Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello authors.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: I'm Joanne Morrell, children's and young adult fiction writer and author of short nonfiction for Authors. Thanks for joining me for the Hybrid Author Podcast, sharing interviews from industry professionals to help you forge a career as a hybrid author, both independently and traditionally publishing your books. You can get the show notes for each episode and sign up for your free Author pass over at the Hybrid Author website to discover your writing process, get tips on how to publish productively, and get comfortable promoting your books at www.
Let's crack on with the episode.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Hello authors.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: I hope you're all keeping well in whatever part of the world you reside and listen to the podcast in. Today's interview is with Junior Bernard. Junior was born and raised in Haiti and moved to the United States in 2010 following the devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of over 100,000 people. He earned his degree from Alvernia University in December 2014 on a full scholarship. His commitment to making a difference has earned him the prestigious Alvernia University's 4 under 40 achievement award, a testament to his philanthropic leadership and the impact he is igniting to boost economic growth in Haiti and inspire individuals from diverse backgrounds. His story is one of utter disbelief and inspiration and I love these interviews like this because it leaves me feeling inspired, you know, by another story. And to me that's what this podcast is all about. Especially in Junior's case. You know, life is too short to wait and everything that he endures and encounters and goes through, you would think that would be enough to grind a person down, but it seems to have supercharged him into the inspiring individual that he is today. And his book, Persist, Persist, Persist is nothing short of sharing that amazing adventure.
So in my author adventure this week, I am back from a cruise. I was away on a four day cruise recently with family members for my sister's wedding. Yeah, it was amazing. It was the first time I've ever been on a cruise and I've always wanted to go on one. I mean the wedding was very special. It was very windy and there was a bit of a comical moment where my sister had a long veil on and it kind of whipped off in the wind and went flying away and people went to lunge for it and things got knocked over and things smashed and it was a gorgeous setting and very moving, moving and nice. And yeah, it was just really good, really good. And boat itself was awesome.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: I loved, I loved it.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: We had such a good time. There was lots. The food was amazing, the entertainment was really good. It was really nice looking out to sea during the day, like, it was a bit. I was a bit spun out because it's just vast, nothing. But at night, and I felt a bit strange, it was a bit wobbly, I guess is the word. But at night, when it was, you know, just black and nothing, I was a little bit like, oh, that's a bit eerie now. We had a fantastic time. Highly recommend it for everybody else. It funny because after it, about three days after, I started to feel like I was still on the boat. Whereas, you know, most people feel like it afterwards. You know, I used to feel like that coming off a treadmill. You still feel like you're on it, that motion. I'd definitely go on one again. We never had a window room or anything, and I always thought that I would feel a bit claustrophobic without something like that, but I didn't at all. The rooms were a bit sardini. When you go in, you think, oh, this is small, but it's enough. You're not in your room. And beds were super comfortable. I slept really well, you know, I felt like I sort of rocked to sleep. It was funny. And the bathrooms, you know, they really utilize the space, like the showers. I made sure it was what I thought it was before I pulled this rope, which, because it looked like a bell, it looked like an alarm, but it was actually a clothesline that you pulled from one side of the shower to the other to hang up your wet bathers. Which is really clever, I thought. And when I was in the shower, you know, water would slosh up one end and then it would slosh to the other. And, yeah, it was pretty funny. And the crew were all lovely and I got a bit used to having two meals per sitting. You know, I would have my fruit and my pancakes and all that for breakfast, and then I would have something, maybe some hot stuff, and then, you know, lunch again. You sort of top yourself up.
So, yeah, it's definitely back home now and eating less and back into the usual routine, so. But definitely, definitely, definitely keen to do another cruise. I feel like, for me, three to four days is a sweet spot. Any longer than that, I'm not sure how I'd go. It went out to sea, Exmouth, out to sea. And we. We didn't actually get off the ship because it didn't actually port in Exmouth. There was all these little ships going across and the whole point was really, for the wedding, we just chose not to. I've been Exmouth before, which is just off the coast of Western Australia, and people did, and I'M sure they had a great time but it was all themed nights and things like that. So yeah, we had definitely enjoyed it and definitely would highly recommend for families as well. In my author adventure this week I have been I have conducted my podcast Discovering the Power of Podcasting for Authors at Nedlands Library and it was a beautiful library. If you up Nedlands way, go and visit the library, shout out Susan west, the librarian there. She was absolutely fabulous and they really looked after. I felt very spoiled. It was a gorgeous setup. You know, she had all clipboards and brochures of my face put out and yeah, real amazing event that that library put on. And lucky for me, I got to be the host and I got to share all my expertise on podcasting, which you know I'm extremely passionate about. Been doing this four years in May. Can you believe it? Absolutely amazing. Good to see some faces I knew and meet some new faces that I didn't know. So shout out to everybody that came and got some great feedback as well. So I am doing another short, well, a short course for the Romance Writers of Australia. That's March Leverage Podcast Appearances to grow your career as a romance author Pitching yourself as a podcast guest A guide for Romance Writers and I'll be able to share the link to that this week on social media. Also, the Hybrid Author Podcast is open for guests, so if you're an author or industry professional in the publishing writing world, please reach out and pitch me joannathybridauthor.com and make sure you're familiar with the podcast content. Episodes are topic based and proactive in encouraging writers to have a hybrid author career career which is all inclusive, not just one way of doing things. I look forward to hearing from you soon and sharing further information about how the podcast works if you are successful.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Thorne Creative where beautiful websites for authors are brought to life. No matter what stage you're at with your writing, your stories deserve a dedicated space to shine. Whether you're just starting out or have a bookshelf full of bestsellers, your website is the hub of your author business. Finding everything you and your books offer together, Thorne Creative can nurture all aspects of redesigning your old site or start afresh from the initial design. They can provide ongoing hosting and maintenance to marketing your books online, saving you time, money and stress trying to wrangle your site yourself. An author website built by Thorne Creative can easily direct readers to your favorite retailers, your publisher, or simply set you up to sell to them direct. The options are endless. Thorne Creative have worked with many authors across all genres and know what goes into good, functional working author websites to sell books. Head on over to thorncreative.comau websitesforauthors to read author and publisher testimonials and to see what they offer and some of the sites they've created.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Junior was born and raised in Haiti and moved to the United States in 2010 following the devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of over 100,000 people. He earned his degree from Alvernia University in December 2014 on a full scholarship. His commitment to making a difference has earned him the prestigious Alvernia University's 4 under 40 achievement award, a testament to his philanthropic leadership and the impact he is igniting to boost economic growth in Haiti and inspire individuals from diverse backgrounds. Welcome to the Hybrid Author Podcast. Junior hi.
[00:08:37] Speaker D: Thank you so much for having me today.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: We're absolutely thrilled you could join us. And we just want to know, how did you come to be a writer?
[00:08:45] Speaker D: Well, I would say a little bit by accident. When I first moved here from Haiti, I attended Alvernia University. And as you can imagine, because I have an accent, I often had students asking me, where are you from? I'd tell them, I'm from Haiti, but all of a sudden people would ask me, oh my gosh, were you there when the earthquake happened again? It was back in 2011. We had that catastrophic earthquake and that would open up a lot of conversations about how I grew up. And of course I would tell my story about how I it was my dream to come to America one day and I did everything in my power to make that dream become a reality. So students became so excited to hear my story. And before you know it, I would be traveling around town and then I would move from one state to the next, sharing my story with everybody. And I got to a point where I said, I'm starting to get tired of telling the same story. On and on. I said, you know what, let me just write a book about it. When people ask me to tell them my story, I'll just say, here it is. That's how the whole journey of me writing came about.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Amazing. I know. I spoke to someone yesterday and the same thing. They had been through quite a big life changing event and that's what I said. I said, you have to keep sharing that same story and reliving that moment and it's not all joyful as well. Sometimes it's probably been quite a hard time in your life as well. So, yeah, book form and passing people across to it is probably the best option. So the book is called Persist, Persist, Persist. Which, it sounds like a good title for what you've achieved in your life, but you share a harrowing yet inspiring journey from begging on the streets to surviving such a major earthquake and dodging bullets, moving forward in the challenges. And how did writing this book help you reflect on that persistence?
[00:10:40] Speaker D: Well, honestly, I cannot imagine life without dreaming. I spent all my life as a kid. I grew up seeing my father fix electronic devices, whether it was a TV or radios. That's what he did. Unlike a lot of kids around me. I saw America on the TV screen. I saw nice, nice houses. I'm pretty sure it's the same as Australia. You have nice homes and people look like everybody was living a really good dream. And. And because of me wanting that dream as bad as, you know, as bad as I wanted to breathe, to me, it was just natural to do everything in my power, anything that I could to achieve my dream and really nothing else. I had to persist until I saw that day. And here we are.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: Did you find. Did you come up any challenges when you were actually sitting down and writing the work or because it was your story and because you told it so many times, did it just free flow out of you?
[00:11:38] Speaker D: No, I would be the first to tell you, I am not a gifted writer. However, anybody who reads the book would tell you, oh, my gosh. My hometown in Haiti is called the city of Poets. People often tell me, I feel like I'm reading a poem and you have so many cool things that you've done in the book. And I can tell you, of course, in Haiti, we always write love letters to somebody you love. And it's all about, you know, that lifestyle where you always writing, you're always sharing a letter or a poem to a beautiful girl that you love. You know, again, from my perspective, and I grew up around writing without even knowing. It was a huge part of my life. And even when I started writing the book, I can tell you I am a little bit of a perfectionist. That is a great thing as a writer, but at the same time, it can also destroy you if you don't know how to control yourself, when to let go. So the book for me was very challenging. At first, it was a Christian book that was only 100 pages. But as I had people read it, people would tell me, I want to see this part added to it. I'd like to see more of Haiti. I want to feel like I'm walking down the streets of Haiti or I want to smell things. Of course, people often say you have to show versus telling. Right. I didn't really understand what that meant, but when people told me they wanted to feel like they're there with me, that resonated with me. And I really took the time to add all the details and really make it something that if you don't ever go to Haiti, the book will take you on that journey. I ended up doing the right things by trying to make sure I had a good book that people would love. Again, based on feedback. That's how I work, really. It's mostly based on everybody's feedback. And it all worked out.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yeah. No, but that's amazing. There's a few things that come to mind as you're speaking there about saying you're not from writing. You didn't feel you were a writer. But I think anybody who's got a story to tell, that's the first step, isn't it? You've got something to say, you've got something to share, and then the skills and the techniques and the crafts can come later. And in some regards, writing, even in the way you speak or from the countries you've come from is your voice, when they talk about voice and things and the same as what you were saying. When I went to university to study writing, it kind of blocked me actually because I learned all these rules and conventions to language and the way you can tell a story. And then I got so caught up in that it actually stopped me from writing. So I, you know, just doing it naturally the way that you want to do it is right. Breaking all the rules as well. And what you said about perfectionism.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Hold my hand up there. You can spend so much, much time perfecting a work, can't you? To the point where it can actually be a procrastination to stop you from putting it out there. Because I don't think anything is ever going to be perfect. The book that I recently, just a debut fiction book that I've put out and someone's gotten in touch and said, oh, you know, I found a typo or found a grammar. And I'm like, oh, just one. That's great. You know, own it.
Although before that I had major like, oh my God, there's a typo out there in that book. And it's like one typo out of nearly 73,000 words. Come on. You know, it hopefully won't deter from the story. And you know, I've picked up a typo in some big name books as well and thought they're human.
[00:14:58] Speaker C: It's human error.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Isn't it?
[00:15:01] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Well, you know, as someone who has. You've lived in different countries and your story, you know, reflects that and been there, experienced, you know, life threatening situations and things, how did you approach weaving those kind of events into, you know, persist, persist, persist and. Yeah. To engage people as well on a personal level.
[00:15:25] Speaker D: Yes. Oh, that's. I love, I love your questions. It's. I don't. You see, I'm telling you, I'm not a writer. I get so excited to talk about writing.
It's a lot of fun. I can tell you the most challenging part for me when it comes to writing that book was the structure. Do I write it in a chronological way or do I go back and forth and I cannot outstand Boeing books. I'm one of those people, if I'm starting to fall asleep, I won't read it. He's one of my favorite writers. You know, you feel like you're watching a movie. I love books like, you know, again from James Patterson and also the Alchemist. All these books are some of my favorite books. So going back to your question, it was very challenging from the moment I started writing the book to the moment where I finally finished it again. It took me a few years to get the book done. I wanted to make sure people would not get bored reading the book. So first of all, I had to choose all the parts I thought would keep people engaged and then how do I connect it all together? Right. So as you read for me, I would do a lot of going back and forth. You start reading in the present time, but then I would take you back to something that happened that related to whatever I'm going through at the moment during the current day in the book. So that's really how I wrote it. I would go back and forth a lot. And of course you have to make sure you don't get people confused in doing that. Whether I was in the Dominican Republic, going back to Haiti and experience the earthquake, and then moving to the U.S. i somehow managed to have this story flow and still have the ability to go back and forth. But I'm telling you was the most challenging part of writing the book.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Right, right. Doing that. So not sort of reliving what you went through. You didn't.
Was that challenging or not so much because you were freely kind of speaking about your story beforehand?
[00:17:25] Speaker D: Yes, well, it was challenging because I started working on the book. Right. When I moved to the US From Haiti, everything was still so fresh. And at times I would be writing a section in the book, I would be in tear or I would get so excited and be so happy. Sometimes I would stop the writing just to call certain people, whether it was to be grateful or to talk about something fun. That happened, everything in me writing the book, and it brought me so much joy. But of course, a lot of pain. And, you know, I never really overthink it. I had to write it, and I just really focused on all the good memories and the times when I would stop the writing just to make a phone call, to be grateful to somebody who did something. And it was quite an emotional journey.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: I was gonna say. I know, but you've got such a good attitude about it. Like, it could be quite easy for someone to not do what you're doing. Like, you're using your experiences to inspire people and for good. And like you said, you know, through that writing process, phoning people to be grateful and stuff, that's amazing. Why me?
You know, just victimizing, I guess. You know, you're actually using what you went through for good. So, yeah, that's amazing. So, you know, as someone who has lived through such adversity, what advice do you have for aspiring writers who are facing their own struggles and doubts through personal emotional journeys and things? How important is the theme of persistence, not just in life, but in writing and publishing a book?
[00:19:01] Speaker D: Oh, persistence is everything. You cannot write a book without persistence. And one thing people need to remember. Don't ever look at the full picture as you start doing the writing. It will drive you crazy.
It will just drive you insane. Just take it one step at a time. Focus on that one chapter or that one page or even the first three paragraphs you have to do for the day. And don't worry about the full picture, because it's gonna really scare you. It's really scary because the book is a lot of work. But if you try to have fun with it and don't even think about when it's gonna be done, just do it as you go and really try to enjoy it. You will persist without even thinking about it. But persistence is everything in writing, and it's such an experience that you will be so proud that you took the time to write the book. Like now. When I think about people writing a book, I'm like, I am on top of the world. I did all that.
Now I get to have fun and celebrate. It's. And the book is here. It's not going anywhere. It is. You feel like a superhero when you write a book. If you really put in the efforts, it is that satisfying to do it. And I would encourage everyone, all of your listeners, you know, everyone in your audience, please, if you have a book in you, which I believe most of us do, go ahead, do your yourself a favor, write that book. You cannot regret having written a book.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's amazing.
[00:20:31] Speaker C: Well said.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: And how did you come up with the title then? Persist, persist, persist. Is that when you thought about all your life experiences and thought, you know, how did I get from here to there to where I was now? Or how did the title come?
[00:20:45] Speaker D: Well, I struggled to come up with the title when all along it was always there with me. And I'll tell you why. I'm glad you watched my video, my speech. If you notice this, at some point during the speech, I said, persist, persistent, persist again towards the end of the video. So after I had that speech all along, I became known as the guy on campus, as the persist, persist guy. All the professors, they often would show the video on, you know, to their students just to inspire them. And then whenever they talked about me, of course, I'm still involved with the university. And that's why I went to the university for the award that we had recently. People kept saying, persist, persist, persist. And last time I was there was back in October, one of the nuns. It's a university that was ran by nuns. And they kept introducing me to people and say, persist, persist, persist. That's when it hit me. I said, what am I doing? That should be the title of the book.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: So that's amazing. But it's quite a good personal brand to have. You know, you're known as the Persist guy. You have the book, persist perspective, persist. And then I can just see you going in to speak to audiences and everybody as soon as you come out, persist, persist, persist. You know, it's probably what you're going to get known for. So, yeah, I love that.
[00:22:04] Speaker D: Yeah, that is what it is now. And I love it. And I like that. It's not just once, right? You say three times. It will, it will. Something will click in your brain. And that's why I chose, you know, to say three times instead of just one.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I love that. That's absolutely fantastic. And in terms of, you know, are you gonna. Are you writing again? Are you writing another book just now, or are you just enjoying. You've.
[00:22:27] Speaker D: You.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: You're just enjoying. Persist, persist, persist, man.
[00:22:30] Speaker D: That's a very good question. I can tell you, I have developed such love for writing. To me, I feel like, because it takes so long, at least for me, you know, every writer is different. For some people, they'll get it real fast in a few months. For me, it takes me so long. I would do it again, but I feel like I don't have enough lifetime to write a book, you know, to become a writer, as in something I do regularly. However, my goal is to be able to write at night or in the morning for fun. I want to do it to enjoy myself. Right now, I'm not working on anything, but I can tell you I have about 12 ideas for books. Mostly on the inspirational side, more like the Alchemy. I really like anything inspirational in hope they can last. Last, you know, a long time, because I'm really into classic books. Yeah, that would be shooting for next time.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Oh, amazing. And I do. You can tell your passion comes through. You're. You're absolutely glowing about it, which is great. And it's infectious. And people, you know, it gets people excited. And I think that sometimes writing is a career, and especially people who are trying to get traditional publishing deals, and there's a lot of rejection. There can be a lot of negativity. I think sometimes writers can get lost about why they're doing it or the love of doing it. So it's great that you. You're so passionate and fantastic. And so how is, you know, how's the success of the book going? How have you connected with readers and, you know, what feedback have you had from it and what do you want people to take away from the book as well? Obviously, the hope and the persist.
[00:24:03] Speaker D: Thank you. Well, the book, it's coming out. It's not out yet. However, a lot of access to it right now. I want to make sure as many people as possible, I'd like them to get to read it by the time we launch it early next year. It's best that we wait a little bit longer. You know, you have to do all the marketing. So far, the response has been incredible. People often tell me, I can't believe you went through all that. That's been what most people have been saying lately. It's. I cannot believe one person has gone through so much. I have pictures in there and I have so many things, which is great because it's not just a story. You get to see what I'm talking about. Even a car crash that I went through, you'll see the picture of the actual car accident and things like that. And it really brings it all to life.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:54] Speaker D: I really hope, you know, my goal is to sell a million books. That is the big goal of Course. But I want to have fun with it. Why not? What do we have to lose?
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, for yourself, who've been through so.
[00:25:05] Speaker C: Much, it's definitely the attitude to have it.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: I wonder if I'd have the same.
[00:25:08] Speaker C: If I dodged a bullet, but.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Oh, gosh.
[00:25:11] Speaker C: But yeah. Well, thank you so much, Junior for coming on.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: It's been really, really inspiring talk to you. Can you share with us? Where can the listeners look up for you and the book to come?
[00:25:22] Speaker D: Yes, my website is called junior persist.com. you know, persist versus persist three times can be a little bit weird to write on the computer. So it's junior persists.com. people will find anything they need to know about the book and even to order it, to pre order it if they choose to. Yeah.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: And do you have any final words you want to share or any other tips for authors glaring through your journey so far, or.
[00:25:48] Speaker D: Well, I. The only thing I would say is I love what you're doing and I appreciate the work you're doing. You really bring life to people like me who have spent so much time working on a book and who really do not have the time to focus on an audience. And I reached out to you, you didn't know me and yet you were kind enough to say, hey, come on in, let's. Let's have a talk about it. So I appreciate your kindness and of course I'm a fan to follow you on all of your platforms and I'm starting to listen to your podcast. It is just so lovely. Keep doing what you're doing. You are changing the world in your own way. Thank you for the opportunity.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm sure everybody is going to be very inspired after reading Persist. Persist.
Thanks again.
[00:26:35] Speaker D: Oh, of course. And until next time.
[00:26:44] Speaker C: So there you have it, folks, the truly inspiring and uplifting Junior Bernard. Next time on the Hybrid Author podcast we have Dana Da Silva on writing erotica. Dana Da Silva is a single mum of two based in Sydney, Australia. Having completed her journalism degree in 2011, she spent the past decade working in PR across both the public and private sectors. These days, Dana's a part time media advisor and on her days off from the corporate world, an inspiring indie author with big dreams. Creative writing, including poetry, is her elixir of joy. She considers putting pen to paper to be an exquisite art free therapy and a form of mediation. The Shift is her debut book. It's another fantastic interview with Dana. I wish you well in your author adventure this next week. That's it from me. Bye for now.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: That's the end for now. Authors, I hope you're further forward in your author adventure after listening, and I hope you'll listen next time. Remember to head on over to the Hybrid Author website at www.hybridauthor.com to get your Free Authority pass.
[00:27:41] Speaker A: It's bye for now.
