Hello and welcome to the Nonbinary Writer. This is a reintroduction of sorts because I've been in a dark place for a while, and I'm not really going to go into that a lot here. If you want to know more, you can check out my other podcast, Project: Shadow, where I did an episode titled, Reawakening to Joy. But now. I want to focus on this podcast and what I'm going to use it for. Because my initial ideas for the Nonbinary Writer was to have a place where I could discuss being queer as a writer, being non-binary as a writer, and how the kind of fusion fiction that I write is different from a lot of the other fiction that I see out there.
And I'm not alone in doing that. And I don't want anybody to think that I'm saying that I'm the only non-binary writer or the only writer who writes that kind of fiction. That's not what I'm saying at all. It's just that. I am often referred to as the non-binary writer or that non-binary writer, and I just thought I would claim it. Why not. I've been called worse things over the years, and it's a true descriptor of who and what I am and how my fiction works. That's what I want this episode to be about, and this podcast.
I'm embarking on a very different journey for me. I'm going to start working. Towards doing subscription writing. So what is subscription writing? I set up a page over on Ream stories, and there I am posting my old back catalog of books, as well as new books that I'm working on.
The first chapter is free. The next chapter for a lot of the back catalog is going to cost just a follow, which is also free. But the new stuff is going to be behind a paywall. For a little while, and that's where this gets really exciting.
You see what I'm going to be doing over there is posting drafts. Early, early drafts of my content, of the books that I'm working on, the stories that I'm writing that those who are interested in paying $5 a month will be able to comment on, then help shape and make better. We're just get early access to if they're really into the story or into the work that I'm doing. When those stories are done, they're going to be re-released to the public, and the cycle will continue.
And I'm really excited about this. The idea of being able to have this kind of a community is something that I've wanted for a really long time. But it's scary. It's really scary on a lot of different levels. One, sharing my drafts is kind of nightmare fuel. I do quite a bit of editing, and to let people see how things look as they pop out of my head is a bit terrifying. And furthermore to ask people to pay for that is also scary. And I don't know if this is a method that will work.
And that's what this podcast is turning into. Yeah, I'm going to be talking about my books and my fiction and the stories that I'm working on. But I'm also going to be talking about process and how things work. I'm going to be taking you through my ups and downs and all the lessons that I'm learning along the way. Because I don't think this is going to be a particular easy path. It's one that I'm excited for, but it has its pitfalls.
If a platform like Ream had been available 10 years ago, I can see an easy way to build this up. Social media, wasn't quite the nightmare. Hellscape that it is today, and building an audience wasn't as terribly hard. But now with all of the fracturing of society and everybody having to take sides on every issue. Whether or not, they actually have an opinion on that issue or not. It's a bit harder to do that. With the slow death of Twitter, now X, and the rise of competitors like Threads and Blue Sky, which he can find me on both of those I'm cedorsett on both, I'm hoping to find a new community. One that is interested in creativity, in writing, in sharing what we do together, in making something magical, together.
That's what I've always wanted. When I have done my podcasts in the past, like Myth Weaving, I wanted to teach what I had learned about writing, and I'm going to be doing some of that here, and who knows maybe even some of that over there. But more than anything, I want a place where we can just commiserate. About what we're doing. So this podcast is being hosted on sub stack. And you can find it@projectshadow.com.
There you'll be able to join into the comments and you'll be able to talk. And join in. With the discussion. And help us kind of shape. Where this future goes. Because I really do believe that we can. Get through the good place. If we all strive together to get there.
But this isn't a podcast just for other writers. I hope that if you are a writer, you'll get something out of it. And you'll learn from my triumphs and my mistakes. But this is a podcast for anyone who is interested in the journey of creativity, the ups, the downs, the pain, and the joy that make it all so worthwhile.
This is a podcast for everyone who has ever wanted to embrace their dreams, because writing has always been my dream.
The problem is I don't like writing novels. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, but novels are so distant. I locked myself away and write, and write, and write, and then I put it out in the world . Yeah, I can see how many people buy it, but I don't really have that connection with those readers. Over the years, some of them have contacted me.
Some of them have come to conventions and we've talked about the work, but I've never really had that relationship with my audience that I would like to have. I'm writing the stories because I love these worlds. I love these genres. I love these characters. And I want to meet the people. Who also love these things like I do.
And so that's what I'm going to be doing here. I hope that you will join me on this path. I hope that you will be okay with all of the craziness of the writing project, and the process that leads to a completed work. It's not going to be pretty, but it's going to be an adventure, and after all, aren't we all looking for a little bit more adventure in our lives.
So, what am I going to be doing with this podcast? I'm going to say that it's a quasi daily. Podcast Monday through Friday. And I'm just going to share what I've been working on, what I've learned, what I'm doing. How different insights have changed the way that I'm looking at things.
That may seem like a lot, but, hopefully, it will be worth the adventure that we're going to go on together.
So what I mean, when I say semi-daily. I'm not committing to doing five episodes a week. I think that there's a good chance that will happen. I think there's a good chance that I might record multiple episodes in a day. Because I'll learn a little bit here, record something about it. I'll learn a little bit there and record something about it. And then schedule those on different days because sometimes putting too much information in one podcast episode is just overwhelming.
Sometimes there will be short. Sometimes there'll be longer. But they'll always be honest.
And that's my promise to you.
The word is the year this year is authenticity. And I find that so funny because the more I look around at the world, the more fake people I see.
Sure. There they're playing the role of authentic, but a lot of them really aren't. They know the right words to say they know the right way to get attention and, put things out.
They're living brands. And that's something I just can't be.
I'm neurodivergent and very queer, and so I don't quite see the world in the same way that they do. And so all of the things that seem to come naturally for them are things that I have to work for. Consistency and brand is not one of them. I have a lot of ideas, a lot of stories that I want to write. So I write space opera, epic fantasy, urban fantasy. I guess if it's a real genre of romantic fantasy or whatever, they're calling it is also something that I write.
But I want you. I to come along on this path with me. And I want to learn more about your interests and what you want me to be talking about on here. Because I don't want this just to be a self-serving journal of my experiences, and what I've been up to. There's going to be a lot of that and I make no apologies for it cause that's the reason and purpose for me making this podcast in the first place, somewhere where I can share all of the things that I'm learning, all of the things that I'm going through, and how they can change our lives and our careers. But I also want it to be useful for you. So if you have any questions, Please ask them.
Because I'm only going to talk about the things that I feel need to be talked about, and I published my first book in 2005. I've been doing online media for a really long time. So there are a lot of things that I might think are just common knowledge that aren't. If you have any questions. Just head over to project shadow.com. Ask them, and, I will answer them on the podcast.
Together, we can make this journey one of discovery and joy, because the one thing that we're lacking in this world, Is joy.
We are constantly bombarded by all of the terrible news that's going on around the world in a way that our ancestors couldn't have imagined. It's easy to feel that everything's hopeless when there's a financial benefit to keeping people terrified, afraid, and isolated from each other, so they just keep watching. In fact, the news, the 24 hour news network is the original doom scroll after all.
So this is going to be hopefully more of a respite from that. Not that I won't talk about the struggles or the hard times, but I don't want to get bogged down in the endless back and forth and back and forth that haunts our world today.
And who knows, there's a chance that I'll bring in some friends of mine and we'll have some group discussions about various topics along the way. Because I think that would be fun. And if you know anybody who'd like. It's a talk. Yeah, send them my way. Maybe we'll have them on. Because it can't always be my voice all of the time.
Yeah. That's my brief little introduction, or re-introduction to both me and my podcast. Hello, my name is Charlie. I write fiction under the name CE Dorsett you can find me over on Ream and here at projectshadow.com. You know, so find me on Blue Sky, Threads, and Instagram, @CEDorsett.
And I am here to write and tell my stories, and I hope that you're here to tell yours as well.
A New Introduction of sorts