TC178: Journey to My 1st Novel - Dealing with Dymans – Jock Mackenzie

Toastcaster Communication Leadership Learning Lab

[36:11] In this fun and entertaining episode, Greg speaks with first-time novelist Jock Mackenzie who shares some of his adventures and misadventures in creating, writing, publishing and then promoting his newly published crime-novel, Dealing with Dymans.

Jock shares stories and offers some insights on how the novel came to be, including the creating and naming his characters. We hear how he leveraged resources with writing groups, experiences with editors, looking for publishers and how he went about finding places to promote and sell his book beyond places like Amazon.

And of course, as a former teacher Jock wares his heart on his sleeve with some of what he had gone through and deals out tips and advice for those who might be thinking of writing a novel, but may have this fear of starting or plagued with writer's block.

Jock also introduces us to the Scattergram (see below), a pencil and paper picture outline method he uses to organize his thoughts and prepared himself for this interview.

Jock Mackenzie is a former teacher and administrator with the Red Deer Public School Board in Alberta Canada for 31 years. A long-time Toastmaster, Jock has enjoyed speaking at teacher conferences across Canada as well as emceeing a variety of events.

He's also the author of a teacher reference book on essays, Essay Writing: Teaching the Basics from the Ground Up (2007), numerous magazine articles.

More recently, Jock has self-published a crime drama, Dealing with Dymans, about a shyster jeweler who switches out real gems for fake ones. Ex-RCMP officer, Jack Schmidt, finds out and the fun begins. And you don’t know Jack Schmidt until you’ve read it. You can get it directly from Jock and find it on Amazon.

Jock also appears on Episode 104 - 3I-Racer Technique for More Engaging Storytelling.

Jock Mackenzie can be reached by e-mail mackenzie.jock AT gmail.com and on his blog, Teacher Man, Teacher Ms.