Like his books, Adrian Santiago is made of a little bit of everything; The spice of the Caribbean Islands (BORICUA!); sharp edges from a childhood on the block in Buffalo, NY; some southern charm and a dose of crazy from the land of “Florida Man”; and a knack for drama born of comics punk rock music, and a love for stories.

Welcome to Books By Adrian. Here you’ll find a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, crime drama, thriller, mystery, romance and spice, with a diverse cast from all walks of life. Embark on his maiden voyage, the MYTHIC series, and discover the magic of Gaia and The Spark.

Social media links

https://YouTube.com/@booksbyadrian

https://Instagram.com/@books_by_adrian

https://TikTok.com/@booksbyadrian

https://Facebook.com/@booksbyadrian

Link to website

https://www.booksbyadrian.com

Being Introverted: "I didn't wanna go. I don't wanna go to places. I wanna stay home and watch my movies and read my books and stuff."

— Adrian Santiago [00:00:59 → 00:01:04]

Viral Topic: Self-discovery and Understanding

Quote: "I I wouldn't say it's either a positive or negative experience. It's more like, self-discovery and understanding is what it all comes down to."

— Adrian Santiago [00:02:39 → 00:02:43]

Overcoming Challenges: "It's hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it."

— Adrian Santiago [00:07:00 → 00:07:34]

The Importance of Discipline in Art: "If you're a writer, every day, you gotta sit down and get the writing done. Whether it's a half hour session, an hour, 2 hours, whatever it is. You set that goal, and you get it done."

— Adrian Santiago [00:08:47 → 00:08:57]

Viral Writing Tip: "Your 1st draft is going to be garbage. It's supposed to be because The 1st draft is you telling yourself the story."

— Adrian Santiago [00:10:58 → 00:11:04]

How to Stay Focused While Writing: "Other than having some music so that I could focus, and the music has to be lyricless just like, you know, movie scores and stuff like that, something with just instruments so that I I don't get logged into lyrics and stuff like that."

— Adrian Santiago [00:13:08 → 00:13:19]

The Power of Sprinting: "I will write for 25 minutes, and then I'll take a 5 to 10 minute break."

— Adrian Santiago [00:14:08 → 00:14:11]

Viral Topic: Inspiration from Jenna Moreci: "I was on YouTube, and I saw this author. Her name is Jenna Moreci. She has a channel on YouTube where she gives writing advice."

— Adrian Santiago [00:15:37 → 00:15:40]

Viral Topic: Finding Community as a Writer

Quote: "But once I was in, it was the camaraderie of all these authors, like helping each other out, you know, giving advice, sharing their experiences, and, you know, promoting each other and interviewing each other and all this kind of stuff."

— Adrian Santiago [00:16:50 → 00:17:00]

The power of community: "I give them a platform to share their knowledge, and that has really, really changed things for me, just being surrounded by other people who do what I do."

— Adrian Santiago [00:17:20 → 00:17:27]

Hello and welcome to another another episode of the traveling intro or the career conversations. Today, we have Adrian Santiago. Hi, Adrian.

Hello. How are you doing today?

I, Right Now I'm Doing Great. As we mentioned earlier, he was like, thanks for having me on the show, and I was like, Yeah. That's great. You're welcome. And then I was like, no. Wait. Hang on. This this could this could all go horribly wrong.

So we will see what happens.

Yeah. Let's find out.

Yes. Let's see. So, pop quiz. It's not really. It's a question I ask everybody. What does introversion mean to you?

Oh, man. I mean, for for me and my youth, I didn't really understand that I was introverted. You know? And, I probably would have done things a lot differently Had I known, it, it definitely ruined a lot of, like, outings where I I was the late one. I was always the late one because I, didn't wanna go. I don't I don't wanna go to places. I wanna stay home and watch my movies and read my books and stuff. And yet at the same time, I've I've worked, you know, customer service and hospitality since I was 16, and it teaches you people skills. It forces you to be good at Talking to people and stuff like that.

So at this age, especially now with a wife and kids, alone time doesn't really exist very much. It means finding those little moments throughout the day to recharge that social battery and just kind of, like, spend time with yourself and your own thoughts and, again, a little reading or a little writing or whatnot. That's it it ultimately means to me that I have to sort of adjust things and, you know, put, my introvertedness in in a in a little pocket where I can kinda dig into from time to Time and just kinda relax in there and then come back out and pretend to be an extrovert.

So what I love that you mentioned there is that When You Were Younger, You Wish You'd Known. When did you discover more about introversion, and was it positive or negative?

Oh, I I don't know if it's either positive or negative because, ultimately, everybody's either 1 or the other or some, like, mix of the 2 in between. You know? And and, again, with with all my experiences in customer services, I've sort of become that extroverted introvert that people, you know, hope that they can be. So not negative or positive or anything like that. Ultimately, you know, you learn about it, over the years as as you progress Through life, and and you start hearing the words, and you're like, oh, that's what I am. Oh, that it all makes so much sense now. You know? Like so, Yeah. I I wouldn't say it's either a positive or negative experience. It's more like, self discovery and understanding is what it all comes down to.

Okay. I think when I said yes. I think when I said positive or negative, it's because I've had some people say that in the past, when you looked up introversion or when you were told about introversion, it was very, negative.

Sure. Yeah. People who don't really understand it, especially on the introverted side. You know, they'll look at an introvert and be like, yo, man. Like, how come you don't wanna hang out? How come you're not talking as much as the other guys? Are you antisocial? What's going on? Like, no, man. I just you know? I'm in here. Just I

don't need to. I'm cool. I'm fine.

Yeah. I'm just I forgot this audio only. In here means in my head. I'm on YouTube, though. I think in video.

It's just good that people just get to imagine where in here, it could be your heart. It could be your yeah. Anywhere. Anywhere. Anyone who

just mind's eye comes up with is fine.

Yeah. Exactly. Alright. So, you mentioned that, some of the things you like doing is is our book related? Grammar. Can you tell me a little bit about what you do?

Well, you know, like most people, I have a I have a day job, but my career as I think about it is I'm an author. I I write, books, novels. My, series is called the mythic series. It's a big sci fi fantasy epic. And, the first novel is called shadow of the spark. It's a murder mystery set in that world in that world. Excuse me. And, it's definitely an adult book.

It. It's got violence and language and sex and drugs and all kinds of crazy stuff like that, but it's all set in the future. And there's technology, and there's also a little magic. And, I try to type things into, like, Earth mythology as well. So we got, like, pyramid stuff in there. There's a little bit of something for everybody, romantic subplots. It's It's all in there. LGBTQ characters in lead roles, an ensemble cast.

I love writing stories. I I love, you know, as an introvert, I do a lot of people watching. You know? Just kinda like sitting around in a coffee shop, enjoying my coffee, and and and seeing how nutty people can get. And, that just creates characters in my brain, and then I just have to spit them onto a page or else they'll just drive me nuts up here. So you know?

That's great. I've been so, with the writing, because you mentioned your day job, and we're not gonna talk about the day job. Because about day jobs. Yeah. No. Day job. I mean, this this is as early as I get up, so you're lucky you got me at this time. I don't do day.

I'd be like like, mid afternoon, evening jobs is not my sweet spot. So with the work that you do writing, can you tell me some misconceptions people might have about that process?

About being an author? Yeah. Well, sure. I mean, you know, people think that, number 1, they they think it's probably pretty easy. Most people that, that I tell them that I'm an author, that I wrote a book. They're like, oh my god. I have this idea for a book. It all I gotta do is write it down. It's the whole thing is up here.

I'm like, all you gotta do is write it down? Do you have any idea how insanely difficult that is? It took me 3 years to write this novel, and that's just Things that, Oh, what happened?

My Internet went. So we're gonna we're gonna pause, and I'm gonna ask the question again. And this is the one time I'm actually gonna have to edit something. So you mentioned that, you have a day job that we're not gonna talk about. Forget Day Jobs. We don't do that. In fact, I don't you know, we don't do days. And

smell.

And so can you tell us some misconceptions people might have about the work that you do writing as an author?

Yeah. So in in my experience, most people think that, you know, writing a book is is easy and that anybody can do it. You know? You tell somebody that, you're an author, that you've written a novel, and and they all tell you, oh, you know, I've got this great idea for a novel in my head. I I the whole thing is up there. All I gotta do is write it down, and They're not understanding that that's absolutely the hardest part. The idea is easy. The I anybody could just have ideas floating around in their heads, but actually writing a novel is insanely hard. It took me 3 years to finish this one.

This is just the one that I finished. I've worked on other projects for years and never completed them because it's hard. And every time you think you're done, you go back and you read through and you realize it's hot garbage and you need to fix the whole thing. And other times, you think, oh, I know how to do this, and you start the process of doing something and you realize I have no idea how to do this. And you go and you research it and you realize there's like a whole book of skills that you don't have, that you have to master first before you can even complete this next chapter. And then you gotta start all of it's it's It's hard. It's hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it.

Right? Yes. And finding the time and the do you have to be in the right frame of mind? I say right frame of mind. Do you have to be in a specific mood to to write?

Well, when I first started out, I I told myself that that I need to be in a certain mood. Oh, I'm in a mood right now. I can't I can't get it done. And that's the reason why it took so long to get things done. The 1st year and a half of working on this novel was very much like that. If I wasn't feeling it, I wasn't doing it. And that's just not gonna get it done. And I read a book called The War of Art By Steven Pressfield, and it completely changed how I work.

He he addresses, shifting from an amateur to a professional. And he, you know, he brings up the idea of well, you know, you have a day job. Do you show up late to your day job? No. You show up on time. Do you, you know, wake up in the morning and say, you know, I'm not feeling it today, so I'm I'm not gonna go with no. You go into you show up To work every day on time. You do the work. You go home.

And he's like, that's how you have to approach what you you know, your craft, your art. If you're a writer, every day, you gotta sit down and get the writing done. Whether it's a half hour session, an hour, 2 hours, whatever it is. You set that goal, and you get it done. You clock in, and you clock out like it's your job. And and I started doing that. And in that 2nd year and a half, I got 3 times as much writing done as as I did in that 1st year and a half, I finally finished the novel, and it was all because I I had to, like, hold myself accountable and, you know, make a schedule. I made a schedule Like A Job.

And every day, I would sit down and get the right even if I didn't feel like it, even if I was sick, even if I hadn't eaten and I was cranky or I didn't have Diaz. It didn't matter if you know, people talk about writer's block. Oh, you sit down, and it's not flowing. What are you talking about flowing? Just make the clickety clack happen. And, like, eventually, things will work out. Like, just do the thing, and you'll get there. And that's, you know, once that that's who changed in me. Yeah.

That whole, like, not feeling it thing doesn't come into it anymore. Now it's more like, you know, where am I gonna fit this, You know, writing time into my day. Like I said earlier, I got kids. I got a wife. For some reason, they like me and wanna hang out with me all the time.

I don't know how much time,

but they do. And so I have To give them time and everything. And, you know, once they go to sleep or maybe I'll wake up early in the morning while everybody's asleep, and I'll put in my time and get my writing done because Gotta Do It. It's Gotta Get Done.

Right. That's really interesting about the well, the the thing that I've heard with books as well is with writing. You you it's a 1st draft. It's not gonna be it's not gonna be perfect when you when you when you sit and do as you said, do get the clickety clack done. So it doesn't matter I mean, yes, it matters, but it doesn't matter really in the grand scheme of things what the clickety clack is.

That's exactly right. Yeah. You know, folks, one of my, problems in that 1st year and a half where I wasn't getting things done is I kept going back and reediting, rewriting the same chapters over and over. They're trying to get them perfect, trying to get them perfect. And one of my more accomplished author friends kinda smacked me over the head and was like, what are you doing? Just get to the end. Just just get To where you write the end, and then you can go back and edit and fix it. Your 1st draft is going to be garbage. It's supposed to be because The 1st draft is you telling yourself the story.

And then the 2nd draft is you making it look like you knew what you were doing all along even though you didn't. So just get it done. And, you know, I can't take credit for that quote because that first half of that quote is is from, Terry Pratchett. He says, you know, the 1st draft is you, telling yourself the story, and then Neil Gaiman completed it. I mean. The one t punch. Is making it look like you knew what you were doing all along. So, yeah, just don't worry about it making sense.

Don't worry about grammar and punctuation. Don't worry about spelling. Just write and get it done. Now because I I know myself and I and and if I see a typo, I'm gonna fix it. What I would do is I would I I adjusted my my, my my writing, process so that, let's say I start writing on Monday. Monday, I'll write a a new thing. On Tuesday, I'll edit that thing. And then on Wednesday, I'll write a new thing.

And then on Thursday, I'll edit that thing. And then on Friday, I'll write a new thing and so on. And so I'm always moving forward, but I'm also going back and kinda cleaning things up just so, like, I don't drive myself crazy. Yeah.

Okay. That's good that you know yourself. You're like, okay. I get that I have to write stuff, but let me do it in a way that sort of works.

Yeah. And that way, I get a cleaner 1st draft at the end and, you know, the the edit is a little easier on me even though it's the 1st draft is still hot garbage.

Oh that is wonderful, thank you. So I guess that's probably something that you do regularly that has improved your book writing. So conversely to that, what is something that you say no to?

So, mhmm, in regards to writing or or, something that I say no to. That's a great question. I'm not sure. Well, you know, I I I have to have, like, my music going so that I'm in the right headspace and everything. As, you know, I'm in addition to being an introvert, I also have a touch of the ADHD. And so I tend to need multiple things going on in order to focus. And with writing, that's something that I say no to for myself. Other than having some music so that I could focus, and the music has to be lyricless just like, you know, movie scores and stuff like that, something with just instruments so that I I don't get logged into lyrics and stuff like that.

But other than that, I I shut down the whole rest of my ADHDness. I say no to that because if I have, you know, no YouTube going or whatever. I'm never gonna get I'm gonna get distract exactly. I'm gonna my attention is gonna be diverted. So that's something I say no to, at least within myself. It's like, For for now, while you're writing, you are not ADHD. You just aren't. Focus.

So then my question then is for your writing, the the time that you spend writing, do you then make it smaller chunks because of this to give yourself a chance to go and be distracted, or is it like I'm just gonna sit here for, like, a long period of time?

That's a great question. I used to try to force the ladder where I would try to force myself to just write for 2 straight hours and never stop, and that's not dirty burnout. So what I do now is sprinting. I will write for 25 minutes, and then I'll take a a 5 to 10 minute break. And then I'll write for 25 minutes, and I'll take a 5 and I use timers so that I, you know, I don't get, you know, lost in something else. I'll get up to get some water, use the bathroom, get a snack, whatever it is. You know, I might, you know, play a few minutes of Zelda or whatever and then put it down, get back to writing another 25 minutes and so on. And in that way, I found that I get a lot more done.

Yeah. I like that choice of I play a bit of Zelda because then if you're playing some other game, you have to pick something that you can pause at any point And just walk away from. Yeah. Walk away from. Then come come back. Oh, well, I just I just need to finish this insert thing here, then it's like, it's not it's not happening.

Yeah. I I adhere to the, to the timers very strictly. As soon as that timer goes off, I don't care if I'm in the middle of fighting a boss. Like, that's where I stop, I shut it down, and I go back to writing. You have to be very disciplined like that.

Yeah. Sounds like it. Alright. And so with everything that you do. And you mentioned that you have a a more esteemed, writer friend. Can you can you tell me about if there's a connection or a person that you met that changed your life in some way?

So maybe not a a person singular, but in in regards to the whole author thing, you know, I when I when I first started this thing. I I was on YouTube, and I saw this, author. Her name is Jenna Moreci. She has a a channel on YouTube where she writing advice. Very, you know, standard, like, beginners type stuff. You know? Here's the top 10 tropes that you should use in this genre, or here are the cliches that you should stay away from, and here's how you write a a climax or what you know, whatever it is. And, She had a huge following, and she tells a story about how she used to work a job that she hated in accounting or something like that, something with numbers, And, you know, putting all her time into something that she wasn't passionate about. And then finally, she just switched gears, be became an author, started her YouTube channel, grew an audience.

And then by the time her 1st book came out, her audience was waiting for her book. And I was like, light bulb. Let's do that. So I started that, YouTube channel for myself. It slowly became an online platform. I I I have you know, I'm on all the social medias. I'm doing all the things. But the community on authortube, authortube is what we call it, where all the authors are talking about writing on YouTube, the community on authortube is is the one that changed my life.

You know? That Jenna Moreci kind of she was the gateway drug. She sucked me in. But once I was in, it it was the camaraderie of all these authors, like helping each other out, you know, giving advice, sharing their experiences, and, you know, promoting each other and interviewing each other and all this kind of stuff. And, Ultimately, that's what my channel became is since I I I'm a fledgling writer. This is my 1st novel that that just came out. I'm I'm still learning the ropes, so to speak. I didn't wanna that guy who's like, here's how you write sci fi. Like, who who's gonna listen to me? Like, I don't know what I'm talking about.

So instead, I interview other authors, and I learn from them. And I and I have. I give them a platform to share their knowledge, and that has really, really changed things for me, just being surrounded by other people who do what I do. You know, writing is such a lonely, career. Like, you're you're sitting in front of a computer or a typewriter or a notebook or whatever it is by yourself, alone with your thoughts, and just writing. And it it can get a little lonely, and you you maybe you don't know if you're doing it right. And, you know, you you need people to, like, Give you a little feedback. So having a community around you like that to, you know, share your writing with, share in their writing, and learn from them, and That that really changed things for me and and was definitely a big factor in getting things done for sure.

Yeah. That I'm I'm really glad that you brought that up because that's something I talk to about with my clients so that it's sort of like okay yes you have a job even day job related but you need peers in different industries so you can be like, so this thing happened at work. Is

this Mhmm. Is this

is this how it's supposed to be, or, like, is this a problem? Well, just to vent, who will understand whatever language you use, whatever acronyms you use, because you can you can vent to your other half or your cat or your dog, but they're gonna be like, you just threw words at me. So that's great, Anna. I'm I'm glad that that has happened. I like that that, authortube for for those who are in crafts that have, like, floss tube.

There you go.

They they rename it. Well, like, if you're into into if you're on Reddit and you're into, like, baking, it's breaded. So each each one I

know. Breaded.

I know. I know. I love that one personally. That's a good one. So so each each one has their own little thing, and it's finding it. Like you said, you're just finding that gateway human that will lead you in. Mhmm. Thank you so very much.

So I have a question for you.

Please.

Please do not think too deeply about this.

Okay. I'll try.

I want your first off the cuff answer in your humble or esteemed no. In your esteemed opinion. Oh,

Matt. Let me sit up straight.

There you go. In your esteemed opinion, is a hot dog a sandwich?

If it was a sandwich, it would be called a sandwich. It's a hot dog. Hot dog is a hot dog, and a sandwich is a sandwich. I get why people ask that. The bread. There's meat in between. Okay. I get it.

But if, you know, if we're doing that, then so is a taco and so is a quesadilla and, like, so is a pizza. Like, like, what are we doing here? A sandwich is a sandwich, and dog is a hot dog.

Alright. There you have it, folks. So, Adrian, please, can you tell my audience where they can find out more about you and what you do?

Oh, it's easy. You go to books by adrianne.com. Adrianne is spelled a d r I a n. So books by adrianne.com. From there, you can get to my book in all its formats. That's an ebook. It's in paperback. You can buy signed personalized copies directly from myself on there.

I also have, you know, my YouTube channel, you can find through there. My social medias, you can find through there. Everything connects to that website. And, Most easily, you can sign up for the newsletter on there. I send out a newsletter every week on Friday, keeping everybody updated with what's coming up the next week, book sales, when they're happening, all that kind of stuff. So books by adrienne.com, easiest way.

I love the way you named it book by Adrian. You're like, I'm gonna set myself up.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I've I technically, I've published 2 already because before the novel, I published a short story that It it's kinda like a prologue. It leads into the novel, and I use it as a nice little, what's it called? A reader magnet. You know? Yes. So, yeah, books by I'm already working on the sequel. I'm working on some short stories, a short story collection that's coming out next year.

So, yes, all the books will be on there. Books by Adrienne.

Exciting. Thank you so very much. This is Janice from the career introvert helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.

Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah. It wasn't so bad.