In this episode of Fearless Formula, host Sharon Cline interviews Darrell McNeal, a life insurance advisor and author of “Lessons Learned: A William Briggs Adventure.” Darrell shares the inspiration behind his young adult book series, which began after his grandson’s concern during Hurricane Michael.
He discusses the challenges of writing and the rewarding feedback from readers. He also talks about his passion for taekwondo, the importance of trying new things, and his plans to donate proceeds to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Darrell McNeal is the author of “Lessons Learned, a William Briggs Adventure.” He’s a retired Ball Ground, Georgia resident, and this is the first novel in this series.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Fearless Formula with Sharon Cline.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:17] Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. And I am your host Sharon Cline. Today on the show we have a life insurance advisor, but also he had worked at the Providence Group, but he is the author of a book called Lessons Learned: A William Briggs Adventure. He’s from Ball Ground, Georgia. Welcome to the show, Darrell McNeal.
Darrell McNeal: [00:00:44] Thank you. Thank you so much.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:45] You’re welcome. I love that you’re from battleground.
Darrell McNeal: [00:00:48] Oh, yeah. It’s neat. Very neat place to be from.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:50] It is Cherokee County, of course, but I, I think it’s just the the cutest town and so many really wonderful things are happening, not the least of which an author. You just had your first book signing, which was at the barrel House Coffee Company in Ball Ground, which is a wonderful place to get coffee and wonderful people who run it.
Darrell McNeal: [00:01:09] Oh yeah, great people. Katie and Ryan Turnage, good friends, good place. Tim, who’s the barista there? And I mean, just fantastic. Yeah.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:20] Katie was on the show at one point. It was just really fun to talk to her about how they got started. So I love that there are so many intersecting lives and businesses that can all kind of help each other.
Darrell McNeal: [00:01:30] Yeah, they they’re great. And I was honored to be able to be at their place.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:35] Well, let’s talk a little bit about your book. It’s a young adult book. It is. And it’s a series, correct?
Darrell McNeal: [00:01:43] Uh, yes. Planned to be a series.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:45] Planned to be a series. Okay. So let’s talk about the kind of the backstory behind your book I know that you have, um, some of your favorite authors, John Grisham, a couple other ones that have always been kind of in your background and you’ve always thought maybe you’d write a book, but you didn’t know when. But now that you’re kind of older, like you have grandkids, there was like an inspiration. You had to write a book. Do you want to talk about that?
Darrell McNeal: [00:02:08] Sure, absolutely. Um, I had always wanted to write a book. My mother, it was a career educator and retired, and she had always talked about it. I’d heard about it, um, went through certainly life corporate world and, and, and like.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:25] Most of us.
Darrell McNeal: [00:02:25] Just kind of thought about it. Um, you never have.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:28] Time when you’re in the corporate world or you think.
Darrell McNeal: [00:02:30] Retired, taught school at Rinehart for a little while, about a year and a half and, and, um, just kept it kept coming up. And so about, um, I don’t know, it was probably about 3 to 4 years ago when Hurricane Michael hit the coast in Panama City. Uh, we have a little home there. And, uh, the realtor that helped us get the home was collecting supplies for the victims of Hurricane Michael. And, um, I was, um, listening to my wife talk about with her about that. My grandson was listening at the same time. And as we were, uh, pushing the streets of Ball Ground with my goldendoodle, Charlie and and him, we, um, he asked me, could we stop and pray for the children of Hurricane Michael? Oh, my. And, uh, so I was like, man, um, I think I’ve got the world that I wanted to create. So I met a guy not long ago. Um, he does some work with my son in law, Josh Bagby, Pete Sroka and Sadowski. I’m sorry. And, um, he, um. He said something about him publishing a book, I asked. I told him I’d always wanted to do it. He said, well, I can help you with that part if you have the world in your mind. And I said, I do, and it was the lessons that you impart, um, at this stage of my life to folks such as your grandkids. And it’s the things that, you know, came, came about and it’s basically about where do you get your truth?
Speaker3: [00:04:05] And. Wow. Mhm.
Darrell McNeal: [00:04:07] So um, we started on it and um, it’s, it’s a fun adventure. Um, to do the book process and then um, the storyline um, is mirrored that in that there were lessons I wanted to impart. And part of those lessons came as the book unfolds, I refer back to Scripture that is important to me in my life and has been, uh, something that that’s the constant in life that you if you’re a person of faith, you’re going to go back to your faith and you’re going to find the Scripture that supports that situation and how to how to deal with it.
Sharon Cline: [00:04:49] So when you were looking at the story and it was unfolding for you, did you already have the beginning, middle, end, and then you started writing, or did you write start to write? And then it kind of unfolded as you went?
Darrell McNeal: [00:05:01] Um, yeah. Um, I had the I had the world from a broader perspective. And so, um, it was more like, uh, you faced face issues in life, with relationships, with being away from home, with being lonely, uh, conflict, new newness of things. And I had kind of the broad, but the details came in the doing. And so Briggs, my grandson and I, um, take, uh, taekwondo together. He talked me into that. And so I, a lot of the book has that element in it, and, uh, I had to research that. And then so the details came as we went along and it kind of moves on its own.
Sharon Cline: [00:05:49] Got you. I found it so interesting in the description that it’s, um, obviously like you’re talking about, um, very important life lessons that this character William learns as he’s, as he goes through his adventures. But that you had South Korea as part of the story, which made me wonder if you’ve been to South Korea.
Darrell McNeal: [00:06:13] I have not, and where that came from was the taekwondo. And so it originates in South Korea. And you do a little research about that. And um, and then the culture of South Korea.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:25] Yes. Like you had to learn.
Darrell McNeal: [00:06:26] And so I learned a little bit about that. And um, just wanted to give a flair for it. I don’t I’m not sure how many people in Ball Ground know about South Korea.
Speaker3: [00:06:35] I know I.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:36] Was like, what? Because the book is set in ball ground, which is so cute to, you know, shout out to ball ground, but just imagining, you know, the whole entire world out there. Um, I mean, I hadn’t really considered a book that would sort of focus from, you know, ball ground to, to South Korea. So I thought it was really creative and interesting and.
Darrell McNeal: [00:06:53] And the adventure, um, part of, you know, tying the adventure into it. So William takes a mission trip to South Korea. He’s excited about it because of taekwondo. They’re, um, there to build a facility to, uh, to share Christ and to hopefully save lives. And they do. And so but along the way, he learns the culture of South Korea and friends. And so that was the mission and other things come into play. So it kind of tried to tie it all together.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:29] So were there things that you learned when you were writing that kind of surprised you? You know, to be an author, as a new author, were there things that you learned that you’re like, I had no idea about my personality or the things that I wanted or liked? Um, or were there things that you wish you could have told yourself in the beginning as you as you progressed?
Darrell McNeal: [00:07:50] Yeah, I think so. Um, a couple of things is just how to try to stay on point with the story of the lessons learned and add dynamics to the story and, um, the relationship. Um. Uh, the relationships that are in the book. And, uh, would it be friends, whether it be with family and, uh, so, yeah, I think I think I was a little bit surprised where we ended up, um, compared to where I was going with it. I think the overall theme of the book, where it was the lessons that I was trying to impart. Um, the character, one of the characters in the book, which is William’s grandfather, um, he tells some of these lessons that he’s learned. So it’s similar, similar to what I try to do with my kids, my grandkids.
Sharon Cline: [00:08:47] It’s so sweet because it’s like you’re you’re writing this story, but it’s a little like, obviously it’s a part of your soul that’s in this book and that, you know, you get to leave that for, you know, your grandkids and your future grandkids and all of that. I mean, how special is that?
Darrell McNeal: [00:09:03] Yeah, that’s real special. And, um, you know, I do have it out there. Um, I don’t know if they’ll read it or not, but it’s certainly there. And it does it. I guess it does tell a little bit of insight on how you think and feel. And at the end of the day of, you know, at the place I am in my life right now to be able to share that journey in, in a, in a simple book like that, um, with what I think is important to know. And, um, everyone has their own journey, you know, it’s everyone has their own journey and everyone has their own ministry if they’re a person of faith. And so, um, it’s a lot of my life today is based on, uh, when Jesus sent the 72 out and, and and, uh, Luke chapter nine and ten to, to go out there and I think that’s where I’m at. And so it kind of kind of made sense for me.
Speaker4: [00:09:57] Absolutely. And I think.
Sharon Cline: [00:09:58] What’s fascinating, too, about all, of, all of your journey is that it’s always been a dream of yours and you just never knew the right time, the right motivation. But then everything kind of all came together at the right time. And that always kind of fascinates me with in life that sometimes you can’t make something happen, but just the right scenario happens to unfold in front of you.
Speaker3: [00:10:21] Yeah.
Darrell McNeal: [00:10:21] And the and the book itself, not only the lessons, scriptural lessons learned that you can lean on the truth, but it even made even more sense. I currently work actively with FCA Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and any net proceeds of any of these books will go to FCA.
Sharon Cline: [00:10:43] That it was so impressive that you said that.
Speaker3: [00:10:45] Yeah.
Darrell McNeal: [00:10:45] And, uh, so I go out in the morning and we do, uh, huddles with the coaches and, and student students and student players and, um, it’s the same type messaging that you talk about every day that you can put down in print. And, um. It just. It just feels like it’s where I’m supposed to be at this time and what I’m supposed to be doing, I do, I do, you know, help Josh and his business some. Yeah.
Speaker3: [00:11:15] I saw that on.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:15] Your on your Facebook page. I think that’s wonderful. You get to work together.
Darrell McNeal: [00:11:18] I get to work with Josh, and then my son and his wife have a regenerative farming ex, uh, uh, outside of Athens and, uh, Georgia and, uh, we, I go over and help them, too, so I can be a farm boy on occasion as well.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:35] So you I believe you lived in Alabama at some point, is that correct?
Speaker3: [00:11:40] That’s correct.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:41] And then. And how long have you been here in ball ground then?
Darrell McNeal: [00:11:44] Well, we moved to Ball Ground from Hickory Flat about nine years ago. Uh, we I.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:49] Bet it seemed quieter than it does now.
Darrell McNeal: [00:11:52] It’s quiet, but it was real quiet at that time. And, uh, I was like, man, where did we move?
Speaker3: [00:11:58] No, but, um.
Darrell McNeal: [00:11:59] You know, my wife Sherry and I, uh, were we’re looking to build a little, uh, retirement type home in Florida and got the opportunity to do that by moving, you know, to a little bit smaller place in ball ground. And so it was kind of a strategy there. And then, um, but I grew we both my wife Sherry and I both grew up in Alabama and I grew up in Decatur, Cullman area, and she grew up in Cullman, Alabama. And, uh, work took me here 26 years ago, and I worked with an insurance company at that time, uh, based out of Montgomery, Alabama. Alfa insurance. And I was a, uh, ended up being a corporate marketing officer and retired there, um, in 2021, February 1st of 2021.
Sharon Cline: [00:12:47] When you look at where you’ve come from and then where you are now, it does feel like when would you have ever had an opportunity to really become because financial responsibilities, I mean, this is what stops people a lot from pursuing many of their dreams. Is that sort of, well, how am I going to support my family or how am I going to make this work? Um, so sometimes it is timing, of course, but did you ever think that you would really become an author? Like, what does that feel like for you?
Darrell McNeal: [00:13:12] Well, um, I did I did feel like I would do it. It was just like you said, finding the time. And, um, I’m pretty intentional when I get started, but, um, I think I think more so than than not is the fact that I felt like the Lord was saying, now’s the time.
Sharon Cline: [00:13:30] And what did it feel like that you. That you felt that like, what did it feel like when you it was it just like someone almost like tapping your shoulder, like always bringing it to to your mind?
Speaker3: [00:13:42] Yeah.
Darrell McNeal: [00:13:42] It was sort of, I think, um. The times that we live in are, um, I think I think a wholesome book is needed, one that, um, you know, that was telling a message and young people could have, uh, there’s a lot of distraction out there with social media, which is great in a lot of ways, but it’s also distracting. I deal with these younger folks, and I just felt it was a good timing for that. But I felt a nudge to do it. And, um, honestly, I don’t know that there’s ever anybody ever has 100% time to do any of the things that they want to do. You just have to stop and say, I’m doing it.
Speaker3: [00:14:24] You just choose.
Darrell McNeal: [00:14:25] You just yeah, make priorities. People do what they want to do.
Sharon Cline: [00:14:28] That’s the bottom line. So coming up with the story and making it relevant to today, I like that you’re talking about how these themes apply in all kinds of different scenarios, like when you’re with your FCA or right people, and then also with just young children. But what what would you say are some of the pervasive themes in the book, like the main story? Is it sticking true to who you are? Is it? Um, I know that you have some listed on, on, um, your Amazon page for the book, which is just really great because it gives you kind of a nice synopsis of the story. But what would you say to, to listeners are the main themes of the of the book?
Darrell McNeal: [00:15:12] Well, you know, first, it’s a Christian adventure story and it fits a space that not a lot of a lot of books are in. And, um, the second thing is, I think the overall if you if you get through the book and you look back on it, you know, it’s about the relationship that we have with our Heavenly Father, and we’re not always wanting to listen.
Sharon Cline: [00:15:33] And I’m sorry. I’m laughing because I’m like, what? Do you know my story?
Darrell McNeal: [00:15:38] We’re not the instructions are there. The the love is there. The truth is there. But we don’t always want to listen to it.
Speaker3: [00:15:44] It’s so true. It’s.
Darrell McNeal: [00:15:45] And so at the end, the relationship that he finds with his own father is the same as he finds with his Heavenly father. The second thing I would say is they there’s always going to be something you face, whether it be loneliness, whether it be conflict in relationships, whether it be away from home, particularly young people, you know, trying to find themselves. Um, and then who are your advocates? You know, and then how do you engage the task at hand? And so the, um. Those are the overarching things. The other thing is people sometimes volunteer to do certain things and the outcomes different.
Speaker3: [00:16:31] So true.
Sharon Cline: [00:16:31] I was just thinking that in the book that something happens that’s very unexpected and unintentional. That hurts his relationship with a friend of his. And I think, how many times have I done that where my intention is good, you know, but then how do you have resilience for that? Or how do you even have forgiveness for yourself for that?
Darrell McNeal: [00:16:50] Yeah. And there is an element to there. When he has conflict, he has conflict with the new friend, and he refers back to his, um, person that, um, you know, his how, how, how do I deal with it? And he gives an example, uh, his grandpa gives an example of when he’d messed up and how he had to go through and just actually ask for forgiveness from that person. And too many times today, are we willing to do that? Are we willing to listen to those folks that came before us and find out how they dealt with things? And, um, you know, power power’s in the ability to take yourself out of the equation.
Sharon Cline: [00:17:35] What do you think has been the most rewarding part of your book journey and being an author, what’s been like the most satisfying part for you?
Darrell McNeal: [00:17:44] Um, I think for me that, um. Just maybe a comment that said, man, I enjoyed that. That touched me. Um, it it helped me think about something different. You know, I think that I think that’s it. It’s not, um, if it can help one person understand or maybe have a better experience the next time, maybe search out a truth in the scripture that they wouldn’t have done. That’s all. It was worth that.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:13] Do you have people that you consider like mentors for you to help you as you’re going through your journeys here?
Darrell McNeal: [00:18:20] Um, well, you know, from the book perspective, Pete, naturally was a great mentor. My family, I get a lot of source of truth from them. Got great kids, you know, um, great great grandkids. I mean, they’re all great. My mom and dad are great. Um, you know, my my spiritual mentor growing up was my my what we call Mama Whittaker. She was that kind of that constant source. Um, my mom and dad have been wonderful all my life. They’ve actually told me sometimes, uh, probably that I was more talented than I was. Oh, but.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:54] That’s what parents do.
Darrell McNeal: [00:18:55] Yeah. You know, so they were good. They were good. But, um, I think, you know, there are people. Pastor friends. Um, I’ve been blessed with a lot of good Christian friends. Um, that gave me men and women and, um, uh, I would say my coaching friends that I, you know, Coach Ball at Sequoia for eight years and they, you know, just those experiences. And, uh, I have some great work friends at my former work, and, um, I just lean on I just listen to them and find, you know, a lot of times I learn a lot more that way. They’re smarter. I’m not a great listener. I’m really not. But I try to, I try to, I try to absorb some of it.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:37] Will you listen this time to make the book like you? Someone was telling you what to do here. But I like what you’re talking about is having this drawer of people in your life that each person has, like maybe a nugget of wisdom that you kind of were able to get and absorb and, and then use to be, you know, help you to be courageous, to write a book, you know, were you ever unsure of what you were doing? You know, a lot of people have stories in their minds, but they think, oh, I don’t know if anyone’s going to buy it. You know, they fear let’s them stop them. So what was your sort of fearless formula to to just push forward?
Darrell McNeal: [00:20:11] Well, I prayed about it a lot. And and you know what messages what what were the scriptures and messages that, uh, that I needed to to include and write.
Sharon Cline: [00:20:24] Because there could be so many, right.
Darrell McNeal: [00:20:27] But the situation if you read the book, you know, a situation occur and, and I’m a verse would come to mind or I would reach out research one out. And at the end of the day, you know, I just prayed about it. I got, you know, I listened, you know, I just got it imparted on me from, from the Lord that this is what it needed to be. And so if I had that right, I felt if I got that right, then the rest would take care of itself. And I, you know, like I said, I want to I want to sell a lot of books just for the simple fact that FCA needs, you know, those resource partners. But in reality, if it affects one person positively, that was that was enough. And, you know, John 14 six became my signature verse in my mind. It wasn’t the one starting out, but it became that, you know, um, you know, Jesus looks at the disciples and he says, I’m the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the father except through me. So I didn’t know that was going to be it. I did not that was not what I thought would be the verse that came most, um, you know, prominent. But it did.
Sharon Cline: [00:21:35] Well, isn’t it interesting how that happens? You know, because certain things will come into mind that seem the most important. But that’s not what you would have ever predicted. So I love that you have this sense of peace about it.
Sharon Cline: [00:21:50] You know, like there’s not this anxiety of I’ve got to market it and I’ve got to sell it, and I’ve got to work really hard. I mean, you, of course, would love for that to happen because you know that you’re benefiting someone else besides yourself, but you have a sense of it’s going to land where it needs to land.
Darrell McNeal: [00:22:06] And I think, um, you know, going in, um, like you say, you stay in prayer. This is something that’s been certainly on your mind. Uh, I think anything that you. Um. You know, a lot of times we want instant things today, of course. And so we say, you know, we check the box, you know, Lord, thank you. Help us with this. And we check the box and you go on and you’re thinking, well, I wonder what didn’t happen. I prayed about it 30 minutes ago.
Darrell McNeal: [00:22:35] These things take you know, this has been in the works. Um, my first thought of a book when I was in high school, and that’s a long time ago. And, um, and it kind of fades. And then I kept thinking about it, and then I was in, in, you know, in, in senior management at a company. I thought, well, I’ll write, I’ll write a sales book or I’ll write a management book. And it’s like, no, no, that’s, that’s not it. And um, then as time went on, I, it became clear what the book should be about, but not necessarily. I didn’t have the 100% the story, but I knew what the I knew what the truths were. So yeah. So it’s it’s exciting to know that, um, maybe, you know, out there and the Lord will and the Lord will find that person for me. It’s not me finding them that will affect them positively.
Sharon Cline: [00:23:28] It’s so it’s so, um, like, heartwarming too, because you have such a sense of giving back, you know that. It’s not. It’s like a win win, which is always my favorite. Right? So you you get to fulfill a dream, but then you also get to have other people benefit from your dream, you know. And so and it sounds like you’ve had this dream, you know, for so long that it must be very satisfying to be like, oh my gosh, I’m on Amazon, you know?
Darrell McNeal: [00:23:59] All of that was weird, to be honest with you, was, you know, when you see your name on a book or you see that’s just kind of weird to me. I mean, it’s like, uh.
Darrell McNeal: [00:24:08] You know, I would be remiss to say, you know, if I didn’t say that, you know, it was it was it was fun to see. And it was it was exciting. But then at the same time, um, it was just a little weird. I mean, it’s you just.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:23] Well, you seem like a very humble person. So to have your name out there in such a public way, probably, I don’t know.
Darrell McNeal: [00:24:29] Uh, well, I hope to be. Now, I don’t know that I’ve always been humble in my life. I think I was a little more, I said confident. My wife said. My wife said cocky. But, um, I have been less humble, less, uh, but.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:45] Interesting that you coached, uh, ball at Sequoyah High School, which is just up the street from here. Was it baseball?
Speaker3: [00:24:52] Baseball? Oh no way. Yeah, yeah. Awesome.
Darrell McNeal: [00:24:55] Yeah. We had had done a lot of youth, uh, sports and baseball. And then, uh, when my children left Sequoyah, they graduated. Um, I, they I could coach at that level because, you know, if you’re not a staff person, you can’t be a lay coach or whatever, right? So I got the opportunity to do that and did that for eight years, had a ball doing it. It was a lot of fun. It was um, I tell everybody my kids went to Sequoyah eight years and I did too well.
Sharon Cline: [00:25:26] And it sounds like as well, that you’ve always had sort of your, um, an interactions with younger people. So it’s nice that you were able to have all of that to draw from, from your book as well, to accurately represent, you know, a young kid. Because if you’re not really in that space, it’s hard to really know what a child say this or think this way. So you were able to really glean from that.
Darrell McNeal: [00:25:48] Yeah, and I hope to stay relevant in that area. Um, it’s tough for older people to be relevant to young people. And, um, you know, being the area representative at, uh, Cherokee High School now and River Ridge High School right down the street here. And then, um, the, uh, community sports, uh, representative for ball Ground in Macedonia. Baseball. So I have all of this, you know, and, um, it’s just trying to be relevant so that they look for their source of truth in you. Not necessarily from an app, not necessarily from, you know.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:23] Even their own parents.
Darrell McNeal: [00:26:24] Or friend.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:25] Yeah. Sometimes I feel like when I’m speaking like my kids are just like not listening. Like if my lips are moving, I feel like. But you know, a stranger would say the same thing, like, take your coat, you know, and they’d be like, oh my gosh, I need my coat.
Darrell McNeal: [00:26:43] You know, a lot of them. Um, I think the biggest challenge we have is listening to them to we want to tell, you know, we want to impart wisdom, but the but they also and even in this book. Uh, William. He reaches back out and says, I’m dealing with this. And he’s he’s somewhat asking for how you would do it, but not in a, not in a command.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:07] Got it.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:08] But just asking. It’s interesting that you talk about that because I think I went back to school. I went back to college as an adult. Adult, I think I was 30 something. And I really thought when I was in college, like all these young kids, you know, 18, 19, whatever. I was a mom of three kids at that time, and I was really humbled very quickly at how just incredibly smart and savvy and, um, um, relatable they were to me. And I guess that’s what I imagine you feel is like you can look at the younger generation as being, um, I don’t know, sort of like you can patronize them a little bit, you know, like you don’t know or, you know, but there’s something that you have like a little a depth of respect for them just as a baseline because they’re just humans on the planet, just like you.
Darrell McNeal: [00:28:01] Well, yeah. I mean, um. I think an advantage I had growing up was some people would say not, but I think it was an advantage. I had teenage parents. Now my they were teenagers. When I was born, I had the youngest parents of my friend group. They were always there with talking to my friends, and my house was the house that they all wanted to come to because they felt, um, safe and they could say what they wanted to. Um, it was a great lesson. And, um, I felt like that by coaching those years, you could kind of understand that. Um, now, granted, I’m competitive and you wanted to do well and teach well, but I always thought that was an advantage growing up. And, um, and then today, like, this morning, I was at a what we call a huddle and a first priority FCA huddle, and. It was amazing. Um, if you ask these kids today or these young, young adults and say, tell me what you’re thankful for. Um, they’ll say family. They say, um, their friends, they say, uh, things, you know, like that.
Darrell McNeal: [00:29:16] But then you say, what are you struggling with? It’s where you get to the underlying. And it’s it’s it’s it’s a lot of distraction, you know, they’re they’re very distracted and they’re tired all the time. I say, why are you tired? And they go to bed way late. And if they’re in bed, they’re on their phone. And so they have this bombardment of, of things. And then, you know, the, the other things that’s out there that we all face is there’s temptation with things and there’s social anxiety and there’s um. There’s a lot on them. And so if we can just stop and listen to them and provide them with the answer, a source of truth. What is in the ultimate source of truth is, is, you know, God’s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And if you can get that in there, um, hopefully when things happen that would make them have anxiety, they go to it. And that’s, that’s kind of my goal with this, you know, in that, like I said, just one, one. If it’s just one that.
Sharon Cline: [00:30:23] Could read this book and just well, I think that’s an important message that you’re talking about is like, when I grew up or when you grew up, it wasn’t the same constant bombardment of media and then the social media aspect of it, where you have people that could be talking about you all the time in such a public way and an immediate way that there’s never a sense of peace, of resting. And so, I mean, my son’s 21 and he’s always tired, you know. Yeah, but he does talk about that. And I was like, well, that sounds like it tracks with what you’re experiencing to where really there isn’t like, okay, it’s 9:00 or 10:00 and the TV’s off and go to bed. And you, I used to read when I would go to bed, you know, or listen to the radio or something, but now it’s like you’re not really off of TV, you’re not really off of anything. So yeah.
Darrell McNeal: [00:31:11] Yeah. Social media, I mean, social media is great for for a lot of reasons.
Sharon Cline: [00:31:17] I’m using it now for yeah, podcasting.
Darrell McNeal: [00:31:19] You know it’s amazing what it can, but it’s just a format today that wasn’t around that that you can have these, these things. But uh, yeah. My daughter reads is an avid reader. My and my mom reads they, you know, my wife, they all read extremely a lot. And, um, I’m I’m a reader. Um, I think a lot of people think they’re readers, but they’re just really, you know, maybe reading, reading things on their phone, which is fine, but, um, it’s usually quick stuff, you know? So, yeah, it could cause anxiety a little bit, but, um, it’s, um, but these, these young people are amazing. They really are. And they’re every generation gets smarter, you know? So true. It’s amazing what they are.
Sharon Cline: [00:32:02] Well, what would you do. You want to talk about your next book in this series. Are you working on this now?
Darrell McNeal: [00:32:08] I am um, well, I’m not I’m not down on, you know, actually, in the process of writing, I have the I have a little bit of the story in mind. And, um, without giving away too much, um, uh, this one will be set in the, um, north of England.
Sharon Cline: [00:32:25] Oh, awesome.
Darrell McNeal: [00:32:26] Or London in England. Sorry. And, um, this was always intriguing to me. Um, my dad was in the Air Force, uh, when I was younger, and me and my mom and dad lived there, uh, for a couple of years when I was a baby. And, um, when I was, I probably around, uh, early 30s, I had I got the chance to go to that area, and.
Sharon Cline: [00:32:52] I’ve never been.
Darrell McNeal: [00:32:52] Yeah. Find the house I lived in and make a, you know, create the circle for 30, 30 plus year story.
Sharon Cline: [00:32:59] How cool is that?
Darrell McNeal: [00:33:01] It’ll be about it’s going to be that. And he’ll go on another mission trip and it’ll be another adventure about, uh, facing certain of the similar things. But it will be it’ll be probably more concentrated on him and a, uh, and possibly, um, someone with him like his sister. And that’s mentioned in the book. And we’ll talk a little bit about, um, maybe a slant on an old story from that area.
Sharon Cline: [00:33:31] Well, there’s so much history there, so I’m sure it’d be wonderful to draw from. Isn’t it fun to create like you’re just creating this story? I don’t know, I just get such a kick out of that element that that natural joy that comes from creating.
Darrell McNeal: [00:33:44] Yeah, there is. I mean, um, you know, I think the real key to it is I have the, you know, you have the you have the scripture that you lean on for your truth, but then you can create anything around it as long as you come back to the truth. And so.
Sharon Cline: [00:34:00] Those are your tent poles or whatever, you know.
Darrell McNeal: [00:34:03] And um, yeah. So it is fun, um, to create, um, I’m not that creative. Uh, honestly, I’m. I’m more purposeful than I am creative. And, um, there’s a story I want to tell. I just used the. I just use my imagination. Or. Actually, these stories are. Their real life stories that I just elaborate on.
Sharon Cline: [00:34:32] That’s it’s almost like a muscle to where you’re kind of like expanding on things that, you know, to, to get your creative juices flowing, so to speak.
Darrell McNeal: [00:34:40] And I understand from Pete, the guy that helped me be the mentor on this book, you get better at it as you go along. And it’s kind of like the John Grisham books. You know, you you go through a series of trying to get them out there, and then all of a sudden it takes off where people say, man, I like that. And then you get into the groove.
Sharon Cline: [00:35:02] Um, you’re talking about Pete Sadowski. Um, he was just here.
Darrell McNeal: [00:35:06] Pete was here?
Sharon Cline: [00:35:07] Yeah, I interviewed him. He’s such a nice gentleman. And I love, like I said, life is so interesting, like the coincidences that aren’t really coincidences because I just kind of reached out to you randomly. Right. So which is sometimes how things work for me. Yeah. But yeah. So that’s so nice that he was able to really kind of, um, be supportive and have all of these people that are that’s one of the, the main lessons that I’ve learned doing this show is when I ask people, what, what would you advice would you give people in the business world, as they say, surround yourself with really good people?
Darrell McNeal: [00:35:38] Absolutely.
Darrell McNeal: [00:35:39] And you know, people that care about you. Um, he was doing he’s done some work with Providence with Josh and that.
Speaker3: [00:35:47] That’s awesome.
Darrell McNeal: [00:35:48] And then so he, he, um, he’s the one that mentioned, hey, I know how to do that.
Sharon Cline: [00:35:55] Let me help you. You know, that’s such a generous spirit to be willing to help. Mhm.
Sharon Cline: [00:35:58] Yeah.
Darrell McNeal: [00:35:59] But yeah it’s been great. I can’t um it’s actually um any time you do anything like that, for example, if you lead a group, a small group or if you’re asked to speak at a, you know, a Lions Club or civic club, you get better at the message by being by doing it. So it’s probably helped me the most so far. Um, and certainly needed that.
Sharon Cline: [00:36:25] We all need help.
Darrell McNeal: [00:36:27] I definitely do. I’m a work in progress.
Sharon Cline: [00:36:31] We all are. What advice would you give to someone out there who could maybe have a story in their heart and just haven’t taken those steps?
Darrell McNeal: [00:36:41] Well, whether it be a whether it be being an author, being a, you know, writer editor on any of it, I would just say whatever it is that you said I always would like to do, whether it’s trying a sport. I mean, I’m 61 years old and I do taekwondo and, um, I give a shout out to Master Church at Tiger Rock at Holly Springs. Those guys are amazing. And, um, uh, you know, I wouldn’t have believed I would do that, but I tried it. If you want to, um, try cooking class. If you want to, you know, say, hey, I want to. I want to go snow skiing. I’ve never done it. Whatever it is, you know, you’re never. It’s never too late to try to do it. And, um. You know, the as far as being an author, there are steps, there are support, things that you can help if you want to, if you need help with a cover, if you need help with editing, with, you know, with formatting and.
Sharon Cline: [00:37:39] Publishing in general.
Darrell McNeal: [00:37:41] Publishing in general, this there. It’s so amazing today that these services are out there. And so the main thing is, whatever the world is you can create in your mind. Um, can you get that down on paper and then can you get someone to help you with making sure, you know, my first editor is always, um, it’s funny, it’s always Sherry, my wife and my daughter, Katie and and my and even and my son Clint. He’s a great writer. Josh is a great writer. Um, but I have that support thing. My mom will tell me if she’s a great editor as well. And so they’ll kind of tell me. So you surround yourself with good people and then let them, you know, kind of filter your idea. And then there’s these services that can help put it all together for you.
Sharon Cline: [00:38:30] Well, is there anything I can do that helps you along the way? I would love to support, you know, your journey because it’s so inspiring for me because, uh, look at your dream from high school and, you know, and and having a story then and thinking someday and then now it’s actually, you know, a physical book that you can hold, and it’ll be here forever. I don’t know, I’m such a fan of people getting their dreams to happen.
Darrell McNeal: [00:38:58] Well, I appreciate I mean, this is awesome to be to be with you today. And thank you for that. And I just, you know, um, if anyone would like a, you know, if they were, if they would just, you know, read a book like this and, and it just really just saying, hey, if you need a good book, just a referral mainly. And because like I said it, the real The loop rounded out for me on the book not only the story, not only the lessons learned, not only the truth imparted, but by also by being able to take any proceeds and that that are that we get from it, or a series of them, they’re all will go to FCA. And so it’s not, you know, it’s not about me making, you know, a bunch of money on the book. It’s about how do we take anything that’s done with it, whether it be financial or otherwise, and say, did it affect these people positively? Are they better off by reading the book? And anybody you know, referring it to one one refers it to two. And so just the networking piece, honestly, I mean, Josh will tell you that networking is everything.
Darrell McNeal: [00:40:07] And um, you know, he does a phenomenal job with his networking and, um, just, you know, the other thing is just being good people. You know, we’re, um, we’re all just trying to do life. He has a saying, you know, we’re doing life together and let’s do it well.
Sharon Cline: [00:40:24] Well, if anyone wanted to reach out to you, what would you recommend that they do if they’re interested in having you? I don’t know, just finding out more about the book or, um, is the best way through Facebook or.
Darrell McNeal: [00:40:36] Well, you know, they can they can certainly email me at Daryl d a r r e l l at Providence protects.com or also at Daryl. Uh, d a r r e l l McNeil the number 12 one two at gmail. And then, um. I don’t even care if you call me. I mean, you know, (678) 458-3492. I’m willing to talk. I like to talk. So.
Sharon Cline: [00:41:04] Well, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you today. I really appreciate you taking the time to come down to the studio and, and share your journey. And I hope, and I have the same feeling about every show that I do, is that if it helps one person feel inspired to do something different than then, it’s sacred work, you know? Then I’m grateful for it. So I’m hoping more than one will be inspired by your book today.
Darrell McNeal: [00:41:27] Well, thank you so much. And you know, all the glory goes to God and that’s it.
Sharon Cline: [00:41:32] Well, that’s so sweet. Daryl McNeil, thank you for coming to the studio. And again, thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula. And again, I’m Sharon Klein, reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.
