The Mindset Reset
2. What's the biggest challenge in implementing the Right-Reader system? Don’t worry. This post will have a paywall, but not in the way you usually see them. I have an entire free article to share...
…and then a short, additional note for my paid subscribers after the wall. You won’t be reading along only to find yourself cut off.
In the last article, I talked about the promise of my yet undisclosed theory, and I said that in the next article we’d discuss the biggest challenge: the mindset.
But first, did I tell you I was in Lethal Weapon 3?
Well, that depends on your definition of “in”. I was in the theaters, but not in the VHS. (Too far to the right of the screen.) I’m in the DVD and streaming… for a full second. Donald Glover is walking through the crowd looking for the bad guy in the hockey arena. I’m part of the crowd.
Some of my best memories of work as an extra were in movies I’ve never seen. During the shooting of Man Trouble, Beverly D’Angelo sang us a dirty song, and Jack Nicholson mesmerized the crowd by doing absolutely nothing. I learned what charisma was that day.
In Noises Off, Carol Burnett did her Tarzan yell, and then someone shouted for Christopher Reeve to fly. He walked off the set.
See children? Trolls did exist before the Internet.
I lived in the Hollywood hills, and my bed was in the living room of a one-bedroom apartment. My roommate saw Kevin Costner at our little neighborhood grocery store, and from my walk through the neighborhood, I could see Madonna’s house.
I wasn’t an actor, but some of my life choices at that age were directed by that fantasy.
If you didn’t notice, there’s a moral to that anecdote about our choices being directed by fantasy instead of by our goals. Don’t get me wrong. The fantasy can be fun. I was in the Bourgeois Pig when John Cusack walked in with his date, and Corey Feldman asked if he could use the chess set that was at my table. Fun times.
If any of that was really important, I could have still accomplished more than just fantasizing. What I needed was to know my goals and determine what was necessary to attain them.
The way fiction writers approach Substack is dictated by fantasy. The good news is that I’ve realized we can do both. The approach driven by fantasy still has its purpose. In my restructuring, I’m doing both, but before this, my fantasy of being “the author” was driving my choices. (I know we are authors. That doesn’t change the fantasy.) Once you begin my system, it will require you to make choices that aren’t part of the fantasy, and though they’ll get you closer to your goals, it’s still hard.
Did I mention I ran into Robert Culp… twice… in restrooms? Not really impressive is it? It’s a bit like trying to explain the significance of your author website. Experts say they’re important. When people want to find more of your work, they need some place to go. Yes, but people must have read your work so they’re in need of more in the first place! Your author website isn’t doing that. You gain subscribers and feel the euphoria of progress, but they’re other writers who are also feeding off the same fantasy. Is anyone actually getting any closer to achieving their goals?
If want to keep an author website as one of your Substacks, you’re going to need at least two accounts. Not including this one, I have three.
That’s part of the mindset difficulty, building one or more publications that don’t cater to the fantasy, but the other is even harder. You have to understand your own work.
Your first task is to determine one or two central, overarching themes that are present throughout your work.
The word themes throws people off. They immediately think they’re in English class, but we’re just talking about whatever you see repeated in your work. This might be very specific and intellectual, but it can also be broad or emotional. Maybe you write often about grief. Perhaps you specialize in space-centered science fiction with non earth-based trans-planetary societies. Understanding your own work can be harder than understanding someone else’s. If there’s somebody who’s read much of your work, ask them for ideas, but one way or the other, you’ll have to be able to articulate those themes that reoccur in your writing.
If you’re willing and able to do those two things, a) approach Substack in a way that serves your purposes but not your fantasies, and 2) examine the body of your writing to understand your core themes—then this system will be meaningful for you, and it’s time to consider a paid subscription.
Until next time, I’m—
Thaddeus Thomas
Read part 3: First Impressions