18 January 2014 by Published in: Uncategorized 26 comments

It’s getting so that you can barely push the stacked newspapers that line every room out of the way without hitting yet another article or interview with me.

I was just alerted that I’m in Examiner.com, and the Huffington Post. Two different topics – the former discussing my thoughts on the industry and self-publishing, and the latter on co-authoring with Clive Cussler.

This is getting silly now. I mean, really. I blush. Although that could be my blood pressure or cholesterol acting up. But that’s not the point. Don’t be haters.

Both are deserving of a read. They were written by Jeff Rivera, who has a third interview going live as we speak, including a never before seen photo of my treadmill desk!
Doh – and yet another interview with Simon Duringer, from yesterday, that covers a lot of great ground.
And below from my friend, fellow author Brandon Hale, comes this abomination – the clown version of my profile pic from a man with too much time on his hands:
Russ clownsWhat does the clown say…?
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Comments

  1. yoon
    Sat 18th Jan 2014 at 6:12 pm

    If you spend all your time chatting with these reporters or whatnot, how are you going to write 12 books this year?

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Sat 18th Jan 2014 at 7:20 pm

      Fair question. I guess I better look for a boiler room in Mumbai to crank em out, huh?

      Reply
  2. Sat 18th Jan 2014 at 10:09 pm

    Both awesome interviews. Motivational. You’re like Tony Robbins, except you have demonic clowns in your eyewear.

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Sat 18th Jan 2014 at 10:16 pm

      He makes better ice cream.

      Oh. Wait. That’s Baskin Robbins.

      Never mind.

      Reply
  3. Nick Stephenson
    Sun 19th Jan 2014 at 6:41 am

    Nice one Russell! You’ve got a broken link though – here’s the Jeff Rivera article: http://jeffrivera.com/indie-powerhouse-author-russell-blake-on-the-secrets-to-his-success/

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Sun 19th Jan 2014 at 12:12 pm

      Thanks, Nick. Good catch!

      Reply
  4. Sun 19th Jan 2014 at 3:20 pm

    A military editor guy reviews your drafts. I get it now. My mom will be bummed. She wants to think you’re an ex- spy. I just won’t tell her.

    Nice picture of the desk.

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Sun 19th Jan 2014 at 10:55 pm

      He mostly wastes his time except for the echoes, and he only did the last JET in that series and Blood in the Assassin series. So the rest is all…me. Tell Mom my response to her speculations is, can’t talk about it. Wink.

      Reply
      • Kim Cano  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 2:27 am

        My email’s been jacked up for a week, so I will tell Mom when I call her. She’s busy lounging by the pool in Florida while I live in a snow globe.

        Didn’t the interviewer ask for a picture of you writing/walking on the desk? That’s how I read it. Hmm…

        Reply
  5. Sun 19th Jan 2014 at 10:00 pm

    Great interviews. In one of them I think you said you were cutting back to only 8 books this year & 4 are co-authored should be interesting to see how that works out.

    You are a great interviewee. And deserve all the fantastic press you are getting. Congrats again on all the cool stuff going on. I’m looking forward to your new adventures.

    May your sales continue to increase while you have fun writing.

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 1:14 am

      I look back at interviews from a year ago and the year before that, and in every one I predict next year is the one I put the brakes on.

      Bit like a broken record in that respect. Thanks for the well wishes. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to get my editor a pony…

      Reply
      • yoon  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 1:22 am

        8 books? Bahahahaha! I win. Again. That’s 2 more than 6, and we’re not even a whole month into this year.

        Reply
        • Russell Blake  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 12:26 pm

          But they’re co-written, so I only count them as half a book each. So there.

          Reply
          • yoon  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 11:44 pm

            Denial is not healthy. Just admit it. Join writers anonymous or something, attend meetings, etc.

          • Russell Blake  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 11:58 pm

            Never mistake the temporary for the permanent. I totally intend to begin my slacking in Feb. There. I said it. February begins the slacking. For real this time.

      • Tasha Turnet  –  Mon 20th Jan 2014 at 7:54 pm

        Send her a toy pony. My mom kept asking me for a Porsche when I “made it” I got her a matchbox Porsche when one of my jobs doubled my salary overnight…

        Point out to your editor that My Little Pony (TM) is much easy & cheaper to care for (evil grin)

        Reply
  6. Carrie Parks
    Tue 21st Jan 2014 at 6:47 pm

    Your treadmill/keyboard contraption is brilliant! I’m wondering how I could apply your science to a mobile unit… perhaps something involving a notebook computer, cardboard, and straps.

    You’ve mentioned your favorite genres, and some authors, but I was curious as to what authors have made the most impact on your writing aside from Mr. Cussler? Did you read books by the megatons as a child? Do you still?
    & do you read as fast as you write?

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Tue 21st Jan 2014 at 8:42 pm

      Fair questions, Carrie. I’d have to say that David Foster Wallace and James Lee Burke have made significant impact on my prose, Mr. Burke only in the last few years – but wow, like a condensed doctoral program. As a youngster I read everything by Dickens, Dumas, Ludlum, Forsyth, DeMille, Trevanian, Follett, King and Le Carre I could get my hands on. Since then my horizons have expanded on the fiction side, but most of what I read is non-fiction. I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell quite a bit, as well as a host of names nobody’s ever heard of. And Ben Fountain’s masterful Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk last year left an impression, so much so I read it twice. Really an eclectic bunch, with my current tastes running from Thomas Mann to Pynchon, with detours down unusual roads whenever my interest is pulled in an odd direction.

      Alas, I don’t have nearly as much time to read as I’d like, but I’m making more time this year. I believe reading is a large part of becoming a better writer. You are what you eat.

      As a child, I was reading by the time I was two or so, and yes, I devoured absolutely everything I could.

      Reply
      • Carrie Parks  –  Wed 22nd Jan 2014 at 4:40 pm

        Thanks so much for your reply! I find that my favorite authors are influenced to a degree from what they love to read. I can’t get enough book ideas and I appreciate your time. 🙂 I was reading by 3, so my mom says, and it was the only activity I could do quietly.

        Reply
  7. Wed 22nd Jan 2014 at 12:28 am

    In that one interview you mention the first story you ever wrote as a kid, about the pigeon. Do you happen to still have it? It would be fun if you did and could post it.

    I’m going to read a James Lee Burke this year for sure. So many good books to read…

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Wed 22nd Jan 2014 at 12:54 am

      Nope. Long gone. I think my parents burned it right before the exorcism. Hard to remember that far back.

      Reply
      • Kim Cano  –  Wed 22nd Jan 2014 at 1:11 am

        God, that’s funny. Well I still have books of yours I haven’t read. Got through 18 of them in one year, (Gazillion I read twice) and only have a handful left: Silver Justice, Fatal Exchange, Zero Sum, The Voynich Cypher, and the Delphi Chronicle Set. Plus the new stuff you’re putting out. I think I’ll catch up by the end of this year.

        Reply
        • Stephen Charles  –  Wed 05th Feb 2014 at 3:19 am

          KIm – speaking from experience, I envy your reading adventures to come. I have not seen Mr. Blake stumble yet… An amazing feat, to be sure.
          DIG IT!

          Reply
  8. Wed 05th Feb 2014 at 3:49 am

    Hi Russell- Sorry if I may be entering The Land of Pests. Nonetheless, a couple quick questions – I’ve gathered, inaccurately perhaps, that your target is 3000 words a day, running like hell beyond that if The Muse is screaming in your ear…
    Yes?
    #2 – Word count (approx,or dead nuts) for “Black is Back”, “The Delphi Chronicle”?
    I’ve always gotten wishy-washy word counts per page in my research.
    That is all. I WILL NOT pester you for a while.
    Just getting ready to pound the keyboard again here soon – rotator cuff surgery.
    You’re the best,
    Steve

    Reply
    • Russell Blake  –  Wed 05th Feb 2014 at 12:21 pm

      I shoot for 5000 words a day, minimum, of first draft. Often, if the muse is dancing, I shoot for 7000.

      BLACK Is Back runs about 72K. Delphi is more like 150K.

      Reply
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