[TheChamp-Sharing]

SHOW NOTES

In this week’s episode I give an update on how well the relaunch of my YouTube channel Author Level Up went. I also answer some questions about my first job and my tea habit.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, welcome to episode 21. In this month’s progress update, I have a lot of cool stuff to share.

For starters, my YouTube channel. For the first two months, I picked up around 500 subscribers and am very close to passing the 5,000 subscriber mark, which is crazy. It’s small, but as I say on this podcast all the time, everyone has to start somewhere, and the fact that I started with some momentum is really important.

My Scrivener vs Ulysses Cage Match video where I compare the two writing programs is already poised to be my best video of all time. And I’m just getting started.

So huge shout out to my YouTube subscribers for supporting me, and if you’re not a subscriber yet, visit authorlevelup.com or YouTube.com/authorlevelup to get lots of helpful writing videos!

In writing news, I have unfortunately decided to set aside my Sound Mage Sonata series. I won’t go into it in this show, but I gave it a lot of thought and talk about it in a video on my YouTube channel. Check the show notes for a link.

For my fiction, I’ve decided to return to my Magic Trackers urban fantasy series, continuing on the story of my heroine, Aisha Robinson and her two cousins. I love this series and it’ll be fun for me to write.

For nonfiction, I am planning a book on the basics. Basically, 20% of my audience has never written a book, so I want to write something for them that will help them break through their barriers and wade through a lot of the crap that’s out there targeted toward new writers. I’ll share more about this as I build it out, and I plan on being super transparent and let you guys watch over my shoulder as I design and create it.

In marketing news, the interview with Anais Concepcion and Maya Goode at the Literary Roadhouse Podcast is now live, so I’ll drop a link in the show notes. Be sure to check it out.

Oswald Q&A

My biggest fan, Oswald is back this month with more questions.

Oswald McChipperson asks:

“As a robot fresh out of my manufacturer’s factory, I had to find a job. My first job was on an assembly line creating wind-up mice. It enhanced my artificial intelligence in immeasurable ways. Tell me, Michael, what was your first job?”

Great question, Oswald!

My stepdad is a barber, and for a time he ran a barber college. You could go there to get cheap haircuts because the barbers there were still learning their craft. Because it was a school, my dad ran things on a tight budget.

Instead of an allowance, my dad paid me to go to his school every other weekend and clean up the place. I swept all the hair off the floor, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, washed all the sinks, and mopped. I usually did it on a Sunday afternoon, and it was quiet, solitary work. That job taught me a lot and it was easy money.

Time for the next question.

Oswald asks, “Did you know that the creator of the Frisbee had himself cremated and his ashes turned incorporated into Frisbees as a memorial to himself? Tell me, Michael, did you know that?”

Umm…Oswald, two things…that’s not a question, and well, that’s just creepy. Next question.

“In order to remain healthy, my creator recommends a daily regimen of lubricants and joint greases, which I take faithfully and are quite similar to coffee and tea. Tell me, Michael, do you prefer coffee or tea?”

Tea. Tea, all the way. Believe it or not, I am a huge loose leaf tea drinker, and the fact that I drink tea at all is a major lesson in your taste buds changing.

As a kid, tea was always available in my house, but it was the crappy kind. You couldn’t drink it without puckering up.

I never drank coffee, either. I always believed that if you needed coffee to help you stay awake, then you needed to get more sleep.

When I started working, however, I learned to like coffee. I never got attached to it, and I preferred the cheap K-Cups, which are so, so bad for you. That wouldn’t have been horrible, except for the fact that I was using two little cups of cream and at least three packets of sugar per cup.

One of my coworkers saw me one day and said “Umm, what are you doing?”

“Making my coffee,” I said.

“That’s an awfully lot of sugar, don’t you think?” she asked.

I looked down at my cup and realized, holy crap, this IS a lot of sugar. Honestly, it never occurred to me.

I’ll never forget that intervention.

I told myself I had to stop and committed to drinking tea again.

I searched long and wide for a tea I could believe in, and I found some. I got so hooked that I developed a tea habit—but no sugar—which was far healthier.

At the current time, some of my favorite teas are Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka—it’s fantastically full-bodied with a slight caramel taste. I recommend Ahmad Tea’s Ceylon blend.

Another of my all-time favorite teas is Hot Cinnamon Spice by Harney and Sons. Cinnamon and tea shouldn’t go together, but my god, with a little bit of honey—it’s like Christmas in a cup.

I also like Ahmad’s Lemon Vitality tea.

But really, I like green teas, too. I love a good jasmine tea, as well as gunpowder and hojicha from Japan.

I tend to stay away from anything artificial.

I like tea not only for the taste, but because it lifts my mood. It puts me in such a good mood. I also like the ritual of tea. Something about it makes everything slow down for me, which is much needed in my life.

So thanks Oswald, and if I ever see you in person, we’ll have a cup of tea together. I appreciate your questions as always.

[Oswald says “you're welcome.]

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Tea time is a chance to slow down, pull back, and appreciate our surroundings.” Letitia Baldridge

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