Latest / The Daily Writer / Don’t Let Indecision Stop You | DWC Member Spotlight: Micheal Woodruff

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Don’t Let Indecision Stop You | DWC Member Spotlight: Micheal Woodruff · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for riding success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: As writers, we face a lot of enemies.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Procrastination, fear of failure, creative fatigue, jealousy, and so many other hurdles.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here's an enemy that I bet you haven't thought of, and that is indecision.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, indecision is a horrible enemy that can totally kill your progress.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Here's how this works.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're trying to decide between three book ideas, what your website domain should be, what color paper to use for your printed book, what your book title should be, and a million other decisions that you've got to make as a writer.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a perfectionist, like I am, a little bit, I will confess, if you're a perfectionist, you will avoid making a decision because you're just waiting for more information.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're always thinking that you've got to do some more research or you've got to gather some more information before you make that good decision.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, this is just a recipe for disaster.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just based on the information you have, I encourage you to consult with a couple of other people if it's a big decision, and then just make the decision and start acting on it.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: The baseball great Yogi Bearra famously said, When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the great thing about the book world is that you can always release another edition.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: There are very few decisions in the book world that can't be corrected in some way.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Indecision is a thief that'll steal your joy, it'll give you lots of anxiety, and keep you from making progress.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that your 90% is somebody else's 100%.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So don't let indecision rob you of success.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's challenge.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: What decision is keeping you from making progress today?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just make the decision and get moving.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: You can always go back and correct it later.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: A big thanks to today's sponsor, The Word Wizard.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can have a great book, but it's not ready for publication until it's been in the hands of a master editor.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's why my friend Karen Hunsinger, also known as the Word Wizard, is the perfect partner to make sure your author dreams don't become a nightmare.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: A great editor doesn't just correct grammar and spelling, they also correct wordiness, shifts in tone and voice, overuse of particular words, and they also enhance transitions, clarity, and accuracy.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest quality book possible.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Visit Karenhunsinger.com for a free sample edit, and yes, there will be a link in the show notes.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, one more thing before we wrap up today's episode.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably heard me talk about the Daily Rider Club many times here on the show, and I'm periodically featuring members of the club in many interviews.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And today I want to introduce you to my friend Michael Woodruff.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Michael is a neurodivergent ghostwriter who's been writing fiction and nonfiction for over three decades.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: His out-of-the-box approach gives him a unique perspective on characters and subjects for his projects.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can find out more about Michael's work at effectachange.org or neurodivergentlife.substack.com.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: There are links to all those in the show notes.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find Michael on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter at MD Woodruff.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right, here's my conversation with Michael.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Michael, thanks for joining me here on the Daily Rider podcast.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So good to have you.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Great to be here, Ken.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's always fun to talk to other ghostwriters because we sort of have this common bond of doing this job does it that's a little bit secretive.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of feels like we're in the CIA a little bit.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, even though people who are listening who are in the actual in the CIA CIA, they're probably like, no, it's nothing like that at all.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But it feels secretive to me.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: So glad that we have this bond.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's start out with this question.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how did you get into ghostwriting?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And was this something that you kind of had planned to do for a long time, or did did you kind of stumble into it like many of us did, or how does that story go?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, it kind of goes way back.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been writing since I was a little kid.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I've always enjoyed writing, I've always loved loved things, and I kind of developed a uh hindrance of well, nobody's reading my stuff because they don't like me.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: So if they see my name, they're not gonna read it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I had held that belief for a long, long time.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and the past few years, uh, my life kind of took a topsy-turvy turn, and I needed to find some way of working remotely.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I started looking into copywriting and started taking a copywriting course.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: And in my search for copywriting, I stumbled across a ghostwriting course, and so I listened, I listened to a training presentation on that and said, you know what, this is this is for me.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I started uh in December of 2022, uh, and I got my first client in March of 2023.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So this is kind of a newer thing that you have gotten into.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for yeah, as far as uh ghostwriting, I've written for other people, uh more of kind of like a uh uh oh what's that guy's name?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um Serena.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I I would write love poems and love stories for somebody else so that they could give it to somebody else.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but that's never a never get never got paid for it.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, sometimes you have to do something for free until you get paid for it, I guess.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that I think is really interesting about you, Michael, is you you promote yourself as the neurodivergent ghostwriter, which is a super specific thing.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: But my goodness, there's so many so there, there's so much that is needed in the world today for people who are neurodivergent or people who who learn differently or or need somebody to understand how their brains are wired.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So walk us through a little bit uh about your journey with neurodivergence and how you serve people through that, through that lens.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well, I've always known I was different, but I didn't know why.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't until again, my life went topsy turvy.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I was diagnosed with several uh maladies, several uh from several cases of the DSM from the DSM, uh with um psycho uh psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I've been I've been diagnosed with uh schizoaffective disorder with ADHD, uh, or questioning uh autism.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um they said if I have it, it's on the high end.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and a lot a lot of autistics don't like it being called uh high-functioning autist autism.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but that depends on who you talk to.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and even within the neurodivergent community, there are some people who don't mind the term spectrum and others that get offended by it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so when when talking with a with someone who's neurodivergent, it's one, it's going to be really hard for them to open up and say, yes, I actually have these issues uh until they get to know you.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um now, if it's somebody that you know and you know you recognize uh some of the neurodivergent traits, then you can you know approach them about it.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but if it's someone you don't know, if they don't bring it up, don't bring it up.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because they're very we're very sensitive about it, because we don't want you looking at us as being defective.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: We think that enough of ourselves that way.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and what I try to do is I try to educate uh neurotypicals.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, those are the people that we call that are not neurodivergent.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: They're they're the vast majority of people, uh, about 80, 85 percent of people are neurodip, uh neurotypical.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then the rest are neurodivergent.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: And within neurodivergence, you have ADHD, you have uh autism, you have dyslexia, you have dyspraxia, you have a whole slew of different things.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: So it becomes a very small percentage of people that are ADHD or that have dyspraxia.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so educating people on that.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a fascinating angle to approach ghostwriting from.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually never heard of anybody else who approaches it kind of from that angle.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, does that mean as a ghostwriter you're looking specifically for those kinds of projects that intersect with those themes, or does it mean that you're approaching any type of ghostwriting project as a neurodivergent person, which means it's you you you do the work kind of in a different way?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it both of those things?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh kind of both.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I can't approach anything other than as a neurodivergent.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I I always think differently.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, when when people say think outside, tell others to think outside the box.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm confused about there being a box.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: No one told me there was a box.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: I what are you talking about?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um my preferred clients to for preferred people work with would be neurodivergents, uh, or people who work with neurodivergence, like psychologists, psychiatrists, uh, counselors, and things of that nature, uh, who want to educate uh to educate the public uh about neurodiv neurodiver divergence uh and neurodiversity.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, where can people uh find out more about your ghostwriting work?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh website or where would they go to do that?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my for my ghostwriting would be my website, which is affect a change, a f f e-c-t a change dot org.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I also write on uh Substack.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I do blogs and things of that nature at neuro neurodivergent life dot substack.com.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a long URL to remember, so congrats.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I could have remembered that.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one more question before we wrap this up, Michael.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you've been in the Daily Writer Club for a while now, for a few months, and I'm curious how has this helped you as a writer?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is it more relationships or more ghostwriting and client work stuff, or in what ways do you feel like this has been a helpful experience for you?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, probably the most helpful thing from the group is knowing that I'm not the only one who thinks that maybe I'm not good enough.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because you know, you have moments where you just feel like, well, everybody else is so much better.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: And the reality is we all think that from time to time.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: We all struggle with that from time to time, and it's perfectly normal, it's perfectly natural, and knowing that that other people struggle with that kind of takes a lot of pressure off of me.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Totally because then I I'm no longer the only one at the bottom of the well.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: We're actually all on at ground level, uh, we're just looking at things differently.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And now I can see the other people around me, and we can work and grow together.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: We're all at different levels, and we all look we all have different experiences, and working together as a group and talking things out and uh you know having the fun that we do, uh it's a relief.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, if I miss a week, uh if if I miss a meeting, I feel empty.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I feel I feel hollow and I'm like, oh, I didn't get my fix.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're kind of like uh we're kind of like the Red Bull of writers' groups, you know, for people who drink a lot of Red Bull, it's like man, I didn't get my fix.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's about I I prefer locomocha.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I haven't had that one.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's Red Bull, but uh that no, that's uh monster.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this has been a blast, Michael.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So glad that you're in the group, and it's been so much fun to see your progress and to see you kind of bloom through these last few months, if that's not a weird term, but that's just the one that happened to come to mind.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um, it's just been a blast seeing all the cool things that you're doing, and I'm so glad you're part of the group.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for coming on the podcast and sharing.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it and appreciate you as a person and what you bring to the world through your unique angle of ghost routing.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a blast.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you, Ken.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh I've learned a lot from you, uh, and I'm always encouraged by uh by you and by your podcast uh and our group meetings.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's an inspiration every time.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.