Mind Of A Writer Podcast

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Hello friends!

Two weeks ago I taught this Note Training with my paid subscribers. I showed everyone how to write this Note line-by-line:

As you can see, it got 209 likes and did very well for me.

We had 12 people on the call live, and we each wrote our Notes together step-by-step. Teri Leigh 💜 rearranged her schedule to come!

Then at the end we did a round of edits to…

I’ve known Michael Thompson since before he had 5,000 of his now 83,000 followers on Medium. When I got on a call with him for the first time 6 years ago, I was a little shocked to hear he had a stutter. Not for any particular reason, it’s just that stutters are somewhat rare.

We then went on to have a wonderful hour long conversation. He was just one of the coolest people I’ve ever met, with lots of energy, positivity, and humor. I hung up the phone and laughed to myself wondering “Who the f*ck is this guy?”

I checked his Medium profile and he had 5,000 followers. ‘Not bad,’ I thought.

Well, little did I know Michael was about to take Medium by storm.

Since 2018 I’ve watched him go viral on Medium seemingly every week with exceptional storytelling, raw emotions, and practical life lessons.

He went from “not bad” to “holy crap!” really quick.

I sh*t you not, he’s the best writer I know.

That’s the highest compliment I can give, and I’m giving it now.

His stuff just flies. Everything he touches turns to gold.

Right now he’s got a new book out called Shy By Design: 12 Timeless Principles To Quietly Stand Out. Here’s the synopsis on Amazon:

“In Shy by Design, Michael Thompson shares his inspiring journey of moving from being riddled with self-doubt due to his shyness and debilitating stutter to becoming a sought-after career coach, university leadership lecturer, and strategic communication advisor for top global business executives and entrepreneurs.”

For me personally, it’s amazing to watch a guy I’ve known for years come into his own as a blogger, take the internet by storm, and publish a book with an endorsement from a writing wizard like Cal Newport.

This funny, clever, warm guy with a stutter who befriended a 25 year old moron like me six years ago.

I’m so very proud of him. I look up to him. I write this with tears in my eyes because his story is so damn inspirational, and I know all that he’s been through to get here.

Nobody deserves this more than him.

So, please consider buying his book and leaving a review on Amazon. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed. And I won’t be surprised if this book becomes the next big mega hit around the world.

I’m so happy for you Michael!

This is a conversation I had with Michael just recently about shyness, his book, how he became a top salesman in his first job despite having a stutter, lost $250,000 in one day, and moved to Spain to find the love of his life and start a family.

I hope you enjoy it.

Timestamps

0:00 - How I met Michael2:40 - Michael’s journey to writing online and eventually getting a book deal8:35 - How to craft a great personal story14:15 - Why shyness can make you a great storyteller19:35 - Shyness is not a bad thing22:23 - The world is starting to value introverted people more28:30 - Conversation starters for introverts32:30 - Why Substack is an oasis in this social media wasteland34:45 - People are sick of ridiculous clickbait on social media38:27 - Inject some craziness into your writing and let it rip41:27 - Substack allows you to be yourself better than any other platform45:50 - A word about Michael’s book, Shy By Design.

Those Mentioned In The Interview

Shy By Design: 12 Timeless Principles to Quietly Stand OutJohn P WeissNik Todd Brison Michael’s websiteBoth Are True by Alex Dobrenko`

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mindofawriter.com/subscribe

This is a conversation with Kelton Wright, the creator of Shangrilogs, an award winning Substack newsletter with over 5,000 subscribers and 300 paid subscribers. 

Kelton moved to a small town in Colorado a few years ago and decided to start this blog detailing her life renovating a newly-purchased cabin and assimilating into the culture there. 

Spoiler Alert: It is wonderful. 

Kelton injects palpable energy, hilarious attention to detail, and an endearing honesty about all the ups and downs of small-town Colorado living into her blog. 

In this podcast, we chronicle the life of this newsletter. How she grew it, how she started it, how she approaches personal essay writing, and why she believes it’s best for everybody involved to give your whole self to your audience, and let them decide to take it or leave it.

I hope you enjoy it. And my apologies for my microphone in the first 30 minutes. I selected the wrong one to record with on Zoom. Without further ado, here is our conversation. 

Timestamps

1:37 Kelton’s great success starting a Tumblr blog4:40 What Kelton did after ending her Tumblr blog6:43 When did Kelton know Shangrilogs was going to be successful?7:41 Why half of Kelton’s audience unsubscribed from Shangrilogs at the beginning8:20 Kelton felt like she was writing into the void a bit at the start10:13 Kelton still feels like she hasn’t found the “essence” of Shangrilogs yet12:19 When did her newsletter start to see some success?15:28 How much has luck played a part in Kelton’s success?18:25 On extroversion and being a ‘performer’ vs. social butterfly19:29 How Kelton approaches responding to tons of readers22:14 How difficult is it to spend a bunch of emotional energy responding to an audience and then turn around and try to make friends in the real world?27:48 How Kelton’s writing is “cinematic” and why it makes her posts compelling32:32 Why Kelton writes things seconds after they happened sometimes37:40 The balance between writing a story how you experienced it and considering how other people experienced it43:41 How long does it take Kelton to write her posts?46:32 How easy is it for Kelton to press publish and let a post go?49:13 Personal essays are kind of meant to be wrong sometimes52:59 It’s best to be your whole self in your writing55:32 On thinking “what the heck was I writing?!” when reading past personal essays58:27 How much Kelton makes on Substack and how she monetizes1:03:15 How Kelton’s “paid editions” feel different from her free posts1:05:05 I had some microphone problems 😂1:06:07 Donate to World Wildlife Fund

Resources

Shangrilogs - Kelton Wright s SubstackPower of the Pen (Ohio Writing Competition)Date By Numbers (Kelton’s Tumblr blog)Kelton’s first post on Shangrilogs - ‘I bought a house in the middle of nowhere’Culture Study - The Substack ofAnne Helen Petersen who promoted Shangrilogs early on94 hours to go - Kelton’s post on the amount of hours needed to make friendsWhere no one knows your name - Kelton’s post where she talks about the awkward conversation she had with a local early onWorld Wildlife Fund

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mindofawriter.com/subscribe

Nicole Antoinette is the creator of Wild Letters on Substack, where she has over 6,000 subscribers. She's also a long-distance hiker! Her book, How To Be Alone, documents her 800-mile solo hike on the Arizona trail, and has a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on Amazon with 225 reviews.

One reviewer writes "Nicole's writing is different. She's very clear about the struggles she went through hiking this, which in reality, are struggles most of us will deal with on the trail. It's not glossed over for highlights of the trail like most other writers will emphasize. What's more, her writing is frequently frenetic, really zeroing in on the human thought process, all the ups and downs. It's enlightening, engaging, challenging, and humorous all at the same time. It's human."

She recently released another book called What We Owe To Ourselves, documenting her 500-mile hike on the Colorado Trail. That's out on Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes and Noble now.

Nicole is without a doubt one of the most honest writers I've ever read, a truly one-of-a-kind human badass who, despite accomplishing things most of us would only dream of, seems to value showing her warts more than her lofty accomplishments. We need more people like her on the internet. I can't wait for you to meet her.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction to Nicole3:07 Nicole’s 16 year history writing online7:25 Why shooting for virality isn’t necessarily a bad thing 11:32 Define what your “enough” is as a writer16:11 How Nicole came back from burnout in 202319:42 How Nicole doubled her paid subscribers on Substack22:55 Why Nicole offers many different price points for the same product24:30 How Nicole sold her first book with sliding scale pricing27:47 Why you might not want to have a book publisher31:08 Nicole makes $1-$2 per book sale32:20 Why Nicole went on an 800 mile hike and wrote a book about it38:35 A gut-check for wannabe terrified writes40:37 How to be a better friend to yourself through the creative ups and downs43:45 Nicole’s core values as a writer46:42 What does “joy” look like for Nicole?56:35 Don’t hold your happiness hostage until you accomplish a goal59:12 The importance of knowing what you want as a writer1:03:19 Will Nicole always be an online writer?

Useful Links

Wild LettersHow To Be Alone: An 800-mile hike on the Arizona TrailWhat We Owe To Ourselves: A 500-mile hike on the Colorado TrailNicole’s WebsiteTiny Biz LettersBackpackingbooks.comReedsySoft Ambition essay

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mindofawriter.com/subscribe

Chrissy Hennessey has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing, and is the founder of the So Relatable newsletter on Substack that has close to 2,000 subscribers. She’s written three novels and a short story collection–all of which haven’t been published yet–and she works full time as a Manager of Writing and Content Strategy for a company called nCino, a fintech organization based in Wilmington, North Carolina. 

She started So Relatable in 2019 as a safe haven for creatives who want strategies to help them navigate the creative process. Tucked inside her posts, however, are always useful lessons you can take with you to live a healthier, more fulfilling life in general. And her writing is always so fun, funny, hopeful, and down to earth. I hope in this conversation, you'll begin to understand why her writing has captivated nearly 2,000 subscribers over the past five years.

Useful Timestamps

For your listening pleasure, I’ve “bolded” my favorite parts of our interview down below. I feel Chrissy and I really started getting on a roll around the 19 minute mark.

1:19 When Chrissy fell in love with writing3:43 How Chrissy defeats the comparison game online5:42 Focusing on your “true fans” helps, too7:40 Write to your top fans instead of the masses9:30 Why Chrissy started ‘So Relatable’12:04 Does writing what you want lead to a bigger impact with audiences?14:19 How does Chrissy deal with burnout?16:50 Two hours of reading = One hour of writing17:35 Write through the white space18:53 Would Chrissy even want to be a full time Substacker?25:15 How Chrissy survived “starting small” as a creator26:52 How Chrissy found the “sweet spot” in her newsletter29:45 How Chrissy’s book failure led to her best posts30:48 How Chrissy got through book publishing failures33:12 If Chrissy never got a book published, would alll this still be worth it for her?34:41 2 secrets to growing a Substack newsletter36:51 Two moments Chrissy had a big bump in subscriber growth39:55 Why “word of mouth” is king on Substack42:20 Does Substack have higher quality writing than Medium?45:50 Finding something you love to write about will take you take you far

Links

So Relatable (Chrissy’s newsletter)Chrissy on Instagram

Here’s links to a few newsletters Chrissy mentioned during the interview:

Nisha’s Internet Tote Bag with Nisha Chittal My Sweet Dumb Brain with Katie Hawkins-Gaar

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mindofawriter.com/subscribe

Hurley Winkler is the writer behind Lonely Victories, a Substack newsletter she started in 2020. The name "Lonely Victories" is loosely connected to a beautiful Greta Gerwig quote I want to share with you now. You know Greta as the director behind Lady Bird and Little Women, both of which earned Academy Award nominations for Best Picture. She also directed 2023's Barbie, in case you didn't know. Greta once said "Writing with a partner is more fun than writing alone because you can make each other laugh. But writing alone can give you a very deep sense of satisfaction and lonely victory.”

As of this recording, her newsletter has over 1,500 subscribers on Substack. Hurley also interviews writers and musicians for The Creative Independent and Jacksonville Music Experience, and her writing has appeared in Hobart, Neutral Spaces, The Millions, Rejection Letters, and elsewhere. Another cool thing Hurley does is she teaches writing workshops to fiction and nonfiction writers. Some of them are one day workshops while others can last as long as 5 weeks. You can find more information about these workshops on the About page for Lonely Victories. I hope you enjoy this interview with Hurley. Down below are timestamps and links to various writers, books, websites, and programs Hurley mentioned in our interview.

Useful Timestamps

For your listening pleasure, I’ve “bolded” my favorite parts of our interview down below.

1:30 Hurley’s favorite Greta Gerwig movie2:46 When Hurley first fell in love with writing4:00 Hurley is an INFJ?5:06 Hurley’s first time publishing online6:35 What does a “Lonely Victory” look like?9:30 Why you should write WITH other people12:05 How to write the best work of your life16:25 How to write great work when you’re not feeling it18:53 How Hurley fights writing burnout22:36 Why Hurley chose to publish on Substack26:50 How Hurley grew to 1,500+ subscribers on Substack31:46 Substack cares for their writers more than Medium does34:20 Email subscribers are worth way more than followers37:30 The most important part of growing on Substack39:15 Does a lack of writing ideas mean you’re in the wrong niche?41:10 How Hurley approaches “paid” subscriptions on Substack45:40 How 1 person helped Hurley get 1,000 subscribers

Links

Here are a few links to Hurley’s section of the internet:

Lonely Victories (Hurley’s newsletter)Book Club For Writers (Hurley’s paid subscriber club)Hurley Winkler’s websiteHurley on InstagramHurley on Twitter

Here are a few links to various things Hurley mentioned during the interview:

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh73 Questions with Greta GerwigLaura Lee Smith’s blogSubtle Maneuvers by Mason Currey Bad Conditions for Writing (Hurley’s favorite piece she ever wrote)The Morning Writing Club by Chelsea Hodson‘Substack Grow’ Material

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mindofawriter.com/subscribe