Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written one book, but have been writing for many years. I’ve also been posting short quips about life, and the pursuits of happiness on social media for many years.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Enlightened Master Seeks Apprentice. The premise is that future me is writing to let me know what I’m doing wrong in the present time, in order to get where ‘he’ has gotten.
I have always had big dreams, but I felt like I was spinning my wheels. It occurred to me that if the person I really wanted to be were to suddenly appear, he could pull me up to where I should be. So I created that person.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have learned when I am mentally at my best. For me it’s around 6pm, before I’ve eaten dinner. Dinner makes me sleepy, so I’ll have something very light to eat, have a cup of coffee, and add a few brain enhancing additives to really get me in a groove. I also have colored lights in my home that I can control with my phone. I set them to ‘sunset’ so I get a very cozy warm feeling. I set a timer for 25 minutes and I crank out as many words as I can, until the bell rings, and then I walk around and do something else for a few minutes, then start over.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I listen to about 300 books a year. I’ve been doing this for over two years, and it has completely and utterly changed my life. So, to answer the question, there is too many to list. The average person has 70,000 thoughts a day; 98% of which are the same as you had yesterday. As an experiment, I wanted to get to the inverse ratio. And listening to books is a way of constantly inflowing new ideas into my mind.
The coffee additives I mentioned above are from David Asprey’s books.
What are you working on now?
I working on two new books. One will be the outline of course that will give the reader step by step actions they can do to get their mind ready to take on big life goals, whether that is starting a new career, mastering a new hobby, or making a million dollars.
I’m also working on a fictional book that walks through a persons memory as he recalls past lives and the lessons he learns from each.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon.com and Pubby.com for promoting.
More importantly SelfPublishingSchool.com gives you the step by step from rough draft to becoming a best seller.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
The habit of writing is vastly more important that the quality or quality of your writing.
Make it a habit to write at the same time every day, and build on that. Start with an incredible easy target to start. Write five words the first day, as an example, and add to that every day. Maybe you add 10 words every day. That makes getting the habit in place so easy that anyone can do it. Anybody and everybody can find the time to write 5 words. After a month you are writing 150 words on that day, but have a total of 2,325. And it starts to build from there pretty easily now that the habit is in place. You could even accerlate that by adding an exponential factor. Maybe each night you write 1% more instead of 5 words more.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This doesn’t really answer the question but it’s relevant. I very often her the question, what is the one book I should read to….
Even if there was ‘one book’ you still need to read as many as you can so you get a reference point. If there was one magical sentence in that one book, that if you read, it would change your life forever, you wouldn’t fully get that understanding until you’ve read the entire book. The same goes for books. The more you read or take in, the more the really significant things will stand out for you, or you’ll make some new creative connection between facts that you will never ever see, if you only read ‘one book’.
What are you reading now?
Right now I’m going through all the books I’ve ever listened to again. I’m currently on Elon Musks’ biography. I go through a book ever other day, so by the time you read this I’ve already moved on.
The human mind can understand 700 words per minute, but we talk at around 100. When listening to books, I turn up the speed as much as I can and still understand it.
What’s next for you as a writer?
My goal is to change the world. I have an called Get Nudged that will start to help, and the books mentioned above. I also am working on a device to help clean small to medium sized bodies of water of toxins, and a pretty sound idea of a magnetic car.
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?
I am gonna cheat a little and say the Encyclopedia.
Author Websites and Profiles
Steve Bode Website
Steve Bode Amazon Profile
Steve Bode’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account