0420 | Sheree Trask

Hi, this is Cherie Trask, author of Surviving Silence. And you are listening to EA interviews.

EA interviews episode 420, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority effect interview. Expert Authority World. I want to ask you if you've ever gone through anything traumatic in your life. I know I have. And there's different degrees of this and you might be harboring those emotions, those feelings that you might not be able to shake them. And what is it doing to your family, your personal life? I've heard for years that hurting people hurt people. And that's why I'm excited to have Cherie Trask on today's episode because she has gone through some horrific things in my eyes but she overcame them and that's the exciting part. And she's going to help you do the same. I'm going to bring her up right after we thank our sponsor. Every business needs a book, including yours. And that's why I'm launching my new book to help you regardless of where you think your current writing abilities are. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that's EA Publishing Method book.

Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, the new best selling author of Surviving Silence, the lovely Cherie Trast Sheree. How are you doing today?

Hi. Thank you for having me. I am great, thank you.

I am excited to just ask you so many questions, not only about the book but I guess I could start with why would you want to do it? Because.

We both help people with books and that's exciting. Get their message out. I focus on the business side and you focus more on the self improvement development side, which is great. But I know it is not an easy thing to even talk about. There's people I know talk to them today, they can't even talk about the problem, let alone admit the problem, let alone overcome it. So how did you.

Why did you decide that you want to help people with book publishing in, in self improvement and just in your get over this stuff and get their message out on some of the hardest stuff in the world.

Yeah, you know, I think it's, it's really one of those things where I didn't choose it, it chose me. You know, it was through my own experience of trauma that my entire trajectory of what I thought, thought I would be doing in the world completely shifted. I was only 19 when kind of the epiphany happened. So it's been a long time now. It's been 23 years, 22 years. And with that.

Once that event happened, which we can dive into, but once that event happened, everything.

Everything in my body and everything else kind of just started aligning to this being the work that I was supposed to do.

Okay. What for anyone who doesn't know, what were you thinking of doing beforehand?

Yeah. So I actually got my first degree in visual communications for TV and film. I thought that I was going to be a stylist for set design and clothing, so that didn't happen.

Okay.

Now with. With the work you do with writing.

So I know a lot of people that do publishing their writing, coach, whatever the case is, but you do something unique also that there's not, I wouldn't say a lot of people, I wouldn't say the vast majority. You're a professional ghostwriter as well.

How did that come to be? Because I know even with coaching people, you can still coach them and not be doing it for them, let alone at the highest level.

Yeah, I, I think my coaching is also different than other people's coaching as well because I am very, very involved in the process with my client through the.

You don't just farm them out to 20 other people and it's your business.

I do all of it.

And with the ghostwriting piece, it's, you know, I was ghostwriting unknowingly before I started ghostwriting books. And when that happened, it was again another one of those things that just kind of happened. And I was like, oh, this is a thing. Like, honestly, when the first person asked me to write ghostwriter book for them, I didn't even know that was a thing. I googled it. I was like, do people do this? Is this okay that I do this? And that was almost 11 years ago. Right. So started doing that. And I had always been in the personal development world. That's always the business I was in. That's how I was raised. It was, it was just what I knew. So for that to be the place where my business shifted into, in as far as books were concerned was a no brainer.

Okay. Yeah. And I agree because I've been in the personal development for, I mean, personally decades. And then I would have to agree. It's kind of like if you want to spend somewhere the rest of your life, do you want the negative side of life or the positive side? That's kind of a no brainer. And why wouldn't you want to help people?

Yeah. I mean, I think it's perception, though, too, right? So we can. We can be having the same experience right now, but our perception of this experience is our own. And I think that that's the same with, like, every experience that we have in our lives. We can look at it as something that's horrible, or we can look at it as something that has completely changed our life in a positive way, which is what I chose to do with. With my own experiences.

You're gonna. You're gonna hate me for this, but I'm gonna say that's very perceptive.

But you're. But all joking aside, you're. You're absolutely right, because I. I remember a couple years ago when we connected, I would. You shared something, and I'm not going to say it now. I'll let you share it later on, but I was like, I'm so sorry. That's horrible. And I'm still saying it's horrific, and.

I'll save it for the other part. But I remember something you distinctly said, and it relates to the perception of it because, you know, people frame stuff you can have. You know, there's people that, like, think they don't have the newest iPhone and their life is in complete shambles, and then there's other people who go through actual tragedies and they find the good in it. And.

Was there anyone or anything that was the precipice for going, you know what? I choose this versus that for you.

I mean, I was really blessed in that. I was raised in an environment that.

Was always curious about every experience. So anytime anything would happen in my life. I was raised by a single mom, but she worked a lot. And so I would spend a lot of time with my grandmother. And my grandmother would always ask me the question, if I would complain. She would say, okay, cherie, where's the good in this? And then it would ultimately be followed up by, well, what was it for? Meaning, figure out the reason this experience happened. And it may not be something that is obvious. It may not be something that other people would necessarily perceive as a positive based on that experience, but she always encouraged me to find the silver lining, if you will. And I think because of that upbringing, when this experience happened, which we can get into for, you know, the viewers that have no idea what we're talking about, but I was sexually assaulted at 19. And when that happened, it opened up an entirely new way for me to begin to view the world, to view myself, to. To kind of shift my perception of each experience. And that night was Pivotal for me in a million different ways. And I don't know how much you want to get into there, but because of the way that I was raised, that night that it happened, I literally walked out of the place where it happened into my car, and I did not move from that parking spot until I had forgiven the person who had just raped me. And that was because I had the tools, a young age, to say, why did this happen? Help me understand. I know this isn't about me. It was not my fault. I didn't have the guilt, shame, and blame and all the things that a lot of survivors do. More so I just wanted to be free. And I knew that to be holding on to that story and to be allowing myself to be a victim, what's keeping me from the freedom and joy that I truly wanted to experience in my life?

Okay. Wow.

That's incredible. Not that it happened, but the fact that you reframe framed it.

So quickly, and that's great. You had the tools, but a lot of people don't. Yeah. And I'm just in shock, because that's.

Astonishing. And I want to ask you because I want to be respectful. It's a sensitive thing. I want to dive as deep as you're willing to. So you say whatever you want. I'm not doing any censorship or anything like that, if that's what you were asking me or the viewers or whatever. But you share whatever you want. I just want to have a deep conversation with you.

Yeah. I think, you know, I think the important pieces and some people have asked me the questions about the specifics about the assault, and it's like, it's irrelevant. It really doesn't matter. What happened was I was raped. Right. So when that experience happened and my. I was in college, and my entire world changed, everything I knew to be true felt false. I felt like I was living in an alternate reality. I remember.

Something to highlight just because I know that this is the case for a lot of survivors. And just a caveat here, a little bit of a trigger warning. If anybody has been through anything, just know that this is a safe space to listen, to feel seen, and to connect with somebody. And if it feels too triggering for you, please feel free to turn it off or fast forward. I'm not offended. This is your journey, too. So.

Right after it happened, the person who had assaulted me just walked away. And I remember crawling into this bathroom, and my face was just streaked with mascara, and I was standing staring at myself in the mirror, and I was like, who is this person? I had no idea who I was looking at in the mirror. I didn't recognize myself. I felt like a stranger in my own body and. And mind. And I just wanted it to be over. And so when I walked out to my car, it was, you know, me talking to God and saying, you know, hey, I know we don't have conversations very often, but I really need some guidance here because I. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this. What I'm asking is that you help me forgive this person so that I can be free. And I sat there, the rain was beating down on my windshield, and I just cried and cried and cried and cried and cried until I felt this wave of relief come over me to say, like, okay, I can forgive this person. The real forgiveness for me, though, wasn't about him. The forgiveness came because from that moment forward, I chose to remain silent for three and a half years. Not because I felt like I did anything wrong, because I didn't. I knew that it wasn't my fault, but I didn't want to be seen as different. I didn't want the labels that came with it. I didn't want the stigma behind it. I didn't want all the questions around, like, oh, what were you wearing? You know, were you drinking? None of the. Like, I wasn't drinking. I was wearing long sleeves and jeans. It was cold outside. I hadn't done anything. I literally walked in the door. He took me, and it happened. So it wasn't a matter of me doing something wrong that could have been prevented for whatever reason. This was part of my story. And. And I'm so grateful for it because it led me to the place that I'm in now. But I think a lot of people, just based on my own experience and people that I've spoken to over the last two decades about rape and trauma and abuse and anything of that caliber is. We attach a label to it and we make ourselves be bad, wrong, broken, damaged because of the experience that's happened. When really, what I would love people to shift into, and this is what this book talks about, is I would love people to start shifting into holy. I made it out. I survived that. I did that happened, and I'm still here. Are you freaking kidding me? Like, that's amazing. So instead of getting stuck in the story from a place of, you know, victim.

Allowing the story to be part of our experience without overtaking our entire experience and giving ourselves credit for the us, the. The person that still exists now, the one that survived, one of the biggest things that I share with other survivors is, you know, as they go through their journey, there's a lot of stuff, as you can imagine, that comes up and it's, it's allowing them to feel safe enough and give themselves permission to say.

I, I am safe to heal. I am okay to be here. I deserve to be here. And I'm not going to allow society to dictate happiness and joy and, and opportunities that I have because somebody else chose to pour their pain into me. Because it's never about the person who's been victimized. It's about the pain that the assailant is feeling that they're then pouring into the person who becomes the victim or survivor, as I prefer to say. One of the things that I really encourage everybody that I speak to when they ask, like, I don't even know how to begin the process, feeling like, what am I supposed to do? Really understand that it is imperative to mourn the version of you that existed before the trauma occurred and allow yourself to meet this new version of you that may feel really uncomfortable and disorienting. But know that that person is just as, if not more beautiful than the person that existed before the trauma occurred. Because at the end of the day, as I said before, like, you are still here. You survived, you made it out, and you're choosing to thrive, you're choosing to move forward. Because a lot of people too, and I'm sure you've heard this a million times, is people will say like, oh, get over it. When we go through something, whether it's anything, right? Like, oh, just get over it. You don't get over rape, you don't get over trauma. We learn to move forward with it. So how can we do that in a way that feels empowering for ourselves, regardless of what society wants to label as the, the experience as or what have you, and choose to live a life that is not only fulfilling but exciting and aligned with the person that we are now and who we truly want to continue showing up in the world as.

Wow, that's powerful. And I appreciate you going into detail with that because I remember, I think I can talk about it now. When you said, you know, I was like, I'm so sorry this happened, this, and you're like, thank you, but this has made me who I am. And I was just honestly furious and angry for, for you because my first reaction would not be to be going, all right, how can I forgive this in time? I mean, I'm a Bible believing Christian and you know, I prayed God all the time, but my first reaction would not be, okay, okay, no, it's different. Probably not great, but just going through. I got bullied as a kid, picked on for years. And so I wouldn't say it's anywhere near what you went through, but at the same time, it was traumatic. And then other stuff happened. In eighth grade with family, and then five years, 2017, I lost dad, and that took a while to get over. And every single time, what I'm hearing is, no matter what happens, you have the choice to go, how do I want to show up now despite whatever happened?

Mm, absolutely. And I think that that's a big one, you know, is we feel so often we feel like there's a right way to go through things, a right way to heal, a right way to move forward. And it's like, no, there's just your way. You know, what's going to work for you. And I want to touch on something that you said because, you know, you mentioned you being bullied and all of these different experiences that you've had and not being like, essentially the equivalent of what I went through. The thing is, is there's no hierarchy to trauma. There's no hierarchy to pain. Right. It's like, again, it goes back to, like, our perception of the experience. So I could stub my toe right now and think it's the worst thing that's ever happened to me because I haven't experienced anything, quote, unquote, bigger than that. Whereas somebody else could stub their toe and be like, you know, I didn't get hit by a car again. Right. It's perception. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do.

It's all about how we perceive the situation in everything.

Okay, so I'm going to flip this a little bit because I appreciate what you're saying as far as the perception, because it is. And I still.

Think that what you went through is worse than getting picked on, but both can be traumatic, so a lot. So in that case, now we're opening the world to say, majority of people been through something. So why do you think there is that hierarchical? It's not good, bad, indifferent, you know, and why don't more people address it? Do you think the world is the one who puts on, well, you went through this, so it's worse, and then this isn't as bad, so just deal with it, get over it. And I don't agree with that response either, because that's kind of insensitive and multiple people have said it to me, and it's just like, do you, like, open think before you talk? It's like, I almost wish you would have just stayed quiet because that was that, like false sympathy and then the. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, these kind of things happen. Like, what was the point of that?

Well, I think. I mean, I think there are a lot of different pieces to what you just shared and the question that you asked as well, and I think a big piece of that is.

Where. Where to even begin here. But as a society, we have a lot of room to grow. There is a lot of room for our consciousness to take the front seat instead of allowing our egos to lead. So when people and I, I do talk about this in my book is like, how to address conversations as a loved one of our survivor. Because ultimately not all right. There's always going to be some people that are just kind of douchey. But for the most part, I do believe that people are good and I do believe that people intrinsically want to help, especially if they're asking questions about your experiences. They're trying to connect in some way, Right. They're trying to create relatability.

Do they just not have the tools? They might not have the same tools.

I think they're. That they're lacking the tools or they are one of those people that simply.

How do I even say this? So I think one of the biggest traumas that we have as an entire society is people don't listen to hear, they listen to speak, Right? So that comes when we're talking about anything. It doesn't matter if it's rape, bullying, it doesn't matter. Right? So if somebody is truly listening to hear you, the conversation, and I'm sure you can agree with this, the conversation is very different than if somebody were to listen just to speak, because their response is very different. So if somebody is coming to you and saying, just get over it, just get over it, just get over it, which we've all heard from time to time, I've learned and I've trained myself to do this over the last two decades, is.

Hearing that and saying, I can have compassion from where they're at. It's not personal because it's not usually people's responses. I mean, some people, of course, will say something just because they, again, want to be a douchebag. But there are plenty of people that are just responding from a place of like, oh, listen to me, speak. Listen to what I have to say. Right? And, you know, if you're tapped into yourself, you know, when those Responses are. Are coming up. So instead of judging, the response of, like, I wish you would just be quiet. I wish you would have just kept your mouth shut. Which I've had that same thought process sometimes, so I'm not judging that. But instead of that, how can we look at it and go, all right? I mean, they're having their own experience. Clearly, we're in a different conversation right now, and that's okay. I don't really need to go any further with this person's conversation. So moving on. You know what I mean?

I do. And I'm just smirking because you're. You're on this, like, level of I can be in the moment with them without judgment, and I'm actually caring more about them than they are about themselves or me.

Yeah, yeah.

Which can be a detriment at times.

How so?

Because it. I think it can be a detriment when you care about somebody more than they care about themselves.

Oh, I can relate to that 150%.

Yeah. And there are plenty of people that are very just focused on themselves and what's in it for them. And da, da, da, da. And again, like, it goes back to, like, our lack of consciousness in Society now in 2022, which I think we've gotten better, but I see it every single day where I'm like, wow, this person's not present. So interesting. And it's.

I'm gonna challenge you on this. Did we really get better as a society or more people just talking about stuff that matters more?

No, I think it's both. So I think people are talking about things, but I also think that there's a level of consciousness that people have allowed themselves to step into without feeling weak by being emotional.

It's an emotional intelligence thing at the end of the day.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. I'm just thinking back to, like, Shakespeare and, like, thousands of years ago, and it's like, there's still very much that. A repetitive tone, like, that's always been there. But at the same time.

I think more people are trying to be better. They're not just saying, this would be nice if, like, more people are really going.

At least in my perspective, over the last decade, it was like.

Like in 08 and everything. I think a lot of people went, okay, maybe life is not just about money and working and all of this. Maybe that business I always wanted. Like, I've seen a rise in entrepreneurship, and I think there's more people doing that now more than ever. And especially, like you said, 22, moving forward, it's how can we be more family centered while still maintaining work, business, whatever the case is? Because I don't think anyone's buying into the work 23 hours a day anymore. Is the key to happiness?

Absolutely not at all. And I think that there's something to be said about the people that are willing to break societal norms as a way to strive for deeper joy and fulfillment. You know, like, sure. Could. Could I bust my ass every moment of the day and have a completely different life? I could, and I've tried it and I ran myself into the ground and it was so not worth it. So I think that people are giving themselves permission. I also think that that's a really big reason why entrepreneurship, especially in, like our generations and generations upcoming, is they don't like the way that things are done. So they're like, I'm going to do it my own way. And of course there's a bit of rebellion in there. I'm totally one of those people. But then there's also the very real thing of like, you're telling me I have to work 12 hours a day. You can go, you know what yourself, like, not happening. It's not happening. So finding that balance in a way that really supports our highest and best as an individual. Because when we're supporting our highest, invest as an individual, ultimately we support the collective. But that has to be happening all of us together. Right? And it's like it's going to take the people that are like us that are willing to say, I'm gonna say the thing. I'm gonna do the thing. I'm gonna be scared and I'm gonna do it anyways. That's going to inspire, inspire the other people. Like, oh, they did that. I can do that too.

Okay. You're speaking directly to me right now.

It's always fun going to that new milestone. But yeah, that. How do you hand. Let me just ask you, how do you handle the fear and scared and all that? When you go, I want to do this. I want to help more people. I want to be at that next level. I'm doing everything I should, but this is freaking me out again. Even though I've done it doesn't seem of times in the past, I let.

Myself freak the f out. I freak out. And then I put my big girl panties on and I say, okay, how do I make this happen?

I kind of like that I got the first part right.

Big boy panties, whatever.

Okay, so you just do it. Great.

Yeah.

So let me go back to the ghost writing because now that we know the 19. 19. You said three and a half years. That puts us now you're 22, 23. How did you start writing? You said you didn't even know you were ghost writing.

Yeah. So what I meant by that is, so my assault happened at 19, which also resulted in an ectopic pregnancy. So I had a host of issues that came along with that. When I first shared my story was three and a half years later, and it was on a date. And I ended up dating that guy for 11 years. Through those 11 years, I spent nine of which in and out of the hospital continuously. So, so, so, so, so sick all the time. And doctors were like, I don't understand what's happening. So, so writing was my safe haven. It was what I continued to come back to. It's the place where all my secrets lived. It's, and I now call it our secrets keep us sick. Because I was sharing pieces, but I wasn't sharing all of it. And let me just put a caveat on that. To say, like, to make an impact does not mean you have to air your dirty laundry to the world. It doesn't mean you have to get on podcasts or write a book or anything like that. When I say, be brave enough to share your story, what I mean is it could be sharing your story with yourself, getting honest enough with yourself to say these things happened. It could be sharing it with your best friend. Share it with your dog. I don't really care. The point is, get it out of your body. Right? So I was, of course, doing all the journaling and everything, but then I started writing for health and fitness magazine because I went back to school, studied holistic health and nutrition, started writing for a health and fitness magazine, and then I had started doing some copy and content writing for just other brands. And I had met somebody at the gym who was like, hey, I heard that you had a background in autoimmune disease. Will you ghostwrite a book for me on autoimmune disease? And I was like, I don't even know what that is. Let's go. Starting. So I was like, yeah, totally, because I'm an entrepreneur. And I say yes. And I figured out later, build the.

Plane on the way down.

Right, Exactly. I googled, what is ghostwriting?

I did not know it was a thing. Not for books anyways. Like, I thought people wrote their books. I actually believe that doesn't really happen so often. So I looked it up, and four days later, I handed him a book on autoimmune. Disease. And he was like, hold up. You wrote the whole book in four days? He was like, how did you write a book in four days? And I was like, I mean, it might be crap, so you should read it. If you like it, we can have a conversation. But to be fair, I've never done this before. And he's like, you've never done this before? I was like, like I said, you should read it. So he read it.

This is the rough draft of the manuscript?

Yes, he read it and he loved it. And I became his voice for the next six and a half years. In the process of that, I was ghostwriting for other brands. You know, doing vsl, video, sales letters, copy, content, all these things for all of these different brands. And I really found that books and vulnerable stories are what called to my soul. It's what. What made me feel alive because I knew that I was ushering impact through story and that. I mean, it's been almost 11 years now that I've been doing ghostwriting and now book coaching as well, and helping. Helping people get their stories out. But it is never the avenue that I thought that I would be going down at all.

Now, when you did it the first time, were you just. Did you just take your existing knowledge and put something together using reference, or did you have any conversations with him, whether it was on the phone, interview, some virtual conference thing?

So this experience is very different than any other book that I have done since in that I took my knowledge and put things down on paper. And now looking back, reading that book, I'm like, that is embarrassing. I will never share a book that was in my life that is.

I was going to ask you because it sounds interesting.

No, it's not happening. Number one, we unpublished it because from that point, I ghostwrite a book for him for a major traditional publishing house. And we wanted to take some of that content to put into this new book.

Okay.

So we had to unpublish to make that happen. This was years ago now. But regardless, like, typically, the way that it would work is there's a bunch of interviewing that happens. There's a bunch of personal stories that come in from the author. There's. There's a sequence in which things are told. This didn't happen that way. This was very much like, here's the knowledge, here's my background, meaning the author's background.

Blah, blah, blah, whatever. I would never do it that way knowing what I know now. But, hey, it got me to where I am in some degree, so grateful.

Nice. Because the Way you said it, when you said four days.

I wrote one of my books in five.

And it was because it was all me. You have no timelines. You have, you're not limited to a, you know, whether it's a 30 minute conversation, 60. The beauty of doing it yourself is you can just go nuts and it's awesome. It's a lot of fun. You get, you get in this flow state. It's awesome. However, when, when you said the four days, I'm like, she couldn't have done multiple conversations. I mean the time commitment wasn't there. So compared to that, how do you, how do you handle it now? Do you have conversations with people to support and supplement the info? Are you just looking everything up straight up.

Oh, oh no. I don't write boring books with facts and all that stuff. I don't do that. Nope. So the way that I do it is it's my very own process. So I won't give away all the goods. But I will say that when I'm ghostwriting for a client, there's a series of upfront interviews that take place. There's a structure that I have in place that they green light what's going in as we go through the process. If I need additional information to support the story that they're wanting to convey, those are conversations that are had. Still, the process is quick. I mean it's not four days because that's ridiculous.

And I was going to, I was going to ask you. It sounds like it might not be a four day process.

Well now I would never do that anyways. Like it doesn't even make sense if you, if I bet you maybe I'm wrong, correct me if I'm wrong, but a book that you wrote in five days, did you read it afterwards and go, that's the best thing that's ever been written?

No, probably like editing.

This can be improved.

You have to edit and polish it. But you know.

Yeah, yeah, you need to for sure do the next steps. But it was 80, 80% of the way there. It wasn't finished, but.

Right.

It wasn't like my first one that took two and a half or three months to write.

Right. And I will say for most people.

Their books will take longer than a week. Let's just say that.

So I'll say the publishing takes longer, but you can. So I just literally meant verbatim the writing portion of it.

Yeah, yeah. Right. I believe based on my experience that can you write a book in a week? Yes, 100% for most people is that the best means to their book being done? No.

Depends on their goal. I know some people that just want it to be on Amazon and you know, if they have an event this weekend, they just want to go, look at me. But if you really want it to be content, but if you want it to be and useful, like we suggest, yeah, it's going to take a little bit longer.

Yeah.

Not to say it can't be done, but should it? It's just my recommendation. Right.

I actually have used this quote in some of my books and it's from one of my. It's from a comedian, Chris Rock. He goes, you can drive a car with your foot if you want to, but that don't make it a good idea.

Exactly.

Can it be done? Yes. Should it be done? Well, that depends. So, yeah. So you have a more formal process you take them through now. And I wasn't expecting every last detail, but it's. I know you've been doing it. We've talked about it times before. And.

I have to ask you, so the people who do interviews versus ghost writing versus people get on the phone, how would you define ghost writing? Because there are so many freaking variations of it now. And I see people all the time that say, okay, so good point. Yes and no. So professional ghost writing versus someone who says, I'll talk to you for 30 minutes or 90 minutes, 120 minutes will turn that into a book. Are they ghostwriting?

That's transcription. So ghostwriting is being able to take your author's story and whatever it is that they're wanting to convey, and interweaving.

Words, stories, whatever content needs to be in there to be able to actually make it an engaging book. You know, a lot of people think, oh, I have all these blog posts, I have these videos, I'll transcribe them and make them a book. Those might be pieces to a book, but I promise you, if you put those all together without the rest put into place, it's not going to flow the way that you would want it to for a book. They're not the same thing. They're not written the same way. The conversation's not the same. And I'm specifically talking about transformational nonfiction because in transformational nonfiction, you are having a conversation with the reader. You are looking to create an impact from a personal experience story, even if it's business related. Like I just Ghostworld a book for somebody. And he wanted to tell the story of how he took this business from $4 million to $40 million. And he also Wanted to share a lot of his personal journey from being a kid up to this point where he's in his 40s now, because he wanted something to give his daughter when she was older to say, like, this is essentially your dad's life. Right. So, like, did he want to create an impact from it? Of course. Like, he's done some really incredible things in his business, and he wanted to share vulnerable pieces, which is something very new for him, something he had never done, something that felt really scary and made him want to PS Pants. So I was like, yes, this is perfect. So he was not a writer by any means. He had stories that he wanted to share. He had no idea how the heck to share those stories. And his book comes out next month, so there you go.

That's awesome. Congrats to him and you because that sounds like a good read.

Yeah, he's pretty excited, and I'm stoked for him.

Yeah. And I'll also add in the blog post you write at different times. If you have a year's worth of blog post, by all means, they're great. You know, they're like the raw ingredients in a cake recipe or something. Like, you. They're going to help, but who you were 12 months ago is not who you are now in the frame of mind and everything. So.

Yeah. And that's like when I have coaching clients that come to me and they say, I've already started writing it. I have like, three chapters. Da, da, da, da. And I'm like, great, throw it away. Like, excuse me, Right? I'm like, we're starting over.

It's remind me of. There's this meme, and it's like, how much is it for this whatever? And it's like, well, how much work? It's like, if you've done one day's work, it's this much. If you've done one week's work, it's this much. If you've done a month's work, it's this much. And it kept getting higher the more you touched it.

Yeah, I think.

I think it was like a car repair thing. Yeah, it was like, I tried fixing this, but it didn't work. Can you fix it? It's like, oh, dear God.

Now that it's a mess.

I don't.

Know what this pile of screws does. No, I appreciate you answering that, because there's so many people that say, I'm a ghostwriter. And I'm like, really? I know a handful of them, and you're one of the better ones that I know. And that's been doing it professionally and everything. And I'm like, yeah, I don't think so, though. Like, I loved your remark when you go, yeah, that's called a transcription.

It's like, okay, you're a ghost. Right? Right.

You dropped it into YouTube and it did it for free. Yes. Okay.

Yeah. And it's not to say that that's not valuable. Right. Because some people, that process is like, I don't know how to do that. That's amazing. Get the support. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but, like, true ghost writing, you need to be writing.

You're so nice and polite. Like, you're even now you're going, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm going, oh, I'm thinking of a whole lot of stuff that's wrong with that. Because.

Yeah. I mean, to each their own, right? What's going to work for one person might not work for the other person. And that's why I say, like, people come to me all the time about ghostwriting. I'm like, it is not for everybody. I'm gonna tell you that. Just like writing a book is not for everybody. Do we all have stories? Absolutely. Are they all worth sharing? Probably in some capacity, but it may not be a book. So is it book worthy? Maybe. Is it story worthy? Probably.

Okay. And how long should someone expect. Are you talking. Since it's not four days, they need seven or eight.

No. So when I work with my coaching clients, it's a three month process. Okay. Through writing the entire manuscript, because we do weekly calls. They're doing a lot of the writing. I'm doing some stuff on the back end. And then when it comes to ghostwriting, again, like, it's usually three to four months to write it, but it's all dependent on the author's time frame.

Goals.

Availability. Well, availability more so, actually, because I tell them up front, like, if you want to. If you want this to launch in fall, we need to switch. Start way ahead of that because things come up, edits come up, publishing delays, printing delays. Like there are things to take into consideration. All the things. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

So ghostwriting is more so like, I. I tell them give it six months, but it's usually three months. So it just depends. Yeah.

Okay. Well, appreciate the insight. So with all the books you've done and all the writings you've done.

What made you decide now you want to do your own? And I see something behind you.

There we go. And I know you have one right There. One, two, three.

Wait, where does it go? I mirrored, so I can't angle it.

There we go.

You're good. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'll tell you exactly what I tell people that come to me want thinking that they want to write a book is. It's. There will come a time where either you can't possibly keep it quiet any longer, or there comes a point where your entire body is screaming yes, even if your mind is scared out of its mind and wants to say no. So for me, it was very much the. I can't hold it any longer. I just. It's time. I had made the excuse for many, many years. What I now know is an excuse for many, many years that I just don't have the capacity to write my own story and to help other people write theirs. And there is partially a truth to that because I'm. A lot of my clients are sharing very vulnerable stories within their books that I'm an empath and I take on a lot of energy. So to do that with mine and other people's was like, I don't know that I can do that.

But there came a point where I was like, I know that it's the time to do this. My whole body is telling me. So I had to prioritize it and take things off my plate, including clients off my plate, to be able to make this happen, prioritize it and get it out into the world. I launched it on October 15th of this year, which was the anniversary of not only my assault, but also the same day a year later that my father passed away. So I wanted. No, that's okay. Thank you. I mean, things happen and it is what it is. But I wanted to create a different memory from that date.

I can relate to that. I.

September 11th. I think we all know what that means. And when I decided to move forward with this show.

400 plus episodes ago, freaked out of my mind. I made the first call to the first guest.

And I go, you know what? I want to put a little bit of good in there. And I did the same thing.

So awesome.

Yeah. I remember I was waiting for it to come out because I knew about it. I was ready to get it. And you're like the 15th. The 15th. The 15th.

Yep.

So that you anchored it with a new memory.

Absolutely.

Do you suggest everyone does that? Like launch it on a special day?

No, I mean, when people ask me, how do I know when to launch? Number one, the best time to publish a book is going to be spring or fall. It's not to say you can't publish it in summer or winter, but the best times are spring and fall.

Let me pause you right there real quick. Why.

Yeah.

That'S across the board. It's. You talk to any publisher. That's what it is. It's just. It's part of the publishing world. I don't know why. My guess is I didn't know if.

You had some grand reason. I would just assume, like summer people are doing stuff. Yeah.

People are busy. And then the holidays is my guess, but it's across the board. Yeah.

It's one reason I started taking even the first week off of January and taking an extra week off before Christmas because it was. It's just like you can tell when the ebbs and flows are.

Yeah.

It's like you can't reach someone for three months, then all of a sudden, 15 people. Oh, hey, how have you been? How's it really? Really? Yeah, Yeah, I. I agree. I just didn't know if you had, like. Oh, the reason is because of. It's basically everything we're talking about. It's just people's normal cycle.

Publishing trends. Yeah.

Yeah. I. I heard about the New York Times also. The. The reason it's always on a Tuesday, not just for spring and fall, is because the first week sales are always calculated Sunday and Monday. So for your best chance, I was like, oh, that's interesting.

Yeah.

So New York Times. Yep.

And all the other list as well. Like they do the seven days calculating the sales and everything, so. But I've seen people.

We've even done some Tuesdays and Wednesdays and all of our stuff is through business. So it's usually during the week. But obviously you can be a success on Saturday, too.

You can.

And you had an epic book launch party too. I've been seeing that.

Yeah, it was just. It was just for friends and family, like small, intimate little gathering just to kind of celebrate. As much as I love celebrating and I love birthdays and I love milestone events, I'm not huge on being the center of attention when something's done for me, so. Okay, that was a good stretch.

So you. Did you have to. Were you focused on the book? Mainly. And others helped out to put that together.

For the launch itself.

Yeah, the launch. The live event.

Oh, the live event was just a celebration. It was like these people had already purchased the book. It was just to say, like, I did the thing. Crap. Thank you for your support.

It looked like a lot of fun. And I saw the cookies, too.

Yeah. Weren't they so cute. My friend is so talented. They are, yeah.

So you were saying something caught my attention. You said your body was screaming, like, tell me I can relate, but tell me more because you know how to articulate this stuff beautifully.

Well, thank you. I. I think a big thing. And again, this goes back to like emotional intelligence, right? And allowing ourselves the space to be a complete human. And what I mean by that is so often people are raised like, don't show your emotions. Crying is bad. Crying makes you weak. If you're a boy, you shouldn't cry or be sad, you know? And so boys fight, girls cry, right? Like, it's. It's so silly. But.

One of the things that I've gotten pretty good at, I'm not a master yet, but is really tapping into the felt sense of my emotions. So if something comes up, I have some training in somatic therapy. And so when something comes up, I feel sad. Okay. Closing my eyes and feeling into like, where in my body feel sad am I feeling in my throat? Am I feeling in my chest? Like, where is this happening? And then getting curious. So instead of being like, don't feel sad. Everything is great in your life. What are you doing? And like going on this tyrant of like, all the reasons why I could feel a certain way, like, you should feel happy. Well, I don't, right? Like being okay with like, I don't feel happy right now. Even if I'm supposed to feel happy, I feel safe, sad. So getting curious about why do you feel sad? What is actually under that feeling? Where is it coming from? For some people, that can be, you know, past trauma. It can be the way that somebody spoke to you. And then all of a sudden it triggers this memory of like, oh my gosh, I remember. I'll give you actually a perfect example. So I do not do well when people are yelling or speaking too loudly or there's too many people in a room all trying to talk over each other. Because what it triggers in me is a memory of my grandfather, who was a great man when he was sober, but when he was drunk, he was mean and he was loud. And all of that put me in protection mode. So even now, even through all the work I've done, when that happens, I feel. Feel it viscerally in every part of my body. And I shut down. Like, I can't. I can't have a conversation. I can't focus on what you're saying. My body is just like, nope, protect. So when it came to writing my book and my whole body was like, it's just time to say this thing. It felt too heavy. I physically didn't feel like I could carry the weight of all of these things anymore. I needed a place to put. Pour them. So in order to pour them into a place, I was like, well, how can I pour them into a place that's actually going to create a positive impact for somebody, even if it's one person? And I was like, duh, it's time. So I just. It was time, right? I wrote the book.

Now, didn't I say you can articulate that better?

Yeah, you just did. And that was done artfully. Because every time I've done one, and I have to say, every one of our authors, there's always some. Oh, I even said it to you when we tried connecting the first time. And remember I said, weird stuff will happen.

Yeah.

Every time. Without fail. And. Yeah, but I've never. I'm always curious and I love learning, but there's a lot of stuff I don't know. That's why I was like. Even with the ghostwriting, I'm like, how would you define it since you've been doing it over a decade? Because, yeah, everyone's got their own opinion, which is whatever. So I felt it. But.

You just said it so artfully. I'll say.

So you shouldn't force it. But when it's time, it's time.

Yeah. And also get curious about, like, am I saying it's not time right now because of fear? Or is my body actually saying it's just not time yet? Because you'll notice when you're forcing anything. I don't care if it's writing a book or something or running from it. Yeah. When you're forcing something, it often takes longer than it needs to or it's incredibly uncomfortable and like, in it, not a positive way because I like discomfort, but, like, it's grossly uncomfortable.

To allow those things to come to fruition. So instead of chasing, how can we be in flow with the. With the thing that we desire, allowing us the space to move through whatever needs to happen for us to actually, I guess, actualize the thing. Does that make sense?

It does. And I'm going to pull something up here from your book because I know at the end here you said healing modalities to consider. You have emdr. So you mentioned the somatic cognitive cbt. Net. Ifs. You have a lot of things here that you can help people with. So does everyone need all of it or. No, it just depends on the person and what they're going through.

Yeah. Find what works for you. So I. I love digging in, oftentimes into places where people do not want to go. I don't know if it's because of a Scorpio, but I am a digger. I'm like, ooh, I found something. Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go. And I'll burrow and I'll, like, try to find all the things and why is this happening? And I'm so curious about everything. And half the time would you say, oh, my God, let me ask you.

Is that because of just strictly curiosity or knowing, once they get past it, how much it helps them?

It's both.

Okay.

Yeah, it's both. Like, all the modalities that are in the book I've done doesn't mean everybody has to do them. The only reason I could recommend them is because there were elements to each of them that I found helpful. Right. But, like, some people do really well with talk therapy. Other people are like, that is the biggest waste of time on the planet. Great. Because there are also people. I'm one of them. That I can talk myself into or out of a situation. I can justify anything. I used to want to want to be an attorney. Funny story.

And same here on both points, actually.

Yeah. Yeah. So, like, talk therapy may not be the best modality because we get on our own way. So how can we use a modality that will allow us to. To kind of separate from the mind and really connect to the heart? And that's why I think, like, I won't go on this tangent because I know we're getting at time, but.

I'm hugely interested in what's happening with plant medicine right now and how they're using it for trauma. I think it's freaking brilliant, and I am so excited about it.

Okay, well, I. Maybe you can dive deeper another time. But I love the passion you bring to everything you've been talking about, even the not good stuff, because I know you are helping so many people. And, like, like I said for the last few months, I'm excited to help you get the book out there and reach more people and everything. So I have a couple more questions.

One of them. This is the Wheel of Whatever. See all those questions I got for you?

Yeah. All of them.

Yellow or black?

Yellow.

Oh, that's nice. It matches my mic flag.

All right, so my question for you is, do you have other books that you're going to be coming out with that you haven't told anyone about yet? Yet?

No. I have no desire at this point to write a second book. I said what needed to be said.

Okay.

Yeah.

But when you are ready, it's just gonna.

If that ever happens, I will know it in my body. But I am very happy helping other people share their stories.

Excellent. So this is my little thing I came up with years ago, the Wheel of Whatever. And it basically gives me carte blanche to ask whatever. And I've actually had people reveal like what they're doing next quarter, next year. I've had, I actually had their staff email me before it was. The episode was even over. They're like, we had no clue about the new products that were coming out. How did you get them to say it?

So, yeah.

What. Let me rephrase it then. What? Do you have any surprises you want to share with us? Do you have.

Well, next month I am speaking to a group of 3,500 people which I'm very excited about. Thank you. About.

Taking, I guess taking their stories to another level. So being able to write a book that actually engages the reader while making an impact. Yeah. Like really connects. And I AM in the TEDx application process right now, so if all goes well, I will have at least one TEDx talk next year.

Congratulations. That's huge. Yeah. And I love that you, you really do have a heart for this. Not just with people, but there's so many people I think nowadays that they just do a book as another like trophy thing or you know, it's only about the money or something. And it's like it's so much more powerful if you let it be. And I think a lot of people have watered it down. So thank you for being one of the good ones who's doing it the right way.

Yeah.

We're going to thank our sponsor real quick and come back for the imperfect action around. You've heard me say every business needs a book, including yours. And it's true. And that's why I'm launching my new book@eapublishingmethodbook.com so you can learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. But you know what, don't take my word for it. Take it from a few of my authors like Lori, I went from having.

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For me in three days regarding my book launch.

Unmanageable.

John Cody. I've worked with Mario over the phone and online, and he's been very helpful in getting me where I needed to go with promoting my books.

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Hey, their words, not mine. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get your copy, and I look forward to hearing your transformation as our next video success story. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.com and we are back with the imperfect action round. Cherie, are you ready to take imperfect action?

Let's do it.

I got three questions for you. Rapid fire, 60 second or last? The first one is, what is the fastest path to the cash?

Authenticity.

What's number two? What's the biggest problem you see your audience making and the fastest way for them to fix it?

Throwing every piece of their story but the kitchen sink in a book. Fastest way to solve that is to create a working outline and get support to help you.

Agreed. Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Authenticity. Build those relationships.

Don't be a robot. Be yourself.

Yeah.

All right. We've talked about how awesome publishing is, and I think we both agree. What books would you recommend to expert.

Authority world that have helped surviving silence?

Yes. This one. I read a lot of relationship books because, again, like, I find it so important, so attached becoming the one. She is a client of mine, and I really just. She's brilliant, her. And I did not ghost write her book. She wrote her book. Her book's amazing.

I'm looking at my bookshelf right now.

Oh. The body keeps the score. Amazing book. Yeah. The biology of belief. I'll stop there. I can keep going, but.

Okay. You want to throw in one more?

This is why cover design's important.

Yeah. Wild feminine.

Wild Feminine.

Feminine.

Okay. Thank you. For those. Where would you like people to learn more?

You can go to my website, cheritrask.com or you can find me on social media. I'm at Sheree Trask on all of them.

Sheree, it's been an absolute pleasure. I really enjoyed this and I appreciate your time. So thank you for sharing.

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.

All right, Expert Authority World. We have another great episode here today. I will see you on the next one. Have a great day and God bless. You're already the expert, but have you transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate qualified leads while increasing profit for you 24? 7 and if so, how well are you promoting it? With my new book, the Expert Authority Effect Publishing Method, I take you through my process step by step. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get started. Now. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.Com thanks for listening to today's episode. I would love to know what you enjoyed most from it if you haven't done so already. I invite you to connect with me on my new LinkedIn. You can go to it directly at eainterviews.com LinkedIn Once again, that's eainterviews.com LinkedIn. Lastly, check out the full eainterviews.com site for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you on the next one.