Drs. Bridghid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois – Book Journeys Author Interview

On this episode of Book Journeys, Pleasance Silicki interviews Drs. Bridghid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois, authors of Secret to a Younger You – The 3 Month Program: A Natural Facelift Without Botox.

Doctors Bridghid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois are naturopathic physicians who run a family practice in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and amongst the services they offer are cosmetic therapies. Due to their experience, they are able to advise their patients on “less toxic” methods of maintaining a youthful appearance, which includes such aspects as improving one’s sleep and minimizing stress. The book sprang from their desire to share with others the natural ways of maintaining one’s health and appearance, and it didn’t go smoothly.  The pair had actually spent a year trying to write the book, a year where they blocked off time and which included a weekend to themselves to do just that, to no avail. Kaley remarked that the synergy she expected – that, if Bridghid wrote, then Kaley, herself, would be able to write in return – cut both ways as, if Bridghid didn’t write anything, then neither did Kaley.

Joining the Author Incubator program gave both doctors the structure they needed to complete their book, in the form of an outline and the focus on the ideal reader. Bridghid remarked that, as both of them were used to working with a timeline and with deadlines, thanks to their experience in medical school, they took easily to that aspect of the program. It also helped to be part of a cohort, as they heard the struggles and goals of their fellow writers in the cohort, and in addition they were also helped out by the other members of the cohort, to troubleshoot anything that was going on as well as to motivate each other to complete the books that each person were writing. They likewise noted that it helped to have the end in mind to help keep them on track, and that having a coach like Angela, who could see issues clearly and gave them clear responses – even if these weren’t what they wanted – helped out greatly.

As both have an active practice, they needed to schedule time to write their book. They used their past experience from medical school to spend three to four hours on Saturdays and Sundays at coffee shops to write out their book, which was fun, on occasion, and not fun on other occasions. Where takeaways were concerned, both remarked that learning about the publishing process was a big one, as there had been nothing in their background in that regard, and they remarked that the program breaking down the publishing process into steps made publishing manageable for them.

Ever since the book had been published, both doctors have held seminars with the intent of teaching doctors their techniques and their program, so that those doctors could enhance their own practices and better serve their patients. They state that the connections they have created with other authors and professionals, both in the medical profession and in business, are the best benefits they have had since their book came out.

Drs. Bridghid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois can be reached at lakeoswegohealth.com.

 

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Interview Transcript Below: Drs. Brighid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois – Book Journeys Author Interview – April 26, 2018

 

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Book Journeys Author Interview

 

Pleasance Silicki with Drs. Bridghid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois, authors of Secret to a Younger You – The 3 Month Program: A Natural Facelift Without Botox.

 

“Get it done. It’s worth doing it.”-Drs. Bridghid McMonagle and Kaley Bourgeois

 

Pleasance:

Hello, everyone! It’s Pleasance here with our autho – with two authors on the line today, yes?

 

Kaley:

Yes. Both of us.

 

Pleasance:

Kaley and Bridghid, you’re both there – okay, cool! I saw one number and was …, “I hope they’re both there!” …who are both naturopathic physicians and expert on natural therapies, I’m super excited to talk to you guys because I love my M.D.s here in Washington. And every week, I interview different incubated authors around the book process and writing and what the whole, magical experience is like. My book, Delight: Eight Principles for Living with Joy and Ease, came out in April 2016, and since then I have just loved seeing what all the authors are doing and the books that are coming out, and it’s been super fun to get to know some of you. So, welcome to the show, Dr. Bridghid – how could – how do I pronounce your last name? Mc –

 

Bridghid:

McMonagle.

 

Pleasance:

McMonagle, and Kaley Bor – Bor –

 

Kaley:

Bourgeois. Bourgeois.

 

Pleasance:

Bourgeois! Bourgeois! On a Secret to a Younger You. So, welcome, you guys!

 

Kaley:

Thank you. Thanks for having us.

 

Bridghid:

Thank you.

 

Pleasance:

Where are you guys? Where are you located?

 

Kaley:

We’re in Lake Oswego, Oregon, near Portland.

 

Pleasance:

Wonderful. I have heard of that! So wonderful. It’s … a – a world away from Washington, D.C., where I live, so – tons of opposite. Okay. So, talk to me about – I haven’t done any interviews with two authors at once, so just in terms of flow and in terms of questions – are you guys physically together, right now?

 

Bridghid:

Yes.

 

Kaley:

Yeah, we’re pretty ….

 

Pleasance:

Awesome. I’ll leave it up to you guys, then, just in terms of flow, and … figuring out who wants to answer what. Tell me how you guys came together to write this book, and a little of your story.

 

Kaley:

Yeah! So – this is Kaley. So, we work together here, at private practice, in Lake Oswego. We do all sorts of … family care. A lot of what we do is ozone therapies, and we offer cosmetics therapies, and we’ve been doing it for awhile, and it just … felt natural, I think, to take the next step and write a book together. We were both really excited about it.

 

Pleasance:

And then, how did you find out about the Author Incubator and Angela? What was that process like?

 

Bridghid:

Yeah! So, Tami Stackelhouse is a good friend of ours. And so, she wrote a book on coaching for fibromyalgia and …. Actually, she’s written two books, come to think of it, but yeah, she – I – I remember … more exciting when she met Angela and then told us about it, and just … fell into place.

 

Pleasance:

Okay, cool. So, what happened then? You guys decide you’re going to write this book, and tell me a little bit about the process. Did you know what you wanted to write about? Did you have a sense of … who this is gonna be for? What was that process like?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Well, we wanted to be able to educate people about what we do as naturopathic physicians. So, not just writing about – we don’t want to write about this one topic, we wanted to explain how many different symptoms can be traced back to improving digestion, or minimizing stress, or improving sleep. And so, by writing about cosmetic procedures, we might get someone’s attention, and then we peppered the book with stories about patients that we’ve helped with – through testing and digestive testing, so that people knew – there’s a lot of things we can do to improve health, other than just minimize fine lines and wrinkles, in that they’re all important.

 

Pleasance:

Okay. So, what was the process like, in terms of – was this – did you write this book to grow your business or grow your speaking practices, … what was the – for your patients in your office, … tell me a little bit about that.

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

I would say, the main agenda for us is to educate people about safer ways to get your health back. So, if all we achieved out of this is helping people know there’s less toxic ways to do things, I think that would be winning. It’s great to let people know that we’re here and we’re happy to help. But if someone was really far away, and they just want to have a resource to ask providers in their area who might … like this, then, that’s great.

 

Pleasance:

Okay. So, with two of you, tell me a little bit about the book writing process. So, you didn’t have any resistance to signing up, and you’d had a friend who referred you to that, seem like a good fit for you guys, and so – sometimes, people have a lot of resistance a – along the – the first part of the process, or doubt or they might change their book topic. But it sounds like it was pretty smooth for you guys. What then happened, as you started to write?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Well, actually, it’s – it’s … funny, ‘cause we began writing the book about a year prior, before we really even knew about the – the program, and that didn’t go smoothly. So, we knew we wanted to … put the same message out. We – we blocked out time, we went and tried to go away for a weekend and write, and we pretty much wrote not much. So, after … not getting anywhere – that’s why it was so easy. We found out about this, we figured, “Okay. We gave it a go for a full twelve months. We are no further ahead than we were when we started out.” So, that’s why we were easy – easily ready, I guess, to take the next step. It’s really a matter of having someone coach us on how to actually get it done.

 

Pleasance:

So, what happened – what do you think the disconnect was, there, when you guys were on your own? What – what was not working about that, do you think?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Oh, we knew – we knew the gist of the message we wanted to deliver, but we didn’t have a clear outline. We didn’t have – we were picturing that specific person that we were talking to, which Angela stresses and teaches so much, and I really think that was the …. Once we had that, it was – it – we knew what, by the end of the book, we wanted an individual to know, and to work backward.

 

Pleasance:

So, what about writer’s block, or any issues along the way there? How did the actual writing process go, with you guys, as well?

 

Bridghid:

I think it was, overall, pretty easy, because we had the clients and we both respond well to having a timeline. Before, when we were just trying to do something – … we have a busy practice, so it’s hard to carve away time to – when somebody has a deadline for us – … we – we’ve gone to school for a long time, so we’re used to taking exams and getting through classes, so I think that process worked well for us.

 

Kaley:

I was gonna say, at first, that first year, before we started working with Angela, I figured that just knowing that Bridghid was relying on me to do my part, that would be enough for me to hold my end of the bargain, but it w – … if she – if she didn’t get something written, I use that as an excuse for me to not get something written, so I think we needed a third party telling us what to do.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And I think – what – what about the cohort that you guys were in, here? How was – how did that process go for you guys? Having that shared space with the other authors in transformation?

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

It was – it was nice. There’s one part of it where, I think, Angela went around and asked us questions, and I can’t quite remember now, but we were writing down goals and where we saw ourselves – I don’t know, in five years or something. So, it was – it was great to have some group brainstorming, to see … why are we doing this, what is the point in all this. And so, it was – it was interesting to hear other people’s struggles and goals, and I think it helps … what we were trying to do.

 

Pleasance:

So, you guys – I know you said that you were – when you were talking about – I wanna go back to that topic for a second, because I know that focus. So, … when you have – you guys were – are – have a wide range of expertise and experience, so how did you focus to decide on – I’m looking at your website – … decide on The Secret to a Younger You – The 3 Month Program: A Natural Facelift Without Botox, that’s the whole title of your book. How did you guys home in on that, knowing … your – all this information and knowledge and … looking at your website and all the things that you offer.

 

Kaley:

Yeah! I can answer that. So, I think – the way I looked at it, and I think this was the same for Bridghid, was – we were … thinking, “Okay, what – what do we offer that we think is amazing, but by and large, most of our patients don’t know about?” … What do we think … least understood. We do a lot of injection therapies and IV therapies, and a lot of the time, people know about that, they’ve read about that. But we had so many patients come in, they’re doing botox and other cosmetic things, and they had no idea that you could do natural alternatives to those. So, it seems like the best way to get information out there, by targeting the one that people knew least about.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah, that makes sense. So, do you envision more books? … do you see other books on other topics that you wanna educate people on?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Possibly. … we do have a – we do have a pretty busy practice in our – our focus, obviously, is our current patients, so we have to carve time and have a topic that would come up that we think would benefit people. We – we’ve talked about potentially doing … a series of different topics that we think would help people, but not – not anytime in the near, near future.

 

Pleasance:

Okay. So, with that said, the busy practice – I imagine you guys both have a lot going on in your life, when did you write? When did you find time to write, and just tell a little about the specifics on the writing for the homework assignment.

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

Well, we … for a very, very long time, so I don’t think it was unusual to sit in coffee shops for hours and hours on end, writing, because … studying in med school, that – so, we would meet for three, four hours on a Saturday and a Sunday, sitting in a coffee shop … done. It was … fun, every time … and sometimes not fun, because I wanted to be doing something else.

 

Pleasance:

Yup.

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

But there was an end in sight, and that really helped, because we had a timeline and we knew it wasn’t gonna be a year of us doing it.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah. Right. There was a – once you had that in place, you can … move through it, rather than it just being ongoing. That makes sense. Okay. So, now, your – is your – your book, about now, right? And the – when did your book come out? When was it published?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Was that – Novemberish? Yeah, I don’t remember, but it’s not with – Morgan James hasn’t published it yet, but we have some – some of the book copies from – the author copies.

 

Pleasance:

Oh, great! So, it came – so, now, what? … now, you have the book out, and tell me a little bit about life, now that the book is out. What opportunities, what did you notice, what did you feel, what’s the experience been like?

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

Well, we’re – we’re doing seminars, teaching doctors how to do this program, to help them have a successful practice and help their patients, so our next one is going to be in October. So, that’s been really fun, to have a seminar where we can pass on some of our – some of our practice secrets. And so, we plan to do more of those, and also, just like I said before, just continuing to educate people about what we do.

 

Pleasance:

And are you finding more opportunities, now that you’re a published author, or do you have – do you go through any – I guess, … emotional experiences, on the other side of finishing and all?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Well, I feel like we’re – we’re both pretty proud and happy that we – we did it, since it’s been a goal for each of us for quite awhile. I would say, for me, personally, I feel like one of the biggest benefits is the connections we made with other authors and other professionals. … people who were … in the world of healthcare and mental health, but also, there were a lot of people doing business type things, and they’re great connections to have, now, all over the country and the world. And I really feel like that was … it for us.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah. I think that was my next question, was … what did you – … looking back on the experience, what are the big moments, or the big takeaways … that you’ve had, and I’d love to hear from each of you, separately, on that.

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

I think … not – … we went to med school, we didn’t work in a publishing company, so I think … not only are we running a business, but we’re also practicing medicine. So, we didn’t know – we never really were educated on the steps of writing a book and publishing and what to look for in contracts and stuff like that, so it was a whole – it was a whole new process. So, being able to have someone … us the steps and – and what to look out for and hear some options was really helpful. It didn’t seem so overwhelming, that way.

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

I also think it was really … to have a network of other authors. So, for anyone wanting to write a book, … having the opportunity to chat with other people who’ve done it before or at the same stage of the game as you – that was great! Not only because you could troubleshoot together, but it was motivating.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah. I think that there’s so much – I think the way that Angela’s designed the program is just so incredibly – … if you relax and don’t have a lot of resistance to the structure and the format of the program, it really sets you up for success, …. I think, obviously, … that’s super intentional, but thinking about someone who is listening to this, who may be thinking about writing a book and not sure what the process is gonna be like, I think working with someone whose – whose program has so many successful authors in so many ways, … it’s … trusting the process. Tell me a little bit about what it was like to work with Angela. Did she give you guys some good coaching or mentorship or feedback along the way?

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

I think … – one of – to me, one of Angela’s skill sets is, she sees through things very easily and can have a concise response that makes sense, and so, it’s really helpful to work with people who can give you feedback, and when you hear it, you know that it’s right. Does that make sense? So – so, she’s quite good at clarifying and the coach …, and it may not always be what you wanna hear, which, sometimes – sometimes, it takes a coupla days and say, “Oh, shoot, she was right.” But I appreciate her – I appreciate her bluntness, like … would say.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah, I think that – so, I’m a yoga teacher and meditation teacher, and I found it very refreshing, and in some ways … it was so – the directness and the clarity and the strength from which she was coaching and mentoring along the way was just a whole new world for me, and something that I love in these conversations, we … get to talk about … how, based on where you’re coming from, how you can … absorb some of that, but I think it’s so fascinating, in terms of the clarity and the directness and and, just like you said, not – … we talk about, all the time, about servant’s heart, and I think, a lot of times, this is where that shows up, because, when we get in the way, sometimes, we’re not as clear and direct as what – I don’t wanna say, what we think the answer will be, but along the lines of .. really holding space for the person and being direct with how we think their – that the book is gonna best feel, or that this is really going to get into the hands, because, as Shelley says, it’s not helpful if you don’t finish, because then, you can’t help people, or if you write a book and you don’t have an audience, this is not gonna help people, right? So, … I just think that her style is unique in the coaching world, in the mentoring world, and I think it’s an important part of the programm …?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Totally.

 

Pleasance:

So, tell me a little bit about – at this point, thinking about … – we start to wrap up our interview, what – if someone’s listening and they’re thinking about doing the program or thinking about writing a book, what are some pros and cons or what – what kind of advice would you give them?

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

I would say, if you wanna do it, … it’s okay to look at the cons, but really focus on the pros. Get it done. That’s – it’s worth doing it. It’s – it’s – as challenging as it is, when you’re done, you get to be really proud of what you did and you know you’ve reached one of your goals. I – I would say, I – I’m so happy we did it with a coach. I honestly – if someone has access to that, if they can do it, … don’t wait a year, …. If you wanna try it on your own, if you really feel like you have the resources to do that, see how far you get in three months, and if you’re doing great, okay, or maybe … they have more knowledge about publishing than we do, but otherwise, I – I wouldn’t wait for more than three months. … find Angela, find another coach, and get help doing it. It was worth it.

 

Pleasance:

Great. Any other tips?

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

I think it’s – … if it’s something somebody really wants to do, they’ll find a way to do it, and if you really wanna make it work, you’ll make it work, so if it takes a coach or not a coach, I think you can achieve whatever you – whatever you want, if you put your mind to it. I do think that we may not have done this for … another ten years without one, so we really needed – we really needed the timeline and the – and the outline and the guidance. So, that …. I don’t know that we would have ever finished, had we not had that.

 

Pleasance:

Yeah. I think same. And I think that so many of us who ha – are multi-passionate and have a lot of – … our – we’re service based in so many ways that we can help and deal. The ideas sometimes get in the way, right? … you guys are saying a little bit in the – earlier, that in – earlier, that you had a lot of ideas. So, where – okay. So, tell me a little now, what you guys are focusing on and tell me about your practice and where people can find you and work with you, who are interested.

 

Kaley:

Yeah! So, we’re just in downtown Lake Oswego, south of Portland, and we’re just a family medical clinic. We do a lot of the standard care but we – we offer natural alternatives, …. So that people can get off of prescription medication when appropriate, get nutritional IV therapies, have some skin rejuvenating injections other than filler and botox, … a lot of chemicals and preservatives. Yeah. What do you – what do you think, Bridghid? Anything?

 

Bridghid:

Yeah, I’d say … we – we focus on doing some – offering some primary care, we’re credentials with some insurance companies, but what we – a big part of our practice is offering regenerative and functional medicine, so really trying to … cutting edge tech – cutting edge technologies to deliver really high quality care, and that can include … and different therapies. So, that’s been really fun, to offer some services that are – that can be hard to find in other places.

 

Pleasance:

And then, you’ll be teaching some other naturopaths? Did you say that, doing some –

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Well, it’s – yeah, so, it’s medical – we – we taught medical doctors, nurses, practitioners, naturopaths about the regenerative facial injections and hair rejuvenation injections, and our next seminar is in October, and the information and sign-up will be on our website pretty soon, it’s lakeoswegohealth.com.

 

Pleasance:

Awesome. And where can everyone find your book?

 

Bridghid / Kaley:

Right now, at our office and on our website, and in the future, I will have to keep you posted.

 

Pleasance:

Awesome. Thank you guys so much for coming on today, and wish you the best of luck. Thank you for all that you’re doing in your community, with your book and with your patients and taking care of other people. Healers and helpers and doctors are the best! So, I’m deeply grateful for all the work that you guys do. Appreciate you.

 

Bridghid:

….

 

Kaley:

Thank you!

 

Pleasance:

All right, have a great afternoon! Take care.

 

Kaley / Bridghid:

Thank you. ‘Bye-bye.