Sept. 9, 2025

Empowering Narratives: T.L.M. McCoy's Mission to Transform Children's Literature

Send us a text In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with T.L.M. McCoy, author and founder of Blue Round Book Group, LLC. T.L. shares the heartfelt story behind her middle-grade fantasy novel, "Delilah Versus the Ghastly Grimm," written for her grandchild diagnosed with Dravet syndrome. She discusses the importance of disability representation in children's literature and how her book aims to empower kids with disabilities by providing relatable heroes. T....

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Send us a text

In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with T.L.M. McCoy, author and founder of Blue Round Book Group, LLC. T.L. shares the heartfelt story behind her middle-grade fantasy novel, "Delilah Versus the Ghastly Grimm," written for her grandchild diagnosed with Dravet syndrome. She discusses the importance of disability representation in children's literature and how her book aims to empower kids with disabilities by providing relatable heroes. T.L. delves into the challenges of starting her own publishing company, emphasizing the need for inclusive storytelling and the personal journey of bringing her vision to life. Listeners will gain insight into the creative process, the significance of community support, and the drive to break barriers in the literary world. Join us for a conversation that champions the message that it's never too late to pursue your dreams and make a difference through storytelling. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from T.L.’s passion and dedication to creating a more inclusive literary landscape.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. if you believe you can, achieve.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living a Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Today I am joined by author and founder of Blue Round Book Group, LLC, T.L. m. McCoy.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>T.L. is here and going to be talking about her upcoming fantasy novel and everything that she's up to, and Blue Round Book Group and everything that they're up to.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So, TL thank you so much for joining me today.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Thank you. Thank you very much for having me on your show.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Sure. So, as you know, I'm a writer.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I wrote the book Delilah Versus the Ghastly Grimm. It is a middle grade fantasy novel that I wrote for my grandchild. I always say, it's not my book, it's her book. I wrote it because my grandchild was diagnosed with trouble Dravet syndrome, which is a catastrophic seizure disorder. And so what happened was I was taking a class because I wanted to improve my writing, because I was writing, a thriller about a psych nurse. Because that's what I do during the day. I'm a psych nurse. And, as I was writing it, I came across this study that said there really weren't a lot of books on the market for kids who had disabilities. And it kind of lit a fire under me. So I put the book that I was working on to the side and wrote Delilah Versus the Ghastly Grimm for my grandchild.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>The story follows a 12 year old girl who after a life threatening seizure, has an indigo door that opens in her mind. And so she's able to go through this door into this fantasy world and she goes on a big adventure in that world. She's in two places in the book at once. Her physical body is on earth.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>The doctors have to put her into a medically induced coma, which sometimes happens when they are trying to control seizures that are like the kind of seizures my grandchild could face.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So, because they put her in this medically induced coma, it kind of removes the door from her mind so she can't get back home.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So she's now trapped in this fantasy world where there's a villain called the Ghastly Grimm who she has to stand up against. So it's really a book about empowering kids with disabilities so that they have heroes that they can resonate with, that they can see themselves in the stories like Delilah versus the Ghastly Grimm. That was the whole purpose of the book. it's doing pretty well. It's won a few awards.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>It, did hit number one in the category of children's, Epilepsy Health on Amazon. It hit, in the top 10 for a couple other categories, too. So it's off to a good start. But it was just released in May, and so we have some, some time to really work on marketing and getting the word out there, which will, of course, take time.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So that's what I've been doing with the book.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And then I opened or started my own business, Blue Round Book Group, for the purpose of that book. I don't.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I'm not opposed to traditional, publishing, but there's pluses and minuses to both sides right now. I would say, like, you lose a lot of control when you go the traditional route.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>they don't do quite as much marketing as they used to. So a lot of times the author still is responsible for a lot of their own marketing.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And they don't really. I don't, in my opinion, they don't really promote newer authors like myself as much as those who've already earned a name for themselves. So I think that Blue Round was started more or less with that purpose in mind. And then also my goal is to have it expand and include other authors who will hopefully write books that are more representative and inclusive.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Speaking of that, why do you feel like disability representation in children's literature is so important?

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I mean, that's an easy question for me to answer. because I have a grandchild who I love just to death. Like, she is really my life. I spend a lot of time with her.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I wanted to make sure that in the stories that she reads, she can see herself as like. Like being similar to the characters. And I think the problem is a lot of the books on the market that have children with disabilities. One, There isn't enough books. There aren't enough books on the market for children with disabilities. There just aren't that many. I think the. The last figure I saw, and I haven't looked thoroughly lately, but the last figure I saw was like 3.4% of books feature a disabled protagonist. So there aren't a lot of books on the market that kids who have disabilities can, you know, see themselves as the main character. And then of the ones that are out there, I think a lot of them are problematic where either one, they're too educational and the kids just aren't interested in them. And I'm not opposed to educating children. I mean, I have, I was an educator, I was a school director, so I'm not opposed to that. But if you go too educational in children's books, you're going to lose your target audience, which would be the children. And they're not interested in that. So you can't be preachy.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And then the other problem is that they try to cure the disability.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And to me, that doesn't empower somebody.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>It tells them that they're not good enough as they are, that I don't like at all. so I have a problem with that. So I wanted to make something that kids would really enjoy reading. All kids can enjoy reading it because it's an action packed adventure book. I kind of wanted to make something like Percy Jackson, where they go on this quest and it's super fun book. But at the same time, the kids who have disabilities, who don't usually have opportunities to see themselves like the characters that they read about, that they can feel connected to this character and it makes them feel like they can do things and they can. A lot of them m can. It's just, I think people put it in their minds that you have this disability and now this is going to be your path and that's it, period.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>But My grandchild is 4 years old and already showing that that isn't the case. She's diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, which is considered a catastrophic disorder. A lot of these kids, require significant therapy. Some of them require lifelong care.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And just, just. I don't know if it was last week or the week before, but quite recently she was assessed and she's well above average. You know, she's doing really well. She can't do things the same way other kids do them. She walks a little differently.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>She doesn't articulate her words the way other kids do. So you can tell when she speaks that there's something different. But she's coming, she's breaking down those barriers. She's not falling into this category that, they might put kids in who have been diagnosed with this disorder. And I think that's important. You need to say you need to give the kids, I think, in my opinion, all the tools to help them reach their maximum potential and accept who they are as a person and help them be proud of who they are. Not ashamed, but proud of who they are. And I think right now that's what my family is doing with our Delilah. And she's thriving because of it. And there are a lot of people who feel the same way. And that's why I believe it's an important cause.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about some of the processes and challenges that you face when starting your own book company so you can tell a story the way you wanted it told.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Oh, sure, absolutely. for the processes.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I put a great deal of work into this particular book because I didn't want to release it, and it not be up to the standards that like something the big five would release. I felt like if I was going to release it, I wanted to make sure it was done right.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So I took my time with the book. It went through a lot of edits. I myself probably edited it, I don't know, somewhere in the area of 30 times probably. And then it went through two professional edits. one was by an award winning writer and a literary agent. Former literary agent. And then the other one, was actually the editor of the Hunger Games. She edited Delilah Versus the Gasogram. And then for the COVID I contracted with a professional illustrator who also won awards to really make sure that the book from first page, well, from COVID to cover was really just what you would see released by the big five publishing houses. So I put a ton of work into that. It was very stressful at times.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>writers are vulnerable. Sometimes the criticism. I think you pour your heart and your soul into your work and sometimes it's hard to get criticisms. But then you have to kind of sit back and look at the story and think what is best for the story, what will resonate most with those you're writing it for and really move from there.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>As far as the, opening my own company that I'm still struggling with, to be honest with you, it was, it, it has been a very big challenge, especially on the marketing side. I don't have a marketing background and so, you know, when you go the traditional route, they have that built into their organizations already. They have a lot of connections, they have a lot of reach. And so for someone like me, it's. I'm, I don't have that kind of reach. I don't have those kind of connections. And you have to slowly build them. And I'm not really into social media. And that's part of what is required. Before even started the company or released the book. I wasn't even on social media. I'm. I work as a psych nurse. So it wasn't something that I felt like I needed to be on or even should be on because sometimes that could be dangerous if somebody recognizes you.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So it wasn't Something I ever really wanted to do. My husband always says I was like, off the grid, but then I had to start doing social media stuff and that, and doing podcasts and putting myself out there. And that's not a very comfortable place for me. I would rather be, behind the scenes person.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>But that's all part of what it means to have your own imprint and be marketing your book so that people can know that it exists. Tons of books are released every day, every week.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>a lot of people are doing self publishing right now. So the competition is fierce. There's a lot of great books out there. So how do you get people to choose yours over another? It takes a lot of work and you have to start making connections. And I think that is. Is an area that I'm still learning, and there is a learning curve there, and I'm still working on that side of it right now.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Very challenging.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, in your book, you gave the ship the name the Nord, and then you found out, hopefully I'm saying that right, but you found out later on that this was a real organization connected to your, Your granddaughter's diagnosis. So tell us what that moment was like and tell us what that organization does.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Sure. So. So the thing is, I. I, consider myself a spiritual person.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I'm. I'm a Christian. and so I do. I believe in God. I believe sometimes we are steered in a direction to accomplish certain tasks. Like that's what we're made to do. And, sometimes I have dreams that kind of come into reality. For example, I had a dream that I could paint. And I never took a class, never picked up the paintbrush.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>It wasn't something that I did, but I had a dream that I could paint. And so then I, My husband said, well, why don't you just try it if you're, you know, you. Because I kept having the dreams. So I said, okay. And I went and I bought some canvas and I found that I could just do it. Never had a class, not a day in my life. And some of my work is now in, indie movies. You know, an indie movie. And I paint a bunch of stuff for my friends, and they're all over their house. They're all over my house, my children's houses. So I found that I could do that. So I felt like that was just something that I was steered toward doing. And then now this. What happened with the story was I had actually written the entire book. It was done. It had gone through every edit that I was going to do. It had gone through the edits from the professional editors.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And I had put in the book, the boat that Delilah travels on. The name of that boat was called the Nord. And I had never heard of an organization called the Nord. It was not something I was familiar with. But then, for some reason, I was on the Internet doing research on her disability one day, and I came across this organization.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And it is an organization that helps those with special needs. Now, I'm not connected to this organization. I didn't do a lot of research on this organization. But I thought it quite fascinating to me that I had this dream.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And it was very specific that the name of the boat was the Nord. And I included it in my book. And then I found out that this is what they do. So it kind of felt like to me that it was almost an indicator that I was on the correct path. And that's how I viewed it. because I feel like sometimes we're given these cues and they're not obvious cues.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And in this particular case, the cue kind of became glaring when I came across on the Internet and it happened to connect to people with disabilities, providing services for people with disabilities.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So I thought that was pretty amazing. And I was very proud that I happened to have included that name on the boat. M not affiliated with the organization. I don't work with them, don't do anything with them, but they do provide services for those with disabilities. And I think it was a very interesting thing that occurred there.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, what are the letters? What's the, ah, you know, the abbreviation.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>What does it stand for? The Nord.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Right.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Oh, I'm going to have to look that back up because it's actually been like a year since I looked at that. If you give me a second, I could probably look it up for you. But offhand, I don't remember. I'll be honest with you. I do so much research that I forget half the stuff that I come across. It's just that was one, that struck me as interesting because of the dream.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Oh, that's no problem. I just was wanting, to know just in case listeners could, you know, anybody could use it or needed, help from the organization or anything like that.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>I actually did find it. It is the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Gotcha. There you go. Listener.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So there it is.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Check them out.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Yeah. And they help. They help people with rare disease, rare diseases and disorders. And that is something that, Dravet Syndrome is. It's very, very rare.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>It's not like epilepsy. It's a mutation in the SCN1A gene.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And so what happens is these kids get extreme seizures. Sometimes every week, sometimes every day, sometimes multiple times a very, very long seizures. Quite often, some of these kids have seizures that could last in 40 minutes to an hour even. And if you've ever been with somebody who has epilepsy and they have like a two to three minute seizure, even one minute feels like a lifetime when you're there and present and seeing someone you love struggle. So it's, it's a very complex issue and it's really all about sodium channels. Just a simple little thing causes a cascade of problems.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you and your company are working on that listeners need to be aware of.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Sure. So before I started writing Delilah versus the Ghastly Grimm, I was actually writing, an adult book, ah, thriller.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>And I finished writing that very recently and I'm presently working on the edit now.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So it actually takes me longer to edit a book than it does to write a book. I feel like the true story comes out in the editing process.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>So the book is written, and now I am, like, maybe 10 chapters into the editing phase of it. Most likely it'll be done within the next six months. And then I will have it professionally edited and start the process of getting that out to the public.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>tentatively. The name of the story is Syncope, but I'm not married to it, so I don't know if it'll remain the title in the end. But it's about a psych nurse. And the thought I had on this was because I work as a psych nurse, what if the person caring for those with the mental, caring for the mentally ill patients is maybe the most mentally ill of all? And so that's kind of the premise that I went with for this particular story.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Absolutely. So if anyone's interested in purchasing Delilah versus the Gasigrim, it is available on Amazon and also IngramSpark. They can also view information on it on my website, www.blueroundbookgroup.com.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>again, that's www.blueroundbookGroup.com.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>if you want to reach out via social media, just scroll on down to the bottom of that website and you'll see links to all the social media that I have available. And I also have promo videos on YouTube under blue round Book Group as well. They're very cute animated videos usually about. I, included my dog in a Lot of the videos. His name's Levi.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>He's 15 years old. So I kind of wanted to do something for him as well. So he's in a lot of the videos where he's kind of like, promoting the book.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>But yeah, so that kind of stuff is all out there right now. And if you wanted to reach out to me at the.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>There's a contact page on my website as well. And that will be a way for you to send me messages through, my website and email.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to touch on or just any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Absolutely. First, I want to thank you for taking the time to discuss Delilah versus the Ghastly Grimm and Blue Round Book Group. I really appreciate you having me on your show. Second, I want to say to anyone who might be considering writing a book that's representative or inclusive, I am hoping to connect with authors and maybe work with some who are on the same page as me with releasing books that maybe would resonate with that particular, you know, populations who are.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Who don't have enough out there to read, because the focus is not on those kind of populations. And for. For anyone who has had barriers erected and not able to break down those barriers and do what they want to do as far as, like, being a writer or an artist or something like that, I encourage you to keep trying because, you know, I'm doing this later in life.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>There's no cut off for that. You don't want to get to the end of your life and just feel like you've never even tried. Even if you fail, it doesn't really matter because then, at least in the end, you know, you put the effort in and you tried your best, and that's all we can do as human beings. And so I encourage you, don't let others make the decisions for you.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>You can publish yourself. You. If. If the Big Five isn't interested, you can put something out there.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>A lot of these very famous authors are actually now no longer going with the Big Five.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>They're publishing their own work. They're getting their own imprints even, because nowadays they wouldn't even stand a chance. It's a very tough market. So don't let somebody make the decisions for you. Fight for your dreams and hopefully you'll get them.

00:21:20.529 --> 00:21:28.049
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. So check out the book. Check out everything that TL's up to. Check out our company.

00:21:28.890 --> 00:21:31.369
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Contact her if you want to write an inclusive book.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Follow rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. And for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, or to leave feedback or suggestions, visit www.craveball337.com.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And TL thank you for all that you're doing. And thank you for joining me.

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> T.L.M. McCoy>Thank you so much. Have a good night.

00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:07.599
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveball337.com.

00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.519
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Until next time, keep Living the dream.