Nugget of Hope:

There is a difference between danger and discomfort. If you confuse the two, you will miss out on some amazing life experiences.

Don Sawyer, a writer and educator, grew up in Michigan and moved to Canada in the 1960s.

He has worked with youth and adults from many cultural backgrounds and in a variety of locales, including teaching high school in a small Newfoundland outport, training community development workers in West Africa, teaching First Nations adults in British Columbia, and designing a climate change action course for Jamaican youth.

He has taught in a small Newfoundland outport, trained community workers in West Africa, taught adults on a First Nations reserve in British Columbia, and designed a climate change action course for Jamaican youth. He has worked with youth and adults from many cultural backgrounds and in various locales.

Inevitably, his experiences filtered into his writing. Don's dedication to his craft is evident in his extensive body of work. He has authored more than 12 books, including two Canadian bestsellers, and his articles and op-eds have graced the pages of many journals and most of Canada’s major dailies.

Don currently lives in Ontario with his wife of 54 years.

https://www.donsawyer.org/

Facebook: donsawyerbooks

Learn more about your host, Kim Lengling

www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Nugget of Hope:

"Give yourself grace."

A distinguished executive coach, speaker, and author with over 30 years of diverse experience.

Janet's career includes serving as a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and two decades as a global leadership coach.

She has collaborated with new, emerging, and executive leaders across various industries in the U.S., China, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

She is the author of "Seven Mistakes New Managers Make" and founded "In the Lead, Inc."

Janet has a deep passion for coaching inexperienced leaders. Helping them find their unique voice in a crowded world. Her approach involves assessing, coaching, enabling, and sustaining their success by thoroughly understanding their current situation, long-term goals, and areas for development. She shares her expertise in leadership, change management, and team effectiveness, drawing from her academic background in organizational leadership and development and her extensive military experience.

Janet believes true leadership is built on a commitment to the mission, clear expectations, and the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome obstacles.

Her mission is to empower leaders and teams to make a positive impact and bring their visions to life.

Janet holds a Ph.D. in Organization and Leadership Development from the University of Minnesota, an M.S. in Education from East Carolina University, and a B.S. in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

https://janetpolach.com/

linkedin.com/in/janetpolachphd

Book: The Seven Mistakes New Managers Make: https://amzn.to/4dmKSWc

Learn more about your Host, Kim Lengling here:

www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Nugget of Hope, "If there is something you really want to do, go all in."

Jonni Jordyn, born in Oakland, CA, started playing music at age two and moved on to singing and acting in grade school. High School introduced writing, filmmaking, drawing, and photography in college. In other words, she had a very liberal arts education.

Jonni published some poetry and India ink drawings in literary magazines while in college and won critical acclaim for her acting in a cabaret theater, but she was faced with a decision to pick the arts she wanted to pursue.

Of all the available opportunities, music and songwriting won the first round when she performed with legendary stars of the sixties and seventies.

Round two began years later, after leaving California for Arizona. It all started with a blank piece of paper and the question, "How can I possibly write more than eleven thousand words for a single story?" A valid question that was followed up a year later with, "How did I ever write 160,000 words?"

Now, the writing comes much easier, but still, there are questions like, "How will I ever get all these ideas written down?" followed closely by, "How many times can I edit the same book?"

Jonni currently lives in Colorado.

TikTok: @Jonni_Jordyn

Twitter: @JonniKovacich

Facebook: Jonni Jordyn

Web: www.jordynatlargebooks.com

Learn more about your host, Kim Lengling:

www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Nugget of Hope:

"You are capable of not only surviving but thriving through far tougher situations than you thought possible. But you also need a diverse community to help do this far more than you assume."

CC Robinson has been writing stories—mostly in her mind—since she was little. Her first officially published book was a 27-page fiction work in fourth grade about a white family who marched with Dr. King. This was before the internet, so of course, she had no idea another book already existed about this.

Since then, she’s undertaken various non-fiction and fiction works, blogs, and pens far too many emails.

By day, she is a wife, mom, pastor, and finance director for her Cincinnati church. By night, she throws on her superhero cape to rescue her own dystopian world, Divided.

You can often find her in her garden, on the dance floor (salsa!), or reading a book by the fire.

Social Links:

www.instagram.com/ccrobinsonauthor

www.facebook.com/ccrobinsonauthor

www.titktok.com/ccrobinsonauthor

website: https://ccrobinsonauthor.com

Learn more about your host, Kim Lengling here:

www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Candace's Nugget of Hope: "There is always a fresh start."

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Candace spent years backpacking and working worldwide. She has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and an MBA and has worked for twenty years on four different continents. She now calls Calgary, Alberta, home.

During the COVID lockdown, she had time on her hands and decided to try writing, and she began writing the Back in a Year series.

When not at her computer yelling, “Just a few more pages, then I’ll make dinner,” she loves hiking in the Rocky Mountains, swimming, reading romance novels, making up new cake recipes, and spending time with her husband and three awesome kids.

Social Links:

Instagram @candacemacphie

TikTok @candacemacphie

www.candacemacphie.com

https://www.instagram.com/candacemacphie/

https://www.tiktok.com/@candacemacphie

https://candacemacphie.com/

https://www.amazon.ca/stores/Candace-MacPhie/author/B0C5Y6W7SZ?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Learn more about your host, Kim Lengling

www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Nugget of Hope: Each generation has more in common than we realize. As time passes, each generation within a family often brings life full circle. Brent Olson has lived on a small farm in Big Stone County, on the edge of the prairie in western Minnesota, for 64 of his 66 years.

As a working journalist, Brent has filed articles from 20 countries on six continents. This has led him to want to change the world he lives in through his work as a county commissioner and create a new world in his two recent novels, "Angr" and "Between the Helpless and the Darkness."

In this time of news and information tailored so everyone can hear only what they want to hear, he presents information that will leave everyone just a little unsettled.

Working with a warm heart and a cold eye, he dissects what works from what doesn’t in our individual lives, institutions, and country. He has served on dozens of boards and committees—as varied as the Big Stone County Pork Producers, and the Minnesota United Methodist Board of Ordained Ministry.

As a short-order cook at his very own Inadvertent Café, he has learned to make fluffy scrambled eggs and the best omelets on Main Street in Clinton, Minnesota (Population 453).

Olson is a Big Stone County Commissioner and a 2012 Bush Foundation Fellow.

===

Who I am

When someone offers me help, my instinctive response is to say, “No, thanks; I can do anything.” This has gotten me in a lot of trouble over the years.

I still say it.

I once shot myself in the hand with a rifle while preparing for a Norwegian-Philippine-French Independence Day Celebration.

One of my books was in Pete Seeger’s bathroom.

I once took a group of other people’s children to stay in the ghetto of a developing nation where our bodyguard was a thirteen-year-old girl named Lauri.

I don’t own a wristwatch, but I’m always on time.

I know all of “Silver Tongued Devil” by Kris Kristofferson.

Of the ten most dangerous jobs in America I’ve dabbled in six.

I once harvested 235 acres of soybeans in 17 1/2 hours. It snowed that night, and the next morning, before I put on my shoes, I had three cups of coffee.

I know what Henry the V probably really said at Agincourt was, “Let’s get ‘em boys,” but Shakespeare’s version always makes me cry.

I can castrate 30-pound pigs by myself, 40 seconds per pig.

I have an email on file from a person who drove three hundred miles to have coffee with me and said that meeting me had been on his bucket list.

I have a letter in my file cabinet that reads, in part, “I’ve completely lost all respect for you as an elected official and as a human being.”

I once drank all the whiskey with a world-famous poet and told a story that my wife hates me to tell because she doesn’t like people to know what I’m capable of. When I was done, the poet laughed and said, “That’s a poem.”

I’ve buried four dogs.

I love my family.

I can cope.

Substack: https://brentolson.substack.com/ Amazon: https://amzn.to/47kngjF

Find out more about your host, Kim Lengling

www.kimlenglingauthor.com

Nugget of Hope: Even in a divided world, people come out to help in tough times. Care for your neighbor.

Russell G. Little is a writer and divorce attorney. His book Murder for Me fictionalizes the many people he’s encountered over his lifetime and over forty years of practicing law. His career was populated by colorful characters and wild cases that eventually fed his writer’s imagination.

He was born in Amarillo, Texas, flat as far as you can see, windy, and covered with mesquite. The federal government builds bombs there.

After graduating from law school, he married a Houston girl who promptly announced they were moving to Houston.

It was the best thing she could have done for him. Russell practiced law in Houston for forty years, raised three kids, and is still married to the same woman.

Russell's career was populated by colorful characters and wild cases that eventually fed his imagination.

He decided to write the first novel a very, very long time ago. As he raised a family and practiced law, he thinks he must have started the novel twenty times, but it wasn’t until his youngest son graduated from high school and left for college that he decided it was time to finish.

His son said, “Dad, you’re over fifty; you need to finish that book. You’re running out of time.” And with those loving words, Russell was spurred to finish. His newest endeavor, Murder by Storm, will be released in October 2024.

To learn more, visit: www.russelllittleauthor.com Learn more about your host, Kim Lengling: www.kimlenglingauthor.com

See Kim's newest release, Paw Prints on the Kitchen Floor. Available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3XfsJmX

Ann's Nugget of Hope: "Find joy in each day. Focus on everyday positives." USA Today Bestselling author Ann Charles writes spicy, character-driven stories full of mystery, romance, comedy, adventure, suspense, and supernatural mayhem. When she's not dabbling in fiction, she's arm wrestling with her two kids, enjoying a drink with her husband, and arguing with her sassy cats. Social Links: Website: http://www.anncharles.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnCharlesAuthorPage TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@anncharlesbooks X: https://x.com/annwcharles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ann_charles Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/annwcharles Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/AnnWCharles Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ann-charles Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4605878.Ann_Charles Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ann-Charles/e/B004JLYPFW YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AnnCharlesAuthor LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anncharles Learn more about your host, Kim Lengling, at www.kimlenglingauthor.com