Cross Roads Podcast
The Amazing Author Robi Ley
Toastmaster, published author, corporate coach, Robi Ley shares with us about her journey and passion as a writer.
Toastmaster, published author, corporate coach, Robi Ley shares with us about her journey and passion as a writer.
Cross Roads Podcast for those who want to be in the know! Good morning Cross Roads. This is your host, Steven Killfoil, bringing you the latest news and events locally and around the globe. On the show today we have a very special guest, a great friend of mine fellow Toastmaster, author, corporate motivator. Robi Ley. Welcome to the show today. Robi, would you tell our listeners about yourself and some of your amazing accomplishments?
Robi Ley:Good morning, Steven. And thank you for having me on. Oh, tell about me and my accomplishments? Hmm. How long do I have? No, basically, I am a writer and author. Yes, I'm a published author. I've got about seven, eight books. I think out there. I've kind of lost count. I have been in the workforce for about 40 years that we sort of want to admit to I never had a career I've had a series of jobs. Because all I ever wanted to do was write I've wanted to be a writer and an author since I was about 12. Things I've done over the years just was to pay the bills and raise kids and have family and all of that stuff. I have two grown children. I have grandkids. So I've been married for 35 years now to the same man. Poor guy he's had to put up with me for that long. For the last 12 years, I've been involved in Toastmasters, as you well know, you mentioned that some of the past jobs I've had, I've been a substitute teacher. I've been a juvenile detention officer. I've been a radio DJ, I've been an Executive Administrator. I've done everything in hospitality from wash dishes to cook to serve to bartending. Yeah, I've been all over the place. Because again, like I said, I never wanted a career. All I ever wanted to do was write which I did on the side and I still do. I am currently semi retired. I'm old enough to say that. And I grew myths a little bit because I hate to think about how old I am. But anyway, I'm semi retired. I am concentrating mostly on my writing these days. I did do three and a half years as a corporate trainer, went all over the country about 150 cities a year, doing training in business communication, business writing, customer service, that type of thing standing up, you know, five days a week in five different cities, giving the same seminar to five different audiences. Did that for three and a half years I thoroughly enjoyed it. Had to step aside for some other things. And that's where I am now. That's the very brief Reader's Digest version.
Steven Killfoil:Awesome. Well, I met you for the first time in Toastmasters. So tell our audience how Toastmasters contributed to your personal success.
Robi Ley:I first heard about Toastmasters. 13 years ago, I guess. Now I was in a writer's group. And one of my fellow writers she was in and her husband was involved. And she told me I needed to join Toastmasters. Because I needed to find a new audience. Many people if you're familiar with the organization at all know that its focus is leadership and public speaking many many people go into Toastmasters because they need to get over their fear of public speaking. I never had that fear. Shy is probably what my mother will tell you the only word I never learned the definition of shy I am not. I've used to do community theater. I was used to being in front of an audience. That was not my issue. She told me get in, find a new audience tell people you write books. So that's where I started. And that was my goal when I went in. And then it opened up this world that said, you know, you can do so much more. And it started with being a club officer and then moving into district leadership and some things like that, because leadership was never on my radar. I was not in a corporate position where I wanted to advance and climb the corporate ladder because again, had never did that stuff that held no interest in me. But when they started talking about it and pushing me and said but you speak so well, you'll be able to do this. People want to listen to you. And I'm like, nobody wants to listen to me, I don't have anything worth saying. This is why I make stories up. Because you know, real life is boring. And I don't have anything to say. And I learned Wait a minute, maybe I do. And getting into that is what led me into being able to take the corporate trainer position. So that three and a half years of experience came directly from another referral from a fellow Toastmaster with the company that I was with. And it led me into learning how to be better at something I was always already pretty good at. And that's using words. Words are life, they're critical. And if you don't use them correctly, if you don't grammar lesson, if you don't put your words in the right order, your message is wrong.
Steven Killfoil:Oh, yeah,
Robi Ley:The English language works the way it does for a reason. And words are impactful, they hit the listener, and they hit every listener differently. And if you're not using them correctly, and you're not making the most of it, your message gets missed, it gets misconstrued. people's feelings get hurt, because they didn't understand what you said. And they're not going to ask you to rephrase it, because Heaven forbid anybody think we didn't understand. We don't want to be called stupid, right? So anyway, it just over the 12 years with leadership, it expanded my network, it opened up some opportunities for me to learn to do things that I would never learn, because I wasn't in a corporate environment. And I didn't have that type of environment in which to grow. So I found another environment that created the same type of environment, and allowed me to grow as a leader, something I never thought I'd ever be, I'd never even considered it.
Steven Killfoil:So what is your latest challenge right now?
Robi Ley:Ah, life. Like I said, I'm semi retired, I do spend a lot of time at home in my computer. I'm an extrovert, and extreme extrovert, being in my head is dangerous, and scary. And so my challenge is learning to thrive without the extrovert need of being in the middle of people. And that is a huge challenge from 2020 was horrible for me.
Steven Killfoil:Oh, it was bad for everybody.
Robi Ley:It was bad for everybody. But while the introverts were going, Oh, yay, we get a break. And we get to stay home. The extroverts like me, we're going on clawing out of my skin here, I need people I need to breathe other people's air and they're telling me I can't get out there. There's still a little bit of that, because, you know, the world changed, everything went upside down. So my biggest challenge is learning how to thrive and reenergize without my normal energizing outlet, which is being around other people. Right? Oh, it's a huge challenge.
Steven Killfoil:And the Toastmasters meetings on Zoom. I just I, I hated them. It was just not the same was in person.
Robi Ley:And I did initially not like them. I've become used to him. Of course, we had to if we were gonna stay involved, right. I was on one few weeks ago with a club in Lubbock, because I've got a couple of friends in that club, and they invited me to come visit. So I popped in virtually to a club in Lubbock that I like because it gives opportunities to see clubs and other areas that you wouldn't normally get to see. I'm not gonna drive to LA but
Steven Killfoil:Absolutely, that's that is a, that part of it became a very good plus, yes, long term now that we're better able to meet back in person though. Oh, it's so much better.
Robi Ley:Yeah, it's
Steven Killfoil:Definitely definitely. Well, okay, as a Toastmaster, do you recommend everyone at least visit a club and consider giving the program a try?
Robi Ley:Sure, of course, visit a few times. One visit is not going to give you any type of indication of what it's like overall, it's like doing anything once you get a very, very narrow view with one visit. So visit three times, visit four different clubs three times, because while there is an overall typical structure, clubs have personalities, just like people do. And they're made up. A Club's personality is made up of the personalities that are involved in that club. Not every person is going to fit every club. Some are very structured, very rigid, very formal. That's going to drive somebody like me crazy because I thrive on chaos. Now I understand structure. I know that you need it, but don't be so rigid that you choke everybody. There are some people, though, who thrive in that type of environment, let them there are others who still follow the structure. But there's a little more fluidity involved. And some some flexibility that you might not get in some others that might be a more comfortable fit. If you're in a corporate environment and your company has one, get involved, especially if your senior management is the one who is supporting that club. You want to climb the corporate ladder. Your company has a Toastmaster club that's supported by senior management. Yeah, get in there because that's what senior management is looking for. And if you want to be seen and heard by senior management, that's where you need to be. Yes, I think you should at least try it.
Unknown:Absolutely.
Steven Killfoil:Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, how did you get involved in writing?
Robi Ley:I started reading when I was four. My sister who is a little older than I am, would come home from school, sit down and play teacher. And she taught me to read. And so I started reading very, very early. I started reading everything. My mother was a teacher. She taught history, we had a library at home. My mother also taught comparative religion. We had books of every nature that I can imagine in my home library. It was better than some school libraries out there. I had access to lots and lots of books. And I read above my age level. By the time I was in fourth grade, I had read half a dozen Louis L'Amour westerns, I had read two or three sets of Ray Bradbury science fiction short stories. I had read the typical stuff that we read at school that made me crazy, because see, Dick Ron see Jane play was like, Really, this is all you're gonna give me. And so I was reading all of these other things.
Steven Killfoil:Did you like Dr. Seuss?
Robi Ley:Oh, I love Dr. Seuss. And I loved one either. I still love Winnie the Pooh. I just, they're timeless. They're there forever. But anyway. But at the time I hit fourth fifth grade, I started realizing that the person whose name is on the front of the cover was the one who had created all of that incredible content on the inside who had made those worlds who made me laugh who made me cry, who made me see other places hear other voices, and I wanted to be that person. So around 12 or 13 Somewhere in there, I really started putting some of those things on paper. And I started writing out course this was pre computer age people. Come on. This is the 1970s Yeah, I mean, you were typing on an old typewriter typed on an actual manual typewriter. Yes, I did my mother's 30 pound Underwood black thing, you know, huge that but also pen and paper and just different things like that. And it just grew from there. I always excelled in literature. I excelled in English. I excelled in history. Don't talk to me about math. We do not do numbers. They don't exist for me. But I always excelled in this in writing essays. I had a history teacher in high school, I swear he passed because my essays were written over his head. I think he only passed him because he didn't understand what I say. Is possible and may he rest in peace. He was a wonderful man but it just he was not cut out to be a history teacher. Right there out anyway. But so that's where it started. It just it became this thing that I did, I had a brief period of about five, six years during my first marriage where I did not write at all. That's a whole nother story we're not gonna go into but it was it was a very dark, angry time. Right And as I've told people before, that was when the voices went quiet. And the voices in my head the plotlines, the storylines, the dialogue, all of those different things went away. And it was it was devastating. It was damaging. It was very nearly fatal. I got out of that. Got away from that toxic environment. met Scott got married to him and some of the darkness started to lift it took a while it got but the voices started coming back. And then I started seriously writing again. Mid 30s
Steven Killfoil:Well I remember the book? Real Leaders Wear Boots. What inspired you to write that?
Robi Ley:That came out of my involvement in Toastmasters? As you know in anybody who knows me from my Toastmasters years, I wear cowboy boots. I love my cowboy boots. And I'm mainly went back to wearing them full time when I was doing the corporate training and traveling and standing on my feet, six hours in front of a training room, and then running through airports and all of this. I am not a girly girl. I am not going to wear six inch platform heels. You can keep your stilettos. Thank you.
Steven Killfoil:So what brand boot do you recommend?
Robi Ley:I have a pair of Tony Lamas and I have a pair of Justin's my Justin's are my knock arounds. They're just normal everyday boots. My Tony llamas are my dress boots. And those are the ones that I spent a little money on. Because I was standing on them 678 hours a day, every day. And then I needed that foundation. And a good cowboy boot is a solid foundation. That book became the embodiment of how I felt about my boots. And it's on leadership. Yes, real leaders wear boots, and I broke it down into what the boots stand for. And they are your foundation, belief, ownership, overcome. Trust, serve all of these things that tie into leadership, they are your foundation. And if your foundation is weak, you don't stand long. You need to have that solid foundation in order for your leadership to stand. My boots were a solid foundation so I could stand in front of a training room. And I sort of put those things together and came up with that concept.
Steven Killfoil:That's amazing. And there's a lot of women and men in this cooridor or Cross Roads all the way up into Pilot Point that wouId agree with you a 100 percent about those cowboy boots. Oh, yeah, guaranteed. Well, you've also written I noticed some more leaning towards Irish folklore type books. I noticed that just pretty cool. Tell us a little bit about that.
Robi Ley:Well, my fiction is my heart i That's really where I thrive is making up stories. Because I have a pretty wild imagination sometimes. And I like to tell stories, I like to create characters and create different things. I've written a series that centered around a private detective named Jake Hunter. And there's three books out in that series right now. The fourth is in progress. And it's slow right now. I will I will admit it slow. But Jake is a little bit of a different pie. His clients are not human. He has water sprites, and he knows elves and he's met Gremlins and trolls and ogres and other creatures elementals and some other things that I've created. I created one. The first book is called The seventh MacGuffin, and you have to read it to understand what the MacGuffin is. And he's met the high mystic Oracle. And he has a 12 year old daughter whose name is sunshine and she is the sunshine of his heart, which makes him gives him his human soft heart. Syed went outside. He's sort of the detective noir type. He's very stoic. He's very rigid until it comes to Sunshine. Anyway, anyone do anything for his little girl? So that's in the three books, the sevens. MacGuffin is the first one. The Gammons game is the second one and he gets to meet some interesting characters. They are including dragons, and the meandering muses the third and that brings a gargoyle sort of into the picture. And yeah, you have to read it to figure out because I'm not gonna give any spoilers. The fourth one, the title is The Curious chimera, but of course, like I said, it is not finished yet and it does not have a release date. But it's coming. Cool one day.
Steven Killfoil:Well, I look forward to that. I'm gonna have to look all these up. Get caught up. Not you definitely.
Robi Ley:Can I give you a brief commercial?
Steven Killfoil:Sure.
Robi Ley:Find them on Amazon.
Steven Killfoil:On Amazon. Okay.
Robi Ley:I do wright under my initials. I don't run into my name is R W Ley. Yeah. And you'll find them in paperback. And on Kindle.
Steven Killfoil:You got it. You heard it. Amazon folks. R L Ley.
Robi Ley:R W Ley
Steven Killfoil:R W Ley will get you those books? Yeah. So what advice would you give someone who's considering writing a book?
Robi Ley:Write it. Okay. And now I'll expand a little bit. Yeah. Because people I've talked to said I want to write a book. I don't know where to start. I said, Yeah, but you've already started because you want to. My suggestion is, first of all, do a data dump. Just write it? Whatever do they call it stream of consciousness and literary if you've ever read Faulkner, you know what stream of consciousness is. It's difficult to read, but for a beginner that swear you want you want to get it all out on paper, or on your laptop, however you manipulate your content, get it out of your head so you can see it in front of your face. Next, find a good editor who will work with you to put those pieces in the right order to give the message you want it to give. This goes back to using the right words in the right order. What are you trying to convey? Well, if you're trying to convey happiness, use words that convey happiness. If you're trying to convey horror use words that convey horror, you want to find words that convey horror or read Stephen King. He's good at it. Oh, not my thing. But it's using the right words, but it's putting it in the right order. But it all goes back to what message do you want to give? What are you intending to say, with your writing? Is it telling a story with my fiction? Is it giving leadership Foundation, my leadership book? Is it giving information how to overcome something, how to accomplish something, whatever that is, if you don't know what your messages, it doesn't matter what you write because you don't know where you're going. So those are things you have to figure out. But if you can find somebody who will work with you, get it all out first, and then find somebody who will work with you to get it clarified. So that it says what you want it to say in the way that you want it said
Steven Killfoil:Definitely, definitely. Well, what are some of your current goals for your business in this writing?
Robi Ley:Currently, it I've got three manuscripts that I'm working on that I need to get finished. And so that's that's kind of the immediate, I need to get those done. You can only push the creative process so far, if your characters aren't talking to you let them rest it means they're not ready for that rest of that story. So I've got three active manuscripts I'm working on. And those are, I have one ongoing editing client, I do some freelance editing. I've been working with her for six years now. i My immediate plan. Of course, as long as she wants to continue, I will continue to work with her. I wouldn't mind picking up a couple extra editing clients. Whether it's a one time project or an ongoing project, like Maria's it's up to you just contact me and we'll talk that's I would love to pick up two or three more clients, I do not want to go back into a nine to five work job. I'm semi retired, I intend to stay that way. But the semi is what it is. I'm always looking for a new challenge. And the new challenge is working with a writer who doesn't quite know how to say what they want to say. And that's where I can actually help. I'm gonna pat myself on the back a little bit. I'm pretty good with words. And as much as many many people that I've known, hated grammar. I mean, come on, I get it. I do. But grammar works in the English language, English grammar, it does English grammar is horrendous. And I know that, but I'm also really good at it. And it works for a reason. There is a reason that structure works. And I'll give you a couple of examples that will show you when it doesn't work. Several years ago, I was driving down to Austin to go see my mom just to land down 35 commercial comes on for a dentist office. Okay, on the radio. So this is all audio. They go on and list all of their procedures will their closing line. Our doctors can do this all under sedation. Doesn't sound right does Oh no. Because that the way the sentence is structured. The doctors are sedated. I do not want a dentist working on my mouth if he's drugged up. Right. Okay. It matters how you say it. That statement is wrong. Because it gives the wrong message. The average person probably can't parse it out and tell you what's wrong with it. But their brain is telling them just like the expression on your face did said something's wrong there. And if your message is making your listener go, Hmm, you have missed it. It's that simple. If it makes your audience stop and go, what they've missed your message and you've lost them. Whether you can explain it or whether they can explain it is irrelevant. All it knows is that hit that head wrong. And you just lost them. Oh yeah, and neither one of you probably know why. But I can tell you why. Because that's something I'm good at.
Steven Killfoil:Definitely.
Robi Ley:And yeah, it, it drives my wife crazy because she's from a Latin base country. And when she got here, our grammar really jacked her up. And even though she took English language classes in school, she learned King's English. Yes. So then she come here to America. Well, I tell people, there's a really bright awakening there. I tell people, I'm trilingual. I speak Texan, I speak American English. And I speak European English, British, English, American English, British English are not the same. No, American English, Canadian English are not the same. American English, Australian English are not the same. We're divided by a common language. And any of those is my my client that I have that I've been working with for six years. She is Ukrainian native. She speaks English. She takes Russian literature in Russian, translates it to English, and then sends it to me. So I can tell her where her English syntax won't hit an American writer, or American reader rather. And because in all of those translations, things get messed up, oh, Russian syntax is not the same. The word that translated out to may not make sense to an American reading audience. And so that's what we work on. She translates all of this, she does some original work to and I edit all of that for, like I said, we've been working together for six years now. And it's amazing seeing some of these things, how they, they translate out, I look at that, and I'm going, Okay, that's a very good word. This audience is not going to understand that it's either an outdated word or it's a word we don't even have a good definition for in English and American English. So there's, it's all these different things. And yeah, English is one of the hardest languages to learn. If you haven't grown up speaking it. It's bad enough if you have. And again, you then you get into regional dialect. Okay, Texan is not the same as Georgia Southern. It's Texas, Southern. It's not Georgia Southern. It's not Alabama southern. It's certainly not New England, or Mississippi. It's not Mississippi, it's not Midwest is not California. That's a whole Yeah, we're not going there. But it's it's learning what these things mean, and understanding how to bridge that gap. I've traveled enough. I've met enough people from around the world. I have readers that are in Canada, in Ireland, in England, in Australia, in Sweden. I am truly international, I can proudly say that. And I know that there are times there are things that I have said and when I have conversations with them. They're like, I didn't understand that phrase. Okay, this is it was an idiom it was a local that somebody here would understand. But if you're not in the region, if you haven't raised been raised in that area or exposed to that, and especially if English is not your first language, you're gonna think hill of beans. What what does that mean? You're thinking a literal hill of beans, not a load of that. So it's all of these different things. And because I'm widely read, because I'm reasonably intelligent, because I talk to people who are other cultures, other languages, other whatever's it has given me a broader understanding of how to make the English language work for what it needs to be worked for.
Steven Killfoil:Excellent. Okay, well, we know how to get your books. We go to Amazon and look for you R W Ley, yes. So how else can a person get in touch with you for your other services?
Robi Ley:I have a website. It is word crafter, consultants. Yes, it's all spelled out. And it was not thinking when I created this, so it's long. But it's very simple word crafterconsultants.com. And you can find me there. I talk about my speaking in my training. And there's also a tab there that shows my books as well, that shows it's even tabbed RW lay my alter ego. So because that's where I have fun, but that's where you can find me. You can email me if I'm allowed to give that. Yes, it's just RWLey@hotmail.com.
Steven Killfoil:Okay, that's easy.
Robi Ley:That's really easy to find me any other way that you those are the best ways LinkedIn or I'm on I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook. Mike, my company word crafter has a Facebook page. I have an author page under RW Leigh also have a personal page Yeah, I don't juggle them well, but they're there. But I am on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook. Those are the most. Those are the ones I use. Right? I have a Twitter account. I very rarely never used my it put it on the end, I sort of have a tick tock account, but I don't understand tick tock, and I think it's an age and a generational thing. And I don't think I want to understand tick tock. But anyway, that's, again, I'm old. Okay. I admit it. My children are middle aged. So yeah.
Steven Killfoil:That's, that's all right. Shucks. So is there anything that I might have missed that you'd like to add?
Robi Ley:Just if you're in business, whether it's for yourself or for somebody else, and you are writing something, whether it's a memo, to your boss, to your peers, to your subordinates, if you're writing content that is intended for a specific reason. Don't try to get too cutesy. Pay attention to what you're saying before it goes out. Ford used to have a tagline that said drive further. You cannot drive further. You can only drive farther. They're different words. They mean different things. It's why I don't drive a Ford it's why I drive a GMC peloton, and yes, I'm calling these people out because they need to know they've messed up peloton who makes the exercise bikes. There was a headline on an article last year that peloton was going to open a new factory in Tennessee or Kentucky or somewhere and they were going to manufacture pedals. P e d d l e s. No, you're not. Because that means to sell. They wanted P e d a l s. If your words are wrong, if it's not the right word, if it's not spelled correctly, if it's not used correctly, your credibility just got shot. Yep. And it doesn't matter that you have a name as popular as Ford or Peloton. I'm sorry, but in my eyes, if you can't fix something that simple, and it is simple to know the difference between P e d d l e and P e d a l. If you can't figure out that much. I'm not sure I trust your engineering. Now that's me. Does everybody see that? No. Does it matter that one person sees it? Yes. Because I have a big mouth and I tell it picky. I've been told I'm persnickety. And I don't care, because I'm sorry. Words matter?
Steven Killfoil:Yeah, they do. All right. Well, folks, you heard it today from my friend, Robi Ley, I want to thank you for coming on the show. This has been really fun. And we got to do it again.
Robi Ley:Well, we don't have to do that. But I want to thank you for letting me come on in Jabber.
Steven Killfoil:Oh, you bet. Folks, for some news and announcements. The town had their meeting last week. So make sure you go and find out what was discussed. If you didn't show up. If you didn't show up shame on you. I had an excuse I was in a play. Which by the way, thank you everyone that came out and saw it. It was a huge, huge success. We're going to be putting together some music for it for a soundtrack and Justine tells me there's a possibility for a part two coming up as per your all's requesting so if you want information at the theater, go to www.pilotpointoperahouse.org to look up for show times and purchase tickets, or take a chance and show up at the door you won't be disappointed. Either way. If you have any questions or want to be on the show, please reach out to me at crossroadspodcast2023@gmail.com Or you can call me 469-230-5956. We're going to have some amazing guests on the show and businesses going to reach out and try to get the new manager for our newest steam micro brewery here. And we have a financial manager coming on the show. Lots of businesses so if you're out there and you want to be on my show, give me a call. Let's get you on the show. And the meantime, until next week. I'll see you at the top!