This month Better Being Me host Joanne Hatchard talks to Josephine Moon, author of The Wonderful Thing About Phoenix Rose.  They kick off their conversation with the topic of names, as they share a birth name, and also talk about preferred names and the names others give us.  Josephine delves into the writing process, and the pressure she felt writing the first book in Australia with an autistic female lead.  Joanne reassures her that there is an understanding that not all experiences can be conveyed in one character, and Josephine reveals that she has had a lot of positive feedback for the book.

Finding a balance, as a neurodivergent person who is passionate about everything is discussed.  And this somehow leads onto a discussion of Josephine’s desire to have an equine therapy business one day.  The unique nature of horses for use in therapy is discussed, and this leads onto the topic of energy fields and vibrations.  The pair then discuss dogs, and Joanne explains the difference between assistance dogs and therapy dogs.

The expense of caring for animals leads into a discussion on spreadsheets. Josephine is not a fan, however Joanne LOVES them for collating and analysing data.  Josephine confesses that she’ll probably need to learn, if she goes ahead with her equine business.  She then reflects on how being an author has changed so much since she started in 1999.  Once she could close herself away and focus on writing, now it’s talks and publicity and making tik tok videos and almost needing to be a performer.

Josephine then talks about the shift in her executive function after the birth of her child.  With driving being one of the main things affected.  And describes an incident where she left the car in drive and with no hand brake on a hill.  Which luckily didn’t end as badly as it could have!  Josephine declares that she couldn’t drive overseas, and Joanne confesses that she waited six months before driving in Canada.  And even then, she had someone with her for quite some time.  Josephine quizzes Joanne as to why she was in Canada, and Joanne talks a bit about her love story with her Canadian partner Brad.

The topic of making big decisions comes up, and Josephine declares that she really has an issue with “making the call.”  Joanne talks about moments where big things have changed the trajectory of her life, where she probably would have kept doing what she was doing otherwise.  This then leads in to discussion of black and white thinking, dreams and sleep, sensitivity and then memory.

Josephine talks about when her characters take on lives of their own, and describes it as a “writer’s high.”  And that sometimes she feels like she’s writing to keep up with them.  The intelligence of animals beyond what we give them credit for is discussed; including dogs, bees and birds.  How they innately know how to do the things they do.  And how research is wasted on proving that animals are intelligent.

Josephine and Joanne come back to the topic of assistance/therapy dogs, and discuss the pros and cons of retrievers v’s border collies.  And Joanne talks about her dog Gilly, who is a maremma/retriever cross.  Josephine then talks about visiting a camel dairy near her, and that merammas are used to guard the babies.  But that they also have guard donkeys, who can be quite deadly around people.  Josephine closes off with some funny stories about a book tour, one involving almost causing the evacuation of her hotel.  Yay executive dysfuntion!

Connect with Josephine Moon IG: https://www.instagram.com/josephine_moon/FB: https://www.facebook.com/JosephineMoonAuthorWebsite: https://josephinemoon.comConnect with Joanne Hatchard IG: https://www.instagram.com/betterbeingme_bbme/FB: https://www.facebook.com/Betterbeingme/Website: betterbeingme.com.au