What I did when you weren't looking - Week of 14 February 2016
This week has been sort of an experiment.
Last week I started listening to a few episodes of the Tim Ferriss Show. I started with his interview with Tony Robbins and Peter H. Diamandis, mostly because I've followed Tony's amazing career off and on for years, starting with Unlimited Power, and I recently read both of Peter's books back to back, Abundance and Bold. But by pure coincidence, my friend and writing partner Nick Thacker asked me on the same day, and with no prompting, if I had listened to Tim's interview with Seth Godin.
I hadn't, but the minute I was done I queued it up. And I'm glad I did, because even though I've read nearly all of Seth's books, have dipped into his blog for years, and have heard or read hundreds of interviews, this one interview really woke something up in me.
Among other amazingly consistent practices, Seth maintains a daily blog. As in every day. Not every post is epic—some are just short sentence-to-paragraph long musings on marketing, technology, economics, philosophy ... there's a wide range of topics. And sometimes, the only thing they have in common is Seth himself. But what all this daily blogging does, at least from my perspective, is put him in constant communication with the people who appreciate and respect him most. He does it for us.
Actually ... by his own admission, he really does it for himself. He does it because it's a daily writing habit (sound familiar?) and because it puts his brain in exactly the mode in which it is most productive.
And I figure, since I write journal entries and daily novel word counts and daily planning anyway, I might as well make some of it public. It's not that difficult to add one more quick blog post to my day. So why not?
Not every post is going to be epic, and not every post is going to be completely on point. But I believe Seth is right about the power of creating something public every single day. It helps you, as a writer, but it also helps the reader. It creates an immense body of work online—handy for SEO and discoverability. And it helps build a public awareness and trust in you as a creator, while also creating some accountability between you and your audience.
So ... there. I'm committed. We're in this together now.
All that said, the experiment has only been running for a week. When I hit the 30 day mark I'll feel better about calling it a habit. But I think I'll get to that. A daily writing habit is something I really push for anyone who wants to be a writer full time, and I already have one. I'm just changing my audience a bit!
Another habit I'm going to build is giving you a weekly account of everything I'm up to. I'm going to send something to my mailing list every week, so if you aren't already on it sign up (and get three free books while you're at it!). I haven't quite landed on the best approach for delivering this content, so for this first one we'll start right here!
What I did when you weren't looking
First, as mentioned above, I did a lot of blogging this week. At least, I did a lot in comparison to what I've done over the past couple of years. So here's the roundup of blog posts since Sunday, 14 February (Valentine's Day!)—
Hear me out
Over the past few weeks there's been a lot of podcasting, especially since I started producing something kind of new. I can't uncap that yet ... I'll have a big ol' reveal soon. But for now, here are the highlights of the three shows I currently host, from the past week—
The Wordslinger Podcast
WPC-068 - Happening to your career with Scott Barlow
Who wants to go to a job they hate every day? Is that just how it is? Scott Barlow says no. And in this episode of the Wordslinger Podcast he shares with you exactly how to happen to your career.
Self Publishing Answers
SPA 54: Writing Christian Fiction with Rachel Starr Thomson
Rachel Starr Thomson doesn't just have a cool name. She's a veritable writing rockstar (a "wrockstar"). She's been on the show before, but we caught up with her today to discuss a HUGE topic we've been pondering for quite some time: writing Christian fiction.
Creative Writing Career
CWC Ep19: Tools for Writing on the Road
Following the previous week’s discussion on writing remotely for games and film, this week Kevin, Justin, and Stephan talk about tools we use when writing remotely. This of course includes Evernote, Scrivener, and Amazon’s Story Writer.
Places where I showed up
Probably one of the best certificates I've ever gotten. Thanks for having me, Shadowbriar Elementary!
In this space I'll post about any appearances I've made, digital or otherwise. Over the past week I didn't appear on any podcasts or anything, but I did get invited to Shadowbriar Elementary School, in the Westchase area of Houston. I spoke to a few classes there about being an author, as part of their Career Day shenanigans, and I had an absolute blast. I love talking to kids about books. Mostly I love doing Q&A with kids, because they ask all the questions I wish grownups would ask. So special thanks to Shadwobriar Elementary, and you can ask me back any time!
If you'd like to invite me to speak at your school, business, or event, contact me. For grownups I can can talk about writing and books as marketing and business tools, or I can talk about starting and growing an author career, writing fiction for a living, podcasting, and all kinds of stuff. Or we can just talk about stories. Because we're ultimately story folk, aren't we?
Story time
And lest people think that with all the blogging and podcasting I've given up on writing books altogether ...
Evergreen is on sale through the end of February for only $2.99! By far, Evergreen has been my most popular book, and the one that readers love to talk to me about. If you haven't read it, now's your chance.
Pick up an ebook copy from any of these fine and lovable online retailers:
And that's it! That's my week in review, and it's a lot chunkier than I had expected. Which, if you'e me, means you've had a good week.
Until next time, [I'll eventually come up with a Stan Lee type catch phrase for here]!
What do you feel when you talk about money?
I feel terrified. Anxious. Sick to my stomach.
And it seems a lot like God is trying to kick me in the butt and move me past that, because lately talking about money has been unavoidable. So when you can't beat 'em, or avoid them while you cringe and cower at a back table in Starbucks, you might as well join 'em. So sure. Let's talk about money.