Tag: creative journey

There are certain moments in life that feel almost impossible to predict. They are the kinds of moments that, years earlier, would have sounded like unrealistic daydreams. You imagine them happening to someone else, not to you. Then, one day, life surprises you.

Recently, I experienced one of those moments.

For the first time in my life, I sent fan mail to a YouTuber.

Not only that, but the package contained something far more personal than a letter or a piece of merchandise. Instead, I sent three books that I wrote and published under my pen name, Jaime David. A short time later, I watched that same YouTuber open the package live on his show, flip through my books, read part of the dedication from my debut novel, discover that I had thanked him in the acknowledgements, and genuinely express his appreciation.

Even now, it still feels surreal.

This is the story of how that happened, why I decided to do it, and why this became such a meaningful full-circle moment in my journey as a writer.

For years, I have watched Dusty Smith on YouTube. Whether you know him from his political commentary, livestreams, or his long-running online presence, he has been one of those creators whose content I have consistently followed.

Like many people, I do not agree with every single opinion he has or every single thing he says. But beyond that, there has always been something about his content that kept me coming back. I have appreciated his humor, his personality, his ability to build a community, and his willingness to create content that feels different from many other channels online.

And that is an important part of this story.

Because when I decided to send my books to Dusty, it was not something I wanted to do with just anyone.

I did not simply think, “I wrote books, so I should send them to every YouTuber I watch.”

That was never the point.

There are thousands upon thousands of creators online. But I specifically chose Dusty because he was someone whose work genuinely mattered to me over the years.

He was one of my favorite YouTubers.

That mattered.

I wanted the books to go to someone whose content I had actually watched, someone whose work had been part of my life for years, and someone who had influenced me creatively.

There was also another important reason.

My debut novel, Wonderment Within Weirdness, contains an acknowledgements section where I thank people and creators who helped influence me throughout my writing journey.

Dusty Smith was included in those acknowledgements.

That was something personal.

Writing a book does not happen in a vacuum. Every author has influences. Every creative person has moments, stories, and people who inspire them.

And in Dusty’s case, there was something especially interesting.

Dusty was not only a YouTuber.

He was also an author.

Years ago, before his current online presence became what many people know him for today, Dusty wrote and published a book called Seven Deadly Sins under the pen name Michael Bishop. This was not the famous science fiction author Michael Bishop, but rather a pen name Dusty used for his own writing.

While Dusty himself has since been critical of that book and has expressed that he does not necessarily consider it his best work, the fact remains that he was an author.

He went through the process of writing a book.

He went through the process of publishing a book.

He put a creative work into the world.

And that is something that always stood out to me.

Because as someone who eventually became an author myself, I understand the significance of taking an idea that exists only in your head and turning it into something physical that other people can hold.

Even if an author later looks back at an earlier work and thinks, “I could have done that differently,” there is still something meaningful about having created it in the first place.

That part of Dusty’s story resonated with me.

I remember when I was in college watching Dusty talk about his book and showcase it on one of his shows.

At the time, I found it fascinating.

Here was someone I followed online who had actually written a book.

Someone who had taken the leap from simply consuming stories to creating one.

That did not single-handedly inspire me to become an author. My journey came from many different places: science fiction, movies, television, anime, video games, other writers, personal experiences, and my own imagination.

But that moment was one small piece of the larger puzzle.

Sometimes inspiration does not come from one huge event.

Sometimes it comes from small moments that stay with you.

A creator talking about writing.

A person sharing their creative process.

A reminder that ordinary people can create something meaningful.

So when I eventually became an author myself, it felt fitting that Dusty would be someone I thanked.

And once I realized he had a P.O. Box for fan mail, I thought about it.

If I had already written his name in the acknowledgements of my book, why not give him the chance to actually see it?

That was really the reason I decided to send the books.

I wanted him to know his work had an impact.

I wanted him to have the opportunity to read the acknowledgement himself.

I wanted him to have the chance to check out the books if he wanted.

Whether he ever opened them, read them, or talked about them was completely his choice.

There were no expectations.

It was simply gratitude.

A way of saying, “Thank you for being part of my journey.”

I had never sent fan mail to a YouTuber before.

This was a first.

And honestly, that made the decision feel even more meaningful.

Since my books are self-published through Lulu, the process of getting copies to Dusty was not as simple as grabbing books from a shelf.

My books are produced through print-on-demand.

For people unfamiliar with self-publishing, print-on-demand is a system where books are created after an order is placed rather than being mass-produced ahead of time.

Traditional publishing often involves printing large quantities of books, storing them, and distributing them through retailers.

With print-on-demand, the book is printed specifically for the person who orders it.

The files are submitted, the book enters production, it is printed, bound, inspected, packaged, and shipped.

The advantage is that independent authors do not need to spend thousands of dollars upfront printing massive quantities of books.

There is no need for warehouses.

There is no need for storing hundreds of copies.

The book exists whenever someone wants a copy.

The tradeoff is time.

Because each copy has to be produced, there is a waiting period before shipping.

So after placing the order, I waited.

The books went through production.

Then they were shipped.

A few weeks passed.

Then a few more weeks passed as the package traveled.

Eventually, the books arrived.

Seeing your own writing become a physical object never stops being special.

These were not just books.

They represented years of ideas, drafts, revisions, editing, formatting, publishing decisions, and perseverance.

Inside the package were:

Wonderment Within Weirdness.

My Powerful Poems.

Some Small Short Stories.

I carefully packaged everything and sent them to Dusty’s P.O. Box.

Then I waited.

At that point, there was nothing else I could do.

Maybe he would open it.

Maybe he would not.

Maybe he would mention it.

Maybe he would simply keep the books privately.

And honestly, any of those outcomes would have been okay.

The important thing was that I had sent them.

Last week, I saw that the package had been delivered.

That alone made me happy.

The books had reached him.

Then, during the week of July 6, 2026, Dusty picked up the mail.

I still had no idea what would happen.

Creators receive countless packages from viewers. Some things are opened privately. Some things appear on streams. Some things are saved for later.

There was no guarantee.

Then came July 8, 2026.

During Dusty’s livestream, he opened my package.

And suddenly, there they were.

My books.

Watching that moment was difficult to describe.

These books had once existed only as ideas in my head.

Now they were sitting in front of someone whose own creative journey had helped inspire mine.

He picked up My Powerful Poems first.

He reacted to the size of the book and complimented the printing quality.

Then he looked through Some Small Short Stories.

Finally, he reached Wonderment Within Weirdness.

That was the moment that truly hit me.

He opened my debut novel.

He read from the dedication.

Then he reached the acknowledgements.

And he saw that I had thanked him.

Watching that happen was incredibly special.

Not because a YouTuber noticed my books.

But because the reason I sent them was recognized.

He understood that this was someone reaching out with appreciation.

He thanked me for thinking of him.

He complimented the quality of the books.

And he gave my work a moment of recognition.

After the stream ended, I kept thinking about why this moment meant so much.

Eventually, I realized it was because of the connection between the past and the present.

Years ago, I was watching an author who happened to be a YouTuber.

Now, that same person was watching my own journey as an author.

A person who once put his own book into the world was now holding mine.

That is the part that feels like the ultimate full-circle moment.

It is a reminder that creativity connects people in ways we do not always expect.

An author can inspire another author.

A viewer can eventually become a creator.

A person watching someone else’s dream can eventually create a dream of their own.

And sometimes, years later, those paths cross.

Sending these books was not about seeking attention.

It was not about demanding recognition.

It was about gratitude.

It was about saying thank you to someone who, even indirectly, was part of my creative journey.

And the fact that he opened them, read them, and appreciated them made the experience even more memorable.

This was my first time ever sending fan mail to a YouTuber.

And I think it was the perfect reason to do it.

Because sometimes fan mail is not really about receiving something back.

Sometimes it is about finally getting the chance to give something.

A thank you.

A memory.

A reminder that someone’s work mattered.

Years after watching Dusty talk about his own book, I got to experience the incredible feeling of seeing him hold one of mine.

That is something I will never forget.

You can find the segment of Dusty unboxing my books starting at 26:33.