Podcasts about Cat

Upon hearing that Jon Klassen was hugely affected by this book as a kid (fascinating when you consider how opposite it is from his latest title The House with Nobody In It), we felt it was time to revisit this old 1972 easy book to see how it stands up. Truth be told, we're less interested in the Seuss connection than by the outdated terminology in a supposed book for early readers ("bureau drawer"?!?). "Seuss knew what he was doing with Cat in the Hat. I guess he sort of lost it at this point." We talk about how the book is, at times, "adorably dated," and how this is different from The Cat in the Hat because, at least in that case, the Cat cleans up after itself!!! For the full Show Notes, please read on here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/08/04/fuse-8-n-kate-in-a-people-house-by-dr-seuss-ill-roy-mckie/

Where does your food really come from, and how can we help kids get excited about eating it? In this special episode of Dishing Up Nutrition, Teresa Wagner sits down with the creators of the popular YouTube Kids channel Captain and Cat to explore how storytelling, music, and real farm adventures are inspiring children to learn about nutrition. From apple orchards and dairy farms to regenerative farming and seasonal eating, they discuss the people behind our food, why curiosity is the key to healthy habits, and how making nutrition fun can shape a child's relationship with food for life.

Most writers are taught to think about plot, character arcs, genre, theme, setting, cast, and prose as separate craft problems. But what if they are all doing the same job? What if every tool in your novel exists to shape one thing: the reader's emotional journey? In this solo episode of The Dialogue Doctor Podcast, Jeff Elkins introduces the big idea behind his new book, The Dialogue Doctor on Writing Emotion. Instead of treating emotion like something mysterious that either "works" or doesn't, Jeff breaks it down into a practical framework writers can actually use. You'll learn how to think about your story through seven emotional tools: trajectory, vector, alignment, saturation, velocity, pressure, and altitude. These tools help explain why readers feel hope, dread, comfort, tension, frustration, satisfaction, heartbreak, or joy as they move through a story. Jeff also talks about why traditional story systems like Save the Cat, Story Grid, and beat sheets are useful—but limited. The goal is not to throw those systems away. The goal is to understand what they are doing to the reader so you can use them with more freedom, confidence, and creativity. Watch this episode if you want to stop guessing your way through emotional scenes and start designing a reader journey that actually lands. Because great stories do not just happen on the page. They happen inside the reader.

Meditaciones y reflexiones para hacer la oración especialmente dirigidas a jóvenes. || Visita nuestra página WEB y lee los testimonios, artículos y suscríbete a los Podcast diarios de rezarhoy en: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/ || Sigue el canal de Jóvenes Católicos en WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDQN04LY6d1sgDXEK3s || Colabora con tu generosidad: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/socios/ || Pásate por nuestra cuenta de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catolicos_es/ || X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/catolicos_es || Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Catolicos.es/ || Pásate por la página web de Cobel Ediciones: http://www.cobelediciones.com/ ||

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Cat spoke to Amelia Demma, Esq. Assisted Reproduction Technology Attorney about National Surrogacy Awareness week, and debunked myths about surrogacy, spoke about options for families looking for alternative paths to build their family.

Meditaciones y reflexiones para hacer la oración especialmente dirigidas a jóvenes. || Visita nuestra página WEB y lee los testimonios, artículos y suscríbete a los Podcast diarios de rezarhoy en: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/ || Sigue el canal de Jóvenes Católicos en WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDQN04LY6d1sgDXEK3s || Colabora con tu generosidad: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/socios/ || Pásate por nuestra cuenta de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catolicos_es/ || X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/catolicos_es || Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Catolicos.es/ || Pásate por la página web de Cobel Ediciones: http://www.cobelediciones.com/ ||

El tractor. Los problemas son como los tractores en carretera, te bloquean y no te permiten ir más rápido. Quiero hablarlos con Jesús y dar tiempo, eso es la paciencia, para solucionarlos. || Meditaciones y reflexiones para hacer la oración especialmente dirigidas a jóvenes. || Visita nuestra página WEB y lee los testimonios, artículos y suscríbete a los Podcast diarios de rezarhoy en: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/ || Sigue el canal de Jóvenes Católicos en WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDQN04LY6d1sgDXEK3s || Colabora con tu generosidad: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/socios/ || Pásate por nuestra cuenta de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catolicos_es/ || X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/catolicos_es || Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Catolicos.es/ || Pásate por la página web de Cobel Ediciones: http://www.cobelediciones.com/ ||

Four scary animal horror stories unleash killer hippos, a rage-fueled werewolf, a shape-shifting monster dog, and a demon-possessed cat. Celebrate Summerween and Halloween in summer with a complete horror fiction anthology filled with supernatural creatures, deadly animal attacks, cursed pets, survival horror, and dark comedy.A documentary crew travels deep into the Colombian jungle to investigate Pablo Escobar's infamous cocaine hippos—but the expedition becomes a blood-soaked fight for survival when the enormous animals attack. Then former Malibu model Dani Boy returns to Strickfield carrying a werewolf curse that transforms her whenever her anger becomes uncontrollable.A horror writer moves his family into an isolated house where scratching inside the walls leads to thousands of rats, supernatural creatures, and the disturbing transformation of the family dog. Finally, an aging calico cat develops glowing red eyes, unnatural aggression, and a demonic condition that may be capable of passing into a new host.This Summerween horror compilation features:“Stay Hungry” by David O'HanlonA killer animal survival story about documentary filmmakers, an infamous poacher, and Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos running wild in the Colombian jungle.“Wolf Rage” by Rob FieldsA supernatural werewolf story set in Strickfield, Ohio, where a former model discovers that anger—not the full moon—awakens the monster inside her.“My Dog, Doug” by David O'HanlonA darkly funny creature feature about a shape-shifting dog, a haunted new house, an enormous rat infestation, and vicious supernatural brownies.“Feline Troubles” by Douglas WaltzA demonic cat story in which a family pet becomes violently possessed and begins hunting the children inside an isolated farmhouse.These terrifying tales combine werewolf horror, killer animal attacks, cocaine hippos, jungle survival, demonic possession, cursed cats, monster dogs, shape-shifters, haunted houses, supernatural pets, creature features, body horror, dark comedy, and Strickfield horror.Perfect for listeners searching for scary stories, animal horror stories, horror audiobooks, horror fiction podcasts, werewolf stories, killer animal horror, demon stories, possessed pet stories, monster stories, supernatural thrillers, Summerween entertainment, and Halloween podcasts.The summer night is warm, the moon is rising, and the animals are beginning to behave strangely.Halloween may still be months away, but something hungry has already escaped into the darkness.

Turbulenz ist der Feind der Fliegerei. Ob mechanische oder thermische Turbulenz, beide können den Flug ziemlich ungemütlich machen. Und das Wetter ist daran schuld. Im Durchschnitt sind global an einem einzigen Tag 100'000 bis 130'000 Flugzeuge unterwegs. Sie durchkämmen so zu sagen die Atmosphäre. Die Luft, in der sich die Flugzeuge bewegen, ist alles andere als ruhig. Die Luftströmung bewegt sich manchmal gleichmässig, dann aber wiederum sehr chaotisch turbulent. Turbulenz ist der Feind der Fliegerei. Ob mechanische oder thermische Turbulenz, beide können den Flug ziemlich ungemütlich machen. Von der unsichtbaren Clear Air Turbulence (kurz CAT) haben die Piloten am meisten Respekt. Wie solche Turbulenzen zustande kommen und wie Frühwarnsysteme solche unruhigen Flugphasen erkennen könnte, erfahren Sie in der Wetterwoche «Turbulenzen».

Meditaciones y reflexiones para hacer la oración especialmente dirigidas a jóvenes. || Visita nuestra página WEB y lee los testimonios, artículos y suscríbete a los Podcast diarios de rezarhoy en: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/ || Sigue el canal de Jóvenes Católicos en WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDQN04LY6d1sgDXEK3s || Colabora con tu generosidad: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/socios/ || Pásate por nuestra cuenta de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catolicos_es/ || X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/catolicos_es || Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Catolicos.es/ || Pásate por la página web de Cobel Ediciones: http://www.cobelediciones.com/ ||

Meditaciones y reflexiones para hacer la oración especialmente dirigidas a jóvenes. || Visita nuestra página WEB y lee los testimonios, artículos y suscríbete a los Podcast diarios de rezarhoy en: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/ || Sigue el canal de Jóvenes Católicos en WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDQN04LY6d1sgDXEK3s || Colabora con tu generosidad: https://www.jovenescatolicos.es/socios/ || Pásate por nuestra cuenta de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catolicos_es/ || X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/catolicos_es || Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Catolicos.es/ || Pásate por la página web de Cobel Ediciones: http://www.cobelediciones.com/ ||

Cómo Fernando Gamboa vendió millones de libros (sin editoriales) Fernando Gamboa es el autor que más libros ha vendido en la historia de Amazon.es. Ha vendido más de 1 millón de copias en el mundo, está traducido a muchos idiomas y varias de sus novelas también han tenido gran éxito en Italia.Pero este episodio no es solo para quienes escriben libros. Es una conversación sobre cómo se construye un activo creativo, cómo se vende sin esperar el permiso de los intermediarios, y cuánto importa mantener el control sobre aquello que lleva tu nombre.Fernando cuenta que cuando publicaba con editoriales tradicionales, vendió 100.000 copias y no le pagaron. Cuenta que todo el sector le dijo que publicar por su cuenta en Amazon destruiría para siempre su carrera.Y cuenta también que mostró a las editoriales cifras de 2 millones de dólares en libros vendidos en un año, y aun así fue tratado como un autor de segunda categoría por ser independiente. De ahí nace su decisión: apostar por Amazon, KDP, catálogo, traducciones, audiolibros y control de su propia propiedad intelectual.En esta entrevista hablamos de libros, marketing, Amazon Ads, editorial tradicional, autopublicación, traducciones, audiolibros, IA, derechos cinematográficos y libertad personal. Hablamos también del cuidado del producto: porque el marketing puede ayudarte a que te descubran, pero a largo plazo son la calidad, el boca a boca, la experiencia del cliente y el respeto por quien compra los que realmente construyen un catálogo que vende.Fernando cuenta por qué sigue invirtiendo en traducciones profesionales en lugar de confiar solo en la IA, por qué ya no lee las reseñas pero respeta profundamente a sus lectores, y por qué prefiere tardar dos años en escribir una novela antes que publicar rápido algo que no le convence.Hablamos también de por qué rechazó una oferta de 300.000€ de una productora de Los Ángeles por los derechos de una de sus novelas, aun sin tener dinero en ese momento. Si eres marketer, consultor, pequeño empresario, autor o alguien que vende algo ligado a su propio nombre, esta conversación te concierne. Porque el punto no es solo vender libros. El punto es entender cuándo estás construyendo un activo, cuándo lo estás malvendiendo, y cuánto vale realmente seguir siendo libre mientras el mercado intenta convencerte de que necesitas el permiso de otra persona. En este episodio hablamos de:Amazon KDP y autopublicaciónEditorial tradicional y control de los activos100.000 copias vendidas sin recibir pago2M$ en libros vendidos y aun así "fuera del club"Catálogo, boca a boca y calidad del productoPor qué rechazó unos 300.000€ por los derechos cinematográficos de una de sus novelasTraducciones, audiolibros y mercados internacionalesMarketing para libros y Amazon AdsIA, escritura y futuro de la narrativaDerechos cinematográficos y propiedad intelectualLibertad creativa, independencia y negocio personalLos libros de Fernando Gamboa:https://gamboaescritor.com/ Página de Amazon con los libros de Fernando Gamboa:https://www.amazon.es/s?k=Fernando+Gamboa&i=digital-text Audiolibros de Fernando Gamboa en Audible:https://www.audible.es/author/Fernando-Gamboa/B006RTHR9K Otros recursos mencionados:Grupo 20 Books to 50k: https://20booksto50.com/Your Magic Bakery Of Intellectual Property Rights con Dean Wesley Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to1rbDrysswYuval Noah Harari: https://www.ilpost.it/2024/09/30/yuval-noah-harari/La primera novela de Andrew Lisi: https://tatatapublishing.gumroad.com/l/machsom-romanzo-avventuraOtros libros y negocios de Andrea Lisi: https://linktr.ee/copypersuasivo

Cat hoarding--what's a resonable number?; Ohio State Fair poster controversy; Summer Ain't Cheap; Florida Man Trifecta; Donna Mills on OnlyFans; Ohio ranks low on this list; Science News and a lunar impact; Intern Will's Punchline Report; Evening Edge Local Music Showcase featuring Gage Thomas; Hot Hat Friday and a lid from Scene75;

This week on the best in pet talk radio, Petrendologist Charlotte Reed talks with Kelly Ransdell, the National Fire Protection Association Education Director, shares fire safety prevention tips; and with Deborah Fellin Magaldi, Cat's Paw Rescue Group about the realities of running a pet rescue organization in an era of rising cost Header: Fire Safety Prevention & Realities of Running a Rescue

Today's debate is a bookish brawl featuring two classic characters created by Dr. Seuss. Improviser Nick Kanellis is arguing for The Lorax, that beloved and mustachioed defender of trees. And Story Pirate Peter McNerney is repping everyone's favorite mischievous feline with stylish accessories: The Cat in the Hat! After you listen, head to smashboom.org and vote to tell us who you think won!Click here to read a transcript of this episode. Want to support the show? Join Smarty Pass to listen to ad-free episodes or donate!

Investors are taking a more scrutinous approach to all of the capital spending the Mag7 stocks are throwing at AI data centers. The one standout this quarter (so far) is Microsoft. Matt, Lou, and Tyler break down why investors loved Microsoft's earnings while hating Meta's, and whether Microsoft is the best Mag7 stock right now. Plus, an earnings lightning round and whether single stock or basket is the best approach. Have a question? Email us; podcasts@fool.com Want to take the next step in your investing journey? Explore Motley Fool's Epic for our portfolio-centered investing experience, premium research, tools, and guidance: fool.com/epic Tyler Crowe, Matt Frankel, and Lou Whiteman discuss: - Meta and Microsoft's earnings reports. - The best MAg 7 stock to buy now -Hidden Gems earning highlights -Maibag: Buy single stocks or bet on several companies in the same industry? Companies discussed: META, MSFT, GOOG, NVDA, MA, V, EME, GRMN, LHX, HD, LOW, AMD, CAT, DE. Host: Tyler Crowe Guests: Matt Frankel, Lou Whiteman Engineer: Dan Boyd Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We're committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Empire Records is like that one friend who everyone loves but didn't quite fit in with the popular crowd.It captured the essence of 90s youth culture, from the angst of its characters to their rebellious spirit against the big bad corporations trying to take over. Casting choices were influenced by real-life experiences, with characters reflecting the writer's time working at Tower Records.Unfolding over a day at a record store, filled with unforgettable moments, quirky characters, and a soundtrack that defined a generation. Rex Manning Day has become an unofficial fandom holiday, celebrated every 8th April, echoing the film's quirky legacy.Despite initially flopping on release, Empire Records gained a massive cult following through home video releases and online memes. It's become a beacon of hope and camaraderie for all those who ever felt like they didn't belong.Damn the man, save the Empire!Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the current state of the education system and wondering how to best support your child's learning? In this episode of the Homeschool Yo Kids Podcast, host Jae sits down with Cat Hendricks from Parents Challenge to discuss why school choice is a fundamental right and how parents can reclaim their power as primary educators.

Explore the principles behind Fidelity Founders Class® with portfolio manager Thomas Williams. Learn why founder-led businesses matter and how this strategy can support your conversations with clients seeking long-term growth potential. Recorded on July 22, 2026. At Fidelity, our mission is to build a better future for Canadian investors and help them stay ahead. We offer investors and institutions a range of innovative and trusted investment portfolios to help them reach their financial and life goals. Fidelity mutual funds and ETFs are available by working with a financial advisor or through an online brokerage account. Visit fidelity.ca/howtobuy for more information. For a fifth year in a row, FidelityConnects by Fidelity Investments Canada was ranked #1 podcast by Canadian financial advisors in the 2025 Environics' Advisor Digital Experience Study. -- Les avantages des sociétés dirigées par leurs fondateurs – Thomas Williams Explorez les principes qui sous-tendent la Catégorie Fidelity BâtisseursMC en compagnie du gestionnaire de portefeuille Thomas Williams. Découvrez l'importance des entreprises dirigées par leurs fondateurs et voyez comment cette stratégie peut vous aider lors de vos échanges avec votre clientèle, tout particulièrement pour les personnes qui recherchent un potentiel de croissance à long terme. Pour une version avec des sous-titres français, veuillez consulter https://youtu.be/yDhDxxWGZyM Date : 22 juillet 2026 Chez Fidelity, notre mission consiste à aider le public investisseur canadien à se bâtir un meilleur avenir et à rester à l'avant-garde. Nous offrons aux particuliers et aux institutions une gamme de portefeuilles de placement innovants et fiables pour les aider à atteindre leurs objectifs financiers et personnels. Les fonds communs de placement et les FNB de Fidelity sont offerts par l'intermédiaire des conseillers et conseillères en placements et de comptes de courtage en ligne. Pour de plus amples renseignements, visitez fidelity.ca/commentinvestir. Les baladodiffusions DialoguesFidelity se sont classées au premier rang pour une cinquième année consécutive lors du sondage 2025 d'Environics sur l'expérience numérique des conseillers et conseillères en placements au Canada.

July 30, 2026 - Asha Varghese of Caterpillar and Nicole Bateman of the Economic Development Corporation joined Byers & Co to talk about CAT's $100 million Building the Future Workforce Initiative that includes $10 million to be spent in Illinois. Listen to the podcast now!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can building an audience in advance help your stories reach the people who make movies? And how can you prove there's demand for your book or screenplay before you've written it? Brooks Elms shares his advice after more than 20 years as a WGA screenwriter. In the intro, what doesn't work for book marketing and what does [Amy Chan SubStack; Unsingle; Rephonic]; Goodreads giveaway for Bones of the Deep; FutureVision XPrize. This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Brooks Elms is a WGA screenwriter with over 45 scripts, over a dozen sales, and he has directed two indie features. He is the creator of the Answer the Call system and has trained over 1,000 writers. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How to see the opportunity in AI when others only see the threat How to test a story with samples, and what a 16-second movie can do Building the trailer before you write the screenplay Letting your audience finance the film once they have validated the idea Why Hollywood still wants existing IP, and what makes them pay attention Feeling safe enough to write the truth, and finding a concrete path forward You can find Brooks on LinkedIn or email him at brooks@brookselms.com. Transcript of the interview with Brooks Elms Jo: Brooks Elms is a WGA screenwriter with over 45 scripts, over a dozen sales, and he has directed two indie features. He is the creator of the Answer the Call system and has trained over 1,000 writers. So welcome to the show, Brooks. Brooks: Thank you. It's awesome to be here. Jo: Fantastic. So first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into screenwriting. Brooks: I started filmmaking first. A buddy came up to me in high school and said, “Hey, we're making a karate movie, do you want to help us?” I was like, “Oh my God, yes, that sounds amazing.” So next thing I know, I had this karate outfit on, and we were just making this completely ridiculous and totally fun movie, and it was amazing. It was so fun. Then it went to a whole other level when we shared it with a friend, this guy Jay Sharon, and he watched the movie and he laughed so hard he literally fell out of his chair. I was like, “Oh my God,” the fun I had making it could actually transfer to somebody else. I was hooked. So from there I went to NYU film school, and then made a few independent feature films which were good but not great in terms of how they were received. They were great for me in terms of enjoyment, but I knew I needed to iterate faster at that point. So then I was like, “Well, it's expensive and it takes a long time to make a movie,” at least back then. So I pivoted to screenwriting, and pumped out two, three scripts a year, got signed at UTA, got writing assignments, and basically launched a screenwriting career. Then I still tried to get some stuff going, but it's hard when movies are so expensive. It's not hard, it's just that it takes a lot of precision in the marketing, and a lot of conversations to find the right matches to finance something, and you're either interested in doing that or you're not. I just was like, “Well, I'll just mostly write screenplays.” Then I started teaching at UCLA Extension and then coaching after that, along with writing. Then all the way up to the future. What's great about moving forward is that with AI, shot-making is becoming very close to cinematic quality. You can actually match cinematic quality in moments in some genres, but probably by next year. Right now you could actually do a really good horror movie all AI for 10, 20,000 bucks, depending on how much you're doing yourself or getting other people to do. So the economics are going to absolutely explode. So I'm sitting on dozens of scripts that didn't get through the Hollywood packaging bottleneck because they're too expensive, and I now have this giant slate that's ready to go, and I'm just absolutely thrilled. It's been a lifelong dream for me. Jo: Oh, so much to come back on there. Where to start? I do want to talk about what you just said there, sitting on dozens of scripts and now seeing the opportunity. I actually wrote down in my journal about a year ago, I see what's coming with AI, and I think that the best thing I can do is create as much original IP as possible, so that I can make the most of the opportunity ahead. So let's just get into the AI, because a lot of people feel it's a super bad thing. Talk about the opportunities and the attitude that you've got [around AI], and that you've seen others have around this, for what is ahead in a positive way. Brooks: It's fascinating to see how people respond to AI. I wonder, when the printing press rolled around, if there was some sort of backlash. Books must be handwritten. They can't be mass-produced. Here's one of my theories. At a deep psychological level, it's so profoundly powerful that I think the default setting is, “Oh, crap.” When I was a kid, some things were hard, and that power imbalance, when something big, new and powerful comes along: I'm going to get screwed, and so this is somehow a bad thing. I think that's the base psychological thing going on with most of the noise. Obviously there are some legit problems, in terms of copyright infringement from learning models, or from some of the environmental situation. So I'm not saying it's all rainbows and butterflies, but I think 90% of the noise around it comes from a fear of change. Here's the other one—a fear of, “Oh, yikes, I'm going to get taken advantage of somehow by either robots, or the corporations are going to use the robots against me,” or something like that. I have real empathy for me when I feel that way a little bit, but I don't feel it much, and for other people that do feel it. The other thing is, you know what it is? I think they fear their own empowerment even more. I had a therapist who was really good. He said, people aren't so much afraid of failing as they are afraid of succeeding. Because if we fail, we're stuck in act one and we don't go anywhere. The fear is answering the call and going to act two, when everything effing changes in the new world. So I think people are afraid of how goddamn powerful they're going to be when they can have a team of AI agents helping them do everything they want in business or life or whatever. I think it's the same thing with the internet. People are like, “Oh, I don't like social media, blah, blah, blah.” And I get it. There's a lot of noise and a lot of crap. Yet we have access to billions of people, and the algorithms in social media right now I think are level three out of 10. They're just going to get better and better. Even as it is now, if I do a post about something and it gets ignored, that's on me. The algorithms are trying to match me to my people. So if I'm not unique enough and authentic enough and aware enough of how virality works, that's on me, and it's a learnable skill that I can embrace and then change and then get better at. So I think people then resist that change. They resist the empowerment of learning the art of virality, or learning the art of some sort of social media stuff or whatever. The last thing I'll say about this rant is, I don't want to act like I'm the guru on the hill that has all the answers. I refuse calls all the time. I'm scared about all sorts of things. I'm certainly not perfect. I feel frustrated when I'm trying to put my big ideas into action and I can't get this technology thing to work or that one, and I throw tantrums. I'm trying to come at it from a real human perspective, but by and large, I've got stars in my eyes. I'm like, “This is amazing. This is going to be so powerful.” For so many people, you just have to be ready to embrace it and just go along for the ride, because there's going to be some big-ass changes. There already are, and that's going to accelerate. Jo: You mentioned there learning the art of whatever it is. One of the things is, I've spent 20 years, and so have you, learning our craft and our art, and now it can be done very easily. I'm generating video, as you mentioned, which is a craft I haven't spent 20 years on, but now I can generate. So things have definitely changed in that way. Just coming to the screenwriting side. Probably about a decade ago now, I did my first screenwriting course. I've written screenplays. Then I looked at the game you have to play and, like you said, the conversations you have to have, the events you have to go and network at, all the things that you have to do to put a screenplay in front of the right person at the right time. I was like, “I cannot do that. It's just not going to happen. I can't do that along with everything else.” So I put it aside, but now I feel maybe it's time to bring it back because things are changing. So can you maybe talk about, if someone has a screenplay now that they've written, or some IP like a book that they have now— What would you recommend people do in terms of wanting to get that [IP] in front of somebody, or doing something with it themselves? Brooks: It's such a good question. By the way, not even a screenplay—you could do the same things with a novel. Let me try to be succinct here, which is a good challenge for me. A simple way to look at it is, you're giving samples. Let's say it's a lemonade stand, and you give out a little shot of your… maybe you have cayenne pepper lemonade, some sort of fun lemonade. If you give out a sample and people are into it, they're going to come back and they're going to tell friends. If you give a sample of the lemonade and they're not into it, then you go back to the kitchen and you mix up a different flavour. So that's some basic business, but the internet allows us to do that at scale. So what I like to encourage people to do when I coach them is come up with the minimum viable material. It can be a 10-second clip. There's a writer in my community who made a really beautiful 16-second movie. It's one shot. I love it so much. It's two wine glasses. There's a lipstick smudge on one of the wine glasses. They're half full, and it's just that shot. It's sitting there, and all of a sudden you hear this thundering, thumping down these stairs, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Then you see out of the corner of the frame one person runs by, and then the other person behind her runs by and goes, “Wait.” That's it. That's the whole movie. It's 16 seconds. He did that with his phone. So there's so much going on. There's a couple of basic elements, but he just did it with his phone, and you can evoke enormous emotional impact on people through social media, whether it's just words. You guys have a big advantage as novelists because you're so good with words. Whether it's a little bit longer, like sudden fiction, that's a couple of pages or whatever. Even just copywriters are really in a good position for the future because they're super potent with two words or three words or 10 words. Then novelists are probably really advantageous because it doesn't cost anything to just put some words out on the internet. The point is, if you put something out, it's a signal, and you're talking about billions of people who could find that signal. If you do it and then you look at the response, and then you try again, you look at the response, we can do this iteration infinitely for free. So you can do it already. You've been able to do it for 10, 15, 20 years, just with words. But now you're going to basically be able to do that with movies or clips or trailers. So the thing that I'm leading in my community of writers is having people build trailers in advance, or clips. When a book or a movie is done, how the heck do we get people to see it? One way is a trailer or some sort of behind-the-scenes material. You can just do that stuff now before even writing the screenplay. I saw that you were doing this project, a trailer for this competition. And then you mentioned, “Oh, I've got to write the screenplay.” Not really. You have to develop the story enough to know what you're referring to, and then it's about studying the craft of either trailer construction, or whatever the clips are, or viral clips. They all have a structure, and then you just test it. If you enjoy that testing process, which I find absolutely thrilling, it feels like the filmmaking version of a stand-up comedian. If I did stand-up, I say a joke, they laugh or they don't laugh. It's really beautiful feedback from the universe. Nerve-wracking, right? But we can do that now as storytellers. We put a story out there in any format, and the audience responds. Just like you have to read any room, you have to learn how to read the engagement on social media. What do likes mean? What do shares mean? What do comments mean? How do you deal with trolls? All that is just part of the new art. Once you get good at it, holy smokes, that's the key to the kingdom. You can build audiences in advance, and for movies you could even have them finance your movie in advance, if you've built an email list of 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 people because you kept putting out all these viral clips around your story, novel, or screenplay. Then you go, “Okay, now 30,000 people are on my email list and I tell them about me and my perspective and my world. We're going to make this darn thing with AI for 20,000 bucks. You guys have got to pony up some money. Put in a dollar, five, 10, or you get the VIP $500 experience.” It's like crowdfunding, but much more sophisticated, because most crowdfunding was like begging friends and family to donate to your crazy dream. What I'm talking about is going to the audience directly, developing enough of the story, then going to the audience second, and then only when they validate the idea, to the extent that you're happy with. You could do a crazy idea that's going to have a small audience, and you don't have to have a blockbuster audience. You get to pick the audience size that you want, and then put the samples out there and see if you have a relevant audience size for this next project. Once the audience tells you, “Yes, we want this,” then you go make it. So you're ultimately reducing risk to almost zero. It takes time and you have to learn how to do this stuff, but it's thrilling to me because we just have the capacity to test the material and listen to the audience upfront. The last thing I'll say, and I've rambled a lot, I'm sorry. When I made a movie in 1994, a feature film right out of NYU, it took me three years to find out what the audience thought about that movie. I had to make the damn thing, and then I ran out of money, and that took me years to edit it, and I finally got it, blah, blah, blah. And again, I loved it. I loved every facet of it, and it was fine, but it was super inefficient. Today, I could take those same elements, create an AI trailer this weekend, put it in front of hundreds of thousands of people, and they could tell me right away, “This sucks,” or, “This is interesting,” or, “Holy smokes, this is amazing. I want this.” If it's not, “Holy smokes, this is amazing, I want it,” I can go ahead and re-edit the whole damn trailer, and just keep reiterating at almost no cost. Then once the demand is there, I can take that demand and that audience and go to Hollywood, and that's when they're going to want to work with me. Then it doesn't take a million conversations and finding the needle in the haystack, because Hollywood sees the numbers and they go, “Oh, you're the people we do want to do business with. You've proven demand. We want to do business with you.” Jo: Yes, it's so interesting. I can hear people listening and they're like, “Easier said than done, getting an email list of 40,000 people.” And in fact— It's exactly the same as building up a career as an independent author. This is as a filmmaker, as a visual person, and the industry is visual, so doing a visual trailer is the obvious thing. And as you say, the tools I use just to do this one, I use Midjourney, and I've used Seedance as the main video model. It does take a while, but it is pretty fast now, if you have a visual image of what you want in your head, which obviously you're a visual person as well. But is it… Brooks: Hold on. I want to push back on that a little bit, because I think it's really important. So yes, that's true, but underneath that, my friend, it's a relationship. It's the relationship, and the media is secondary. You have been prolific in connecting with your audience, and that's why I think a lot of people like you, because you share and they get to know you in that sort of cadence. I saw you in another podcast, you mentioned Seth Godin, who just said, “Hey, I want to be the type of person that has this relationship with my audience. I'm going to share some of my thoughts every day.” He happened to do it with words, with his background in marketing, but you could do the same thing with still images. You could do the same thing with a five-second movie clip once a week. It's the relationship you want with your fans. I'm not saying you snap your fingers and you have 50,000 people on your email list. What I'm saying is, what else are you doing? If we're artists and our impulse is to create and share, and if you do it in this way, if I can create and share and inspire trust in this relationship with a stranger because they like my genre thing and they like the way they felt when they experienced my media, words, images, movies, it doesn't matter. They just like the feeling, and they go, “Ooh, I want more of that feeling. How do I get more of that? Oh, this person has this email list or community.” If I can do it with one, then I can scale it out. So getting the first one, or the first 5 or 10 samples, that is a whole process. But then once you do that, scaling up is more of a mechanical thing. It's not even that hard, especially when you can do paid ads. So you can scale up very quickly if you have the sauce. If you don't have the sauce, it doesn't matter who you're related to, you've got to get the sauce right. Jo: Yes, and again, it's so parallel to the indie author community. I've just got to ask you, in the olden days, an author might write a screenplay, or a screenwriter write a screenplay, and then they would send it. They'd find an agent. They'd pitch an agent, and I guess then they'd hope that someone would turn that into a movie. So is that just dead now? Is it realistically that you need to get yourself out there, build the audience in the same way that it often is for authors? Brooks: So, no. I've got two screenplay deals going right now. So here's how it's going to work. Think about Broadway, or the theatre district in Britain. It's like West End or East End or whatever… Jo: The West End. Brooks: Sorry for my American ignorance. West End, okay. So every town on the planet has a stage, but there's only one Broadway, there's only one West End, right? And every town has its own festival, but there are a few significant tastemakers. There's Cannes, there's Sundance, there's Toronto. Hollywood is always going to be a tastemaker in our lifetime, for sure. What they don't have anymore, what they enjoyed for the first 100 years of the industry, is that they had a stranglehold on basically the equipment, the financing, and the audience, and that's all going away. Do you want to hear a fun story about the birth of cinema? Do you know why Hollywood started in Hollywood? Jo: No. Brooks: So Thomas Edison invented the camera, or the type of model camera that they were using in, I don't know, 1910 or something around there. They didn't want to pay his patent. They didn't want to pay the patent to make these movies, so they went all the way across the country, a bunch of outlaws, and they set up shop in California because he couldn't enforce his patent that they were basically stealing. And reason number two, LA enjoys amazing weather almost all year round. The weather here is either nice or really nice. You have mountains, you have beach, you have desert, you have all these different locales. So when it was really important to be on location, LA was the perfect place. Anyway, that is all going away. For many decades, more people could make movies. In the early '90s, Robert Rodriguez made a movie for 9,000 bucks. There was a book in the '80s that I bought that I loved, it was Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices. This guy, Rick Schmidt, I think his name was. There were the independent filmmakers really in the '60s and the '70s. So the cost has been going down and down and down, and now it's less than ever. Once social media came along, now you have access to the audience, so why do you even need Hollywood? That being said, there are tons of people. There are 400,000 people already working in the movie and the TV industry here. And they're voracious. We have a voracious demand. Humans need stories. We need big stories, long stories. We need stories, and Hollywood is so good at giving them stories. And so they have a need for these things, and they're still spending a lot of money on those budgets. So yes, there's still a demand for turning books and optioning them and turning them into movies. Books are great. Any sort of existing IP is great because there are marketing efficiencies there. People already know that stuff, know the vibe of it, and so it's easier to market than something that's totally creative and new. When you're spending that much money, you want those marketing efficiencies. They're really important. So the point being, the power is shifting away from Hollywood. Hollywood will still be a tastemaker, but you and me can reach anybody on the planet now. Almost. Billions of people. If it's making a movie, right now you could make a movie that most people wouldn't realise is an AI movie. If it was a horror film, I know a handful of people that could make a feature-length horror film right now with AI and 99% of the audience couldn't tell, if it was professionally written. Jo: I think the point here though is, I'm an author, the people listening are authors, and we don't want to make movies. We want to license our IP to people who want to make movies. Brooks: Yes. Great. Okay, good. So then you could, if you wanted, build an audience. Hollywood loves when something's already proven, so that's that IP thing, right? So if you just have a great book, then it's all about the sales. You guys have Dragons' Den, we have Shark Tank here. And what's amazing about that show is these are people or entrepreneurs pitching an idea, and there's an amazing rhythm that happens. They say, “We've got this great idea. It's this sort of company.” And the sharks, or the dragons, will listen. And there's a huge turning point when they reveal sales. They're either really excited about the idea and then they go, “Well, how are the sales?” And the person goes, “Well, we don't have any sales yet.” And they go, “Uh,” and they're not interested. Or they might even be like, “Eh, it doesn't seem like a good idea.” And they're like, “Well, how are the sales?” And they're like, “Oh, well, we've sold through the roof.” And then all of a sudden they perk up. So it's all about the sales. So step one is writing something that you want. Step two is making sure other people in your target audience are also loving it as much as you do. Step three is proving in some way at scale that there's real demand for it. So you could do that with trailers, you could do that with clips, you can do that as an indie publisher. There's all sorts of things that you can do. Humans are much more persuaded by concrete data than they are by just vibes. So if you can bring Hollywood concrete data of any type, like viral videos, like audience, like obviously bestsellers. Awards mean something, but not quite as much as sales. Then you're going to get Hollywood's attention because that reduces risk for them. So even now, when Hollywood's definitely shrinking and contracting, there's still very significant money being spent because it's a huge demand. If you ever walk around a studio lot, those things are opulent places. It's stunning. Like, how are they paying for all this stuff? These lots are enormous. It's because humanity is voracious for stories, and movies are one premium type of storytelling. The demand for stories is steady if not going up. It's just that we have a wider variety of types of stories that we can do, whether we're an indie author. So anyway, did I answer the question? You get me too excited with these questions, Jo. It's a problem. Jo: Yes. I think there's a lot of opportunity and a lot of ways in, but the parallels with being an indie author I think are quite clear. One of the things I found interesting about your profile and what you do is that you help clients who are already accomplished but not quite breaking through, and that sounds like a lot of mid-list indie authors, probably a lot of mid-list screenwriters, mid-list filmmakers. This is a hard place to be because, on the one hand, we are grateful for what we have achieved and what we can do, and yet wanting more, wanting that big Hollywood deal or the Netflix deal, or wanting the massive bestseller or whatever. So if someone wants to get to that next level, what are some of the ways that they can perhaps try and get there? Brooks: It's a great question. Coaching is a really wonderful way to learn anything of this sort of complexity and challenge, especially if it's a hyper-competitive business. We need two things, I think, to write a great novel or screenplay or both. A, we need to feel profoundly safe in our space. If we can't really feel deeply authentic about the things that are embarrassing, or that we feel shame about, or just our shadows, or anything that we don't feel completely comfortable saying and sharing in public usually. We need to be able to touch those things, and be articulate about those things, and that's one part of it. Then we need a concrete path forward. Maybe you're thinking about some tragedy that you had in childhood, and how you dealt with it and how difficult that was. So you need to be able to be real precise in those observations about what it felt like, and how you tried to compensate for it, and that didn't work and it made it worse. Whatever your observations are about your life journey, you need to be really specific and really deeply felt. A good coaching relationship allows you to be in that space, to be really honest with yourself and authentic. g Aood coach will push you back and say, “You know what? That sounds interesting, but maybe not quite as true to you deeply.” So that's one piece of it. Then there's a concrete path forward. You need to have the emotional access to that truth, and then you need to know what to do with that truth in a step-by-step way. Because most people, the ones that you're talking about, they're accomplished in something else. What happens is when we first start writing, and maybe this happens with novelists, but for sure it happens to screenwriters, you just start typing words. But you haven't really thought through the theme, the concept, the structure, the character, all the deeper questions that really matter. The milestones, like a North Star: winning a major award, or getting a publisher. That's the direction that we're heading towards, and then you set it and forget it, but you want to keep checking it every week, every month or whatever. But you want it very specific. “I would like to sell a book, or sell a book to Hollywood, or write a screenplay, or get a producer attached to a screenplay.” Whatever the milestone is, make it really specific, really concrete, and then reverse engineer. This is what I do on the concrete path. I reverse engineer every step to get there, starting with a really tiny one we can do today, and I make sure they feel really safe, and then we just walk through. Then what happens is, if you do that, if you feel safe, if you're showing up authentically and you have a process that's repeatable, not just willy-nilly, it's got to be something that's proven to work. It wasn't an accident I wrote 45 scripts. I've got a whole system. But by the way, the first five scripts took me forever. The last movie that I made took me three years to write that script. I can write a better script with those same elements in three months now, because I know I have a concrete path. So if you want to do something new, whether it's playing the piano or getting six-pack abs or writing a screenplay, work with somebody who's got a system that's already proven, and make sure you relate to them, and then just follow the system. Then when the doubts come up, and they will, that's where the feeling safe is really important. Because, oh, I want the six-pack abs, but I don't feel like going to the gym. I want the extra donut. If I'm working with a really good trainer, they go, “Dude, do you want the six-pack abs or not?” And then you go back and forth, and I go, “Okay, now I can make peace with myself and say I can take one tiny bite of the donut and then still do my workout,” and then I'm moving towards that North Star. Does that make sense? Jo: Yes. I think, like many independents, I resist anything that is systematised. I'm a discovery writer, and I follow the muse, and all of that kind of thing. I think I would say something in a similar vein, which is sustainable creativity for the long term, because your 45 scripts are also years of work, and my books are years of work, and we get better at what we do. So my system, I do have a system really, because— My system is that I do the work, and I write my stories, and I get them out there, and I do the marketing. So even if it's not as systematised as such, it's still a process that I have repeated over and over again. Brooks: That's fascinating to me. Would you consider yourself a pantser? You're like, “I've got an idea,” and you just start writing? Jo: I don't use the word pantser. I guess I call it discovery writing, which is… Brooks: That's a better term. Jo: Yes. What I'm writing for this prize, for example, I know the characters, I know now what's happening. When I had the idea, it was very much a vision and a theme, and the competition has a theme: a positive future with AI and technology. But the things that came around that, I then started playing with ideas around the treatment. I haven't written the screenplay yet. I don't do a plot, or I don't follow Save the Cat or any of that kind of thing. When I write a novel, I just explore and I never write in order. Then at some point I stop and then I have to think about the structure and putting it all together, so the edits are quite big. But my fun is in that discovery, really. Brooks: Oh, that's awesome. Okay, so let me ask, that's really fascinating. And by the way, that doesn't, to me, negate the system that I use. The one that I use is ultimately… the thing is, these questions, the audience is wanting your unique answers to. You don't necessarily need to do it in a certain order. I think that's actually really cool that you write out of order and you have a few elements in mind. All that stuff sounds awesome. The only thing that then makes me curious is, how's your pace? Are you actually completing novels at a pace that feels good, or do you feel like you go too fast, too slow? Jo: I do one or two a year at the moment. Well, two a year, really. But I would say I'm not as successful as I'd like to be, so I'm not saying that my system is the best. I'm saying I want to be better. It's just that my fun is this sort of creative chaos, which I then try and control later. One of the things I really like about screenplays and treatments and doing this kind of thing for film is that it is much more structured, I think, than a 70,000-word novel. You can go in all kinds of directions, whereas with screenwriting you do have to be more disciplined really. Brooks: Yes, so this is going to be fun probably, to hear my view for your audience, and the differences as I see them. For starters, you're talking about what, 10, 20, 30 hours reading a novel sometimes, or maybe less, whereas a movie's a 90-minute experience, right? So that's different. Or if it's a TV series, you might see an hour and then an hour. So that's a very different experience. What happens is when it's condensed like that, you're loading up layers. So every scene is stacked with exposition beneath the drama, and done in a certain way. So specifically, movies are only what you can see and only what you hear. Whereas novels, if you can think it, you can write it, it can be in there. So you don't need to have a plot, but if you want to sell your book to Hollywood, it helps. So I was very resistant about structure. I went to NYU film school, where we really just made short films. It was funny, I had friends that were in the dramatic writing department, and I was like, “You guys are wasting your money. You're just learning to write scripts. We learn to write the scripts and make the movies.” What I hadn't realised is it's a different skill set to hold somebody's attention across an hour-long play, or a 90-minute movie, than it is to make a movie that holds their attention for two minutes or five minutes. I found out years later when I made a feature that was like a lot of shorts patched together, and people were not… They liked it, but they didn't love it. I was like, “Well, what's going on?” And so then I learned to really love Save the Cat in particular. It completely changed me. What happened was, I got a big old slice of humble pie. I had made my second feature, and I put everything I had into it, and it had loose structural beginning, middle, end, blah, blah, blah. But I was still, “Eh, Hollywood BS. What do they know? It's all fake.” So I was very anti-Hollywood structure. Then I was like, now I've got two independent films out there, people saw them, liked them, whatever, but it wasn't getting me consistent work. It wasn't really advancing my career in the way that I wanted. And I was like, “Well, maybe there is something to the Save the Cat.” So I went to the Save the Cat workshop with Blake when he was still alive, and he was delightful, a really awesome guy. He's got this kind of cutesy style, for people that don't know. For context, Blake Snyder was a working Hollywood screenwriter, and he had this system called Save the Cat, which actually has some really interesting ideas. He's got this very light, breezy sort of style. A lot of people don't like him and some people really love him, and everything in between. But I took his weekend seminar, and it completely changed me, because at that point, like I said, I took three years to write a script. Then once he had a process and he had a way of thinking about craft that was just much more screenwriter-friendly, I was like, “Oh my God.” It was so much easier, because I was just focused on the right thing at the right time. So it just sped everything up. After that, I was banging out two to three scripts a year, and better and better quality. So for me, because I went from winging it and wrote five scripts in 13 years, and then wrote two to three scripts every year, I became a huge proponent of system and process. Then my own system really came from that, but it's modular. I have a nine-step system, but you don't necessarily have to go in that order, other than the last three steps, but I won't get into the details. Sometimes you kind of jump from two to three and then back to two and then back and forth. So I love that you get the feel for those elements, and then you just felt your way through. But writing screenplay pages doesn't make sense until you really understand concept, you get a deep sense of beginning, middle, end, character arcs, and these other threads. There are just way better tools for those jobs than screenplay format, because it's a really weird format. It's got these weird slug lines at the top that are all in caps, because a screenplay is a blueprint for somebody else to make the movie. It's not an end-user document like a novel. I don't let my clients even go to that format because it just gets them focused on the wrong things. What they really need to know is, what is your perspective about this theme? What happened in your life that you're fascinated with, that you'd even want to write about this? And tell me what your real life lessons are. So we go into… again, I go back to relationship. What's your relationship to the universe? And what's your relationship to your best friends, or where you got your heart broken, or whatever you want to write about. And then we get that clarity, and then I show you how to express it in terms of developing a screenplay. It's really long-form storytelling, and then the structure just makes it build on itself. But with the structure, because you're talking about so much money and people involved to make it, at least traditionally, what ended up happening was narrative structure that was not so much rigid. Because here's the thing, you can look at 50, 100 years of European cinema and you can look at Hollywood cinema, and Hollywood laps them. When I taught at UCLA Extension, I had lots of foreign students. Let's say there'd be two or three students… if there were 12 people in the class, two or three people would be from America, and everybody else would be from other countries. I would go around, I'd be like, “What movies and TV shows have you been watching?” Almost in every single country, they watch half from their own country, half from Hollywood. So Hollywood storytelling works, that's just the data, and they're dominant. The reason it works is what Aristotle was saying thousands of years ago.. There's a way of thinking about beginning, middle, end that just deeply speaks to the psyche, and you can ignore it if you want. I think Godard said, “You need beginning, middle, and end, but not necessarily in that order,” right? Which is great. Just the way we experience life, there's a beginning, a middle, an end to this podcast interview. There's a beginning, middle, end to the day, a beginning, middle, end to me eating lunch. So if you don't lean into the beginning, middle, end psychological aspect of your story, you're going to bore your reader. But to your point, you don't necessarily have to sort that out in the beginning. It's more efficient probably if you do, but you don't have to. Go into it wherever the muse tells you to go, and then at some point, like you do, then you go, “Okay, now I go back and I edit.” If you're saying there's another level, you have another gear in you, then yes, I'd be curious to slowly go through how you're making those decisions. Because what's happening probably is there are ways you're holding back a little bit. There's maybe something you're afraid of being vulnerable about. That's usually where me or other writers are holding themselves back, and we can take a look at that. There are different ways I show writers to do it. Then you can go, “Oh, I was doing it here, and now I can do it there.” And it could be with process, or just a certain creative choice. With story, it's clear and compelling. Those are the simple things. So, is this clear enough? Is it compelling enough? And there are almost always ways to up-level on any facet, whether it's one sentence, or a sentence that describes the whole concept of the book, or a chapter. Each one of those can be looked at with that lens and we can just say, “Hey, this is 70%, 80%,” whatever, and then we say, “Well, how do we get a little bit more?” And then when you do that enough, it piles up. Then especially if you bring in an audience and people are flipping out for your work, they'll tell you. Jo: Yes, I love a challenge, so thank you for everything you've shared today. So where can people find you and everything you do online? Brooks: Well, one way you can find me—if anything I said seemed helpful for you, if you have questions about Hollywood or you have a screenplay in your heart—you can just email me, brooks@brookselms.com. You could look me up on LinkedIn. I'm at Brooks Elms. I also have a Skool community called Screenwriter Marketing, but it's really for any sort of storyteller, and it talks about my favourite way to engage an audience and get through it. So anybody can jump into that if you like my vibe. If you really think anything I've said, or the way I said it, seems like it could be helpful for you, just reach out. Let me know what you're up to, and maybe there's a way I can help you. Jo: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Brooks. That was great. Brooks: You're welcome. It was a total pleasure. It was lots of fun, and I really appreciate you.The post How To Prove The Demand For Your Stories And Get The Attention Of Hollywood With Brooks Elms first appeared on The Creative Penn.

On this episode, Scott and Michael take a look back at animation from the DePatie-Freleng Studio during the 1970s. They discuss Saturday morning cartoons like "Dr. Dolittle," the short subjects "The Ant and the Aardvark," the prime-time TV special "The Cat in the Hat," and more. They also talk about what they've been catching up on – the new live-action version of "Masters of the Universe," and Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 5." Find more From Pencils to Pixels: The Animation Celebration Podcast at: www.rf4rm.com Follow the show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BH6dKaVMe/?mibextid=LQQJ4d Follow the hosts on social media: Scott on X/Twitter: @scotthopkins76 Michael on X/Twitter: @mlyonsfl I Michael's website: www.wordsfromlyons.com Rate, review, & subscribe to From Pencils to Pixels on Apple podcasts I Google Play I Stitcher

Joining me for this episode is multi-book author Nik Korpon. Nik and I have a chat about his newly released middle-grade novel (co-written by Jorge Enrique Paz), The Cat Prophecies: Claw Quest. A boy holds the fate of the world in his hands when he discovers that his cat is from a secret realm of warrior cats as they face a dangerous enemy. Nik and I also discuss how to write for a middle-aged audience, that sits between children's books and Young Adult books. Have a listen to this fun story that takes place in the streets of Columbia. Enjoy!EPISODE NOTES: Nik Korpon - The Cat PropheciesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/animal-writes-animal-writers-and-best-selling-authors-pets-animals--6666984/support.

Ryan talks with Marine combat veteran, historian, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, and CAT 5: The 2033 War author Bing West about the challenges President Trump faces in the Iran conflict, how it compares to the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and what history suggests could come next.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

East meets West in the latest edition of DJ cypher's PSYCHOBILLY FAMILY POWER HOUR! While there's an understandable tendency to associate rockabilly with the U.S., the wonderful thing about music is that knows neither boundaries nor countries. With this in mind, the first half of this week's show focuses on JAPANESE rockabilly, psychobilly, and horror punk, and the second half does the same with SWEDEN! You are sure to discover some new favorites with this one, so I hope you'll give it a spin. DJ CYPHER'S PSYCHOBILLY FAMILY POWER HOUR Broadcast #66 (28 July 2026) The Monster A GoGo's, “Hiroshi's Guitar” The Silverettes & Misaki Aono, “Koi Wa Aserazu” Mach Kung Fu, “Three Coins” DTKINZ, “Samurai King” Psyclocks, “Radioactive Baby” Balzac, “The Haunting” Robin, “DxR” The Rodeos, “Ningen No Shoumei” Tokyo Cramps, “Cramp Stomp” The Nevrotix, “Cast a Spell” The Test Pilots, “Deadly Rhythms” Go Getters, “Welcome to My Hell” Rocket Overdrive, “Blame the Game” Fannie Mae & the Dynamite Believers, “Condition Unknown” Astrolites, “Prison Bound” Wild Rooster, “A Cat in a Hotrod” Johnny & the Jailbirds, “Roll on (Clickety Clack)” DJ cypher's Psychobilly Family Power Hour: 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern US Time on sorradio.org Promos and inquiries to darknationradio@gmail.com Playbacks http://www.mixcloud.com/cypheractive Downloadable http://www.hearthis.at/cypheractive Social Media: http://www.facebook.com/groups/psychobillyfamilypowerhour

In this episode of The Curious Realm, host Christopher Jordan welcomes Kristan T Harris, renowned host of the popular show The Rundown Live to discuss his years of research into Giants in America. Fron the famed story of Lovelock Cave and cannibalistic race of giants, to rumors of the Smithsonian burying the truth and hiding Giant Skeletons, what is the truth behind the legends of giants in America? In the second part of the episode, we welcome Cosmic Cat Whisperer and Lyran Starseed, Sylvie Sterling to discuss the secrets of cats. Cats have long been the companion of man, yet despite domesticating dogs far after cats, humans still are befuddled by much of what cats do and why. We sit down with Cat Whisperer Sylvie Sterling to learn about some of the mysterious behaviors of cats, what they are thinking, and how we can better learn to understand our feline cosmic brethren. Join the Curious Realm as we delve into the topics of giants in America with Kristan T Harris and cat secrets with Sylvie Sterling. Curious Realm is proudly distributed by: Ground Zero Media, APRTV and the official Curious Realm ROKU App! Curious Realm has teamed up with True Hemp Science, Austin, TX based suppliers of high-quality full spectrum emulsified CBD products and more. Visit TrueHempScience.com TODAY and use code Curious7 to save 7% off your order of $50 or more and get a free 50mg CBD edible! Intro music “A Curious Realm” provided by No Disassemble find more great music and content at: NoDisassemble.com.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/curious-realm--5254986/support.

In this episode of The Curious Realm, host Christopher Jordan welcomes Kristan T Harris, renowned host of the popular show The Rundown Live to discuss his years of research into Giants in America. Fron the famed story of Lovelock Cave and cannibalistic race of giants, to rumors of the Smithsonian burying the truth and hiding Giant Skeletons, what is the truth behind the legends of giants in America? In the second part of the episode, we welcome Cosmic Cat Whisperer and Lyran Starseed, Sylvie Sterling to discuss the secrets of cats. Cats have long been the companion of man, yet despite domesticating dogs far after cats, humans still are befuddled by much of what cats do and why. We sit down with Cat Whisperer Sylvie Sterling to learn about some of the mysterious behaviors of cats, what they are thinking, and how we can better learn to understand our feline cosmic brethren. Join the Curious Realm as we delve into the topics of giants in America with Kristan T Harris and cat secrets with Sylvie Sterling. Curious Realm is proudly distributed by: Ground Zero Media, APRTV and the official Curious Realm ROKU App! Curious Realm has teamed up with True Hemp Science, Austin, TX based suppliers of high-quality full spectrum emulsified CBD products and more. Visit TrueHempScience.com TODAY and use code Curious7 to save 7% off your order of $50 or more and get a free 50mg CBD edible! Intro music “A Curious Realm” provided by No Disassemble find more great music and content at: NoDisassemble.com.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/curious-realm--5254986/support.

Mandy Wiener speaks to EWN Reporter, Dimakatso Leshoro about Vusi ‘Cat’ Matlala and his co-accused’s trial continuing in court. The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener is 702 and CapeTalk’s flagship news show, your hour of essential news radio. The show is podcasted every weekday, allowing you to catch up with a 60-minute weekday wrap of the day's main news. It's packed with fast-paced interviews with the day’s newsmakers, as well as those who can make sense of the news and explain what's happening in your world. All the interviews are podcasted for you to catch up and listen to. Thank you for listening to this podcast of The Midday Report Listen live on weekdays between 12:00 and 13:00 (SA Time) to The Midday Report broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from The Midday Report go to https://buff.ly/BTGmL9H and find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/LcbDdFI Subscribe to the 702 and CapeTalk daily and weekly newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mandy Wiener speaks to EWN Reporter, Dimakatso Leshoro about Vusi ‘Cat’ Matlala and his co-accused’s trial continuing in court. The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener is 702 and CapeTalk’s flagship news show, your hour of essential news radio. The show is podcasted every weekday, allowing you to catch up with a 60-minute weekday wrap of the day's main news. It's packed with fast-paced interviews with the day’s newsmakers, as well as those who can make sense of the news and explain what's happening in your world. All the interviews are podcasted for you to catch up and listen to. Thank you for listening to this podcast of The Midday Report Listen live on weekdays between 12:00 and 13:00 (SA Time) to The Midday Report broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from The Midday Report go to https://buff.ly/BTGmL9H and find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/LcbDdFI Subscribe to the 702 and CapeTalk daily and weekly newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Extra case roundupMahdawi v. Trump, 2026 WL 2090981 (2d Cir. 2026) – habeas & § 237(a)(4)(C)Suri v. Trump, 2026 WL 2123557 (4th Cir. 2026) – habeas & § 237(a)(4)(C)Fuentes v. USCIS (4th Cir. July 24, 2026) – SIJ, statutory interpretation, and parental benefits Rana v. Blanche, No. 25-1862 (1st Cir. July 23, 2026)M-A-M-; mental health safeguards and credibility; indicia of incompetency; IJ affirmative duty; Maoists; Nepal Matter of H-L-S-M-, 29 I&N Dec. 767 (BIA 2026)no past torture; CAT; Mexico; Guatemala; Latin Kings; MS-13; clear error; expert testimony Matter of A-G-O-F-, 29 I&N Dec. 772 (BIA 2026)humanitarian asylum; particularity; Brazilian children; relocation; abandoned children; police reporting harm; police arresting perpetrators for other crimes; C-G-T- Matter of Y-S-P-T-, 29 I&N Dec. 776 (BIA 2026)exceptional and extremely unusual hardship for § 212(h) waiver; discretion with sexual crimes; extreme hardship Matter of Lopez Rico, 29 I&N Dec. 780 (BIA 2026)unlawful voting; INA § 237(a)(3)(D); 18 U.S.C. § 611(a); DHS burdens; pleading the Fifth; discretionMatter of L-F-R-, 29 I&N Dec. 787 (BIA 2026)annual asylum fee; abandonment of asylum; scheduling orders; enforcing filing deadlines; statutory interpretation; plain language of the statute; OBBBA Garcia Demetrio, et al. v. Blanche, No. 25-991 (9th Cir. July 20, 2026)age and immutability; particular social group; mother of adolescents; single mothers; nexus reviewed de novo; Mexico Diaz-Boyzo v. Blanche, No. 17-72894 (9th Cir. July 23, 2026)crime of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect divisibility; enhancement; Or. Rev. Stat. § 163.160(1)(a), (3)(c); criminal negligence Torres-Casas v. Blanche, No. 25-172 (9th Cir. July 22, 2026)qualifying relative age-out for non LPR cancellation of removal purposes; predictive findings; remanding non-LPR cancellation denials pending at the BIA; hardshipKurzban Kurzban Tetzeli and Pratt P.A.Immigration, serious injury, and business lawyers serving clients in Florida, California, and all over the world for over 40 years.eimmigration"Immigration law software you'll love to use."get.eimmigration.com/IRP Gonzales & Gonzales Immigration BondsP: (833) 409-9200immigrationbond.com Stafi"Remote staffing solutions for businesses of all sizes"Click me!Want to become a patron?Show the Podcast some loooovvveeeCONTACT INFORMATION:Email: kgregg@kktplaw.comFacebook: @immigrationreviewInstagram: @immigrationreviewTwitter: @immreviewAbout your hostCase notesRecent criminal-immigration article (p.18)Featured in San Diego VoyagerSupport the show

Is there actually more of a “crisis of meaning” in the smartphone AI age? Is it more likely the case that the vast majority of humans always been perfectly happy to accept whatever meager meaning happens to come their way, with a small, hand-wringing set of elites always freaking out that the latest thing is bad? If everyone is content to watch individualized content on their solipsism machines, is it just kinda rude of Rowdy Roddy Piper to come barging in trying to wake everybody up? Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Show RundownOpen — Last Out the Door, Like a Hero16:03 — Cat arsonists in Italy20:51 — AI content taking over1:03:10 — Psychos are travelling the world with giant television mugs1:11:46 — Did Mark Strassmann, CBS News' Senior National Correspondent, Get off A Good One?1:18:26 — Wrap-up! Hadestown; The Hunger Games; Airport; The TommyknockersRelevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

At 8pm one night I got that look in my eyes. The one my husband knows means I'm about to ride the wild donkey.By 4am I'd sent an email every hour, illustrated cartoons to go inside them, invented offers I'd never sold before, and slapped a 24-hour expiry on every single one. I also let people email me their OWN offers at their own price. Total made in that 24 hours: just over $42,000.This episode is the full blow-by-blow. What I offered, what sold, what broke, and why I'd absolutely do it again.Who this is for:If you're a creative, neurodivergent business owner with twelve half-planned launches in your notebook and a nagging feeling that you need a proper strategy before you're allowed to sell anything, this one's for you. You don't need a funnel. You don't need a launch runway. You need permission to act on the wild idea while it's still hot.Topics covered:What "riding the wild donkey" actually means, and why people still talk about it 15 years onThe full list of offers I made (encouragograms, business audits, VIP days, 60% off Take Action Club)Letting my audience make ME offers, and how I decided yes or noDoing it all on PayPal links because setting up Kajabi properly would have killed the momentumThe Kajabi outage that hit in the final hours, and how we handled itWhy I don't track unsubscribesDecision fatigue, an inbox stuck at 86 emails, and needing a team who can run with chaosThe full revenue breakdownThe one offer that surprised me enough that I'm making it permanentKey insightsSpeed is a feature. The idea arrived at 8pm and was live within the hour. Waiting would have flattened it."Basic bitch" your systems when the alternative is not launching. I lost the Kajabi analytics and gained $42,000.A ticking 24-hour expiry does the persuading for you. No convincing required.Inviting people to name their own offer and their own price removed the ick from both sides. Some got a yes, some got a counter-offer, some got a no, and everyone stayed friends.Say no to discounting the thing that's already radically generous. The Academy stayed at full price all day.Things break in every launch. The checkout went down. I laughed, extended the deadline, and gave anyone who emailed us a 24-hour extension.Your team's tolerance for wild ideas is a hiring criteria, not a personality quirk. I've had assistants get cranky about unplanned launches. I need people who wake up delighted.Watch what people get unreasonably excited about. The annual Take Action Club option lit people up so much it's becoming a permanent offer.Fun is a business metric. Encouragograms recorded in the backyard and down by the river. Cat photos in the inbox. Offers to walk around an art gallery. That's the actual return.Links and resourcesGet on the mailing list so you don't miss the next party: leoniedawson.com/love-lettersFree illustrated Ride The Wild Donkey ebookUnicorn Biz & Life Academy: 100+ programs for $99 a yearTake Action Club: weekly Productivity Power Hours and monthly Biz Planning workshopsCourses mentioned: Sales Star, Money Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income, Work Less Earn More, Midas Touch2026 My Brilliant Year goal workbooksStill keen on offering more in-person VIP days in Canberra. Email support@leoniedawson.com if you're interested!If this made you want to go do something ridiculous, do it. Then come tell me about it. And if you're not on the mailing list yet, that's where the actual chaos happens: leoniedawson.com/love-letters#WomenInBusiness #NeurodivergentEntrepreneur #ADHDBusinessOwner #CreativeBusiness #OnlineBusiness #MarketingExperiment #IntuitiveBusiness #SoulfulBusiness #WomenSupportingWomen #MoneyMindset

Great news! QPR NYC The Podcast has been renewed for a 4th season. That's more than TV classics Twin Peaks, The Office (UK), Fawlty Towers, Deadwood, Flight of The Conchords, Fleabag and of course, I'm Alan Partridge.Your regular hosts Andy, (& his improvised mic set up),Ant and Dun have just about recovered from an incredible summer of sport in NewYork, and North America and are ready to bring you the latest from QPR as well as a recap of the Knicks magical run to the NBA title and the World Cup which was in our backyard.It's soooo good to be back, we've missed you...- Thank you Sam Field. Nominative Determinism takes him to Norwich City on a permanent.- Plymurph Argyle & Walsh to Wigan.- Kemper's a good time Boy- QPR taking the Pierce out of Manchester City for a season - The R's are A Ward winners- I love Lamp(tey)- You'll never walk alone, but after 18 years Amit walks away - Training ground expansion approved. Cat 1 to follow?- Right on Q, there's new Sponsor for our shirts- More years added to the Julian Calendar. Hashtag Stephan Signs!- Austrian Tour: First a draw in Vienna, then winners at Weiner Neustadt - Florence - A rightwin,Hail! The R's 3-2 win vs a strong Fiorentina- A fusilli jokes from Andy and Tyler on comms. Listeners pay the Penne-lty- The return of the Loftus Road pitch monster? Kone and Nico exit stage left early.- 53 years of hurt ends as the Knicks win the 'chip in five (Sorry, Jacob)- The World arrives to play football in our backyard. What it was like living in a host city.- Lowlights and highlights from 5 weeks of non-stop football. May contain Alexi Lalas- The lads share their experiences of the tournament and pick their top moments. May contain Joe Cole.- Dun finds his new International nemesis- He also tells you why France and England drew the short straw. You can tell his wife is away.- Ant's Kit Korner. A QPR special.- It was the summer of the sports curse...- But how much human monies would it take to reverse a cursehausen?- New Character unlocked! (because QPR NYC cheaped out...)- The return of Lovely StuffRate, review, comment, subscribe, and all that good stuff.We recently got notification that we hit 25,000 plays/downloads this month. We can't thank you enough for listening!

Send us an inquiry through a text message here!Buy VRT LIVE 2026 tickets here: https://www.axs.com/events/1451690/the-veterinary-roundtable-ticketsWelcome to another episode of The Veterinary Roundtable! In this episode, the ladies the infamous Cyclospora outbreak, Tractor Supply buying veterinary clinics, if pets have souls, and more!Do you have a question, story, or inquiry for The Veterinary Roundtable? Send us a text or voicemail from the link above, ask us on any social media platform, or email theveterinaryroundtable@gmail.com!Episodes of The Veterinary Roundtable are on all podcast services along with video form on YouTube!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVeterinaryRoundtableInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theveterinaryroundtable/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theveterinaryroundtableTimestamps00:00 Intro05:49 Pits and Peaks13:29 Follow Up: Going to Vet School Later in Life15:07 Cyclospora Outbreak Tied to Fresh Produce20:01 Tractor Supply Acquires VIP Pet Care25:08 Midwestern Cancels Chicago Vet College Plans26:25 Case Collections: Unblocking a Cat & Surgical Teamwork34:22 Catholic Theology & Animal Souls38:45 Social Media Animal Nutritionists vs. Vet Diets43:21 Outro 

Send us Fan MailIn you are in the market for information on horse stocks, join Dr. Chastain and Ginger to learn about:The type of restraint provided by horse stocksThe surroundings needed for proper use of horse stocksPhysical restraint alternatives to stocks for horsesLink to show notes:  BetterAnimalHandling.com

Jason Aldean and longtime tour manager Jake “Charlie” LaGrone join the Try That In A Small Town podcast for a no-filter look behind the curtain of one of country music's biggest road operations. From kidney stone chaos and EMT horror stories, to high-stakes bus hockey, stolen putters, and firing disloyal crew, this episode is wall-to-wall backstage gold.Jake walks through his journey from Lori Morgan, Reba, Rascal Flatts, and Alan Jackson to running Jason Aldean's 80-person touring machine with 11 semis and 6 buses. The guys talk loyalty, crew culture, why good bus and truck drivers are everything, and how one bad attitude can poison an entire tour. They also dig into touring during COVID, the fallout from “Try That In A Small Town,” AI in music, new artists skipping “club years,” and what true longevity really looks like in country music.You'll hear: • Jake's first-ever ambulance ride thanks to a vicious kidney stone • Why a 5mm stone had the whole camp on edge • The legendary Bahamas bus-hockey game that cost Jake a $640 Scotty Cameron putter • The New Zealand Maori tribe welcome that ended with Jason singing the Star-Spangled Banner and touching noses with the chief • Real talk on firing crew who bad-mouth the artist while riding his bus and eating his catering • How Jason's camp builds “lifers” and keeps turnover insanely low • Why stadiums aren't the money machines people think they are • The difference between viral success and being able to carry a 90-minute headlining showPerfect for fans of Jason Aldean, road stories, and anyone curious what it REALLY takes to keep a big-time country tour on the rails.Timed Highlights (YouTube Chapters / FB Reels Cues): 2:18 Meet Jake “Charlie” LaGrone, Jason Aldean's tour manager 3:25 Jake's resume: Lori Morgan, Reba, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson and more 4:13 Leaving Alan Jackson for Rascal Flatts and triple the money 4:39 Alan Jackson not taking the news well 4:47 “Down a putter and up a stone” – the night everything went sideways 5:00 Jake's first-ever ambulance ride from a show 5:35 The 450-pound EMT and a long, painful ride to a small-town hospital 6:30 Computer crash, no CAT scan results, and Jake signs himself out 7:16 The pain hits: FaceTiming his granddaughter, then “twins breach” level agony 8:39 The diagnosis: a 5mm kidney stone and a long bus ride home 9:41 “You gotta have a pretty big Willie to pass that” – the guys pile on 10:59 Still hasn't passed the stone… might need a “C-section” 11:18 Original Glory beer sponsor segment 11:44 Patriot Mobile sponsor segment (PatriotMobile.com/smalltown) 13:17 Why the tour can't function without “Charlie” 15:11 Jason and the band admit: when Charlie's down, everyone is lost 17:00 What a tour manager really does: the fireman who puts out problems without anyone knowing 17:42 80 people, 11 semis, 6 buses – Jake explains the operation 18:47 The crew “lifers” who've been there 15–20 years 19:57 Delivering bad news: losing songs, losing soundcheck, and weather delays 22:01 High-stakes bus hockey: how $25 games escalate to $200 a night 22:58 The Bahamas trip: tequila, fishing, golf, and late-night hockey 23:37 Jake's $640 Scotty Cameron putter story 24:44 The all-or-nothing bet: $500 vs the $640 putter at 1 a.m. 26:05 Sudden-death OT: Jason's “dirty” winning goal and the putter is gone 26:40 Claiming the putter off the golf bag at baggage claim in Nashville 27:22 Jason trolling Jake with couch photos and the “putter that never even posted” 28:02 Who's the best bus hockey player? Trash talk erupts 29:22 “You will never own this putter again” – it's in Jason's will now 29:46 Jake buys the sister putter and trades tickets for a discount 29:53 Tully's hurt feelings: Jake sending his ugly golf swing pic to Tucker 31:21 Tucker exposes his dad: “My dad sent me that picture of your swing” 31:53 Wrapping the Bahamas trip – great time, bad swing 32:18 Celebrating Jason's 32nd No.1 and a rare second week at the top 32:45 How this No.1 climbed “organically” without a big radio push 33:09 Jason's perspective: new album off to a hot start 33:54 Jake on the camaraderie of Jason's camp and why this crew is unique 34:52 Why watching fans clap, dance, and smile keeps Jake going 35:36 The “lifer” crew – Snapper, stage managers, merch guys, techs and more 36:33 Jason explains why he hates seeing new faces and loves his long-time crew 37:15 Adding front-of-house engineer Chris Leonard – the missing piece 38:32 The NASCAR pit crew of country tours – fixing gear mid-show 39:12 Why each show must feel like someone's first and only Jason Aldean concert 40:11 Low turnover starts at the top – how Jason and the band lead 41:04 The four-piece beginnings and building the team over 20+ years 42:11 Why the show doesn't happen if the crew decides to take a day off 42:39 Tear-down in 50 minutes: 11 trucks loaded and gone 43:05 Jake shares a “difficult artist” story in D.C. over White House access 44:31 Firing versus fighting for people – when Jason saves a crew member 48:14 Jake's loyalty and HR role: one team, respectful, politics off the clock 49:04 Keeping promoters and venues happy so you're always invited back 50:24 Bus and truck drivers: the most important people on tour 51:00 If you get fired as a driver out here, you really did something 51:45 COVID, masks, and extremism bleeding into the crew culture 56:22 “Try That In A Small Town” backlash and crew disrespect – lines get crossed 57:29 Bad-mouthing the artist while on his bus? “You gotta go.” 58:17 How a few bad seeds can poison an entire tour's culture 59:09 Jake's reset meeting: respect, no agendas, one team or you're out 1:00:44 The toll of road life, kids, and missing milestones 1:01:17 Why this business isn't for “ordinary citizens” 1:02:23 Jason on touring: travel is the real grind, not just the 90 minutes on stage 1:04:13 New Zealand Maori tribe story – intense welcome ceremony 1:05:12 Choosing the Star-Spangled Banner as their “answer song” 1:07:37 Nose-touching with the chief – sealing the deal 1:08:27 The most awkward moment Jason, Tully, and the guys have ever shared 1:10:02 Proof you never really “see it all” on the road 1:11:01 Jason feels more settled than ever and still cutting some of his best music 1:13:16 Letting go of chasing industry awards and leaning into longevity 1:14:45 Why Jason values 21 years of career over a stack of trophies 1:17:08 How grinding through club years shaped the band and the show 1:19:29 The danger of young, viral acts skipping clubs straight to big tours 1:22:26 Knowing when NOT to headline yet – Jason's Brooks & Dunn detour 1:23:48 Artists with only 1–2 songs trying to carry 90-minute sets 1:24:49 The streaming mirage: background noise vs real connection 1:25:39 Physical concerts vs AI and virtual “acts” 1:27:14 CMAs' “human creators only” AI disclaimer 1:27:50 DJ-only arena shows and what's coming next 1:28:47 Dip Shitty of the Week segment begins 1:29:09 Parking garage etiquette rant – stay on your side 1:30:15 Children's toy box cutter – why is this even made? 1:32:15 “My current wife” – Neil roasts himself on a podcast slip-up 1:34:17 Jason's public dipshitty: fans yelling “Aldean!” in grocery stores 1:36:15 Left-lane campers and bad drivers – Jake's road rage 1:38:15 Bus “serial peer” mystery and bathroom etiquette 1:40:08 Kurt vs chatty cashiers and waiters who don't write orders down 1:43:30 Ducking familiar voices backstage – social overload 1:45:09 Neil's birthday surprise and gifts for the crew 1:46:10 Turkey call plugs and Peacemaker “Try That In A Small Town” coffee 1:47:15 Closing: thanks to Jason Aldean and Jake LaGrone, merch, and where to find more______________________________________________________________________________________________SPONSORS: The Try That in a Small Town Podcast is powered by e|spaces!Redefining Coworking - Exceptional Office Space for Every BusinessBook a tour today at espaces.comFrom the Patriot Mobile studios:Don't get fooled by other cellular providers pretending to share your values or have the same coverage. They don't and they can't!Go to PATRIOTMOBILE.COM/SMALLTOWN or call 972-PATRIOTRight now, get a FREE MONTH when you use the offer code SMALLTOWN.Original Brands - Our original sponsor since the beginning!!Original brands is starting a new era and American domestic premium beer, American made, American owned, Original glory.Join the movement at www.drinkoriginalbrands.comPeacemaker Coffee CompanyFounded by retired police officer/chief Chris Morris, Peacemaker delivers clean, low-acidity coffee while supporting police, firefighters, EMS, military, veterans, teachers, dispatchers, and medical personnel through donations and programs.www.trythatinasmalltowncoffee.com________________________________________________________________________________________________Follow/Rate/Share at www.trythatinasmalltown.com -For advertising inquiries, email info@trythatinasmalltown.comProduced by Jim McCarthy and www.ItsYourShow.coSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The story of Mt. Rushmore continues with an exploration of one of its unsung heroes, Gutzon Borglum's son Lincoln, as well as the development of the Mt Rushmore baseball team.Source Material: “The Carving of Mount Rushmore,” by Rex Alan Smith, Abbeville Press: Reissue Edition, c. 1994. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558596658/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1)“American Experience: Lincoln Borglum” (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rushmore-lincoln-borglum/)Rapid City Journal (various articles)Clips Used (Theme):“President Franklin D. Roosevelt attends dedication of Jefferson sculpture at Mount Rushmore -SDPB” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqCm4SSgQvc)“Trump in South Dakota: Mount Rushmore Will Never Come Down” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU-GvozCC2g)“Journey Discussions: The Mount Rushmore Vision” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PRlGbE_kWk&t=443s)“Episode 73 - Gutzon Borglum, The One Man War” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzZkYActJxQ&t=79s)“Mount Rushmore Interview 1” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZtSa-BOPuQ&t=2s)“Mount Rushmore - Documentary Films” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUo0GlWqhaw&t=3187s)Theme Music:“Anchor Crawl,” written and performed by Cody Martin. License available upon request.Other Music:“Cats And Dogs Living Together,” written by Matthew Wigton and performed by Dresden, The Flamingo.“Sanctuary,” written by Brendan St. Gelais and performed by Reveille.“County Nights” and “Cedar Sun,” written by Dustin Ransom and performed by Rest & Settle.“Swampy Lands,” written by Medhat Hanbali and performed by Adam Saban.“The Cat's Pajamas,” written by Adrian Dominic Walther and performed by Liberty.“Scott's Planes,” written and performed by Sam Barsh.“Something Beautiful,” written by Adrian Dominic Walther and performed by Alsever Lake

This month in 1959, an expedition set out to clear up some of the confusion around Hannibal's legendary crossing of the Alps by recreating that journey, complete with an elephant. Plus: authorities in Maryland say they've apprehended a bank robber with a cat-themed MO you don't see very often. The British Alpine Hannibal Expedition (JohnHoyte.com)Cat burglar steals kitten, tries to rob bank in Maryland, gets caught instead (NBC News)Back our show on Patreon so we can create more episodes that are unforgettable for humans and elephants alike

0:00 Intro 0:07 Cat jury 3:28 Naked 6:11 Escort 10:38 Eye ball 13:43 Language barrier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cat lovers unite! Our next episode of Two Whats?! And a Wow is all about our favorite feline friends! Guy & Mindy will bring you some amazing new facts about cats that are so cool, you may need to hit “paws” (see what we did there?)✨ Don't miss the chance to laugh together even more: Grownups can visit tinkercast.com/join-twaaw to join the World Organization of Wowzers (WOW) and unlock exclusive activities, birthday cards, quarterly mailings, first dibs at events, and a welcome kit with an autographed photo of Mindy & Guy Raz! Plus, Grownups help support our podcast and our mission to create content and experiences that connect laughter to learning, curiosity to innovation and kids to the WOWs in their world!This episode of Two Whats?! And A Wow! introduces kids and families to the wows cats through gameplay, storytelling, and contributions from other curious kids!Originally aired 5/2/25.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Former White House staffer Miles Taylor warns "Could Congress hand Trump the midterms?" Plus why are we selling Saudi Arabia the Very Thing We're Bombing Iran Over? Victoria Jones - Britain's New PM Andy Burnham and, does Larry the Cat (the official cat of #10 Downing Street) approve...? And why Are ICE Officers Saying Morale Is Worse Than Under Biden?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many people, including politicians, love to hate the super-rich, and assume they have gamed the system. Yet our correspondent reports that a growing share of today's wealthiest earned their money providing goods and services we all want. A new crackdown on scam compounds in Cambodia. And lessons from the ultimate political animal, Downing Street's Larry the Cat. Watch “The Insider” interview with Elon Musk from 6pm BST, 1pm EST. Listen to our podcast series “Scam Inc”. Guests and host:Callum Williams, senior economics writerSue-Lin Wong, Asia correspondentChris Impey, co-editor of “The Intelligence”Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Billionaires, Elon Musk, Lionel Messi, Taylor SwiftScams, scam compounds, CambodiaLarry the Cat, Andy Burnham, Downing StreetListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many people, including politicians, love to hate the super-rich, and assume they have gamed the system. Yet our correspondent reports that a growing share of today's wealthiest earned their money providing goods and services we all want. A new crackdown on scam compounds in Cambodia. And lessons from the ultimate political animal, Downing Street's Larry the Cat. Watch “The Insider” interview with Elon Musk from 6pm BST, 1pm EST. Listen to our podcast series “Scam Inc”. Guests and host:Callum Williams, senior economics writerSue-Lin Wong, Asia correspondentChris Impey, co-editor of “The Intelligence”Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Billionaires, Elon Musk, Lionel Messi, Taylor SwiftScams, scam compounds, CambodiaLarry the Cat, Andy Burnham, Downing StreetListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Star Wars opened on May 25th, 1977, in 32 American cinemas. The first cut had been a disaster. The director of photography and director were barely speaking. The ILM crew, working in a Van Nuys warehouse in temperatures of up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, had burned through most of their budget on shots the director deemed unusable. The Tunisian shoot had led to cast injuries and a potential war with Libya. The director was hospitalised with hypertension during production. Its cast were convinced it would fail, as were 20th Century Fox executives. The odds were stacked against it.And yet... what followed was the biggest box office phenomenon in cinema history.But there's more to the story than how Star Wars succeeded. It asks what the film meant to 1977 America, to the New Hollywood generation it emerged from, and to the industry it permanently transformed.Star Wars wouldn't be Star Wars without Marcia Lucas, whose editorial instincts built the Death Star trench run almost from the ground up; John Dykstra and the young engineers at Industrial Light & Magic who invented motion-control camera technology in a Van Nuys warehouse, and Alan Ladd Jr., the one Fox executive who greenlit a film he openly admitted he didn't understand.It's a story worthy of a 350th episode.Massive thanks to Andy from Geek Salad for contributing. You can find Geek Salad's latest Star Wars episode in your podcast app, or click hereMore info on Harmy's Despecialized Edition can be found hereSupport Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app

How can organic writing and leaning into the pivot help your stories stand out? And how can you pitch a story as a discovery writer if you genuinely don't know what's going to happen next. Steven James gives his writing tips after more than 20 years as an author. In the intro, Better Than Free in an Age of AI [Kevin Kelly on Tim Ferriss; Kevin Kelly on The Creative Penn]; Future Vision XPrize; A Different Kind of Bucket List. Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital.com to get started. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Steven James is the multi-award-winning and international bestselling author of 21 novels across thrillers, YA, and science fiction, with more than a million copies sold, as well as the author of non-fiction craft books for writers, a writing teacher, and the host of The Story Blender podcast. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How to lean into organic writing, and what to focus on instead of plot How characters unfold on the page, and why an attitude beats a background Producing an outline for an agent or publisher when you genuinely don't know what happens next Don't pitch the plot, pitch the pivot The four choices you have in every scene, and why logic plus surprise is the engine of story Faith, moral clarity and big questions You can find Steven at StevenJames.net. Transcript of the interview with Steven James Jo: Steven James is the multi-award-winning and international bestselling author of 21 novels across thrillers, YA, and science fiction, with more than a million copies sold, as well as the author of non-fiction craft books for writers, a writing teacher, and the host of The Story Blender Podcast. So welcome to the show, Steven. Steven: Thanks for having me, Jo. Good to be here. Jo: Great to have you on the show. First up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing. Steven: Oh, gosh. Well, the thing is, when I was a kid, I fell in love with stories. My uncle would always, whenever we got together for the holidays—Christmas, New Year's and so on—he would take my sister, my brother and myself into a corner of the room while the other adults had coffee, and we would just sit there, and he would get this look in his eye and he'd say, “I'm going to tell you a story.” We were transported to another world. We were swashbuckling with pirates, or facing down a grizzly bear in Alaska, or flying over the desert on a flying carpet, or whatever. I fell in love with imagination and stories and everything. So I started reading as much as I could, mostly short stories. They had a programme at our library called the paperback book exchange, where you bring a paperback book and you leave it, and you can take any one of the paperback books that they had. You could keep it as long as you wanted. If you wanted it for your life, that's fine, or you could just bring it back as soon as you finished reading it. Anyway, I went crazy over the summers reading short stories, mainly. As I got older, I was like, “I think I want to be a storyteller.” So I actually got my master's degree in storytelling. Then I started to travel and tell stories, but I had three little daughters at home, and I was like, “I don't want to be gone 300 days a year when they are growing up.” So I ended up starting to write stories instead of travel, and then it just kind of shifted in that direction. That was in '97. Oh my goodness, that's long. '97, '98. So then I started to write books, and then eventually in 2007, I think, my first novel came out. Now, mainly, I've been writing novels ever since. Jo: It's so interesting. Was it a job, storytelling? Is that what you did before you became a book writer? Or did you have a different job? Steven: I mostly would go to events, conferences, schools and so on, and do a family-friendly storytelling show. So I would tell personal stories, some folktales reimagined. I would go to different events around the country. Mostly it was that. Then I started to shift. I wrote for magazines for a while—80 different magazines I wrote for over those years, a couple of hundred different articles, stories. I was like, “I'm just going to try to make a living telling stories.” So the shift has gone back and forth between actually telling stories and writing stories, but these days, I don't know. I'm still speaking. I'm still out there teaching. Jo: That's so interesting, because it's obviously a completely different thing to tell a story in person than it is to write a story. So when you decided to shift that way, what did you have to learn and unlearn? Because your thoughts on the page are so different to when you can make eye contact with an audience. Steven: That's a good point. I kind of started by telling stories back when I was in college, so I sort of moved from telling to writing. And you're right, there's so much that's lost, whether it's eye contact or pauses. On a printed page, there's always the same amount of space between every word—a space. But when you tell stories, obviously you pause for effect in different places, different areas, and so it's quite different. So if I have an idea for a story, I usually have to decide, is this going to be written or told? And then I do it in that medium. Then if I want to, let's say, tell a written story, I almost have to relearn it, or retell it very differently. You have gestures, body language. All of those things are obviously lost in text, so they are very different. I think for me it's been good, because when I tell stories, I hear different characters speaking, so that when I write, usually dialogue comes fast to me. I can hear what people are saying. I don't always know where they are. I don't always know the setting. I don't even know the scene necessarily, but I can hear the dialogue. Then it also helps me to step into the characters, like when I'm writing different points of view, so that I think I can do a good job of getting into that character's mind, as if I were that person. I think some of that comes from just telling stories. Jo: You've taught so many writers over the years, and it's interesting you said that you hear characters' dialogue. I see visual film in my mind. I don't hear any voice at all. It's all silent. I struggle with dialogue, but I do great world building. Do you find that this really is different by the author? I feel like we fall into these different groups. Steven: Yes, I do. I kind of feel like that's very true as far as what comes first, whether it's a description of a place, whether it's the action. I mean, basically a story has dialogue, narration—or we call it sometimes exposition—and description. Those three things. Every story has those three things, and those are the three that we use to tell a story, a novel. So some people tend to drift into one or the other as sort of their default setting: dialogue, description, or action. That's true. I think also something else that's interesting about writers is they tend to fall into either the camp of being a wordsmith or a storyteller. Not everyone, but I feel like some people are wordsmiths, where I read what they're writing, and I'm like, “Man, this is so powerful, evocative,” whatever. Maybe there's no story there. It's just really interesting writing. Other people just are natural storytellers, and they have to really work on the wordsmithing. I think that's me. I'm more naturally just a storyteller, but it takes me a long time to get the descriptions to where I want them, to choose exactly the right word. That takes me more effort. Some people have to build up the storytelling muscles. I have to build up the wordsmithing muscles. Jo: Well, part of the reason I wanted to talk to you is because you talk about this thing called organic writing in your book Story Trumps Structure, which is out now in a second edition. I call it discovery writing, so similar to you. But most people in the writing community seem to obsess about plotting and planning. So talk about your process of organic writing. You say in the book, “Trust the fluidity of the process.” Tell us more about that. Steven: Well, I remember in high school even, when my teacher got up front and he kind of got this very almost wise look on his face, and he goes, “A story is something with a beginning, a middle, and an end.” I'm sitting there in high school like, “Well, so does a bratwurst. What are you talking about here?” A description of a chair has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The sentence, “Preheat the oven to 450 degrees,” has a beginning, a middle, and an end. My view is that saying a story is something that has three acts is like saying that a pizza is something with three toppings. It might have three. It might have one. It might have five. So the idea for me is not to worry about structure, trying to tick off the boxes of a template, a formula you find online, a fill-in-the-blanks kind of a thing. But instead, to actually look at what lies at the heart of the story—the character, the tension, the struggle, the pursuit, the pivots and plot twists, and the payoff at the end. As you develop those aspects of the story, I feel like you need to worry less and less about following a formula. The more you understand what lies at the heart of a story, I feel like the less you need to plot and the less you need to write by the seat of your pants. A lot of people say, “Oh, you write by the seat of…” No, I don't write by the seat of my pants, because I know what a story contains, so I know that in a certain scene a character will make certain choices that are unpredictable but that escalate the tension, and different things like that. I'm a huge proponent of discovery, as you say, or organic writing. I won't get the quote exactly right, but Ray Bradbury said something along the lines of, “Plot is the tracks left in the snow after your characters have run by on their incredible destinations. It cannot precede action. It is the chart that remains when an action is through.” So he's saying plot is not what precedes action. After the action, you have plot. So the whole idea of trying to plot out a story before you write it is going about writing exactly backwards. Plot doesn't precede action. It's the result. So I always tell people, “Don't worry so much about the plot. I want you to look at the pursuit.” A plotter might say, “Well, what should happen?” And they'll just come up with something. But an organic writer—a pursuit-based question would be, what does the character want? Now, when I know what the character wants, I will know what should happen. So literally, it will lead me to the story. Focusing on plot will not necessarily lead you to the story. It might lead you down the wrong track. Jo: Then in terms of your actual writing process— Do you start writing without knowing the ending? Do you write in order? Is the organic side also in the process? Steven: I've never started a book where I know how it will end. So I usually start with either a character that's fascinating or, in some cases, a premise, a question. Then as I write, I explore the possibilities of where it might go. I've tried to outline a scene—like one scene, not a whole book—and it never works. I can't even outline one scene. I've tried, and I'm like, okay, that's… What I end up with is completely different from it, so it's just a waste of time and effort for me to try to outline or plot out a story. I'm much more interested in the pathway the characters will take as they face obstacles and setbacks in their pursuit. As the struggles and the tension develop, what choices will they make? That's how the story will unfold for me. Jo: I'm similar. Then I also wonder— Do you do character sheets and character bios, or do the characters also unfold organically? Steven: Absolutely, I don't do any of the sheets and bios and stuff. The characters really come to me as I write. I begin to get to know them. I always tell people, a character with an attitude is more interesting than a character with a background. So a lot of people will spend a lot of time on, like, where's this character gone to college, and what's their first pet's name, all that stuff. I'm not trying to dump on that idea. I get that that can be helpful. But I'm like, how would I know that until I've spent time with them? Then once I begin to spend time with them, I'm writing and I'm like, “Nah, this doesn't seem like what that character would really say or do,” so I have to go back and rejigger the story to hopefully make it fit with that character. Then I like to give the characters some sort of attitude. I'm not talking about a negative or judgy attitude, but an attitude about something that is unique or different, and that makes them not a template character, not an archetype or whatever, but unique. Sort of this constellation of unique traits, characteristics, maybe wounds, flaws and so on, that create a character where you're like, “This is a character like none I've ever seen before. I want to spend time with this character.” Jo: Then you're spending time with the character by writing what's happening, as opposed to writing loads of stuff beforehand and then starting to write. You're actually finding all of this out during the process of writing. Steven: Yes, and I think it's kind of like getting to know someone. If I were to say, “Okay, I'm going to write down Jo's bio,” or whatever—okay, I'm making stuff up, because I don't know you super well. If we were to spend time together, hang out, whatever, talk, over the course of time I would start to know, oh, she likes this, she doesn't like that. This is important to her. This is what she would weep or pound the table over—whatever, all of the things that come with time. It's like a friendship in real life to me. So I can't sit down and tell you what a character in real life would think and say and do if I don't know them, but the more time I spend with them, then the more I'm able to predict that accurately. I think the mistake a lot of people make is they think, “I'm going to get to know this character with a background,” and then they start writing it, and instead of looking at the context, they look back at the—I don't know what you call it—the background or something like that. I always feel like what you mentioned earlier is, like, hold it loosely in your hand. Trust the fluidity of the process. As you're writing, you have an instinct. “Ah, I think this character would say this or do this.” So trust that. Trust that instinct. Trust that moment in the story, instead of trying to go back to an outline, back to a character description, or whatever it might be. So I'm a big proponent of looking at the context—not just what happened, but what is the result? So looking at the impetus and the implication of the choices and the activities. When something occurs, what would the character naturally say or do or think or respond? Then what would that cause? What's the implication that that would have on the rest of the story, on the rest of the characters? So, really trying to keep your finger on the pulse of the story, and adapt as you move forward through it. Jo: I love all of that, but I also am very aware that you've been in traditional publishing for over 20 years, and one of the things with agents and publishers is that they often ask for an outline. So how do you manage that? Or how did you more earlier in your career, because I imagine they just trust you now. Earlier in your career, or people listening who want to pitch but they write in this organic way, how do we deal with that kind of thing? Steven: Well, okay, so there's two good questions. One is about producing an outline for an agent or editor or publisher and so on. The other is how to pitch a story. So the first: I would write the premise down, and maybe a paragraph or two, and then where I think it might go. Basically, I would focus on the questions that the characters will face, maybe the moral dilemmas, the sacrifices they have to make, the world they live in. I kind of know that stuff, and I can write a couple of paragraphs about that. But beyond that, I just don't know what's going to happen, so I can't really provide more. I'm looking at my shelf at the books that I've done, and mostly that's what I've done is kind of a couple of paragraphs focusing on the premise and the problem, the struggle, and so on like that. As far as pitching a story, I always tell people, “Don't pitch the plot, pitch the pivot.” I think that there's a screenwriter—I think that he talks about this a little bit. I've not read the book Save the Cat, but people have told me, “Oh, he kind of brings this up in that book.” The idea is to pitch the irony instead of what occurs. So sometimes when I tell people to pitch, or I give them ideas, one process that you can use is: when, must, before, or else. So, when this occurs, this character must do something before this, or else. So you have the character, you have the struggle, you have the inciting incident, you have the stakes, and you have the countdown. It works well for thrillers. So for instance, like Jaws. When a man-eating shark starts eating people in a small seaside village, the sheriff must stop him before more people die and the town loses its economy. So there you have when, must, before, or else. Now, no one's going to buy the story based on that, because there's no irony, there's no pivot. It's just a description of the plot, and that's what most people pitch. So I always tell people, pitch the part of the story that you wouldn't expect. So for instance, in there you might pitch: when a shark starts eating people in a small seaside village, the only one who can stop him is afraid of the water. Now you're like, “Oh, well, that's interesting. How does that happen? What happens there?” With my book Broker of Lies, the pitch was something like, when a high-level Pentagon redactor ends up on the run, he must stop a terrorist attack before he's neutralised by the people he trusts the most. So the pivot is that the people he trusts at the Pentagon the most are actually trying to neutralise him because he's on the run, and all that kind of stuff. So why would they be trying to do that? Well, that's interesting. So it's always looking for the irony, the pivot. Why is this character the last one in the world who would ever be equipped to tackle this problem or face this issue? So that's one way to do a pitch. Obviously there's lots of them, but I think your goal with a pitch is to get them to say, “Tell me more.” It's not necessarily to summarise the whole story. Jo: That's great advice. So you teach writers—I first saw you at ThrillerFest, I think it was 2012—and you do events, you run writing retreats. So you work with a lot of authors, and I wondered, what are the challenges that you see from authors with, say, five books? So not the beginner authors, because obviously there's a lot of challenges. But those who, let's say they've got the three to five books, things are going all right, but they're like, “How do I get to the next level?” What are the craft issues, or the business issues as well, that mid-list authors face? Steven: Well, business, I'm not the guy to ask. I could try to answer that, but I mean, basically: meet your deadlines and write something amazing. Try to be easy to work with, but also stand up for what you wrote as far as working with editors. It's sort of a fine line you have to walk. The one thing that over the last few years I've really noticed in a lot of writers who are in that space is that they don't have many pivots. They tend to write predictable stories, and that's why they tend to stay where they're at—whether it's because they're following an outline or a plot formula or whatever it is. So when I talk about a pivot, I mean a moment in the story where something happens that's both unexpected and inevitable. For instance, if you're reading a story, you want things to make sense. You want them to be logical. That's one thing. But you don't want them to be too predictable. If it's too predictable, it's boring. It's like, I'm not interested. So we also want surprises. We want these two things. We want logic, and we want surprise. When those two things meet and you have a moment in the story where it's like, “I didn't see that coming, but that totally makes sense,” that's what we want, and we want that in every scene. I feel like a lot of authors don't have that in every scene. Now, you might say, “Well, every scene?” Well, yes, because basically those two factors, logic and surprise, can only meet in four different ways. You could have something that's very logical but has no surprises. That's going to be boring. It's going to be too predictable. We don't want that. You could have something that is very surprising but not logical. It makes no sense. A lot of stuff is surprising, but that's not what we want, because it's unbelievable, and it's like, what is going on here? You could have something that has neither logic nor surprise, which obviously we don't want that. The only other option is to have a moment that is both logical and surprising. So you have a choice in every scene. You have four choices, actually. You can have it be predictable and boring. You can have it be nonsensical. You can have it be unbelievable. Or you can have a pivot. So I find myself trying to really coach people on pivots. They'll say, “Oh, well, do I need it in every scene?” I'm like, “You can choose, but do you want it to be predictable or boring or nonsensical, or do you want it to really drive the story forward?” I think it's because people have been taught structure and plot and three acts and all this kind of stuff, but they haven't been taught this idea—even though it's not something I made up. Aristotle, in Poetics, thousands of years ago, put it a little bit differently, but he said, “The reversal of the situation”—what I call the pivot—”is the moment at which the action veers around to its opposite”—that would be what I call surprise—”subject always to a rule of probability or necessity”—which is the logic. So he's basically saying the same thing in just a little bit different language, but you have these three factors. You have logic, you have surprise, and you have them come together in a specific moment. I don't know why it's not taught more. I have never found anyone who teaches pivots. I have not found any books, so I wrote a book recently about how to use pivots. It's so central, and I think great storytellers naturally do it. You'll read a book, or you'll maybe watch a show, and you're like, “Oh, I didn't see that coming. That totally makes sense.” I don't see anyone else out there really focusing on teaching that. So that's a huge thing for me, really, to help people move up in their writing, elevate it to a different level. Jo: Is that Delve, Pivot, Propel? Steven: Yes. That book came out a couple years ago. We just re-released it. I updated it some, but it talks pretty much in depth about pivots and how to actually use those to propel the stories forward. Jo: Maybe you could just give us one tip on how to do that, because going back to the organic writing—let's say I've been organically writing, and every time a character has a decision to make, I think at that point about what I want to write and I write it. Are you suggesting that we go back in the edit and look at the end of every scene and redo it? Because I can't imagine that I would get this right every time. I would need to do that in an edit, I think. Steven: I think for me, when I'm writing, I'm always asking myself a series of questions. One is, what would the character naturally do? I want to make it believable and natural. Let them do it. I want to escalate the tension, so I'll ask myself, “How can I make things worse?” Then I'll always ask myself, how can I add a pivot to this scene? So as I'm writing a scene—again, I don't know how it will end when I start it—but if I use the first idea that comes to mind, probably a lot of readers would guess that as well, because it's the first idea that comes to mind. It's probably logical and probably predictable. That's why most stories end up being too predictable. It's because we go with the first idea that maybe we had. So I try to discard that. Maybe the second idea, just discard it. Then I start thinking, okay, now if I've discarded the obvious, what is going on? What's below the surface? So to answer your question, I'm looking for what isn't what it appears to be, or who isn't who they appear to be, or a surprising way to bring together plot threads that I didn't see related before. So it's always looking for the unexpected, the surprise, because most of the time that is what we're missing. Now, if you have a great surprise, then you have to lean into making it believable. So you've got to move into that idea of, well, what would the character naturally do? You can't just have him do something ridiculous and then say, “Oh, it's for my twist.” No, you can't do that. You've got to play fair. So it has to be believable, causally related, logical, and surprising. That's what you're shooting for. Those are the questions going through my mind. So as I'm working on a scene, I'm like, “How could I end this?” Or include something that people won't see coming right away. The best ideas always come to me then. It's so interesting. A lot of people will say, “Oh, don't write organically,” or, quote, “by the seat of your pants,” whatever they'll say, “because then you might write yourself into a corner.” I'm like, “Yes, absolutely write yourself into a corner. That's what I'm trying to do in every scene.” And then you write yourself out of a corner in a way that's logical and surprising. The best twists I've ever come up with have been when I'm in a corner. So why would I warn people against going to the place where the best ideas await them? That just seems mean. Why would I do that? No, I want you to have the best possible ideas. So yes, look for corners, write yourself into them, and then write yourself out of them in a way that's both logical and surprising. Jo: I guess also it needs to be genre specific. We write mainly thrillers, and there is this fine line, isn't there? I love Stephen King, but one of the most unbelievable endings is Under the Dome. I still remember feeling betrayed. I don't know if you've read that one, but— Steven: Oh, no. Jo: I was like, “I'm sorry, you've just changed genre in the last chapter of the book. What is going on here?” Steven: That's actually interesting. The fourth question I ask… So I ask, what would the character naturally do? How can I make things worse? How can I add a pivot? But the fourth question is, what promises have I made that I have not yet kept? So genre, to me, is a promise. You build up a promise in your writing at the beginning of the book, and then I feel like as we write, we have to honour that. So if we bring something up that's super interesting, bring it back or whatever. Keep your promises. Keep your narrative promises. It's true of really any genre. Let's say you're writing a romance. You want to respect the conventions, but not fall into the clichés. So there's going to be a moment where the lovers meet, right? They haven't met before. I don't know what they call it, a meet cute or a cute meet. I think they call it a meet cute, I guess. Jo: Yes. They do. Steven: Anyway. So they're going to meet, right? And you're like, “Oh, I'll just have them meet.” Well, try to do it in a way we haven't seen before. Add something else to the scene. Add a third element, as my friend Bob Dugoni likes to say. Add something a little bit that we're like, “Huh, I've never seen that before.” We know they're going to meet, but let them meet in a way that we don't anticipate, that we can't predict right away, that isn't exactly by the numbers, and then you're going to be on the right track. Jo: So then, talking about reader expectations and genre, I wondered if I could also ask you about your Christian faith, because many people listening are people of faith, and some people want to write a Christian book. Other people want to bring their faith into, say, a mainstream type thriller in an authentic way. So how do you balance your faith and your writing? Because I think you have some series that are more sort of Christian than others. Steven: It's interesting. When my first novel came out—The Pawn, like a chess piece, The Pawn—back almost 20 years ago. Gosh, 20 years ago. Nineteen. But anyway, when it came out, someone wrote to me and said, “Is this a Christian book?” I'm like, “What would make a book not Christian?” I'm like, maybe if it has a lot of idolatry, or witchcraft, or maybe sexuality or graphic violence. Then I'm like, oh, wait, that's… No, that's the Old Testament. So it's interesting, because people have asked me similar questions over the years. My books are not sermons in disguise. I'm trying to write great stories that anyone of any background or faith will enjoy. I always ask big questions. I let my characters wrestle with questions that matter, I think. Do my choices matter? Is there hope? Is there a God? Is there no God? Do I have free will? Can I find forgiveness? Can I offer forgiveness? Can I extend it, or whatever? So I always try to base the stories on something deeper. I do believe that there is good and there's evil in the world. That's part of my worldview. So when people talk about moral ambiguity, I don't want to write or read something that's morally ambiguous. I want moral complexity, but I also want moral clarity. So whenever you write, the question is, what are you justifying and what are you condemning? And if you're justifying something that's morally—I would say wrong, actually—then I don't feel like that's the kind of book I would want to write. So I want to write stories that explore good and evil, that explore our world, human nature, in an honest way. I feel like when you write honest stories, people, no matter what their background or whatever faith, then they will connect with it. I think a lot of people, if they start off with an agenda—whatever that agenda might be, let's say it is a Christian agenda, like I want people to trust in Jesus, let's say—so they write a story. Well, what you're doing, you're actually starting your story with an answer, and drama is not built on answers, it's built on questions. So you're actually diminishing the amount of tension. You're also diminishing the possibility of a pivot, because we all get where you're going. It's predictable, but there's probably no surprise. You're diminishing the payoff at the end, because we're like, “I saw that coming. I exactly knew where you were going with this.” So instead, I don't start with an answer. I always start with a question, or in some cases a moral dilemma, like, what's more important, protecting the innocent or telling the truth? That's interesting to me. If I had to choose between the two, would I tell the truth or would I protect the innocent? It's interesting, because people might come down on different sides of it. They might say, “Oh, you should always tell the truth,” or they say, “You always should protect the innocent.” I'm like, okay, well, let's explore it. Let's literally ask the question. So I come from a certain worldview, but I've written characters who have very different worldviews from me. I'm always just trying to be honest with the character, ask big questions, tell a story that examines human nature and sort of the paradoxes of the human condition in a way that will resonate with really whoever the readers might be. Jo: And of course that worldview is part of your author voice and part of what readers come to you for. I also notice that you have some pretty diverse different series. How do you manage that diversity of series under your one brand? Do you find your readers move from one to the other, or do you have different readerships? Steven: You mentioned the B word—brand. That's what publishers are always telling me: “What's your brand?” I'm like, “I don't know. You tell me what my brand is.” I've done fantasy, science fiction, conspiracy. I've done spies and police procedurals and crime and suspense, thrills, whatever. So I would say the one thing that really ties all my stories together is probably just suspense. They are stories with suspense. Some are more high concept thrillers, some are more dark fantasy, but they're built around suspense. So I guess that would be intelligent suspense, maybe, if I was trying to come up with a brand. Something like that. Because I don't want them to be dumbed down. They're not dumbed down stories, so they're a little bit more complex than you might find in other places, but always built around the idea of suspense. Suspense to me is basically—my definition is apprehension born of concern. So we're concerned about a character, and we're apprehensive because there's peril around the bend, or right in front of them. So I want the readers to really care about a character, and then try to build the story and the suspense around that empathy or sympathy that we have for the character. Jo: I think it's really interesting, because again, you mentioned 2007—we're coming up on 20 years since first published. The publishing industry has changed a lot. So what do you think has changed most in publishing for you, and what are your thoughts on routes to market for new authors these days? Or even established authors who are finding that things have changed, which they obviously have. Steven: Well, I'm not a marketer, I'm not a businessman. I'm just a storyteller at heart. So I just keep writing stories that I would be intrigued with reading, stories that I feel like are resonant. Then I look for publishers for those. I've been to a variety of different publishers over the last decade. I've done some different types of stories. I feel like you have to just write the story instead of trying to write for a specific market trend or something like that. So I might not make as much as some of my friends, I might not sell as many books, but I feel like I have to write certain stories if they grab ahold of me. There's a Native American—I think the Pawnee tribe, anyway, in the United States—but they were saying that all the stories that exist are out there already, and when one finds you, it's your job to share it with the world. I think that's kind of interesting. Sometimes—maybe it's just true for you, I don't know, Jo—but it's like a story will grab hold of me, or an idea, and I'm like, “I can't shake it.” That's a story that I want to tell the world. I would say that stories are becoming shorter, dumber. People are trying to write faster. They're trying to write several books a year, and as a result of that, some of the quality has gone down. This is all unfortunate. I'm still sort of a dinosaur. I still tend to write longer, complex stories. But people have shorter attention spans and whatever, and they're not reading as much. The structure of stories, I think, is changing slightly, where people will have to spend more time on a hook to really grab the attention of the readers. Then there might be a longer slow period, or more info dumping, which I'm not a fan of. So they kind of look like, “I want to get readers hooked at the beginning, and then get them to flip pages.” So I tend to set up my stories a little bit differently than that. So I'm not the best guy to ask about marketing and sales and stuff like that. I feel like, write a story that will not let you go. And if you do that, I feel like that's the kind of story that will resonate with readers, because there's a deep honesty to it. You care, you're passionate about it. It's not just something you're trying to spin out just to sell books. That's my view. Jo: I guess I also feel that writers are doing other things. So you have non-fiction, you have your podcast, you do events. I see you sell books direct from your website. It's like the business expands into multiple streams of income, so that the art doesn't have to pay all the bills. Steven: That's interesting. I do love to teach writing at conferences, events, and speak at different things. So I guess if you think about it that way, my brand might be just story, or storytelling, or something like that. Really trying to get out there, and whether it's speaking or writing, just tell a great story. So it's so interesting when I work with publishers and they'll ask, “What's your brand?” Basically it's like, “What's your box?” is really what they're asking. What box can we stick you in that will make it easy for us to package you and sell you? I know myself, and just a lot of authors that I know, we don't think in a box. Every one of my stories is not boxy. It's not the same. They're different. I know a lot of authors like that too. So it's unfortunate. I get it, that it's part of them trying to market and sell the books. I understand that, but I think being honest, genuine with the story, doing the very best you can, writing a worthy book, and then letting them come up with a way to categorise it, is probably the best bet. I don't know. Jo: We're almost out of time, but this is obviously a podcast, and you have a podcast. So tell us about The Story Blender Podcast and what people might find over there. Steven: Yes, I appreciate it. Basically, I interview some of the leading writers and storytellers in the world every week, and the goal is for great storytellers to share the secrets of great storytelling. So I basically pick their brains, kind of like what you were doing with me today, and find out what projects they're working on, and really just try to get insights into storytelling. So it's tons of fun. I've been doing it now for a number of years, and I guess I've interviewed over 250 different authors and writers from around the world, and so I always enjoy it. It's a ton of fun. It's The Story Blender, and people can find it anywhere. Jo: So where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Steven: Probably the best place is StevenJames.net. I think I'm on different socials @readstevenjames, so you can look me up there—Facebook, Instagram, X, and so on. I think they're all under readstevenjames. Check out the website, drop me a note. I always enjoy hearing from readers. Jo: Well, thanks so much for your time, Steven. That was great. Steven: Thanks, Jo. I appreciate it. Good luck. The post Organic Writing And The Power Of The Pivot In Fiction With Steven James first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Adam Jenkins walked away from the world's most dangerous research project because he became convinced there was something far more important waiting to be built. When his closest friend arrives determined to change his mind, the conversation leads to an unexpected choice that could alter both of their futures. The Cave Where I Am Hiding by Robert Moore Williams. That's next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. This is the fourth time author Robert Moore Williams has been on the podcast in the last ten months and there will me more. There was The Incredible Slingshot Bombs followed by Thompson's Cat and most recently The Next Time We Die. Today's story asks a question that must have seemed almost impossible when it first appeared in 1951. At the height of the Cold War and the race to build the hydrogen bomb, Robert Moore Williams imagined what might happen if the world's greatest physicist simply refused to keep making bigger weapons. Williams had already written more than 100 short stories when this one hit the stands in the October 1951 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. We will find it on page 89, The Cave Where I Am Hiding by Robert Moore Williams… Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A veteran Coast Guard captain witnesses an impossible rescue at sea, then finds himself chasing an explanation no naval report could ever record. As another convoy battles through the North Atlantic, he must decide whether to trust what every sailor knows cannot exist. Heroes Die Hard by Leroy Yerxa. Lost Sci-Fi Premium - https://lostscifi.supercast.com/ Buy Me a Coffee - https://lostscifi.com/coffee Newsletter - https://lostscifi.com/free/ Facebook - https://lostscifi.com/facebook YouTube - https://lostscifi.com/youtube X - http://Lostscifi.com/x Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lostscifiguy Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/lostscifipodcast.bsky.social Merchandise - https://lostscifi.creator-spring.com/ Thanks to Our Listeners Who Bought Us a Coffee $200 Someone $100 Tony from the Future $75 James Van Maanenberg $50 James Van Maanenberg, MizzBassie, Anonymous Listener $25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener $15 Every Month Someone $15 Steve, Someone, SueTheLibrarian, Joannie West, Amy Özkan, Someone, Carolyn Guthleben, Patrick McLendon, Curious Jon, Buz C., Fressie, Anonymous Listener $10 David, Anonymous Listener $5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue $5 Tammy, Owen, Bruce, Someone, TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin got together again, and all was good and proper for about an hour this week. Well, 'ello, Gub'ner! Trump's Andy Biggs will contest gubernatorially against Cindy McCain's Katie Hobbs in Arizona. Dem Francesca Hong has broken into the lead in Wisconsin. Platner replacement Troy Jackson is ahead of Susan Collins for Senator in Maine with a winning message. Authenticity is so crazy, it just might work. It's now a Dem/Gop dead heat for the Senate in the generic… Of course, MAGA is ready to forgive a lot of Gop sins in their candidate, especially when the alternative is a Commie. Too bad Canadians aren't voting. Gops don't want to talk 2020 fraud in 2026, especially when it's their plan for election takeovers in 2028. Everything Trump touches dies. Or it tries to kill us. Or make others want to kill us. Or maybe wish death upon others. Even death is no escape from Trump assholery. Donald K. Trump art of the dealed the Sauds nukes. Maybe they'll give him something really cool. Trump's Iran war has cost $37.5 billion so far, but Pete Hicseth figures he can tie up all the loose ends for about three times that. Speaking of triple, that's how much Donald Trump Jr's investments in Donald Trump Sr.'s pet causes have increased in value in only months. OpenAI's AI facehugged Hugging Face servers, which is not good, man. The New York Times recognizes Denise Oliver-Velez. Larry the Cat knows how to treat the press right.

Cat and Pat reunite in New York City for an extra-special in-person episode of Seek Treatment! They discuss their recent fave meals, interactions that may or may not be sexual, Cat's latest Off Broadway show Broad Strokes, and Pat shares a shocking realization. Watch the full episode on our YouTube and follow below!Show Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seektreatmentpodShow Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@seektreatmentpodCat: https://www.instagram.com/catccohenPat: https://www.instagram.com/patreegsSeek Treatment is a production of Headgum Studios. Our producer is Allie Kahan. The show is engineered and edited by Richelle Chen. The show art was created by Carly Jean Andrews.Like the show? Rate Seek Treatment on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review.Advertise on Seek Treatment via Gumball.fm