author interview Archives - Author Joanne Reed

I am feeling blessed to have been interviewed by World Class Performer who have been featuring since 2017 stories, tactics and practical advice from authors, entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, investors sharing their short profiles to help their audience answer life’s most challenging questions, achieve extraordinary results and transform life.

You can read the interview on the World Class Performer platform by clicking on the following link Short Life Lessons from Joanne Reed – World Class Performer Interview.

Or you can read the transcript of my interview with World Class Performer below.

Joanne Reed is the author of This Is Your Quest – Your Mission: To Experience Happiness Along the Way. She has not made it yet to the New York Times Bestseller list and is wondering why she is being featured here, but as a storyteller, she has a lot to say. Stories teach us about life, about ourselves, and about others. She discovered the art of blogging a year ago and writes about anything that nourishes and educates the mind with a zest of philosophy, plenty of good vibes, and this little je ne sais quoi.

Can you tell the audience of World Class Performer where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I was born and raised on a French Island in the Indian Ocean called Réunion. It is like the French version of Hawaii. Life on the island was good and I was truly fortunate to have been born and raised in a loving family environment surrounded by my parents, my sister, lots of uncles and aunties, and tons of cousins with the beach on one side and the mountain on the other side. Those early years taught me two things: 1) family is everything and 2) immerse yourself in nature whenever you can.

What is something you wish you would’ve realized earlier in your life?

Most people play the same game i.e., Follow the Follower. Instead of following everyone else and instead of competing with everyone else: Pause – Create – Innovate.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

You often hear that your work will speak for itself and the only thing you have to do is write a great book and the rest will follow. That is a myth. Writing a great book is not enough. If you don’t put yourself out there, your work will stay in semi-obscurity. It takes great energy and effort for new authors to get visibility. New authors should be relentless in their Quest to make their work visible and accessible to a larger audience. The most surprising thing I learned about writing is that your book is not finished until it has been read.

Tell me about one of the darker periods you’ve experienced in life. How you came out of it and what you learned from it?

Dark periods for me equates to periods of time throughout various stages of my life where I felt out of place, lacking confidence in my ability, not having any clarity, living in a state of anxiety, and worrying about the future. Reading self-help books helped me get out of these periods and those books made me a little bit smarter and wiser.

There are two ways to learn valuable life lessons. The first method is through trial, errors, and personal experience and the second method is through books. The downside of the first method is that it will no doubt bring you a fair amount of pain and suffering, which is something that we all want to avoid as much as possible. Learning life lessons through someone else’s struggle and the ordeal is a much less painful way to go about it whilst still bringing the same benefits. Words have tremendous power and energy. Well-chosen words can breathe hope into you when your spirit is broken and can make you stronger than you know.

What is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?

It depends on how you define success. It is such a fluid concept. Success means different things to different people. If success means signing a publishing contract with a publisher, I tick that box and the biggest contributor to my success would be the fact that I wrote a book that is unique. The book is written from the perspective of the reader. I act as a tour guide and take my readers with me on an epic journey through time, traveling around the world, and learning valuable lessons from my favorite authors and philosophers along the way. The whole idea of the book is to guide my readers in their Quest to find their own definition of happiness and find their own path. I couldn’t find anywhere a book that dealt with all the subjects I was interested in (i.e., money, love, and health), a book that inspired me but challenged me all the same, a book that could act as a compass when I was feeling lost, a book that could educate, heal and illuminate the mind. So, I decided that I should write such a book myself.

If you define success by being on the New York Times Bestselling list, I don’t tick that box yet! I am Work-In-Progress. I see myself more like a marathon runner and not a sprinter. Let’s do this interview again in a couple of years, shall we?

What is your morning routine?

If I had to write a book to describe my morning routine, the title would be the ‘Art of wearing different hats’.

5:30 am: wake-up and make coffee, dress-up in sports gear and put my baseball hat on ready to take my dog Louis out for a quick toilet-stroll round the block; show-up at my desk for an early morning writing session wearing my favorite author’s hat, blissfully aware about how precious this alone time is.

8:00 am: Cook healthy/high protein English breakfast whilst doing the best I can to resist eating too much carb/bread.

9:00 am: show up to my Muay Thai class wearing my protective fighter hat for some high-intensity hand-to-hand combat activity where I am practicing some kick-ass moves that make me feel like Wonder Woman.

10 am: Return home for a shower. Put author’s hat back on to do more writing till the time comes for me to swap my author’s hat with my domestic goddess hat, ready to prepare lunch, and do whatever domestic goddesses do nowadays. Wear my chauffeur’s hat a few times during the day to take my youngest daughter to places.

The rest of the day continues with me having to swap hats all the time and attend to whatever requires my undivided attention.

What habit or behavior that you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?

I am curious about the world, about people, I am awake and aware of what’s happening, I read, I listen, I connect the dots, I pause, stay still, reflect and meditate, and when all of this is done, I have the urge to put my thoughts on paper and I write. I like to describe myself as an artist because it is more fluid and more suited to my current state of mind. Charles Bukowski says it best “An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way”.

What are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?

Write To-Do-Lists.
Have lots of different hats to wear for different occasions.
Wake-up, dress up, show up and do the best I can till I know better and when I know better I do better.
Last and not least have a sense of adventure, be an explorer. Explorers are a special type of human beings. They have physical endurance, mental toughness, abundant determination, and willpower, a deep feeling of purpose, they have faith in their pursuit and live every day with the conviction of their Quest!

What book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho because it summarizes very well everything important you need to know to survive in this world. Mainly that a person’s only real obligation is to realize one’s Personal Legend because if you do this with courage, authenticity, and integrity everything else will fall into place. Realizing your own Personal Legend is not a selfish, ego-centric purpose that only benefits you because as Christian D Larson says, “what’s the world needs is people who can do things that are thoroughly worthwhile; people who can think great thoughts and transform such thoughts into great deeds”.

Do you have any quotes you live by or think of often that you would like to share with the audience of World Class Performer?

I live by and think often of one particular quote by Maya Angelou: “Wake-up, dress-up, show-up every day, and do the best you can until you know better, and when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou was such a phenomenal woman; her life was a succession of epic adventures. I named my eldest daughter after her.

For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble. The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com.

The audio version of my book “This Is your Quest ” is available. Feel free to check it out and use this special Promotion code

Why one would be interested in reading an author interview? Because ‘you cannot underestimate the importance of writers; writers described things that other people don’t have time to describe’ – James Baldwin

I was recently interviewed by the Literary Worm and the Nerdy Bibliophile who kindly recommended my book ‘This Is Your Quest’ to their respective followers. I would like to share this interview with you, not so much to shine the spotlight on myself, but more so to highlight the importance of why story telling matters.

There are two ways to learn valuable life lessons that will teach us to become a little bit smarter and wiser. The first method is through trial, errors and personal experience and the second method is through story telling. The downside of the first method is that it will no doubt brings you a fair amount of pain and suffering, which is something that we all want to avoid as much as possible. Learning life lessons through someone else’s struggle and ordeal is a much less painful way to go about it whilst still bringing the same benefits. And that is where story telling comes into the frame. Stories teach us about life about ourselves and about others.

So, sharing my story with readers as to how I came to write my book and what I found out along the way may well trigger some interest, it may motivate some aspiring authors to jump into the literary arena, and also get more readers to join me and find out how they can go on their own Quest to find happiness.

When did you first realized you wanted to be a writer?

Writing is a fairly new thing for me, I never had this big childhood dream of becoming an author. It just happened and it surprised me as much as it surprised all my friends and family when they discovered I became a published author. I started writing because I had a lot of things to says, there is so much wisdom and knowledge out there, some have been forgotten and some has been hidden away. I just wanted to bring those stories back to life and share them with all the curious souls out. You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy books, so I wanted to write a book that will help people go on their own Quest to find happiness.

Toni Morrison said: “If there is a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I couldn’t find anywhere a book that deal with all the subjects I was interested in; most self-help books are very focused on one particular subject either money, love or health taken separately. I couldn’t find a book that dealt with those subjects all at once, a book that inspired me but also challenged me, a book that could act as a compass when I was feeling lost. So, I decided that I should write such a book myself.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

More than an author I consider myself an artist, because it is more fluid and more suited to my current state of mind. Charles Bukowski said: “An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way, an artist says a hard thing in a simple way.” I made it my personal Quest to make my writing informative, accessible and entertaining and I want to be part of that new self-help trend that make philosophy and history cool again, not reserved for the up-tight academic and his students.

What genre of books do you enjoy the most?

I read a lot of non-fiction books. There is so much information, tips and wisdom in those books; but reading those books feels a bit like ‘work’. I like taking non-fiction books with me on weekends away and on holiday. I also enjoy reading poetry because words in a poem have a lot of meaning and intensity. Before I write a piece, I like reading poetry, I let the words in the poem envelop me; it helps with my writing style.

What is your suggestion/advice to aspiring authors on writing and publishing?

Advice to aspiring authors: Read a lot and write a lot

My advice to aspiring authors is to read a lot and write a lot. Authors are inherently curious in nature. Reading is one way to express that curiosity whilst absorbing a lot information and getting acquainted with lots of different writing styles. Writing is the process by which you let go of what’s inside your head and heart. The most surprising thing I learned about writing is that “your book is not finished until it has been read.” New authors should see themselves as marathon runners and not sprinters. There are thousands of books being published every day; sadly, the majority of these books will stay in semi-obscurity. New authors should be relentless in their Quest to make their work visible and accessible to a larger public and you do this one reader at a time.

How many books have you published so far and are you working on some new project?

I launched the 1^st Edition of my book in April 2018. The 2^nd Edition came out in May 2019 together with the French version of my book which I translated myself. So, I wrote one book, but I have three versions of it. I am currently working with a professional voice actress (her voice is amazing) on the audio version of my book. I am anticipating being able to launch the audio version of my book by the end of October. Watch that space!

Where can readers find your work?

You can find my book on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Kobo. Or you can purchase the book directly from my publisher www.bookocker.com/9732. You can also visit my website and do an easy purchase from there www.authorjoannereed.net.

What do you like to do apart from writing?

I love being in nature and doing outdoor activities such as walking or riding my bicycle or my motorbike. Horse riding is one of my favorite activity, but I don’t have the opportunity to ride often. I also like keeping fit and the best way for me to do that is by practicing Muay Thai; it is intense, fun and a useful skill to have.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

In 5 years’ time I’d like to see myself belonging to the category of writers whose work is appreciated and recognized by a large pool of people who read my work because they find a lot of value in it, and because it brings them some clarity and help them be the best version of themselves.

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