Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews bestselling writer, editor, and writing instructor, Wulf Moon, who won the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards at the age of fifteen, and followed that with winning the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Contest, and Writers of the Future. He leads the Wulf Pack Writers group and is the author of The Illustrated Super Secrets of Writing and How to Write a Howling Good Story. Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from previous episodes, shares a personal update, and then says a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the Stark Publishing book How to Write a Howling Good Story by Wulf Moon. The book is 25% off at the Smashwords store until the end of Jan 2024. Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast can get the book for 75% off until the end of Feb 2024. In their conversation Mark and Moon talk about: How Wulf Moon might not have been the name that he was born with and how the name "Moon" which he has been called most of his life came from his Ojibwe grandmother Moonbeam Road, a local road his father named after him when he was growing up Not having a father who was supportive of his writing, and even having to run away from home when he was younger Finding an important positive voice as a youngster in a teacher The additional lengths this one teacher went to support and encourage Moon in his writing Winning the Scholastic Art and Writing Award at the age of 15, among so many other awards that this teacher helped him find Getting beat up so often in high school that the only thing he could do was look down as he walked in the hallways - but how he found his power in writing The importance of finding a way to be who you are and to not allow others to repress you from that Starting up Wulf Moon's Super Secrets Writing Workshop right after winning Writers of the Future - and offering all this support to other writers for free The repeated authors who have gone through Moon's teachings and then ended up winning Writers of the Future The Wulf Pack Writers group that Moon manages Following the concept of "how can I help you with what I know" How writers don't understand proper Manuscript Format The high ranking sales that HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY has hit since its release in November 2023 Moon's concept of Heart's Desire as the most important principle in a story Caring that happens in the heart of the reader, which can create the Reader/Hero bond Getting to a point in his life that was so low that he took risks and was burning bridges behind him and not writing for 10 years Realizing that he couldn't be happy and couldn't be fulfilled not being a writer Moon's experience meeting Dean Wesley Smith at the Nebula Awards in Eugene Oregon The importance of having both the fundamenals of writing and the belief in yourself The mantra "belief determins reality" that Moon instructs his students to write down The dedication in Moon's HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY Meeting other people "like me" at writer conferences, etc and the incredible value that can bring Advice Moon would offer to newer writers And more... After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of not denying who you are and not denying the things that bring you pleasure. He also reflects on the concept of finding your people, your Tribe, and the positive impact we can have on one another if we just take the time to listen, to reach out, to others. Links of Interest: Wulf Moon's Website How to Write a Howling Good Story Smashwords link Patron Coupon for 75% off EP 340 - Personality, Passion, Presentation, and Persistence with Todd Fahnestock Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Wulf Moon is a bestselling writer, editor, and writing instructor. At fifteen, Moon won the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and followed that with winning the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Contest, and Writers of the Future. He leads the Wulf Pack Writers group. He's won both Best Author and Best Writers Workshop four years running in the Critters Readers' Choice Awards, and is the author of The Illustrated Super Secrets of Writing and How to Write a Howling Good Story. www.thesupersecrets.com The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews award-winning, #1 bestselling fantasy author Todd Fahnestock about his journey through both traditional publishing and indie-publishing, focusing on the moments for learning, growth, and applying passion and persistence. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor. Check out the WIDE FOR THE WIN community and resources. In their conversation, Mark and Todd talk about: Todd's first venture into writing back when he was 17 and in senior high school through a year-long IS (Independent Study) program Thoughts about how it has only been the past six years or so where Todd has really taken his writing seriously, and how things might have been different if he'd done that back in 2003 when signing his first traditional publishing contract How Todd had two big traditional publishing deals that turned into fantastic proven failures but how he attributes those flops into future successes The Heartstone Trilogy that was first published with big fanfare in 2003 from Harper Collins Parting amicably from being represented by Donald Maas Selling The Wishing World to Tom Dohorty of Tor Books being one of the highlights of Todd's career Todd's pitch to the publisher that included being able to travel to 50 schools in order to promote this middle grade trilogy Managing to hit a Colorado best-seller list by visiting 52 different schools in the state of Colorado in the promotion of this book The concept that "success is the diploma, but failure is the classroom" How subjective many of the measurements and opportunities in publishing can be What isn't random is that readers that love what you do love what you do The various layers that writers need to break-through in terms of getting a book published The idea of thinking that just making a great product is our job as a writer, but recognizing that it isn't just a product - it's an entire experience The opportunity that authors have to make their product synonymous with their "personality" and "presentation" Going full-time as a writer in 2017 and hearing about the 20Booksto50K wave of rapid-release author success, but not being able to get on that wave The sad reality of earning $1400 in that first year, when his plans were to earn $25,000 in that first 12 months How Todd's incredibly supportive wife said something to him when he was haunted by the demons of this failed plan that helped turn things around for him The experience of changing his attitude when it came to being stuck at a table with other Christmas craft vendors and making the best of it How it is a ton of work, but the joy of knowing that it's something that is in his hands More than 90% of Todd's sales being from in person bookselling rather than online sales due to leveraging his persona as a storyteller Todd's experience in 2021 of getting a double booth at Salt Lake City Comic Con Hitting $5000 in sales at 3 different cons in 2023 The approach of always talking about BOOK ONE by default when doing his sales pitch at the table A bit of a background on The Eldros Legacy The pitch Todd uses for The Eldros Legacy The "ten more pumps" water pump analogy from Jim Butcher Advice Todd would offer to other writers And more . . . After the interview, Mark reflects on a few specific points that came up in the conversation. Links of Interest: Todd Fahnestock Website Eldros Legacy Episode 339 - Romancing The Writing Life With Bobby Hutchinson Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Todd Fahnestock is an award-winning, #1 bestselling author of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age Award. He is a founder of Eldros Legacy—a multi-author, shared-world epic fantasy series—two-time winner of the Colorado Authors League Award for Writing Excellence, and four-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy (2021), Khyven the Unkillable (2022), Lorelle of the Dark (2023), and Tower of the Four: The Dragon's War (2023). His passions are great stories and his quirky, fun-loving family. Visit Todd at toddfahnestock.com. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this episode Mark interviews bestselling author Bobby Hutchinson about her unique journey through traditional publishing and self-publishing. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, welcomes new Patron Skye MacKinnon and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast. Learn more at: https://www.patreon.com/starkreflections In their conversation, Mark and Bobby talk about: What prompted Bobby to start writing in 1980 at the age of 40 Leveraging her training for the Vancouver Marathon in order to use that time in her head to decide what to do Her experience winning a Chatelaine short story writing contest Researching which books were selling by purchasing and reading 100 Harlequin novels before sending her first manuscript in which sold right away Selling 17 more of her books after those first two Signing with a New York agent who was recommended to her by her agent Writing and selling 40 more novels to Harlequin, and realizing that since she already had the relationship with them prior to signing with her agent, all her agent was doing for her was taking 10% of her cut of those sales Realizing that her agent was more interested in selling myself than selling Bobby's novels Giving up writing for a while to start a Bed and Breakfast in Vancouver - which led to a book she ended up writing called How Not to Run a B&B Hiring a vanity publisher prior to exploring the possibility of DIY self-publishing Getting the rights back to many of the novels she was written for Harlequin and self-publishing those books directly to Amazon The importance of writing the stories that she was super-involved in and passionate about writing "Going Wide" with her publishing through Smashwords in the beginning, but then being drawn into the world of Kindle Unlimited Accidentally getting screwed over by Amazon and having all of her books taken down from the platform because of a lone title that was still published in some obscure country Reading Mark's book WIDE FOR THE WIN about a year or so ago, at about the time her Amazon sales were starting to go down Bobby's recommendation to not take all your books down from KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited overnight Realizing that at an older age (Bobby is now 83), a person doesn't need nearly as much money as they used to The Public Lending Right registration (for Canadian authors) that Bobby has registered for The question, when re-publishing older books, on whether or not an author should update them to include more modern setting, such as adding cell phones, etc into them Being excited about Artificial Intelligence as a marvelous tool that authors can use How it's really hard to properly predict what is going to happen with a book when it is published The way that Harlequin was a fantastic training ground for Bobby Writing a book about living and traveling in a van (How Not to Vanagon) Discovering her love of camping and the new memoir (Me and Calamity Jane) Advice Bobby would offer to authors who want to get started The value of pretending to be a famous writer in whatever genre you're writing Why Bobby thinks that writing fast can make you a better writer And more . . . After the interview Mark reflects on a few things that came up in the conversation with Bobby. Links of Interest: Bobby Hutchinson's Website Episode 155 - Rebel Reflections with Guest Host Sacha Black Episode 336 - Coming Out of the Writer Closet with Bradley Charbonneau Episode 338 - An Amazing F*cking Pivot Into Sh*t-Tons of Money with James Fell Special Patron Coupon for getting Stark Publishing Solutions books for $0.99 Stark Publishing Solutions Books - 50% off in the Smashwords End of Year Sale Special Patron Only offer of $0.99 each for those books Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Best-selling writer Bobby Hutchinson writes stories about almost everything, as long as everything involves romance, quirky people, outrageous kids, deafness, time travel, or medicine, most of which she's familiar with. (Well, maybe not time travel. But who knows?) She started writing by making up a short story while training for the Vancouver marathon and reading a book called How To Write Short Stories. She was celebrating being 50. Chatelaine magazine was having a contest for the best short fiction in Canada, and she won first prize, $5000 for a 5000-word story called "Pheidippides Was Not A Family Man." She then wrote a romance for Harlequin Superromance, sold it and went on to write about 60 more. With no real qualifications, she taught night school classes in Romance and Creativity at Okanagan College and a correspondence course at the University of Saskatchewan. Bored with writing only for Harlequin, she wrote three long romantic comedies and sold them to Dorchester Publishing. She also sold romantic time travel to Avon. In 2014, she began self-publishing, at first using a ridiculously expensive vanity service and then learning about Amazon. If there's a mistake to be made in writing and publishing, Bobby has made it. She published wide with Smashwords, and when KU started, she withdrew her wide books and became exclusive, accidentally leaving one solitary book up in maybe Angola. Amazon took all her books down. A begging letter to Jeff Bezos got them reinstated. She should have stopped while she was ahead and gone wide again. A year ago, she came to her senses after reading Wide For The Win, took everything off of KU and began the tedious process of putting 50+ books up everywhere else. She lives alone in a funky little cottage in Cranbrook, B.C., a small city in the Canadian Rockies. In the summer, she hauls her very small travel trailer, Calamity Jane, to campgrounds. In the winter, she hibernates. She faints at the sight of blood, although her best-selling medical romance series, Emergency, does have the occasional scene involving bodily fluids. These days, she still writes mostly romance, with a few short stories and memoirs tossed in for fun. How Not To Run A B&B, a memoir set in Vancouver, was chosen by the Kootenay Library Association as Best Book of the Year, and is now being made into a film. Slowly. She lives in the land of possibility. And she's writing faster than ever because at 83, who knows when she'll head off to seek the Great Perhaps? She needs to finish that last book on the last day; as any writer knows, that deadline's tricky! The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews James Fell, the Sweary Historian, and bestselling author of ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY SH!T WENT DOWN. Prior to the interview Mark warns listeners of the adult language used in this episode, reads comments from recent episodes, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor. Mark's Stark Publishing Solutions books are 50% off in the Smashwords End of Year Sale. (Ends at the end of day Dec 31, 2023). Patrons will be getting a special coupon to get the titles for only $0.99. Offer good until Jan 31, 2024. In the interview, Mark and James talk about: How James is an author who "can't make up his F-ing mind" Advice James was given regarding how hard it was to make it as a writer and that most science-fiction authors also had other jobs Starting off writing health and fitness articles and getting columns at the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune as well as a few magazines The idea of SERVICE vs PRODUCT income Having the delusions of grandeur that he might one day have one of those books that would "blow up" The initial Random House deal he got for one book, then, a few years later, a US deal from St Martins Press How the publishers were interested in James' own platform for helping to sell the book The way James was crestfallen with the sales results of his first two traditionally published books Beginning to start a public speaking career just as Covid-19 hit the world James' background in University studying history The bike-riding epiphany that first popped into his head (a la the way he describes it in his book THE HOLY SH!T MOMENT) and the daily story about Mae West that was extremely popular and led to an even bigger "holy shit moment!" Ensuring that he did not miss a single day in posting a well-researched and funny post for two years straight James hiring a good copyeditor and also hiring Mark to help with his distribution strategy The more than a million views of his column of articles How most of the sales came from free daily stories on Facebook - and not really any other PR James' Substack experience and how he was able to leverage that via paid subscription The book sales taking off way beyond his expectations How 90% of the sales of the two versions of ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY SH!T WENT DOWN have been in print rather than eBook Receiving a respectable offer from a good mid-sized publisher about 14 months after the first volume was available for sale His agent being able to leverage that offer to pitch the book to a number of larger publishers The proposal that James wrote for this that was in the voice he used in the book (instead of in the standard recommended proposal format) The unexpected bonus of the publisher who bought the rights allowing James to keep the existing books live for almost a full year before their version of the book came out How James' career took off when he stopped giving a shit about "what the market wanted" Hearing "the voice is a triumph" from his New York Publisher Editor before she then "ripped the shit out of it" The pull quotes that were mostly selected from the interior book designer The fact that James sold more than 52,000 print copies of the book in print when it was entirely self-published The special arrangement that James had (and still has) with Calgary Indie Bookstore Owl's Nest for the procurement of signed copies A powerful story about solidarity among writers The 3 Rules of Marketing for Authors And more . . . After the interview Mark reflects on the unique method by which James gave away two of his books entirely for free, but in an inventive "self-promotional" way that was blatantly salesy, but also provided incredible entertainment and value. Links of Interest: James Fell's Website Facebook Substack Episode 060 - The Holy Sh!t Moment with James Fell Episode 190 - The Episode Where Sh!t Went Down with James Fell, Sweary Historian Episode 316 - Free Your Inner Non-Fiction Writer with Johanna Rothman Episodes with Editors as Guests Episodes with or that mention Robert J. Sawyer Stark Publishing Solutions Books - 50% off in the Smashwords End of Year Sale Special Patron Only offer of $0.99 each for those books YouTube Video - Anatomy of an "Author Branding" Photo Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard My name is James Fell and I say "fuck" a lot. Historically, I didn't write the word fuck that much, because the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, where I authored columns for several years, tend to frown upon such language. I also didn't swear in my 1996 history master's thesis, titled Rebellion and the Quest for Social Revolution in Latin America. In that academic work I did manage to get the message across that the CIA are fucking dicks without actually using the words "fucking dicks." Anyway, in the spring of 2020, a year I refer to as a fucktacular shitnado of ass, I said what the fuck and began authoring a column titled "On This Day in History Shit Went Down." To my immense pleasure and no small amount of surprise it's proven quite popular, with several million readers each month. These columns were turned into two self-published volumes of the same name: On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down, and they sold so many copies that Bantam Books gave me an assload of money for the rights to republished them. The new and Big-Publishing-Company-improved version of Volume I is on sale now. You can read free samples of my sweary history stories on my Facebook, and you should also subscribe to my Substack. You can get a free subscription or a paid one. I like it when people subscribe to the paid one. I'm also on Twitter (blarf), and my TikTok channel is called Sweary Historian. In a previous life I wrote about fitness and motivation. The cool and science-based kind of fitness writing, not the bullshit and/or fat shaming sort. Find my earlier published books here. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews editor Erika Steeves about her experiences in working with publishers and authors as an editor. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a brief personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY by Wulf Moon You can get this book in eBook, Trade Paperback, and Hardcover editions here. Between Dec 15, 2023 and Jan 1, 2024, you can get the eBook for 50% off at Smashwords. In their interview, Mark and Erika talk about: Meeting at the Waterloo Book Festival How Erika got involved in the world of writing and editing by starting off as an editorial internship at a regional Canadian publisher on Canada's East Coast Deciding to become a freelance editor in 2012 taking on academic projects and some book projects Pivoting over to do more editing on fiction in 2019/2020 Erika's experience reading the slushpile from a publisher and how that exposed her to great manuscripts that she loved but which weren't suited for that publisher's mandates The difficult task of having to send rejection letters to authors Being a member of two associations that have directories of editors How Erika finds new writers to work with The various types of editing work that Erika takes on Contuinity editing and the style sheet that Erika likes so much How the editor's "fresh eyes" can help detect some things that writers might no longer be able to detect in a manuscript that has been re-worked numerous times Things Erika wished more authors knew about related to editors How all edits are suggestions and that the writer can decided which suggestions to take, and which ones to ignore Getting a sense of how many hours an editing project is going to take based on the sample edit that was done Things that writers should "look out for" in an editor they're looking to work with Why contracts are important for both parties Types of writers that Erika is cautious about working with Ideas for how a writer can find the right editor for them The "House of Zolo" publishing company that Erika and a number of other writers and editors put together Advice Erika would offer to writers And more . . . After the interview Mark reflects on Erika's perspective related to things that empower and encourage writers. Links of Interest: Erika Steeves' Website House of Zolo: Independent Publishers of Speculative Literature Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Erika Steeves is a copyeditor and proofreader with a decade of experience editing fiction and nonfiction books. She started out as a publishing assistant for a traditional publisher, learning the ropes from the inside. After that, Erika started her freelance career and founded E.S. Editing! She also works as Editor-in-Chief of the HOZ Journal of Speculative Literature. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Bradley Charbonneau about his new book PROCRASTINATE and his new "Book in a Weekend" program for writers. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, thanks Patrons, provides a personal update, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor. You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway. In the interview, Mark and Bradley talk about: Bradley's love of Europe and his first eye-opening experience at the age of fourteen with the continent His early experience writing extremely long letters to his parents when, several years later, living in France The importance of the "audience" being yourself when you write The fact that on no calendar is there a day called SOMEDAY The concept of Stubborn VS Determined Bradley's first challenge of writing every single day for the month of November in 2012 A further challenge of posting a YouTube video every single day The idea of "practice is perfect" (as opposed to "practice makes perfect") The long-time streak of writing every single day for 2808 days in a row Being painfully reminded of himself when he hears an author say that they have an idea for a book that they might write "some day" Avoiding regret by taking action Bradley's admiration for humor and improv The program to get your "opposite" book written as a critical step to getting to that larger "massive" project that has always been kept at the horizon How the humor aspect of writing your "opposite" book can help bring out new elements of creativity and how it can be therapeutic Bradley's book PROCRASTINATE, which was his "opposite" book project The "book in a weekend" program that Bradley is running to help other writers overcome the things he had to overcome on his own writing journey The idea of writing a book every year as a way of creating a "timestamp" of who we are - the same way creating a photo album every year (which his mother used to do) works The DIY option as well as the interactive "virtual" real-time and "real-life in person" and the "one-on-one" options Bradley is working on And more . . . After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of adapting "the rules" into something that works in the ways that work for YOU rather than some pre-prescribed notion that doesn't fit. If you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, maybe it's okay to break or shake up a few rules in order to pave your own path to success. Links of Interest: Bradley's Website Mark's Affiliate link to get 25% off BOOK IN A WEEKEND EP 334 - Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse with Brittlestar EP 335 - So You've Failed NaNoWriMo Building Our Christmas Tree Built Out of Books Draft2Digital Blog: So You Didn't Win NaNoWriMo Harley Christensen on Twitter (Harley's Website) Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Before Bradley Charbonneau wrote his first book, he had written zero books. He spent years dreaming and wishing, chatting and hoping, but not actually writing. Finally, after years of procrastination, he wrote his first book. Since that first breakthrough, he's written 34 more. QUIZ: how many did Bradley write before his first book? The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

So it's December 1st, and NaNoWriMo is over. And everywhere around you, fellow author friends are posting on social media that they made it, they did it. They wrote 50,000 words in a single month. You're happy for them, of course. But you didn't quite make it to that 50,000 word goal yourself. So what do you do? Do you hang your head in shame and despair? I say: NO. I might be one of those "the page is half full" kind of writers, but if you're in the same boat as me, as an author who didn't complete the 30-day 50K word challenge, let me take over the paddle for a while and share a different spin. Prior to the main content of this solo episode, Mark shares a brief personal update (explaining why there's another solo episode) and a word from this episode's sponsor. There are plenty of books and tips on writing faster, learning more marketing tactics and strategies, trying to maximize your ranking, hitting the top of the charts, judging the algorithms, and hacking different ad platforms. But not enough guides to help you take the pressure off your art and enjoy the creative journey. Return to the love that brought you to writing in the first place. Check out The Relaxed Author in audio, print, or eBook format. Links of Interest: EP 212 - A Conversation with Joanna Penn on Co-Authoring The Relaxed Author Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews social media funny man Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds) about his creative work and his new book Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon. Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, welcomes a new patron, and offers a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Mark's movie trivia guides to Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Die Hard. In their conversation, Mark and Stewart talk about: Where the name "Brittlestar" came from Stewart's background as a musician and how he incorporates that into the parody music his does as part of his video skits How the music he now does for social media posts has broadly opened up the various styles and genres he can play and play with Stewart always writing stuff since he was a kid The way the book came from a series of topics that he wanted to riff on but which might not work as well for a video Being a fan of music and television and videos and trying to produce content from the perspective of the audience and of things he would like to see Beginning to do social media content back in 2013 Some of the early viral videos including the "Put Your Finger on the Screen" series and "Summer is Not Over" How Stewart, his wife Shannon, and their two sons were all involved in the creation of their social media content, and how Disney and that social media business came along in the nick of time to save them The KFC-branded "Explaining Canada Day to Americans" video that rec'd more than 10 million views than that year's most popular Nike video The process of how they create these videos, often based on a concept and a punch-line with a bit of winging it Getting into writing specific scripts for these skits about five years ago, which led into the monologue-style videos Why their living room is often dubbed the place where ideas go to die The "The Morning Show Thing" show that Stewart and Shannon started in 2015 - which is returning again in a slightly differen format Having to convince Shannon to come out in front of the camera Stewart's new book WELCOME TO THE STUPIDPOCALYPSE: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon Some of the differences between writing essays that were 1000 words verses a one and a half minute video The irreverence that Stewart was able to inject into the text of the book Being contacted by a literary agency that asked if Stewart was interested in writing a book The constant mistake humans make in compartmentalizing themselves into boxes such as "left wing" or "right wing" and how we get hung up on those things The foreword (written by Ryan Reynolds), the middleword (written by Mary Trump) and the afterword (written by Colin Mochrie) which was partially inspired by something Eric Idle put on the cover of one of his books Stewart's thoughts on the digital umbilical chord A strategy for dealing with trolls online The two times in the past ten years of being on social media where responding to negative comments actually worked out okay Stewart's theory that Canadian cuisine is a defiance Advice that Stewart would offer to other creatives: "Don't make art for artists." And more... After the interview Mark reflects on the unique opportunity to chat with someone who has inspired you and Stewart's advice about not making art for other artists, but rather for the specific consumers of your product. Links of Interest: Brittlestar's Website YouTube Twitter Instagram TikTok Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse EP 333 - 10 Things You Likely Didn't Know About Draft2Digital Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Brittlestar, a.k.a. Stewart Reynolds, is a bespectacled every-dad who has become a popular online media personality over the past decade. Every week, hundreds of thousands of people watch his videos on various social media channels. Some of Brittlestar's followers include Henry Winkler, Ryan Reynolds, Ken Jeong, Rex Chapman, Yvette Nicole Brown, and many other politicians and journalists. Brittlestar videos have been viewed more than a combined 600 million times, allowing him to gain a global fanbase, attend speaking engagements all over North America, receive an invitation to the White House, and engage in collaborations with celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay, Alan Thicke, and the Property Brothers. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark shares the audio from a presentation he gave in early November 2023 at 20BooksVegas called "10 Things You Likely Didn't Know About Draft2Digital." This episode is sponsored by Mark's affiliate link to Draft2Digital. Go to https://draft2digital.com/markleslie to sign up for a free Draft2Digital account. The visuals and slides for this presentation can be downloaded here. Links of Interest: Visuals / Slides for this episode's presentation Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Johnny B. Truant about his new THE ART OF NOTICING podcast. Prior to the main content, Mark leverages his digital AI voice from Eleven Labs to offer a brief introduction as well as a word about this episode's sponsor, the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast. Links of Interest: Johnny B. Truant's Website Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Johnny B. Truant is a bestselling full-time author with over a hundred books to his name. His best-known book is probably Fat Vampire, which was adapted by the SyFy Network as Reginald the Vampire. Some of his other big hits are Pretty Killer, The Beam, Pattern Black, Gore Point, Dead City, Invasion, and Unicorn Western. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0