We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Babette De Jongh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Babette below.

Babette , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Maybe it’s my anxiety talking, but everything I do feels risky. Living in a constant state of low-level freak-out is strangely liberating. When making an innocuous reply to a random comment on Facebook feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, writing and publishing a book doesn’t feel so overwhelming.

When everything is scary, you learn to do scary things. The alternative is doing nothing, and I just don’t want my epitaph to read: She avoided fear by zoning out in front of the television (but it wasn’t a total loss because she memorized every episode of Outlander). That headstone would have to be huge. I’d rather have a smaller one that reads: She was scared, but she did the thing anyway.

Morning to midnight, all day every day, I feel like I’m taking risks, so I might as well be taking risks about things that matter to me. I never could settle on just one thing that matters, one thing that lights me up, one thing to focus on. I’m a highly motivated person with ADHD, so I’ve always had a hard time choosing what to love, and an even harder time choosing what to let go of.

I’ve been told that to succeed, you must focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well. Oops, sorry, I have difficulty making decisions, so I must do everything. And because I’m highly motivated, I must try to do them all exceptionally well.

In my twenties, I wanted to write romance novels—I’m still doing that.

In my 30’s, I realized I could communicate telepathically with animals—I’m still doing that.

In my 40’s, my life fell apart, and to put it back together again, I sought energy healing. It worked! A miracle! And the energy healer lady told me that creating miracles for myself and others could be learned—so, I’m still doing that.

And because a master’s degree in education ought to be worth something and I love to share— I’m still teaching, too. Only instead of teaching ballet or first grade, I’m teaching animal communication, and how to write sex scenes that sizzle.

Lord, help me. I’ve been a dancer, a teacher, and an artist. Now, I’m an author, a teacher, a healer, and a telepathic animal communicator. How does this sort of thing happen? Welp, I’m a late-bloomer and a pro at procrastinating, but I’m determined to finish what I started. So now, I’m a romance author telepathic animal communicator energy healer teacher. (Say that three times fast.)

How do all these seemingly separate things relate to the subject of risk-taking?

As we all know, a lot of people look down on romance as the red-headed stepchild of the literary world. (But let me tell you, that child can chop wood and carry water.) Even though it takes a special kind of courage to be a romance author, all authors in every genre put their hearts and souls on the line, every time they write and publish a book. They slice-and-dice themselves and their experiences, arrange the pieces in neat rows, garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro, and lay the platter out for reviewers (most of whom have never even tried to write a book) to gobble up, spit out, and praise or criticize according to their mood.

As a telepathic animal communicator, I usually work for human clients I’ve never met, doing remote communication with their animals. With minimal information, a list of questions, and a photo of the animal(s), I connect-in telepathically and type up a transcript of the entire conversation, which I send to the human client. If an animal isn’t immediately forthcoming, I ask chatty questions, like, “If you weren’t a dog, what would you be?” or, “What is your favorite thing to do?” I send all that information, too.

So, when a dog shows me that they’d rather be a fish, and that their favorite activity is standing belly-deep in a well-stocked fishpond and watching the fish swim around their legs, sending that transcript to the dog’s people feels risky. What if they don’t have a fishpond? What if the dog has never seen a fish before in his life? All those what-ifs don’t matter. What matters is that I know how to stuff my fear of heights into my back pocket, climb out on a spindly limb, stare down into the ravine of uncertainty, and send that paper airplane of information flying.

Animals have told me many strange (but very specific) things over the years, and I’m committed to sending every word of it to my human clients. I could be wrong. But wrong or not, I put on my big-girl panties and send the transcript, word-for-word, no matter how specific and easily disproven my impressions may be. (And yes, the dog did love wading into the fishpond. Now, we know why.)

Have I been demonstrably wrong? Yes, of course. The dog who showed me that they love getting chicken-biscuits and gravy from Church’s Chicken on a fine-China plate every Sunday had never had chicken-biscuits and gravy from Church’s Chicken. (I got the fine-China plate right, but the food came from KFC.)

The point, though, isn’t how often I’m right or wrong. The point is that I’m willing to be wrong. Demonstrably wrong. In writing. Because if I can’t trust myself, I might as well quit. If I can’t trust myself, my gifts, my talents, and my intuition, I might as well quit. Same goes for writing: Some people will love my books, but other people won’t. And a desire to criticize others will prompt people to leave a bad review more often than the simple enjoyment of reading a good book will motivate them to post a good one. And if you write a book that challenges someone’s belief system, you’ll be quick to find out how much people hate that.

So yes, it all feels very risky. Not everyone is going to approve of me and my work. But there’s something in me that won’t let me quit. I’m betting there’s something in you that won’t let you quit, either. I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to be scared. Just don’t let the fear stop you from being the person you’re meant to be and doing the things you need to do.

We can quit when we’re dead.

(Or can we…?)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always been able to communicate telepathically with animals, but I didn’t understand what was happening until I was in my 30’s. My parents and others had done a fantastic job throughout my childhood of training me to ignore and dismiss my ability to know what animals were thinking and feeling. But when a dog communicated something very specific to me to me that proved I was receiving true information, I made it my mission to learn how to harness and hone my ability. Word got out, and that led me to become an animal communicator.

At the same time, my life was in a turbulent transition phase that led me to seek energy healing. When I experienced a miracle and found out that energy healing is a skill that can be learned, I made it my mission to become an energy healer. (Notice a trend?)

Meanwhile, I was a decade into another mission: to learn how to write romance novels. Who’d have thunk that these three seemingly separate things would one day come together into one cohesive body of work? (Well, I sort of thought it might, I just didn’t know how.)

In my romance series from Sourcebooks Casablanca, an animal communicator from a small Gulf-Coast town helps matchmaking animals bring their human soulmates together. In the series, you’ll meet many of the animals who live with my husband and me on Dragonfly Pond Farm.

My debut novel is also a southern-small-town romance, this one featuring an Aussie and a fat Siamese. Angel Falls won the Aspen Gold Readers’ Choice award and the New England Readers’ Choice Award. According to Kirkus Reviews, Angel Falls “hits all its marks and blends romantic comedy, drama, and suspense… A thoughtfully written, rewarding read.”

I also wrote Hear Them Speak: A Twelve-Week Course in Telepathic Animal Communication. It’s easy-to-follow, and a lot of fun. But it’ll challenge you to ditch some baggage and misconceptions, so it’s not for the faint-of-heart. Beware: learning telepathic animal communication may spark a spiritual awakening. It did for me.

I teach the course online and in-person every now and then. But, I can only be in one place at a time, so I’ve just written a teacher’s guide for study groups or animal communicators who would like to teach the course. There’s also a forum on my website where students and graduates of the course can connect and learn from one another. I hope to see you there!

I received the cover art for my next book, which is due to be released this July, Coming Home to Magnolia Bay: published by Tranquil Dragonfly Press, cover design by Kim Killion.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Saving the World, One Happy Ending at a Time.

It’s a mission statement that applies to both animal communication and romance writing. Whenever I talk to someone’s animals, I’m helping them to understand one another, which turns misunderstanding into a happy ending for a multi-species family. And we all know that romance novels = happy endings.

I’m proud to say that my ability to communicate with animals has saved many animals who were on their way to being rehomed or even euthanized before they received the help I was able to provide. As for romance novels saving the world, I have no doubt that there are people who’ve been saved from despair by reading something uplifting and hopeful when they were going through a hard time.

And by teaching both animal communication and writing, I’m helping to build a community of people who are all committed to saving the world, one happy ending at a time.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Bunny slippers.

And, being part of a fantastic community of really cool people. My friends are writers, animal communicators, artists, psychics, and creatives of all sorts. It’s not just that they’re cool and interesting and fabulous in every way, it’s that they’re all so supportive, inclusive, and kind. They’ll go out of their way to help a newbie or prop up an old friend who’s feeling burned-out. The creative life is an amazing journey, and I wouldn’t want to live any other way. But leading with your heart and soul instead of … I don’t know … your insane math skills … can be emotionally draining. So it’s important to surround yourself with like-minded people who understand.

Also, bunny slippers.  

Contact Info:

• Website: www.babettedejongh.com
• Facebook: Facebook.com/author.babettedejongh
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/author/babettedejongh https://www.bookbub.com/profile/babette-de-jongh

Image Credits

Author Photo: Diana Vincent.

Angel Falls: published by Tranquil Dragonfly Press, cover design by Kim Killion.

Hear Them Speak: published by Dogs & Books, cover design by Kim Killion.

Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay: published by Sourcebooks Casablanca.

Magnolia Bay Memories: published by Sourcebooks Casablanca.