The Hugo winner and multiple New York Times bestselling science fiction author, John Scalzi, took a break from his whirlwind new book tour to chat with me about The Collapsing Empire, the timely importance of great storytelling, and what makes a writer truly great. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! His wildly popular debut novel, Old Man’s War, began as a serialized blog before attracting attention from an agent. Its 2006 publication earned him a Hugo nomination and multiple awards. Since then he’s written dozens of novels including New York Times bestsellers The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (2013’s Hugo winner for Best Novel), and Lock In. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and multiple projects have been optioned for film and TV. It’s no surprise that the prolific author has been a professional writer since the early ’90s. In addition to his award-winning blog, “Whatever,” John has written: freelance journalism, novellas, short stories, a wide-range of non-fiction, video games, been a Creative Consultant for a hit TV series, and remains a Critic at Large for the LA Times. In 2015 the author signed a multi-million dollar deal with Tor Books for 13 titles over 10 years, and the first of those is The Collapsing Empire, a bestselling interstellar space opera that’s been described as “Game of Thrones meets Dune.” If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, click subscribe to automatically see new interviews. If you missed the first half you can find it right here. In Part Two of this file John Scalzi and I discuss: Why this isn’t the worst time in human history … by a long shot The writer’s unique workflow and technological polyglotism Creativity as a survival instinct How luck and persistence can play a part in your success as a writer Why you really only need to focus on the things you can control Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes If you’re ready to see for yourself why over 194,000 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — just go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress How Hugo Award Winning Sci-Fi Author John Scalzi Writes: Part One Whatever – John Scalzi’s Hugo Award winning blog Announcing The Expanding Tour 2017! 24 Cities! Five Weeks! The Collapsing Empire – John Scalzi John Scalzi’s author page on Amazon John Scalzi, Science Fiction Writer, Signs $3.4 Million Deal for 13 Books – New York Times John Scalzi on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How Hugo Award Winning Sci-Fi Author John Scalzi Writes: Part Two Voiceover: Rainmaker FM. Kelton Reid: Welcome back to The Writer Files. I am still your host, Kelton Reid, here to take you on another tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of renowned writers. In part two of this file, the Hugo winner and multiple New York Times best selling science fiction author, John Scalzi, took a break from his whirlwind new book tour to chat with me about The Collapsing Empire, the timely importance of storytelling, and what makes a writer truly great. His wildly popular debut novel Old Man’s War began as a serialized blog before attracting attention from an agent and editor. Its 2006 publication earned him a Hugo nomination and multiple awards. Since then he’s written dozens of novels including New York Times best sellers The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Red Shirts, and Lock In. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and multiple projects have been optioned for film and TV. It’s no surprise that the prolific author has been a professional writer since the early nineties. In addition to his award winning blog Whatever, John has written freelance journalism, novellas, short stories, a wide range of nonfiction, video games, been