#268 – Free-Writing Session (Embracing Self-Evolution and Nurturing Big Ideas – Reflecting on Get Honest or Die Lying by Charlamagne Tha God)

Welcome to Episode 268 of Spun Today, the podcast that dives deep into the world of writing, creativity, and the stories that both inspire and challenge us. I'm your host, Tony, and in this episode, we're exploring a rich tapestry of thought-provoking topics, from the emotional connections we share with loved ones, to the narratives we craft about ourselves.

We'll delve into the teachings of renowned authors like Steven Pressfield and Walter Mosley, discussing the dichotomy between self-criticism and the quest for authentic storytelling. I’ll share my reflections on two intriguing books—Ma Rothman's "Multiverse," a techno-thriller that piqued my interest despite my usual disinterest in sci-fi reading, and Charlamagne Tha God's "Get Honest or Die Lying," which offers powerful insights on self-evolution and nurturing creativity in children.

Additionally, we'll touch on practical writing tips, the impact of cultural icons like Stephen King, and even get into a discussion about the film "Ford vs Ferrari" and its storytelling mechanisms. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just looking for a burst of creative inspiration, this episode is brimming with valuable insights. Stay tuned as we wrap up with ways you can support the show and enhance your own creative journey. Let's get started!

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Links referenced in this episode:

Writing advice from the Writing Wednesday’s on 08/28/2024:

https://stevenpressfield.com/2024/08/whatever-you-think-you-know-about-yourself-youre-wrong/

Multiverse: A Technothriller (An Alicia Yoder Novel Book 1): https://amzn.to/4e8i5FL

Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks: https://amzn.to/3ALx3D8

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Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way

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Transcript

Tony [00:00:20]:

What's up, folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today Podcast, the only podcast that is anchored in writing but unlimited in scope. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz, and I appreciate you listening. This is episode 200 of the Spun Today podcast, and it's a free writing session episode. If it's your first time listening to one of these, it's high level, all about writing. Stuff that I've been reading, a writing tip that I picked up on that I want to share with my fellow writers out there. I share some of my own writing, my writing stats, just to keep myself honest with how much of a writer I've actually been, or lack thereof, over the past month or so, so on and so forth. So if you're interested in any of that good stuff, please stick around. I'll admit these specific types of episodes, the free writing session episodes are more so for folks that want to nerd out on writing a bit.

Tony [00:01:13]:

And if that's not, you, kick rocks. No hard feelings though. Definitely come back for one of the more topical episodes where I break down movies and tv shows and current events, or one of the interview format episodes, which I had a couple great ones this year. I do say so myself, and not special in any way because they were, you know, because they're my podcast. But just the the guests that I had from Marlene Rhein, which is a writer and director, a fellow creative, and has directed music videos for Tupac and Amy Winehouse and is making movies now. That was a dope interview, so definitely go check that one out to the most recent where I had my wife on Zoila, where we recapped and reflected on her battle with breast cancer and how that's been over the past year. Definitely some good takeaways for anyone who's dealing with anything similar. Definitely go check that episode out as well.

Tony [00:02:12]:

But circling back to this one, it is a free writing session episode I want to tell you guys about one quick way that you can help support this show if you so choose to, and then we will jump right into it.

Tony [00:02:26]:

A great way for my fellow writers and creatives out there to help support this show is by going to sponsoday.com support and clicking on the mock up shots banner. When I first started writing and putting out content, I wanted to think of creative ways to help market my books. So I would take my own pictures, place the books in different places, take it to the beach with me, put it out in the snow, and I'd wind up with a couple good, usable images and a bunch more mediocre ones. And also, in the case of the snow example, a completely soggy book. Then I found mock up shots in one click. Mockup shots turns your book cover into thousands of images, videos, graphics, and more. If you follow me on social, it's what I use to promote my books. You can check them out on Instagram punt today to take a look at the professional, creative quality of what mockup shots has to offer.

Tony [00:03:20]:

Offer.

Tony [00:03:20]:

And now for my listeners, you can get unlimited lifetime access to the largest instant book Mockup archive for 50% off. That's right, that's five 0% off. And you can use it for any books that you currently have available or any books that you will write in the future. I highly recommend it. It's a great marketing tool. Go to spuntoday.com support and click on the banner for mock up shots to claim your 50% off discount.

Tony [00:03:52]:

Right, so let's get into my writing stats, which will drive the point home of what I was alluding to in the intro around how much of a writer I've been, or lack thereof, I'm still on a very downward trajectory in terms of consistency. I haven't been writing worth a shit, and the amount of times that I do, it's nothing special. And I. Not that I expect every time I write something to, you know, be, wow, special or anything like that, definitely not under any delusions there, but I at least want them to be things that are satisfying to me. And it definitely has not been the case as of late. But looking at it objectively, I mainly attribute that to just the lack of writing, the lack of reps, the lack of discipline, the lack of showing up to do the actual work. I mean, for June 2024, I wrote six out of the 30 days of the month for a writing percentage of 20% that month in July, to make matters worse, I wrote just one of the 31 days of the month for a writing percentage of 3.2%, which is literally my lowest writing percentage of any given month since I've been tracking my writing stats like this, which dates back to, like, 2015. So it's like, on one hand, objectively, it's like, no shit.

Tony [00:05:14]:

You're not gonna be, you know, satisfied or happy with anything you've written because you just haven't written. And like anything else, it's about reps. It's about doing the work. So not only have you not written, you haven't written enough to get to write anything good. And then on the flip side, or the more excuse side, a lot has been going on that pulls me in different directions, but not to this extent, because I have had, you know, fuck around moments or time in between that could have been, you know, diverted or directed towards writing. So I'm just definitely in a rut. Need to reread the war of art, I think, for like the umpteenth time. But something has to give because closing in on the fourth quarter of 2024 and haven't even scratched the surface of my writing goals for the year.

Tony [00:06:02]:

So want to share that, speak that into the universe to see if I can give myself a proverbial kick in the ass to actually do the work. The writing tip that I want to share with you fine folks today, my fellow writers out there, my fellow creatives, is from none other than Steven Pressfield and his writing Wednesday's newsletter, which I highly recommend. It was his post from Wednesday, August 28, 2024, and it's titled, whatever you think you know about yourself, you're wrong. And he writes, the second rule of the artist's journey is, if you think you know who you are, you're wrong. Then he goes on to write. Hunter S. Thompson's ambition was to write like Scott Fitzgerald. He copied the whole of the great Gatsby, trying to teach himself to compose sentences that flowed with the effortless grace of those penned by his hero.

Tony [00:07:00]:

And quick aside, I've heard other people, other writers recommend that, or say that they've done that themselves, or mention other writers that have, and I personally never have. But I wonder if there is something to that, because I know when you listen to an audiobook or when you, when you read a book, it could definitely inform your writing. Like, it adds to the arsenal of words that you know and has, at least for me, like, sparked creativity. Like, you know, something that I either listened to or read or along those lines, inspired me to, like, want to write something of my own. But I wonder how much that, like, actual literal copying word for word, whether you're typing out or, you know, pen to paper, if you internalize that essence of a writer that much more, similar to how they say, you know, when you write something down, you retain it better than if you just, like, read something like you're studying for a test or something like that. You know, writing things down by hand specifically helps you retain the knowledge more. I wonder if there's something to that. Anyway, so going back to the post, he copied the whole of the great Gatsby, trying to teach himself to compose sentences that flowed with the effortless grace of those penned by his hero.

Tony [00:08:12]:

How surprised must the avatar of Gonzo journalism have been to find his true voice, not in this side of paradise, but in fear and loathing in Las Vegas and generation of swine, none of which I've read, but I've heard a lot about tree and loathing in Las Vegas, which I think Johnny Depp did a movie, too. He was like a big hunter S. Thompson fan and I think became his friend before he died. And it was like some story of him getting the rights to his ashes when he died because he wanted to fulfill Hunter S. Thompson's wish of his ashes getting shot out of a cannon or something weird, something different. I might be butchering the story, but something along those lines. And then he goes on to say, Steven Pressfield does that. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are almost always wrong.

Tony [00:09:04]:

That's their nature. The purpose of these self conceived narratives is to keep us comfortably unconscious. We tell ourselves these stories so we can avoid the pain of diving deep to the real story underneath. The artist's journey is to dive through the faux story to the true one, and that's where he ends it. So I wanted to share that because, I don't know, it's kind of like a double edged sword. I agree, and I disagree at the same time. The part of me that disagrees is the part of me that's hard on myself and saying, you're not worth shit as a writer, you haven't been writing. And that's the part of me that doesn't want to take this post as being correct in terms of specifically, like that sentence where he says, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are almost always wrong because that critical side of me is saying, oh, you're just looking for an excuse to say it's okay or to think it's okay that you haven't been writing, you haven't been disciplined, so on and so forth.

Tony [00:10:02]:

But there's a counterargument to that, which is Steven Pressfield himself, I think, would agree to, which is his entire theme behind the war of art and resistance. And the fact that I haven't been disciplined and I have lost to my battle to resistance over the past x amount of weeks and months definitely shouldn't define the story that I'm telling to myself, you know, or I might just be being a bitch and looking for a way to feel comfortable about not writing. But the part that I definitely. That definitely resonates with me in a positive way is the fact that we tell ourselves these stories so we can avoid the pain of diving deep to get to the real story underneath, which could definitely tie to my not focusing or my focusing, rather on, you know, the blaming it on the discipline and just being lazy or life circumstances, so on and so forth, instead of confronting the real story underneath or searching for it at least. But I also like the where he mentions that the artist's journey is to dive through the faux story to the true one. And I couldn't agree more with that because writing in and of itself on some level, on most levels, is about finding your voice, finding yourself, finding your perspective, figuring out how you feel about things. That's the best way I know to do it. But yeah, pretty dope post, and good advice from Steven Pressfield.

Tony [00:11:24]:

I'll link to it in the episode notes for folks to check out. And again, it's titled whatever you think you know about yourself, you're wrong. What I've been reading I'm gonna go through two books. The first one is multiverse by Ma Rothman, and the second one is get rich or die lying by Charlamagne Tha God starting off with multiverse by Ma Rothman, I stumbled across this book accidentally, or, as fate would have it, scrolling Twitter one day, and I follow a lot of writers and writing related content there, and it's one of the first times where a thumbnail image of a book really caught my attention, and they wonder if I like, retweeted it or saved it, or if there's some way that I can. I guess I could probably go on Emmy Rothman's twitter and search for it, but I forget what it was about the image that caught my eye, but it did, and to the point where I, like, immediately downloaded the audiobook for it, shout out to audible for making things so seamless, and decided to give it a shot. Now, ironically, it's not what I'd normally be into. I've written a science fiction novel myself about time travel. Fractal, a time travel tale available now@sponsoday.com books or wherever you get your books, but you can definitely find all the links for it there.

Tony [00:12:43]:

But I say ironically because I enjoy writing fiction, but what I read mostly is nonfiction. But I have always wanted a like a fiction series, if you will, to get into like a deep series similar to how, you know, you find a tv show that you're into and you wind up binge watching a few seasons. I want to do that version of with books, and I may have found it with multiverse by Ma Rothman, but I'll definitely let you, you all know about that. If it comes to fruition. And going back to what I said before, something that I learned from taking Walter Mosley's masterclass is that every creative is different. Every writer is different. You know, they say the, that comparison is the thief of joy, because we get caught up in, oh, I'm not writing as much as this person or like that person, so on and so forth. You'll be fucking miserable and depressed, and we all battle with imposter syndrome.

Tony [00:13:34]:

And should I be writing? Am I a writer? But points like this one that Walter Moseley makes gives me, like, solace when it comes to that, which is that he started writing for the very first time when he was 34 years old. He's now in his early seventies, and since he's published 60 books, and he mentioned that he didn't read a lot, like close to at all. And he's an accomplished writer, like, 60 books in and of itself. But also one of his books, at least that I know of, which I saw the movie of the devil in where's a blue dress or the devil in the. In the blue dress was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington. So he's no slouch writer. And then you have folks on the other side of the spectrum, like Stephen King, for example, who's also a prolific writer and has a famous quote stating that you have to read a ton, especially within the genre that you want to write in, because that's your, those are your tools. That's your arsenal.

Tony [00:14:30]:

That's your, like, what feeds your writing muscle, which also has logic to it in and of itself. But I mentioned those two just to outline that, like, spectrum of type of writer, both successful in their own rights, but have different, very different origin stories, if you will, when it comes to writing. But yeah, the first book was very engaging. I, like, ran right through it audiobook wise. I really enjoyed the characters that Ma Rothman created. It is part of a deeper, I think, at least four book series. So I'm gonna check out the second one, let you guys know what I think about that. But the story had to do with the professor that discovers a form of time travel in his university lab and the secret society that tries to control things, in essence and go back and prevent things from occurring, and they fail in multiple timelines.

Tony [00:15:24]:

So they, like, relive it, have multiple, multiple chances at the same thing. I was really, really interesting the way he put it together. I'm not, I'm not doing it justice in my little recap, but mainly wanted to share, just to highlight the, you know, giving new books a chance and new writers that you may have never heard of, a chance you might be pleasantly surprised. And the book again is called Multiverse by Ma Rothman. Oh, and I actually forgot to give you guys the synopsis of the book. When Michael Solomon woke up Tuesday morning, he did so with a smile, knowing that today would be a positive turning point in his career. With his first child on the way, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. As he drives into work, he feels a sudden wave of anguish wash over him, and he sees himself alone at the gravesite of an unborn daughter.

Tony [00:16:14]:

It feels like a crystal clear memory, a waking nightmare that nearly sent him crashing into the car in front of him. The idea of faster than light particles has been a part of science fiction lore for 50 years. Yet Michael had made a breakthrough discovery late last night. Tachyon's exist. Going back into the office, he hasn't even had a chance to tell anyone about what he's discovered. When the men from DARPA came calling, the entirety of his research has suddenly become an object of national security. But it was only when a young college student intercepts him as he gets into his car that he knows that life he's looking forward to is over. The student has memories of her future self, a future where she's worked with Michael on extending his research.

Tony [00:17:00]:

She knows things that he's only thought of as possibilities, and she speaks of them as if they'd already happened. And most chilling of all, she speaks of a future where they are both in hiding from the government that sees them as the enemy. Multiverse is a story about a scientist who discovers a way to pierce the veil of time and space and has unwittingly opened Pandora's box. Is it even possible to undo what a future version of yourself has done? Or is everyone doomed to the chaos that's been loosed on the world? And the book name again is multiverse, a techno thriller by Ma Rothman, and I'll link to it in the episode notes for folks to check out. The next book is get honest or die lying by Charlamagne Tha God. This is Charlemagne's third book for those who don't know who Charlemagne is, who may not be New Yorkers that listen to power, 151 or the dozens of, I think, hundreds of cities that that show is syndicated to. He's a radio personality, a podcaster, co host with Andrew Schultz of the brilliant idiots, and he also does dope interviews, which I probably appreciate not most, because I'm a big brilliant idiots fan, but very close second, is his one on one interviews that he does. He's had one with Judy Bloom.

Tony [00:18:21]:

The most recent one, I think was with Big Sean, which is really good. He did one with Elo Cool J, and he has a bunch of them on his YouTube channel, see the God, which if I remember, I will link to in the episode notes. But he's written three books as well. The first two were black privilege and shook one, both of which I've broken down in prior episodes. So you guys can go back and check that out. And this is the latest that I'm going to immediately dive into and share a few clips that resonated with me. The first one, and I'm paraphrasing in chapter five, which is titled Evolutionary Revolutionary, he says, let go of unnecessary judgment. Who you and others are at 20 usually isn't and shouldn't be who you are at 40.

Tony [00:19:08]:

Evolve and work on becoming the best version of yourselves. And an example that he uses is Ti and jeezy, which were considered thugs in their twenties and are now pillars of their communities. In chapter eight, titled self destruction, he quotes Ezra minicom, who says, trauma in a person decontextualized over time looks like personality. Trauma in a family decontextualized over time looks like family traits. Trauma in a people decontextualized over time looks like culture. I thought that was an amazing perspective right there. In chapter ten, titled Astronaut Kids, he speaks a lot about the power of talking big to our kids and also not discouraging them. And if I remember correctly, he gives an example of, you know, a child telling their parent that they want to be an astronaut, for example, and that some might discourage that type of thinking.

Tony [00:20:04]:

Like, oh, you're not smart enough or you're too tall, or, you know, Dominicans are an astronauts, or, you know, like some. Some form of negativity towards them and turning down their idea, even if it's a grandiose, wild idea and even thinking back on my own life, and I'm sure it's. It's true for everyone. When you're young and impressionable, and if somebody, you know, shits on something that you might be excited about, you're prone to going in that direction, of thinking that maybe you're not worthy or you're not good enough or you shouldn't want, you know, XYZ thing. And that type of thing definitely stays with a kid, and, you know, you internalize that into adulthood. So he highlights the importance of talking big to your kids and saying, oh, really? Why? Wow, why do you want to be an astronaut and, like, nurturing those ideas? In chapter 14 titled listen to the Elders, bro, he says, he says a story about people like Jay Z and Tyler Perry and Steve Harvey, etc. And that people like that stay on top because on, you know, at the top of their respective careers because they never stop learning. And he gives a personal anecdote of when Jay Z started Tidal, that charlamagne reached out to him and told him that he, you know, has to add podcasts to the title platform and not make it just about music.

Tony [00:21:21]:

And he says that Jay Z told him, cool, but first, you need to school me on the podcast game. And he said that story to highlight how Jay Z wasn't aware of the, you know, podcast or podcast game, but he didn't play it off. Like, oh, yeah, I got something in the works for that. He literally asked him, like, teach me. What's the whole podcast thing about knowing that, you know, Charlemagne's on brilliant idiots for more than a decade, a very popular, successful podcast. I don't know if by then, but does now have the Black Effect podcast network partnership with iHeart. And Jay wasn't afraid to ask for that level of insight. I think it's important our egos get in the way a lot.

Tony [00:22:02]:

In chapter 14 as well, he mentions the importance of letting the kids stick around with the grown folks when they visit instead of them, you know, going back to their rooms or getting on their phones and tablets and letting them engage in conversations. I guess that can go both ways. But definitely, if it's, like, age appropriate stuff, should help enrich them, right? In chapter 21, titled the Point, he says, oh, actually he has. He speaks about having an idea that you're passionate about and passionate about and not letting it go, not letting it slip. And he, he used like a, like the wordplay of the song lose yourself. And I thought that was a nod to m and as a huge m stan myself, I definitely appreciate that. This was a funny point, I thought. In chapter 24, the Gossip Files, he says, modern day celebrities, when I try to deduce what it is that they do, I realize that this is what they do.

Tony [00:23:01]:

They post pictures to Instagram and do TikTok dances. That's what they're famous for. And they have like 6 million followers, which is more than the population of some us cities. I thought that was a stale in point there. Just funny. In chapter 26, imposterism, he says that you need people that can see what you have and what you have to offer, but also know what you need to be successful. And that made me think of my high school freshman English teacher, Miss Gitlitz. Shout out to her, who I always acknowledge in my books, and mentioned that she knew I should be a writer before I even had a thought of being one or wanting to be one.

Tony [00:23:42]:

She wanted me to write for the school newspaper. She always, like, praised my, like, essays and writing assignments and stuff in class. And the same with other, you know, mentors that. That I've had throughout my life, which have fostered certain abilities of mine or have given me opportunities or put me on to things. Shout out to George Nobre or Nado Coutinho, which I always acknowledge in my books as well. Also in chapter 26, titled imposterism, he says that he shares something that his father always would tell him, which is that you're never as good as they say you are, and you're never as bad as they say you are. And he highlights that a pastor told him that anxiety and fear are closely related. Almost like cousins, fear is partially rooted in a lack of understanding.

Tony [00:24:23]:

And anxiety is, too. When you're in a new environment around new people, having a new experience, there's going to be a certain level of anxiety just because it's new and you don't know the terrain. The opposite is true of your house. When you're walking around your house, you're comfortable. You know where everything is, you know everyone there. It's yours. And there's two more points to share. Also in imposter ism.

Tony [00:24:45]:

I like that chapter. Chapter 26 related to imposter syndrome itself. He tells a story about Kevin Hart and how he had a sitcom cancelled early on, but he says that he was just very early on in the process. You can sell yourself enough to get an opportunity, but that opportunity won't necessarily work out as expected. But that doesn't mean that you're an imposter. Maybe. Maybe you needed to be in that room to learn, and a real imposter wouldn't have even gotten into that room in the first place. And lastly, also from chapter 26, imposterism shares something that Tyler Perry once said, which is that you have to aim for worthy.

Tony [00:25:25]:

Anything you've done, anything that you're doing or anything that you're going to do, you're worthy of it. Always aim for worthy. And those were the gems that I wanted to share with you fine folks from get honest or die lying. Why small talk sucks by Charlemagne. The God I will link to it in the episode notes for you fine folks to check out, and the writing piece that I'm going to share with you fine folks today is not on my website yet, but I will add it to sponsody.com freewriting. The title is probably going to be something along the lines of Ford versus Ferrari reflection, because it's like the main subject of this little piece here. I'm going to read it straight from my notebook, as is right now. I wrote in writing stories for books, movies, or whatever, it said that the protagonist should always have an internal want needed as well as an external want need.

Tony [00:26:26]:

He or she can't have both. If they achieve the internal want or need, they can't also achieve the external want or need, and vice versa. And that, by the way, is just a writing I wouldn't call it a trope. Maybe I would a writing mechanism. A writing trope. It's a writing structure or format that is said that needs to be in place for the audience perceiving the story to. For it to make sense to them, for them not to kind of push back on it as unrealistic or unsatisfying in some way. But when I learned about things like that, I try to see like where they apply or where I can pick up on them in like different movies or books.

Tony [00:27:08]:

And I think I did here in Ford versus Ferrari, because I go on to write in the movie Ford versus Ferrari. That's why Ken Miles didn't get the technical victory at that final race at Le Mans. Aside from getting fucked on a technicality, from a writing perspective, he had already achieved his internal want need by that point in the race, he had been chasing the perfect lap for his entire career. Ironically, what pushed him into obtaining that lap was the ask from the VP hater guy for him to slow down and wait for the photo finish with the other two cars. In doing so, he gave up the clear victory. From the public's perspective, however, he has his validation from breaking the course lap record twice. Another internal validation, aside from the unequivocal respect of all his peers, was the head nod hat tip from Mister Ferrari. On a whole other level.

Tony [00:28:12]:

His wife recognized the cognitive dissonance that must have yielded the decision to slow down and in essence, give up the victory, and she was proud of him for doing so. His son also got the added benefit of learning that quote, just because you're hung like a horse doesn't mean you have to do porn. And I wrote that on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 at 10:14 p.m. he. But yeah, that, that, you know, storytelling mechanism holds true there, right? He achieves the internal want of the perfect lap, of achieving the perfect lap that he's always wanted all his life. But he foregoes the external want or need or desire of winning the, the actual race. And then he has all these personal wins with the head of the competing team, you know, showing him respect, his wife, recognizing that internal change in him and his personality of actually giving up the self victory for the quote unquote good of the team. And I thought that him having an impressionable, you know, younger kid kind of shows that a balance to that win win win at all cost type of mentality and highlights that it's not always all about that.

Tony [00:29:29]:

And again, that post will be able to be found@sponsoring.com forward slash freewriting forward slash forward verse, Ferrari reflections. Something along those lines because I haven't actually added it onto the website just yet. And that, folks, was episode 268 of the sponsor day podcast. Thank each and every one of you for taking the time to listen. Hope you gain something from doing so. I appreciate the ongoing support very, very much. If you can please stick around for another minute or so, I want to tell you guys about a few different ways, especially for my fellow writers and creatives out there, that you can help support this show while also benefiting in your own creative endeavors. Until next time, peace.

Tony [00:30:21]:

What's up folks? Tony here. I hope you're enjoying the Spun today podcast as much as I enjoy producing it for you. Here are a few ways you can help support the show for my fellow writers and creatives out there, a really cool way you can help support the show is by going to spun today.com support and clicking on the Prowritingaid banner. If you're a listener of the show, you know that I use Prowritingaid to pre edit all of my writing before.

Tony [00:30:47]:

I put it out or before I.

Tony [00:30:49]:

Ship it off to my editor so that it is in as pristine condition as I can probably get it. Prowritingaid offers a great toolkit that helps.

Tony [00:30:59]:

You polish your work with easy to.

Tony [00:31:01]:

Use grammar checks and the writing assistant that also looks into things like pacing improvements, typos, punctuations, and much more. Go to spuntoday.com support. Click on the banner for Prowritingaid and check out their free option as well as their different tiers of paid options. Spuntoday.com support a great way for my fellow writers and creatives out there to help support this show is by going to sponsorday.com support and clicking on the mock up shots banner. When I first started writing and putting out content, I wanted to think of creative ways to help market my books. I would take my own pictures, place the books in different places, take it to the beach with me, put it out in the snow, and I'd wind up with a couple good, usable images and a bunch more mediocre ones. And also, in the case of the snow example, a completely soggy book. Then I found mockup shots in one click.

Tony [00:31:58]:

Mock up shots turns your book cover into thousands of images, videos, graphics and more. If you follow me on social, it's what I use to promote my books. You can check them out on Instagram today to take a look at the professional creative quality of what mockup shots has to offer. And now for my listeners, you can get unlimited lifetime access to the largest Instant book mockup archive for 50% off. That's right, that's five 0% off. And you can use it for any books that you currently have available or any books that you will write in the future. I highly recommend it. It's a great marketing tool.

Tony [00:32:38]:

Go to spun toDay.com support and click on the banner four mock up shots to claim your 50% off discount. You can also support by checking out my writing. Go to spunted.com freewriting. Here you'll find a collection of freely written thoughts, which is intended to be a cathartic meditative practice for myself, but also winds up doubling up as motivation and inspiration for myself and others. You can also go to spuntoday.com short stories, check out my latest short stories, and also listen to the free audiobook versions of those stories. You can also support my writing by going to sponsoday.com books and check out what I have available for sale. Currently available is Make Way for you, which is a collection of tips for getting out of your own way. It's a great read for my fellow writers or creatives out there.

Tony [00:33:35]:

Also available is Fractal, which is my debut time travel novel, and last but certainly not least, melted cold, which is a collection of short stories. Each of the books are available in all digital formats for your Kindle or ibook or any other e reader, as well as paperback and hardcover options. Again, go to spuntoday.com books and I'd.

Tony [00:34:02]:

Love to hear what you chose to.

Tony [00:34:03]:

Check out as well as your thoughts after reading spuntaday.com books.

Tony [00:34:09]:

If you're a fellow creative, a cool way that you can help support the Spun Today podcast and actually be part of the podcast is by filling out my five question questionnaire, located@spuntoday.com questionnaire. Here you'll find the five open questions related to your craft, your art, what inspires you to create, what type of unrelated hobbies you're into, and what motivates you to get your work done. You can choose to remain anonymous or plug your website and your work. And once you submit your questionnaire, I read your responses on a future episode of the Spun Today Podcast. It's completely free, at no cost to you. And what I like to say about it is that if your responses could potentially spark inspiration in someone else, why not share that spuntodate.com questionnaire? And as always, folks, substitute the mysticism with hard work and start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams. Thanks for listening. I love you, Aidan.

Tony [00:35:19]:

I love you, Daddy. I love you, Grayson. I love you, Daddy.