Oh, hello there.

[barbarienne]

Obviously, I have been ignoring LJ for a while. This is sad-making. The main reason is Dayjob, as it so often is. Pretty much I get home and the last thing I want to do is be on the internet. My writing computer is not hooked up to the net (yes, everything gets backed up by hand

Comments

[kateelliott]

[barbarienne]

You are a professional novelist. Your career depends on a particular plan and approach. Like any job, it has its benefits and drawbacks. I assume that the benefits outweigh the limitations for you. You've been doing it a long time--I have to assume you enjoy it. :-)

The one benefit amateurs have over professionals is that we can do whatever we want to with our work. I don't recall who, but within the past year I read some advice from a professional writer that basically said, "Enjoy the freedom you have before you have a contract. It's the last time you'll be able to do whatever you want." I decided to wallow in that. It's much less stressful.

[kateelliott]

[ospreys_view]

"So I've gone back to doing what I did when I was a teenager: writing for fun. For me. And not giving a shit about the industry, or potential saleability, or whether anyone but me will care if it's any good. It's been remarkably freeing. "

And this is exactly what I've been doing and for exactly the same reasons. I really like my day job. At times, it consumes all my mental energy, so now I write when I have the energy and have a lot of fun doing so. If my stories only amuse my friends, well, so be it.

Enjoy the fun.

[barbarienne]

I don't know that I really like my day job, but it's not bad, and sometimes it's good. Also, I get paid way better than a typical midlist novelist, and have excellent bennies. Seems to me that professional-but-not-bestseller writers either need to be comfortable with unsteady income, or have a dependable life partner.

[clarentine]

I am hoping, at least, that the critical mass necessary to really catch and hold an audience can be achieved (via self- or e-pubbing, anyway) with something other than quick production--readily available backlist, maybe?--because I am so in your boat re slooow writing process. There is no way I could ever produce a book a year. (Sorry, Agent.) There's just too much life in the way of getting those words on paper, and I don't think that's a flaw.

[barbarienne]

That's sort of my plan. When I have some critical mass (oh, all 5 books...) written, I'll see about getting it published by a real publisher, and if they're not interested, then what the hell, it won't hurt to self/e-pub.

[barbarienne]

Though I should note that guys like GRRM, Pat Rothfuss, and Scott Lynch demonstrate the opposite. Under certain circumstances, a writer can take 5 years between books and it just creates pent-up demand that shoots their book onto the bestseller list when it finally comes out.

[clarentine]

When did the publishing industry start pushing authors towards the book-a-year diet, do you know? I don't think it used to be like that.