This episode is an unscripted, unedited chat from me, about why you don't need to be thick-skinned to be a writer. Before I go any further, here are the pre-order links for my forthcoming novel, THE ICE HOUSE. If you listened to today's episode and you'd like to help me on the #Roadto1500 please click these, share these, and get in touch if you've got any ideas or offers, no matter how crazy, how we could make this impossible thing happen of my lil novel hitting the UK bestseller charts. Mr B's Emporium are an indie bookstore who deliver worldwide - I'll sign all pre-ordered copies from here: mrbsemporium.com/shop/books/the-ice-house/ Wordery: https://wordery.com/the-ice-house-tim-clare-9781786894816#oid=1908_1 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-House-Tim-Clare/dp/1786894815/ Or ask at your local bricks and mortar bookshop. You can drop me a line via the 'Contact Me' link here: www.timclarepoet.co.uk THE ICE HOUSE has an old lady pulled out of retirement for one last job, a 400-year-old forensic pathologist field medic battle nun looking to bring down an empire, psychedelics, dungeon crawls, jungle adventures, a locked-room murder mystery, intrigue, romance, minotaurs, a secret testing facility, giant sentient beetles, immortal mutant aristocrats, knife fights, an angel, larceny and ancient menaces rising from the depths. I'm sorry for farting on about it, I hope I'm giving you my best work in return, both here on the podcast and in the book itself. I don't have the networks some other writers do, so I have to rely on the old hustle. Anyway, today's episode is in response to a couple of comments I encountered this week, about writing, and the kind of attitudes 'proper' authors should have. I felt a bit uncomfortable with both statements, so I've recorded a little talk where I dig into my feelings a little. It's just another data point but I hope some folks find it useful to hear a different perspective. I round off the episode by thanking some listeners who've supported me, and by talking about some plans I've got to try to make what now seems like a very intimidating target of 1500 sales in the first week of release (May 2!) come true. If you'd like to read a story about a 13 year old girl investigating a secret society in 1930s Norfolk, grab a copy of my novel, THE HONOURS: https://wordery.com/the-honours-tim-clare-9781782114765#oid=1908_1 If you'd like to sign up to my free Weekly Writing Workout, here's the sign up form: eepurl.com/gbmfcP Here's my author page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/timclarepoet/ Here's my Twitter page: twitter.com/TimClarePoet And if you'd like to support the podcast, here's my Ko-fi page: www.ko-fi.com/timclare