Discovered Wordsmiths

Overview

Besides writing, Jim does a live radio show each week that talks to a variety of authors. This gets turned into a podcast. We discuss the pros and cons of a podcast and why an author may want to, or may not, decide to include podcasting in their repetoire.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/ZX5kw0I47zI

Transcript

[00:00:46] Stephen: All right, so let's move on to some author. Before we get onto a good topic about the podcast and radio. Tell me a little bit about some things you're on book 13. What are you doing? Different? What have you learned over [00:01:00] 13 books. Okay. 15. So in the time we've talked, you've gotten two more books out.

[00:01:05] Jim: The a series is 13, then we have 15 and actually I have a poetry book thrown in there too.

[00:01:12] Stephen: Okay. So what do you mean the series?

[00:01:15] Jim: How to relax and let. I don't try to shove stuff in that doesn't belong. That's a great lesson to learn. And it's a hard lesson to learn. Yes, I agree. And I have now have learned that if the story isn't coming to be easily, move on to another story. Maybe come back to that one.

Maybe not. It just depends.

[00:01:39] Stephen: So. You mentioned letting it flow, don't putting in things that don't belong. It's interesting. You say that because you mentioned you're a musician. I also have played music most of my life. Not as much anymore, I'm getting back into it, but I was just chatting with some old band mates and we were talking you two and about how the basis is very [00:02:00] subtle in what he plays.

His baselines are not complex. All over the place and he leaves room for the rest of the music to breathe. And that's rare. We were just coming and that's a skill in any creative endeavor. Same with a painting music writing. It's interesting. You say that. I like that. I used to play bass. That's what I play.

I love those. All right. Yeah.

[00:02:23] Jim: I had it. I had an old, the fender P bass pre 64, CBS. Oh

[00:02:28] Stephen: man. Those are the

[00:02:29] Jim: best. Oh my God. It was such a clean instrument. It just played. So. But mostly we did the band I played in at the time it was a Rottweiler. I played in two bands and this was one set rock group that we put together for shows only was called back-talking.

And I played bass in that effect. When they put together the band, a guy named Irish, we can't, he said, I said, I don't play bass. And he goes, if you do, now,

[00:02:58] Stephen: these are the strings. Here's the [00:03:00] friends.

[00:03:03] Jim: He gave me the basics. And from there I took it on, I was already a really good finger picker and I'm really good guitars.

So picking up the place, wasn't that difficult,

[00:03:12] Stephen: right? The band, we were all musicians. I played piano. Most of us played piano, but we'd been in band together for eight years. So

[00:03:21] Jim: yeah, I believe that I play piano, banjo, bass guitar.

[00:03:27] Stephen: I'm working on guitar. Those little strings are so close together. It's hard for me.

[00:03:33] Jim: Yeah. I'm actually trying to get back into it. Um, I haven't played in about four years and my, I lost all my calluses. Now I'm going to pick up a classical guitar because I'm a wu...

Overview

David is originally from England, but now lives in Canada with his wife. His writing career took off when he had a long commute to get to his computer job and spent that time writing. Then he had a major medical issue, and while recovering, it gave him time to finish up some writing.

He has several series and his latest, Kwelengsen Storm, has an interesting title that he took from Native Americans. We discuss his different series and what he likes about writing.

Book

https://www.amazon.com/Kwelengsen-Storm-Logans-World-Book-ebook/dp/B0871QSDPP?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=discoveredwordsmiths-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=c15a02e522668896fd86589a44872fbc&camp=1789&creative=9325

Website

https://davidmkelly.com

Favorites

https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0047Y171G?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=discoveredwordsmiths-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=5d37f91b25e7f732c3f4be655b3f37fe&camp=1789&creative=9325

http://www.bayusedbooks.com/

YouTube

https://youtu.be/yM59vNzSGwo

Transcript

[00:00:32] Stephen: Welcome to episode 1 0 9 of discovered wordsmiths. Today. I have David Kelly. He's written. Interesting book with an interesting title that I have tried very hard to pronounce, and I don't think I've gotten it right. So listen to the podcast and hear him pronounce it correctly. I don't want to mangle it. I like it because of the premise of what it's based on.

So again, like usual, we've got [00:01:00] another interesting book, another great author to listen to. So if you're looking for things to read. Check out all the episodes. Look for your favorite genres and listened. Go back and listen to those authors. Their books are still available just because they were on here a year or two years ago.

You can still get their books. It's not disappearing. The books aren't timing out. They're still available. So please check them out, go get them. If you're looking for good books. Also, I know a lot of people have asked about what, who I use for hosting and who I use for my podcast. So I've put some links.

If you go to the show notes for any episode over on the right, you'll see some links to the hosting. I have DreamHost and I use blueberry broadcasting and a few other services. If you would like to use any of these services, please click on the link because it is. Cost you anything more? Sometimes you even get a bit of a deal, but it helps me out.[00:02:00]

And there's costs with hosting there's costs with the software and all sorts of other podcasting costs. And it would help a lot to keep this podcast going to help support all the authors. Here is David. This morning I've got David Kelly David, how are you doing today? Good. Nice.

And I combed my hair. I told ya. You said you got yours trim just for the podcast. I love that. David let's find out a little bit about you tell everybody where you live, what you like to do besides writing just some of your background.

[00:02:33] David: So I'm originally from England. I moved to Canada many years ago now.

And I'm now a Canadian citizen. I. Spend a lot of time working in it initially as a developer and then later on as a project manager and manager that's a very stressful a...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj6TjGlFPpLmLlX6PPchE0F-nOySGlQUI

Overview

David is unique among authors in that he not only has book trailers, but he creates them himself. We discuss how to do this and problems you need to be aware of.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/GPx9ENlBaq8

Transcript

[00:00:49] Stephen: authors. This episode is usually meant for you. It's not about the book. It's about writing an author stuff. So. I don't usually say too much before these episodes, [00:01:00] but I wanted to let everybody listening. Know if you haven't heard about the career author life summit. I apologize. The name has changed several times and I think things are changing.

Um, but it's run by J thorn and Zach Bohannan. There's a lot of great guests coming, uh, including mark Leslie Lefebvre, who, if you're an author, you probably recognize the name, uh, along with several other great. Uh, people doing talks and some great sessions. Uh, I went to their summit last year and it was absolutely the best one I've been to.

And the minute they tickets were available, I snatched one up and I just went. People who listen to this podcast, know if you're interested, go get tickets because there aren't a lot it's being kept small. It's not one of those conferences where there's a thousand people. This is going to be like 40 or 50 people.

You can talk to everybody, get to know everyone. It's much more [00:02:00] intimate and still big name, uh, speakers with lots of good things to say. So I will put links in the show notes. Uh, so please. Yeah, stop the, the pause, the podcast, go check it out and definitely, uh, sign up. It's going to be well worth it. Trust me.

All right, so let's talk some author stuff and, uh, we've got a great topic for people today. Um, uh, before we get to that, uh, let me ask you a couple of other questions. Uh, so you've written. Uh, like five books you're working on a six one. What are you doing different now than you did clear at the beginning when you started writing?

[00:02:43] David: Oh, everything. Um, my, my process of writing a book is actually constantly evolving. It's it's changed that we do every book I've written so far. [00:03:00] One of the things that took me a long time during the stands and the very early days was that, um, editing is actually critical to the process. I kind of like always had this bizarre idea that people just were books.

And once they finished writing them, that was, it was done, you know, and I couldn't do it. I, you know, I did, when I tried to do that, I wrote books, but they, but terrible at the end. And it like took me kind of like a while to understand that the reason why, you know, books are as good as they are, is because there's a lot of work after the initial waiting.

Um, and so I kind of got to a point where I now have a kind of love, hate relationship with. Yeah. It's like, I understand it's vital. I don't like doing it particularly, but I know that I need to. [00:04:00] Um, other than that, um, I'm constantly examining the process of how I go about writing the books, the stages that I go through from beginning with manuscript, to them working through and refining it until I've got the finished article.

[00:04:22] : And, uh, each

[00:04:25] David: time I do want, it gets kind of more streamlined, but each time I do want to also get more details because, you know, you kind of constantly looking to improve, right.

Overview

Paul finished his first book and is working on his second. Unlike many, he wants to get the first one out and not hold onto it while he works on the second one.

Being a musician, there are some comparisons he makes to publishing. There are some things that are different, but we discuss options for what to do after your first book is published.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/J6SgULOMx0Q

Transcript

[00:00:49] Stephen: Okay. Transitioned into some other stuff. So let's move on to the parking, the craft and business aspect of the books. You've written one book in you're working on another and some [00:01:00] short stories. What are you doing different now than what you did clear back at the beginning?

[00:01:05] Paul: I have a much kind of clear vision of what my writing style is and where I'm trying to go.

I feel like your first book is the hardest because. You're not just writing your story, you are developing your voice and how you tell stories and how you approach a fleshing out a narrative. Are you the kind of writer that's just quick and to the point, are you the kind of rider that likes to meander and there's no real wrong way to do it?

The reader has their different tastes. And one person who thinks something is overly bloated and self-indulgent the next person be like, oh, it was amazing. And it was immersive. And so it's, you don't have to try to be anything. You're not, you just kind of have to discover who you are and bring it out from that perspective.

[00:01:54] Stephen: And what a software and services do you like to use, whether it's [00:02:00] writing or marketing or.

[00:02:02] Paul: So I everything's on Microsoft word or bullish, short stories. I write them on my phone, just using my apple notes program. And I just, because I'm in the phase right now where I'm always trying to get my kids to go to bed and sometimes they fight me on it.

And so what I'll do is I'll just sit next to them. Usually my daughter will sit next to her and you know, I can try it leaves you like dad or they'll leave. I'm like it's okay kid. I'll sit right here and I'll sit there and I'll just write from 15. And just work on my next short story. And I got a couple of them that they usually have one or two on my phone I'm working on.

And then one or two on my computer, like after I get like the first draft I'm on a phone, I'll dump it into my computer and then I'll start developing it on my computer when I have time. But then I have other ones in my phone that I'm working on any given time, but you'll get a steal 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there and just Peck away at it as time.

Yeah, so I don't have any fancy writing software. I don't [00:03:00] have any fancy editing software. I'm old school. I just keep kneading the dough until I feel like it's finished. And then when I want to actually put something out into the world, I have, I have an editing service that I'll use. And. We'll do story editing, just a copy, editing that whole thing, and I'll let the pro state put their eyes on it and then I'll go through it and I'll fix it that way.

And then I'll put it out. Got it. So I always feel like, and again, taking it back to music right now. I just got a bunch of demo tapes. I'm not going to send it out into the world and tell it's mixed and mastered. Got

[00:03:36] Stephen: it. So what are you doing to market? Okay.

Overview

Paul is a musician, runs a recycling business and lives with his wife and kids in California. He has spent 5 years tweaking this book to get the right blend of humor and sci-fi goodness.

PAUL BAHOU is the author of Sunset Distortion: The Pyramid at the End of the World. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Cal State University Long Beach with a minor in music. He began his career writing grants while playing in his rock band, eventually moving out of music and into the sustainability sector. He lives in Southern California with his wife Melissa, daughter Sophie and son Harrison. He writes fiction, music and the occasional dad joke in his spare time.

His Book

https://www.amazon.com/Sunset-Distortion-Pyramid-End-World-ebook/dp/B08T3G8HWB?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mindarchitect-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=fc1cf6c6464322afb1457754c6d37684&camp=1789&creative=9325

Lazer is an almost made it, middle aged guitarist who plays in an 80'shard rock cover band at a Sunset Strip dive bar. While not quite a rockstar, he plays to a packed house nightly. His blissful inertia is disruptedone night however when he is abducted by aliens and given a strangeimprint on his hand: A key which will send him on an intergalacticjourney in search of an artifact that gives its possessor "infin ite life."With the help of his new friend Streek; A timid floating octopus creaturewith an English accent, Lazer will have to survive encounters withmonsters, robots, alien pirates, inter dimensional brain leeches andmuch more. Will Lazer get back home What does 'infinite life' actuallymean? And why does everybody in space speak English? All answersawait at the pyramid at the end of the world.

Website

https://paulbahouwrites.com

Favorites

https://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Novel-Modern-Library-Novels-ebook/dp/B000SEGHT6?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mindarchitect-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=171429fae26c2c3d5acf46937bb8e87a&camp=1789&creative=9325

YouTube

https://youtu.be/6tDM9tTdMnk

Transcript

[00:00:44] Stephen: Hello, welcome to episode 1 0 8 discovered. Today I have Paul bow, who he's a, from California, we bonded as musicians. It seems a lot of authors are musicians, which I think is great. [00:01:00] Uh, so he and I had a little discussion about that, but he also is the author of humorous Saifai and, uh, we had a good talk about that.

He mentioned, um, Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. So, you know, it's gotta be good if that was one of his influences. So before we get DePaul again, anybody, if you're listening, if this book sounds good, go pick it up. Go read it, leave a review for it. If you have other books you've grabbed and read, please help those authors out, leave reviews for them.

And if you do like the podcast, Like that we get all sorts of new authors, a big variety, have some good talks. Good interviews, please. If you're thinking of podcasting, if you're thinking of doing your own, uh, thing, uh, like this, uh, click on the links, check it out. Uh, the links are affiliate links from the site in the show notes.

They don't hurt. [00:02:00] Uh, when you get something, but they helped me out a little bit. If enough people did it, it helps support some of the costs for the show. So before I go any further, why don't we just turn it over and let's talk about.

Overview

In our author segment, VK talks about using her psychology degree to understand her characters and give them more depth. And since she lives in Australia, we discuss how that affects printing and buying books.

We then dig into the meat of our discussion and how authors can or should handle stories with multiple worlds. How the travel and events affect the story and what you should and shouldn't do to make sure the story is effective for the reader.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/V4CriC7mWaQ

Transcript

[00:00:48] Stephen: So let's talk some author stuff, move on to. And before we talk about our big topic of parallel worlds and writing for parallel worlds, what are the [00:01:00] tools and services you use? You mentioned expel, but what do you actually use when you're writing?

[00:01:05] VK: So when I'm writing, I use Scrivener, which is I'm sure many of you have heard of it.

It's obviously a writing platform. I use it because strangely enough of though my brain is very disorganized sometimes. I love my writing to be really structured so I can put in chapters, I can pull pieces out. I can move things on the board really quickly, and I can see where I'm at from a really structured viewpoint.

And I love it as a tool. It has, it was a life-changer for me than putting it into a simple word document where I just get completely 110% Scrivener. That's what I use all the time. Backs up automatically. So if I accidentally forget to save it still saves it for me. Happy days. Yeah. It's a great tool.

[00:01:55] Stephen: Good. Okay. And you're working on your second book [00:02:00] about to be out and your third book you're working on. What are some things that you've learned that you're doing different? I

[00:02:05] VK: guess when I first started, I did a lot more telling rather than showing. For me I've I really have noticed that I've started to grow into that, that showing how people reacting and then allowing the Rita to infer.

I think when you first start riding, you do a lot of telling, and it's not that you assume that the reduced dumb, but you do. As I'm getting more experience, obviously I'm able to take more out, but allow more of the reader to take control over that aspect. And there's a beauty to that too, because then you're not controlling their storyline per se.

You're letting them have a little bit of free reign. The character looks. For example, I don't do heavy descriptions on the characters, unless it's a world on what you need to have a lot of detail for them to understand what they looking [00:03:00] at. But for general characters and main characters, I do tend to leave a lot of it up for the imagination of the reader, because I want them to be that character.

I want them to flow with that character and feel and understand what that character, so they need to have that connect. And I think tying in too much of your own personal thoughts of what that character looks like actually pulls them back. So

[00:03:24] Stephen: I've been working on that a lot. I, I want to get that nice balance between.

Describing them. So they got a picture in their head, but not, he was five foot seven with a big eyebrows and blue eyes with long eyelashes and had some wrinkles at the corner of his eyes. And his nose was a little ball, but I don't want to be doing that. So it's difficult to get that balance right. Where you want it to feel like you said, feel a part of that character.

Blurb:

Overview

VK liked my posters, so you have to think she's a great author! :) And to talk with her, I had to time travel to the future! Listen in and find out.

Like many, she started out writing as a kid, but never thought she would become an author. Her current book is the 2nd in the Vital Impetus series. If you like magic and mischief, these are the books for you.

Book

https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Seeker-Vital-Impetus-Book-ebook/dp/B09PB1FG2V?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mindarchitect-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=df304a19adefecdf47e930f2bf9fff32&camp=1789&creative=9325">Revenge SeekerRevenge SeekerRevenge Seeker

Her Grandfather took her father’s life, and now Jess wants revenge.

Heir to a multi-verse kingdom Jess should be the most powerful woman in the world, able to keep her loved ones safe and bring peace to the realms. But with her newfound powers, came newfound dangers.

Jess is determined to protect the people she loves. To keep her sister, mother and boyfriend Peter safe, she sends them away, where her enemies can’t find them. When, Peter’s parents find out she’s the offspring of their mortal enemy, they are determined to keep them apart forever.

Going alone is perilous, and it’s hard to tell the difference between friend and foe. Determined to bring down her maniacal Grandfather, Jess is just beginning to realize the depth of her ties to those around her and the strength they bring to her.

Will she become the great protector or is she more like her Grandfather than she wants to admit?

Website

https://www.vktritschler.com

Favorites

https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Charles-Collection-Arcturus-Collections/dp/1398809705?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mindarchitect-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=932b46d9341f99ff2b46bdf134b0e864&camp=1789&creative=9325

YouTube

https://youtu.be/x670L7gdnRo

Transcript

[00:00:47] Stephen: So a welcome discover wordsmith today. We've got VK. How are you doing? Good

[00:00:52] vk: morning. How are you today?

[00:00:54] Stephen: Good. I sounded like a smarmy sideshow hosts there. Hey, come on in and pop my [00:01:00] balloon. So yeah, it's all good. So I, I really got to ask this question for everyone on the podcast. What's the future. Like

[00:01:11] vk: it's a bit dismal today, actually, to be honest.

[00:01:15] Stephen: That's my joke. Cause I'm so excited. I'm talking to someone that is in a different day.

Overview

MT attributes much of his long term success to being in a good group. Community and hearing from other authors is critical to long term success.

An aspect that is difficult is getting feedback or getting criticized. MT has some words of wisdom for this and we talk about how authors can use groups to improve their craft.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/tTA5KUmOPRE

Transcript

[00:00:48] Stephen: All right. So let's roll into some author stuff because I love talking to people that have been writing. My goal is to talk to authors that aren't know and help get word out, which you fall [00:01:00] into that category where you started off before the whole self publishing thing and you've rolled into it. So what have you learned from when you first started to now, especially with things being so digital, what have you learned that you're doing different?

[00:01:17] MT: Yeah, I'm doing different. Excuse me. The one big thing is nine out instead of. Writing out my pencil on paper, on the college rule paper, I do everything. I do everything direct into a Scribner. That's the program I use. It's a great program. That was one of the best things I bought was a little $19 Bluetooth keyboard.

So I can just sit. And that was a big change. Yeah. Other than that, you just, you gotta get up and write and do it just all the time. And then beyond that, like we were talking earlier trying to build a community people, editors, and [00:02:00] you know, other authors and things like that to spread out because we're all loners.

It's not really a group activity. So we belonged in the Cleveland writers. And that's pretty valuable because Dave is focused on the marketing end of things. So once you have a book and getting it out and promoting it and getting it sold, that's a huge prospect besides just putting together a book so that, so that's valuable, they're coming up with different ideas to promote it.

And then I'm in another group called the west side writers group, which is a small. I think there is five or six of us and we get together the third Saturday, and it's a critique group, which you put out about three or 4,000 words, and then you get a critique on it. That's really important to, you know, to hear what other people perceive about what you're [00:03:00] writing like mysteries.

I know that I know the ending, so I can't pull myself. But you get important feedback about what they think is going to happen. What are the red herrings what's working? What isn't and that's pretty valuable too.

[00:03:17] Stephen: So doing this for a while, I assume checked out other groups or they've come and gone. Why choose these particular groups and stay with

[00:03:26] MT: them?

Like I said, most of the other writing groups I was involved with were critique group. Like the west side writers group, some of them were, their focus was like game of Thrones stuff. That's all they wanted to read about. And so I don't fit that. So I just moved on. Whereas with the west side writers group, it's all different genres outcome does Saifai and I do mysteries.

What kind of a.

[00:04:00] Yeah, I get to see him twice a month when we get together. So, you know, so there's a wide variety. There it's a small enough group that you can consistently get critique. Cause it gets tough to join a group critique one month and then you don't get critiqued for another three months.

Overview

MT - who goes by Mudcat - has been writing for years in his current, and other, series. We live near each other in Ohio and attend the same monthly writer group (which we discuss in the 2nd half of the podcast.)

His books are a combination sci-fi thriller and police procedural drama.

His Book

https://www.amazon.com/Motherless-Children-Artificial-Intelligence-Techno-Thrillers-ebook/dp/B0B14169PQ?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mindarchitect-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=e0c1ae2c1e55b178e96510edb638b072&camp=1789&creative=9325

Website

https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/

YouTube

https://youtu.be/ypmzUN7Er7w

Transcript

[00:00:47] Stephen: Welcome to episode 1 0 6 of discovered wordsmiths. Today. I have empty bass who goes by mud cat. He's someone I actually know and have met in person, which isn't always the case. When you do a [00:01:00] podcast like this, and you're talking to people not only from all over the country, but all over the world. So a lot of times you don't get to meet them face to face, unless you happen to run into him at a conference or.

So it's nice to have someone that I've talked to physically in-person sat at the same table. We know each other through a community that we are a part of up in Cleveland, finished publish, polished, publish. We used to meet at the old airport, the Burke front, small airport, I should say. And now they meet in a barn, but we've been doing it mostly remote.

Mudcat has an interesting series of books that are murdered by Munchhausen and their Saifai. And he's been writing them for awhile and he's got other books, but just the murder, but Munchausen always captured my interest because that was such an interesting series focus. So anyway we had a good discussion about his books and we have a good discussion in the second part about.

[00:02:00] Community. So check that out. But also if you've been listening to the podcast, please go find these authors, go read their books. That's why we do it. That's what they want. And these books are wonderful. There's a lot of good authors go to the website, find other books that you may not have heard the.

And also if you're at the website, let me ask you to click on our sponsored links. If you are going to be trying to do a podcast or you're looking for any type of services, I'm adding some of these sponsored links, just to help defray some of the costs there's costs with hosting there's costs with sometimes getting a quick.

And it takes some time. So this just helps me to keep doing this, to help all the authors and help people find great new books. It's a win-win for everybody. It doesn't cost anything to click one of the links. It is just something that if you sign up and like a service. You'll get sometimes a discount, but I get a few pennies back and over time with all the people [00:03:00] clicking, it helps it builds up.

And I appreciate it. But even more importantly, give us some likes, give us some reviews, do the same for the authors. You don't know how great it is to get some reviews to get. Likes on your book. It helps way more than you may think. And unless authors are getting their books sold, they're not going to write anymore.

So if you like an author, whether they're on my podcast or not, please go do a review, go like their book, wherever you get it from,

Overview

Guy reads a chapter from his book - The Windsor Method. He talks about how resting is just as important for training as the actual practice.

His Book

https://www.amazon.com/Windsor-Method-Principles-Solo-Training-ebook/dp/B098TRXPB9?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mindarchitect-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=804345a973a88d6127a41b38ed3e39b1&camp=1789&creative=9325