The podcast/broadcast is back after a one week hiatus due to technical issues (now resolved), and we have a funny bookselling story. Not only did it make us laugh, but it confirmed that we are book nerds. We touched on one of the world's most solitary professions that sits squarely in the public eye, and we ask you (the indy writer) about running a business. At what point do you go from being a hobbyist to a "real" business (LLC or something else)? We continue to be super-excited about 2024, and...
Jan 21, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Episode 152 is a bonus podcast from the Dungeon of Doom studio where we briefly (for us) discuss the challenges of success. Since our expansion across e-pub sites. one of our series is seeing financial success, which begs for a sequel: -Good news: Kind of working on that third book. -Bad news: Working much harder on a different series. What do we do? Shift gears to the book series gaining traction or keep working on our main project? We exchange ideas and come up with a solution which we'll expa...
Jan 11, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Episode 151 is another vent session about our book publishing company Two Moore Books. We had a good week when we were rewarded by our hard work, but we were also reminded of how far we have to go as a small book publishing company: Overthinking: -We salute David Soul, an icon of our youth. - A Sheriff in Nevada : selling it and creating the paperback for Amazon and B&N. -We plugged the Nevada Writer's Group on FB, and appreciate the the Sierra Arts Foundation for their support of Nevada wri...
Jan 07, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 151
Episode 150 comes to you from our brand new studio which we lovingly call the Dungeon of Doom. We talk about our dreams and aspirations for the new year, plus we reminisce about something that happened 42 years ago. In case you missed it, we recorded Episode 149 which was our CY2023 recap with Two Moore Books, Paris, road trip, and our future books. Have a listen and check us out at www.carsonhume.com TIA LYL!...
Jan 01, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 150
Let's keep this short and sweet. Episode 149 is our end-of-year wrap-up for calendar year 2023: -Two Moore Books -Paris -Road Trip -Six books in the queue! And we lay the groundwork for an exciting 2024. We can hardly wait to get things started. Woo! Check us out at www.carsonhume.com TIA LYL!
Dec 31, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 149
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the three movies that our part of our Christmas tradition (Love Actually, Die Hard, Christmas Vacation). For Episode 148, we watched three movies that were homages (or parodies) of traditional Christmas movies: Elf, Gremlins, and Scrooged. We talked about what worked and didn't work, and why they didn't appeal to us as "traditional" movies as they may for other people. We agree that comedy is the hardest art form for writers. Just for fun, we threw in Letha...
Dec 24, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 148
For Episode 147, we reveal the winner of the annual ugly Christmas sweater contest (hint: I win every year with the same sweater). More importantly, we dive into the the technical details behind writing sequels. I've written three series, and I've started a fourth, and I wish I knew now what I didn't know when I did the first three. We cite "Star Wars" and "The Matrix." For the second part of the podcast/broadcast, we talk about the "science" part of science fiction when it comes to creating our...
Dec 17, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 147
"Tradition is peer pressure from your ancestors" is how we framed Episode 146. We go down down tradition's path by discussing some of our family traditions this time of year, which now requires we watch three holiday movies: Die Hard, Christmas Vacation, and Love Actually. We talk about these movies appeal to us. As promised, here's the link when we eviscerated "Love Actually" (check out the beard!). We wore red this week for our family at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. We are all Rebels th...
Dec 10, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 146
It's Episode 145, and the book writing/publishing company known as Two Moore Books is fully engaged in developing its literary, audio, and aural presence on the internet. Literary: As we discuss in this podcast/broadcast, our full catalog is published on three platforms and in progress on two more (Apple and Barnes & Noble). Our catalog should be fully published on all five platforms by the end of January 2024: Amazon Kobo Google Audiobooks: Much of this podcast/broadcast discusses the Googl...
Dec 03, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 145
This week's podcast/broadcast featured a live unboxing of " The Tucci Chronicles ," and we compare the Amazon and Barnes & Noble paperback copies. We have another in-depth discussion of the meat-and-potatoes side of writing. We've expanding our publishing inventory to include Barnes & Noble , Apple, Kobo , and Google. We chat about the strengths of each publisher. We are also excited to say we'll be trying out the auto-narration function in Google Play, and we'll report back on the resul...
Nov 26, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 144
We dive into the "sausage making" portion of self-publishing a book. Writing a book itself is a complex process, but that's only the beginning, so there's a lot to unpack in this week's podcast/broadcast: - Cover reveal of "The Tucci Chronicles"! - Update on CC's writing projects and her YouTube bio. - My plan to sell my books on on Kobo and Barnes & Noble -Technical difference in uploading to Amazon, B&N, and Kobo. - Creating and formatting books with Atticus and GIMP. - Using other app...
Nov 19, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 143
What goes through a writer’s mind, and how do their thoughts, dreams, and experiences translate to the written word? How do they choose to go light or dark in their writing? We use our two most recent releases to discuss the yin and yang of a writer’s mind. (Yes, we just released a book on November 10 and we're releasing another one on December 1. Details in the podcast.) This podcast/broadcast started with this from the internet: "Our thoughts reflect how we were raised, but our words and actio...
Nov 12, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 142
This week's podcast/broadcast is about our four projects: -CC finished formatting "From Tundra to Tiara"! We'll release it Friday, November 10, for $9.99 -I finished formatting "The Tucci Chronicles"! That will be released soon. -CC's is deep into Nano and writing Book 2 of a brand new series. -My Nano project is the third book of the "Sheriff in Nevada" series. Back to "From Tundra to Tiara": We released the e-book in January 2023, but some readers love hard copy books. That's what you're getti...
Nov 05, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 141
This week is all about formatting your self-published book through Word and Atticus. CC and I spent a lot of time this week in those apps getting "From Tundra to Tiara" and "The Tucci Chronicles" ready for you. If you're getting ready to self-publish a book, or even thinking about it, we have ideas to help you avoid the challenges and minefields every indy writer encounters. We also talk about Nevada Day and Nanowrimo. Have a listen and check us out at www.carsonhume.com TIA LYL!...
Oct 29, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Unboxing From Tundra to Tiara - CC and I have a hardcopy of our first book which will be out on #Amazon #Kindle soon! Check us out at www.carsonhume.com. TIA LYL #writers
Oct 22, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Hello from the CC and JT Amateur Hour, “where production values go to die,” and we talked a lot about a few things as we continue to wrestle with our video presence. Topics: -Nanowrimo -Our personal writing projects -Overnight success -The public face of our private endeavors -Meeting the public Here's the YouTube of the podcast . CC is reading Edgar Allen Poe for October ! I did a commercial for Nevada . Please let us know what you think of all of this and check us out at www.carsonhume.com . T...
Oct 15, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Procrastinate. Overthink. Long walks. All are frustrating forms of writer's block. In this week's episode, we talk about our personal forms of writer's block and what we do to overcome them. TikTok Teaser ! And here's the YouTube . Have a listen and check us out at www.carsonhume.com . TIA LYL!...
Oct 08, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Another videocast & podcast for our fellow writers: it's Preptober! CC & and chat about getting ready for #nanowrimo and how it's a time of joy, not stress, if you let it. We also talk about our poor Cubs. If you're on TikTok, you can catch us here , but there's a ten-minute limit (we didn't know). The entire video is here on YouTube . Have a listen and let us know what you think. TIA! LYL!...
Oct 01, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 136
Episode 134: Twitter/X is implementing new and onerous terms of service, so CC and I have "that" talk about social media. As very small business owners, we have concerns because we no longer believe in the reach and reliability of Twitter/X. We have an active conversation about social media in general, which gives you a peek inside on how CC and I talk things over. We also discuss Free Speech and the First Amendment, which is sometimes not the same thing. We're going to try out new things to rep...
Sep 24, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 134
After a few "doom and gloom" episodes with the related drop-off in listenership, we announce the end of the podcast because we each discover a hill we will die on (kidding). But seriously, folks, we dive into the Language of Love and the culture of a relationship, and how we as writers bring all of this to our works in progress. We're talking about communication, gestures, and habits that are unique to each relationship. We use real-life examples of our parents' marriages as well as our own. We ...
Sep 17, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 133
CC watched TED Talks by author Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame as a means to break through her writer's block, and her videos inspired us to talk about the source of a writer's inspiration. We knocked down a series of dominos and ended up with the question: Are some writers divinely inspired by God to write their works, or is creativity the result of the happenstance of physiological neurons and flashes of genius? We included a "Philosophy of Religion" class, the Baha'i' Faith, our c...
Sep 10, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 132
Episode 131 is more free form than usual since we start with Labor Day, muddle around Burning Man, and end up talking at length about the Indiana Jones franchise. Throughout this podcast was the sense and idea of nostalgia. The movie-going experience has changed much in our lifetimes, though we wouldn't say it necessarily has evolved. We also acknowledge that we are not the target audience we used to be. Even so, we feel the impact of entertainment was lost as movies were moved from a dark room ...
Sep 04, 2023•43 min
The endless saga of our flooded basement gives us fodder for this week's podcast. Long story short: we're sore. We talk about how the natural process of aging and Life takes a physical toll on our quality of life, and how we as writers can use these experiences to shape our characters. We also discuss how we can learn more about conditions where we have no firsthand experience. Notable examples would be the use of scooters in supermarkets and childbirth. We also touch on how the quality of our p...
Aug 26, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 130
Episode 129 is about the authors who inspired and shaped us as adults and writers, and who happen to be women. How's this for a murderer's row: Agatha Christie (left) Louisa May Alcott (right) Jane Austen Georgette Heyer Carolyn Keene Anne McCaffery Ann Rice JK Rowling Alice Walker Harper Lee Margaret Mitchelle Madeline L'Engle Diana Gabaldon Amy Tan Audrey Niffenegger So many more we could have mentioned. We spoil "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Clue" (the movie). We also discussed Hurrican...
Aug 20, 2023•36 min
Episode 128 is about that great beast called "screenwriting" and how it is a different, yet similar craft to writing a book. There's the external visual representation versus the internal written word, but there's also the complex collaboration, visuals, and the outside influences (re: the studios) that change the original product into what you see on the big and small screen. It's a fascinating process. We spoil: Angels and Demons Star Wars Spider-Man Batman We update our EPA Superfund Site cod...
Aug 13, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Is George Lucas good or lucky? Episode 127 of our writers podcast is about writers who capture lightning in a bottle. They submit books and screenplays at just the right time which capture the imagination and take the country by storm. There’s lots of examples, starting with Mr. Lucas. Some folks would point to his pop cultural phenomenon of "Star Wars," but we go to the 1973 classic called " American Graffiti ." This movie almost singlehandedly brought the 1950s nostalgia craze to the forefront...
Aug 06, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 127
What's going on with Episode 126 of our writers' podcast? The better question is what isn't going on with this podcast. We start off with the premise that an epiphany is part of the writer's toolchest, but it's an unreliable tool. Yes, the initial idea of a book can be classified as one, but what happens after you start writing and developing characters and plot? We have ideas on how to create and use epiphanies in your writing. There's also a discussion on how long you should take to write a bo...
Jul 30, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 126
Yeah, we joined mainstream and social media in debating Barbie in our podcast, but we went in a different direction with the history of gender-based books and roles. We start in the mass market publishing in the beginning of the 20th Century ("dime store novels") through the "Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew" type books of the Fifties. We work our way into Women's Lib and ERA, and we talk about how the Barbie movie is portrayed in social media. Also: -Our WIPs -Happy Birthday -Deer Update -WGA and the ...
Jul 23, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 125
Episode 124 is about the writer's derivative use of other published works in their own works in progress. Where is the gray area of originality when using William Shakespeare's classic works, for example? Modern literature is full of examples of those who boldly took it upon themselves to "copy" the Bard's great works or at least use them as inspiration for their books. Where do we writers draw the line? What is plagiarism? Also: -Updates on the weather, our basement and the baby deer. -Nanowrim...
Jul 16, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 124
Episode 123 is all about the our new furry friends. More specifically, we talk at length about how we can't help but assign human emotions and actions to those in the animal kingdom (the word I can't say or spell to save my life is "anthropomorphism"). Also: - Our current WIPs & Boring Characters - Nanowrimo & Camp Nano - Setting writing goals and boundaries - Run the dishwasher twice! - Our maternity ward We're packing a lot of good writing stuff in this one, not to mention a bit of ris...
Jul 09, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 123
