Writing and the full time job ... blech.

Real life caught up with me there and I dipped into that temptation again -- to drop the blog and hunker down on just writing my fiction. At these times, I even stop looking for places to sell my story. I'm just trying to get a few words further down on the page, the writer's version of putting one foot in front of the other.

My good buddy, Chuck Wendig, put out some good advice this week.

"You read, and you read critically.
You write, and you write critically.
And you do both of these things as often as humanly possible.
Which means: daily.
DAILY.
Daily!"

That's part of a good post about writers and their feeling of self-validation ... especially if they're not published yet. This On Cultivating Instinct As An Inkslinging Penmonkey is a good pep talk. Even though I was an award-winning copywriter, I had the same issue. I'd say, "I'm an 'aspiring novelist,'" or I'd have to throw in the, "but I'm not published yet" disclaimer.  I had a friend though, who kept hammering at me to stop that. "You've had a full time job writing ads. You've won awards. You're a writer, stop it!"

Terry Goodkind, has said that when he decided to start working on his book that he'd tell people that he was a best selling writer. His wife would ask, "Why tell people that, you haven't published anything yet."

His answer? "Then why am I writing in the first place?"

Small side note, Goodkind sold his first manuscript for over $270K ... and he's dyslexic. For him, writing takes a little longer and he's more thorough in his self-edits, but his learning disability and work schedule never stopped him. Consider him the Lance Armstrong of writing.

On that note, I'm going to go for a focus for my next few posts. I've got a short story that's been through one more round of editing and then it's off to Kindle Singles. I'll take you along that journey and see how it goes.

Remember that fellow I mentioned in a previous blog, Hugh Howey, was on a New Writer's panel at WorldCon. He was singing the praises of e-publishing.

Now I can see why.

When he said that Hollywood was calling, he never mentioned Ridley Scott, nor did he mention that his sales sometimes his six figures in a month.

Go Hugh, go!

Pffft. Why blog about writing?

There's a short story sitting in another window that needs a little polish and some exposition before I try Amazon Singles. But here I am blogging.

It's a new skill that a lot of us have to master.  Most mid-range to high mid-range authors must blog to keep their hungry fans fed and engaged. So it's time for me to hop off the fence and ride this horse.

I've avoided blogging for a long time. I had stories to write, and no time to blog. And for a while, I knew writers who had stopped blogging for that reason.

For me that time is precious, I have a learning disad so I write slower than I like and I have to rewrite more often than not. Spontaneous, flawless blogging is not my forte.

I've discovered that blogging is a juggling act. You have to make it "steal" time from things other than writing, like surfing the Internet, watching TV or eating a snack in the kitchen. i.e., instead of procrastinating, I'm blogging.

So I'm taking a break from writing to do more writing. That's all good in my book.

It's all part of a regular pattern I've noticed in my life. Every year, I look back and say "Man, twelve months ago I thought I was serious about writing. What I've done since then blows that out of the water."  I've gotten better skills, more discipline or I got a better handle on the business side of the craft.

Who knows what I might master next year.

P.S. In keeping with the whole spontaneous thing, I'm not trying to rewrite these blogs much. So advance apologies for any massive typos.

Some days it's all about the luck ... or the ebook.

Ack!

So I have a unpolished trunk novel that's missing an ending and a novel that's about a third finished.

So when I see that Harper Collinshas a meager two week window for an Open Call, I feel like I got caught with my pants down.

The interesting side note is that they will take any ebooks that you wholly own the rights to. Which is one more step in that ladder that points to new authors putting their wares out on the Internet first before they even look for an agent or a publisher.

At this years awesome WorldCon, Hugh Howey (who wrote Wool) said that if hadn't been for epublsihing, the agents, publishers and Hollywood would have never come calling.

So in a past full of regrets, should have I sent my little trunk novel out in the world ages ago? I'm not sure, I'm not feeling it.

But the now's got a different vibe. I'd bet you donuts that a lot of lazy agents and publishers are seeing the Amazon as the world biggest slush pile and they're watching how we vote for best e-stories with our dollars.

Technology ... with it. without it. or in spite of it.

The process of writing is unique. For me, rewriting is a craft that requires more discipline than passion. I get a bigger charge from the creativity and creation of new characters, new worlds and new ways to emotionally connect to the reader.

That difference also means that I never have an excuse when it comes to writing my first draft. First drafts are messy affairs where needing tech is optional.

 If my laptop is down, there's my dumb smart phone*.

If my phone battery is down, there's my comp book.

If that's at home, then there's scrap paper.

So as a writer, you never have to be bored because whether you're cooking, waiting for a download, or standing in line, you have an opportunity to write. A sentence here and phrase there throughout the day adds up. And as a writer with a day job, you have to make compromises to keep your momentum -- and your morale -- going.

Your take away from this should be that nothing can stop you from writing. Not your tech, not your schedule and most of all not your attitude.

*Written with my dumb smart phone and a Nook since my laptop crashed. ... With a little formatting after the fact with my revived laptop.

The Prolog ... Proluge ... Prologue

A lot of writers will tell you that a prologue isn't the best way to start a novel. In their context, the prologue is an "extra" chapter at the start of the book. It might be directly related the hero we get to meet in Chapter One, or it might be something that establishes the stakes.

If you turn the handle back on the time machine, you'll see that same bit of real estate used to establish the story via "Once upon a Time" or the Greek Chorus.  Today, we call these two techniques infodumping or bad exposition. ... or irony.

Modern readers want a through line. They want Point A to Point B without any scenic drives or major detours. And we writers are told that every line has to carry as much weight as it can to pull the story through, expose the inner workings of the world/culture and provide symbolism. (We're also not supposed to start a sentence with a conjunction.)

It's like we're modern illusionists. We stand on the shoulders of giants, but our sophisticated audiences won't let us pull a rabbit out of a hat (or mash up our metaphors.)

Yet our readers assume our stories are written as they find them. Efficient sentences fill of motion and depth. If you nailed the story like that, why do you need a prologue?

In truth, the final draft is like a graduate marching to the stage for her diploma. She might be polished and ready for ivy school or still rough around the edges. Either way, the kid started out as a messy toddler flinging hot dogs and dropping Cheerios on the floor.

Things like theme and symbolism come several drafts later, if at all. Whole reams of world building gets parsed down to sentences slipped in here and there. And the story grew past its cut and dry ending, evolving into a different, richer climax that you never saw coming.

So what the F#%^ has that got to do with the Writer's Bright Cave?!?

Well, this blog is my own messy start at tackling the fiction business -- so as my first and only warning.

Until the ball gets really rolling, you might find this more of a prologue. This is where I set up the "where I came from" and "where I want to go." I'll also toss out my ideas of what's happening in this now crazy-time of publishing.

So please accept my invitation to join me in this trip. There will be  afew detours and maybe a "Once Upon a Time" or two, but that's part of the fun -- seeing where this all goes.

I promise to leave out the Greek Chorus, though, until I get this YouTube thing down.