Finding A Home

Welcome back to Wildly Unplug, where we share stories of nature, conservation, and creativity. Today, I had the pleasure of chatting with Courtney Lynn Grace, an author, movie buff, and lifelong dog lover, about her journey into writing and her heartwarming children’s book, Finding a Home: The Adventures of Lady the Beagle.

Courtney’s story is a testament to following your passions, embracing creativity, and letting inspiration take you on unexpected journeys.

Practical Tips to Unplug & Connect with the Wild:

Courtney’s Top Tip for Connecting with Nature

🔌Incorporate nature into what you love.

🐾 Walk your dog.
📖 Bring a notebook and write outside.
🎬 Find outdoor locations that remind you of your favorite movies.

Nature is full of inspiration—you just have to look for it!

📚 Where to Buy Her Book: Finding a Home: The Adventures of Lady the Beagle is available on Amazon.

🔗 Follow Courtney:

• Facebook (Author Page): Courtney Lynn Grace
• Facebook (Movies & Reviews): Classics with Courtney
• Instagram: @classicswithcourtney

Let’s hear your story! Click here to submit your tale.

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Transcript

 Welcome to Wildly Unplugged, sharing stories of nature, conservation, and creativity. Discover what develops when you unplug and step outdoors.

  📍 Courtney, thank you so much for being on the show today.  Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. So tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to write the book, finding a home. My background is I never thought about writing like at all.

This came as a surprise in a way. I first wrote a fan fiction, which was inspired by an eighties movie, but I wanted to change it to more of a fifties timeline cause I love the fifties.  And then then I actually wrote a book. And then I thought a lot of people say we should write what you know.

Considering I have a dog and, I love her and everything, I thought, okay, I can maybe turn this into a series. So I actually wrote, I think,  three books before I wrote Finding a Home. And I thought we need an introduction, so that's basically how Finding a Home came to be. It was her introduction to the other series that I had already written. 

So first I gotta know, which 80s movie did you Adapt into a fifties. RoboCop. Okay. So cool. Where can people find that? Considering the copyright and everything, that is more or less just for me. But it was my way of using my imagination so to speak, but I can, I will tell you the, basically, I took the RoboCop story and made into a father daughter relationship in the 1950s. 

So I, I am actually quite proud of that. Only a handful of people have read it. But again, with the copyright restrictions and stuff, it's more or less.  But that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to have it out there one day. I don't know. Maybe if someone would be like I'd be interested in checking it out.

But yeah, as of right now it's private.  So did you love that experience so much that you're like, Like you said, I have to write what I know and you decided to write about your Beagle.  I the whole writing with the fan fiction thing was really what got me started because I initially thought, okay maybe I could do screenwriting.

I mean I've never been to school for it or anything. But I love movies and I have things like if I listen to a soundtrack, especially I will build up a story in my head and then I just had to get it out. But as far as the lady series are concerned, it's the opposite. It was just more or less of, okay, let me see if I can actually write, a cute little story about my dog.

Now, granted, the stories are more fiction than nonfiction, but I sprinkle a little, of nonfiction in throughout the book. So there's a bit of truth from either my life or ladies life that I put in the books. So  yeah.  So yeah, you had to, you've got other ones written, but you started. Releasing Finding a Home first, can you tell us a little bit about that story? 

Sure! Like I said, I wrote the Finding a Home. I had it edited and I had some people read it while it was being edited. And people were like, oh my gosh, this is really cute. I actually had a couple parents that I befriended when I worked at a daycare several years ago. And They read it and their kids read it.

And this was before the pictures were even developed. And I said how did they do with the story? She goes, they did good, even without the pictures, they liked it. And I said, oh, okay that's a good start. So then I went to finding an illustrator and I got to find one through Fiverr. But she was really nice to work with and she would sketch out the pictures for me and then she would be like, okay, what do you think?

And then I would say can you add some detail here? Can you change this? And she was great. And then we'd had the pictures all finished. And then I went ahead and self published it on. Amazon,  which that was probably the hardest for me because the actual publishing wasn't bad, but it was getting the whole cover to fit the actual sizing.

And I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. And my illustrator was trying so hard to help. And we couldn't get nowhere. So I reached out to somebody else on another group on Facebook and they were able to fix it to the point where I was able to upload it with no problem. Oh, thank God.  Yeah, I've published a coloring book and.

Something else through Amazon. And I totally understand your struggle. Cause you're like, you think you have everything just right. And it's Oh, you're outside the bounds or it's not yeah, that is a really frustrating process. That's really cool that you had a group of people that you could reach out to and they help walk you through it.

Yeah, people that I met throughout this journey has been really great. That's great. And I was going to ask you too, about finding an illustrator. You said you did that through Fiverr. Yes. And did you provide her with copies of like  pictures of lady and what you expected and what you wanted? How did that process go?

Yes. Basically the idea for me is I wanted lady to look as close to lady as possible. So I would send her pictures and go, this is what she looks like. This is her color. I want her to be as close to her as you can get her.  Now, although people said that the illustrations are really cute, which is a compliment to me and my illustrator I've had a couple people tell me okay, they're cute, but lady in the book looks more orange, whereas your dog looks It's a lighter color.

I'm like, eh, I get it, but it's an illustration. Not everything's gonna fit. For what it is, it's good, it's just not gonna fully match my dog. But, I love it if someone looks at the book and looks at Lady, it's oh, okay, I can see the resemblance. It may not be the same, but I get where the idea is.

Yeah, I paint Purple and orange dogs. So yeah, people are like, it's not the right color, but I like the style. So yeah, I totally get that too.  And would you use this illustrator again for your future books? There's a possibility I would.  Very good. So when you were writing the book, how Did you come about the process and everything?

I know some writers I've talked to you like to do post it notes or they just have it all in their head and they're able to get it all out. I'm not that organized in my brain. So how did it work for you? Basically I went on my computer and I used word throughout the whole process and I just literally would just type it all up of what I saw on my head.

Originally though, this was. Not her original introduction. This was  a second draft. The first version of us meeting lady. I had an idea of lady as a puppy being in a dog kennel and Penny, the little girl in the story and her family want to look for a puppy and they end up going to see her there. But I thought that kind of sounds a little bit more depressing.

Plus she's a puppy. Nine times out of 10 people buy puppies, when they're. Available, not in a kennel, so I wanted it to be a little bit more light hearted. The story, there's some sad moments where Lady is, not feeling welcomed before she finds her home. But, the story overall is a pretty positive, happy one.

So that's why I wanted the story to remain.  I couldn't help but think of positive when you said that using the pun.  That's great.  No, I, okay. So I totally picture you like at a kennel or something. Reading the book to a group of kids. Have you done that yet?  I have not, but I have gone to one of my local libraries and I actually gave them a copy of my book and asked them if they do readings and stuff.

And they said they'd be willing to contact me. I haven't done anything yet, but I'm hoping they'll set something.  Oh, very cool. So  can we hear a little bit more about lady? Like where did you get her and how long have you had her and what's her personality like?  Absolutely. So the one thing I loved about us doing the podcast today is today actually marks the seven years that I've had her.

Today's are actually not today. Yeah,  are you guys celebrating? What are you doing?  We will be celebrating, but I gotta wait till tomorrow. But I plan on taking her to a couple pet shops, which she loves to go to. She's very excited. She's very vocal. She loves car rides.  But if you see another dog, nine times out of ten, this is so weird.

So she does not like dogs smaller than she is. It's almost like she wants to bully them. But if it's a bigger dog, she gets defensive or scared. I actually saw this firsthand when I took her, oh my gosh, about, Maybe five years ago to a park up in Chambersburg, which by the way, amazing. They actually had two different parks fenced in, divided.

One park was literally for small and medium dogs. The other one was for big dogs. And I thought, Oh my gosh, that is incredible. So that was the first park I've ever taken her to.  And. And she had such a blast, but dogs smaller than her, she would get a little bit too aggressive, but dogs her size, she's perfectly fine with.

In fact recently I took her to my local tractor supply and there was an older dog, but around her the same size and they're both sniffing each other out, but then they were just minding their business and she was incredible. But if it's a smaller dog, forget it. She wants to. Just be like, hey, I'm bigger than you.

Oh  But she's my baby. Like I said, I had her for seven years today what got me to Open, you know the the door, so to speak, of me getting her was, for years, I had wanted a Beagle from reading the Shiloh series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  And for years, all I could just say, I want a Beagle, I want a Beagle, I want a Beagle.

When I was working at the daycare at the time, there was a friend of mine  And she said that she, there was someone in her family or her boyfriend's family at the time who was breeding eagles. And she said, there happened to be one left. And she knew I wanted a female and a puppy. And here it was an eight week puppy and it was a female.

And she goes, do you want her? And I swear I kid you not. When I first seen pictures of her, she looked like a little hound dog. She actually did not look like a beagle. She looked like a hound dog, but I was like, yeah, sure. I'll get her, right? Yeah, that's fine. But Like throughout that night. She would take pictures.

She let lady sleep in her bed with her and She was taking pictures of her and i'm like, oh my god. She's so stinking cute and then literally The day I got her was actually the day we buried my grandpa believe it or not So this day's a happy one for me, but it's You're not a really happy one for my mom, but Lady actually did help her out throughout that time.

But anyway, it was once we got home, that was the particular day where my friend was like, Hey, we're here, near your house. Can we Can you get her? And I'm like, yeah. And oh my gosh, I fell in love with her, the tininess, seeing her small and just, oh, I miss her being that tiny  . But that's basically how I ended up getting Lady 

Aw.  And you talked a little bit about how lady helped your mom out a little bit. . I find that,  gosh, dogs are so amazing. Like we don't deserve dogs, and they help us out. So much. Are there, is there Certain ways that lady you find has helped you and your family. She helps us by keeping us on our toes. 

But yeah, she helps, I don't know how I can say this, she just, I just love her so much. I mean she, she gives the best kisses ever, I mean I work late night shifts, like I work 5 p. m to 1 30 a. m and it's a half an hour away from my house and every time I come home she's got her tail wagging and she gives the Best kisses.

And I love her cuddles too. She's just, she's such a great cuddler. And I especially appreciate it whenever I'm sick. She, I can feel that she can tell when I'm sick. Because all she wants to do is cuddle with me. And that makes me feel good. Yeah, I guess that is how I can say that she helps me out.

All she does with my family is just drive them nuts, but they love her.  Yeah, I've got a little chihuahua and she drives my husband and my son absolutely nuts. But, When we first moved to this house a couple of years ago, our Husky was really nervous and we couldn't leave her home alone. So we had to take her to restaurants and to different shops and stuff with us to help make her feel comfortable.

I think she thought maybe we were going to abandon her or something. It was the first big move of her entire life. And she's 12 years old, but.  Is so nice having a neighborhood where you can take your dog to different places. Like you talked about tractor supply and things like that. Do you have any tips and tricks for people when you're traveling with your dog and visiting certain places? 

Oh boy. Traveling.  Oh boy. Tips and tricks. I'd say if your dog is  loud.  To the point where it's almost kind of stress inducing for yourself. Take them off to another part. If I take her to one of our local dog treat businesses, she does well there, but every time there's another dog that comes in, all she does is bark and that. Believe it or not that actually brings me anxiety because in my mind, I'm thinking yeah, this is a dog place Who's gonna care but in my mind, I'm also thinking all crap What if there's thinking I'll shut that dog up kind of thing, so I just tried to Dilute the situation by bringing her somewhere else where you know, it's a little bit more calmer and then  Try to get her away from the other dogs You know, just in case like she doesn't bite other dogs that I've noticed, but the last time we went to that treat place, there was a sweet German shepherd there and. 

They sniffed each other and they were very sweet to each other, but then all of a sudden the lady just barked So here I had to hurry up and bring her back But of course, I was like she didn't bite her. But of course I looked at the owner. I said she didn't bite her Did she?  She's no, she's good.

I said Okay, I'm like, let's go. So yeah, bringing her out in public can be stress inducing, but I do bringing her to parks. She does better in open areas in parks, where she's able to sniff around a little bit more and do a little bit more exercising. Tractor supply too, she does better at probably because it's a bigger store.

But, yeah, I'm just saying if you got, if you like to bring your dog out in public, but, they bring some stress out, I'd say dilute the situation as much as you can.  That's good advice.  Does she have a favorite,  oh gosh, park that she likes to go to or toy or anything like that?  Oh, boy.

The only park that we really have it's local, but we don't go there very often, but she does like to go there. Favorite toy, though.  Yeah, she likes her squeaky balls.  She likes her squeaky balls, and she loves bones with peanut butter in it. Actually, what's funny is if I get her one of those kind of bones, she'll lick the peanut butter out, and then she'll leave the bone. 

I'm like, what are you doing?  Dogs are so funny.  She is.  vet's listening. I'm sorry. Just hide your ears or mute it. But I'll try and give my husky like a tortilla chip and she won't take it. But if I put cheese on it, then she'll eat the whole thing. I'm like, you are such a brat, like she'll gently hold that tortilla chip that doesn't have any cheese and she'll set it on the ground and I'm like, you are such a brat, but I love her.

Dogs are so cool.  Trying to think, do you find that  your dog Gets you to go outside more? 

Kind of. When it's really hot, I don't bother taking her out. Especially within the past few weeks, not recently, but a couple months ago. When we were getting like, late 80s, 90 degree weather. Forget it. But.  With this fall weather starting to come in, I do take her out a little bit more.

And she loves walks. All I gotta say to her is, you wanna go for a walkies? And she looks at me and she, her tail starts wagging and she gets all excited. Even just walking around the house, she's perfectly content with.  Do you have more books in the works for Lady and more adventures for her?  I do. I think I have about five other ones written, believe it or not.

So I just, I have to edit them,  but I basically took a break after this one cause this one wiped me out. So I'm basically just trying to get it out there, but just taking it one day at a time and seeing, where the Lord leads me, very good. Do you have a favorite spot in nature that you like to go? 

Somewhere local, I would say we have a place, it's called Canoe Creek, and literally it's like a lake where people do things at, but there's a lot of trees  there, there's a lot of Areas that make me think, believe it or not it's actually another area that makes me think of films. Like I did a short for my social medias and there was portions where it was given off of Vertigo by Hitchcock.

And there was a one portion that has two lanes. It's grassy, but it's two lanes. And of course, I'm thinking the Wizard of Oz. Cause I'm thinking of that part where Dorothy's now, which way do we go? And we meet the scarecrow. But there's also like these big like stones that looks like tunnels.

It's all in a row there. It's just, that looks really nice. And that would be the local place that would make me. Appreciate  everything around me, so to speak. But if you're looking for, like if I ever traveled and stuff, I would say Niagara Falls. I went to Niagara Falls once a few years ago.

And you hear of Niagara, you see it on TV or whatever. But it is nothing compared to seeing it in person. It's just, it was incredible.  We took my son two years ago for his birthday and he every day, not every day. That's an exaggeration.  I will say though, there are a couple of times in a month where he's I think about Niagara falls all the time.

Mom, that was the best trip ever. And we did the zip line and we did made of the mist. Did you get a chance to do made of the mist?  Yes. That was amazing. It was almost like when you're at the. Bottom of that waterfall, looking at all that water at the Horseshoe Falls. It's just, it's almost like being in another world.

I can't even think of what to compare it to in a movie. Cause I'm thinking of I don't know, fairies on the other side or something like that. It's just, it would seem like something out of this world.  Not to mention the rainbows that come out during that time. Oh, beautiful. Absolutely.  There's just something about The waterfall is just hypnotizing.

Did you find that too?  Yes. I just I don't know. I just absolutely loved it. I love water to begin with, but even before we got to the falls and we were just looking around and you could see just the water and the waves and stuff that alone was incredible. I don't travel very often, but funny story.

When I did go there, I took like thousands of pictures and the people I went with at the time their parents was looking at my pictures once we all got home. And I guess the girl's dad was like, Boy, she took a ton of pictures.  I'm like I never traveled before, so I take everything. And it was, oh, it was incredible.

Maybe it'll inspire Lady going to Niagara Falls.  That would be an interesting story. I think so. Yeah. You talked a little bit about movies and you did a short.  Do you see that in your future? Like doing film shorts and things like that?  I'd like to, I, I consider myself more of a movie buff than a book buff, believe it or not.

I've seen a ton of movies. In fact, what's funny to me is I try to up my count on the older films because those are the ones I gravitate to. So I actually just made it to 200 movies in my 1960s countdown. So I always try to get like the same amount throughout the older films. And But yeah, I did.

I love talking about movies. In fact, I did a podcast last week where I talked about my favorite movie, the Wizard of Oz. But just, I don't know, even as a kid, like some movies that I grew up with had certain makings to the V from the VHS tapes, and those always fascinated me as a kid. I never found them to be boring, like at all.

And I love doing research on films. I love making, shorts and stuff and then finding older songs to add them to and I do Run a YouTube where I review older movies, so I do love it. So hopefully it will be something that will be worked in  Very cool. I can see a lady traveling in time or  seeing different movies.

That could be cool too. No. Yeah. I literally have a a vision right now. I haven't done it yet, but whenever I do Lady and the Tramp, which I named Lady the way she did because I love old fashioned names. So I thought, I'll name Lady after Lady in the Tramp.  And I literally had this vision.

Once I reviewed the movie, I want her to sit in my seat. And then I'm going to record her like she's the one reviewing it. And then I'll just end up cutting in later.  Oh, that is cute. I like that idea. Okay. I love Wizard of Oz. And I see the poster and the ruby slippers behind you there. What is it about Wizard of Oz that you love?

Cause I was like one of my childhood favorites too. Oh gosh, I just, I don't know. It's just one that I connected to as a kid. It's really funny because I.  I never got scared of that movie. I have a couple people that I work with that's I don't like that movie or the movie scared me. But as a kid, that movie never scared me.

And it was always something that was incorporated in my life in one way, shape, or form. So for example to this day, even when I'm sick, it's my go to movie. It was my comfort movie. There was a point where I was in the hospital for a little bit and they allowed my parents to bring VHS tapes for me to watch.

And of course I said, give me the Wizard of Oz, so I watched that multiple times while I was there. And I actually got to see it on the big screen this year in January. Oh my gosh, that was amazing.  I bet that was really cool. Do you  follow any of the conspiracies or anything? 

Not really. No. Okay. I think a lot of them are far fetched and a lot of them have been debunked. So I'm just like, nah, okay. It was just last week I saw that rumor about the munchkin ending things and it crane and you can clearly see like it's wing, opening up instead of Yeah, I don't know why somebody would think a munchkin would end it all, but Yeah, really.

Plus, that would be stupid as part of the director because if you're a director and you're seeing that, why would you allow that in the film? Yeah, that's a very good point.  Thank you! Do you like any of the prequels or sequels to Wizard of Oz 2? Yes! I love Return to Oz. I think Return to Oz is by far the best.

Oz movie after the 1939 Wizard of Oz. That's the one I also gravitate to. I have seen The Wiz multiple times, but I'm honestly not really a fan of that one. I do love The Wiz live though. That one I do as far as The Wiz movie, the only thing I really enjoyed about that movie was Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.

I just thought he was Absolutely adorable. And I also noticed that he had a lot of similarities to Judy Garland, so that actually gave it more of a connection, at least for me. I've seen Oz the Great and Powerful. That one I consider  but it's passable. Like I could just throw it on and literally fall asleep to it.

It's not something I'm going to go, Oh my gosh, this is an amazing movie. It's just more or less like it's fine. I do know wicked is coming out this year. I haven't made a decision whether or not I'm going to.  I'm most likely going to wait for the reviews to come out, see what people say. Because I actually do not go to the movie theaters that much.

Me, I'm an old soul, so there's a lot of films being made I don't personally gravitate to, I don't have an interest in. But I had a situation last year, when Godzilla Minus One came out.  Was that sounds right, but the last four years have all been a giant blur. So I like Godzilla enough, but not enough where I'm going to see movies in the theaters, but an acquaintance friend on YouTube and everybody else that reviewed that movie was saying you need to see it in theaters.

It's a great movie. So I thought, okay, I'll give it a shot. And again, the movie takes place in the 1940s. So again, right up my alley. And I went to see it in theaters and boy, did it, did not disappoint. And I seen it twice. I seen it in color. And then I seen it when it came out in black and white. That's basically where I'm leaning to with Wicked.

I'll probably wait for the reviews and then if there's too much of a middle where people like it but then other people are like, no, it's not worth it, then I probably won't even see it. I'll wait for it to come on streaming and see it at home.  If I decide to see it at all. Yeah, I, yeah, I don't know how I feel about that one.

And some of the actors in that movie, but yeah, while you're talking about forties and stuff, I had a question pop into my head. What is your favorite Marvel Avenger? 

I don't have one because I've never seen any of them. Really? I guess they're more of a thing. Okay.  All right.  Yeah. My brother's always saying you need to watch the Marvel movies and you need to watch the superhero movies. I probably one of those minorities that have never seen a Marvel movie, except for a select few, which was, I seen the Sam Raimi Spider Man trilogy and I seen the incredible Hulk with Edward Norton. 

And that's  literally about it. I caught the tail end of Endgame because my brother and sister had it on one day. But oh, I'm sorry. I also seen the Guardians of the Galaxy, but I also love sci fi. So that was Mostly why I saw those movies and they're standalone sometimes, too. Yes.

Yeah. Yes, because I was totally I was setting you up for is it Captain America? I could totally see Captain America being your favorite just because he was like around World War Two and all that kind of stuff. But  fair enough. We are almost out of time. Can you let people know where they can find you? 

Absolutely. So you can find me on my Facebook page, Courtney Lynn Grace. And if you're interested in my movie stuff, I do have a Facebook page, Classics with Courtney. I also have an Instagram page with the same name. And then that's about it.  And can people buy your book on Amazon, you said? 

Absolutely. You can find it under Finding a Home, The Adventures of Lady the Beagle.  And that's what it'll look like.  Thank you. Before we go, what is one tip you have for someone that would like to connect with nature? 

I would say connect it with what interests you. So if you say, are you interested in writing a book? I would say go out and see what inspires you. Same with the film. If I want to do something that is similar to Vertigo, I would go out and find somewhere where there's lots of trees in similar to that one scene where Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart are out looking at trees and stuff.

Even just by sitting by a lake or running water.  I find that to be very relaxing.  So I would suggest doing that. Also if you have a dog, walk your dog. That also helps you.  Perfect advice. Thank you so much, Courtney.  Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me on your show. And until next time, get outside and see what  📍 develops. 



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