For the past few months I’ve been deep in writing my 2nd book (which becomes available in early access less than two weeks from today).
This one has been a hell of a lot more difficult to put together than the first, but in that I’ve learned quite a bit that I think you’d find useful for any big project that you’re working on.
There’s specifically, 3 major things:
- Don’t quit
- You never know what will happen until you try
- Every action you take builds capital
Let me elaborate for you…
Don’t Quit
This book was originally born out of rants. I’ve been doing mentoring through The Audio Mentoring Project and people occasionally DM me on Twitter – over and over again I received similar questions, such as:
“If I want to become an audio implementer or programmer, what language should I learn?”
“I mostly do sound design but I’m interested in music and I hear that implementation is a good place to get employed too or at least something to build up as an extra skill. For someone in my position, what advice would you give in order to get into the industry?”
I love the fact that I get these questions. I love that people are willing to ask them at all, let alone ask me.
But oh my lawd – these are not the right questions to be asking. However, when you’re first starting your journey, you might not know any better.
So the whole point of this book was to take those conversations – which I was having over and over – and distill them into a book. The book would (and will!) lead the questioner to ask the right questions, creating a roadmap for them in the process, and would excuse me from ranting at them ever again.
Except to start, it didn’t quite work like that.
Rants – I quickly learned – are very difficult to streamline and fit within the structure of a book. I suppose I should’ve realized this initially, as rants are inherently full of rabbit holes (for me, at least).
But, I didn’t.
Instead, I sat down at the computer and banged out a ton of words – until I lost my train of thought. I routinely sat down for multiple hours with a point in mind, and wound up not getting where I intended to go.
You could call it “demoralizing”, but that’s actually a bit of an understatement. I began to question my abilities as a writer first, and then if I had anything of substance to actually say. You might not think so at first – but that then leads to trouble writing regular content here, and even wondering if I’m a fraud.
Of course, at the end of the day, it’s just negative self-talk. It’s a large pack of lies.
So I kept at it, and wrote even when I didn’t feel like it. I wrote when I didn’t know how to get where I wanted. I wrote when I didn’t know what words to put down (yes, I’ve written “I don’t know what to write” a bunch during this process).
I guess a bit unsurprisingly, this lead me to take longer in writing than I would’ve liked. I even managed to get behind on my writing schedule after I announced the early access date.
But this weekend the craziest thing happened – I suddenly found my voice.
I’d plucked away at the book long enough, and tried enough different ways of hacking at my thoughts, that I finally figured out how to streamline things in at least a semi-coherent way. I got done with a chapter and thought “that’s it.” It was complete – rough, yes – but complete in a way that wouldn’t need a large re-write.
Does this mean I’m re-writing the book? No, probably not. I bet most of it is solid, but not yet spectacular.
That, however, is why the preorder and early access process exist. The people who take the risk of jumping in early will be given a direct line to give me feedback – good or bad. I completely expect to be politely torn apart (the readers who talk to me are generally super nice).
So moral #1 – don’t quit, or else you won’t finish!
You never know…
When the idea for this book hit me square in the face, I was convinced of two things:
- I had to write it for me
- It would make no money
I needed to write it for me in the sense that – if I didn’t write it – I was going to lose my mind ranting at poor young college guys. So I needed to get all of it out of my head and off my chest, regardless of if anyone actually read the thing or not. That was kind of beside the point.
In fact, it was so beside the point that I was convinced I would only sell a copy or two. Maybe three. Why? Well… college guys don’t have money (again, assuming my audience based off of DM-content). Clearly, if I’m looking to run a successful business, this isn’t the market to swing super hard after for profit.
So I needed to set a new bar for success. In this case, success is both getting the book out at all and then pointing people to it thereafter.
But in the process of writing and talking about it, I’ve been a bit surprised.
More people ended up buying preorders than I thought would (I’m still by no means rich, I promise). One guy even wants a physical copy! (This blows my mind, the thing isn’t even completely written yet and someone wants it to hold in their hand)
I’ve also had the kindest feedback and advice from those that I would never have expected. Things like:
“I kind of assumed you were writing something different – that’s a really awesome angle to take! That would’ve been helpful for me back in the day”
and in regard to some negative veteran push back, I was told this from someone I greatly admire –
“Fuck ’em”
The moral of all of this is – you really never know what’s going to happen until you start doing things.
Early on in my career, I suffered hard with option paralysis. I wanted to do the right thing, which then caused me to end up not doing anything because I didn’t know and couldn’t decide what was right.
When I started this book, it was only right literally just to get something off my chest. It was wrong for money and industry respect (in my opinion), among other things.
But I did it anyway – because you just never know.
Every action builds capital
That last part brings me to my final point, and something I see the audience of this book struggle with more than just about anything else.
You all want to know what to do in order to get a job. Badly.
You want a cool, fun job. You want to inspire others. You want to make something awesome, lasting, and memorable.
Most of all – you just want a chance.
You want it so badly that you’re even willing to learn things that you’re not as interested in, just in case it will give you an edge. You’ll beg everyone online that’s employed or been employed – because they must have the roadmap you need.
This, for you, is why I put this book together. They don’t have the roadmap, you do.
It’s weird to hear that, right? But you do! The book will get it out of you.
One of the biggest things you’ll learn in the process is that every action you take towards your dreams and goals – everything you build, every project you complete, it all builds you social and career capital.
We live in a time and place where everyone is watching. So everything you do, so long as you do it well, has the opportunity to open some doors for you and endear you to others.
When I put out my first book, I was contacted by industry veterans and an audio director. I never had contact with these people prior to that.
My first software product helped me land the position I currently hold at 343 Industries.
This book, even prior to release, has strengthened some already good relationships, brought me new ones, and clarified others that I can let go.
So while it hasn’t (and likely won’t) be a huge commercial blockbuster for me – it’s way overdone itself in relational capital with others. That’s kind of the whole point behind it anyway, right? I just wanted to help others and myself!
Now, do YOUR thing.
I hope this drives a bit of inspiration for you – that even if you’re working on something that’s difficult, you can and will finish it if you just keep at it. It may not seem worth it, but I swear to you it is!
If you’ve read this far and you’re looking to work on audio in games, the internet is driving you nuts and you’re not getting the advice or help you need – I urge you to preorder Quit Aspiring. I’m writing this for you. All preorders get early access to the content, which will be updated live up through the day of release (I haven’t set that date yet). In addition, the money-back-guarantee policy kicks in after the physical release – so you’ll get extra time if you preoder to give me your $10 back if you wish.
Regardless – I thank you so much for your support. I truly appreciate you, and as always I’d love to hear from you.
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