Interview with author of 12th Ave South Tom Stewart - Memories are treasures - video Dailymotion

Yaya Diamond TV

Website: https://www.tomstewartauthor.com/  amazon book link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FMPLT8W1  About The Author  Tom Stewart Tom Stewart tells stories about real people in real rooms. He notices the click of a ceiling fan, the hum of a switchboard, and the one dinner invite that can turn a stranger into family. His writing is rich in humor, sympathy, and specific, tiny details that bring a world to life.  He loves dialogue that sounds like it’s actually happening. His style is quick, smart, a little messy, and characters who are brave enough to figure themselves out in public. He recreates Florida of the early 90s in 12TH AVE SOUTH with its blazing heat, its heart, and the silent courage you had to possess to be yourself in the 90s.   About The Book  12th ave south In this vivid, heartfelt coming-of-age set in the early ’90s, Jack Powers leaves Iowa chasing air that feels freer. He wakes in a New Orleans haze, then keeps driving east until the Atlantic stops him. In Jacksonville Beach, he finds a job at RBB Imports, a sharp-tongued crew, and a neighbor, Miss Mable, who teaches him that belonging isn’t given, it’s built. One dinner, one laugh, one honest risk at a time. Join the journey of bad choices, small mercies, and the slow thaw of a guarded heart into chosen family.   ⚡ VidChapter AI generated these chapters, try it out https://vidchapter.com/?affiliate=yayadiamond Recommended podcast platform get 10% off: https://podopshost.com/register/?ref=yaya   Tools and Services I use: Appsumo has the best lifetime deals ever!!! I love this site.  appsumo.8odi.net/yayadiamond The easiest way to make your graphics: https://buff.ly/2RTQLn0 Best website for musicians. Try it for free on me: https://buff.ly/2GMYugG Make money with Fiverr.com: https://buff.ly/2KjTVvV   Our Amazon store: https://buff.ly/34RYNlm DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. My affiliate links usually provide either a free trial or discount so go try them out on me! Thank you for supporting DreamChasersRadio.com  so I can continue to provide you with free content each week! Privacy Policy: https://buff.ly/2XSrflS ™Yaya Diamond Red Hot Reality Ent. LLC

Transcript

00:00Yeah, you're diamonds, dream chasers, we won't wait

00:17Subscribe today before it's too late

00:20Inspiration flowing just like the breeze

00:23Chase your dreams and feel at ease

00:30Be good, be very good

00:33Be very good, be very, be very, no, I can't, I can't be, I will try, I will try

00:40My mom always told me, she said, you be good, you be good, because she knew, woo child, she knew

00:46me

00:46She's like, you better be good, I miss her, but she's always within me

00:51And just like your parents, if you've lost your parent, they're always within you

00:55But didn't your parents always, like, try to push you towards your goals

00:59Like, hey, you should do the things you want to do in life

01:02You should really live your life to the fullest

01:03It's really short, you know what I mean

01:05I mean, I'm looking at it now and I'm going, yeah, seven decades

01:08It's just seven decades

01:10That's just like short, like nine decades is still short

01:14Because 30 of those decades, you didn't know what the heck you were doing

01:18So we have an author here, his name is Tom

01:20And he is here to talk about his latest book today

01:24And I'm going to go ahead and put that up there

01:26It's 12th Avenue South

01:28And his website is TomStewartAuthor.com

01:31We're going to be talking to him today about his book

01:34And about the path that he was talking about earlier

01:37Tom, welcome to the show

01:39Yeah, yeah, thank you so much for having me on

01:42I appreciate it

01:43Thank you, thank you

01:44So, okay, so I got to kind of go back a little bit

01:47Back up here, rewind

01:49Rewind and find out

01:52Was there any plans to be an author in your past?

01:55Like when you were young?

01:57No, not at all

01:58Not at all

02:00So, so tell me why

02:02What happened?

02:04Well, this book actually is a fictionalized autobiography

02:08Of my life when I lived in Florida

02:11I was in Florida for about 30 years

02:14And it was a collection of stories from the neighborhood

02:19For the first time you leave home

02:20I think everyone experiences the fear

02:25And, you know, a lot of people have commented

02:28That the book is about courage and resilience

02:31And those types of things

02:33But for me, it really was more about love

02:37And I moved to Florida

02:39And I found my tribe

02:43There were a bunch of misfits in the neighborhood

02:46And somehow we all kind of gelled and merged

02:49And made a family

02:51I like misfits

02:53There was a deck on the ocean

02:55On the end of 12th Avenue South

02:57Which was the street that I actually lived on

02:59And the deck was where everything happened

03:02It's where

03:03I have to interrupt you

03:05Where is this in Florida?

03:07Jacksonville Beach

03:09Jacksonville

03:10Okay, because I live in Sarasota

03:11Yes

03:12So this was Jacksonville Beach

03:14Back in the 1990s

03:16And I actually started writing this

03:19About 25 years ago

03:20As the neighbors would tell

03:23Different escapades that they had

03:25Or I had a secretary that would come to work

03:28And, oh my gosh

03:30Some of the things that she would

03:32Drop on me about, you know

03:34Going to jail and sitting in the cell

03:36With Stinky Earl

03:37And waiting for her boss

03:40To come and get her out of jail

03:41Because they were in the onion fields

03:42Doing donuts

03:43Oh my gosh

03:45Normal Florida type of stuff

03:47Yeah, yeah

03:49I knew about that

03:50You know

03:51Yeah

03:52And so I pulled the manuscript out

03:54After I retired

03:56And then I realized

03:57You know

03:58Colonel Sanders

03:59Didn't start frying chicken

04:00Until he was 65

04:02That's right

04:02I thought

04:03Yeah, if he can do that

04:04I can do this

04:05And I started rereading it

04:07And going through it

04:08And it wasn't as bad

04:10As I thought it was

04:12Mmm

04:13You thought it was bad?

04:15Well, you know

04:16Everybody is their worst critic

04:18I think we all tend to

04:20You know

04:21Pile on ourselves

04:22When there really isn't any reason to

04:24And so I did go through it purposely

04:27And start looking at

04:29You know

04:30The dialogue

04:31And the way that the characters

04:32Responded to each other

04:33And one of the things that

04:35I really felt

04:37Needed to happen with it

04:39Was

04:39I go back to Maya Angelou

04:42And I don't remember the exact quote

04:45And forgive me

04:46Because everybody should know it

04:48But she always said

04:49People won't remember what you said

04:51But they always remember the way that you feel

04:54You made them feel

04:56And so I started going through the book

04:58And really trying to put myself

05:00In those characters

05:01Situations at that moment in time

05:03And how does that person feel?

05:05What does

05:05What does it look like?

05:07What does the

05:08The scene smell like?

05:10To try and

05:11And put you into the book

05:13And really experience

05:14What life was like

05:15Living on the beach

05:16Back in the 1990s in Florida

05:19Oh, that must have been cool

05:22Yeah

05:22It really was

05:24There was

05:24It was a time and a place

05:26Where everything went

05:28You had doctors living next door

05:31To waiters

05:31Who lived next door

05:32To the hooker

05:33Who lived next door

05:35To the physician

05:37Everybody got along

05:38Everything was

05:40You know

05:41No big deal

05:43You know

05:43You would come home late

05:44And the neighbors would say

05:46Oh, did you have to work late?

05:48It's like

05:48No, there was just a 12 foot alligator

05:50In the middle of the freeway

05:52They didn't want to move

05:52And people would be like

05:54Oh, yeah

05:54It's just a Tuesday in Florida

05:59True

05:59That's so true

06:00And don't run them over you

06:02You'll definitely

06:03No, absolutely not

06:04Yeah

06:05You will

06:06Your tires will be gone

06:08As well as part of the front of your car

06:10Most likely

06:11Pretty much

06:12Yeah, total

06:14Wow, that is so cool

06:15So the book

06:16The book itself evolved from your personal life

06:19But how is it fiction

06:21Or is it fantasy

06:23Or how did you kind of entwine that?

06:26Well, it may or may not have been about real people

06:30Who may or may not have had names changed

06:32To protect the guilty

06:33Based on events

06:35That may or may not have happened

06:36Based on fact

06:41I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one, Dom

06:44Okay

06:45May or may not be a book

06:50But that's so cool, though

06:51Okay, okay

06:52Protect the people

06:54Protect the people

06:55Okay

06:55So let's go into the book really quick

06:58And let's talk about Jack's travels

07:00And where to take them

07:01Tell me about this

07:03How did you come up with the character?

07:05How would I say this?

07:07It may or may not have been Jack

07:08The main character in the book, Jack

07:12May or may not have been based on experiences

07:15I may or may not have had

07:16Gotcha

07:18I grew up in Iowa

07:20And you come from a very conservative state

07:25Where everything runs on schedule

07:26If you have an appointment, you show up on time

07:29And then you move to Florida

07:33And it is culture shock

07:35I mean, it truly is

07:37It took me months

07:38To have a conversation with anyone

07:41Because I kept wanting to finish their sentences

07:43Because one of the things that I found

07:46When you move to Florida

07:48The conversations tend to take a little bit longer

07:53Than it normally would when you're in the Midwest

08:00That is so true

08:01You have to slow down

08:03Slow down

08:04It's about slowing down

08:06It's about really being present in life

08:10And not moving from one location to another

08:17It's about experiencing the journey

08:19Yeah

08:20And especially at the beach

08:22The beach has no time

08:24Watches aren't allowed

08:25Ties aren't allowed

08:27You have to just take what it comes

08:30It's very spontaneous

08:31And you have to roll with the punches

08:35If you don't, you're going to get buried

08:38Oh wow

08:39There are things that happen in the South

08:42That really and truly only happen in the South

08:46Yeah

08:47Yeah, even in Miami

08:48Even in Miami

08:49When I moved down from New York to Miami

08:52Oh my gosh

08:53That was a culture shock

08:56Because it was

08:57New York is fast, fast, fast, fast, fast

08:59Miami actually is fast

09:02But it's a different pace

09:05It's slower

09:08They're still all about it

09:09Don't get me wrong

09:10But they're almost about it

09:12For a little while

09:13And then they stop being about it

09:16A lot sooner

09:18And one of the things I found out real quickly

09:21Was that you couldn't talk to someone

09:23While they were trying to do a task

09:26Because if you did

09:27It would take you 15 minutes

09:29For that person to pick up three pieces of chicken

09:32And bring it to the counter for you

09:36You know what I'm talking about

09:38I do

09:39Let them finish

09:40Let them finish

09:42And then we can be pleasant

09:43And have a conversation

09:44Right

09:45Yep

09:46Then we can have our conversation

09:47While they sit and they pay attention

09:49Because they're

09:50Multitasking is not a thing down here

09:52No

09:53No, it's not

09:56Oh my gosh

09:57Oh wow

09:58So this obviously was culture shock for you

10:01And it was a very slow kind of pace for you

10:06So you put that in the book

10:07May or may not have been influenced

10:09Or in your life

10:10Or you

10:11But what was the writing process like for you?

10:16Because you come from a place where

10:18Everything is quick, quick, quick

10:19You come down here

10:20Everything's slow, slow, slow

10:22Where were you?

10:24Like how long did this take you to do?

10:2725 years

10:29Yeah, you became a Floridian really fast

10:36Oh my gosh

10:38It's a lot to adapt

10:39Why 25 years?

10:42The stories

10:43The book actually

10:44The stories that are in the book

10:46Happened over a period of about 10 years

10:50So I started the book back in the 90s

10:53When I was living in Florida

10:55On 12th Avenue South

10:56And just trying to remember

10:57Some of the things that had happened

10:59With the neighbors

11:00And some of the funny things

11:01That we experienced

11:04And I really started writing it

11:07As a tribute to my friends

11:10My chosen family in Florida

11:12And I thought, you know what?

11:14I'll just go ahead and publish it

11:16If it's not perfect

11:17If it's not perfectly edited

11:19I don't care

11:20I want to give

11:21I want to give the stories back

11:22To my neighbors

11:23And so I printed enough copies

11:26And sent them to all of the characters

11:28That were in the book

11:28And that was the original impetus

11:32For doing it

11:33But they always say

11:36You know, you should write what you know

11:39I lived it

11:40I think you know it

11:43You know

11:45You may or may not have lived it

11:49There are certain things in the book

11:51That may or may not have happened

11:53But I did hear about them

11:54You heard about them

11:56You're really covering your tracks here, Tom

12:01There is a trailer, though

12:03You do have a trailer

12:04I do

12:06Let's go ahead and watch that trailer

12:08Okay

12:08On 12th Avenue South

12:11The weather is hot

12:13The gossip is hotter

12:14And the grill has opinions

12:16Meet Jack and the neighbors

12:19Their block party has two rules

12:21A. Bring a dish

12:23B. What happens at the deck

12:25Stays on the deck

12:26Around here

12:27Yard work requires courage

12:29Barbecue requires teamwork

12:32And taste is optional

12:34It is Florida

12:35If the drinks sparkle

12:37It is a blessing

12:38If the full moon rises

12:40It is an event

12:41Beneath the wild

12:42There is family

12:43Deck built

12:44Thick skin tested

12:46And steel magnolia straw

12:4812th Avenue South

12:50By Tom Stewart

12:51Come for the chaos

12:52Stay for the neighbors

12:56I love it

12:58Love it

12:59Yes

13:00Yes

13:00And if it does sparkle

13:02It is special

13:02Yes

13:03We like our sparkling drinks

13:04Down here

13:05Our salsa waters

13:07And our sparkling wines

13:10Especially on a full moon

13:12Especially

13:12Oh

13:14I mean

13:14Okay

13:15So I'm not sure

13:17Did you live in the city

13:17Of Jacksonville

13:18Or out on the outskirts

13:19Of Jacksonville

13:20You know

13:21When I first moved

13:22I moved to Florida

13:23For a job

13:24And the company

13:25Put me up in a condo

13:26In Bay Meadows

13:27In town

13:28And I was there

13:29For about two weeks

13:30The only person I met

13:32Was an ugly duck

13:34We used to have

13:35You know

13:36Brunch together

13:36On Saturday mornings

13:37I would throw her bread

13:38And that was

13:39Kind of the extent

13:40Of my social

13:41Oh

13:43That's terrible

13:44I know

13:44It was sad

13:45It was

13:46It is sad

13:48And one of the ladies

13:50Who worked with me

13:51In the office

13:52Invited me to the beach

13:54For dinner one night

13:55And her character

13:57In the book

13:58Is called Miss Mabel

13:59And Miss Mabel

14:00Was the leftover queen

14:02At the office

14:03But I went out

14:04To the beach

14:04And it was a full moon

14:06And that was it

14:09The house next door

14:11Had a palm tree

14:12Growing through the deck

14:13And I immediately

14:14Rented the palm tree

14:16I didn't care

14:17What the apartment

14:17Looked like

14:18But there was a deck

14:19With a palm tree in it

14:20And when you grew up

14:20In Iowa

14:21And there's nothing

14:22But corn

14:22That was very exciting

14:24Yeah

14:26Definitely

14:26And not as scary

14:27As children of corn

14:28No

14:29And so

14:30I lived at the beach

14:32I lived a half block

14:33On the ocean

14:34For about 10 years

14:36And the deck

14:37Was just a place

14:38Where everybody gathered

14:39And shared the day

14:41And caught up

14:42On what was going on

14:42In each other's lives

14:43And like I said

14:45For me the book

14:46Was about

14:46The different kinds of love

14:50The love of parents

14:51When you leave home

14:52For the first time

14:54And you miss them

14:56And you meet people

14:57And love takes

14:59Many different forms

15:01You know

15:01It can be

15:02Helping your neighbor

15:03Wrap Christmas presents

15:04For their grandkids

15:05Or making sure

15:07That your neighbor

15:07Gets home from the bar

15:08Okay

15:09And you know

15:10Isn't left on the street

15:11Passed out somewhere

15:12Which is pretty common

15:14In Florida as well

15:15Yeah

15:19And then

15:20In all of these experiences

15:23That the character

15:24Jack has

15:25He falls in love

15:26For the first time

15:28And so for me

15:29It was really about writing

15:31Trying to express

15:32What that

15:32That feels like

15:34To fall in love

15:35For the first time

15:36With someone

15:38And there's

15:38There are back history

15:39On all of the characters

15:41And things that have

15:42Happened in their lives

15:42That have made that

15:43More difficult maybe

15:44But

15:46I don't know

15:47That's kind of where

15:49It comes from

15:50For me

15:50For the book

15:50It really is

15:52A work of love

15:52It was about

15:53The neighbors

15:54That I love

15:55Very much

15:55And I wanted

15:56To give them

15:57A copy

15:57Of some of the memories

15:59That we shared

15:59That is

16:07But that's wonderful though

16:08I absolutely love that

16:10What did this book do

16:11For you though

16:12Like personally

16:13This is an experience

16:15That you may or may not

16:16Have gone through

16:17But you went through

16:19Writing the book

16:20So the experience

16:21Of the book itself

16:22Was an experience

16:23What was that like

16:24For you

16:25And what did it do

16:27For you ultimately

16:28It was frustrating

16:30At times

16:31I started working

16:33With a publisher

16:33Through Amazon

16:35And when you know

16:37Nothing about

16:38Publishing a book

16:39I would encourage people

16:40That if you

16:41Have a story to tell

16:42If there's something

16:43In your life

16:44That you think

16:45You should share

16:45With people

16:47Just write it

16:48Don't worry about

16:50How it sounds

16:51Or what it looks like

16:52Or is it formatted correctly

16:54Just write

16:56There are people

16:57Who can help you edit

16:58And do all of those things

16:59And for me personally

17:01I was trying to do

17:03A lot of it myself

17:04Because I didn't know

17:05Any better

17:06And then you get

17:08A hold of some professionals

17:09And it gets much

17:09Much easier

17:10In getting it

17:11Into the different platforms

17:12And exposure

17:15In Amazon

17:16And Barnes and Noble

17:16And places like that

17:18So I would just

17:20Encourage you

17:21Don't

17:21You know

17:22I mean

17:22You're never too old

17:22I'm 65 years old

17:24And I wrote my first book

17:25Hey

17:26I absolutely love it

17:28Absolutely

17:28You told me

17:29That somebody

17:30Wasn't some age

17:31Until they did something

17:33What was that?

17:34I'm sorry

17:34That what?

17:35That somebody was

17:36How old were they?

17:37You said

17:38That some so and so

17:39It wasn't

17:40What age?

17:4145 or something

17:42When they did

17:43Their first

17:44Thing

17:45You were talking

17:45About that earlier

17:46Oh Colonel Sanders

17:47There you go

17:48Colonel Sanders

17:49I like him

17:50Until he was 65

17:51Oh my gosh

17:53I did meet him once

17:55Actually in real life

17:56You did?

17:57Yep

17:57When I was in

17:58Wow

17:59High school

18:01Wow

18:02It's kind of like

18:03You know

18:04Like you said

18:05At the beginning

18:05Of the session

18:07Life is short

18:08You know

18:09You only have

18:09Seven decades

18:10Or eight decades

18:12And

18:14Even if

18:14It's in your

18:15Sixth decade

18:16Or seventh decade

18:17Just go for it

18:19I mean

18:20You kind of reach

18:21A point in life

18:21Where it doesn't

18:22Matter anymore

18:23It's just

18:23I'll say what

18:24I want to say

18:25And if you don't

18:28Eh

18:28Not my problem

18:29Yep

18:30I hope people

18:31Reach that

18:31A lot sooner

18:33Though

18:33Because

18:34To me

18:34It's good

18:36To reach that

18:36Point in like

18:37Your 30s

18:38Your late 20s

18:39Because then

18:40You can really

18:41Like

18:42Appreciate

18:43The time you have

18:44You know

18:45And savor it

18:47Exactly

18:48And you spend

18:49So many years

18:50Trying to make

18:51Other people happy

18:52Yeah

18:53What you think

18:54Other people expect

18:55And

18:56You know

18:57You reach an age

18:57And it's like

18:58Hey

18:58I don't have

18:58Any time left

18:59If I want to do

19:00Something

19:00I better do it

19:01Because

19:02Oh yeah

19:03The clock's ticking

19:04The clock is ticking

19:06The clock

19:07It is

19:08Tick tock

19:08Right now

19:09It's ticking

19:13Well

19:13Thank you so much

19:15For being on the show

19:16Tom

19:16The website is

19:18TomStewartAuthor.com

19:19You guys

19:19Check that website out

19:20And if you

19:21Would like to read

19:2212th Avenue

19:24Let me tell you

19:25Something right there

19:2512th Avenue South

19:28It may be

19:29Tom

19:30May not

19:31Be Tom

19:32It is

19:33It is

19:35It may not

19:36Or may have

19:37Been him

19:38That you saw

19:39On the corner

19:39But no

19:41We're not saying

19:42It was

19:43We won't say

19:44It was

19:45But

19:45No

19:45There's

19:46Pretty good

19:47Possibility

19:48That I was

19:48It could have been

19:50Could have been

19:52Well Tom

19:52Thank you so much

19:53Again for being

19:54On the show

19:54And thank you

19:55Guys so much

19:55For tuning in

19:56We're gonna put

19:57The link

19:57To his website

19:59The Amazon link

20:00All that

20:01In the description

20:01So it'll be easy

20:02For you guys

20:03To find it

20:03And Tom

20:04Again

20:04Thank you so much

20:05This has been

20:06Amazing

20:07And I had so much fun

20:08Thank you

20:09I appreciate you

20:11Thank you

20:12And thank you guys

20:13And see you guys

20:14Later

20:14Don't forget

20:15To dare to be

20:16Different

20:17All the time

20:17Bye

20:19Bye

20:31Thank you

20:32For watching

20:32You

Interview with author of 12th Ave South Tom Stewart - Memories are treasures

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