The Man Behind the Curtain

Last fall, I appeared on a podcast for the first time. I’d been invited to appear on podcasts on several occasions by well-meaning writer friends. Each time I turned them down, for one simple reason: I didn’t really feel like I had anything to talk about. I didn’t have any published books or short stories. I had a website with a blog that…some people read, I guess. It just felt silly to go on a podcast and talk about writing. Why would anyone care what I had to say? I mean, whatever I was doing, clearly it wasn’t working. I used to joke that, if I could give any useful advice to aspiring writers, it would be, “Don’t do what I’m doing.”

Well, come November it had worked. Twice. I’d sold two short stories, one of which came with a first-place finish in an international contest. When Carmen, the PR guy for Writers of the Future, asked me to appear on a podcast, I didn’t really have any excuses. And that was when I realized I hadn’t been avoiding podcasts purely out of fear of professional malpractice, or misrepresenting myself as some sort of authority on writing.

I was also terrified.

Throughout my life, I’ve been told I’m an excellent communicator. That I’m great with public speaking. I have a tendency to go into speaking engagements with minimal notes or none at all, after only a brief rehearsal. I come across as fluid, genial, conversational. And many times, I’ve had others ask me, “How can you speak to a roomful of people and not be scared?”

The answer, which I’ve shared with my fellow WOTF winners and the staff at ASI, is simple: I am scared. Every time I stand at a podium, or even at the head of a table, I’m scared shitless. A tiny, feeble version of my own voice is in the back of my mind, screaming at me to run. With a podcast, though, I’m not seeing the audience. The audience is everywhere. And honestly, I was surprised at how much of a difference that made.

For those who haven’t seen my inaugural podcast appearance on Author’s Quill, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an “Unmitigated Disaster”, but that’s about the best I can say for it. I was on my work computer, which has a shitty camera, shittier mic, and serious connectivity issues. I had to restart my router (twice). Trying to make light of it, I changed my subtitle on the feed from, “Writers of the Future First Place Winner, Q3” to “Subject to Frequent Technical Difficulties”. The show’s host, who also runs a UFO conspiracy podcast, was…an interesting individual.

But I did get to meet John Goodwin, the president of the contest, and Thomas K. Slee, the first of my fellow winners I actually got to speak with. Overall, it was a decent dry run. I got all the kinks and missteps out of the way. By the time I got to Hollywood for the workshop and awards show, I felt like I was ready. When they put out signup sheets for the Writers of the Future podcast, I was the first to sign up.

I thought I was ready. But I had no idea what I was in for.

Over my week in Los Angeles, I sat (and stood) for more interviews than I can count. I appeared on camera around one hundred and eighty-three percent more than I had at any point through my entire life, including piano recitals and high school musicals. I spent days in front of cameras, in the shadows of boom mics. And on awards night, I stood not once, but twice in front of the entire world. And managed not to make a complete ass of myself.

If there was one thing that helped prepare me for all this, it’s that as I told my fellow WOTF winners and the folks at ASI, I knew this day would come. If I kept working hard at this whole writing thing, sooner or later somebody would want to talk to me about it. And it hasn’t stopped. And it won’t. I have additional interviews lined up, as well as a panel appearance for TBRCon and an appearance as an industry professional at Dragon Con in September.

And the crazy thing is, I’m actually looking for more podcasts to appear on. Because I gotta get my name out there and keep it out there. Alas, gone are the days when it was acceptable for a successful author to be a reclusive misanthrope.

So if this is the first time you’ve seen my name, get used to it. I ain’t goin’ nowhere. – MK

Writers of the Future, Vol. 42 is now available, through Amazon and wherever fine literature is sold. It includes my winning story, “In Living Color’: my first professional publishing credit. It will not be my last.