HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT was the winner in the Writing/Publishing category of the 2019 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author Thom Kudla.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT, 2017
What’s the book’s first line?
There’s not really a first line because the book is an app that presents the writing from my book HOW I AM DIFFERENT in different ways.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The idea was to see how I would grow as a reader, writer, and person over the course of a few years. After I published HOW I AM DIFFERENT, many writers and readers expressed interest in trying this writing experiment themselves, so I created the app. The app not only allows people to read the original book in a variety of ways; it also lets you write every day, track moods, and chart writing time, among other things. To learn more about the app’s features, visit www.hwadapp.com.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I admire Hafiz and I read once that he had challenged others to write poetry every day. This inspired me and my friend to do the same, sending each other creative writing via email every day and then responding to each other’s writing. Eventually, my friend had to stop writing every day, but I kept going and decided a good way to make it particularly worthwhile as a solitary activity would be to continue it into the next year so that I could compare the entries from the prior year.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
If you want to become a more disciplined reader and writer – and a better person overall – download HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT (HWAD: Book & Everyday Journal) from the App Store on your Apple iPhone or iPad.
When did you first decide to become an author?
When I was 12, instead of vacationing during the summer or having fun playing outside in the sun with my friends, I was busy writing my first novel. Writing has always been my passion.
Are these the first books that you’ve written?
No.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
Marketing.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
It depends—during my last major project, I wrote every day for at least an hour; lately, I’ve been doing more reading instead.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
No one takes you seriously! They don’t realize that it was a conscious choice on my part to self-publish originally. I never even sent my manuscripts to a publisher or agent. I just wanted them to be available to the world in a way that I exercised the most control.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Definitely! Even though my day job is marketing, I’ve really struggled with marketing my writing. I really need the assistance of a professional publisher to get my writing out to the masses.
Is there something in particular that motivates you?
I am motivated by figuring out the world. In writing, I am able to understand things more clearly and share my observations, perceptions, and ideas with other people. It’s very intellectually stimulating and rewarding.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
Jason Segel. He did an excellent job as David Foster Wallace in THE END OF THE TOUR, and I certainly would love to be considered in the same breath as DFW. That, and Jason reminds me of myself: he’s tall, he laughs a lot, and he’s talented.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Never devalue your writing. Always remember that there is no accounting for taste and while it seems like you’re climbing an uphill battle every day, there are readers out there who would love to read your writing. You just need to find them. That, and you should be very proud of being an indie author. It takes a lot of courage, perseverance, and persistence to be an indie author.