9.26 Kiwi
Damn, have I been dragging my feet on this. So, I’ve been working on a second book for what seems like forever. The problem has been that it’s much more deeply personal than I originally thought or intended. It’s a novel, actually a manuscript I wrote a while ago. I resurrected it about six months ago, re-read what I always regarded as not so great. However, as I read, I realized that with some re-writing, it could really be something unique and special. The story is sound, the characters fresh. My opinion of the manuscript changed and I found a new energy inside those words.
After two or three more re-writes, I realized that it represented certain feelings in my life more directly than my non-fiction stuff. The subject matter started weighing on me and I found it difficult to get it to the finish line. I’m writing this blog entry in an effort to state publicly that I have a new book coming out in October so I’ll just get my shit together and put it out into the world.
Besides the actual writing, I’ve immersed myself in the world of digital publishing. Learning the entire process of how my manuscript goes from a document on my computer to Amazon and print-on-demand companies. I like understanding the workflows and seeing a project from the first word written to being able to give someone a physical book.
So, let’s regard this as an announcement. Sometime in October, I will be releasing my second novel called Dreams of Being a Kiwi. There will be lots of activity around then and in order to support the release of the book, I’ll be doing some experimenting across a variety of platforms.
Let’s start with the book itself. Dreams of Being a Kiwi finds our hero at rock bottom. Suffering from a debilitating mental illness, he is tucked away in a hospital. Despair kicks in and he sees no way out of the darkness. Then a kiwi comes along and brings hope into his existence. He soon fills his days and nights with dreams of traveling across the world to a new and peaceful life. Dreams are different from reality. He can only plan his plane tickets, ferry rides, and cross-country trips so far. When he finally takes the leap towards his goal, he finds adventure, love, and battles with the greatest foe of all: himself.
The fourth season of my podcast, Storytime with Paul Dore, has been recorded and ready to go. There’s going to be two parts to this season. There will be six episodes that are audio excerpts from the book. Each one is approximately a chapter and is designed for listeners to hopefully like what they hear and check out the entire book. Since the themes centre around mental health issues, I’ve gone back to my podcast roots and put together a few interview episodes. The interviews are with people who talk about mental health within the context of neuroscience, art, and food. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes right now - you can listen to the first three seasons and get the new ones as soon as they drop.
In my journey of learning about digital publishing, I discovered that the process of creating audiobooks has also been streamlined and put into the hands of independent publishers. Through Audible, you are able to record your book and put it up for sale on their website. I have the recording equipment and technical knowledge of editing a final project, so I figured why the hell not? The only drawback is that if you are a writer, you might understand just how sick of your manuscript you are by the end. It’ll be one more time of reading the entire thing out loud for me. There might be one other drawback - it’ll be my voice, which was more based on financial reasons than anything else. If I’m too deadpan for you, read the book.
As with my first book launch and Better Than Grisham, I love doing weird and wild live events. For this time around, I’m opting for a smaller and more intimate event. Like the others, it will involve storytelling and some videos, and I might even bring back my professional triangle playing skills. It’ll be a lot of fun, but an exclusive event for a small audience. It’ll be happening in October and I’ll provide details on it soon.
To get the very latest information about all this stuff and more, subscribe to my Dispatches newsletter. I send one out per month and it is a summary of everything that’s going on. Besides that, I’m so grateful that there are people out there that keep asking about my next book. It’s taken a little while, but we’re getting there.