Hey, everyone.

Have you ever wanted to be creative?

But then you just remember that you had other things you needed to do like anything else because making stuff is hard.

Much of today's book covers the hardest part of the creative process actually starting.

It's Start Ugly by David Duchaman.

And this is The Book Pile.

A comedy podcast about the best of books and the worst of books.

If this is your first time on the podcast, welcome.

And may I suggest checking out another episode where my co-host, David Vanceance is present to get a real feel for what we like to do on the podcast, like the episodes when we cover the books lateral thinking or a Christmas carol, a couple of my favorites, or when we roasted any of the Twilight books.

Today's a solo episode, but I still keep it fun.

Boy, do I sound like a middle manager desperately trying to convince a potential employee to join the team.

Anyway, I'm Kellyn Erskine. I'm a comic, a father, and I hate the word creator because I feel like it's used by a lot of people who just take pictures of themselves on Instagram.

I do enjoy making stuff, but calling myself a maker doesn't sound any better.

So as usual, Dave Vance will be back next week when we cover the book Trick Mirror.

Dave's been hard at work at getting his graphic novel slash adventure box, the starlings,

ready to be shipped out.

Very exciting.

Dave has also been busy shoplifting at various bulk grocery stores.

It's like a game to him.

I keep telling him he's going to get caught, but then he keeps saying stuff like,

I don't do it for the money. I do it to feel alive. And I'm always like, whatever, man, I'm going to

call the cops on you. And he's like, what kind of a friend are you? And then that's where I stopped

...