The Murverse Mothership

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– Mur and Matt come to you live from Jeff Goldblum’s financial advisor’s office (they are totally trespassing, but it’s cool, it’s off-hours).

– It’s the first full-length Ditch Diggers episode in a while! Also, Ditch Diggers is world-wide now! Woo-hoo!
– Matt and Mur catch up on book projects new and old, and talk about Mur podcasting daily (without Matt, of course, because he lacks the work ethic).
– Mur goes on a worthy tangent about “excitement fatigue,” the concept that by the time a writer can share news about a project they’ve already gone through so many emotions about it they’re too burned out to join in on the celebration of those they share the news with.
– Authors are like artichokes.
– Matt and Mur are not going to dissect THAT Medium post (the one with the author who wrote of squandering all their book advance money), but they do briefly discuss what it is and how it was the catalyst for today’s topic.
– That topic is revealed! What should you do (and NOT do) when you receive your first book advance check?
– Matt and Mur talk about how book contracts and payments are structured and what an advance payment actually is.
– Matt rants a little (or a lot) about the “idealized” version of what to do with an advance and how our expectations are warped by both the publishing industry and (at least in America) by debt culture.
– The basic steps to take when you receive your check, and why you take each one. Taxes, agent commissions, sequestering money, interest-bearing accounts. All that good stuff!
– “Day jobs,” and the too-common idea that being an author is the only way to make a good living as a writer, and alternative methods of writing for a living.
– No Q&A this episode, but they will get to it next time!
– Jeff Goldblum’s HorseShare app, and why you should invest in it (but not with your first book advance).
– The end of episode shilling (Mur is a one-woman empire).