re517: Why So Many Writers Stay Hidden

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Today we're going to be interviewing this guy. His name is Bradley Charbonneau. Say hi, Bradley. [00:00:05] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. [00:00:07] Speaker A: Hi, it's Susan. This week I'm doing something special with my friend Bradley. We're here having tea and coffee here in the heart of Utrecht, and we found this beautiful location, and I thought, why not try doing an interview with him here? I have had Bradley on my channel a couple of times, and I've been on your channel, too. I feel very. [00:00:29] Speaker B: I know. Very official. [00:00:30] Speaker A: Let's loosen up a little bit. So Bradley here has often inspired me to write, and today I just wanted to have a little bit of a chat about writing. You've written 40 books, self published and done mostly self published. Most. Oh, okay. That is exciting. I don't know what to do. So we're just going to have some fun right now. We've known each other for several years, and we learned. We met each other at Toastmasters. [00:01:03] Speaker B: Right. [00:01:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Toastmasters, you know, trains you to be a public speaker. And I. Yeah, let's make sure they're on. And today I wanted to talk to you because I'm getting a little bit more into writing again. I've been on the channel talking about how I came to the Netherlands. [00:01:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:25] Speaker A: And how I found community was through a writing competition. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:29] Speaker A: I'm gonna say it right this time. It's NaNoWriMo. Thank you. My. My commenter from the other day. And I really love the whole space of writing because it is a community. Often people think writers are solitary. Well, that's the work we do when we're writing. It's a creative flow, but it doesn't mean there isn't a community around that. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. [00:01:58] Speaker A: So I guess what I want to ask you is what did you know? How did you come into the whole idea of writing and give a little background on how it started and maybe what did it give you? Or what does writing give you? [00:02:13] Speaker B: Wow. Wow. Thanks for having me, Susan. It's great to be here. [00:02:22] Speaker A: It's our talk show. [00:02:23] Speaker B: It's our talk show. Thank you, Susan. [00:02:25] Speaker A: Thanks for being here. [00:02:26] Speaker B: Yes. We're gonna have to go way back if I. If I'm really going to get into it, because I. I think when it first hit me. So I. I did my junior year abroad in France. Montpellier. [00:02:42] Speaker A: And college or high school? [00:02:45] Speaker B: College. [00:02:46] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:46] Speaker B: And to date myself, we don't have to. We weren't doing no Internet, and so there's no Internet. I literally wrote. I'm sure kids like, what are you talking about? I Wrote letters home for one thing, but not only that, but because it cost. It cost money, of course, but kind of a lot of money if you're on a student budget to even send like fat letters home. [00:03:11] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:03:11] Speaker B: And so I would. [00:03:12] Speaker A: They would weigh them, right? [00:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah, oh yeah. And I would write on these lights blue air mail paper. Do you remember that stuff? [00:03:18] Speaker A: Oh my God. [00:03:19] Speaker B: So not only that, but even the cheapy, cheapskate that I was, I. I would write on both sides, but it's almost like translucent, right. So you can't even read it. You have to put it on something. So otherwise both sides show. [00:03:31] Speaker A: Doing fine. Bye. [00:03:33] Speaker B: So I would write my. My. My mom kept them for years and years. In fact, I still have them. But I would write them. I am not joking. 50 like 5, 0. 50 page letters on these little tiny. On these, on these. Well, they were a four, eight and a half by 11 or a four but super thin. And I would just write these novels of stories. Not stories, but I don't know, was this. What's going on? In fact, I haven't read them in so long, I don't even know what I'm talking about. [00:04:03] Speaker A: The original newsletter. [00:04:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:05] Speaker A: Like without the email. [00:04:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And so I wrote these. There's stacks of them. And I don't think this was intentional at all, but this got me into my writing practice. But I think I was. I was most. Not most, but at least influenced by the. One of the very first books I read was. Was Jaws by Peter Benchley. [00:04:29] Speaker A: Okay. [00:04:30] Speaker B: It's funny because I don't, you know. Well, you know, certain books and you know the authors, of course, but like that one, and I doubt it's some highly literary masterpiece, but it was the first one where I really realized for the very first time the. The imagination that. That words on a page could bring into your. Into your own mind. [00:04:52] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:53] Speaker B: I almost, I was almost like a little kid where I looked like where. How am I seeing these images? How am I getting this visualization through these words on a page? And how am I seeing this shark in this water? And I'm scared, right? How am I scared by words? How does that happen? [00:05:09] Speaker A: Right. [00:05:09] Speaker B: So that was sort of the very early signs of. Of writing just letters to my parents and then reading novels and when I was. When I was living in Europe, you know, you take trains and you read books and I read books like a fiend. [00:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:25] Speaker B: I just loved it. [00:05:25] Speaker A: Especially also the airplane too. When you're on. [00:05:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:28] Speaker A: Eight and a half hour flight or [00:05:30] Speaker B: however long yeah, yeah. [00:05:32] Speaker A: California. [00:05:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:33] Speaker A: It's like I remember reading some really good books that kept me engaged the entire time. [00:05:40] Speaker B: Well, and then. Okay, I'm. I'm putting dates on things again. But, you know, we didn't have cell phones to look at on the train. [00:05:47] Speaker A: And so look outside, read a book, [00:05:50] Speaker B: look outside, talk to people. I know, it's so. I sound like such a father. I am a father. [00:05:56] Speaker A: But. [00:05:57] Speaker B: But reading books was a thing you did. [00:05:59] Speaker A: It makes me think about. We just watched this movie, the Life of Chuck, which is written by Stephen King. It's a short story that was made into a movie. [00:06:08] Speaker B: Okay. [00:06:09] Speaker A: And it was recently on tv. And it's a really cool. It's a short story made into this movie. And I'm not going to give it away, but I think the power in this movie was there's a certain point. People didn't have the Internet. [00:06:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:26] Speaker A: And they had to start talking to each other because everything was going wrong. [00:06:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:31] Speaker A: Because nobody knew how to do things like bridges were closing and roads and stuff. Because everything was on the grid, basically through the digital age. And there was something beautiful about that, remembering. People had to connect. Right. To a certain. You know, you didn't have to talk to strangers on the train. [00:06:50] Speaker B: But yeah. [00:06:51] Speaker A: Something goes wrong or something, you're more inclined than going to your phone to find out. Yeah. Right. [00:06:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:58] Speaker A: So, sorry, I'm just bringing that up. [00:07:00] Speaker B: No, no, it's, it's. [00:07:02] Speaker A: It does. It is a different time, but it is also kind of a. It opens that door of the imagination when you don't have this little phone in your hand all the time. Right. [00:07:14] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's interesting thing. You know, it's interesting thinking back to the. That time in France, because I don't think at that time I thought very much about writing as a career or author or much at all, with the exception of it's some like, fantasy dream that is such a fantasy that'll probably never come true. And so just keep that fun fantasy thing and it's not really gonna happen. Right. [00:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah, that's me too. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And so that's the way I was back then. And then fast forward many, many years and, you know, then I did crazy things like an MBA degree. I CHUCKLE so you never. [00:08:00] Speaker A: It was a fantasy. Right. [00:08:02] Speaker B: It was a fantasy that I didn't really ever think would come true. [00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:08] Speaker B: And then those are safe. Right. Because it's not really you. That's what those people do, not me. [00:08:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:15] Speaker B: And I don't know why necessarily. Probably. No. Okay. From my father, but my dad was very traditional and you know, get a job and work for 40 years and get a watch and go on a cruise and retire. Right. [00:08:27] Speaker A: So I love that. [00:08:28] Speaker B: Which he kind of did. And cruise. Yes, I did none of that. And, and so. But that's, I think, why I thought the whole writer career. [00:08:38] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:39] Speaker B: That, you know, that's not. That's not serious. That's a hobby and know that's for fun. So I, I think I had that either consciously, but probably more subconsciously ingrained in me that that's not a real thing. So I could do it for fun or I can do it on the train. I write little stories. [00:08:56] Speaker A: You are. [00:08:57] Speaker B: But I couldn't stop, basically. [00:08:58] Speaker A: Right. And you came back to it later. But in between, what did you do? What did you go into? [00:09:04] Speaker B: Well, then I did all that real world stuff, like I got an mba and I. I basically got an mba, the weirdo that I am. I basically got an MBA so that I could live in Europe. That was. [00:09:16] Speaker A: It sounds good to me. [00:09:18] Speaker B: I know. But I'll never forget because other people got MBAs to like get the right job or whatever. [00:09:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:23] Speaker B: And I didn't really care about the job I was going to get. In fact, I didn't care at all which I was gonna get. I just cared that if I do this thing. [00:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:31] Speaker B: I can attain that other thing. [00:09:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:34] Speaker B: So do mba. That's. That means I can get a work permit and work legally and make money, be able to pay rent and stuff in a foreign country. That's all I cared about. [00:09:45] Speaker A: I did a similar thing. [00:09:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:47] Speaker A: So I was a French major. So I loved French. Oh, yeah. [00:09:50] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. [00:09:51] Speaker A: And you lived in Germany, though, after. [00:09:53] Speaker B: Right, the day after university, I moved to Germany. Makes no sense at all. [00:09:57] Speaker A: Well, whatever. It's cool. I mean, it's Europe and it's different and. But that was kind of why I went into it. I didn't have a plan. I didn't know. I just loved speaking French. [00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:09] Speaker A: And I was actually taught by a French woman in my hometown. [00:10:13] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:10:13] Speaker A: She lived in Normandy during World War II. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:10:16] Speaker A: Yeah. And she taught me a lot about. I. I do this in one of my videos where, I mean, she had a heavy impact on me. She was like one of my favorite teachers because she took me on as a private student and she didn't do that for people. And I remember trying to get a French sentence right and you know, the verb is here, but then it's all messed up to us. And I Said something like, oh, that's, that's wrong is what I said. [00:10:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:46] Speaker A: And then she said, it's not wrong, it's just different. [00:10:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:53] Speaker A: And that thing that was like when I was 13 and that was like a month, but that's right. [00:10:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:59] Speaker A: I mean, that's right. That's a better way to look at differences is that it's not right or wrong, it's just different. And anyway, she taught a lot of those kind of things and that's what culture is all about. [00:11:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:14] Speaker A: There's just different. [00:11:15] Speaker B: You could apply the same logic to the idea that, oh, I need to go get a quote unquote, real job. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:22] Speaker B: And not be a writer. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:24] Speaker B: So. Which is what I did for many years. Right. [00:11:27] Speaker A: And so. Yeah, I think we all fall into that. Right. [00:11:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:32] Speaker A: That the creative in us gets muzzled so that we can make a living. We both have children, we have to pay the bills and. [00:11:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:44] Speaker A: And so sometimes those things get squashed out. [00:11:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:48] Speaker A: That's a cameo appearance. [00:11:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:50] Speaker A: You guys want to know who that was? [00:11:51] Speaker B: She was here earlier. She was going to lend us lipstick or. Or the other way around. [00:11:56] Speaker A: She was RT lady. Anyway, this is totally going on. So when did you get to the point where. Because I remember this a little bit. We've known each other for so long. Writing was like a. No, stop. I have to do this. [00:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:21] Speaker A: Point. [00:12:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:22] Speaker A: It's not just this little fantasy. [00:12:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:24] Speaker A: 50 page letters home. When. When did that kind of come in? [00:12:30] Speaker B: It was very clear. I. Many years later. Right. So then I. I lived in France. Yay. Lived in Germany. Gippy. Yahoo. I got the MBA in the Netherlands. Stayed in the Netherlands for two more years. Worked corporate, the whole thing. And meanwhile, I'll never forget this. I am. I would drive home from my corporate job, literally in my suit and tie, and I would stop on the. The highway A1 from Narden back to Amsterdam. I lived in the center of Amsterdam. Right. Living my corporate life, whereas secretly I would drive home from work and I would stop on the side of the road at the. The truck stock or whatever. [00:13:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:16] Speaker B: And I would write. [00:13:18] Speaker A: Because this is a new. This is new information for me, people. Wow. That's amazing. [00:13:23] Speaker B: When I got home, I had a roommate who I was a great guy. I really liked him. He's an Irish guy and he's a banker. And so that was my secret life. Right. And with my MBA buddies. Right. And they knew me. I'm not your corporate typical corporate guy. So I didn't fit in with the regular Corporate crowd. But still, they were friends enough where. Well, it's weird. They were friends enough where I didn't tell them. [00:13:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:47] Speaker B: They were still my corporate dudes. And if I said, I actually want to be a writer, they probably would have been okay with it. Who cares? [00:13:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:53] Speaker B: But they probably would have also said, yeah, it's gonna give up that fancy apartment and you're. And your fancy job. [00:14:00] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:00] Speaker B: Which is true, in a sense. [00:14:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:03] Speaker B: So I would. I've done this for. I did this for many years. I just. That's why they call it in the closet. Right. I mean, there's other things that are in the closet, but this was. I was in the writer's closet for many, many, many years. And then finally, I'll never forget, because it was a certain day. It was November 1st, 2012. I know. Which is now. Oh, my goodness. 14 years ago. 13 years ago. Right. And John Muldoon, I wrote him in my books. He wrote the foreword to my first, most popular book every single day. [00:14:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:36] Speaker B: And he. He and I were working together. Worky work stuff. Right. Not writing stuff. And then I somehow slipped up that I was a writer, wanted to be a writer, and I had a book in the. In the drawers, as you do. [00:14:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:50] Speaker B: And so he's like, how have you not told me this? You know, we've been friends for years, and we work together closely, and how have you not told me this sort of dream of yours, that you want to be a writer, that you. What's up, jerk? You know, why don't you tell me? [00:15:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. Yeah. [00:15:06] Speaker B: Wow. And I could tell you exactly why, because as we kind of sort of alluded to earlier, if you keep these dreams at a distance. [00:15:16] Speaker A: Right. [00:15:16] Speaker B: And they're just kind of fantasies, and you think that's not really for me, that will never really happen for me. [00:15:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Then. Then you can't fail. And that's the key point. [00:15:29] Speaker A: And it. [00:15:29] Speaker B: It's safe. [00:15:30] Speaker A: It's safe, but it. Yeah. It breaks your heart a little bit, right? [00:15:35] Speaker B: Yes. [00:15:35] Speaker A: Because you were still feeding it, like, on the side of the highway, secretly feeding it, not telling anybody, but. [00:15:41] Speaker B: Yeah. It's like I had an affair, Right? [00:15:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:44] Speaker B: But with writing the pen. [00:15:46] Speaker A: With writing, I can kind of lean into that with my own personal journey. I think that's why I want to talk to more people who inspire me, like you with writing your books. And we have. We have a big idea around writing a book. [00:16:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:02] Speaker A: Right. And I know you talk about this quite a bit, and what does that bring? Like, I Go into panic and I'm not good enough. And, and I'm, I'm learning to let that go. I mean, I have books written. They're not. Right. I always say it. I'm like, ah, it's all right. You know, it's like kind of hiding. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:24] Speaker A: And I've been flirting around fictionalizing some of it because that makes me feel bad. But that's what comes up. Like. Yeah, like you just said, I can't fail. Keeps me safe. But it breaks my. These are my words. It breaks my heart a little bit that I won't give this dream to myself. [00:16:42] Speaker B: Yes, that's it. That's great. I like that. I won't give this dream to myself [00:16:48] Speaker A: because we can do anything we want. Right. [00:16:51] Speaker B: But then you can fail if you, if you come out of the closet and, and go public and say, I want to be a writer now, I can fail because if it's just a secret and only I know it. [00:17:02] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:02] Speaker B: Well, then I didn't officially say anything, so I never failed at anything because I didn't say I wanted to do it anyway. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Yes. [00:17:08] Speaker B: And it's sad. [00:17:10] Speaker A: It is sad. And it's also. There's so many ways to be a writer. Right. Like. [00:17:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:17] Speaker A: I think this is where I think you do really good with this kind of breaking through that. [00:17:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Now. [00:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah. But. [00:17:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:28] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. [00:17:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:29] Speaker A: Well, but I want to give the kudos where it's. [00:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:31] Speaker A: Because you've done it. [00:17:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:33] Speaker A: It's become part of your system to write books. [00:17:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:36] Speaker A: But you know, I, that's something. [00:17:38] Speaker B: I couldn't have done that back then. Right. Because I can tell you exactly what I was feeling. And I think I'm going to share this because I think you feel somewhat of the same way, but back then I thought writing a book meant it needs to be the best book of all time. [00:17:54] Speaker A: Yes. [00:17:55] Speaker B: It needs to be, you know, optioned by Hollywood and made into a blockbuster movie with the main. The big stars. I need to make a gazillion dollars doing it and I need to go on tour around the world and be jet settered around or whatever. So I had this crazy idea of success. And so you're pretty much, what is it that is it. Do you plan to fail or fail to plan? Right. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Plan to fail. I think. [00:18:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. You can, you can plan to fail or fail to plan something like that. And so I thought, well, I'm gonna fail. [00:18:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:31] Speaker B: If that's like my prerequisites for. Okay. Now I accomplished this dream by doing all these pretty much impossible things, right? I mean, maybe it's possible, but pretty crazy difficult. And I thought, well, you know what? I'm just not going to start because then I'm just going to fail. So the only way. And this one. This took me years to finally, like, accept. And now I just. It's one of those things I just wish you accepted earlier, but I didn't want help from anybody. Yeah, I'm. I'm so damn. You know, I can do it. I can do it myself. I've got this. Yeah, I'm strong and nobody can help me, and I don't need any help. And, yeah, I know better. Or I could. I don't know if. I don't know. I know better. I could do better. I don't know about that, but. [00:19:18] Speaker A: But it's also safer if you do it your own way, right? A little bit. There's like some containment with that as well. [00:19:23] Speaker B: Like, so John Muldoon, again, he. I really am so grateful to the guy because he. So at the time, he had a program called Monthly Experiments. Cool. And it was like, you don't drink coffee for a month, or you wake up at 5am for a month or whatever, and you do these things. It was basically habit building. And so. Oh, you don't drink coffee. Oh, you figure out that, oh, I feel better or I feel worse or whatever. You wake up early, oh, wow, I'm actually a night person. Whatever. You learned something. And that was his point. You didn't pass or fail. You learned. So he said, bradley, November, I'm going to make one. It's going to be geared to you. It's open for other people, but kind of secretly doing it for you. And then other people did it. And on November 1, you have to write every day for 30 days. That was it. There was no quality control. There was no any control. [00:20:11] Speaker A: It was just do it every single day. [00:20:14] Speaker B: Every single day. Which is exactly where the book comes from, of course. So I didn't totally know this about myself, but I just. I grabbed on and I didn't let go. So I wrote for 30 days. And somewhere, 15, 20 days in, I thought, I got this. I can do this. And that's when I sort of came out of the closet and said, I am. I didn't say, I'm gonna write the greatest novel of all time. [00:20:40] Speaker A: Right. [00:20:41] Speaker B: I didn't. I didn't even say much. I just. The fact that I came out of the closet and publicly back then, it was sort of blog posts or whatever. So I Would every single day. I would publishly publish. Ly. That's a new word. Publicly publish every thing I wrote every day. So I am going from like closet to out there. Yeah, that's super scary. And I would like tremble hitting publish all the time. But after 30 days I kind of felt used to it. And then you'll learn later from me. I don't stop. And so I went for 100 days, I went for 365 days. I went for a thousand days, 2,000 days. I went for 2,808 days in a row of publishing something every single day. Right? [00:21:24] Speaker A: Wow. [00:21:25] Speaker B: No quality control, no quantity control. Just I write, I hit publish for 2,808 days. If you calculate it's like seven plus years. And I stopped on the day my mom passed away. And it wasn't really that, that it was just sort of like, you know what, I'm good. And from then on it was easy. And it's sort of like now you talk about you're in shape, like physical shape, like for an athlete. You say, oh, I could run 10km. I can't right now, by the way. You know why? Because I'm not in running shape. So then I'm in writing shape. And so over these seven years I had written so much. Remember there's like, I'm not writing for an editor. I'm not writing really for a goal. It was just the habit. It was the frequency. The every single day there was literally times it was ten to midnight, like, oh my God, I didn't do it. And I would bang up something and hit publish at 11:59 and nobody's watching me. I don't know if like the police on me was going to arrest me. That's cool though. I just, I did it for all those days. So then I had, I had books and books in there. [00:22:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, that's cool. [00:22:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:38] Speaker A: So what I really think is interesting here because you can write every day and not hit, you don't have to publish. And I've been flirting with it. I just did a short story on my old publication, Write me weird little plug for that one. Because I wanted my writing to be in one spot, not associated with my business. Okay. Just sometimes it's easier for me to put things in different compartments. But what I'm using is substack. And substack will send out an email every day. [00:23:10] Speaker B: Ah, okay. [00:23:11] Speaker A: So I've been kind of playing with what? How could I do this? Because I love creative writing. I like non fiction writing as well, like, that's where my books are. [00:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:24] Speaker A: But I. You know, this. You know, you could just open up a blog and do this and just. You don't have to do the SEO. You know, like, none of that stuff. It's just about. Don't care stream. Boom, boom, boom. [00:23:36] Speaker B: It's about you. It's about. We have all this input, all this consuming. We read and we listen and we watch and we watch movies and we listen to podcasts and learn and we go to school. We have all this input. In my humble opinion, I think we all need to let it out, let it go. And it doesn't have to be writing. It might be audio or it could be a podcast. Could be. Could be painting, could be singing. Could be some kind of creative outlet. And even if you say you're not creative, I don't care. You're. It's some kind of outlet where you're letting it out or letting it go. It doesn't have to be public either. [00:24:10] Speaker A: Yeah. It could be you. You set up your. Your own parameters. I was watching this young man's video this morning. I was really impressed. So I ended up subscribing because he was coming really at the camera, very authentically, and talking about. Because he's a Gen Z or he's like, we've lived with these little computers. [00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:31] Speaker A: We consume too much. [00:24:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:34] Speaker A: You need to make space to create. Yes. And I was really impressed with that. Yeah, I'll tag him in this video. But his energy and his passion was what got me through the screen. Yeah. And that's what I. I know you are so exceptional with creating, and creating is in everybody. [00:24:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:55] Speaker A: It doesn't have to be the same thing. And I think what's great about writing is you're creating worlds and ideas and giving people permission and. And that's journaling. Yeah, journaling. [00:25:09] Speaker B: You can just. [00:25:10] Speaker A: For yourself and for yourself and, you know, But I think the important thing is, for me, what I hear it's about expression. [00:25:18] Speaker B: Yes. [00:25:19] Speaker A: Your own expression. [00:25:20] Speaker B: Okay. So there's a couple elements. There's also, like, I'm very visual. And so I think of a car. A car has gasoline. You put gasoline in the car, and it has the combustion and the engine and stuff. [00:25:32] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:32] Speaker B: But then it needs the exhaust pipe. [00:25:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:34] Speaker B: Have you ever seen in, like a joke movie, they put the banana in the jar in the exhaust pipe or whatever, and the car doesn't run, and so it needs that outlet. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Or. Or a sink gets clogged up. You gotta open it up. Or there's a little more on the graphic side. But a human body. [00:25:53] Speaker A: We know where he's going, people. [00:25:54] Speaker B: You know where I'm going. Eat. Well, guess what? It needs to come out somewhere. And if. And look what happens when you. When you can't. [00:26:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:02] Speaker B: Right. Or you don't. Well, then you're all. You're. You're bloated and you feel good and you're full and you're blah. And so you've got to let it out. And what goes out is often like the bad stuff. Right. So just. You got to let it out. I think we are organic beings that need to have like the input and the output. So there's one. One element is just get it out. And that's where like a morning pages. [00:26:26] Speaker A: Right. I love that. [00:26:27] Speaker B: That kind of stuff. Just get it out and just blah, blah, blah. And who cares? It's not for the Oscars. It's not for an award. It's just blah, blah, blah, lot. But then you say expression Y. And so then I think you need to get like in shape again with just getting it out. Because after you write blah, blah, blah, while you'll get bored. And then you. And then you might want to start being more quote, unquote, creative. I think many people say, oh, I'm not creative. I say, I. I have a big thing with a. Well, actually a guy we both know, David, and he talks about creative and I talk about create. [00:27:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:06] Speaker B: And he. I don't. Kind of don't care about creative. [00:27:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:11] Speaker B: I just want you to create. I want you to make stuff. I want you to produce something. Create something. Output something. [00:27:17] Speaker A: I mean, but the very nature of creating makes you creative. We can play this game that's good. You know, you're creating anyway all day long with your thoughts. [00:27:29] Speaker B: You know what, Susan? That's really good. You're by the action of creating. I'm not creative. I'm not creative. [00:27:35] Speaker A: You are. [00:27:36] Speaker B: Go create. And then I think, enough creating and you'll become a little creative whether you're trying or not. [00:27:42] Speaker A: And it's. [00:27:43] Speaker B: That's cool. I like that. [00:27:43] Speaker A: It's the same idea of I'm not a writer. [00:27:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:47] Speaker A: Because we can categorize what's good. Not. And da da, da. Where these blog posts getting back to this. [00:27:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:55] Speaker A: If it didn't mean anything, it wouldn't have gone anywhere. Right. [00:27:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:00] Speaker A: So yeah, we. We create. Create a meaning to something that stops us. But when you get in the flow of action and drop the labels and just be doing something you are a writer. [00:28:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:28:17] Speaker A: You know, you can over intellectualize anything, you know. [00:28:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And it makes a lot more fun to not do it if you over intellectualize. [00:28:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Because. Well, we got a lot of reasons to feel fear. And I know for me, outside criticism will shut me down faster than anything. [00:28:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:38] Speaker A: And now I'm kind of at the point in my life where there's a lot of things I can't do the way I used to. And that's teaching me a lot. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:46] Speaker A: That. That doesn't make me ineffective. It makes me more creative in how I need to give to do things. So that's slowing me down to see something. Right. And I know there's other ways people are menopause, blah, blah, blah. It's a portal. [00:29:01] Speaker B: And. [00:29:01] Speaker A: Yes. But also these other difficult things are happening. [00:29:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:06] Speaker A: And why the hell not? Like, that's where I'm getting, like, nobody. It's not about writing a Hollywood script that's going to become the next Jaws movie. [00:29:20] Speaker B: Right. [00:29:21] Speaker A: Just bring that back. [00:29:22] Speaker B: Or Jaws book. [00:29:22] Speaker A: Or book. Or. Yeah, whatever. [00:29:24] Speaker B: Of course, the movie came from the book. [00:29:26] Speaker A: That's what I'm thinking. [00:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:29] Speaker A: And then often when I'm writing, I see in my mind a visual, like a short story I just wrote. What it started with was a fall leaf on the ground. That's it. And then it came into this whole story of somebody crushing it. And I always write with like, almost like a movie in my head. [00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:50] Speaker A: And it's fun to play with that. [00:29:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:54] Speaker A: And anyway. Yeah. [00:29:57] Speaker B: You know that leaf on the ground and you wrote a story about or whatever. [00:29:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:00] Speaker B: So you put me onto. I'm gonna mess him up. But it's like Rob the maritime guy. [00:30:06] Speaker A: Maritime or something. [00:30:07] Speaker B: Maritime. Whatever. We. We will shout out Rob the maritime guy and we'll get his name right. Rob. I don't know. But. But you're a great guy. And I just listened to one of his YouTubes today where he was talking about sort of like the realities of being a creator or something like that. And he also said he was talking about creator versus consumer. I'm like, yes. And then he said, he says, you know what I tell people that I go on a walk in the woods. He's very much like me, walks in the woods and records. Just what I do. And he says, I walk in the woods and I don't have an idea yet, but I usually get the idea by walking in the woods. And then he said, also, it's fun to think up ideas. And then his, like, his friends who are not creators. And by the way, did I mention already that we are all creators? So anyway, the ones in denial, they're in the closet. They're in the closet. The creator, they don't even know they're in the closet, but they're in the closet. And so he said, they say to him, wow, well, you sound like you're an overworked, you know, zombie. If all you do is you go in the woods and you think about new video ideas, he's like, okay, you're just not getting it. Because I love this stuff. [00:31:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:21] Speaker B: Right. And I feel exactly the same way. I record at least, least one video per day. Right. Shorts, 15 seconds, whatever. [00:31:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:30] Speaker B: And if. And right now. So back to being in shape. I'm so in shape, like right now we're doing this. We didn't necessarily plan, we talked a little bit about content, but yeah. Not to say I can go give a one hour keynote off the top of my head. Although honestly, modest that I am, I probably could. But a 15 second short. I'm in such good shape, I could think for two seconds and think, I got an idea. Boom. Let's go. Hit record. Go. And that's practice. [00:31:57] Speaker A: That's practice. You've got your. You're in shape, your creator shape. [00:32:00] Speaker B: I also don't care about opinions anymore. [00:32:03] Speaker A: Right. And. And so this is some place I'm growing, which is why I invited this conversation because sometimes I get a little over about my video editor. [00:32:16] Speaker B: I. Yeah, over editorly. [00:32:17] Speaker A: It's my little perfectionist saboteur. [00:32:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:21] Speaker A: And also I want to create for myself. Consistency is very hard for an adhder. [00:32:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:29] Speaker A: But when you get into it, it's almost like your body needs it. Right. Like this is something you do. [00:32:35] Speaker B: Yes. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Every Thursday you have a video. [00:32:38] Speaker B: And that would be my tip for you, by the way. Like this video here, I don't think you have a weekly schedule. Right. [00:32:45] Speaker A: Friday is. [00:32:45] Speaker B: You don't know. [00:32:46] Speaker A: Okay, bring it on Friday. [00:32:48] Speaker B: All right, there we go. On Friday. So now that's the solution to all your problems. [00:32:52] Speaker A: Right? [00:32:52] Speaker B: Because you know, Friday's got to be done. And so if you've got to go to dinner or you got to take your daughter to school or whatever you say, I have an hour. So the quality of this video is going to be done in the next hour and that's it. And it's not. Oh, but I need 10 hours. Nope. Yeah, daughter's got to go to school. I've got to finish the video. Too bad for quality this week. Next week I'll start on Thursday. That's it. But you're getting it done. Not. No excuse. This week. It's going to be Saturday. Nope. No. It sound really. I sound so harsh on it, but. I am harsh. But because it's, it's all beneficial because [00:33:29] Speaker A: it's just like taking a week off from the gym. [00:33:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:32] Speaker A: Who's going to get you back there? [00:33:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:34] Speaker A: You have to. Right. I'm not saying you should be like a robot and be pumping out stuff. But. But cuz there's some capacity issues sometimes. Like I don't have the energy. But get back up and do it again. But Friday is the day. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:49] Speaker A: And sometimes people are like, well, do you need to do it that way? It's your rules. It's your rules and however you want to do it. Like I don't have a huge channel right now. But it's not about that. [00:34:03] Speaker B: It's not. [00:34:03] Speaker A: It's about giving me a space of. This is something I want to bring and this is something I want to create. [00:34:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:10] Speaker A: And consistency does build trust. [00:34:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:12] Speaker A: In yourself first. [00:34:14] Speaker B: But others as well. Susan's going to. [00:34:17] Speaker A: Susan's stories are going to drop. [00:34:19] Speaker B: And so I want one note about quality. So I, I was on a call yesterday actually and they were, I was, they were grilling me about YouTube and I said hey, look, I've gotten to 200,000 subscribers by goofing around. And, and so. But now I'm ready to. But. And I'm ready to now take it to the next level. And I want to. I want to have higher quality videos. Right. Higher quality content, whatever. That's awesome. But the thing is is that. Don't let that stop you from starting. [00:34:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:49] Speaker B: And just do the crap. Just do it wrong. Make it bad. Because there's also. It can be a blooper reel later. But also like if you think about it, if your very first video ever or your very first book ever or anything you created ever was the best thing of all time. [00:35:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:06] Speaker B: Then it's downhill from there. [00:35:08] Speaker A: I mean, or uphill. [00:35:10] Speaker B: Because if it was, it's going to be hard. They often talk about this like the authors who have the breakout bestseller first book ever. [00:35:18] Speaker A: Like, what do we do now? [00:35:19] Speaker B: How am I going to be better than that? So I sort of consciously game the system by. And this was the whole I know Susan knows my worst book ever program. I had the worst book ever program where we were intentionally writing a bad book. And part of the psychology behind that was, guess what? You just wrote this book. It's terrible. [00:35:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:39] Speaker B: And guess what? Your next book is going to be better. It also builds your confidence. That's huge. [00:35:45] Speaker A: It is. Yes. Because that's what it all comes down to. Something you've never done is always going to be something that makes you scared. And then the more you do it, 40 books later over here, the. It's not. It's not so much the word easy. The more fluid and fun and less scary. [00:36:06] Speaker B: Yes. [00:36:07] Speaker A: And more natural to you. So I love this conversation and we might be doing it again because I don't. I think there's some tabs open here that. And I'll see it. [00:36:17] Speaker B: Tabs open. That's a funny way to say it. [00:36:19] Speaker A: Do you know I was checking my browser on my phone yesterday. 388. [00:36:24] Speaker B: How did your phone even work? Wow. [00:36:27] Speaker A: But it's in the phone. So you know how like whenever you open up a browser, you don't see them unless you press the little button. [00:36:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:36:32] Speaker A: And I was like, how. What three. And it was just like press the clear all. I mean on the desktop it's a different thing. But you know, because you could see them all. But anyway. [00:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Back to. I really enjoyed this conversation and something we did not too far away from the location where. [00:36:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:52] Speaker A: That really. [00:36:53] Speaker B: Right down there. [00:36:54] Speaker A: That really inspired me in a lot of ways. Inspired to tell my Living in abroad. We both are American living in the Netherlands. And I'm feeling like that series for me is kind of coming to a close because I have a big goal this year. And I said it on that video [00:37:11] Speaker B: first because like you said at the [00:37:12] Speaker A: top of the video. Video. Our interview. [00:37:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:16] Speaker A: When you put it out there, then it becomes real and it's no longer. Which can be scary, but it also can be exciting. Right. Because it's a new adventure that you're giving to yourself. [00:37:29] Speaker B: Can I make comment on that? [00:37:30] Speaker A: Yes, please. [00:37:31] Speaker B: Spencer, who you know. Yeah. He professional speaker and he was talking about fear and excitement. [00:37:37] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:38] Speaker B: And how they're like similar energy. Similar energy that. It's almost like there's a glass wall in between them. And visual guy over here. I said, whoa. The image that comes to mind, we are on a rafting boat. [00:37:56] Speaker A: Right. [00:37:56] Speaker B: So you call those things a rafting boat. A couple years ago in Thailand and it's one of those, you know, they got their photographers hiding out and they take these great photos of you like know, going over the edge of the. The waterfall or whatever. And so in. In the back of the boat are my two boys and one boy Is, is like holding on for dear life. His face is pure, like terror. Like, this is the worst moment of my entire life. I hate every second of this. And then there's my other son who's like, yes. And he's having the time of his life and his is like, this is the best, best moment of my entire life. The two ways they're on the same boat in the same picture. [00:38:38] Speaker A: Wow. [00:38:39] Speaker B: And there's fear and there's excitement. [00:38:41] Speaker A: So funny. [00:38:42] Speaker B: And they're experiencing the same thing at the same time. So two different people can experience fear or even the same person can experience fear or excitement. And they're so close to each other that that's the trick is that I used to be scared of writing a book or the blank page or hitting record on the phone right to the camera. And. And now I just. Now it's excitement. [00:39:06] Speaker A: It's exciting, it's easier, it's. I, it's making me flash to when I did my first stand up comedy. Five minutes. [00:39:14] Speaker B: Yes. [00:39:15] Speaker A: I don't have a problem being on a stage, but it's like my own content. [00:39:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:20] Speaker A: And will it be funny? And of course it was in a good environment, but it was still a pretty big stage. [00:39:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:27] Speaker A: Two seconds before my name was called, I just decided I'm just gonna have a good time. And yeah, you're always going to be nervous. And it wasn't perfect, but it was fun the whole time. [00:39:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:40] Speaker A: Because this is something I created in my mind and now it's landing or see. You know, I had a few people talk to me about it, whatever. But that's the, that is, is what it's all about is seeing what is possible. And yeah, we all are scared. I think when I look at creators in general, whether they write books or YouTube, I'm like, oh, I love how they do it this way. And it's okay to set up some standards for what you want to do, but I think what you're inviting in this conversation or what I hear is don't let that be the Stop. [00:40:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:17] Speaker A: Like, don't be just like Rob the Mariner. Be you. [00:40:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:22] Speaker A: Do it sloppy, messy, because that's where you're going to learn. And you know, I, like I said, we had this little conversation not too far away from here and saying that I want to write a book. I've already written books. I have loads of books. They're just not published. [00:40:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:39] Speaker A: That's the thing. And I watched that video back and I was like, you know, I could back out. We, we can all back out on it. Right. [00:40:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:48] Speaker A: And I've kind of stalled out on it, and I finally made a decision. Well, I'm just going to share these little pieces that I keep creating, like, much like your blog. [00:40:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:58] Speaker A: And talk to writers and get into. Get into the environment. Really helps me make it more alive. That's something for me. [00:41:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:06] Speaker A: And that's what I did years ago when I moved here, And I did NaNoWriMo. [00:41:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:11] Speaker A: I did it right. And so many years I didn't know. But getting a community and talking to people. [00:41:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:41:23] Speaker A: Because I still have a lot of thoughts and fears about it. [00:41:25] Speaker B: Don't get me wrong, the community is great. I've. In the past several years, I've been to so many writers conferences and. [00:41:33] Speaker A: Yeah, you emceed one, Right? [00:41:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's. And I've been a regular writer at many of them, and it's. It's scary. But then when you get together with other people in the same boat, it makes the fear a whole lot more exciting. Right. [00:41:46] Speaker A: Because you have more people with you. [00:41:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And. Oh, wow, my first book, too, that was terrible. And they've moved on and. And you learn from others and it's. Yeah, yeah, it's good. [00:41:56] Speaker A: So we're gonna. So we're gonna wrap it up. But I want. Wanted to say, Bradley, you've done so many things, but what are you working on right now? What's your focus this year? It's still a secret. [00:42:16] Speaker B: I don't know. You could really, if you just follow along in our story today, it's just kind of cool. Thanks for having me again today. [00:42:25] Speaker A: Welcome to my little home. [00:42:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:27] Speaker A: Away from home. [00:42:28] Speaker B: I love what you've done to the place. Yeah. The walls made some upstart work. I know. [00:42:33] Speaker A: Here comes our comedy side. Anyway, so [00:42:38] Speaker B: having written all these books and done all these things all these days in a row and all that stuff, and people are like, oh, Bradley, I want to do that too. How do I do that? And I used to be so, like, yeah, let's go. Let's do it. And then I realized people are so different and everything. All the. The personalities get in the way and the imposter syndrome and the perfectionism and the procrastination, and it's all there. [00:43:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:01] Speaker B: And so, because I started out with these bigger, bigger goals. Let's write an awesome book together. And then that morphed into, let's write the worst book ever. So it'll be funny and we'll get it done in a weekend and short and finishable. Because I know when you finish this thing, when you accomplish something, it'll build your confidence. Right, right. But even that, I was, like, pulling teeth and like, wow, how. I know creating is powerful. I know creating gives you meaning and purpose and joy, and I know it how. So what can I make that on the tiniest of scales? And then I'm sort of into New Year's resolutions and planning your year a little bit, mainly because I'm not a planner. And so at the moment, it's the one word for your year. [00:43:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:43:49] Speaker B: So you can have a big book, but what. What could you do to help create again? But how to formulate or to solidify or clarify your upcoming year? [00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:03] Speaker B: In the smallest of ways. And Spencer again, he's like, Bradley, I've got five minutes and 20 bucks. Right. What can you give me for. For five minutes and 20 bucks? Because people don't have the attention span. They don't necessarily have the money. Maybe they don't have either. But I want to help them create something in the shortest amount of time with the biggest bang for their buck, so to speak. [00:44:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:23] Speaker B: And so recently it's been the year of you, and I want you to have sort of your best year yet. I don't like saying best year ever, because the year after that would mean it's not as good. [00:44:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:38] Speaker B: So the best year so far. [00:44:40] Speaker A: So to speak yourself up. [00:44:41] Speaker B: Right, right. And doesn't need to be best. Just, I don't know, better than last year. [00:44:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:45] Speaker B: And so I have all these different programs, and you can. Yes, I will help you write a short book. Absolutely. But as we talked about earlier, Susan, there are not many who are. I challenge you. You ready? Come on over. But there are not many who are ready to really do that work and flip that switch from fear to excitement and get the book done. So the Tiniest of Worlds is what we just worked on yesterday and you showed me today. [00:45:11] Speaker A: Yep. [00:45:12] Speaker B: And it's making a postcard of one word. All right. You see how. You see how niche down I am? You see how focused I am? We are down to one word. And it doesn't need to be a postcard. It could be the background wallpaper on your phone. And that's what we're down to. And if you can create that, then you. You can then advance. You will say, like, oh, look, I did this thing. I created this thing, this tiny little thing. And I want you to create a tiny little thing so that you will then want to create the next thing. And I want you to get addicted. Such a bad word. I want you to get addicted to creating because then I want you to feel the benefits of creating and understand the joy and happiness and meaning and purpose and all those magical things that people think are so far away and yet. Yet they're so attainable and they can be so close and, and we have them. It's just we need to open that, that release valve and create something. So I want to help you create something in the tiniest of ways. And can I shout out my website? [00:46:19] Speaker A: Yes, please. [00:46:20] Speaker B: So you can go to repossible.comr possible repossible.com yoy. Like yearofu. Yeah, yoy. And you'll see I have several options there. You can go tiny little one word background wallpaper on your phone all the way to. You can write a short book. And they're all about making this year your year. It's all about you. It's not my year. I have my own year. You have your year and we're going to make it your year. That's. [00:46:50] Speaker A: That's amazing. And I have the wallpaper. We'll take a little screenshot. [00:46:54] Speaker B: We'll do screenshots. [00:46:56] Speaker A: Thank you so much. This was great. [00:46:57] Speaker B: Yes, it was great. Tuesday. [00:46:58] Speaker A: Let's do it again soon. [00:46:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:47:00] Speaker A: And I'll see you guys next Friday. [00:47:01] Speaker B: Bye, everybody. [00:47:02] Speaker A: Bye.