INTERVIEW

Tomorrow is Today's Backup Plan - An Author's Journey (Part 1)

Written by Simon Barrett
Published April 03, 2007
page 1 | 2 | 3

The Concept Of The Book

What could everyone relate to when it came to dating? How did I learn to be successful with women? (I went from being voted sweetest guy in high school — i.e. biggest loser with girls — to very successful player and jerk in my mid-twenties, to the guy I am now, unruled by my own desires, instead seeking only truly satisfying relationships.)

What was the common-denominator? How could I find a broad audience? How could I keep it entertaining for as many people who read it as possible? The answer was clear: failure. Everybody, whether they just started to date last year or whether they’ve been married for sixty years, has had embarrassing dating and sexual failures. People could relate to such stories.

Those failures are where I learned how to be successful. I’ve had more failures than most because I took more risks and led a different lifestyle. In turn, those failures led to more success than most, in that different lifestyle where wondrous experiences can occur if you know how to play your cards. I learned how to make those wondrous experiences occur outside that world, too, in the world where most of us live everyday.

Great; the idea of using my failures as the core concept meant I could easily make the book humorous. I needed more, though; every good standup routine has a main idea (called a “bit”) at its heart. What more could people relate to? Ah, yes, God. Everybody knows about God. They may not believe in Him, they may not like Him, they may curse at Him, but they all know about Him. Not only that, but people are always bugging Him about dating.

“Why’s it so hard to meet someone, God?” “Why can’t I just have a good date? Is that too much to ask for, God?” I needed a twist. What if God was a woman? Yeah, now I could have fun with that throughout the book, and it would come in very handy to explain a lot of things, especially in the world of dating and relationships.

I had my bit, I was ready to go.

In Part 2 Ian explains the mechanics of the printing industry, and the trials and tribulations that the first time author faces.

page 1 | 2 | 3
Simon is an Educator in Calgary, Alberta. His own piece of idiocy is zzsimonb's rantings and he is also a contibuting editor for Blogger News Network.
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Tomorrow is Today's Backup Plan - An Author's Journey (Part 1)
Published: April 03, 2007
Type: Interview
Section: Books
Filed Under: Books: Humor, Books: Self-Help, Interviews
Writer: Simon Barrett
Simon Barrett's BC Writer page
Simon Barrett's personal site
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