Lisa N Edwards and Tyler Wagner Share Amazing Stories | The Authors Unite Show - Lisa Edwards

All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Authors Unite Show. Today we got Lisa N Edwards with us, so welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me, Tyler. It's amazing to be here.

Of course, grateful to have you here, and thanks for like coming on the show. I know you're, you're all the way in Australia, so it's Saturday morning dedication. I love it.

It is. As we were just saying, it's like I've been up for an hour and you know it takes me that long to get ready and it takes you 5 minutes.

Yeah, I think all I see is less than 5 minutes, I'm not even gonna lie. Yeah. Sorry about that.

That's okay.

So to kick us off, tell us a little bit more about you and what you do.

Okay, so what I do, I'm an author and a screenwriter, and I've got 3 books, which are a series. They're called Can't Fight Fate, Chasing Butterflies, and Seed of the Sunflower. And they're based around sort of a 40-year-old-ish woman, and she's obsessed with psychics. And the psychics basically tell her this guy that she's gonna meet. And it's throughout the book, we see her dating various men. They have to fit the criteria of the psychic. And, you know, she's not a stupid woman. So this is, she's an entertainment lawyer and she's got a really strong career, but this is, where she kind of goes weak at the knees with these guys that the psychic has described. So, you know, it's kind of a, it's a comedy sort of series and yeah, you'll get a bit of a laugh at her dating experiences.

Nice. Okay.

So yeah. And apart from that, then the screenwriting stuff. So I've got Can't Fight Fate has been written into a TV series as well. So I've got a pilot for that out and that's getting shopped around. And then I've got two feature films. So one's Blink and that one's filming at the end of this year. And that one's, it's kind of a, it's a dark thriller. And it's four women taken simultaneously and they're given the ultimatum that three will die and one will live. And they need to choose. So, and they're locked in a room and there's a man that gives them rules. So as to how they choose. So it's quite, you know, scary and it's quite revealing and it makes these women face the choices that they've made in their life. And yeah, and then the last one is called Coinrunners. It's a feature film as well. So it's based on, I'm a crypto trading analyst analyst as well. I've been doing that for quite a long time. My brother is believed to have invented Bitcoin, and he is Dr. Craig Wright. Yeah, so I do that, and CoinRunners is based on a true life story of a guy that I know and the crazy stuff that he got up to and how I was involved in that. Yeah. It's basically a story of a year of my life. Wow.

All right. So yeah, I got a lot of questions here. Okay. I don't even know where to start.

Okay.

So wait a second. Okay. So, okay. First question. I don't want to forget all these that are coming to me. Okay. First question is this, this, the 3-book series. How did you— I always find like fiction writing to be so interesting. Like I've only written nonfiction books. Yeah, like, how did you like come up, or like, what was the process to like come up with the storylines? And like, how did you do that? Okay, okay.

So, um, it always revolves around a guy for me. It's like normally them breaking my heart. But anyway, um, yeah, so there I had the psychic readings are my own, um, and they're contained in that book, in each book. So in each book we start with a new psychic reading. So the first book has a psychic reading from when I was 21 years old. And so basically, I'm that crazy girl. I don't do it anymore. I'm that crazy girl that went, okay, you don't have green eyes, or you don't have— they were sort of, they were meant to be blue-green eyes. So They were meant to be blue and in certain light they changed to green. So that was the psychic's sort of description. So every time, you know, it's like, "What color are your eyes? Are they changing color?" And it's like, so I was that crazy girl and I was kind of seeing this guy and yeah, he sort of met so many criteria that the psychic had given. Like, you know, he's what his job was and what he was, you know, sort of places he would go and the color of his eyes and, you know, that sort of stuff. He had a dimple in his chin and he had a dimple on his cheek. And, you know, just from over the years, I've realized that they're quite generic things. Not overly generic. They're like Yeah, but it's so, you know, if you're dating guys, then within this book she can, you know, meet guys that all have this criteria and not necessarily match. So yeah.

Yeah, I think it's, so it's kind of like you took your own, like it's from kind of your own life, but it's fiction, obviously.

But like, yeah, yeah. None of the stories are true.

So Yeah, yeah, but you did, you kind of took from the foundation of your, like that, because that's what's always kind of been interesting. It's like, where do you even begin? So you began with like just kind of your story a little, used a piece of it, and then created a fictional series.

Yeah, so all my friends kind of think it's kind of crazy that, you know, these psychics always say the same thing. And I'd be like, I went to another psychic and she said the same thing. This green-eyed, blue-eyed guy kind of exists. And, you know, he's a Leo, or he's just— he's on the cusp of being a Leo. And, you know, it's kind of crazy.

It is, because I actually happen to be green, blue-eyed, and a Leo. That's a little freaky and awesome.

Um, it must be you. It must be you.

It must be me, man. That's funny.

Um, cool. When are you available for a date, or is that different?

I'm coming to Australia, yeah. Flying from Miami, I'll be right over. That's cool. That's funny. I had to point it out because you literally like described me. I was like, this is getting strange.

No way, that's so funny.

I just had my birthday August 13th and blue with a little greenish tint. You might not be able to tell now, so either way, interesting. Okay, so the other thing that really caught my attention over to more like the business side, and I just to make sure, I wasn't sure if I was mixing fictional and real life, so I wanted to make sure. Yeah, you said your brother, they have invented Bitcoin, or explain that.

That's correct. Okay, so my brother is Dr. Craig Wright. He is the Australian guy that is Well, he invented Bitcoin, so I believe he did. I know he did. I've been around him a long time. So he hasn't proved it 100% in the public. It's— yeah. So I don't know if you know much about cryptocurrency, but—

I know some, yeah. Yeah.

So Satoshi Nakamoto is known as the creator.

So—

and that's my brother.

That's so crazy. How is this possible?

I know, it's sort of crazy, isn't it?

So yeah, that's so cool. I know, because I've heard, like, I have, um, one of my friends— and I'm gonna butcher this, but yeah, I know a little bit about cryptocurrency, not— I'm not like well-versed or knowledgeable in it, but one of my friends, he owns this company called BlockGeeks, and the co-founder of it is the father of the guy who started Ethereum. So I get, you know, oh, okay.

So yeah, Vitalik.

So yeah, so I don't know him personally, but I know, you know, I'm like one.

Yeah.

So, and I've learned some stuff from him. Like he told me about Bitcoin. I think it was like 600 a coin at the time. So that's why.

Oh, did you buy it?

Yeah, yeah, I did buy. So I did the trading a little bit, but for me what happened is, uh, it started to get a little like it was consuming my whole light.

Like, that's, that's, yeah, so that's where Coin Runners come in. So it's, it's about sort of that, you know, overlapping themes of drugs, of, you know, addiction and all of that. So it's like she's addicted to this guy and they're both addicted to cryptocurrency, and, you know, so you've got these overlapping kind of themes of, you know, that all happening.

Yeah, it was like that. So for me it was like, because you know how it went up to 20 grand, like it went up to— yes. I was watching everything just blow up and I was like, what is going on? I think if I remember, I sold some at like 17. So it was great, but then it started going— it was so fluctuating.

Volatile. Yeah. So it's a really volatile sort of currency. It's probably the most volatile one there is.

Yeah. So I would be working on Authors Unite, my business, and then every 5 minutes I'd I'd like check GDAX, it was GDAX or CoinMarketCap, and I'd be like, oh my God, it just went up $2,000 in 5 minutes or whatever. And like, eventually I got to the point where I am now, whatever I have, I'm just like holding, just like letting it. Yeah, I made some money, but like the mental like thing it was doing to me, I was like, it's not worth it anymore, dude, just stop the business.

See, that's funny because that's the opening to that movie. And it's like, you know, the start of that, the week before it hit kind of almost 20,000 is the start of the movie. And they're, you know, they're watching the charts and they keep coming back to it. And it's exactly what you described. So everyone I talked to about that moment, it's just like, I couldn't look away. I couldn't do this. It was like, it was such an addiction. And yeah.

It was what, well, and you got people like, McCaffee, or McCaffee?

John McCaffee. Yeah, he's a character, isn't he?

Yeah, he's like, it'll go to $500,000 or somewhere, $100,000. And I'm like, what do I do? Like, $20,000 is great, but $500,000— so I don't know, it's a lot. So are you still trading now? Like, do you still—

yeah, yeah. So that's what my, uh, Twitter following is. So, um, I've got 30,000+ people on Twitter, and I post charts, and I've got a trading Discord called Satoshi Sisters. And we're in there and we're helping people to learn to trade and yeah, and just, you know, giving signals when to buy, when to sell, that sort of stuff. So yeah.

And hey, what better source than you? Like, come on, it doesn't get any better than that.

Yeah, I'm not sure if it works that way, but yeah, I wish I could just go, hey Craig, what price is it going to be tomorrow?

I was just thinking that you just hit your brother up, you're like, yo, pull the lever. All right, sell. All right.

Yeah, that would be nice, but no, unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

Okay, so you got that, and then another book. So how did you get into the screenwriting? Like, how did you like build connections with people for— because that's a leap. I know a lot of people that write books, they want to turn it into movies. So how did you—

So before, before writing books, we need to go back before. So yeah, so I, in Australia, I owned a company called Visions MCP, and it's a modeling, casting, and promotions agency. And we did, we found work for actors, models, and promotional talent. And so within that, I have a whole network of people in Australia. And probably, probably 2008-ish, I started traveling to— maybe a little bit earlier— started traveling to LA to build connections for my business. And, you know, to get actors more work in the States because there was a lot happening over there with the feature films. And, you know, there's a lot more money for them over there. So I started traveling doing that and Yeah, I've always sort of written down all my thoughts because that's kind of psychologically how I got through anything. You know, I'd sort of, I'd write it out and I'd go, okay, that makes sense. And that's why I started, you know, friends were saying, you've got to tell this story about the psychics, nobody's going to believe it. So that's how that kind of all started because I was writing down the thoughts. And yeah, so the business, the modeling casting agency helped with the contacts. And then there's, if you're in screenwriting, there's a lot of services similar to yours that you can use to help, you know, get your script up to, you know, being perfect or as close to as possible. And one of them that I've used is Roadmap Writers, another one's Blue Cat Screenplay, and they both help with, particularly Roadmap Writers, get you in front of executives. So you can pitch, which is the hardest thing because you've got 8 minutes and you need to jump in on Skype or on Zoom and you've got 8 minutes to impress them and to basically sell the story. So yeah, it didn't happen that way that we got Blinksold, but that's a long sort of— that was through friends of friends. And, you know, I've got a co-writer on that one, and she approached somebody and, you know, it got picked up that way. But it's such a long journey. Like, that film is 8 years in the making, and it's filming at the end of this year. So it's— yeah.

Yeah, I was just thinking that'd be a cool show, you know what I mean? You know, there's like all these shows, so it'd be like you, you get on with Blue Cat and then they film it, like the, the pitch, and then that's the show. Like you watch people pitch like their idea.

Well, it's actually really interesting. So it's like you get on, um, with these companies and, you know, you're pitching and you can watch everyone else's pitches because there's maybe 10 people in a row and you're all on this session and, you know, you're sort of all pitching and you're like, oh, wow, I could use that in mine. And, you know, that I like the way he did that sort of thing. And, you know, so you're sort of picking up sort of tips as you go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's interesting. So, so, okay. So, all right. You wear a plaid hat. Cool.

I do.

So, okay. So we, where we started, I want to kind of come back full circle real quick.

Okay.

How do you write? So not necessarily, you know, the concept, but like, how are you— how do you get into like writer's flow? And like, how are you writing? Like, you're on your fourth book, so I know our audience, they would love to know this. So that's why.

Yeah, so I constantly write notes in my iPhone because I've learned over the years that if you have a great thought and then you don't write it down, it doesn't exist anymore. It was just a great thought at the time. You're thinking, oh, what was I gonna write down? So you have to write it down in that moment. So if I'm really busy, I'll quickly jot some notes in my iPhone in the notes section, and then I'll come back to that and I'll go, okay, what does that mean? What is that thought? And I'll expand on that. And if it fits in the book, then I'll put it in. My books are never written in order. They're kind of written all over the place, even though, you know, they're sort of, they're a trilogy, but ideas come to me at different times and I'm like, oh, that, that might make a good idea in the book. So I'll sit there and I might write a chapter of the book and then it sort of, it gets maybe used or maybe not, or maybe broken up and put in somewhere else. But it's, yeah, it's just a matter of writing down the notes or writing down the ideas when they happen. So yeah, so my phone's full of like ideas and I'll be putting, you know, kind of probably once or twice a week for the book, I'll sit down and I'll actually give it maybe half a day and I'm sitting there and putting all the notes together and compiling it and I kind of know where they fit. At that point, you know, and the flow, and then I can write around them. So it's always about writing around the notes that I've made during that week.

Yeah, I love what you just said. It's so— I think that's the biggest thing that like hinders people is they try to write in such like a perfect way. Like it's, you know, gotta get the title first, gotta get the subtitle, then the introduction. And I think that's not the way like the creative process works. Like, no, it's messier than that. It's more fun than that, you know? Like, and, um, because I'm the same as you. My iPhone with Notes, I think I might be wrong, I can't remember, it was 5,000 or 50,000. I know that's a big difference, but I have— I email myself at least 20 times.

I do the same because I think if I lose my iPhone, I'm gonna lose the Notes.

So, oh yeah, every time I thought I could be at the gym, I could be running, walk, whatever it is, anytime. Yeah. Type it in the notes, email it to myself. At the end of the day, I go through all of them and then I organize or whatever. But I think that's— it's, it's such like a simple practice, but you're so right because like everybody I think has like good ideas, but like a lot of people are just like, oh, I'll remember it later.

And no, no, don't— you never remember it later. It never happens. It's like I've sat there for ages trying to remember those notes and I'm like I'm like, it's not coming.

No, it's gone.

It's gone. It's like it was the best idea.

Yeah, you've got to— and I can't remember, there's like a book about this. I think it's called like Big Magic or something. I can't remember.

Oh yeah, that one. Yeah, she talks about doing that.

Yeah, and it's like, there's like, she talks about kind of process too, where it's like, you know, like when you're in flow, it's like you're more receptive to those ideas.

Yeah.

So that's what I realized, like exercising or like hiking and stuff, that's when a lot of those things come to me more naturally.

That's the same as me. I'll be on the elliptical or I'll be in the gym or I'll be, you know, in the shower. I get lots of ideas in the shower.

Yeah, yeah. And this is, it's such a good thing to think of is like, and it's also say like you're trying to solve a problem, right? You can, you can like really zero in and like keep like banging your head against it and like try to solve it. Or if you just go on a walk and like just forget about it, the problem will like sometimes like solve itself. Like, yeah, come to you if you step away. So I think that's like what you're saying with the writing of a book. You're not like necessarily sitting down and like forcing anything. Like you're just like allowing ideas to happen. And then when you have enough of them, you order them however it's meant to be and then you have a book. So, yeah, I love it. It's awesome. It's just—

Yeah, I find that's the most— like, if I sit down and I'm like— and I think that's where the term writer's block comes from. Like, if you don't have those ideas at the time and you're trying to force them, like you said, it's like they're not going to happen. So I just write down the crazy ideas as they happen.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, same. The right way of life.

I like it.

Yeah.

So, okay, cool. Well, listen, I think, uh, if you're down, we might want to do a longer one sometime, a longer interview.

Okay. Yeah, it sounds great. I got so much.

But, uh, yeah, this was, this was incredible. I'm sure our audience wants to know, so leave us with this: where, what's the best place to connect? Social media? And then you have a lot of stuff going on, so like, there's for different things. So hit us with like the Twitter for that.

Okay, okay. Twitter, you can get me, like I'm always on there. So I'm addicted to Twitter. So I, you know, if I see your tweet, I'll answer you. So it's Lisa N Edwards. Pretty easy to find. Looks like me, got a photo. And so you can find me there. Instagram, Lisa_N_Edwards, and you can find me there. Facebook, Lisa N Edwards. My website where you can see what I'm up to and doing is LisaNEdwards.com. And yeah, so that, that's got all the links to everything. So if you want to check out IMDb to see what I'm up to with my films and with my acting, so that's Lisa N Edwards as well. So yeah, beautiful.

Love it. Thank you for coming on, Lisa. It was fun.

Thank you, Tyler Wagner. It's been amazing.