S5 EP237 | Cyndi Brec: Where Mythology, Mystery, and History Collide

Hello My Happy People,

In this episode of Book Banter with Dianne Burckhardt, I’m talking with author Cyndi Brec, a self-described storyteller and legend sleuth whose Therans Trilogy blends mythology, mystery, archaeology, romance, and lost civilizations.

Cyndi takes us inside the world of the Therans and shares how real history and places have influenced her stories, including the historic Keister Water Mill, which she and her husband co-owned for more than 20 years. We also talk about her writing process, being a “pantser by design,” how she manages dyslexia as a writer, and why she chooses to write stories that are personal to her rather than chasing market trends.  

And somewhere along the way, Cyndi tells me something about our history that completely surprises me. Apparently, this interview actually began more than two years before we sat down to record it. 

UPDATE: In regards to recent events, a tribute was added at the end of todays podcast to honor Miss Dolly Parton.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to Miss Dolly's Imagination Library

For more behind the interview information on Cyndi Brec and this episode, read today’s blog at BurckhardtBooks.com/blog.

Cyndi's Website

Cyndi on Wordpress

Cyndi on Facebook

Cyndi on Threads

Cyndi on Instagram

Cyndi on Amazon

Transcript

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Dianne Burckhardt 0:01

You are listening to BookBanter with Diane Burkhart, your Book Talk podcast. Join me every Wednesday for real conversations with authors and publishing insiders, where you get to connect with the humans behind the books you love. Let's get on with our show today. Well, hello there, happy people. Today is August 26, 2026, and have I got another fantastic author for you today? Of course, like always. I am sharing my chat with an amazing storyteller and self-described legend sleuth who blends mythology, mystery, archaeology, romance, and history into her YA romantic. Before becoming a published author, she worked as a recreational therapy technician, and she now brings that same fascination with people, experiences, and the stories that we carry with us into her writing. She also speaks openly about writing with dyslexia, including how she has developed a writing process that works specifically for the way her mind works. Her Therens trilogy also has a fascinating connection to the real world through the historic Keyster Watermill, which she and her husband co-owned for more than twenty years, and which became an important part of the world she created. And somewhere in our conversation, she revealed something about our history, hers and mine, that completely surprised me. Apparently, this interview was more than two years in the making, and I didn't even know it. But I can tell you, this revelation is the kind of thing that makes me feel like me doing this podcast is very worthwhile. Now be sure to stick around until the very end because of course, as always, we have a few announcements for you. But for now, that is more than enough blather for me. So let's get right to today's amazing author. Please welcome to Book Banter with Diane Burkhard, storyteller and legend sleuth, Cindy Breck. Please tell everyone who you are and what you do.

Cyndi Brec 2:07

My name is Cyndi Brec, and I write mythic mystery-driven YA romantic about fractured lives, fractured worlds, and love tested by sight. One of my favorite questions is to ask, what would you do if you had the power to see tomorrow? I always like to engage that with future readers.

Dianne Burckhardt 2:27

I would not want to look. I don't want to know.

Cyndi Brec 2:31

Well, that's what I like to write about is things, the the disturbing things that like people can see in the future or hypothetically see in the future. My character Callie can see. She sees it like in fragments. So I like to, I don't know, write disturbing things. All clean, but disturbing.

Dianne Burckhardt 2:51

I like reading about people who can see into the future, but personally, I don't want to know. I would rather just deal with things as they come along.

Cyndi Brec 3:00

I guess I would agree with you on some of that. Maybe that's why I like the adventure of what my character Callie sees, my main protagonist. But yeah, so it's kind of cool to dive into her world on page and then live in my world, which it's boring.

Dianne Burckhardt 3:16

Yeah, in fantasy, you don't ever have to deal with laundry.

Cyndi Brec 3:20

No, you don't, but I have heard, and I know this is just kind of weird to say, but readers you mentioned laundry, but readers who read books and the characters never eat, they have issues with it. So so I like to make sure that my character cooks something or actually goes to the restroom. And may maybe I should put in there that Callie's done her laundry.

Dianne Burckhardt 3:43

That's really interesting because in the book that I'm working on now, I've already had them stopping at a coffee shop and getting iced coffee and getting a cookie and going over to somebody's house and having dinner together. And I never even thought about that.

Cyndi Brec 3:57

But see, I did when I've, I mean, I was an avid reader since about high school. And it would always get me that you you wouldn't find those valley moments in a book. It was like boom, boom, boom, boom. And it's like the reality wasn't there. The coffee somebody would drink, or the cookie, that that's that's the part of the realism of the plausibility that we need as readers to actually believe, okay, these people live in current times, you know, because they eat s'mores or whatever, you know.

Dianne Burckhardt 4:32 Cyndi Brec 4:35 Dianne Burckhardt 4:43 Cyndi Brec 4:45 Dianne Burckhardt 4:47

Before you became an author, you worked as a recreational therapist technician. What first drew you to that profession?

Cyndi Brec 4:56

Truthfully, I know some people think this might be weird, but some of us have a calling. And I always had a desire to help people. And I just I knew the health field was my area, but because I'm kind of like a goofball, literally, I just knew that the psychology end of things was good, but I couldn't be like one of those that was like a clinical psychologist and like re-evaluates and examines thing. I wanted to get in and be there and help in some capacity. And um, I did some internships, a job shadowed, and I knew physical therapy wasn't it, and I knew occupational therapy, but the recreational aspect, applying hobbies to people's lifestyles that have been utterly changed, whether they're they've had a CVA or their bilateral amputee or something, and making helping them make their life that much better. That that was always something important to me. The quality of life is extremely important for anybody's sanity. And I think I like to help. And I think that's probably one of the reasons and the strongest reason why I went towards being a recreational therapist technician. Being there and connecting with people has always been easy for me.

Dianne Burckhardt 6:14

I can kind of see that about your personality. While you were working as a recreational therapy technician and taking care of your family, you began writing in your spare time. My question was, when did you actually have spare time?

Cyndi Brec 6:30

Yeah, really seriously, I didn't. I had increments. And then I think that's probably where the block timing kind of came into me. Not only did I help raise my two children, and I say help, because I I'm married to the most wonderful husband, but I took on being there for his parents, who were much older when they had him. And then, in addition to that, helping my grandparents. So I had four people that needed meals made and stuff like that. And of course, I belong to a family of five siblings, so we're all stepping up to do something. But I learned how to block time. And in that block time, it's like I knew if I made sure my father-in-law was laying down and taking his nap, and my kids were at school, I had from nine to eleven to write. And once you kind of have trained your brain to like, okay, this is the chair, this is the only spot you write, your brain kind of just takes over, especially the more often you do it, sitting in a chair and getting behind the desk. I will be honest, it wasn't always that I could do it back then. Now I have more of a schedule, but unfortunately, I don't have my father-in-law either. So there's a trade-off. I have more time, but I like I said, if I don't have him around to take care of right now, or my in-laws. But it's always been important to me to make sure that writing was important. And now I have more time for it, but I always want to make sure my sanity is okay as well as my children and my husband. But block timing. I'm a strong advocate, intentional block timing.

Dianne Burckhardt 8:10

We know, and you mentioned something that we've been talking about a lot this season about just mental health and self-care, that so many authors do start out their careers while they're doing a full-time job and taking care of their family and trying to have quality time with that family and still finding time to build their writing career. It's like having three jobs that you're trying to juggle. And a lot of times you're the one who suffers the most in that because you keep pouring out into all of these different cups and eventually you just crash.

Cyndi Brec 8:45

Mm-hmm. Well, and I okay, and I was just telling you about this, but all of a sudden, here just like the beginning of June, I finished a huge big Ohio book con and I started not feeling right. Well, it went into vertigo, and then I ended up with vestibular damage issues. And so up until yesterday, the world would spin, you know, and I have to do something called focus eye recalibration so that my brain is connecting to my pupils, and my brain are connecting to recalibrate the vision that I'm seeing, because being in lows, being anything like that, the vestibular issue is hugely difficult. So now when I write, I have to time it to where I'm only writing like in definitely block times. And then it's like an hour on, an hour off, an hour on, an hour off. But truthfully, we come back to that subject. Sanity, your personal health is so much more important in getting vitamin D, being outside, not being just strictly behind the desk. And I know there's some of these authors and I admire them. They're prolific writers. I I could get 700 to 1500 words in a shot in a day, not a problem. But I have to make sure that I'm balancing that out with other things. They just like, okay, every six months I've got a new book out. That's not me for sanity. I just plus not only that, I like to go to the historical sites that I write about. So, but yeah, sanity is extremely important.

Dianne Burckhardt 10:20

And I think that's one thing that a lot of people need to prioritize in their schedules is moments of self-care. I agree. Totally agree. Looking back on everything, can you think of a defining moment where you decided, okay, I'm going to publish my first book?

Cyndi Brec 10:42

Yes. I've never like really had like a strong belief in myself. I started writing as a hobby, but I took it more serious when I met this guy at a virtual conference. And I asked him this silly question. His name is Jonas Al. Well, it sparked enough that he ended up later on. I said, Hey, could you look at this for me? And he looked at my manuscript and we built this four-year friendship going back and forth. And long story made short, he said, Hey, I'd like to represent you. He started his company, I'd like to represent you. And when he took that time, that was kind of like, wow, maybe there is something with this story world that I've crafted. And I had other people say, Oh, it's cool, it's great. But mom's always pat me on the back, you know, and your writing friends, there you you couldn't do it without your writing friends, your critique group, but it's somebody outside the group. And I think that for me was the moment that it was like, okay. It was a huge defining moment. Yeah. That was like a few quite a few years ago.

Dianne Burckhardt 11:51

But yeah. Now I notice that you tend to refer to yourself more as a storyteller rather than an author. How do you define the difference between those two?

Cyndi Brec 12:02

I don't know how. I think they're, I think they they mesh together. I don't think they're like separate. I think of storytelling as though something, you know, like bards, their stories told told over time, like Scottish things. And I refer to myself as a legend sleuth also, because I like to go in and dissect mythology and and stuff like this, and then and then tweak it, twist it to cultivate my world. And so I think storytelling is I like to take pieces and facets of different stories and tell them in a world of my own. Whereas an author is is a title. I think storyteller is a craft.

Dianne Burckhardt 12:45

I like that difference that you have.

Cyndi Brec 12:48

Yeah, well, I guess that's the best way I could put it. Because I write romanticy, fantasy romance. I write no sex, but I write high-stakes, dangerous, and hidden history. But at the same time, I like that national treasure vibe of a story, or oh, Indiana Jones. Love Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider. Those are the stuff that I'm attracted to, the mummy. So I've got to have that aspect of all these different stories about these different artifacts, or these stories about these different components, and then tie them into my world, my writing. I actually just put out a post today asking if people would be interested in hearing more about Troy or like the Minotaur because of the project I'm working on. It's just, I'm all about the romance because I think romance has to be in every story I read or write, because there's more high stakes involved. But at the same time, it's the story around it that is intriguing for my character Callie and Tristan to go through and explore.

Dianne Burckhardt 13:59

Personally, I've always been really fascinated with Minotaur. I love reading about that.

Cyndi Brec 14:06

I'm trying to figure out how to do that because they're a legend. And I and I deal with the Therans is a dual world trilogy. So there's two lost civilizations that interconnect with Greek mythology. So I'm trying to think, how do you get Atlantis is here, Therans are here, and they're stewards of history, humans are here. How do you throw in a mentotaur in this whole Greek thing with led with this? Because that's a legend. And I'm like, I don't know how that's done, but I'll tell you, people that engage with me, and I'm I'm new at the storytelling world, but they give some of the best insight or the best direction when you're at a detour. And I've kind of like learned to put things out there to get their involvement. So I don't know, we'll see where it goes and what the response is.

Dianne Burckhardt 14:55

I'm still working on that engagement. A lot of people like the post, but it's so hard to get people to actually comment.

Cyndi Brec 15:01

I don't get a lot of comments on my page, I get more comments on other pages, like especially Facebook. So, like if I take my comment, put it on my page, and then I share it at one of the other platforms that like to share it on. I had 71 comments one time and I was like, you know, that's great. But yeah, it it is very hard for that engagement. It truly, truly is.

Dianne Burckhardt 15:25

I know that you talk openly about being dyslexic. How has dyslexia affected your writing and editing process?

Cyndi Brec 15:34

Well, I'm glad I have it because I don't know what life would be without it. It was a huge learning curve, but how it has affected my writing is that I don't see it as an issue anymore. I used to, seriously, I did. How it affects my writing is I don't write when I'm tired. I don't write when I'm stressed out. And if I start to like get tunnel visioned and I notice that my words are like getting transposed or numbers, I I just I shut down. I leave a note, last sentence, where I mentally thought I was going to steer the story forward, or I make a sticky note and write it and put it on my three act structure board, but then I just stop. So it's affected me in that aspect because some people could just push through it. I will get a headache or I will, and I don't experience headaches a lot now because I know how to manage it, but I will just shut down. Now, on the opposite side, and I've had to do studies to understand this, and I still don't understand it. But when I sit down at a computer, I don't know if what is called spatial, visual spatial understanding, but dyslexic people, there's lots of them, could almost like watch a movie play in their head. I'm sure other people can too, but it's like that's when I get real frustrated because I watch this movie reel going in my head, and then I'm typing, and then I get this little character, his name is Guinness, he's a mythical creature, but he does antics to throw Callie, my main protagonist, off. And then, and I'm visually watching it and I'm writing it and typing it in at the same time, and then I know if I've done it too long, then I mess up and stuff with the letters, then I have to stop. But truthfully, I would actually say that there's more blessings to having dyslexia as long as you can manage it. Because there's different forms of it, and each person has to learn how to manage it. The more you see your disability as not a disability, and you learn to work with it and cope with it and not let it hinder you and better at whatever you're trying to achieve. Because I think we label ourselves, and I think it's I think it's okay to say I'm dyslexic, but not to allow that to be the label that stops me. That's where I'm at that.

Dianne Burckhardt 18:04

Well, and the thing that I love bringing this up with people is because I have a friend who is an author, he's actually an award-winning author, and he has five different kinds of dyslexia. And he absolutely does not let it stop him from writing his books. And I always want to make sure that people hear this because there may be somebody out there. It's like, oh, I've got this, or you know, I'm ADHD, or I'm something, a label that somebody has given them. So I can't do this. It's like, no, you absolutely can't. You have to find your way to do it. It's not that you can't do it, it's just you probably can't do it the way that the person next to you does it. You have to find your way to do it.

Cyndi Brec 18:49

Yeah, exactly. So this is a red timer that I use. I set the timer for 45 minutes, and then I just automatically take deep breaths, take a sip of my French vanilla iced coffee, and I start writing. And it might take me five minutes to get into the groove, but by the time the 45 minutes have gone, I've gotten something solid. Now, mind you, it doesn't have to be a thousand words. If I just write 250 words a day, I'm gonna be finishing a 365-page novel in a year. Now, what usually holds me up thinking about this is that I'm always writing history or historical sites. So I actually like to go to those historical sites and try to keep as true to it as I can. So the research does hold me back a little bit. Sometimes there's more research in a setting or a scene or something than what people realize or what readers realize. They finish a book like devour it like in a day. Whereas some of us have written those for like a year, yeah, you know, or longer.

Dianne Burckhardt 19:52

That seems to be a common thread for a lot of historical fiction authors. We love research. And it's so easy to fall into rabbit holes when you start doing that.

Cyndi Brec 20:04

But I love it. I think it makes your story richer when there's some aspect of truth to it, or the setting, or the castle, or the the legend. I mean, I just I don't know. Or the war that was fought around that time, you know? Yeah, I agree. But you've gotta have romance.

Dianne Burckhardt 20:23

I'm just sorry, I shouldn't have said that, but well, no, that's one of the things that makes the world move. For listeners who may not be familiar with it, can you explain what mind mapping is?

Cyndi Brec 20:37

I have a board that says act one, act two, act three, and I have sticky notes. So I like to say James Scott Bell approach to my writing. I take those sticky notes and use them as like a map of where my story direction is gonna go. But mind mapping for me, and it's different for everybody because I've people are like, well, how do you call why do you call that mind mapping? But mind mapping for me is when I know where things are gonna go there. I know what direction I'm going in, and I'm mapping it out also mentally because I'm hearing what my main character is saying. So I'm mapping it out as I go, already still knowing what's on my act board structure. But that's the best way that I could explain it.

Dianne Burckhardt 21:22

Have you ever tried using any of the programs like plotter that are set up to do that on your computer?

Cyndi Brec 21:30

No. I have a friend, he writes historical fiction. And I sat with him one day, 10 hours, no joke. And he had a hundred pages. He had the premise for every sentence, and he had everything plotted out. Fantastic. And I mean, he knows history, but then I got bored, not bored with his story, but bored with the fact that I would know where the ending was as the writer.

Dianne Burckhardt 21:59

Yeah.

Cyndi Brec 22:00

So I'm not a pantser. I'm not a plotter. I pants by design. I like to plot things out enough that I can move those little sticky notes from act one to act three because I know that sticky note, what's on there, that scene will move my story forward, but it might not have been necessary in that act one scene as much as act two. I mean, you'd be amazed how big my board is and how how it looks. But that's just genuinely how I do it.

Dianne Burckhardt 22:29

The one thing that I think is just so fascinating is there are so many different ways to put your story together as there are authors. Everybody does something a little bit different and unique that's just personal to them.

Cyndi Brec 22:42

And writing stories that are personal to you versus writing stories that are what's going to sell. And that's what I love about putting history in books and romance and stuff like that. But there is just so many fantastic authors out there that are indie authors that I wish people could see more. I mean, I lately I've gotten to the point I'm picking up some indie author books that are just blow your freaking mind away with how well they are written. I mean, edited, polished, no plot holes or anything. And yet they're not getting the recognition that I think they deserve. And I love that originality, but I I can't praise the indie author world enough.

Dianne Burckhardt 23:38

Oh, yeah. And I'm trying. Oh, I know you're trying.

Cyndi Brec 23:42

You're helping out a lot. You definitely are. Most definitely. Like I said, I waited over two and a half years to have an opportunity to sit here in this chair to be interviewed by you. I mean, that was like, I remember, like I said, I was talking when I was with Jonas when I was signed with him. I remember talking to him when he was like, Cindy, well, what would be one of your biggest goals? What would you, you know, dreams? And this is this is it. So to me, that I don't have the vertigo symptoms seriously right now, and I'm here, that's like a dream, but still seriously. Again, those indie authors are fantastic.

Dianne Burckhardt 24:20

I'm curious. So, was there a reason why it was two years before you got in? Was I just not picking you up?

Cyndi Brec 24:27

No, no, no, no, no. I learned that I needed to go back because someone very important in the industry said, make a media kit. And they kindly gave me an email and said, Hey, do this and here's some examples. And I went back and did that. I made sure that it was up on my website. I made sure that I had an all-around better presentation. And then I took the time to wait to put my books out there and then come back. So, yes, thank you, by the way, Diane.

Dianne Burckhardt 25:03

I'm so glad you came back too.

Cyndi Brec 25:06

So am I. I think it's better now that I got to come back after I have two books out.

Dianne Burckhardt 25:11

Well, and that's always good because then people can really delve into the first two books because this is a trilogy, right? Correct. Yeah. So they can get invested in the characters before that last one comes out and they'll be ready to go for that last book. So this is perfect timing.

Cyndi Brec 25:27

Oh, yeah.

Dianne Burckhardt 25:28

I think there, I think it is too. Now is the perfect time for you to go ahead and give us the synopsis for the Theron's Secrets Beneath Scars is book one.

Cyndi Brec 25:38

Yes, yes. My character Callie, she can see the future. She seeks to understand the origins of her powers. Instead, she stumbles across the conspiracy soaked in archaeological mystery. And that's when the romance begins. The Therans are stewards of history. Book one, you're discovering who she is, why she has powers. Book two, you're being thrown into the Theorem world and why they are stewards of history. And book three leads you to the connecting mythical lost civilization that basically structured the Theorem's world. And so, and the Theorems don't even know about it. So it is a dual-world trilogy because you'll see two lost civilizations within the same series.

Dianne Burckhardt 26:25

Are you going to just keep this as a trilogy, or is there a possibility that it may progress further?

Cyndi Brec 26:32

Well, that's the interesting thing. Originally, I was doing this as a challenge, you know, writing, learned write and stuff, and I was going to stop at the trilogy, but I actually already started a duology for her college years. Because if a character has the power of sight, she has other gifts, innate gifts, not magical gifts. My characters don't, I don't deal with magic, but these Therans have these powers. How could you use them to better our current world? Whether you get into politics or whether you become a police officer, how do these skills, these powers, help the contemporary world that we live in now? And yet, I what I love so much and what I like to write a lot about is a world, a lost world hidden in a current world. So kind of along the lines of Twilight, you got the vampires hidden in the current world or beautiful creatures, you have that lost world that nobody knows about, but it's in plain sight. I like the mystery of that. But I like to also write about other things that support that mystery.

Dianne Burckhardt 27:47

I know the Kister watermill played an important role in inspiring the series. Can you tell us how that historic location came to be part of the Therons?

Cyndi Brec 27:57

And my husband and I, we used to co-own the Keister watermill for a little over 20 years. And we actually still take care of it right now, basically, groundskeepers, but we sold it to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. But how all that came about is I was standing in the mill one day, and I was it had actually already written a lot of the theorems, but it's like I didn't have it anchored to anything. And yet I thought, well, what about where she lives? What about capturing it in a real town? What about setting it in the mill? I went back and rewrote all of that using the same dialogue, using a lot of the same stuff, but anchored that story in what I knew, which was the building that we owned. Think about it. That mill was built in 1816. There were Indians here. We didn't have automobiles back in 1816. We were still plows, all that kind of stuff, you know. And in a three-mile radius in the 1880s, there were eight water mills sharing this same water right here on our property. I mean, we've got an underground waterfall. I mean, I'm surrounded on four sides of water. We are lucky that we get reception. But that's another story. But the important thing is that story, anchoring it into something real, was the catapult to making my book so unique in the series because of my love for national treasure, my love for the movie Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider and stuff. I was like, I can make up all these fascinating little fantasy things about an 18, 16-year-old Mill, how it ties into the Theorans who are stewards of history, and how that catapults into lost civilizations that should not exist, and all this kind of stuff. So it was really a good launching pad for me to use, and I knew it well. So that's kind of where that came about. And since then, all my books are anchored in a legend, myths, Greek mythology, whether kind of a Medusa thing, or historical landmarks from castles to catacombs, everything.

Dianne Burckhardt 30:13

See, and I love that. Those are the kind of stories that I usually like to read.

Cyndi Brec 30:17

I love it too.

Dianne Burckhardt 30:18

This seems like the perfect time to do our five quick questions that never turn out to be quick, but I'm just a really nosy person and I refuse to stop doing it.

Cyndi Brec 30:27

Are you ready? I like this. Oh, I'm ready. I've seen you ask the other people.

Dianne Burckhardt 30:32

Well, and I think we already know the the answer to the first one. So I know you love coffee. What is your favorite way to have it? Iced. Is it any kind of iced or is it does it have to be vanilla iced?

Cyndi Brec 30:44

I'm a vanilla girl. I like iced beverages. I drink iced even in the winter.

Dianne Burckhardt 30:49

Oh, yeah, me too. Drives my husband crazy. He doesn't understand it. Question two What is your favorite thing about being the co-host of P English Literature?

Cyndi Brec 31:02

Lifting other authors up. Seriously. One, I like to meet other people. But when we write our own books, we could talk about our own books, but when you take the time to actively listen to how other authors have written, they've taken the time. And then you could help them gain traction. I mean, I'm not doing anything but sitting there. Peter really does all the work. But we have found that the chemistry of three of us there, and especially, I know this is going to sound really weird. Peter's 28. I've never met him. I knew him when he was in Nigeria and then he moved to England. But the chemistry that we have, because I'm an older person and the way things are done, it just works well. And I think authors really like the goofyism made-up word, but that we have. And I think it's important to give back. I'm very strong on that. And I think that is my way that I could give back by helping other people's voices be heard. And I do it free. Not Peter, but hey, I know the work that like you, Diane, have to put in behind editing and doing stuff like that for authors. I mean, I don't, I think Peter might have like three hours behind every between the interview and the edits and all that kind of stuff. I mean, there's a lot of time. There's a lot of time involved. The work that you guys do is paramount to authors. You guys are a major influence, us getting our voice out there. So for me, it's just giving back.

Dianne Burckhardt 32:39

Well, and I know for just me, between doing the interview and doing all of the publicity that I do, creating reels and promos, then also putting the authors into the magazine. It's easy, like two full, maybe three full days of work every week that's just podcast stuff.

Cyndi Brec 32:58

Yep. I could easily believe that. I seriously can.

Dianne Burckhardt 33:02

But it's also really good for me because I have got some of the best tips about how to forward my own career from talking to other authors. They'll be sitting there telling me, Oh, yes, I do this. I'm like, oh, good idea. I need to write that down. Like, I'm gonna do that too.

Cyndi Brec 33:17

I do the same thing. I listen to what they have to say. I got introduced to a guy that I've been following just because somebody else mentioned him. And I'm like, and this author gives away these free tips because he doesn't want to charge or anything like that. But it's like, what the heck? Yeah, you know, I'm all about creating a community in my Facebook page and that kind of stuff. And share the storytelling journey. But that's what I'm about.

Dianne Burckhardt 33:43

Tell you, there was an author that I interviewed, I think back in season two, her name is Val Collins. She's an Irish author of Thrillers, Mysteries, and she told me just this little tip about SEO that every social media thing that you have, your website, your Facebook, your Instagram, whatever, have it the same thing. If your Facebook.com /Burckhardt Books be Instagram.com / Burckhardt Books, have your website be BurkhartBooks.com. And at the time, I had things like Dianne Burckhardt author, I had author Dianne Burckhardt, I had Burckhardt Books. I mean, everything that I had was different. And I went through and changed everything to Burckhardt Books. And the next day, and I'm not even kidding about this, the next day, my engagement shot up 600% on just one platform.

Cyndi Brec 34:33

That is fantastic.

Dianne Burckhardt 34:35

Yeah. So I'm always telling people listen to what other authors have to say. You can get the best advice from people who have gone before you. Yeah, it truly does. Yes. Absolutely. Where am I now? Question three.

Cyndi Brec 35:05

Yes, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Dianne Burckhardt 35:06

But it's good. This is why it's never quick questions. You have shared on your website that you have helped raise several energetic dogs. Do you currently have any?

Cyndi Brec 35:16

Yes. First and foremost, Rosie is one. She's a Frankenstein. From the ears back, she's a blue healer. And from the ears forward, she's something we don't know. But technically, she's my son's dog. But my son leaves her with us through the week and he gets her on the weekends because he works ungodly hours. Then our other dog is Mayer. Mayor is my daughter's dog, but she's with me a lot too, just because of the mere fact that these three dogs like to be together. So I get them during the daytime. Grandma does. But Tesla is my dog. And if you read my book series, Tesla's in my books. Oh, cool. And he's an 80-pound labberdoodle, black labrodoodle. And I think I have it on my page, a little picture of him when I got him when he was little. And he is a big love. Other than right now, he's not feeling too well.

Dianne Burckhardt 36:07

Oh.

Cyndi Brec 36:07

He got into something. So his tummy's upset.

Dianne Burckhardt 36:11

I understand that my dog is allergic to beef, pork, and grass. Can you imagine? Oh poor dog. We have to be so careful with him.

Cyndi Brec 36:20

But they use grass to calm their stomachs down.

Dianne Burckhardt 36:24

Exactly. And that does not work for him. It's horrible.

Cyndi Brec 36:27

No. Rice works well to calm the dog's stomach down.

Dianne Burckhardt 36:31

Yeah, luckily he loves rice. Now, question four.

Cyndi Brec 36:35

Yes.

Dianne Burckhardt 36:36

Can you tell our listeners what the Kister Windmill Indie Author and Artisan Festival is?

Cyndi Brec 36:43

Well, you definitely went deep diving, didn't you? Oh, wow. I like to see. Okay, well, no, that's that's good. I'm glad that you got that. Okay, so a bunch of us authors got together. And like I said, we don't own the mill anymore, but a bunch of us authors got together and we were like, hey, you know, we want to give voice to other people. And so I went to the current owners of the Keister water mill and I said, Hey, can we do this? And the vice president, Andy, he took it forward and he came back and he says, yes. So now, eight months later, we have 40 vendors that are ranging between indie authors and artisans. So we have artisans that make pens and stuff. We have people that make jewelry, like they make book earrings and use polymer clay and that kind of stuff. But the indie author artisan festival is a festival to give voice to the artisans of the world, in essence. And this is our first year doing it at this type of event. My husband and I did events in the past, and we had just shy of like 5,000 people.

Dianne Burckhardt 37:54

Oh, wow.

Cyndi Brec 37:54

And then we had a harvest fest that we did with our church, and we only had like three weeks' notice, and we had just shy of 2,000 people.

Dianne Burckhardt 38:02

That's amazing.

Cyndi Brec 38:03

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But my daughter's the main runner, and I'm the second, but this wouldn't be going on if it wasn't for these other four authors that have really stepped up to the plate and we're all moving forward. So much so that we had a meeting with somebody else that has a prestigious book event. They're like, hey, we're gonna help you. So they're helping to take our pamphlets and chair around. And I just think it's really cool that this Western Reserve Land Conservancy, they're actually even giving tours of this four-story building that's over 4,500 square foot. They're giving tours. That's amazing. And I I know my husband, he's giving the tours, but they're pre-sale tickets. But yeah, the sad thing is my husband won't be able to tell anybody, well, this is where my wife came up with that mythical creature in the story world of the Therons. No, but anyhow, but he could tell all the stuff like how he built the water wheel and stuff. But in essence, the indie author artisan festival is to give a voice to indie authors and artisans out there in the world.

Dianne Burckhardt 39:11

And people can find information about how to attend this festival because it's happening in September, right? Yep, September 26th and 27th. Yep. So people can find information about how to attend on your website, which will be in the description of today's podcast.

Cyndi Brec 39:27

Yes, yep. And I have a link on the Keister watermill events page on Facebook. If they type that in, they should get it, or the old mill. I think it's the old mill now that I think about it. Um, there's a link there that they could get information. But yeah.

Dianne Burckhardt 39:42

Very cool. That sounds like fun.

Cyndi Brec 39:44

I will put it down on my website here. The 1st of August, it will be on my website at the bottom about the event.

Dianne Burckhardt 39:51

Oh, nice. That'll be very easy for people to find.

Cyndi Brec 39:53

Oh, yes, yes.

Dianne Burckhardt 39:55

So now your last question. We're asking everyone the same question this season so that we can put together a database to put in our year-in book buying guide of BookBanter magazine. And your question is what is the best book to movie adaptation that you have seen to date? And that can be big screen or small.

Cyndi Brec 40:13

I'm a book lover. I very rarely, oh boy. Last question, I get stomped. Seriously. Narnia.

Dianne Burckhardt 40:27

That's a good one. And I don't think anybody's even said that one yet this season. I've been really surprised. You know, I expected to get a lot of Harry Potter and Twilight. You know, I expected to get a lot of those, and I haven't. I think you've had like maybe two people mention those. People are coming up with some great mentions this year, like the Odyssey and the Hours. Mine was The Outsiders.

Cyndi Brec 40:53

Okay, I give you that one. I I want to see The Odyssey, and I but I haven't even read the book yet or anything. So I couldn't give that answer. But Narnia. And I know that's old, but the reason why I wouldn't say Twilight, and I'm not trying to dish on anybody, is because I thought the book was a lot better than the movies.

Dianne Burckhardt 41:12

And that I think a lot of people have said that that they didn't think that it was true enough to the book to really be considered one of the best adaptations they'd seen.

Cyndi Brec 41:22

Yeah, yeah. I mean, so much so that I actually even have a signed autograph of Stephanie Meyer.

Dianne Burckhardt 41:28

Nice.

unknown 41:28

Okay.

Dianne Burckhardt 41:30

So now what is next for you? Do you have any big plans for meet and greets or going to conventions?

Cyndi Brec 41:38

I actually had to cancel three conventions or events because of this vertigo. But I am actually headed to the AuthorCon in August, first of September. I have the Mid Ohio Book Festival in two weeks. I have Star's Hollow in three weeks. I had actually like nine events in six weeks. I really on weekends, I do a lot of the directs meeting people because I think that's the best way to meet your future readers, is for them to get to know you. So I'm that's where I kind of like meet a lot of my people. Because I don't think personally, me, we talked about engagement before. It just doesn't. And people they want to be entertained in two seconds, three seconds. I that's not my forte.

Dianne Burckhardt 42:36

Yeah.

Cyndi Brec 42:36

But when I just talk to somebody, it's like, wow, I did 34 events last year. This year I cut it back. This year I cut it back to where I was doing 24, 23.

Dianne Burckhardt 42:50

I think it's funny that that's cutting it back.

Cyndi Brec 42:53

But we're in Ohio, I know you're from Kansas, but in Ohio, we have lots of events. And there's a lot of indie bookstores that will say, hey, come. And for that festival that our group is leading, we actually partnered Western Reserve Land Conservancy with them, but we also partnered with Midnight Readers. It's a small bookstore in Apple Creek. Oh my flipping gosh. I mean, best one of the best things we ever did. These indie bookstores are fantastic for getting authors out there, but the work that they're doing, the people that they could reach that we probably couldn't, unbelievable. Unbelievable. And the interesting thing is people don't read the newspaper anymore. They scroll through social media. Or if they're driving by, believe it or not, I've heard this, if they're driving by a yard sign that has a QR code, they will take that information quicker than they will what's out of a newspaper. Now, magazines, people like magazines. I don't understand the difference. Yeah, I don't get it. But I've had To do so much research for this festival on the marketing aspect, not that I'm a guru at it, but it's just a huge learning curve. But it's very, very interesting.

Dianne Burckhardt 44:10

Definitely. And it's not always what you expect it to be. There's always so many surprises when you're trying to market books and reaching your audience and just trying to get engaged with readers. It can be challenging. I can. So now let's remind our listeners who you are and where they can find your books.

Cyndi Brec 44:34

My name is Cindy Breck, and I write mythic mystery-driven YA Romanticy that adults do love. And I write about shattered lives, shattered worlds, and the power and the love tested by site. You can find my stuff on my website, www.cindybreck.com. I have books on Amazon. Ingram Sparks also has them. And I am at some independent local bookstores here in Ohio. But and I do have people reach out to me and they want to get my book through me because they want to sign copy. And I these I do that too.

Dianne Burckhardt 45:12

That's always good to know. I know people love autographic books.

Cyndi Brec 45:15

I I know, and I find that really interesting. I just had some lady bought my book, well, did the digital book. Then she reached out to me and she says, I really like your first book, signed copy, but she wanted the older version of my book and not the one where I recently put a flower on. I was like, okay. Which and I and I just had some of those still. And so, but that's what she wanted. She wanted a signed copy. And I was just like, hey, I could do that. You know, it's it's it's an honor, you know.

Dianne Burckhardt 45:44

Definitely. I agree. Whenever somebody asks for my autograph, I'm like, mine? It's like, who are you asking? And one thing I do want to point out to people, Cindy is spelled C-Y-N-D-I, and Breck is B-R-E-C. So if they're out there Googling, they're gonna want to get the spelling right. But to make it easy, we are going to have links in the description of today's podcast so everyone can just click and go and find you and all of your work.

Cyndi Brec 46:14

Thank you. I greatly appreciate it and greatly appreciate this opportunity in finally getting to meet you.

Dianne Burckhardt 46:20

This has been so much fun. It's too bad that we can't do this like a coffee shop and actually sit and have coffee over this one day. Well, I've got mine. I just have iced tea. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I really appreciate it. This has been great.

Cyndi Brec 46:38

Thank you. I appreciate it too.

Dianne Burckhardt 46:41

So there you have it, folks. That was my interview with the amazing storyteller and legend sleuth, Cindy Breck. I had such a wonderful conversation with her about her Therens trilogy, her experiences writing with dyslexia, and the unusual way she approaches storytelling. And of course, I was completely caught off guard when she revealed that our story actually started more than two years ago. I had absolutely no idea when we sat down for this interview that Cindy and I had already had a little bit of history together, and finding out about it really meant the world to me. Plus, she was just really fun to talk to. I love interviews like that. Now, before I give you the update for who's coming up next week, please pardon this next intro as I replace an M-word with unaliving, so the censor overlords won't ding me for it. But don't forget to come back next week when I'll be talking with award-winning author Stacy Hawks about Dividing Ridge, the unsolved unaliving of Elva Brannock, inspired by the real 1937 unaliving of a 16-year-old girl in Allegheny County, North Carolina. Her information is already available on Burkhartbooks.com/slash podcast, along with information for the next two authors after her coming to Book Manager with Dianne Burckhardt. Because I am stepping back and taking a break for a few weeks, so I have worked ahead and gotten everything ready. All of our regular social media posts are scheduled to publish on their own on the normal days, but since I won't be updating the website during my break, everything you need for those upcoming episodes is already on the podcast page. Meanwhile, D.S. Stephens, which in case you didn't know, that's my romance pen name, is working ridiculously hard to finish the Langston Watch Hotel, the first book in our new Paranormal Romance Haunted Heart series. And with any luck, please cross your fingers on this, the book will be uploaded and ready for pre-sale before we leave for the Frankfurter Buchmesse in October. I've already ordered a bunch of promotional materials and I'll be printing out even more at home. Then on Saturday at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, I'm going to be handing out freebies all over the place to help publicize our new Haunted Heart series. Now, the rest of the week at the Frankfurter Book Mesa, I'm going to be in serious book banter productions mode, doing interviews, gathering information for a large Frankfurter Book Mesa spread in this year's Book Banter magazine. If you have ever wanted to know what it's like to experience the Frankfurter Buchmesse, but haven't been able to travel to Germany yourself, I hope to have it all covered for you so you can experience some of the fun no matter where you are. This year's Book Banter magazine year-in book buying guide is shaping up to be around 200 pages, roughly a novel all on its own. And I'm doing all of this myself while keeping up with the podcast, trying to write two books, and so many other things. And wow, please pray for me. I may be insane by the time that I get to the end of all of this. So why not go sign up for our newsletter at burkhartbooks.com/slash subscribe so you can follow along with all of the crazy things that I'm trying to get done over the next few months and see if I make it with my sanity intact. Whew, I've been getting tired just thinking about it all. Well, that is more than enough for today, folks. So you know what that means. It's that time. I'm sorry I had to redo the ending on this. Something happened yesterday, and I wanted to comment. So before I let you go, I just want to take a moment to remember Miss Dolly Parton, who passed away on the 25th. As an author and someone deeply involved in the book world, I cannot overstate what her work through the Imagination Library has meant. She helped millions of children all over the world discover books and develop the reading and writing skills they would need throughout their lives. Her passing also carries a deeply personal weight for me. Miss Dolly and my father were both born on January 19th, and she passed away on the one-year anniversary of my father's death. I was already struggling with that anniversary, so losing her on the same day has been particularly difficult. There's another connection that makes this especially meaningful for me. Miss Dolly created the Imagination Library in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write, and struggled throughout his life because of that. She created the Imagination Library to make sure that nobody else would have to go through that same struggle in life. My father has been the face of my pen named Stephen Burckhardt since I began writing under that name in 2015, and I will keep him as the face of that pen name, and it will now serve as a lasting tribute to him. If you would like to honor Miss Dolly, please consider donating books to a local school or library or supporting the Imagination Library directly. Do something with books in her memory. All I know is that the world is a little less bright without her. It's a little hard doing my usual closing, but here we go. That's definitely enough for today, folks. So you know what time it is. It's time for you all to go forth and do your very best to be really happy. Thank you for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe to BookBanter with Dianne Burckhardt on your favorite podcast streaming service. Because if you love books like we do, you do not want to miss a single episode of this podcast.