Latest / The Scene Projects / Rick London on The Dancing Wolfeman, Creativity, and the Power of Perseverance

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Rick London on The Dancing Wolfeman, Creativity, and the Power of Perseverance · The Scene Projects

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  Welcome in to Real Biz.
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  I am your host, Bubba Starts.
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  And with me today, author of The Dancing Wolfman, Rick London.
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  Rick, welcome to the show.
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  Hey, Bubba.
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  Thank you.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  Appreciate it.
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  I am very, very happy to have you on today.
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  We're gonna talk about this amazing book that you've written and the evolution of that into
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  even more great content for us to consume.
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  But before we get into that, really, we just wanna get a little bit of your backstory, and
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  then we'll pick the conversation up from there.
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  Sure.
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  Sure.
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  So the backstory is how I got the idea for the book was from a memory back of Super Bowl in
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  1998.
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  I went to go visit a friend.
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  It was January 25.
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  Drove through this beautiful country road at the at the time.
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  It's more developed now, but it was just cow pastures, rolling hills.
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  It was very green.
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  Once saw the Super Bowl on the way back, it was dark and low cloud cover, foggy.
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  The light posts were few and far between.
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  It looked like a perfect setting for a werewolf ambush.
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  Meet a werewolf, it would it was perfect.
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  And that memory stayed with me until about a year and a half ago.
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  I was talking with some friends on a Friday night about old friends, and I remember my
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  friend that I saw the Super Bowl with, and I'm like, I hope he's doing okay.
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  And then that that memory came back to me about the drive back and how that eerie setting,
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  perfect werewolf ambush right there.
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  And it just stuck with me, and it kept it kept coming up.
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  And I'm like, you know what?
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  I need to do something with this.
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  And I wanted to do some videos first, and I couldn't make that work just just like I want
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  it.
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  So I switched gears, and I said, hey.
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  Let me write a book.
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  Why not write a book?
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  I love reading.
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  I'm an avid reader.
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  Read every night.
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  I love I love hardbored detective stories, spy thrillers, adventures, even romance here and
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  there.
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  Just just good books.
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  And I said, you know what?
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  Let me give my let me give a shot at writing a book.
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  I I I I believe from all the reading that I've done that I could do something like this.
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  And so slowly started the process and then, got the book done right at the end of Halloween
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  last year because my book has a Halloween setting toward right at the end there.
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  So I'm like, that's that's when I wanted to come out.
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  And I wanted to continue doing the book, but I said, no.
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  Let me get something out.
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  Let me do a volume one to introduce the readers to this protagonist that I came up with, this
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  werewolf who doesn't become a killer.
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  Instead, he becomes a savior because of the power of music.
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  So which I'll talk a little bit more in a bit.
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  But that's pretty much the premise of how I came up with the story, just from a good
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  memory.
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  Yeah.
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  Well and as often as it is with creatives, I'm a songwriter, Rick.
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  So for me, there's always a seed.
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  There's something that has happened and whether that was, you know, a a heartbreak or or some
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  triumphant moment out there, it it becomes that inception point.
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  And sometimes, you know, it it can come out in a rush all at once and be, you know, from
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  inspiration to completion in a very short amount of time.
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  Or as in this case, it could sit around for, you know, almost twenty years inside of your
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  head and another spark of inspiration brings that memory back.
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  I love that this one's kind of lived with you and and that that singular memory has spurned
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  on, you know, now the book and a lot more to come from that.
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  Obviously, more books in tow as, there's so many different story lines you can take with
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  the basis that you've now established.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  Absolutely.
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  Yeah.
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  Inspiration from somewhere I didn't I had no idea was coming, but I'm glad for my memory.
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  You know?
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  I'm glad that that stuff is in.
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  And you had mentioned about songwriting.
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  I love all music.
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  That's why that's why the I had to use music as a gimmick for my story.
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  Right?
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  The the power of music to to help Titus stay who he is while he's a wolf man because I love
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  music, and I've come as I've grown up, I've come to love all music.
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  And I love blues too.
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  I love blues.
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  You know, blues music, a lot of people say, oh, blues just comes from a lot of hard feelings,
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  lot of breakups, you know, but losses.
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  But, you know, blues blues is great music.
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  Rock, I I just love all music.
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  I think music comes from a lot of inspirational moments.
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  Right?
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  I think I think the human the human condition when we come up with something is because of
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  something something in our life.
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  Right?
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  That's that's what inspires us.
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  Or somebody else's moments, we look at that, and we're like, hey.
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  You know what?
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  What's going on with me?
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  What can I do with that?
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  You know?
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  Well, how can I how does that pertain to my life?
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  And then bingo.
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  Right?
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  So we all inspire each other in some way or another.
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  Like, that couldn't be more true, Rick.
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  And I I feel that even more so now as I've done, you know, over a thousand interviews with
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  mainly artists, but also business owners and and and people from all walks of life that
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  every interview that I do inspires me in some way.
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  Not all of them become books or movies or or or stories even, but it definitely inspires me to
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  be a little bit better of a person every day.
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  That's why I admire someone like you that took the time to not just have the inspiration, but
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  to chase it down.
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  So I'd love to hear about, you know, the the process of writing as someone who took a little
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  bit of time in the winter of twenty twenty four to just sit and grind out and and to write a
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  manuscript.
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  Now I haven't published that officially yet, although I do have it available, you know, on
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  my web and and have put it out there for other people to consume.
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  The process of writing and publication can be a grueling process to say the least.
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  Yeah.
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  Definitely.
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  Definitely.
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  With me, you know, that when we talked about the our friends that night, it took me about
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  four months to come up with the idea, with the outline.
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  And then I always like sharing this.
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  The other inspiration for the music came from I I love music, like I mentioned, but, also, my
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  son was learning the to play the trombone, trombone from his friend.
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  And right behind me in that wall, he came home and he would leave the case there.
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  And I was thinking of a gimmick to to make my story work.
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  I kept looking at that trombone case, and then bingo, the light went on.
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  Right?
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  I'm like, hey.
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  Music.
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  Let's let's do it.
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  And then let me incorporate that in the story and make it the the the strength of the part, I
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  guess, the theme of the of the story.
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  And as I kept writing you know?
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  And the other thing, I've never written a story before, and and I've never taken any writing
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  course or anything.
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  So I kept writing it, and then, I would every time I added a chapter, I would go back to I
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  would read it from the beginning, from the prologue to whatever chapter I just edit.
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  So I wanted to make sure it flowed, and I didn't learn that for anyone.
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  It's just it made sense to me.
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  I think that just came from reading so many books over the years.
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  So I just kept going back and kept adding the chapter, read it back from the beginning.
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  So I've read my book, you know, at least 30 times, make sure it flowed.
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  And then I still had to make some changes in the past several months.
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  There's some stuff I wanted to add in there, which I was able to do.
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  And then I also brightened up my I brightened up my book cover.
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  My book cover, the original version was a little too dark.
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  So when people would order it and they print it, it was you know, it looked like it was
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  really dark.
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  Right?
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  And I'm like, it looks okay, but I'd I'd like it to be a little brighter, especially the moon
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  and the Golden Gate Bridge and the light and everything.
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  And so I did that and then just had it.
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  But, you know, it came out.
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  I finished it last yeah.
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  Right around Halloween last year.
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  And the whole goal was to get it out right around the holidays and all that.
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  But, unfortunately, I didn't have a prelaunch happen with my publishers.
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  Few things didn't didn't go.
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  So that's fine.
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  But it's out now.
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  And then now I'm just, you know, talking about it, getting on shows, and and doing my
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  marketing.
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  And that's the real process.
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  A lot you know, I I hear I hear I've read a lot of stories and hear from people.
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  Yeah.
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  This the book is sometimes really hard, especially when you get stuck.
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  But once you write the book, you know, the book's not gonna sell itself.
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  Right?
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  Make your own luck.
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  Gotta go out there and do everything you can to to get people to recognize it because there's
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  so many books written.
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  I mean, I hear there's, like, over 200 books written, you know, published every day.
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  Right?
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  And that's the I don't look at it that I'm competing against those books.
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  I'm not competing against those book.
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  I'm competing against myself.
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  I'm competing as, like, what am I gonna do?
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  Am I gonna sit here and be a couch potato, or am I gonna do the work and let people find out
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  about my book and then talk about it and get their you know, pique their interest so they
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  could say, hey.
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  It's like, hey.
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  I wanna check this book out.
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  It sounds real fascinating.
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  So that's the process.
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  Think books are tough.
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  Try being a podcaster, Rick.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  I've heard I've heard that takes a yeah.
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  I mean, you've you you do a great job.
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  But, yeah, I I was considering doing a podcast, but there's so many podcasts, and then it takes
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  a long time to get it going.
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  Right?
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  But Well, and I like anything else.
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  Rick, and I think what people forget that what just like just like you're not competing
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  against the other authors, your podcast could be an extension of the book itself, right, and
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  of this series of books now where you can take people a little bit deeper into, you know, your
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  not just maybe process, but the story that maybe didn't make it into the book.
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  Right?
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  Themes that you were chasing and things that were turning that almost happens.
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  Right?
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  The things that that that maybe become that.
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  So I think there's an avenue for you there to create.
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  And what I see a podcast as an an extension of that marketing plan.
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  It's a piece of the marketing plan, not just guessing on others like you are here today and
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  having that content production, you know, like like we do here on RealBiz, but it's also a way
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  with your own to be able to take readers and your community on this journey that they're not
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  getting inside of the pages.
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  And I think that's a little bit of a forgotten a forgotten thing with people when they think
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  about podcasting is it's not just about, you know, my style is different.
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  I enjoy interviewing others and having that, but maybe one day I'm creating a podcast about
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  my songs and the inspiration behind these songs and taking people on a journey.
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  Great example of this, and I I know you're a bit of a music guy, but I'm a huge Smashing
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  Pumpkins fan.
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  So when Billy Corgan released his latest album as the Smashing Pumpkins called 33, that he did
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  an entire podcast cataloging each story.
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  And because the or each song.
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  Because the album was this massive pretty much a novel, right, in song form and this huge
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  story that he's been crafting for thirty years of his music career.
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  And now with each episode, they were cataloging each song and the story behind each song as it
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  pertain to the grander story.
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  So it's a really cool format for me to to watch that and to listen to this this story and the
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  way that they were able to extrapolate the moments from each individual three to five
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  minute song and to make it into a thirty or forty five minute podcast with anecdotes in
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  there and everything.
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  So something to think about, for not just for yourself, but for other writers that are out
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  there and considering it.
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  Not every podcast has to be the same.
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  We're not all Joe Rogan.
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  No.
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  No.
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  No.
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  It's it you know, that's that's a great idea.
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  I didn't think about that.
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  And, also, I think it would be great to talk with other authors.
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  And I've thought about that.
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  It's just I haven't really been inspired to do it, but I can see doing it and talk to other
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  Wolfman authors.
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  Right?
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  Talk about wolf man lore and even bring up other other famous monsters.
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  Right?
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  The vampire, Frankenstein, and other other ones and just talk to people about that.
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  Because there's so many people that love that stuff.
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  Right?
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  They love them.
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  There's there's, like, communities of vampire lovers, community of werewolf lovers, and just
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  talk about that and, yeah, get in there stuff that wasn't necessarily put in the book and and
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  just other ideas that pop up.
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  So that's that's thank you for that.
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  That's that's a great idea.
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  Yeah.
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  Inspiration.
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  Learning you you inspired me.
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  Something to learn.
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  You know, I'm learning about that.
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  Need help with the production side, you know a guy now.
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  Right?
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  You got it.
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  You got it.
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  I love something that you just touched on there that we often overlook because, the monsters,
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  quote, unquote, right, of these, books are often the heroes of that or the antihero of
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  these stories.
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  There's so many story lines inside of these monsters, right, that the they're all a little
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  bit the same.
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  Right?
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  The the fur or the fangs may look different, but I think a lot of the themes are very
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  similar.
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  It it allows us to step into, you know, different different characters and different
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  sets of human emotions.
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  Right?
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  And I think that's the interesting part about the, you know, kind of monster movie and the
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  themes is that while the action may be the same, the chases or the hunts or or whatever it
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  may be, a lot of those themes are similar, but the different range of the human emotions and
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  things that can be evoked from that.
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  Because I think when any of us are readers or movie watchers, you know, consumers of the
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  content, that we're always looking to find a little bit of ourselves inside of that.
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  And I think we each, identify with maybe a different monster over the other for, the the
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  qualities of theirs that we may see in ourselves.
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  And, you know, I I think there's the the Jekyll and Hyde of a wolf man that they only change at
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  that.
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  A vampire only coming out at night but always being hungry for more that there's there's so
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  many different themes to play inside of there.
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  And, yeah, exactly.
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  The the consumer, I think, is is attracted to them because they see a bit of themselves
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  inside of that character.
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  Absolutely.
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  That's those are great points.
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  I believe I've been asked that before.
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  Right?
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  It's like, do you see yourself being in the book?
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  Are you are you Titus Wolf?
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  I'm like, yeah.
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  In so many ways, I am.
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  Yeah.
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  And the the main premise of the book, you know, the the music transforming his his
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  consciousness back to himself while he's a wolf man, I kinda wrote the book as a metaphor.
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  Right?
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  Here's a guy, you know, he's he's a morally grounded guy.
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  And when he becomes a werewolf and, you know, werewolf stories pretty much follow the same
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  arc.
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  Right?
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  Becomes a vicious killer, then gets hunted.
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  But I changed it because of music and because of who he is, And he's not a killer.
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  So when he becomes a werewolf, he has to decide.
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  It's like he's you know, he he doesn't know how to kill.
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  That's not his instincts.
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  So instead, he becomes a protector.
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  And and, you know, I didn't make him my intent was not to make him into a superhero.
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  Made it to somebody, like you said, people could relate to.
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  Right?
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  Here's here's the guy who becomes a werewolf, but inside of him, inside that fur and the the
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  the muscles and all that is a human being.
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  And he's he has to figure out what he's gonna do with with this new it it might seem like a
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  curse, but it's more like a power.
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  Right?
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  More like a blessing.
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  What's he gonna do?
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  Is he gonna is he gonna act the same way?
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  Is he gonna stick to his guns, stick to his morals of who he is, or is he gonna become, you
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  know, a a monster and and succumb to the primal instincts of a of a killer?
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  And I wanted to change that because I love werewolf stories, and I love all the the the
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  transformations and the killing of that.
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  I always always mention this, Bubba.
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  Part of the you know, when I was talking about in the beginning, the the the that, you know,
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  the memory of driving down that road, it reminded me of the beginning of a movie called
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  An American Werewolf in London.
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  I don't know if you've ever seen it.
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  Right?
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  It's one of my it's my favorite werewolf movie.
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  It's in this about 40 years old now, over 40 years old.
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  Yeah.
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  About 45 now for 46.
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  But, you know, it's it's that the the werewolf in that movie, he's just he's vicious.
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  He's terror.
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  You know, he just tears people to pieces.
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  Right?
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  And so I didn't wanna do that.
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  I wanted to do a different and I didn't wanna make it a superhero movie.
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  I wanted to make it just a average guy blessed with a superpower, but he decides to stick to
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  who he is.
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  Sort of like us.
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  Right?
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  When we're presented with certain moments where we could become, you know, not the you know,
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  there's a lot of good people in the world, right, that they have we all have our bad
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  moments.
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  We all have our good moments.
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  Right?
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  So but when presented with an intense situation, do we do we, you know, act like an
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  ass?
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  My apologies if I offended anyone.
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  Or do we do we act like the the person that we are?
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  You know, when presenting with the moment, we keep our cool, our composure, and, you know, we
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  stick to who we are.
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  So that's kinda like the metaphor I wrote in the book.
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  So, yeah, it is a werewolf movie, but it it it it makes you think.
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  Right?
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  It makes you go deep in yourself.
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  It's like, hey.
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  I like this.
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  You know?
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  So it's like, makes me think of who you know, what I would do, you know, if I if I ever come
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  to a situation like that.
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  And we all do, right, at work, you know, our personal relationships, you know, events, stuff
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  like that.
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  You know, stuff happens.
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  But, that wasn't my intent, though, Bubba.
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  It's just it's just as I wrote the book.
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  It just it just came out, and at the end when I kept reading, I'm like, hey.
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  I got an interesting angle here.
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  You know?
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  So I hope I hope people get inspired from that.
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  Well and I that kinda brings me to a question because I know with songs, it often feels like
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  I'm just harnessing something that was already out there, and I'm more of a conduit for the
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  song and that spark of inspiration has has begun the process, but, I I have very little to
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  do with it actually getting done.
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  Do you feel in some ways that the book wrote itself and that the themes kind of played out
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  the way that they were going to and that you didn't necessarily have to force things into
• 19:18
  that that it just kind of happened naturally as the writing was taking place?
• 19:23
  Oh, man.
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  Just what I was thinking.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  The first three chapters, I was, I didn't have a struggle, but I had to figure out how to boot
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  and then how to put it together.
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  And then after that, you're right.
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  It just it just came out naturally.
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  It just flowed.
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  Right?
• 19:41
  And then I just made little tweaks here and there, added stuff later.
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  But pretty much, the rest of the story was just it just came out like that.
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  And, man, I'm I'm grateful for that.
• 19:53
  I'm grateful that I didn't get stuck.
• 19:55
  It's like, oh my god.
• 19:56
  How would I do it?
• 19:56
  Because in the beginning when I was writing, I was I had my outline and everything, but, you
• 20:01
  know, I've heard with writers, even though they have an outline and a plan, as they get
• 20:05
  writing, things change all the time.
• 20:07
  Right?
• 20:08
  And they're like, oh, man.
• 20:09
  I don't like this, so so I'm a change it.
• 20:11
  But what am I gonna change it to?
• 20:12
  With me, it just it just kept coming out, and it just it just made sense.
• 20:16
  And I believe, Abba, what helped is going back in starting from the beginning each time I
• 20:21
  added a chapter to it.
• 20:23
  And I think because of that, because I kept reading it and and and everything just kept
• 20:28
  making sense and flow, then the rest just kept coming, just like you said, just came out
• 20:32
  natural.
• 20:35
  Do you feel that not being someone who's a classically trained writer, I guess, probably
• 20:41
  not the right word, but someone who went to school for writing and was taught how to write
• 20:45
  that you really are teaching yourself how to write by being just a big fan of of reading and
• 20:51
  then bringing that love and passion for reading to the writing process.
• 20:57
  Do you feel like that not necessarily an advantage necessarily, but that it gives you a
• 21:02
  little bit different take on it than someone who, you know, went and spent four years
• 21:06
  getting a degree in in creative writing, may have.
• 21:11
  Maybe maybe that's that's an interesting point because, you know, if you go to school and you
• 21:16
  take a course, everything you learn is like, okay.
• 21:19
  I gotta apply these techniques to my writing.
• 21:21
  Right?
• 21:21
  And then your writing's like, no.
• 21:23
  I messed up.
• 21:24
  I'm not I I'm not applying what I learned.
• 21:27
  And then maybe then maybe your story gets diluted or it's not what you want because
• 21:34
  you're sticking you're sticking to the things that you've learned and instead of being being
• 21:41
  yourself and letting just the story come out naturally.
• 21:44
  So perhaps I perhaps it is an advantage.
• 21:47
  Right?
• 21:47
  Because I don't I don't have any experience in writing, and then all of a suddenly, it just
• 21:51
  comes out from all the ideas that I've gotten from reading all these great books over the
• 21:57
  years.
• 21:57
  And, you know, I'm not a bad writer.
• 22:00
  I'm not I'm not I don't consider myself a great writer, but it might be right there in the
• 22:05
  middle.
• 22:05
  But, yeah, I believe it's just from all the, from all the books that I read and all the
• 22:10
  ideas that I got from them.
• 22:11
  So that doesn't mean that, you know, if I took a course that I'd be really rigid and, you
• 22:17
  know, sticking to all the techniques and everything that applied, because maybe I would
• 22:22
  have came up with a different way to write and different ideas.
• 22:25
  And I believe the book woulda the book woulda still it woulda still work, but I just had to
• 22:32
  go with what I have, you know, and and and it it worked out.
• 22:36
  So, hopefully, it'll work out even better as more exposure comes.
• 22:39
  But, yeah, that was an interest that's an interesting point.
• 22:42
  I've never thought about it like that.
• 22:44
  But Well, it's hard
• 22:47
  to put a book it's hard to put a book into a box when you don't know the parameters of the
• 22:51
  box in the first place.
• 22:53
  And and it allows you
• 22:54
  to be very free as a creator and in that creative process when you you're not putting
• 23:01
  constraints on yourself that, oh, it needs to be this amount of words or it needs you know,
• 23:06
  chapters can only be so long or I can't do this.
• 23:10
  Like, you're coming in with this kind of a can do attitude.
• 23:14
  Right?
• 23:14
  You you're not putting any limitations on yourself from Jump Street, which I think are
• 23:19
  inherent in the if you are trained by someone else and you are taking these courses that you
• 23:26
  are inherently putting kinda limitations on yourself.
• 23:30
  And I know every teacher is different in that and some people can be you know, open up new
• 23:35
  doors to you, but I think there is a little bit because I've never been classically trained in
• 23:40
  music whatsoever.
• 23:42
  And I think that will it just gives me a a different perspective because it's not altered
• 23:48
  by anyone else's lens.
• 23:50
  Yeah.
• 23:51
  True.
• 23:51
  True.
• 23:53
  I read an article during during the time I was writing the book that this guy selling the
• 24:02
  course, that about 80 or so percent of the population would like to write a book.
• 24:08
  Right?
• 24:08
  But only 1% of that 80% actually writes a book.
• 24:13
  And then even in that 1%, even though a lot of books get published every day, a lot of people
• 24:19
  get stuck.
• 24:20
  And who knows what the reasons are?
• 24:24
  They just can't you know, they get stuck on the idea and all that.
• 24:28
  With me, the way I the way with my thinking process, if I had taken a course, I probably
• 24:34
  would have got stuck because I would have been doing it from the point of, okay.
• 24:40
  This is how I learned how to do it.
• 24:41
  Stick to it.
• 24:43
  And since I had no training or whatever, it just I'm I'm fortunate that it came out the way
• 24:48
  it did.
• 24:49
  You know?
• 24:50
  It's like there was no barriers for me to for me to get stuck on.
• 24:54
  It just the only thing that I got stuck on was just the beginning and then after that.
• 24:59
  So, actually, for me, the way I am, the way I work, actually, it worked out just fine.
• 25:04
  You know?
• 25:04
  But there's a lot of good there's a lot of great writers that are classically trained, and
• 25:09
  they've come out with some great books.
• 25:11
  Right?
• 25:11
  There's so many of them.
• 25:13
  Right?
• 25:14
  And I think too when you're when you're when you do two courses, I think the process might
• 25:23
  even take a little longer because the lens that you're that you're proofreading your work is
• 25:30
  is, I would say it's more it's broader.
• 25:33
  Right?
• 25:33
  Because you look at a lot you look at things from every angle.
• 25:37
  You know, with me, I wasn't looking at it in so many angles.
• 25:41
  It just came out the way you did.
• 25:43
  But, you know, it works both ways.
• 25:45
  I think I think both ways were great.
• 25:47
  If if presented with if presented to me to take a course, hey.
• 25:51
  I'll consider it.
• 25:52
  Just like you came up with, you know, doing the the podcast.
• 25:54
  Right?
• 25:55
  I'm I'm I'm a pretty open minded guy.
• 25:57
  It's like, hey.
• 25:57
  Whatever can help me become a better storyteller.
• 26:01
  Absolutely.
• 26:02
  You know, I would take it.
• 26:05
  You touched on something at the beginning that you you probably could have kept writing, but
• 26:09
  because you had this the Halloween time frame for the release, And even though it hurts you
• 26:15
  in the the marketing side and being able to actually get it out there and go, I I think
• 26:20
  that you touched on something interesting there that sometimes it it's best to just do
• 26:26
  something and create it and and finish it rather than trying to finish it perfectly.
• 26:31
  Because I think that's also where a lot of people can get stuck at is that, well, it's not
• 26:35
  perfect yet.
• 26:36
  Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be perfect.
• 26:40
  You can always do another volume or you can elaborate on that idea further and and maybe
• 26:45
  revise it and rerelease the book in the future when you have that.
• 26:50
  But I think so many people get paralyzed by trying to finish a perfect product rather than
• 26:56
  just finishing a product and releasing it.
• 26:59
  Absolutely.
• 27:00
  You know, that's that's that's the point I wanted to make earlier.
• 27:04
  I think a lot of people get stuck.
• 27:05
  It's like, oh, no.
• 27:06
  My book has to be perfect.
• 27:08
  Well, you gotta take it you gotta look at it at the point of view of the reader.
• 27:13
  Right?
• 27:13
  If you're looking at a book and you like it so far, but it's not perfect, how would the reader
• 27:17
  look at your book?
• 27:18
  Would they still enjoy your story?
• 27:20
  Does your story make sense?
• 27:22
  Does did you have do you have character development?
• 27:25
  Does the story flow?
• 27:26
  Do you have great moments in there where people are, like, really, you know, moments?
• 27:31
  Did you leave a cliffhanger?
• 27:33
  Did you did you have a good ending?
• 27:35
  It does your notebook has to be perfect.
• 27:38
  It's just you have to put yourself in the eyes of the reader, the person who's gonna read your
• 27:45
  book and get inspiration and be satisfied.
• 27:48
  It's like, hey.
• 27:48
  That was, you know, that was time well spent reading this book.
• 27:53
  Right?
• 27:53
  And, yeah, it's like that's another thing why people don't finish their books.
• 27:57
  They start, and then it's like, they keep throwing the paper away or just, you know, they
• 28:01
  just they throw their well, now it's not even paper.
• 28:03
  Right?
• 28:03
  They throw their laptop somewhere.
• 28:05
  Right?
• 28:05
  Because they get so frustrated.
• 28:06
  Right?
• 28:07
  Then they have to go buy another laptop.
• 28:08
  Right?
• 28:09
  But, yes.
• 28:10
  Like yeah.
• 28:11
  Because a lot of us are perfectionists too.
• 28:13
  Right?
• 28:13
  Especially when we wanna create something where we're creators and we wanna bring something out
• 28:18
  to the world, and it's like and you feel it's like, oh, no.
• 28:22
  This is not gonna Well, you don't know that.
• 28:24
  The good thing that one thing I didn't do, blah blah blah, that I should have as I'm a I'm a do
• 28:29
  it as I when I do volume two is I'm a have people read it in in as I as it progresses.
• 28:34
  Right?
• 28:35
  So to make sure that the story flows not just from my perspective, but from the reader's
• 28:40
  perspective.
• 28:41
  And so I believe for out there, for the people who are listening to this podcast, if you're a
• 28:46
  creator and you're you're writing a book and you're stuck, you know what?
• 28:49
  Put in the eyes of someone else.
• 28:51
  See what how they feel about it.
• 28:53
  See if it flows for them, and then take their ideas and just work from that.
• 28:58
  Right?
• 29:00
  Yeah.
• 29:00
  Incredible points.
• 29:01
  Well and, Rick, before I let you go today, and I wanna, you know, tell everybody where they
• 29:06
  can find the book, dancingwolfman.com.
• 29:09
  Wolfman is w o l f e m a n.
• 29:13
  And but I I know that you've sent the book off and now have a screenplay from this and hoping
• 29:20
  to, you know, create this into a a feature film as well, whether that be a a short film or, you
• 29:27
  know, kind of a full length feature to be seen and to be determined yet.
• 29:32
  But I I I was interested in I know that you kinda left it open ended where, okay, we'll do
• 29:38
  volume two.
• 29:39
  Was that something that, you know, halfway through the process, you knew that there was
• 29:44
  going to be more stories to tell for the character, or was it something as you're
• 29:49
  getting to the end and wanting to release it that you're like, look.
• 29:52
  We can tell more of the stories and and extrapolate more from this in the future and
• 29:57
  and setting sights on a volume two?
• 30:00
  No.
• 30:00
  No.
• 30:01
  That that came early on.
• 30:02
  I I knew I knew there was more because the one thing the main thing about my book is my my
• 30:09
  protagonist doesn't die, and none of his none of the other main characters die.
• 30:13
  So it's a it's a continuation of that story.
• 30:16
  I just wanted to do volume one just because of the Halloween thing coming up, and I wanted to
• 30:20
  get it out there.
• 30:22
  And I actually have at least four books that I'd like to get published from this.
• 30:30
  And even maybe, you know, later on down the line, I get somebody that can collaborate, some
• 30:36
  artists.
• 30:36
  I'd like to do also graphic novels.
• 30:40
  Right?
• 30:40
  Because werewolf a werewolf's an action figure.
• 30:43
  Right?
• 30:43
  And graphic novels are great, right, with the drawings and all the captions and, you know,
• 30:47
  the the they make the motion and everything.
• 30:50
  I would be I think it would be a a great graphic novel.
• 30:53
  And my other two book my other four books, aside from the graphic novels, would be volume
• 30:58
  two, of course, the continuation.
• 31:00
  And then I wanna do an origins and go deep in the wolf net lore, you know, where it
• 31:04
  originated from and put that into the story with my protagonist and their group.
• 31:09
  And then I also wanna do two prequels, one for his love interest in her life, her entry to his
• 31:16
  life leading up to where she meets Titus.
• 31:19
  And then Everett Kane, the the is another main character in the book, a guy that looks like an
• 31:26
  antagonist, but because of what happens, because of who Titus is as a wolf man, he
• 31:31
  becomes his ally and then have a prequel of him and his interesting life leading up to where
• 31:36
  they meet Titus.
• 31:37
  Right?
• 31:38
  And these are the this is the trio.
• 31:39
  These are the main characters right there, and then just continue it from there.
• 31:43
  I love how a singular moment driving home from a Super Bowl has become an entire franchise
• 31:50
  now.
• 31:51
  You you have it all, the graphic novels and the series of books and movies and everything that
• 31:57
  will go along with this.
• 32:00
  If you could go back in time to 1998 and and to, you know, having lived it all now, did you
• 32:09
  ever think that singular memory and maybe that vision of the wolf man on the side of the road
• 32:16
  as you're driving through the night and the rolling hills with the cow pastures.
• 32:21
  Could you have ever dreamed that it would have gotten to this point?
• 32:24
  No.
• 32:25
  No.
• 32:25
  Not at all.
• 32:26
  But I'm I'm glad that memory stuck with me.
• 32:29
  You know?
• 32:29
  I have I have a good memory.
• 32:30
  I have a lot of good memories of my life.
• 32:32
  And who knows what other memories that I have from my life, you know, might might might come
• 32:38
  to fruition.
• 32:38
  Right?
• 32:39
  Might come to other stories.
• 32:40
  And and, again, you know, I believe people who write in artists and all that, sculptures,
• 32:47
  paintings, you know, create videos, those people get inspired by, you know, special
• 32:53
  moments in their lives.
• 32:54
  I'm truly no different than anyone else.
• 32:56
  But, yeah, I had no I had no inkling that something like that would create something, but
• 33:01
  I'm grateful it did.
• 33:02
  I'm grateful it did.
• 33:03
  So
• 33:04
  Well, and I think so much of what is learned is the process.
• 33:08
  And and through learning processes by which you write or making you know, building
• 33:13
  relationships with, you know, publishers and screenwriters and all of these these people
• 33:17
  that eventually, it gets easier and easier because you're repeating the same process, and
• 33:23
  the stories really just start to take care of themselves.
• 33:25
  And it it's in learning and having the the courage to begin the process and the, you know,
• 33:34
  the wherewithal and the perseverance to learn and perfect processes that really make, you
• 33:40
  know, a a guy like a Stephen King or something who's written, I don't even know how many
• 33:45
  novels at this point, that you don't get there without a a great bit of grit and determination
• 33:52
  to see things through.
• 33:53
  And as you, you know, get better at the processes, that it becomes inherently easier as
• 33:59
  you go.
• 34:00
  And I I think as you as you build this franchise and whether it you know, we we build
• 34:06
  a podcast out of it and the movies and everything that eventually what you build is a
• 34:10
  a community and a fan base if you want, of readers and people who are now invested in
• 34:16
  these stories as much as you are.
• 34:18
  And then now it not becomes something necessarily for yourself, but it becomes
• 34:22
  something for the readers who want to see more, who begin to see more and more of themselves,
• 34:28
  whether it's in Titus or the love interest or someone inside of this story.
• 34:32
  And maybe there's spin off stories that come from all of it as you've alluded to with the
• 34:36
  prequel stuff.
• 34:37
  I just I I love that you have a massive vision for this.
• 34:41
  As someone who has big visions himself, it always inspires me to to work with others and
• 34:47
  and to get to meet people that are doing, you know, maybe in different industries and a
• 34:52
  completely different story lines, but the passion is the same.
• 34:57
  Yeah.
• 34:58
  No.
• 34:58
  No.
• 34:58
  I'm I'm excited, Bubba.
• 35:00
  I'm excited for for this universe.
• 35:02
  And and it's and it's and it's still in its early stages, I would consider it.
• 35:06
  I've been told that it takes my book got published.
• 35:10
  It it was published on December ninth last year.
• 35:13
  I've been told by several people that it takes a while for a book to really get recognized and
• 35:18
  out there.
• 35:19
  It takes about a year to a year and a half.
• 35:21
  And so in the beginning, like, early this year after it got you know, after it was published,
• 35:26
  I was like, oh, man.
• 35:28
  Nothing's happening.
• 35:28
  Nothing's happening.
• 35:29
  And then I kept doing some research and reading articles about it, and it's like it's like, you
• 35:33
  know what?
• 35:34
  Be patient.
• 35:35
  Do what I have to keep doing.
• 35:37
  You know?
• 35:39
  Build my community.
• 35:40
  Meet a lot of interesting people who've done it before me.
• 35:43
  Be and I love being on podcasts.
• 35:46
  I think this podcast is great.
• 35:48
  You've been a great host, and I I love talking about it.
• 35:51
  I think podcast is a great medium to to get some recognition and build your credibility and
• 35:56
  your brand and, just keep doing what I'm doing.
• 35:59
  Right?
• 35:59
  Just to to just grind away.
• 36:02
  Right?
• 36:02
  It's it's this is a marathon.
• 36:04
  This is not this is not a one time, oh, it didn't work.
• 36:08
  Nothing happened the first six months.
• 36:09
  What's the point of continue?
• 36:10
  Like, no.
• 36:11
  It takes a while.
• 36:12
  It's like and, you know, and now with social media and with electronics and software and
• 36:19
  people's attention span being so short, you know, you you gotta keep doing different things
• 36:24
  to get their attention and, you know, use different techniques to garner their attention
• 36:31
  and then to cook them and keep them there.
• 36:34
  Right?
• 36:34
  So it's a learning process, but the one thing I'm learning about this whole thing, Bella, is
• 36:38
  just be patient.
• 36:39
  You know?
• 36:40
  Grind away, keep doing it, and just be patient, and do the right things, and, you know, build a
• 36:46
  community, use feedback, and, and, you know, it it takes a village.
• 36:53
  Right?
• 36:53
  It's like, yeah, I wrote it, but I'm not gonna get this out by myself.
• 36:57
  So, it's sort of like a long term collaboration project in a way.
• 37:02
  Right?
• 37:04
  Yep.
• 37:04
  And it'll only get bigger and better as it goes.
• 37:07
  Rick, I I appreciate you coming on the show today.
• 37:10
  I'm so grateful to have you as a friend out here in the world creating some really
• 37:16
  incredible, you know, content and a lot more than just a book.
• 37:20
  You have big visions for where this goes.
• 37:22
  I hope that us here at Booms TV as well get to be a part of that eventual movie and whatever
• 37:29
  that becomes on the visual side.
• 37:31
  I can't wait to read the book.
• 37:33
  I hope I got a copy coming in the mail here soon that I'll have a great time reading and
• 37:38
  being a part of the process as we get into the, you know, the Halloween season, we'll be here
• 37:43
  before we know it and making it a big marketing push this year in October and pushing it out
• 37:49
  there and introducing people to a new character.
• 37:52
  And I think that, while the wolf man story and there are many of them out there now that
• 37:59
  you've put a different spin on it, and I think that the world is ready for something like
• 38:03
  that.
• 38:04
  And I'm so happy to be now a part of this and the lore of Titus in the dancing wolf man.
• 38:10
  Rick, thanks for being a part of the show today, and and thank you for being part of the
• 38:13
  scene.
• 38:14
  Ah, Bubba, thank you.
• 38:15
  Thank you for such a great show and very grateful.
• 38:19
  Much appreciate it.
• 38:20
  I'm glad you gave me a little little window here to tell my story.
• 38:25
  And and one thing I wanna tell everybody before we go, it it's it's Bubba's had it at the
• 38:31
  bottom there.
• 38:33
  My book's available on all, it's like, unavailable on the 16 sites, you know, Amazon,
• 38:39
  Barnes and Noble, Apple Books.
• 38:42
  Also, you can buy it on my website too as well.
• 38:44
  If you go there on the main on the main page, on the home page at the very top, you'll see a
• 38:49
  buy button.
• 38:49
  You could get it there.
• 38:51
  And one of the things I I stress now, very much is, please, after you read after you buy the
• 38:58
  book and read it, please, please, please leave a, go back and leave a review.
• 39:03
  Those are very important, because it helps other readers discover the book.
• 39:09
  It helps the it helps Google, get the book out there when people are searching for a certain
• 39:15
  type of, genre they wanna read, like paranormal, romanticy, wolfman story, or just
• 39:20
  any good story.
• 39:21
  So please leave a review.
• 39:23
  Again, it's not just to help me, but it helps other readers who wanna discover something new.
• 39:27
  So thank you.
• 39:28
  Thank you for having me.
• 39:29
  Fantastic.
• 39:30
  Well and once again, that website is dancing wolfman.
• 39:34
  Wolfman is wolfeman.com.
• 39:38
  You can find the book there.
• 39:40
  Make sure to follow Rick on the platforms and go buy the book.
• 39:43
  It's gonna be a great read for you, and there's a lot more to come there.
• 39:48
  So, Rick, once again, thank you for being part of the scene.
• 39:51
  Alright.
• 39:51
  Thank you for having me, Bubba.