We recently had the chance to connect with Joe Prosit and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joe, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Working from home allows me a pretty easy start to the day. I go downstairs, hit the “Brew” button on the coffee machine, and then let my brain wake up with a couple of New York Times puzzles (Wordle and Connections) and at least one Duolingo (German) lesson.
By then, the coffee is ready, the cobwebs have begun to clear, and I get to work in earnest.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Joe Prosit. I’m an independent author who writes primarily science fiction and horror. As an independent author, I am a one-man show. “Work” doesn’t always mean writing. It often means maintaining my social media presence, scheduling events, ordering inventory, running the books, and all the other fun little tasks necessary to run a small business.
But I do what I do because I love storytelling. Fiction allows us to face problems and challenges in creative ways. Characters show us how amazing and awful people can be. Stories inspire and sustain our spirit. And they keep us entertained.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My wife and I have been married for almost 24 years now. She has been with me for nearly all of my adult life. I can’t begin to imagine where I would be or who I would be without her. She has been eternally supportive of my ambitions. She’s my hardest critic and simultaneously, my number one fan.
Life has given us many challenges and dark days, but also many more good days. Through it all, we’ve grown together. It is only because of her that I’m able to do what I do on a daily basis.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
This is a tough question because you have to consider the butterfly effect. I am who I am because I took this route, voluntarily or involuntarily, to get here. I certainly could go back and build up my confidence and offer up a whole slew of reassurances, but then maybe I would grow up to be less hungry and eager to prove myself to the world.
So… I guess I’d go back to when I was a teenager and bring with me a bunch of punk rock CDs. I missed out on a lot of cool music during its heyday simply because I didn’t know it existed.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
That you could die today. Granted, nearly everyone accepts this as a truth. We all know that everyone is going to die, but it’s a rare gift to truly realize it and accept it. That “gift” usually comes with some rough days and some lifelong trauma, but once you have it, every day going forward is infinitely more valuable.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
In 9 years, I’d stop paying for the cheap life insurance. Time to invest in the gold plan!
Otherwise… probably nothing. There’s certainly a balance between living each moment for its own and investing everything in the delayed gratification of a 10 or 15-year plan. I could die today, or I could live to be a hundred. Hopefully it’s the latter, but if it’s not, I don’t want to regret waiting to do things until after retirement or after “things slow down.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.JoeProsit.com
- Instagram: @joeprosit
- Twitter: @joeprosit
- Facebook: Joe Prosit
