Creative Writing Wizard

We need to stop plotting the course and instead, land the plane on our plans to make a difference by getting to the “do” part…
That’s because love is never stationary.
In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it.
Simply put, Love Does.

Bob Goff

1. Trying Times
2. Support Indie
3. Leaning In
4. What Can You Do
5. November Indie Book Releases

Trying Times

I want to note before we get into this section that there is always hope. As long as we don’t give up and we continue to push forward together, we can make a difference. I will speak to more of what can be done and what I’m doing about it, but I wanted to take a moment to talk about why I’m so driven to do what I’ve been working on.

Firstly, I want to see fellow creatives succeed! It’s been in my DNA with every job or project I’ve taken on. I learn what I can, and then turn around and share it with others to make life easier for someone else. It’s not enough for me to succeed, but for me to do what I can to help those around me at the same time. To use my growing platform to boost someone else’s signal.

I also feel a great deal of empathy for my fellow creatives, with the recent election result in the US being the most recent example. The news shook the creative community, especially women, and the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities. While I’m not in the US and am not directly impacted by the result of the election and what it may bring, I have many friends and fellow creatives who are. After the initial results were announced I saw an outpouring of emotions ranging from anger to fear to shock. My heart ached, watching from the sidelines, as people came to terms with this reality.

I won’t get into the politics of it, but I have seen an increase in aggression and discrimination towards women, LGBTQ and visible minority communities.  I also worry for all of those who are living in the US who could be impacted by the outcome of the election. Be it to the extent of an increase in discrimination or to a greater extent of banning creative works (books, art, etc).

To add to the challenges that people are facing, especially in the creative communities, the rise of AI has added another level of market saturation and complexity. Some companies and tools are less egregious, whereas others pose a risk to completely replacing creative jobs. These technologies seem to be accelerating at an unprecedented pace as they continue to do things we never thought would be possible.

The subject of AI and it’s impact on creatives is nuanced and complex, which I want to talk more about next year. For the purpose of this post I want to highlight that this is yet again another reason why I feel that now is the time to rally around the banner of supporting indie creatives. I am driven to do what I can to ensure that indie creatives are seen and supported.

Support Indie

Sitting on the sidelines, I felt helpless to do anything but watch my friends and colleagues face these challenges. Over the last month I have focused much of my thinking towards this problem with one question: What can I do about it?

I knew that I wanted to do something, but it wasn’t clear what I could do living in another country. Out of this pondering, I thought, well I have a website… maybe I can do something with that? But doubts rose up in me and I questioned if it’d even make a dent.

Recently I’ve been listening to Bob Goff’s books on Audible. In one story he talked about how a wild idea popped up in his life and he decided that no matter how crazy the idea was, he’d just say yes to each step along the way. This led him to a place where he had a huge amount of impact (and still does), all because he was willing, wanted to help, and did something a little crazy. (Mentioned in his book “Love Does”).

So instead of sitting around and wondering if it’d even work, I said to myself: Let’s do this. This led to the creation of the Indie Release Radar.

I didn’t have all the information or the whole idea planned out, I just had the idea of ‘a place to support Indie Authors’ and went with it. I only had a few authors who I had chatted with about the idea, and so I started adding books one by one.

The interest in the project picked up quickly and I had to set up a Google form just to programmatically capture the information and simplify the process because I was getting so many submissions. Only a week later, the page now showcases more than 50 different authors ranging across many genres!

Since launching the Indie Release Radar, I’ve also seen an explosion of support and interest. Over 500 views on the page within the first two weeks and 150 clicks on links for author info or book pages!

Leaning In

I’m so glad to see this resource helping both authors and readers, but I’m just getting started. I want to give a little glimpse into the overall plan for this effort and how you can join in and help.

The Indie Release Radar is the first step towards a grand plan of several ways that we can support indie creatives. I’m also working on the next phase which is to provide a way to highlight books that have come out in the past (where the Indie Release Radar is more focused on current month and future months).

Another area that I’m working on setting up is a hub of resources that authors and aspiring authors can come to. For example, a page referencing quality indie artists! I’m sure you’ve gotten your share of bots bombarding you with AI made images, which makes it hard for authors to find artists to do book covers, page designs, or character art. Not only would this help authors, but it’d also help to validate the artists that are still working hard!

I’ve also had the privilege of being invited to speak on a podcast about the work I’m doing here and the impacts of AI on writers, which is such a cool opportunity! (more about that in January).

At each step of the way as a new crazy idea pops into my head or opportunity presents itself, I feel the doubt rise up to squash it. But then I think about what could come of all this community effort and I push past it. I lean in, and do what I can to support my fellow indie creatives.

What Can You Do

Someone recently asked me what they could do to help, and this is a great question! These ideas are just getting off the ground, so for the short term, sharing this post and reposting my social posts about this project helps immensely!

When I posted this post on Threads, it had a few hundred views and a number of engagements (which is awesome!). But with the help of Thriends, people commented and reposted it to boost the signal. Now it’s in the thousands of views and over 200 engagements!

All to say, it may not feel like a lot, but every signal boost (commenting / reposting) gets these posts in front of more people. And as we’ve seen, the more people that see these pages, the more these authors are seen.

I have future plans that I’m not quite ready to talk about for ways people can help out, so for now I’d recommend subscribing to the newsletter so you don’t miss out on it.

November Indie Book Releases

And finally, I’m updating my monthly newsletter to house the previous month of released Indie books!

If you’re looking for a book to read or to support an Indie Author, check out these books!

If you want to be notified about new books coming out, subscribe! I send a newsletter once a month in the first two weeks of the month. I’ll include the previous month’s releases just like so!

Thank you for taking the time to read through this post. I can’t say thanks enough to the many supportive creatives who have helped get the word out and to all the amazing authors who were willing to join in this effort.

Stay creative!

Book Releases

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