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Writer’s block affects every writer. In this episode, I talk about unique skill I’ve cultivated that has helped me turn moments of “writer’s block” into the best sources of my creativity.

TRANSCRIPT

Writer’s Block hits every writer. Some can deal with it in a matter of hours, some can overcome it in a matter of days, and others, unfortunately, never beat it.

I don’t personally believe in writer’s block, but there have been times when I’ve been stuck in my books.

This week, I’m going to talk about how I power through the hard times, and a unique skill I’ve cultivated that has helped me turn moments of “writer’s block” into the best sources of my creativity.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 24.

For my behind the scenes episode this week, I wanted to spend some time talking about how I deal with writer’s block.

I mentioned that I don’t believe in Writer’s Block. I know that sounds a little smug, but here’s my problem with the word “writer’s block”—it’s really just an excuse most of the time.

It’s so easy to say, “I can’t write because I have writer’s block.” And then days and months pass and you have nothing to show for it.

Most authorities in writing treat writer’s block as a major struggle to be won. It’s this huge battle that writer’s face on a regular basis…

I just refuse to believe all of that.

I believe that we as writers have to do a better job of focusing on solutions, not excuses. And writer’s block to me seems like a really convenient excuse. Let me explain.

***

Now, I don’t mean to diminish the struggle that people feel when they’re stuck in their manuscript. All writers get stuck and that’s the truth. I’ve been stuck in my own books many times.

However, I think mindset is really important and goes a long way here.

Despite the fact that I’m stuck, I don’t call it writer’s block.

I’m going to get metaphysical for a minute, but stick with me.

I believe that your subconscious is the source of your creativity. It knows exactly what to write, how to write, and where. My subconscious—or muse—or creative voice as Dean Wesley Smith calls it—is my guiding light. It will help you over every obstacle if you just listen to it.

But most people can’t and won’t do that. Instead, they write from the logical part of their brains, which is actually not a very good idea because this part of the brain is also where the inner critic lives. The writer often undermines what the subconscious originally gives them, because he or she thinks that she ultimately knows better and knows what readers want.

When writers quit, it’s usually because of the inner critic giving up.

I personally believe that abolishing the inner critic is one of the most important things a writer must do to be creative.

When you do that, you’ll actually be able to LISTEN to your subconscious. And that’s how you remain creative.

And when you LISTEN to your subconscious, it will actually tell you what it needs.

It’s not stuck because of writer’s block. It’s stuck because it needs something. I view it as my job to give it what it needs.

***

Let me give you my best example of nurturing my creative voice.

In my novel, Android Deception, I got to a section halfway through the book and got stuck.

I fought against it for a long time, dragging myself to my computer and trying to bang out words, but it didn’t work.

Instead, I listened to myself and let myself drift.

My wife and I visited a local bakery that I had never been to before. That experience was exactly what I needed. It was amazing experience—creative decor, incredible ambience, and lots of interesting people.

While I was there, I remember asking myself, “How would I write this into a novel?”

And I connected it to my novel. When I got home, it turns out that scene gave me the inspiration I needed, and I wrote the bakery into the next chapter. That ended up being the most memorable chapter in the book.

So did I have writer’s block?

No.

I gave my subconscious what it needed, which was a new experience. I leaned into the fact that I didn’t know what to write next. In other words, I let myself drift. I let life happen around me and I was rewarded for it as a result.

I view writer’s block as productive discomfort. Instead of fearing it, I embrace it.

It’s like when your car skids out of control. The natural inclination is to swerve the opposite direction, but that makes it worse. The way to regain control is actually to lean into the direction your car is swerving.

For me, writing is no different.

Now, I’ll admit. Some people might hear this message and think, Cool, I can procrastinate when I get stuck!

I’m not saying that. Drifting and listening to your subconscious sometimes is a matter of having strong will and motivation to return to your manuscript. Otherwise, you’ll never finish.

I don’t let myself drift for very long. Just long enough to let life seep in to my novels. And if you live life to the fullest, keep your eyes open, and pay attention to your surroundings, it won’t take very long.

Anyway, I thought I’d share that secret with you, as it’s gotten me through a fair amount of pain points in my books. I talk more about this in my book, Be a Writing Machine, if you want to hear more about writing process.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” John Quincy Adams

 

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There are some people you’ll never forget. In this week’s sketchbook episode, I talk about a school bus driver who made an incredible impression on me, and taught me an important lesson that I still use even today.

TRANSCRIPT

There are some people you’ll never forget as long as you live.

This week, we’re going back to 1999. I was in seventh grade, and my primary mode of transportation was a school bus. I can remember many, many frosty mornings standing on a corner in my apartment complex waiting for bus number 546 to lumber up to the curb.

The door would creak open, and every day it was the same bus driver, an elderly black man with gray stubble, a denim Oxford, and trucker cap. In my entire two years, I don’t think he ever missed a day.

I consider him an early mentor, and he taught me a lot about humility, and how to deal with trolls. He’s the subject of my sketchbook today.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 23.

Let me just start this week’s sketchbook out by saying that I was bullied pretty bad. While I look back on my middle school days fondly, I can’t look at them without feeling some pain, either. And when I think about those days, the things that got me through the constant bullying and teasing and fights, it was the guidance of teachers and adults that ultimately believed in me and helped because they wanted to see kids succeed.

I went to school with a lot of kids who thought they were invincible and disrespected adults something awful. And when I say disrespect, I mean cursing, punching, and all kinds of other verbal and physical harm. It was tough to be a teacher in my middle school. There were many days where teachers ended up with black eyes for trying busting up fights. My principal got assaulted in the parking lot one night after school.

Not even the school buses were safe. Fights broke out there, too, more times than I liked to count.

Which brings me to my bus driver, a man just doing his job in a hostile environment.

***

No one ever knew the man’s name, so everyone just called him bus driver. He only had one facial-expression, and that was stone-faced, staring straight ahead. He looked like a man who’d had a life of quiet disappointment, probably because he was driving a school bus of rowdy kids who disrespected him every day.

He wore the same thing every day: a denim oxford and a trucker cap. He had a potbelly, and a voice that reminded me of Bill Cosby. In fact, that’s why the kids made fun of him. Not a single day went by where someone in the back of the bus didn’t bust out a Bill Cosby impersonation just to mock him.

The kids mocked him for what he wore. They mocked him for being quiet, taunting him and trying to get him to talk, and he would ignore them. He’d focus on driving the bus methodically through his serpentine route.

He took a lot of crap, and he took it gracefully.

***

Two incidents forever made me a fan of this man.

He was, at that point in my life, the only person I had ever seen who was bullied more than me. Those kids terrorized him like you wouldn’t believe, and as much as I hated to see it, seeing someone else be terrorized instead of me for a change was a welcome breather, time for me to reflect on those long bus rides home.

As is any nerdy kid’s custom, I usually sat in the front of the bus, directly behind him. I’d stare wistfully out the window.

One day, he spoke to me. I don’t know how or why.

But he must have believed I was only kid on that bus that was worth talking to, because he never spoke to anyone else.

He was incredibly friendly to me. I thought he hated his life based on his facial expression, but when he spoke, he was actually very warm.

“You’re not like the other knuckleheads in the back of the bus,” he told me. He’d ask me about my classes and how they were going. He’d ask about my family. And we’d have pleasant conversation. Hell, we talked about philosophy and about the ways of people.

***

Near the end of my eighth grade year, he said something I’ll never forget.

He said, “You look like you’re destined to go somewhere in life, wise beyond your years. The other kids here, they just talk and don’t know what they’re talking about. You look like the kind of kid that gets all the facts and makes up your mind for yourself. That’s gonna take you a long way.”

I don’t really remember the details of all our conversations, but I’ll never forget that.

Here was a man I only spoke to for maybe twenty minutes a day, but I learned a lot from him. I connected with him in a way that I didn’t with other adults. I viewed him as an elder, like my grandparents and great grandparents.

He believed in civility. He treated people with respect even if they disrespected you. He believed in jazz and its power to transform a person’s life. He believed in doing a good job because that was the minimum of what was expected of you. He believed that as a black man, it was his responsibility to be a role model to other black people, especially the young pups, and he told me many times that I needed to pass that on.

***

The second incident, I saw him break.

Those kids broke him.

I suppose one can only take so much before he snaps.

It was just before summer vacation at the end of the day, and a kid got on the bus with a CD player. I didn’t think anything of it as he passed. But soon, the assistant principal ran onto the bus and called the boy’s name.

Turns out the kid’s teacher had confiscated his CD player because he was listening to it in class, and he stole it out of his teacher’s desk before he left.

The confrontation immediately turned into a shouting match, and the kid called the assistant principal all kinds of bad names. The bus driver sat silently as the encounter unfolded, eyeing the boy in the rearview mirror.

***

Eventually, the assistant principal confiscated the CD player, and I don’t remember why, but they let the kid ride the bus home. The whole way home, he was making passive aggressive remarks about the principal, the school, and life in general, in colorful words I won’t repeat.

Anyway, the bus is driving down a busy street when the kid says something to the tune of, “Everybody in this school would be much better off without teachers treating school like slave day.” Imagine that, but with more curse words.

The bus screeched to a stop. Seriously, I didn’t know a school bus could stop that fast.

The bus driver put the bus in park and stood up.

“What did you say, boy?” he asked calmly.

“It’s a motherfuckin’ slave day!” the kid shouted.

“Slave day?” the bus driver asked. “You don’t know the meaning of slave day.”

And then the bus driver exploded. He lectured the entire bus on how insolent we were and as black people that was a damn shame. He said a lot of slaves died so we could be more than just three-fifths of a person and actually live in this society as free people.

And, predictably, the kid cursed him out.

And the bus driver shut him up and got even madder. He pointed a finger at the kid and said a lot of people stood up and spoke out just so we could ride a bus in the first place. And here this kid was with his first world problems mad, at the principal because the principal was enforcing the rules.

He opened the bus door, which led into the middle of traffic, told the boy to get the hell off his bus.

Then he drove off, leaving the boy standing on the curb.

I’ve never heard that bus so quiet. And if that wasn’t enough, the bus driver then glanced at us with a harsh warning.

“Any of you wanna talk like that, I’ll put you off my bus!”

And then he didn’t say another word.

***

Hoped you liked that one. That bus driver was unforgettable. And he got in a lot of trouble for that incident. After all, he lost his composure and endangered a child.

After everything transpired, he told me that he almost lost his job over it. But he didn’t seem to mind. A job’s a job, and he could drive a bus in any school district, probably better ones than mine.

Many years later, when I was working in corporate America and took a stand for what I believed in and almost lost my own job as a result, I thought of him, and his quiet confidence.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.” Hal Borland

 

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In this week’s episode, I talk about patience and how I’m in this for the long haul. I don’t just say it. I live it.

TRANSCRIPT

You just heard a clip from an interview I did with Dan Blank on the Dabblers vs Doers Podcast.

In this episode I’ll be talking about patience and why—and how—I’m in the writing business for the long haul.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 22. This week I wanted to spend some time talking about patience, because it’s something I have in spades, but many authors don’t.

Patience for me means that even though I know I’m not as successful as I want to be today, it’s being okay with today because I know that I’ll be where I want to be down the road.

So many people jump into writing expecting to be crazy successful right out of the gate. I myself was no exception to this.

When I published my first book, Magic Souls, I thought I’d be a six figure author by the end of the year. Ha ha. Funny.

The truth is that while Magic Souls was a good book, there were a lot of things I did wrong. Not with the story, because it’s a solid story, but with the marketing.

My original book cover didn’t speak to readers.

I bought ads at all the wrong places.

I spent my time chasing the wrong readers.

And most important of all, I had zero clue where my book fit in the market.

Top that off with a poor author website, a lackluster social media presence, and no author brand, and my first book launch by most accounts was a failure.

***

But you know what I think?

The book was a success. Sure, it didn’t make any money, but I choose instead to focus on the positive lessons.

In writing Magic Souls, I learned so much about the writing process that I could write my next book faster. The readers who did review the book absolutely loved it.

The launch also taught me that my goals were too damn unrealistic. It taught me that I wasn’t as good of an author as I thought I was. It taught me that there was a big wide world out there that I needed to learn.

And instead of sulking over it, I wrote my next book, taking the lessons I learned and applying it to the next book.

40 books later, you’d think I’d be doing something right. I am. Right now I’m doing a lot of things right. The fact that you’re listening to this podcast every week means that I’ve done my job as both an author and as a storyteller. I’ve sharpened my storytelling skills to keep you listening. In 2014 no one would have wanted to hear me do a Podcast like this. Trust me on that. I didn’t have the skill set.

For my books, I know my target audiences now. My covers are infinitely better. I don’t just have books. I have a brand.

All that because I committed to getting better rather than beating myself up over sales numbers.

Patience for me isn’t doing the same thing over and over again. It’s about iteration and introspection.

I spend a lot of time by myself, just thinking. One of my strengths is that I’m fairly self aware.

I know that long term, I’m going to be in a much better position, all because I’m better today than I was in 2014 when I first started.

Everything I do in my career is simply practice.

I’m practicing my craft with every new story.

This podcast is one big practice session in how to create content that connects with people on a human level. So is my YouTube channel.

Everything for me is one big experiment, and I’m totally fine with failing. And just about everything I have done has failed on some level.

***

I opened the show with an excerpt about burnout.

There are only a few things that make me wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Burnout is one of them.

Patience and burnout go hand in hand for me. After all, I’ve been doing this for five years. It’s really easy to think maybe I should quit, but I refuse.

But burnout is real, and I do everything I can to avoid it. And the easiest way to avoid burnout is to see the positive in everything.

For example, I don’t necessarily enjoy editing this podcast. But I do it because I have to, and I see it as learning valuable experience for when I’m successful to hire someone to edit my audio and video for me. Doing the work myself now will make it easier for me to give direction and clarity to a future employee who will do this for me.

So I learn to like editing, and I have fun with it.

That’s my secret.

I’m eternally optimistic and I am always twisting things in order to see the lesson and the benefit. Even setbacks.

Hell, I view patches of writer’s block as blessings sometimes. That takes a mindset shift and a level of patience that most people don’t have.

I know that in order to have a successful long term career, I’ve got to 1) keep creating and 2) avoid burnout at all costs.

So I create content patiently with no expectations and I have fun with my writing.

So, if it takes me fifteen or twenty more years to be successful and make a living from my work, I’m okay with that. I can’t wait to see how much more skillful and developed I will be as an author and human being when I get there.

But if it happens tomorrow—I’ll also be ready for it, because I’ve been preparing every day, every minute, every second for the day my life is going to change. And when it does, sure, my circumstances will change. My problems will get magnified. My schedule is going to get crazy. But I myself won’t change because ultimately, I’ve been preparing all this time not to write a bestselling book, but to be myself in public. 100% authentic and true to myself and my readers.

And that’s easier said than done.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.” St. Jerome.

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SHOW NOTES

In this week’s episode I give an update on how well the relaunch of my YouTube channel Author Level Up went. I also answer some questions about my first job and my tea habit.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, welcome to episode 21. In this month’s progress update, I have a lot of cool stuff to share.

For starters, my YouTube channel. For the first two months, I picked up around 500 subscribers and am very close to passing the 5,000 subscriber mark, which is crazy. It’s small, but as I say on this podcast all the time, everyone has to start somewhere, and the fact that I started with some momentum is really important.

My Scrivener vs Ulysses Cage Match video where I compare the two writing programs is already poised to be my best video of all time. And I’m just getting started.

So huge shout out to my YouTube subscribers for supporting me, and if you’re not a subscriber yet, visit authorlevelup.com or YouTube.com/authorlevelup to get lots of helpful writing videos!

In writing news, I have unfortunately decided to set aside my Sound Mage Sonata series. I won’t go into it in this show, but I gave it a lot of thought and talk about it in a video on my YouTube channel. Check the show notes for a link.

For my fiction, I’ve decided to return to my Magic Trackers urban fantasy series, continuing on the story of my heroine, Aisha Robinson and her two cousins. I love this series and it’ll be fun for me to write.

For nonfiction, I am planning a book on the basics. Basically, 20% of my audience has never written a book, so I want to write something for them that will help them break through their barriers and wade through a lot of the crap that’s out there targeted toward new writers. I’ll share more about this as I build it out, and I plan on being super transparent and let you guys watch over my shoulder as I design and create it.

In marketing news, the interview with Anais Concepcion and Maya Goode at the Literary Roadhouse Podcast is now live, so I’ll drop a link in the show notes. Be sure to check it out.

Oswald Q&A

My biggest fan, Oswald is back this month with more questions.

Oswald McChipperson asks:

“As a robot fresh out of my manufacturer’s factory, I had to find a job. My first job was on an assembly line creating wind-up mice. It enhanced my artificial intelligence in immeasurable ways. Tell me, Michael, what was your first job?”

Great question, Oswald!

My stepdad is a barber, and for a time he ran a barber college. You could go there to get cheap haircuts because the barbers there were still learning their craft. Because it was a school, my dad ran things on a tight budget.

Instead of an allowance, my dad paid me to go to his school every other weekend and clean up the place. I swept all the hair off the floor, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, washed all the sinks, and mopped. I usually did it on a Sunday afternoon, and it was quiet, solitary work. That job taught me a lot and it was easy money.

Time for the next question.

Oswald asks, “Did you know that the creator of the Frisbee had himself cremated and his ashes turned incorporated into Frisbees as a memorial to himself? Tell me, Michael, did you know that?”

Umm…Oswald, two things…that’s not a question, and well, that’s just creepy. Next question.

“In order to remain healthy, my creator recommends a daily regimen of lubricants and joint greases, which I take faithfully and are quite similar to coffee and tea. Tell me, Michael, do you prefer coffee or tea?”

Tea. Tea, all the way. Believe it or not, I am a huge loose leaf tea drinker, and the fact that I drink tea at all is a major lesson in your taste buds changing.

As a kid, tea was always available in my house, but it was the crappy kind. You couldn’t drink it without puckering up.

I never drank coffee, either. I always believed that if you needed coffee to help you stay awake, then you needed to get more sleep.

When I started working, however, I learned to like coffee. I never got attached to it, and I preferred the cheap K-Cups, which are so, so bad for you. That wouldn’t have been horrible, except for the fact that I was using two little cups of cream and at least three packets of sugar per cup.

One of my coworkers saw me one day and said “Umm, what are you doing?”

“Making my coffee,” I said.

“That’s an awfully lot of sugar, don’t you think?” she asked.

I looked down at my cup and realized, holy crap, this IS a lot of sugar. Honestly, it never occurred to me.

I’ll never forget that intervention.

I told myself I had to stop and committed to drinking tea again.

I searched long and wide for a tea I could believe in, and I found some. I got so hooked that I developed a tea habit—but no sugar—which was far healthier.

At the current time, some of my favorite teas are Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka—it’s fantastically full-bodied with a slight caramel taste. I recommend Ahmad Tea’s Ceylon blend.

Another of my all-time favorite teas is Hot Cinnamon Spice by Harney and Sons. Cinnamon and tea shouldn’t go together, but my god, with a little bit of honey—it’s like Christmas in a cup.

I also like Ahmad’s Lemon Vitality tea.

But really, I like green teas, too. I love a good jasmine tea, as well as gunpowder and hojicha from Japan.

I tend to stay away from anything artificial.

I like tea not only for the taste, but because it lifts my mood. It puts me in such a good mood. I also like the ritual of tea. Something about it makes everything slow down for me, which is much needed in my life.

So thanks Oswald, and if I ever see you in person, we’ll have a cup of tea together. I appreciate your questions as always.

[Oswald says “you're welcome.]

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Tea time is a chance to slow down, pull back, and appreciate our surroundings.” Letitia Baldridge

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SHOW NOTES

Quick overview of this week's show:

• My top 5 moments that shaped me as a writer (follow up to Episode 11, so if you missed it, check it out and come back here)

TRANSCRIPT

In this week’s episode I’ll be following up on the Top 10 Moments that Shaped Me as a Writer. I’ll be talking about my Top 5.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 20 of the podcast! I’m twenty episodes in, and the podcast doesn’t feel new to me anymore. Thanks to everyone that has tuned in so far, and here’s to a bright future to the podcast!

In episode 11, I counted down the first half of the Top 10 Moments that Shaped Me as a Writer. If you haven’t heard that episode, you can find it at michaellaronn.com/episode11.

Anyway, the first round was finding my biological father, taking WMG Workshops with Dean Wesley Smith, reading the works of Swami Vivekananda and Ray Bradbury, and learning how to speak Spanish. Those experiences developed me as a writer in important ways, and if you read my work, their influence on me is obvious.

So let’s jump into my Top 5, shall we?

Top Moments in My Creative Life, #5-4

#5 is writing music. As you guys know, I started my creative career as a musician. I was writing songs in high school, and very active in band. I'd come home from school, do my homework, practice my saxophone, and then I'd write music.

I had a computer program that allowed me to capture my ideas and it would play them back for me. I would try to recreate my favorite songs in this app, and I started with TV themes. I collected TV Themes because they were so fun to play. Because smartphones didn’t exist, I carried around a CD of my favorite TV Themes.

Matlock. The Odd Couple. Knight Rider. Alf. I Love Lucy. Moonlighting. The Cosby Show. The Greatest American Hero. Great music.

Anyway, writing music was important in my development as a writer, and my love of TV Themes brings me to #4, which is my friendship with my friend, Will.

When I was collecting TV Themes and writing music, it turns out he was doing the exact same things as me—learning how to play music and write it. I don’t even remember how we met, but we were in marching band together and we ended up talking about TV Themes and I shared my CD with him.

Thirteen years later, we’re best friends. Music-wise and life-wise, we’re on the same wavelength.

I can remember hours and hours spent at both our houses, writing songs.

Now, I’m a creative, but he’s even more of a creative than me. I remember learning so much watching him play music, explore his guitar and piano as we figured out chord changes. He has an incredible eye and ear, and working with him taught me to sharpen my eyes and ears, too.

Will is musician these days so he stayed on the music route, but we’re still best friends all these years later.

Top Creative Moments in My Life, #3-2

#3 is The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn. I’ll talk more about the circumstances that led to me finding Joanna in my #1 item, but listening to Joanna’s podcast and reading her blogs inspired me to be an indie author. If I hadn’t done that, I would probably be still submitting my work to publishers waiting on them to accept me.

#2 is studying abroad. In college I had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama.

I traveled with a student group for 3 weeks, and at the end of that, I broke off from them and stayed behind, traveling by myself to Nicaragua instead.

I have no idea why I decided to stay there on my own. Looking back on it, man was it ballsy.

But man did it teach me a lot about myself.

I was in a foreign country where I barely spoke the language, had no guide or help, and I had to learn how to live by myself in Managua, Nicaragua for two weeks.

I went to many interesting places, ate so much interesting food. But there’s one experience that I will never forget.

I had visited an ATM to get out some cash. I only had one bank card and it had all of my money on it.

I accidentally dropped my wallet while I was putting the cash in it. It took me a while to gather all my belongings.

When I looked up at the ATM, it beeped at me and told me that it had retained my card. I had to go into the bank to claim it.

In the United States that normally wouldn’t be a big deal.

But in a place like Nicaragua banks aren’t always safe. In fact, my host father recommended that I avoid them unless absolutely necessary. After all, guards with machine guns stood outside the front entrances.

I was terrified. I had no money, and no money in foreign country is nothing but trouble.

I could have gone into the bank and explained what happened.

Instead, I knew a place up the road whose clerk would let me use the phone to call my host parents. They would know what to do.

So I started up the road, traffic speeding by me as I’m freaking out.

I pulled out my wallet to get my host parents’ phone number, and what is in my wallet?

My bank card.

Seriously.

My bank card was in my wallet. The same one that the ATM ate.

I know what I saw. The ATM ate the card.

Yet here it was in my wallet.

That incident gave me a lot of faith, and it was definitely a higher power protecting me. I’ll never forget it.

And here we are at my #1 item.

#1 is a near-death experience. In 2012 after a nice dinner with my wife, I fell ill with what I thought was food poisoning. I ended up being in the hospital for a month.

That experience taught me a lot about life, and confirmed that I needed to stop wasting it.

When I got home from the hospital, I became a writer for real.

I talk more about this experience in my book, Be a Writing Machine, but this experience was integral to me becoming a writer, and it’s woven into the fabric of who I am. It’s why I always mention it on podcast interviews.

It was the #1 moment that shaped me as a writer.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” Carol Burnett

 

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SHOW NOTES

Quick overview of this week's show:

• What happened at Fair St. Louis in 2005 and why it was the most memorable 4th of July for me
• Random people-watching session that inspired a short story

TRANSCRIPT

In the United States, the 4th of July, or Independence Day is a major holiday.

People love to barbecue, spend time with family, and of course, take to the streets and shoot off fireworks.

For days and days before (and after) the holiday, you can hear people shooting them off, even if it’s against the law.

In my hometown of St. Louis, nothing spells 4th of July like Fair St. Louis, which is basically our version of a state fair. Thousands gather downtown for concerts and entertainment, food, fireworks, and alcohol.

In this week’s episode I’m going to talk about a people-watching session I had all the way back in 2005. This one’s an oldie but a goodie.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 19 of the podcast.

In this week’s sketchbook episode, which may be the oldest dated sketchbook entry yet, I wanted to talk about one of the most memorable 4th of July holidays I have ever had.

The year was 2005.

I had a crew of friends and we did just about everything together. We played in jazz band together, volunteered with the American Red Cross for community service, and just generally hung out all the time on weekends.

One of my friends found out that the Black-Eyed Peas were playing at the fair, so we decided to go see them.

That year, the fair was downtown on the riverfront of the Mississippi River under the Gateway Arch.

So if you’ve ever seen St. Louis in pictures or been there yourself, you can imagine how cool it would have been to be among thousands of people, sitting on the grass under the arch, watching the river flow by and the Black-Eyed Peas singing their greatest hits.

***

We drive into downtown St. Louis, and buildings rise all around us as we fight traffic and rivers of pedestrians in order to find a parking garage.

I’m the lucky one driving, and my knuckles are practically white as I park the car on the top floor of a parking garage.

Being teenage boys, we take the stairs, joking and laughing several blocks, all the way down to the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

There are people everywhere, drinking beer, smoking, and chatting.

Underneath the Arch is a giant stage, yet we can hardly see it because we’re so far back.

The sun is bright in the sky, spinning sequins off the brown water of the Mississippi. The sky is endlessly blue, and it’s so bright that I wish I brought sunglasses.

I want to eat something but I don’t have any more money so I can’t. I’d used my paycheck from my job to pay for gas to and from the fair.

My stomach rumbles.

***

We’re sitting on a concrete wall, and it’s hot. Sweltering hot and humid, only in the way that St. Louis weather can be. Not even the breeze coming off the river can cool us down.

There’s this game we like to play. It’s a people watching game. Each of us pick out the most interesting person in sight. We talk about the person’s story and find a good laugh about it.

Various acts take the stage, play entire sets.

Of course, they keep the Black-Eyed Peas until the end, so after the fifth or sixth act, the sun is lower in the sky, and the first hint of night appears in the clouds, the skyscrapers start to blink on.

The Black-Eyed Peas take the stage, and everyone erupts into applause as they sing their hits.

They put on a pretty good concert. Not memorable, but definitely not bad.

Still, I’m hungry.

***

The concert ends, and fireworks erupt over the river. Brilliant bursts of red, blue, and purple, they fill the sky and everyone applauds as music plays.

At this point it’s around nine or ten o’clock, and we’re tired. We’ve got curfew to make.

We navigate through crowds of people making their way out of the park.

We make it back to my car and as I pull out of the parking garage, we run into trouble.

Big trouble.

Traffic is backed up for miles.

Now, traffic in St. Louis is a normal thing. It usually takes at least 30 minutes to 45 minutes one-way to get anywhere in GOOD traffic.

But this traffic jam is the worst I’ve ever seen.

All over, cars are spilling out of parking garages. People are honking aggressively at each other.

My stomach rumbles again, and my eyes fall down to my dashboard.

I’ve only got half a tank of gas at best.

***

We sit in traffic for four hours, listening to all the angry people shouting out of their cars.

There’s no accident, no hold up. Just the natural result of thousands of people crowding into a small area on a Saturday night holiday.

I have to call my grandmother to tell her I’ll be late.

I don’t know my way around downtown very well, and smartphones hadn’t been invented yet, so imagine me with a printout from MapQuest with step by step directions, consulting it to find out where to turn next.

My friends and I are tired. Exhausted.

But there are so many people walking on the street that we start to play our game again.

We’re sitting at a corner and a bunch of pedestrians pass by on the sidewalk. Among them is a middle aged black man in a bright yellow suit and a pimp hat. Seriously, the suit is as yellow as a banana. He’s wearing sunglasses and has an immaculate brown Bible under his arm. He’s also wearing shiny brown shoes with wingtips. He struts down the street.

Randomly, he shouts something about everyone needing to find Jesus and then disappears around a corner.

My friends and I all look at each other. And then we start cracking up.

***

Hope you liked that one. I didn’t get home that night until around 2AM.

Oh, and the gentleman I saw in the yellow suit inspired a short story that eventually ended up in my book, Reconciled People. It’s called “The Book of Cutty” and it’s about a black man who sets up camp on the Las Vegas Strip trying to convert as many people to Jesus as he can, and then the devil shows up to stop him.

Because I kept a description of him, I was able to use that nearly seven years later in 2012 when I sat down to write “The Book of Cutty.” That’s how valuable my sketchbook has been to me all these years.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“A day without sunshine is, like, you know, night.” Steve Martin

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS WEEK'S EPISODE?

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[TheChamp-Sharing]

SHOW NOTES

Quick overview of this week's show:

• How and why people watching is my secret to writing vivid, memorable scenes
• My seven-step process for capturing any scene or person on paper with stunning accuracy

TRANSCRIPT

[Bird sounds]

Have you ever been people-watching?

There’s a park near my house that I like to people watch in. Let me tell you about a typical day here: the sky is filled with the most amazing cirrostratus clouds. There’s birds chirping in the trees, wind chimes jangling from a house neighboring the park. Children playing, yelling at each other in delight. And every once in a while, a cyclist speeds by.

And all amongst this idyllic scene are people, each one with a unique story.

I have found people watching to be an endless stream of character and story ideas.

And I have a tried and true process for every session to capture everything I see accurately. It works like magic.

In this episode I’m going to share my process with you.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 18 of the podcast.

In this week’s episode I wanted to talk about my process for people watching because it makes for deeper stories and deeper characters.

A lot of people people-watch, but I’ve found that the most effective sessions I’ve had were the ones where I did it intentionally.

This sounds counterintuitive. After all if I said I was going to the park to intentionally find subject material, that would be a little weird.

That’s not what I’m talking about.

I almost never people watch on purpose.

But when I find myself in a situation where the people are interesting, I have seven questions that I ask that help me capture the setting, the people, and the mood with stunning accuracy.

These seven questions are magical, and it’s amazing how well they work.

Seven Questions for Better People Watching.

It goes without saying that whenever I find myself in a great situation I pull out my phone. I use the Evernote app to capture my thoughts. A benefit of Evernote is that it lets you take notes, photos, and sound.

Anyway, the first question is what do I see?

I write down what I can see. I start with the setting. I describe in a sentence or two what it looks like. Then, if I’m watching a particular person, I describe what they’re wearing, what they’re carrying, or what they’re sitting or standing on. Colors are also important and something that may not be easy to remember later.

The second question I ask is what do I smell? If I’m in a restaurant, that’s easy. I describe the food in the air. If I’m at a park, it’s usually grass or flowers. If I’m elsewhere, then it’s usually more difficult and I have to really pay attention to what my nose is telling me.

Unless there is a really strong smell, this is something I forget later when I’m trying to recreate the scene, so I try my best. Also, if I’m watching someone I’m probably too far away to smell anything on them like cologne or perfume. Sometimes if I can’t smell anything in the moment, I’ll make up details that I think go with the situation, just so I can capture it in all dimensions.

The third question I ask is what do I hear? What’s the surrounding ambiance like? If people are talking , what are they saying? I write down dialogue to the very word, paying attention to dialect, cadence of speaking, and word choice. This is so, so important when you’re creating characters. If there’s music or if someone is singing, I get creative about describing the music without capturing lyrics.

The fourth question I ask is what can I taste? If there’s no food involved, I look for anything else that might help me capture this.

The fifth question I ask is what can I touch? I’m usually not in a position to touch someone and that would get me put in jail. Instead I focus on textures. Textures on the floor, textures on surfaces like jewelry and clothing, the person’s skin.

Describing textures is one of the best ways to develop as a writer. Most people can describe sight and smells, but a pro weaves in texture. Textures also have the benefit of doing double duty when you’re using them. If I said that a woman had an alligator purse, you would both see it and imagine the texture. See what I mean?

And you’ve probably caught on that I’m simply describing the scene in the five senses.

But there are two more questions that take my observations to the next level.

What’s the Story Here?

The sixth question I ask is a simple but fun one: what’s the story here?

For people, it’s “what’s this guy’s story?” “What’s this woman’s story?”

At this point, it’s all imagination. I use what I can see to make some simple assumptions about the person.

If it’s a man and a woman sitting across from each other, based on their body language I can tell if they’re on a date, married, or just friends. Any of those scenarios is always interesting to explore.

I start with an assumption, and ask “what’s the story?” As I describe it, I then ask, “what if?” What if this couple sitting at the table next to me in the French restaurant are on a date? What if the guy is from Canada and the girl is from New Mexico? What kind of culture clashes would they have?

What’s his story? What was his mom like? Where does he like to travel? What really pisses him off? What does he do for a living?

I write and write and write.

And then I ask the last, most important question: What does the person think of this place?

Something I learned from Dean Wesley Smith, a writer who I look up, is that it’s not just enough to describe a setting in the five senses. Your character also has to have an opinion about the setting.

If you’re in a hot swamp and you hate swamps, well, that’s going to color what you see, smell, hear, taste and touch, right?

But if you’re in a restaurant with someone of the opposite sex and you’re having the time of your life, you’re going to have a much more favorable opinion of the setting.

I like to write a few sentences about the person I’m watching and what they think of the place they’re in. This way, everything they see and do is filtered through that lens. It’s a simple but very effective tool to help me get inside a character’s head.

So that’s how I people watch. To recap, I ask, what do I see, what do I hear, what do I smell, what do I taste, and what can I touch? For bonus points, I then ask “What’s the story here?”, what if questions, and “What does the person think about the setting?”

This is the process I use to capture everyday scenes. You’d be surprised how much I consult my sketchbook when it’s time to write my novels.

And, another secret that I’ll give away—when I’m writing a scene for a novel, I like to take a minute or two and imagine the scene in my mind—I imagine the people, sights, tastes, smells, textures, and sounds, character opinions BEFORE I put the character into the scene.

If you want to see my people-watching process in action, check out a couple of my previous sketchbook episodes: Love in the Food Court, Episode 2, and My Run-In with a Weird Pyramid Scheme, Episode 16.

Next week, I’ll be posting another people-watching session I had that was both fun and vivid.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” Anthony J. D’Angelo

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS WEEK'S EPISODE?

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SHOW NOTES

Quick overview of this week's show:

• Two podcast interviews
• How the relaunch of my YouTube channel went
• New sponsor! (Seriously!)

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, and welcome to episode 17 of the podcast.

I was looking at stats for the show, and it has been downloaded over 1,000 times. That’s a great milestone for me.

I believe everyone starts at zero. I’ve got to start somewhere and I’ll take it, so thanks to all of you who have subscribed and have been listening to me every week.

I’d also like to welcome a new patron on Patreon, Amelia D. Hay. Thank you for your support!

Writing News

In writing news, I’ve been writing like a madman. I’ve written over 75 video scripts for my Author Level Up YouTube channel. I launched it early in the month, and the response has been overwhelming positive. Many of my subscribers commented in the first day alone and welcomed me back. It’s really amazing to see such great support, and I am grateful for it. I’m back to making videos again, and it’s a beautiful thing.

I’ve noticed that there are more YouTubers in the writing space since I left, and some might see that as negative, but I see it as a positive as I think there are some great collaborations that can be done.

Also, I’m making some pretty unique videos so I’m not worried about anyone copying me. Remember, when you’re authentic and create content that only you can, you don’t have to worry about copycats or haters.

For more information on why I started up my YouTube channel, check out Episode 14 of the podcast at michaellaronn.com/episode14. And check out the new Author Level Up videos at www.authorlevelup.com or www.youtube.com/authorlevelup.

As far as fiction goes, I’ve made minimal progress on my Sound Mage Sonata series, but as summer winds down and I’ve got the YouTube channel on autopilot, I cannot wait to dive back into it.

Marketing News

In marketing news, I did an interview with Dan Blank of the Dabblers vs Doers Podcast. Dan is my co-host for the AskAlli Member Q&A Podcast. We talk about creativity, how I’m able to write so fast, and all kinds of other fun aspects of being a creative. My wife heard this one—she doesn’t listen to all of my podcasts, but she thought this one was particularly good, so if my wife approves, then you should listen, too!

I also appeared on the Literary Roadhouse Podcast with my friend Anais Concepcion. I was a guest on this show a few years back, and what’s cool about them is that they discuss short stories. One short story per show, and the guest gets to pick. So I chose “The Bottleneck” by one of my favorite writers, Hans Christian Andersen. It was fun to get their reaction to this story.

I can also claim that I am probably the only guest on the Literary Roadhouse Podcast to pick a short story about an inanimate object. That’s how I roll.

Personal News

In personal news, my wife and I proud owners of a new rabbit. She’s a Flemish Giant named Fifi. She’s literally the size of a cat. It’s our first pet in many respects, and it’s interesting to watch rabbits. They’re very sensitive, social animals, and a lot like cats. Anyway, I’ll share some pictures of her on the blog post housing this podcast episode.

Also, life hit me pretty hard this month. We ran into some problems with childcare for my daughter, which ate into my writing time. For a while, things were really uncertain and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. Of course, the writing was fine, but it was extremely stressful and definitely affected my output.

But I kept on charging forward and now that I’m on the other side of it, and things are okay now, I’m glad I did. But it just goes to show you that you never know when life will strike. All you can do is control your response.

 

Alien Dance Club Sponsorship

And no progress episode of this podcast would be complete without a new sponsor!

I’m telling you guys, Author Level Up is getting me some serious attention. I woke up yesterday and had an email from this guy—I think he goes by Green Man. He’s a DJ and my videos on creativity inspired him so much that he decided to write a book about being an unusual DJ in an unusual club. It’s a memoir, and I cried when I read it. I haven’t even made it past the first chapter. Poor dude.

Anyway, he sent some money my way and told me he’d sponsor a show as a thank you for all the help I gave him.

So thank you Green Man for the two thousand dollars, and here’s an ad for his dance club.

[CUE HOUSE MUSIC] This episode is sponsored by The Area 51 Dance Club. We’re a dance club like no other on Earth.

Open the door, step into the light and beam yourself up to the hottest singles club in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Our dance floor is made from the finest asteroids and we’ve got a live DJ every night, spinning dope records from artists like Galaxy Dude, 27 Moons, I Can’t Breathe, and more!

Don’t like to dance? Take a float in our anti-gravity room or go tanning under our microsun lights!

And don’t worry about finding a ride home—we’ll beam you down. After we observe your every move and implant a chip in your brain, that is.

Visit the Area 51 Dance Club today. There is an alien in us all. Let it out to play.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Albert Einstein.

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS WEEK'S EPISODE?

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