Uncorking a Story

Linwood Barclay is a former columnist for The Toronto Star and the author of several critically acclaimed novels including Too Close to Home and No Time for Goodbye, a #1 Sunday Times (UK) bestseller. He lives near Toronto with his wife.

Listen up as Linwood and I talk about his early influences as a writer, how living in a trailer park and the loss of his father at sixteen has impacted his writing, and why detectives should always keep empty bottles in their cars while on stakeouts.

Our interview concludes with some advice to budding authors including why, even in this age of independent publishing, agents are still critical to the business. He also imparts some wisdom on what to put in front of them to get their attention.

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Christopher Ryan has always been a storyteller. Whether "ranking" on friends as a teen, covering street crime and dirty politics in The Bronx as an award-winning reporter, or teaching High School English, he serves the story above all else.  

I recently chatted with Chris about his time as a journalist during New York City’s violent crack epidemic, his desire to become a police officer, and the decision that led him into the classroom and ultimately to his first published novel, City of Woe. Along the way we talk about his gumption as a high school student to call Marvel Comics and interview Stan Lee and how all of his experiences on the streets of New York City influence his writing.

If there’s one thing I learned during this interview it’s that Christopher Ryan seeks to combine all of his loves to tell tales that question justice, faith, and the nature of good and evil.

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Hunter Shea is the product of a misspent childhood watching scary movies, reading forbidden books and wishing Bigfoot would walk past his house. He doesn’t just write about the paranormal – he actively seeks out the things that scare the hell out of people and experiences them for himself.

Hunter’s novels can even be found on display at the International Cryptozoology Museum. His video podcast, Monster Men, is one of the most watched horror podcasts in the world. He’s a bestselling author of over 13 (lucky number!) books, all of them written with the express desire to quicken heartbeats and make spines tingle. Living with his wonderful family and two cats, he’s happy to be close enough to New York City to gobble down Gray’s Papaya hotdogs when the craving hits.

I recently spoke with Hunter about his path to writing, his affection for all things gore, and the importance of getting people to care about characters. As he puts it, “If you don’t have characters people care about, who cares if the monster eats them all?”

Stick with the conversation to hear a real-life ghost story and Hunter’s perspectives on Werewolf porn. To learn more about Hunter Shea and to buy his books, visit https://huntershea.com.

Enjoy the show.

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“They don’t hire girls into the FBI,” these were the words Tess Gerritsen heard from her guidance counselor after expressing an interest in the Federal Bureau of investigation. While that sentiment feels like a dark cloud that hovered over our culture during the time of Tess’ high school days, it’s one that has a silver lining considering she eventually went on to become an internationally acclaimed bestselling author.

Tess’ path to writing, though, was not what you would call linear. Inspired by her appreciation of Nancy Drew novels, Tess had a dream of becoming a journalist at a young age, but her father, a Chinese immigrant, eschewed journalism as a career path and Tess eventually studied medicine, receiving her medical degree in 1979.

While on maternity leave, Tess wrote a short story that won first prize in a fiction contest and this success planted the seed that she might be able to have a career as a writer. When she and her husband, also a doctor, found it challenging to both work full time as doctors and raise a young family, Tess volunteered to stay home with the kids as well as focus on her writing. This move paid off as Tess is now a multi award winning bestselling author who has sold more than 30 million books around the world.

I recently had a chance to speak with Tess about her career as both a physician and author. We discussed how she made the leap to writing full-time and what it takes to write successfully in multiple genres. Listen in as we chat about why the best stories written are those whose subject matter elicits strong personal reactions in the writer, why it’s critically important to feed your curiosity as an author, and how she and her husband could have been considered persons of interest in the Golden State Killer case.

Be on the lookout for Island Zero, a Tess Gerritsen penned movie, available in video-on-demand starting May 15th. Directed by her son Josh, this old-school suspense thriller is available for pre-order now exclusively from iTunes.

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Brian is a founding Partner of Anderson Porter Design and has developed a proven process of project delivery in the Cannabis Industry. To date, he has designed facilities for cultivation totaling over 150,000sf as well as 14 retail dispensaries.

His path to this space, though, wasn’t what you might call linear. He grew up on a Christmas Tree farm in rural Connecticut, so I guess you could say that horticulture is in his blood (though he’s not a grower). After attending the Rhode Island School of Design for his undergraduate work and Harvard for graduate school, he went off to work in Europe where, in addition to making his bones in the architecture world, he did some stage acting.

Upon his return back to the States, Brian challenged himself to work on a variety of projects before joining up with his brother and business partner to establish Anderson Porter Design. It was their experience working on a project for the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston that gave Anderson Porter the credentials in designing high security buildings that led to their entrance in the legal cannabis space – ironic given the federal government’s stance on cannabis.

From site planning to ribbon cutting, Brian and his team at Anderson Porter Design work with entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry to design, engineer and construct facilities that transform ideas into successful, profitable businesses.

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Psychologist Gay Hendricks is counselor, writer, and teacher in the field of personal growth, relationships, and body intelligence. He’s best known for his work in relationship enhancement and is the founder of The Hendricks Institute, where he and his wife Katie conduct workshops focusing on what they call conscious loving. Together, they have written close to 40 books, trained thousands of coaches, appeared on Oprah, and have hosted seminars around the globe.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Hendricks about his career not only as a writer but also as an academic, counselor, and corporate trainer. Listen in as he speaks about the power of completion and why it’s so important to be honest and take responsibility for your actions both in the boardroom as well as in personal relationships. You’ll hear about his ah-ha moment when it became clear what he wanted to do with his life and how that led to his losing over one hundred pounds. Also, you’ll hear about how some of his fiction has been picked up for screen adaptation.

You can learn more about Dr. Hendricks at www.Hendricks.com.

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Dr. Warren Farrell is the author of the just-published The Boy Crisis (with co-author John Gray). It exposes the boy crisis worldwide, as well as the causes and solutions that can be implemented by parents, schools and policy makers. 

Dr. Farrell has been chosen by the Financial Times as one of the world’s top 100 thought leaders. His books are published in over 50 countries, and in 19 languages. They include two award-winning international best-sellers, Why Men Are the Way They Are plus The Myth of Male Power.

Listen in as we discuss the biggest challenges facing boys today, why the role of an active father is critical in a boy’s life, and what can be done to address and reverse the trends we are seeing.

He has two daughters, and lives with his wife in Mill Valley, California, and virtually at www.warrenfarrell.com.

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Erin Boardman Wathen is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and a Food Addiction Counselor (INFACT). She’s a Certified Spinning® Instructor (STAR 3), Vinyasa Yoga instructor (200 Hour) and Classical Pilates instructor. She’s also the author of Why Can’t I Stick to my Diet, a book that uses an addiction based model to help readers understand why diets are so hard to stick to and how to live the rest of their lives while not being on a diet (while still maintaining weight loss). Readers will uncover how to ditch the diet mentality for good by keeping to her specialized food plan and if that sounds overwhelming, have no fear - Erin provides the tools for combating any food obstacle.

I caught up with Erin recently and we discussed what drove her to write this book and how she developed a unique approach to thinking about sugar as an addiction; albeit one that is more powerful than any other chemical addiction. You’ll hear her talk about the time she started her first diet in her early teens as well as the struggles she had with sugar well into adulthood. You’ll also hear some very personal and motivational stories about how cutting sugar has changed her life for the better.

You can learn more about Erin by visiting her website at https://www.ewwellnesssolutions.com I highly recommend that you follow her video blog which can be seen on her website as her videos are not only informative, but also creative and highly entertaining.

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Laurie Handlers is a Sex and Happiness Coach and the author of the Amazon #1 International Bestseller Sex & Happiness: The Tantric Laws of Intimacy.

Through her company Butterfly Workshops, she offers sexual health and awareness courses plus leadership courses for corporations and individuals throughout the world.

For over a decade, she’s hosted the weekly radio show Sex and Happiness where she discusses all topics about, you guessed it, sex. Laurie has also produced and starred in two independent films: “Beyond Dinner” and “Tantric Tourists.” Her current focus is on Sexual Ecstasy at Any Age and is currently writing a book called The Magic and Mastery of Sex and Happiness After Sixty.

As an aside, I interview people for a living and I really love interviewing people who are experts in fields where I have next to no experience. Oftentimes when I lose a project, a client will tell me it’s because I didn’t have enough experience in their category or that someone on the team wanted to go with someone who they’ve used in the past, and that’s all very rational, but the truth is they are doing themselves a disservice.

When I go into a situation where I know next to nothing, my curiosity takes over and I probe into areas that other people might not dared to tread. Additionally, my interviewee will sense my naiveté and then put on the hat of teacher, thereby giving more detailed explanations of whatever subject matter they are expert in. In short, it leads to really fluid and insightful interviews and I think you will discover that to be the case in my conversation with Laurie.

Now you may be wondering, hey Mike, won’t you be embarrassed if your eighty plus year old parents heard you carrying on about this? Well, consider this - after Laurie’s mother passed away, her father became her student. Let that sink in for a second, she taught her father everything she knew about sex and intimacy! Aside from that, my parents know that I've had sex as I've given them grandchildren.

One thing I learned in my talk with Laurie is that Tantra is much more than just sex. In this conversation you’ll hear why Laurie believes we all have to change and adapt throughout life, why it’s important to come to peace with our own emotional and physical needs before we can fully do so with another, and why it’s so damn hard for many men and women to have an honest conversation about what they want in the bedroom.

You’ll hear the advice she’d give young couples on how to have a fulfilling sex life well into their golden years as well as how to talk to one’s children about sex in a way that’s open, honest, and will set them up for fulfilling emotional and physical relationships in the future.

I hope you listen to this entire interview with Laurie because it comes to a nice climax towards the end. This Spring, she'll be doing a multi-city tour running some seminars called What to do About #MeToo. You can learn about those events and more about Laurie by visiting http://www.butterflyworkshops.com/

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Lou Aronica didn’t intend to be a writer; born on Elvis Presley’s birthday, Lou felt it was his destiny to be a rock star, but that all changed after a teacher encouraged him to develop an evident talent for writing.

After graduating college with a degree in English, Lou planned on becoming a teacher, though a bad economy and a flood of talent competing for teaching jobs that simply weren’t there pushed him into the only other career well suited for an English major—publishing.

After rising through the ranks in the publishing world, a window was opened when Lou's company was purchased by News Corp and the powers that be decided his services were no longer needed at the helm of Avon Books. Armed with some free time (and a golden parachute), Lou wrote what became his first novel, USA Today Best Seller The Forever Year. In addition to successful followup works of fiction, Lou has also penned non-fiction as well as helped develop other authors through his company The Fiction Studio.

In this interview you’ll hear how Lou got his start, the importance of being honest as a writer - especially when writing fiction - and his perspectives on how the publishing business has changed with the advent of The Kindle and the rise of independent authors. You will also hear a recurring theme in Lou’s life, how events don’t always unfold the way he wants them to, but do so in a way that moves his life forward for the better. To bring it back to where our conversation began, Lou discusses his return to music and the singles he is releasing every week through his blog, which can be found at louaronica.com/blog.

Follow Lou Aronica on Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheStoryPlant

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lou-aronica-536b60/?trk=hp-identity-name

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louaronicaauthor/

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