Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an author, freelance-writer, and cannabis journalist. I’ve written articles and interviews for national magazines like the Hemp Connoisseur in Denver, Dope Magazine in Seattle and Herb.co. Under my DJ name, DJ Cola, I interviewed DJs for DMCWorld.net. My short story collection is available on Amazon and I write blog posts at my website goshdarnblog.com.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my book is “Accelerated Learning Techniques for a Budding Sociopath: A Bunch of Short Stories.” A friend and I were sitting around doing nothing and came up with this weird title. I had to use it for my collection after that.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I talk into a recording device. I’m not above stealing email messages from my inbox and secretly recording other people’s conversations in cafes to get dialogue for my stories. Prompts are okay, sometimes, but mainly they are for losers who don’t have a creative bone in their body, but if I can’t think of a story I go ahead and steal it from someone else who talks a lot. The easiest way I learned to tell a story is to listen when I silently talk to myself like a crazy person. I start there. Then I listen to people tell stories at bars. This is the only way to tell a story in the modern age. At a bar. I learned third person later once I mastered 1st. Not the other way around. I’ve followed all my own advice for years and have won awards and written for magazines. Wanna fight about it? Do ya? I didn’t think so.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Fight Club, The Great Gatsby, Rollerball Murder, Moby Dick, The Color Of Money, On The Road, etc.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on writing something great. It’s a tall order, but I know enough people who will read what I’ve written and tell me, “You suck!, so improvement is inevitable. I’m writing novellas, screenplays, blog posts and articles.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I find publishing my own blog at GoshDarnBlog.com keeps me motivated. I just published a physical book in “print” and I’m going to follow the local bookstore route and see what happens. Pitching your “product” and yourself is the only way to get anywhere in this world. Jesus did it. If you can’t learn to pitch or sell yourself no one will ever read a word you’ve written. Ever. Now we have email lists, social media and whatever you can imagine, so why not go for it already?
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Go get your MFA degree in Creative Writing or if you don’t want to do that find local community writing classes for $40 bucks a pop or go to a local writing conference for $500 dollars. Force yourself to write even if it’s for five minutes a day. Don’t get distracted by your depression or anxiety. Be okay with writing crappy, but just make sure you hire an editor later on and pay them real money. Join a local writer’s group for free to get motivated. Get over your fear of rejection when it comes to sending your work out. None of this advice is easy to follow, but if everyone was writing books– Wait! They are! Haven’t you seen the bad books for sale on Amazon and the bad movies uploaded on Amazon Prime? There’s hope for people who write “good.”
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t quit.”
“Don’t write for money. There’s lots of easier ways to make money.”
What are you reading now?
“1001 Ways to Market Your Books” and also H.G. Wells short stories.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Submitting my short stories to the New Yorker and then getting rejected by the New Yorker.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
“The Bible” because that would be a horrible thing to happen to someone. “The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook” of course and “Survival Wisdom and Know-How : Everything You Need to Know to Thrive in the Wilderness.” The fourth book could be any book to use as kindling for a fire.
Author Websites and Profiles
Evan Hundhausen Website
Evan Hundhausen Amazon Profile
Evan Hundhausen’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
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