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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Phew!


Hey, really, really sorry about skipping yesterday.  I hate missing days, but Tuesdays and Wednesdays are always my busiest during the week, and on top of that I'm trying to write more words than I'm used to writing.  Dave - I saw your comment about my health, and I absolutely agree, but...  It's just kind of a whirlwind between Monday morning and Thursday afternoon anyway, and even if I wasn't trying to write 50 thousand words (I'm off to a good start - just over nine thousand as of this evening) I would still be tired and cranky and not have any time.  Three tests tomorrow, one scene due (I was thinking about cheating and giving her a scene from one of my novels, but that's not the point of the class) and since I haven't had any time yesterday or today, looks like tonight and tomorrow morning are going to be busy.  But I'm off work now, and in comfy PJs, and hopefully tomorrow I can start contacting all the friends, relatives, and others who have been left in the dark on my side of our communiques.  With any luck, I'll be able to shed this terrible aversion to having a line on my NaNoWriMo page that lists my number of unsuccessful days.  I mean, I'm already three days 'ahead' with nine thousand words, what more do I want?  Isn't my well being and communicating with other people more important that a contest where I don't really need to prove anything to myself?  I'm talking to you, Dad.  I've already written two novels this year.  There, done, mark this year off as a success.  NaNo should be fun, not a black hole where I can't let myself just write like I usually do.

Speaking of, and kind of on a tangent, I am firmly convinced that this year is my year.  Leading into next year, which will also be my year.  And probably also the one after that.  I'm in a wonderful writing class where I'm getting EXCELLENT one on one feedback from my instructor.  I'm entering this years' contest for the GCC literary magazine, where a girl in my class won first place last semester, and, if I don't place there, I'm also going to start submitting the piece to honest to goodness magazines.  I think I'm ready.  Finally, in all honesty to myself, I think I'm ready.  My writing has improved so drastically over the past year that I'm surprised when I go back and read it.  I'm used to reading my own writing and thinking, wow.  I can do better than that.  I'm ashamed that this piece of paper has my name on it.  What was I thinking?  Now, I'm writing things for class in the hour I have before I have to actually be there, and the writing is tighter, the ideas are cohesive, and (in my opinion) it's pretty amazingly structured for a rough, rough draft.  I am impressed with myself for the first time in my life, and it's SUCH an amazing feeling.  I highly recommend it. 

I'm also in a communications class where my teacher is asking for my assistance in editing his book, something I'm super excited to read and help out with.  He's offered me actual money for this, but the other day he offered me something even better.  He has a successful website/blog of his own, and he was considering self publishing because he has the resources available to make it worth his time.  He's offered me a chance to self publish my own book, and he will promote it on his site.  This is something I was considering, because, let's face it, I was and still am very interested in going the traditional publishing route, but since I'm going to have written three books by the end of the year, why not self publish one?  Why not try to get a fan base before I send off a novel to an agent or a publisher?  Especially if the tools are falling right into my lap?  None of my novels are edited, and only one has even been read - I have no idea how professional authors write and edit at the same time, this is something I'm trying to learn very quickly - and that, being the first book in a trilogy, is one that I would really like to publish traditionally.  Still wondering, still thinking, still unsure about what I'm going to do with this new information, but it's very tempting.  My teacher says that if you sell 5-10 thousand copies of an ebook, publishers come to you with book deals.  I have no doubt that that's true, but there's no way I can sell that many copies by myself.  As I've told you all, several times, I have no social marketing skills.  I only have this blog, on a very, very small corner of the internet.  Right now, where I am in the grand scheme of things with this, the dawn of my writing career, I'm happy.  Big things don't need to be happening yet.  But soon.  Very soon.

Thank you all, as always, for being here, for commenting, for even searching for me on Google to get here.  Your reward will be when I become rich and famous, and you'll come to a book signing and tell me, I came to your blog once, in the fall of 2010, before you made it big!  And then I will sign your book anonymously, so you can sell it more easily on Ebay.

I'm kidding.  Fame and fortune are not really my goals, here.  Making a living doing the thing I love most in the world is my goal.  But seriously, thank you, see you tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. I really like your attitude. This is my year. Oh, and next year too. And by the way, they year after that is my year too. In fact, the whole damn decade is mine if you really want to know.

    I doubt very much if Hemingway or Steinbeck ever said, "Well, gee, my writing is okay, I guess. I'll just keep it here in this drawer until I win the lottery or find a four leaf clover or just plain feel lucky." Hell no. They said, my writing is great and I'm sending it out today and any editor would be a damn fool not to publish it before somebody else beats him to it.

    I don't know what to tell you re: self publishing. I think your odds are better getting an agent like you said you were going to do previously. I think that at least the trilogy should be submitted to an agent. Once its edited, of course. Maybe self publish the other one. Dunno. Your call, its only like, you know, your entire future. (ha)

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