Monday, June 30, 2014

Good Blog Post From Dean Wesley Smith

In the latest blog post in his series, The New World Of Publishing, Dean Wesley Smith talks about what he called the "Great Time Of Forgetting." It comes down to setting resolutions and coming to a point during the year when you realize that you've missed them or have fallen away.

He talks about the tendency for writers, especially new writers, to let things distract them particularly in the warmer months of the year. I've been caught up in that, I think. It's more than that but certainly the needs of my family for my time, the beautiful weather, and other real world issues have contributed to me dropping off on my writing.

A Break

In fact, I've unofficially gone on hiatus as a fiction writer. I'm saying it's to recharge my creative batteries and get a grip on what exactly it is I'm trying to do with my writing career. I'm struggling with this. Such factors make it easy to just let it all slide and make excuses for not getting to the storytelling.

Smith presents a number of options to get back on the writing horse and carry on with the learning and writing. He mentions that we're coming up to the halfway point of the year, July 1st. I kind of did a double-take when he said that because I honestly didn't realize that we were already halfway through 2014. It's hard to believe. And I'm feeling disappointed that I've not made as much progress or completed as many stories as I thought I would going in to the new year back in January.

In that way, I've forgotten my resolutions for the year. I've succumbed to the "great forgetting." I know I'm not alone in this, but it still feels lousy. Of the solutions he lists, I like his third option the best, but would consider including some of numbers four and five as well.

Option Three

"Reset completely. " Yes, I could forget any ideas or resolutions I had in place and just start over from scratch. Decide what sort of work I'm going to do and just get busy doing it. He also included taking classes and studying the books of other writers and craft books too because these are successes too since it is very important to keep learning as a fiction writer.

I keep waffling back and forth between writing short stories and novels. I'm not sure why I keep doing this little dance. Doing both really is okay and I should be okay with it. It may even be the smarter option since the more diversity I cultivate for outlets for my work, the more success might be possible for me.

With July 1st around the corner, I have the perfect chance to make the second half of 2014 and full and prosperous writing time. If only I take the first step and commit to writing again. That sounds great; it really does.




Monday, June 23, 2014

Reading, Writing, and Other Thoughts

What is really the best use of a blog for a writer's website? Since I put up this blog six years ago, it has went through various incarnations and been focused on my freelancing and ghostwriting at first and then shifting to more of a focus on my fiction writing. I've written both fiction and nonfiction books and both are listed here. I've done lots of short stories, somewhere near forty so far, and I'd like to think I'll write more in the future.

As a ghostwriter and freelancer I tried to create content to that marketed me. I thought I'd try to be a  pro blogger and build a monetization pipeline centered on good content articles. I did some good work early on but sustaining it and developing incomes streams off it seemed to be taking me farther away from what I originally started writing to do. I wanted to tell stories. I'd written my novel Cries Of The Faithless on the notion that I could get somewhere with fantasy fiction if I just could finish a book. That particular book took far too long to complete. I've written another novel in far less time. And other books have come along too in the course of career so far.

Blogging here has faded a lot. I've not had Free Fiction Friday for a long time now. I haven't done another Dear Writer post because I don't feel like I have anything to say that a thousand other writers are doing on their sites.  I just don't know what to do with this space these days.

Lots of writers I like seem to be more loose with their websites and blogging. They share something of themselves while I feel like I'm a bit uptight. I don't share anything else of myself with readers. I don't talk about the books I'm reading, the movies I've seen, the TV shows I watch, or the the thoughts I'm having. I'm one of those deep thinkers. I used to be able to gather around a table with friends to share those thoughts.

I'm draw to topics like politics, religion, philosophy, and other social issues but worry that opening those various cans of worms might harm my writing career (such as it is). Being totally open on a public forum comes with obvious risks. I get pretty serious about all of that kind of stuff and wonder how I can balance it with a bit of silliness and good humor. All are points I've been musing over for some time now. Now, let me let you behind the curtain…

Reading

Books

1. Blackveil by Kristen Britain
2. Druidry and Meditation by Nimue Brown
3. Death Masks by Jim Butcher

I tend to do a mixture of fiction and nonfiction, though I'll admit that I've been reading far more nonfiction in recent times than fiction. I'm picking my way in pieces through other books, but not enough that I'll list them right now. I also read a lot of articles online. I'm thinking I'll post links more often to stuff that interests me.

Blogs

GalleyCat - blog about books and publishing industry
TheArchdruidReport - blog by author John Michael Greer concerning peak oil, decline of industrial civilization, and other topics
DeanWesleySmith.com - veteran author's personal blog where he talks about writing and the publishing industry.
KrisWrites.com - Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's blog. (She used to have a regular business column called the Business Rusch. Check out the archives. It is invaluable for writers and those interested in publishing.)
Kunstler.com - weekly blog by cantankerous author and social critic, James Howard Kunstler.
SuperHeroHype.com - media blog about current and upcoming superhero, comic book, fantasy, and sci-fi films.

Writing

Ah, the hard part. I've not been writing all that much lately. I've been distracted by real life in various forms. Its been a nearly a month since I've written at anything approaching a regular manner. I did do a couple of pages the other day, but I couldn't keep going with a streak. I've tried novels and short stories both, but can't seem to hit on anything that really grabs me enough to continue. It's frustrated and stressed me out to the point where the notion of writing even a sentence of a story just didn't seem all that fun.

For the most part, I think I've entered a bit of a hiatus while I recharge my creative batteries. Not sure how long it will last. It's lasted a while as it is. Fiction is still something I want to do but just not now. I may end up writing on other subjects, nonfiction ones in particular. I'm keep two journals now; one for regular matters and another for spiritual content.

Part of the issues with writing come from getting too concerned with peripheral issues like what sort of books I "should be" writing or whether I'm writing series books or stand-alones. What genre is the right one for me? Should I write short stories for markets? And on and on it all goes. I've hit a critical mass, so to speak, and just have to shut down until I can get focused on enjoying the craft of storytelling. That's the plain truth of the matter.

I'm also discouraged that my current offerings are not selling, but I know the attitude I need to adopt in that area, so it is just about getting on with the work when I can again. Real life has more than enough to engage me right now so getting tangled up in fictional worlds will probably just take backseat for a time.

Publishing

That all being said I will still have two other novels coming out in the coming weeks and months and with luck, a long-overdue nonfiction book. My work as a publisher will be requiring more attention as a few new titles by other authors need to be readied for publication. I've been going over lists for upcoming releases and do all sorts of other little chores so for anybody interested in that you can hop over to the Founders House Publishing website.