Welcome back to YQG In Bloom, where I highlight anything that is local in the Windsor
Essex County, Ontario area, whether it be small businesses, events, charities, special
people, authors, and my name is Tracy.
And I'm really lucky to be here today with a local author from the Windsor area, K.Gg
Micheli.
How you doing?
I'm great.
How are you?
I'm good.
Now, she's written six books so far.
Yeah.
This is insane.
And how short of a time?
So my first book was published in 2020.
So within the last four years.
You've been busy.
Four out of the six were published in 2024.
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
And you got seven coming up.
I've got number seven coming out.
Yeah.
That one's going to be a big one, I think, locally.
I'm excited and that one, what is the name of that one going to be?
So it is called Tales of Texas Road.
It is Amherstburg, Ontario.
It's basically where a bunch of locals who have had experiences at Texas Road send me
in their descriptions of what they've experienced there.
And yeah, there's quite a few stories that I've gotten so far.
I'm at, I think, 11 stories now.
Oh my goodness.
So even more than when I saw it before.
I was going to say.
I just saw her a couple of days ago and you're at like eight.
Yes.
Yeah.
So it's already been taken off from there.
I still have quite a few to work on now as well.
I don't know if you saw.
I was on the Amherstburg radio station 107.9 CKBG.
I was on their station a couple of days ago.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Yeah.
So I think that may have gained a bit of traction too and gotten some people to send me in some
submissions as well.
In case you're not from the Windsor-Essex County area.
This road is like our haunted road.
Everybody seems to have a tale of creepy or weird things that have happened to them throughout
the years.
Even what my mom was telling me, even when she was young, these stories were going along.
Unfortunately I went there and nothing happened, of course.
Right.
I do find that a lot of the more detailed stories that went on, they were from back
before they had shut the road down.
Now, I know obviously there was a lot more traffic going in and out of the area, so that
could have been a big portion of why.
But yeah, a lot of them were, they were a lot more scary.
They shut it down?
From the past before.
They did.
Yeah, so right now it's basically, it is private property.
Okay.
So you're not actually allowed to go there.
That is one thing that I keep stressing to everybody is that I am not trying to endorse
anyone trespassing or going there when they shouldn't be.
It's more just to highlight the things that have occurred there before and after they
shut it down.
Like there's a lot of stuff.
There's a graveyard there and I know there was some, like the barn that has closed down.
The barn, yeah.
And then I hear a lot that goes on around the bridge area.
That seems to be a big paranormal hotspot is right near that bridge.
There's quite a bit that happens in the cemetery.
I never personally experienced anything in the actual cemetery.
I didn't either.
Yeah.
I was just being scared and stupid going at night.
Yeah.
It definitely had a weird feeling to it, but other than that, I didn't experience any
apparitions or anything like that.
For me, everything that occurred was closer to the bridge.
I do write about that in the book as well.
Is the bridge over like a ditch or a little stream?
I think it used to be a stream.
The last time I went down there, there was no water in it.
It was all dried out.
It kind of looks more like it's a large ditch now, but I do believe that before it was probably
a stream that went through there.
That's really cool.
I mean, has there been any deaths or anything on that road?
You know, I still have a lot of digging to look into in regards to the history, but there
have been a lot of stories about cars going off of the, I want to say, like the overpass,
if that's what it was at the time.
I've heard stories of a couple of different vehicles.
And there's, I guess, a lot of hearsay about back the indigenous people and something going
on there with them.
So like I said, I do still have a lot of digging into that aspect that I'd like to look into,
and that'll probably be in the book as well, some history on it too.
That's really cool because a lot of people have heard about it, but don't know the history,
how long.
When I was telling my mom about your book, and she was saying, she's in her 70s, and
back when she was in her teens, there was stories of it back then too.
So that's pretty cool.
Even back in the 60s and late 50s.
And that's the thing too, is like there's just so many, like the reason why it intrigued
me so much is because there's so many different stories that they're all completely off the
wall and different from each other.
But then you do find certain ones where they are just right even with each other, where
someone will say, hey, I saw this and then another person didn't know that person at
all.
They're claiming they saw the exact same thing.
But then you've got the other stories like I hear a lot about like a headless horseman
and then some about a woman.
They want to see things.
Right.
Now the question is like, where did that story come from?
Right?
It must have come from somewhere.
For any of the submissions that I have, I have yet to come across someone who has actually
seen this headless horseman person.
It's more so that people are seeing like an old farmer or a horse.
There's like a ghost horse that a lot of people are seeing and then something to do
with a woman as well as just like different things like fog and like voices and things
like that.
Yeah.
On top of this book, you have six other books and you do a lot of creepy dark stories.
Yes.
Which are pretty cool.
I would say my favorite genres to write in are thrillers.
I mean, I grew up watching horror movies.
It was all about, you know, that scary.
I did have like creepy experiences ever since I was a child.
So I think partially that was what had intrigued me to write about that topic.
But it is definitely my favorite.
Any books that I've written that have to do with the paranormal or the unexplained are
my favorites for sure.
Oh yeah.
Now her first book is called Into the Nothing and she was one of the smart ones that actually
woke up from a nightmare and wrote it down.
So you were able to remember it and created a book out of it.
Right.
Yeah.
So this book here, I'm just going to show the audience there.
So this was the first book that I wrote.
It was back in 2020 that I had published this one.
It was based on a dream that I had when I was about 16.
It was a very vivid, apocalyptic dream.
So it was a little bit of time after I had the dream that I had written down what had
happened and then I later decided, hey, I want to publish this and get it into a book.
I mean, alternatively, if I would have never written that, the story wouldn't be out there.
It would still be in here.
Like how many people have crazy dreams and you just, over time, you forget it.
Exactly.
I find it's a little bit better.
Oh yeah.
That's awesome.
I mean, there's so many times where I wake up and it's like, oh my God, I had the weirdest
dream and then I don't write it down and I forget about it and it's like, well, that
would have been a really good story.
And then, you know, 10 years later, it just crosses over your mind and then, oh, I should
have wrote that down somewhere.
Yes.
Exactly.
Or have the same dream more than once.
Now I'm just looking here because you have one that is on your second one, which was
a poetry book.
With you and other poets.
It was a collaboration.
Yes.
Poems.
So that one.
So you do a little bit of everything.
Yeah.
I do have a very wide range of genres that I write.
So it's not all specific to one.
It's just that for me, the dark is my favorite.
Oh yeah.
But I do have, I like to dip into different ones and, you know, find my strong suits.
So that book, I have it here.
It's called Angels Above Us.
So this one was inspired by my son who I lost back in 2015.
So this book is dedicated to him.
It was also, so I have a Facebook page that's called Angels Above Us.
Actually, if you look it up on Facebook, there's about 55,000 followers on there.
So they all kind of go there.
They grieve together and like support each other.
For a long time, I was posting my own poetry on that group and my own quotes and things
like that that I would make up or even other poets that I would share.
And I found that that was getting a lot of traction, like people reading stuff that related
to them and it seemed to help.
So that was kind of what gave me the idea with this book was, hey, there's a lot of
people who are in pain like me at the time and just having that out there and giving
those people a chance to write about their loved ones as well.
Because I mean, at this point, I was already going to publish something.
I might as well have helped them at the same time.
So this one is coinciding with that group.
That's lovely.
It's always nice to have and also have a Facebook group where people can support each
other.
I find that helps the most and it's cathartic to write as well.
Yeah.
I feel like that definitely helped me even a lot in my grieving process was just knowing
that there's other people who feel the same way.
And you know, when you write something and they're all going, hey, I know exactly what
you're talking about.
And that honestly, it does help just to know you're not alone.
Now your third book and this one's awesome.
And it's the very first one you wrote with your son, Abel.
And it's the first in a series that we haven't had a second or a third yet.
The Adventures of Abel Soros.
Yeah, I saw a show that I'm in the book here.
So this one, my, this one was written for my son.
Um, he had come to me one day and he said, you know, hey, mom, I know that you write
books.
Can you write one with me in it?
And so we sat down together and I said, you know what?
Okay, I figured it wouldn't take me that long.
I mean, this book, I wrote it within a month.
Oh my goodness.
Within a month it was done.
It was published.
Um, so yeah, I mean, I knew it wasn't going to take too much and I could do it on the
side of my other writing that I was also working on.
So me and him sat together and he helped me pick which ones of his toys were going to be
in the story.
So basically if you haven't heard of this book, it's, it's the storyline is Abel finds
a portal underneath his bed, um, which just kind of opens up randomly at night.
Like it's not always there.
And so when he goes through to the other side, it takes him to this other world where he
meets his, his teddy bears are all alive and his toys.
And it's, he's got to save the day.
There's always some kind of, uh, like one of the toys are in peril or something is
going on where they need his help.
Uh, and then once, once he saves the day, then he comes back through.
So in each of these episodes, each of these different books, it's going to be something
like that where he goes back through and then, you know, there's something that he's got
to solve and then he comes back through the other side.
Is he excited to do more?
He is.
So he's very artistic.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, that's awesome.
It's nice to have somebody taking after you in that.
Is your daughter, does she like both of my daughters are very high into the arts.
My middle daughter, Natalie, she is, I would say she's probably one of the top artists
in her class.
Wow.
She like the things that I've seen this girl draw, like I'm about to ask her to design
my book covers.
How old is she?
So she is nine.
And your other daughter, um, my oldest, she is basically the scientist of the family.
Oh, that's cool.
So she is, she is still very good with her art.
She loves to draw, paint, all that kind of stuff, but it's more, you know, the science
experiments that you find in the sink.
That's definitely.
I used to love doing that when I was younger and you know, he tried to make potions in the
back.
I was just going to say that I used to have this stupid lid to something and you'd mix
everything you could into the lid to see what potion you're going to get.
That's definitely her.
Yeah, I'll never forget the one time that she decided to make, have you ever seen that
fake snow?
She decided to make that in the sink.
And I found, I think it was salt was the only thing to break it down.
So we had to pour like a whole jar of salt down the sink to break down this thick, weird
textured.
It was weird.
That's all I know, but I wonder what I wonder what it was.
This wasn't even that long ago.
Oh, well, at least there's always exciting at your house.
Now the next one is your, the fourth book, which is your, it's called the point of view,
break the stigma.
Yes.
So that book I actually wrote with a co-author, she's a longtime friend of mine.
Her name is Alexandra Mayu.
Me and her decided that we wanted to get together and write something mental health based.
But kind of goes hand in hand with my Angels Above Us book as well.
There's a lot of poetry and things like that in this book.
A lot of it is about our personal struggles with mental health.
For me, a lot of mine is more grief based.
She's been through completely different situations, whereas, I mean, some of her, her things kind
of still go with mine.
So together we, I think it partnered up pretty well, regardless of whether it was like, like
even though the situations were completely different, somehow they just meshed so well
together.
Oh, I think a lot of that was because we were both kind of there for each other throughout
those situations.
So each of us understanding each other, it helped that as well.
And again, very cathartic to be able to be together and to be able to write and get those
feelings out and keep them in.
And then we have the fifth book, which is I'm Still Here.
Yes.
And is that the one that won the award?
Yes it is.
So this is the book here.
It's my first full length novel.
The other ones are all mostly, I would say they're novellas.
They're a lot shorter.
And you got like chapter books and stuff.
But this one was the first full length novel.
And that was a 2024 International Impact Awards in the Mystery Thriller category in Phoenix,
Arizona.
Yes.
So I went there, it was about three weeks ago now that me and my fiance had gone down
there.
We got to attend this big conference meeting where we learned a lot of different things.
They gave me new ideas.
And then a couple hours after that we did go to a big fancy gala with dinner.
And I got to go up on stage and receive a trophy for it.
So that was pretty cool.
That is cool.
What's that book about?
So this is my psychological thriller.
So basically the main character, Claire.
She's always grown up in the city.
Her mom decides to move her and her sister out into the middle of the county.
Now on the way there they get into a pretty terrible car accident where they ran off the
road by a transport truck.
She wakes up with pretty bad injuries in the hospital.
And then from there she starts to kind of see things that aren't there or that she doesn't
know are there, I should say.
But her sister is seeing these things as well.
So it's more like apparitions and hearing voices, seeing shadows and just creepy things
going on.
And throughout the book she's kind of trying to question her sanity.
Like is it her?
Is she just going crazy or is this something that's actually happening?
I haven't told the end of that book.
It does have twist after twist after twist I would say.
Wow.
I'm going to have to read that book because I love books where I can't figure it out.
Right.
I think that one will definitely mess with your mind.
I like that.
That's cool.
Then that needs to be a movie.
Yeah.
I have, you know what?
I think that'd be cool to see one day.
Oh for sure.
And then your last one is Unspoken Series of Short Stories.
Yes.
So there is.
It's called Unspoken.
It's just called Unspoken.
Yeah.
Okay.
So this one here is my dark, what I say dark, I mean very dark romance.
There is five stories in total where in all of the stories there is a big twist at the
end where you kind of find out what's going on.
But you don't really know in the beginning.
There's from things like serial killers all the way to like paranormal or even monsters.
The only thing I do like to put a disclaimer on that one.
It is very gory.
So I wouldn't buy that one unless you have a strong stomach and you know you're okay
with that kind of description.
That's cool.
Now you've only been writing for four years.
Have these stories just been sitting inside of you for like a long time or?
I'm going to say yes for the majority of them.
Definitely Into the Nothing and I'm still here.
Those ones sat there and festered until when I decided that I was going to write them they
turned they turned out a lot better than I could have even thought.
Unspoken a couple of the stories in there are like they were ones that I kind of thought
up before but there were a couple that I came up with on the spot of writing that one.
I do want to bring up one thing while we're on the topic of that book.
So in Unspoken there was a story that I had started writing but it ended up becoming way
too long to put in there as a short story.
So it has become its own novel on its own which I am working on.
It is called Fish.
I don't want to give away too much but I just say it is a stalker romance story.
So I think it turned out very well.
That one it definitely came I just want to say it was born from that book but then it
became its own thing.
So stemmed right out of it.
Now you're going to do that after the Texas Road?
Yes that is my focus.
That one I am quite far into the book Fish.
I was actually doing pretty well on it until I had this other idea so I had to put a pause
on it.
So once this book is done which should be January of 2025 once that is done my focus
is going to be going back to Fish to finish that one.
I am looking to try to have that one out by May possibly June the latest but May is what
I am aiming for.
Now you were telling me you publish all of these yourself?
Yes so I am my own publisher I guess I would say it is self publishing.
So a lot of people do it like the old fashioned way where they will send their stories into
a publisher and then they have to wait to see if it gets accepted or what not.
Well when you do it yourself there are ways to do it.
There are different websites and things like that like I would encourage you to look into
it if there is a book that you are looking to write.
Like mine are done through a couple different companies.
They are all originally I did them through Amazon so they have like a platform that allows
you to kind of just like put your documents your artwork and all that stuff.
I mean you still do all of the work but you get to put it on there.
The problem with that now is that when you are doing it yourself the marketing part of
it is a lot harder.
From what I have heard people who do the traditional publishing way they kind of help them advertise
it or even market that book to get it out there.
When you are doing it yourself you are solely alone.
That is the hardest part.
That is the hardest part of writing a book of becoming an author or anything like that
is going to be getting your name out there and getting someone to buy your book because
that is what it is.
Like a lot of people are interested but it is hard to sell a copy.
Oh for sure.
Yeah.
Now have you done any tours yet with your books sir?
I plan to do anything like that.
I would say I am not really big enough for that yet.
Well you have the books you could I think.
One day I would love to do something like that.
I mean I have had a book signing at Storytellers Bookstore on Ottawa.
The lady who owns that place she is nothing but awesome.
I love her.
And our local bookstores are really great.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah so I have had a book signing there.
I do vendor shows so when there is like fairs and events like that I mean you could look
for me I am usually around depending on what day it is on.
I am a part of a lot of different like arts societies in the area as well.
You sell them online on your website and Amazon?
So mine are it depends on which one so I am still here and Texas Road will be available
on Barnes and Nobles website as well as Indigo Target I believe and Amazon.
They can also be ordered through me.
Now my other books the other five are only on Amazon as of right now.
Okay.
Because it is a little bit I find it a little bit more difficult to get them in all of the
different areas so when I just it depends on how you are publishing I guess to get it.
Yeah.
It is a little bit easier for me to just use the Amazon so it depends on if it is going
to be a big book right.
Oh I mean you are busy working and getting these books going.
You are like constantly writing.
Yes.
Yeah I find I get home I work a full time job I go home and then by you know six, seven
o'clock at night I am relaxing winding down just writing out something.
I am always writing something.
Wow.
I mean I am sending emails and submitting things into magazines and things like that
too.
So you are doing pretty darn good.
I have been in a few magazines just mostly online ones.
I have been in a couple that you can buy as well like hard copy.
That is cool.
It is a good pastime you just like write out a short story for something you send it in
right.
I didn't even think of that.
I forgot.
I feel like you need to do that.
Yeah I find for publicity it is good so it is not going to get like your books out there
but someone is going to read that they are going to go oh I like this story and then
they are going to read your name.
And look yeah.
Next thing you know exactly.
So I mean to me it is more of like a publicity thing but I also do I like to be involved
with them too.
I do find it is fun to be involved with certain people.
So if any of you guys have any stories from Texas Road in Amosburg Ontario you can either
send her a message on Facebook and your KG Michele on Facebook and or also author KG
Michele at Outlook.com and that way make sure you get them in soon because she is going
to be publishing that in January.
January yeah.
We are looking I don't know if it is going to be early or late January.
That depends on how quickly I get these submissions I think if I need to extend it or not.
Well it seems like they are coming in pretty quickly now.
They do seem to be yeah.
That is great.
Thankfully.
I really really do appreciate you coming here today KG.
Absolutely.
Thank you for having me.
I can't wait to read your books.
I really can't.
I just I can't wait to hear what you think.
And you guys make sure to like and subscribe to my podcast so that I can keep this free
for all of the people that I interview and again my name is Tracy Martens and this is
YQG In Bloom
You all have a great day.