From Corporate to Bestseller: Marysol James on Triumph, Healing, and Romance Writing

What happens when a corporate manager turns into a bestselling romance author? Find out on this special Saturday morning edition of The Patrick Bass Show! We're joined by the incredible Marysol James, who shares her journey from battling cancer and escaping an abusive relationship to finding solace in writing. Despite Patrick’s recent dental woes, his enthusiasm for the conversation is palpable as Marysol discusses her popular series like "Unseen Enemies," "Dangerous Curves," and the "Road Devils MC." 

From managing high-level corporate positions to becoming a prolific romance writer, Marysol's transition is nothing short of inspiring. After losing her job and being diagnosed with cancer, she poured her heart into writing, culminating in a best-selling novel that kickstarted her new career. With 30 published novels and more on the way, Marysol's story is a testament to resilience and the unpredictable paths life can take. It's a powerful reminder of how creativity can heal and transform lives, making this episode a must-listen for anyone needing a bit of inspiration.

We also explore the themes of shared humanity that permeate Marysol's work. Her extensive travels have enriched her writing, bringing an authenticity that resonates with readers worldwide. Even though her series are set in Denver, Colorado, the universal desires for connection, love, and respect shine through. From surviving a challenging childhood illness to escaping an abusive relationship, Marysol's resilience and authenticity add depth to her stories. Don’t miss this compelling episode filled with unfiltered insights and undiluted truth about life, love, and the power of storytelling.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Patrick Bass Show
• 6:36 From Management to Romance Writer
• 18:14 Shared Humanity Across Cultures
• 22:02 Overcoming Cancer and Abusive Relationship
• 34:38 The Inspiration Behind the MC Series
• 47:18 Finding Your Voice as a Writer
• 56:06 Romance Writing Insight and Inspiration

Transcript

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Okay, cue everybody. We're going live in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And now live from Fort Smith, arkansas. This is a Planet Wide broadcast courtesy of the World Wide Web and affiliate radio stations across the globe. It's the Patrick Bass Show, with your host, Patrick Bass.

Patrick Bass: 0:25

Welcome back to the program, the Patrick Bass Show Saturday morning edition. Can you believe we've made it all the way to August 3rd. Well, where's the time flying? So glad you're part of the program with us today. Just to remind you, Patrick Bass Show is where we have bold conversations, unfiltered insights and undiluted truth. It all reigns supreme right here on the Patrick Bass Show is where we have bold conversations, unfiltered insights and undiluted truth. It all reigns supreme right here on the Patrick Bass Show. We've got an exciting show lined out for you today.

Patrick Bass: 0:51

As always, our guest today is the amazing Marysol James. She's raised in a small town in Canada and she's a cancer survivor. She loves something I love. She loves cinnamon buns. So she's got to be a good person, hardcore caffeine addict and I see no problem there. She's also, amazingly, the best selling author of some steamy romance novels, including the very popular Unseen Enemies, dangerous Curves and the Road Devils MC series. But we're going to get all into that right after our first break.

Patrick Bass: 1:23

I want to remind you that we want to hear from you. This is a live call-in show. Our number toll-free 855-605-8255. That number again, 855-605-talk, if you got any questions for me. Uh, just want to say hi.

Patrick Bass: 1:38

Question for our guest also asking you to follow us on facebook and youtube both channels real Patrick bass. Just hit the like button, subscribe. You know all that stuff. I mean you guys know what to do. Asking you to follow us on Facebook and YouTube both channels Real Patrick Bass. Just hit the like button, subscribe. You know all that stuff. I mean you guys know what to do. Your support means everything. Plus, if you want to get a shout-out on the show, you can go on our website, pwbasscom. Go to the radio button and click get a shout-out. Three bucks a month and I'll make the Internet famous. Don't forget, I'm doing my weight loss journey blog, keeping it real, keeping it relevant. Null holds barred. I'm burying my soul to all of the earth, trying to get some accountability, trying to encourage myself and others who are on a similar journey. Check that out Now before we get into it. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to pay a couple of bills and then, when we come back, our amazing guest all right here on the Patrick Bass Show.

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We're just getting started More real and raw takes that the rest of the media are scared to admit. Coming up next on the Patrick Bass Show we're the Goo Goo Dolls.

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We're fortunate that our daughters have what they need to grow and learn, but that isn't the case for nearly 13 million kids in the US that struggle with hunger. Childhood hunger is a heartbreaking reality that Feeding America is working to change. Each year, the Feeding America network of food banks rescues billions of pounds of good food that would have gone to waste and provides it to families and children in need. You can help kids in need in your community by visiting feedingamericaorg.

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Brought to you by Feeding America and the Ad Council. Are you on a journey of professional and personal transformation? We all are, or we should be, Patrick Bass. He's the author of Burn your Ships how to Conquer Doubt and Live Without Limits. The book dives deep into understanding the roots of your fears and to learn not just how to face them, but how to conquer them permanently. You'll learn how to embrace commitment and dismantle the option of failure. You'll get practical advice backed by psychological research, strategic planning tools and inspiring success stories from people who've truly embodied the burn your ships philosophy in their own lives. Burn your Ships how to Conquer Doubt and Live Without Limits, available at pwbasscom or on Amazon. Having the conversations everyone else in the media are scared to have, welcome back to the Patrick Bass Show are scared to have.

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Welcome back to the Patrick Bass Show. It's Patrick Bass on the Vanguard Radio Network.

Patrick Bass: 4:14

Welcome back to the program.

Patrick Bass: 4:16

I'm so thrilled to announce our next guest, Marysol James, best-selling romance author. Just a story of an incredible journey. She's authored 30 books, best-selling series across six I'm sorry, six best-selling series. That may have been a Freudian slip, I don't know. I don't know, and one of her series is also, I understand, an audio book. But her path to success is far, far from ordinary. She's Canadian by birth. She's lived all over Poland, asia, now in England, traveling the world with nothing but a backpack. That sounds really cool, actually. Along the way she's not only found her calling in writing but also faced and overcome a significant personal challenge, including surviving cancer and escaping an abusive relationship. But welcome to the show, Marysol James. How are you doing?

Marysol James: 5:05

Thank you, Patrick, I'm really happy to be here, thanks.

Patrick Bass: 5:08

Thanks. I think this is my first interview with somebody who's sitting in London or in the UK. For me it's about nine o'clock. You said it's about three o'clock your time. I hope you've had a good day. We're going to have a good morning. It's been a great day, thank you. I've been looking forward to this most of the day, actually. Yeah, we've been looking forward to it as well. It's been a weird couple of days for me. I just got to tell you I've had earlier this week I had two root canals and so I've spent the better part of this week in a lot of pain and honestly, I was like I've got to get over this. We've got two shows today, so I'm so glad I'm here, I'm glad you're here, I'm glad the universe has allowed us to get together. But, getting into everything, tell us about you, tell us your background. What would you like our audience to know?

Marysol James: 6:00

Well, I think the main thing to know about me is that I fell into romance writing quite literally as a total accident, as a dare. I would even go so far as to almost call it sort of a joke between me and two friends.

Marysol James: 6:16

Yeah, I have a master's degree in international relations and international law. That I got back in Canada relations and international law. That I got back in Canada and I always considered myself pre-law or pre-academia at the very least somebody who was destined for management. And sure enough, that's how I ended up. I ended up working in management in China and then Hong Kong proper, and then I ended up working in management in Warsaw for years and years and years. I was the chief operational director of Central and Eastern Europe.

Marysol James: 6:49

And then I got sick. I was diagnosed with cancer and I was immediately fired from the job Really great severance package, but still I was canned and there wasn't much I could do when I was flat on my back in bed having recovering from chemo. So I joined this thing called National Novel Writing Month, where the whole point of it is to write 50,000 words in one month, and they can be 50,000 terrible words. It's not about, you know, writing your novel that month, but it's about just unblocking yourself, getting the words out, participating, and it's international and of course it's also virtual. So I ended up in this group, this writing group, with these two women, and I was telling them that I had just finished quite a serious novel that I was writing in my spare time. But I still had two weeks left of the month. And what was I going to do with the two weeks? And they said well, why don't you write the opposite of what you've always written, something serious, academic, business-related, heavy literature? Why don't you write the polar opposite? Why don't you write a romance? And I laughed and laughed and laughed and I thought, well, you know, I'm flat on my back, I'm recovering from chemo. I can't do much, why not? So I wrote a romance novel in two weeks and we giggled the whole way through it. Just the three of us had such a good time. It was the best mental healing I could possibly have done.

Marysol James: 8:32

And when it was finished, they told me to publish it, self-publish it on Amazon. And I laughed some more because I had never intended to publish this thing. Like I said, it was just a way to pass the time. But I said fine. I said fine, fine, fine, and I published it on Amazon and I promptly forgot about it. And then that summer it became a best selling beach read, really, yes. And I couldn't tell you how these, how anybody found it, how anybody started talking about it. How word got around. But somehow this book became a bestseller. So suddenly I was getting really nice royalties from this thing.

Marysol James: 9:12

And then my two friends said to me well, start a Facebook page, because people they're going to be looking for you, they've read your book, you need to be accessible to them. And I said, fine. So I started a Facebook page and next thing I knew I had people asking me well, where's the next book in the series? Like where's book two? And I'm thinking there is no book two. There was barely a book one. So I wrote it because I was still not working, I was still flat up in bed, I was still dealing with cancer, but I could write. So I sat up in my bed, I propped up my laptop and I wrote a second book, which became a bestseller. And then I wrote a third book and then I started a new series and after about a year of this I had written six bestselling books.

Marysol James: 10:04

I had beaten cancer and I had realized that I didn't need to go out and find a new management position. I had a full time job as a romance writer and once I sort of realized that was my reality, I gave up on anything to do with business or like management or anything like that, and that's what I do now. I'm a full-time romance writer and in sort of 12 years I've written 30 books. My 31st will be published next month or this month, next week, on August 12th, and that's kind of how I fell into romance writing. So when I say that I fell into it by accident, I'm not even exaggerating. It was not part of my plan, but sometimes things find us when we're not looking for them.

Patrick Bass: 11:06

The first thing that strikes me is you're a dedicated employee, upper level management, I mean just you know, a master of what you're doing. You get sick and they're like gee, we're really sorry. You're sick, by the way. You're fired.

Marysol James: 11:15

Yeah, here's two years pay as severance, but you know bye. Yeah, exactly what a low blow, wow, ok.

Patrick Bass: 11:22

All right, but you know, bye, yeah, exactly what a low blow. Wow, ok, yeah, All right, but you took those nasty lemons and you made this sweet lemonade. Because you get involved in this Essentially, what is a writing competition, right?

Marysol James: 11:34

Well, it's personal. Yeah, it's like it's called National Novel Writing Month and it's every November and then it's every summer as well, and you can just go on to the NaNoWriMo website and you can just register and join, and then it's just you challenge yourself to write 50,000 words in a month,

Patrick Bass: 11:51

and so you do that and you finish a little early, and then, as a goof at the behest of your friends, I think, you write this romance novel.

Marysol James: 12:00

Yeah.

Patrick Bass: 12:00

Self-publish it to Amazon and promptly forget about it.

Marysol James: 12:04

Yeah, exactly I was busy. I had other things I was dealing with. Yeah, you were kicking cancer in the butt, exactly so.

Patrick Bass: 12:13

Here's the thing, and if you've never been involved in publishing, you can publish on Amazon pretty much anything, and it's great because it's this amazing platform for authors. I've got two books out there right now myself, and it gives you an amazing access to a worldwide audience of people that could potentially want to read your book. Here's the thing Once your book is out there, nobody cares. There's thousands and thousands probably I don't know tens of thousands or more books out there, and you're competing against this vast sea of other authors who have written very good stuff, and so you may have written the best book in the world, but if nobody knows about it, you're not going to make any sales, and so you send this thing out and you forget about it, and then, all of a sudden, you start getting checks in the mail because it becomes a bestseller. Wow.

Marysol James: 13:03

That's what I mean when I say that I fell into this and I feel like it found me, because you're right, you put something out there on Amazon and it just joins the millions of other books or products, because Amazon isn't just a bookshop and you can get lost.

Marysol James: 13:21

And so I did no promotion. I didn't have a single social media page presence, nothing. Because, like I said, this whole thing was a two-week joke to pass the time. And suddenly I'm getting money in my bank account and I'm thinking what on earth? So I went to look at the Google Analytics or the Amazon Analytics because you can do that there. So I went to look at the Google Analytics or the Amazon Analytics because you can do that there, and I had sold like several thousand books in just a couple of weeks. And I'm thinking what? And, like I said, I have no idea who found me first. If there was a book club, if there was a place, I know there are websites where romance readers will get together and say, oh, I found this new book and this is a link to it, and based on this person's single recommendation and link, people will click on it and go buy it. I feel like it must've been something like that.

Patrick Bass: 14:13

Well, this is, this is for you right here. Yeah, thank you, and um, and you must've, really you must've, found a niche with, with, with with the group. I mean clearly, what you've written is resonating with some segment of the book reading world. I mean congratulations, wow, that's the jokes on them, right? I mean the folks that fired you. You're like you. You've unlocked the key to my success, because I found out who I really am now.

Marysol James: 14:44

Well, it's interesting you mentioned the jokes on them, because not only is it on my former company that fired me, but it's also on all those people who, when I became a bestselling romance writer, turned up their noses at me a bit and said well, you have a master's degree, you were pre-law, you have-law, you have all this practical real world experience. Why are you writing that tripe? And there was this sense that they really looked down on it and they looked down on me as the writer and they looked down on my readers, who are women, who they think are not accomplished. They sit around the house all day eating candy and reading romance. And I know for a fact that's not true. My readers tend to be very smart, accomplished, professional women who just need a break. I mean, everybody needs a break, and some people go to the gym, some people watch a movie, some people do whatever, but my readers enjoy reading romance. So there's this whole idea.

Marysol James: 15:44

Well exactly, and there's this whole idea. Well, exactly, and there's this whole idea that romance writing is not real work and romance reading is not real, real um, literature. So the jokes on them a little bit as well, because when I first self-published on Amazon and I joined the writer's forum there, it was so anti-romance, like this whole idea. If you were a romance writer you didn't really belong in the writer's forum. But as my sales increased, they kind of gradually realized that there is money to be made in romance, that it is a legitimate market, and I think anybody who's paying any attention, anybody with any business acumen, knows that sex sells, but so does romance. Die hard, you know, pure down on your knees declaring your love for him or her, that always sells Every movie has a love story in it somewhere.

Marysol James: 16:39

Yeah, oh yeah, for sure, absolutely, because my books are quite steamy. They are quite. You know, the sex scenes are quite descriptive, but I know if I didn't write good love stories with good relationships and strong characters, it would just be binned off. As you know, sex as erotica and it's not, it's more than that erotica, and it's not.

Patrick Bass: 17:06

It's more than that. Well, and here's the thing, can you imagine, like you know, somebody telling an early Stephen King I can't believe you're writing that horror tripe yeah, you know because you know you're like the Stephen King of romance novels well, maybe one day fingers crossed, well you know, hey, we've all got a, we've all got a shoot for something. But, man, what an amazing story. And you know it's.

Marysol James: 17:26

Yeah, sorry, it's just funny. You mentioned Stephen King because I remember reading interviews with him where people would say, why is he writing about a gigantic killer dog hound? But then you know, they made a movie out of it. They made a second movie out of it Kujo. Kujo is a cultural reference it is so sometimes people laugh at the wrong things.

Patrick Bass: 17:45

Well, and they just don't know what I mean. If they're going to be laughing at it, clearly they don't understand what what people want, and you have inadvertently tapped into this market that has brought you huge success 12, over 12 years, you've got 30 books, 30, 31st on its way. Congratulations, my hat's off to you. Um, what an amazing story. Now, um, you've lived all over the country. You've lived in Poland, asia. You were born in Canada. Now you're living in England. I have those travels really had an impact on, uh, your writing and your growth?

Marysol James: 18:20

You would think they might in terms of the writing.

Marysol James: 18:23

But because my series are all based in Denver, colorado all six of my series are based there. My characters tend to be American, a lot of them are ex-military, so they do have overseas experience. So in that way I do bring a bit of my international experience. I do bring a bit of my international experience, but I think more what has happened for me personally with my travels is that it's just made me incredibly open to opportunities and people and ideas and situations, and maybe that comes across in my writing, because I am someone who's extremely open to ideas. So I can be quite flexible with my writing. I don't feel hampered in or hemmed in in any way and I would say that, having lived the way that I have in as many countries as I have and traveled as widely as I have, if there's one thing I know, it's that everybody wants connection and everybody wants to be loved, and that that is definitely part of what informs my writing, this belief that we're all really worthy to be respected and loved and cherished.

Patrick Bass: 19:34

I'm glad you said that and I want to ask you a question because, um, I've lived all over the United States East coast, west coast, midwest, I mean literally all over. I've lived, uh, probably in 20 different States in the last 20 years, but the only you know other country I've ever been to is like Mexico, you know, like on a vacation kind of thing. But in my limited travels and experience what I've found and I want to get your perspective as an international traveler is people are at their core. Basically, we're all the same. We basically want all the same. We want happiness, we want to have a, you know, a happy life. You know we want to be able to pursue and do fun things. And you know, as someone who's traveled internationally and to so many amazing places, what's your, what's your take?

Marysol James: 20:19

I couldn't agree with you more, and the thing that I find is, if I think about all the countries that I've not just visited but I've lived in, like, for example, I lived in China, I lived in Guangzhou for one year and, culturally, you can't get more of a culture shock than living in China just between the language and you know the way that the language works and the values and the political system.

Marysol James: 20:46

It's just so different from where I was born and raised in Canada and I had lived in Poland for two years by that point, just post-communism, between 93 and 95, I lived there between my degrees and it was an extreme shock coming from Canada to Poland and then from Poland back to Canada and then from Canada to China. And the one thing that I can honestly say is, no matter how shocked you are by a culture, people love their families, they love their children, they want to be happy, succeed, they want to be healthy and they really, really just want to be seen and accepted and loved. And it doesn't matter if I'm standing there with a Polish person one year post communism or I'm standing there in China, which was still communist. These people all want the same thing. So I couldn't agree with you more on that point.

Patrick Bass: 21:45

Yeah, and to me, you know, it just underscores we're all the human race and so I hope people I don't want to get off into a political discussion, but I hope people can dial into that one day that we were all from the same place, we all want basically the same things and a lot of these petty differences are exactly that petty. But getting back to your story now, you know I've talked to other cancer survivors and there seems to be a common thread where they have just this incredible resilience. What, what was your experience getting through that tumultuous time and and how did it shape you?

Marysol James: 22:18

Well, I've, actually I've had cancer twice in my life. The first time I was diagnosed I was nine years old, back in Canada, and I was I. I lived in the hospital in Toronto, a place called sick kids hospital. I lived there for three years, Toronto, a place called Sick Kids Hospital.

Marysol James: 22:34

I lived there for three years because they didn't know what to do with me. They just couldn't figure out how to cure me. So I had three years of living in the hospital and tests and chemo and radiation and surgeries, and my father was working full time and my mother had my younger brother and sister at home. So I spent a lot of that time over that three-year period alone in the hospital. Okay, you're never really alone in a hospital, but I was alone in the sense that I had no family there. Clearly, my friends were all at school, so it was just me.

Marysol James: 23:14

And yes, to learn quite young, as young as I was, about serious illness, about death, about losing friends because I lost friends on the cancer ward about knowing that adults don't always have the answer, because you think they do. When you're nine, you think adults know everything. But when they come to you and they say we don't know if this is going to work, but we're going to try this, you look at them and you're 10 and you think they don't know how to fix me. Like this is amazing. So all of this is quite a shock to a young child. I know that.

Marysol James: 23:50

But then, when you get out of it and I returned to my real life. I went back to my hometown and of course I had to resume school and I had to pick up. I had to try to make friends and I had to. You know, I joined the swim team and I kind of carried on with a normal young person's life. But I had people around me other kids my age but I had people around me other kids my age who had these problems.

Marysol James: 24:14

You know, my mother wouldn't let me go out or I can't go to the movies or so, and so I've got a crush on him. He doesn't like me and I just felt so removed from it all because it just felt so small compared to that three-year period that I had literally been fighting for my life. And it does something to your head. It does make you grow up far too quickly and it does make you incredibly resilient, incredibly tough mentally and emotionally, but you miss out on a lot of your childhood. So I think I appreciate the resilience. It's served me better in my. It's served me well in my life. I'm a very tough person but if I could have had that three years of normal childhood, I would take it in a heartbeat.

Patrick Bass: 25:02

You know, I've heard other cancer survivors say something along the same lines. I wouldn't wish this on myself, but having gone through it it's made me better. But yeah, I wish I didn't have to have gone through it. And so I mean I can't even imagine as a young child, you know, as you described it basically being alone in a sea of people. You know that that's just got to be. I mean, gosh, I can't even imagine what you had to go through. But I guess those experiences do help you keep things in perspective. You know, once you got cured of that episode of cancer and returned to your real life, some of the trivial things that your peers might be experiencing didn't seem that important to you. I kind of understand that You're like. You don't understand. Six months ago I was fighting for my life. So if Johnny doesn't like me, I think I'm going to make it.

Marysol James: 25:58

That's it, and it is something that I had to be really aware of, that you know, your, your biggest problem is your biggest problem. And just because it's not my biggest problem, my biggest problem doesn't mean that you're weak or you're overly emotional. And I had to remind myself about sympathy and empathy that just because the kids my age hadn't had this huge health crisis or their whole life stopped for three years, it didn't mean their problems were insignificant or they weren't serious to them. They were significant or they weren't serious to them. They were.

Marysol James: 26:34

So it was something I had to remind myself of at the age of 12, 13, 14, that you know I wanted to roll my eyes at my friends, you know quote unquote problems, but in their life this was a thing, this was significant. And I had to, very early, very young, realize, realize that, um, putting yourself in somebody else's shoes or point of view is always, always a good thing to do, no matter where you come from. Nobody else comes from that place. So, um, having having some sympathy and empathy for other people, um has has always served me well and I really, really believe in it.

Patrick Bass: 27:11

I, I agree with you. Yeah, you, you have sympathy, you got to have empathy. I mean, you know the old adage about, you know walking, walking in another person's shoes. But here's, here's, here's where the story kind of diverges from you. Also, after having beat cancer, Now you're in this relationship which turns abusive. Can you talk about that?

Marysol James: 27:31

Oh God, yeah, I was married. This was back when I lived in Poland. I was married and I had two children and my husband and I decided to separate and ultimately divorce and it was actually one of these textbook amazing separations. We are still wonderful friends and we just decided that we were better off as friends. So it was a very healthy, mature, respectful ending of the marriage. Then he started a new relationship in Poland and I started a new relationship in England. At the time I was traveling back and forth between Warsaw and London because my audio books were being recorded in a studio in London, so I was there supervising and this is where I met this man who is here he's English no-transcript in with this man here in England and this was seven years ago. We did this and for the first couple of years it was a really great relationship. The three of us really got along. It was a wonderful home. And then, sort of just before lockdown started, I started to notice differences in his behavior. And then, when lockdown happened, he was fully kind of unmasked and unleashed and he ended up.

Marysol James: 29:23

It turns out that my ex-boyfriend that I left a year ago now was a full, a full blown like legitimate narcissist, and I know people in modern times are using this word to describe anybody who is a little bit arrogant or doesn't call you back or cheats on you. But narcissism is legitimately a disorder and there are certain patterns and characteristics and behaviors. And this guy just checked every box. But he did it so slowly over years that by the time he fully revealed himself I was living here. I had my son in the house with us. We'd been together for three years.

Marysol James: 30:08

By that point I had stopped writing because I was working for his company for free. I had lost my financial independence and my source of income and then we were in lockdown. So then I was really trapped and that was when things turned physical. Once he had me pretty much beaten down financially and emotionally and mentally, then things turned physical and then the gloves were just completely off and the last three years of the relationship was unceasing, never ending abuse.

Marysol James: 30:43

So even once lockdown kind of ended, I was in no fit state to be able to get myself on my feet again. I had nothing. I had lost everything. I had lost my writing at that time, because every time I tried to get back to my writing I would say to him. I don't want to work for your company today, I want to do some writing. I really need to publish a book. He would sabotage it or start an argument or whatever he had to do so that I could not focus on my own stuff.

Marysol James: 31:19

And that's how it was for several years, until a year ago, when I am I don't know if that old resilience from childhood and the second round of cancer, I don't know if it raised its head, but I just one day looked at him and I realized that I had to get out of this situation and somehow I found the backbone. Somehow I found my spine and my gumption and my grit and that's what I did. And I've been a single mother now for one year with my son. He and I moved cities, we packed up, we left. Mother now for one year with my son. He and I moved cities, we packed up, we left, and I've been supporting us again with my writing, and so I've come full circle back to romance writing.

Patrick Bass: 32:00

So that resilience has really served you well, Marysol. We're going to take a quick break when we get back into that.

Marysol james: 32:06

I want to finish this story up, and then I want to talk about your MC series, because that fascinates me, so let talk about that, uh, and, and when we get back, and just right after this break warning, warning the show you're listening to has been rated r by the talk radio network guild of america. Raw, real and relevant. It's's the Patrick Bass Show.

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Fighting the lies of the mainstream media. It's Patrick Bass on the Vanguard Radio Network.

Speaker 2: 32:42

He's going the distance he's going for speed.

Patrick Bass: 32:46

Oh boy, I think we've got to get some new bumper music From another era. Okay, listen, we're having an amazing conversation, as always. Our call in number 855-605-8255. Speaking with Marysol James, who has been sharing this amazing story of resilience beating cancer twice, getting involved in a relationship that by all accounts, seemed like it was good, and then, dadgummit, she moves countries for this guy and right before the lock-in, he just reveals that his true nature is just a narcissistic I'll just call it a spade, a spade, a jerk and ends up being abusive. And right before the break you were talking about, you know, you're a single mom now supporting yourself through your writing.

Patrick Bass: 33:41

So, first off, on behalf of the male race, this is not we. We do not condone this. Listen, I I don't know what to say. There's a segment of guys out there that are like this and, um, real men, uh, are not like this. So, um, if, if you can, if, guys, I'm sending out, I'm green lighting him, if you can find him. If you's just joking, maybe I'm not joking, I don't know, but but anyway, no, not to make any light of the situation, because it was a very serious thing that you were in and my hat's off to you for finding the you said you said it yourself the backbone, the gumption, uh, to exit that and to stand up for yourself and, ultimately, for your son. Uh, so I applaud you for that, because that's just, that's unconscionable, that's not right and, uh, real men would not condone that. So my hat's off to you.

Patrick Bass: 34:38

So, um, I want to ask you about this mc series because this is fascinating to me. Uh, I'm assuming MC is Motorcycle Club. It is, yes, okay. So I used to ride, I used to wear a patch on my back and stuff like that. So I want to hear about this from your perspective. Where did the inspiration for this come from and what can you share about it with our audience?

Marysol James: 35:09

share about it with our audience. Well, the inspiration came from some of my other books in other series, because the one thing that my series do I have six separate series is they all kind of they're all interwoven and tangled up in each other. So I have two other series. There's the Dangerous Curves series and then there's the Unseen Enemy series. The Unseen Enemy guys are ex-military and bodyguards and the Dangerous Curves guys. Dangerous Curves is a dive bar on the side of the road just outside Denver that attracts a certain criminal element element. So the motorcycle club guys are patrons of this bar and also the motorcycle club guys are very often caught up in some of the ex-military kind of bodyguard sort of activities. You know, these guys are kind of always under surveillance one way or another and I mentioned them in passing in these two series. So I introduced some of the characters and the motorcycle clubs.

Marysol James: 36:12

But in the context of these other two series and people really liked these characters, they were saying, oh, you know what? This guy, wolf Connor, who runs the road, doubles, he sounds pretty hot and sexy, you know. And I thought, well, how about I do a spinoff series about the MC? And that's what I did and it was easy because I had already created the characters and the dynamics and I already sort of had them fully formed in my head as background characters for other stories. But it was just very easy to bring them to the foreground. So that's just where they came from. They came from just being supporting characters and other books that my readers said oh, you know, they sound kind of interesting. And I thought, well, actually you know what they kind of do, so why don't I write an MC book and just see how it goes?

Marysol James: 37:03

The first one, called Devil's Scars, it's the Road Devils MC Club. But every book is called like the Devil's Scars. Scars is the vice president of the MC. The next book was the Devil's Silver. Silver is the guy who's the treasurer for the MC.

Marysol James: 37:20

The Devil's Viking Well, he's the body man, he's an ex doctor. And the fourth book is the one that's being published next week, on August 12th. It's called the Devil's Pair and it's the story of a couple of twins who are the ex-enforcers. Well, they were two of the ex-enforcers of the club and the whole premise of this MC is they are trying really hard to go straight and legit. They really want out of the 1% your lifestyle. They've worked really hard to build up their tattoo parlor, their garage, their bar, um. But they keep getting sucked back into the old life. There's just kind of no escape from it, and the harder they try to get out, the more they're pulled back into it. So there's a lot of drama, there's a lot of bloodshed, there's a lot of old wounds that are constantly being opened, and these guys are trying so hard to live a legit life and nobody around them will let them, and that's kind of the thread that works its way through the series.

Patrick Bass: 38:24

Gotcha. I think it's kind of cool that all your characters are kind of like in the same universe, and so they almost had a cameo in some of your earlier books.

Speaker 2: 38:32

I think that's kind of cool.

Patrick Bass: 38:33

So who knows, who they might bump into later on in some of your other books they might. Who knows, there might be a, I don't know. I guess maybe you don't even know at this point, but that's really cool. That, uh, the devil's road, ladies, if you're listening to this, I'm sure that's something you want to check out. And, uh, and, and I can tell you've done your research with the 1% and stuff like that. So, uh, yeah, and I you know, I was never that deep into it, but I knew some guys, let me tell you, and it is, it's uh, it's not just something they do on the weekends, it is a complete lifestyle for them.

Marysol James: 39:09

It is yeah, and the whole thing, though, is that you don't really know these guys when they were the one percenters.

Marysol James: 39:15

The first book in the series starts about a year after the president, wolf Connor, has taken the club straight you know attempting to anyway, straight, you know attempting to anyway and he calls up an old friend of his, brings her back to Denver to run the tattoo parlor because a bunch of his guys don't like the fact that he's taken them straight, and they've basically walked away from the MC, started to splinter group and picked up all the dirty contracts and started all the blood money up again. So there's this already, this heightened sense that these guys that they consider their brothers have stabbed them all in the back, walked away, started a splinter group, taken just, walked off with everything, and this is literally where the series starts is with them in the rebuilding stage, and it is fun to drop my characters in and out of the different series, and my readers do love that, because they're reading along and they go oh, so-and-so from the other series. Has just dropped in. That's great. I love to see him. I wonder what's happening with him, so I can keep their stories going that way as well. Kind of give these little updates on them in a really offhand way that doesn't take away from what's actually happening in the bigger book.

Patrick Bass: 40:30

That's neat when you're writing these books. I mean, do you have a process? The first book you said you just kind of sat down and wrote it in two weeks. Is that still how you do stuff, or is there a more structured process you follow now?

Marysol James: 40:42

Well, like I said, the first book was such an accident. And then the second book, I was like I don't know what to do with this. There was never supposed to be a book two. But here we go and I had introduced a good cast of characters in the first book because of nothing exists in a vacuum. So it was actually easy to sort of say, okay, well, there's this character that works on the ranch, his name is Rob, let's give him a book. Fine, you know.

Marysol James: 41:05

So then, when I decided to become a romance writer for real and for serious, I realized I needed to sit down and actually plan a series before I started writing the first book. So that's what I do now is, before I begin a series. I have two five book series. I have two eight book series.

Marysol James: 41:24

The road, the road devils, mc is going to be a 10 book series. I have a spinoff series planned, another 10 books. But I've got the whole series planned already, book by book by book. I know whose book each one is going to be, I know who their love interest is going to be and I know how their story is going to carry the entire series plot forward. Because, like I said, the road devils. They're working really hard to get out of this one percenter life, but they can't seem to do it. So the whole series has to have that thread through it where it's constantly building towards what we feel as readers is a really big tragedy, like they are working so hard to avoid it, but it's inevitable.

Marysol James: 42:11

So that sense of doom and that kind of juggernaut advancing, whether, no matter how hard they try, they can't hit the brakes. That is something that I've planned from book one to book 10. I know exactly where it's going and how it's going to end, and then each book in between is a love story on its own, but it also has to advance. That plot, and this book that I've just finished, that's coming out next week, takes some of the biggest steps towards that inevitable clash and crisis. So I'm quite excited to be able to bring it out actually because it really moves the motion forward. So my process is really I know the excited to be able to bring it out actually because it really moves the motion forward. So my process is really I know the whole series beginning to end before I begin book one.

Patrick Bass: 42:54

That's really cool. What is the experience like recording an audio book? I'm assuming you're working with different voice actors. What is that whole thing like?

Marysol James: 43:05

It was one woman. She was based in London, she's she's American and she is a very talented actress, and she was actually in. Have you ever seen? London has Fallen? The Gerald Butler. Do you know the woman who played the German chancellor, the one who got handed the rose by the child in? Yeah, I think so that, by the child in in?

Patrick Bass: 43:28

Yeah, I think so, that's her.

Marysol James: 43:31

Oh, wow, that's my voice actress. Yeah, her name. Her name is Nancy Baldwin and she is a very talented actress, but she's also a talented voice actress. So she and I sat down and we decided what all my characters needed to sound like. Because she needed to. She had to do the male voices, the female voices, and then she needed her own narrator voice, and some of my characters have accents, so she had to pull all that off. So it was really fun to work with a single individual who, depending how she spoke, became a completely different person and character, and that is a whole talent that I simply do not have. And watching her listening to her work was it was just amazing. It was just amazing to see. I was so, so blown away by her talent.

Patrick Bass: 44:22

As an author, as you're listening to this audio book being created. What was it like the first time you heard these characters being brought to life?

Marysol James: 44:33

Well, I was prepared to be just unmoved, because of course I'd written this thing, I have read it so many times, I've looked at it so many times and then to hear it sort of read, I thought, well, it'll just be more of the same, I'll just watch for every word, I'll just make sure she isn't missing any sentences. But it was genuinely moving to hear a love story read aloud, and there were times, honestly, it caught me by surprise. But she did such an amazing emotional job. I got choked up, I got teary and I thought, oh, this is actually quite a lovely love story, isn't it? And she made me experience it a whole new way, because for me it's always been silent. I mean, it's really visual, I can see everything in my head, but it's a silent process. Writing and to have it brought to voice like that was just such an amazing gift, it was such a blessing and it made me look at my story differently again, so I really enjoyed the process.

Patrick Bass: 45:40

Yeah, because if you've never listened to an audio book before, it's not somebody just reading the book to you, as you said. She's bringing these characters through to life through different voices, different accents, and it's really almost an audio play, if you will.

Marysol James: 45:56

It's very emotional. And when people are angry, I could. I could feel myself tensing up, and then during the love scenes it was so intimate as well during the, during the sex scenes, and then when people were being vulnerable or talking about something difficult, she was getting choked up, I was getting choked up, the recording studio woman was getting choked up, wow. So it was really a beautiful experience overall.

Patrick Bass: 46:22

That's amazing. I wonder what kind of advice would you give to somebody who is, you know, this aspiring writer, or you know even, even if they want to get into the same space you're in, you know what. What kind of advice would you give them? Having gone through your journey and you know, probably, I'm sure you've made mistakes along the way and learn from them, what would you tell them?

Marysol James: 46:44

Well, my advice is a little bit probably left of center, just because I never intended for any of this to happen. It fell on me, I embraced it, but what I have found, oddly enough, is I don't read romance.

Marysol James: 46:59

I don't read other people's romance anymore, no-transcript. The next year it's vampire romance, like whatever. There's always billionaire romance, bad boy romance. After Fifty Shades of Grey there was the whole BDSM thing and you can sort of get sucked into that. And so for a little while there I was reading whatever the romance du jour was and I was thinking how do I emulate this, like how do I get into this field of romance and capitalize on what's really hot right now field of romance, and capitalize on what's really hot right now? And I realized that was a big mistake.

Marysol James: 47:52

I tried a few times to write sort of a billionaire romance and I can't do it, it doesn't interest me. I didn't, my heart wasn't in it, I didn't, I wasn't enjoying it. It felt like such a slog. And I would honestly say to somebody who is making that mistake that I made, which is don't look and see what's hot right now Just because werewolf romance is hot right now. If you don't care about werewolf romance, if you have no interest in it, don't write it.

Marysol James: 48:23

Write what interests you. Write an MC romance. Write a bodyguard romance. Write a cowboy romance. Write, I don't know, like a single mother romance. Write a clean romance. I mean there's this whole genre of romance where there is no sex. It's very, very clean romance and it's all about the relationship and the connection and the family dynamic. And this is huge in places like Utah. You know, the Mormon women love these romances that are so clean. I could never write one, but other people can if that's what interests them.

Marysol James: 49:03

So my advice would be don't follow the trend and don't write what's hot just because you want to capitalize. Write what interests you. When you get up in the morning and you think about okay, I've got to write chapter seven today, you better be excited about writing chapter seven, because if you're not, if you drag yourself through it, your readers are going to know and nobody's going to buy your book. It's going to be painful for you and for them. So, honestly, my advice, the mistake that I made was I tried to jump on a few hot trains, hot trends, and I just realized I have no interest and I've gone back to what I can do best, what I really love, and that's what my readers respond to. They respond to the fact that I love what I'm doing. They can tell I love what I'm doing and they respond to that. So, please, if you're a writer of any kind, not even romance, anything. Don't borrow somebody else's voice, it doesn't work.

Patrick Bass: 50:03

Yeah, use your own. You got to be yourself.

Marysol James: 50:07

Yeah, and you know no-transcript writing.

Patrick Bass: 50:33

write what you know, write what interests you, and if folks don't like it, you know they'll go read something else.

Marysol James: 50:39

Well, it just it gets very confusing, because you don't even know if you're writing your words anymore or if you're just trying to rewrite something that you read because it's a bestseller and it's hot right now, and you get confused and, as someone, I lost my voice as a child all those years. I had cancer and then I lost my voice in an abusive relationship where everything was taken away from me. If there's one thing I'm never going to do again is lose my voice, and that means being honest in my writing, being honest in podcasts, being honest with my son, just being honest with myself. And so trying to borrow somebody else's voice is always a mistake, no matter what we're talking about. So that's my advice would be please don't do that.

Patrick Bass: 51:27

I agree. I love that authenticity, by the way. But let me ask you, because you mentioned, you know, being honest with your son. So you've been, you know, holed up in your office all day writing the steamy romance novel, and now it's time to put back on the mom hat and go make dinner, or something like that. I don't know. I don't know what your situation is, but how do you? I guess the question is, how do you balance your, your, your personal life? You know also, especially in light of all this transformative journeys that you've had. Uh, you know, you've got responsibilities as a writer. Uh, you've got responsibilities as a mom. Uh, probably you may want to have a future relationship. I don't know, but how do you balance all of that? And is there ever just a time where you're just you?

Marysol James: 52:11

It's my son is. He's got some pretty serious medical challenges. He's got type one diabetes and he's got epilepsy.

Marysol James: 52:19

So when I'm not writing, when I'm being mom, I'm very, very focused on what he needs to be healthy, because it is something we have to deal with every minute of every day. But he is almost 18. So he's at the age now where he's at college. He's quite independent. He's very, very artistic. He's very into film, photography, animation, photography, animation, effects, after effects. So he has his own creative outlets and he can come to me as a mom, but somebody who can write, and we can talk about screenplays or we can talk about scripts, and it's such a beautiful way to connect with him because he's doing something completely different and something completely beyond me.

Marysol James: 53:06

I have no photographic skills or design skills at all. All I can do is write, but we can connect on that level. So I find that being a mom to him falls into two major camps. One is the health stuff, which never stops, but then we have this amazing creative connection that I enjoy more and more as he's starting to find his creative voice. He's starting to find what he wants to film and animate and sort of the direction he wants to go with his life, and I couldn't be more proud of him. But it is one of these things where we do spend a lot of time sitting down talking about, um, what I do, how, how important plot is, how important character development is, and then how he can use that visually in a way that I don't. Conversations where I feel like there's quite a bit of crossover between my professional and personal life and, um, that's always how.

Marysol James: 54:10

It's always great to see your kid start to say I want to do this film and I want you to help me with the story, but I'm going to take care of the visuals and the music and everything else, and you sort of say, great, you know I'll help where I can, but now it's all you so, and then you watch them and they, they start to figure out who they are, and that's always an exciting time as a parent, Spreading their wings, exert, you know, exerting their independence and, uh, and making a way for themselves.

Patrick Bass: 54:37

That's, you know, as a parent. Those are great feelings and I, I agree.

Marysol James: 54:41

That's all you want.

Patrick Bass: 54:42

Yeah, so tell us where. Where can we find you online? Uh, you had previously mentioned some of your socials, but give us details on all that.

Marysol James: 54:49

The best place to find me is through my website, which is marisoljames. com. On there you'll find you can sign up to my newsletter where I run contests, I do sneak peeks of books, I give all my publishing information. There's also all my social media through the contact me part. There's my direct email and there's a dropdown menu with all my books all 30 books, 31 soon. So you just click on the dropdown menu on my book series and all six series will pop up. You click on whatever series you're interested in, all the books appear and they take you directly to Amazon. In all the books appear and they take you directly to Amazon. And I'm exclusive to Amazon. So I'm on um because that's why I'm on on Kindle unlimited.

Patrick Bass: 55:33

So if your listeners have KU they can download my books as part of their KU package. Marysol and uh. Again, congratulations on your 30 books and 31st coming up very soon.

Patrick Bass: 55:51

Any closing remarks you'd like to leave with us. Just that, I was really happy to talk to you today. I really appreciate it, thank you. I'm, since leaving my ex, I've kind of decided to promote myself a little bit for the first time ever. So you're only about the third podcast I've done. Wow, and you've been great, so thank you, I really enjoyed it.

Patrick Bass: 56:14

Well, thanks. It was an honor to have you on the program. Thanks so much for choosing our platform to reintroduce yourself to the world, so to speak. And what a great guest, what a great story, and I'm just flabbergasted. I had no idea that the world of romance writing was so involved and intricate, but you certainly have opened my eyes to that, Marysol. Thank you again. I wish you the very best success and continued success in your future. Thanks so much for being on the program.

Marysol James: 56:38

Thank you, Patrick, it was great.

Patrick Bass: 56:40

Thank you and to the rest of the audience, remember we're going to be live again today at 2 pm central with another amazing story, an amazing guest. Be sure to check it out, 2 pm on the Patrick bass show pwbasscom.

Imaging: 56:52

we'll see you then, take care, thanks for listening to the Patrick bass show on the vanguard radio network. The Patrick bass show is copyrighted 2023, all rights reserved. And is produced and distributed by vanguard radio llc. Fort smith, arkansas. For more information, visit us on the web at and is produced and distributed by Vanguard Radio LLC, fort Smith, arkansas. For more information, visit us on the web at wwwvanguardradionet.