After all the frustration of the last couple of weeks, I’m glad to say I’ve got my writing back under control. I’m back to getting my daily practice words working on a rough draft of the next project, while spending my evening sessions working on attempt number four of the Apartment Complex story. I’ve given that project a lot of thought over the last couple of days, figured out (I hope) what works and what didn’t, revised how I’m going to approach it, and I’m just going to go ahead and write the damn thing without any reservations.
This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered numerous false starts, and I know it won’t be the last. That’s part and parcel of the writing biz, unfortunately. All I can do is soldier on, one way or another.
Getting back on the horse can be frustrating in itself, especially when your brain wants you to be running full tilt from the beginning. That rarely works out though. Sometimes you just have to be patient and relearn the process to fit the kind of story you want to write. Take it as it comes, and eventually you’ll suddenly notice you’re back up to your normal processing speed.
[Yeah, I know… I’m going a bit overboard with all the idioms in this post. Sorry about that.]
ANYWAY! The good thing about all of this is that I’m going in the right direction, and that’s the most important part.
Earlier this week, just a day after I’d released Meet the Lidwells, I started thinking about a lot of different things related to the writing projects I had going on. I was working out how to publicize the new book while also plugging my trilogy, reading over the chapters of the Apartment Complex story that I was going to read for FOGcon, playing around with my daily words (which are currently focused on In My Blue World), and the evening session words for AC. All while hoping the Day Job wouldn’t cause any delays for everything else. In other words, The Typical Day in the Life of a Writer.
What threw me was that I didn’t feel that moment of wondering if I would ever be a pro writer or if I was just going to continue faking it.
I actually had to stop and think about that for a moment. I’ve been writing for over thirty years now. Sure, most of that time was spent learning, hitting roadblocks and dead-ends, wasting time, getting stuck on the OK Plateau, and trying to figure out what the hell I had to do to make any of this work. I’ve rarely had a crippling self-doubt about it, but I’ve certainly had my moments of wondering if this was as good as I was going to get, and that maybe I’d better focus more on a Day Job career. I hated that feeling with a passion.
Self-publishing the trilogy turned that around; this proved I could achieve the goals I’d set for myself. But what cemented it for me was the release of Meet the Lidwells; that’s when I’d proved to myself that the trilogy wasn’t a fluke or my One Shot at Greatness. [The unexpected icing on the cake, I should add, was the multiple downloads of the Bridgetown Trilogy this past week, thanks to the Smashwords sale. One or two downloads makes me happy; five or six a day all week long felt amazing. I thank all of you new readers for that!!]
That feeling when you suddenly realize you’re exactly where you want to be as a writer, though?
That feels absolutely AMAZING. It took forever to get here, but I’m glad I stayed with it.
Oops! I seem to have forgotten to prepare a post for today! Sorry about that, and thanks for waiting!
We’ll be on vacation next week, and I’ve been hemming and hawing over whether I should write posts or fly-bys. I could easily write them tomorrow if need be, but at the same time I shouldn’t feel guilty if I post a fly-by instead. Except that I do. Writing can be like that.
As always, I spend a bit of vacation prep debating what writing-related things to bring with me. Sometimes, like our recent Disney trip, I won’t touch it at all. Other times, like our previous London trip, I’ll actually get work done. So it’s a toss-up. I’ve learned not to overpack like I used to. I never bring my laptop anymore, though I might bring my tablet, especially when I want to do a bit of revision or reading of what I have so far. For this trip, that’ll most likely be it, aside from the notebook and a few printouts for the Apartment Complex story.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to this break. It’s been an unexpectedly busy first quarter so far at the Day Job, which means continual and very annoying interruptions from my work by the client reps, asking when my work will be done. Eesh. I just want a week to not think about much of anything at all except the next time we head over to Rainbow for more loco moco or kalua pork.
Edited picture courtesy of @nealbrennan on Twitter
Some of you may have seen the above picture courtesy of a tweet from comedian Neal Brennan that came with the accompanying text:
Was talking with friend about how impossibly old the Traveling Wilburys seemed when they released their music in 1988. I’ve listed their ages at the time. For some perspective, three of them are no longer alive. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.
While his last comment does make a good point, I thought instead about where those artists were in their career at that point in 1988.
Bob Dylan, at 47: 25 studio albums, 4 live albums. Jeff Lynne, at 41: 11 studio albums, half a soundtrack, and 1 live album under the ELO moniker Tom Petty, at 37: 7 studio albums with the Heartbreakers Roy Orbison, at 52: 23 studio albums and countless singles George Harrison, at 45: 12 studio albums and numerous singles with the Beatles, 11 studio albums and 1 live album
At the time their “Handle with Care” single came out, all five had had careers since the 70s, a few since the 60s. This was a sort of older-generation supergroup brought together for the fun of it, all five having worked with at least one other member in the past on solo work.
Now that I’ve hit Dylan’s listed age this year, the fact that my own output is limited to three self-published novels and an anthology entry probably should make me feel like I’ve been wasting all my time to get to this point. But interestingly, I’m not. I’ve already made peace with having started my professional writing career late. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, really. To be honest, it’s hard as fuck to write a novel, a good novel, a professional-level novel, all while dealing with Real Life, Day Jobs, Families, and Other Responsibilities. Pretty much all five Wilburys started out their musical careers at a young age and went pro in their early twenties. Not all of us are able to dedicate all that time.
At 47, I’m happy where I am. I worked my ass off over the last three decades to learn the craft, make all the mistakes and be the best writer I can be. I’m glad I took that route using a minimal number of projects rather than trying to write hundreds of stories that may not see the light of day. It made me the kind of writer I am, and it helped me develop my personal style.
And now that I’m at this point, I can see a much clearer future, where I can face future projects and not feel as though I’m stabbing in the dark. I know what I’m working towards. And because of that, I’ve cut down on my turnaround time considerably. I could conceivably release a book a year if I wanted. [I’m quite sure I’ll have those seasons of writing an epic similar to the trilogy that’ll eat up a good couple of years, but I’m thinking those are going to be exception and not the rule.]
So yeah…I’m fine with being 47 and being right at the beginning of my career instead of somewhere in the middle of it. It means I’ve got a lot more to look forward to.
Monday’s blog entry my be a bit late, as we’ll be flying home from Anaheim that day. We’re taking a well-deserved long weekend break and decided the House of Mouse was an excellent choice.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of me with a fellow over-caffeinated buddy!
As expected, I’ve spent the morning switching things over. Calendars to put up (Hokusai prints), whiteboard schedule to lay out (see above), plans to put into motion (ditto). I said I was going to have a busy 2018, and I wasn’t planning on spending Day One being a lazy ass. Wouldn’t make a good precedent.
There’s not too much different on the whiteboard, as you can see. The blog update schedule will remain as is. I decided to put the Dreamwidth blog (DW) up there on Sundays and Wednesdays, as I consider that my personal (non-writing or music) site and I really should be a bit more social there. It’s also time to reinstate the daily words (750) to get me back up to creative speed. Lastly, I reinstated the Art, Poetry and Music beats to the schedule, more as a ‘get back into the habit’ than an assignment prompt or deadline. The only two things I don’t have listed are my personal longhand journal — which I always write during my morning break on weekdays anyway — and whatever Main Project(s) I happen to be working on, which don’t need reminding.
[Out of shot to the left, which you may have seen from my Christmas picture, is the clipboard that has a more detailed, long-term To-Do list that I will be working on over the course of the year. And yes, it takes up a few pages.]
I’ve also decided this morning that I’m going to change up my morning routine as well. I’m not entirely sure what this will entail, but we’ll see where it goes. My normal routine at present isn’t anything I have to do right then — email, Twitter, webcomics, usually in that order — and it’s not as if I’m really wasting time, but I’m curious to see if I can utilize that time better with other things. Maybe a bit of longhand work? Or stretches/exercise? This is less about me being economical with my time and more about mixing it up to keep from getting bored or stuck in a rut. This sort of thing tends to change every couple of years for me, and it’s about that time now.
This isn’t to say 2018 is going to be All Creativity All the Time. I’ll take nights off to watch movies and anime with A. I want to expand my reading list, and maybe check out more audio books and podcasts. I’d really like to get back into shape so a few days a week at the Y will do me good, as will cutting down on snacks and junk food. And just getting out more, being more social, getting some air and sun. I spent a lot of 2017 in self-imposed hiding for one reason or another, and I’d like to change that.
It’s been an interesting year, I’ll say that much. Personally we’ve all had one hell of a bumpy ride. I’ve certainly had my highs and lows. And somehow I persevered.
Anyway, looking back over the past twelve months, I’m proud to say I went a hell of a lot further in my writing career than I ever thought I would. A project that I started in all seriousness twenty years ago was finally signed off as complete. I started not one but two completely new projects and sowed the seed for even more ideas. I kept a solid blogging schedule. I took part in panels on two different local science fiction conventions. All while still holding a Day Job.
—The Balance of Light e-book and trade release, and completing a long-term project. That was the toughest of the three to revise, so it took me most of 2016 and early 2017 to finish. Even the cover was a bear to get right. But at the same time, overcoming the hurdles I faced on this one made me an even better writer; it taught me to take all the time I needed to get it right before I released it upon the world. It was worth the wait, as that book went from the Troublemaker for a good few years to a novel I’m proud of. And added to that, it truly did feel like a weight lifted off my shoulders when I realized I did not need to work on that project any longer. I still miss it, of course, but I’m definitely glad it’s done. Most importantly, I saw a very long-standing goal to its conclusion and I couldn’t be happier.
–Daily words at 750words.com. I’ve been quite consistent with this as well, much more so than previous years. I trained myself to use this site as a place for playing around with ideas instead of trying to force myself to use prompts (suggested or otherwise). I just went with whatever popped into mind. In 2015 and 2016 I used it to write an extremely rough and incomplete draft of Meet the Lidwells, and in 2017 I used it to plot out most of the project after that. I’ve taken this month off from it for various reasons, but I’ll be picking it up again come January.
—Meet the Lidwells! This one surpassed all of my expectations, to be honest…so much so that I spent the first half of the project questioning whether or not I was doing it right! This project hit a lot of goals: writing a complete outline ahead of time, writing a shorter novel, writing a story that had a personal connection (music), and writing in a minimal amount of time. Because of this I have a minimal amount of post-writing work to do: some minor revision, shooting the cover picture, and prepping it for self-publication. Quite possibly the shortest novel project I’ve had to date.
–Untitled ‘Apartment Complex’ story. Having written out a few key scenes and plot ideas for this story using 750Words, I’m now working on the outline in the same manner that I did MtL. That way when MtL drops, I can immediately focus on writing this one. This too has goals: to see if I can pull off ‘writing econo’ again. I’m using the same process as the previous project, to the extent that I’ll play around with ideas on the project after this one for my daily words.
–Consistent blogging. I wrote two different blogs twice a week for nearly the whole year, with very few lapses. There were moments when it was tough, given that I always wanted to write something of interest and/or purpose, and did my best to avoid the fly-by entries as much as I could. I also wanted to avoid repeating myself whenever possible; I’ll totally cop to writing the same damn nostalgia piece over and over, and I’m doing my best to break out of that rut. And in the process, I’m learning how to expand my palette by expanding my interests.
–Participating in Convention Panels. This was another big one for me. I’ve gone to a number of cons over the years but always as an audience member, but never as a participant. After releasing my books I knew that this would be a great way for me to get connected to the non-writing part of the business. [Mind you, my very first panel was a reading, which went over well but I think could have been better. Once I got past that first one, the jitters were no longer there.] In 2018 I’ll be attending three more cons, and I’ve signed up as a participant at all three.
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All told, I’m ecstatic with what I achieved as a writer in 2017. It was an extremely productive and fruitful beginning to my career as a professional self-publisher. There are some goals I wish I’d have hit, but I’m not going to let that bother me. I’m definitely looking forward to reaching those plus many new ones.
Welcome to Bridgetown 