Wendy Kok stops by and chats about her book A Grey Resort!

Wendy Kok Interview

[00:00:00] Melissa: this is spoiler country and I’m Melissa searcher. My guest today is an author here to talk about her book, a gray resort. I’d like to welcome Wendy Koch to the show. Hi, how are you? Good. Thank you. How are you doing today? I’m doing pretty

Wendy Kok: good. I’m excited to be on here. I’m glad to be on your

Melissa: show.

Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for being here. I’m excited as a fellow author myself, I’m very excited to talk to you about your book. Yeah. So your book is called a gray resort and I read that it’s, you know, somewhat inspired by your, your parents summer resorts. So I’d love to hear more about that. What inspired you and, and what the book is about.

Wendy Kok: Yeah. Well, So, okay. I grew up in a small Northern town in Wisconsin. It’s about four hours North of Milwaukee. And my parents own the summer resort and it was on a Lake. You know, I didn’t realize back then how good I had it. Right. I had it pretty good. I didn’t really, I realize it now, but yeah, we grew up on a Lake.

We had eight [00:01:00] cabins. There was like three docks and, you know, rowboats to rent out and canoes. And we also had a pool and we had a a good amount of acreage across the street. That was just nothing but woods. And yeah, so I grew up on this resort and you know, it was during the seventies and eighties and my parents were just.

Gatherers, you know, they just loved getting people together, all kinds of people. And they loved all kinds of people would happen is on Saturdays. It would be changeover day on the resort, which meant the people, the tenants that stayed there, the, you know, they would pack up and they go home and then we’d get a new set of tenants in to our eight cabins.

And usually towards the end of that day, or sometime during that weekend my parents would have this huge picnic or a party and they would try to get everybody to you know, join in, you know, my mom would go to each cabin and say, Hey, you know, maybe bring a dish to pass [00:02:00] or pick up something in the grocery store and kinda, you know, kind of meet with us together.

And everyone would come. My neighbors would come. People from in town would come. We lived about five hours or five hours, about five miles outside of town. So what would come in? So we’d have these huge gatherings of people. And my dad would be at the grill, grilling, all this food for everybody. You know, he was.

Salt of the earth kind of guy, everybody gravitated towards him. They loved him. You know, afterwards he would get his guitar out and everyone would be singing. You know, it was just a fun time. And I, I have those kinds of special memories. I’m like, you know what, I want to write a book about that. And as well as that, there were some interesting things that happen on the resort as far as paranormal kind of stuff.

So, yeah. Yeah, there was a lot, there was some eerie things that happened. [00:03:00] So, you know, I thought it would make a good premise for a book. So I’m like, you know what, I need to write about this. And I did I feel like I do have sort of an intuitive kind of mind where I kind of have a sixth sense where I know when things are gonna happen before they do.

And I incorporated that into the story. So basically it’s set in this town. Now, the book is fiction. I made it fiction, but there are elements in the book that is true actually happened. But then of course, if you read it, you know, you’ll, you’ll say, Oh, okay. That of course didn’t happen. And you know, things kind of just made up.

Right. Yeah. So sorry, the grandfather clocks behind me and it’s just chime it off.

Melissa: So I was like, what is, do you have a train going behind you? Yeah,

Wendy Kok: no worries. It’s the grandfather clock. Sorry, but we’ll, we’ll edit it out. Yeah, so I incorporated that into the book, so it starts out where a girl, Brooke Larkin when summer evening she goes fishing.

And she gets the shock of her life. So then it [00:04:00] kind of just transpires from there. And yeah, so,

Melissa: Wow. It sounds very intriguing. Yeah. You know, to, without giving too much away, would you say this is you know, kind of a ghost story or are you delving into like a deeper sense of like supernatural, you know, like, you know, vampires or shifters or anything like that?

Wendy Kok: Oh yeah. I would say that it is it would be categories kind of like romance slash paranormal. So, It’s not really gory, but it is scary kind of like Stephen King scary in a way. Yes. Yes. So, and I wanted it to be, you know, I took time with this. It took years to write the book. This wasn’t something that, you know, I wanted to put together and, you know, three months to get it out there just to say, you know, Oh, I wrote a book.

This took goodness, probably a good. Eight nine years. Yeah.

Melissa: You know, writing your first novel as well. I’m assuming this is your first novel, correct? Yes. Yeah. It’s definitely the hardest one, I think. Because [00:05:00] you know, you’re learning all these things as you go along the way and, and I think you’re probably did you feel like you were kind of a perfectionist about it?

Wendy Kok: Oh, goodness. Yes, of course. You know, when you put your name to something, as you know, you’re an author. You want to make sure it’s correct? You know, you, you, you want to make sure it’s quality and that people are excited about it and they want to pick it up. And you know, I’ve had people say that it was hard for them to put the book down.

They, yeah. They wanted to keep turning the page and that’s music to my ears. That’s exactly what I was going for. I just. I mean, I’m super excited about it because I have sort of a small, a small following, you know, that that are very excited. You know, I’m an indie author, so I’m just getting myself out there.

But I’m working on book two. Oh serious. Yep. So hopefully I’m hoping when this pandemic things get, you know, things get back to normal. I’m hoping [00:06:00] by this fall is where, when I’m planning to have the second book come out. Oh, awesome.

Melissa: Now what made you decide to go the indie route versus

Wendy Kok: traditional? I wanted to do the indie route mainly because I wanted to retain my own rights.

I wanted to have full, exclusive rights for my book. Yeah, because I’m in the hopes, I’m kind of, you know, I would love to have it be made into a movie. I’ve had several people say that it should be a movie. It would be great. And so I’m kind of crossing my fingers on that. So, you know, that would just be great for me.

I would love that. So I love having Exclusive rights to that. And I like to have a lot of say in everything. So I, you know, I did, I wanted the cover the way I wanted it and I wanted the storyline and everything to go the way I wanted it. Right. So far it’s been good.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. There’s you definitely have a lot more control being an indie author.

I do both. And and I love both for different reasons of course, but yeah, baby in D is it’s great [00:07:00] because like you said, you get to choose your cover. And also, you know, you’re responsible for it all so good or bad, you know what I mean? And I like that aspect too,

Wendy Kok: right. Yeah, it’s a double-edged sword though, because then you really are doing everything yourself, like, you know, the marketing and you’re trying to get it out there and it is a tremendous amount of work.

I love doing it. It is a lot of work though. When I first got into it, I thought, Oh yeah, I love to write, you know, I want to get this book out there. And then I was kind of thought, Oh yeah, it’s out there. You know, but yeah, that’s just one snappy. Yeah. How to work, to keep getting it out there and making it revelent, you know, and So people, you know, would want to read it.

So,

Melissa: yeah. Are you is it available? I know it’s on Amazon. Is it available in Kindle unlimited or did you take it wide so that it’s, you know, available? Yes.

Wendy Kok: Multiple plans. So it’s yep. It’s available on Kindle. I it’s on Amazon. It’s on Barnes and noble target.com. BookBaby bookshop all pretty much [00:08:00] where.

Major books are sold, I guess you’ll be able to find my book. Yeah. And you can put it as ebook. Yep.

Melissa: Okay. So multiple formats.

Wendy Kok: Yes. Now I’m working on maybe, you know, I’m looking into maybe getting it on audible, so we’ll see. Cause I think that would be kind of interesting to have it on audible. So.

Melissa: Maybe in the future, that’s really popular right now.

I, you know, I’m not on audible yet, but I, you know, I keep people are like, are you on audible keto? Cause it’s very popular right now. There’s a lot of people that are you know, it’s still commute even though we’re, you know, the, the pandemic, there’s still people at work and commute. And so they like to listen to books, you know, in their car rather than,

Wendy Kok: I mean, it’s perfect.

You know, you’re going to on your way to work, you know, is perfect to listen to a book and podcasts are popular right now. So, you know, I have a podcast as well. Yeah. I

Melissa: saw that. Tell me about your podcast. What is it like a lifestyle podcast?

Wendy Kok: Yeah, so it’s okay. So my friend and I, Sean we started it back [00:09:00] this past November and we just thought it just be, so I dunno, storytelling is so important and we just feel like during these times this hard situation that.

You know, everyone is all going through that. It’s just important to have these, you know, really relevant discussions about real, tangible things, as opposed to, you know, just you know, the sugarcoated version. We really wanted to get a, you know, interview people that Really had something to say, and weren’t afraid to, you know, like maybe obstacles that they’ve overcome and how they got through it interpersonal relationships and of course pop culture too.

We love having creative types. We love, you know, authors, musicians psychics, entrepreneurs. Anything really. And we love to make each other laugh and we’re having a good time with it. It’s it’s called a juicy parrot podcast with Sean and Wendy and yeah, we are on all the directories. And it’s, it’s a lot of, it’s a lot of [00:10:00] work, but it’s a lot of fun too.

Melissa: Yeah. It’s it’s, as you know. Yeah. Know, it’s really fun. It’s a great way to, you know, like you said, reach out to people and to connect, you know, especially since a lot of us are all at home and leading that social interaction, but also need you know, an outlet or, or. Like you said, provide a platform to, you know, kind of convey a different message.

So that’s really cool. Like what, what types of episodes have you done recently?

Wendy Kok: Oh, God. Well I’m most recent one came out this week. It was actually a bonus episode on likes and dislikes, you know, just very, you know, it wasn’t any substance to that one really. But we had so I have a fellow off author friend.

She wrote just another girl’s story. Her name is Laura Eckert and it’s about addiction and it’s a powerful book and that episode will be coming out. This coming Monday. And we had, we’ve had, I just talked to a LA life and love coach, and that episode is going to be coming out in a [00:11:00] couple of weeks. We have ghost Hunter that we’re going to be interviewing coming.

Yeah, in a couple of weeks we have a psychic coming next month. So, you know, we kind of got a wide range of, you know, fun people to talk with. And it’s just been so much fun. Yeah, that

Melissa: sounds like fun. I love the whole psychic and ghost Hunter stuff. And that goes along with your brand, you know, with your, with your book too.

So I’m sure you get to kind of tie that in together. Are you a big fan of psychics? Have you like gotten your cards read?

Wendy Kok: Oh God, I could never get, yeah. I could never get bored of that. I mean, if there’s like something about UFO’s or Bigfoot or whatever, I, you know, on TV, I’ll just gravitate towards that.

The unexplained to that kind of thing. I, I, you know, I’ve always been interested in that kind of stuff. Especially since I was little, you know, I felt like I had sort of psychic abilities because I knew when things were going to happen before they did. Now, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve kind of closed the door on it a little bit because it’s been overwhelming.

[00:12:00] But yeah, I did have that very strongly and, you know, as a young. You know, as in your formative years, as a young, child’s going through that, it’s quite scary because you don’t know what is going on and you know, why you have that ability and you know, why do I know those things? And, yeah, it was interesting

Melissa: growing up.

Is that something that came to you like in like visions or dreams or was it just a sense of knowing

Wendy Kok: it was a sense of knowing if I would meet a particular person? Oh, wow. You know, it could be a stranger. It could be somebody that I knew and I would know things and. You know, I predicted when a couple of people were going to die and they did Oh, wow.

Yeah. In the beginning. And it wasn’t like something like, Oh, I’m, you know, it wasn’t, it was just a very distinct feeling that I had when I met them. And I just kinda knew it and I kept it to myself and of course it happened and I was like, Oh my goodness. And then it happened again. Oh, my goodness.

You know, I’m [00:13:00] not fun to live with, but yeah. You know, I’ve, I’ve talked to friends about that and they said, you know, that’s kind of a gift. It’s a gift of discernment that you had. It’s not bad, you’re not bad. It’s just, you know, a special ability that you have. And you can decide whether, you know, you want to.

Take that further it, you know, or just kind of close the door on it.

Melissa: So, yeah, well, yeah, it’s almost, it’s like being you know, tapped into a different frequency. You know, I think that, I think that a lot of people actually have the capacity, you know, to pick up on things like that. But like you said, you kind of close yourself off to it because it’s freaky or whatever it scares you.

But I think like you just kind of tune into this higher frequency and it allows for. Things like that to kind of, you know, infiltrate your mind or whatever.

Wendy Kok: Yeah. I, I totally agree. But such a great way of saying it a higher frequency. I think everybody has that ability. I really do. I just feel like people are [00:14:00] scared and they just I’m like, Nope, this isn’t for me.

And that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be for them. But I think it’s important to maybe tap into it a little bit. Cause I think it could. You know, help people out of certain situations. Yeah,

Melissa: yeah, exactly. Similar to like instincts, you know, but with like on a different level, I guess. Right, right, right. Yeah.

I do. A lot of those things obviously have influenced your writing. I’m guessing.

Wendy Kok: Yes. Yep. So there’s a couple of things in the book, like right away in the prologue right in the beginning. That was true. That really happened. And so, I incorporated that in and throughout the book, you’ll kind of, you know, there’s a kind of running theme going throughout.

And what was kinda neat about it is. When I was going through it, it was just a nice, a trip down memory lane. Cause I remembered some of these people, you know, in my childhood. And so there’s a couple in there that they’re a real couple and they were so much fun and it was so fun reading about them. Especially the woman.

She was so [00:15:00] funny. She was so. Goodness. So very colorful, very, very strong personality. And I, her name is Cassie in the book and you know, not a real name of course, but Oh God, I so enjoyed writing about her and she plays a big part in it. And she also plays a very big part in the second book as

Melissa: well.

Okay. And is the second book going to be a, like a direct continuation?

Wendy Kok: Yes. I planned on making it a direct continuation. I’ve had people say you better write a second one. And I’m like, okay. I am. And During the pandemic, when it first started is when I started writing it. And, you know, because of that, I had a lot of extra time and I was able to, you know, get most of it done.

So the bare bones of it is pretty much done. I just have to do some editing before I take it to get it professionally edited, but I don’t know how you. Feel about writing, but I love to write, write. I just love the creative processes.

Melissa: Yeah, [00:16:00] absolutely. It’s it’s such a great you know, I’m a storyteller. I love to spend wild, fantastic, you know, magical adventures.

I write paranormal romance than urban fantasy and right. Yeah. The, the process of writing is really exciting. It’s, it’s all the other stuff that can be stressful, you know, but the actual sitting down to write and build your characters and create your worlds. Yeah. You know, there’s nothing like it and it’s addicting once you will

Wendy Kok: get a taste of it and it can go in so many different directions.

That’s, what’s so interesting about it. I mean, I, I’m sort of like, I’m not there’s, you know, they say there’s a platter or a pantser and definitely a pantser. I like, you know, go by the seat of my pants. Sometimes I don’t even know how the end of the chapter is going to go. I just free flow, let it right.

And just, I keep going. And then, you know, I’ll go back and edit. Okay. But what I hate is going back over and over again to edit, and that’s kind of the process that I’m in right now. I’m trying to arrange where, you know, the chapters are going to be so they’ll flow. [00:17:00] Well, yeah, in that part that I don’t like so much where

Melissa: yeah.

Well, I think that’s one of the, that’s actually one of the results of being A a pantser E I’ve heard that I’d do a little bit of both, but it’s, it’s you, you do end up doing more editing, I think, in the long run. Whereas, you know, if you have this like strict, extensive outline you know, then there are, I mean, you still have to edit regardless, but yeah, I have heard, I’ve heard from Panthers that they do more editing because you’re kind of just, you know, you’re writing as you go along and then afterwards you’re like, Oh, I have this plot hole here.

I have to. You know, this doesn’t make sense or whatever, but I think, you know, but whatever gets you to that point is, you know, I always say like every author has their own path and has to do that. Like works for them. I lived in a little bit of both. I’ll have kind of a loose outline and then things will change, you know, but that’s part of the fun too, is like, what’s the relevant number

Wendy Kok: two, you know?

Yeah. And I’ll probably end up being more where I’m like, okay, when do you need to, you know, start outlining your stuff? Because I. I [00:18:00] just know that how there’s so many different rules to writing. And, you know, I, I feel like if I was just starting out and haven’t written anything before I would be so like, Oh God, there’s so many rules.

I wouldn’t even know where to start. It would just take so much of the fun out of it and no joy in it whatsoever. And then I wouldn’t do it. So that’s why I just like, okay, when the moment strikes me. And I’ll, I’ll write something down. And another thing that’s kind of helpful is I sometimes bring a journal wherever I go, because sometimes you never know when, you know, moments will strike you.

Like, Oh, I gotta write that down. That would be a cool idea for a book or a cool, you know, that would be a cruel, cool personality to have in my

Melissa: Yeah, that’s a great idea. Yeah. I keep them on my phone. Like I have like a notes app and yeah. It’s you never know, like you, you, you go out, you see something that catches your eyes.

Sometimes it’s an image snippet of conversation that you overhear and yeah, yeah, yeah. You got to write it down. Cause otherwise it’s like, you won’t, you won’t remember, you

Wendy Kok: know? Oh, I know. That’s just, and you know, [00:19:00] another thing too is I’ve done this before. I don’t know if you have, but. Woke up from a dream and thought, Oh, ni or, you know, he had a, like an epiphany, like, Oh, this would be really cool to have a book.

And, you know, I’ll remember it when I wake back up in the morning and wake up and it’s like, Oh gosh, I don’t remember what. I know that was something cool I was thinking about, but I don’t remember what it is.

Melissa: Yeah. I hate when that happens. Yeah. You’re you have this cool dream and then yeah. And then it’s gone.

If you don’t or if you just don’t write it down right away for like, Oh, I’ll go make a cup of coffee and then write it down. And then it’s, it’s out of your brain. Yeah,

Wendy Kok: the East or somewhere. I’m like, ah, so now I try and put paper and pen next to my bed. Although I’ve tripped on my pen before and I got, gotta move that, but I gotta have that now, so

Melissa: yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. So what is your, so the writing process obviously is a lot of fun. What do you love to do? [00:20:00] First or the most, I should say, like, is it working on the characters or working on the world-building?

Wendy Kok: I would say the characters for me. I love to dive into a character’s head and just like, I have one character that just kind of won’t leave me alone right now.

He’s a huge character in the second book. He’s a new one that I’m going to introduce and, you know, I have like flashes of inspiration about, you know, what he might say in conversation. And you know, it’s, it’s kinda neat because. I’m like, yeah, that would be good. He would say that conversation and have it a lot where I think about this character and he comes to mind and like, okay, yeah, he’ll do this and that situation.

And yeah. So he is going to be a big part of the second book. And I’m so excited to, to introduce that. Is this going to be

Melissa: so much fun? That’s awesome. Now, have you been able to either, you know, before the pandemic, or even during, I guess, have you been able to get out and do any kind of events or signings or, [00:21:00] you know, comic cons or virtual comic con?

Wendy Kok: I haven’t really done any of that now. I did have I did do a story club live, which is a great, it’s a fabulous thing on Facebook, where they have storytellers from all over the world. Come on and I did do that. And that was like right before. All the pandemic stuff started and it’s just, it’s been very difficult now.

I’ve made a lot of interesting connections because of the pandemic what’s happened. I really have. And you know, I started this podcast. I’ve made some great author friends and because of that, and I don’t know if that would have happened. You know, I had this, you know, if this didn’t happen so it’s been horrible, what we’ve all been going through, but.

I got to think about, I tend some blessings

Melissa: have the silver. Yeah. I think that’s, that’s a lot of people, myself included that has had some opportunities that I wouldn’t have necessarily had if we weren’t all at home and reaching out to people and making all these connections. So, [00:22:00] you know yeah, exactly.

Wendy Kok: Yes. And yeah, I don’t think that really would happen because, you know, people would be busy with their jobs, their regular jobs, you

Melissa: know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And were you were you working in a different job before everything happened? Like. Yeah. Or if you were okay, what were you doing

Wendy Kok: beforehand? If you don’t mind me asking?

So, yeah, so I work as a paraprofessional at the high school. So basically I kind of just help students that might need, you know, any sort of assistance in any subject. Really. So I do that part-time Monday through Thursday. So, we were out of school for a while, so I worked from home and we got, we went back to school in January in person learning.

So I’m, I do that as well. Right. I’m a mom. I have two sets of twins, two sets of twins. Wow. Yeah, I’m just that crazy.

Melissa: Are they all are they younger kids? Like what are the ages?

Wendy Kok: They’re all teenagers. If they were like [00:23:00] toddlers, there’s no way I could get anything done. I couldn’t even write a sentence. I mean, honestly those years were so, you know, very fun, very, very.

Busy. So the older set they’re 16 they’re juniors and the younger set are in eighth grade. They’re 13 years old and I have three girls and a boy and yeah. Yeah. It’s busy. That’s exciting.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. And how, how are your, how does your family and your friends respond when you told them you were publishing

Wendy Kok: a book?

They were they’re very cool about it. My husband is very supportive. He always has been, and my friends. So over the summer, you know, a group of us got together and, you know, I have a couple cheerleaders. For my book and my friend, my friend. So we were just sitting there and she’s like, she’s an author, she’s an author.

I mean, we’re sitting at this bar and grill and I was like, Oh my God. And you know, these [00:24:00] people come over is, is fine. I love meeting new people. I love making new connections. And yeah, but she’s done that a couple of different times. It’s it’s funny. You know, we go into the store and she’s like, you should try to get your book into the store and, and, you know, she’ll kind of like point to the end.

She’s an author. I’m like, that’s great. That’s great. They’re very supportive. And I really, you know, I really appreciate that. That’s really

Melissa: cool. Yeah. It’s important to have a good support system because writing as a profession is very lonely. You know, you spend a lot of time by yourself. Yeah. So it’s nice to like, you know, get rewarded for your hard work and have like your friends, like root for you and you know, and your family cheer you on and stuff.

So that’s great. You have that.

Wendy Kok: Absolutely. It’s, you know, it takes a lot to, you know, As, you know, you want to write some quality work and it does, you know, you don’t sit there and you’re done in 10 minutes. It takes, it takes a long time. You know, it takes a lot of time to do that. And, you know, I. I love to [00:25:00] do it, but yeah, it can be lonely sometimes.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. Do you do a lot of workshops or like read any craft books, anything like that?

Wendy Kok: Oh, goodness. Well right now I don’t really have time to read too much. Not as much as I wanted to. I just so. What I ha what I was reading is how to start a binge-worthy podcast by crystal profits. Yeah, she, that book is amazing.

It’s kind of really propelled me in getting into podcasting, phenomenal book. I highly recommend it. And, you know, I, I need to, I think one of the things I really need to do is. Journal more and to try to be more efficient with my time, because I have so much going on that I really need to try to. Organize it better.

I need to be a little bit more organized and I’m working on it.

Melissa: Yeah, no, it’s tough. I mean, cause we’re, you know, we’re in this new type of a normal and we had [00:26:00] routines that we were used to, and now we have new routines and I mean, well, you know, you have four kids, so, you know, it’s, it’s gotta be even more, you know, you’ve got to make dinner and you’ve got to make sure they’re doing their homework.

And you know, it’s hard, you know, for women, especially I think in the pandemic because we’re, we’re doing multiple

Wendy Kok: jobs. Yeah, that’s true. And I tell you, you know, my house isn’t as big as speaking span as I’d like it to be, but you know what, that’s fine. I would, I love to, I love art and I love to create art and to make, you know, to entertain people.

So, you know, That’s awesome. Just going to take a little bit of a backseat

Melissa: that’s right. It has to, otherwise you’ll just like eat or make excuses like, Oh, I have to do this. Oh, I have to do that. And then you never got any writing done, you know, I know.

Wendy Kok: And who wants to do that? Don’t no

Melissa: boring. Right? Well, you know, so it sounds like you really love obviously the supernatural or the paranormal mystery.

After you’re [00:27:00] done with the second book for this, are you planning on. Doing something different, like a different series? Or are you going to write a third book for this one?

Wendy Kok: I think I am well, I’m actually writing a couple of chapters right now for the third book. Yeah. I, I do plan on having a third boat for sure.

I don’t know when that will come out, but I am planning on that. I’m also working with a bunch of other authors actually in that book is going to be coming out this summer. And it’s really a cool project. So, lots of talented authors from around the world and basically the title is going to be something about, you know, like thriving beyond crisis and anthology book.

So, different uplifting stories from different authors around the world. And I was asked to be part of that project and I’m so. So excited about it and yeah, it’s just going to be a short story buddy. And I’m working on that. So, so excited about that. So that will be out this summer and my second book out this fall.

Okay. [00:28:00] Yeah. I have a nonfiction book. I think I would like to do.

Melissa: Awesome. What would that be about you think?

Wendy Kok: Well, I think I want to make it about, you know, you know, living with a family member that has like maybe anxiety, depression issues. Oh yeah. Yeah. So I think I would, that would be a very enlightening book to people.

What it’s like to be in the trenches of that, because it’s, it’s certainly not easy and. But I think it’s, you know, when you go through stuff like that, it’s important to tell your story because you never know who you’re going to help, you know?

Melissa: Yeah. And who you’re gonna touch. And, and sometimes, you know, people in those situations, they feel so alone.

And if they can find a book, you know, that they can read where they’re like, Oh, Hey, this person’s going through it too. And this is what they did to get through it. Yeah. I think that could be really

Wendy Kok: helpful. Yeah. Yeah. So I’m excited about that. That’ll probably be, you know, down the pipeline a couple of years from now, but I definitely would like to do something [00:29:00] like that and, you know, get it into the high schools.

Mental health right now is just so important and you know, we really need to take it seriously, you know, with this pandemic going on, you know, there is a lot of mental health issues going on that. You know, is getting exasperated by what’s going on and it’s better than it has been. I mean, back when I was a young girl, Boy, there really wasn’t many programs for anxiety, depression, that sort of thing.

And it’s getting better. There are programs for it, but you know, there’s things that can be improved upon as well.

Melissa: Absolutely. Yeah. And then there’s probably new, I think with social media and cancel culture and all that stuff going on, you know, it’s just, there’s probably you know, new illnesses that are, you know, developing You know, things that are popping up that didn’t exist 25 years ago, because we didn’t have internet or phones back then that could actually like do everything.

Wendy Kok: Yeah, like you have the whole world in your back pocket, you know, you can literally just, you can look at anything [00:30:00] you want, you know, you can learn about anything you want. It’s right there on your phone. Yeah. More, I mean, I can imagine. Because I didn’t have any social media growing up. I mean, either.

Yeah. Can you imagine like, You know, when you’re young, you you’re going to make, you know, mistakes. Can you, Oh, there’s my cuckoo clock that’s going on? So you love it. So, you know, I can’t imagine like having, you’re making a mistake and then someone right there behind you taking a picture, you don’t, you know, you don’t even realize it.

And before you know it, you know, it’s posted all over the place. Everybody knows about, you know, so-and-so or whatever, what happened and no privacy. And then they take it down. Oh, you know, whatever. But you know, the damage has been done already. The plea, the seed has been planted and it’s like, Boy, that’s just really not good.

You know, that’s not

Melissa: exactly right. And there’s this other thing I was reading about where there, and I [00:31:00] think we’re all guilty of it as far as there’s this sort of like endorphin thing that happens when you post something and you get likes, you know, and it’s a weird kind of a thing where we’re like addicted to this, like validation.

Of like, whatever it is, we’re posting. And, you know, I was trying to remember the other day I was thinking about it and I’m like, what, what was I doing with my day when I didn’t have a phone? You know what I mean? What was I doing? And I was like, okay, I was writing a little bit and I was reading and I guess we watched TV I’m gen X.

So it was like, we were the watch your brain generation. Okay. Yeah. So, it was like, MTV is bad for you. And video games are bad, real, you know? But now it’s just like, you know, I have to put my phone down. Sometimes I tell myself, like you have been on your phone way too much today, you know, do you ever

Wendy Kok: do that?

Yes, absolutely. You know, because it’s such a time suck. I mean, especially on Facebook, you know, and it’s hard because I’m trying to promote a book I’m trying to promote our podcast and you kind of got to engage a little bit, but, you know, [00:32:00] I don’t want it taking over my life, you know, have I spent way too much time on it?

Of course I have, you know, I’ve gotten that in there and you know, you get into these rabbit holes, which I don’t even. Like engage in that anymore, where you’re trying to make your point, you know, when are you going into the one, two, three paragraph? It’s not going to work. It doesn’t matter what you say there, they’ve already tuned you out.

It doesn’t matter. And then, you know, you leave it feeling terrible. It’s ruined your day and it’s like, it’s not worth it. You know, it’s just not, if it’s not positive, just, you know,

Melissa: yeah. Keep scrolling. I know it’s hard to find that balance because like you said, you’re trying to build. A brand and you’re trying to sell your box and, you know, connect with readers and there’s this delicate balance of, of yeah.

Doom scrolling or just, you know, going down a rabbit hole and all of a sudden you look at the clock and you’ve been on there for, you know, two to three hours. Yes. Yeah,

Wendy Kok: yeah. You’re right. No, that’s true. It’s very true. Yeah. You know, instead of, I, [00:33:00] you know, watching a show or something, you kind of get caught up in like, Oh, let’s see what they posted about this and this and that, you know, Oh, don’t know that’s not

Melissa: good.

Yeah. Well, here’s hoping we got to a level someday where we can hire someone to just do all that for us so we can just go,

Wendy Kok: I would love that I would love it and that’d be amazing.

Melissa: Yeah, exactly, exactly. But it would be so worried that

Wendy Kok: it would be, I would, I wouldn’t pay someone to do that. Yeah,

Melissa: no, I would say for a store.

Yeah. It would just be nice to have someone else take the social media rains then like, you know, do out the you know, do you have like a newsletter that you send out and with subscribers and stuff,

Wendy Kok: I’m going to, I’m working on it. So we’re our podcast website is fairly new, so it’s a juicy pair, podcast.com and anybody can get on it, you know, you can get on it right from your phone.

You can listen to our episode, right. From your phone. Yeah, eventually I would like to make like a, you know, I don’t know, end of the year newsletter. I also have my author [00:34:00] website, Wendy M Koch, author.com, and I just kind of have some fun stuff on there. You know, favorite movies and music and things.

And I’d like to do a newsletter on that too. And I do do a blog post every once in a while. I haven’t. Recently, but yeah, I’m working on getting something together for that as well. So stay

Melissa: tuned for that. Cool. Yeah. I looked at your website. It’s really nice. You have it, you know, well put together.

Yeah, it’s really cool. I love that. The photo, you know, the headline photo, when you first click on, gosh,

Wendy Kok: it looks just like the resort. It’s not the resort, but I tell you what it could be. It looks just like it.

Melissa: Yeah. Now, is that, is that resort still in your family?

Wendy Kok: No, it’s not. It’s been. Gosh, probably about 20 years since my folks have had it.

And now my dad’s passed on, but yeah. It’s been sold a couple of different times and you know, what’s kinda sad about it is I haven’t been up there in several, several years, but whenever I do my sister and I, when we go up there, we kinda, you know, take a [00:35:00] ride out to the resort and we do, it’s just kind of sad because it just isn’t.

Like, you know, when my parents had it, it was in its heyday. It was just immaculate. You know, my dad took care of the lawns and the pool and, you know, the cabins, they all kept it up. Nice. Now it’s looks run down. It does. Yeah. It’s kind of sad to kind of just, you know, drive through there and like, Oh goodness.

You know, I don’t know. That’s

Melissa: too bad. It’s unfortunate. You know, it’s unfortunate that you couldn’t you know, maybe someday you’ll get it back, you know? Yeah. You

Wendy Kok: know, if my boat becomes a movie, which hopefully it will, Hey, I told my sister let’s, you know, we’ll go by that resort up and right back to the way it used to be.

Yeah, that would be nice that

Melissa: you could film the movie there.

Wendy Kok: Oh, that would be so wonderful. It’d be perfect. Yeah.

Melissa: That’s awesome. It reminds me of there’s a movie that came out. I think it was in the early nineties and it was called Indian summer. Did you ever see that? Oh yeah.

Wendy Kok: Yeah. I haven’t seen that in a while, but yeah.

Melissa: Yeah. Same kind of thing, you [00:36:00] know? I mean, they were like, you know, kids that went there, I think for summer camp and as adults, they went back from

Wendy Kok: India. Diane Lane was in it. Yeah. Yeah. It was

Melissa: a good one. Yeah, give her my, yeah. That’s

Wendy Kok: it was kinda like that. Actually cool. What

Melissa: a cool, what an interesting and awesome, you know, childhood, like what a cool way to, to be raised around that kind of environment without so many, you know, different experiences and different characters, you know, and real characters of real life.

And I’m sure I could see how that would inspire you to write a story.

Wendy Kok: Yeah, it was so fun. It was just a very easy going time. So different from today. You know, just so, so, so different. It was very fun. And I just remember there was always lots of people and people always wanted to come over. Neighbors would be coming over all the time.

It was just, I don’t know, it was kind of magical almost.

Melissa: Yeah, that sounds like it, it sounds like it, I think, you know, it’s that nostalgia, you know, as well, like [00:37:00] it’s because you know, it was different times, such drastic, different times, really. When you think about now, like where we are compared to, you know, our childhood when we know, so there are those moments, you know, that you remember like playing outside and you know, not having any yeah.

Any electronics or anything just enjoying like. The trees

Wendy Kok: and the lakes and things. Oh yeah. We’d be outside all the time. I mean, I’d be swimming out in the Lake, out in the middle of the Lake, you know? Yeah. I did some things I like, Oh boy, nowadays. I mean, yeah. Everything’s filled with rules, you know, rules have their place, of course.

But I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like there’s so many, you know,

Melissa: Yeah, we were wild and free back then. Right?

Wendy Kok: Absolutely.

Melissa: Awesome. Well, I’m excited to check out your book cause it just sounds really intriguing and I love the paranormal mystery and Oh

Wendy Kok: yes. I’d love for you to read it. I’m excited for you to read it.

Melissa: Absolutely. I’m definitely going to check it out and for anyone listening [00:38:00] you can, you can find it on Amazon and use the pretty much anywhere where. You know, we’re books they’re sold. Most people I think use Amazon, but you can find it on Barnes and noble and all those different outlets.

That’s called gray resort and it’s book one of you know, possible trilogies that, right. So that’s exciting too.

Wendy Kok: Yeah. And they can just put my name into if they’re not sure if to put a gray resort or they can put Wendy Koch K okay. In the author name and it should come right up on Amazon.

Melissa: Yeah.

You’re like the first one that comes up. Cause I put your name in and and yeah, so it was like the second book down. I was like, okay, perfect. There she is. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming on today. I really appreciate it. So fun.

Wendy Kok: It has been very fun. Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely.

And we’ll, we’ll put some links in the show notes too, so people can find you and find your website and everything, and we’ll have to have you back on when you have the, you know, the launch, you know, for your second book, that’d be fun. I

would

Wendy Kok: love to come on. I would love it. Thank you.

Melissa: Awesome. All right, everyone, go [00:39:00] check out windy, coax a gray resort so much.

Wendy Kok: Thank you and have a good night. Thanks.