When life gives you mattresses - A conversation with author David McIlroy

Season 1, Ep 4 is here & this week, I chatted live with David McIlroy. Despite The Dratted Internet’s best attempts to destroy my connection, we prevailed and had a fantastic conversation. We talk about David’s journey from struggling to make ends meet as a freelance writer expounding the many astonishing qualities of mattresses to building a successful writing career with over 33,000 subscribers and four published novels!David shares how he pulls ideas for the settings of his novels from Irish mythology, Northern Ireland’s majestic landscape, and mundane circumstances. He shares his practical advice for navigating times when we feel creatively stagnant: establishing sacred writing routines, stepping away from the screen, giving yourself permission to chuck entire chapters that just aren’t working (even when that feels like chopping off your hand!), and encouraging your characters to make all the bad choices you’d never make yourself! We also tackle a bit of building engagement and audience online and end with where David is finding hope right now. I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did. And bonus, you get to skip the technical challenges! You can listen to this on Substack or wherever you get your podcasts.If you’d rather watch the chat (frozen internet and all), you can catch that here 👇 David McIlroy is the creator of How to Write for a Living and helps writers develop brands, strategies, and systems that transform their words into life-changing income. He’s a full-time solopreneur, coach, and author of fantasy and horror. He lives in Northern Ireland with his wife Christine and his dogs, Lupin and Ghost. He’s active on Substack, YouTube, Podcasts, and possibly even in a bookstore near you! The Unicorn Hollow Podcast is a listener-supported series of Unicorn Hollow. If you’d like to see more of my writing, check out a Map of Unicorn Hollow, and then subscribe to make sure you never miss a post! For centuries, artists of all disciplines have been kept afloat and creating by patrons who looked at their work and said, “Yes! This matters! This needs to be in the world.” If you have that feeling, I’d be honored if you would be my Patron! My posts & podcasts will stay free, but if you have the means, you can help me build up this space and become a paid, monthly subscriber (and get some thank-you perks!).You can also give a one-time donation on Ko-Fi. This is my career, so every bit of support goes directly to feed and clothe my small army of children. Thanks for being my unicorn! Get full access to Unicorn 🦄 Hollow at kkwildegiuliani.substack.com/subscribe