Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve always been a writer, in one way or another, and I write something every day. Sometimes it’s a personal entry in a journal, sometimes it’s an article for a magazine or section in a book or thesis, and sometimes it’s just a thought-provoking post on my Talk to Teens Facebook page or group.
Writing is definitely my therapy. In the same way as the founder of Analytical psychology, Dr Carl Jung and the ancient Stoic philosophers used writing for self-reflection, I write to process what’s happening in my life. I also write to help others. For instance, years ago when my (then) pre-teenage children were struggling with particular issues, I wrote talking animal stories while on a family holiday to help. After the holiday, I wrote more stories covering the main teen issues I’d seen in my varied roles as a teacher, school counsellor and clinical psychologist. I self-published the stories in a book for personal use in schools and medical centres. It contained twelve myth-based stories featuring talking animals and other fantasy characters that go on a journey of self-discovery. I intend to re-publish these stories at a later date as The Universal Child. This is because the stories contain universal themes that are suitable for all ages, cultures and time periods.
Earlier this year I also had a book chapter published in a narrative text entitled Making Sense of Stories: An Inquirer’s Compendium by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. My book chapter, Story Image Therapy (SIT)® Story Analysis, shows how I use stories (and their accompanying symbolic images) as teaching tools, particularly with young people aged 12-25. I have hundreds of testimonials, so I know Story Image Therapy is effective.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In my career as a Guidance Officer Intensive Behaviour Support (GOIBS) and acting Head of Student Services in schools, I witnessed a lot of tragedy. I therefore wanted to create something that could potentially help young people to become more resilient. The results of my PhD qualitative research had shown me that young people use stories and images, online and offline, as a way of coping with their mental health problems. This was a key theme. The students I interviewed also told me that they preferred mythic fantasy and science fiction in books, movies and computer games.
In my quest to improve youth resilience, I decided to use a myth-based fantasy story to introduce young people to the things that I thought could help them. In particular, I wanted to teach them about Jungian psychology and Stoic philosophy to cope with adversity, to appreciate the arts (particularly the literary prose by Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe as poetic examples of real life), as well as to become familiar with the stories of historical characters, like King Henry VIII, whose life-story was a tragedy in itself.
So, I enrolled in a creative arts doctoral research degree to study ways to deliver positive mental health messages to young adult readers. The result of my research was my novel, Shadows of Sylvaheim, recently published by Feather Knight Books. Shadows is what I call a Story Image Therapy Tool. That is, it’s a teaching tool for parents, teachers and counsellors to deliver information to young people. Other SIT tools include booklets, poster images, archetypal cards etc. that I have found to be helpful as part of my Jungian Action Research ™ method. I wrote about my method in an article on Academia entitled Healing the Healer: Writing Academic Papers as Jungian Action Research. My paper has had over 3000 views since its publication a few months ago, so it seems people have found it helpful.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if you would call it unusual, as I’m sure that many writers probably write at strange times and in unusual places, but I wake up just before dawn – usually about 4 am – and start writing. I recently attended a Fairy tale workshop at the C.G. Jung Society of Queensland where we talked about Aurora. (Yes, it is possible for a group of adults to sit around for a whole day analysing a single fairy tale and enjoy themselves)! Anyway, we discussed how Aurora symbolises a time just before dawn, the time of day when the veil is the thinnest between the spiritual and physical worlds. This made sense to me as I often feel ‘inspired’ when writing in the early morning. Later, when I re-read what I’ve written, I am often amazed it came out of my head! It’s as if I am being guided or channelled by something outside of myself.
I chose Aurora as the place where my characters, Jack and Emily, live in Shadows of Sylvaheim. I don’t know why exactly I chose the name; it just came to me during an early-morning writing session. I also wrote about the coming of the dawn, Aurora, in reference to my own life during my second book, The Magic of Jung. I am writing that book now. I understood Aurora to be the Greek goddess who announces the coming of the sun, but I didn’t know about the spiritual aspect of the veil between worlds until recently. Perhaps that is why I chose the name Aurora for both books. Or did I? Maybe it chose me! Who knows.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
First, would have to be Tolkien’s The Hobbit. My father and I listened to the story as an audiobook long before audiobooks were fashionable, and long before I could read. As a young child, I think I was about five, I couldn’t wait to hear the adventures of Bilbo Baggins. I remember that I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but I understood more when Dad and I listened to it again when I was about eight.
I also couldn’t wait for my father to read to me stories at night. Enid Blyton’s Brer Rabbit was always a favourite. Dad and I would talk for hours about the trickster rabbit’s adventures. I think we both admired his sharp wit and quick tongue—how he always managed to weasel his way out of some sticky situation without deliberately trying to cause harm. I also loved Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree fantasy series, and others. More recently, I especially enjoyed The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I love the idea of fantasy being used to illuminate reality, especially with a teen protagonist. I think it reminds me of some of the trials and tribulations of my own teen years, as well as the good times. I also enjoyed Coelho’s The Alchemist for the same reason. A young central character who goes on an adventure of self-discovery…it reminds me of Dorothy in Baum’s The Wizard of Oz.
What are you working on now?
I am presently writing The Magic of Jung: The Rise of a New Youth Psychology Through Jungian Action Research. It’s basically an extension of my Academia article, Healing the Healer, which has been surprisingly popular. The Magic of Jung explains my ten-year journey from mainstream psychology and teaching to a more holistic, creative and fantastical practice. This aligns with what our ancestors have always done and my therapy’s acronym – SIT (as in to ‘sit’ and read a story or ‘sit’ and ponder a symbolic image). I am finding the act of writing the book is therapeutic in itself, although I do recognise myself becoming triggered at times during the writing. This is all part of the journey and healing process, and I am pleased it happens. That is, after all, why I write.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My new release, Shadows of Sylvaheim was published by Feather Knight Books, Oct 2021 and can be purchased from their website: https://featherknightbooks.com/
I’m an INFP in Jungian psychology. We’re a minority of the population apparently, and we like to go inward, to analyse our own inner nature and our place in the world. We can have a habit of daydreaming and fantasizing, so I recognise that I need good people of action around me. I have to force myself to promote my books through my website: www.toulagordillo.com, or writing blogs, or even to go to work counselling people all day. I would really rather prefer to be behind the scenes and just write! But to turn my dream of helping to improve youth resilience, I know I need to take steps to make sure that I turn my dream into a reality.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write every day. Don’t worry about grammar. Don’t worry about spelling. Just write. Oh, and “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I think it was Lao Tzu that said it? For me, I just followed the steps. I didn’t know exactly where I was going to, but I let my intuition guide me. And I made sure that I wrote every day. If you do that, you’ll stay on the path. Eventually you will reach your destination. It might not be the path you expect, or even the destination you think, but stay on the path and stay open, and you will get there.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Desiderata. My mother hung it on the back of the toilet door, which was a fashionable thing to do in 80’s. She was a smart woman. She knew I would have to look at it everyday and could not escape! She also had the Serenity prayer stamped on a plate hung up on the kitchen wall. That damn plate followed us around everywhere we lived, even when we travelled around Australia when I was growing up. I can still picture it now. These days, I see The Serenity Prayer as Stoic philosophy in a nutshell. The prayer is also used in Alcoholics Anonymous, apparently, which was inspired by Carl Jung. So, I guess you could say that I was surrounded by Jung and the Stoic’s advice all my life.
What are you reading now?
I am actually reading my novel and putting sticky notes throughout. That might sound odd, but I have been using exerpts from my novel as bibliotherapy in SIT for years. I’m looking forward to finally having it all in one place that I can use as a single resource. For example, if I am counselling a young person with an eating disorder, like I am now, I can read and discuss the scene where Jack is sitting at the feasting table in Heorot’s Hall, feeling anxious about an impending battle with an ogre, and how this relates to my client ie., what is the ogre that they are battling, what do they feel anxious about, how do they feel when they read about the food on the table?
Or if someone feels that they are “descending into madness”, which sadly sometimes my clients do, especially if they have had drug-induced psychosis, then I can talk with them about the scene in my novel where Jack is in Faerieland and his love interest, Ari, tells him he needs to sit with the images in order to learn from them. We can talk about the symbolism of the raven in Allan Poe’s Raven poem and again, how this relates to them. It will be lovely to just turn the page and read the passage, instead of reading on scraps of paper!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have nine case-studies that I am including in The Magic of Jung as an example of my Story Image Therapy method. I have finished seven, but I still have a couple more case-studies to write. My goal is to have The Magic of Jung completely finished by Christmas in preparation for its publication, also by Feather Knight Books, early next year. Once both books are published, I will start offering one day seminars for parents, teachers and counsellors in how they can use my books in teaching and counselling, or just to generate discussion with their teen or young adult. After that, I still need to re-write parts of The Universal Child to get it to publication standard in order to help pre-teens. My final and fourth book in the Sylvaheim series is my teaching and training manual. This will be an in-depth study of all of the Story Image Tools that I use in therapy and will lead me into more detailed teaching and training of other therapists in my method. I have a flexible plan, but as I said before, staying open is vital. So, I could end up doing something completely different! We’ll see what happens!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The first would obviously be a survival guide. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Surviving Anything by Patrick Sauer looks pretty good to me. In addition to the important life-saving skills (and yes it does have a section on island survival, I checked), the idea of trying to complete a survivor personality test while trying to survive on a deserted island without a pen, is somehow, weirdly, appealing.
The second book would be The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. I know some readers say it is Verne’s greatest masterpiece, while others find it tedious with its infinite and unrealistic detail on science and engineering, but I figure it might be an entertaining way that I could learn at least something that might help me. And if we consider its historical origins, and the fact that it is a fantasy book after all, it’s still a classic that I’ve never read. There’s sure to be plenty that I could sink my teeth into. After all, what else am I going to do after I’ve got the food, water, and shelter sorted? My time is my own, and what’s wrong with a little fantasy? Besides, isn’t the question about being stranded on a desert island and only allowed to take a certain number of books a little fantastical in itself?
The third book I would bring would be the bible. Like The Mysterious Island, the bible is a book that I have often wondered about but never read. Over the years, I have seen it in schools, hotels, they even sometimes randomly ‘appear’ in train carriages and buses, yet I’ve never actually taken the time to read it. Certainly not large chunks of it anyway. So if I was stranded on an island, and finally had the time to tease something apart, to analyse and digest all of its parables, symbolism and metaphorical meanings, then I reckon I would have enough to keep me occupied for years. And to be honest, if I was stranded on a desert island, unable to escape, then I would need all the help I could get!
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