My Day Of Play 3 Crazy Unedited Talks With John Kim, Jenna Brooke Wallack And Captain's Dion And Niko

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This is my day of play, where you're taken into the really vans and actions of how it goes down

before the process of editing or cleaning up. The original purpose of these episodes was to give

my broadcasting students something to edit, to practice with, and to call their own. And then I

realized, wait a second, you are just as important as they are. We begin things with the angry

therapist John Kim, who returned in January of 2025 with a brand new book called Breaking Up on

Purpose. Oh my god. Then we're going to spend some valuable time with debut novelist Jana Brooke

Wallach, the creator of the story, Naked Girl. And we're going to wrap things up with Captain's

Jo Dianne and Nico Shapralis from Harpoon Hunters Found on Discovery. This is my day of play.

It is completely unedited in the way of meeting the wizard behind the curtain.

And you're growing forward with great strength. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate that.

I found that one of our neighbors did not have insurance. And that just, oh my, I can't even imagine

what that's like. You know, being who you are, how do you help now teach people their new healing

process? I realized we're supposed to be talking about breaking up. But in reality, when you lose

your home, that's a breakup as well. Absolutely. Ground zero, day one, starting from scratch. And

that's what I've been doing. You know, you know, I think the biggest thing is to not future

trip. Of course, there are things to do, you know, and you have to take care of your family.

But when you start to think about the unknown that you don't have the answers to, you fall into

very slippery well, and then you could get depressed and anxiety and you know, you can collapse

on yourself. When the average person does slip into that well, whatever the breakup is, is

writing a very important part of that journey because I feel like sometimes that we need to be

leaving some breadcrumbs behind. Yes, when you say writing, did you say writing or writing,

like writing more cycle or writing how about both? Because I am a daily writer in a book. I've

been doing that for 31 years. So I mean, it's like, to me, that's very important.

That's a huge, it's actually how I started my career. After my divorce, I had nothing. And so

I started a blog and I was writing daily and the blog was called the English Therapist. Wow.

Okay, I got to be honest with you, your book is coming out at the absolute perfect time. And the

reason I say this, we always think that, oh, the brand new year, there's going to be marriages,

people are going to announce their engagements. And in reality, there's an opposite side to that.

People are also breaking up and you have a book of healing here. Yeah, it's, they say technically,

it's a breakup season. Yeah, because people are, you know, with the new year, you're reviewing

all areas of your life, including your relationship. You may want something different, something

better. And so there's a lot of people going through what I call an expired relationship.

What about those couples that see this time of year as being, well, this is the fifth anniversary

of my big breakup. That's got to come with some sort of title. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if we

should, I mean, I guess it depends. You know, when you say the anniversary of a breakup,

it depends on your lenses where you're at, your mindset, but that could be a good thing,

but it could also be something maybe you shouldn't say if it's activating and it's just you

not willing to like go, you know, or something. I love the way that you break it down to the point

where you give each breakup a title, such as the romcom breakup. And in reading about this,

I instantly thought of people around me. I went, oh my God, this is going on with people I know.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, no one's really talked about the different types of breakups.

And there's no, there's no blanket one fits all as far as what's prescribed. I thought, well,

let's talk about the different types of breakups because each breakup, depending on what you're

going through, is going to require a different prescription. With that romcom, I mean,

basically, you're just starting all over, starting all over, starting all over. And all we hear

about is, well, this is the way it was. This is the way it is. This is how it's going to be. And

it's almost like a broken record. Yeah. I think you're talking about the breakup that never ends.

Yeah. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's, uh, it happens because

instead of, um, taking a time, a space for you to examine the black box and how the

playing went down instead of really doing a self inventory and any kind of discovery,

you just move on to the next person or the same person. And, uh, what happens is everyone

just repeats the same patterns. And that's why it becomes, you know, the breakup that never ends.

Well, is it because someone in the relationships pretty much feels like, well, I can fix them.

I'll fix them. And, and we'll, we'll be okay again. Yeah. I think it's a false hope. I think it's,

comfort, I think it's fear to be alone, you know, it's scary. What kind of transformations,

are we going through when it comes to a lot of these breakups? Because I mean, I, I have been

through a divorce and it changed my life forever. And it's become that beacon of light of, okay,

you're aware of it now, but don't go back. Yeah. I think, uh, divorce has changed many people,

but you know, also the divorce, depending on, um, if you really look at it and take ownership,

it can evolve you, it can grow you, but it can also be something that stunts you if you're not

willing to own anything and just point fingers, you know, is it kind of weird, though, that you're

seeing a lot of couples together that don't want to say, yeah, we're, you know, we're fiancees.

And, and, and, well, you know, we're together, but, but we're not really that serious, but we're

still living together. We're paying the bills together. It just seems like there seems to be an

evolution of that right now. Yeah, that's what I call the, um, I guess they're not broken up yet,

but that's what I call the flat soda. That's right. I got that here. You know, the, the, the,

the relationship that should have ended years ago and people are together because they're afraid,

whether together because it's convenient or, you know, they don't want to be alone. Um, and they're

just like roommates, right? Or they're just like platonic. And you know, the thing about that is,

you're also keeping someone hostage, right? You're, you're also not allowing the other person

to really, uh, experience the high notes of love. And to me, that's, it's so sad.

Man, when you say it that way, right away, I, I've seen people standing in front of me

that their body language says, you don't need to be together. Why are you together?

Yeah, like our parents, right? Yeah. God, do you hear that? Not all of our parents. Yeah, I should

say all of our, yeah, some of our parents. Now, I noticed that you dedicated the book to Logan,

your daughter. That's, that's special. That makes her, that has to make her feel very special.

Yeah, you know, the, um, I dedicated it to her. And then the next sentence I wrote on the next

page, maybe cry. And it was, um, because I know you'll go through many. Oh, and so she's five

years old. And you know, it's just life. I know she's going to get her heart broken. And so, um,

that's life. But here's the thing, you know, um, like transforming your body, like breaking down

muscles to grow about, grow back stronger. Hearts, um, hearts don't really break. They stretch,

you know, and so as we go through pain and we learn, uh, the capacity to love, I think grows.

That's very interesting that you say that because I've always, I've never really described it

lately as being a, you know, hearts that are breaking, but I rather call it a broken road. But I

like your idea of their stretching because that show is continuation. Yes. Yes. I think, uh,

a broken heart to me, that image is just so hopeless and discouraging. It's, you know,

I see like a plate shattering, you know, and that's not how our hearts are. The soap opera break

up. Oh my god, dude. Yes, the soap opera. That's, um, you know, the one two punch there is,

not only are you going through a broken heart, but now you're worried about your safety, right?

The needing to get a straighting order or the, uh, the X that won't leave, uh, that's now stocking

you, you know, um, there's a lot of breakups that aren't clean. There's a lot of breakups,

because they weren't mutual, uh, where they get very nasty. And it's very telling

of how the relationship was. So if a breakup is very toxic and, and people are slashing tires,

then that tells me the relationship was probably really unhealthy.

How did you make that connection with Susan and Darren when it came to that soap opera breakup?

Um, I mean, that was a lot of stories in a book and, uh, I've so many stories and also,

I'm 51, so I don't remember exactly Susan and Darren's story. But, uh, I think that was the one

where, um, and of course, these are, uh, made up names, but they're all clients and real stories.

Um, that was the one where, uh, she was too afraid to end the relationship. So, uh, I believe,

um, she cheated thinking that was going to be the way out and the whole thing backfired.

And, uh, you know, this kind of stuff is what we do in our 20s. And sometimes we have to do

this kind of stuff to learn and to grow and realize, um, that we need to be honest with ourselves.

That's so, that's so fascinating that you say that in, in our 20s, because you're absolutely

right, because I look at the 20s as being the playful things that we did that we couldn't do

with teenagers. Your 30s, you begin to mop up the mess. By the time you do hit 51, where you are

right now, it's like, okay, things look good. I'm going to live life the way I want to live it

right now. And that is I'm going to leave a clean life. Yes. And also you realize that love

isn't a classy poster, you know, so like, love is a daily choice and love is messy and love is

sometimes, um, never agreeing, right? And so, um, I think within our 20s, we see love because

that's just like this very laminated poster that we're trying to trace, um, you know, from media

movies, all that kind of stuff, but, you know, uh, fairy tale, uh, you know, you know, I mean,

starting with, uh, you know, Disney movies as a kid, um, happily ever after, you know, all of that.

And so by time you're 51, you realize the picket fence has sprinters.

When it comes to, you know, aging with love, it's, it's almost likely because I've been married

for 32 years. So therefore it's, it's like, it's beyond love. It's a friendship. It's a business

together and, and you work things out together by sharing. When, when, when did you learn that

in your personal life? Yeah, I think in the last five years, my current relationship,

we've been together for seven years and, uh, we have a child. So I've never had a child with

anyone else, which, you know, is, is, is a, is a whole other level of love. Um, I, I really like

the word partners. You know, I really think that's what love and relationship, um, because it is

a partnership, you know, especially if you have children or you have property. Um, we just lost

our house from the fires. And if it wasn't the partner, the strength of the partnership,

I don't know how I would, you know, give and get through this. So, um, love his partnership.

I, I, in going through this, I feel like that there should be like eight different episodes

on Netflix, where you, where you feature every one of these in the own, in their own style,

so that people can sit there and just have that conversation starter.

That's looks, if you're listening, did you hear that? Just making a great TV series.

You're absolutely right to show the range, right? To show the, that, that love,

isn't just one note. Um, absolutely. Yeah, because breakups are not the same. When, when, in my

family, at the same exact time, my brothers and sisters, we all went through a breakup and a

divorce. And it's like, but none of them were ever the same. We, we all had different reasons.

It just happened in that moment. Right. Uh, and also, um, we're always changing and, and, you know,

who would choose to love is always changing. Love is formless. And so, of course, uh,

the breakups are never going to be the same. You know, um, and that's something that I think

is in this conception is that, you know, it's a breakup like the last breakup. It's all you,

you need to do these things. And no, you're different now. What you may need is different.

We live in an age where politics is becoming the reason why people are splitting up. And, and it's

like, oh, God, how do we heal from this monster? Hmm. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it depends on

what's important to you. So, you know, things like politics, religion, values, um, you have to ask

yourself what you want as far as in your relationship. And that's what you build on, you know.

What have you learned from a journey like this? Because I mean, for you to step into eight

different styles of breakups, I mean, that means that as the writer, you had to kind of live it

first before you handed it over to us. Yeah, I've been through many breakups. I believe six

relationships, mostly long term. Um, the big thing that I've learned is that, uh, you could turn

your breakup into a breakthrough, you know, that breakups, uh, create a rich growth soil. But then

I also learned that that soil can calcify if you actually don't do the work and just keep dating

other people. Yeah. The person that leans too hard and won. And in fact, let's go this route,

wouldn't leaning on people. Co-dependency. Is that really, does it really exist? Because,

or is it just somebody who's afraid of walking away? No, it does really exist. Uh, we are,

we live in the kind of a co-dependent society as my partner, my partner, my partner,

Vanessa Bennett is also therapist. And, um, yeah, it's, it's there. It's sticky. I call it

the sticky and it's when you, um, don't really compromise, but you compromise sense of self,

right? So every relationship requires compromise, but not, not, not compromising self.

Is there one thing that we have in common with our breakups?

The one thing we have in common is, um, like I just said, that, uh, when a relationship expires

for when it ends, um, the soil to grow is really rich. It's actually an opportunity, uh,

for your evolution when you're ready, you know, because there's going to be some healing,

there's going to be times that you eat your feelings and lug yourself in a room. You just can't

stay there. Um, but if you're going through a breakup, this is an amazing time for you to really

position yourself, your life and, uh, and grow from this. Yeah, but John, I got to tell you,

I'm the freak that people say, dude, you should not have done that. I got divorced on June 21st,

1993. I was remarried on July 11th, 1993. It wasn't even a month later and I was already

remarried. And this one's lasted 32 years. Yeah. Well, maybe, um, the, the, the relationship maybe

ended years before. Absolutely. It did. It did. Yeah. So even though on paper, um, it felt like you

got a divorce and jumped into something new, um, maybe people were already done and checked out,

you know, months or years before. And so you had that runway to kind of explore yourself and

learn and grow, you know, you were in the relationship. And maybe that's the reason why I'm so attracted

to your book is the fact that, you know, even though it's been all of these years later, I'm still

looking for that answer and you're giving us these answers for, for, you know, to help heal

something that was in the past. So it isn't just a, hey, I'm going through a breakup today,

kind of book. It's for all people. Yeah. Thank you for saying that. It's not just for people

who are currently going through a breakup. Uh, we all have breakup residue. We all, you know,

reflect on old relationships. And it's about understanding them so we can heal and move forward.

I actually shared this book with, with a coworker because I said that, hey, look, here's a situation.

I know this is about human to human relationship. But it's also, I see a lot of business leaders

taking this book and understanding their crew and their team. Because it's a human experience.

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. At the end of something and the beginning of something new, I mean,

we're talking about rebirth. I mean, I'm going through this now. I mean, it would be a

blindsided breakup and has nothing to do with love. It has to do with me losing my house and the

fires, right? But it's the same kind of thing starting over grieving, you know, being blindsided,

trauma, dysregulated nervous system, all the things. How are you protecting your heart in the way

that, since you've gone through this loss of your house, that the music around you does not

become that, that mile marker that's on that highway, where every time you hear that song,

it's going to remind you of your home. How are you protecting your soul right now?

You know, it's one day at a time. It's not future tripping. It's allowing myself

forgiveness, compassion, space, patience. And, you know, for me, it's about

my nervous system, regulating my nervous system. So allowing myself to, you know, go on a motorcycle

ride, fitness is a huge part of my life, ice plunges, meditation, all that kind of stuff,

just to be grounded. So I'm not getting depressed or, you know, spinning in distorted thinking.

Did you have to reinvent fun?

Did you reinvent fun? Yeah, are you having to do that only because I'm always, you know,

looking because through meditation, because I go deep into meditation. And so, but I always come

out of it going, okay, now my intention is, what are you going to do? That's fun. You've already

traveled. Now, what are we going to do? That's fun. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I mean, I think we're,

I think that's prescribed no matter what, just in life. I think we need to, as you say, reinvent

fun. I call it seeking nectar. The reason I have a book called Ice Beam Isabel. I'll just say

duck. It rhymes with duck. And I wrote that book because I wasn't happy. I didn't have the ability to

reinvent fun. So after my divorce, I got a tattoo of a hummingbird on my left bicep as a reminder

to seek nectar. So I started to find joy. Or, you know, in your case, reinvent fun daily in

the little things. And I didn't have to, you know, the phone didn't have to ring. Someone didn't

have to, you know, give me something for me to enjoy life and seek nectar. Wow. Where can

people go to find out more about you and everything that you're part of? Social media at the

Angry Therapist across the board. I love it. You got to come back to this show anytime in the

future, John. I love getting really deep in our conversations. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Well, you'd be brilliant today, okay? I'm going to go reinvent some fun. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah. Bye, guys. All right. Please do not move. Jana Brooke Wallick is coming up next.

Jana Brooke Nollick, who in 2025 released her very first novel called Niga Girl. We are back.

Hello. Good morning. Hi, how are you? This is Jana Brooke Wallick. I have an interview this morning

with Arrow Collins. Yeah, that would be me. Hi. How are you doing today? I'm well. Thank you.

So where are you calling from? Where you're so happy? You're up beat. You're ready to rock and roll.

No, I'm like an interview mode. I'm trying to sound lively. Oh, you totally get that.

I live in New York. I live where are you? I'm in Carolina, North Carolina. Oh, nice. I grew up in

Florida. So I know a little South. It's a fake South because it's South Florida. But it's I now

live in upstate New York. That's awesome. What's the weather like up there these days? Because I mean,

you should be right in the middle of winter. We're right in the middle of winter. And normally our

winters are moody and moldy and dark and weird. But right now, it's very cold and snowy as it should

be so everybody completely forgets about the fact that the winters are getting warmer and warmer.

But we've just had a little snowstorm. So everything's white and reflective and lovely now. So

the weather with all of its mood changes. Is that one of the reasons why you chose to be a writer?

I don't know. My I have mood changes and those need to be expressed somehow. I don't think I chose

to be a writer. I know I totally agree with that. It's one of those things where it's like it's not

that I'm sitting here writing because I want to. It's because I have to or I'm going to implode.

Right. Like when you were 17, you weren't like, I think I'll be a podcaster and I'll do a lot of

and you know, it may have had a Jason stream that turned into this. But it's sort of like choose

your own adventure. You open this door and it leads you here. Then it leads these two doors and

it leads you there and you kind of wind up somewhere. And that happens to me with writing, I think.

Oh, that's so true because you're right. When I was in my teens, I wanted to be the professional

boulder. I lived in a bowling alley. But no, once I got my first bite in radio, that was it.

Being important. But that's such a good backstory. You wanted to be a professional boulder. You

don't hear that often. I love me some bowling. My son loves bowling. He doesn't do it that often.

But he's just like, why don't people do this more often? It's so much fun.

Your new book is absolutely fantastic in the way that you're bravely honest by putting

dysfunctional out there in a way that says, you know what? This is probably your family too.

We're going to take you back to the 1980s. Go ahead and admit it. You're going to relate with this

book. I hope that happens. I do hope that happens. And I hope even people who didn't grow up in the

80s relate to it because everybody's family has dysfunction. Anybody who's saying their family

isn't dysfunctional is like probably has the most. They don't want to open their mouth so skeletons

don't fall out. But you know, you're writing about a time period Miami Beach in the 1980s. That

was changing so quickly in that decade. Yes. I think that the real lightning fast change

kicked in in the 90s because I still have almost all of my people living in Florida and a lot of

them on Miami Beach. And my family actually has a nightclub on Miami Beach called Mangoes

Tropical Cafe. And it's been there. It's one of the oldest businesses there now. But my family

is owned it since 1955. So my family's been on the beach since the 50s and have seen all like

sort of from the last depression all the way up through the height of this current. I don't even

know where I am at Miami Beach. Like there's so much new construction when I'm home visiting.

I don't even know what street I'm on. Right. Exactly. That's what I believe. And it really

skyrocketed in the 90s. But in the 80s, it was in flux and yet central Miami Beach was kind of like

a shuttle. It was really kind of a small town where I grew up. Wow. Because Miami Beach kind of

goes in three sections. Now did the nightclub serve as as as a seed for for this storyline?

Not at all. Not totally unrelated. Yeah. Totally unrelated. In fact, the only thing that would be

present of the old Miami Beach on at least on South Beach of my book was actually that there was

tons. It was like the golden age of Jewish retirees and others. But a lot of Jews retiring

very cheaply in those cheap efficiencies and old age homes and ACLFs and nursing homes that

were all long ocean drive that are all like hot properties now. Wow. They're all nightclubs and bars.

But then they were not. They were all people lined up in their chairs watching the sunrise

and having services in the park. Oh my god. See, that's me. That's Americana right there.

It's I mean, the change is amazing, right? Just just sit long enough and the whole world will go

different right in front of your face. You don't have to do anything. See, that's the reason why I

write every morning at sunrise because I mean, if I get up any later, I'm going to miss a sunrise

and I'm grateful for every day that rises. Oh, I'm so jealous of people that can have routines

like that. Is it? Are you doing the artist's way? Because I love it and I used to do it. But my

entire life since July of 1994 has been Julia Cameron. In fact, I've been with Julia Cameron.

I interviewed her and now she's got this brand new book out as well. That's on and that you

listen to it. It's not even written. It's just listen to it. It's unaudible. And it's like it's

and it's just like amazing on how people like you, myself, we're helping to change people through

writing because of this woman. I will definitely be looking that up as soon as we hang up like that

is I have my son doing it now. My son just graduated from film school at NYU and he is truly an artist

and truly an artist doesn't start thinking about how to monetize everything truly an artist just

needs to keep expressing themselves and it's really hard to put together a way to pay for it.

And so when he has to, you know, do all of this practical stuff, it shuts down art sometimes.

And so I introduced into Julia Cameron because it's really a miracle. Wow. So basically,

that was your way of saying that you've got a movie on the way because you know a director that's

going to take Naked Girl and make it into that film. Remember that this person is my son and

therefore everything that I say is partially not good enough. And so as much as he loves and

respects me, I don't, I doubt it. But maybe one of his friends. That would be great. I do see it

as a film. Where did you learn the fine art of humor and the honesty to create imperfect love

inside your paragraph? Because I mean, you've got such a well balanced paragraph here.

That is such a good question. So humor, I feel like when you, when you, I had a weird childhood,

not a bad one, but a weird one, because this is not a memoir. Naked Girl is not a memoir, right?

It's a fiction. And it definitely draws heavily from my weird childhood, but not directly,

because if I chose to write a memoir, it would be far less interesting than this book, whereas

choosing to write fiction means I get to make aliens land if I want to, which I've made in. But

it does read like a memoir. Certainly if you like, you know, books like the perks of,

or if you, if you like books like The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells,

or running with scissors by Augustine Burrows, like this is up that same alley. And those are

true stories. But my weird childhood was like, my dad was a hippie seeker, and he ran kind of a

hippie nursing home on Miami Beach for many years. And then my mother and my stepfather were like

Reagan Republicans. And we lived in a very um, uh, typical kind of middle class household,

where I was like spraying a lot of aquanet into my bangs and going to be your school and making sure

my slouch, my socks slouched perfectly. So, um, and I was going back and forth to that where on

the weekend, I'd be like, make it in a blanket at a farmer's market, eating an organic carrot.

I'm having to take a shot of wheat grass juice to cure my flu. So it was very bizarre. And so you

definitely, if you don't develop humor in that going back and forth from that to that, you're

definitely going to have more problems than I've necessarily had in my life. So that's where humor

comes from. I think, and my family's funny. People are funny in my family. Wow. Wow.

I mean, to be fine on the wall when you're writing has got to be amazing because I mean, see,

a lot of readers don't understand what we go through when we're putting those words together,

because we laugh, we cry, we get angry, they're every, every emotion on the planet goes through

our fingertips. Yeah, it's true. And it's a lot of power, right? I mean, to make terrible things

happen to people and wonderful things happen to people just sitting at your kitchen table

or wherever you write. And that's a lot of power. It's amazing. And it feels when it works,

it's so great. And when it doesn't, it's just a bad day. So I do love the good days. I had a

good day recently working on my new project. And I was, sometimes it comes to you, I don't know

this happens to you, or sometimes it comes to you when you are not at the computer. And then you

have to figure out how to remember this big, very complete idea that comes and I have this

whole wealth of information flying into my head while I was cross country skiing. And I kept

stopping to leave voice memos on my phone. And I don't remember any of it now. And I haven't

listened to them yet. So hopefully I'm able to write from them later. Yeah, but you know what I

call that? I call that dear future reader. Yeah, that's good. Because we capture a moment. And,

you know, as long as you document it, because I've been with so many different rock stars and

movie stars that have those ideas and they put them in their phone. And then several years later,

they come back and say, okay, now it's time to really grow this forward. Yes. Yeah. And this has

been cooking for me for a long time. So the fact that it's starting to bubble over the pot is

really helpful because I haven't had a regular, well, I haven't had a regular writing practice

until recently for a few years due to life. And when you're also promoting a book and you're working

on getting a book published and getting a book out there, you're thinking about the book you've

already written, it's hard to get a new practice of writing something new, getting so deeply into

the world. It depends on how you write, but when you write literary fiction, it's so deep and

personal and it's so specific and detailed. It will be very confusing to be thinking about two

things, so detailed at the same time. So I'm excited to get that back. Well, the one thing that a

lot of people don't understand is that when we escape the world to go write a book, we it's not

that we're not living life. It's just that we're living the book. And that's one of the reasons why

I'm a daily writer and I put things in print on those pages for a reason. Because I don't know what

happened during the two and a half years in my last book, but I can go to my journals and it will

tell me what I did do while I was writing that book. Right. Oh, that's cool. I wish I, I wish I

journaled. I have some of my kids journal and I never picked up the practice. I think my journal,

but I don't write it down. Right. I do write. And when I have a daily writing practice, it really helps.

There was an author, there is an author named Hannah Tinty, who I did a workshop with. And she's

brilliant teacher and a really talented writer. And she says like, you know, that undercurrent that

the turtles are flying in and finding Nemo where there's deep, deep under the ocean, there's this

current. You can't see it's like a river in the ocean. And every day that you write, you get

closer and closer to that current where it becomes really easy because it's your practice. And every day

that you don't, you go up another level toward the surface away from that wonderful river where

it's all juicy and it's much easier. So I have several days left to get back down to that and

working my way back down to that underground river. Now, the mansion that's featured inside the

book, Naked Girl, is it a real mansion? Because I mean, Jackson Jones relocates his family to this

mansion. And it's in and of all things, it's condemned. It's a condemned mansion. Yes. So,

people who live in South Florida know these houses. I was kind of thinking, well, now they don't

because now they're worth, you know, $40 million. But when I was growing up, we would break into

them and like wander around on the weekends if something was boarded up because, you know, if you

live in a neighborhood long enough, they'll be a house that gets abandoned or someone doesn't

pay their taxes or something. So there were a few like that in the 80s on my street, which was a really

fancy street on one side. And on the other side, as kids, we really didn't know we were not poor.

We were not rich, but we were not poor, but there was like, across the block from one of the

mansions, there would be like seven houses, you know, so on on a quarter of an acre each, and then

the mansion would be on two or three acres on the water across the street. And so Barry Gibbs

still lives in one of these mansions. And yeah, so and allegedly, President Kennedy had his

affair with Marilyn Monroe in one of these mansions, like there's all kinds of lore, but they're all

completely bought up and renovated by bajillionaires now. But there were Mediterranean houses,

and they were like crumbling because they had been built in the 1920s and had been neglected by

whatever owner. And I was thinking a little bit great expectations and Miss Havishem's house.

And I mentioned that in the novel. And and so in naked girl, they kind of acquire by foreclosure

for some sort of cheap price. I don't even know if it's legal or not. One of these, you know,

basically just condemned knock down places. And this mansion that they're living has trees

growing through the windows, crumbled up floors. There's living things in the house scratching around.

It is not closed to the elements. And it's just that's how they're living in there. And it's

probably not safe. You paint a room very well. Is that something you picked up in the artist way?

No, I actually work as a designer. So I know these details and how to describe them.

Yeah. I'm also an oversharer. So when you when you my normal writing style would be to like

barf up way too much. And then I get to the point. It's easy for me to put down five pages.

It's hard for me to turn them into one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that

editing process. How much of it had to be put on that on the editing floor? Well, I wrote the book

for 12 years. For 12 years from five to seven a.m. while I was raising kids. It was like a

stay-at-home mom existential dilemma project. And then I went back to work after. Wow, wow. Are

you going to write more books like it? Because I mean, this is definitely one of those where you go,

okay, next, next, next. Thank you for saying that. I really appreciate it. And I'm so grateful to

be here as well. I didn't get to say that when we started talking. But I think that we yes,

the answer is yes, I'm working on another book. And this book is utterly not like it and exactly

like it in the way that I think all of my books would, if I made my own genre, it would be

dysfunctional family drama. That's my invention. And that, and that in my dysfunctional family

drama, and my next book, there are two married couples who are also kind of in a claustrophobic

situation with a very difficult problem to solve. So, and it may or may not take place on earth

and that would be the hint that I would think. But it's not sci-fi and it's not genre,

it's literary fiction, but it's just putting real people with huge histories, just very

memoir like real people in a situation where they, all of their human flaws will be exposed and

challenged. I think that that's most interesting. Oh my god, where can people go to find out more about

you? Oh, well, they can go to jannabrookwolic.com, my website. They can google me. All of that will come

up with fake google jannabrookwolic. It's w-a-l-a-c-k. And if you just google naked girl janna,

it'll all come up as well. And the book is for sale everywhere. You know, if you google it,

you'll find a bunch of places for sale, even if you wanted to pay less for it. It's always on

bookshop.org. And I always encourage people to go to their local indie bookstore and ask to order

it so that those places still exist. But it's on amazon. It's everywhere for sale. And it's

on audible and I do the reading. Good. Good. My voice. Oh, what was that experience like for you?

That was so much fun. I recorded with this engineer Brett Barry who has his own studio up here in

New York. And he's brilliant. And it took like three or four days reading for, you know, 15

hours, doing all the voices, getting confused, changing the voice halfway through unwittingly

and having to go back. But it was so challenging and cool to act out these characters that I created.

See, I've done that as well. And the thing about it is, though, is that when you're on page number,

let's say 35 and you realize there's 275 pages, you can go through so many mood swings.

It's challenging. You wouldn't think it's challenging to sit and read a book, but when the books

350 pages, it's challenging. It is. It really is. And then when you get the yips, if you know what I

mean, when you when you get the yips, you have a wonderful voice, by the way, so I would listen to

anything that you read. But when you get the yips where it's like, now you're thinking about messing

up so you start. Your lips go numb. Yeah, it's really crazy. And I love the new experiences of

this whole adventure of finding out all these different things. You gotta come back to this show

anytime in the future. The door is always going to be open for you. Oh, I love it. Thank you so

much for having me. This is fantastic and easy and great. And I would love for people to go out

and remake it girl by Jana Brooke Wallick. I really hope you enjoy it. And it was really fantastic

to meet you and talk to you. Well, you'd be brilliant today. Okay. Thank you so much. Have a

great day. Thanks for this. Oh, don't move. Coming up next from Harpoon's Honor on Discovery.

Captain's Joe and Nico. Hey, thank you so much for coming back to my day of play. Let's get

into that talk with Captain's Joe and Nico from Harpoon Hunters on Discovery. Your mics go ahead

and say hi to arrows. Do we know he has you? Hello. Hey, guys, how are you guys doing today?

Thank you. It's got to be really weird for you guys to be doing these interviews today and not

out there on that boat doing some spears fishing. Man, I'm telling you guys are like the most

dangerous people on the planet right now. Something like that. Yeah, we're getting used to it.

How do you get used to something like that? Because the water has to be so unpredictable.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, so these the bluefin tuna fishery stops June first. And we

need it. We chase these fish around on weather days where we need the sunlight and we need the flat

seas. So we're able to see them. It gets pretty crazy and there's a big competition on chasing

these fish. Wow. Well, Nico, one of the things that I've learned about you is that and I didn't

know this even existed, but you guys are really strong in protecting harpooning rights because I

didn't know that there that there was even being questioned, but I'm glad that you're putting it

out there. Yeah, I mean, over the last several decades, I mean, basically our way of life

has been threatened in several different ways. I mean, you know, back a couple decades ago,

we had our airplanes taken away by the government. We fought and won that in federal court to get

our airplanes back. And then they tried to list bluefin tuna under, you know, an endangered species

and through an aerial survey and a lot of tagging work that myself and my father did with blue

fin tuna, we disproved that. And we have we've worked really hard on the conservation side

of this fishery to preserve this resource. And in the last 10 years, the stock has rebounded

quite quite efficiently. And now the population of giant Atlantic bluefin tuna is more than

it's ever been. So we've done a great job conservation wise. And you know, that has just made

the fishery very healthy. And it's good to see our efforts kind of be fruitful in the preservation

of this great resource. This show we're talking about is harpoon hunters on discovery. Joe, you have

paid your dues. I mean, to go from a doc rat all the way up to where you are right now, I mean,

you understand this lifestyle. Yeah, that's right. You need you need a passion for the water.

And if you're passionate about anything, you'll succeed. Growing up, I was working on try to

boats, running around the docks, taking any job I could get on the water. And then when I was

in my mid 20s, I purchased my first hot-poon boat for pretty cheap money. But then

after a while, got good at it. And now, you know, it's a way of life. And we're excited for you guys

get to take a peek at it and see how we harvest these fish every summer.

Niko, when you're that far out above the water, and the only thing you've got is that harpoon

and the fish. How do you even have balance out there? Because I mean, what do you spend like 52

weeks a year doing nothing but working out so you've got four or four week window to get it done?

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely something that it takes a really long time to master doing.

And the only way to really master it is to do it. And obviously, you know, when you talk about

commercial fishing as a whole, it's a very expensive endeavor between fuel, dockage,

insurance, you have a crew to pay for. So it's definitely something that, you know, I have the

benefit of being raised in the industry. And I've been on the back of a boat ever since I was nine

years old. So for someone that's kind of like, you know, looking to just get into it now,

I don't even know how someone would go about doing it, you know, it's mostly a multi-generational

fishery. And most of the really good harpooners that are out there today have been doing it since they

were, you know, either children or, you know, teenagers. So it's a really unique industry in that way

where it's definitely a family business. And, you know, we take a lot of pride in the way that we

do it. And it's, it's definitely not only a career, but it's a lifestyle.

Joe, aren't you in a very creative way, proving to the world that you don't have to be

Tom Brady to throw something where it needs to be? I mean, you are an expert at throwing that

harpoon. How did you get it to be spot on? Well, a lot of misses.

I don't care who you are. You're going to miss. It's a hard, you're throwing

spear at a fish that's about 20 feet away from you. It's freely swimming that can die

away at 60 miles an hour at a kick of a tail. So the anticipation is where you

where you where you where you learn. So it takes a long time. A lot of times early harpooners

they'll throw too early or they'll wait too long. So it's that it's that you need to have that

harpoon in the air right before they realize something's wrong. And if you don't have it that way

that you're not going to get you're not going to connect. Nico, I've done salmon fish and King

salmon salmon fishing up in the Pacific Northwest. I know how heavy those fish are. I can't imagine

what when you're bringing in a tunnitude. Yeah, so the the minimum size requirement for us to be able

to retain a bluefin is 73 inches and a bluefin that size would be anywhere from 200 to 250 pounds.

So you know you think that these fish get all the way up to a thousand pounds. So that just

goes to show that when you're talking about a fish that's you know from 73 inches to 81 inches

that's considered a medium bluefin which you know that's already one of the biggest fish in the ocean.

So these things get up to well over a hundred inches long and over a thousand pounds. So yeah they

definitely they definitely have some girth to them. And you guys aren't afraid to talk about the

reason why you do this. I mean this is a bona fide business. And because we all eat sushi and

it has to come from sunwear and and basically you guys are the beginning of that journey.

Yeah, that's right. So the electrified harpoon kills the fish instantly so that no lactic acid

builds up in the meat. I'm like you know a net fish or a rod and real fish. These fish swimming

along and then we throw the spear at them. So it's the best quality bluefin you can possibly get.

And that's why we do it and that's why we make money doing it.

Now Nico with global warming taking place how much is that screwing up your game?

I mean you know every season is different and at the start of every season you know you really

have to kind of get a feel for what's going on because the fish don't necessarily show up in the

same place every time every season. So the first you know two or three days is really more like

a scouting mission where it's really advantageous to have somebody like Joe who you know we work

really well together and we trust each other as captains to be able to be honest with each other

about what's going on. So you know once you once you locate the fish it's it's a much easier

endeavor because it's a really big ocean and with there only being 20 or 30 boats you know we're

in fierce competition with each other and it just so happens that you know Joe and I we have

a very similar mentality and a very similar fishing style so we work together really well to be

able to find these fish and get on the meat and and put fish on the deck quickly. That's the name

and I think what you'll get to see by watching Harpoon Hunters is that the population has

significantly increased over the last decade because of the efforts with the fishermen and the

government working together. You'll see the drone footage unlike Wikituna which this production

company did we have drone footage capturing or viewing the fish in their natural habitat and

you'll see bunches of hundreds of them swimming together and we only take one fish at a time so

you'll get to really see how sustainable this fishery is. Wow you guys have got to come back to

this show anytime in the future the door is always going to be open for you. Thank you very much

I appreciate you having us. Great thank you. You bet you guys be brilliant today okay?

Awesome. Thank you. You have a good day as well.