Episode 179: Six in Spider Jungle – Interview Jef Olsen

Episode 179: Six in Spider Jungle - Interview Jef Olsen

It’s November and we are all starting to look for ideas for holiday gifts. Well, my two November episodes are going to provide you with some wonderful story gift ideas. Each episode will be a discussion with an author about a story book that may be just the thing you need. You’ll have to listen in and see, each week will be a very different type of book. 

This week I’ll start out with a quote from Maya Angelou, she said, “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”

Maya’s words of wisdom starts out this episode perfectly, because today you get to hear a story about a spider named Rex who had 6 legs instead of 8. Read by the author Jef Olsen, this new book is a reminder that being yourself puts something wonderful into the world that wasn’t there before.

Tune into the audio program for a little story time, and a way to get a free digital copy for yourself or someone on your gift list.

Jef Olsen (that’s with 1 f) is an introvert who is occasionally happy to attend a gathering. He says he lived a very happy and stress free youth because when something was too difficult, he simply did not do it. He avoided the hard stuff. A lover of history, be got a BA in History from the University of Utah, then realized he needed money to pay the bills, so he went to law school. Currently he works as the senior in-house legal counsel for a vehicle service contract company, is married to a super human wife, and is the father of 6 children that he travels the world with. He’s a fan of Marvel comics, Star Wars and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jef wrote this book, but he feels like he wrote it down as the ideas came to him, rather than made it up. Rex the spider is named after his first best friend. Jef says, “I like the idea of acceptance and appreciation. It costs nothing to be kind.” This book for me was simply that people are different and that we should look at acceptance instead of rejection of others that seem or look different.

I was thinking that an illustrated copy of this book might make a great Christmas gift. We’ll hope that Jef and Kate have copies ready for the holidays. You can reach him at his email to check up on that. 

Jef Olsen: jef_olsen@hotmail.com

Angelina Jolie shared a peak into her childhood, “I want to say when I was little, like Maleficent, I was told I was different. And I felt out of place and too loud, too full of fire, never good at sitting still, never good at fitting in. And then one day I realized something – something I hope you all realize. Different is good. When someone tells you that you are different, smile and hold your head up and be proud.”

The best stories are created with interesting characters. Be who you are, and be good at it. Love your own colors and share them. To love your story, you cannot dislike your main character - YOU. 

As we sign off today I want to ask you to hop on iTunes and leave a review for the podcast. If you’ll do this, then email me your address and I’ll send you a Love Your Story podcast sticker. Thanks for being all the wonderful that you are. I’ll see you in two weeks on the next episode.