This episode features an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Mark's book STARK REALITIES: Stacked-up Lessons Every Writer Needs To Know About The Business of Writing and Publishing. The chapter is called "The Pinocchio Problem." Prior to the main content Mark shares a brief personal update and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the book STARK REALITIES: Stacked-up Lessons Every Writer Needs To Know About The Business of Writing and Publishing. The Truth About Building a Writing Career With No Sugarcoating, Just Real Talk. The Honest, practical guide that every writer needs. Learn more about this book at markleslie.ca/starkrealities Links of Interest: Stark Realities Book Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%) Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Mark's YouTube channel ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link) Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup) An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City Only Monsters in the Building Once Bitten (Novella) The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0