0:27

Welcome back to the reset with that podcast

0:29

. My name is Natalie Walters and

0:31

I am excited for today's

0:33

discussion . You see , it's

0:35

important to get out into the community and

0:38

just network , visit

0:40

events where there are vendors

0:43

, because that you're going to learn about the different businesses

0:45

that are out there and in

0:47

that process you never know what

0:50

gifts you'll be able to purchase

0:52

, what information you're going to be able

0:54

to learn and what network and

0:56

connections you will make . Now

0:58

I went to an event

1:01

during Black History Month and

1:04

one of the vendors . I stopped by

1:06

the booth and she had some children's books and

1:08

I was intrigued . I went up

1:11

and I met Adal Dawn

1:13

Adal . Welcome

1:15

to the reset with Nat podcast . Thank

1:19

you , it's Adal-A , adal-a .

1:21

Adal-A Adal-A Dawn , adal-a Dawn , pretty name .

1:29

Right Thank you . Yes , welcome to

1:31

the reset with Nat podcast . Adal-a

1:34

is the author of

1:36

children's books , but she

1:39

has one in particular that I recall

1:41

and is called let's Check Our Breath

1:44

. And then there's a

1:46

few more , so I'm

1:48

going to give you the opportunity to do

1:51

a brief intro of yourself and

1:53

the books that you have

1:56

, sure .

1:57

So my name is Adal-A Dawn . I've written

1:59

so far published

2:01

two children's books . The

2:03

first one was called let's

2:06

Check Our Breath , and it's about

2:08

the importance of dental hygiene

2:10

for children , as well

2:12

as caring for others

2:15

, never knowing who is

2:17

beside you , who could be less fortunate , and

2:20

also being grateful for what you have

2:22

. And then the second book is

2:24

called Breathe and Breathe Out , and

2:27

it is basically a tool to

2:29

teach children about asthma

2:32

and also to help parents explain

2:35

when one

2:37

of their children has asthma and

2:39

what to do if there's an asthma attack

2:41

in the household .

2:43

Okay , so

2:45

that's two of your books . So there was

2:47

two of them , okay , okay . Well , the second

2:50

book , that's the one that I saw

2:52

at the . That's when I was like , oh my gosh , so

2:55

what inspired you to start writing

2:57

stories ? Well

2:59

, you know , 20 years .

3:00

She's been writing since one instance

3:02

and you had to read . But in

3:05

high school , after I was finished

3:07

with exams , I guess I was idle

3:09

and I would just write prose on the back

3:11

of the paper . Oh , yeah . And

3:15

yes , and teachers noticed that

3:17

, but yes , so I've been writing

3:19

for a very , very long time

3:21

and it's just , it's

3:23

like a personal therapy . You know you can

3:25

create these stories and

3:28

live vicariously through them . But

3:30

my passion for

3:32

children's stories is really

3:35

because a lot of things

3:37

you know transpired when I

3:39

was a child and I didn't get proper

3:42

instruction . So

3:44

, for example , breathe in

3:47

, breathe out I mean , every work

3:49

of fiction tends to have some nonfiction

3:51

in it . And

3:54

you know , one of my siblings did actually

3:56

have asthma and

3:58

I just remember we were always going to the hospital

4:00

but no one sat

4:03

down and explained to

4:05

me what . What

4:07

is asthma ?

4:08

Okay .

4:09

Okay . So I think that was

4:11

one of the reasons , and also , you

4:14

know , when I reflect now , I think about

4:16

it . My mom , she , was a nurse , and

4:18

I don't know how hard it must be to

4:21

see that your child is not well and there's

4:23

nothing you can do about it , you know

4:25

, even though you're in the medical profession

4:28

. So that was

4:30

one of the reasons I thought to just

4:32

put this story

4:35

in print .

4:38

That's amazing . That's

4:40

amazing . That's what that book

4:42

stood out to me the most was because I was . I

4:44

was an asthmatic child

4:47

. It happened during my teen years and

4:50

my parents had no understanding . They

4:54

were like , okay , what's up with this one , but

4:57

I still .

4:58

Well , you know what , when I was sorry

5:00

, when I was at the event the book

5:02

event there was a lady . She

5:05

, just she , put her hand to

5:07

her heart and she looked like she was going

5:09

to cry and I said , oh no , what's

5:11

wrong ? She actually

5:13

lost one of her children to

5:15

asthma . So I never realized

5:18

how much impact

5:20

One story can

5:23

have , you know definitely , definitely

5:25

.

5:26

So it must be interesting

5:29

to write , like how do you

5:31

go about the process of writing

5:33

From the lens ? Because it's a children's

5:35

book , but then there

5:37

, it seems like there's also lessons for adults

5:40

in there as well .

5:42

Well , the first book , let's check our

5:44

breath , was actually a skit

5:46

that I wrote for my church and

5:49

it was a tool to be used to

5:52

Like

5:54

. It was a skit to teach children , you

5:56

know , be grateful that you know you have the utensils

5:59

to brush your teeth , because some people

6:01

are homeless and don't have any of these

6:03

things . So it was kind of a way

6:05

to kind of Teach

6:08

them about that . And then I asked People

6:12

for funds that we could create hygiene kits

6:14

that included , you know , toothbrush

6:16

or razor and toothpaste

6:19

and then we put in a zip-lock

6:21

bag . We had the children assemble them in a zip-lock

6:23

bag right and that's what

6:25

mission would come and pick them up

6:28

. So really it

6:30

was actually a skit . But then

6:32

the publisher said that

6:34

in order to make it into a children's

6:36

story , you know , you have to take some parts

6:38

out . So that's

6:40

where that came from , actually . Okay

6:43

and , honestly , I used

6:45

to just go to the library every

6:48

week , or if you're the week and just

6:50

create these stories and

6:52

Never thought that I would Get

6:55

published . I

6:58

went on a website Then a friend

7:00

told me about and they said that they could

7:02

edit one manuscript for

7:05

free . So I sent them one and they

7:07

came back to me and said actually , you would

7:09

like to publish . So

7:12

that's how it happened .

7:14

That's amazing . Yeah , that's amazing . Yeah

7:16

and you know what I love about what you

7:18

said is my friend encouraged

7:21

me to publish Because

7:24

a lot of the times we

7:26

hear when people start

7:28

certain ventures you know outside of

7:30

their regular jobs or

7:32

what they do with , you know their immediate

7:34

circle . When they go off and do something different

7:37

, the people around them

7:39

sometimes don't give them the support

7:41

or push that they need To

7:43

right you know continue .

7:45

It's important to have positive . Yes

7:48

, I'm going to have positive circles , even for me , mm-hmm

7:51

, going to the , the high school

7:53

where you met me right . That was out of

7:55

my comfort zone . Okay

7:57

and yeah , I'm a very like

8:00

. I just I don't

8:02

know how am I gonna do this , but if

8:04

I never try it , you

8:07

know , I just felt like I had to try right

8:09

and it was definitely

8:12

very , very hard for me to do

8:14

, but I I

8:16

proved it to myself that I could do it

8:18

, and the lady that

8:21

invited me to it , she is actually

8:23

the one that has been encouraging me to

8:25

Go further

8:27

with , you know

8:29

, social media and the marketing of the

8:31

book right . So definitely

8:34

networking with the right people

8:36

is key and also

8:39

you have to be open

8:41

to criticism as well . I mean , you

8:43

don't want to have people around you

8:45

that are only going to say what

8:48

you want to hear . You want constructive

8:50

criticism as well right . You

8:53

know . So I really have benefited

8:55

from my various

8:57

circles and whoever comes my

8:59

way , my fear of influence

9:02

in life . It's been really , really

9:04

great .

9:05

That's amazing and and I appreciate you

9:07

saying that and even highlighting

9:09

it . So this is a message

9:12

to the listeners

9:14

that you know get your sphere

9:16

of influence . If

9:18

you don't have that and you don't feel that

9:20

way , then it's time to branch out and

9:22

start going into Circles

9:24

where you're gonna get people who are

9:27

, even if they're not on the exact

9:29

same path as you , but they understand

9:31

what it's like to Want

9:34

to do more . You know they're pursuing something

9:36

. We're and they're looking to write it get

9:39

into different networks that are gonna

9:41

support you and encourage you to learn

9:43

more and just build

9:45

up your confidence over time , and

9:47

I like that good for you . Are you gonna do more

9:49

of rendering ? I hope that was a

9:51

good experience for you that you Know

9:55

right now .

9:59

I think you know , and everyone has to go at their

10:01

own pace as well . Yeah , yeah

10:03

and I know the people around

10:05

me are saying you know , continue . But

10:08

for me , I have to learn

10:10

to go at my own Pace

10:13

. You know . You know what you you

10:15

can do and what you can't do , and in times

10:17

you will progress , you know

10:19

. But the key

10:22

is not to be stagnant , like , whatever

10:24

you're doing , just keep trying something

10:26

. Anything you never know . Because

10:28

, honestly , I never thought I would meet

10:30

someone who would invite me to do a podcast

10:33

book and

10:36

, like you , know what I would like

10:38

to do . Podcast , that's actually pretty , that's

10:41

nice . So if I didn't come out of my comfort

10:43

zone , I would have never experienced

10:46

this , for example

10:48

, right ? So

10:50

I think that's that's important . And I think

10:52

, especially as women , sometimes we

10:54

have a lot of ideas and

10:56

then we are our own worth critic

10:58

in our mind . We stop it

11:00

before we even put pencil paper

11:02

. Oh yeah , and you

11:05

know , sometimes we just need to do it , whatever

11:07

it is Like

11:09

closer eyes , and just say , okay , I'm gonna try

11:11

. You know , I'm

11:14

sure a lot of women have testimonies

11:18

about experiences where you

11:20

know they took a risk and then it really benefited

11:22

them in the long run .

11:25

Yes , definitely . Yeah definitely yeah

11:28

, so , okay . So I want to ask you about

11:30

the creating process , like what

11:32

is the mindset or the setup

11:34

, like , what is what do you do when you're preparing

11:38

to write ?

11:40

Right . So for me , I

11:42

go to the library . I can't . If

11:44

I'm at home , I'll be distracted by

11:47

every piece of technology in my house . Okay

11:51

, it's sometimes . I mean the

11:53

ending of the story came to me in a dream

11:55

and I just thought , whoa , where

11:57

can I ? Where can I put this Like , how

12:00

can I make a story around this ending ? And

12:03

sometimes I

12:06

would just write an idea that might be just

12:08

a chapter in a book and

12:10

then through time they will

12:12

, they can link together . But

12:15

it's almost like you know when

12:17

you're in school and you write an essay there's a beginning

12:19

, middle and an end . Yeah . They kind of have

12:21

like a conclusion . So

12:24

for me , when I wrote the first one

12:26

let's check our breath I

12:28

just didn't want to be about oh , the kids went

12:30

to school and they didn't brush

12:32

their teeth or they had bad breath . I

12:34

needed a lesson in there somehow , and

12:37

so whatever story I write

12:39

, I try to have some

12:42

sort of lesson , and also so

12:44

for the two books I was able to

12:46

get the

12:49

specific association affiliated

12:52

with the storyline . I got their

12:54

QR codes in the book , yeah

12:56

. So for the Canadian Dental Association

12:59

, I got their permission to get their QR code

13:01

so that parents can scan it and then

13:03

learn more , because of course , I'm not

13:05

a dentist . Yeah

13:07

. And then the same thing

13:09

for Breathe in , Breathe Out

13:11

. I have the QR code for the Canadian

13:14

Association of the Asthma

13:16

Association in there as well

13:18

. So I think any other stories that

13:20

I have , which I mean they've occurred

13:23

through the years , it's not like I'm just making them

13:25

, I just sit down and make them up , They've been stored

13:29

Right , but

13:31

now I can look back and say , okay , in

13:34

today's age , how

13:37

can I create this and have a lesson

13:39

and help children

13:42

learn and give parents a tool

13:44

? So , whatever the story is at

13:47

the heart of the matter , I want there to be

13:49

something that the kids

13:51

will learn .

13:52

Okay , so lessons

13:54

being learned are valuable

13:56

as a part of your journey

13:59

in storytelling

14:02

, and right

14:04

now , it's just children's books

14:06

that you've written , but you are continuing

14:08

. Are you going through any other genres

14:11

? I don't know what they call it , yeah

14:13

.

14:13

So I do have

14:15

some fiction stories that

14:17

I mean it's

14:19

harder to write fiction than children's

14:21

stories . So I have

14:24

them and I'm just trying to figure

14:26

out how to compile

14:28

them , bring them together and

14:31

also , how can

14:33

I ? It's the same thing . I want to apply

14:35

some kind of lesson in it

14:37

, but sometimes the lesson is there

14:40

is no resolve . So let's say

14:42

I'm talking about a family that

14:44

has struggled with certain

14:46

mental health issues . Right . And

14:49

maybe the solution is not that

14:51

at the end , everyone you

14:53

know and it's the good life and everything

14:55

is great , but it could be that the person

14:57

acknowledges that they have an

14:59

issue . You know what I mean . It's

15:01

not that there is a solution , but that

15:03

they acknowledge the fact that

15:06

they need help . So

15:09

when I'm not writing for children

15:11

stories , I think that would be the avenue

15:13

I would go . There's still be some

15:16

sort of lesson , but it may not be as

15:18

simple as like a

15:21

children's book .

15:22

Right right . Okay so

15:24

your imagination

15:27

must be active , like when you're going

15:29

through your day .

15:30

Yeah .

15:32

Because , I know for myself like creating content

15:35

and stuff like that . Like my mind I'm like oh

15:37

, that's a good content . I do yeah and I

15:39

pull out my phone and I get into the notepad

15:41

and I'm typing this . Or I have a notepad

15:43

in my bag and I'm writing this . How is

15:45

that for you ?

15:47

You know what I use . I use actually sometimes

15:49

I use voice memo because it's funny , I'll

15:52

wake up , let's say , and I'll have

15:54

an idea and . I know when

15:57

I go through my day I won't remember , so

15:59

I'll use my voice memo

16:02

or voice notes and record

16:04

the storyline or

16:06

record . Sometimes

16:09

it's just sentences that just sound

16:11

like oh , this could be a story you

16:13

know , or

16:15

even you know things that you go through in your work

16:18

life . you could really

16:20

create a story around

16:22

it . Oh , yes , there's one . One

16:25

idea I was thinking was , even

16:27

though I'm writing

16:29

a children's story about character or identity

16:31

, and it's for children , I'm

16:34

trying to write it in a way that the parents

16:36

also receive from

16:39

that .

16:40

That's good , yes , yes .

16:42

It's not limited to age . It's

16:44

simplified for the

16:47

younger ones that comprehend , because

16:49

of course , as adults , we have issues

16:51

when it comes to confidence

16:54

and identity as well .

16:56

Yeah it's true , it's like living

16:58

childhood all over again sometimes , right , but

17:01

you're in an adult , now

17:04

you're the decision maker and you don't have anyone

17:06

necessarily always patting you on the back and

17:08

you have to go through , right , you

17:11

know , it's really interesting , unless you

17:13

have a friend that you lean on and it's like the person

17:15

talks you off , like talks you down .

17:17

Well , if you ever notice ? If you ever notice , though , let's say you

17:20

see a child , let's say they're eight years old

17:22

, and then you reflect back and say

17:24

, whoa , I went through all of this and I

17:26

was only just age . You know

17:28

, yeah , I was only

17:30

eight years old , you know , whatever

17:33

issues that you may have had , but

17:36

it's when you get older and you reflect , like

17:38

, actually sometimes

17:40

that's when you realize , wow , you

17:43

know , you really went through a lot and

17:45

you made it , yeah . So I

17:47

think I think children

17:49

help adults as much as adults

17:52

help children , just in a different way .

17:54

Definitely , definitely

17:56

. Yeah , thanks for saying that . Because

17:58

it is true and we need to value our

18:02

children for not just being

18:04

our children , but there's a lot

18:06

of life lessons and a lot of healing

18:08

that can happen through raising

18:10

children or working with children

18:13

, having these issues

18:15

. You know what I mean , so , yeah , Well

18:17

, think about it .

18:18

What do you remember now when

18:20

you were a kid ? For me , I remember

18:22

when my aunts and uncles came

18:25

from the US , filled the car

18:27

with cousins for my birthday

18:29

. Yeah . You don't remember . Let's

18:31

say you got a new birthday

18:34

gift or something . You remember

18:36

the quality time

18:38

that you've had . Yeah , yeah , yeah

18:40

. So , but

18:43

at the time you know , you probably did

18:45

watch the tour , or what have you . When you grow up , you

18:47

remember those little , those

18:50

pockets of memories and time where

18:53

it had more to do with quality

18:55

of what you received versus

18:57

quantity .

18:59

Right .

19:00

Mm , hmm .

19:01

Yeah , yeah . Well , that's

19:03

a good note for us parents to take aside

19:06

from the topic of the book and writing

19:08

a book . That's a very important lesson

19:10

, you know Well

19:13

. Okay , so this is something that

19:15

I'm seeing on social media a lot is

19:17

, you know , having another stream of

19:19

income , encouraging people

19:21

to pursue different

19:23

things , and one that I hear

19:25

a lot about is writing your book , telling

19:28

your story , and there are

19:30

people who are interested

19:32

, but they are nervous . They're

19:34

like , oh , I wouldn't even know how to do that

19:36

without offending certain people

19:38

. Yeah , I've

19:42

even had somebody say they would want

19:44

to write the book I can't remember who it is , but

19:46

they were like they would just want

19:48

the person to . They don't want

19:50

to do it Whilst their families alive . Right

19:53

, yeah , because it would offend , you know

19:55

it could cause problems , but they are . They

19:58

believe that the book that they write would be very impactful

20:00

. And when I think about , I'm like , yeah , I can write a few things

20:02

myself , you know . But yeah

20:05

what advice do you have for

20:07

any woman or man that is interested in writing

20:09

a book , that is interested in writing

20:11

their story and

20:15

their challenge with you

20:17

? Know how to navigate

20:21

that process of determining what

20:24

to put in or what to leave out , if you can

20:26

even share any insight on that .

20:28

Yeah , I think you know there's a saying that says the truth

20:30

is strange and fiction , and it's

20:32

because you know , wow , if

20:34

I really vote the truth , it

20:37

would be a bestseller , but

20:39

at whose cost , right

20:43

? So for me , I've written a lot

20:46

of . I've written a lot when

20:48

I was going through trials and

20:50

tribulations within

20:53

my family . But

20:55

I agree , I couldn't

20:57

know it , I

21:00

couldn't write them down and

21:02

even though some of the family members have

21:04

passed on , it would be

21:06

, it would be a very hard

21:08

, hard thing . So what I did

21:11

was it's

21:13

almost like I wrote it . Some of them

21:15

I wrote in their crows and showed

21:17

the like . A

21:20

good outcome . What did I learn

21:22

from this circumstances

21:25

situation ? So it's not like I'm sitting there

21:27

gossiping about family . Right

21:29

. But I'm saying , you know

21:31

, these characters went through the same and

21:34

this is what I learned from like one

21:36

of the same protagonists , what they

21:38

learned from it . I would say

21:40

, write it and

21:43

decide later , like , at least write

21:45

it down , at the very least it'll be therapeutic

21:47

for you , but

21:50

it is a struggle . And also

21:52

, yes , it'll

21:54

be a bestseller , but , like I said again , at

21:57

what cost ? I mean that's the

22:00

decision for each individual to make

22:02

.

22:02

Right .

22:03

But if you're going into writing for

22:05

money I mean , I didn't really

22:07

go into writing or publishing

22:09

for money , I was just doing it for

22:12

myself and

22:14

others were telling me I should do it it's pretty

22:16

expensive . You know when

22:19

you're using a publisher , whether

22:22

you're doing hybrid publishing or not , and

22:25

even when you Amazon .

22:26

What does that mean ?

22:27

So hybrid publishing is you

22:29

have a publisher , you hire

22:31

them . They'll be able to do the distribution

22:35

, get you on to the different platforms

22:37

like Amazon , Bards and Noble , etc . Okay , Every

22:42

picture that I have in my book , I

22:44

have to describe what I want . It is how

22:46

I want the characters to appear

22:48

. I have to review each page

22:51

to say , you know , do

22:54

I agree with this or not ? What

22:56

do I want to take out ? I mean , you can hire

22:58

a content editor and they will . They

23:00

will assist you , but at the end of the day , you are

23:02

the one in charge . Yeah . Which is good

23:05

, because that means you own all those illustrations

23:07

, but you have to be very descriptive

23:09

as to what you want your characters

23:11

to look like and what kind of style you

23:13

want for your book , right

23:16

? So , in essence , the responsibility is

23:18

heavily on you when you do this , what

23:20

is called hybrid publishing

23:22

, I think the other type of publishing

23:24

maybe you don't have so much ownership

23:26

over certain

23:29

things I guess with with regards to illustrations

23:32

and things like that . But

23:34

yeah

23:37

, and again , I know I'm

23:39

sure many people say the same thing that

23:41

they would have the best seller if they could

23:44

write what has happened

23:46

to them or with their friends or family . Just circling

23:48

back to the question , yeah . And

23:55

it's true , but it's very

23:57

hard . I even tried to alter

24:00

the characters so that they

24:02

didn't look so true

24:04

to life and I still didn't

24:06

feel comfortable not

24:09

yet in make

24:12

like publishing those stories .

24:14

Okay .

24:15

I know that all those fiction stories that we have out

24:17

there , I mean I think even Alice Walker

24:19

story I think she said it some

24:22

parts were from her family . But

24:25

I think , as we all said , there's parts

24:27

, pieces of truth in it . Right . But

24:30

you know they just saturated with a lot of fiction

24:33

in between .

24:35

So Wow , yeah

24:38

, I'd like to thank you for

24:40

sharing with me today

24:42

and I want you to be

24:44

able to , you know , have

24:46

the audience tap into

24:48

your work , whether

24:51

it's your children's books or whatever is

24:53

to come . Please

24:55

, adelaide , please tell me or sorry

24:58

, not me , sorry Tell us how

25:00

they can contact you , where they can look up

25:03

and , you know , purchase the books and

25:05

just support you .

25:07

Sure . So if they go to my

25:09

website , adelaidedoncom

25:12

, you

25:15

can order right there and

25:18

the other options are for Indigo

25:21

, amazon , barnes

25:23

, noble in the US and

25:26

there's another site in the UK

25:28

. But if you go to my main site it

25:30

has all the links for the other

25:33

platforms if you don't want to order

25:35

straight online . Okay

25:37

. And yeah

25:40

, I mean you can just send me an email

25:42

at hello at AdelaideDoncom

25:45

and I'll be happy

25:47

to get

25:50

to know you , contact you and Take

25:54

it from there .

25:54

Perfect , and do you have an Instagram

25:57

or anything like that ?

25:59

Yeah , so my Instagram is Dot

26:03

Don Awn

26:06

. Okay , perfect I also have Facebook

26:08

, but Instagram is preferred .

26:10

Okay , okay . So you have , and

26:13

I will be adding all of the information into

26:15

the show notes for them

26:17

to okay , right ? So yeah

26:19

, I'd love , I'd love to you

26:22

know , share stories . I love for

26:25

people to connect and

26:27

I'm glad that you accepted

26:29

coming on to the podcast you

26:33

know and sharing with . Thank you

26:35

so much .

26:36

Thank you so much for inviting me this . I

26:39

actually love this idea where

26:42

we have a platform to

26:44

not only just Listen

26:46

, that also have some takeaways

26:48

and encourage other people

26:51

to Progress

26:53

into their dreams and and what

26:55

they want to accomplish in their life , and that

26:57

it's never too late to try .

26:59

That's right .

27:00

So thank you .

27:01

You're welcome . You're welcome , all

27:03

right . So everyone , thank you for tuning

27:05

in today . You have the contact

27:07

for Adelaide and with

27:09

that said , you know my name is Natalie

27:11

welter's . Reset with not . Don't forget

27:13

to like , share , subscribe and

27:16

Reach out . Okay to Adelaide

27:18

, and at any time that you need to

27:20

reach out to me , you know where I am . Reset

27:22

with not Calm , so

27:25

thank you once again for coming and

27:28

Everything you do have faith

27:30

, stay focused and always

27:32

follow through . Thank

27:35

you you too , take care Okay .