Sonitotum – Matthew Wayne Selznick

Sonitotum – Matthew Wayne Selznick

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Sonitotum – Matthew Wayne Selznick episodes

  • 037: Join Together

    In this episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick, it’s all about joining, creating, and doing things for communities in the name of supporting and enhancing one’s (okay, mine, at least) creative endeavors. It’s also an episode created amongst community, of a sort: I recorded it walking through, and sitting in, a neighborhood park.

    The big news of the week has to do with my becoming a full member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. I talk a bit about that, and encourage folks to peruse my Scribtotum article, which goes deep on my motivations for joining, and my first impressions of the SFWA.

    I also talk a little more about why fiction writing has been so elusive and difficult lately, and the community-driven, community-supported steps I’m taking to try and get over that particularly thorny, mountainous molehill… including musing on re-instating a community-building tool I discontinued about two years ago…

    Some of the links and topics mentioned in the episode include…

    • Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: “How It All Got Started,” my ongoing episodic serial fiction project available free exclusively to my mailing list community members
    • The Sovereign Era storyworld, including Brave Men Run
    • Light of the Outsider and “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay”
    • How to escape the trench and climb out of a creative rut… my own advice! Perhaps I should re-read this one…
      • Technical Note

      I continue experimenting with different tools and methods to make recording Sonitotum frictionless while still creating audio that’s kind to your ears. This episode was recorded using my lavalier mic plugged into my phone, recorded with the Parrot Voice Recorder app. I put a tiny foam windscreen on the mic to, y’know, screen out the wind.  It seemed okay! After listening, what do you think?

      This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
      24 min
    • 036: Slight Return

      Riffing on a recurring theme.

      It’s the return of regular episodes of Sonitotum, my podcast all about making stuff, finding sucess as we define it, and staying healthy and sane in the process.

      The show’s been around, and not around, since April of 2018. It comes and goes as the tide of my time and energy ebbs and flows, usually under the influence of satellites of stress and anxiety having nothing to do with the podcast itself.

      What brings me back to it now?

      Well, I’m hoping you’ll take ten minutes or so to listen and find out.

      Once you’ve listened: as I mention in the episode, drop me a line either via the contact form on my site, in the comments of this episode, or, best of all, by sending me an email to matt @ www.mattselznick.com/ms.  I need to know you’re out there, and that you want me to regularly show up in weekly episodes of Sonitotum.

      Technical Note

      In the interest of reducing friction and turning the barrier to entry from a mountain to an anthill so that the episode would actually get made, I recorded with my Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds. It doesn’t sound… great. But the goal was to get it done, not get it ready for NPR.

      Next episode, I’ll be trying something else… and I’ll continue to iterate until I find a happy medium between amazing sound quality and expedience.

      This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
      10 min
    • 035: Sixteenth Anniversary of “Brave Men Run,” and Stuff

      Welcome to this episode of Sonitotum, in which I observe the sixteenth anniversary of the completion of my first novel, the indie publishing landmark Brave Men Run, and reflect on what’s happened since, including in the four months since I last spoke to you.

      Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
      • First things first! You can find Brave Men Run on Amazon in e-book and paperback formats and, by the end of September, 2021, pretty much anywhere books are sold online.
      • My latest work of fiction is “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay,” a Shaper’s World novelette. It’s the second Shaper’s World story. The first is…
      • Light of the Outsider, my latest novel, a stand-alone fantasy thriller and the first book in the Shaper’s World Cycle and the Outsider Trilogy. You should read it.
      • I mention my day job — I’m a creative services provider helping authors, podcasters, and other creators (and the occasional small business or non-profit) bring their works to fruition, to market, and to an audience. I can probably help you! Check it out.
      • Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: “How It All Got Started” is my free serial fiction offering to subscribers of my mailing list.
      • Getting a sound sleep has been a challenge for me lately, and that exacerbates some of the other issues I mention in the episode. Here’s one of many articles explaining why it’s not sufficient to simply get enough sleep — that sleep also has to be across an unbroken period, and of good quality.
      • Here’s one of many articles on how existential stressors bring us down, and what to do about it.
      • Here’s the Big Plan.
      • I finished Brave Men Run in a Starbucks (that’s not there any more) in Hesperia, California, a “bedroom community” of Los Angeles just past the Cajon Pass on the 15 freeway. I lived there for nine years and I will never go back.
      • Scribtotum is my blog, where you’ll find periodic, often-long form, in-depth articles and essays on living a healthy and successful creative writing life.
      • I boldly proclaimed that I’ve written things that are better than that book of mine everyone loves, Brave Men Run. This happens when you keep writing and getting older and stuff.  So… like what?
        • How about its sequel, the more complex and layered Pilgrimage?
        • How about the aforementioned fantasy thriller Light of the Outsider, and its follow-up, “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay?”
        • In this episode, I mentioned my mother’s illness and death. Here’s a tribute I wrote shortly after her death, if you’d like to read something more positive.
        • David Lynch on the suffering artist… and why suffering is not good for creativity!
        • Disassociative identity disorder. Believe me, by referring to it, I am in no way diminishing the seriousness of this rare mental illness, or the awful trauma from which it typically springs.
        • What it means to be an introvert.
        • I mention that my stepfather and I had been estranged about thirty years. What I meant was that we became estranged (my choice) when I was around thirty years old.
        • For some reason, I say “storage bin” when I mean “storage unit.”
        • The last time I released an episode of Sonitotum was in May of 2021, not March like I say in this episode.
        • Next episode will feature an in-depth interview with writer and storytelling coach Jarod Cerf! Check his stuff out at his site, and dig his interview of my on his Here Be Tygers podcast (part one / part two)!
          • What Did You Think About This Episode?

          What are your thoughts?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!

          This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
          46 min
        • 034: Survey Says…

          In this episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick, I reveal the details of a recent survey of my community of friends and fans — the first one in seven years — and evaluate what the results say about my creative brand, my audience, and the direction and intention behind my creative endeavors.

          Anyone depending upon others for the success of their art (in other words, all creators) will benefit from the insights I acquired in this exercise. Give it a listen!

          Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
          • The Shaper’s World Cycle includes last year’s LIGHT OF THE OUTSIDER, the novelette “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” released in April of 2021, and the forthcoming work in progress, my next novel, SHADOW OF THE OUTSIDER.
          • Garrett Morris created the fictional baseball character Chico Escuela and his catchphrase “Baseball… been berry berry goot to me…” Here’s Garrett talking about the origin of the Saturday Night Live character.
          • Along with myself, a number of authors are listed as those survey respondents “always buy.” Some, you’ve heard of. Some, you have not. You should check ’em out:
            • Scott Sigler
            • Chuck Wendig
            • Nathan Lowell
            • Paul E. Cooley
            • Chuck Palahniuk
            • David Sedaris
            • Patrick Rothfuss
            • Kevin Kelly‘s “1000 True Fans” essay is often quoted by indie creators, with good reason.
            • Scribtotum is my blog, where you’ll find periodic, often-long form, in-depth articles and essays on living a healthy and successful creative writing life.
            • Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: “How It All Got Started” is my free serial fiction offering to subscribers of my mailing list.
            • Here’s the Big Plan.
              • What Did You Think About This Episode?

              What are your thoughts?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!

              This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
              43 min
            • 033: A Reading From My Latest Work of Fiction

              This episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick, I’m pleased to offer a brief reading from my latest work of fiction, “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay,” a tale of the Shaper’s World Cycle. The release date for this novelette is April 6, 2021, but if you’re reading this before then, I hope you’ll place your pre-order right now!

              The reading is not an excerpt from the upcoming audiobook edition, but rather just something I produced to give you a taste of the novelette. I hope it entices you to pre-order (or, if it’s after April 6, 2021, purchase) this intimate, character-driven fantasy story.

              Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
              • “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” is my latest work of fiction: a novelette set in my Shaper’s World storyworld. Click here to pre-order the novelette from Amazon and receive it automatically on April 6, 2021! Why pre-order? When you do, you won’t be charged until April 6, but those sales will count toward the e-book’s ranking in its various categories on Amazon. Help “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” make a splash right out of the gate! Thanks!
                • What Did You Think About This Episode?

                What are your thoughts?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!

                This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
                21 min
              • 032: Who Cares About Your Work?

                This episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick is a big one! Lots to talk about, including…

                • an update on my creative endeavors and my upcoming novelette “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay.”
                • the results of my requests for feedback from Sonitotum 031.
                • an exploration on the topic of creative service providers like editors and cover designers, and how invested in our work we should expect them to be
                • some thoughts on just who does care about our work, and how, and why
                • a little bit about non-fungible tokens and those rare times when people assign a creator’s work with much, much more value than anyone ever expected.

                  • Opinions, dead ahead!

                  Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
                  • “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” is my next work of fiction: a novelette set in my Shaper’s World storyworld. Click here to pre-order the novelette from Amazon and receive it automatically on April 6, 2021! Why pre-order? When you do, you won’t be charged until April 6, but those sales will count toward the e-book’s ranking in its various categories on Amazon. Help “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” make a splash right out of the gate! Thanks!
                  •  Because of timing and stuff, folks in my mailing list community of friends and fans heard all about my limited-time direct pre-order offer (different from, and preceding, the Amazon pre-order that just became available)  for “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay,” and my podcast listeners didn’t. So don’t forget to join the community, dear listener! It’s free!
                  • My last creative work came out last summer: the novel Light of the Outsider. You should read it or listen to it; it’s awesome and different from probably any fantasy novel you’ve ever read.
                  • The next creative work after “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” will be the Shaper’s World novel Shadow of the Outsider. Make sure you’re part of the community so you have first dibs later this year!
                  • Last episode, I asked you for some help deciding on directions I should go regarding new content and distribution channels. The excellent author, steadfast listener, and stalwart pal J. C. Hutchins is the only one who responded, so he gets link love. That’s how we roll around here. Oh, and the result of his feedback? Listen to the episode!
                  • My free weekly fiction serial Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: “How It All Got Started” came up in the episode. Wait, how can you get free weekly fiction from me? Oh yeah — it happens automatically when you join the community. Hashtag overdoingit.
                  • (UPDATE: Your Commonplace from Matthew Wayne Selznick is indefinitely delayed) Okay, this is kind of a spoiler if you haven’t listened to the episode: Soon, I’ll be launching a weekly newsletter: Your Commonplace from Matthew Wayne Selznick. It’s “…snippets, ephemera, resources, heart-expanders and mind-blowers from around the web to tickle your creative fancy…” and, for now, at least, it’s absolutely free. If you were already part of my community of friends and fans before you read this post, you’re already subscribed (and yes, you can unsubscribe at any time). If not, and you’d like to be there when the first issue launches, by all means, subscribe for free to Your Commonplace from Matthew Wayne Selznick!
                  • What the heck is RSS? Only the thing that makes blogs and podcasts possible. This explains it pretty well.
                  • Have I talked about Dynalist before, and what an amazing, versatile tool it is for writers?
                  • Speaking of tools for writers… you can see everything I use (or nearly!) on my Resources page. You might find something handy there for your own creative endeavors!
                  • It wouldn’t be a podcast episode if I didn’t mention The Big Plan.
                  • 20BooksTo50K is a Facebook (I know, I know…) Group full of knowledgeable, friendly folks actually, yes, actually making a living writing fiction. It’s worth your time.
                  • I talk a lot about creative services providers for authors in this episode. I know what I’m talking about.
                  • The DIY Ethic is an approach to creative work that doesn’t wait for gatekeepers to give their approval. It’s putting on your own show, publishing your own books, releasing your own music. It’s been my modus operandi for over thirty five years. One thing I’ve learned is: doing it yourself doesn’t have to mean going it alone.
                  • Nothing beats an actual human editor, but if times are touch, Grammarly can get your close to done.
                  • Some love to my cover artists! Hire these folks if you dig their work: Neal Von Flue (Brave Men Run; Pilgrimage), Jeffrey Himmelman (The Sovereign Era: Year One), and Tim Shepherd (Light of the Outsider).
                  • Who is Beeple? Is his digital work The First 5,000 Days really worth it?
                  • What are non-fungible tokens?
                  • What is the blockchain?
                  • The awesome artist Bob Eggleton hosted an… inspiring… discussion of NFTs recently. This episode, in part, springs from that.
                  • As a creator, how would you utilize NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to monetize your creative endeavors? Let me know… in the comments!
                    • What Did You Think About This Episode?

                    What are your thoughts?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!

                    This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
                    23 min
                  • 031: Remind You of Keats

                    This episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick is a ParkCast, recorded outdoors under the clear blue late winter skies at a park near the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media.

                    What’s the occasion?

                    I had just finished a somewhat difficult writing session on “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay,”  and it brought up some stuff about mortality and drive and the weight of time. I felt like talking it out with you.

                    You helped me by providing me this outlet. I think you’ll find some value in listening.

                    Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
                    • “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” is my next work of fiction: a novella set in my Shaper’s World storyworld. I’m this close to offering a pre-order on this thing. Stay tuned.
                    • This episode helps fulfill a promise I made to you in episode 029 of Sonitotum.
                    • I used Easy Voice Recorder Pro, an Android app, to record this episode. It’s outdoors, so it sounds a little different!
                    • I talked about my back injury in episode 030 of Sonitotum.
                    • Mary Oliver was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet. In the episode, I mentioned that the day I was recording was the anniversary of her birth, but that was incorrect. February 24th was actually the 200th anniversary of the death of Keats, of whom Oliver wrote.
                    • Maria Popova’s Instagram post about Oliver and Keats provided the prod to do this episode.
                    • In the episode, I read a bit from Mary Oliver’s poem “The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac (Part Three),” which you can find in her collection Blue Horses. You can hear Oliver read it herself, too.
                    • John Keats was a poet, a contemporary of Shelley and Byron. He died at the age of 25.
                    • Here’s a link to that Bram Stoker / Dracula meme…
                    • My podcast app of choice (you can find Sonitotum there, too!) is Podcast Addict.
                    • Perhaps as a fitting bookend to the anniversary of Keats dying at 25… after I recorded this episode, I learned of the death of legendary poet and the founder of City Lights (the bookstore and the publishing house), Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died on February 22, 2021… at the age of 101. Without City Lights, I might not have discovered Charles Bukowski, and though his work, John Fante… so I am grateful to Lawrence Ferlinghetti indeed.
                      • What Did You Think About This Episode?

                      What are your thoughts?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!

                      This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
                      21 min
                    • 030: Choose Your Own Matt Venture

                      In this episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick, the aforementioned Matthew Wayne Selznick (that’s me… hey, do you think I’m gonna get in trouble for “keyword stuffing” my name like that? Also, Matt, the aughts called; they want their SEO tactics back..) provides an update on his (my) creative endeavors, details a physical setback, makes you an offer on his story coaching service, and looks for your feedback on some future stuff. Let’s dump the speaking-of-one’s-self-in-the-third-person and get into it!

                      Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
                      • I mention The Big Plan. You can hear about it or read about it.
                      • “The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay” is my next work of fiction: a novella set in my Shaper’s World storyworld. I’m this close to offering a pre-order on this thing. Stay tuned.
                      • Light of the Outsider is the debut novel in my Shaper’s World Cycle, book one of the Outsider Trilogy, and a stand-alone character-driven gritty fantasy / thriller hybrid. It’s now on Audible.com (US | UK | FR | DE), too!
                      • Here is a link to the Sonitotum episode dedicated to worldbuilding.
                      • Did you know you can build an inter-linking story bible and repository for all your fiction stuff using the same software they use for Wikipedia? It’s called MediaWiki, and it’s free. You will need a web hosting service like my favorite, Dreamhost, though.
                      • Your Story Buddy is my one-on-one writing coach service. Listen to the episode to find out how you can get 25% off your first hour-long session in the month of March!
                      • I’m very strongly considering creating a newsletter on the SubStack platform, and I want you to weigh in on my idea for the subject matter / niche. Listen to learn more, then leave your thoughts in the comments!
                      • It’s been a while since my last blog post. Should the next one be..
                        • On creating a free serial fiction project distributed via email like my own Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights?
                        • What goes into creating an audiobook?
                        • Why MediaWiki is a good choice for your story bible?
                        • You know the drill — listen to the episode for details, then leave your opinion in the comments!
                        • Have you joined the mailing list community of friends and fans? When you do, you’ll get my aforementioned (second use of the word this post!) free weekly fiction serial delivered to your inbox as my gift to you.
                        • I was on a podcast! Learn my best advice on building a community, developing personal brand, and marketing as an independent author on The Self-Publishing Queen Podcast! If you like, you can even watch it on YouTube.
                          • This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
                          25 min
                        • 029: New Year, New Focus

                          Happy new year, dear listener! In this episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick, I reaffirm the mission of the show: share my experiences as an independent author and, in the process, help you make stuff, find success as you define it, and build a healthy, sane creative writing life.

                          I also commit to a release schedule going forward, and catch you up a bit on what’s going on with my creative endeavors, and mention a few things you might find useful. It’s a short one, but mighty.

                          Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
                          • I mention The Big Plan. You can hear about it or read about it.
                          • Light of the Outsider is the debut novel in my Shaper’s World Cycle, book one of the Outsider Trilogy, and a stand-alone character-driven gritty fantasy / thriller hybrid. It’s now on Audible.com (US | UK | FR | DE) !
                          • Writers who worldbuild! There’s a Facebook group for you. I started it. See you there: Worldbuilding for Writers.
                          • I talk about my new standing desk converter from Flexispot. It’s a game changer!
                          • My favorite podcast client for Android is Podcast Addict.
                          • I’ve collected most of the software, services, hardware and tools I use in my creative endeavors on my new Resources page.
                          • Have you joined the mailing list community of friends and fans? When you do, you’ll get free weekly serial fiction delivered to your inbox as my gift to you.
                            • What Did You Think About This Episode?

                            What are your thoughts?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!

                            This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
                            17 min
                          • 028: What Is Worldbuilding?

                            This episode of Sonitotum With Matthew Wayne Selznick is all about worldbuilding: what it is, how all fiction writers worldbuild regardless of medium or genre, and the opportunities available to writers when they invest in deep, comprehensive worldbuilding as part of their creative process.

                            Also, it’s the last episode of the year, and what a year it has been. I get a little mushy with you.

                            Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode
                            • Regarding making things in the pandemic era, I know a thing or two about creating things under stressful life circumstances. I last wrote about it in the middle of a personal crisis in 2015. Here’s another, much more recent article from Deborah Fallows.
                            • I mention The Big Plan. You can hear about it or read about it.
                            • Many folks know creator Stan Lee’s famous frequent use of the word “Excelsior!” Let’s not forget the understated authority of another of his go-to phrases, “‘Nuff said.”
                            • I list off a bunch of examples of works of fiction with deep worldbuilding. Wanna go deep? Check out these resources for Westeros, Middle Earth, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone universe, and the Genoa City of The Young and the Restless.
                            • Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created the meta-fiction masterpiece Watchmen, which was also a great example of verisimilitude created through deep worldbuilding.
                            •  I mention the four storyworlds that feature in most of my own work. There’s at least one work of fiction (so far) for each: The Sovereign Era, The Shaper’s World, Daikaiju Universe, and the Protector Cycle.
                            • Light of the Outsider is the debut novel in my Shaper’s World Cycle, book one of the Outsider Trilogy, and a stand-alone character-driven gritty fantasy / thriller hybrid.
                            • Budding is how coral do. You can bud your stories, too.
                            • Often you’ll hear of worldbuilding in the context of tabletop role-playing games. Raymond E. Feist’s Riftworld Saga started as a role-playing game session, as did George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass’ Wildcards storyworld.
                            • Fantasy cartography is a thing, you better believe it. There are some incredibly talented practitioners out there creating in-depth storyworlds with their maps, like Nate Mangion or Tom Vogt, for example.
                            • Writers who worldbuild! There’s a Facebook group for you. I started it. See you there: Worldbuilding for Writers.
                            • Have you joined the mailing list community of friends and fans? When you do, you’ll get free weekly serial fiction delivered to your inbox as my gift to you.
                              • This content is by Matthew Wayne Selznick and came from his website.
                              32 min

                            About Sonitotum – Matthew Wayne Selznick

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