Happy NaNoWriMo!
Hello, dear fellow LJers!
In honor of NaNoWriMo, I will post here Dean Wesley Smith's first of 10 blog entries where he writes a 69K novel in 10 days:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/ghost-novel-day-1/
Also, through the miracle of linking, I ran into this great speech about the new normal in the creative world: http://thecomicscomic.com/2012/07/27/patton-oswalts-letters-to-both-sides-his-keynote-address-at-montreals-just-for-laughs-2012/
One of Patton's best quotes for me was: "College is the 21st century. Show up if you want to, there’s an essay, there’s a paper, and there’s a final. And you decide how well you do on them, and that’s it. And then after you’re done with that, you get even more autonomy whether you want it or not because you’re an adult now."
That's me. I have finally decided to graduate college.
It was a long road to get here. I wanted the external validation that traditional publishing would convey. But I've been watching the years flee by, my novels get older and less relevant (particularly the SF), and the agents get more fixated on how well I do my one-page or one-paragraph query so they don't have to figure out how to sell my book. Listen, I'm a novelist; I don't do the back-book blurb well. I just don't, at least not well enough to catch an agent's eye. And I haven't, after literally years of due diligence.
What truly put the nail in the coffin was seeing Kristine Kathryn Rusch at MileHiCon in Denver last weekend. She reported that 4 out of 5 top agents embezzled from her (and as a solid writer she was working with big agencies). That matches the story of one of my writer friends who did mysteries. Further, her additional rights sales only took off when she managed them, because an agent with 50 clients can't be bothered with such low-margin return.
Finally I said to myself, "Self? Why the heck are you beating on a door that's no longer going to get you where you need to go?"
Kris and Dean are really inspirational speakers, and I spent much of Saturday spiraling through their blogs. I have to say I'm not a fan of their particular way of producing fiction. I read Dean's 10-day novel experience, and it really didn't look fun to me. He'd removed all the comments when he updated his site, and some of my concerns may have been answered at one time, but I'm thinking, "Where's the research? Where's the passion for what he's writing? What is he saying that's heart-felt or new?" Yes, I understand this is a work-for-hire, but if all you're doing is putting words on a page and turning it in, I can get paid better at my current job.
For me to make the shift to creative writing, I want to have it be those things: fun, heart-felt, new. And I'm intimidated as hell at not being able to deliver. But I'm watching the years tick by, and I have the sinking feeling that it's now or never. I can continue working for the Man, or I can try (yet again, for perhaps the 4th time in my life) to make my living, as Sherlock Holmes says, "by my wits."
I'm a lone dog at my current company. I miss a community. I had so much fun at the conference, and I thought, "These are my people." This could be my community, not just a couple of times a year, but all the time. I could spend my days interacting with people who know what I'm up to and are up to the same thing.
So I decided to hire a husband and wife team to publish my backlog for me. One of my jobs this weekend is to go through my published list and decide what to post as an "indie" author. I want to at least get my stories out there. By engaging a team, I don't have to do the learning curve all in one go. I can see what they do, and then replicate it for future books. I'll get some experience with what works and what doesn't before I try it on a new, real book.
Hat's off to all of you who are writing. This TLDR entry is really only to say, "I'm back and I'm going to try once again."
Hugs to all of you-- my community. :)
In honor of NaNoWriMo, I will post here Dean Wesley Smith's first of 10 blog entries where he writes a 69K novel in 10 days:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/ghost-novel-day-1/
Also, through the miracle of linking, I ran into this great speech about the new normal in the creative world: http://thecomicscomic.com/2012/07/27/patton-oswalts-letters-to-both-sides-his-keynote-address-at-montreals-just-for-laughs-2012/
One of Patton's best quotes for me was: "College is the 21st century. Show up if you want to, there’s an essay, there’s a paper, and there’s a final. And you decide how well you do on them, and that’s it. And then after you’re done with that, you get even more autonomy whether you want it or not because you’re an adult now."
That's me. I have finally decided to graduate college.
It was a long road to get here. I wanted the external validation that traditional publishing would convey. But I've been watching the years flee by, my novels get older and less relevant (particularly the SF), and the agents get more fixated on how well I do my one-page or one-paragraph query so they don't have to figure out how to sell my book. Listen, I'm a novelist; I don't do the back-book blurb well. I just don't, at least not well enough to catch an agent's eye. And I haven't, after literally years of due diligence.
What truly put the nail in the coffin was seeing Kristine Kathryn Rusch at MileHiCon in Denver last weekend. She reported that 4 out of 5 top agents embezzled from her (and as a solid writer she was working with big agencies). That matches the story of one of my writer friends who did mysteries. Further, her additional rights sales only took off when she managed them, because an agent with 50 clients can't be bothered with such low-margin return.
Finally I said to myself, "Self? Why the heck are you beating on a door that's no longer going to get you where you need to go?"
Kris and Dean are really inspirational speakers, and I spent much of Saturday spiraling through their blogs. I have to say I'm not a fan of their particular way of producing fiction. I read Dean's 10-day novel experience, and it really didn't look fun to me. He'd removed all the comments when he updated his site, and some of my concerns may have been answered at one time, but I'm thinking, "Where's the research? Where's the passion for what he's writing? What is he saying that's heart-felt or new?" Yes, I understand this is a work-for-hire, but if all you're doing is putting words on a page and turning it in, I can get paid better at my current job.
For me to make the shift to creative writing, I want to have it be those things: fun, heart-felt, new. And I'm intimidated as hell at not being able to deliver. But I'm watching the years tick by, and I have the sinking feeling that it's now or never. I can continue working for the Man, or I can try (yet again, for perhaps the 4th time in my life) to make my living, as Sherlock Holmes says, "by my wits."
I'm a lone dog at my current company. I miss a community. I had so much fun at the conference, and I thought, "These are my people." This could be my community, not just a couple of times a year, but all the time. I could spend my days interacting with people who know what I'm up to and are up to the same thing.
So I decided to hire a husband and wife team to publish my backlog for me. One of my jobs this weekend is to go through my published list and decide what to post as an "indie" author. I want to at least get my stories out there. By engaging a team, I don't have to do the learning curve all in one go. I can see what they do, and then replicate it for future books. I'll get some experience with what works and what doesn't before I try it on a new, real book.
Hat's off to all of you who are writing. This TLDR entry is really only to say, "I'm back and I'm going to try once again."
Hugs to all of you-- my community. :)