iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Axum carries a god’s mark that isn’t his. He and his sister flee to New Akkad, ruled by God-King Gilgamesh, who’s been alive for thousands of years and still can’t stand to lose anything. A man in a black suit stalks him. He’s been trying to be humane about it. #DVpit #YA #F

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Detention keeps sixteen-year-old Axum from walking his sister home. That afternoon she’s kidnapped. The note says he’ll find her where his fear is greatest. His only help: his best friend, who can control sand with her mind and scours Detroit. A CHANCE AT LIFE #DVpit #YA #F

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Axum dies saving his sister. Wakes up with an ancient god’s stolen power. Then is somehow still 30 minutes late for school. “Power. Choice. Death.” Would you trust a teenager to choose who lives and dies? Neither do his friends. A CHANCE AT LIFE #DVpit #YA #F

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A teenager is given an ancient god's stolen power to keep him alive after dying to save his sister and will kill for the people he loves as quickly as he will die for them. Mesopotamian myth. Percy Jackson with consequences and an antihero in the making. #DVpit #YA #F

200

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What do you do when you take away the only thing a God cares about? A CHANCE AT LIFE, Book II #DVParty #YA #Fantasy

060

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Opening line of A CHANCE AT LIFE, my #YA #Fantasy book: “Shields Up!” is all he can hear as thousands of bodies collide on the bleeding sand-covered sea of battle. #DVparty

1141

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The mood board for A CHANCE AT LIFE which is my #YA #Fantasy book I am currently querying! #DVparty

Dark moodboard linking modern Detroit to ancient Babylon. Top: the Detroit skyline lit up at night across the river, the bearded stone head and wing of a winged guardian in shadow, and a bright painted reconstruction of Babylon with a stepped ziggurat in bands of blue, gold, red and orange. Middle: John Martin's engraving of Belshazzar's Feast, a vast palace hall in darkness with a blast of white light breaking in. Bottom: a headless black stone statue with clasped hands, a bronze sword in low light, the roaring head of a blue and gold glazed-brick lion from Babylon's Ishtar Gate, and an ivory carving of a young man fighting a griffin. Public domain and CC0 images from The Met, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and Wikimedia Commons.

4320

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

020

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

What is one conversation you keep avoiding that you know would change everything? You do not have to have it today. Just name it. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Sandy Johnson told me the best mentors do not come from networking events. They come from organic connection and showing up as yourself. Full conversation: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Sandy Johnson told me the best mentors do not come from networking events. They come from organic connection and showing up as yourself. Full conversation: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Communication is not a soft skill. It is the skill that makes every other skill visible. If you want to lead, sell, or build anything meaningful, this is where you start. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Sandy Johnson spent two hours on the phone with a grieving fan she had never met. No agenda. No script. Just presence. That is what communication that counts looks like. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Vulnerability is not a weakness in communication. It is the willingness to be seen before you are understood. Sandy Johnson taught me that. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Sandy Johnson delivered one word in Halloween that became cinema history. But off screen, her real superpower is vulnerability. Our full conversation: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Most podcasts fail for the same reason most managers fail: talking TO people instead of WITH them. Communication isn't a broadcast. It's a conversation. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The loudest person in the room isn’t usually doing the most important work. The skill nobody trains for? Learning to hear what isn’t being said.

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Which of these 5 patterns do you use most? Which one do you struggle with? ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Sandy Johnson, Jean Belcher, Nappi Devi — and 57+ more guests all confirmed these patterns. Full conversations: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

4. Find your hedgehog — one thing, done relentlessly (Jean Belcher calls this the hedgehog concept for career fulfillment) 5. Have the conversation with yourself first — before the pitch, before the meeting

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

1. Close the gap between what you mean and what people hear 2. Say the hard thing first — not after small talk 3. Build through genuine relationships, not cold outreach (Nappi Devi's entire career in Detroit proves this)

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

5 communication patterns from 60+ podcast interviews that I keep coming back to: A thread from Conversations That Count.

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Sandy Johnson on the conversation that changes everything: it’s not the big pitch. It’s the one you have with yourself about whether you’re worth showing up for. From Conversations That Count: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Most communication advice is backwards. It teaches you to speak clearly. The real skill is knowing when NOT to speak. 60+ guests confirmed this. Still working on it myself. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

60+ interviews. One pattern keeps showing up: The highest performers don't communicate more. They communicate at the moment it matters most. That's what CTC is about. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

New episode — and it's just me this time. Why I built Conversations That Count, what 60+ interviews taught me about communication and leadership. Listen here: ctcpodcast.media

010

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

60+ interviews. One pattern keeps showing up: the best communicators don't speak more clearly. They close the gap between what they mean and what people hear. That's what CTC is about. ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

New episode — just me this time. Why I built Conversations That Count and what 60+ interviews taught me about the gap between what you mean and what people hear. Listen here: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

New episode — just me this time. Why I built Conversations That Count and what 60+ interviews taught me about the gap between what you mean and what people hear. Listen here: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

New episode — just me this time. Why I built Conversations That Count and what 60+ interviews taught me about the gap between what you mean and what people hear. Listen here: ctcpodcast.media

000

David Shaft | YA Fantasy @davidshaftofficial.bsky.social · 05/03/2026