0:14

Hi everyone, Larissa

0:14

Russell of CreativeU Healing,

0:17

and today I have with me Shanti

0:17

Hersherson. Shanti's first

0:21

novellas were published when she

0:21

was in the sixth grade. Although

0:24

her writing journey started long

0:24

before then, ever since she

0:27

could hold a pencil marker or

0:27

crayon. She was creating

0:30

stories. They started from

0:30

pictures, scribbles and

0:33

eventually turned into

0:33

captivating tales. So welcome,

0:36

Shanti.

0:38

Thank you so much for having me.

0:40

Can you tell us a

0:40

little bit about yourself, and

0:43

how you ended up where you are

0:43

now?

0:46

Yes, I have

0:46

to admit, it's kind of a strange

0:48

story. But I think I've always

0:48

been fascinated with writing, I

0:52

was always the kid who would

0:52

read during recess. And I was

0:55

always just creating these

0:55

little stories. And he even says

0:58

that my bio, however, when the

0:58

pandemic hit, I was around 12

1:02

years old, and I was really

1:02

stuck at home, I was lonely. I

1:05

was bored, I was just really

1:05

upset. And I was really sad. On

1:09

one hand, I really didn't want to get sick. And on the other hand, I really was restless at

1:11

home. And even going around

1:15

walks, like going around walks

1:15

in the round neighborhood just

1:18

really didn't do it. And I just

1:18

longed for something more. But

1:22

in that time, when I was stuck

1:22

at home, I also realized that I

1:26

have nothing to do. And I have

1:26

things I really want to do that

1:30

maybe I could do. So because of

1:30

that ended up starting writing

1:34

my first novel, it was called

1:34

Bio Lock. And I want to say it's

1:38

bad, but it's really not. And at

1:38

the beginning, it was pretty

1:41

rough. I'd never written a novel

1:41

before I'd had those two

1:44

novellas that I'd written. But

1:44

they were really kind of short,

1:48

and they weren't that good. And

1:48

I really wanted to write

1:50

something that was better. And

1:50

that was like me, because also

1:55

those two developers were written with a friend, I'd never written anything. I've written

1:56

stuff on my own. But I'd never

1:59

written the full big thing on my

1:59

own. I really wanted to say

2:02

around a few months later, the

2:02

book was really, really, really

2:05

long. And it was really wordy.

2:05

It was insane. It was 250,000

2:10

words and 800 pages over the

2:10

span of about six months. So I

2:14

had to actually ended up

2:14

splitting that book into three

2:16

separate books, I have the first

2:16

draft printed somewhere in this

2:20

huge book, it's really fun. That

2:20

book I have to say really

2:23

bridged the way for all my other

2:23

books, because once I've written

2:26

one book, I was like, this is

2:26

easy. I can write another one or

2:29

another one. And then while I

2:29

was editing that book and

2:31

figuring out what I was going to

2:31

do with the monstrosity of it, I

2:34

ended up writing another book and then another book. So it's like, everything I've kind of

2:36

written started off with this

2:41

one book Bio Lock. And then it's

2:41

just gotten easier from there.

2:45

Wow, I've written a

2:45

couple of myself. And it's not

2:48

easy for me. That's amazing that

2:48

it is for you. How many books

2:54

have you published now?

2:55

Right now I

2:55

have published 12 books and my

2:57

13th book. I just made the

2:57

preorder announcement for that.

3:02

Wow. And that's just in

3:02

the last three years. Yeah. And

3:05

you're 15. Yeah. Wow. That's

3:05

awesome. That's, that's so cool.

3:12

And so one of the questions I

3:12

asked all my guests is about

3:15

healing with creativity. What

3:15

does that mean to you healing

3:18

with creativity?

3:19

Yeah, so for

3:19

me, I think part of just

3:21

everything I've always used

3:21

writing is an outlet for my

3:24

emotions, and an outlet for my

3:24

feelings. I usually write when

3:28

I'm upset, and I wanted to

3:28

escape and I write, when I

3:31

really want to get something

3:31

out, or when I want to share

3:33

something that I'm upset about.

3:33

And in that way, writing is

3:36

something that's very healing to

3:36

me. Because it's kind of like

3:39

therapy, like you just write and

3:39

then you feel just a little

3:41

better. I think that's how kind

3:41

of I can heal through

3:44

creativity. It's just always

3:44

been something that I've used to

3:47

kind of help me through things.

3:50

Yeah, yeah, as a

3:50

journal or myself a journal a

3:53

lot. I totally agree with you

3:53

how important it is to express

3:58

ourselves, whether that's in

3:58

writing, or paint, or whatever

4:01

it is for your music. And to be

4:01

able to express ourselves is so

4:04

important. So important. Yeah.

4:04

Once you wrote your first huge

4:08

book, and you broke it down into

4:08

the trilogy, you realize for

4:11

your own self, how easy it was

4:11

for you, when you're writing.

4:15

are you basing it on your own

4:15

life? are you basing it on a

4:18

fantasy? Can you tell us a

4:18

little bit about that?

4:22

Usually, it

4:22

depends on the book. There are

4:25

some books like particular

4:25

scenes where I'm like, oh, yeah,

4:28

this is like kind of what

4:28

happened to me. And there are

4:30

other books where I just

4:30

completely made it up. So it

4:32

really does depend on the book

4:32

and the setting and like what's

4:35

going on? So it's kind of like a

4:35

5050 Usually though, it just

4:40

random stuff I came up with and

4:40

then kind of developed.

4:43

Yeah. And the world

4:43

gives us lots of random things

4:46

to come up. How long does it

4:46

take you? I'm thinking it's very

4:49

quick to to write, let's say

4:49

from rough draft to publishing,

4:54

how long how long do you think

4:54

that takes you?

4:58

It takes me

4:58

around nineish. Months, I'd say,

5:01

I don't know, say to a year,

5:01

maybe around six to nine months,

5:04

it takes around two to three

5:04

months for the first draft, then

5:07

the thing is, I usually let that

5:07

first draft sit aside for a bit,

5:09

that kind of varies depending on

5:09

how long I'm working on another

5:13

project, or how long I want to

5:13

take a break from it. But if we

5:16

count that time, it can be

5:16

around anywhere from like a year

5:19

to like, even like only one

5:19

month. And then after that, I'd

5:22

say it takes around two to three

5:22

months for editing, sometimes

5:24

more, it's taken a really long

5:24

time occasionally, with some of

5:28

these books. So it really

5:28

depends, but it can range from

5:31

like a couple months, just to a year.

5:33

And you're often

5:33

working on more than one project

5:36

at a time. Yeah, you must be

5:36

able to have so many books out

5:39

in such a short amount of time.

5:39

Did your parents foster this in

5:43

you your writing? Or was that

5:43

something that just came

5:45

naturally to you?

5:47

Or something that came naturally, my parents have always supported me as a

5:49

writer. However, I think they

5:52

were fairly surprised when I

5:52

started writing my first book.

5:55

One thing is, I never told

5:55

anyone when I started writing

5:58

it, I was like, I'm gonna write

5:58

a book. I don't know why I was a

6:00

little embarrassed by it. I was

6:00

like, This is ridiculous. This

6:03

is silly. I'm not telling

6:03

anyone. And eventually I started

6:05

telling them, and they're like,

6:05

very surprised. Because by that

6:09

point, I was already, like,

6:09

almost done with it.

6:11

Yeah. And I think

6:11

that's very true for a lot of

6:14

people. They feel like they're

6:14

going to be judged for oh, is it

6:17

going to be good enough? Is it

6:17

going to be all of those things?

6:20

And really just just do it? Just

6:20

do it? Right? Yeah. Because the

6:23

rest of that out later. That's

6:23

amazing. That's amazing. Oh, in

6:27

school, can I ask what grade

6:27

you're in? I have a freshman.

6:31

Okay. And so in school? Are you

6:31

a bit of a celebrity for having

6:35

all these books?

6:37

Not really,

6:37

there are some people I've met,

6:40

they'll follow me on social

6:40

media and didn't realize that I

6:43

went to their school. And so

6:43

some people have read my books.

6:47

Another thing is, I don't really

6:47

tell people in person. I don't

6:50

know what it is. Like, I tell a

6:50

lot of people online, I mean,

6:54

Tik Tok now, all my social

6:54

medias are about my books. But

6:58

whatever I'm in person, I get

6:58

really nervous telling people to

7:01

the point where sometimes my mom

7:01

has to tell people and be like,

7:04

oh, yeah, my daughter's an

7:04

author, like, oh, yeah, I forgot

7:06

about that. At school, I don't

7:06

really talk about it very much.

7:10

I'm trying to because I feel like that's something I should do that I can get more people to

7:12

read my books, and I can get

7:14

more people to come in my book

7:14

Saturday. So it's a really good

7:16

way to market those kinds of

7:16

events. However, right now, I'm

7:20

in my creative writing class.

7:20

And I'm in the writing club. And

7:25

I think like maybe about like,

7:25

only like, one or two of them

7:28

know.

7:30

Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah, I'd

7:30

be shouting it from the

7:33

rooftops. And when you're in

7:33

that writing mode, right? How

7:37

long do you sit down for for a

7:37

while? Do you like scheduled

7:40

time? Do you just have to feel

7:40

into it?

7:43

I write every

7:43

single day, I write 1000 words

7:45

every single day. That's usually

7:45

my goal. However, I do more than

7:48

that. It's very often that I do

7:48

less than that, I've just kind

7:52

of gotten to the habit of doing

7:52

at least 1000 words. So back in

7:56

like 2020, I'd say I had this

7:56

very concrete schedule, like,

8:00

Hey, wake up, it'll have in your

8:00

head, right? Like, well, like

8:02

maybe 500 words, and then I'd

8:02

write like the other 500 Later.

8:06

However, now, my schedule is

8:06

really shifted. I'd say, like, I

8:11

wake up, and I take a bit just

8:11

to like, relax, sometimes I have

8:15

things to do in the morning.

8:15

Other times, I don't. But often

8:19

I go out to breakfast. And I

8:19

usually write very little before

8:21

I go to breakfast, just because

8:21

I don't like writing without

8:23

eating. So sometimes I write

8:23

nothing before I go to

8:26

breakfast. And sometimes I write

8:26

a bit. And then when I get home,

8:29

I'll start writing. And

8:29

sometimes if I'm feeling it,

8:33

I'll sit there and I'll just

8:33

write until I'm done. Otherwise,

8:36

I'll write it in little

8:36

increments. Or another thing I

8:39

very often do is I will write a

8:39

little, I'll sit there on my

8:42

phone, and just procrastinate,

8:42

and I'll read a little more. And

8:46

now I'll get back on my phone.

8:46

When I noticed I'm doing this

8:48

however, I usually try to put my

8:48

phone away, or I get my

8:51

headphones out and go downstairs

8:51

and like put my phone away and

8:54

then just listen to music on my

8:54

computer. Because I like

8:57

listening to music while I write. But sometimes if it's on my phone, it can be very

8:58

distracting to have to change the song. So there's like little

9:00

things. But I'd say I do have

9:04

like this weird kind of

9:04

schedule. And I mean, it's not

9:08

really scheduled because it

9:08

changes like daily. But I do

9:11

have some uniform.

9:12

And you do make sure

9:12

that you actually make time to

9:15

write everyday. Yeah. And so

9:15

typically, people talk about

9:19

being so busy. So you're a

9:19

freshman, you probably have

9:23

homework, you probably have

9:23

friends, school, and then you're

9:26

writing. How do you keep up with

9:26

all of that

9:29

it can feel

9:29

like a lot sometimes right now

9:31

with school. I do have quite a

9:31

bit of homework, but I've been

9:34

able to keep up with it pretty

9:34

well. I will say I have a cold

9:37

so I was absent last few days.

9:37

So figuring out what I've missed

9:41

along with writing is going to

9:41

be really fun. I should be able

9:44

to do it. But currently with

9:44

school what I do is I write

9:47

during homeroom first was this

9:47

around like 30 minutes where I

9:50

can just write and that can get

9:50

me anywhere like only like 100

9:53

words to 500 words depending on

9:53

how I'm feeling. Then either if

9:56

I have time to write during

9:56

class, I'll write a little more

9:59

otherwise I just finished

9:59

writing after school. And I'll

10:02

try to do like 30 minutes of

10:02

homework, 30 minutes of writing,

10:04

but very often that 30 minutes

10:04

of writing can kind of fill in

10:09

like everything like else I need

10:09

to do regarding.

10:13

So you just make sure

10:13

that you schedule the time for

10:16

it. And then you do it. You talk

10:16

about the phone, the phone often

10:20

gets in the way. I know. But

10:20

procrastination is one of the

10:25

things we use when we don't

10:25

really feel like doing things.

10:28

You talked about putting your

10:28

phone away and do it. So how do

10:31

you get yourself back on track?

10:31

When you find yourself

10:34

procrastinating with the phone?

10:36

Sometimes I

10:36

just put it away instantly. As

10:38

soon as I figure out. Other

10:38

times, I almost have to like,

10:42

not argue with myself be like,

10:42

Okay, you can do one more thing,

10:45

and then you're going to put it away. But that usually doesn't work. So as soon as I realized,

10:47

like, Hey, I'm off track. First

10:50

off, I kind of scare myself. And

10:50

I'm like, can you keep this up

10:53

all day? You're not gonna write

10:53

today? And then are you gonna do

10:55

this tomorrow? It's kind of I

10:55

mean to myself, then I put my

10:58

phone away. Either that or I

10:58

like to switch. Sometimes it's

11:02

like, I'm listening to music.

11:02

And I'm like, I want to hear

11:04

this song. Even though that song

11:04

has like nothing to do with like

11:07

bubblegum writing, then I'll

11:07

start singing along, but then

11:09

I'd be like, Okay, how can we

11:09

listen to this song. And the

11:12

next song is a little more kind

11:12

of like, it's a song I like, but

11:16

it's one it's like all my book

11:16

playlist. And then when I'm

11:18

listening to that, I feel like I

11:18

kind of get my head back into

11:20

writing it as listening to it, I

11:20

kind of start imagining the

11:23

characters. I'm like, Oh, my

11:23

gosh, I can go right. So I can

11:26

almost like trick myself into

11:26

wanting to write.

11:29

I love what you

11:29

mentioned about a playlist. So

11:31

you have a playlist for when

11:31

you're writing.

11:34

Yeah, I have several.

11:37

And so are they

11:37

different moods? Or how do you

11:39

set up your playlists? I have

11:41

playlists. Some of them are just the entire book in like kind of the vibes

11:42

of the book. They can work for

11:46

like most scenes, other

11:46

playlists they have or for

11:50

specific characters, I would use

11:50

that why had like a multi

11:52

character point of view in a

11:52

book. And the character, the

11:56

POVs were like so vastly

11:56

different. That was very common.

12:00

And then I have other ones,

12:00

they're like different moods and

12:02

kind of settings or even like,

12:02

See, I like action scenes

12:05

playlist. I think I have like a

12:05

sad playlist. And then some are

12:08

just not even books just like

12:08

plots. So I have one a playlist

12:13

and it's literally called sad,

12:13

depressing romance where they

12:15

all die. No comment on whether

12:15

or not that's a book I've

12:18

written or not. And that

12:18

playlist was really, really

12:21

helpful.

12:22

I love that. So you can

12:22

get yourself into the mood of

12:26

what you're writing. Yeah, I

12:26

love that idea. So you're all

12:30

these different creative outlets

12:30

into one so that you end up with

12:34

a book at the end. So for all of

12:34

those listeners who say they

12:38

don't have time, or they don't,

12:38

whatever it is, whatever excuse

12:42

you're making, to not write that

12:42

book. You've written 13 of them

12:46

in three years. I think people

12:46

can find the time to write one.

12:51

Yeah, well, that's wonderful,

12:51

Shanti, thank you so much for

12:54

being here. today. We're going

12:54

to make sure that we have your

12:56

links so that people know all

12:56

about your books, and they can

12:59

find them. Maybe before we go,

12:59

can you tell us just are they

13:04

all in the same genre? Or are

13:04

they different genres?

13:07

Books vary in

13:07

genres however, the majority of

13:10

them are in the Science Fiction

13:10

genre. I have three and a

13:14

paranormal fantasy series. And

13:14

then at two books, the poetry

13:19

however, I'd say my main genre

13:19

is science fiction that just

13:22

like my favorite genre, that's

13:22

what I prefer to write. I am

13:25

trying to move on to other

13:25

genres and kind of expand like

13:28

even this to some subcategories

13:28

of science fiction. However,

13:32

those books aren't out yet.

13:34

Wow. Okay. Well, that's

13:34

amazing. Are any final thoughts

13:38

before we go today?

13:39

I don't think so. Okay,

13:41

Well, thank you so much

13:41

for being here. And I can't wait

13:44

to share this and let people

13:44

know all about your books. I

13:47

think it's amazing what you've

13:47

done. And I just want to thank

13:49

you so so much for being here

13:49

today. Thank you for having me.

13:53

To our listeners. We will see

13:53

you again next time and in the

13:56

meantime, I wish for you

13:56

amazingly creative days