Creating Children's Stories with Jeanne Rogers

Supporter Page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1974255/support

Exploring the Stories and Inspirations of Jeanne Rogers

In this episode of 'Open Forum in The Villages, Florida,' host Mike Roth interviews Jeanne Rogers, an author with a fascinating background. Jeanne shares her journey from studying European history to becoming an expert in patent law and eventually authoring children's books. She delves into her inspiration for writing about endangered animals, particularly those native to Australia, and the challenges and joys of self-publishing. Jeanne discusses her award-winning book 'Dressing for Dreamtime' and offers advice to aspiring writers. The episode also touches on the evolving role of AI in the creative process. Stay tuned to learn more about Jeanne's work and her passion for educating children about the environment through engaging stories.

00:00 Introduction to the Open Forum Podcast
01:57 Meet Jeanne Rogers: From Historian to Author
02:39 Jeanne's Journey into Patent Law
04:39 Writing Children's Books with a Purpose
06:52 Exploring Australian Wildlife in Jeanne's Books
11:32 Award-Winning Book: Dressing for Dreamtime
13:39 Understanding Alzheimer's Disease with Dr. Craig Curtis
14:55 Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer's
15:17 Exploring Australian Wildlife
16:51 The Writing Process and Publishing
22:52 The Role of AI in Writing
26:04 Upcoming Events and Book Availability
26:46 Conclusion and Acknowledgements

Transcript

Jeanne Rogers 

[00:00:08] Dolores: Welcome to the Open Forum in The Villages, Florida podcast. In this show, we talk to leaders in the community, leaders of clubs, and interesting folks who live here in The Villages to get perspectives of what is happening here in The Villages, Florida. We are a listener supported podcast. There will be shout outs for supporters in episodes.

In Season 6, we will continue making substantial improvements to the podcast. 

[00:00:34] Mike Roth: This is Mike Roth. And, listeners, I'm thrilled to share with you this podcast, which is my passion project for you. This podcast brings me joy, brings you knowledge, and Inspiration and a lot of things that people need to know about The Villages and the people living here.

Be sure to hit the follow button to get the newest episode each week. Creating this podcast is a labor of love, even though it demands more time than I can easily spare. Now, here's where you come in. You can help us keep the podcast alive and thriving. How? By becoming a supporter, the easy way for you to support us is to visit our podcast web page, openforuminthevillagesflorida. com, and click on the supporter button at the top of the page, or the purple supporter box on the right side of the page. Even a small donation of three to ten dollars a month is appreciated. Makes a big difference. And guess what? You can cancel your subscription at any time. No strings attached. Your support means the world to us.

Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep those headphones on. I hope everyone enjoys today's show.

This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. I'm here today with Jeanne Rogers. Thanks for joining me, Jeanne. 

[00:02:00] Jeanne Rogers: Thank you for having me. 

[00:02:01] Mike Roth: Jeanne is an author, okay, and she's got a varied background. She grew up in New Jersey, was educated in Connecticut. And studied European history with a concentration on the French Revolution.

I bet that was something that was going to earn you a lot of money. 

[00:02:18] Jeanne Rogers: It was certainly going to make, yes, absolutely. But what it really did was, It ended up having people say to me, what you can do, Jeannie, is you can hang a shingle outside your house that says historian. I said that and a dime will get me a cup of coffee.

Nothing else. 

[00:02:33] Mike Roth: So you didn't continue down that path. 

[00:02:35] Jeanne Rogers: No, because I didn't want to teach it. So there weren't many options. 

[00:02:39] Mike Roth: In your career you were involved with patent law. 

[00:02:42] Jeanne Rogers: Correct. Absolutely. 

[00:02:44] Mike Roth: And how'd you get involved with patent law? 

[00:02:46] Jeanne Rogers: I first started by working with an attorney.

And that particular attorney didn't want to pay me enough money. So I applied to a larger corporation where I would get better benefits. I was a single mom. I needed the benefits. And lo and behold, an opportunity came up in their patent department. And I was offered a position and took it. 

[00:03:08] Mike Roth: Okay.

[00:03:08] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah, I became an expert at international, filing international applications as well as U. S. applications. Thank you. 

[00:03:15] Mike Roth: That's good. Of course in some countries our patents don't seem to make any sense. 

[00:03:20] Jeanne Rogers: No, China doesn't care about our patents. 

[00:03:22] Mike Roth: They just steal everything. They just steal everything, yeah.

Okay. And you moved down to The Villages about how many years ago? 

[00:03:28] Jeanne Rogers: It was six years in June that we'd be here. 

[00:03:30] Mike Roth: Okay, and you're down in the Finney. 

[00:03:32] Jeanne Rogers: Correct. 

[00:03:33] Mike Roth: Okay, and when did you actually start writing? Okay. 

[00:03:37] Jeanne Rogers: I'd say about 15, 20 years ago. 

[00:03:40] Mike Roth: 15 or 20 years ago? Yep. What was your first book? 

[00:03:43] Jeanne Rogers: My first book was entitled The Sword of Demelza.

[00:03:46] Mike Roth: Oh, okay. That's a strange name. It is. 

[00:03:48] Jeanne Rogers: It is. Demelza. Demelza is a hill. It's a, an old word that describes a hill. Basically what I wanted was something that sounded a fortress, so to speak. 

[00:04:00] Mike Roth: Okay. And then you wrote some books about American history. 

[00:04:04] Jeanne Rogers: No, I didn't write any books about American history.

 I became an expert on Abraham Lincoln. I was a historian in college. 

[00:04:12] Mike Roth: Okay. 

[00:04:13] Jeanne Rogers: And when I got out of college, of course, I didn't want to teach history, but I was really immersed in it. I particularly became immersed from the French Revolution I went to, American history, and became really involved in Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, in particular, I have over a hundred books on Lincoln some of them written by his contemporaries.

I have a book that was published back in 1809. . 

[00:04:39] Mike Roth: Now, what inspired you to write? 

[00:04:43] Jeanne Rogers: I think if I had to come up with an answer for you, it's because I wanted to teach children about the environment.

Vis a story, so all of my stories have some kind of a tone to teach children about endangered. animals and those animals are actually characters in the book. So I wanted, in order to get children involved in something like that, it has to be something that's interesting. So you have to give a story, it has to be good first.

I wanted to create a really great adventure, while at the same time, the characters in those books are endangered or threatened animals and teaching about those animals and so on and so forth. Yeah. Why are they endangered? Probably because man is encroaching on their territory. That's usually the reason.

[00:05:29] Mike Roth: Now, are all the books children's books? 

[00:05:31] Jeanne Rogers: They are. They are. 

[00:05:33] Mike Roth: Okay. And what coming out of the history major, what made you so interested in writing books that included animals? 

[00:05:42] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah, they're really two very separate things. The animal, the love of animals started way before the history binge. When I was a kid, I had a mom that was extremely tolerant of me.

I would go out and I'd bring salamanders home and yeah, some critters and she would be perfectly happy with that. Once I brought a snake home and I kept it. In the house, in the terrarium, and I fed it, and she accepted that. She accepted the three white mice that got loose, and got into my sister's bed while she was on the phone with her boyfriend.

That was interesting. 

[00:06:15] Mike Roth: I thought you were going to say the snake ate the mice. 

[00:06:17] Jeanne Rogers: No, the snake I actually let go afterwards. I had him for a while, but I did let him loose. What kind of 

[00:06:23] Mike Roth: snake was it? 

[00:06:24] Jeanne Rogers: It was called a decay snake. Just a typical garden snake that you'd find. And then I also had An iguana, a four foot long iguana from head to toe, he was four feet.

And my mother allowed him in the house and he was interesting because he kept breaking out of the terrarium. He kept lifting the screen on the top and breaking out. So I used to come home from college real quick and scan around the house looking for him before my mother found him. But a lot of times she found him.

And I could tell where she was located by the screech. 

[00:06:52] Mike Roth: Now, a lot of your books involve animals that are native to Australia. 

[00:07:01] Jeanne Rogers: Correct. 

[00:07:02] Mike Roth: Why did you pick animals from Australia? 

[00:07:04] Jeanne Rogers: Okay, because as a kid, I knew a lot about fox and wolves and, typical North American animals, skunks, possums, you name it, but I was fascinated with kangaroos and koalas, et cetera, et cetera, and I thought, they don't ever teach anything about that.

Why don't they teach about those animals? Why don't I learn a little bit about nature in school? They don't teach it. So I decided that I was going to focus there because there was a need. 

[00:07:31] Mike Roth: Did you go to Australia to learn about the animals? 

[00:07:34] Jeanne Rogers: I did. In between the first book and the second book, I actually got to Australia.

I got to see the animals in person that I was writing about, which was really enlightening. I went to a couple of reserves where they were taking care of them. Australians are very proud. of their nature, of their environment, which is obviously different than the rest of the world for so many reasons.

And they are proud. They have some animals that have been introduced that are, that actually threaten the natural species, and they have done quite a bit to protect the natural species there and on the continent. 

[00:08:11] Mike Roth: Yeah. Are there any particular animals native to Australia that you particularly like to write about?

[00:08:18] Jeanne Rogers: I've used, you name it, I've used it in my stories. But I think if I had to pick one that was my favorite, it would be either the quoll or the quokka. And if you look up 

[00:08:28] Mike Roth: Quoll is not a koala bear. 

[00:08:31] Jeanne Rogers: No. 

[00:08:32] Mike Roth: A koala 

[00:08:33] Jeanne Rogers: is another thing. A quoll. Q U O L L. is a very, it looks like a large rat. It's brown and spotted, but it's really cute.

It's not like a rat, because rats really aren't cute. And then there's a quoka, which is Q U O K A. The quoka is considered the happiest animal on the planet because it always looks like it's smiling. So if you Google some images of quoka, you'll understand what I'm talking about. 

[00:08:59] Mike Roth: I I've been to Australia a couple of times and one of the times we had a a lady who was as part of a group tour very active.

With the Cincinnati Zoo. So part of our tour was a backstage tour of the Sydney Zoo. And that was really neat. 

[00:09:16] Jeanne Rogers: I would have loved that. 

[00:09:17] Mike Roth: Yeah. Did 

[00:09:17] Jeanne Rogers: not get to the Sydney Zoo. 

[00:09:19] Mike Roth: Yeah. Beautiful place. I'm sure. Yeah. And we got to hang out with the koalas and stuff. Yeah. Okay. Now, how do you go about weaving These Australian animals that North American kids aren't used to seeing into your stories.

[00:09:34] Jeanne Rogers: What I do is I'll do an intro that will explain that these animals are unusual, and that I'm offering them to the kids to use their imagination by the descriptions. On how they think these animals just might look. But then I do tell them that at the back of the book is a glossary. And the glossary gives them photographs of what the actual animals look like.

What their imagination doesn't give them, in terms of reality, the glossary will fill in the blanks for them. 

[00:10:05] Mike Roth: And how do you go about reaching younger readers with your books? 

[00:10:11] Jeanne Rogers: When I was in Connecticut, it was a great experience . really easy thing to do because I was discovered by a lot of the schools and the libraries and I was actually invited to schools.

We would have gymnasiums filled with little ones sitting on the floor and I had a wonderful presentation. On Australia, explain to the children why Australia's life forms are so different. Yeah, we got into Gondwana land and Pangaea and the whole nine yards and I had pictures so that they could understand how this hunk of land like floated away from the rest.

And so their life forms just developed totally, completely differently. And they ate it up, they loved it. At that, at those presentations, I would sell books. The kids would want those books. The parents would want the kids to have those 

books. So 

it was easier there. And I loved that. 

[00:11:05] Mike Roth: Okay, and when you came here to The Villages, what happened when you talked to the school principals about setting up a program like that?

[00:11:12] Jeanne Rogers: I did not speak to the school principals. 

[00:11:16] Mike Roth: Oh, because you didn't want to sell more books? 

[00:11:18] Jeanne Rogers: No, because I'm an introvert and I can't go into schools and speak to people like that. It just doesn't happen. 

[00:11:24] Mike Roth: . How many children's books now have you written? 

[00:11:27] Jeanne Rogers: Five. And there's a sixth one coming out. I'm hoping before the end of the year, but we'll see. 

[00:11:32] Mike Roth: Okay. Before the show, you gave me a copy of Dressing for Dreamtime.

Yes. This was an award winning book. Tell our listeners about that. 

[00:11:40] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah. The Florida Writers Association awarded it a gold medal in children's literature and also gave it children's book of the year. I was so honored and so happy that it did get that recognition. 

[00:11:53] Mike Roth: When did it come out? 

[00:11:55] Jeanne Rogers: Came out it's gonna be about a year that it's been out.

Yeah, 

[00:11:59] Mike Roth: and it's available on Amazon 

[00:12:01] Jeanne Rogers: It's available on Amazon. Yes, 

[00:12:03] Mike Roth: It's called Dressing For Dream Time. I Was when I just saw the picture of the cover of the book. I was very impressed with the artwork very unusual alligators on the front. 

[00:12:14] Jeanne Rogers: They are not alligators. 

[00:12:16] Mike Roth: Oh, what are they?

[00:12:17] Jeanne Rogers: They're monitor lizards. 

[00:12:19] Mike Roth: Oh, those are the dangerous ones, aren't they? 

[00:12:21] Jeanne Rogers: They're pretty darn big. 

[00:12:22] Mike Roth: Yeah. 

[00:12:22] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah. 

[00:12:23] Mike Roth: And they have these spots on them? 

[00:12:24] Jeanne Rogers: They do. They have all different markings. And actually, that's what the book is all about. They want to get dressed for the Dreamtime ceremony. And they don't particularly care for the way they look, so they think, oh we'll make it better.

And they're therein lies the plot. 'cause they really didn't make it better. 

[00:12:41] Mike Roth: They put on makeup or something. 

[00:12:42] Jeanne Rogers: They, Tried to paint each other. Different looks. And they come to find out that being themselves is the best way to look. 

[00:12:51] Mike Roth: Oh, okay. 

[00:12:51] Jeanne Rogers: There's, and therein lies the moral to the story.

[00:12:54] Mike Roth: Yeah and there's a lot of pictures in your book. 

[00:12:56] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah, in the back of that book I created a huge glossary in the back of that book. 

[00:13:01] Mike Roth: I thought that they were part of the book. 

[00:13:03] Jeanne Rogers: They're part of the book in terms of the creatures in the story themselves. There's real information about those creatures in the glossary.

But in addition to those creatures that are in the story, there are additional. 

[00:13:17] Mike Roth: I see. So about halfway into the book. There's pictures of the guano lizard or the That's 

[00:13:23] Jeanne Rogers: it. There's other, there's a whole lot of information in the back of the book about Australia itself. Yeah, you have a great story, it has a wonderful moral about be yourself, and in the back of the book you get an education on Australia's wildlife.

That's basically the whole idea. 

[00:13:39] Mike Roth: This is Mike Roth and Dr. Craig Curtis. We're talking about Alzheimer's disease. What is the diagnostic process to split the difference between someone who has Alzheimer's and someone who has a different form of dementia? That's a great question, Mike. So, Alzheimer's disease in the past was a clinical diagnosis.

[00:14:02] Dr. Craig Curtis: And we would talk to the patient and the family and they would tell us about this progressive memory loss and maybe other symptoms that have been occurring over the past three to five years. And we would simply test their memory and maybe wait another year or two and retest their memory to look for decline.

Nowadays, it's completely different. As a matter of fact, now our diagnostic process involves actually looking for amyloid in the brain, which we now know causes Alzheimer's disease. 

[00:14:34] Mike Roth: How do you see amyloid in the brain? 

[00:14:36] Dr. Craig Curtis: We can see amyloid in the brain using PET scans, which is the most common way. And now we're working on using blood tests, which are going to be coming out in the next few years.

In fact, there's already one blood test that is FDA cleared to detect amyloid in the blood, which is reflecting. Amyloid in the brain, 

[00:14:55] Mike Roth: And that would be the differential between another type of dementia and Alzheimer's. 

[00:15:01] Dr. Craig Curtis: Yes, sir. 

[00:15:01] Warren: With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate the village's community on how to live a longer, healthier life.

To learn more, visit his website, craig curtis md.com, or call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 to attend a free seminar.

[00:15:17] Mike Roth AI 9-11-24: So I'm back with Jeanne Rogers

[00:15:20] Mike Roth: Yeah, so what is a billabong? 

[00:15:23] Jeanne Rogers: A billabong is a pond of water that's very still. It's just a body of water. 

[00:15:29] Mike Roth: Okay, it's not like an animal. 

[00:15:31] Jeanne Rogers: No, 

[00:15:32] Mike Roth: I'm staring at the picture looking for the animal Couldn't see it. Yeah, and then this other one here is the 

[00:15:38] Jeanne Rogers: Boabab tree 

[00:15:39] Mike Roth: boat.

There's no Boab tree, right?

[00:15:42] Jeanne Rogers: That's a tree that it keeps water in its Within its trunk. So during the dry season it will sustain itself.

[00:15:50] Mike Roth: Oh I three had a pretty good idea some trees around here. He should be doing that Okay, then you have the platypus. I would always call that the duck billed platypus 

[00:16:00] Jeanne Rogers: Yes, that's probably one of the weirdest animals in the world.

There's only two animals that are Monotremes he's one of them and the echidnas the other That 

[00:16:09] Mike Roth: are, that are what? 

[00:16:11] Jeanne Rogers: Monotremes. It's a mammal that lays eggs. 

[00:16:14] Mike Roth: Okay. 

[00:16:15] Jeanne Rogers: There's two of them. The platypus and the echidna. 

[00:16:18] Mike Roth: They're both, 

[00:16:19] Jeanne Rogers: they're both native to down there. 

[00:16:20] Mike Roth: Some people have never heard of an echidna, including me.

What is that? 

[00:16:24] Jeanne Rogers: Echidna looks like a tiny porcupine, with a little snout of a nose. The little guy's got this really long tongue in there and they eat ants. So the little tongue goes out and they go into the termite mounds and whatnot and that's how they get their meal. 

[00:16:38] Mike Roth: Okay, so that's just like a small anteater.

[00:16:40] Jeanne Rogers: It sure is. 

[00:16:41] Mike Roth: Okay, probably could use some around here. Maybe they like those red spicy ants. Oh 

[00:16:46] Jeanne Rogers: yeah no, that's not good. 

[00:16:47] Mike Roth: Not good for them? 

[00:16:48] Jeanne Rogers: Not good for them. Okay, 

[00:16:50] Mike Roth: That's good. And you bring out about one, one book a year? 

[00:16:54] Jeanne Rogers: No, I don't attempt to do anything on a deadline. I really don't. Yeah, I would rather it come from my head, get down on paper, and as long as it takes, that's exactly what it's going to be.

No deadlines. 

[00:17:07] Mike Roth: So in your production process for a book, after you put pen to paper or you use a computer what do you do after you have the 

[00:17:15] Jeanne Rogers: If they meet my approval as the author, I get an editor. And right now I have an absolutely wonderful editor. She's working on my current book, which is called The Last Heir.

And that will come out, hopefully, sometime around Christmas. Yeah, you've got to get it to an editor, and you've got to have a good editor. Yeah. And not be afraid of when they tell you that, that chapter doesn't work, throw it out. Yeah. You have to have a good editor, 

[00:17:41] Mike Roth: and you pay for that. 

[00:17:42] Jeanne Rogers: And you pay for that.

[00:17:43] Mike Roth: Yes. 

[00:17:44] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah. 

[00:17:45] Mike Roth: Have you ever been angry at what the editor said that to you? 

[00:17:47] Jeanne Rogers: Never. Never. If I'm going to pay somebody for their expertise, then I better well be. to taking their suggestions, criticisms, and comments, whatever they may be. 

[00:17:59] Mike Roth: Now, are all of your books self published? 

[00:18:01] Jeanne Rogers: They're all self published, yes.

[00:18:03] Mike Roth: Are they ever available in the Barnes Noble section for Villages authors? 

[00:18:08] Jeanne Rogers: They are. They are. They've been there a couple of times. I've also spoken at Barnes about the books to the general public and also members of the Writers League. I'm currently the president of the Writer's League of The Villages.

I spend a lot of time up there. We'll be up there tomorrow. November 2nd. We'll be 

[00:18:25] Mike Roth: there. Do anything, 

[00:18:27] Jeanne Rogers: don't do anything. 

[00:18:28] Mike Roth: No. It's good they have that big event up at Brownwood, not Brownwood, at the polo field. 

[00:18:34] Jeanne Rogers: Oh, they're having something at the polo field tomorrow? 

[00:18:36] Mike Roth: Oh, yeah. 

[00:18:37] Jeanne Rogers: Oh dear.

[00:18:38] Mike Roth: With seemed like a hundred vendors of all different sorts. Oh, it's 

[00:18:41] Jeanne Rogers: crafts. It's a craft fair out there. 

[00:18:43] Mike Roth: Yeah, all kinds of people up there. 

[00:18:45] Jeanne Rogers: So we've got competition. Yes, 

[00:18:48] Mike Roth: there will be competition. Here in The Villages, there's always competition. 

[00:18:51] Jeanne Rogers: You'd be surprised how many people show up for these book displays where the authors talk about their books and what they're doing.

[00:18:57] Mike Roth: So how is that advertised? Is it advertised in the Daily Sun? 

[00:19:01] Jeanne Rogers: Yep, it is. Just like our book expo, which happens once a year, which is in January. I'm sorry, the list. Sunday in January that's heavily advertised in the Daily Sun and in other places as well. 

[00:19:13] Mike Roth: Since you're writing children's books, and I know some other authors in The Villages Writers League do children's books.

Why don't you do a sale of books for the holidays as gifts? 

[00:19:27] Jeanne Rogers: That would be no problem. I think the biggest problem is where, finding a place to do it and Actually organizing everybody to get together. You would have to reserve a room and then you'd have to advertise it. It's not a simple task. It's pretty hard.

[00:19:42] Mike Roth: Reserving a room is not that hard in The Villages . If you're a lifestyle club.

[00:19:47] Jeanne Rogers: You can get a room. 

[00:19:48] Mike Roth: You're allowed four changes a year and adding an extra meeting, if you would, for a book fair for children. For the holidays would not be a problem. 

[00:19:56] Jeanne Rogers: Not a bad idea. I'll look into it. 

[00:19:58] Mike Roth: Yeah. And you can pick a rec center further south or further north or in the middle.

[00:20:04] Jeanne Rogers: That's a great idea. I'll look into that. 

[00:20:06] Mike Roth: I've been accused of that sometimes. Have you?

[00:20:08] Jeanne Rogers: Having good ideas? 

[00:20:09] Mike Roth: Having great ideas, yeah. Sometimes they actually work out. In your process of writing, or about the writers, what would you like to tell our listeners? 

[00:20:17] Jeanne Rogers: For the process of writing, if they are writers, or aspiring writers, my advice is just get it down on paper.

Don't dawdle with it. Whatever. method you use to write, it's okay. You don't have to follow a particular method. Just put it down on paper and then find a good editor that will help you tie the pieces together and make it look good. That's the best advice I can give. Write from your heart too.

Find something that you really want to write about that is an inspiration to you because that inspiration will overflow into the writing. Send the right message to the reader. 

[00:20:53] Mike Roth: Now, I'm going to ask you a funny question. Okay. Let's pretend today you could take all the knowledge you had, and you were going to talk to the genie who was 25 years of age, go backwards in time.

What message or messages would you give her? 

[00:21:10] Jeanne Rogers: I would probably tell her to be more, about the writing. At the time that I started writing, I was actually working and had children. I could not put the time in. I think the message is that if you're going to start writing, you got to get somewhat serious, especially if you're hoping to publish a book.

You can't just, do one chapter here and then two months from now do another chapter. It's got to be serious. It's got to be a dedicated, fire in the belly type deal, otherwise you'll never get it done. 

[00:21:39] Mike Roth: We have a member of the Improv Club who has been working on a book for a while. And she told everyone, I'm taking a month off to write my book, finish writing my book.

And she essentially moved to a hotel in Orlando, cut herself off from all the people and activities here in The Villages, and managed to finish her book. 

[00:22:00] Jeanne Rogers: You know that this month is NaNoWriMo. 

[00:22:04] Mike Roth: I don't know what NaNoWriMo means.

[00:22:06] Jeanne Rogers: It's national Novel Writing Month. 

[00:22:09] Mike Roth: Oh really? 

[00:22:09] Jeanne Rogers: And I , just came from a meeting with other authors.

We sat around a table at Panera talking about and discussing NaNoWriMo. What our aspirations were, what our goals were. 500 words a day, 1, 000 words a day. The whole idea is to write a novel. In the month of November. That's really a big goal. But, if you do get started, if you're inspired by the people around you, because that's really what the name of the game was.

When we were sitting there today talking, I said to everybody, the whole idea is inspiration. If you get inspired by the people around you, then you'll go home and you'll write that story. You got an idea in your head, put it down on paper. 

[00:22:49] Mike Roth: That makes a lot of sense. 

[00:22:50] Jeanne Rogers: Yep. Otherwise, it'd never get done.

[00:22:52] Mike Roth: Now, if I was going to sit down and write a novel, or another book I'm thinking about writing, but probably will never get beyond the outline that I wrote seven years ago is I would feed it into an AI. And ask the AI to flesh it out in my voice, having let the AI read what I've written in the past.

[00:23:12] Jeanne Rogers: Okay. Okay. 

[00:23:13] Mike Roth: And then do a heavy edit job on when I get back from the A. I. as a start. 

[00:23:18] Jeanne Rogers: I don't know how I feel about A. I. at this point. I will tell you this, that for the book that's coming out soon, which is the third middle grade novel that I'm writing, I've written it, it's now with the editor. I have used A. I. to help me envision some of the scenes in the book. But I have still, Sent those ink drawings, that's what I asked them to create, an ink, black and white ink drawing, to my illustrator. I says, this is what I'm, this is what I'm thinking in my head. Take this and create a sketch for me. I don't want to use AI in total.

I like the human touch. I know that everybody's using AI at this point. It's like a deal. I don't know. But. 

[00:24:02] Mike Roth: I asked her to recreate the logo for my podcast, Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. And 

[00:24:08] Jeanne Rogers: that's what you got. 

[00:24:08] Mike Roth: That's what I got. It's so much better than the business card idea I had originally.

And then recently, because I'm teaching the AI course at the Richmond Academy, I said what's wrong with that logo? It's in the wrong aspect ratio. It's square, and everyone's using these 16 by 9 screens, or wider. And so I asked a different AI to take the drawing that I have now, and provide the left and right background that's missing.

[00:24:35] Jeanne Rogers: Oh, okay. 

[00:24:36] Mike Roth: And it came out perfect. 

[00:24:38] Jeanne Rogers: Cool, that's cool. 

[00:24:39] Mike Roth: Yeah. 

[00:24:39] Jeanne Rogers: The book that you're holding, Dressing for Dreamtime, everything was created by a human being. Everything that I've created, the books that you see on the table, I used a human being to create those illustrations. 

[00:24:51] Mike Roth: This Dressing for Dreamtime illustration on the cover is just fantastic.

[00:24:56] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah. It's amazing. 

[00:24:58] Mike Roth: It's eye catching. 

[00:24:59] Jeanne Rogers: It is. Yep.

[00:24:59] Mike Roth: Hold it far enough away and it looks like the human eye with the iris. Okay. Yep. The artist that did that for you did a great job. 

[00:25:07] Jeanne Rogers: She's pretty fantastic. 

[00:25:08] Mike Roth: On the other side of the coin, AI is doing something pretty fantastic.

[00:25:11] Jeanne Rogers: I know, I know, because I've used it. I have used it. I've had it create all kinds of symbolic little pieces for me. I understand it and I get it. 

[00:25:21] Mike Roth: Which one do you use? 

[00:25:23] Jeanne Rogers: Chat, GPT I use for some informational stuff. I'm using Bing, copilot.

[00:25:30] Mike Roth: Microsoft provided a lot of the funding for OpenAI to create its large language models. And then has taken their best work in OpenAI to chat GPT 4. 0, not zero, O. And Expanded for the use in Microsoft products, which is pretty much fantastic. And the longer you get better, AI changes every day.

[00:25:56] Jeanne Rogers: Yeah, it's powerful. There's no two ways about that. Our next meeting of, general meeting of the Writers League. We'll highlight A. I. 

[00:26:03] Mike Roth: Yeah that's good. Thanks a lot for being with us, Jeannie. 

[00:26:06] Jeanne Rogers: Thank you. 

[00:26:06] Mike Roth: Good. 

[00:26:07] Jeanne Rogers: Appreciate it. 

[00:26:08] Mike Roth: Now, if people want to get copies of your book, how do they do that?

They can get them at Barnes Noble? 

[00:26:13] Jeanne Rogers: They can get them at Barnes Noble, we'll order them for them. Absolutely, all they have to do is ask. Because they are available on Barnes website as well. 

If you went into the store and asked for a copy of Dressing for Dreamtime, they'll order it for you. 

[00:26:25] Mike Roth: Okay. 

[00:26:26] Jeanne Rogers: And any of my other books, too.

[00:26:28] Mike Roth: Okay. And you can find them on Amazon. com? 

[00:26:30] Jeanne Rogers: Definitely on Amazon. com. 

[00:26:32] Mike Roth: Great. Are any of the books converted to audio books? 

[00:26:35] Jeanne Rogers: Not yet. I would love to get some of these children's books onto audio, but that's another step. 

[00:26:40] Mike Roth: That's another step. Yeah. Great. Thanks for joining us, Jeanne . 

[00:26:43] Jeanne Rogers: Thank you very much for having me.

[00:26:45] Speaker: Remember, our next episode will be released next Friday at 9 AM. Should you want to become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mike at rothvoice dot com. This is a shout out for supporters Tweet Coleman, Ed Williams, Duane Roemmich, Paul Sorgen, Kathy Loving, and Dr. Craig Curtis at K2 in The Villages.

We will be hearing more from Dr. Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mike at rothvoice dot com. We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Rothvoice 2024. All rights reserved.