I must be okay because Ayaja thought I was. So um, I love that, right?

SPEAKER_02: 22:16

That's beautiful. Tell me a little bit about the protagonist, the the scary guy, without giving away too much, of course, but the marauder is a wizard who has gone uh insane and is has created these creatures who follow him and are winged creatures and are dark.

SPEAKER_01: 22:44

Um, but he is different, he is not like your normal evil, but he loves evil, he loves hurting people and torturing them. I don't have a lot of torture in it though, because I don't like that. But I do have people that are like if a one of the winged creatures goes after you and even claws you, you will die instantly because they have so much power and so much poison in their body. And then I should tell about the other part that is important, and that is when the the marauder has been under earth and they've found out that he's now going to expose himself and come out in the open. And so they have a group of people they call the chasm guards, and each of them have been given a special sword that just is their own, and those swords can create, can kill fantasy creatures, and no one else can. They're the only ones who can kill these, and they're called scabars, and they're the only ones who can kill them, so it's good they have a lot of those people around helping out.

SPEAKER_02: 23:50

This sounds so good, it sounds so epic, it just sounds like this great epic story.

SPEAKER_01: 23:56

It is the epic story, and it's exciting.

SPEAKER_02: 24:00

You um I'm sorry what's going on. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I can I can I can only imagine. I can't wait to read it. I can't wait to read the whole thing. Tell me a little bit about what you would say, like the core themes or messages that you hope readers will take away from reading the story.

SPEAKER_01: 24:21

Okay, I'm gonna have to go back to when I was teaching school. One of my former students, who's then an eighth grader, came in and was just chatting with me and said, You know, my teacher told me I'm a failure and I'll never make it, and you know, just give it up. I couldn't, I said, You have got to be kidding that somebody would tell you that. I know, my class, you were so you were just a good student. And you're good enough that you can go to college, you can go to trade school, you can do what you want to do because you're a hard worker and that's the way it is. I don't listen to that man. So that kind of brought me to thinking about what I want people to do after they read this, is not just celebrate life or something like that, but celebrate my life, my personality. Like, okay, if your attention deficit, celebrate it. And if um, and I talk to the kids, we make lists of things we're good at. And if you're good at soccer, it doesn't mean you're the best in the world, it just means you're proud of yourself, and I'm celebrating myself. And that's what Kiori does. He comes very slowly along till he can celebrate the kind of person he is and not worry about anybody else. This isn't this is what I want you to do. So I want it to be it's a very unique story, it's very creative, but mainly it slowly works into people feeling positive about our creatures feeling positive about themselves. And that I think that's a real important message we say about celebrate life, but we forget that it's our life we should be celebrating.

SPEAKER_02: 26:04

I feel like you just healed something in my young child's heart. Just just hearing that, just hearing that, like it just it it feels good to hear it. And I and I know, you know, all the kids that that are and were like me, and you know, I had a very supportive family. So I did not have a terrible time of it. School was very difficult for me because I just you know, and you know, so and of course back then they didn't understand kids like me. And you're bad. Why aren't you just I was just yeah, I was just being bad. I was a daydreamer, I was you know an airhead, I was spacing, you know, right? Yeah, yeah. Always always was looking out the window, never paid attention because I was too busy in my own little fantasy world. That probably sounds very familiar, right? Right. That is so wonderful. What a wonderful place to be. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you go to that place any chance? Come on, you know, yeah. So oh um, I I so I'm so curious. This sounds like a book that should have sequels. Will the will there be more to the story or will you change gears completely?

SPEAKER_01: 27:14

No, I'm already halfway through the sequel, the third, the second story, and I brought in some of the same characters, but I have enriched them and made them discover things about themselves. And uh a totally different adventure. Everything is because that's just the way I wanted to do it, but it is long. I've also written, but I've not, I just have the story down of a Christmas story. Um, and now I'm gonna have to get illustrator and get it formatted correctly and things like that. But that's uh they're both in the works. I'm mainly working on my second story of Dreamers and the Seekers.

SPEAKER_02: 27:55

I don't know what I'm gonna call it, but it's that's that makes it even more exciting, right? It's exciting for you because you don't know it's gonna come as a surprise for even you. That's so fun. How long? Um like on the technical side of things, I'm so curious how long from when you finished writing the manuscript of the dreamer the seeker, how long before you started the second book? Was there a long gap or did you start kind of right away?

SPEAKER_01: 28:23

Yeah, I think I started quite a well, it was it wasn't a long gap, but I didn't start immediately the next day. But right, I kept it in my head thinking, what am I gonna do? I I these are such interesting characters, and then I got some new ones that had never been around before, and I thought, okay, I'm gonna write this then. That's great. And they just kind of poured out of my head, you know, like looking out the window, dreaming.

SPEAKER_02: 28:48

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Did you know when you were writing The Dream of the Seeker that there would be a second one, or you were just letting it happen?

SPEAKER_01: 28:57

No, I was just letting it happen. I couldn't think of anything that I would do that would precede this, and then it finally came to me of how to do it.

SPEAKER_02: 29:06

So did you find that once you finished, like once you just wrote the last lines of that book, did you think at that time, okay, good, I've got it out of my system, I'm all done writing. I did what I said I was gonna do and I'm good, or did you know already that like it was just the beginning? Like for me, it was the bug. Like the minute I wrote the first one, I thought for like one minute that I was done. And I had, you know, just checked off a box. And then after I did it, it was like I feel like it was just hours before I was thinking of another story. Was that for you?

SPEAKER_01: 29:45

Yes, in fact, in the story, um, a young woman finds something very important and she um polishes it up. It's just something in like a necklace. I'm not gonna Describe it all, but anyway, she carries wears it under her smock, and that's the beginning. And then when Kaori is at the very end, he says goodbye to his friends, and he goes through the small door in the corner of the wall. And my daughter said, Mom, I have to read the second book net if I know what's going on. He gave him clip hangers. I love that. Yes. That is the little uh the necklace thing she's holding becomes very important in the second story.

SPEAKER_02: 30:34

Oh, I like that teaser. Right. Yeah. Oh, so is that I what I'm guessing, I think I already know the answer. There's probably, and you probably didn't even know it when you were doing it, but I bet there's all kinds of like little Easter eggs throughout the book that let readers know there's something more coming after, right? Yeah, oh, that's so cool. I love it.

SPEAKER_01: 30:58

That's amazing. It's in the middle of the battle they were having in this big city, and she it was all scratched up, and it was like an um just something you would wear. And she polished it and it was all gold, and she just but somehow she felt she didn't want anyone else to know she had it. Something was telling her, don't let anybody see this. And eventually she becomes this little nobody who runs a tavern, becomes one of the major characters because without her, it the dream the story could not end. And I won't tell what she does.

SPEAKER_02: 31:38

No, we don't get to know, darn it. I wanted the I wanted the the sneak peek of what's gonna happen. No, tell me, uh it's easy to guess what the favorite parts of the whole book writing, publishing process was. I'm guessing it would be the favorite part would be the actual writing of it, right? Was there definitely part that you just absolutely didn't like or don't like doing when it comes to this whole process? Don't say it's the don't say it's the interviews. Don't say not.

SPEAKER_01: 32:15

Um, sometimes I would get stuck and I would say, I don't know what I'm gonna do next. So I would just go clean the house, do whatever, but it's still swirling in my head the whole time. And I knew I have to just sit down and start because it will come, and that's what would happen. It would just come out the next. In fact, that's where I am right now with the um ending. I'm right close to the ending, but well, not quite, but where I am right now, I've been thinking a lot because I don't know exactly which direction I'm going. So I will tell you something that's very interesting because I did forget sometimes that I wrote certain parts and I did not like the ending of my story. I just couldn't stand it. I kept thinking I gotta go back and change this. But I went back and the ending had already been changed, and I could not remember doing it. And I love the ending, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02: 33:16

Yeah, oh, that's so funny and so relatable too, by the way.

unknown: 33:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 33:24

Oh, I love that. Yeah, I like I said, I can totally relate to that. There are so many parts. Well, there's so many books that somebody will ask me something, they'll reference something in it. I'm like, yeah, I don't know. I don't remember writing it. I have no idea what you're talking about. And they're like, but you wrote it. I'm like, I don't remember. Yeah. Yeah. You know, totally understand. Yeah. Now, between your authorship and your your career as a teacher, do you ever think about um helping other authors, like basically kind of teaching them how to go through the process of writing a book? Because I feel like you would be amazing at doing that. You would be such such a great guide for people to help them, you know, because there's so many aspiring authors, and you're gonna find, I don't know if you're doing like book tours or book signing events or anything like that at the moment, but if you do, and if you are, you're gonna find that you're gonna have so many people that come up to you and they're going to say, you know, I've always wanted to write a book, but I don't know where to start or how to do it. Do you do you think any chance there'd be somewhere in that lane for you? I think so.

SPEAKER_01: 34:41

I think I would I would first of all want to relieve people of not being so anxious about it. I don't know where to start. Just start. Just start. I had a professor once and I didn't realize that other people felt that way. He said, you just start writing and it's gonna come to you. And a lot of the kids in the class didn't, uh the adults in the class did not like it. They wanted to have something very concrete. And and people, you know, the lady who did Harry Potter was, I mean, she's very successful. That's how she wrote it.

SPEAKER_02: 35:12

Yeah, I love that. And I think I feel like that's like the greatest advice you can give, anyone can give to anyone aspiring to be an author, really kind of to anything, anything that you have a goal or uh a dream or aspire to do, like you have to you have to start, like you have to start, you have to put one foot down on that road and and just go.

SPEAKER_01: 35:34

Yeah. A lot of my teaching writing was really in school, like with fifth graders who can do quite a bit in writing. We would write books, and uh that was enjoyable for them too, you know. And they of course did their own illustrations, and that's cute because they're fifth graders.

SPEAKER_02: 35:53

I love it.

SPEAKER_01: 35:54

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 35:55

There you go. We could have maybe for your Christmas book, you can have um some kids illustrate it. That would be so fun.

SPEAKER_01: 36:01

I had thought about that because wouldn't that be cute? Yeah, it would be, it'd be very cute. That's awesome. Do you miss teaching? Yes, in fact, that's why I went into writing full time because I was really down. I thought, because I want I was I was you know 70 by the time I quit teaching, and I I just loved it. I was passionate with it, and then I finally thought, oh, I'll go back to my story and start continuing that. And that filled a need, and I just found out I love that just as much. And I I do, I thoroughly enjoy writing.

SPEAKER_02: 36:38

Yeah, yeah, I got I get it. The the bug, you got the bug because working, you're working on two right now. I love that. Do you think more after that? Will you switch over into any any different genres, or do you think this is the one that it has your heart?

SPEAKER_01: 36:55

I don't know. I just don't know what I'm going to do. Uh because I kind of wait till I get done with something, then I explore what I'm going to do next. The Christmas story is interesting because when my kids were little and really believed, um, they got a letter from Santa that told everything that was happening to this little elf who was very mischievous, and then it later on is going to be a book of this elf.

SPEAKER_02: 37:22

Oh, oh, I love it. I love it. Do you have like do you write little notes to yourself ever every time you come up with an idea, or you just they're just there in your head?

SPEAKER_01: 37:32

They're just there. I never yeah. Well, I will tell you one thing. I have sitting under this computer a big giant um calendar, you know, for each month. It's covered with everything. That's oh, I gotta break that down or I'll forget it. This is this is what yeah, so the whole thing is covered with everything but dates. That's so funny. Right. So I look at it and go, There it is. There it's all right here on my page. And every time I think, well, I could have quit doing that because it kind of looks sloppy, but I never do.

SPEAKER_02: 38:08

Yeah, no, I I do the same thing. I have I actually I would never show anyone my my desk right now. I would never show anyone because it's so ridiculous. There, there are little, well, I'll show you this part. There's there's these little, you know, notepad papers this size, and they are all over the place, and they're all like reminders, notes to myself, ideas, scripts for something.

SPEAKER_01: 38:34

Because my calendar is like this for one month, it's like this. I guess you can see what I'm doing. Yeah. And um, yeah, it makes much better notebook than uh putting. I do put down dates, and then I have to remove a bunch of stuff so I can see when am I going to be when when did I set this doctor's appointment or whatever it was? Because yeah, this is a writer's stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 39:00

Yeah, my friends, this is a writer's mind. This is what it looks inside like inside our brains. That's you know, you're getting a glimpse inside our brains, is what's what's happening right now. Right, that's true. That's true. We have more ideas and thoughts than there are minutes in the day. And that's the frustrating part, right? Like that's the hardest part. There are so many things that I want to do on any given day. And then the next thing you know, it's like, oh, the day is over. What do you mean the day is over? I have more things I need to do.

unknown: 39:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 39:30

Oh, tell me uh a little bit about uh if you're going to be if you are I kind of touched on it before. Are you gonna be doing any book signing events or are you gonna do mostly kind of like the online stuff like this?

SPEAKER_01: 39:42

Or I'm deciding. I have this new uh marketing group that I'm working with. And uh they're setting all this up. We're first of all going like I know I'm going to have an interview on a on a television show.

SPEAKER_02: 39:59

Very good.

SPEAKER_01: 40:00

Yeah, but you're first, so that makes sense. I'm first, I win, I win, ha! And I know that I'm gonna be on different social medias, and I think we have planned that some places they have these big book fairs, and I'm gonna be involved in one of those. That is one of their so fun. Keep they're gonna keep me out in out there so everyone knows about me. Keeps hearing me.

SPEAKER_02: 40:25

Good, I love it. I'm so happy and excited for you. It this is such an exciting journey to take. And I love, you know, I started writing a little later in life. I was not, you know, I wasn't young. And I'm not young. I you did mention, I wasn't gonna say, I wasn't gonna say anything about, but I will say, friend, I lumped myself in this too because we're of an older bracket here. Uh, and and I think it's so encouraging for people in our ranges to realize that just because you retire, you know, from your long-standing career, just because your age, whatever, you can start something at any point in life. And just right. And I think that's such a powerful um thing for people to see that that it doesn't matter, right? Yeah, you're important, not at all. And you're you're just you're inspiring in so many ways. And I think it's really cool that you inspire both children and adults of all age ranges. So that is absolutely wonderful. And the book sounds amazing. That you're doing a sequel is gonna be so great. You are um, I so you know, I don't know about you, but I have like a they call it the TBR list, the to be read list. And I too read, right? Yep, my to be read list, and you are you're high up there because I haven't read a fantasy novel in ages, so I'm really excited to like it. You will really I know I will. I know as soon as you start talking about dwarves and elves and all those things, I love that stuff so much. So I do too. Yeah, I am very, very excited. Um, tell everyone where they can find the book. And uh, I think you told me that there's a website in development, so we'll keep an eye on that. But um, where can they find the book right now?

SPEAKER_01: 42:19

Right now it's on uh Amazon and Kindle. I will they can find it everywhere, but if everywhere else they look, like it's on Apple, it's on Barnes and Noble, they'll get this book. Okay, I'll just show it to you, is um the other one's much better because somebody has formatted it correctly, is the all the errors have been taken out. And um right, so this is the one. If you want this book, then you go to Amazon or Kindle. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02: 42:55

And I will put guys, I will put the uh the links in in the show notes for everybody so they'll be able to click on that, and I'll have it down here on the screen so everybody will find it nice and fast. It'll be so fun. And um, Judith, this was so fun. Thank you so much for taking time. I mean I just loved it. Oh good, I'm so glad. Good. This was uh just a blast for me. Anytime I get to talk to fellow authors, and it it's just such a joy to hear everyone else's process and and just their experience of of writing and and see like with you, especially um the the joy of the the book itself, the story itself. You know, you can see um how much you enjoyed these characters and this story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 43:43

I'm bored, so I'll go back and read part of my book.

SPEAKER_02: 43:45

Yeah, I love doing that. Yeah, I haven't done it in ages, but because because I want to read everybody else's books first. Oh, all right, my friends. Thank you all for joining us. We had a wonderful time here talking about The Dreamer the Seeker with Judith Husker, and we hope that you will go pick it up on Amazon. Like I said, this the uh uh link will be in the show notes, and we will talk to you all next time. Take care.

SPEAKER_00: 44:14

From small town love stories to battles of truth and loyalty, Elsa Kurt's books follow the same heartbeat. Ordinary people facing extraordinary moments. You'll find romance, drama, second chances, even a peek behind the microphone in her newest release. Multiple genres, different worlds, same thread. Old truth, real faith, no apologies.