1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,200 I am here with author Nicola Zacher who has written Marley's Dream Love and six other 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,240 books for children and beyond, I'm sure. 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,200 I'd love for you to tell me about your vision. 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:19,280 So my vision is for everyone to know that they have something to contribute to the world 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:26,800 and that they just need one person to believe in them and they can help make that dream 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,080 come true. 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,920 That is a beautiful vision. 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:38,360 We as a team, we're just studying a Ted talk on creating a movement. 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:44,520 In that Ted talk, he showcases this silly fun YouTube video of a guy dancing in a park. 10 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:45,520 All right. 11 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,760 And then one person finally joins in and then another person, another person. 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,780 And next thing you know, everybody is joined this guy who is, you know, would normally 13 00:00:53,780 --> 00:00:56,140 be deemed as crazy probably. 14 00:00:56,140 --> 00:01:00,680 But his confidence and consistency led to an entire movement of people joining him. 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:01,680 Yes. 16 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,120 So you got this, these books for children. 17 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:06,520 Did I label that correctly? 18 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:07,520 Are these for kids? 19 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:08,520 They are for kids. 20 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:09,520 Yes. 21 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:16,520 Marley's showing the message of love that, yeah, it's full circle because when I was 22 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:21,720 a baby, I was born with no soft spot in my skull. 23 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:27,960 And the doctors told my parents that I would be a vegetable and never go to school. 24 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:30,640 And my dad said, no, you're wrong. 25 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:31,640 She will be all right. 26 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:33,880 I will take care of her. 27 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:34,880 And they did. 28 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,120 And I remember as an adult, I said to my dad, you don't have to be so protective that. 29 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,760 And he said, no, I made you a promise and I will always keep that promise. 30 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,280 And he always believed in me and supported me. 31 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:53,560 So I'm sharing that message of love with the world. 32 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:54,560 That's amazing. 33 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,320 I'm super happy to hear that. 34 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,640 My system is going a little bit slow, so I'm not able to show the book as fast as I want. 35 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:03,640 Same as my dad. 36 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:05,920 I dedicated all the books to him. 37 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:06,920 Wow. 38 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,760 When he was diagnosed with dementia, the doctor said to me, you better start looking for a 39 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:12,960 nursing home. 40 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,960 And I said, no, he will be all right. 41 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:16,840 I will take care of him. 42 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,040 And Marlee, my puppy and I did. 43 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,760 That's fantastic. 44 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:29,320 So we now know where the vision came from and the story behind it. 45 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:30,680 I'd love to know. 46 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:35,480 Nicola, how did you get started with writing the book and the process and overcome all 47 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,120 the challenges that is involved with publishing? 48 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:45,600 Well, so when my dad was diagnosed with dementia, that's when Marlee came into our life because 49 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,360 I thought a puppy would be just what we needed. 50 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,440 And at first when I suggested the puppy, he said, no, no, no puppy. 51 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,440 And if you bring a puppy home, I'm going to put it in the garage. 52 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:01,920 But I did bring a puppy home and he instantly fell in love with Marlee. 53 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:04,360 So and the feeling was mutual. 54 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,880 Marlee fit right in our family and our home. 55 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:15,240 So I put Marlee in the Facebook contest because right from the start, we felt that Marlee 56 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:16,320 would be in the movies. 57 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,440 My dad said she's going to be in the movie someday. 58 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:24,680 She's so beautiful with those big black eyes. 59 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,000 And Marlee has been on TV. 60 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,360 We've done one show with the television station here. 61 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,120 So that's awesome. 62 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:40,200 Marlee won the contest and she won against all these American dogs. 63 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:45,360 So I called the local news station and I said Marlee won a contest against all the American 64 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:46,360 dogs. 65 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,400 And they said, we are coming to the house right now. 66 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,680 I said, oh, just give me a couple of days and I'll get ready. 67 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,340 And they said, no, we either come right now or not at all. 68 00:03:53,340 --> 00:04:00,200 So they came within the hour and they interviewed my dad and Marlee and I. 69 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:04,200 And they said, you know, that this book is going to be coming out, that Marlee won the 70 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,080 contest for an illustrator's first inspiration. 71 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,480 And then I contacted the publisher and I said, okay, when is the book coming out? 72 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,600 Because I was just on the news and they said, oh, the illustrator is having some personal 73 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,120 issues and she cannot deal with that right now. 74 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,080 And I said, oh my goodness, I just told the world that a book is coming out. 75 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:28,480 So Divya Preet was another publisher in the group. 76 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,920 And she said, I will help you publish a book if you want to publish a book. 77 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:34,920 And I said, oh, I've never wrote a book before. 78 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:36,320 And she said, that's okay. 79 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,320 I'll share your message. 80 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,680 And that's what I did. 81 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:42,780 That's fantastic. 82 00:04:42,780 --> 00:04:51,400 And how long did it take you to go from finding that publisher and getting it published? 83 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,400 A few months. 84 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,400 A few months. 85 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,840 So even though you had told the world about it and there was a little bit of a delay process 86 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:04,240 between the fulfillment, did you feel like that still helped you gain traction with the 87 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:05,240 book? 88 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,880 So how did that work out? 89 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:08,880 I'm fascinated. 90 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:14,280 Well, so we brought it out around Valentine's, which was perfect timing because we're sharing 91 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:16,840 the message of love. 92 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:21,700 And I just seem to have a lot of opportunities to share that message, right? 93 00:05:21,700 --> 00:05:25,040 Because it's something that resonates with everyone. 94 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,600 How did you create those opportunities? 95 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:34,240 I think just reaching out to people and talking to them, sharing my story, sharing Marlee, 96 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,320 you know, everybody loves a puppy. 97 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:38,920 That's true. 98 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,960 A lot of networking is a big part of it, I think. 99 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:44,600 That's a huge part of it. 100 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:51,480 You know, I've got a friend who's published a children's book as well called Alphabet 101 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:52,480 Songs. 102 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:59,720 And that has been one of the things that successful authors and people who've done what you've 103 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,480 done, like I've heard this over and over, the networking. 104 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,800 The ability to get out and talk about it. 105 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,040 And I've seen them struggle to get that off the ground. 106 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,080 It's one of the best books for teaching kids how to read. 107 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,880 And on the planet, it's amazing what it can do. 108 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:21,600 And it's hard to get them to go and talk about the book. 109 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:22,600 You're doing that. 110 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:23,680 You're not making an excuse. 111 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,300 You're finding a way to get that done. 112 00:06:26,300 --> 00:06:27,360 You called the news station. 113 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:28,920 How many news stations did you call? 114 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:30,880 Oh, pretty few. 115 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:32,880 I think they know me now. 116 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,280 I have the number and the name. 117 00:06:36,280 --> 00:06:37,280 Okay. 118 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:39,600 So that's persistence and that's patience. 119 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:40,600 Yes, definitely. 120 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:42,600 Not giving up. 121 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:43,600 Yes. 122 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,800 And just trying everything that you can think of, literally. 123 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:48,920 Like I had phoned. 124 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,400 We just finished doing a puppet show for Marley. 125 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:57,680 And I phoned the Great Big Theatre Company in Hamilton, just outside of Toronto. 126 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:02,260 And I asked them if they would consider using one of Marley's books for a puppet show. 127 00:07:02,260 --> 00:07:06,320 And they said, well, would you consider using puppets? 128 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:07,780 And I said, absolutely. 129 00:07:07,780 --> 00:07:12,720 So I just did a puppet show and that will promote Marley's books and her message. 130 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:13,720 That's amazing. 131 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,800 So you got the puppet show now. 132 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,080 Where are you going with the vision from here? 133 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:25,300 Well, there's a puppet show or a TV show called Mr. Twisty. 134 00:07:25,300 --> 00:07:27,480 And he's done phenomenally well. 135 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,200 So I'm going to share the puppet show with him. 136 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:31,200 Wow. 137 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:32,200 That'd be awesome. 138 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:33,200 Yeah. 139 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:34,200 He's in the States. 140 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:35,200 And yes. 141 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:36,200 And Marley? 142 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,560 And Marley is doing well too. 143 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,120 We're hoping to do more puppet shows. 144 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:42,600 How old is Marley now? 145 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:43,600 Marley's five. 146 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:44,600 Five years old. 147 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:45,600 Yes. 148 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:46,600 Right in the prime. 149 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:47,600 Yes, that's right. 150 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,880 And she brings love to so many people. 151 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:56,600 Yesterday we went to a visitation for a funeral and it's a sad time. 152 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,520 It's definitely a very sad time and people are mourning. 153 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:04,720 But I brought Marley along just to soften that sadness. 154 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:05,920 Thank you for being here today. 155 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,400 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 156 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:13,200 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 157 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:14,840 This is going to get more and more fun. 158 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:16,960 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 159 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,640 We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time 160 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:21,640 and attention. 161 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:26,760 I hope you have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro 162 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:54,280 back for next show.