After Watching Her Feed Our Baby, I Completely Changed How I Love Her | Episode 500

Mother’s Day can expose the quiet cracks in a home: the assumptions, the missed signals, the “I meant well” moments that still land like neglect. We sit down with David Solomon, a new dad navigating newborn life, and he doesn’t sugarcoat what he’s learning. Watching his wife carry the physical toll of feeding and caring for a baby reframes everything, especially the way our culture dismisses stay-at-home moms. The core message is simple and challenging: appreciation is not a feeling, it’s a practice.

We dig into what meaningful Mother’s Day appreciation actually looks like in a marriage. That includes dropping the comparison trap between your own mom and your wife, saying thank you in specific ways, and taking initiative with the unglamorous work that keeps a household running. David shares how pressure, lack of sleep, and creative deadlines can make it easy to default to generic gestures, and why that doesn’t build trust. We also talk about turning gratitude into a rhythm with an “appreciation night” that’s different from date night, focused on giving your spouse real space.

Then the conversation widens into what we’re building through Voices for Voices and Mythical Creatures Around the World: stories designed to bring hope to broken communities, creative projects across age groups, and major plans that stretch into publishing, audio dramas, and more. Under all of it is the same standard we’re trying to live by: if we want to change culture, we have to start by honoring the people carrying the load at home.

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Chapter Markers

• 0:00 Welcome And Mother’s Day Setup
• 2:07 A New Dad Sees Motherhood Differently
• 9:49 Appreciation That Shows Up In Action
• 19:05 Writing With Purpose And Bringing Hope
• 28:57 Thanking The Spouse Behind The Mission
• 32:20 Trauma, Gratitude, And Weekly Appreciation
• 38:50 Building A Creative World Under Pressure
• 50:31 Justin Reflects On Culture And Momentum
• 1:01:46 New Myths, New Books, Big Announcements
• 1:14:39 Final Thanks And Share The Show

#justiceforjustin #justiceforvoicesforvoicestiktok #VoicesforVoices #NewDads #MothersDayAppreciation #DadLife #FatherhoodJourney #GiftIdeasForMoms #NewDadTips #CelebratingMoms #ParentingAdvice #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #Episode500

Transcript

Welcome And Mother’s Day Setup

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 0:01

Hey everyone, it's Justin here of Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us, watching, listening here in the United States and across the world. We really appreciate it. Uh this episode that we are putting together today, and of course, our our dog, her birthday is today, so she just liked to be seen. So uh so the episode we're gonna be uh focusing the topic on is uh on all mothers, uh Mother's Day uh recently passed here in the United States. And uh just like um just like a lot of things, sometimes there's miscommunication. Um there's uh a whole host of things, whether whether it's a holiday or whether it's not, there's there's really uh a whole host of things that can happen on a daily basis. Um and and so that's what we're gonna talk about today is uh how Mother's Day was and how you know we can maybe I don't know, they learn from uh this this uh past Mother's Day. Uh so that's what we're gonna uh jump into with our uh guest David Solomon. So David, uh thanks for joining us as always, and take it from here before Lucy starts talking.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Bye Lucy.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 1:51

So yeah, you're good to go. You're the good to go, David. If you wanna jump in.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah, can you hear me now?

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 2:03

Yeah, I could yeah, I heard you first.

A New Dad Sees Motherhood Differently

Appreciation That Shows Up In Action

Writing With Purpose And Bringing Hope

Thanking The Spouse Behind The Mission

Trauma, Gratitude, And Weekly Appreciation

Building A Creative World Under Pressure

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Okay, yeah, you're good. Um, so I wanted to talk about um Mother's Day and something that I've learned from it because I'm uh I'm a newborn dad, so like we have a newborn, and uh it makes you appreciate things and see the world a little differently than before. And you know, yeah, we've had Ryan and Mother's Day has been special, but this is a little different, and so one thing that I've noticed um with uh with parents, uh a lot of people take it for granted, which I've learned. Um a lot of people think that when you're a mom, like a stay-at-home mom, you don't do hard work and you're just gooping off and sitting on your butt and just watching TV, and that's not the case. Um I'm gonna put it into perspective. Normal people, um, we eat three meals a day, and we burn calories from running, or we have a choice to burn calories working out. Well, a mom to a newborn breastfeeding loses a lot of calories each time and has to replenish, or she gets too weak and and frail, and that's important here. Um it's very important. I think that a lot of people take for granted that moms go through this sacrifice for their child and also um start to lack health on their part because they're so concerned for their kid. And us husbands, us dads, um we we think it's a joke, and it's not, it puts a lot of pressure on the body. Um, being a mom is special, and for us to take it for granted as husbands and treat it as a joke just doesn't work. You know, one thing I'll say to husbands is don't compare your own mom to your wife because it's a totally different experience. You know, our moms they take care of us, and um, you know, our wives, they're moms to our kids. And you you get to watch and help and try to support in any way you can the hard days, and trust me, there's a lot of them. Um, with having a newborn, is it worth it? Yeah, it's totally worth it, but there are hard days. Um, and some days you just don't know what to do. You're running around with your head cut off like a chicken. Um, that's that's kind of what has gone down some days. My family is a very unique situation because I'm a CEO of mythical creatures around the world, and I have to balance being a dad, a father, and a CEO and a writer, doing all these stories and trying not to neglect other things. Sometimes I fail at it miserably, and God forgives me, thank, thank the Lord. But seriously, um my wife then juggles being mom, caretaker, um, and also editor of mythical creatures around the world, which denies her time because everybody's time is ate up by the newborn and by lack of sleep and just all these things. Um they add up. So I'm on the phone every day, you know, talking to people and you know, doing all these uh myths because we're gonna be doing a huge event, but you already know about it. It's called Voices for Voices Publishing Tour 2027. It's gonna be very huge. And uh there's a lot of preparation and a lot of scariness involved. And um my wife, she's the editor of all my books. See, I have dyslexia and I I I can't spell very well in some words, or I do it backwards, and so when I do that, um, you know, she has to edit everything to make sure everything runs smoothly. Now, the painful part is when I met her, she actually had a movie going on in Hollywood, and uh, we're gonna talk about that. It's called From Atlantis or Atlantis to Atlanta, and uh it nicknamed Feta and it was uh shut down because of apparently harassment from people, and then it got moved, and then it got put on hold, and now we're you know getting back into that. Uh it was originally gonna be a hallmark type story, and there were some big actors involved, and uh Amanda was talking to him, and we we had relationships with them, and the writing strike really affected it, and that put my family through through a hellhole. Um, and she hasn't really recovered from that as a writer, and she she wants time to write. She wrote her book Liberty, it's out now, and we'll be doing a press release on it, but she wants to write her stuff, and part of that is mythical, and uh there's no time to do that when you're a mom, and there's no free time for yourself, and and so that's not been fair to watch. I'm a creator, but she's also a creator, too. It's part of the reason we fell in love. She's very good at creating her own stories. I mean, brilliant uh execution on some of those stories, and then you got Ryan, great, great kid, and you know, he's writing his book, and so you know, we're we're doing that, and there's no time, and pretty soon it's midnight, and we've only gotten two things done out of nine, and that's kind of what our house is right now, not in order. I want to tell husbands out there that are working that job like I am. You know, appreciate your wife because she's a mom to your kids, and don't just act like, oh, here's flowers, happy Mother's Day. Actually, do something that means something, don't be generic and be like, oh, well, you know, thanks for being a mom to my kid, you know, here's a here's a flower. Be creative about what you do. Sometimes it'll backfire on you. I'll give you an example. If you have something that has to be cleaned and you haven't cleaned it in a few weeks and you want to surprise her, then do it. It might backfire because she might have told you to do it nine times and you didn't do it because you were, you know, I don't know, busy. But do it because you want to show her, hey, I appreciate you. I know this hasn't been cleaned. Everybody's been at work, you've been nursing and taking care of the baby. I've been a nine to five. Let me help you take out the trash, let me help vacuum, let me, you know, spruce up. But show the initiative, and I promise you that will help you in the long run. You know, being a mom, you only get one mom. And that's something very important they talk about, but they also don't say you a lot of times you only get one wife. That that's kind of the idea. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, but that's how God wanted it. And you have to treasure that. And if you neglect it and it slips, you know, you can't get that back. Time is used. And now what? You know, so we really gotta hone in on being better husbands, and uh it's really appreciating our wife as a mom for all the hardship that she does for our kids. I don't know about you, but I can't nurse a baby. Can you? Husbands? No. So uh Mother's Day is about appreciation, and you you really gotta do that. I get it that you know things get in the way, and and us husbands we're working our nine to five and juggle and everything, but we we gotta show our wives of taking care of kids where it's not worth it. You gotta show initiative and you gotta show you know that you care and that they matter. One of the uh books that I'm writing uh is gonna talk about that. I've kind of seen it from a husband's point of view, and have friends that are husbands that neglected their wife this year, not thinking that it would matter, and it mattered when they sent him flowers and said, Happy Mother's Day, I gotta work. Yeah, that didn't work well, and yeah, I may have gotten caught up in doing that a little bit. Uh my friend Charlie did it. Uh uh Scooter did it. A lot of people I know did it, and that was wrong. And we we gotta change the way that we see this holiday. We see it as the 4th of July, and we're celebrating mothers, but we're not celebrating our wives, we're celebrating our mothers, and that's just not true. Now, most of you know that I lost my mom, and um for the most part, uh until now, I've celebrated her on that day. But the thing is, um, for husbands, I'm seeing that's not such a good idea, because then we compare our moms to our wives, and that that doesn't end well, and I'll tell you why, because it's a very different situation. So, in my book, I'm writing about celebrating our moms uh on their birthday and our wives on Mother's Day, because when you get married, there's a separation that no one really talks about, and that separation matters because um, you know, you give attention to your wife now, you move out of your mom's place. Yeah, happy Mother's Day, you know, that's okay. But you need to show your attention to your wife, not your parent. Now, if your mom wants to jog along and you know, be cool, that's that's fine. But make it a priority about your wife and not your mom. Something that a lot of people don't think about. Um and then like now, you know, with mythical, uh, Amanda hasn't had the time of day to, you know, post something because we've been so busy and caught up on things, and you know, things just get away from us quickly. We want to change that. Um I'm writing my uh my Batman story right now. It's really good. I'm really proud of it. Um we're about 70 to 100 pages in, really excited, doing brookings, you know, doing good things. But I've had to take you know three days off almost bored just to to catch up on life and appreciate the little things and man, you don't know what what is there until it's gone. And your wife needs to be that priority, no matter what. And then um, you know, even not on Mother's Day, say thank you. It was a long way. Just say thank you. Thank you for taking care of our kid, thank you for doing the things that I can't, like nursing, thank you, you know, for those late nights when I'm at work, thank you, you know, for cooking dinner when I couldn't be there, just a little thank you. It goes a long way, and that's something I've learned. And I I would just I would caution people to say thank you once in a while. Before uh Justin, you know, I I really wasn't that good at editing. Um my wife would you know edit everything, and um I tried to be better about that on mythical and make sure things are spelled right and cleaned it up a little bit so she can have space now to to post on her own. And that's working now if she has time, and that's uh the good that's come out of that. But at the same time, you know, she still has to edit my work, or it looks like crud, you know. So lots of hard work in our house. Um, and then you got Ryan, you know, he has to get his book edited, and so you know, everybody's book is edited, and there's no time to breathe. That's what it is right now. Um so bottom line, say thank you. You know, it'll go a long way, and you will you will see a change in your house if you appreciate the things that you can't do that your wife has. It just will really go a long way. Um, it's really open my eyes, um, and it's showing in my story um that that one of my characters uh is gonna learn the hard way, and and I've chosen to do that to to try and impact people on you know better thinking, should I say, better choices on how we navigate the world in that. Um and then like uh Justin, he did a post for Disneyland, and that's uh that's the other thing. We we got this tour going on, can't say a lot, but its purpose is to bring hope to a broken world because my family's not perfect, and your family's not perfect, and the people listening are not perfect, and we just want to bring hope back, and we want to build others up and not tear them down, and our tour is to do just that. I want to bring people closer to faith, I want to bring people closer to their families, and I want to warm people's hearts. Some stories are gonna be mature where they're uh for a mature audience. Some stories are gonna be for teens with hard topics, some others are gonna be cleaner, but they're there for a purpose, they're not there to glorify that sin or that blood and gore, they're to glorify God in all of these stories and to show that there is hope in the darkness, no matter how dark this story is. My wife um she's been working on uh on a story um kind of about how we met, and I'd like you guys to be a part of it. Um sort of a spy series. Uh, not that we're spies, but how we met kind of adds up and um it's called Aquaforce, she's been working on it four years now, along with another one uh Blood Brothers. It was stolen from her by a man named Joseph Kemp. Hollywood's not a nice place, guys. And uh so she has some things in the landing pattern that she wants to strike out, you know, to get things out, along with Titan, her other series. It's like uh Wednesday. Um be interesting to see what she does. So I really want to, you know, encourage you guys, um, and people that hate on me too, because I know I'm gonna get the hate, especially on this tour. People are gonna go, how dare you do a tour? Well, we're in a dark place, and we don't need any more darkness in this world. We need hope. We do need superheroes and we need truth. And that is what mythical creatures around the world is about: bringing hope to broken communities. And when I say broken communities, that means every community, because every community is broken. In one way or another, if you're rich or you're poor, you are broken. We all cry. We're all sad. We are broken. We are human. And if you're Christian, like I am, and these books do reflect from that point of view a lot, just to show hope. I'm not going to preach at you. I just want to clean an industry up that I was anointed to do since six years old, 451 novels earlier. And I'm a little bit behind. God's been speaking through me about Mother's Day, about appreciation for your spouse. All these things have been just really drawn out in my writing. And when I write, you know, there's no way to say this. God just puts the words on the paper, and I'm just the the vessel that God uses to the pen. I am scared to death of the readers. Because it's it's it's something. And you know it is Batwoman on the CW, but I kind of did a cleaner version. Um and Batman is based on folklore. And so we're we're also doing production in Fort Worth on uh on a Batman-like drama based on the folklore of Batman, because his name was not Batman, he was a man that dressed up as a Bat. We're going back to the founding of Batman and what created these myths: Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkman, and uh, and you're gonna see that on mythical even more and more. Even Spider-Man had a mythical hero that created him. X-Men, the list goes on. Um, listen, appreciate your wife, it goes a long way. I mean it. And um, this tour, which I'll talk about, I may be the writer, but a lot of people don't think about this. My wife is the editor, so she's the one that makes everything sound good and clean and not run through, you know. And so if you're a writer, and and my predecessor and mentor, uh Mike, you know, he always gave his wife credit. And Mike, I know you're listening. Um, buddy, you know, you you give your wife credit for all the editing on the comics, and that's what we gotta do in the front of the book. Thank you to my wife for editing this. Thank you for the dedication. Thank you for being a mom and finding the time to edit this and make this come a reality. Those dedication pages aren't made for our publishers, those dedication pages are made for the people that made this moment happen in our personal life. There is a place for thanking our publishers, but that is not the place, I believe. And a lot of authors make that mistake. So if you're an author, man, you better thank your spouse if they're editing your work. Because it's a lot of hard work, guys, cleaning up after us. Because we're the ones that create the story, and they're the ones that make it run smoothly. I create nine stories a day, it's crazy. But in the end, she's the one that makes it, you know, sound good. I'll give you an example. Two days ago, uh, you know, I did a story, it's just, you know, concept. Um, it's about a cop in LA, and he became a cop because his parents were cops and they were murdered in LA. And he knows it was an inside job. And so he becomes a cop in order to find out who did it. And then he learns that something isn't right, and then he transforms into a mythical creature of LA and learns that his parents were mythicals too, and that's why they were killed. I won't spoil it for you, but it's a concept. Then I have to write that concept down and have my wife edit it. And I act everything out that I do, and Justin has firsthand seen it. Um, so I get all the dialogue like that going, just crazy amounts of dialogue. So, you know, I just want to say, um, you know, it's a lot of work. And I don't know where my story is gonna go because I'll give you an example. If I'm on the phone to someone in Brookings and then they give me information and I act that out, and then you know, whether I draw it out or what, then I write it out, and I put all that information together to make it make sense. I'll write the entire season, entire episodes. And my family has to sometimes deal with, you know, dad's having a late night, and you know, maybe people are neglected, and so I have to make up for that. That is the sacrifice that my family puts up with in order to be missionaries in this foreign field, and husbands, we don't say thank you. And that brings me to my next topic in my book. Pastors. We preach sermons because God anoints us to lead people to him. And missionaries, we lead people to him on that foreign field, but we neglect our families and don't say thank you for making this possible. You would not be on the pulpit if your wife wasn't staying home taking care of your kid. Voices for voices publishing isn't publishing because it wants to, it's because there's a need, it's because it has to. This tour is a missionary tour. We are missionaries in this foreign field, and God has laid this on my heart since six years old. And we will have musicians on this tour, and I'm gonna drop it now. We will have musicians on this tour. We will not be alone on this tour. There are other voices that will have their voice that have been impacted, famous people that you know want to have that moment to help people and raise people up. I want you to think about something. Justin Hartley from Tracker, great person, I know him personally, great guy. You know, he went out of his way, he got an award, I believe it was in St. Louis, Missouri, and he didn't want the award. He gave back to the place that gave his award and said, I love the award, but I'm gonna sell it because it's made out of gold, and I want to give it back to your community, and I want to help your school, and I want to help your college. Those are the people we're gonna have on this tour, the people that give back and don't take away from others. We want to impact not only this country, not only this culture, but the world. Not politically, not propaganda. And our family, well, that's a lot of stress because we're gonna be in the spotlight doing that. Because no one ever has. We're not focused on the family, we're not Thomas Nelson, and we're not CBN, and we're not these big corporations. We are just anointed and called to do this, and we are not guaranteed a good outcome. We are guaranteed a reward in heaven that is greater than the reward that we will have here on earth, and that is why we do this, to lead people to truth and to get them out of a dark place. The passion has ignited in my heart for Mother's Day to touch this topic, to even write a novel based on it, because we have no appreciation for the hard work that our spouses go through and the sacrifice that our families go through so we can be on that pulpit. And each book might as well be me standing up on that pulpit and leading people to God and saying, Do you know Him? It is not easy what I do. And this book that I'm writing right now, it is so hard for me to write this because I have experienced persecution from law enforcement. I have been a victim of that. Wrong place, wrong time. Didn't do anything wrong. I was a white boy in a black neighborhood, terrible place to be. And here I am writing a story about a black person that gets accused of doing something by white cops, and here I am reliving the trauma of that moment and shining a light that says you don't have to be like this just because you can be better, do better. A lot of people mock my experiences. No, it made me who I am, and it strengthened me. This ice stroke, it strengthens me every day because I thank God that I can see once in a while, and I can see my kids, my newborn, I can see my family, I can see to write. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the trees, thank you, Lord, for the water, thank you, Lord, for the sky, thank you for letting me watch this TV movie. We watched Swap last night. It messed my eyes up. Great movie, good message, really inspired me, really brought me out to do this. This was supposed to be done Mother's Day, but again, life gets in the way. So this brought it out even more. I just want to grab on with people and say, do better and thank our spouses. They do an amazing job. They really do. I want to take it a step further. I want to take it a step further with uh with our spouses and make Mother's Day once a week. Six days. You work, and maybe on a night, not a date night, an appreciation night. Date night's different. Appreciation is saying, hey honey, you know, I want to know what you want to do, or you want to watch this, you know, take some time, and I'll watch the kids and you know, maybe give her a card. I just want to appreciate you for being mom to my kid. I know it's a lot, but it'll go a long way for everyone. So, you know, it's something in my book too that I'm trying to experiment with with my characters. And it goes a long way. Now, some of us on Mother's Day, our parents weren't nice, and I'm gonna call out Amanda's parents. I don't have to say names. But when you mistreat someone so fragile, you uh you rob them of motherly love. So then what happens is they go into unhealthy relationships seeking out that love. And then they finally find that love, and they have a kid, and then they never want that kid to have that robbed love. So they become the most loving parent you'll ever see in your life. That's what I see with Amanda. She was robbed of that love, and so she needs extra love and extra care because she didn't get it as a kid, and so she gives that love that she never got to her kids, but she sometimes neglects herself, and that's dangerous. So please appreciate your spouses, and if you didn't have a good childhood, you know, even as a father, right? As husbands, you know, then give that love that you were never shown, and you and your wife too, to your kids. That's a second message for Father's Day, because I didn't have a dad. I had a mom, and that's the other thing. I was raised by my mom, and so a lot of people call me gay and feminine, and I'm not. I was raised by my mom to watch chick flicks, I was raised by my mom to raise kids. I was raised by my mom, yes, sir, yes, ma'am. Do the hay bells, you know, do the chores. I was raised by my mom to be a gentleman and not macho. I don't have a macho thing in my body. I'm a straight-up cowboy who tries to respect everybody with dignity and not pride, and try to be humble about it and give the shirt off my back if they need it. I try to be a good person. I try to listen to the stewards of Christ and do the best I can. And I fail at it miserably every day because I am a sinner and not a saint, saved by grace and not by works of men. I can't tell you how hard it is to be uh, you know, to be in the spotlight, to be famous with mythical. A lot of people see it and go, not a lot of people see that. Are you aware that we have a hundred thousand people a day that do? Are you aware of the messages we get? Are you aware of the impact that we have? Of the impact this tour is gonna have. And a lot of heart. And on top of that, we're gonna have a toy line for our tour, and that's a lot of pressure because you know, I have to paint things, and I I have to do everything, and you guys are gonna have toys, the kids, on this tour, to get to know the characters, to connect with people in new ways, and stickers and comics, it's so much going on. And a lot of you may uh criticize me for what I'm about to say next, but you know, I owe scene appreciating you know my wife and and all that to Justin Bieber. Because Justin did the same thing. He worked nine to five, he neglected his life, and uh, and it changed him, and it was a very unhappy moment. And then uh he said thank you for being a mom because you know he's on tour, he's doing his music, and he can't be there to take care of the kid, and it dawned on him. I owe it to him to seeing the errors of my ways and others' ways. I owe it to my wife, looking at what she's gone through and robbed of love. How can we impact on tour? How can we show that pain and turn it into beauty? You know, I I call my wife Beauty, um, because that that that that's her. She's beauty, beauty and the beast, she's the most beautiful woman on the planet. And guys, you should come up with a nickname for your wife and not just call her, you know, Lisa or Tanya or you know, Tara, uh, Jane, Tara, you know. Call her a special name for you. But show her you care and that you'll go out of your way to show that. Impact your relationship. This tour, I can't stress it enough, is gonna be stressful as it is. We're going into schools, we're going into all over. We're gonna impact the world, and we're not gonna do this negativity. Um, we're going to do this with hope, with love, with faith, with life. And we're gonna pave the way for our children to live in a safer world. We don't have to get political about it. We don't have to shout in people's faces. Just gotta make a difference. One book at a time, one comic, one toy at a time, one smile at a time, one prayer at a time, one sermon at a time, one audiobook at a time. You know, taking up a lot of our time has been getting all these actors together for an audio drama set here right in LA. And uh Mike from Monk Studios, you guys, if you're listening and you're in Hollywood, look up Monk Studios, M-O-N-K Studios. Man, you really gotta look him up. Amazing guy, amazing prices. You want to shoot a movie or a TV show? Man, he is the guy to go to, okay? He is the guy to go to. Give him your business. I know you guys are out there listening. Give him your business. I'll do a huge shout out on Mythical for him. Any day. You know, he's been uh he's been with us for almost four years. And we've been on hold in production because of the writer's strike and Amanda's. And uh we're we're working with another production studio right now and uh and doing our story turning the tides and uh and This Batman story set in Fort Worth, and you know, he's been so patient. We communicate every week. It breaks my heart that I have to delay sometimes because it's out of my hands. And we're finally coming to that season where things are starting to take hold and we're we're gonna get there. And Mother's Day came and chaos just has happened in the last three days. Can't get anybody on the phone, can't get anybody's schedule. So you know. He's in the spotlight too with this and helping us out because we're gonna have audio dramas. This is a real thing. Voices for Voices is going to have audio dramas, toys, its own music, books, comics, and yes, video games and RPGs. We're gonna impact the world in ways you never thought were possible. That is what we're gonna do. And uh that's why I'm announcing also uh with careful uh editing uh the uh Blue Boy and the Finn Kidden, written in 2019, will be the next book published by Voices for Voices Publishing available this summer to you. It is a kid book it sold very well on my Amazon page. We sold about 500 copies uh in about a month, and uh things stopped because uh someone tried to attack the Amazon account and the money's been going to uh someone else, and we're gonna stop that. So a lot of authors are asking if we're gonna publish other authors, and we are open to that, but at the moment, unless it meets our mission and our vision, voices for voices will strictly be mythical creatures around the world, and the reason for that is because we're gonna open up a bookstore, and you heard me. We're gonna open up a bookstore at the end of this tour, and mythical is going to be an alternative to Marble and DC for parents that want something that has a message. Whether you're Christian or not, come to us. We won't preach at you, we'll teach with you. We'll be the parents to your kids if you are on a job and you're worried about what your parents are reading or watching. Let us be that parent for you. Let us be that substitute. Let us teach your kid what's right and wrong if you can't be there. Don't rely on the world right now because they are feeding you trash. We as a family are mythical creatures around the world. We're trying to do the best we can to make sure your kiddos learn something from our books and don't learn trash from someone else's. So we're gonna do the best we can. Now that goes for the adults. Adults, you need called out too. There's a lot of lustful behavior out there right now with some spice and some books, and we gotta deal with that. We gotta preach that. We gotta tell that story. So there's adult books that I'm writing, and they're one of a kind. And no one has talked to adults. Do you know it's so dangerous to neglect adults? Because you throw them out of youth group and they don't know what to do, and they make stupid decisions at college. And then there's the adults at 40 or 50 that give in to their lust and give in to these lifestyles and screw up their life. And what if your book could save them? What if your book could stop that? So I'm also announcing that I'm doing a series for the older generation, the 50 to 70, that give up, that live in nursing homes. Well, there's hope for you too. But we as a family are voices for voices publishing, and Justin included. Because we want to impact people, and I don't get on a lot now on the podcast because I devote a lot of my time to my career, my family's career, and my life. But when I do, I try to make it extra special so I can impact you guys. And this message is appreciate your family, your spouse, say thank you. Seven days a week, you got two hours out of seven days on a Saturday or Sunday or Monday, it doesn't matter. Get that in there. Make a card. Thank you. You want to watch something, honey? I'll watch the kids. You want to watch something with me? Okay, I'll give you a background. Do something. And if they're not communicating with you and like screw you, we'll do it anyway. What's the worst that can happen? So that's my message. Do better, be better. Be a part of the change and not the problem. I'll let Justin take it from here, but I've learned a lot. I hope you learned a lot in this last past hour. And uh and we'll talk to you soon. Justin?

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 50:31

Wow, I wasn't I wasn't expecting so much uh so many things drop uh at one on one time. So it's uh shocking to me too. So I'm pretty sure we're gonna be shocking a lot of a lot of people, uh rewinding and playing it again and rewinding and playing it again. Uh because there were things that I wasn't I wasn't expecting. And uh but hey, that just what you said. I mean, every day we just do the best that we can and we can always do better. And uh just I mean, it's just one on one example. I mean, even being kind to ourselves, kinder uh for you know, self-imposed deadlines. That do they does something need to be done for somebody else, or is it like I'm I'm self-imposing deadlines, and that's what I've fallen into. Um, and then being, you know, like to myself, like, nope, Justin, you screwed up, and uh you you didn't do that, or I'm finding out that the closer we get at 500 total episodes, it I I've totally been so into the weeds to now take a step back and look at just where we're at as an organization, as a podcast TV show, uh, who we're reaching, where they're at, uh, from governments to intelligence agencies, uh, you know, here in the United States, across the world. And you said it so eloquently that uh we are we're we're we're gonna be helping a lot of people, and there's gonna be a majority of those people that we're not gonna have a chance to meet. But I will say this that uh if you're able to, we'd you know, we'd love to hear from you. So uh send them send a message. Uh again, for those uh not acquainted with mythical creatures around the world, you gotta get Facebook and you gotta follow mythical creatures around the world. Uh that's where that's where the magic really happens. And when our I think our last myth, or maybe uh a myth or two ago, uh actually was magical because it it was actually about Disneyland. So uh there's so much so much positive to come that's going on, so much hard work, and uh that's the other thing. I think I'll just close it with, you know, anything worth doing is is gonna take a lot of a lot of work. If whether it's I don't know, uh building a house or building an airplane or building a car or mowing the grass and or or whatever whatever it may be. There's just so many, so many things out there that uh we we can spend our our our time on. And with family, it is. Unfortunately, it's I I think the culture has just made it a little bit too easy for people in families and and and that for not for all of them, not not not everybody, um, but there are some where it's like uh that and I fall into that category that you mentioned that you know you go to church and then go to college and fall off the horse per se, and uh, and so the fact that we're gonna have books and we're gonna have items that are are gonna help uh that that particular generation or uh group of folks uh is is really important because again, I I I was one of those people and it was exactly like you said. It's like you you go to church and and then you know the parents have you know a little bit more control over you, obviously, growing up and um in loving homes, we hope. And and then we go to college and it's like well I don't have to I don't have to wake up to go to class tomorrow. Nobody's gonna you know mom or dad isn't gonna come in and wake me up, or my phone isn't gonna wake me up. I don't if I don't set it. And and we do, we just need we just need more things, more positiveness. Uh so uh I mean a lot of this is new to me. I mean, talking about toys and audiobooks and different productions, and I I would second that anybody who uh is in the LA area that is uh in search of awesome studio space, both indoor, outdoor. Uh Micah Monk Studio just I mean hands down, one of the one of the nicest people, one of the most caring, first and foremost, before you know, we we sit down and talk business is you know, how's everybody doing? And you know what, let take care of this, and then let's regroup. And there's a lot of things in life that are just very just frustrating. Um, and we do the best we can, and that's all we can do. And for those naysayers, those people they're hating, and um we can't unfortunately we can't change them. Uh, they're going to say what they're gonna say, they're gonna type what they're gonna type, they're gonna shout what they're gonna shout, they're gonna review how they're gonna review, uh, and and we can't do anything about it. Well, we would like to, uh that that takes away from what we have here is you know that freedom of speech and and bringing people together on culture and not politics. And so you're gonna you're gonna also be seeing that as well. Um it's gonna it's gonna become front and center for uh for quite a few things. I I I think you know, coming uh as we as we uh you know just talk about uh there's just so much on on the on the horizon. Uh but when we talk about culture, we're talking about people. When we talk about politics, we're talking about agendas. And and and we don't we don't want to have the agenda. The only agenda we want is to be human-centric uh and in and help. And uh that's uh as I have Lucy just licking my hand for no reason apparently at all, but it's her birthday, so I guess it's her rules today. Uh which I would I would ask that check the episode before this, it is uh happy birthday to Lucy episode. It's it's kind of cool um for our not never having a pet and in that. So it's a lighthearted episode. I told you we talk about hard things and we talk about easy things, and that was uh definitely an easy, fun thing to talk about. Uh and we're just so excited to have this opportunity, the fact that technology is where it's at, that we're able to connect with people all across the world, and it's just uh just amazing. And uh as uh if you hear that, I'm at our siding on our house is just uh on the one side, just uh the wind's kind of taking taking it for a ride. So if you hear any banging back and forth, that's we're used to that now. So working on getting that fixed. But that's life, things happen. Um, and and so that's that's what we're we're we're working through. I want to thank David for for coming in on short notice uh for for this episode. Uh it just covered so much, so much content, uh, you know, about families and uh significant others and uh I mean just family and hum humans and and instead of again instead of like agendas. Um and then that's what I'm so excited about with the things that we have done and the things that we're we're continuing to do. And I'll say this, you're gonna you're gonna see episode 500 total episodes of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast uh sooner rather than later. And I just want to say we're just a teeny tiny nonprofit organization. And to think way back when I started the show had no idea what would it amount to. We've gotten kicked out of studio. Uh we've we've had so many ups and downs, but yet we've we've we've pivoted and uh we're we're gonna continue going, and and that's that's an exciting part.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

Thank you, Justin.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 1:01:46

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, facebook, mythical creatures around the world, voicesforvoices.org. We're gonna be uh there they're we're we're gonna be building some a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

Uh incredible things. Um today, because I didn't have time to do a myth yesterday, and I do my own art mostly. Uh, I will admit sometimes I use CGI or AI to generate a background, but I always draw the characters because sometimes background I'm not good at right now. And that's only because of my eye injury. Um and I'm getting back to it. But we're going to do um a myth that uh is set in Seal Beach today. Me and my mom kind of lived there for a time, and uh, and so did my wife and I actually uh for for a few months. It was about four years ago, and we're gonna be doing that um so everyone can just see that. Um it's called Jason and Ada. It's a story I posted on my Facebook about three, four years ago. Well, it's about three years ago. Um it got a lot of attention, but then I never did anything with it, and so we're gonna look at turning that into a voices for voices publishing moment later on. But that mythology needs brought out um because it's it's a really cool story, and I got it because uh me and my wife and Ryan we were on the beach one day, and uh I talked to the lifeguard and he told me about this uh this creature that they saw, two of them that's where the story came from, and uh that's that's how I am as a folklorist. No matter what state or country I'm in, I will never run out of folklore because you just talk to someone and you'll find it. And uh this one in particular is Christian because it has a Christian tie about demonic and demon hunters, so it's really an interesting uh twist on Sill Beach. But I'm really excited to share it with you guys. Um then you probably saw the Disneyland sighting, uh and that has something to do with our tour. We can't say much yet, but there are things in the works that are very huge, and uh and Disneyland is one of those things that is very huge about that. Um and we're not you know trying to just speak out and go, oh, we're imagining this, no, we're doing this, and it's a lot of hard work on everyone. And I I I say again, thank you to my family, thank you to my wife for being a mom to my kids, but also for editing my work. Um the other book that she did when we met is uh actually before we met, when we first fell in love, was Bat Thing New Mexico and um another series like Twilight that we never finished and Sarasota, and I'm just you know so excited to share those with you. Bat Thing New Mexico is a story that Voices for Voices Publishing will be publishing. Um one thing I will say is you're gonna see a lot of books come out, and we're gonna do this like Star Wars, where there's a timeline of when those books were written and they're canonized. You're probably gonna see about 400 books in a two to three year period. That's what it's gonna come to. And we already have 80 of those out on Amazon here and there, or other publishing houses. Uh huh. And we're gonna bring those over and then we're gonna partner. With big time publishers like Little Brown and other people. So, you know, we really just want to help and nurture people in these stories. And also with our stories, you learn true folklore, history. You don't have to read the Greek gods, no offense, to uh Percy Jackson, which I love, Rick Roden, great guy. We know each other. Um learned a lot, but we don't have to go to the Greek gods. We can go to God and we can go to our town, our city, our country. Maybe it's an island, maybe it's a landmark. Maybe you're in space. On the space station, they need God too, right? So amen to that. So we have we have a little bit for everybody. Um we also have our historical line um about real history and kind of some alternative history, uh, Native American branch, Chinese branch, Japanese branch, so many branches. Um, so we're just excited um to do that. I'll leave it with this to drop. Um I am going to be writing the first Christian tour that is for teens and also a kid horror series like Goosebumps. And a lot of people went, you can't do that. Well, Ted Decker did it. I know Mr. Decker, great guy, paretti. I know him. He wrote about my hometown in Ashland. It can be done. And we don't have to be bloody about it. We don't have to explode heads and do all that. It can be done. And you can preach to a whore audience that likes that, and you can glorify God through your word. It can be so great. Um, so we are gonna be doing a horror series coming up this winter. Um, and I'm gonna break the plot because I was told to reveal it. Um, and lo and behold, it's about a mom and uh her son and her husband has PDSD from the war and it really messed him up. And so uh what happens is they go uh to her mom uh who lives on an island in the Puget Sound area, and they go there and there's a winter storm while her husband is hunting her down. And anyway, they uh Christmas is coming and they're just having a good time, it's Christmas Eve. And then she wakes up and her son is gone, and she's the only one on the island. Everyone's gone in a winter storm, there's no way off the island. It's snowing, it's a blizzard, and worse, then she finds someone on the island and he has amnesia and he doesn't know who he is or how he got there, and worse, someone else is trying to kill them. I'm so excited to share that story. Me, you know, I've been working on that story for 10 years. I'm so excited to share it with you guys. And then the other story I'm gonna drop is called Cyclone Man, and that comes from Oklahoma and Oregon, and uh it's gonna be a story about a dad who really messed up and has an anger problem and got himself in trouble and he didn't mean to, and he was pushed at work and hit someone and ended up in jail. And so now he's in a dispute for his kid. And he has to show that he's not gonna let that anger ruin his relationship. He's gonna be the better dad. He becomes the cyclone man in My Life as a Cyclone based on Native American folklore of Oklahoma City, and I am proud to announce that. My son's book, The Boy and the Sword, set in Sunset Beach, California, will be out this winter. It's gonna be big. There's gonna be toys, you guys aren't gonna want to miss it. It's written by a 10-year-old. Drake Colton, The Search for Drake Colton, when he was nine last year, via sequel. And then we're also doing a hybrid series set in Southern California when we were there. And it's gonna be brilliant, beautiful. Um, you're gonna get to see it in roadblocks. He's designing some of that. Um again with my wife as a moment, she's doing a psychological thriller, and you guys are gonna be treated to that, set in our mythical world. Um so there's so many things on the horizon. Um and we're just so excited to share it. Uh Second Chances Laguna Beach is already written, and that's coming to you guys this summer. Um, but the holidays are kind of gonna be when all the books drop. And uh and we're just so excited for that. We're gonna be doing what's called a phase one during the tour because we don't have exact dates for you guys on the tour yet. We're still lining up things. So phase one is gonna be ten books uh and five different uh age groups in those ten books with toys and a comic and possibly a Roblox game uh to go with those. And so those five categories are uh the uh the kid category for the eight and up, like the young cyber and born. We have the middle grade category, and then we have teen uh teen red, which is hard topics, and then teen blue, which is a clean book, and then we have our adult line, and our adult line is mature, that is adult red. We are gonna have an adult yellow and an adult green to use for caution. Um, I said five, but I I I didn't lie, but we're we're trying to release this too because I have a Hallmark story. Um, we're gonna release Hallmark novels as well, kind of like Harley Quinn romance, where you go into Fred Meyer or Walmart and you see those come out monthly. We're also going to have a subscription service coming soon. Um and so you're gonna subscribe to get these books, and they're gonna be mailed to you. And we're gonna talk a little bit about that as we get closer. Um, we also are working with a manager um and a special shout out to him uh for helping get this done. Um so we are dropping a lot of information on purpose today so that you guys, the listeners, just see what we're all about. And we have talked about hard topics and we've called out a lot of things, and um, we've done what needs to be done there, and now it's time to heal communities that have been hurt and be that light and be that voice for those that have no voice and has been silenced. So I thank you for letting me come on this, uh, come on this podcast and partner with you and help run this publishing house and uh and for being a part of this moment to make history. Um I thank my wife for being my editor, my best friend, my companion, my partner in crime, uh, partner in time, and uh and vow to appreciate her more than ever because she was robbed of that as a kid. I hope that this inspires other listeners to do the same to their spouses uh and for their families. And uh I'll let Justin take it away, but thank you for everything you do, Justin, and uh and I'll let him take it away and sign us off.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 1:14:39

Yeah, and and thank you for all that you do. And Amanda is a huge part of uh what what goes on. I mean, there's no no two ways about it. I mean, it's it's definitely a lot of a lot of hats that she's gotta wear, um, you know, as well as my wife and and and dad, and uh I think just people in general, we just wear so many different hats, and we've just gotten so used to it, and it's like we're just numb to it. We just, oh, I gotta do this, okay. Let me go do this, and and then we forget about the you know the hundred things over on the other side. Um we could just be nothing caring just as human beings that that would go a long a long way. Um so yeah, we've uh we've dropped a lot of a lot of a lot of things, so uh it uh it's probably taken a lot of a lot of our viewers and listeners probably by surprise, uh, because this wasn't a real uh hugely uh advertised episode. So uh just just suffice to say that there's there's a lot coming and uh we're happy to be part of the solution and instead of part of the problem. So we will see you on the next episode of the show. If you can reach out to 25 contacts at your phone, let them know about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Uh word of mouth uh uh is uh is huge for us. Uh we're a grassroots effort, uh over 100 countries, 1200 cities worldwide, and and it's only because of you. So thank you for watching, thank you for listening, thank you for reposting, giving us a thumbs up, all those great things. And we are going to help and reach 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. And we're well on our way to doing that. And thank you to all our viewers, all our listeners, and we'll see you on the next show. Talk to you soon.