SHOW NOTES

In this week’s episode, I give an update on two speaking engagements I’ll be participating in, and I share an old cassette from an old career that might surprise you.

I’ll be speaking live at the following events:
indieLAB Conference by Writer’s Digest (Sep 29-30): http://www.indielab.writersdigest.com 
20Booksto50k Vegas Conference: http://www.20booksvegas.com 

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, and welcome to episode 25. I just celebrated my birthday…the big 3-1…I didn’t do much. Birthdays are just another day for me, a day to drink tea, listen to jazz and contemplate my life.

WRITING & MARKET UPDATES

But I did have something really cool happen on my birthday, and that’s that Author Level Up reached 5,000 subscribers. I’m still shocked at how the channel is growing, so thanks to everyone who is subscribing and supporting me.

In writing news, I’m in the process of developing my first information product. I can’t share what it is yet, but it’s for writers, and it will help them a lot. I’ll share more on that soon, probably in the coming months, as I plan to launch it in the near future if all goes well.
In marketing news, I’m making my first public appearances at speaking engagements this fall!

On September 29-30 I’ll be in Cincinnati, OH for indieLAB, which is a conference sponsored by Writer’s Digest. I’ll be representing the Alliance of Independent Authors, and I’ll be speaking on how to build your platform and reach readers with blogging, podcasting, and online video. So if you’re in Cincinnati and are attending indieLAB, be sure to stop by and say hi!

On November 6-8, I’ll be in Las Vegas at the 20Booksto50K conference, sponsored by Michael Anderle and Craig Martelle. I’ll be speaking on how to balance writing with a full-time job. I love Vegas—I’ve been there many times, but never for a conference, so I’m really looking forward to this one. If you’re going to be there, holler at me and let me know!

So most of my month this month has been spent preparing slides and material for both conferences, since they’re coming up on me pretty fast. But it’s definitely awesome to know that my work is paying off, and I’m excited about speaking in front of big crowds and seeing how I can improve my public speaking skills.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

We’ve got some listener questions this week. Big thanks to S. Chipasula-Perry, who emailed me a couple of great questions.

The first is: My biggest frustration with my writing is getting words on the page. I have all of the outlines done. But my struggle is coming up with the words to start the story. How do you handle this?

This is a common problem. After all, starting a novel is one of the most daunting things to do, especially if you fear the blank page. If you’ve done the work to outline, it sounds like you at least have an idea of how your story is going to start. A great technique I use is to think about the character and the problem they’re facing in that first scene—get inside their head, describe how they’re feeling or what they’re experiencing. Let that be the first line.

Another technique that works for me is to either go on Amazon or to your local library, go to any section, and randomly pick five books. See how they start. Pick the most interesting one and copy the style of the opening couple of paragraphs. Don’t plagiarize, but try to imitate the spirit. I often find that this is enough to get me going.

The second question is: When is a good time to collaborate on a project? Should you do it for your debut novel if you just want to get out there or wait until you are established?
The best time to collaborate is when you’ve found your own voice. I don’t recommend collaborating on your first novel, or your tenth, honestly. Get a few books under your belt, and collaborate with someone who has a similar number of books out and who is in the same spot as you on their journey, maybe a little further ahead.

I have collaborated on a series of novels. I wrote my Modern Necromancy series with my friend, Justin Sloan. We both had a few books published, and we had our own distinctive styles. Because we were aware of our writing voices, we were able to blend them together. If you aren’t aware of that, you’ll end up with a mess. To date, Modern Necromancy is one of my most commercially successful series. Readers even praised us for how well our styles blended together, so much that they didn’t even notice there were two people writing. That’s the goal you want to achieve, and it’s hard to do that if you’re brand new.

And the final question is: I live in a town that doesn’t have a writer's community as far as jobs, groups, events, etc. How do I find a community with like-minded people?
Personally, the best writers’ communities are online. You might start at a place called Kboards or 20Booksto50K. Those are both great places to meet new authors—there are some trolls lurking there, but the moderators do their best to control them. Comment on a few posts, find some authors on a similar wavelength as you, and then start your own group. I think the days of local groups are pretty much over. I’ve only ever had successful with a local group once—and that’s one out of 50. I don’t recommend them unless you can find people who are truly motivated, have actually published, and take their careers seriously. In all the local groups I’ve been part of, it’s been mostly writers who “want” to write, but never actually get around to it. Maybe that’s a topic for another show.
Anyway, thank you S. Chipasula-Perry for your questions and for listening to the show.
In other news, I found something cool to share with you guys.

We had some really bad rains in Iowa this summer, and my basement flooded. Fortunately, the basement is unfinished so we didn’t lose much, but as my wife and I were going through my old things, I found a box of old cassette tapes.

Many of you know that I’ve had a lot of odd jobs over the years. Janitor, soda delivery guy, auctioneer, etc. Well, one of the most interesting jobs I had was moonlighting as a therapist.

I’ve been told that I have a calming voice and I’m good at building rapport with people. Many years ago I found an ad on Craigslist for a company that does therapy sessions for high-risk clients. And when I say high risk, I don’t mean suicide or drugs or anything like that. I’m talking high risk to society.

That’s right, this company held therapy sessions for super villains. When they heard my calming voice, they hired me on the spot and paid me two-thousand dollars an hour. I helped a lot of bad guys become functioning members of society, and it’s one of the crowning achievements of my life that I don’t talk about very much.

Anyway, I happen to have a recording from my therapy session with a villain called Rathgeist the Destroyer. I diffused what could have been a very difficult situation for the galaxy. Check this out.

\*\*\*

MICHAEL: Hello there. Can you pronounce your name for me again? I don’t think I caught it.

RATHGEIST: My name is Rathgeist the Destroyer and if you address me as an equal one more time, I will rip you apart and feed your bones to the crows.

MICHAEL: Well, that’s a hell of an introduction. Rathgeist, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Michael. Do you understand why you’re here?

RATHGEIST: I got caught.

MICHAEL: Yeah. Big time.

RATHGEIST: I would do it all over again if I could.

MICHAEL: The part where you obliterated a skyscraper or the part where you ripped a hole in the Andromeda Galaxy?

RATHGEIST: Both, human.

MICHAEL: OK. Let’s talk about that, then.

RATHGEIST: It was glorious.

MICHAEL: There are other things in the universe that are glorious without, you know, death. For example, just the other day, I had a cup of Jasmine tea, and it smelled like grapes. It was fantastic.

RATHGEIST: I enjoy tea very much. You have impressed me, human.

MICHAEL: That’s awesome, Rathgeist. Tea really brings people together. I have some my cabinet. I just bought a tea set. How about we continue this session, Gong-Fu style?

RATHGEIST: I would like that very much. I prefer my tea crimson, infused with the blood of my enemies.

MICHAEL: Uhh…why didn’t I see that coming? Why don’t we change topics? Have you ever considered alternatives to crime? You’ve been all of the universe, so would it be safe to assume you enjoy travel? I hear Helsinki is nice this time of year.

RATHGEIST: Are you calling me weak?

MICHAEL: Quite the opposite. What I said was—

RATHGEIST: [ROARS]

MICHAEL: Whoa, hey, Rathgeist, I didn’t mean to insult you.

RATHGEIST: Screw this therapy. Screw society. I will destroy it.

MICHAEL: Hey buddy, we’re making good progress. Why don’t you—Hey, stop—[SCREAMS]

RATHGEIST: Puny human. [LAUGHS]

***

Well, umm…that didn’t quite end like I thought it did. I could’ve sworn I convinced him to patch a hole that he made in the space-time continuum. That must have been a different client. Anyway, I learned a lot from my short-lived time as a therapist…but probably not a job I’d take again.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.” Confucius

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