#033: Michael David Wilson – ’The Girl in the Video,’ creating your own opportunities, and confronting your fears.

Michael David Wilson is the founder of the popular UK horror website, podcast, and small press, This Is Horror. He's a professional writer, editor, and podcaster, and has worked for such companies as 2000 AD, Terrorizer, and Broken River Books. His brand-new novella, The Girl in the Video will be published via Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing on 28 April 2020, with a second novella, House of Bad Memories, to be published by Grindhouse Press in 2021.

Michael's work has appeared in numerous other publications including The NoSleep Podcast, Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, Hawk & Cleaver’s The Other Stories, and Scream. He is also a professional ESL Teacher and graduate of the University of Warwick’s English Literature and Creative Writing Programme.

In this episode we go deep into:

How Michael cut his teeth with writing
Putting your money where your mouth is as a writer
Using challenges to keep yourself motivated in writing
Sharing the gift of storytelling with those younger than you to pass the torch
The power of building the writing habit
The difference between writing, and writing-tangential activities
Tips for receiving free games, writing journalistic columns, and exercising entrepreneurship
How changing diet and exploring health laid foundations for building writing habits
Not having to wait for luck, taking ownership of your life, and creating your own opportunities
The journey that led to the inception of This Is Horror and its following success
Confronting your fears
The first few weeks of This Is Horror
Mental health and how that can affect your writing
The more you do things, the easier they become
Taking time to recharge when you need to, and prioritizing your health
Giving yourself permission to not be okay
How ’The Girl in the Video’ came to be born
Leaning towards hybrid and finding the rewards of both sides of publishing
Utilizing the bookstagram community to deliver a cover reveal
What impact Michael wants to have from his writing.

Michael answers questions from Patrons:

Ian J. Middleton: are there any common mistakes you see from first time horror writers when it comes to short stories and novels?

Find out more about Michael:

https://www.michaeldavidwilson.co.uk/

https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/

Links from the show:

https://books2read.com/u/3LD6nJ

Special thanks to:

Intro vocals: Persephone Rose

Show theme: Karl Hughes

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Thank you to my patrons:

David Hines

Harley Christensen

Jon Cronshaw

Jenn Mitchell

Innes Richens

Ian J Middleton

PT Hylton

Michael Anderle

Jerry Evanoff

Mark McClure

Katie Forrest

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