True North Issue 3 August 2023: And There Was Immortality
My monthly newsletter where we talk all things bookish and everything in-between
Pour lire ce numéro en français, cliquez ici.
Hi book friends!
It’s already the start of a new month and the second half of summer. The days are flying by as I try to catch up on my ever-growing to-do list. I haven’t had much time to enjoy the summer, but it’s a willing sacrifice.
I want to build my business, have a fruitful career, earn a stable-growing income, write stories daily, travel around the world, become a homeowner, and so much more.
Such aspirations call for self-discipline and commitment, especially in the first years, which is why, despite the workload, I keep pushing, knowing that there is a time to sow and there is a time to reap. I’m sowing a large orchard at the moment (I never do things by halves!), but I’m confident that passion can drive you a long way.
In this monthly issue, I share my journey juggling between building two businesses: one is obviously my fiction under David M. Snow, and the second is Spark Word House a coaching-editing business that helps aspiring authors, other coaches and entrepreneurs tell their stories.
I’m being very transparent about the whole process, my uncertainties, the creeping, crippling doubt that haunts me, and my musings.
I hope you can find the inspiration you need to start whatever project is burning in your heart. I also hope you can learn more about the behind-the-scenes of an author-entrepreneur.
This issue is more focussed on the business and learning side of things. I am looking forward to sharing more about my fiction, but frankly speaking, it’s been hard to have the headspace and time for creative writing, although I did manage to put in a few thousand words. August should be a good time to go back to writing some more (fingers crossed!).
Without further ado, let’s jump in!
Professional Writing Workshop
I completed a week-long workshop working on Thunder Hearts, my queer fantasy romance. It was more exhausting that I anticipated and I didn’t get to finish my short story as I had originally hoped. I believe it’s one of those stories that will need to be put away for a while until I can fully commit to the idea.
Actually, I ended up struggling with the same thing that’s been crippling me for years in trying to write short stories. I simply can’t pick an idea that would fit such a tight word count. For those who don’t know, a short story typically has 10,000 words or less.
Thunder Hearts beg for more space and I think the story would need to be a full-length novel at a minimum, which is why I decided to put it away for now.
I chose characterization as my main focus during this workshop. I’m glad I got to experiment with a few writing techniques. It also made me realize that there is so much more I need to learn about the craft. After coming out of this workshop, I bought a stack of books about fiction writing. I haven’t seriously committed to studying the craft for a few years and I think I’ve become too lax. I will make it part of my routine to keep learning so I can write better stories that my readers will love. Writing is a lifelong journey after all.
Kajabi Product Launch Preparation
I’ve wrapped the recording of my first ever online course about writing a dazzling first chapter. It was a lot of work, but I learned a ton!
This entrepreneurial journey is really challenging me in ways I wouldn't have imagined. Speaking in front of a camera has never been a natural thing for me to do, but I did it anyway. I’m glad I did, because it gives me a new way to share my knowledge and help other writers. I see it as a great way to pay forward to the community.
I’ve also been doing a lot of marketing as I’m planning to launch Spark Word House. In fact, I realize that everything I’ve been learning could really benefit my fiction, so I’m taking notes while planning to deploy those same strategies once I see the results of my experimentation.
This is something that I really like about being a business owner. You learn so many different skills that compound over time. It’s extremely time consuming, exhausting even, but it has huge potential and benefits in the long term. I’ll share more about my successes and mistakes I make along the way in the coming months.
In the meantime, if you’d like to be notified about my product launch, you can join the waitlist.
If you want to check out Kajabi to build your own coaching or online education business, you can get an extended free 30-day trial by using my affiliate link. Otherwise, you only get 14 days and it’s too short to try out the platform.
Breaking Hero Culture
This month was the conclusion of a Signature client I’ve been coaching for the last 6 months. It was a huge project, but I’m glad we succeeded.
It was amazing being able to help a coach write a book to grow his business. The transformation was staggering and I only have words of praise for him. It wasn’t easy but the result is a highly professional book that will benefit a lot of businesses, managers and employees: a small revolution in the making in the workplace. Best of luck in his author journey!
If you’re interested, you can preorder the book. It should be translated into English in the near future, so I’ll keep you up-to-date if that’s something you’re interested.
If you want to write your own book (fiction or non-fiction), you can book your FREE strategy call with me. We discuss your project and see what options are available for you. No strings attached!
The Daily Run
Despite working hard every day, I manage to go out for a run in the sunshine almost daily. My main objective is to improve my VO2 max to 50. It’s been increasing steadily so I am hoping to reach my goal by the end of summer.
My stats are encouraging! I went from running 5km daily to 8km, which is a huge improvement. Plus, I don’t even feel as nearly tired!
Working from home has its perks, but it’s so easy to neglect your health. If I want to stay in this in the long run, I need to take care of myself, and jogging along the St-Lawrence river has been a boon.
And There Was Immortality
I added a book to my all-time favorite book list. It’s called Scythe written by Neal Shusterman, a YA utopian book, where people have become immortal thanks to technology and AI.
The first chapter of this book hooked me right in. It was shocking, thrilling and exhilarating. I love the philosophical undertone of the narrative and the fact that we can read through journal entries that raise ethical questions about life and death.
In fact, immortality has always been a theme that fascinate me. It’s also the basis of a yet-to-be-published novel I wrote back for NaNoWriMo in 2016. I still haven’t read or reworked the 100k-word first draft, but it gave me some interesting ideas to ponder.
Now that I’m finishing up the Amaranth series, I am slowly starting to consider what could be my next series. I have several ideas, half-baked projects, and completed first drafts lying around. I also want to write more stories in the Amaranthverse, but at the same time, I feel like I need a breath of fresh air!
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but the future looks like I will be releasing a new series after Promised Land. It will give me a hard-earned break and also the opportunity to diversify my backlist which is pretty restricted right now. My aim is to have a body of work that survives me and stays evergreen (hence immortality!). But for that to happen, I need to be strategic about it. I can’t wait to share more about my future plans in an upcoming True North issue.
August Bonus Content
So July’s bonus content was a commentary about Lion Hide. I have started brainstorming the first episode of The Ark-Hives, where our narrator let us see characters and parts of the Ark that aren’t covered in the main series. I’m not sure if this will be ready for August, so I am still hesitating between this and writing an article about the research I’ve done to write the series.
You’ll receive an email in your inbox with the bonus content once I’ve decided.
Bonus content wouldn’t be exclusive if it remained free forever, right? So June’s bonus content: Lion Hide Short Story is now only available to paid subscribers. If you haven’t had the time to read it, you can still read the first chapter for free.
You can expect the monthly bonus content to be exclusively available to paid subscribers around 2 weeks after the end of the month. This may change in the future as I have more content on Substack.
What’s Next?
My main focus for August will be to prepare a product launch for Spark Word House, which means a lot of audience building. I also want to be more active on that end with my fiction, which has been on the back burner for a few months already. There’s also Promised Land that needs some love from me, so I can finally say I have completed the second draft.
I’ll be honest, it’s been difficult to juggle so many projects at the same time while learning everything about business, marketing, sales, and whatnot. It feels like I have a never-ending to-do list that keeps growing. I’m not focussed on my fiction as much as I would like, but since I decided to quit my day job to start my own business, it comes with a load of challenges. I would say a shift in mindset is needed when you change your life completely and I’m still learning how to do that.
I’m proud of how far I’ve come since I moved back to Canada, but I still haven’t hit a stable income or a life-work balance. As much as I want to produce more content, I also want to put myself out there, make enough to convince myself that going down the entrepreneurship path was the right choice to make. Of course, I knew it would be hard, but you never quite get it until you’re neck-deep in it.
I think the worse part is the pressure and anxiety of doing things wrong, failing, running out of money, a fear of being judged by others because you’re winging it. Putting out books is costly, especially when you’re starting out and you don’t have a backlist that can cover and justify ad-spend.
Every time I am faced with doubt, I remind myself of this amazing Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy I watched which says: Fake it till you make it. We’ve all heard the saying, but it’s now literally backed by science now, so that’s good enough for me to be convinced.
Thank you for supporting me and my work. But also for your patience. I know you’re probably eager to finish reading the Amaranth series, but know that it’s in the works. I just need more time, headspace (and money!) to make it all happen.
In the meantime, you can read or reread Amaranth.
Happy reading!
Dave Dufour a.k.a David M. Snow
It’s already the end of the Monthly Issue of True North. Here are a few things you don’t want to miss:
If you’re into my fiction: Download your free digital copy of Flower of Memory, the prequel novella to the Amaranth series, a sci-fi dystopian story with a touch of fantasy, for a limited time. Ideal for fans of Hugh Howey’s Silo and The Last of Us.
If you’re into my non-fiction: Download your free digital copy of Write That Book! QuickStart Guide.
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