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Speaker 1: Okay, So for all these years have said, hey, if

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you're looking for a great podcast, just google me Arrowcollins,

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and then all of a sudden you find yourself on

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a streaming platform and can't figure out where anything is.

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He said, he was talking to this person. But okay,

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So what I've done is I've centralized it. Now Arrow

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dot net, A R R O E dot net, all

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seventeen of my podcasts are up there for you to enjoy.

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How are you doing today, Rachel?

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Speaker 2: Oh very good? How are you doing?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely?

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Speaker 2: Oh?

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Speaker 1: There you are, the two of you. I swear to god,

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I feel like I've grown up with the two of

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you just as much as readers have grown up with

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the Dork Diaries.

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Speaker 2: Oh thank you, thank you. I'm adjusting my volume here too,

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and then it will be aw set.

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Speaker 3: How are you today?

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Speaker 1: I'm very excited to share a conversation with the two

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of you, because I mean, you guys are stepping into

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something here that it's it's almost like a Beatles moment

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for a lot of people, because full colored Dork Diaries.

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This is a moment. Do you not agree?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. It's almost like a reset for our

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book series. And it'll either reset not as good, it'll

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reset about the same, or it'll just be fantastically exactly. Well,

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we even look at some of our middle grade books

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that were originally inked have converted over to full color

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and they're doing like phenomenal. So we're hoping that when

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we take our ink and converted over to full color,

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we won't be graphic novel technically, but when we converted

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over to full color, we hope our sales will be

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phenomenal like many of the middle grade books that are

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graphic novels and full color. Well.

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Speaker 1: See, I love this idea because one of my essential

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jobs only because I love people so much. I wanted

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to go where the people are so so the universe

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put me inside a grocery store and it's fun to

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stand there and talk with mothers and fathers with their

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kids about Dork Diaries because they they wrote, they read

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Dork Diaries, and their kids are just discovering it. So

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I mean, it's like, that's why I'm so inspired by

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the two of you, because somewhere in your heart you

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have to know that you are generational, that you are

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going to reach well beyond where we are in this

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moment of now.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, we love to hope. So, but I like

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the average I think the average time that the graphic

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not in the graphic novel. I would say the average

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children's book middle grade, because that's the area we work in.

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Maybe they have a shelf life of maybe three to

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five years, and that's even considered excellent. And we've been

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doing this for sixteen years, so I guess they kind

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of call our series evergreen. Yeah, so we have kind

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of gone beyond the average you know, three three years,

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maybe five years. You know, if a book is doing

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really well or if it makes times bestsellers. We're a

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series too, so we can keep renewing everything every year

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or every other year.

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Speaker 1: And yet when you step inside the Imagine on which

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is in Uptown Charlotte, which is filled with all books

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from YA authors, it's fun and fascinating to go to

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your section and sit there and you're going to think

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I'm a freak. I will open up the books because

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I know somebody else's imagination has been in that book,

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and I want to know what their imagination planted on

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your page so that we can continue with that positive

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energy forward all of us as a community.

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Speaker 2: That sounds fantastic to me. Yes, I'm excited about it. So, yeah,

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this is where we have our fingers crossed and we

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hope this will kind of relaunch the entire series.

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Speaker 1: Have any of the readers of the year's past, because

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you were talking about sixteen, has anybody started their own diary?

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Because I am a daily writer. I've been doing it

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since July of nineteen ninety four. I put value in

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having a diary, I really do. And this is where

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I can relate with Nicki Maxwell in new school new diary.

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Speaker 2: Yep, that's me. I would be that guy exactly. Yeah,

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I'll let Niki answer this because she started. I used

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to buy her like spiral notebook yep, from the grocery

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store when she was maybe three or four years old.

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She had a really nasty habit of drawing and with

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my magic marker on her bedroom wall. So I thought

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I bought her a little spiral notebook and you know,

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gave her a pencil or pen or her fat marker

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that she loved so much, so she could put all

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that energy into a spiral notebook instead of her bedroom walls.

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I don't like to talk about the whole diary thing.

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Speaker 3: Well ever, since I was very young, I really loved drawing,

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and my mom got me into Spiro notebook papers and

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pens as my very first way of expressing myself on paper,

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and that eventually evolved into art lessons in middle school

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during the summer, and from there I went into fine

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arts as my minor. In college, elementary education was my major,

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which has prepared me to work with children as a

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children's illustrator. So it's really great how all that works

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out now. As a diary person, I've loved diaries ever

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since I was Nicky Maxwell's age actually, and I have

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collected them since been. I am very much a diary

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person myself, and I feel like I can't get through

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life without having a way of processing my feelings in

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a diary. And not only that, I also have what

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I call a plannery. It's something I use daily just

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to set up my schedule to be a place to

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jats on my thoughts and my feelings throughout the week.

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And I even fill it with stickers and colorful gelpins

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and stuff. Because I consider being creative and crafty very cathartics.

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So yes, diaries and journals all the way.

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Speaker 1: So from one creative person to another, then Nicky because

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when it comes to keeping that diary, did you ask

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yourself the questions, do I need to put color inside

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these storylines? Did you work it out inside your diaries

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first and then work it with your mom and then

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come out with the book itself, Because I mean that's

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how ideas start to me in the diary.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, absolutely, And you.

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Speaker 1: Don't have to feel like a dork. But then again,

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I'm kind of proud being a dork. I like that

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they think I'm weird, so I'm.

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Speaker 2: Going to prove it.

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Speaker 1: And Rachel, Rachel, one of the most inspiring things is

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that I love the fact that Nicky did you know

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draw and pictures all over the wall because my daughter's

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room to this day is and we refuse to paint

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over it because I wanted the grandchildren to experience it.

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And it's fun to watch the grandchildren to step in there.

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Speaker 2: Thinking a lot more positive than I was, because I'd

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be like, ah, and then we'd have to like repaint

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our walls maybe two or three times a year. Yeah, yeah,

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well that's one I wish I was like that. I

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think that was the reason the experience.

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Speaker 1: I think that was the reason why I finally accepted

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it's like, I'm tired of painting these walls.

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Speaker 2: The very cool and that's going to be so wonderful

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when her your own children, you know, they'll be like wow, mom,

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maybe they'll be aspiring start drawing on bare walls. I

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know what we need to do.

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Speaker 3: We need to come up with wall paper or something

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that goes on the walls.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, draw yes, not a problem. I think you could

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buy like chalk paint, but that's chalk. We need something

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like that Mark watercolor marker.

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Speaker 1: That is absolutely York diary marketing right there. That's the

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kind of stuff for you. You put your name on that.

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Oh my god, that's Mark, and then do some T

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shirts because we all like to write on ourselves as well.

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Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that's that's a really good

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We can like market it with Brianna because Brianna and

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the Dark Diaries is inspired by Nikki and my older

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daughter Aaron, and we could have a whole Brianna brand

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of UH markers and things that you can use on

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your on your bedroom walls. That's an excellent idea.

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Speaker 1: It's so inspiring to see you reaching forward, Rachel in

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the way that I mean it began with you and

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now everybody else is getting involved, and it really puts

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me in a position where with a lot of parents,

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because you know, the parents are going to be picking

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this up because it's a part of their lives. But

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we're all asking that question when we look back, what

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do we see? And and your story is very inspiring

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because you're passing it forward, you're giving it forward, and

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that that is so very impressive.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you. So Yeah, we've been

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we've been at it since this is our sixteenth year.

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And I again, I expect it. Like when I originally

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did it, I thought, you know, maybe I'd get published

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and I'd maybe get about five, maybe ten thousand dollars,

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and then I was going to buy a new living

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room furnature and I was like my hope of it go.

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And at the time, I was a consumer bankruptcy attorney.

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And I've been able to I don't have to practice

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law anymore. And I just work in my pajamas in

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this office, yep, working on the most cool, wonderful stories

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that I can think of, you know, with my daughter

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full time, no less. So I have a very very wonderful,

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blessed life and I do know that and like I said,

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thank goodness. I have to thank all of our fans

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and teachers and librarians and parents and our readers for

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keeping us around for sixteen long years and hopefully have

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another sixteen long years ahead of us.

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Speaker 1: Now, Nikki, this is what I heard. She was buying

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the furniture because what really, what she wanted to buy

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was more notebooks for you so that you didn't write

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on the walk, because she was gonna please do not move.

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There's more with Rachel and Nicki Russell coming up next.

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Families have not only grown up, but grown together because

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of the Dork Diaries, and now it's in full color.

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Mom and dad, wait until you experience it. We are

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back with Rachel and Niki Russell. How do you keep

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it together though, because you know how sometimes with family,

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the you know, creative minds we all are going into.

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I mean, we have eight kids in my family, none

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of us have anything creative in common. But yet the

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three of you guys now have this all in common.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's well. Technically the books were inspired by my daughters. Yep,

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and I did ask Nicki for permission to use her

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name and likeness in some of her life experiences and

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what did you say exactly? My other daughter not so much.

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She was like here, I don't know. And then after

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we became New York Times bestsellers, then she wanted her name,

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so we've added her name to our misipitches of Max

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Crumbley books. So Nicki gave me one hundred percent of

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permission to use things in her life. And that's why

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I think Dork Diaries has done so well and kids

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relate to it because it's actually based on real life experiences.

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And Nicki was bullied as a child. I mean, it's weird,

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but she her dad is very tall, so both her

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and her sister and inherited his type. So she was

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always like the tallest kid in kindergarten and the tallest

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I mean. Finally, the varsity basketball players caught up with

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her in high school and she was taller than most

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of the male basketball players too. But that you know,

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people gave her a hard time because she was a

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little different. So ultimately we had to change schools. It

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was that bad, another different school where kids were kinder

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and all of that too. So we were able to

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take her experiences and some of the trauma and pain

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she suffered and add a little humor to it and

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then release it in Dirk Diaries and hopefully kids will

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read it and if they see themselves, they can see

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how Nicki in the book series is coping with some

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of the issues she has to deal with. So it's

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I think the book is really an anti bullying but

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we don't advertise it this exactly exactly.

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Speaker 1: I would love to sit down with some of those

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readers and ask them, what voice do you hear while

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you're reading the paragraphs, because I want them to hear you,

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but at the same time, I want them to hear themselves.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be wonderful, And I think that's what's

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happening because we do get emails and when we do

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appearance as kids will stand up and tell us about

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their experiences and what we do recommend for kids. Number one,

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tell a trusted adult parent first and parent and then

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an additional trusted adult. And whatever environment you're in, so

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open school, you might want to talk to a teacher

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or a counselor. We also advise kids to find other

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friends that are like them. Of course, you're gonna want

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to hang around, you know, the most popular kid, or

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the homecoming queen or the cheerleaders, but they're not always

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the people that will make the best friend for you.

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They may be friends to hundreds of other people and

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super popular, but you want person that's going to relate

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to you. You want to talk about that a little bit,

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because that's what you got to do.

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Speaker 3: Grow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So.

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Speaker 3: There was all sorts of different things going on during

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each phase of my life. Elementary school, there was a

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mean girl who was like Mackenzie Hollister, popular, had everything

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going for her, good grades, beautiful clothes, just everything about

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her was absolutely outstands and I wanted to be her friend,

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but she couldn't stand me, and she was very mean

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to me. And she had this beautiful, wonderful birthday party

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and basically invited everybody except for me, and that devastated me.

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And then in middle school it was the same thing

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over again, and this this mean girl was excellent at sports.

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I was not very good at sports. I was more

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of an artsy theater kid. But again I admired her

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so much, but she would just give me such a

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hard time. She and her friends would just bing up

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on me. And then there was high school, and I

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think that's when I just gob out had and realized

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I needed to get out of there because I would

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just get so harassed. I would call me names, they'd

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throw paper wads at me, they would take fun of

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me in the hallway and in the class, and it

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would make it hard for me to do my work.

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So I'm really grateful for my mom transferring me and

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giving me a fresh start somewhere where a lot nicer.

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But yeah, it's important to not just fawn over the

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most popular girl or someone everybody else adoores, because they

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may not be They might look out standing on the outside,

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but on the inside they may not be very good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but you always want to find your Chloe and

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your Zoe. And your Chloe and your Zoe are two

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people that will like you and love you and admire

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you and appreciate for who you are. And if you're

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dark then they'll love you because you're darky, or you're

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call they'll think part of your height is, you know,

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just the coolness about you. So you want to find

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people that value you for who you are. And a

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lot of times you get caught up with again the

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most popular kids, or the cheerleaders or whatever. And I'm

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trying to drag cheerleaders, but I'm just saying that a

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lot of times kids that are being bullied or harassed

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or or feel like, you know, they don't fit in,

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that's who they are affected because that person has, you know,

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the friends and all this and that they want that,

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so they'll kind of be attracted to those people and

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they're not always the best. You know, you have to

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find people who appreciate you for who you are, and

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we call that finding your Chloe and z So Nikki

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ultimately found her Chloe and Zoe. And that's what we

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tell people is to you know, try to find friends

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that are like you that if you're into I don't know,

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if you're into sports, find and other people that are

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into sports. If you're into theater, you find kids that

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love the same things you do, then you will be

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able to find it.

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Speaker 1: I've been in a classroom where where there was an

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unruly student. He did have a dork diary, and I

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remember that school teacher saying, here's what I want you

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to do. I want you to go through your book

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and I want you to find a part in this

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book that you are feeling. And then I want you

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to write me a story. What you would do if

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this story was written about you.

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Speaker 2: And my God.

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Speaker 1: But that's how it changed this kid. I mean, he

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just he changed right there in front of me because

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he because she invited him into something he enjoys, because

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she could relate with it, and then they could relate

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together and talk about it. And Wow, that right there

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is exactly what you're talking about with Chloe and everything.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, well that's I'm happy to hear this all

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working in real life. I love hearing real life experiences

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where people are inspired by dork Diaries or they were

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able to use some of the things that we suggest

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in our book, the stories that Nicky Maxwell does, they

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use those in real life and they have a positive outcome.

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So that just warms my heart. And that's the whole

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point why we wrote the book.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Wow. We want kids to laugh and to you know,

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find the story is really exciting. But most of all,

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we want them to, you know, hopefully take away some

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something positive from the book that you know, makes their

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own lives better.

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Speaker 1: But you know what I when I see when I

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when when someone is holding on to a dork Diary

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book is the fact that what I'm hearing in my

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heart when I see it clutched in their hand. They're

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saying mine, this book is mine. But you know, you

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know what I mean because a lot of people think, oh,

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I borrowed the book, Oh this is my brother's book.

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But when they've got you can tell somebody who this

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is their book, and you can tell it belongs to them.

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Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent. Wow. So where thank you for sharing that

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those stories.

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Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more information about

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the two of you, because you're, as I've said many

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many times times with you guys, you're just getting started.

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Speaker 2: This is just.

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Speaker 1: Every book is a brand new beginning for you too.

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Speaker 2: You want to show the cover, Nikki, and some of

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the artwork. So this is what our full call. This

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is Dork Diaries Book one here that I'm holding and

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it has the ink art work and that I'm going

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to hold that back up again. This is our new

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Ark Diaries, and it's full color and it's really really

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well done. And as a matter of fact, we've had

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people tell us that, oh, that's all AI artwork. It's

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not AI artwork. It took us, like good probably like

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four years we finish the art color full color artwork

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for three books, books one through three, and it took

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us the almost four years to do it. We would

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not have been working and slaving over these books for

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four years if we could just go click and have

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a I finish it in.

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Speaker 1: Second and and and it's only because I'm an author

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as well. Look at that book cover and look at

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those pages. That's sturdy. That tells me this is going

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to someone else's children after you've had it as a child.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. And then the interesting thing too, is that

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every artwork that she's showing you, if you go to

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the old book, you can find the ink of it.

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Speaker 1: Look at that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when you find that one, what page is that? Okay,

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oh that's in the veria. Okay, yeah, we're going to

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hold up this is.

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Speaker 1: The Yeah, well look at the difference that. Wow, that

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is a total experience. Look at that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's exactly the same art. And like I said,

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that is not AI. We just took the ink and

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then we spent four years with Nikki and a few

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of her excellent colors friends working on the entire book

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is basically our ink artwork that has been colored. And

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then we have some new material in there too, so

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we had to add a few You got maybe about

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a half dozen to a dozen new artwork, so I'm

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sure of Brianna is one of my favorite ones. Now

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this is a brand new artwork a Brianna because Nicki

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kind of says she, Oh, both of these, you can

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show them both those are both new material in the book.

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Speaker 1: Oh man, look at see. I mean you are so

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because you know, we are in this age because of

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social media where we enjoy looking at pictures. Otherwise we

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wouldn't be doing selfies and we wouldn't be addicted to exactly.

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I mean, you are so in touch with where that

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that that inner eye really is looking well.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so so much. So we're excited

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about it. And like I said, if this book sold

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really really well, and it has, I think we're in

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what forty two I always get the numbers mixed up,

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but I think we're in like fifty two countries and

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forty five languages. And if this was able to do

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that with just Nicki's inks drawings, hopefully the full color

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will do, you know, just as well, if not better. Wow.

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Speaker 1: Well you you guys have got to come back to

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this show anytime in the future. You know that door

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is always going to be open for you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so But anyway,

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I think you asked where people can find out more

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information at our website is dorkdiaries dot com. So wwwdorkdiaries

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dot com is our website. We're also on social media.

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Our biggest social media now is of course TikTok. Yep,

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So we're at TikTok. We're at dork Diaries and we

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have a lot of really cool stuff on there and

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Nicki and I'm not I don't really feel that comfortable

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filming myself, but we're on there, you know, trying to

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do videos, and we have a lot of artwork on there,

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and Nikki shares her studio, so if you want to

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see what Nikki's art studio looks like, you can go

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on our TikTok and she does a studio tour. So

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it's been a lot of fun, you know, putting our

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material out on TikTok. And I think we have we

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have like a quarter million followers. It's like, well just

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maybe two hundred and thirty thousands, so we're close to

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a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: Oh man, will you guys be brilliant today?

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Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much, Thank you for having us.

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Thank you for having us. We always love speaking with

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you