1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,000 This is Story Over Everything, Episode 21, and... 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Wow, I almost tripped. I'm doing a walk and talk. 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:22,000 I've decided to, and I'm kind of vamping while I pull up my script for this episode, but also not vamping because this is pertinent information. 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,000 I've decided I need to be writing more because I am not writing nearly enough and it's very disappointing. 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:34,000 And I have somewhat legitimate reasons for not doing it, but I'm also letting those reasons become excuses. 7 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,000 And that's not good enough. I want to come up with a period of everyday... 8 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,000 It's modest and it sounds stupid, but it's what I know I can do. 9 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Commit 10 minutes every day to writing. That way I'm writing at least an hour a week. 10 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 And after that, I don't know what I'm going to do. 11 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:07,000 But I also was looking at my format for Story Over Everything, and I've got these topical episodes, the workshop episodes where I educate myself on something concerning writing, and I try to share that with you as well. 12 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:16,000 And then the story machine episodes where I tell you my progress, but I also go over a writing prompt that I came up with to be more writerly or whatever. 13 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,000 And then skimming leaves where I do a casual book review, book chat, book discussion. 14 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 And I think skimming leaves is good. Story machine is okay. 15 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:38,000 The other two don't really make sense because while I'm putting energy and time into coming up with topics or researching and learning something for writing craft, I could be writing instead. 16 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:47,000 And I don't know, probably I spend a half hour to an hour total finding something to talk about, talking about it, editing it, getting it posted and all that stuff. 17 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,000 And that doesn't really make sense because I'm supposed to be writing. I'm an author, artist, and analyzer. 18 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,000 And how can I be? I'm doing plenty of analyzing, but I'm not doing enough authoring and definitely not enough artwork. 19 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:05,000 So I want to start drawing. I'm thinking about, I'm playing with the idea of let me draw 10 minutes a day. Let me write 10 minutes a day. 20 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Dedicate that 20 minute block to that creative outlet and toward to making progress on the projects I'm doing so that I can keep advancing and keep, well, keep advancing. 21 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,000 That's what I have to do. If I don't, then I'm giving up and I'm failing myself and I don't want to do that. 22 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:29,000 So anyway, I think I'm just going to pretty much do a walk and talk when, you know, when weather permits and I'm going to work on the book. 23 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,000 And you can just pretend it's like a live stream, whatever book I'm working on. It's going to be a work in progress. Oh yeah, that's right. So I made this note. 24 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:44,000 So this episode is going to be a grow bug tails whip or work in progress 602. So for Friday, 602 was that June 2nd. 25 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:55,000 This is the episode I'm going to publish. I have a whole like, I'm very grateful for the advances that I've made with myself as far as the podcasting things concerned. 26 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:02,000 And now that I'm using RSS.com, which if you want to pay me for that RSS.com, I will gladly take your money because I really do like your service. 27 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:09,000 What I've, you know, what I've been able to do with it. And like you can make transcripts super easy and there's a bunch of great stuff you can do, but it's helping me. 28 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,000 I think it's helping me like become better at doing the talking and doing the podcast making and distributing and all that stuff. 29 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:27,000 And there's some things I need to fine tune on that, but that's been distracting me. Unfortunately, from doing the work of actually my creative writing, and I've instead been working on analyzing stuff. 30 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:34,000 And I think I'm getting better at that. I think I'm doing a much better job with that. And I'm letting go of certain things. 31 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:44,000 I'm trying to follow the 80-20 rule or the Pareto rule. I think they call that where you figure out what 20% of the thing you do gives you the 80% payoff for doing that work. 32 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:55,000 And I think I'm finding what my niche is as far as the analysis stuff. And now I just need to get back to writing and not let that become something that is a second priority for me. 33 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:02,000 It needs to be after my family and everything else. It needs to be my first priority because this is what I want. I want to be an author. I want to be this creative person. 34 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,000 I want to make a career of it. And again, I can't do that if I'm not doing the work. 35 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:18,000 So yeah, without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and pull open my Grow Bug Tales document. I'm currently in the midst of writing chapter six. 36 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 I don't know where I am so I'm going to be reading to you some of my manuscript. And like I said, I'm just going to be super open. 37 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 And I also need to take a little bit of time to do the recording for all five Grow Bug books and get that up on the website. 38 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:37,000 I have Ava and the Grow Bug up there which is book two. It was actually the first book I wrote in this series. And it's almost my personal favorite. 39 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:46,000 I just have a lot of affection for it. So that's the first one I wrote. The audiobook and the finished text as far as I'm concerned right now is up there. 40 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,000 And you know, it could change. It's not 100% final because it hasn't been published yet. 41 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,000 But anyway, I'm going to get the other Grow Bug books up there. Hopefully one a week starting next week. 42 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 And you know, so in a month all five Grow Bug books will be up there. 43 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:05,000 But then this Grow Bug Tales book that I'm going to read part of it to you and work on part of it right now is a book that encapsulates all those. 44 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:14,000 And it combines all of them and it tells the other side of the story from those books as well as a larger tale, a larger narrative with these Grow Bugs that are... 45 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Well, you'll learn about them. They're these guardian angel insects basically that come to Earth and are raised in their own little Grow Bug society. 46 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 And they get sent out to save children from night terrors called hobnots or night hobs. 47 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,000 And no, no, hobnots. That's what they're called. Hobnots. 48 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,000 And I was playing with different names. So there we go. 49 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000 So they protect and save children from these hobnots. 50 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:43,000 And they have their own little world that the kids don't know about because the kids just get exposed to them for a brief amount of time. 51 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 They're rescued and then everybody moves on with their lives. 52 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:51,000 So like I said, I'm in the midst of chapter six. I'm doing a rewrite and... 53 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,000 Oops, I lost my place. 54 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:55,000 And now I'm going to basically... 55 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,000 So another great thing about RSS.com is they have this great transcription feature. 56 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And I'm going to speak the words here and then I'm going to have them transcribed and copy them into my document. 57 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And that's what we're going to do. 58 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,000 And it makes a lot of sense to me to go ahead and do that. 59 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:18,000 So I'm being super transparent with my process. It's something I want to do from now on to help me with my content making. 60 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 To help me concentrate on making the things I actually want to produce as part of my content making strategy. 61 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,000 So anyway, I'm just going to read a little bit and catch up. 62 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,000 So... Okay, this is like the climax of Harmony story. 63 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,000 I was panicked as Harmony fell. I had never fallen like that since I have these great wings. 64 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,000 After a few moments, I called to Harmony in her mind and hold her. 65 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,000 She had to fly or had to think of flying and she did. 66 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:48,000 I flew as fast as I could at Stranger King and he called... or and she called out, 67 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:53,000 Harmonia kick! And with a crash, she knocked him, the scepter and the crown to the hard stone. 68 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,000 Both instruments of power shattered, sparks streaming from them. 69 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,000 It's a very tokusatsu-y thing to have happen. 70 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 How could you beat me? He's strained to ask. 71 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,000 I may be a child, but we're always changing and growing. You never know when we'll surprise you. 72 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:17,000 So that's this grow bug, Wisp, telling the story from her perspective that happens in Harmony and the grow bug. 73 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,000 And I'll continue from there. It says, Harmony and I... 74 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Oh, gee, I need to edit that. 75 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:31,000 Okay, so I'm doing a little bit of editing and letting the audio transcript thing take care of it for me. 76 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:33,000 So, edit point. 77 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Harmony and I chatted while she rode down the street on her bike. 78 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,000 So there will be no more crazy dreams like that, Wisp, Harmony asked. 79 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 At least not anytime soon around here. And I'll have to be off too, kid. 80 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 Well, that's too bad. But you'll come back if there's more trouble, right? 81 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,000 I'm sure you can handle most anything coming your way. 82 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,000 But if anything too wild happens, you know what to do. 83 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,000 I'll know, Harmony said. 84 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Wisp the grow bug shot up into the sky and Harmony rode on. 85 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,000 So, I need to change that last line. 86 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:12,000 I need to do another edit right there. It shouldn't be Wisp the grow bug shot up into the sky and Harmony rode on. 87 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:35,000 It should be something along the lines of. 88 00:08:42,000 --> 00:09:11,000 So, I'm thinking this. 89 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,000 So Harmony, you know, the last line is, I'll know, Harmony said. 90 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:23,000 Harmony rode on and I flew off ready for some rest and hoping I wouldn't see her anytime soon. 91 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:33,000 Then I have at the end of this chapter an opportunity for the grow bug cadets to ask questions or give input on the story. 92 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:47,000 And I framed this story with Wisp, rather, the grow bug, butterfly grow bug saying that she was presenting to the grow bug cadets a different type of story. 93 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:54,000 Where really all she had to do was kind of help the human kid, Harmony, who she was assisting. 94 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,000 All she had to do for her was not save her from, you know, terrible monsters necessarily. 95 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:04,000 But just help her open her eyes so that she could, you know, to an extent, save herself or adjust what she's doing. 96 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:11,000 Because what she was doing was what was causing the harm and causing, you know, disharmony. 97 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000 And Wisp was trying to help her through that situation. 98 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:25,000 And really in that book Harmony does see the error of her ways and she tries to make the correction. 99 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,000 And at that point, that's when Wisp was able to get in with her. 100 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:37,000 So, you know, do I follow up on that point that Wisp... 101 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:45,000 I'm not sure. And if I do, how do I do it? I don't really know at this point. 102 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:51,000 So, again, I have Wisp wondering what to do. 103 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,000 No, no, no. I'm wondering what Wisp will do and what she'll say to the cadets and if they'll follow up. 104 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:03,000 So let me... I'm actually going to jump back to earlier in the document and see what I had written down. 105 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:05,000 So, let's see. 106 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,000 Okay. Good evening, cadets. Let's welcome Guardian Wisp. 107 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:19,000 Thank you, Glimmer. A pink butterfly flutters her wings by way of greeting and addresses the circle. 108 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Fluttered and addresses and addressed. Should we... 109 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Okay, now I'm editing. That's not good. I'm getting distracted by editing. 110 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,000 And addressed the circle. 111 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,000 Those were some great stories, cadets. 112 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:38,000 Chuiang and Ya were friends, forced to fight. They've almost lost their parents because she was so afraid. 113 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Sometimes humans need someone to help them see through the darkness. 114 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,000 That's what happened with my fellow guardians here. My story is a little different. 115 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,000 So, it isn't really that Wisp helped Harmony to see through the darkness. 116 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Harmony got to the point where she was able to see through the darkness by what she was experiencing. 117 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:00,000 And then Wisp helped her to have the power to face that darkness. 118 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Because she had the courage and the moxie, certainly. The girls got chutzpah. 119 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,000 And then she just needed like, you know, a weapon or a tool to use. 120 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:16,000 So, how do I go with that? Because the point of Harmony's story is empathy. 121 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:21,000 But that doesn't mean that's the point of Wisp's story with Harmony. 122 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,000 It can be something totally different. It does not have to be the same at all. 123 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000 Which is saying the same thing twice. 124 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:30,000 Let me see. 125 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:42,000 So, basically, I have Wisp here acting as a crutch or a tool, an asset for Harmony to utilize in order to get out of this jam that she's in. 126 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:52,000 So, how do I convey that? Do I tell that? You don't want to tell. You want to show, right? 127 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,000 Did I show that in the story? Did I show that in the story? 128 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,000 And is that what the girlbug cadets are going to take away from it? Or are they going to ask her about it? 129 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Because they can make comments or they can ask questions. 130 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:12,000 So, if they ask a question along the lines of transcription note. 131 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,000 So, Harmony didn't need you after all. 132 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:26,000 One of the girlbug cadets spoke up. 133 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Wisp batted her wings once and said, 134 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:50,000 Harmony did need my help. 135 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 But not in the way you might expect. 136 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Can anyone see what she needed from me and how I helped her through the situation? 137 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:42,000 By the way, I should use dictation as my keyword so I can jump in and know when I'm starting a dictation or ending a dictation 138 00:14:42,000 --> 00:15:10,000 so that I can use control F to find that in the document and more quickly parse out my text that is useful to me. 139 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:23,000 She didn't need you to show her that she was wrong. 140 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Did she just need you to free her from her prison? 141 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:47,000 Another girlbug guest. 142 00:15:47,000 --> 00:16:06,000 Did she need you to help her fly? A cadet asked. 143 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:16,000 Those are interesting ideas, Wisp answered. 144 00:16:36,000 --> 00:17:00,000 She could see her situation clearly and she knew what needed to be done to fix things. 145 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:13,000 But she just needed a little boost, a little help doing it. 146 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:22,000 And that's what I was there for. 147 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:46,000 Everything happens for a reason, though sometimes it's hard to know why. 148 00:17:46,000 --> 00:18:01,000 A cadet spoke up with doubt in its voice. 149 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,000 I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. I'll have to figure out which cadet it is. 150 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:34,000 So are you saying that hobnots are actually good? 151 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:59,000 I'm not sure. 152 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:28,000 What I'm saying cadets is that everything that happens, happens for you, not to you. 153 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:56,000 I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl. 154 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:25,000 That is not an easy answer, but it doesn't mean it isn't a good one. 155 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:55,000 If no one else has anything to say, I think that means that my part is done. 156 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:04,000 I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl. 157 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:14,000 Wisp bent her antennae in a bow and removed herself from the center of the circle. 158 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,000 Dictation over. 159 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:26,000 I'm going to stop there for now. I need to wrap up this recording and I have other things I need to attend to. 160 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000 I really enjoy thinking out loud. It definitely benefits me. 161 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Especially a walk and talk is especially beneficial for me. 162 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,000 I think this is something I want to keep doing. 163 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:45,000 I don't know about editing the pauses or the quiet spots of silence out of this. 164 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,000 You might just have to listen to it at 2x speed or something like that. 165 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000 That might be the best way to go forward for you and for me. 166 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000 I am glad I challenged myself to do this. 167 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:03,000 I think this is a good next step in me becoming more productive. 168 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,000 I definitely wouldn't have done this riding otherwise. 169 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:23,000 Definitely not at this time. I discovered that I can use dictation start, stop, or just dictation to create those spots in the document for myself. 170 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,000 Where I can pick up and more easily process the data. 171 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:38,000 The reason I am choosing to be so quiet in those quiet spots is because if I don't say anything, then hopefully the transcription won't have any words there. 172 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,000 Won't have any useless or empty words there. 173 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000 I can just continue making my comments. 174 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:51,000 When I have gathered my thoughts and I am ready to speak, I will be able to say what I have to say. 175 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,000 The transcript won't know any different. It won't care that there is a gap. 176 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,000 Visually there might be a gap, but that won't matter to me because I will just know to go to the next word. 177 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,000 I think that makes a lot of sense. 178 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Maybe I need to come up with some other audio tags like dictation start, stop, comment. 179 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,000 I will have to think about that a little bit longer. 180 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:21,000 I guess I could take a lesson from myself and just be quiet and think about that for a few seconds. 181 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:28,000 Then once I have my thoughts gathered, I can figure out or I can speak up and say what I want to say. 182 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,000 I will think about it later. I want to wrap this up. 183 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:48,000 I will comment some more about something and then I will go ahead and wrap up the episode. 184 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,000 I like this new approach. I am going to have to play around with it. 185 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,000 Maybe I will do multiple walk and talk things throughout the week. 186 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Maybe I can make that my 10 minutes a day walking and talking. 187 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:12,000 Maybe I will develop my, I mean I think I will, develop my dictation muscle and I will be able to dictate more effectively in less time. 188 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:26,000 Or rather, if I give myself only 10 minutes for dictation, I would think the word count and the content I could get out in each 10 minute period should increase to a reasonable extent or over a reasonable range over time. 189 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:39,000 Let's say I do this for 2 or 3 weeks. I would think my 15th dictation session should be much better than this first one here where I had so many pauses. 190 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:48,000 So, I think that's what I am going to do and I will consider that more later for now. 191 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:56,000 I am going to go ahead and wrap up and I encourage you to stick around as I continue to document my journey as an author, artist, analyzer. 192 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:02,000 Mostly on the author part here because that's very important. I need to do that more frequently. 193 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,000 As I said earlier, I won't belabor it any more than I already have. 194 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:14,000 And that you will stick with me as I am going through trying to figure out exactly how to do this and figuring out my style. 195 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,000 And I am going to share my best practices with you as I develop them. 196 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:47,000 So, until next time folks, take care. This is MJ signing out.