Are you a writer? 3 tips on how to be your readers’ worst nightmare

About the greatest compliment you can receive as a writer is, in fact, a complaint.

That is, a complaint from a reader that your book kept them up all night!

When your readers start going into work late because they slept through their alarms, you’ll know you’ve done your job well.

And readers—if they know what’s good for them, anyway—will be jumping up and down to get their hands on your next book, remembering how good your last one was.

But … how do you write a book like that?

First, you need tension. That’s what gives readers that uncomfortable feeling where they have to know what happens next.

Here are 3 excellent tips for creating the tension that keeps the pages turning:

1. Come on strong. Start with a line that intrigues, shocks, or starts at a pivotal moment in a character’s life. When tension or conflict is started right away, readers can’t wait to see what happens next.

2. Reveal the stakes. From the get-go, readers should know what your character wants and have a sense of what’s at stake if he or she doesn’t get it.

3. End on a cliffhanger. Author Rachael Cooper shares an easy way do this. To come up with a cliffhanger, she says, ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

You’ll learn many more tips and tricks in our 21-Day Novel Jumpstart for writing that page-turner of a first chapter—and making insomniacs out of all your readers.

You’ll also get the chance to mingle with other writers, build your readership, and start earning credits for publishing your book.

When all is said and done, you’ll have a thrilling first chapter plus an outline for the rest of your novel, so you can go full steam ahead and finish in no time.

All in 21 days!

Are you with us? Sign up here.

Want to be a published author of a novel? Here’s your starter kit

Welcome to a brand-new way to write a novel!

If you’ve dreamed about being the author of a published novel—and even writing novels for a career—then this is where you need to start.

Join us for the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart, a free online workshop with all the tools you need to get started.

(When you sign up, use invite code CHALLENGE24)

This starter kit includes:

1. Our mini-course. With a new lesson every day, you’ll learn:

• How to turn your idea into a whole story
• How to hook readers and keep them turning pages
• Newbie mistakes to avoid

2. New friends and followers. Our brand-new platform for discovering writers is ready to welcome you.

3. Membership in our Facebook writer’s chat. This is where we share our knowledge and give each other feedback on our chapters.

4. Word count tracker. Record your word count every day so you can keep tabs on your progress and see how far you’ve come.

5. Free publishing credit. You’ll get a free “Dream Token” to get you started toward earning one of our beautiful indie publishing packages.

This workshop starts on May 21, 2024, and it’s free!

It’s everything you need to write your first chapter and get a head start on the rest of your story.

Sign up (for free) now to reserve your spot! (Use invite code CHALLENGE24)

Join us for this 21-day writing workshop. Let’s write your first chapter … and more!

You’ve been putting it off long enough.

It’s time to write your novel!

You’ve always wanted to write one of those novels—you know the ones I mean: a novel that makes readers stay up all night because they simply can’t put it down.

One of those novels where, at the end of every chapter, try as they might, they just can’t resist starting the next one.

That’s the kind of novel you want to write …

… but you’re not ready to sit down and start punching keys on your laptop just yet.

You probably have some questions, such as:

• How do I make readers sit up straight and pay attention from the get-go?
• How do I plan out my story? Or should I just wing it?
• Is it a good idea to sketch out every detail about my characters before I start?

And those are only a few of the many things you may be wondering.

That’s what the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart is for!

(Use invite code CHALLENGE24 to sign up)

It’s three weeks of writing bliss …

… with a different lesson every day …

… to make sure you write the best possible first chapter.

But where do you go from there?

There’s much more.

You’ll also learn how to keep readers turning the pages so they’ll stay up half the night and sleep right through their alarm in the morning. (Heh heh heh, that’s your master plan, anyway!)

After the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart, you’ll have:

• Your first chapter, all finished—to get your friends, family, and followers intrigued with your story
• An outline for the rest of your novel
• New readers who are excited to read your next chapter
• New connections with other writers who are on the same journey
• A newfound confidence in what you’re able to do

Join us starting May 21 for the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart. Meet other writers like you who are ready to succeed as published authors! Sign up here and use invite code CHALLENGE24.

In search of the next breakout author

Get your smiling face on the cover of a magazine.

by Timothy Pike, editor of Books & Buzz Magazine

On the cover of Books & Buzz Magazine, we feature authors who are going full steam ahead: everyone from industry leaders to writers that are just starting to build momentum.

And we’re always looking for the next breakout author.

Is that you?

Being a breakout author doesn’t mean you’re world famous, or you’ve sold millions of copies of your book.

It just means you’ve set yourself apart from the crowd in some way!

So here is your chance to start the journey toward the cover of Books & Buzz Magazine: the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart.

It’s an online course & writer’s meetup where you’ll learn how to turn your story idea into a novel, write your first chapter, and start building your readership.

It all happens in the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart.

Sign up now—it starts on May 21st!

How do you take an idea … and turn it into a novel?

It’s the age-old problem:

You came up with a really cool, original idea for a story.

You’re so excited you go around telling people about it! After you explain it, they get that “And what happens next?” look on their face … and then … well, you’ve got nothing.

You’re just not sure where to go from there.

Unless you’re Jerry Seinfeld and you can write an entire TV series about “nothing,” it may be hard to imagine writing a whole novel around this one idea.

Things have to happen in your story, otherwise your readers will get bored, right?

Yes!

And there’s no shortage of good advice out there about what to do.

There’s the advice from the creators of South Park: make sure all of the main events of your story can be joined by “but” or “therefore.” For example, “This happens, therefore this happens, but this happens, and therefore this happens” creates loads of tension that keeps readers turning pages.

And then there’s the “Hero’s Journey” story formula, where your hero leaves their day-to-day life, travels to another world (literally or figuratively), then comes back, having achieved or learned something. It’s a formula that’s worked as long as people have been telling stories.

But that’s not all there is to it.

In fact, there are a number of things to keep in mind as you start writing your novel—things I’d like to share with you, which is I created the 21-Day Novel Jumpstart.

It’s a 3-week, online workshop that gives you everything you need to write the first chapter of your novel … and get a headstart on developing the next scenes and chapters.

It starts on May 21st, and it’s FREE!

You’ll take that tiny seed of an idea … and build on it until you’ve fleshed out an entire outline that you’ll use to write your novel.

During our 21 days together, we will …

• … learn the ins and outs of writing a gripping first chapter
• … help each other come up with even more ideas for later chapters
• … meet each other in a Facebook group and share feedback on what we’re writing
• … connect with more readers using the brand-new book discovery platform I created, Discover This!

This FREE seminar is only available to the first 25 writers to sign up. I’m limiting membership so none of us will feel lost in a crowd and we can get to know each other while we write.

Sign up at our website, and use invite code CHALLENGE24. You’ll be a charter member of this brand-new platform!

After participating in this FREE 21-day workshop, you’ll end the program with:

• A solid, “reader-approved” first chapter
• An outline for the rest of your novel
• A growing audience on our book discovery platform
• Your first Dream Token: these are credits you can redeem to cover self-publishing costs
• A chance to jump right into our 90-day writing challenge, where you’ll write the rest!

Again, join us here for FREE, and use invite code CHALLENGE24.

How to become the writer (and person) you’ve always wanted to be

A Letter from the Editor
by Timothy Pike

Dear readers,

If you could reinvent yourself from the ground up, what’s the first thing you would change?

Would you end a bad habit? Spend less time on social media? Focus more on pursuing your biggest dream?

Whatever your answer, the key to making big changes in your life is intentionality, which means making choices that align with what you truly want.

So how do you do this?

The answer comes to us ready-made—in the form of a book—courtesy of bestselling author and speaker John R. Miles. That book, Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life, also inspired a podcast of the same name.

“Our deepest regrets,” John says, “stem from unexplored passions, unchased dreams, and undeveloped talents.” To prove this, a study was conducted and found that when people had regrets, they were not about mistakes they’d made, but instead about not doing the things they’d wanted to do.

In other words, we’re all capable of so much more, and we know it.

If you feel like you’re always bouncing around from one thing to the next (living a “pinball life,” as John calls it), then the principles of Passion Struck can help you regain control over your life and focus on getting to where you want to be.

“This involves setting clear, actionable goals and taking deliberate steps each day to achieve them,” John explains.

Of course, everyone has different goals, but let’s be real: how great would it feel to finally publish that novel and get that first glowing review? Just saying.

In my interview with him, John explains what you can do right now, today to start that big change in your life, why your calendar and bank statements are the most accurate reflections of your priorities, and how mosquitos—the deadliest animals on the planet, mind you—often come to us in human form.

Reinvent yourself today →

There’s a lot to discover (and learn!) in the May 2024 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine. Let’s take a look:

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He should have listened to Mom

As a younger man, Emil Rem dutifully followed his mother’s advice and became an accountant instead of pursuing his writing dreams. In her mind, being a writer meant he wouldn’t be able to pay his bills. But finally, at the age of sixty, and after decades in accounting, Emil decided to rebel—and get his stories down on paper.

And wouldn’t you know it, Mom was right all along. “Now I’m miserable and broke,” Emil says. “Why? Because I allowed writing to possess me.”

Is that a bad thing? I’m not so sure. Bad, perhaps, because there’s no Writers Anonymous to turn to for help, as Emil laments. But not so bad in that readers are absolutely loving his stories. Not just for the quirky characters he writes about and the far-flung locations we experience through their eyes, but also for the unpredictability of it all. “The stories became a giddy rollercoaster of amusement one moment, pathos the next,” Emil says. “I, like my readers, had no clue where the writing would take me.”

In his short piece, we see how a lifetime of travel—including many years spent flying for free as the son of an airline employee—has given Emil so many people and places to write about.

Experience the adventures for yourself →

Your next story is right in front of you

Want to write a novel but don’t have any ideas? Award-winning radio journalist and author Bob Brill has a simple solution: look around.

Living in Los Angeles, Bob spends a lot of time in his car, so he’s constantly inventing stories about the people he sees while driving. And when he thinks of a good one, he won’t risk forgetting it. “I pull over, get out my iPhone, and punch record,” Bob says. “I take about thirty seconds to put the idea into a possible story and save it for later.”

Once you have the idea, where do you go from there? “Taking that idea and then using your own imagination to develop it,” he explains, “is where you as a writer come in.”

Bob, as we learn, drives thirty-seven miles to work every day, so his commutes have brought him countless story ideas. And based on the few he shares with us, we can see there’s no limit to a writer’s imagination.

Get your next story idea →

When good intentions aren’t good enough

Author and publisher Ann Aubitz knows how hard it is, despite your best intentions, to actually sit down and write on any given day. “In the whirlwind of daily life,” she says, “finding the time and mental clarity to pursue writing projects can feel like an insurmountable challenge.”

Fortunately, it’s a challenge Ann knows well how to conquer. In her article, she reveals exactly how to do it, sharing seven tips you can incorporate into your daily routine. If your schedule is a little unconventional, don’t worry—knowing her advice is not one-size-fits-all, Ann encourages you to adapt her ideas to suit your lifestyle and creative flow.

Make more time appear →

Enjoy this month’s issue of Books & Buzz Magazine!

To your success,

Timothy Pike
Editor of Books & Buzz Magazine

This month: How to self-publish without pulling your hair out, a dream life shattered by suicide, and … is it better to write alone or with friends?

A Letter from the Editor
by Timothy Pike

If you’ve ever felt mystified by the process of self-publishing a book, or don’t know what’s involved—or if you know too much and just want someone to tell you the easiest path forward—then you’ll appreciate what our cover author, Wolf O’Rourc, is doing: simplifying self-publishing.

“In case you’re wondering,” he says, “I wear a wig on the cover photo, made from the natural hair I shed publishing my young adult thriller.”

Is that true? I have no way of knowing, because Wolf loves to joke around. But if you’ve ever pulled your own hair out trying to use—or even understand—some of the self-publishing tools offered by companies like Amazon, then you can see how easy it would be to experience hair loss (or “traction alopecia amazonia,” as Wolf calls it) out of sheer frustration.

His book, How to Simplify Self-Publishing and Save Your Hair, offers helpful tips as it guides you through the process, explaining the tools that help you knock out self-publishing tasks quickly and efficiently.

Based in Las Vegas (“a town nobody has ever heard of,” he quips), Wolf is active in the Henderson Writers Group, which sponsors the Las Vegas Writers Conference every year and also runs regular online critique meetings that anyone is welcome to attend.

Wolf lights up when he talks about how much this critique group has helped him write and fine-tune his work, because for Wolf, it’s all about writers helping writers by sharing information. In fact, this is how he managed to learn so much in the first place. “Like every good author, Shakespeare included,” he says, “I steal—er, borrow—the wisdom of other writers.”

In my interview with him—which is nothing if not entertaining—you’ll learn the one thing Wolf did that propelled him toward success more than anything else, what readers have found the most useful in his book on self-publishing, and what a “save the cat” moment is and how it can make your story even better.

Enjoy Wolf O’Rourc’s quick wit →

There’s a lot to read (and learn) in the April 2024 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine. Let’s take a look:

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This tragic trend is a huge problem

On Thanksgiving Day in 2019, Betsy Gall watched her dream life crumble before her eyes when her oncologist husband, Matthew, took his own life.

They had recently moved to North Carolina for Matthew’s new job, and the transition soon left him feeling depressed. “In a matter of a few weeks,” Betsy writes, “I began to notice changes in Matthew’s vibrant personality. He went from being at the top of his game to not being able to get off the couch.”

Knowing how often this happens among doctors makes it all the more heartbreaking. “Physician suicide is a trend,” Betsy says. “One million patients lose their doctors to suicide every single year.” It doesn’t help that many physicians hesitate to seek treatment for mental health issues out of fear of losing their medical licenses.

In addition to giving talks about her own experience with this tragic reality, Betsy has also written a book that she hopes will help families cope with this kind of loss.

Read about Betsy’s efforts to help →

Sometimes, friends are all you need

By all accounts, Itua Uduebo, author of Parade of Streetlights and resident of New York City, has most everything he needs.

“I live by myself with a dog,” he says, “and I have a nice new desk, an overly expensive tea set, and noise-canceling headphones.” But finding himself in a writing rut, Itua hopped on the internet one day to search for a local meetup group for writers.

He was just hoping for a quiet space where he could enjoy drinks and conversation with other writers, but what he found was so much more.

“What I found,” he says, “was a granddaughter working through her papa’s scattered memories to piece together a spy thriller, grad students putting together years of research into a few dozen pages, and a man writing something to help kids like his nephew, who was going through anxiety.”

In a strange twist, Itua also found that enjoying the company of others helped him appreciate the solitary nature of writing even more. “Sometimes,” he says, “rekindling that flame can be as easy as seeing another person’s light flicker.”

Rekindle your flame, too →

When self-publishing, focus on these things

Thinking of self-publishing? Keith Anthony Baird wants you to know just what you’re getting into.

Publishing your own book can be overwhelming, but Keith identifies four key aspects to focus on—the “nuts and bolts,” as he puts it—when setting out to self-publish your novel: drafting, editing, formatting, and cover art.

Even if you’re familiar with the process, questions might still linger, like how much of the work can you (or should you) do yourself? Are beta readers a good idea? How do you know if an editor is worth his or her salt?

By exploring these questions—and more—Keith seeks to give you a more complete understanding of the self-publishing process. By focusing on the nuts and bolts, your newly published novel will be standing proudly on bookshelves in no time.

Learn the basics of self-publishing →

Enjoy this month’s issue of Books & Buzz Magazine!

To your success,

Timothy Pike
Editor of Books & Buzz Magazine

This month: biblical history comes to life, how to find your “real” story, movies that are better than the books, and more!

A Letter from the Editor
by Timothy Pike

She’s a woman who played a pivotal role in history … yet has remained hidden in the shadows of time.

“Miriam the Magdalene was brought to my attention by a Magdalene scholar who had read my previous work,” says award-winning, multi-genre author Donna D. Conrad. “She took me with her on a tour of the Magdalene sites in southern France, and introduced me to other scholars who were passionate about someone writing a historically accurate book about this remarkable woman.”

After tumbling down a rabbit hole of further research, Donna knew what she had to do: tell the story of a woman she describes as courageous, passionate, and resilient, but who has also, like so many other women, been sidelined through the ages. “I feel the time is right,” Donna says, “for Miriam to step from the shadows and claim her rightful place in history.”

Out of a painstaking and emotional journey came The Last Magdalene, the first historical epic in Donna’s four-book series in which she masterfully brings history and religion to life.

But the book, she admits, almost never saw the light of day. During a writing masterclass, Donna’s instructor read one of her scenes aloud to the group—and his comments didn’t sit well with her. “I felt like he tore it to shreds,” she says. “I wanted to just give up and slink away. But I didn’t.” Donna spoke with him after the class and learned he had been so brutally honest only because he saw potential in her writing. “My willingness to continue the conversation about his critique led to Jack becoming a dear friend and trusted mentor,” she tells me. “That never would have happened if I hadn’t taken up the challenge of facing him.”

In my interview with her, this Oregon-based author also talks about her memoir, House of the Moon: Surviving the Sixties, explains why she always assumed she would be an English teacher, and reveals why it was a shock, at the age of six, to discover she was actually a U.S. citizen.

Take a trip through biblical history →

There’s a lot to read (and learn) in the March 2024 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine. Let’s take a look:

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On writing, for those who struggle

“There are hundreds of books that discuss how to craft a satisfying story,” says critically acclaimed science fiction author Jeffrey A. Carver. “But the core of a story, the heart, is another matter. That comes from somewhere inside yourself.”

Meaning that finding the story you really want to tell is easier said than done.

“Sometimes it spills right out,” Jeffrey says, “and sometimes it’s buried so deeply and entwined around the sinews of the subconscious that it practically requires the work of a shaman, or a wizard, to extract it.”

So what to do when the story is buried a little too deep inside?

Drawing on decades of experience writing, publishing, and teaching online courses—along with some fitting advice from Anne Lamott—Jeffrey guides you toward shaking that story loose. Often, he says, it involves holding back your inner editor in the early stages. “Tell the editor to chill,” he says, “go watch a good movie, and stay out of your face while the hard work of first-drafting is being done.”

Find the heart of your story →

Why some books speak directly to our souls

It’s possible, says fantasy author Jim Hepburn, that books find their way into our hearts because of how well they are written. “However,” he says, “I think most of us would say it’s about how they make us feel.”

In other words, it’s because of how these stories conjure emotions we’ve experienced in the past, both positive and negative. “Do we remember Harry Potter’s struggles against Draco Malfoy because the moments in the chapters were particularly emotional on their own,” he asks, “or might it be because we remember very well what it is like to struggle against an unfriendly classmate in school?”

In his piece, Jim implores you to rewind time and think about how you felt when you read a particularly memorable book, because it’s those very feelings that have inspired many to greatness—helping us summon the courage to stand up to a bully, find the strength to overcome bouts of depression, or dare to pursue a career path that once seemed impossible.

Rekindle your deep connection with books →

Can a movie be better than the book?

Because turning a novel into a film presents so many (sometimes insurmountable) challenges, author Peter Thomas Pontsa has made a habit of always seeing the movie before reading the book. That way, he says, he can avoid disappointment.

But there are exceptions, and Peter identifies the movies that get it right by staying faithful to the books they were based on, whether in terms of casting, plot, characters, acting, or a little of each.

“The bottom line,” he concludes, “is that film is a different medium entirely and has different requirements to meet. Adaptations are hard to complete faithfully as well. A good screenwriter can compensate for that and transcribe a compelling story that keeps the viewer satisfied while maintaining the integrity of the author’s work.”

Put these movies on your list →

Enjoy this month’s issue of Books & Buzz Magazine!

To your success,

Timothy Pike
Editor of Books & Buzz Magazine

The CIA thriller that needed to be written, the anti-Mark Twain, and … is 90% of military sci-fi trash?

A Letter from the Editor
by Timothy Pike

If you’re concerned about the way extremism seems to be taking hold in the United States, you’ll appreciate what Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes is trying to do.

“It is alarming to witness the way such ideologies have gained traction in recent years,” she tells me in our interview, “and I felt compelled to address this issue through my writing.”

This, along with a fascination for the work her husband used to do in the intelligence community, are the reasons she wrote her soon-to-be-released CIA thriller, A Fifth of the Story. It’s slated for release on February 27 and is now available for pre-order.

The plot centers around a CIA agent named Brock, who discovers that one of his closest allies was involved in an attack on U.S. soil. It’s just the kind of sticky situation that Katherine is all too happy to explore and analyze. “Through the characters in my novel,” she says, “I aim to shed light on the complexities of human relationships.”

But success didn’t come easy.

Katherine was working as a school principal when a brain hemorrhage landed her in the hospital. The health scare prompted her to re-evaluate her career path, and that’s when she decided to try her hand at publishing.

A newfound determination to push through despite long odds, a desire to try something new, and her “do it to done” approach to life and work have all led Katherine to considerable success in her new field. In our interview, Katherine explains how she stays on top of it all and makes sure everything she needs to do gets done.

Adopt the “do it to done” mentality →

There’s a lot to read (and learn) in the February 2024 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine. Let’s take a look:

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You never know where a podcast will take you

An anthology is like a potluck dinner, as far as award-winning author Edward Willett is concerned. “It’s almost impossible to leave a potluck feeling you haven’t dined sufficiently,” he writes. “Indeed, you’ll generally leave feeling pleasantly stuffed—or slightly overstuffed—but happy.”

And that’s exactly how Edward hopes you’ll feel after reading the stories in the sci-fi anthology he’s put together. How did the anthology come about, you ask? Edward reached out to the authors he’d been interviewing on his podcast—just as it was really building steam—to ask if they’d contribute stories. Then he ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first book in the series.

Now, Shapers of Worlds is in its fourth volume, and none of it would have happened if Edward hadn’t taken the leap of faith to start the podcast in the first place.

Take your own leap of faith →

Meet the anti–Mark Twain

“If I knew what I was getting into before I started to write a story, I’d never have the courage to begin,” explains short-fiction author Bill Hemmig. “Call me a coward,” he says, “but there you have it: direct, conscious self-examination, at least in writing, is not for me.”

This is why Bill prefers writing fiction to other genres, like memoir. Yet he admits that in a way, this contradicts Mark Twain’s famous advice to “write what you know.” Instead, Bill has some advice of his own. “Just dive in there and write,” he says. “Figure out what you did later.” If you’re anything like Bill, you might discover that often, not knowing where you’re going ahead of time leads to more inspired writing.

Start writing what you (don’t) know →

The trick is to find the good 10%

If you want to disagree with author Nir Yaniv when he says ninety percent of military science fiction is trash, don’t bother—you won’t change his mind. “Heck,” he says, “ninety percent of the entire field of literature is trash. And films. And pop music. Ninety percent of everything is trash.”

Hear him out. Nir’s opinions on the matter are informed by his years of military service, and if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll probably find yourself nodding along with the points he makes. After all, when it comes to military sci-fi, couldn’t we do without the long-winded political lectures that serve only to keep us from enjoying the next exciting space battle? Or the self-righteous commentary where authors go back and forth, condemning war one minute and salivating over high-tech weaponry the next?

His latest release, as it happens, is a military sci-fi novel—but fortunately, it’s one that gives readers more of what they actually want.

Find out why 90% of military sci-fi is trash →

Enjoy this month’s issue of Books & Buzz Magazine!

To your success,

Timothy Pike
Editor of Books & Buzz Magazine

Some vampires are just old, fat, and ugly, according to this author

Edo van Belkom

It was a pretty good premise for a story: an aging vampire who was once at the top, but his teeth have since fallen out and he finds himself having to work—as a truck driver—to make a living.

That was Blood Road, one of the novels that award-winning horror author Edo van Belkom says was the most fun for him to write.

And the inspiration behind it was simple. “I always rejected the notion of the vampire as being some noble creature lording over humanity,” Edo tells me. “They are parasites, and that puts them on the bottom of the food chain, not the top. My tagline was, ‘Not all vampires are tall, dark and handsome. Some are old, fat and ugly.'”

Again, a good premise, but in the end, it wasn’t Edo’s biggest seller. “Apparently, few vampire lovers wanted to read about such a creature,” he says, “although I think it’s the best novel I’ve written in terms of story arc and character development.”

I interviewed Edo and he told me about this book and many others, including his re-released story collection, Death Drives a Semi, and the young adult novel he wrote that inspired the Paramount+ series Wolf Pack.

Ever dreamed of having your novel turned into a novel or TV show? Edo has some advice on the best way to make that happen, and he also tells us about the two times in his life he felt like a rock star.

You can read the whole interview here.