Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick

Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick episode 062 revisits my infrequent rant against genres and nested categories, especially on Amazon.com -- but this time, I present a way to fix it -- a way that improves discovery of authors and brings readers more of what they'll love. Also, an update on my creative endeavors, observing eleven years since I had a regular full-time job for someone else, and new patron-only additions to my website!

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning! Or, read every installment to date when you join the member community!
• My wiki is the storehouse of all my notes and "behind the curtain" information regarding my fiction, non-fiction, worldbuilding, songs, poetry... all of it, and I'm adding to it all the time. Access is another perk of community membership!
• Speaking of: the patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to almost nine minutes (another 20%!) of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. Every month the member community has at least twenty members, I will donate 10% of net patron revenue to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including Ted Leonhardt and Chuck Anderson! Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $5 monthly pledge!
• I'm renewing my interest in computer graphics, environment design, and related stuff. The best free tools are Blender and Unreal Engine.
  • The course I'm taking for Blender is Complete Blender Creator 3.2: Learn 3D Modelling for Beginners.
  • The Unreal Engine course I'll be dipping into later this month is Unreal Masterclass.  The instructor, Unreal Sensei, has a ton of free YouTube resources and tutorials, too.
• My Shaper's World storyworld, which I dream of creating in an immersive 3D environment, so far includes the novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay."
• Not just science fiction: Ray Bradbury's period mysteries, Death is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, and Let's All Kill Constance, are simply delightful. How many readers of The Martian Chronicles even know they exist?
• The works of Ursula K. Le Guin.

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

In this episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick , I break down all the details of the newly revised, revamped, simplified, and improved member community supporting authors and other creators who are fans of the podcast and my creative endeavors. Listen to learn all about it, and how you can become a Multiversalist , too!

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• Nearly everything I talk about in this episode is spelled out on the Member Community page. Click to get the whole story!
• I also mention the day job, which is helping authors, podcasters, and other creators bring their creative endeavors to fruition, to market, and to an audience. Can I help you?
• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning! Or, read every installment to date when you join the member community!
• Speaking of: the patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to almost thirteen minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. Every month the member community has at least twenty members, I will donate 10% of net patron revenue to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins, Ted Leonhardt, and Chuck Anderson! Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $5 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

This episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick is chock full of recommendations straight from my writer's toolkit: the software and services I use day in / day out in my creative endeavors and in my work helping other creative writers. Also in the episode: more hints at what's to come for my patron member community, and a bit more on the situational depression that still lingers since the previous episode.

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• Dynalist is my offboard brain, as well as my to-do list keeper and an excellent outliner. Simplicity makes it as complex as you want it to be. First on the list because it's my most valued tool.
• Notepad++ is a plain text editor on steroids... it's really "double plus good."
• Scrivener is accepted as the standard writer's outliner, word processor, asset organizer, and formatter... but its "everything and the kitchen sink" nature is exactly why I use it -- and recommend it -- only grudgingly. A free, much lighter, and more focused program is yWriter, which I find almost just right for the way I like to write. Here's an article I wrote about yWriter, especially as it compares to Scrivener. Try them both. Use them both! You may find one or both are just right for you.
• The free Q10 is my favorite full-screen, distraction-free plain text editor and the one writing tool with which I can most often slip into the coveted flow state. Highly recommended!
• There are many mind-mapping software options, some free, some not. None of them offer the simplicity and flexibility I find with Mindomo.
• Do you use a whiteboard? Do you wish you had a whiteboard with functionally infinite space and deep zoom? How about one on any of your devices? How about for free? Check out Excalidraw.
• Microsoft Word (and its attendant Microsoft Office suite, which apparently is now called Microsoft 365 or some such), is synonymous with word processing (and spreadsheets and so on). Did you know there's a completely free alternative that's also compatible with the offering from Redmond? Check out LibreOffice. You might not ever pay Microsoft a subscription fee again.
• Speaking of icky software-by-subscription attempted monopolies: When it comes to image creation and manipulation and desktop publishing, the Adobe suite of Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are the assumed defaults. They can also be expensive..! While there are free alternatives for bitmap image editing and creation, vector image creation, and desktop publishing (GIMP, Inkscape, and Scribus, respectively), in my experience they're not quite ready for prime time. I use a for-pay suite of products that give the Adobe programs a run for their money... and cost far less of your money, too! Check out the Affinity applications Photo, Designer, and Publisher, and cancel your Adobe subscription!
• I use Affinity Publisher to design the interiors of paperback and hardcover books for myself and for clients. For e-books? While there are a number of "meatgrinder" solutions out there, I prefer the free, open source Sigil to create industry-standard EPUB e-books (suitable for any e-book reader / device / marketplace except Amazon, and capable of perfect conversion to the format(s) Amazon does use).
• We're in an era when being a writer also means being... a content creator. And that usually means recording, and editing, video. You can get away with the basics using the programs that came with your computer, or even simply using your phone. But when you want to take it up a notch and create professional grade, high definition videos... did you know there's a free tool that will let you do just that? Once again: there's no need to turn to an Adobe subscription or pay hundreds of dollars for a software license. The free version of DaVinci Resolve gives you everything you need... and lots of features and capabilities you might not realize you need to make really good looking videos.
• My latest non-fiction book is Indie Author Marketing Infrastructure, a distillation of some of what I teach when I coach new writers considering self-publishing.
• I mention the day job, which is helping authors, podcasters, and other creators bring their creative endeavors to fruition, to market, and to an audience. Can I help you?
• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning!
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to almost fifteen minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins, Ted Leonhardt, and Chuck Anderson! Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $5 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

Your host comes from a week with the case of the Blahs in episode 059 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick.  Sometimes, it goes down like that. Not every week is a good one; not every week is productive. We roll with it; we look ahead. Also in the episode: musing about ways to craft a patron member community that emphasizes value for everyone.

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon, provides his definition of depression.
• I mention the day job, which is helping authors, podcasters, and other creators bring their creative endeavors to fruition, to market, and to an audience. Can I help you?
• Work continues, piecemeal, on Shadow of the Outsider, the follow up to my previous novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay." Huzzah!
• My latest non-fiction book is Indie Author Marketing Infrastructure, a distillation of some of what I teach when I coach new writers considering self-publishing.
• The story of bottom line ads in Marvel comicbooks from the seventies... and Scott Edelman, the host of the Eating the Fantastic podcast, who just so happened to write most of the bottom line copy I saw as a kid!
• The WordPress plugin I'm using to insert random "top line" copy on my site is Random Content.
• The episode of Sonitotum about storyworlds and creative franchises is number 058.
• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning!
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to about ten minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

Episode 058 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick examines how and why you should design a creative franchise around your fiction. There's some discussion / opining online regarding the Disney+ show Andor ... specifically, complaints that, while it's excellent TV, it's "not Star Wars ." I'm here to tell you why that's a narrow-minded perspective to adopt, especially for creators... and how you can, and should, emulate the same approach as huge media properties with your own fiction, no matter where you are in your creative career.

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• There are new words written on Shadow of the Outsider, the follow up to my previous novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay." Huzzah!
• I mention the storyworlds I work in that are specifically designed from the ground up to be creative franchises: The Shaper's World, the Sovereign Era, Daikaiju Universe, and the Protector Cycle. Check out what I've released so far.
• My latest non-fiction book is Indie Author Marketing Infrastructure, a distillation of some of what I teach when I coach new writers considering self-publishing.
• I mention the day job, which is helping authors, podcasters, and other creators bring their creative endeavors to fruition, to market, and to an audience. Can I help you?
• Have you checked out my resources page? It describes many of the software and hardware tools and services I use every day to make things and help others make things.
• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning!
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to about ten minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!
• The creator / showrunner of Andor is Tony Gilroy, who wrote and / or directed the Bourne franchise of movies and the best of the latest Star Wars movies, Rogue One.
• I reference an article I wrote about the Lucasfilm sale to Disney, back when. You can read it here.

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

In this, episode 057 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick , I revisit my so-called Big Plan from two years past, and discuss why it didn't work... and what does. This episode is expanded upon in a companion Scribtotum article. Read it to get the whole story !

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• There are new words written on Shadow of the Outsider, the follow up to my previous novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay." Huzzah!
• The companion article to this episode is linked above. History / full context buffs can also read the original article about the Big Plan, and listen to its companion podcast episode.
• I mention the storyworlds in which I have future stories to write: The Shaper's World, the Sovereign Era, Daikaiju Universe, and the Protector Cycle. Check out what I've released so far.
• My latest non-fiction book is Indie Author Marketing Infrastructure, a distillation of some of what I teach when I coach new writers considering self-publishing.
• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning!
• I mention Lester Dent and his method for writing pulp fiction.
• The fantasy genre is a crowded field these days, what with popular sub-sub-sub-genres like LitRPG, Reverse Harem, and Cultivation mucking things up...
• In case you're not familiar with the myth of Sisyphus...
• The "How's That Big Plan Going" Sonitotum episode.
• In case you're not familiar with the sword of Damocles... and yeah, I don't quite utilize the metaphor appropriately in this episode.
• Stephen Pressfield wrote The War of Art, in which he includes his ritual of invoking the Muse (as in the first verse of The Illiad or The Odyssey), not Pallas Athena as I wrongly say in the episode.
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to about thirteen minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

In episode 056 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick , I'm inspired to remind myself (and you!) that creativity neither benefits from suffering, nor need wait for suffering to pass.

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• There are new words written on Shadow of the Outsider, the follow up to my previous novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay." Huzzah!
• Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" is my fiction serial set in the 1980s and delivered weekly, for free, to subscribers. Get in on it and start at the beginning!
• I've got a new newsletter in the works for writers and other creators. Be among the first to know about it (and keep up on all my creative offerings) by joining the mailing list community.
• The plugin I'm using to grant exclusive website content to my patrons is Patron Plugin Pro.
• My latest non-fiction book is Indie Author Marketing Infrastructure, a distillation of some of what I teach when I coach new writers considering self-publishing.
• There are a ton of articles on the benefits of eliminating processed sugar from your diet. Here's one.
• Does the brain really clean itself while we sleep? Check this out.
• I once made a Big Plan, which I link here as an example of why we, perhaps, should not do so... or at the very least, not judge ourselves when... something something asunder. Coincidentally,  the release of this episode of Sonitotum is exactly two years to the day after I posted The Big Plan! Yikes!
  • To be fair to myself, that Scribtotum article is about a lot more than dates and deadlines, and it's worth revisiting. Which I will, in the next episode of this podcast, and in a new article.
• Does creativity benefit from suffering? Alice Walker and the Dalai Lama might beg to differ.  So might Elizabeth Gilbert, and she would know.
• This episode's main topic was inspired by something C.S. Lewis once told an audience, which I discovered in the always wonderful blog Marginalia.
• I continue to read Natalie Goldberg's memoir Long Quiet Highway, and it continues to feed my soul and help me create. Give it a shot.
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to about 20% more content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

This 55th episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick marks eighteen years as a podcaster, and brings cause to reflect, carefully, on my creative accomplishments across the last two decades. Also, an update on my creative endeavors in the previous week, a check-in with you to see how YOUR creative endeavors are going, and more!

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• I spent quality time on my Shaper's World storyworld, the setting of my last two works of fiction, the novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay," and my current work in progress Shadow of the Outsider.
• I took part in a virtual panel discussing villains in fiction for the Harris County Public Library system with three other authors. In the episode, I'd mentioned listing them here, but I can't find their names / links anywhere in my correspondence with the organizer, so... stay tuned!
• The virtual panel will be aired in November as part of the library's National Novel Writing Month events.
• This episode marks eighteen years since I started podcasting. Check out that first episode, and many more from those early years, if you like.
• These days, I help more people make their own podcasts than I make my own! It's all part of my creatives services business. How can I help you?
• I mentioned the sound card I used for that first podcast. For the gearheads, it was the Creative SB Live! Platinum 5.1, long retired.
• However, you can still own the same microphone I used to record that first podcast, and many, many others: the Shure SM58. Remarkably, it's only ten bucks more expensive than when I bought mine in the mid 1980s!
• After finishing this episode, I'll be messing around with environment design in Unreal Engine and Quadspinner Gaea. I'm fascinated by this stuff.
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to nine minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick 054 finds me acknowledging fear, confessing a rare moment of creative contentment, and I ask you a question about your creative life I hope you'll answer in the comments . I also reveal a revelation about my current work in progress.

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• I spent quality time on my Shaper's World storyworld, the setting of my last two works of fiction, the novel Light of the Outsider and the novelette "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay," and my current work in progress Shadow of the Outsider.
• Want to learn more about worldbuilding? Check out this previous episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick.
• How did the Shaper's World come about? I wrote about it in this article about the creation of Light of the Outsider.
• Get Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started," my freely offered fiction serial, and enjoy well over a year and a half of weekly free fiction, when you subscribe.  For free!
• I use Scrivener for many of my writing projects, including Shadow of the Outsider. It's a kind of "everything but the kitchen sink no haha we're kidding the kitchen sink is included" software program for writers of fiction and non-fiction. It's available for Windows and Mac.
• After testing everything, I've settled on Mindomo for visual brainstorming / mind-mapping. Give it a shot when you need a different take on the ideas, beats, and scenes you're wrestling with.
• I mentioned I was loathe to look up the last time I sold any copies of Light of the Outsider or "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay."  Well, in the interest of transparency and radical vulnerability, here you go: I last sold a copy of Light of the Outsider in June of 2022.  I haven't sold a single copy of "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay" since the month it came out, April 2021. Ouch. I mean, seriously, ouch. My heart hurts.
• Hey, are you a listener who is also making a full-time living from revenue from your own creative endeavors (work you create for you, not work you create for clients)? Sound off in the comments!
• I suspect most of you listeners are actually creators who also have a day job. If that's you, how do you break up your time between your creative work, your day job, personal obligations / responsibilities, and infrastructure / supporting tasks related to your creative endeavors? Are you working a "third shift?" Tell me about it in the comments!
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to almost sixteen minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.

Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick episode 053 celebrates and recognizes the teachers -- literal and literary -- that helped your host become a creator, a writer, and an author. Who are the teachers in your creative life, past or present? I encourage you to share them with the world by giving them a shout out in the comments !

Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode

• Get Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started," my freely offered fiction serial, and enjoy well over a year and a half of weekly free fiction, when you subscribe.  For free!
• October means returning with a vengeance to my next novel, Shadow of the Outsider, the follow-up to  Light of the Outsider and "The Perfumed Air at Kwaanantag Bay."
• This episode owes a debt of gratitude to Natalie Goldberg and her book Long Quiet Highway, which you should read. You might recognize her as the author of the classic Writing Down the Bones, which you should also read.
• You might consider this episode an extension of the last, "In Gratitude."
• My beloved elementary school teachers in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania region were Mrs. Thomasser and Mr. Giles.
• Mr. Giles gave little Matt a hardcover single-volume edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and fully expected me to read it. Which I did.
• My survival as a child and teenager depended on stealing from the playbooks of Hawkeye Pierce and Peter Benjamin Parker.
• The quote I paraphrased to jab at Mr. Giles was spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: A New Hope: "Who is the greater fool? The fool, or the man who follows him?"  Or something like that.
• Gerry Conway, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman wrote my Amazing Spider-Man comics, and taught me how to write dialogue.
• Karen Winn was my high school journalism instructor. She made sure we each got the ball and plenty of yards to run with it. Thanks, Karen; I'm still in the game.
• Paul Pflueger was my high school "contemporary world problems" instructor. You either loved him or hated him... and apparently the ones who hated him got him run out of a job. I thought he was the best.
• Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin sit at the heads of the table populated by my story family. For more about story families, check out this episode of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick.
• So long as I'm recommending excellent memoirs about the writing life, let's never forget Gail Sher's One Continuous Mistake and Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. Go get them! Seriously!
• I taught scores of people how to be booksellers, and it was the beginning of my mission to add to the culture. I'm very proud of my time at Borders Books and Music.
• My patron community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, they're privy to over eighteen minutes of extra content! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too.
  • Around thirty people listen to each new episode of this show during the first week it's released. If most of the listeners became Exceptional patrons ($5.00 per month), patron revenue would surpass $100 per month, and I could begin donating 10% every month to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go!
  • Oh, and speaking of patronage: This episode was made possible in part by the patronage of listeners like you, including J. C.  Hutchins and Ted Leonhardt. Want to support the show and be listed in the credits, plus get lots of other goodies, perks, and exclusive access? Become a patron with a $3, $5, $10, or $20 monthly pledge!

Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and would like to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi , with my grateful thanks.