Brand Architect

Andrew Lowe is an author and book editor from the North of England. His writing has been published in several magazines and newspapers, including The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Men’s Health, and he’s worked in creative and digital roles with GQ, Vogue, Wired and Total Film.

He writes psychological thrillers – novels and short stories. His latest novel, The Ghost, is the story of a troubled film critic who finds himself menaced by the victim of a childhood prank.

When he’s not working on his own words, he’s fiction editor who specialises in copy editing but also offers developmental/structural work and copywriting.

In this interview we talk about the importance of the relationship between the author and editor.

When I was about 6 years old I got my very first roller skates. To be honest I don’t even remember where they came from, but they were very classy for the Soviet times. The skates were from those you attach to your shoes, with red leather upper side and laces... they had 4 rubber wheels each. Two in front and two in the back. Oh and the size was adjustable, so I could use them like forever... or until they broke or something.

After getting the skates and feeling super happy I had to learn skating. It was winter and it was snowing outside...

I was even more impatient than I am now. And people who know me well will tell you that I am one of the most impatient people they have ever met.

So what did I do?

No, I did not go outside - because those who know me well will also tell you that I absolutely and intensely hate cold.

So I decided to make my first tries on our living room carpet.

Every day I was putting the skates on and trying to move without falling. As you can imagine there were many falls... I fell on the soft carpet and immediate stood up and tried again. I don’t remember how long did it take until I mastered that thing, but by the time we went out with my dad I could maneuver my skates like a pro...

Why am I telling about something that happened 30 years ago and what does it have to do with writing you might ask...

Well, although it is not so obvious but in fact it does. I can link it to writing, to entrepreneurship and anything else that requires the right mindset.

The thing is, when I got those shiny skates I did not think that I can’t skate. When I was falling on the carpet over and over again it never occurred to me that I will not be able to learn. I did not even consider giving up. It was not an option I would choose because I never even thought that it could be one of the options.

So what happens to us when we grow up? Why do we start getting all those negative thoughts triggered in our mind?

Why every time we write something we keep thinking that it is not good enough? Why do we have so many doubts about sharing our writings with the world?

How come our 6 years old self is so much stronger? How come she keeps standing up after every fall until she reaches the point when she doesn’t fall anymore and we, instead close up and stop writing after getting a negative feedback?

Back then I did not spend hours on that carpet because I wanted others to admire when they saw me skating outside, no. I did that because I wanted to skate. I wanted to be one of the people who can do that, that’s all.

So why do you write? You write because you want to sell your books, or you write because you want to be a writer?

Do you think about giving up, because you lack encouragement and inspiration? Do you think you can’t succeed because you have only 2 readers and one of them is your mom?

I’ve told this many times already... But I think it’s worth repeating again. If you are writing and creating a story with your words then you are a writer. It doesn’t matter if what you’ve written is liked by others or not. It doesn’t matter if 2 people read you or hundred... What matters is that you have created a brand new story, from scratch with your words. You have come up with a piece of writing which was not out there before...

Just like my first tries in the living room, your stories too will not be perfect. Some of them will even be terrible. So what? Do you have to conclude that you can’t write just because your first story is not a masterpiece? Who’s first story was?

Just like my 6 years old me you have to practice too. You have to write, erase, tear up the paper and start all over again. With each try things will go smoother. With each next try you will enjoy it more... and your each new version will sound better and the story will be stronger.

All those things you are longing for now - the readers, the fans, the book sales, your name on the bestseller’s cover... it all will come with the time.

It will... but ONLY if you don’t give up and start over after each thorn paper and each erased paragraph or deleted document.

I am sure you have your own examples of your 6 year old strong self. Recall those, admire your little self and try to be like that strong will child.

So next time you feel discouraged, you feel down or feel like giving up - re-think again, get back your positive mindset and try again. Or write me an e mail and I’ll cheer you up!

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Today I decided to go to the other side and get reader’s perspective on things we writers are curious about. And who else could be a better person to talk to than a professional writer who partly makes money by reading books, right? Well it happened so that I knew someone like that and I’m happy to share with you our talk. Jeff Brown is my guest today. He is a podcaster, mentor and speaker. His goal is to help people bridge the gap between intentionality and implementation. He does this by sharing my professional insights, and the insights of successful people all over the world, on leadership, personal development, productivity, entrepreneurship and more through my blog, my podcast, and through personal consulting and speaking. His podcast Read to Lead is one of the top podcasts out there and before beginning Read to Lead, Jeff spent 26-years in radio, which obviously makes him way better podcaster than me :) In this interview we talk about reading and writing and it seems that we have more laughs than usual. Hope you'll enjoy it! And the last thing:

Do you wish you could just write books and avoid all the intimidating and frustrating details of book publishing?

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Today I am talking to Ricardo Fayet. Ricardo is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Reedsy, a marketplace connecting authors with the best publishing professionals (think editors, proofreaders, designers, marketers). An avid reader and technology enthusiast, he likes to imagine how little players will build the future of publishing, further empowering authors and allowing them to publish to the same standards as the biggest publishing companies.

In this interview I try to understand what Reedsy is, how it works and how writers can benefit from it.

Make sure you check out their book editor tool - it's great.

Today I decided to be completely honest and share my struggles with you. And the reason for this is not to ask for petty or anything. I simply thought that some of you might have been going through the same thing and we could possibly figure out how to overcome some of those struggles.

So, periodically I am getting writer’s doubts and I start questioning myself if I can really write? If what I write is good enough? If I have any potential at all? And if my writing is worth anything.

These doubts became really strong recently. The reason is - I have enrolled in Writer’s Bootcamp and starting from the 1st of this month we are writing up different exercises... Then we read, provide feedback, critique...

The ultimate goal of the course - or at least how I see it - is to learn writing well, to make sure that your quality is high and that you learn the craft. But it’s a painful process. I guess any growth is...

It’s painful because in the beginning you start realizing where you stand now. And now... having objectively evaluated where I am, I am not happy about that. So now the doubts are no longer about if I am good or not... because I already know that I’m not... at least yet. The doubt now is about the future... it’s about whether I will be able to master the craft and ensure the quality I’d like my writing to have.

I think the bootcamp was just a catalyst. We usually have writer’s doubt coming back to us when we don’t see results... and when we don’t see result we lose the motivation to carry on. And I guess when we lose motivation that’s when we have to push harder... otherwise we may end up sliding down the spiral... and coming back up will be harder than pushing a bit more from where we are now...

So every time I get into the stage when things don’t grow and I don’t see results I get disappointed. Right now, looking at what I’ve done so far I realize that things haven’t moved much... my podcast has not grown from what it was few months ago, I have not finished my book and I have abandoned my fiction...

And what’s the hardest to admit is that it’s completely my fault. I should have worked harder, I should have written more and I should have put aside my humbleness and promoted more what I’ve already done...

So today I spend some time and went back to my reviews. I read the reviews you guys left for my podcast and I went to Amazon and read the reviews that were left for my fiction books. Usually it helps me get on track and reminds me that there are some people who need what I do and that my time and efforts are not wasted.

That made me think that maybe writer’s doubt grows when there is lack of encouragement around. [spp-tweet tweet="Writers, who go through the painful process of growth are vulnerable."] They need an extra hug and a positive affirmation.

Meanwhile, let’s chin up, pull ourselves together and work harder.

Also - consider signing up for the Self-Publishing Success Summit, which is the best online summit on the topic with amazing line-up. On that summit 37 World-Changing Authors & Entrepreneurs Reveal How to Write, Market & Publish Your First Book AND Use It To Get To 6 Figures

You can get your FREE access to the Self-Publishing Success Summit here.

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