Thrills and Thanks: A Cozy Listener Mail Session with Dave

Hello and welcome to an entirely different version of the Thriller Zone.

I'm your host, David Temple.

I thought I would take this time to share a shorter podcast with you to say a couple of things.

I've been getting a nice assortment of listener email and mail and wanted to take a moment to share some of that and just, you know, take some time to say thank you for writing.

I talk about folks writing into our podcast, but I never sit and actually read them, so I thought I would share a few.

My first note happens to jump out from my wife Tammy, who says, a fun conversation with Adrian McKenty.

He really brought it.

And yes, she is a particular.

She's very particular when it comes to her coffee and tea.

Heather writes in dropping in to say that Adrian's character development is exceptional and brought more to life through Gerard Doyle's narration.

She said she I've learned a lot about Ireland in the 80s and the 90s because of his books.

And she's also completely wound by my DJ voices.

I think I was doing Casey Kateman, Casey Kasem.

She said it was a great show.

Kevin writes in to say, this was a very enjoyable conversation between me and Adrian.

I especially loved his advice to new authors about finishing things.

That's one thing I really like.

You know, you can start a lot of things, but you gotta finish it.

He goes on to say he's a huge fan of his newest book and might be his best yet.

Let's see, JD Writes about the same show.

If you liked Birdman, which we talked about at length, you'll love Bardo, a surrealistic movie from Gonzalez Inoritu.

I know I'm hacking that, but I did look at the trailer, JD it looks right up my alley.

Commenting on Mark Gottlieb's recent business, Rodney says, I really like this guy.

He's so calm and smart.

He is chill, isn't he?

He has a great way of looking at the overall picture of life and applying it to writing and publishing.

Writing about things you know and what you can relate to.

Shoot for the moon, he says, and if you miss, you'll land in the stars.

Perhaps that is cool and fun.

And he goes on to say about the reason he likes Mark's father is that he's a great businessman.

But Robert also seems like he's more of a humanitarian than just a businessman.

And those are the kind of people he likes having in his life because that's even more important than publishing.

He goes on to say and wrap up, this is a great interview.

Also, Mr.

Temple, you put the wind in the sails of your writers.

Can't wait for your next show.

Thank you so much.

TT2679 says in the Marshall Carp interview, if your neighbor was shot and lying in his front yard bleeding, don't describe the house, describe the victim.

Love this conversation.

Kenny says of CJ Box's appearance.

Great show, always fun with cj.

I don't know why I, you know, I was late to the party there, but boy can he write.

David D.

Says that the James Patterson visit, very cool way to kick off the new season eight.

And Doris says, enjoy the show, take it easy and congrats for being cancer free.

Thank you, Doris.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, I have been talking a little bit more about that lately and I appreciate you saying that.

And this just in this morning, Tim S.

Writes a very long and extremely gracious and kind email.

Here are just a few of the highlights.

I want to say, he says, I want to say what you do has a huge value to your audience.

I'm a huge fan of the Thriller Zone.

I listen to every episode and I've done most of the backlist.

Despite only finding you about nine months ago.

Well, hello and welcome, Tim.

Like a lot of political journalists, which he writes for the Sunday Times uk.

He says, I'm a wannabe thriller writer and I love listening to the writing tips, but also to get a sense of the authors and what they're about.

I love that you let interviews like McKenty run on and on.

He said it felt like sitting in a bar with a pair of you.

God, maybe could be.

Possibly.

I don't want to single people out, but maybe one of my favorite interviews in a long, long time.

It was just, it was exactly what I'm looking for in a podcast.

Somebody who's just going to show up, shoot the breeze.

Yeah, we're going to talk about your book.

Yeah, we're going to sell your books.

But man, let me just get to know you and your, your style and your modus operandi.

Anyway, Tim goes on to say, there are many, many books I've tried after listening to your podcast, don't tell Me how to Die and the Test Garrets and Martini Club Thrillers most recently.

Secondly, you are beyond bloody good.

You may not think having a perfect broadcasting voice is anything you can do about it, a stroke of lock, but the vibe you create with your guests, and this is what I love right here.

Not to toot my horn, but he goes the vibe you create with your guests is entirely down to You.

It's often like listening to two friends talk over a beer or something, and that's what makes a good podcast.

Meeting Tammy and hearing about your health battles also has made me feel like I know you a little.

He continues writing, sharing about his passion for thriller, writing thrillers, which I encouraged him to do, as there is plenty of room at the table for you, Tim.

And he closes with, you've clearly had an amazing career.

You're one of the best podcasters in the world.

What you've given to the writing world is which you operate in is incredible.

Thank you.

Kind of hack that, but you get my point.

And if you or I never hit the fiction bestseller list, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm happy with what I've done, and I hope you are to take pride in your excellence.

Keep it up as long as you can.

I'm one of the key.

In one of the key areas of my life.

You have enriched mine immeasurably.

Wow.

Thank you, Tim.

Got what a way to start my Thursday on this impromptu thriller zone.

So, folks, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to shoot toot my own horn, but letters like this mean the absolute world to me.

You know, sometimes we feel like we're operating in a vacuum.

We work, we put our head down, we crank it out, we read the books.

But, man, for somebody to take the time to do that.

And it was a long letter, so I really, really grateful.

But I'll admit there have been times in the past, you know, almost four years where I thought of just hanging up the headphones because as much as I love it, I haven't been able to monetize it quite to the degree that I'd like to.

And having had a successful, really successful career making lots of money, you know, I'm one of those guys that I'm kind of driven.

I'm driven by goals, aspirations.

I'm driven by money.

This show, as you may or may not know, is not driven by money.

It is a passion project.

But, you know, I spend.

People have asked me, somebody asked me recently, you know, how long do you spend on a show?

I said, like, you know, 25, 35 hours is a ballpark on each guest.

I mean, I've got to read your book, I got to make notes, got to record the interview, then edit the interview.

And between all of that, you know, call me crazy, but I want to write my own thrillers.

You know, the good news, I have three in the works.

One one of which I'm really going to hope to be my breakout novel.

As well as two nonfiction books, one of which is about my journey through prostate cancer.

And I just got the notes back from my editor this week.

Fingers crossed.

We hope to, man.

I'd like to have it in process this year before the end of the year.

That's my goal.

You know me, I'm like, let's go, let's go.

We are approaching agents, but if you know anything about me, I'm not a big fan of sitting around and waiting.

So I don't know, maybe.

Maybe we'll go the agent route.

Maybe, maybe I'll just go indie self pub like I did my first ten, by the way.

Anyway, I've never been that one to sit around and wait.

Anyway, I just want to say thanks for listening.

One more thing before I close.

Given the fact that I'm currently working on one non fiction book, as I said in two fiction thrillers, as real as reading Jace, I don't know, two.

Two books minimum a week.

And since I love this podcast, love talking with people who are passionate about books, but also love the idea of putting my work out into the world.

So I'm coming to a conclusion while I continue to read as many of the books that come along and I try to read every single book.

And I think I can say, yeah, pretty much have read the books of everyone who's been on the show.

I'm kind of thinking about reading less books but having more conversations.

Does that make sense?

I'm so loving the art of the conversation that, you know, I.

I go Back to Adrian McKenty.

I go back to Don Winslow when he came here and sat down in my living room.

Excuse me.

And we, and we just talked.

I love that stuff.

I.

I adore it.

I mean, sure, we're gonna of course mention your books.

Fans, your books is gonna likely buy the books anyway.

So I want to have more conversations.

I'm thinking about opening up to maybe.

Listen to me.

I'm talking on both sides of my mouth.

Maybe one or two conversations a week if I don't have to read all the books and really put all the time and effort into all my notes and, you know, making scenes that come alive and so forth.

So anyway, it's just something I'm working on.

With that in mind, I'd like to consider, you know, talking with more people, even if I can't get to reading the entire book, even though some of the conversations may even be shorter.

But, you know, the key is connecting Like, I've got some people coming up in May.

Let me tell you who I'm going to kick off May with.

David Baldacci, only one of the biggest writers in the world.

I've taken his master class.

Amazing Wes Brown.

We all, they all fall the same.

That's he's coming on.

Who else have I got?

I've got Josh Mendoza, who's also a filmmaker.

So I'm very excited about talking about the filmmaking process, taking your story, adapting it to film.

These are all the things that I really, really, really love.

So if I can find this happy medium, I can all but guarantee you how will have even more interesting conversations on this podcast.

And I want to know, are you in?

Do you like that idea?

All right, that is it for this impromptu reading of listener mail.

I think I'm going to do more of this in the future.

If you're wondering how to get in touch with me, here it is on the screen.

The thrillerzonemail.com I have noticed lately since spending more time saying that email on the show, I'm getting bombarded with junk mail spam, like to the nth degree.

So I got to figure out a way to remedy that.

But that's my problem, not yours.

The thrillerzonemail.com youm can also just go to my website, thethrillerzone.com hit that contact button.

Fill in some information there.

Whatever it is, share with me.

What's on your mind.

Are you a brand new writer?

You're thinking about breaking in and you'd like to be on the show if you're a debut author.

Like, you know, right now we're not taking a lot of debut authors because we have so many other people in the queue, but get in line.

Get in the queue.

Send me your book.

Send me your book.

Through your publicist.

After all, I love to read.

You love to read.

I love to write.

You love to write.

We love to learn the inside secrets, the tips.

I hate the phrase tips and tricks.

The inside secrets, the secret sauce.

Or as I like to close each show, best writing advice.

I like all that stuff.

I know you do too.

So thank you for putting up with this impromptu show.

I am also thinking about doing this, doing a couple of shows live.

Like, what if we went live on Mondays at like, I'm making this up.

9:00am West coast time.

So on the east coast, it's lunchtime.

And while you're having your salad or your sandwich, you can, you can catch the show live.

I'm, I'm toying with this idea.

So thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next time for another edition of the Thriller Zone.

P.S.

to Taylor Moore for the Nifty lid.

Thanks.