[00:00:17.520] - Dori Durbin

Hello, and welcome to The Power of Kids Books, where we believe books are a catalyst to inspire and empower change. I'm your host, Dori Durbin. Books are powerful not just for children and parents, but they can be equally impactful for relationships between teens and parents. Imagine navigating the teen world of new challenges, obstacles, and pressures without being able to communicate about what you felt or without the help of a parent or adult. But engage a book, and you can open the world to communication and so much more. Next is my guest then. My guest is a wife, a mom, an author, and former wayward teen who drew away from her faith and followed her architectural dreams, only to be pulled from architecting buildings to creating parenting bonding connections through books. Welcome, Verity lucia

[00:01:10.110] - Verity Lucia

 Hi, Dori. It's so great to be here. Thank you so much. And what a great description. That's exactly what I'm trying to do, is form the connections between the parents and teens, teachers and teens, youth ministers and grandparents.

[00:01:24.660] - Dori Durbin

I love that. And, you know, that's exactly where this podcast is, is trying to make that connection between the adults and the kids in their lives and just open that door because it's so easy to close and so hard to open. So tell us a little bit about how you went from being an architectural designer to actually crafting teens books. How did that happen?

[00:01:49.980] - Verity Lucia

Yes. God's plan for my life. The Holy Spirit winding his way into my well laid plans.

[00:01:57.770] - Dori Durbin

Yes.

[00:02:02.240] - Verity Lucia

Since I was a teenager, I wanted to be an architectural designer. I was very focused on reaching those goals. So I went to college and was more than a little ruthless in achieving what I thought was my dream. And after college, I got to work in the field, and it wasn't until a series of unfortunate events led me to basically the bottom of despair. And at that point, I surrendered my life to God, and he drew me out and has changed my life in ways I never would have imagined. If you would have told me that I would be writing books as a teenager, if you would have said that, I would have shaken my hand and said, no, I don't think so. That's not in the plan. But I started writing two years ago. I became a wife and mom after I surrendered my heart to God, and I started writing books two years ago after I became a homeschooling mom. And because I had all this extra time on my hands, that's definitely not the case for homeschooling parents. But it changed my focus from I had time to myself, where when you're working and you're designing for clients, you're helping the clients achieve their vision and working in the engineering firm that I was working at, helping working as part of a team to achieve a larger vision.

[00:03:36.630] - Verity Lucia

But when I began writing, it was for my daughter who was then twelve, started writing just as a way to connect with her and help work through some of the challenging choices that I knew that she was going to be up against as a middle schooler and high schooler. I wanted to prepare her and root her in her faith and help her to know some bigger truths before the world had a chance to reach her with lies. I actually write under a pen name because I think it helps with my ego to keep my name off the book, and also because I feel like I can't quite take credit for it because the Holy Spirit just swooped in and moved me to start writing with her. And the concept for this series, The Hidden Series, is a supernatural Christian fiction series for teens, came to me when I was in my car with my daughter, and I had put on my sunglasses, my aviator sunglasses, and I could see the window tinting in the windows. It kind of looks splotchy, I don't know if you've ever noticed that. And I thought, so weird. I think I said this out loud.

[00:04:52.030] - Verity Lucia

This is to my daughter sitting next to me. So weird that I can see things with my sunglasses on that I can't see with them off. And I thought, wouldn't it be cool if we could see the spiritual world around us if when we put on our sunglasses, like, we could see angels and demons? And my daughter was like, yeah, that would be so cool. No, it would be really scary. No, I don't want that. But just started this conversation about, hey, angels and demons are real, and this is a spiritual, spiritual war going on around us. And just because we can't see it doesn't mean we should ignore it. So that's how the concept came. And because that topic opened up a conversation with her, I thought, well, let's continue this and start writing as a way to talk about these topics and engage with these characters who are in high school, who are making questionable decisions, who are doubting the existence of God and take that conversation further with her. So about five chapters in, I realized, wow, I'm I'm writing a novel. Like, this is a book. At this point, I had taken creative writing in college and one of my professors was encouraging me to continue writing creative fiction and poems.

[00:06:17.600] - Verity Lucia

But at the time, again, it was my plan. I'm not doing that, I'm doing architecture. So that's what I'm going to focus on. So get out of my way, lady. This is not part of the plan, but the Holy Spirit put it on my heart to write this book. And when I realized five chapters in that it was bigger than what I thought it was, it was the books that I needed as a teenager. And when it wasn't just for me, it was for my nieces. I thought, my nieces need to read these books. The girls in my church would probably really enjoy this book. The high school or the local high schoolers would enjoy this. And like, this is a novel. I need to figure out what I'm doing here. So I took self publishing course and just kind of took it from there. And with my background in design, I was able to do my book covers and all of that. So God just prepared me with skills, and I don't want to turn my back on what and the gifts he's provided me.

[00:07:14.010] - Dori Durbin

So here I am, simply the design of a novel. It is complex. It's not like it's just you write the next chapter, you need to have all those little interweaving pieces. And so really, honestly, your training does it falls right into alignment with creating novels and creating that suspense, being outside of what is visible.

[00:07:35.190] - Verity Lucia

Yes, absolutely. And so much of design work is imagining imagining what the space would be like, imagining what the people will think or feel so that you can suit the building to them. And that's what the books are. It's the same way I'm just putting myself in someone else's shoes, just like I did all along. Designing and working in the engineering field, too. Problem solving and setting things up. But for me, the characters, they're just existing in my mind somewhere. And I think all of them are a little part of me in a way. And so they come from my experiences. And I think I was just talking to you about this before that because I had lived a decade without God. I think it helps to make my characters a little more authentic in their struggles. And I wouldn't be able to write them had I not experienced the suffering that I had as a teenager.

[00:08:37.610] - Dori Durbin

Yeah. Do you feel at all, like as a mom coming into this, that you're also if your storyline is almost like a cautionary warning, like, I know what happens if you follow this path and stay away?

[00:08:50.420] - Verity Lucia

Yes, absolutely. That was the plan when I started the conversation with my daughter. If we started talking about these things and she could see my experience and understand that I genuinely love her and genuinely care about her, and this is why I am yes. Creating this cautionary tale. Or it comes from a place of love, and it comes from a place of experience. My books cover a lot of topics, so we could be talking for a really long time. But it covers bullying and parties and making choices wisely about that and doubting the existence of God and what that means for your life if you live without God and relativism this next book, book three. I'm hoping I'm in draft three right now, but I'm hoping it's really going to open up the conversation about relativism that there is right and wrong, that truth can be known, and that if you have questions, Pursue it. Pursue it until you find the answers to your questions. Don't stop at the question. And that's what these books are all about. So with these books, I provide on my website free conversation starter worksheets that correspond chapter by chapter with the books so that parents and youth ministers or whoever guardians can or even book clubs so that girls can dialogue together about these topics peer to peer that will take the content of the book to the next level.

[00:10:29.620] - Verity Lucia

So it's really a resource, but yes. Back to your question. You did ask me it is a cautionary tale, and because I've experienced these hardships, I want to help teens to avoid the struggles or reach the conclusions that I reached without that decade gap in between, if possible. There is value in suffering, and we all suffer, and we're all on a journey in this life. But I would like to share the truth so that everyone, especially teen girls that have a strong heart for teen girls is they can know the truth and make wiser decisions sooner.

[00:11:11.000] - Dori Durbin

Do you feel like you have that heart for teen girls because there was a time maybe in your life where somebody could have come in and altered the way that you saw things?

[00:11:20.000] - Verity Lucia

Yeah, definitely. Or there were people that were trying to speak truth into my life, and I just had scales over my eyes, and I just couldn't see it or appreciate it. It's possible that's why we can't really see our memories aren't entirely accurate. They're clouded with our prejudices or emotions that skew our memories. And I won't know till the next life if there was somebody that was desperately trying to reach into my heart and tell me the truth. I know it's probably my grandmother's prayers that got me where I am. But yeah, well, that's just powerful in itself.

[00:12:02.590] - Dori Durbin

I mean, really having that perspective that our memories aren't perfect and that they are covered. I love that you said they're prejudiced, because I think that that is a really key point, too, not only as a parent looking back at my own life, but as a parent looking at my kids lives. And so that gives you a little bit of grace to be able to say, okay, that might be what I remember, but it may or may not be true, but here's where I am, and this is where I can go from there. And I feel like your books are probably focused on the more positive ends of things.

[00:12:36.210] - Verity Lucia

That's true. Because there's always hope in Christ. Yes. Okay.

[00:12:40.590] - Dori Durbin

Speaking of, I want to ask you, so devils and demons in your book, are they a big part of the plot? Are they kind of like when the character needs to make a decision, they pop up? Or are they kind of undermining in scheming?

[00:12:56.080] - Verity Lucia

Well, we don't get to hear what the demons are saying. They're not so much characters in the book. They're influencing people, and you can see that they're influencing people, especially in book one. Book one, I call it a spiritual warfare novel. Basically, I've been told, it's kind of like a handbook, a spiritual warfare handbook for teens written in an engaging, gripping way so they can see that there are nefarious forces at work in their lives, and they have to, if they're not going to succumb to the influences, they need to learn to stand up to them. Book one, that's primarily what it's about. Book two is a pro life novel. I don't know. We didn't really touch on that or talk about that. But yeah, it's a supernatural pro life novel. I don't know of any other ones. No, I think it's in its own category.

[00:13:59.040] - Dori Durbin

Yeah, that's like a surprising combination. It's kind of cool. Yeah, it is.

[00:14:03.100] - Verity Lucia

But that's what makes it so fun and interesting. It's more appealing, I think, to teenagers especially, talking about these. Talking about teen pregnancy is not something everyone wants to do. So this is a resource to be able to do that. It's got real life crisis pregnancy resources embedded into the story. But the fact that it's a supernatural pro life book is what takes it from being a memoir or a nonfiction instructional book that could end up sounding a bit luxury. It's something the teenagers want to pick up. Teen girls are like, yes, please, more of this. So if we can reach them with the truth that life begins at conception in story form when they're 13, they will be prepared. When their friends have questions or when their friends say, I think I might be pregnant, they'll be able to say, it's terrible that we even have to talk about these things. Right? Especially for Christian communities. We raise our daughters, our children, with the hopes that they don't ever have to confront these difficult topics. But the world says different. The world says otherwise, especially with everything being plastered on the news the way it is.

[00:15:25.840] - Verity Lucia

Even if our kids don't have cell phones, even if our kids don't have social media or they're talking about it. They're talking about it. Friends, cousins. And so this book, especially is very close to my heart. I think it's just this is a conversation that parents have got to be having with their teens before they're in this situation, before their friends are in this situation. Because if their friends reach out to them, they may not be prepared with an answer. They may not know that there are awesome resources like let Them Live out There that sponsor women in cris pregnancies. They may not even know that life begins a conception in real scientific facts. I put in the baby Olivia video. I don't know if you're familiar with that at all, but it's a very good animation that's available online that shows a baby's development from conception to birth. And even just that. If every parent knew about just that you could share that with your teen. And they're all about videos. You can just text that to them and they'll be like, what's this? I'll watch it. Yeah, watch it. So that's why books are a little bit different and can be challenging, especially in that teen middle grade or high school level, because teens don't always want to pick up a book.

[00:16:58.960] - Verity Lucia

But that's why these books are written the way they are. I wrote them very accessibly and fast paced and full of suspense and intrigue. That the average teen that I talked to here. They average at finishing this book, Secrets in two days.

[00:17:18.770] - Dori Durbin

Wow, that's pretty fast.

[00:17:20.840] - Verity Lucia

Yeah, they're like, I couldn't put it down. It's just great. And at the home school conference I was at last weekend, I think it was last weekend, some of the girls read book one in a 24 hours period of time. So their dads bought it for them at the conference. And their dads were vendors. So the girls were there. They were sitting there, and they read book one in 24 hours. And that's just the best. The best thing is to have girls beaming with smiles coming over and saying, I love this book so much. That's better than any architecture I could ever design. Because that changing hearts, changes souls.

[00:17:58.670] - Dori Durbin

Yeah, that's so cool. How exciting for you. And to see that 24 hours, really be able to see that happen in front of you.

[00:18:08.790] - Verity Lucia

It was making me nervous, though. I was like, I'm at Palms or sweating. I mean, I'm watching this girl over here at the booth next to me, and she's reading my book. I'm like, oh, my gosh, she hates it. I'm going to feel really bad, but I haven't had anybody hate it yet.

[00:18:22.120] - Dori Durbin

I appreciate your honesty because I think a lot of people think that you get a book out there and you're like, oh, everybody's going to love it. It's going to be great. Reality. Your hairs are standing up on you're, waiting to see what people say.

[00:18:34.030] - Verity Lucia

You really do feel a bit naked. It's true. It's a little scary at first, and I'm not sure it changed. Oh, no, I don't think it does. I think every release is a new set of nerves, different topic, or it's.

[00:18:50.110] - Dori Durbin

A different especially for you, a different subject.

[00:18:53.400] - Verity Lucia

For me, the subject matter, it's something to confront. These are real topics. It's not kind of just like a story you're not going to remember. It's something that's going to kind of touch you one way or another. But honestly, the girls, I wrote it, and that is something to note, right? Who I wrote the books for, I didn't write them for middle aged men to read, say. I didn't write them even for authors to read. Right. Like I said, I'm not an author by trade, so my writing is as someone else said, it's kind of like you're just talking to me. So my voice is very much like I am now here. I'm talking to you. And you do get to hear my voice in the stories, but it's not really polished academic writing. It's just fast paced, engaging storytelling. And I wrote them for 13 to 18 year old young girls and women. Young women, and those are the people that are loving it. So I feel really good about where they are and who's liking it. And I think it's in a good place.

[00:20:10.780] - Dori Durbin

Yeah, well, speaking of a good place, I think you should read some of your book.

[00:20:14.990] - Verity Lucia

Oh.

[00:20:15.280] - Dori Durbin

Book number two. Secret. The truth will out.

[00:20:18.710] - Verity Lucia

Secret. The truth will out

[00:20:21.110] - Dori Durbin

Well out.

[00:20:21.730] - Verity Lucia

And that's the pro life novel. And I should say it's not necessary to read book one in order to appreciate book two. And entering the series with book two won't ruin the series for you. I am just going to read a little segment from book two, secrets the Truth Will Out. Rather than googling pregnancy symptoms or calling a friend, she shoved her phone off her bed and covered her head with a pillow. Elise tried to shut off her mind, maybe sleep, but the house was quiet, too quiet. So quiet that she could hear the of the furnace from the basement below. She tightly wrapped her arms around herself. It was in the silence that her loneliness lived. This house was full of it. If Felice wasn't careful to nurture the noise of her daily routine, she could slip into the trap, a quiet set too late. The whistle of the warm air blowing through the vents took her back to her last happy memory with her father. How was it that the wound was still raw twelve years after he had left? Was it the silence in the house that sent her running at every opportunity into the clamor of the parties and the arms of sin?

[00:21:32.890] - Verity Lucia

She couldn't say. All she knew was the ache the quiet brought with it. The restlessness, the awareness of the void in her home, her family and her heart.

[00:21:45.660] - Dori Durbin

Yes. I would have to keep reading for sure.

[00:21:50.140] - Verity Lucia

Yeah. So it's just a little taste into Elisa's, into Lisa's life.

[00:21:54.800] - Dori Durbin

So, for each book, is it the same main character?

[00:21:58.060] - Verity Lucia

That's a great question. No. Okay. All of the characters, each of the four books is centered on a different girl's life. But all four of the girls are in book one, so you know who they are. Right from book one and their relationship to the story. But what's valuable and Catherine Bagner said this, she's another author through the life with Jesus, or through the year with Jesus, as of what her book is called. She endorsed these couple of books because she thought it was so valuable to see life and situations from other people's perspectives, because you get to see that Elise is struggling with something. In the first book, Elise is the protagonist of book two, but you don't know why in the first book. So the first book is Claire's story, and this next one is about Elise, and every girl has a different level of faith and a very different family life. So I think there's something to that, something interesting about that. To be able to see. It's kind of like sculpting a sculpture and making sure you get at it from all sides. Right. And you sculpt the sculpture in a way that people want to walk around it.

[00:23:16.280] - Verity Lucia

And for me, that's kind of like what this was. I couldn't write it just kind of in a linear fashion because I wanted to explore the story of each unique girl.

[00:23:27.900] - Dori Durbin

So I'm assuming you'll hit all four by the fourth book.

[00:23:31.740] - Verity Lucia

Yeah, the third book is about the antagonist, which is quite challenging, and I hope everybody can read about the girl that we've learned to kind of hate in the first couple of books. But she has a story, too, and there's a reason why she is who she is. Not saying that what she does is justified because she's a treat is what my mother called her. Well, she's a treat. Yeah.

[00:23:59.850] - Dori Durbin

That's really neat. I love the sculptural piece of that, too. And one piece, I think, when I think of sculptures or any landmark that you could look at is you want to look at it far away and see how it lays against everything else. And you want to get up close up to see all the details.

[00:24:15.740] - Verity Lucia

That it's exactly. That's exactly what this says. Yes, you're seeing because when you're in your own mind, you only get to see with your prejudice.

[00:24:23.810] - Dori Durbin

Right.

[00:24:24.000] - Verity Lucia

Like, you can only see things from this one angle, but if you get into somebody else's head, you get to see the nooks and crannies that you couldn't before.

[00:24:32.830] - Dori Durbin

I love that. Okay, I'm going to ask you a super tough question because you already answered this once. I'm going to make you answer it further.

[00:24:40.520] - Verity Lucia

Oh, I okay.

[00:24:41.750] - Dori Durbin

You got those four characters. Which one are you the most like?

[00:24:48.410] - Verity Lucia

Oh, you didn't tell me this is going to be on the docket. I didn't. Oh, gosh. Probably a different girl in different phases of my life. Is that a good politically correct answer?

[00:25:02.630] - Dori Durbin

I suppose that would work. That makes sense, though.

[00:25:07.710] - Verity Lucia

Yeah. Let me think. You know what? Honestly, that is what it is. I never really thought about that before. I said terrible. But what's weird, too, because oh, my gosh. Okay, so, no, you can't be in my head. You should have just heard all that. That I just thought. So the chronological order of the books actually kind of matches the chronological order of my faith experience in my life and the place I was in my life at that time. That's weird.

[00:25:40.890] - Dori Durbin

That's really cool, though. It makes sense because you would start with the past and move into the future. And whether you did that consciously or not, we're going to say you did.

[00:25:50.300] - Verity Lucia

And that was brilliant. I love people extracting more meaning from my book than I intended. That's fantastic.

[00:25:57.020] - Dori Durbin

You did say that it was not all your idea and not all your story.

[00:26:00.370] - Verity Lucia

True. It's true.

[00:26:02.140] - Dori Durbin

Yeah. So if God came in there and helped you push this through from your story from the beginning to the end, or at least to the future yes. That's pretty amazing.

[00:26:14.560] - Verity Lucia

Okay, I'll take you off the hot seat.

[00:26:16.890] - Dori Durbin

I guess you answered my question. So let me ask you something else. What is one thing that you really wish that girls, especially, would understand early in life?

[00:26:30.760] - Verity Lucia

I want them to know their inherent value, that they are worthy not for what they do, not for what they achieve, but just for who they are. As a child of God, I want them to know, like, know deeply that they are daughters of the king. And that makes them royalty. It means that they should never be treated as less than royalty, divine royalty, as CS. Lewis says, that there are no mere mortals. They have eternal life. Yeah. Just that they are daughters of the king. That's awesome.

[00:27:13.730] - Dori Durbin

I love it. Okay, before we run out of time, tell us about your next series and where people can find you.

[00:27:21.300] - Verity Lucia

My next series? Yeah. We're the next book in this series. Next series. Oh, gosh. I'm really excited to start writing.

[00:27:30.200] - Dori Durbin

Okay.

[00:27:30.540] - Verity Lucia

So I'm writing a lot of things. The next one that I'm going to finish after I finish this series is actually a nonfiction, and at this time, the title is no Doubt Why Your Teen Questioning Their Faith is a Good Thing. So that's a nonfiction that I want to come up with next. But then there's a Dystopian series that is set in future times, and it's a little Sci-Fi Dystopian. Yeah, I can't go into that one too much yet. It's an inkling in my brain. I've only got about 10,000 words on it, but that's it.

[00:28:07.300] - Dori Durbin

Just a couple.

[00:28:09.380] - Verity Lucia
That's where I'm at, actually. You can learn more about the books that are upcoming in the near future on my website, Verityluciabooks.com, and all of my books are available on Amazon. Awesome.

[00:28:20.790] - Dori Durbin
And you're active on social media, too, aren't you? Yes.

[00:28:24.370] - Verity Lucia

Instagram and Facebook are where I mostly am.

[00:28:28.220] - Dori Durbin

Okay. And under verity lucia also.

[00:28:31.100] - Verity Lucia
Yes. Author of Verity Lucia on Instagram and Verity Lucia books on Facebook. And just Verity Lucia is also another personal page on Facebook. But also, I should say that on YouTube you can listen to if you just look up Verity Lucia or Hidden Don't Fear the Unseen, you can hear two chapters of the first book that I read. So it's sort of like a little audio taste of my novel. And also on my website, you can download the first two chapters and get them right to your inbox for free. As well, and it's available on Kindle Unlimited, so that's great, too.

[00:29:09.820] - Dori Durbin
What we can do is I'll have you send me those links and we'll put them right in the show notes and they can go drop right afterwards and pick those up and jump on there.

[00:29:18.330] - Verity Lucia
Excellent. Sounds great. Fantastic.

[00:29:20.690] - Dori Durbin
Well, thank you so much, Verity. I enjoyed our time. And I know people are going to seek out your books and they're going to check out the hidden series and then they're going to get on your website and see what comes next.

[00:29:31.120] - Verity Lucia

Awesome. Thank you so much for having me, Dori. I really appreciate it.

[00:29:34.390] - Dori Durbin

Thank you.