I had the pleasure to sit down with James Kelly on his talk radio show and podcast, Aspects of Writing. Each week, James tackles a topic related to writing and guests contribute to the discussion. Topics range from publishing, marketing, plot structure, current issues and news and so on—this week he invited me to discuss writing with the human condition in mind. Janet Coursey, a running panelist of the show, also gave her wisdom and we had a great time discussing life and philosophy.
The radio show airs on AMFM247 terrestrial stations coast to coast on Saturday afternoons. The shows are also available as podcasts and YouTube videos for streaming whenever you want. Click "Read More" for links and to view the video version of the show.
It’s been a long time coming, but the hardcover version of The Mixtape Manifesto: A Pop Culture Confessional has arrived and they look great! Pick up your copy from Amazon.
The book reads as a compilation of articles or short essays—almost like flipping through a magazine—with an overarching, well, let’s call it “progression of maturity”. Things centralize around me dealing with and processing relationships; relating love and loss to music, movies, and tv shows. Just thoughts on life with lots of shout outs to 80s, 90s, and 00s pop culture—my heart on my sleeve relating common feelings to common themes. Those of you who enjoy Chuck Klosterman would probably enjoy this read.
I’ll start out by saying how tired I am–today (Monday) was rough after the whirlwind weekend and long drives–but I’d do it all over again in a second. I can’t understate how warm the reception was. Wow. Serious. Reno really made me feel special! I got to meet dozens of amazing individuals and our conversations won’t fade in my memory any time soon. That’s what these shows are all about–the connection.
Speaking of which, I understand how risky it is taking a chance on an author or book you’ve never heard of. With that said, Reno took a chance on me. Thank you. The Final Book: Gods made its way into a lot of hands and that blows my mind. A few even began reading it right away and came back the next day to say how they couldn’t put it down. Those are the types of things you never imagine.
Here she be—I like the new design quite a bit and it should serve the cause well. At the very least, it should now look pretty fancy on phones and tablets.
The old site lasted about five and half years—pretty good. It was an early version of a mobile “responsive” website, and while it “worked” on phones, it didn’t work very well. Things were getting jumbled, articles hard to read, and it was about impossible to find anything. I hate my phone, but apparently the rest of the world doesn't feel the same way–the majority of traffic now seeming to be mobile. Hopefully this makes things easier—please let me know if it doesn’t!
Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.
It will force you to contemplate your own life and either reinforce, or contradict, everything you hold to be sacred—we need more of those uncomfortable thoughts in our society.
Who was your favorite character to write and why?