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Episode 90: Keeping the Creative Spark Alive · Saved as Draft

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey there, and welcome to the Saved as Draft podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a great episode for you all today, featuring the show's first ever co-host.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be looking at the top stories from week one of
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: the ongoing Second Indulgence Horror Writing Challenge over on Substack as well.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get into it.
• 0:17
  [music]
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 90 of the Saved as Draft podcast.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: This week's episode is yet another massive one,
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: and for the first time ever, my friends, I have a co-host this week.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone, please welcome to the show writer, artist, and animator, James Nethery.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: James, thanks for being here.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pleasure.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So let's,
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: you've been on the show before,
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: but go ahead and take a few minutes here if you don't mind.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you got going on right now in your creative life.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: My name is James.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an animator.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I live in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Up here, actually visiting Bradley up in Roanoke.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we're actually doing this in person for once.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been an animator professionally for about 12 years now.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've worked a bunch of studios in Atlanta, a bunch of TV shows.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I worked on shows like Archer, Sinai, and Happiness.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually partnered with Bradley.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing our Clenchport series.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Developing our Clenchport series.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And in my spare time,
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: the little spare time I have,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I run a TikTok and a YouTube channel called BrewBobDonassoBeerSnob.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's like combining animation and craft beer, which is pretty awesome.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's about what I've got going on.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Good stuff, good stuff.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so one other thing I wanted to mention too is that you just started a Substack
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: for BrewBob.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's correct, right?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: I did indeed, yes.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: So out of curiosity and for the benefit of the listeners here,
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: do you plan to post some of your animations on that Substack or articles
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: or what do you have thinking there?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually a bit of animation posted already on the first post.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go to the first post,
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: you can watch the video and read the introduction and leave me a comment
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: and let me know what you all think.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's really impressive.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Are you also doing the art as well for BrewBob yourself?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So BrewBob was designed by my friend Adam, who you
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: know from Clunchport.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I had another...
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Artists do the backgrounds.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is Maggie.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: She's really great.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: She's worked at a bunch of studios in Atlanta.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I do the animation for those and the voice and editing and all that kind of stuff.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Good stuff.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying it out this week, see how it goes.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: James will be back again here for the writing discussion shortly later in the episode.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: We'll, of course, discuss keeping the creative spark alive.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: We'll take a look at all your responses as well.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: After that,
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: in the second half of the episode,
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: I will sit down for this I'll be revealing the top stories from week one of
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: the second Indulgence Horror Writing Challenge.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And after that,
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: James and I will be back yet again at the end for a look at next week on Substack
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: and maybe a little preview of what James has in the pipeline.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: But hey,
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: for now,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: let's dive right into the episode here with a look
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: at this week's Community Spotlight.
• 4:07
  [music]
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: This week's Community Spotlight is on Michelle Ray.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Michelle is an author, teacher, and explorer.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: She writes about transformation and belonging.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: For those who have been following me since the beginning,
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Michelle actually read one of my poems to her class last year.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: It was a piece called Funhouse Mirror,
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: and it was a reflection on how I see AI-generated writing and art.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: The takeaway,
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: of course,
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: in the poem is that I see it as a twisted reflection of human creativity,
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: a poor imitation of the real thing, hence the Funhouse Mirror angle.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was excited to hear the feedback from her class back then.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's one of those core memories that I will always carry with me as a writer.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of memories, Michelle just published her memoir.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Lesson Unplanned, A Decade of Teaching, Travel, and Transformation.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the description straight from Amazon.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: When the Baurani police officer asked Michelle Ray to get out of the car,
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: she stumbled, trying not to sway.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: This was worse than giving someone a middle finger.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Worse than being seen eating during Ramadan.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Much worse.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Her adventure hadn't started like this.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: She'd left Kansas at 26, looking for a bigger life.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: She hadn't planned on the Middle East,
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: but it was big, different, and best of all, far, far away.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Collecting experiences like coins, she rarely considered what she'd do with them.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Even with traveling a world away,
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: it was the people around her who changed,
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: finding partners and finding professional fulfillment.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: her life kept circling,
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: another dark club, another questionable relationship, another stamp in the passport.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: You are here.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Tender, funny,
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: and unflinching,
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: less than unplanned,
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: is for anyone who has ever set their plans ablaze and picked through the ashes
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: for what's worth keeping.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Longtime listeners of the show will recall that I've mentioned some
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: of Michelle's work here before,
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: so it's really cool to see her memoir hit the store shelves like this.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'll include a link to get your copy in the show notes,
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: and a huge thank you to Michelle once again for all the support and for being part
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: of this community.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Alright,
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: next up we'll dive into this week's running discussion alongside my co-host,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: but first, a word from this week's sponsor.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode of the Saved as Draft podcast is sponsored by Brewbob, the not-so-beer snob.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there, internet beer lovers.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Rubav the Not-So-Beer Snob.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to my backyard.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: The sun's out,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: the birds are singing,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm here to talk about my favorite thing in the world, a beer.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when it comes to my cold ones, I don't discriminate.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's craft or imported or domestic, I'll give it all a shot.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's not my cup of tea, well, it's because I don't like tea.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: My motto is drink what you like.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's no right or wrong way to enjoy your favorite brew.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Unless, of course, you try driving.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's wrong.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least that's what the cop told me the other night.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what his problem was.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was taking the city bus.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Boo!
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: You'll see it all here.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Beer reviews,
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: brewery visits, festivals, tastings, weird beers, curse beers, there ain't no limit.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I won't be just sticking to Atlanta either.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: From time to time,
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be headed out of town, hunting down the tastiest cold ones across the country.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if you see a guy with a frothy mustache and a camera,
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: that might just be me, BrewBob, on the hunt for the next great pothead.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: It could also be my cousin Larry.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's got rabies.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't get near him if I were you.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: BrewBob out.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Follow BrewBob's antics on TikTok and Substack.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Check the show notes for a link.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and we're back.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: This week's writing discussion topic was all about how you keep
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: the creative fires burning when life gets hard.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I myself have been guilty many times in my life of letting stress shut me down
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: or letting writer's block stop me from doing anything.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course,
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: my guest host here,
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: James Nethery is back and together we're going to discuss this topic a little bit
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: from our perspective before we dive into all of your answers
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: from this week's subscriber chat thread.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: So James, let's kick it off with you.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever run into this issue where,
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: life gets stressful,
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: you're exhausted,
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: maybe work is stressing you out or it's something else or,
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: you know, combination of the two.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ever find yourself getting so drained that you don't wanna work
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: on your creative projects?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when that does happen,
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: do you have any tips or tricks that you could share on how you sort of get
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: through those periods of kind of high stress?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, all the time.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: There was actually a period earlier this year
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: where I just was not feeling anything creative at all.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of in like a transition between jobs.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's just like not a whole lot of motivation.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Funny enough,
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: not a whole lot of motivation to work on my stuff when I'm not making money,
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: you know?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's definitely a big thing.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like some people feel guilty about like...
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Working on their own stuff when they're supposed to be looking for a job.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Part of the way I overcome artist block or whatever is a job
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: or not is I actually just like to get out of the house when I want to work on
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: a project.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'll make a point.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like,
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: after work or something like that,
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'll go out to like a coffee shop or a cigar shop or something like that,
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: you know, and just sit down with my laptop and just work on something.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like it doesn't matter what.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like some whatever's in my creative, you know, whatever's
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: in my creative folder that day.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that could be art,
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: that could be writing,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: it could be,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: video editing,
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: but it's just like,
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: get away from,
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: it's like,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: it's so easy at home just to,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: want to go in and turn on the TV or play some games,
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: you know, because it's like right there.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's like I've worked remote now for many, many years.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Actually,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just started a new job at Adult Swim,
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: and that's actually my first time actually in many,
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: many years actually working remotely.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: In the studio.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that's actually been great just for my overall health as
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: an artist is getting out, meeting people, talking with people over lunch.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's been great.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of inspires me to go home and work on my own stuff.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's a really good answer.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Some really good tips in there.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was going to say a couple of things jumped out at me in what you were saying.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Number one is when I first started on Substack here, I did an article.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was one of my very first posts.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: I did an article.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it was kind of my personal tips on how to find the energy and the motivation and
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: the time or any combination therein to work on your creative projects
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: when you're essentially like just crazy stressed and exhausted, right?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's exactly what you said.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: One of the tips in that article that I did was telling people to have kind of
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: a different space for creative projects.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's exactly like you said about working from home.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's like,
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you're sitting in the same room working all day and then you want to try
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: to switch to something different and have like a second wind,
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: that's really hard to do when you're stuck in the same place.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: So your suggestion about going to a coffee shop or going to grab a drink or go smoke
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: a cigar,
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: whatever kind of helps you unwind,
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: that is essential because the change of scenery alone can really kind of refresh
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: the mind in my experience.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like it's the same for you.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: just like,
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: I really like,
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: getting out to like networking events and stuff like that just on the weekends.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like, I'm sure you've gone to writer events as well.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just really good to just be around other artists,
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: around other writers and just like soak in the creative energy, you know?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, exactly.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I wholeheartedly agree.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, And another point you made that I really liked was,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: you said you really enjoyed having lunch with other people,
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: being able to just,
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: you know, kind of relax and have conversations with other people.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like we, you know, as artists and writers, I feel like a lot of what we do is very solitary.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it can get really lonely.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: And on top of that,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: we don't realize how important social interaction is,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: not only with other people, but other creatives, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's an energy there that I feel like a lot of people So,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: having people that are just,
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: friends you can talk to,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: kind of, you know, talk shop with, if you will, it's really, really important.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And not having it can drag you down, especially when you're also struggling on top of that.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's something to be said.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's like ever since the pandemic,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: it's like everyone has felt a little bit isolated,
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: and it's just now or just like within the last couple of years,
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: people have been starting to like, you know, get back into like seeing each other.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's like those couple of years, it's like where we were just isolated, like 2021 to 2023.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I barely saw any of my friends from work or anything like that.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, I'm so glad for the opportunity now.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: To like go back into a studio,
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: go to these networking events and just like get out around town
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: and just like see people.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's like some people I haven't seen in like five years.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's true.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's true.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that is some really good input there, James.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate your perspective on this.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I completely agree with your points.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think listeners will agree as well that there's a lot of really good kind of tips
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: and takeaways there.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's stuff that you hear it and you go, oh, yeah, that's obvious.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes you just don't think about things like that,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: like when you're kind of like in the thick of it and you're trying to figure out how
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: to like just restart that spark, right?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I really appreciate your perspective there.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let's dive in next.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to take us through all the responses from the Substack community.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Every Wednesday on my subscriber chat, I do a weekly writing discussion thread.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um...
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: First up in our responses this week is this one from Mina Howell,
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: which reads,
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: one thing I've been doing this week is jumping around on chapters a bit.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: The words are only wording for specific parts of the story.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I jump around and write those and I can always come back.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Usually I would jump to another project, but I'm really laser focused on this one right now.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: So first response there, really nice.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is another thing that I recommended in my article that I mentioned from
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: when I started on Substack.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if you're banging your head against the wall in a specific kind of spot,
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: like in a story or just a specific area of a project,
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: it can help some I'm
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: curious to get your
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: thoughts on animation here, James,
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: but a lot of writers,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: make the mistake of thinking that we have to write everything
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: in chronological order.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: But there are plenty of writers out there,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: myself included, who might write the ending first and then go back to the beginning.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all that matters is that when it's all said and done, it's a cohesive story, right?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: But you don't have to write it in that order unless, of course, that works for you.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really good advice from Mina there on how to kind of,
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: again, just sort of kick the cobwebs a little bit.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, James, question for you.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever done anything like this when it comes to animation?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like say you're working on a scene, right?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you're kind of finding yourself stuck or maybe you're just, you know, the energy is low.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are you able to or have you ever sort of like jumped to a different scene or kind
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: of refreshed that way?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's been plenty of times where I'm just animating and,
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know, it's like, I just can't get it right.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: I rage quit.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll go and work on something else.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even necessarily a scene.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's like for BrewBob or even for Clenchport,
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: you know, it's like I had many tasks I could like shift over to.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like if I'm having trouble with animation,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: maybe I can go work on some sound editing, you know, or some script writing.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or some voice acting, you know?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like,
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I remember when we were working on the Clenchport pitch, we would jump around too.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like some weeks we would work on, you know, characters.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Some weeks we would work on like the artwork.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: it's like if we got stuck on one particular area,
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: we would just pause and come back for it, right?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's a really good example.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so great first response there from Mina.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's check out the next response here.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Fritz Fallen says,
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm finding breaking off of my main work and doing things like the writing process.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a nice little change of scenery reset.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a great response there from Fritz,
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: who is a recent author that's joined the community here and been participating in
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: the second Indulgence Challenge.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm actually going to talk about one of his stories later in the episode.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, this is great.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: This is similar to what Mina said about kind of switching.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate Fritz calling out the prompts specifically.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: That always makes me super happy to see when those are helping my fellow writers.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's that thing where you kind of change direction.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: You do something different.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: You get that burst of energy.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: I really like that suggestion here.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: It reminds me, James, I was thinking we could talk about this for a second.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: It reminds me of how back when we were in college,
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: we had a friend group who all kind of contributed to some of the animation
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: and storytelling that we were doing back then on our personal projects.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if you remember back then,
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I would show up with these scripts for like movie trailers for all these story ideas
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: that I had.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that was my way of sort of like pitching the idea to the group.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it was unconventional, but it was fun.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it really kind of energized everybody, you know, all these fresh new ideas.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: And in a way, that was kind of its own prompt.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever done prompts at all,
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: like in terms of like a writing prompt for like, say, like a script or anything?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm honestly not sure.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I should.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I should actually get in on these prompts because I think that would be a lot of fun.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've done real short-term projects, though,
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: in animation, just like a short, like a 20-second short or something like that.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, remember those shorts we did for Rubber Onion?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those were prompted.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: They would give us a prompt and we'd knock it out.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's true.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: We would knock it out in a couple weeks.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, And just focusing and we would just bounce around from month to month.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I have done prompts in animation before.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've never really done it like storytelling or writing or script writing,
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: but I definitely get it.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, for sure.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: The rubber onion example was perfect.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: I remember we did those.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think they were less than 30 seconds or something like that was the requirement, right?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: They were limited to 15 seconds.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: 15 seconds.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, that's a perfect package.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you brought that up because when we were doing those for Rubber Onion,
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: it was exactly like you said.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: They had a very short prompt.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: I remember it was like one time the prompt was Heroes with Useless Superpowers,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think, or something like that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's my favorite one.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then I ended up coming up with a script,
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: and then you and I iterated on it,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: and then we recorded, and you animated, and we submitted that.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I remember we actually won one of those Road to Onion animation battles, too.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the Big Cat People short.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was fun.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: The Big Cat People short.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: I might send you that.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can put it in there.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you can send it to me, I'll share it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'll share it with the community.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like people would enjoy that.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's really fun.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: That was such a fun thing to make.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that was really good.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's move right along here.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Next up in our writing discussion thread, Hazel Allen says, taking time to rest.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm finding myself out of juice or getting burnt out,
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: it's time to stop, rest for a bit, and then come back when I feel ready.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Often during these periods,
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm focusing on one of my other hobbies instead, usually playing video games.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: We as humans aren't made to go, go, go.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: We all should take time to slow down,
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: decompress,
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: and know that we're doing the best we can,
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: and progress will come exactly when it should.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: A very, very important reminder there from Hazel, yes.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is something I struggle with weekly, man.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's like taking a break.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've become very good friends with burnout over the years because I really struggle
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: with taking breaks.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's like there's always too much to do every day.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a race from the moment you wake up.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a lot.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if you try to maintain that pace, like go, go, go, yeah, you'll crash and burn.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Having time to slow down and decompress – Is so important,
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: but honestly, I need the reminder and it sounds like you do too sometimes.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why I'm trying now that I'm working at All Swim,
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: like in the studio,
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: like three to five days a week,
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: it's like,
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to take the nights off,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: work on my personal projects and just take the weekend completely off.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't even touch the computer.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's very tempting.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it's important, right?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: As with anything, it's balance.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's what it comes down to.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's fine.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's finding the right balance with,
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: you know, with,
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: with what you need to get done and then realizing as well that you're also human
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: and taking time to rest because that is,
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: I always say rest is a part of the creative process.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: We don't realize that more often than not, but it is right.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Spend, spend time with people and your animals and your family and stuff like that.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, don't, Don't, don't become a hermit.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's like,
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: especially if you have people like in your care,
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: like if you have kids or you have cats or dogs, which I know we both do.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you got to spend time with them too.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: No, 100% agree.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Really, really good response there.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And a very important reminder,
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: like I said,
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: next up in our,
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: in our replies here in the discussion thread,
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Jennifer Jorgensen says, I write revenge stories.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: No real Yeah.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is a good one.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great response.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: I actually responded at the time when Jennifer put that in the chat.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: I responded and said, yeah, it's like the writer's version of therapy.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: It seems fine to me, especially if you're not publishing it, right?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if it's based on a person who may actually read it, right?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: But no, the way that I see this is it's like a creative form of journaling, right?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like not everything you write has to be for the entire world, right?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, you know, this could apply potentially to animation as well.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like you and I have been,
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: we've been friends for over 20 years and we've done so many animated projects,
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: right?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of those aren't publicly available anymore, but...
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: We still gained that experience and just the joy of creating something, right?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously our tastes have changed,
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: our writing has improved, your animation skills have been improved.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Especially in this case,
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: it's like if you can kind of work through some of that frustration in this way,
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think that is more than fair and honestly a really creative way to, again,
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: deal with something that maybe is outside of your control
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: or something that's made you frustrated and you're trying to let out that energy in
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: a healthy manner.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, any extra thoughts you want to add, James?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, it's like when I've worked on like shorts and animation and stuff like that,
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: it's like I'll definitely reference like real world like frustrations.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And stuff like that.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: I won't like name people specifically,
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: but I have base characters off of people that I've known in the past.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: like old bosses and stuff from like years and years and years ago when I worked
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: at like, you know, like retail and stuff like that.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely, definitely.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a good point.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's definitely,
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think all writers will say this,
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: you know, or all creatives is that we definitely pull from our real life.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes maybe we'll do a character based off somebody else and change some details
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: and names or whatever.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's like, as long as you're not like doxing anybody, it's all fiction, right?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's a good point.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let's dive into the next response here.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Leanne Schaller says,
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's a sign that the writing isn't going in the right direction,
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: and it's time to take a step back,
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: regroup,
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: take a break,
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: and return with fresh eyes,
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: or maybe like me, gnaw at the problem until you can figure it out.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Others, it's as Hazel said, it's time to rest.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Think of the life cycle of a plant.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: It isn't always blooming.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Again, some points here that mirror what we've been talking about,
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: about the importance of rest.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: I like how Leanne talked about taking a step back, regrouping.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely guilty of also, like she said, gnawing at the problem until you figure it out.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I love that last part.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Think of the life cycle of a plant.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: It isn't always blooming.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Your creativity doesn't always need to be blooming.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: You are allowed to have periods of less productivity and periods of rest.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, that is part of the process.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Would you agree, James?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, definitely.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I feel like I'm repeating myself.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, go live life.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just go to a movie on the weekends or something like that.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or go to the park or go ride a bike or something like that.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of stuff can really give you creative inspiration.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to draw from just your own
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just like your own thoughts is like draw from real life too.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, let's jump into the next response here.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Chell writes, says, I keep notes.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Life can be shit at times.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't take away the drive to think and ponder.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: So my notion holds all my ideas that I may or may not turn into something more.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, I just keep typing even if it's babbling at this point.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Then I cut through the filler to the meat and potatoes of my thoughts.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I do it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so this is interesting here.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: The idea of kind of keeping notes and just sort of always allowing
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: that creative sort of subconscious to be happening in the background.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you get ideas, you know, you jot them down.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: I also like the point here about just typing, even if it's babbling.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's like sometimes I've heard writers will just...
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: Start writing like stream of consciousness type stuff just to start getting into
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: the rhythm of it.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll delete whatever they wrote because it's not super,
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: like related to their story or maybe it's not a good fit,
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: but just the act of starting to put words on paper, it gets that momentum going.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: between that and taking notes,
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think you can kind of navigate almost anything life throws at you that way
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: and still retain some of your creativity.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have that issue as well as an animator?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious, like,
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: you know, like,
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: are you,
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: do you find yourself, like,
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: when you're not actively working on something,
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: you'll have, like,
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: those moments of inspiration where you're like, oh, wait, I could do it this way.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do have those moments, do you jot down a note or how do you
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: handle that?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've got a lot of notes.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, you should see my Google Docs.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: I have so much stuff that I just kind of like write down just for inspiration.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: But the other thing is like a lot of artists will keep a sketchbook.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll definitely,
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have a sketchbook that I just doodle down ideas in,
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: you know, when the whim arises.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, again,
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: it's like not something I'd ever show to anybody because
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: the drawings are just like really...
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just sketches of just fun characters that I might come up with or just notes for
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: an animated short or something like that.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: OK. No, it makes sense.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: It makes sense.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Good to know that all creatives keep crazy long note documents.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Next up, Hallie Jules says, I write emo poetry in my journal with my fountain pen.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: No joke.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: If y'all have ever read any of my poems here, they were probably once my raw insomniac rage.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing I've done is journal if I'm in one of my...
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing is that the Lord of the Rings lo-fi playlist
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: on Spotify has some great epic bops to help me feel like I'm going on a great quest
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: to just write a few damn sentences.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hallie's on point here.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said,
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: having that journal,
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: honestly,
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: just the luxury,
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: the sort of vibe that comes with using a fountain pen,
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've never used one myself, but I can only imagine how that makes you feel.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's like just a special occasion thing, right?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like most of the time you're typing, right?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or jotting down something with a pen, but a fountain pen is a whole different experience.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then I love that she just does poetry in her journal with it.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's wonderful.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because then you can always return to those later and post them.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I love also what Hallie said about,
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: you know, kind of getting inside the heads of your characters.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: And even though it's not you directly working on, say,
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: like your novel or the main project,
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: doing something with those characters gets you more acquainted with them
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: and therefore more equipped to write them.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I really like that.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then, yeah, last but not least, the...
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord of the Rings lo-fi playlist on Spotify is a really nice recommendation.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I've heard that one, and I'm definitely going to check it out.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to check it out.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's a really, really good one.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, have you ever kept a journal of any kind in your time, James?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, long time ago.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: I probably should.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be pretty cool, actually.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Some people treat their Substack like a journal
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: where they're posting what I call personal essays.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: I had a blogger back in the day.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: I would post that kind of stuff.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: No, for sure.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so definitely some good tips from Hallie there.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely going to check out the Lord of the Rings lo-fi playlist.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's smart.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Let's keep on moving here.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: We got our next response here from J.M.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Gooding,
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: who says,
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: I took a month off and really reflected on what I wanted to do with my writing.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: I laid out my goals.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Spoiler, there are none.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I also took time for myself to game and kind of work on other things.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: When I came back, it was pretty slow and hard to get back into writing every day.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: I found myself not wanting to do it, but I pushed myself anyway.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's key.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Write.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Even when you don't have anything to say.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: So J.M.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Gooding, shout out to him, of course.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: He and Leron Haywood are helping me run the challenge this month.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: But J.M.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: Gooding always has really insightful responses to these discussion topics.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is another one, right?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes taking time off, if you have like a set period of time, like even a month is fine.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think the only thing that I would caution is if you're going to take a month off,
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: make sure that you have a plan to get back into it after that month,
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: or it might turn into two, three, four months.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or you could be like me where you stop writing for a year plus.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: Doing other things, switching up your routine, taking time off.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you need to do it, you need to do it.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's no shame in it, right?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: The other part of it too,
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: and I think you would agree with this from your perspective,
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: James, is I like what J.M.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Gooding said about writing even when you have nothing to say.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think with creativity in general, sometimes you just have to...
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious if you would agree, James.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would definitely agree.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: No, great response there from Jay.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gooding.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Next up, Aegon Targaryen says, when I sit down to write, my hands refuse to type out the words.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: I switch projects, maybe different writing projects or coding something.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then I try again.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: And if it still doesn't work, then the writer's block diagnosis is confirmed.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I stop trying to write and do something else.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: Something a little more mundane.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: And while I'm doing that, if something pops into my mind, I write it down.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a scene, I'm finally able to write up to the scene.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a good response here from Aegon.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's kind of what we were talking about, right?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if you're stuck,
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: you should switch gears, switch projects, or do something entirely different.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've said this before too,
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: but I feel like sometimes we don't realize how well our subconscious minds can work
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: the problem in the background.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you...
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Do something entirely different,
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: like a different hobby, different task, get out of the house or whatever.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Your brain is still thinking about that problem.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: You're just not actively thinking about it.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's more subconscious.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so what will happen is you might find yourself doing something completely different.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: And like Aegon said, be like, oh, wait, I just got an idea.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just have to get out of your own way, I feel like.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: Is that your experience as well, James?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, absolutely.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's like, again, it's like, I feel like this is a reoccurring theme.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's like,
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: sometimes you just gotta lay whatever is blocking you aside for a little bit
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: and come back to it later.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, for sure.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly,
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: I like it when these responses kind of start to bring up some of the same things
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: over and over again, because it just reinforces the idea.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, if you hear multiple people saying it, then clearly they're onto something.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, let's move right along.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Next up,
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Beastly Being says,
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: I write for fun, so if I don't feel like it or I'm tired, I just don't.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: I never have writer's block.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: My mind is flooded with ideas.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: What I don't have is the skill to turn it into a decent story.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still working on that.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: My advice, don't take writing so seriously.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's supposed to be fun, so have fun.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny that I suggested to not take it seriously when I can literally lose sleep
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: over a story.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: I guess what I meant is I treat it as something I want to do, not an obligation.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Really nice response here from BeastlyBeing.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: I want to take a second to talk about this one.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: She has been a part of the community for a while now.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's been quite a year since I first started reading her work,
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: but it's been several months.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, she definitely has no shortage of ideas.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Her writing skills have, like anything, when you do it more often, they've improved a lot.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: Her last few stories have been just standout, really, really good.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's something really wise here about trying not to take the writing
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: so seriously.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's supposed to be Like, yes,
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: a lot of us write for work,
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: and maybe on Substack, what you do is for, say, paid subscribers or something.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: If there's money involved,
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: then obviously it's a little bit harder to, like, not take it seriously, right?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: But there's something to be said about remembering that creativity in general is an act of fun.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's an act of expression.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, I mean,
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: obviously, I've been working as a professional writer now for well over a decade.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: And even I have to remind myself sometimes,
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: especially when I'm working on a creative project or something,
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have to remind myself that, hey...
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't some make or break thing.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is just a story that I'm doing for a prompt or it's just a short story idea I had.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make it less important.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: It just means that I can have more fun with it because the stakes aren't quite as high.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any extra thoughts here, James,
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: in terms of how to still have fun with your craft when it's something you also do
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: for work?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: it's like coming up with like my own ideas is like kind of like what's fun about it
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: for me.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like when you're working for a client or a studio, it's like it's their idea.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: So they're the ones coming up with everything.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you could definitely put everything that you got into it,
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: you know, but at the end of the day, it's their project.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: But just having something that's completely your own is just so great.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's like you said,
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: when it's something that's entirely your own,
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: it's a little bit easier to have fun with it.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I agree with that.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we've got three more responses here.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Next up, I've got a response here from Asteria.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: She starts by saying, oh, I hope this won't get too long for you.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry if so.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just going to say right now, we like the long responses here in the writing discussion.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: So let's dive in and see what Hysteria had to say.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: She says,
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'll start with the last question first about my personal trick
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: to find inspiration.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have a small pocket calendar and each day has a small square of space.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: I fill the square with a tiny scene or a chat between characters or a mini poem
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: or just a random observation from the train or a passing thought
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: when I feel like I have no ideas left.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, sorry, or a passing thought.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: And when I feel like I have no ideas left, I flip through the calendar.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Other than that, reading.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: I read a lot.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: And music.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Music on a train ride or a bus ride is a key factor for me.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: About the writer's block,
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: I honestly don't put up with it and simply switch to a different project.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: More often than not,
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: these playground projects or sandboxes aren't meant to produce anything but just
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: to hold whatever words are blocking me.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hiding the most silliest things in these files and they are never meant to see
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: the day, which removes the pressure from the main project.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: If the block has a technical issue or a craft issue,
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: I do try to identify and read up on what skill I'm lacking,
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: but I found that rest and patience do a great job as well.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Which brings me to your first question, how do I keep writing when life beats me down?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: I just stop and allow myself to relax and recover.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to be patient with myself because I'm my own worst enemy,
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: imposter syndrome,
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: perfectionist,
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: worrying about visibility, the algorithm change, when you post less, etc.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: Stretched tight and stressed and tired,
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: I just take a break and allow myself to get to calmer waters first.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'll play video games like Minecraft and Pokemon and Spiritfarer among others,
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: watch some true crime,
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: anything that keeps my head busy without taking out even more energy.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Usually that works.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, perfect response here from Hysteria.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate how she went into detail with all the different elements of my question.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go one by one here.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, as far as the inspiration thing,
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love this idea of writing down little ideas in the calendar and having that
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: as like a repository.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a unique take on the classic notes document that we talked about, I think.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, totally.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: I like that a lot.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then I also like how Asteria says that she just doesn't deal with writer's block.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like when it happens,
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_01: she switches to something else and that these,
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: these other side projects,
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: in a lot of cases,
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: they're never meant to see the light of day,
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: which means that there's less pressure to make them perfect.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: And again, this is a nice balance.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: I really liked that tip as well.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then, yeah, last,
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: last but not least, um, You know, when life beats her down, she just stops writing.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: She takes a break, takes a step back.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we've discussed a few times now how important that is.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, any extra thoughts here, James, on this one?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's like that was also great.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's like coming back to that theme of it's okay to take a break, you know?
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: And just like, yeah.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Phenomenal response from Hysteria.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Also, shout out to Hysteria.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: She was actually one of the first fans of this podcast.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're on episode 90, of course.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think she's been listening since,
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: maybe not the first episode, but definitely in the first 10 or 15.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, shout out to Hysteria.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate that amazing response here this week.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, next up, Nimita Call says,
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Change in supplies, media, writing styles helps.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've tried to write with ink pens and suddenly notice there's a great flow
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: of words only because my brain feels different when writing or creating
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: with my hands.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: It might not be something I would publish or even edit later, but I don't dismiss it.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: It matters because I wrote.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Could be to lessen my anxiety or declutter my messy thoughts.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: I also tried using Wordle words to write small paras on said word of the day just
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: to see where it takes me.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: I sometimes return to those for ideas or inspiration.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: And for context here, James, Nimita is a poet and an artist.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: So as you heard in her response here, she does both kinds of creativity there, writing and art.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, again, some similar elements here.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: I like how she calls out the different styles and mediums between,
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: for example, like watercolor or paint or crayon.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: The Wordle thing is interesting.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of doing your own prompts.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, totally.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, all the time.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting to kind of take that approach and sort of use that as inspiration.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, really good response there from Nimitta.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let's wrap things up here with our final response from Felix Thornfell,
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: who says, I usually find inspiration in life itself.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just banging away on the keyboard does not work for me.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: The best advice I can give is going to make me sound like an old man, but here it is.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: Go outside, touch the grass, meet people, feel the Beautiful finale there from Felix.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that hammers home one of the best takeaways from this discussion.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was really, really good.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: James, thank you so much for joining me this week.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: We had a bunch of responses, so I appreciate you kind of chiming in on each one there.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and thank you again to everybody.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, every Wednesday in my subscriber chat, we have...
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: Next up,
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: we're going to take a quick break to check in on the others
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: and see how things are going with Lord Devereaux and,
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: of course, the second Indulgence Challenge.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, everyone.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: Just wanted to come check in on the party.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone having a good time?
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, hello, Bradley.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the stories submitted to the challenge have been quite popular with the guests,
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: so much so that I myself have yet to try any.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy, we've had over 75 entries already.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: How much can these story eaters, um, eat?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: It is quite substantial, I assure you.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and it seems you've brought a guest.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, this is my co-host on the podcast this week.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: His name is James Nethery.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: We've been friends for like 20 years plus.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Say hi, James.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, James.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: Wait a moment.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: I know that voice.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: By the Titans, it is you.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: You're Brewbub, aren't you?
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I do all the rioting, voiceover, and animation for Brewbub.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're a fan?
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Am I?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: I've been following you since the days of Virtue Games, my friend.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: We all have.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: Here, let me get the others.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Bradley?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: How do they know about Virtue Games?
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: You mean our insanely terrible attempt at creating an anime when we were 15?
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: I thought we destroyed all the copies of it.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow!
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is him!
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hey!
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do the Lucky Bob voice!
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they know about Lucky Bob.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I swear, I didn't show them any of our older stuff.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know how they would have found it.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: Stinky little hobbitses is confused.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't know that we live in his houses.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_02: We see everything,
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: precious.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, that's a little creepy.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, uh, I'm starving.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do they have food here or is it just stories?
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah,
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: one sec.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, guys, did Arnold ever finish cooking the other week?
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, do it!
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_02: Turn on your stupid oven!
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: Cook it!
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_02: Now!
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh boy, he's still trying to figure out the oven, isn't he?
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: What is Arnold Schwarzenegger doing here?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's a long story, James.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you just come with me?
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Arnold, having trouble, bud?
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Bradley, this oven won't listen to me.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can fly a chopper.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: I should be able to preheat an oven.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, here, let me see if I can take a look.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: Bradley, there you are.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, hey, Lord Devereaux.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, first you introduce me to a talking lamprey,
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: then you bring out a bunch of characters that live in your head,
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: and now there's this well-dressed monster guy?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Lord Devereaux, James.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's a story eater.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: A pleasure to meet you, my friend.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you have my thanks for the compliment on my attire.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_02: Wait a moment.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: Are you a writer as well?
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I'm a writer, artist, and animator.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my, how delectable.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Bradley, why is he looking at me like that?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, he just wants to eat your creative work.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's harmless.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_02: I am far from harmless, Bradley.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, fine, but he's not gonna hurt you.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot promise that either.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: I have yet to try this creativity you call animation.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know what, man?
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm gonna go.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'll meet you back at your house.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, James... Come on, guys, you scared him off.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: I was being more than friendly.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, sure.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, well, I need to do the shout-outs and the top stories from week one of the challenge.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'll catch up with James after if he's willing to get back on the show.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and Arnold, just press this button right here.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait!
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: That actually worked!
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, time to get back to the show.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we're back.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Each week on Tuesdays, I open a thread in my subscriber chat for you all to share your work.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: The past few weeks,
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been asking you to pitch me your submission,
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: and I do want to bring that back,
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: but this week, I've decided to keep it simple and simply choose three at random.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'll talk about each one and read an excerpt here as well.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: After this,
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: we'll dive into the top stories from week one
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: of my ongoing Second Indulgence Horror Writing Challenge.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: And for those, I'll offer my thoughts on each story as well.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: First up in our shoutouts this week is You're an Animal by Alexandria Ferguson.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: This one is the final installment in a series Alexandria has been publishing
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: where she explores the seven deadly sins.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: The focus here is lust.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: I really like this piece because it reads like an internal monologue or a stream
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: of consciousness.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: It dismantles the fourth wall entirely and gives us insight into
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: the author's thought process as they try to understand the concept of lust
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: beyond just its definition.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: We join Alexandria on this journey until a realization comes
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_01: and she rushes back home to write up this very post.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't want to spoil it here, but I love the logic behind the epiphany.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: It centers around the idea that sins are labeled as such because they are an excess
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_01: of something.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: The act itself may not be a sin, but the overindulgence of it is.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's fascinating stuff.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: Let's check out an excerpt.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: Lust.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was the sin for today.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: The one she saved for last because, on paper, it seemed the easiest to write.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, she wasn't so sure.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: She had depicted human sins using animalistic portrayals up to this point.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: Pigs, chameleons, dragons, crabs, wasps, and even spiders.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_01: Still, she wasn't sure which animal exuded lust in a literal sense.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, she could write about rabbits,
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: gerbils,
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: or foxes, hell, even cats, as they also seemed to procreate a lightning speed.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: But lust wasn't just about procreation, was it?
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: Damn it,
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: she said to herself several times,
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: realizing she wasn't any closer to solving her story's problem.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: A walk, she thought.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's what she did any time she experienced a bout of writer's block or imposter syndrome.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: She laced her running shoes and bundled up as the weather had turned cooler in recent days.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: Plunging her headphones into her ears,
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_01: ignoring the sound of squishing wax, she blasted the playlist.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was her go-to playlist that inspired most of her thoughts for her various sinful stories.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: That ought to do the trick, right?
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: Great stuff, and remember to check the show notes for a link.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Our second shoutout this week is The Fall of Crows, Non-Servium, by Kairos and Friends.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: This one does include a content warning and a link to trigger warnings up top,
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: and I really appreciate it when authors include that context.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: What I loved about this story here is how it weaves in all these different elements
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: to paint a vivid picture of the world.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: We get this opening about six virtues,
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: written almost like a prayer before it shifts to a prelude and
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: an in-universe excerpt complete with citation.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: From there, we're right into chapter one and the stage is set.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: The world has my attention and curiosity in equal measure.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: The story itself is superbly written too.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's got wonderful pacing,
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: dialogue that flows beautifully, and imagery that carries a heavy weight to it.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: Everything here is just very polished and intentional and it creates
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: an entire experience for the reader by the end.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's check out an excerpt.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, I want to show you all the six virtues I mentioned from the beginning of the post.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it is by these virtues that we are saved.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: One, obedience to the Savior and all extensions of.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever is asked of you, know that it is from the Savior and necessary to usher in paradise.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: Two, trust.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: The Savior knows what's in your heart and what is best for you.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: Through his extensions you are seen and known.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_01: 3.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_01: Service.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: All must contribute in order to enter parody, for these works show your devotion to him.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: 4.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: Purity.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: All who are born are born with shame but the Savior.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: It is through his blood and his successors that we can be made pure.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yearn for the crow and you will be rewarded.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: 5.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: Honesty.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: Confess all to the Savior through his extensions and be cleansed by his blood,
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: for there is nothing that he doesn't already know.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: 6.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: And this, I tell you, is the most important of all.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_01: Covet the crow and reject the raven.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: Gloria solemn per sacrificium, Redemptio solemn per mortum.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: Super, super cool.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: Really well written.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely check that one out.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: Mind the content warnings, but it's really, really good.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: Our final shoutout this week before I dive into the challenge stories is,
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: And You Don't Seem to Understand by Prachi.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: This piece has a musical pairing up top, and you know I love to see that.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: For those unaware,
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_01: since I started publishing here on Substack,
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: I always do music tracks alongside my posts,
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: and I compare it to how people pair wine with food.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, I love seeing that kind of stuff here, but let's get into the piece itself.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: What we have here is a sort of stream of consciousness reflecting on vulnerability
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: and the fear that comes with having traumatic experiences in your past.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very raw, emotional, and genuine piece.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: The author is showing their entire soul here, and I truly respect that kind of authenticity.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's something I try to do as well.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: What's written here is deeply relatable and painfully familiar to me specifically.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get over that fear of trusting people again after what we've been through?
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough,
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: because there's no right answer for everyone,
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: but I do really appreciate how Prachi approaches the topic here.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's check out an excerpt.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just too scared to be vulnerable to people anymore.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've never had a friendship where I don't ever think about being judged by the person.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care if a person I don't know or care about judges me,
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: but the opinion of my friends about me matters a lot.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: You think you can tell a person everything.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_01: You think you know them.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: You think you can trust them.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: Till you don't.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: You never truly know when they will turn on you.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: You think that they consider you a friend till you become an obstacle in their life,
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: just a dandelion in their garden of roses,
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_01: and they don't think twice before pulling you from the soil and tossing you into
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: the trash.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: You never truly realize when you go from being the most special,
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: close friend to an eyesore in their painting of life.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: You think you are irreplaceable and someone special
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: in their life till they replace you in the blink of an eye,
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: and then you have to pretend like you never knew them.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: And to pretend that you never knew that somehow hurts more than being replaced.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: To never actually look upon those past memories in a good light simply
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: because you are aware of who they became later on is another kind of pain.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: It is shocking how easily a person can change, and likewise, your position in their life.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: To go from laughing and speaking with them every single day to not even being able
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: to pass a smile when you see them makes you feel a different kind of empty.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that one really hits.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: Incredible week for shoutouts.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you everyone who shared links.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to keep doing shoutouts during the challenge here in October,
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: but we'll keep it to three since I'm also covering 12 stories each week from
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: the challenge leaderboard.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_01: So come November,
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: we'll go back to five shoutouts and probably around then we'll switch back
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: to having you pitch me your links because I really do like doing that.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: But again, a huge thank you to everyone who submitted.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: And remember,
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_01: regardless of whether or not your links are covered on the show here,
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_01: I do share all these links with Mina Howell so she can also feature work
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: on her Penny Dreadfuls podcast.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't get featured here, there's still a chance to show up on her show as well.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure you're subscribed so you can check it out and you don't miss it
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: if she does feature one of your stories.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right,
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: let's take a look at the stories from week one of
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_01: the second Indulgence Horror Writing Challenge.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_01: Alright everyone,
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: as of this recording,
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_01: we've officially wrapped up week one of A Feast of Fiction, The Second Indulgence.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: This year's Horror Writing Challenge has been a huge success so far,
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: but we've got plenty more prompts coming your way over the course of the rest
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: of October.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: And of course,
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: the first week of November,
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_01: we're going to leave everything open for you all to catch up,
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_01: check out some other work,
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: build up your scores, and obviously submit any final entries.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: So look forward to that.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, week one is in the bag.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_01: Today on the show,
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be Taking a look at the top three stories from each of our scoring brackets
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_01: in week one.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'll also look at three randomly selected stories from the unranked bracket.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: And on top of this,
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also going to pick an extra story per bracket that I'm calling And of course,
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_01: your total score will be used to decide the overall winner of the challenge at
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_01: the end of the event.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as I mentioned,
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: the wild cards are going to be here to ensure that I can,
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: show off stories outside of the top three and,
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: keep up with the variety that I'm going for here and featuring as many authors
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: as possible.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope that sounds like fun because we're going to dive in and check it out starting now.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: And let's begin with our lightweight bracket.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: Coming in at third place for week one with 17 points, it's Ritual by Victoria Mawisk-Burich.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: This was for the first prompt of the challenge on October 1st,
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_01: and what I loved about this piece is how the devil is truly in the details.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_01: The ritual in question here gets messed up because a little salt was moved out
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_01: of place by the protagonist, and that sends everything into disarray.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's a short little piece,
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: but it manages to combine comedy with horror in a really fun way,
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: Congrats to Victoria for placing third on the Week 1 Lightweight Leaderboard.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: In second place on the Lightweight Leaderboard for Week 1 with 23 points,
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_01: it's Chapter 1, Chimera, by Alexander Aviles.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: Alexander's an author that I've recently discovered,
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: but I've quickly become a fan of his approach to dark fantasy.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: His writing style is vivid and brutal when it needs to be.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_01: For the October 1st prompt,
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: he offered up this piece that leverages his style of fantasy but blends it
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: with horror.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: The result is a demon that commands attention when it shows up in the story.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: The action is intense, the atmosphere palpable.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not already a fan of his work, this story will indeed make you one.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: Congrats to Alexander for placing second on the week one leaderboard.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_01: And in first place on the Week 1 Lightweight Bracket Leaderboard with 24 points,
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: it's The Golden Sequence by Jonathan Vance.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_01: I saw in the comments here how Jonathan wasn't entirely happy with this.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I really enjoyed a lot of elements in this story.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: He takes his time revealing the ritual and demon elements of the story here for
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_01: the October 1st prompt.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: The story fleshes out our main character,
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_01: gives him some Those final moments of the story are indeed delectable.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_01: The descriptions are sublime, and the whole thing really just...
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: Pulled me right into the atmosphere of the world.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: The ending, too, is a perfect mic drop.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta say, Jonathan, I think your inner critic was being a little too harsh on this one.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think it turned out fantastic,
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_01: and congratulations on taking the first place spot in
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_01: the lightweight Week 1 leaderboard.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, and now for a look at our first wildcard story.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: This week for the lightweight bracket, I want to highlight He Brought Back What?
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_01: By Fritz Fallen.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_01: This was for the fourth prompt about a mysterious package from space.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: Fritz went the route of comedy and horror here, and it works very well.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love the alien's dialogue and the sheer terror and confusion
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_01: that ensues once it's freed from the package.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: Fritz shows off some witty humor and great pacing with this story,
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_01: and it's got me eager to see what he does with some of the other prompts this month.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_01: And before we move into the middleweight bracket,
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to remind you all that scores this month are indeed calculated on likes,
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_01: comments, and restacks added together.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_01: So be sure to check the show notes for links to all of these
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_01: so you can support your fellow authors.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, let's move into the middleweight bracket.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_01: In third place on the middleweight week one story leaderboard with a score
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: of 15 points, it's Hope is a Funny Drug by Arlo Vell.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_01: This was for our second prompt, which involved human trials of a new invention.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_01: This was an excellent read and a damn fine piece of horror writing.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: Congrats to Arlo Val for placing on the Week 1 Middleweight Leaderboard.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: In second place on the Middleweight Bracket Week 1 Story Leaderboard with a score
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_01: of 21 points, it's Anthropic Identity by Felix Thornfell.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_01: Longtime listeners will know that I love Felix's work because it always experiments
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_01: with structures and concepts.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_01: This piece for the October 2nd prompt is no different.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_01: It promises to take liberties with the prompt,
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_01: and it will also explore identity in less than 1,000 words.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_01: I love the sheer intensity of this one.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_01: It reads like psychological horror in that the protagonist is spiraling,
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_01: trying to resolve what seems like a simple question at first glance.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_01: Are you the writer or a character?
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_01: I loved how Felix's note at the end about what inspired the story here kind
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_01: of ties everything together as well.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_01: I agree that this is a very cerebral approach to the prompt,
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_01: but I loved how he explored the conversation.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: A story worthy of the leaderboard for sure.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_01: Congrats to Felix for placing on the middleweight bracket leaderboard here.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_01: Alright,
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_01: and in first place on the middleweight bracket week one story leaderboard with
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_01: a score of 44 points, it's...
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now that's a huge score jump,
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_01: but this story is well deserving of its first place spot, let me tell you.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_01: Not only is it a fantastic entry for the day one prompt,
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_01: but it uses a brilliant time loop mechanic to instill a sense of existential horror.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_01: As the story goes on,
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: we learn that this is not the first time the ritual has been conducted,
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: and that the loop is of the self-fulfilling variety.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_01: By learning what she does during the ritual,
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_01: the protagonist sets into motion the events she's trying to avoid.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really cool approach to the prompt.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_01: And as someone who loves time-related story elements, I thought this was executed beautifully.
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's a mind-bending story and exceptionally written as well.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course,
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_01: I know Beastly Being likes it when I offer critique on her stories here on the show.
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_01: So if I really stop and think about what could be improved here...
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_01: I would say that I would have liked to see some more foreshadowing
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: and character development for Stewie's character,
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: because it's clear the events of the story here are going to lead to the future
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_01: that future Susie described,
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_01: but I'm curious about whether or not Stewie was always like this.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_01: He seems adamant in the story that he didn't do anything, but is that really true?
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_01: Are we meant to assume that this event sets him on the path to becoming someone else?
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's interesting,
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_01: but more interesting would be clues that tell us whether
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_01: or not he was always like this somehow,
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_01: and it just didn't become apparent until the night of the ritual here.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's purely my opinion,
• 1:05:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think what's here works from a logic perspective,
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_01: but hey,
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_01: if you have any thoughts on this one,
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure Beastly Being would love to hear them as well,
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_01: so feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or head over to the post and comment there, even better.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_01: And now, for our middleweight bracket wildcard.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_01: For this one,
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to highlight one of the team members working on the challenge this month.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: They are submitting stories unranked,
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_01: of course,
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_01: but given their current subscriber count,
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: I would place them in the middleweight bracket.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm, of course,
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_01: referring to my friend Leron Haywood,
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_01: one of the first people to ever volunteer their time toward helping
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_01: with these writing challenges.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm extremely grateful to Leron,
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_01: and I love their work,
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_01: so I'd like to highlight a story here from them for prompt number five,
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_01: entitled, A Proud and Bloodstained Family Business.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_01: The prompt here was the one about a serial killer who runs into one of their exes
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_01: while trying to attack a target.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_01: Leron did something really fun with this one where we join the protagonist
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_01: after their failed attempt and we hear them recounting the knight to their mother.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_01: This works really well because it allows for backstory and some really funny jokes
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_01: about the struggles of being a slasher in the modern era.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love the way we learn about why things didn't work out with this particular ex too.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fun take on the prompt with a really cool setup that gets across a lot in
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_01: a short word count.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_01: Leron has done it again.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_01: I love this one.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, now for a look at the heavyweight bracket.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_01: Given that our brackets are divided up based on subscriber counts,
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_01: this bracket is for authors with several hundred subscribers or more.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_01: Let's find out which story is ranked in the top three for week one of the challenge.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_01: In third place on the heavyweight bracket leaderboard with a score of 46 points, it's...
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_01: Opening by Rebecca Watson.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_01: This was for the first prompt involving the ritual gone wrong.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_01: The success of this story lies in its restraint.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_01: Rebecca establishes a tense atmosphere and chilling tension,
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: but she stops short of explaining everything outright.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_01: Instead,
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_01: she lets that mystery and uncertainty form the foundation of the piece,
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_01: and it's all the better for it.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_01: We know something is wrong,
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_01: that the ritual didn't go right,
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_01: but we can't place our finger on what it is until it's too late.
• 1:07:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a writer who often gives away far too much of my work.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know I do that.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I love seeing stories like this that know when to play their cards close to the chest.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's a quick read, but I promise it will stick with you.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations again to Rebecca for making it onto the Week 1 leaderboard.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_01: In second place on the heavyweight Week 1 leaderboard with a score of 80 points,
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_01: it's Eyes by Gary L. Taylor.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_01: Gary is known here on Substack for his poetry, and this one is truly exceptional.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_01: The best part of this entry is the imagery.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_01: It opens with a few stanzas of setup
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_01: before it starts offering what I would consider truly gut-wrenching gore as
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_01: the ritual goes off the rails.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_01: Gary spares no expense here when it comes to detail.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_01: Entire stanzas are dedicated to describing how our protagonist meets their untimely demise.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you,
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_01: it's not easy to make me squirm,
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_01: but I was absolutely wincing at some of these lines.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_01: Haha.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when we talk about great horror,
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_01: that's probably one of the best compliments I could give a piece.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_01: This one isn't for the faint of heart,
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_01: but if you enjoy a lot of grisly detail with your horror poetry,
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you will like this one.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_01: Great work, and congrats again to Gary for making it onto the week one leaderboard here.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_01: And in first place on the Week 1 Heavyweight Leaderboard with a score of 99 points,
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_01: including the bonus multiplier,
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_01: it's Devereaux's Masquerade Part 1 by Verdant Butterfly.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_01: What I love about this story is that it was written for the aperture.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_01: As a quick reminder, the Appertif Prompt is open all month during the challenge here.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was released the week before the challenge started,
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_01: and it asks you to step into the world of the challenge and write the first
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_01: in what will be a mini-story.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_01: So yes, this
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_01: is Verdant
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_01: Butterfly's entry for that special pre-challenge prompt,
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_01: and I'm of course including it as part of week one here.
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot to love about this story,
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_01: but in particular,
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love how Verdant and Sable are represented as two different characters
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_01: in this piece.
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Not only that,
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_01: but the piece brings in characters from my podcast, which makes me so happy to see.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_01: As a longtime listener of the show,
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Verdant Butterfly knows these characters and how to use them in a way
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_01: that I think is very authentic.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_01: The attention to detail with their personalities is excellent,
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_01: and I love the dialogue here from Lord Devereaux.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Given that this is the setup of a larger story,
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really excited to see what she'll do with the next part in this series.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for an example of how to capitalize
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_01: on these bonus prompts throughout the month, look no further than this piece.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you will enjoy it and you'll probably get some inspiration from it as well.
• 1:10:34
  SPEAKER_01: A huge congratulations to Vernon All right,
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_01: and for our third wildcard story,
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_01: selected randomly from the heavyweight bracket here,
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_01: I want to check out The First Smokesmith by Richard Pack.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was excited to read this one.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_01: I love this one because Richard finds ways with my prompts to connect them back
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_01: into his own universe called Tales of the Guildless.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_01: He's done that here with the prompt from October 1st,
• 1:11:00
  SPEAKER_01: and I know I've said this plenty of times,
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_01: but if you ever want to see what master worldbuilding looks like,
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_01: look no further than the author Richard Pack.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_01: His writing inspires me constantly to find new ways
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_01: to better flesh out my own fictional universes.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And if you would read this one and enjoy it,
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'd highly recommend checking out Richard's Bloodsmith series as well,
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_01: since there are some really cool connections in this piece if you read both.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Remember,
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_01: check the show notes for links to all of these,
• 1:11:24
  SPEAKER_01: and shout out to Richard for once again rocking this prompt.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Alright,
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_01: and before we wrap up here,
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_01: I want to take a moment to shout out a few stories from the unranked bracket.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is for folks who don't want to compete but still want to enter the challenge
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_01: and try out the prompts.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_01: So here are three stories randomly selected from week one's unranked bracket.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_01: First up is The Uninvited by Gregory Blair.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is a poem for the October 1st prompt,
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_01: and my favorite thing about this one is how Gregory incorporated
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_01: a rhyme structure here.
• 1:11:53
  SPEAKER_01: That element adds a sort of playfulness to the horror that I really enjoyed.
• 1:11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Terrible things happen when the ritual goes awry,
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_01: but the clever rhymes throughout feel like the author is winking at you every couple
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_01: of lines.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's fun, but also unsettling.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_01: A great example of how horror poetry can evoke all kinds
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_01: of really interesting emotions if you give yourself room to experiment.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And second in our unranked bracket shoutouts this week is Starter Pokemon by Wilhelmina Owings.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_01: This one was amazing.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's easily one of the most creative entries I've seen for the October 1st prompt
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_01: and one of my favorite entries for a challenge ever.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's really, really good.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_01: So let me give you the setup here.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's Pokemon fan fiction, but it has a horror spin.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know that's the combo that nobody's expecting,
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_01: but let me tell you, it really does work here.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_01: It starts with someone who's been a Pokemon fan their whole life.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_01: They want to be Ash Ketchum.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I get it.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when I was a kid,
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was playing the games,
• 1:12:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was watching the anime, I wanted Pokemon to be real so badly.
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when our character here finds out a ritual can help them summon a Pikachu
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_01: from another dimension, they leap at the opportunity.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful segue into the prompt, and once the horror hits, it really hits.
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is just insanely cool, it's super fun, and it's very well written to boot.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was honestly, it was such a fun surprise when I first discovered it too.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_01: So please be sure to check the show notes for links to this and all
• 1:13:16
  SPEAKER_01: of those stories this week and give this one a read.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's so good.
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
• 1:13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Alright,
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_01: last but absolutely not least,
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_01: our final unranked shoutout is Witness For Me by the Circus Dragon.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, before I dive into the story here,
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I have to shout out Circus Dragon's art,
• 1:13:34
  SPEAKER_01: because she is the reason Lord Devereaux has a visual form that you'll find
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_01: in nearly all of my challenge art here.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And earlier this year, I hosted an entire challenge using her art as prompts.
• 1:13:44
  SPEAKER_01: My hope is that one day I'll be able to visit an entire exhibit of her work,
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_01: because I'd buy a ticket to that in a heartbeat.
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, beyond being a great artist, Circus Dragon is a phenomenal writer as well.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_01: With this piece for the second prompt,
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_01: she reminds us all of that by offering up a chilling and surreal piece
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_01: of flash fiction.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_01: It plays with the concept of dreams and how they can manifest things
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_01: that are otherwise ethereal.
• 1:14:07
  SPEAKER_01: And in these moments, you're being tested to see if you can master it.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's a line in the story here that reads,
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you are the sort to master it,
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_01: and grip the reins yourself, steering with lucidity.
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love the visuals too that we're left with here.
• 1:14:20
  SPEAKER_01: The idea that there's this mental hallway full of doors leading to memories,
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_01: and if you get close, you can hear yourself on the other side.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_01: In this case, of course, the narrator is told not to enter any of the rooms.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, Again, you gotta check this out.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't wanna spoil too much of it.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's really great stuff.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Check out Circus Dragon's art.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Check out her story here.
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_01: She really is, you know, a powerhouse when it comes to being a talented, creative human being.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I always appreciate her support as well.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_01: But that's it for this week's Week 1 Challenge Recap.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I just gotta say real quick, it is insane to me how talented you all are.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, every challenge I host, you somehow level up again and again.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_01: With the second indulgence here, we are just about to cross 100 entries just in week one.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that makes me so excited to see what the rest of the month will bring.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you all know, next week we're starting with our appetizer prompts.
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they're going to get a little bit more complex.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_01: And they're going to have a higher recommended word count as a result.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious to see how you handle that rising complexity.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_01: But for now,
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_01: join me and this week's co-host as we wrap things up with a look at next week
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_01: on Substack.
• 1:15:30
  [music]
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and we're back, and it's time for a look at next week on Substack.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_01: But first and foremost, James, let me apologize for how the other characters acted just now.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_01: I swear, Lord Devereaux, he's harmless.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't hurt a fly, at least not a creative one.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry about that.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was a little weird, man.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to lie.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_00: We've had some wild parties in our day, but that was just over the top.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if you've never been part of that group before, they can be a lot.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you being a good sport.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_01: I promise that Lord Devereaux will probably not stalk you online, but I can't promise anything.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, everybody.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah,
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_01: next week on Substack,
• 1:16:39
  SPEAKER_01: we're going to be getting into week two of the second Indulgence Challenge.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_01: First week here, the beginning of October in this past week was soups and salads.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Next week begins our appetizer prom.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_01: So these are going to come with a bit of a higher recommended word count
• 1:16:55
  SPEAKER_01: and they're going to be a bit more involved.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that's going to start on Monday.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we're not doing any prompts on the weekends.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned Monday for the next prompt and the first prompt of week two.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Beyond that.
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to be focused on trying to catch up on a few things here.
• 1:17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously need to get back to my novel.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_01: I have some Devine stuff I want to work on still.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I don't know.
• 1:17:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm kind of leaving myself open a little bit to just catch up on stuff
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_01: and obviously run the challenge and jump in on any prompts that seem interesting.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously they're all interesting, but the ones that particularly inspire something with me.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's the plan for next week here.
• 1:17:34
  SPEAKER_01: And before we wrap up, I want to turn things over to my co-host here, James.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Anything you got going on?
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Anything coming up in the next few weeks or months that you want to share with
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_01: the listeners here?
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I got a bunch of brewbub stuff that I'm planning for like the fall season.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: So like from now,
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_00: from October to November,
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be reviewing like a couple different venues and stuff like that around Atlanta.
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Actually one in Roanoke that I think we're going to on Saturday.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, just keep an eye on my Substack and my TikTok and everything like that.
• 1:18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll see those videos pop up.
• 1:18:07
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds great.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_01: What is your handle on TikTok?
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know off the top of your head?
• 1:18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's just a BrewBob show.
• 1:18:12
  SPEAKER_01: BrewBob show.
• 1:18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, awesome.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll try to remember to put a link in the show notes to the TikTok.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, check out the BrewBob stuff.
• 1:18:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's really fun.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, James and I have been working.
• 1:18:22
  SPEAKER_01: James, just wanted to say thank you again for coming on the show here
• 1:18:25
  SPEAKER_01: for being our first guest co-host.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_01: This was a lot of fun.
• 1:18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, anytime you want to have me, just let me know.
• 1:18:47
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And let me know in the comments what you all thought of this format.
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to see folks like James come back?
• 1:18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to see other writers?
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to see a rotating list of co-hosts?
• 1:18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Give me all your ideas.
• 1:18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you all showing up every week.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm wishing you all, of course, a safe and productive week of writing.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And this is Bradley Ramsey signing off.
• 1:19:15
  [music]
• 1:19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Bradley, there you are.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_02: I've come to tell you that I have experienced for the first time the wonder that is animation.
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_02: And let me tell you, it is exquisite.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, great.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, Lord Devereaux.
• 1:19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Did you check out Brewbob?
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_01: I now wish to try this beer that he speaks of.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, well, that's just like a human drink.
• 1:20:02
  SPEAKER_01: You typically don't consume that kind of stuff.
• 1:20:05
  SPEAKER_01: I will make an exception.
• 1:20:07
  SPEAKER_01: He is quite convincing.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right, whatever you say.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so how's the challenge going?
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_01: How are you feeling about it?
• 1:20:15
  SPEAKER_01: I feel fantastic.
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_02: I am ready for week two as the appetizers begin to roll out.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and completely unrelated to our conversation,
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to know where your friend James lives.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, no, no.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_01: I see what you're doing.
• 1:20:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, Lord Devereaux.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_01: You leave him alone.
• 1:20:33
  SPEAKER_01: You enjoy Brewbob and that's it.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then maybe Clenchport one day.
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Fingers crossed.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_02: I will uncover this information one way
• 1:20:43
  SPEAKER_01: or another.