Quicker Quicksand

So.

I'm nearly 29,000 words into Quicksand, 7/800 of those written today while I was home from my day job with a bad case of having no voice (this being the result of having almost no voice yesterday and still having to talk on the phone for 9 hours).  I finished the second-to-last scene in the first story (of which there are three) - the one you've been reading with Craven Lorne, Minty and the gang - and now have only five planned scenes left to write for the whole of the book.

Then of course, I need to edit.  That's a whole other kettle of fish.

I'm toying with the idea of starting a Kickstarter campaign to publish it once it's finished.  That is, to get it professionally copy-edited, host a small launch party and send out a few review copies, since I'll likely do the cover design and internal layout myself. 

I'm a bit surprised that this one has taken me longer than it took me to finish Aigaion Girl, especially because I don't foresee it totalling much more than 35,000 words, which means it will be a novella, even with three separate story lines.  But there you go.  I suppose your priorities change as you get older, and sleep has definitely crept up on my list a bit in the last year or so.

I think that's all for my updates for the moment.  I should have more to follow soon.

... and other stuff

So, Aigaion Girl turns two this month, which is kind of a big deal and simultaneously not a big deal at all.  In some ways, it feels like it's been a lot longer than two years and in some ways, like it's still very new, just stepping into the world.  I feel like there's a lot more I could and should be doing with it, but still, I'm glad it's out there.

Also, there's this.  It's one of those things that you read and think, Damn, I wish I'd written that - and if you're a writer (and, more especially, if you know a writer) you should definitely give it a read.

I read it yesterday and I couldn't have discovered it at a better time; I'd just spent an evening being told everything I'm doing wrong in terms of marketing myself and that my decision to self-publish was completely incorrect and that I have to do this, this and this to become famous and get rich - since we all know getting rich is why we became writers to begin with.  The letter linked above made me feel instantly better, grounded and more confident.  I'm not going to be quitting my day job anytime soon, but the letter was refreshing and made me remember that one day, I will.

50,000!

I thought you might like to know that, between all of the DevCo-writing NaNoWriMo participants, we've passed the 50,000 word mark.  Most of this, I must confess, is down to E.

I'm under par, but pretty much back to where I want to be, IE, needing to write 2,000 words per day to finish on time.  I wrote 7,400 words this weekend to catch up, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself, if a little exhausted.

I have an early morning meeting at my day job tomorrow, so it's off to bed for me, but for those of you back in Canadaland, enjoy the rest of your writing day!

Rain

It started raining last week.  Not heavy but endless.  Cold, constant, November rain. 

There aren't any animals.  If there are any left, they're in hiding, curled up under a tree somewhere, waiting for the rain to stop.  You can see faces, too, in the windows of other houses, staring out at you, watching the rain and wondering the same thing you've been wondering all along: is this it?

Of course it's not it.  You tell yourself that over and over again.  Of course it's not.  But you don't know, not for sure.

The world will end on a Tuesday, there isn't any question.  The only uncertain thing is which Tuesday it will choose - and where all the calenders have gone.

That's my flashy thing for the writing prompt I put up on Monday.  I had the idea for it during heavy rain yesterday, and wrote it just now - the sky is a crisp blue and cloudless, the sun is shining - we definitely are not having apocalyptic type rains here.

So I'm gearing up for NaNo, and working like a nut to finish my All Hallow's Read poster.  I only found out about the contest last week, so creating something worthy of AHR in that time is not going to be easy - that being said, I am at the finishing touches stage, so I should have it in by the end of the weekend, and I'll definitely post a link to it when I have.

I also finally got myself another day job, which is good (yay!) but is also a minimum of 45 hours per week (also yay!) - which means NaNoWriMo is going to be CRAZY this year, especially since I'm also going to Prague for four days at the end of next week (super yay!) - I'm going to have to write at least 2,000 words per day at the end of a 9 hour shift - but I was reading through my (now 16 page) outline a couple of days ago, and I really do think this story is going to be good.

Graphs vs. Booze

So, despite the whole not-having-a-day-job thing, my plan to write full time hasn't exactly been working out. I'd like to say that there are many reasons for this, moving and looking for a day job and stuff like that. The truth is, I could write, if I put the time in. I spent fifteen minutes today looking at FailBook. Entertaining, yes. Helpful to me in any way, not so much. I just feel so lost.

My solution to this (same as my solution to a lot of things, really) was to make a spreadsheet and set a goal for myself. The spreadsheet is really simple: Across the top are the days of the month. Down the side, are a list of my current stories (some of my current stories, I should say; I have some to add) and a space for new work. In the remaining spaces will be my word count, IE the total word count for each of the stories and the total word count for each day. The goal I set is also really simple. I will write a minimum of 1000 words per day and at least 500 of those have to be on an existing story. The rest can be spread amongst anything, other existing stories, new material, blog entries, etc.*

Because I'm a nerd, what I'm most excited about is being able to track my progress through the graphs which I will periodically make. I'm hoping this will give me the motivation I need to get back on the writing track. My other (not as good) solution is to resort to Redbull and gin, and see where that gets me. At the moment, I'm thinking graphs are a better idea

*Yes, this counts. I've just upped today's word count by 286 :)

Edit: I wrote this on May 1st. Since then, I should have written almost 3000 words, and I'm sitting at just over 700. Shame does not begin to describe it. Anyway, should get cracking; I have a lot of catching up to do.

Quit Your Day Job

Since I was about sixteen, I've known what I want to do with my life. I want to write. I do write, of course, but I want to write full time.

The problem with this, I think, is that I'm not a very good writer. Don't get me wrong, I write very well*, but the fact is, I'm lazy. I'm inconsistent. I'll write for days at a time, forgo showering and eating, answer people with one-word sentences or entirely incoherent grunts - and I'll spend weeks at a time only writing a sentence here or there, marking down things I need to research to be dealt with later. I flit from one story to the next, so nothing ever gets finished.

When I was younger, I put a lot more into my writing, because I had a lot more to put. My last year of high school, I went to school full time, worked full time and wrote in every spare minute. I kept track of tonnes of stories in my head and never wrote outlines because I didn't need them. The only class I never skipped was Writer's Craft, because it was the only class I cared about - and the only one that I could really see benefiting me in the long run.

As I've gotten older, my ability to keep my energy up, my ability to keep track of everything I'm doing, and my ability to go for several nights without sleep and not feel the effects, have slowly drained away - but the bad habits I got into as a teenager have never really left me.

Of course, the other thing - the more important thing - which hasn't left me, is my desire and determination to be a full-time writer.

There are a lot of theories out there on how one gets to be a full-time writer - and a lot of advice. Make contacts, build a platform, hire editors, do market research, take classes, submit work, read. It can't all be good, but I think most of it probably is, or at the very least, well-intentioned - but what you don't often see, or what I don't often see, is reference to the Nike approach. Just Do It.

I'm starting to think that could be the way to go. I want to write full time, so I will write full time. The end. I'm not saying I'm going to quit my day job and go live under a bridge with my laptop, a sleeping bag and an extension cord, but I think (and I could, admittedly, be very wrong) that the best way to become a full-time writer could very well be to simply write all of the time. If I put the time in, to writing and writing-related activities (including, of course, the platforms and submissions and reading and networking), it may well be enough to get myself noticed.

And if I'm wrong, I'll be spending a lot of time doing something I love. I'm having trouble seeing the bad there.

*I hope I write very well. If not, I've wasted an awful lot of time and energy on something which has brought me joy but may never bring me money or esteem or recognition of any kind.

Marketing Time.

I've been thinking about self-promotion and marketing, trying to figure out what works best. What I've come up with is that, whatever it is, it's time-consuming.

There's the Twitter thing. I haven't built up the number of followers on Twitter that I'd like, but honestly, I don't think it's difficult to do, just time consuming. I know of someone who, in addition to random Twittery things (My dog looks so cute in her Easter outfit) just posts random motivational sayings directly out of a book of random motivational sayings - and has over 1000 followers - but she posts a few times a day. I hardly ever remember to even go to Twitter... but if I did, if I posted every single day, even just random bits of stuff, I might be able to get a bit of a following, and then I could post things to promote myself... could work.

Also, the repeatedly-googling-my-book-title-thing. At one time, Aigai-- autocompleted into Aigaion Girl because I spent a lot of time repeatedly googling my book title. Now, even if you type in all of Aigaion the software comes up before my book - because I just don't have the time to type my book title into a Google search bar 200 times a day. But it would be nice. I could definitely do with my book being at the top of the results page.

Reviews would be great. A lot of reviews. But I'm still not sure how to get them. A huge part of me is tempted to mail random copies of my book to completely random people - just pick names out of a phone book or something like that - because people who blog are likely to post something about it anyway. "I got this random book in the mail today, WTF?" would probably generate a fair bit of googling, if nothing else... but then that's kind of creepy, isn't it? Just mailing things to random people.

Also, contests. I think contests that are free to enter do well. They're certainly my favourite kind.

I'm mostly just thinking out loud and I really should get back to work. This is my last night at my day(night) job, and I want to make sure everything is done properly.

The People You Know

***First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a happy 2011 filled with book deals and adoring fans.***

Most writers write with an audience in mind, even if that audience is only a vague: people like me. Sometimes it's way more specific, with age, gender, even socioeconomic standing or ethnicity taken into consideration. Who a writer writes for will vastly alter what s/he writes, not to mention what gets cut during editing.

So, what I'm wondering is, do you ever find yourself writing for the people you know? Do you worry about what your friends and family will think about a certain scene, concept or character? Do you avoid basing characters off of friends of friends or colleagues, in case they're recognized.

There's no denying it can get awkward. It's kind of hard to hand your Dad a piece of writing with a sex scene and say, here, read this and not feel weird about it.

The popular theory seems to be that it's not what, but who you know that will determine your success as a writer. One of the best tools a writer has is his/her circle of acquaintance. Word-of-mouth is an excellent form of promotion (I know I'm personally a lot more likely to read a book based on a recommendation from someone with similar taste than I am to read one because it's a best-seller), but I find it kind of difficult to approach people and ask them to promote me - and even more difficult if they themselves are not part of my target audience, or worse, I know they're likely to disapprove of what I've written.

So, do you skip sex scenes to prevent your dad from reading them, or skirt religious debates to avoid upsetting your grandparents, try not to rail against your day job to placate your boss?

Do you just not tell people what you're writing and hope that some never find out?

Alternatively, do you just write the way you want to write, release your writing into the world and reap the whirlwind (/backlash)?

I was terrified to let Aigaion Girl go. I wrote it happily enough, not really giving any thought to anything other than the flow of the story, the realism of the characters, the cadence of the prose--It never occurred to me that I should avoid certain topics or images - until I was getting ready to publish, and realized that somewhere along the way, there was good chance my grandmother was going to read it. She won't, thankfully*. I was actually a little surprised that I didn't experience more negativity from my extended family. I didn't send them all invitations to join my Facebook fan page or anything, but, especially with social networking sites like FB, it's kind of impossible to keep my writing secret from anyone without using a pseudonym.

So there's a question, too: Is it worth it to write under another name, so that you can write with abandon?

Really, I'm just curious to know how other writers deal with their family and friends when it comes to their writing - how much of a consideration friends and family are.


*I love my Gran and I don't want to read something that I know will upset her (I've since been told by others that the book is really sexual, which surprised me because all the sex scenes are fade-to-black).

I'm not sure if this counts as a prompt

I was thinking, as a kind of Christmas challenge, it would be cool if we each tried to write a 100 word Xmas story before midnight on Christmas. Neil Gaiman's Nicholas Was is proof that it can be done, but I know everyone is busy around the holidays, so no worries if you've got other things on the go. 'Twas just a thought.

If you wanted to make yours a horror story, I found some inspiration for you. Good lord, that guy is horrifying. Combined with the semi-scary classical Xmas music I'm obliged to listen to at work, I may just have nightmares tonight (or tomorrow, or whenever I sleep next).

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Solstice and a Merry Christmas /Winter Holiday of Your Choosing and a Happy New Year. Joys of the season to you :)

Don't Get Me Wrong; I Love the NaNo Peptalks

I think they're fantastic (I was especially fond of the one today from Lemony Snicket). But with a only week to go until the end of November, I thought some of us (me) could use some motivation that's a little more... agressive. Rhiannon deserves the credit for finding this; I'm just passing along the joy of her discovery. It actually applies to all writers at all times, but I think it's especially apt right now. So, without further adieu, a snippet of the Writer's Prayer by Chuck Wendig:

I am a writer, and I will finish the shit that I started.

I will not whine. I will not blubber. I will not make mewling whimpering cryface pissypants boo-hoo noises. I will not sing lamentations to my weakness.

If you want to read the whole thing (and you should, because it is both motivational and incredibly hillarious), you can do so here, on Terrible Minds.

Now I'm off to actually start working at my day(night)-job

A Quick Thought About Marketing and Day Jobs

I'm amazed that day job wasn't already a tag, given the nature of DevCo and the nature of writing today (as in, skill and perseverance pretty much have to be combined with unbelievable luck in order to get far ahead enough to no longer require a day job), but there you have it. I'm at mine right now.

I came up with a great marketing idea, or at least an OK marketing idea, involving Twitter (I know :p). I thought I would post something every day (maybe first thing in the morning) telling people the best rate for Aigaion Girl and where they can find it. Eventually, the constant posts have to get someone's attention, right?

So that's my thought. How it pertains to my day job: I don't have a computer of my own, so I have to use the one at work - and that one won't let me use Twitter; it has some antiquated net nanny thing on it which I could probably disable really easily, but am not going to because I like my day job bosses.

OK, I think that's it for me. I'd put up a picture of Marco, but the only one I have is at home.