The Slutty Writer

“To write a book you have to have a weird maddening mix of impossibly high standards and slutty low, low standards. At the same time. The whole time you are writing.” –Heather Sellers, Chapter After Chapter

I just turned in my third book. More precisely, the complete-overhaul-revision of the third book. Which makes the third time I’ve turned this particular storyline in to this particular publisher.

The first time, I was told that the novel had too much going on (I agreed) and to split it into two separate books (I did). Alyea, Deiq, and Eredion’s POV sequences were published in March 2011 as “Guardians of the Desert”. I sorted out the other POVs, tidied them up and gave them a facelift, and resubmitted them as book three.

The story of that version is here. (Go ahead, refresh your memory, I’ll wait.)

So this version, this third version, this third run past editorial eyes…I tore it completely down to the ground and built it up again from scratch. It’s the same story, if you look at the bones of the plot; the same basic things happen. But how they happen has changed. There’s a small example of what I’m talking about here. There’s a lot more depth, a lot more complexity, a lot more intentional braiding and minor thread storylines worked throughout.

(And unintentional braiding. One of my test readers, looking at the index card timeline chart I have spread out all over the dining room wall at the moment, told me I really needed to publish the series timeline as an appendix in this book, because the overlap of how things are happening in different areas at the same time fascinated her. And I agree–because there are coincidences of timing that I had no intention of setting up, but which are truly neat nonetheless.)

I’m very proud of this version. I’m very confident of it. I’ve cried and laughed while writing it. I’ve made my test readers laugh–and cry–with it. I think I done pretty durn good on this one.

Is it perfect? Not a chance. Not a bleepity bleepity chance. But it’s good enough–as opposed to the previous version, which I told myself was good enough–but wasn’t. Quite.

Another quote, from the same chapter as the above quote:

“You can’t call it Good Enough until you have stretched yourself, dug deep, pushed yourself, and really truly … given the book everything you have. You haven’t pretended to be dumber, lazier, simpler, busier, faster, smarter than you are … When you give it everything, everything, there are still going to be flaws. And that’s when you say, at the very end of the day, Good Enough. Good Enough isn’t settling. It’s celebrating the truth.”

I know without a doubt that my editor will find at least one glaring, ohmygodstupid mistake and a host of other tinier ones. I know without a doubt that when the book is finally published, there will be a dozen tiny typos that myself and the editor both missed and will be very embarrassed over. I know without a doubt that when people start reading the book, some will love it and some won’t “get” it and some will hate it.

But I didn’t go safe on this one, which was the main flaw of my “older” writing style (from five years plus ago). I stretched and I dug and I pushed way harder and deeper than I’ve ever tried to do before. I hope it will be an amazingly, mind-blowingly great book to some readers. It will absolutely fall flatter than a lead pancake for others. But I gave it everything I had, and I totally believe, minor (and normal) glitches aside, that it’s solid. I did my best. I did what I could. And at the end of today–that’s Good Enough.

Tomorrow … well, tomorrow’s another day…

(Oh, and if you’re curious, Heather Seller’s web site is here. She’s a freaking genius. Go read Chapter After Chapter. Invest in a copy. My copy has a permanent home on my bedside table when I’m deep in a project.)

And if you’re struggling with doubt as to whether your writing is good enough: it is. JUST KEEP GOING.  :)

 

Madness and Mayhem, or, What I’ve Been Up To Lately….

Is it March 1 already? [insert expletive here] Well….time does pass, like it or not. And it’s been a busy time. Let’s see… in January I went to MarsCon and had a great time. In February I went to the Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire with minions and husband in tow and had an amazingly fun time; a post about the Experience That Is Wicked Faire is languishing half-done in my drafts folder as we speak. I might manage to finish it….but might not. We’ll have to see on that.

I’m currently preparing for SheVA Con this coming weekend; Peter Beagle is the Guest of Honor, so you can just imagine how excited I am about attending this one! (For those clueless about that name: very. And go look him up. Seriously.) Then I get to wrap up my intensive writing class over the next three weekends. That class is going extremely well so far, and I’m beginning to think about finding a spot locally to teach as well.

That project will have to wait, though, until the April Madness has passed. I love being over-committed in all directions, and this year I’ve sat myself right in the middle of a ton of work. I’ll be running a series of blog posts about April events, so I won’t bore you with it here–but rest assured there will be plenty of opportunities to catch up with me and get that book signed or ask me writing questions next month!

This blog is also going to be seeing more and more guest blog posts as time goes on: Steven Savage, of course, is contributing twice a month, on the fifth and the twentieth. I have a followup interview with Tina Morris coming out this month as well, and I’m working on scheduling a guest blog post with authors Becky Mushko and Michael Sullivan. So there’s going to be a lot of content coming out over the next few weeks!

Elsewhere in the webbysphere, I have a review of a rare acoustic performance of local favorites Coyote Run aimed to come out through Green Man Review, along with interviews with the various band members. Look for that to post over at GMR sometime before the end of March! (editing update: the post has just aired, in August 2011, due to unexpected delays along the way. On the other hand, it’s a triple-howl: two reviews and an interview. So that was worth waiting for!)

I’ve taken on the job of posting a monthly update for Mercury Retrograde Press authors; the first one should be posting today, so wander over and check out that blog if you have a moment. We are an impressive bunch of overachievers, if I do say so myself….

And finally, I’m hoping to get another bizarre short story into a dark, bird-themed anthology–this will be my first (mature) attempt at writing a spooky story. Hopefully it will … err … fly. (Couldn’t resist, sorry).

Aaaaand….. that’s it for updates this month! Thanks for reading, as always; and remember to keep smiling–just for the hell of it!

 

Recap and Forecast

First of all, my apologies. I promised to post a “what’s new” type post on the first of every month; problem is, I’ve been down so sick for the past three weeks that several priorities have rearranged themselves in my head, with “sleep” at the top of the new list. But that’s not an excuse. It is an apology. So, moving right along….

Last month

I did some really cool stuff, like attending MarsCon 2011 and sitting on panels with author Jim Butcher, Baen editor Laura Haywood-Cory, and author Allen Wold; not to mention chatting with awesome folks like Danny Birt, Chuck Gannon, Lord Montague, and Lord Ramirez. (If you don’t know who those last few people are, you really need to come to MarsCon 2012 and meet them; they’re regulars and they’re all terrifically interesting.) After MarsCon…well, I was ill. I actually had to cancel a book signing at the College of William and Mary Bookstore, which upset me no end; I did manage to drag myself out to Virginia Beach the following weekend for a presentation on writing a novel, hosted by Cozy Corner Books, a recent arrival on the Virginia Beach bookstore scene (editing note: Cozy Corner is now out of business). That wiped me out for three days, during which I slept for twelve to fifteen hours and wrote while in bed as often as I could make myself function. Illness is terrible for business appearances but great for writing…the novel I’m working on is now over 110K words and I’ve blown through about three significant “stuck” points in the past week.

This month

Looking forward, I’d better start taking that Emergen-C, because as soon as I can get on my feet I’ll be running full tilt again. This weekend I’m scheduled to start teaching a writing class at Cozy Corner Books. Next Saturday afternoon is the rescheduled book signing at the College of William and Mary Bookstore, from 2-6 pm (latest I’ve ever done a book signing; I hope lots of people come out to say hello! I’d love to chat with friends I haven’t seen for a while). The weekend after that, I’ll be driving up to New Jersey with a carful of supportive minions to run my first vendor table at the Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire, under the Mercury Retrograde Press banner. Which means I’ll be selling books for all the Mercury Retrograde Press authors, not just mine; which I’m doing because I honestly think they’re all terrific. And no, I don’t get a kickback for saying that…

The following month, March, starts out with me heading out to play at SheVA Con; they’re the first con to ever contact me with an unsolicited invitation, which still tickles me no end. I’m looking forward to seeing what this convention is like; I’ve heard a lot about it!

After SheVA, I’m headdownfullspeed into preparations for not one, but THREE book launches in a row–the Official Launch Party is at Coco Chocolatier of Newtown (editing note: Coco Chocolatier is now out of business–this is becoming a pattern…) in Williamsburg on April 2, but the good folks at RavenCon have offered me a spot to hold a mini book launch on the following weekend. And then Cozy Corner wanted in on the action, so I’m running a Virginia Beach book launch there on the third weekend of April. Naturally they all require different flyers. Naturally they all require different advertising. And naturally I’ll be losing my mind and having a blast doing it….

And finally, to close April out, I will be celebrating ten unbelievably weird and complicated and wonderful years of being married. This is quite possibly the most exciting thing coming up on my calendar, and the most incredible. Ten years is a huge milestone for both of us! We’re very proud of ourselves and of each other; we’ve helped each other grow and mature, loosened up and learned to laugh, become more disciplined and organized, all at the same time.  And we couldn’t have done it without the support of a boatload of fantastic, loyal, creative, innovative, and flat out peculiar friends and family members–so to all of you out there who fit that description, thank you.

Oh, I almost forgot–I have a guest blog post over on Jhada Addams’s blog coming up at some point soon, and Steven Savage, author of the Fan To Pro blog, Seventh Sanctum, and two books, has signed on as a regular blogger. His posts will be appearing on the 5th and the 20th of every month, so be sure to stop by and check those out! Better yet, subscribe to this blog through Facebook or email, and never miss a post.

 

On The Topic Of Torrents

Reposted with permission from the Mercury Retrograde Press blog:

Torrents seem like manna from heaven. You can go out on the interwebs and get something for free. It may feel like an opportunity to Stick It to some fat corporate entity, and if it’s a corporate entity you hate (frex a software giant with grossly overpriced and yet indispensible programs) it can be very easy to see it as either harmless or Just Desserts.

We don’t have time to address all the aspects of that legal and ethical can of worms. This is a blog. However, I submit that–even if you think stealing from corporations is either harmless or well-deserved–when you’re downloading books or music, the situation is not quite the same. Even if you don’t believe in the concepts of intellectual property or copyright (which, for the record, I do) it’s possible to understand this:

People paying for books (or songs) is how artists make a living.

There are some Very Real Reasons why people who want to read a book or listen to a song download it illegally, and we’ll come to those in a minute. But even if  those reasons apply to you, when you’re downloading illegally you are literally making it more difficult if not impossible for that artist to go on creating.

Artists have to eat; they have to pay bills. If they can’t make money on the art you’re enjoying, then they have to find some other way to get the money they need. Like, for example, a second job. (Because contrary to what you may think, most artists already have day jobs. Just to survive.) If it’s a nearly superhuman feat to create marketable art while also holding down a job and other adult responsibilities, it becomes impossible when another job is added into the mix. There are only so many hours in the day.

Yes, there are corporations involved in publishing books and music–and some of them don’t treat either consumers or artists with respect. But I submit that’s not what we’re talking about here. And I will spare you the long breakdown of how and why publishing businesses are just plain lucky to keep their doors open in this market.

Suffice it to say that illegal book downloads are not Sticking It To Some Fat Corporation. They’re making it harder for publishers to keep discovering and publishing new authors, and making it harder for authors to make ends meet.

I do know (see? I remembered) that there are Very Real Reasons why people feel the need to download a book or music. For example:

* don’t know if I’ll like this artist and want to try it out

* just can’t afford to buy it now

And yes, I get those. But if you believe that paying for art is worthwhile because it allows the artist to keep doing his or her thing, consider these ideas:

Check out the free samples. With a little effort, you can read or download the first chapter of a very high percentage of books, legally and for free. Reading the first chapter will tell you whether you want to read the book or not. The big online booksellers usually offer the first chapter or at least a good chunk of it on a book’s sale page. Otherwise check the author’s website, if she has one. If it’s a Mercury Retrograde book you’re interested in, look at our free samples page, which includes the first chapters of all books currently in print and many of those coming out in the next year.

Try your local library. If they don’t have the book you want, you can ask them to order it. Not only will the author get paid, because libraries buy books; any number of other people in your community will also get to read the book. For free. And that’s not the only way borrowing a book from the library benefits your community; in many cases a library’s budget, which is likely to be allocated from a local municipal or county budget, is significantly influenced by the number of library patrons served. Yes, that’s right: it may very well be that the more you use your library, the more money it will be able to get to serve the community. Getting your book there benefits many people.

If you like that book or song you’ve downloaded, buy it. If you’re a read-it-once person, buy a copy as a gift.

If you can’t buy it now, and your local library can’t help you, and you just can’t resist the urge to download, find other ways of supporting the artist. Introduce friends who you think will like the work; write about it in your blog or on Facebook; and did we mention asking your library to add the book to their collection? Those things make a difference in an artist’s career too, and will help to create future sales…which means the artist whose work you liked is getting paid. And can afford to keep on creating. Are these things just as good as buying the book? Not really. But if you honestly can’t get it any other way, those are ways to help even the score.

I’m not sufficiently delusional to believe that we can eradicate pirated torrents from the net. For a publisher or an author, trying to keep their books off torrent sites is the legal equivalent of Whack-a-Mole. But I do hope that you, having thought about the issue, will find better ways to fill your need for a good read.

For more of Barbara Friend Ish’s thoughts on various writing and publishing related topics, please visit the Mercury Retrograde Press blog.