I sat down with Dr. Rhonda Lawson for a conversation that cuts through the noise. Even around writing, success, and so called shortcuts. We get honest about why trying to do everything alone burns people out. How real collaboration actually works, and why asking for help is not weakness. Dr. Lawson speaks from lived experience, and not theory. Sharing what it took to stop micromanaging, build trust with a team. Being able to protect her energy without losing control of her vision.

We dig deep into writing craft, confidence, and the myths surrounding AI. Dr. Lawson explains why AI should never replace a writer’s voice. Rather can be a powerful assistant when used with intention. We talk about writer’s block, perfectionism, and starting over. Why some stories need to be rewritten while others need to be left imperfect. This episode breaks down the difference between using tools. Also, allowing the tools to erase your humanity.

The conversation expands further into education, and career paths. Why putting all your eggs in one basket can be a dangerous game. Dr. Lawson shares why learning never stops, why college still matters for many people. Seeing how passion does not cancel out the need for structure. This episode is for writers, artists, and creators. Trying to build something real without burning themselves to the ground.

Where to Find Dr. Rhonda Lawson?

🌐 Website: https://www.mtwimagesolutions.com/ 📚 Work: 📖 Author services, writing education, and publicity through Meet the World Image Solutions. 📲 Social: @meettheworldimagesolutions

Interview with DR. Rhonda

===

It's not always about being solely independent.

Dr. Rhonda: That's very true. Very true.

Dave: How do you try to implement that for yourself, even for like your own marketing and for your own work?

I didn't have to worry about that. my, my other assistant already set up my podcast for Monday. I don't have to worry about that. All I have to do is just show up, and that's been super helpful because I have a day job. There have been some times where I've gotten home and just enough time to log in, but my assistant had everything handled for me, so all I had to do was just say. Hi, guest. How are you? Let's get started.

Right. And they. They tend to be extremely slow when it comes to management in the sense of we're they're run by these large corporations, but just to speak to somebody is like, it's like a needle in the haystack. It's like they don't know what emails are. They don't know what voicemails are. There's like one service manager for like 60 employees.

I kid you not, it's like, I'm like sitting there and I'm like, you're, you're running a luxury brand over here. Like I have some representation, but. The the truth though, some of the commitment that comes in with the team effort and the working together, 'cause it's not just management, it's also collaboration.

Dr. Rhonda: Yes.

Dave: need and vice versa. And it's not like I need you to do this specifically. I need to give you a grocery list. I need to give you, like there's that open line of communication that's already there.

Dr. Rhonda: And, but it, it, it takes being able to communicate ahead of time. The reason why they're able to do as much as they do for me is because I've been communicating. I've been letting them know this is what I have on my plate. And there have been some times where I've said, Hey Vic, I have to do this, this, this, this, and this.

And he'll be like, I can take care of that, that, and that. And I'm like, oh, great. I don't have to worry about that, and I don't have to worry about it because now there's a level of trust to where I know what his capabilities are and I know what I can give him, and I know what's going to be done right. And even if I have to make a correction, I

Dave: Yeah,

Dave: I think, um, I think something that. It's so critical and so important, and I, I've talked about this so many times, is the understanding that the key to success is not in a page or in a life Coach manuscript a lot of the times is figuring out those tools for yourself. Building and adapting and understanding that failure does not mean that you're failing.

Dr. Rhonda: I agree.

Dave: How do you, how do you approach that?

It's actually a hindrance. So sometimes you just have to know when to let go.

Dave: Yeah. I think also what sometimes comes into is almost a a, a level of arrogance, you know, where people feel this level of, you know, I, I, I deserve to have this.

Dr. Rhonda: yeah.

Dave: You know, it's like, yeah, I, I put my, like, I'll be honest with you, I'm, I gonna talk out, but like I've had, even in my own class with people that are in BMW, that they feel that they deserve to make $150,000 a year.

You know, it's just, I think that's something that gets lost a lot of the times, especially now. Like we think that, oh, well there's social media and more things are recorded and more people are open. But I think it's also that double-edged sword of where you're not showing the other side. You're not showing of how to get there or how did you get there?

Yeah, you've been I from, from your expression, I could tell you've already run into quite a number of these people already. You have, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You have.

Dr. Rhonda: Hey, I've been a leader for a long time, so I definitely have seen a lot.

Dave: How do you usually, how do you usually deal with that? I mean, do you usually just walk away or you try to have a conversation with the person?

And I, I had a conversation like this, not, not too long ago with, with someone, and I am this person thought that they had it all together and that it basically any shortcomings was somebody else's fault, not their fault. And I had to show them examples of where they fell short. I had to show them examples of where. I had to continue to make corrections, and since we've had that conversation, things have gotten better, so hopefully it stays that way. Yeah.

Dave: you hope you pray.

Um, endeavors. I'm gonna use fancy English right now. Creative endeavors that they want to pursue. And like you said before, they get blindsided where you can invest in another individual. But I think in the long shot, wouldn't the other person appreciate you investing

Dr. Rhonda: Mm.

Dave: too? You know, that kind of gets lost a lot of times in the weaves, doesn't it?

Dave: Oh my God. I know there's some people you're just like, you've been together for how many years? Don't put a ring on that finger. I don't care. Like that's $5,000 you're putting down. Oh. Fuck. But what I was gonna, what I wanted to venture off to, um, because something we did talk about the last time we had a conversation in

Dr. Rhonda: Mm-hmm.

Dave: to your writing, and you've said that you've had a lot of different.

Approaches and been, you know, trying to carve out the best way that you can continue to be able to be the best type of writer. How would you, how would you put that for yourself? Because I know that, you know, every single author and writer has their own direction and their own approach. How do you see it?

Dave: Yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: not being afraid to ask questions. I don't, I don't mind if I, there's two parts of it.

One part is I think sometimes I know I have, and, um, I've seen, I've, I've been on both sides of the spectrum where there were some times where I felt like nobody was a better writer than I did. I was, and I didn't need to ask any questions. And then there were other times where I felt like. Oh, that person's a way better writer than me.

I've been writing for a very long time, but it doesn't mean that I know everything. So, in order for me to stay on top of my game, I have to take, um, courses. I have to, um, ask people questions. I have to listen to podcasts where people are talking about the art of writing. I have to read books that talk about, um, fiction writing.

And I've done all of that. And I do. And I, in fact, Lee, I, in fact, I just got off of a, um, a webinar right before I called, um, that was talking about being an entrepreneur, or an entrepreneur is what they call it, an entrepreneur. How you can set up your book to

Dave: I like that.

Dave: Yeah, of course.

Dr. Rhonda: I want to see better writing in our industry because there are young people who are learning how to read and learning how to write reading our stuff. And if we don't put our best foot forward with our stuff, we are negatively affecting the next generation of writers. And I think that that's something that we have to take seriously.

They venture out getting their information from other places. They don't even bother to care about their own school. They're trying to venture out to even people such as yourself that are authors and writers, and creating career paths and your own coaching program, and just being able to get your word out where, like you said, they're able to sit down, read your work, get inspired, have an influence, and then build from there, you know?

Dr. Rhonda: Right.

Dave: Yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: as the exception and not the, not the rule, and then look at their own situation, think about what it is that, what it is they're trying to reach, what goals are they trying to reach, and how does a college education play into that? But it is a very, very dangerous. Um, trend going around telling people they don't need to go to college. And that's not true. there are many people out there who

Dave: No.

Dave: Yeah, and I, you, you touched on something that's really true and again, even touching to your own daughter. Being able to figure out what works for you. And I think this is something that we touched on from the very beginning of this conversation, is there's not a one fit for, you know, for, for all. Every single person kind of figures it out.

Like I can even speak for my own personal self. Yes, I am a podcaster, but at the same time I did put myself back into school where I went to trade school. So I can be in the automotive industry, you know. And yeah, I work with a brand that pays a lot of money, but I'm doing it because I have a passion for podcasting and I have a passion for cars,

Dr. Rhonda: you

Dave: you know?

Dave: You know what something else people don't ever realize is when you are somebody that has a career that you love and you're passionate about, okay, even though you have to go through education for, and you have something on the side that you love doing too. When you tell people, people are excited for you, they're like, like, they're like, oh, wow.

You do this as a profession and you do also this.

Dr. Rhonda: Yep.

It will throw hurdles at you, especially if you've got family. If you've got responsibilities, you gotta be able to figure out how to make the balance work for you in the end of the day.

Dave: Love that you brought that up. Yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: um, sometimes it's okay to leave it as a habit or as a, um. Or as a hobby, because when you turn it into a business, it transforms from something that you love doing. To something that you have to do. when you do that, you start to not enjoy it as much. So I tell people all the time, if you decide if you're really good at something, whether it's decorating, um, glass, you know, you know people who like decorate the wine glasses and make them all nice and pretty.

I love those. Or the people who love,

Dave: love those.

Dr. Rhonda: them. Or the people, the people who

Dave: I love them.

Dr. Rhonda: um, put an out a whole outfit together and style it. I love all of that, but if that's something that you enjoy and something

Dave: Oh my

Dr. Rhonda: relaxes you, it's not going to relax you as much when you turn it into a business.

Dave: You know, I have noticed this too, and there has been this attitude that has been existing, and I think it started after COVID where. Things have gotten a lot more expensive, and it's been very hard for a lot of people to survive and live. There's become this level or notion of attitude of, well, how am I supposed to survive?

Sometimes, and I, I had this conversation before, sometimes the environment that you're in is not the right environment for you. Sometimes going back to your home base might be better for you than keeping yourself stuck in a place that you don't want to be. You know, we get used to being comfortable. Just like it's a pain in the ass to move.

Sometimes you gotta move, you gotta get into that storage unit, you gotta pack up your shit. But I don't have anybody to help you. You got two hands, you got two good legs. You make it work.

Dave: I've done it too. Trust me. I've done it too. It's hell. It's hell. Oh God, I, you gotta deal with the U-Haul, charging you $2,700 and then when you're finished they're like, well, it's gonna be 3,900. Why? Well 'cause you went over, you know, a hundred miles, so we had to charge you 500. I'm like, you charging me $500 'cause I went over a hundred miles.

Dr. Rhonda: Yep.

You gotta balance those things out. How do you see that

Dr. Rhonda: About comfort over quality.

Dave: comfort over quality, especially busting your ass with all the writing and all the shit you gotta deal with.

Dave: I told you this from the beginning of the episode, like I have two good friends of mine and man, when she's, when they're hitting the deadline and I'm like, honey, I'm gonna have to hang up 'cause I can't. I don't have the brain cells right, right now for this. Like, I'm gonna need like six cups of coffee just to deal with this shit.

It like, I'm getting like 600 messages on my phone of like, is this okay? Is this all right? Like, we got three days. I'm like, why? Why did I get myself? And all I did was design the cover. My, might I add? That's all I did. All I did was design the cover. But you know what though? It's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of fun to be a part of the journey as well, because.

Dr. Rhonda: Yes.

Dave: So close.

All right. Let's get the elephant out of the room.

Dr. Rhonda: Okay. Where's the other?

Dave: Have there been any writing projects. Have there been any writing projects that you have not published or you haven't wanted to push out?

Dr. Rhonda: my stuff.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

I've. Probably published just about, well, I take that back. I did have a book. I don't know why I even had the idea for that book. not that you have me thinking back. I remember this book and I started writing. I'm like. This is garbage. And I, I, I stopped. I don't think I got past, like, maybe the third chapter.

Dave: This should be a TV show. I'm just,

Dr. Rhonda: But

Dave: I'm just saying.

Dr. Rhonda: really, I really thought the story would be fun I did a lot of planning beforehand.

No, I will never let AI write a book for me. But what I did do is I used AI for brainstorming. I used AI for planning, I used AI for, um, kind of, um, critiquing the book as I went along, or were brainstorming. how I wanted the chapter to go. So I said, okay, in chapter 13, I want this, this, this, and this to happen.

And I typed it up and it gave me kind of a, um. It kind of wrote out what it thought that I, where it thought I might wanna go with it. And I read that and I said, oh, that's garbage. But good ideas though. And I'll take some of the ideas and I'll write it myself. Um, but no, I tried, I tried because if I was talking about AI writing a book for you, so I said, you know what, I'm an author.

But you are still putting your heart into it. You are still putting your, your talent into it, or, um. your ideas into a giving it that human touch. It's still your work, and I don't want you to be afraid of getting assistance to put out your best quality work.

Dave: I think what, what gets lost in the weaves a lot of the times is AI can be a very powerful tool in the sense that it can allow writers that can have difficulty. For example, being able to write paragraphs correctly. You know, being able to have that flow like you mentioned, but it's not there to write your story.

And it was critiquing my writing and basically stating like. You don't explain your characters enough and that, and I'm like, I don't want to explain my characters enough. It's a first person narrative book. It's like one chapter's about one person and that's it. We're done. We move on to the next person and to each their own.

Right? Like you have your own style of where, how you wanna portray your characters, your story progression from start to finish. Like it's not cookie cutter, you know, it's like.

Dave: No.

Dr. Rhonda: good critiques and

Dave: No.

Dr. Rhonda: to take those critiques, but I am not rewriting something that my character said. Uh, and, um, take a suggestion from AI to rewrite it. because my character doesn't talk like that, I know my characters better than the computer does. So there are some places when they talked about, um, stronger story arcs or repeated information and found some places where I had a typo. I'm taking all of that and making my book better, but I'm not going to take the heart of what a character said. And turn it into something that sounds robotic, just because AI told me

Dr. Rhonda: right.

Dave: something in our lives. They're not written as if, like, the person that wrote him was like Aristotle, you know, like they're not written like Odyssey, you know, they're, they're written from the words and the mind of the person that are putting the words on the page.

And this is something that I told my friend yesterday, where one of the things that she struggles with tremendously is constantly rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. Well, I don't like how this sentence flows. Leave it alone. It's okay. It doesn't ha you don't have to have every single fucking paragraph be perfect.

You know, I think that if you venture out to perfection, perfection is not humanity. Human beings are not, we're not perf, we're not perfect creatures. We are imperfect creatures. And sometimes venturing out to a little bit of imperfection is what, like, it's like that, that cherry on top of that milkshake.

Yeah. Always leave that for the last, come on. Always.

Should I say that again? You should not expect other people or other things to do the work for you. You know, if you wanna be even a successful musician, it's like you can use AI beats, but you know, like, I love those tic, this is my favorite. They'll need the TikTok ads where you have that person just rowing and they're hearing their voice being done by ai, and you're just like, but you didn't sing it.

But it's my voice. Yeah, but you didn't sing it, you didn't put any of the work or the effort

Dr. Rhonda: Well,

Dave: to do that song?

Dave: Yeah, I mean that that is, so that's something that's totally different. I mean, remember also something that we forget in the past there was something that was called Ghost Writers. You know, there were people that were writing books and Yeah. And you know, it's kind of gotten like losses, like, Hey, you know, there are people that are.

Are capable. They have really incredible stories, right? But sometimes they don't have the skill or the effort or the ability to get those words on the page. And I don't think there's anything wrong with having a ghost writer. I think it's kind of an amazing thing. We are, again, like we said earlier, it's that form of collaboration.

Dr. Rhonda: Absolutely. I agree. I mean, it's, it's all about putting your work in. I mean, I think the moral to this entire conversation is to not let AI do the work for you. You know, you still need to put in the blood, sweat, and tears for your book, your music, or whatever it is. You still gotta put that in or else the quality of something that you are attaching your name to. down and in the end, if you are attaching your name to something that's computer generated, that has none of your heart and soul in it, that actually really degrading your brand. It's not increasing your brand.

Not something that is completely fabricated and completely made up.

Dr. Rhonda: Yeah, agree with that. And it's really just about, about you. Um, you, you can. You can let com, the computers do everything for you, but is that, what does that say about you? What does that say? When somebody says, I want to work with you and you're not able to do you, what you've attached your name to, you're not able to perform. um, that's the big part about it. I'm, I think AI is here to stay. I think I'm, I think about it, the,

Dave: Ain't going nowhere.

Dave: I mean,

Dave: yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: um, the written

Dave: Yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: was a terrible thing. So there's always some type of technology that's gonna come around that people are gonna be afraid of until they learn how to use it. And when you learn how to work with it and not work against it, it actually makes you more marketable. I've been telling that to my employees for the past couple months that you're not gonna lose your jobs to ai, but you could lose your job to somebody who knows how to use ai. So. putting all of these tools into your toolbox and make yourself more marketable and make yourself more useful. I mean, even if you don't go to another job, you make yourself more useful on the job. You may wind up creating a whole new position for yourself that you didn't even know existed.

Ugh. And I'm just like, do you understand that people 40 years ago, they would kill to have this to be able to, they're able to talk with a piece of metal. To be able to have that open line of communication. You know, the same thing even with writing and even, for example, for musicians across the, the charts.

Do you know how many of these musicians, these writers, these journalists across the charts, would've killed to have this technology 40 years ago? You know, how much better they, they could have utilized their own time and their efforts, and now we have it. Now what do we do? We complain. We complain, we call it cheating.

Dr. Rhonda: and like, I don't even know if we actually really like did a whole intro. We just jumped right in there.

Dave: Girl, we went right in there, no strings attached. Um, you do a lot of different things. I know you do writing, you've mentioned you've done also other things. Do you wanna give a little bit of a rundown, um, the work that you do, the things that you offer and where these people can find you like? 'cause that's always the number one complain.

Dr. Rhonda: Uh,

Dave: Yeah. We can't find you.

Dave: Yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: musicians.

So it's, it's all about, um, supporting, supporting them in what they're doing. So on the literary side, I do, um, ghost writing, editing. I do, um, book consultancy and, um, of course I write my own books. And, um, I also, um, teach, um, writer's courses. And, um, I mentioned a little earlier, I have a school, um, en environment, a school class that I just started, um, that includes, um, helping people to become better writers.

Well, for the $10 a month it costs to be in the writer's community. Um, so, um, I invite your, um, reader, your listeners. be a part of this because you're gonna get so much out of it and it's only $10 a month, and so you really can't beat that.

Dave: Yeah.

Dr. Rhonda: on the publicity side, I do, um, press releases. I do media kits and one sheets.

I also have, um, different, um, levels for that as well. so I really, like I said earlier in the show, I really love what I do. I love being able to support authors and I love being able to offer these services to not just authors, but small business owners. Um, other artists as well, nonprofits, because we all, we all need a help up.

Dave: Yeah, I love that.

Dr. Rhonda: dot mtw. Image solutions.com. can find me on, um, TikTok at at Dr. Rhonda L and you can find me on Instagram at Meet the World Image Solutions. And you can also find me on YouTube at Meet the World Image Solutions. So, um, I invite you guys to follow me, um, and, um, collaborate with me. Um, chat with me. Just say, hey, if you want to, but, um. Um, this is what I'm all about. So when you go to, um, any of my channels, you'll find writing tips. You'll find author interviews. Um, you'll find author motivation. This is what I do and this is the way I want to be able to pour back into this industry.

So I, again, I really appreciate you taking the time coming out here. Having this very deep conversation, boiling it down to the writing and the passions and the pursuit. 'cause hell, if you are on this journey, I'm telling you right now, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a rough one. It might be rough, it might be fun, it might be wild.

It might be a mixture of a lot of different things. Who knows?

Dr. Rhonda: Absolutely.

We are on Rumble and we are on Stop Stack. So with that, it's been fun. We'll catch you motherfuckers on the next one. Great. Peace out.