Over the past number of years, I've listened to my fair share of podcasts geared towards interviewing authors. Mostly indie (self-published), but with a sprinkling of traditionally- or hybrid-published authors on top. They were very interesting, until something odd happened. I started hearing the same thing over and over again.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want to come off as arrogant, that I know everything, because I don't. I'm constantly learning. And if I listen to a 45-60 minute interview and pick up one nugget I hadn't thought of before, I consider it time well spent.
Here's my problem with most of these interviews though. I don't connect with them. The authors, not the interviewers.
Give me an author who has a day job (or multiple jobs), a spouse, and kids, and how they deal with the day-to-day minutia, you have my attention. Or take it one step further: an author who is juggling housework while being a caregiver to either a spouse or parent, something extremely demanding of their time.
I would connect with those.
Now, most of these authors may have a demanding day job, a house full of kids, and a number of other commitments. They just never tell anyone.
In all of the interviews I've listened to, only one comes to mind and I haven't the slightest clue as to who it was. This author was a stay-at-home dad who did all of the housework and had a handful of kids. He said he only had time to write very early in the morning. Sorry, I can't remember who it was, but it's the only one I can think of.
So my new purpose is to be that author, the one who writes while raising three kids, caregiving for my wife, housework, and the like. I find the time to write because I'm deliberate about it. Are there times I don't feel like it? Of course.
But I keep writing.
Because it's what I do.
I love it.
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