From Fashion to Fiction: Exploring Storytelling in Crime Fiction

Michael Herst00:00:00

Hey, one more Thing before you go. Have you ever wondered what drives a person to excel in multiple fields?What if the same individual manages to balance writing, captivating novels, researching emotional intelligence, teaching and running a business?We're going to answer these questions and so many more when we have a conversation with a multi talented writer, entrepreneur and academic researcher whose background in emotional intelligence and leadership research adds layers of insight into how we face life's challenges and navigate the unexpected. And she's a brilliant writer. I'm your host, Michael Hurst. Welcome to One More Thing before you go. Rhonda Parker Taylor.She's an American writer, entrepreneur and academic researcher. As I said, she's from Noblesville, Indiana. She found her passion for writing after completing a fashion merchandising program.Her debut novel, Crossroads, released in February 2023, is a suspenseful crime thriller as a cop. I'm going to love this. It's endorsed by the best selling author J.J. hubert and Golden Globe nominated actress Mario Hemingway.Rhonda's academic pursuits included a doctoral program at the University of Phoenix where alumni Rhonda and NBC in an NBA. Let me try that again. An MBA in a bachelor's in science management from Indiana Wesleyan University.Her academic research on emotional intelligence has led her to present at the United Nations Global Compact Committee. She founded Intelligence Solutions and served in various roles including campus director and professor at National College.Welcome to the show, Rhonda.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:01:51

Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me. And I can't wait. I can't wait.I can't wait because you know, what with you having a background in NCIS and being a cop, you can probably teach me a few things that I put in my next novel. And you know, it's something that I can't, I thrive on. I am on that television watching NCIS all the time. So there you go.

Michael Herst00:02:13

You know. Yeah, I'm excited as well.I think that what a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to kind of inspire higher, educate and motivate people, entertain just a little bit and then we can both learn something.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:02:27

Exactly. And hey, who would have known we would been alumni. Hey, shout out out there to all the University of Phoenix grads.My goodness, I know there's a ton of you and I know if any of them have gone through the doctoral program you've gone to, all gone right there to campus for your, your final projects etc and learned how to do your dissertation. So welcome everybody that's out there and if you're not, hey, just come along for the ride.

Michael Herst00:02:57

Absolutely. Because there's going to be one heck of a ride. So I like to start at the beginning, if you don't mind.What was like growing up in Noblesville, Indiana?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:03:07

Well, you know, Noblesville is very much like Hallmark. You know, when I grew up there, it was only maybe one or two lights through the whole town.We had a cornfield behind us, a cow pasture across from us, and to the right we had a. A field. And to the left we had a woods. And if we wanted to meet, all the kids would run to the woods and climb trees. And it was very quiet.And I think that that was a benefit for me because it allowed me to grow with a natural setting of what life is. And it also taught me how to sustain self through gardening, the earth, etc. But at the same time, I had a desire to see the big world.So I think that's where the writing comes in.

Michael Herst00:04:08

I think that, you know, as a writer, you get to create an environment or a world where we can escape to.And I think that whether it be from a fantasy perspective, a crime thriller, be the detective, be the villain, be, you know, be anything that you want to be, you create the world for us to be able to kind of integrate into and get away from this life for just a little bit.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:04:33

Exactly, exactly. And see, I wasn't an A student when I was younger. I was just the mediocre student that would. But I.Oh, when I go back and look at pictures of me young, I always had a book in my hand. And when you look, when I look closer at them, they were the inappropriate books that for the age, probably.So I would have encyclopedias, I would have Carmen, I would have all the, you know, all these more exotic books that taught me about. About the world. And I think that, you know, through that, though, I learned the art of storytelling because I had a desire to learn more.But I didn't necessarily follow the structure of just regular academics.

Michael Herst00:05:23

And there is an art in storytelling, you know, it's not like my. Our oldest daughter. It was always a book in our oldest daughter's hand which led her to be an actor. She took that route.She loved the creative aspect of that.So she'd been an actor ever since high school, actually, and in a professional field, in a professional capacity, because she loved getting lost in the storytelling. She got lost in that wonderful world of fantasy and creating something that we can escape to like that. Like you just did.I know that you, you, you had, you hadn't always been an author because I find this really interesting. You transitioned From a fashion merchandising to writing crime thrillers. How, how did that, what motivated you to go that way?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:06:10

Well, I think for me first it was going to fashion merchandising because guess what? All the beautiful people lived in Dallas.I wanted to, you know, I had been watching the show Dallas and, and that's where the young, the beautiful and the drinking age was 18. And so I, I went to Dallas wanting to pursue fashion. And I still love fashion. It's still a passion for me.But what I learned in that program was I could be whatever I wanted to be. It was about the application of it.And so then I decided from the, from the fashion merchandising that I needed to get my business degree, my bachelor's, because that was only a two year program. And when I did that, and then I got my master's and my doctor, all of them are in business. The reason is I felt like that was where I would thrive.I came from entrepreneurs. And what I did writing wise then was I would journal a lot of my thoughts and my feelings and sometimes even ideas for books or short stories.And I realized that I also had a passion for writing, but I never thought I would make a living doing it because I. Businesses where the money is. And then I went into academics and started teaching, which I equally have a passion for.I love mentoring people, but that's because I had mentors. And so I realized that mentoring was a big part of life.You know, that for someone to step out of their own box and thrive, sometimes they need someone outside of their family that's going to help them navigate a world that's different than what they know. And it also challenges a person like myself to also evaluate and reflect on what they've been taught to figure out. Hey, what's right? What's wrong?What do I really believe in? Who am I really?

Michael Herst00:08:14

You know, that thing I see. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to not only look within ourselves, but look outside of ourselves. You put yourself in a position.Well, I have to ask you this question first because you, when you, when you write, do you. Because I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell. I'm gonna give everybody just a little secret. I love fashion. Okay. I love, I love dressing up. I love nice suits.I love a nice tailored cut. I have double breasted. I have a single breasted. I've got Italian shoes. I've got Italian suits. I've got.My shirts are, are tighter cut my dress shirts just from a male perspective. And I love fashion. So do you integrate your fashion experience into your novels?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:09:03

Oh, definitely. Each character? Each character. Well, first I start with a soap note on them.So for all your medical listeners out there, a soap note is your history of medical and the history of your family's medical.So when you go to the doctor and then you go into your portal and you see all the history in there, well, you know, a seasoned people, they didn't do that. It was all on paper, but now they keep everything. So when you get my age, in my 60s, guess what?You're going to end up looking back and you'll see everything. You broke your ankle when you were five. You, you know, you had whooping cough, you had this, you had that. So I do that for every character.Then I also do their DSM 5, which is their mental health assessment. So I know, okay, they're four out of. They're four out of five in depression. They're.This person's, you know, got all six of the anxieties and characteristics. So then I know how they're going to behave. Then I say, okay, it's time to go shopping for them.And I pick their house out and I find the house, and, you know, what, how many rooms does it have? And what is. How did they decorate it? And then I go shopping for their clothes. Clothes. This person's conservative, you know, business.This person's casual. This person's off the wall. This person's. And so I, I try to make them authentic to people's personalities. So, yes, I shop for all of them.And sometimes those little things end up in my Amazon box because, you know, I'm like, oh, well, that one might be good.

Michael Herst00:10:37

Oh.So not only do we get a thrilling criminal or crime novel now, not only do we get the, the intrigue and the suspense and the, the crime solving, we get some fashion sense, too.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:10:52

Yeah. So, like, for instance, in Crossroads, I wanted all the scenes to be real. So all the locations are locations in Indianapolis.So you got the City county building, you have the mayor's office, you have the circle, the Monument Circle, you have Holiday Park. And so I put historical flavor in it.And what people are thinking about, like, maybe they're questioning why are the pillars and, and in the park and how did they get them here? And they came from New York, believe it or not. And, you know, I put all that in there because I want people to feel like they've been to a location.Same thing. The IRT theater is in it. I know you're, you know, you. We were talking before line that your daughter is in in as an artist herself.Well, you know, the theater, I, I have a scene where it's actually in the theater and they go to dinner before at you know, Cheddar's and then they go to the theater and they're walking. So I want that flavor to be there.So it's like if we went out, out to dinner or we went out and had a conversation during this, but at the same time it's still a who done it Thriller.

Michael Herst00:12:06

Yeah, that's brilliant actually because anybody that visits there or lives there can walk around and say, oh, we know what happened here. Yeah, we know where the bodies are buried.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:12:15

We know Lafayette Square, the dead bodies dropped behind Lafayette Square Mall on the railroad tracks. Everybody knows that's the most spooky turn in the area. So you'll, if you've been there, you'll see it.

Michael Herst00:12:30

That's very cool. What inspired you to go to, to psychological thrillers? Crime novel?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:12:37

I think two things.The first one was I was doing a community service project that I was overseeing the crime and the courts to see everything was being treated equally in all the courtrooms. So I got the flavor for crime and how things were handled in the courtrooms. The problem that I found is when I was doing that is there is no winners.And so I relay that in the book, I think pretty strongly it doesn't matter whether you're the jury or the perpetrator, everybody loses once they've entered that room because you're losing your time, you're losing your energy, you're losing your, your innocence in some cases, you know, if, if, if it's especially in murder cases. So I wanted that to be part of the, the storyline. But then I realized as I was developing it that I was also exploring some what ifs.I'll give you an example. When I had a person read Crossroads, I said, you know, you need to make the first chapter of a crime novel grab you and pull you in.I'm like, well, a dead body will do that. And so then I started thinking, well, how's this person going to die for this court case? And I was like, oh, they need to be stabbed.And the reason is I had at one point in my life had someone pull a knife on me. Now obviously I'm still healthy and everything's fine, right?But it allowed me to explore in a journaling way what would have happened if it had been me.So I dumped the girl, the 15 year old girl off on the railroad tracks and tried to do it as honestly and as respectfully as I could, I didn't go into the horror such crimes. Instead, I went into the psychological part of the officers who had to respond. Having one be a senior officer and one first homicide.How do they get through that? And so I found that the crime thriller aspects let me enter people's lives to entertain them, but also make them think.So even though it's a crime novel, I also made every character loyal to something that's not best for them. So, like the main character, Paris Pennington, who's the jury foreman, is a workaholic.We have Dave, the prosecutor, is the law and order guy, completely bought in completely to the Constitution and everything else. And then we have Billy Knuckles, the co defendant who has to decide to be a rat or take a charge with his friend.And you have all these people that are loyal to the wrong things. They're at a crossroads.

Michael Herst00:15:48

That's really, I mean, the way that you piece this together is really interesting because the majority of what we see, typically when somebody's writing a crime thriller or any kind of a crime novel, they've usually been in and around law enforcement or they've, you know, they come at, come at it from that perspective or they're in a larger city in New York City or Los Angeles or Phoenix, where there's a consistent, and I don't mean to put it this way because it sounds kind of cold, a consistent body of bodies, a pool of bodies and cases that you can pull from. How did you kind of piece together this opportunity to take place in a small town like this?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:16:36

Well, I, I wanted it to be something I was familiar with. I wanted people to understand that even in great cities like Indianapolis, you know, or Noblesville or Anderson, things still happen.And that we have to be aware and you have to understand that it, that it's complex. So I added three emotions that we'll see by all the characters at some point. Anger, fury, and envy. And all of them can cause a crime.So as they're in this, in the system, and they're going through the trial, things start happening to the jury. And so now they have to figure out why. So IPD has to go out there and figure out why are things happening.And all of them are exhibiting reasons or a motive. And in Proverbs it says anger is cruel, fury is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? So the, all the.Even in the biblical times, in, you know, in Proverbs, we're warned that those three emotions will destroy us.And it's up to Us as the reader, to decide who is, off balance, who's the one that actually could be doing the, the, the new crimes and really did the first two that are on trial, were they the ones that did it? Because I, I, you know, we're not sure. You know, they're, they're there for a reason. You know, we haven't gotten a guilty or, or an innocence yet.And when you explore those emotions from the perspective of the reader, we realize that we've been angry before, we've been furious before, we've been envious before. So are we going to allow it to be a cancer in our own lives? And so I'm hoping that people reflect at that point on what they can do.

Michael Herst00:18:37

So a lot of your research on emotional intelligence and your experience with emotional intelligence probably went into the book in regard to that, because that's a nice, that's a unique approach, actually. I think most people think of, you got a good guy, you got a bad guy, you got several suspects with motive, you know, means, motive and opportunity.You put means, motive and opportunity within the book, I'm sure. And in regard to that, you tied emotional intelligence or emotional aspects to each one of those, which I think is pretty cool.What other kind of research did you do in regard to creating that? Coming from. Has there been a lot of crime, like coming out of your hometown?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:19:18

Well, now, now in Indianapolis, as it's getting bigger, there is more. We're right outside of Indianapolis, so it's kind of spread out like all cities. You know, we're all one now, even though we're different.But yeah, I did a lot of research. Believe it or not. One of the things that I did is I rode around with the police officers.I never got to go to a murder investigation, but that gave me the flavor of how officers, when things are kind of tight, you know, have kind of a banter that gets them through the situation. You know, maybe we could call it locker room talk.But it's, it's really a banter of helping each other emotionally deal with it without saying, hey, you, are you okay over there? You know, it's a, it's kind of a banter. I went to the library in Indianapolis, the central library, where all the research is, and I.You weren't allowed to check out the books, but it was on. There was a specific book. I don't even remember the name of it now. I just know. I just kept going back and, and, and reading it.And it was interviews with serial killers and what their motives and why they they say they did it. You know, we all have our own reasonings that they, we might think they do, but it gave me that idea.And then Things like listening to 911 calls to know how when people are in that situation, they sound to make them, make it more authentic.

Michael Herst00:20:56

Very cool. I mean, did a lot of in depth research. We call it Shop Talk, by the way.Yeah, it's called Shop Talk because the police car is our shop, it's our office, it's our home for, you know, eight to 12 hours a day. And you know, you, you have freedom. This is a little inside information. You have freedom to talk in the shop.You have freedom to get angry, to get mad, to cry, to anything that you want to do in the shop. It's your little protection. So we call it Shop talk.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:21:27

Yeah. And that makes a whole lot of sense. I mean, because that's what I witnessed.And what I witnessed was, you know, people not knowing really how to navigate it with each other, but navigating it with each other.

Michael Herst00:21:40

Yeah. Easy way. Easy way. Yes, very much so. And did you do it? I gotta ask you this too, because you mentioned NCIS earlier.Did you make yourself watch all the NCIS episodes?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:21:54

I've done all of them. Well, it's funny because I, I was on a podcast one time and they did pick. They did like a Jeopardy. Pick your favorite ones, you know, and we had to.And kind of like a top 10, five, you know, like basketballs. And they were doing all the different ones. It's like, I watched that one 48 hours. I've done this one, I've done that one.So I've watched them all and I'm like, okay, you're a little bit of a junkie here.

Michael Herst00:22:20

Yeah, it's. It is very addicting.And see, now my wife has gone through an FTO program, a field training program, and now we can solve crimes together sitting on the couch, going through the shows and going, no, wait a minute, that's not right. They wouldn't do that. Or yelling, do this, do this, do this. Because we watch the Rookie and we watch. I've lived vicarious since I've retired.I have to live vicariously through these c. So, yeah, what's that?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:22:49

I said, that's probably mentally more healthy to live vicariously than have to go to every scene again.

Michael Herst00:22:54

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So we live vicariously through this. And now my wife, My wife sometimes will figure it out before I do it. It's like, wait a minute, wait a minute.The Rookie's not supposed to surpass the elder yet, but yeah, we enjoy doing that every day. So that would be a really good excuse to. To research your next book. See, just watch all those.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:23:19

I got a second one coming out, it's called the Journey of Hope and it deals with the. One of the girls in the. I actually have five that I've written, but we've only released one of them. The Crossroads came out.We have Journey of Hope coming out this year at the end of the year, and it takes one of the characters from Crossroads and she is exploring life and she just kind of a dingbat, but she, you know, she doesn't see that safety is a priority and what I want people to do because my model for this is in Crossroads, I have two self help books coming out. One is Life Balance, and so if you identify with the characters, you can do it.And then the other is Resilience, because sometimes you have to know, figure out how to get up that eighth step time, you know, when you've been knocked down.So then in this one with the Journey of Hope, there'll be two more self help books that come out and one will be on victimization and how to get rid of the victimization mentality that prevents you from providing your own safety.Good example, you're in a store alone, working, and someone comes in and the training manual tells you you must greet everybody and you must go up to them and you must talk to them, but you're the only one there and you just get that inkling that something's wrong and you don't listen to that inkling and you go anyway and follow the procedures because you want to move up the cor. The ladder. What happens? Something may happen. In my case, this actually happened to me and a knife was pulled on me.So when do we listen to our voices? When do we learn that in some cases protection is more important than what we've been told is the right thing to do?

Michael Herst00:25:14

I agree with that.I think that gut instinct is always a better opportunity for you to understand your current situation and whether or not you feel that you need to take yourself out of that situation before something bad happens.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:25:28

Right, exactly. So that would be the second one. And then each of the five books follows the 1. The journeys of one of the characters in Crossroads.And we, we have one on domestic, domestic violence, we have one on substance abuse, you know, so we have different things.

Michael Herst00:25:49

Wide spectrum. Yeah, wide spectrum, because that's a lot.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:25:52

But all of them keep on coming back all the same. Police officers keep on Running into the. And what do you see when you're a police officer? A revolving door of people that you've seen before?

Michael Herst00:26:03

100%. It happens consistently all the time. And, you know, cops work a variety of jobs.You know, I worked domestic violence task force for a number of years. I worked at DUI task force for a number of years. A fugitive task force for a number of years.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:26:18

Oh, that's probably interesting.

Michael Herst00:26:19

Yeah. And a patrol, you know, patrol sergeant. And you work a variety of situations. You go into the worst of the worst. Worst.You see the worst people, and you see the best people at their worst.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:26:35

Right.

Michael Herst00:26:37

All the time.So it's kind of one of those things that I think that I appreciate the fact that you're giving a wider spectrum of what really happens and what's going on. And it's not just what you see on TV all the time. It's not all glory. It's not all. Not all guts and glory, but they're. You've already.Yeah, it's quite a bit. So you. I should have asked you this sooner. Do you have a family? Do you have kids?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:27:05

I do, I do. Well, I have. I do not have any kids now. I had an adopted son that was shot and killed. He was working at a bar. And so they had put somebody out.He was in security, and he put. And when they put them out, when they opened up the door at last call, the guy was out there with a gun and shot the security team.And that was in 2009. I come from a family of five siblings, so big family, very much what you would think from a small town country girl.And then lots of nieces and nephews and a husband happened. And, you know, life is good, but it. Like anybody, we have our ups and downs. We have our trials and stories.

Michael Herst00:27:55

I'm sorry for your loss on that. Or hopefully you got justice from that. And they were able to do.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:28:03

No, he did. No, because every. All the witnesses, except for one, was passed and they was a trial.And that's something that I learned after, you know, all of everything. They couldn't convict them.

Michael Herst00:28:22

That's too bad. That's unfortunate. That's unfortunate. As an individual that has arrested in my career, close to a couple, maybe 3,000 people in my career. I.That, yeah, I'm sorry that they. That they weren't able to get him. But, you know, there's always karma in the end.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:28:42

Yeah, it'll happen.

Michael Herst00:28:44

Yeah, there's always karma in the end. Are you still an educator?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:28:49

I do. I work in a Different capacity. I don't work in the classrooms anymore.I, I went from classrooms to administrator and then I pulled out and now I'm just a mentor or a chair for dissertations and, and capstone projects. But I do still mentor or also some of my individual consultants are looking for what field do I need to do?What do I need to do to, you know, to change and go through transitions.

Michael Herst00:29:21

So that's cool.I mean the nice way to move into a different phase of your life, a different chapter of your life because now obviously your writing is taking off where it needs to be.How do you balance writing fiction with creating what you're doing with these individuals where you're trying to help them through their educational aspects, educational and academic experiences. How do you kind of balance that?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:29:51

Well, the first thing I do and I did it too well at first and that is I say one page a day and it's done in a year. I took the stress off of me of saying you've got to write your own stuff and, and you know, only feature your own work.Because for me building others is very important. Everybody sometimes needs that helping hand up or that support to know, you know, where they need to go next.For me, I was the first female in my family to go to college, period. So not everybody has a model that they can follow. So I think that's real important. So I don't, I never wanted to get out that.So what I do is that my consulting comes first, I don't over commit and I continue to make sure one page a day of new writing of my own work is done per day. If I do that, that's 365 pages in a year. So it doesn't take 365 pages to get a whole novel out or a self help book out. It's usually more like 200.

Michael Herst00:31:03

How do you keep track?If I, if I can ask, because obviously doing one page day, do you, are you able to keep track of the plot and the characters and the integrations and everything that you need to do to carry each chapter through?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:31:19

Yeah, what I do is I really think about the story first before I put the characters even in it. So let's say for instance in Crossroads, I kind of, I knew that I wanted, you know, there to be a jury. I knew they wanted to be the trial.And so I, I have little chunks of the story of what I, and then I expand the story. So once I get the story out then I can do, you know, new pages a day on each scene.So I can say, oh, I want Dave to go to the circle and look at the monument because he's the law and order guy.Everything that has to do with history and everything that has to do with, you know, law order and building the structures in our society, he's going to reflect on where that came from. So, you know, there's a scene where he stops and he remembers his grandfather telling him the importance of law and this in the Constitution.So I can add that flavor after I get the story and say, okay, he's the. Dave's the prosecutor. This is what he's going to do. This is what's going to happen. This is what the crime is going to be. And I can.I can do it that way.

Michael Herst00:32:35

That's pretty. I mean, obviously, I'm sure that.I think it also can keep you present in your story, because doing it every day is going to keep you present within the story. You know, I remember back having to write my own research papers, and I could never put it down and then say, well, I'll finish this tomorrow.I was one of those persons that had to. I'll be up as long as it takes to get it done tonight.So that would be my fear if I was starting to write a book, because I would have to want to, like, never stop the flow.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:33:08

Yeah, but with all the knowledge that you have inside you, you have a great story in there.I know, but what I did to accomplish that, because of being an academic researcher and the fact that I was academic oriented, is I would write a scene. So you'll see that there'll be a scene. For instance, maybe Dave. And it's his perspective. He's in his office. He's. He's looking at the case.He's got the file. And then once that scene was done, you know, it's only a page or two, then I would put it away. I could go on to the next. Next scene.And so then the next scene might be Paris, and she's in her office looking out over the city. And, you know, she's, you know, a finance wizard at the Aul building, and she's getting. Getting ready to go into the boardroom.And then that one's over. And you're. Then you can pull them all together as they start meeting each other.

Michael Herst00:34:03

It's like writing a movie. Yeah, basically, kind of writing a movie. That's pretty cool, actually. That's a unique approach within itself.I've had conversations with other writers on the show that have. Some of them have written whole chapters within a Couple of days. And they stayed up and did it, you know, just straight and then put it down.And then the following week, they would write another chapter, kind of a situation. This is a. I think it's a very unique way of doing yours. I. I love. I've always wanted to be a screenwriter. And so to me, my brain thinks that way.In a scene, In a scene, in a scene. In a scene. And maybe that's because I watch too much tv, but, you know.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:34:41

Or the fact that you. That's the way you probably had to do it as an officer.

Michael Herst00:34:46

Well, that.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:34:46

Go to the scene and you see what's there. You go to your computer and you have, you know, you have to see what's there, and then you have to talk to people and see what's.So it's the scene after scene after scene after scene.

Michael Herst00:34:59

That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense, actually. I thought about it that way.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:35:03

And then you don't lose track. It's a whole new scene that works. I get senior moments that go on sometimes.

Michael Herst00:35:12

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I don't know anything about senior moments. I'll deny. I will neither confirm nor deny.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:35:21

And I'd like to say I'm a manic artist that can stay up all night. But guess what? I love my sleep, too. Too much. So I cut it off. It's over with.

Michael Herst00:35:30

Yeah, too many. I work too many long, long nights now. It's like bedtime is bedtime. This works. You've presented at the United Nations Global Compact Committee.Can you. What is that? Can you help us understand what that is?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:35:45

Sure. So that's a committee of the United Nations. They came to Case Western in Ohio.And what they were looking for was research people, ideas to help businesses that wanted to expand across the globe, be more sustainable. And in our case, what. What I. And I was still in my doctoral program at the time, and people thought I was crazy.Like, okay, you're in a doctoral program, but you're. You're getting ready to go. You submit a paper. Why? And I really wanted to do my first academic pursuit, so I did it.I got permission to use the EQI test and for research. And I tested and I had the ability to reach out because my family owns a steel manufacturing plant.Multinational leaders that were CEOs or vice presidents of various very large corporations that worked all around the world. And then I tested domestic leaders that were just CEOs or vice presidents in one country.And so what I did in doing that is I wanted to find out, does the Multinational leader have higher emotional intelligence than the domestic leader. And if they do or don't, which One of the 21 characteristics are higher?And what we found was, and the good thing about emotional intelligence is you can build those characteristics. It's how you deal with people, problem solving and people's emotions to get things done. Right.So, so what ends up happening when we do the test is the multinational leader proved our hypothesis that it was higher than the domestic leader. But then when we looked at the characteristics, there was two characteristics that the domestic leader was high every single time.And that was very unique because no one had ever approached the characteristics before. They just looked at the total EQI score and the two was self impression of self and empathy.

Michael Herst00:38:10

Oh, that's amazing.What a brilliant opportunity to have a better understanding of emotional intelligence from that perspective, especially from an international as well as domestic perspective. That's very cool, actually.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:38:25

So then what you, what we found is it kind of was like when we did the interviews, it's kind of like the big fish and the small pond. Yeah, that's the domestic leader thinks higher of themselves and had less empathy because they didn't feel like they had to. They were the big fish.And then on the multinational leader, they knew just how small they were in the world.

Michael Herst00:38:55

That in itself is another brilliant perspective because when you think about this and how people react, you look at a leader, well, what do you say? Like Macron. Even from a perspective, I can't relate to too many CEOs because I don't deal on that spectrum, I don't recognize them.But I do pay attention to people like Macron or Trudeau or we won't go any deeper.But even looking at it from there, you can see a difference in how they treat their country and how they relate to their country and how they lead the country.From that perspective, you can see whether or not they have compassion and empathy for their constituents, for their occupants, compared to even a local government, whether it be a city council person or a, a mayor, for example, or governor. I see the hierarchy. Actually, I'm going to be thinking about this for several days now looking at.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:40:03

The people that are multinational. Musk. Look at Gates, though. You know, look at how he expanded from when he was just starting out.He probably was more, less intelligent on those two spectrums as when he got more multinational. And now, you know, he's trying to do good. He's self actualized himself. He's trying, you know, trying to give back. Not everybody makes that leap.

Michael Herst00:40:37

Yes, yes, I see that that's pretty interesting. That's. You've just opened my mind up to some more exploration and research of my own, I think, think to pass this conversation. So I appreciate that.Speaking of multinational, do you do some extensive traveling?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:40:54

I do. I wish I could do it right now.

Michael Herst00:40:57

Yes. Do you incorporate that in.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:41:03

That? You can, and there's times in your life when you can't, right? Exactly, yes. One of my. Probably.I think each adventure you put yourself on, you allow yourself to open up. So sometimes I like to even travel by myself. Like, I went to Belgium by myself with the intention that I was going to go to Paris, take the.In a train and then go to, you know, Amsterdam. But Belgium was smaller, more, you know, my flavor as far as feeling comfortable and, and safe and everything. I never got out of Belgium. I was go to.I went to get off the train in Bruges and found, you know, the blood of Jesus Christ there. I, you know, would get.Get off in Antwerp and, you know, I would be looking at the diamonds and, you know, met some people there that allowed me in their, their facilities and then got to see the deal being done between an African and a Jew and sing, oh, wow. No wonder there's so much tension between them. And of course, you know, they spoke. They're the most polite people. Yeah, they.They speak whatever language everybody speaks until they're doing a business deal about diamonds. Then they switch languages on you and you don't get to know where they're going to be delivered.

Michael Herst00:42:26

Another. See, there's a crime, there's not a crime, but there's another mystery to solve. See? Mystery solve.Do you, do you incorporate any of those travels in your novels? They say you've got the one that's out and you've got several more that you're going to release.Do you like to incorporate any international travel within those? Because you mentioned earlier about there's somebody being in Paris looking out.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:42:52

Yeah, I would love to, but I haven't accomplish that the way I'd like to. I would love to write one that's strictly out. Out there.You might get flavors of the dimensions, but I think that's my own fear and vulnerability of protecting the way I say it, that I'm.That I'm being completely empathetic to different cultures and that I wouldn't accidentally, you know, do an Americanized version of something of another culture.

Michael Herst00:43:30

Yeah, I, I respect that. I appreciate that. I. I just. You. It makes you wonder. I've been.I've not been traveling internationally a lot Actually, the only place I've ever been actually internationally is London or my wife and I went to Cancun and Tulum and Chichen Itza and oh, there was two more places down in Mexico and I don't remember.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:43:55

Yes, I've been, I've been to Mexico, Greece, Belgium, England, Scotland. I went to. I followed my family roots to Scotland and saw where there was a, a castle in ruins because I'm into genealogy.So I've gotten all the way down to 1400s, except for one, one tree, which is a Polish juice. So I probably won't get very much further on that, but I'm trying.

Michael Herst00:44:22

Yeah, that's cool. We should have another conversation just about that stuff. Very cool. Yeah. My wife is Scottish. Her dad went back to Scotland and got met with some.God, let me try that again. He went back there and met some of the relatives because they go all the way back to the Robbie Cliff clan. They're Mech Robbies.But to go back to the Robbie clan who fought with. Are you kidding me? Braveheart.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:44:54

Okay, so. So Mary Queen of Scots. They, they're aligned to Mary, Mary Queen Scots. I'm a sorbet Hannah.So it's on the southern tip of Scotland and the Hannah's came to the United States. As a matter of fact, I just was reading there's a great genealogical bank of newspaper articles from this. You know, 15, 16, 1700s.You think they didn't have newspapers back then, but they did. And they used them for everything. Whether you got mail, you get it. They would post. These people have made. And then. But there was one.And I got to tell the story because it's the most hilarious thing. I'm reading and it says advertisement, Hannah. And I start reading. It says, my wife has put me in debt. I'm telling you all.She said that she's going to continue. So from this day forward, anybody doing business with her, I will not pay. And that was in 1788.

Michael Herst00:45:52

Oh, that's funny. My wife has put me in debt. That's like nothing like honesty, right? Here we go.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:46:03

And I'm not going to do it anymore. She says she's going to continue.

Michael Herst00:46:08

Yeah, she probably. My wife's going to love that one. I have to tell her that one. But yes, we should have another conversation just about that.I think that if you don't mind, we can. I love genealogy. I love going back to where we come from and our roots and where we're going and where we're headed.And we go back to England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Belgium and the whole area. So, yeah, we should do that. We should do that. What role does music play in your life is that.You know, I think that I seen some notes, you know, when I was doing some research on you, that you love music and do you incorporate that into your writing? Does that help you? I, I used to run a screenwriting conference when I first got out of law enforcement.And I had the guy that wrote A Knight's Tale and he said that he got stuck in. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger. He said he got stuck. He couldn't figure out what he was going to.He started playing Queen came on and we will, We Will Rock youk, that song, Come On. And all of a sudden he went, that's what I was missing.And he wrote a whole number of scenes with Heath Ledger being a knight and fighting in the arena under, under that song with Queen and inspired him, inspired him to do that. Do you have, you have anything that happened to you like that?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:47:45

Oh, yeah. Anything music wise? I, I, if first, I typically start writing with no music or TV or anything on because I, it gets me into what I'm doing.But if I'm, especially if I'm stuck emotionally, I'll put, I'll. If it's something that needs to be more of a down, I might put the doors on.If it's supposed, if it's a love scene, I might put some romantic, you know, faithful Leon or something. And then it does, because it puts you. Your mind, mind into that typical mode.And it was funny when you said that I was wondering what you found on, on the Internet, because I used to play the piano. I, I don't think I could play a note now. Maybe I could, but I, I took years of piano and it showed my stubbornness.My dad was mad because I didn't get state for the third year road. I got second or, you know, place or whatever. And I. So I told him I never play in front of anybody ever again. And I never did.So that shows my stubbornness too. So I. Music play brings out a lot of things in me. And one of them is, you know, it allows me to have my own identity because I.But because it allows me to focus on what I relate to, not something someone else tells me I need to relate to. I love all kinds of music. Blues, R B.

Michael Herst00:49:08

That's the only way to be. I think that music is a universal language and that it's just like when we listen to other people talk.You have English, you have French, you have German, you have Italian, you've got Portuguese, you have Spanish, you have Swiss, you've got so many more. And music is the same way. It's a universal language as well. And each one of us affects us.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:49:33

It definitely does.

Michael Herst00:49:34

Yeah. Did you self publish or did you go through a traditional publisher?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:49:38

Well, I originally had a traditional and he didn't. After two years of editing and working with him, they pulled out. So then my sister said, hey, when are you gonna do something with this?And I made every excuse in the book and she said, no, you're afraid to be vulnerable and put yourself out there again. So I started looking and I was looking at both ways, and I went with a hybrid. Mindstorm Media is the one I went with.Mindster is JJ's baby and he works with Kevin Harrington and helps, you know, kind of stretches the wings out there. And actually because of them is how I got introduced to Merrill Hemingway.They, they work with celebrities that will consider endorsing or writing the forward for various artwork.What you have to do is you have to submit not only the proposal, but your act full manuscript to them and then they decide if, if it's something that they can support. And in my case, Meryl decided to. And she released a wonderful YouTube video for anybody that wants to watch.It's called Meryl Lemingway praises Rhonda Parker Taylor's Crossroads. I swear I'm the first thousand views, so don't be surprised when you see all the views because they're, you know, there, there are a lot of them.But, you know, she has, she's a big name obviously in writing. Her grandfather's Ernest and then, and then with her being an Academy Award winning actress.But the reason she chose to, to put it in her club was because of the life balance and mental health pieces of everybody. It kind of pulled her in because she's had such a charmed life, but challenging like all of. And she.One of my favorite lines is at the end, she says, we all come to our crosswords where we have to decide which way are we gonna go. And then she said, even chocolate has an expiration date.

Michael Herst00:51:39

Yep, that's life. That's life. That was an amazing, you know, opportunity that you had there.I think that it gave you more depth than what you would have gotten, I think with a traditional publisher in the first place. I, I wholeheartedly support self publishing. I think that it's a better way to go either self publishing or like you did. You went through a.With a little help instead of a traditional publisher. I think that in growing up with a father that was a writer and he himself was working on his own novel before he passed.And, you know, you see, I understand your journey with that when you went through two years of everything that you were going through, through. So I do understand that. Real quick, before we wrap up here, and I made some notes when we were talking here. What role does storytelling.We talked about earlier about storytelling and having the opportunity within storytelling. How can storytelling play, or what role does storytelling play in fostering, like, emotional growth within ourselves?Because you created these characters in such a way that they were built on emotional intelligence. They were built with certain factors that we can all relate to. So if we're reading this novel, can we learn something from it?

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:52:56

Oh, definitely, because it's a reflection of all of us.And when we're not in balance and when we're not being true to who we're supposed to be, and when that happens, things can happen to us, and they often do happen to us.So, yes, it's definitely not only for me when I wrote it, but it's for everybody that might relate to, hey, I've been putting too much into my job and not into enough into my family, or I've been putting too much into my friends and not enough into my own building of character. And if you do find that, and that's one thing I would tell people sometimes, is, look how you're responding to things.You gotta let in, let go sometimes of the things that aren't healthy. And when we do that, we realize that being true to self does not mean that we're not a good person.And a lot of times we buy into the fact that if I'm true to myself, you know, then I'm not being true to the world, true to my God, true to my family. No, you're being better to them because you are the eye of the storm.Whatever storms around you, you're providing the energy, positive or negative, that I think.

Michael Herst00:54:17

Is an opportunity for us all. I love the word opportunity, because we each have opportunity. And you see, you come to a crossroads. You have a choice.And I think we in life have a choice. If somebody were going to look for your book and get it wherever they.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:54:31

Go to please, Barnes and Noble has most of them on their shelves or they can go on Amazon. If it's not in the Barnes and Noble store that you. That's close to you, you can ask them and they can order it.If you're in the Indiana or Illinois area where, where I, wherever I've traveled, I stop at all of the Barnes and Nobles close and I literally sign them for you so that you can have a signed copy. So all the Indiana stores I know have copies and signed copies unless they sold out.And most of the ones in the indie in the Illinois, Chicago area, they're signed also.

Michael Herst00:55:09

And you also have a website.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:55:11

Yeah, I do.Rhondaparkertaylor.com and all the links are there to buy it whether you want to go to bam, because I did forget BAM Independent, your independent store or, or off my website and I'll make sure.

Michael Herst00:55:26

All those are in the show notes as well. So you people have an easy way to access that. Rhonda said, I've been amazing. Thank you very much. It's been a great conversation.I really appreciate you helping me understand a little more emotional intelligence. Like I said, I've got a whole lot of research I'm going to start doing probably tomorrow.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:55:48

I like emotional intelligence because it means I don't have to be, be the brightest bulb in the bunch to still be successful. So it's the cheap way for everybody out there. It's the model for being successful without having that highest IQ in the room.

Michael Herst00:56:04

Well, you know, I, I appreciate it even from law enforcement perspective because you know, you, like you say, it's how you approach things and how you approach life in general, how you approach conversations or situations.You know, you really have to sit back for a moment, take a breath and really kind of analyze what's happening in any part of your life that you either struggling with your obstacles, your current situation, any arguments, anything that's taking place. You have to take a breath and really kind of think about it before you act sometimes and think about it before you take the next step.So yeah, I like it. I like it. If somebody wanted to take your path and they wanted to learn to write or to become a writer or novel, you have any words of wisdom, one.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:56:55

Page a day and it's done in a year. And find other like minded people, go to conventions, go to. So you're building your audience right there too.You know, go to writing classes, you know, there's lots of groups on like Facebook and stuff that you can join too where you can, you know, you can get, get opinions and get a good beta reader. A beta reader will read through it and give you some content ideas that hey, wait a minute, I, I lost you here.

Michael Herst00:57:21

Amazing words of wisdom. Thank you very much. Again, I appreciate, thank you. It's been a pleasure meeting you. And you know, I can't wait for your other novels to come out.You're going to have to reach back out to me when they come out so we can get those up on the air as well. And those, we can expect them. You said one by the end of this year.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:57:40

Yes.So the Life Balance, well, the next one that's coming out is Resilience, because if you're gonna go through crimes all the time, you need to be resilient. Okay. And then the life. The Life Balance book is all about life balance and it should will be the next one. So resilience is March 27.Life balance has been pushed back till probably June. And then the. The journey of hope will be the end of the year.

Michael Herst00:58:09

Sounds like a very busy year, but I'm trying. But you're contributing to the entertainment, the creativity, and the opportunity to be inspired, motivated, and educated. So I'm grateful for that.Thank you very much for being on the show. I really appreciate you, Michael.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:58:24

I really appreciate it. One More Thing. Have a great day.

Michael Herst00:58:28

You beat me to it. One More Thing before everybody, before we all leave. Thank you very much for being a part of One more thing before we Go community.Thank you for being here. Be sure to, like subscribe and to forward it on to your favorite person and have a great day. Have a great week and thank you for being here.

Rhonda Parker Taylor00:58:49

Thank you. Thank you everybody. Thanks for listening to this episode of One more thing before you go.Check out our website at before you go podcast.com you can find us as well as subscribe to the program and rate us on your favorite podcast listening platform.