Another quality post brought to you by Steve!
I feel that we are in the middle of something unique right now, sort of the calendar equivalent of an eclipse or star alignment. I don't recall any time in my lifetime that Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, and Mardi Gras all fell in a row like this. I know it's a silly thing to be interested in, considering one is religious, one is determined by the federal government, and one is...well, pretty much just made up by greeting card companies. Nevertheless, I still find it kind of quirky and interesting and wonder how often things like this occur, if ever. Maybe somebody who knows more about this sort of thing can let me know in the comments.
In the meanwhile, I had an interesting conversation earlier this month. In fact, I found it fascinating, and I hope you will as well, although I can understand where it might feel a bit academic for those not in a similar position to myself and some of my peers on this blog and elsewhere.
I've always been interested in how a public figure like an author, particularly in 2021, determines how much to let fans in, into their real lives, into their real thoughts, into their real families. In the latest installment of "Publish Like a Motherfucker (With Stephen Kozeniewski)" I got the chance to pick the brain of my friend and mentor Brian Keene on just this subject.
Below I'm including a syllabus of what we discussed (although it did go much further and, I'm grateful to report, deeper than I initially intended.) I hope you'll find it as edifying as I did. Let me know what you thought below!
Course 8: Fans, Friends, and Fuckers
Date: Wednesday, February 3
Time: 8:00 pm EST
Syllabus: Now that you've published you've started hitting social media and the convention trail hard. With special guest World Horror Grand Master Brian Keene we'll discuss:
- to what extent should you welcome fans into your life? when do you go from drinks at the hotel bar to inviting them into your home? how do you tell merely eager fans from truly dangerous ones?
- how do you distinguish between genuine friends and climbers? what do you do when people ask you to wave your magic wand and make them famous?
- do the lifelong friendships outweigh dealing with jackasses? is it safer to be more guarded online and in person?
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