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Investing in the Future

9/27/2015

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My short story, The Hall of the Mountain King has been rejected about a hundred times.  Ok, maybe a dozen.  The last rejection was from On the Premises for a contest entry. But this time they offered a critique for a $15 fee.  I went for it.  The critique was totally correct.  I fancy myself as a decent editor, even of my own stuff, but the pointers I got with that critique was an eye-opener.  The result of making the suggested changes was a reduction of about 600 words, almost all of it in the first half of the story.
Will the resultant editing lead to a sale or contest win?  To repeat a cliché I don't like, only time will tell.  But I've submitted that new version to a contest already.  The old version is still waiting on a decision as well. 
However, the example of what was wrong and how it was fixed will carry over to other stories.  I've had that in the past, where an editor actually edited my submission.  I've kept copies of the before and the after and they were very helpful.  My biggest flaw is that I tend to say the same thing two or three times.  I say it differently each time, but it's still a repeat of the same information.

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Road Signs and The Interstate

9/12/2015

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I have described my writing process as driving cross country without a map, atlas, or GPS.  I know where I'm starting from, I know where I'm going, but getting there will not be particularly efficient.
The novel I'm currently working on, a paranormal/romance/ thriller tentatively titled Saving Atlantis, is going through that process.  I'm starting in SW Wisconsin and driving to Orlando, Florida.
To continue the metaphor, for the first 45,000 words or so, I was on the interstate and headed south and east.  The words flowed, the wheels turned about 65-70 mph, and progress was good.  And then I stalled.  I came to a place where I had to choose a direction, but there were no signs that really pointed me where I wanted to go. 
I took an exit ramp and drove tentatively on side roads for a while, heading generally in the right direction but not making a lot of progress.
When writing Prophecy of Honor the road was smooth and there were no detours.  It was a shorter trip, like Wisconsin to SW Nebraska.  I just got onto the Interstate and drove till I got there.  But Saving Atlantis is much longer and more complicated.  I had the climax pretty well figured out, but how to get to that climax—which exits and turns to take to get to my specific goal in Orlando—wasn't clear.
But I spend a lot of time thinking about the trip.  And this week I found the road signs!  I have a much better idea now how to get where I'm going.  I'm still stuck on the back roads for a while, but once I can get back to the highway I'll be able to make some time.
Somebody will indeed save Atlantis...in fact, two somebodies, working each alone but in concert.  And neither one will be the main character.  He'll have other problems.  Or, rather, he will be a problem for others.
Ah, yes, the trip is looking much better than it did last week.

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September 03rd, 2015

9/3/2015

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I sold two more signed paperbacks...and gave away another.  But when I sold those two, it got me thinking about what a fine contradiction authors are. 
We are obviously stricken with huge egos.  What, after all, is more egotistical than thinking that other people would want to read what you wrote?  And beyond that, that people would be willing to pay their own good money to read what you wrote.  What arrogance!  What self-delusion!
But people do exactly that.  As a reader, every author has paid his own good money to read the writings of another person.  And people will pay money to read what you have written.  Not just friends or acquaintances, either.  Complete strangers are willing to shell out cash for the chance to read your writing.  Wow.
And yet, we suffer from the scourge of chronic insecurity.  If we become rich and famous and it seems like everything we write is gold, maybe we can slough off that insecurity a little.  I don't know--I'm nowhere near that place yet.  But for most writers, there is no security.  We are constantly haunted by the fear that no one will like our book, our story, our memoir, or the magnificent revelations we have shared with them.  Even though a publisher has deemed our work worthy of their time, effort, and investment, we can't get away from the suspicion that it isn't really very good. 
The positive responses are never enthusiastic enough.  Any tepid or mediocre reaction is a condemnation of searing severity from which we may never recover.  Months or even years after publication we'll wake up one night, or it'll smack us unawares in the middle of the day and we'll curse ourselves with, "How could I have failed to include that?"  Or, "Why did I leave that in?  What was I thinking?  No wonder nobody wants to read that crappy book!"  If the book has been published by a professional publisher, there's little we can do.  Maybe we can convince them to make those changes...and maybe they won't.
If the book happens to be self-published we can actually fix those horrible errors.  We can take out that suddenly offensive (to us) sentence, or include that tidbit of information that we'd forgotten.  And then all will be better.  Until the next midnight wakefulness reminds us of another imperfection; or worse, that we realize that those change we just made were a huge mistake.
There's only one thing to do.  Get our butts in gear writing the next book, or story, or memoir.  That might not work, but it's the only thing that can.

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    I'm a former teacher and current warehouse grunt that loves writing.

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