Super U Podcast | Game of Thrones | The Focus Project #24
This audible clip from Erik Qualman’s #1 Bestselling book The Focus Project covers how Games of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin uses focus to maintain his success. Also, the old adage “Practice makes perfect” is 100% false.
5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. Qualman is also the inventor of the bestselling board game Kittycorn.
Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.
Game of Thrones | The Focus Project #24
Episode Preview:
“One of the most commercially successful fiction writers of this century attributes much of his success to staying entrenched in the last century, especially regarding technology, graduating from Northwestern with a degree in journalism in 1971. George RR Martin didn’t release his first novel until 13 years later, his fourth book was an absolute disaster, and the author knew it. He explains that disaster destroyed my career as a novelist at the time. From there he managed to scrape and live writing for television before revisiting fiction writing again in 1991. Millions of words later he became famous. He penned the fantasy series A story of fire and ice. The first book in the series is called a Game of Thrones, which later became one of the most pious popular shows of all time, Martin is closing in on 2 million words and continues to write using a program that is so antiquated that most of us have never heard of it. In fact, the program he uses WordStar 4.0 was invented in 1977. It was last updated in 1999.
Last century, Martin use the DOS machine yes think green screen with no internet capabilities and no distractions. The office he works isn’t even connected to the main house. However, the simplicity of the program and approach allows Martin to focus as he explains. So here’s the thing. I’m a dinosaur, as all my friends will tell you, a man of the 20th century, not the 21st Yes, I have been using a computer for 20 years now. But while I cruise this “inter-webby” thing with a PC and windows, I still do all my writing on an old DOS machine running WordStar 4.0. The Duesenberg of word processing software is very old, but unsurpassed. I have my website which someone else runs for me and I have this LJ account the blog that I vainly called My not to blog in hopes that might prevent me from actually blogging. But that’s it. I’m not on Facebook, I am not on Twitter, and I will not be on the next new thing that comes along. I have neither the time energy or the inclination to get on any of these social media myself. There’s way too much on my plate. This type of focus helps Martin.
The iconic map Martin created for the series helps establish and define the drama through spatial recognition and typography. Readers are able to embrace the fascinating geography of Westeros and the Free Cities. For such an involved and intricate world mapping it out must have taken forever right. Through the proper focus, Martin drew the map in about 30 minutes. This certainly doesn’t mean that Martin doesn’t struggle with focus. While fans clamored for the final two books in the series, Martin kept missing deadlines, the show producers had to finish the television series to the best of their ability. Martin gave insight into his struggle when despite his best intentions, the rise and popularity of the show meant that the time demands of the modern world started to close in on him. writer’s block is to blame here. It’s distractions. He said, In recent years, all of the work I’ve been doing creates problems because it creates distractions. Because the books in the show are so popular. I have interviews to do constantly. I have travel plans constantly. It’s like suddenly I get invited to travel to South Africa or Dubai and who’s passing up a free trip to Dubai.”
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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.
