Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Crazy: Interview with Dr. Rob
by Alex Shippee in Labels: , , , , ,



Over the last couple of days, I've been emailing with Dr. Rob Dobrenski (Dr. Rob) and he was nice enough to agree to do an informal email interview. For those of you who don't know, Dr. Rob is a practicing psychologist turned author who writes on ShrinkTalk.net. He explores what the life of a psychologist is like whether he's interacting with his patients, his peers, or even his mother. It's a frequently funny and a very honest look into his profession.

That began in 2007. In May 2010, after 3+ years of steady blogging he had gotten a book deal and took that leap to published author. In the interview below, we talk about what that process looked like and what helped him along the way.

Definitely check out his website (start here) and, if you like it, don't forget to take a look at his book, Crazy: Notes On and Off the Couch. 
 
1. You started your blog in 2007 with a completed manuscript already in hand. How did it feel bringing your content to the web for the first time?

Back then, I wasn't all that internet savvy (I actually just deleted my AOL account last year) so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I knew that the Rudius Media network which was launching my material was high traffic, but I wasn't clear on exactly who was reading that network and what would be expected of me. This probably helped a lot, because the ignorance allowed me to just write what I wanted, as opposed to shoehorning the material for a specific group.

2. When ShrinkTalk.Net first launched, it was part of the Rudius Media network, including high traffic sites like TuckerMax, GaijinSmash, and Mark Ebner. Did the association with those sites help you attract an initial audience?

Incredibly so. Just being connected to them allowed for great exposure, and I received a lot of emails from people saying "I just found you from reading ______'s site."

3. You've interviewed a number of my favorite writers, including Ryan Holiday, Erin Tyler, and Philalawyer. How did that process differ from writing more anecdotal pieces?

My lazy self loves doing it because I get a new blog entry without having to write all that much. But, more importantly, it's a great way to learn about other writers and how they think. All of those people you mentioned are massively talented, so it's fun and educational to talk to them. So you ask questions, let them do their thing and bam: you've got a blog entry, a great interview and hopefully new exposure for both you and the person you interviewed. 

4. At one point, you wrote that, "I print out each one[comment] to show the family I’ll never have and I attempt to contact every reader (with or without a pole) who has reached out. If I’ve failed at any point, please contact me again." Has that been difficult to maintain as your number of fans started to grow?

For the most part, it's pretty easy, because you're often just writing back a polite thank you to that person for taking the time to read your material. Sometimes, however, people with some pretty hard-core problems will write in looking for advice or guidance. Both legally and ethically I'm not allowed to delve into that stuff, so I try to direct to places that might help. But no matter how you try to spin it, you're rejecting someone who is in need, which feels awful. 

5. Was being able to point to your blog traffic, active commenters, fan mail, etc. helpful  in convincing publishers to take a risk on a first time author?

I'm still not entirely convinced traditional publishers fully grasp how internet traffic effect book sales. Most publishers were at least somewhat interested in knowing the pure numbers, but my agent asked me to specifically take the data and analyze it for them. In other words, if you have an Alexa rank of 100K, what does that mean in the bigger picture? I don't know if publishers have dedicated their resources to understanding those numbers.

6. How did it feel to get a good review from Dr. Robin Baker?

It doesn't get much better than that. He's a huge name in his field and he, like many other big time writers, could have simply passed on reading my stuff. He didn't know me or my work, but he said that after his wife chased him around the house, quoting passages from Crazy, he definitely knew he was going to like it. Crazy has been really well-received, but a lot of other psychologists/psychiatrists didn't like the casual tone. To have a scientist of Dr. Baker's magnitude give it a thumbs up was really validating.

7. How have social media channels like your Twitter and Facebook Fan Page helped you promote your book?

The Facebook page came pretty late in the game so it's a little tough to comment on it. I think Twitter helps a lot. When you tweet something that gets a lot of replies and RT's, you can see your Amazon rank jump up soon after, suggesting that people picked up a copy of your book. For those considering this, I'd recommend having a direct link to your book on your Twitter profile so that people can easily access it. I learned this from Philalawyer and basically everything he's taught me has been spot on.

8. I know this is still semi-recent, but could you talk a little about your writing position at Yahoo! Health? It seems like you were suggesting ideas that had a very clear voice and might have been too controversial for their liking.

I'd love to have some controversial, juicy dramatic story here for you, but it just doesn't exist. It was just a difference in philosophy. If you read ShrinkTalk, you know that I tend to write a lot of narrative with some psychology weaved into the piece. Yahoo was more of a "get to the point and have lots of 'take away' information" site. It was just hard for us to find a middle ground.

9. Lastly, was the decision to write a second book a difficult one?

In all honesty, I've been flip-flopping on this for a few months. There's a difference between writing a book because you really have something to say and because you can. While Crazy is not a book for everyone, I think it's fair to say that it's pretty unique with a good message.  It took a long time to write that book and my worst fear is to recycle the same message for the sake of being able to say that I wrote two books. I'm tinkering with a specific idea right now, in the self-help genre, but I only want to do it if I can bring something really new to the table. That could mean completely new ideas or possibly just a different voice, but since there are countless self-help books already out there, I want mine to be unique in its own way. Until I'm sure I can do that, I'm going to sit for a bit and let the ideas develop in my head.

Writing and Design Need to Work Together
by Alex Shippee in Labels: , , , ,




Writing and design need to work together. It can be easy to choose a single side in the verbal vs. visual debate, but they both serve a crucial role on the web.
Blogs are a publishing tool. So is Twitter. That's why it’s called a “micro-blogging" platform. They are both ways to transmit written content from a writer to a potential audience. There are some great picture and video blogs out there, but originally and primarily they are for writers.
Some of the best blogs in the world have perfectly acceptable designs (you can even say quirky and inspiring) but not a distracting amount. It has to be professional and meaningful in order to keep the visitor's attention in those first crucial moments. Lazy design will turn visitors off immediately and nobody will take your content seriously.
But it cannot do the work of growing an audience or delivering value the way written content can.
You can't rush through a book. You have to take the time to engage with the ideas, consider them internally, and actively try to learn something from them. An audience takes that bit of effort very seriously and, in an increasingly impatient culture, it can be harder and harder to hold their attention.
We need to appreciate the length of time readers, instead of viewers, will need to invest.
But we can't turn to dolled up banners when the challenge of growing an audience seems impossible, just because it’s easier than turning that attention inward and learning to write better. That honesty doesn’t come easy and pictures and colors are simpler to work with. They reflect something back at you with a satisfying directness: that’s a McDonald's, that’s a cat, and that’s a stick.
And what’s the writing? Is it a hard earned reflection on your life and personality? Or is it a well branded series of paragraphs that makes no bold statement and flirts only occasionally with empathy?
The thing is, the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover" goes both ways: good visuals can't disguise sloppy writing, and poor design will diminish even the strongest blog post or book.
In the best scenario, they're crafted alongside each other to create a single, harmonious experience. They work together to engage both those vital needs for the visitor.
And they both appreciate our time.
Sources: "Technorati: Top 100 Blogs," "2. The Honeypot: Top 1,000 Blog."

Falsifying Words
by Alex Shippee in Labels: , , , ,

If you thumb through Twitter profiles long enough, you'd be amazed how many people identify themselves as, "Internet Marketing Gurus," "Best Selling Authors," and "Social Media Experts." I don't doubt that most of these are true from a certain perspective, but as Ryan Holiday wrote, "There are hundreds of these hollow shells whose meaning has fallen away while the demand for their association has risen dramatically. We need them badly."

One of my favorite books is Dante's "Inferno", for a lot of reasons. After Dante-the-Character treks all the way past the greedy, the thieves, the angry, and the tyrants, he reaches the single most corrupting thing you can do short of actively betraying someone: falsifying words. Diluting the truth. Lying. How can that possibly be worse than stealing or being violent?

Because the communities we all live in depend on bonds of credibility and trust. When somebody gets angry and shouts at you, you react to the aggressive disturbance immediately. You know what hit you and you can identify it, respond to it, and then move on.

But when somebody puts on a charming front, ensnaring your trust, it can take a lot of stress and heartache before you see reality. Lifeless weeks can drag on while you wonder where the time has gone.

I don't know why it bothers me so much. Maybe it's because I've been struggling to meet my own standards for so long. Friends of mine - who are better writers than I am - tell me about things they've submitted to various publications. Sometimes they've been accepted, sometimes not. All I know is is that I don't have anything that's up to their level yet. And that's fine. I'm in no rush to become a "published writer" because I know the mere act of publishing something doesn't make you a professional at it.

By the same token, anointing yourself as an "Internet Marketing Guru" doesn't make it so. It falsely broadcasts a level of expertise you don't have. If people don't see you as a fraud yet, they will when they realize you can't deliver results.

Why Do You Write?
by Alex Shippee in Labels: ,

Everybody writes a little bit. We compose emails and business documents, papers for class and blog posts. When we have an assignment, it’s easy to say why we write: “My boss/teacher told to and I need to make the deadline.” But what about those people who are not being told when and what to write? Why do they do it?

If we’re talking about sustainability, the surest motivation is a personal need to express yourself. You write because, if you didn’t, your brain would fill with frantic, nebulous stars. You’ll walk around all day, but your mind is on a different planet. Your creative impulses overflow and your imagination runs wild. You crave what, in “Inception,” Ellen Page calls just...pure creation.

For me, ignoring writing isn’t something I can afford to do – although I may fear doing it – so I keep a journal. Or start a blog. Or write stories. Or gravitate, perhaps without thinking, to a career or major that rewards strong writing. And at the end of the day, when I close my eyes, it’s a welcome and comfortable sleep.

So that’s why I write. And it's starting to get easier to just keep going.

Measuring Success
by Alex Shippee in Labels: , , ,


One of the first things I did when I moved out of my parents' house was buy a calendar. It cost two dollars and I hung it on the wall next to my desk. This is an idea I stole from Jerry Seinfeld where he would mark an 'X' on his calendar every day he sat down and worked on his jokes. I reproduced this habit hoping it would help me stick to a writing schedule. As I write this, it is only Day 8, and I can't say I've completed some doctorate program in creative discipline. But enough time has gone by that I have learned the following things:
* Day 1 might have been the most important step. I sat on this idea for a few days because I knew once I started, I wouldn't want to break that chain (which is true). If I did, this would become just another ambition that fizzled when things got hard. Instead, when I finished writing that day, October 21st, I marked my first 'X' with a feeling of humble accomplishment. It felt good.
* Days 2-3 were when I really started to feel the building momentum. These were the easiest 'X's to mark.
* Days 4-5 were not only the continuation of my budding productivity, but also of a new work week. At the end of these days I couldn't bring myself to work on the same story I've been adding to since April. Instead, I drafted a blog post and started a piece of non-fiction. This gave me a creative rush I'd liken to overcoming the exhausting middle point of a long run or swim. It was smooth sailing for a while.
* Day 6 was the first day I when I would rather do ANYTHING except write. But I did. I scribbled some unpublishable thoughts in my moleskin on Day 6 and marked my 'X,' although reluctantly. Did this really count as a success?
* Day 7 was a strange day. I realized that when I last left the main story I had been writing this past week, I had just reached the point I had been working towards since I started the first page six months earlier. And now I had been neglecting it. I turned on the right music for that particular moment in the story and wrote while standing up. It was a struggle, but an invigorating one. Still, when I went to sleep I realized I hadn't written much more than 500 words, and yet I still marked an 'X.' This is when I realized that if I wanted to get even more out of this experiment, I would need stricter rules for measuring my success.
* Day 8 is what I'm working on at the time of this first draft. I opened up my main story, but couldn't get out more than a few edits. I'm tired and I know I need to get to sleep soon. I think to myself "I wrote and edited for work today. Doesn't that count?" I answer myself, almost immediately: "No." With work, I have the motivation of my bosses, co-workers, and clients. When it comes to my private writing, I have only myself to rely on . That's what my first week taught me: sticking to a regiment is an exercise in self-motivation. On Day 1, my motivation was to do anything. By Day 6, I started to realize that setting the bar so low would furnish only meager results.
I started to sense this problem when writing on a Saturday: instead of working through the anxiety, I would make another cup of coffee, talk to my roommate, watch 30 Rock for "inspiration"...but really I was just scared to sit still. I finally did start to write in earnest, but by then it was also late and I was tired. If I had worked through that fear hours earlier I would have gotten more accomplished. Still, I wrote in an 'X' because I had successfully sat down and written. For the first week, "anything" is infinitely more valuable than "nothing." For the second week, and beyond, I'm going to start measuring my success. Otherwise, how can I say that 'X's on my calendar are anything more than decoration?
The following books, blogs, and articles have helped me in the past and will continue to do so in the future. I'm clearly not an expert on any of this, but maybe they can help you, too. And, as a rule, they aren't confined to writing. All creative endeavors face similar roadblocks:
The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield (book)
Everything You Think You Know About Mike Tyson Is Wrong (article)
The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand (book)
The Business of Running, by Ryan Holiday (blog)
The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri (book)

Social Media: a Tool and Not a Place
by Alex Shippee in Labels: , , , , ,

I wrote a guest blog for one of my bosses a little while ago and you can find it here. Since then, I’ve been thinking about what I was trying to say and wanted to elaborate on it.

Social Media isn’t a place. You don’t really go to Facebook or Twitter or even this blog. You may navigate from one website to the other, but you’re really just sitting at your computer (or using your phone) and gaining access to a tool. If anything, the place is the tool.

People have been using different tools to reach an audience for thousands of years. If the average person, from any time period and place, was told to share a message with, say, twenty people, of course it’d be different. Somebody in Ancient Greece might travel to the nearest city-state and start talking to people. Somebody in Medieval Europe might post a bulletin in a public space hoping people will read it (providing they all could read). Somebody in America during the 19th century might send out fifteen telegraphs with the hope that a few people will share the message. Now, all somebody needs to do is send out one tweet.

The tools may be different, and Socrates and Martin Luther knew how to communicate their message given the conventions of the day, but there’s no substitute for genuine content and a relevant audience.

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