Interview With Author Matt Corvinus
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, I’m a part-time non-fiction writer, and I write about a wide range of topics and concepts (at least plan to, I just finished my first book).
I’m passionate about Business, Philosophy, History, Psychology, and Self Improvement.
I believe passionately in the strength of human beings. When our potential is unleashed, we change the face of the world – for good or ill. I often say that the reason we aren’t immortal gods is that we haven’t yet learned how – not because it’s impossible. A thousand years ago, the idea of humans flying would have been preposterous, but we learned how, and now humans can fly faster than the speed of sound.
Our species has more firepower at its command than the myths ascribe to Zeus and Odin, we can send and receive visions without the need for elaborate rituals (all we have to do is hit “send”), we can take damaged organs out of people and put in new ones. We’re already quite godlike if you really think about.
This keen awareness of Human Potential has led me to study human beings. I like to learn about how we work / function, the things we have done, the things we can do, how we can improve ourselves for the better, and take better care of ourselves and our world.
I hope to help people change and improve their lives with my writing. I hope to improve peoples’ mindsets and help them become more benevolent, competent, independent, and satisfied. I also hope to learn a lot and unleash my own potential. The most direct route to changing the world is to change people.
I’m a very private person and I’m determined to do my best to stay anonymous. I write under pen names and I have no official social media presence. I have no interest or desire for any of those things, I just want to ponder and write.
I hope that my readers will draw immense value from my efforts.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called 12 Rules for Mental Toughness: A Simple Guide To Becoming Your Most Heroic Self
I’ve had to endure my share of difficulty throughout my life. I won’t say I had the most difficult life, but it certainly wasn’t rosy. Being of a somewhat sensitive disposition, the things I saw and experienced had a deep effect on me and my mental health suffered as a result.
After a period of particularly intense depression followed by a long battle with anxiety, I came to the conclusion that life wasn’t going to get any easier, and so I had to get stronger in order to thrive. I knew that thriving was possible; I’d seen people do it. I desperately wanted to thrive and live life because, in spite of all the suffering that exists, life is beautiful – I don’t care what anyone says.
I decided that I had to get braver and tougher. In every single way.
I read books, watched videos and went out and did things all in an effort to “rebuild my psyche” bit by bit. The results were phenomenal. As I type this, I am completely self assured. There is absolutely nothing that I can’t handle, including the things that terrify me.
One of the most lasting effects of the things that I experienced is that strength has become a sacred thing to me. And of all the kinds of strength that exist, the most special kind, in my opinion, is the strength to endure and improve. That strength comes from your mind and is forged by your character. That’s the kind of strength that I cover in my book.
In writing this book, I pretty much preached what I practice.
Also, I lost my dad to cancer just a few days before I began writing this book. My family was thrown into a bit of turmoil. In my culture, burials are elaborate and require a lot of planning, ceremony and expenses, so it took a few months to bury him. I completed the final draft of my book less than a week after the burial.
In the time period between his death and burial, I was literally living the things I was writing about, as I was writing them. What I’m trying to communicate by saying all of this is that even though I don’t think I’m the best writer in the world, I’m a thousand percent sure that my book is effing legit.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think so.
I drink a bunch of coffee and crank out a bunch of words like everyone else.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles, as well as bunch of other historical fiction books that I’ve read over the years. I love the Hero’s Journey, and nobody does it better than writers of Historical Fiction, in my opinion
Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity
Bibi: My Story, by Benjamin Netanyahu
What are you working on now?
Currently trying to market my first book. This is all new to me.
My next book will be a collection of summaries of my favourite works by Aristotle. Aristotle was a remarkable man, he cannot be spoken of enough.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is literally the first one I’m trying, so maybe ask me again in a few months, lol.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
A quote by the Greek philosopher Epictetus:
“If you wish to be a writer, write”
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“You Will Find A Way To The Top If You Diligently Seek For It, For Nature Hath Placed Nothing So High That It Is Out Of The Reach Of Industry And Valour” – Alexander the Great
What are you reading now?
Clash of Empires by Ben Kane
What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep writing
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?
A bunch of guidebooks and manuals:
A wilderness survival manual
A manual on tool crafting
A book on crafting in general with a lot of attention on woodworking
A guide for making writing equipment out of natural resources (I’d much rather write than read. I can’t read four or five books forever, but I can write indefinitely as long as I don’t run out of paper and ink)
A bible