CTP (S3MaySpecial6) BAWMay2026 A Dog Gets A Voice

CTP (S3MaySpecial6) BooksAuthorsWeekMay2026 A Dog Gets A Voice
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond   
We talk with debut author Holly B. Gutwillinger about North Of Broken And Forever Home and how a real rescue dog sparked poems that grew into a full novel. We also chase a few craft rabbit holes about grammar, reviews, and why story matters more than rules. 
• meeting Holly and the backstory of living in Northern Ontario and beyond 
• why the book centers on a rescue mission and a midlife unraveling 
• giving Sully a point of view without having him talk to humans 
• how poems in a dog’s voice turned into chapters and a finished manuscript 
• fiction as a way to broaden the audience while keeping the truth 
• Oxford comma fatigue and the bigger debate about writing “rules” 
• handling critique and malicious reviews while staying focused on readers 
• plans for future books including a Valentine’s Day release goal 
• inviting listener pet stories for a cameo and acknowledgements idea http://RamblingsFromTheLittleShed.com 
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A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy? book Trailer

Transcript

Welcome To Authors Week

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello, welcome to another episode of Pristitution Podcast. I am your host, Joseph M. Werner, that's L-E-N-A-R-D at LaFranche. Now it's wonderful down and oh. Thank you for tuning in. As Bram North used to say on his show. Let's get on with the show. Welcome to Deja Vu Week. No, that's not what it is. But kind of sorta. Welcome to Bookslash Authors Week. May 2026. Just coming out of April 2026, bookslash authors week, and October books slash authors week of October 2025. So yes, you guessed it. It's all about cucumbers and tomatoes and deli shopping books. Let's get on again. Joining me today, another Mickey Mickelson mutual friend uh out of Canucostanian land, Holly B. Gut willinger. And my audience knows I can't resist the puns. So with my health issues, IBSD is one of them. My gut isn't very willing. Got it. And also, since we're talking about a book about dogs, the obvious other pun is why didn't you go as a num diploma with Holly B. Rottweiler?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Oh, good one. Rottweiler's a good breed, too.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

So, okay. Seriously now. Welcome to the show, Holly. Thank you. The usual first question. I mentioned your Kinectistanian lander. Uh Antario is mentioned across the river from me, uh in the Mickey Mickelson press release that I'm waving here. Where were you born and raised? Where exactly are you now? Places you've been in between, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yeah, I was born and raised in northern Ontario, Canada. And I've lived in uh northern Manitoba, I've lived in the Northwest Territories and come full circle back to Ontario. So that's where I currently live.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Okay. And you've managed to escape the Kanuckian censorship police thus far.

A Pet Loss Song And Why

SPEAKER_01 3:06

If I knew what that was, say yes or no. You got me there.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

All right. Uh you're not here for politics, so I apologize. Definitely not. You're here, and yeah, full disclosure, just to let people know, I used to write and record music the old-fashioned way, you know, write it on sheet music, record the instruments, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My voice is shot, but I record tunes through Suno now, Suno AI music system. So just a note, I'm going to tack on to the end of this episode a song I wrote about We Lost Boo the Cat a couple months ago. So I wrote I wrote uh After Glow at the Rainbow Bridge for all people who have lost animals. Well, we lost a cat, but the song's about a dog. But really, all fur babies are also we know Jay, who lost a reptile pancake last year and feathered friends, whatever. Pets alike, but hey, people know Benji Renton Tin and Lassie. There's more books and movies about dogs, so people generally can relate to that. And you wrote a duck, uh a duck, a duck, a duck about a bog. Yeah, a book about a dog, north of broken and forever home. I like what you did there forever rather than forever. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I like that you said it the way it was intended. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Yeah, I a lot of people probably gloss over it and say forever home. That which is the usual uh pet adoption language, yes. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

And most people actually think I made a typo, so you know, you're uh a thousand miles ahead of them all.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah, no, I I see what you did there as a lover, an author myself, and an absolute lover of wordplay. I I saw that immediately and told Mickey, oh yeah, I gotta talk to her. Awesome, awesome.

Meet Holly And The Dogs

SPEAKER_01 5:27

So did losing a pet be the genesis of this book, or no, um, actually, so both dogs in that book are actually are my dogs, so they are seniors now, but that book was written um very recently. However, I I brought it back to their earlier years, and now they're both seniors, and so no, Sully is alive and well, and um I you know I wish he could share in all of this wonderful after book publication glory that we're going through. But no, they Sully is the catalyst to the story, but he's very much alive.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Okay, that's good. I'm glad. And and I've had interviews in the past where the cat or the dog will end up walking into the you you got him locked out of the room, or might they visit? But actually, Walter, come here.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Funny enough, I'm at my sister's house and he keeps up beside me here. Can you say hi, Walter? Walter, look at Walter! Walter, look, look, look, look.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Walter! There we go, there's the fur, baby, Walter. Oh, good, baby. This is my fur nephew, Walter. There we go. For the benefit of the 40-ish audio platforms and the transcript, Walter the dog, a white. What type of dog is Walter?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

He's an Irish wolfhound.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Okay, and you mentioned Sully as kind of the main character in North of Broken and Forever Home. What type of dog is Sully?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Sully is a mixed shepherd, you know, a Heinz 57 from the yeah, who is a mix of whatever dogs are going on around there. Cash is, we believe, uh uh boxer pointer mix, but we're not sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

So the origin of the name Sully that didn't happen to come from the Moscow and the Hudson Pilot guy. No, it just coincidentally the same. His full name is Sullivan, but we call him Sully for sure. Oh, okay. Well, see, that makes sense, right? Uh used to have a cat, Sylvester, indeed, look like Sylvester from Sylvester and Tweety, hence the name, and we'd always call him Silly. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I like that. My other dog, Cash, is from Johnny Cash's namesake.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So oh, okay. So were you were a Johnny Cash fan, or I am big time, yes. Yeah, absolutely. I were way out already. My OCD brand can't help but dive down the rabbit holes that open up. I love Johnny Cash's remake of the nine-inch nail hurt song.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yes, oh my goodness, if you don't you don't shed a tear with that song, you're not human. I mean, come on, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

I mean, the original was heart-wrenching to begin with, but Johnny Cash's version, like OMG, absolutely, and to watch the video alongside it is it's a lot, but it is some of his best work, of course.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I mean, alongside the rest of his best work, but you know what I'm saying. Yes, there's something about that interpretation where he was in his life, his age, what he had gone through. Oh, just incredible. I read his um memoir and it or a biography, I guess I should say, not memoir, biography and what a life.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yeah, yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

I mean Willie Nelson, but topic for another conversation.

Turning Poems Into A Novel

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yes, exactly. Back to the book, which is again North of Broken, a Forever Home by Holly B. Gutwillinger. Uh, and it says here Wrenley Nelson is struggling with midlife melancholy and fractured family bonds. Her marriage is crumbling, her sons are distant, distant and her, if I could read. It always happens. I hit record, and the brain and the mouth don't want to cooperate. And her mother's mind is slipping into pace play. Oh, there we go. Places Renley can't follow. When her best friend begs her to join a dog rushing rescue mission in Ontario's northern wilderness, Renley sees a chance to escape her failing life. How did that concept come to you?

SPEAKER_01 11:19

I was writing my story initially and how I came to be with Sully. Because one day Sully was coming up towards me in the backyard, and I was sitting there, and his ears were bouncing and his tail was wagging, which didn't happen often. And in that moment, I just kind of went, Oh, that's unusual for him to look so happy and free. And so this poem downloaded into my head, and from there, like long we'll cut the long story short, is just that I kept envisioning these poems in my head through Sully's voice. I'm sorry, the dog is pushing on me, so that's why I'm I'm fidgety. But I'm keeping quiet. Um and so I don't know why this note taker thing came on. I apologize.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Yeah, I I think I can uh I didn't touch it.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

My apologies.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Well, it's asking to record the meeting on your behalf. I sure go ahead. So we'll leave it. Okay, we'll leave it be. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

I don't know why these things happen.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah. So, anyways, um, yeah, I kept having these little poems download into my head through his voice, and I thought, huh, I wonder what it would be like to write a story. Because I've always been trying to fix my dogs, right, and help them through their fears and anxieties. And so one poem led into another poem, into a scene, into a chapter. And then by the time I knew it, I was over 75,000 words, and I, you know, was cutting, and then I had um a friend of mine who was such a supportive writer friend, and now a very good friend, and she kept encouraging me, and then I started taking classes, and it all sort of evolved into this story that I knew couldn't be my true story because I knew I wanted to give Sully a voice in the book because it came from him. So I thought, what if I fictionalized it? So Renly is not me, although she's heavily based on me and some of my traits, not everything though. And I gave Sully a voice in the book, so he has his own point of view.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

I like that. I tell people all the time I have how to write a book and get it published to encourage people to write the book that's in them. You may have a great story, but the memoir or the biography of John Doe, people are gonna be who the bleep cares about John Doe, right? But a fictionalized version of your life or a story, that can be a life lessons game changer. So yeah, you recognized immediately, no one's gonna really care if you memoir it or biography type it, fictionalizing it, broadens the audience, yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yes, and I think that people, when they know they're going to read fiction, they're willing to set some of their judgments aside, like believing a talking dog. And I think in the end, they're hoping for a good story when it comes to a dog. And by good story, I mean a happy ending as well. Nobody wants herd animals in a story, I'm well aware. Yeah, and so I I think I just needed the to make that shift so I could have a few more liberties in creating his rescue story and the things that he said, and he talks to a bunch of other dogs, you know, but he doesn't talk to humans, so yeah. Who cares about my story?

Oxford Commas And Writing Rules

SPEAKER_00 15:02

No, I and and certainly, yeah, we joke about that, but again, that that point is true. The average person on the street, oh, the story of Holly B. Gutlinger. Who why should I give a damn? Yeah, but oh, a story about a dog. Now that'll be fun. You got it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Is this your first book? It sure is. It is, and I'm I'm well on my way onto the second book. My personal goal plan is to release a book every February 14th because it's my favorite day of the year. And I I called this my love letter to my dogs.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Oh, the next one goes. I like that. That's good, that's really cool. I like that. Yeah, so it's basically a Valentine's series, in a way, then.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Oh, kind of, yeah, yeah. Thanks, Joseph. I like that. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Yeah, you you can borrow that, just remember where you heard it. Yeah, I'm I'll acknowledge you in the next month. I'd appreciate the shout out, yes. Got it. Uh just for the heck of it. Again, just the way my OCD brain works, because with two other Mickey guests, we got into the Oxford comma debate. Oh, gosh. What are your thoughts? Mickey's gonna freak out now I'm talking with you about it, too.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

But what are your thoughts on the Oxford comma? I just don't even know anymore. I feel like it's just getting so complicated, and it I I correct it to be Oxford comma, then I correct it again, and it doesn't look right, and it just feels like there's so many darn commas in there. I don't know. I I prefer to have less is more in my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Okay. I aren't doing away with the Oxford comma. I don't know. Well, it's made a big comeback, and like with the last guest that I spoke with it about. I mean, back in the 1800s, ink cost a lot of money, and you used to have to actually typeset. So taking out all those extra commas was a time saver and a money saver. But today's modern digital publishing and cheap printing, well, not cheap enough, books are still expensive, but but by comparison uh adjusted for inflation, we could put them back in because this comma, that comma, and the other thing is a whole different sentence than this, comma, that and the other thing. Yes, true. It leaves it open to ambiguity. Well, is it just minus the Oxford comma and it's three different things, or is it indeed this, that, and the other thing go together? So the Oxford comma removes all ambiguity, but I I get what you're saying. All that punctuation, uh, extra commas everywhere can drive people crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Well, and if you're not consistent, you know, you risk looking like um someone who doesn't know how to revise and edit as well, because it needs to remain consistent whether you use it or not.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yeah, I'm gonna make myself a note, and I think we're about 15 minute mark in grammar Nazi. So I could put my little meme that says it's misspells there, T H E Y I R apostrophe r e or something like that. There take that, grammar Nazi. You're right, yeah. To hell with the grammar, to hell with the punctuation. Do you get the story or not? Is the bottom line at the end of the day. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

I like that, Joseph. I like that. Let's just go with the story.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Forget the rules. That's right. Yeah. Because no doubt there will always be that one person who feels that you write the grammar Nazi Christ. Oh, well, there that's a run-on sentence. Well, the AP, the Chicago, and the Oxford style guides do not define what a run-on sentence is. It's like beauty. I have an episode Beauty in the Eye Beholder, Beholder. Run-on-Sentences depends on you. There's no, oh, it can't be more than 10 words or to run on. Uh so your thoughts on that now that my idiotic brain went there.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

I mean, I I feel like that now that I've written a book um and written a lot of narrative and expository and dialogue, I believe that that is also another form of artistic expression. Because you are right. Someone could have very short sentences, somebody could have two paragraphs. That is one sentence. And there, I and I cannot even remember what this is, but there is an example of that where there's 250 words and it's one sentence and no punctuation in it. I can't remember who it is at this moment, but you see, it's just it's all personal style.

SPEAKER_03 20:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And people don't have to read it. I say if you don't like it, don't read it.

unknown 20:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Just put it in.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Exactly. It's their own exactly. To each, like my terror strikes book, one reviewer said, there wasn't enough dialogue in it. Well, in none of the interviews I've given about the book, did I say, oh, there's a lot of dialogue. I never said that. So and that again is a personal preference. I am more a narrator-presenter type artist than a creative bunch of dialogue to set the scene and the mood and the and the whatnot. In fact, the next book I have dropping in May is another book, it's a short story that will have zero dialogue.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

There you go.

Reviews Critics And Finding Your Style

SPEAKER_00 21:31

None. There will be some quotes that may have been a dialogue between people at one time, but at that point, it's not a dialogue, it's a quotation of a remark. So again, that's again a personal preference. Some people like got, and I had someone say that on my terror strikes reviews. I had another author write a counter review coming my defense, and indeed saying that. I forgot, I I the Great Gatsby, uh, I think has no dialogue or something. Yeah, that there some books are heavy dialogue laden, and the example she gave was I think it was the Great Gatsby, it could be a different one. You know, 500 pages, not a stitch of dialogue in it. It it all depends on how you like to perceive it.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

And you know what? I I mean this may come at um at the um judgment of of viewers here, but I do believe that well, not I do believe, I wonder, first of all, who created all these rules, right? I mean, if you want to write a book with no dialogue, go for it. You'll find your audience. If I want to write a book just filled with narrative and expository, then that's what I want to do. Now, maybe I may not get the same um reception if I put dialogue. I'm sorry, Walter keeps nudging me here. Wants to go out. For a walk, probably. Oh, he's just an attention seeker, but I don't mind. But I just feel like someone at some point went ahead and created a whole bunch of rules, and now people feel restrained and in a box, and they have to create a certain way to please a certain audience. And if that's your thing, I think that's great. Go for it. Everyone has an audience. You have to remember why you're writing a book. I mean, this book here that I wrote was initially for me, it wasn't for anyone else. Although, as I evolved and I moved through it, I mean, maybe it doesn't have enough dialogue for some people, but it has enough for me. And I wrote it for me and for my dogs and for my family. And it's a bonus that I get to share it with the world, but I will have people who will criticize or or you know critique, not criticize, but we'll we'll call it critique. And that's that's their a prerogative. And as we know, Joseph, there are a lot of keyboard warriors out there.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Oh I I go in in how to write a book and get it published, the reviews section. Sadly, a lot of people can love your book, they'll tell friends, but they won't bother to write an online review for you. But the haters out there are eager to spew their manure all over your page.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Why not just eat it to yourself, right? Like it's like a dessert. If you didn't like the dessert, well, you'll never eat it again. Right. So move on to the So I don't know. I think that people are very quick to um provide their opinions, and uh I think we forget that we need to lift each other up and not bring each other down. And writing is an art.

The Next Book And A Pet Cameo

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Yeah, amen. I have a video exclusive on my five video channels that I talk about. I am not Shakespeare. And it's not that I'm missing Shakespeare, Hemingway, or anybody else in the introduction section of a lot of my books. I say I quote those people, but this isn't the Renaissance era. If you want to read Shakespeare, read Shakespeare. I am not Shakespeare. I'm not trying to copy Shakespeare. I am me. I write like I write, and I hope people again like the grammar, hate the grammar, the word choice is why do you get the story? Is what I want to see in a review. Did you like the story? Did you get it? Or were you confused somehow? But yeah, so I'm not dissing Shakespeare, but unless if I'm writing that time period, why would I write like Shakespeare? And I take it you feel the same.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

I do, I do, and I think personally I think negative reviews should be the ones that are malicious, right? They should be removed. Or I I know we don't always have that capacity, but I just don't think they should be allowed. Uh freedom of expression, sure. But when you're bringing down another human for the sake of what nobody can ever answer why they're doing it, then I don't think that should be allowed. But what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 26:34

I in my the Book of Kennedy Project Carpe Diem, I've used the term I created for ages, mass holes, the masses of asses, miserable SOBs, they're miserable and they only like doing what making everybody else miserable like them. Those those negative Nellies, the ones all over social media always spew and hate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

But that's okay. We have the positive ones and we have to focus on them because they are our readers, yeah, and we fight for them.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Yep, and you had already hinted a next book. Is it about a cat?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

There will be a cat in it. Cool. In fact, I actually put out a small do we want to call it a contest? Just a shout out there to ask for people for the stories of their dogs, um, maybe even a cat, and just give me their name and a quirky little story, and then I will choose one and I'll put them in the book somehow. I'll weave it in. So I got some regular. Yeah, I've got some snippets to choose from. I think that's gonna be fun, especially for the person reading it.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Yes. In a way, you're not fully crowdsourcing it. You're but as you say, it's kind of like a contest to give one person to have an homage to them and their pet in the book and get a shout-out.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

It's easily done because it's it there is an animal hospital in there, so it could be somebody just visiting with their pet for shots or could be anything simple as that.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Are you gonna are you plan planning like in the uh an afterward giving a shout-out to all the people who submitted? Great idea. See? Yeah, I love it. Thank you. Yes, so each and ever each and every one of them, obviously. Wink, wink, nod, nod. You gotta buy a copy. Your name's in it.

Website Plug And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Yes, I love it. I love it, definitely. And I mean, I didn't get hundreds or even dozens, so it is absolutely hundreds of. Easy enough to do.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get that.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Thanks for the idea. Okay, now I really have to acknowledge you in the book.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Oh, I would I I would appreciate it. Yeah, hey, cross promotion as much as you can get, however, you can get it, is always a good thing. I like to keep the shows kind of short, so I guess we may as well have one last time. We're speaking with Holly B. Gettlinger, the author of North of Broken and And Forever Home, or is it supposed to be and A N forever home?

SPEAKER_01 29:37

And A N D, but with the Ampersand.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Oh, okay, because it's written out here. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Oh, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Okay. At any rate, to wrap things up a bit, do you have a website for people to find you?

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Yes, I do. It's www.ramblings from the little shed.com.

After Glow At The Rainbow Bridge

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Okay, I write that down. Ramblings from the little shed.com and of course and host for the behind the scenes video. It'll be on a scroll at the bottom of the screen. Thanks, Holly. It was a lot of fun. Sorry that my brain took us down a lot of those weird rabbit holes.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

You didn't at all. In fact, you gave me some great ideas, so I really appreciate that. And I and it was great chatting with you, Joseph. I I really appreciated it.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah, next time you see Mickey, slap him upside the head for me. Well, he lives a few provinces away, so it's gonna take a while, but I'll give you the money. All right, take care, God bless.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Same, have a great day.

Like Share Subscribe Closing

SPEAKER_02 31:10

We are so much better for having known you. Well, you have crossed that an old bridge rainbow. We shall see you again in the aftergo, tiny paws on the kitchen floor, snoring dreams by the bedroom door. You were chaos, you were calm, little heartbeat in my palm. We are better for the time we had with you. You cross that shining and bridge rainbow Hold your name, to go, shoot, it's not like it's everybody put on a ball just a little bit. We are so much better for having you. Are you across that symbol? We shall see you again in the aftercloth.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Like and subscribe to Christitutionalist Politics Podcast and share episodes. We need your help. Thank you for having tuned in to another Christitutionalist podcast show. I really appreciate that you stop by. Again, please like, share, subscribe. We need you to help spread the constitutionalist movement. Thank you again. Take care. God bless. Love you all.