Badger and Turtle: Face the Storm received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with authors Daniel McMillan.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Badger and Turtle: Face the Storm. Published August, 2023
What’s the book’s first line?
“On a warm and sunny day, Badger and Turtle walk side-by-side through a grassy meadow.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The book is about two friends whom under duress initially go to natural defensives which then creates an unhelpful pattern that they have to work through to get back to connection. It is meant as an educational metaphor to try to help parents as well as children better understand relationships and their unhelpful patterns.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
This story is based off a metaphor that I developed and often share in my therapy office to individuals, couples and families. It often really impacts and helps, particularly couples, make sense of the interactive nature of their relationship and it’s pain. I also see and experienced myself how difficult relationships can be after children are born. This book was born as a combination of those two ingredients: the usefulness of it as a teaching tool and the need for parents to know this information for the kid’s sake. My hope is to help families better understand relationships, whilst also entertaining their children. Ultimately my goal is to help support the emotional environment or feeling of the home that the children grow up in.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Hopefully that it’s fun! But also, to learn a useful tool for their life.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
To me both the Badger and the Turtle are both interesting. Specifically more clearly seeing the loneliness and sense of abandonment that drives the Badger, as well as the fear and need for safety the fuels the Turtle. I hope this helps people better understand themselves as well as their family members.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I didn’t really decide to become an author. I wanted to share one of the most useful tools from my therapy practice, this metaphor, in a digestible way that could reach more people.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I am a clinical/counselling psychologist in Alberta, Canada. I focus on relationships, trauma, emotions and growth in my practice. I also am the founder and director of Assured Psychology which is a psychological firm based out of Calgary, Ab. You can learn more about us at www.assuredpsychology.com
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
Not enough. I hope to do more over the next few years. I feel that I have a clinical book inside me to write one day. Additionally I hope to create more children’s books as a means to share useful, therapeutic metaphors that I have created.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Being an indie author is fairly new to me so I am still learning the answers to that. However so far the best part has been finding a way to share information that I feel is crucial but frequently untaught. That feels good. The hardest part to date has been how to get that information out there on a larger scale via distribution.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
My advice would be to not wait but to go ahead and start that project. If you wait till your fully ready or it’s perfect, you may wait too long.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Possibly yes. The distribution of a traditional publisher interests me.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I want to help the most people possible, particularly in sharing in important information I have learned from being a therapist for 19 years. It motivates me to think there can be ways to do this that can access more people that the typical 1-1 or 1-2 model I use as a therapist.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Hard to choose one, but my top four: Gabor Mate, Echart Tolle, Richard Schwartz, and Jack Kornfield.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
Great question! Hard to choose just one but at this time I would say The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.