1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 1: You would never mix up your peanut butter with watermelon, 2 00:00:03,319 --> 00:00:06,519 or even Taylor Swift with the piano. Guys, then again 3 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:08,880 you might, Well, that's what this is all about. Arrow 4 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:13,039 dot net a R r oe dot Net seventeen different 5 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,759 podcasts to choose from for your driving or just being 6 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,719 at work, entertainment. Hello and good morning everybody. 7 00:00:19,519 --> 00:00:20,879 Speaker 2: Hi, it's Rusty Austin. 8 00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: Rusty Austin. How are you doing today? 9 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 2: Pretty good so far. 10 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: I'll I'll tell you what. Man, You caught my attention 11 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,440 so quickly with the name of this book, and the 12 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,799 reason why is because I love to read about animal totems. 13 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:35,880 And the thing is is that when you look up 14 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,039 the pelican, what it means is it's an opportunity to 15 00:00:39,079 --> 00:00:42,079 forgive either yourself or someone else and release any built 16 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,240 up guilt or resentment. It is time to free yourself. 17 00:00:45,359 --> 00:00:48,479 And it's like, oh my god, Rusty just jumped into 18 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:49,119 this story. 19 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. 20 00:00:52,439 --> 00:00:55,399 Speaker 1: What made you step into the pelican? Because I mean 21 00:00:55,399 --> 00:00:57,799 to me, when I'm at the ocean and I see 22 00:00:57,799 --> 00:01:00,799 a pelican, my world stops. I will sit there and 23 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,159 watch that until it disappears in the horizon. 24 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:07,079 Speaker 3: The one thing that really got me interested in pelicans. 25 00:01:07,159 --> 00:01:09,719 Was watching a feeding frenzy. I don't know if you've 26 00:01:09,719 --> 00:01:11,680 ever seen one, but a flock of about thirty or 27 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:14,879 forty pelicans will hover I don't know, maybe forty fifty 28 00:01:14,879 --> 00:01:17,040 feet above the water and then they all dive at once. 29 00:01:17,079 --> 00:01:19,959 After school, it says, the most amazing thing I've ever seen. 30 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: Wow. Wow. And the way that you're able to add 31 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,879 in the animal facts and right away what happens is 32 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,519 I start thinking about my neighbors across the street, Gary, 33 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,760 Ca and Hannah, and it's these facts that they dig 34 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:33,560 because all of a sudden, then they'll go back into 35 00:01:33,599 --> 00:01:36,680 the storyline and they have a cleaner, more and more 36 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:38,920 valuable touch with what's going on with the story. 37 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,519 Speaker 2: Yeah. I try to do that with all the animals. 38 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 3: Give some kind of fact about where they live, or 39 00:01:43,719 --> 00:01:45,879 what they eat, or or how they will, you know, 40 00:01:45,879 --> 00:01:48,439 what their behaviors and like that. So that's a big 41 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:49,599 important part of my books. 42 00:01:49,959 --> 00:01:51,799 Speaker 1: It's also a part of your book is that you've 43 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,680 got that poetic edge to it as a writer, because 44 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,480 I mean, that's my first book was supposed to be 45 00:01:56,519 --> 00:01:58,799 a book of poetry. Ah didn't happen. It went a 46 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,840 completely different direction. How were you able to put that 47 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,079 poetry give it kind of a discipline. 48 00:02:05,239 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 3: Well, what happened was I was just I was putting 49 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,680 these poems up on Facebook, just as a lark. 50 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:11,199 Speaker 1: Yeah. 51 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 3: And at the time I was doing that, there was 52 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:14,360 a book that came out called Go to f To 53 00:02:14,439 --> 00:02:18,039 Sleep that went viral on Facebook and sold a million copies. 54 00:02:18,039 --> 00:02:20,439 And so my friends called me and said, you know, 55 00:02:20,479 --> 00:02:22,199 you should put all those poems on a book. And 56 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:24,560 the way I write the poems is I try to 57 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:27,000 make them like less than twelve to fifteen words and 58 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,240 you know, three to five lines. So I start out 59 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,000 with something longer and then just haunt it down and 60 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,639 hand it down until I get the very essence, the 61 00:02:33,759 --> 00:02:36,479 very you know, the little at least I can get 62 00:02:36,479 --> 00:02:36,840 away with. 63 00:02:37,039 --> 00:02:39,599 Speaker 1: Yeah. Don't you think though, that poetry is kind of personal? 64 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:43,520 And sometimes I love my teachers, Missus Keith and Missus Knight, 65 00:02:43,719 --> 00:02:46,159 but they kind of force fed poetry to us as 66 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,000 as students in school, elementary school. But when I pick 67 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,759 up a book like this, I'm going, oh my god, 68 00:02:52,159 --> 00:02:53,879 I love what he's done here. 69 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,039 Speaker 2: Yeah. 70 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 3: I tend to break a lot of rules when I write, Like, 71 00:02:59,159 --> 00:03:01,240 for example, in my trolls. I don't use any comments 72 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,919 hardly at all. Nice But like I said, these poems 73 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,400 are basically what I start with, something longer and just 74 00:03:08,439 --> 00:03:10,000 haunt them down and hand them down until I can 75 00:03:10,039 --> 00:03:13,759 get the very essence of it. And they all rhyme, 76 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:14,840 but most of them don't. 77 00:03:15,039 --> 00:03:16,879 Speaker 1: Well see, And I've always told people that you because 78 00:03:16,879 --> 00:03:18,919 they would sit there and complain about how twitter you 79 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,319 can only have so many elements in it, and I'm going, well, 80 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,280 you didn't write a piece of poetry, didit that comes 81 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,800 with rules too, or a piece of music, because I 82 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,439 mean that editing part is what we do. 83 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,439 Speaker 3: Yes, you have to just haunt it down and haunt 84 00:03:31,439 --> 00:03:33,000 it down and hold it down, like I said, until 85 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,039 you get to the very essence of it, and then 86 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:36,919 that is more powerful. 87 00:03:37,599 --> 00:03:40,159 Speaker 1: Now have you along your writing journey, have you ever 88 00:03:40,199 --> 00:03:42,560 had somebody such as my wife, that goes and she'll 89 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,759 look at the writing and say, don't erase the words 90 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:46,879 that you don't agree with. Leave them in there so 91 00:03:46,919 --> 00:03:49,520 she can see what I left in there and get 92 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,919 her own interpretation, even when I thought it was a mistake. 93 00:03:52,919 --> 00:03:55,759 Speaker 3: Yeah, I've come across that time and again, so it's 94 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:56,840 not something unusual. 95 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,719 Speaker 1: Now, how is it that you made your way into 96 00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:03,400 being a YA author? And I'm gonna tell you right now, 97 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,280 the YA fans and followers are through the roof crazy 98 00:04:07,319 --> 00:04:09,599 and they love to be I mean, they are so 99 00:04:09,879 --> 00:04:12,960 loyal and you're you're delivering a book here that delivers 100 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,000 directly to where they are as readers. 101 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's just something that I like. I'm not 102 00:04:20,319 --> 00:04:23,639 good at writing long form, so I write short stories 103 00:04:23,639 --> 00:04:24,680 and short poems. 104 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,079 Speaker 2: And that's what I do best. So that's kind of 105 00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:27,240 what I gravitate. 106 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,959 Speaker 1: To the illustrations in the book. Who we got to 107 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,160 talk about this because I because there's a lot of 108 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:33,879 people that are artists. I don't know how to write, 109 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,639 but I can draw. Then you're in You're part of 110 00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:37,920 that creative team as well. 111 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 3: Yes, And just just to bring up another point, all 112 00:04:41,319 --> 00:04:43,199 my books have would do it yourself section for the 113 00:04:43,639 --> 00:04:47,040 writers and artists at the end. But the art I 114 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,439 just briefly, I'll back up, backtrack the art for the 115 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,240 an Awesome Bird the Pelican. What happened was I was 116 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,240 on this website called donors Choose, which is like a 117 00:04:55,319 --> 00:04:58,279 gofund me for teachers, and one of my local teachers 118 00:04:58,399 --> 00:05:00,720 was looking to buy poetry books for I think they 119 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,360 were seventh and eighth graders at the time, and so 120 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,879 I contact her through the website and said, can I 121 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,480 come in and read my book The Unicorn Has One Horn? Yeah, 122 00:05:09,519 --> 00:05:11,240 she had me come in and the kids were just 123 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:15,000 so excited about it. Then the idea occurred to me 124 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,319 to have them do all the illustrations for the Pelican book, 125 00:05:17,959 --> 00:05:21,040 and so she was on board with it, and she 126 00:05:21,199 --> 00:05:23,319 got she had a more for an hour or two 127 00:05:23,319 --> 00:05:25,720 every Friday afternoon. So it took a good four months 128 00:05:25,759 --> 00:05:28,360 to get it all done. But over one hundred kids 129 00:05:28,399 --> 00:05:29,319 have pictures. 130 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:29,319 Speaker 2: In the book. 131 00:05:29,319 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 3: And what happened was I have that's right. I think 132 00:05:31,959 --> 00:05:34,000 I have forty four poems, and so I had to 133 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,240 kind of go through and select forty four pictures for 134 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:38,600 each poem. But then for the rest of the kids, 135 00:05:38,639 --> 00:05:40,160 I just went ahead and did a whole section of 136 00:05:40,199 --> 00:05:43,000 their picture. So every kid that grew got a picture 137 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,480 in the book, which made him very happy. 138 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,319 Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Russy Austin coming 139 00:05:48,399 --> 00:05:53,920 up next. This man loves to write about his animals. 140 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,399 The latest is about a pelican. We are back with 141 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,480 author and poet Rusty Austin. Ten fifteen years from now, 142 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,680 you could put this in a gallery and travel around 143 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,600 the country and say, this is a moment in American history, 144 00:06:06,639 --> 00:06:09,560 and time itself did not stand still, because it still 145 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:10,480 affects us today. 146 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:13,959 Speaker 3: That is true and funny. You should mention that because 147 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,160 I actually framed a bunch of the pictures that the 148 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,360 kids drew and put them up around the house because 149 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,519 they did well. They were different. That did crayons and watercolors, 150 00:06:23,519 --> 00:06:27,120 and this one kid Andres does a line drawing with 151 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,959 a pen. You don't even use a pencil. It's the 152 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,879 most amazing thing I've ever Seena. 153 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: Do you feel about using a pencil? Because my first 154 00:06:33,519 --> 00:06:35,600 book as a kid I wrote in the eleventh grade 155 00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:37,879 was in pencil and I still have it today and dude, 156 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:38,800 I'm sixty three. 157 00:06:38,879 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 3: Now that's amazing. I would say I used a pencil 158 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,600 many years ago. But now it's all hoart processing. 159 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,879 Speaker 1: Yes, do you think that takes away from it? Because 160 00:06:49,879 --> 00:06:52,160 I mean, Julia Cameron is so adamant when it comes 161 00:06:52,199 --> 00:06:54,240 to well in the artist way, you have to use 162 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,720 a pen because it gets the entire body involved. I 163 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,680 get that, but man, I'll tell you what, the computer 164 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,480 and the word processor love it. 165 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,199 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so great just to be able to edit 166 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,240 and edit and edit again. And one thing I'm fine 167 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,680 of saying is you never really finished. You just run 168 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:09,240 out of time. 169 00:07:10,319 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 2: That's so true. 170 00:07:11,199 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: Now in your do it yourself section, I mean that 171 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,959 right there is where journeys began. Has anybody reached out 172 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:18,959 to you saying, you know, I started because of you. 173 00:07:20,199 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 3: I've had I've had several grandparents and actually I'm a grandparent, 174 00:07:24,519 --> 00:07:26,800 so I can appreciate where they're coming from. Uh, that 175 00:07:26,839 --> 00:07:28,600 have reached out to me and said, yes, my kids 176 00:07:28,839 --> 00:07:30,040 love to do it yourself section. 177 00:07:30,319 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 2: So what I'll do is I'll give them. 178 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 3: I'll give them like four lines and a blank page, 179 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:36,600 and then I'll give them a prompt like I think 180 00:07:37,199 --> 00:07:39,800 the prompt and the in the pucking book is a 181 00:07:39,839 --> 00:07:46,839 tarantula and or ahinocero. So those they were those platypus too. 182 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,560 What kid doesn't like the duck filled platypus? Right, It's 183 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,079 just fun to say it, I mean. 184 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:53,279 Speaker 1: And you know what's so funny is that I grew 185 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,199 up in the state of Montana believing that we had 186 00:07:55,199 --> 00:07:57,560 the duck billed platypus up here on the Missouri River, 187 00:07:57,920 --> 00:07:59,720 and and and people would say, well, what what do 188 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,680 you mean, No, it doesn't exist. I'm going it does exist. 189 00:08:02,759 --> 00:08:04,759 I swear to God, I've seen it on the Missouri River. 190 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 3: I love the duck bull platypus. It's such an unusual creature. 191 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: And yet to me, it's like the giraffe. Okay, so 192 00:08:12,199 --> 00:08:13,759 you got a long neck. You're still part of my 193 00:08:13,839 --> 00:08:14,600 friendship team. 194 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 2: Come on, that's right, we love it. 195 00:08:17,319 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: And how did you get connected to animals though? I mean, 196 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,560 because I mean animals speak is one thing, but you're 197 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,600 taking it to a completely different level of not only 198 00:08:26,639 --> 00:08:29,399 did I hear the animal, but I'm sharing the animal. 199 00:08:30,279 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 3: Well, I grew up in Colorado, and a lot of 200 00:08:32,759 --> 00:08:35,559 the Colorado lifestyle is the outdoor. You know, we can 201 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,120 backpack in crips and hikes and just being outdoors in general. 202 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,080 I'm so you get a really appreciation for nature, which 203 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,960 includes animals, and that's kind of where that came from. 204 00:08:45,159 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: No, I totally get that. I grew up in the 205 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,639 state of Montana and I live in forest here in 206 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:51,279 North Carolina right now that we planted seventeen hundred trees 207 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,759 and only because of those early days with my animals 208 00:08:53,759 --> 00:08:54,919 in Montana. 209 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 3: Exactly right, And that stays with you your whole life when 210 00:08:58,240 --> 00:08:59,279 you grow up in that environment. 211 00:08:59,399 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: I think, yeah, because I mean, in a I would 212 00:09:02,399 --> 00:09:04,320 love to see if a science teacher or a history 213 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,240 teacher is coming up to you to see that. You know, 214 00:09:06,279 --> 00:09:08,799 it's like you're taking animals that people don't speak of 215 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,080 anywhere up Alican and then you do something with it 216 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:14,080 which then puts it back in our vocabulary. 217 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 3: Well. Yeah, And what I try to do is when 218 00:09:16,879 --> 00:09:19,399 I'm reading the Internet or out driving around or something, 219 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,600 if I see an unusual animal, I will make a 220 00:09:22,639 --> 00:09:23,879 note of it so that I have it in my 221 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:26,519 notebook of animals that I need to write about. And 222 00:09:26,639 --> 00:09:30,039 right now I'm working on something called a red shank duke, 223 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,919 which is endemic to Maticascar. A red shank. It's like 224 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,120 a very small monkey with red shanks. 225 00:09:38,759 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, it just proves how unique is everything, 226 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:43,720 because I mean, you put pictures or the story in there, 227 00:09:43,759 --> 00:09:45,399 and kids are be going, oh my god, you're not 228 00:09:45,399 --> 00:09:47,440 gonna believe what I just read. I mean, and to me, 229 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:49,799 that's the excitement without having to go to the zoo. 230 00:09:49,799 --> 00:09:52,720 Because you're playing around with those that are inside our imagination. 231 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 3: That's exactly right. And then I wrote a poem about 232 00:09:56,399 --> 00:09:59,240 a Cayman which says the Cayman has a memory that 233 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,559 nickol take to better underwater see her dates. Now, no 234 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,480 kid knows what a nictating membrane is. It's just a 235 00:10:05,519 --> 00:10:07,879 membrane that covers your eye if you're going to keep 236 00:10:07,919 --> 00:10:11,039 the water out. But it's just fun to say nicotating. 237 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: Or Now the question is I would look at the 238 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:15,919 student if I were doing like a tutor, and I'd say, Okay, 239 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,320 I want you to see if you can spell it. 240 00:10:18,399 --> 00:10:20,720 Let's see how close you can get to it. So, 241 00:10:20,919 --> 00:10:23,559 because my wife was really into that. It's like, if 242 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:25,679 you're going to teach somebody to read, teach them to 243 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:26,559 write as well. 244 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 3: Yes, And it's just so disappointing to me to see 245 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,320 nowadays when people text and their the tyepoles and the 246 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,320 bad grammar and bad punctuation. It just trys me nuts. 247 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,000 But then I'm old, so what kind of say? 248 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:41,879 Speaker 1: But yet, it was Mark Twain Dude that said in 249 00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:45,120 his one hundredth anniversary of his autobiography, says, go and 250 00:10:45,159 --> 00:10:48,360 be yourself and use your own accent. And so that's 251 00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:51,600 when I stopped using colon's and and and and commas 252 00:10:51,639 --> 00:10:54,279 and quotation marks and stuff, because we're we're sitting there 253 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,759 reading it anyway, don't clog up my picture. 254 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:57,559 Speaker 2: That's right. 255 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,879 Speaker 3: And I rarely use common and when I write short stories. 256 00:11:01,879 --> 00:11:04,080 So and in fact, I would point out that the 257 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,600 guy who won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year 258 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,240 wrote a four hundred page book that was one sentence. 259 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:14,759 Speaker 1: When you're not using commas, what do you do about 260 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:16,679 run on sentences? I mean that might be over our 261 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:18,840 listeners heads, but I mean, can I run on sentence? 262 00:11:18,919 --> 00:11:19,919 Is a run on sentence? 263 00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:20,639 Speaker 2: Yes? 264 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 3: Well, you can use the word and you can actually 265 00:11:24,159 --> 00:11:26,120 you can place. You can every now and again you 266 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,960 can put on a comma which makes sense it really 267 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:30,440 needs it, I'll put it in, But most of the 268 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:31,879 time you just don't need it. 269 00:11:32,159 --> 00:11:34,039 Speaker 1: Do you ever challenge yourself when you put in and 270 00:11:34,279 --> 00:11:36,960 or the word that, and go, oh yeah, I just 271 00:11:37,159 --> 00:11:37,720 I just went. 272 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 2: To the crutch level. I often get to have to 273 00:11:41,519 --> 00:11:43,519 go through and take out that, but just use too 274 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:44,120 many of them. 275 00:11:46,159 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 1: Where do people go to find out more about what 276 00:11:48,639 --> 00:11:51,200 you're doing? Rusty? Because I love where you are. 277 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,879 Speaker 3: I have a website, Rusty Austin dot com, and all 278 00:11:54,919 --> 00:11:57,559 the books are available on that and there's four of them. 279 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,480 Beware the Grizzly Bear, which was the first book I wrote, 280 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,559 the Character's Orange, which is a book of poetry about 281 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,519 food that kids like, The Unicorn has one Horn, and 282 00:12:06,639 --> 00:12:09,039 an Austinberd, the Talking, which is what we're talking about today. 283 00:12:09,399 --> 00:12:11,799 And I'm also right now working on the Two Headed Snake. 284 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: Come on, yeah, wow, do you ever think of a 285 00:12:15,279 --> 00:12:17,639 TV show while you're writing? Or is this a whole 286 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:19,320 completely different personality. 287 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 3: It's a whole, completely different personality. Although I will say this, 288 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,279 my thirty five years in reality television taught me a 289 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,919 lot about how to hone everything down and get it 290 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,960 down to the essence of it. Because in reality, you shoot, 291 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,879 you know, four hundred hours of tape for one hour 292 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,679 of TV, and so you really have to just hone 293 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,240 it down and hone it down and holnd it down 294 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,960 till you get to the very, very very core of it. 295 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,759 Speaker 1: So when you were doing those reality shows, did you 296 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,039 kind of just sit there and go and and okay, 297 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:49,879 get to the point, Okay, where are we going with this? 298 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 3: We did that a lot of the head that was 299 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,519 mostly a close production producer, So I would get the 300 00:12:56,519 --> 00:12:58,200 tapes and then have to hone them down myself. 301 00:12:58,279 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 2: Oh my god. 302 00:12:58,759 --> 00:13:00,879 Speaker 1: And that's private time inside a studio. It's like I'm 303 00:13:00,879 --> 00:13:03,000 going in the studio. I'll get out when I get out. 304 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:05,799 Speaker 3: Yes, Oh, there's so many times. And the other thing 305 00:13:05,879 --> 00:13:08,600 I would never do is if we're working on something, 306 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:10,360 I would try not to leave until it was done. 307 00:13:10,399 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 2: Because if you if you leave your los a threat. 308 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: I'm so with you on that because I totally believe 309 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,559 in that, in the way that if I leave this room, 310 00:13:17,759 --> 00:13:20,279 my personality is going to change, and when I come back, 311 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:22,159 I'm a completely different person. 312 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 3: That's exactly right, and that's why I would never leave 313 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:26,200 glove was done. 314 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:28,559 Speaker 1: Oh my god, man, you've got to come back to 315 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,919 this show anytime in the future, Rusty. The door is 316 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:32,360 always going to be open for us. 317 00:13:32,399 --> 00:13:34,399 Speaker 3: You got it, man, Thanks so much for having me on. 318 00:13:34,519 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today? 319 00:13:35,879 --> 00:13:39,279 Speaker 2: Okay, well I'm working on it. Thanks again.