Interview: transcripted. January 12th, 2031
Kathy Coolidge: Dr. Guzman, thank you for sitting down with us today, I know you’re a busy man.
Dr. Rohan Guzman: Really, it’s my pleasure. Awareness of the public is only possible if they listen. People listen to you.
Coolidge: Yes, well, let’s hope so. So, for all the viewers who don’t know too much about the current environmental situation, do you think you can give a quick recap of where we’re at, as a planet.. . .
You guys are great! Your belief in ENHANCED has kept us in the Top 5, and we weep tears of gratitude to have you all in our corner.
Remember when Harry Potter first came out and was called a "Children's Book?" Then it grew to be a "Young Adult" book that was beloved not only by kids and young adults, but also by their parents and other adults all over the world. Grown-ups whose inner children live just below the surface. Grown ups who appreciate that the main difference between Adult books and Young Adult books is that YA books have no sexual content.
Why do so many adults read Harry Potter? It has believable characters we love, multi-layered plots that hold our interest, action, and satisfying resolutions.
Our Beta readers believe ENHANCED does, too. Even more, they love that we celebrate diversity.
Here's the thing. In this contest, almost all the entries are for adults. ENHANCED is the only Young Adult Science Fiction anywhere near the Top 5, and maybe the only one with any hope of being published here by Inkshares.com and Nerdist.com.
But most of the Readers on this site are also adults. We aren't reaching the Young Adults who will start the word-of-mouth wildfires. So we need your help to keep us in the Top 5.
What you can do:
Thanks again for everything you've done so far to help us succeed. We love you all.
Sue and Robb
I have two goals for entering the Inkshares/Nerdist writing contest:
1. To win an American publishing contract. (D’uh!)
2. To not be * THAT GUY *.
You know the guy I’m talking about. The one who alienates all of his friends and family by constantly pestering them to preorder his book. The one who checks his stats every five minutes to see if somebody else has preordered his book (even though we get an email telling us when somebody has preordered a book, so there’s no point to checking). The guy who walks up to random strangers in the street and begs, “Will you please preorder my book. Please? Please? Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssse!”
Yeah, that guy.
Because this is my life. I have to live with the consequences of my behaviour. I try to live by a couple of simple rules. The obvious one is the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I want to be treated well by others, so d’uh again. The less obvious one is to leave wherever you are better than when you entered it. If you treat others merely as tools to reach an objective of your choosing, you are denying them their autonomy, their right to choose, and demonstrably making the world worse, not better.
I have approached a couple of people I have minor connections to for help, and I have certainly asked my friends and family for their support. I think one or two things I have done already may have crossed the line into being annoying to the people I did them to, going a little way to making me that guy (this is the first time I have ever entered anything like this, and I’m kind of groping towards the best way to accomplish goal one while respecting goal two), and I may cross some boundaries in the future. I’m human.
In the end, though, whether or not I win a publishing contract, I will have to live with what I did to get there. And I will try my best not to be that guy.
PS: How awesome is my sister, Lisa? She bought three copies of Both Sides. NOW! without even knowing what it was about. I just said one or two things about the writing contest, and her response was, “Where do I sign up?” (The fact that she’s the kind of person who is likely to love it is just a bonus.)
Family can really be great.
PPS: And a big shoutout to First Thursday friends Ian Pedoe and Richard E., who also preordered copies of the book yesterday. And lots of hugs to Patricia Bobisha, a long-time family friend who took hardly any arm-twisting at all, really, to preorder the book, and with whom I had a long middle of the night conversation afterwards. Friends can be really great, too.
I can't feel my arms and legs ok
I'm legitimately crying at my desk, I don't know what to do
what do i do
what
"This is only going to last for five minutes," she told herself. "Victory is fleeting, all is meaningless, there is nothing new under the sun."
She turned and stared at her waiting gym bag. What neurotransmitters were coursing through her veins right now? If she went running, would she faint? If she stood up?
"Go get a cup of coffee," she said aloud. "Stop staring at the leader board. Send the reader update and then get back to work."
She checked the board one more time. (Still real.)
She hit send.
