Okay, things have slowed down a bit. Part of it is because I'm going over the manuscript for what seems like the fifth time, even though I know this is actually the third time for me.
I'm working on synopsis notes. According to the "traditional wisdom" (meaning: information I can glean on what you're supposed to do to try getting science fiction published) you write the manuscript, polish it up a bit, then create a synopsis and a query letter then shop it to agents who in turn will try selling it to a publisher. After the couple years pass that this process takes...assuming you find someone willing to take a chance on you...you get an advance check that might cover a dinner at Red Lobster.
I'm working on the synopsis part. Specifically I'm working on the synopsis notes; a long distance friend advised me that I'll want to create several versions of the synopsis with varying lengths. I sat down and thought about it; the best way for me to do this is to create an overall summary of the manuscript, broken down by "chapter," from which to derive synopsis sheets. Once all of that is finished I could write an agent query since the query will require what is essentially the manuscript squeezed into a couple paragraphs (and this is a 390 page manuscript already...how do I squeeze everything down to less than a page!?)
Thankfully the notes are going really fast. I've caught a couple more typos along the way and made quick fixes to them as I see them. Just goes to show that no matter what there will be mistakes that slip by not once, not twice, but three times, with two sets of eyes reviewing it.
I'm also looking at printing a copy of the manuscript for someone who said he'd be a beta reader. I don't know how receptive I'll be to making huge changes unless he finds something really horribly off; then again, if something really doesn't work then I'll have to do what I have to (by the time he's done with it I may already be querying. With any luck.) I got a quote from FedEx Kinko's. Forty bucks. Ouch!
Then again it would be something to just have that manuscript, even in it's rough, possibly never publishable form, in my hands as a physical thing. It would be a way of saying that I accomplished something, that my year of work wasn't a total waste.
I might do this just for that feeling alone. That I accomplished something. I see a therapist for the issues I encounter dealing with life in my post-surgical state (insurance requirement, ironically). He said that just writing a novel length manuscript is quite an achievement that I should be proud of. Part of me wants to believe that. The other part says the proof is in an advance check. Otherwise this was little more than an exercise in trying to write but ending up wasting a year of time.
Much of this is my own confidence issues. I try to keep expectations realistic, and sometimes the pendulum swings a little farther into the "you're wasting your time" side of the equation. That's when the optimistic side reminds me that my end goal...of querying and getting those rejections...is the point I've been aiming for all along, and good or not, anyone can achieve the point of querying and getting rejected. I can do that. I'll just secretly hope that someone eventually doesn't reject it, and in the meantime, once I reach the querying point, this manuscript is getting set aside and I'll start working on the next story idea. And repeat the steps again, hoping this time it will sell.
I'm now on page 354 of 390 in the manuscript and my notes are 16 pages long. Considering that I'm just summarizing each chapter section and my notes are 16 pages so far I am hoping that this is a good sign that I can create a 2- to 5-page synopsis and maybe that one pager isn't quite so left field of realistic. Doing the math shows that so far I'm compressing an average of 22 pages to 1 page, approximately, just doing an off-the-cuff summary? Not too bad.
At this rate I'm hoping to have the notes done tomorrow or Tuesday. I slacked off over the weekend; I would have had it done today if I did what I was supposed to do. Whoops.
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
A manuscript goal
My new stated goal-I'm approaching a year since I started writing my manuscript. I went back and sifted through old entries on this blog to determine my "start date", and it turns out all I said was that I started it after submitting some contest entries to The Writing Show. I was pretty sure I had started writing the manuscript at the end of August, beginning of September; the vague wording of my blog entry seems to support this. My new goal is to finish my pass of editing the manuscript by the end of August.
If my wife finishes the batch of pages she currently has in her possession and then finishes my final set before September 1st...I can mark September as the time to begin working on my query letter and whatever other material may be needed for querying agents.
I then plan on getting a lot of rejections, feeling sorry for myself, and figuring out what I have to do to tweak the story and see if it can be salvaged to the point of submitting again to other agents until maybe...just maybe...it'll be accepted for representation, then hoping like crazy that it sells and brings in a paycheck.
That's the dream, anyway.
Wish me luck!
If my wife finishes the batch of pages she currently has in her possession and then finishes my final set before September 1st...I can mark September as the time to begin working on my query letter and whatever other material may be needed for querying agents.
I then plan on getting a lot of rejections, feeling sorry for myself, and figuring out what I have to do to tweak the story and see if it can be salvaged to the point of submitting again to other agents until maybe...just maybe...it'll be accepted for representation, then hoping like crazy that it sells and brings in a paycheck.
That's the dream, anyway.
Wish me luck!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
First Novel Update: November 15th: Weekends Are Hard On Progress
First draft word count according to OpenOffice: 80,391. I officially broke the 80,000 word barrier!
Too bad this wasn't a NaNoWriMo novel...
The bad news was that I only managed 909 words today. Yesterday was a bust; I spent an insane amount of time at a really cool book sale in a warehouse (already blogged about it yesterday) and...what else? Oh, yeah, blogging after I got home last night, and spending some time with my son post-shopping while watching his rented Underdog DVD and playing on the Wii and playing with trains and...you get the idea.
So it was a mixed weekend. I don't regret how my Saturday went despite not making progress on the novel. Today I didn't hit my optimistic 1,000 words, but then again my set goal is 500 words a day and I managed to make some headway. Even 100 words is 100 more than was there before.
It seems that my word count tends to go down on weekends. I don't know why exactly other than my routine for the past five days is interrupted and I have less structure on my weekends than the days I slog through my workday.
The important thing is to continue working each day and continue making progress. Tobias Buckell wrote about the issue here on his blog; if you take a significant break on writing a novel, you lose all momentum. You remember less of the events in the story, you lose the workflow, you lose track of things...and you lose the excitement that drives the story forward, and boy oh boy is it a chore to get back into the story when this happens.
In reflection, I was disappointed that I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked to over the weekend, but I am happy that I made some progress. Big or small, progress is the key!
Too bad this wasn't a NaNoWriMo novel...
The bad news was that I only managed 909 words today. Yesterday was a bust; I spent an insane amount of time at a really cool book sale in a warehouse (already blogged about it yesterday) and...what else? Oh, yeah, blogging after I got home last night, and spending some time with my son post-shopping while watching his rented Underdog DVD and playing on the Wii and playing with trains and...you get the idea.
So it was a mixed weekend. I don't regret how my Saturday went despite not making progress on the novel. Today I didn't hit my optimistic 1,000 words, but then again my set goal is 500 words a day and I managed to make some headway. Even 100 words is 100 more than was there before.
It seems that my word count tends to go down on weekends. I don't know why exactly other than my routine for the past five days is interrupted and I have less structure on my weekends than the days I slog through my workday.
The important thing is to continue working each day and continue making progress. Tobias Buckell wrote about the issue here on his blog; if you take a significant break on writing a novel, you lose all momentum. You remember less of the events in the story, you lose the workflow, you lose track of things...and you lose the excitement that drives the story forward, and boy oh boy is it a chore to get back into the story when this happens.
In reflection, I was disappointed that I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked to over the weekend, but I am happy that I made some progress. Big or small, progress is the key!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Getting Good at Something
I found this interesting tidbit of motivation (anti-motivation?) at the zenhabits blog. It's called, "The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at Something."
We are a society that is fixated on the idea of being on the move. We never have time for anything. We rush through our day with one task after another with little thought to what could or should be done, just what we must get done.
This same society that values rushing so very much has devalued the art of learning. We want quick fixes; we recoil at the thought of having to actually spend time enhancing our skills. Bookshelves, as pointed out in the article, have a healthy population of books promising to master programming languages and skills in a month's time.
But to truly master something it takes more time. Far more. People who take the shortcuts show their shortcomings the moment they run into someone who has already learned this lesson.
The post outlines what it may take to be great at something. Seeing the estimated journey outlined in stark black and white is daunting to say the least, and more than a little scary.
But then I remember what Randy Pausch said (as quoted on this website, from his Last Lecture):
Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.
- Randy Pausch ( 1960-2008 )
Writing...becoming an author...maybe my fear in failing to achieve that goal is my brick wall. I have every reason to give up. The hardest part is keeping the reason to keep going in view.
We are a society that is fixated on the idea of being on the move. We never have time for anything. We rush through our day with one task after another with little thought to what could or should be done, just what we must get done.
This same society that values rushing so very much has devalued the art of learning. We want quick fixes; we recoil at the thought of having to actually spend time enhancing our skills. Bookshelves, as pointed out in the article, have a healthy population of books promising to master programming languages and skills in a month's time.
But to truly master something it takes more time. Far more. People who take the shortcuts show their shortcomings the moment they run into someone who has already learned this lesson.
The post outlines what it may take to be great at something. Seeing the estimated journey outlined in stark black and white is daunting to say the least, and more than a little scary.
But then I remember what Randy Pausch said (as quoted on this website, from his Last Lecture):
Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.
- Randy Pausch ( 1960-2008 )
Writing...becoming an author...maybe my fear in failing to achieve that goal is my brick wall. I have every reason to give up. The hardest part is keeping the reason to keep going in view.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Author Yearly Income, and First Author Advances
With my other worries involved in trying to write a first novel I sometimes try to picture what would happen if I actually did sell a manuscript. What kind of windfall could I expect? Will I be able to make the bills and mortgage payment, so I could quit my day job? Or will I be able to afford that helicopter pad in the backyard? Or will I instead be lucky to afford a kiddie pool for the backyard?
It's terribly difficult to get solid numbers due to the factors that affect the amount a first time author can receive. Agents tend to get higher advances for authors (but they take a cut). Publishers sometimes only take agented queries, so you may need to acquire an agent before making it into the "big time". Genre selection affects income as well as what topics are "hot" (Probably too late to start writing that novel about a vampire fighting a werewolf for the love of Mary Sue...by the time it gets into the queue to be published, mummy romance will be the next big thing, unless you're writing about a vampire wizard fighting a werewolf wizard who-shall-not-be-named...)
Being an author today is very much a business of branding yourself. From what I can find a new author is expected to bootstrap him or herself, drumming up their own popularity and online following, touring bookstores on their own dime...following a career path in writing is very much a labor of love that unless you are a fortunate lucky stars-smile-upon-you soul who hits the mega big time is going to take a lot of hard knocks along the way.
The averages I found? A 2005 survey done online by Tobias Buckell said $5,000. I found some statistics saying that yearly income is in the $10,000 to $12,000 range.
Ouch.
This means that most likely I'm not going to hit a jackpot. It means that if I want to be successful at this "writing thing" I will need to keep trying. It means that I need to remind myself of Mur Lafferty's rules of writing and that it's okay to suck. I may even need to face the possibility that this side project won't ever amount to much and I'm pouring an hour a day or more into a project that will cost me...well, a portion of my life I won't get back.
On the other hand the same could be said of much of the TV I've absorbed in my life.
Maybe this will be a long exercise in keeping perspective.
It's terribly difficult to get solid numbers due to the factors that affect the amount a first time author can receive. Agents tend to get higher advances for authors (but they take a cut). Publishers sometimes only take agented queries, so you may need to acquire an agent before making it into the "big time". Genre selection affects income as well as what topics are "hot" (Probably too late to start writing that novel about a vampire fighting a werewolf for the love of Mary Sue...by the time it gets into the queue to be published, mummy romance will be the next big thing, unless you're writing about a vampire wizard fighting a werewolf wizard who-shall-not-be-named...)
Being an author today is very much a business of branding yourself. From what I can find a new author is expected to bootstrap him or herself, drumming up their own popularity and online following, touring bookstores on their own dime...following a career path in writing is very much a labor of love that unless you are a fortunate lucky stars-smile-upon-you soul who hits the mega big time is going to take a lot of hard knocks along the way.
The averages I found? A 2005 survey done online by Tobias Buckell said $5,000. I found some statistics saying that yearly income is in the $10,000 to $12,000 range.
Ouch.
This means that most likely I'm not going to hit a jackpot. It means that if I want to be successful at this "writing thing" I will need to keep trying. It means that I need to remind myself of Mur Lafferty's rules of writing and that it's okay to suck. I may even need to face the possibility that this side project won't ever amount to much and I'm pouring an hour a day or more into a project that will cost me...well, a portion of my life I won't get back.
On the other hand the same could be said of much of the TV I've absorbed in my life.
Maybe this will be a long exercise in keeping perspective.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Consumer vs. Producer...Thoughts on Legacy
What do you want out of life?
I've thought about this since I've undergone surgery to give myself the final kick-in-the-arse to lose my excess weight. If I'm going to live longer, shouldn't I have a good reason for it?
I did it in part because I have a young son and realized that as the comorbidities...diabetes, apnea, etc...mounted on my list of ailments then the odds of me living long enough to embarrass him in front of a potential wife were growing shorter. He's not yet in kindergarten and my list of issues from the doctor's visits were getting as long as he is tall.
But living just to hopefully see something eighteen years down the road isn't much of a good reason to live in itself, I think. Stress from work makes those 18 years...if I stay with that job...a very good reason to just allow my body to degenerate into a pile of convulsing bubbles of angst.
I decided that I wanted to leave a mark on the world. As an individual chances are I won't make a huge change. The vast majority of people don't. They live, they sweat, they toil, they die, and if they have children, they pass on genes to another generation and hopefully they'll be remembered for the next two or three generations in some way by their family.
I decided I wanted more than that. I had a child. He might remember me as an important influence on his life. Hopefully. The stepdaughter...she's a teenager. I don't know if she'd acknowledge my existence unless it suits something she needs. I'm told it's a teenager thing.
So how could I make some kind of footprint out there?
I started this blog initially as a record of the surgery. It's become kind of a sanitized (read: cleaned up...I constantly question my sanity) version of some of my views and issues in life. I figured my little dude, my wife, and perhaps even the teenager could have something to look back on and think about as being an extension of me.
Aside-I'll admit that part of me is saddened that a teenager that can sit and read an entire Twilight novel in the span of five hours would rather play an online video game for several hours than take three minutes a day to read my own little ramblings on the web...but again...guess that's a teenager thing. I hope.
I also started journaling at the behest of my insurance-mandated-for-surgery psychologist. I'm still surprised at the stack of papers pouring from the printer when I am prepping for another visit. My next printer will need to handle double-sided printing, and at a minimum I'm going to need more binders to hold them all soon.
I decided that I wanted to try my hand at one of two things (since I didn't think I'd be good at trying both at once): writing a novel, or writing software.
The software would be a challenge because I haven't programmed, really, since college. I'm in my early thirties now. I would dream of working in an environment like Fog Creek Software (if you haven't looked up how Spolsky treats his programmers...OH...MY...GOD...HIS company is a model of respect towards employees. It is a true dream job.) A true dream come true would be to START a company with a good software product. Work from home, distribute over the web...hmm...warm dreams.
The novel is a challenge because...well, face the reality. I don't have an English degree. You toil and toil for months writing the draft, then editing, and editing again, and perhaps again, then shopping for an agent, then finding a publisher (if you ever find an agent), then a year or two later you might be a published author and all you have to show for it is a piddly advance and if you have poor sales you may not see that publisher again. Ouch. And at any stage that career path can be derailed. Most authors don't quit their day jobs. Not to mention that America is largely illiterate; people don't read for leisure anymore (on average). The publishing industry isn't handing out sweet deals to unknowns anymore; the bubble there burst. If you see a "big thing" on the shelves like vampire stories have been (thanks a lot, Twilight) then decide to write the next big vampire novel, guess what? Unless you're an established author with a fast track into the publishing line, when your novel comes out everything will be mummies. You can't get a novel churned out quickly enough to hit the current wave of popularity.
Most novel writers never make it big. They're lucky to make a living.
I turned this over in my head. I decided that I really had the least to lose in trying to write a novel. I am inspired by the likes of Scott Sigler (who worked for 15 freakin' years before throwing in the towel and deciding to podcast his novels for free...leading to an actual publishing contract. Finally!) and Mur Lafferty (who also got a publishing contract after working her butt off on projects like I Should Be Writing and her own novels being released in podcast form) and Paula B. with her podcast The Writing Show, giving insights on the publishing and writing industries.
I didn't mention the worst part of taking this path. I fully realize that I'm working about an hour or more a day on a story that may never sell and will get rejected. When you work on something that could be about 100,000 words (mine's currently at 40,000 as a first draft, and this post is appearing several weeks after I'm prepping this posting) along with the work it takes to edit and polish the manuscript, those rejection slips from agents and publishers is going to hurt.
Having a story in your head and thinking that you have what it takes to write a great novel is one thing. In your head you can do anything. But to actually try...and fail...that's tough. I am essentially making the conscious choice to invest months of my time into something that may do little more than confirm that I'm going to fail.
Ouch!
But I'm producing something. (Bet you were wondering when I'd get to the point, eh?)
I'm working on a legacy. I see teenagers who spend most of their time texting, playing games, and watching TV. The big thing in schools now is creating a portfolio of work; very rarely do I see anything that they produce willingly on their own. Their portfolio is filled with assignments, things that curriculum dictates they work on so they'll have something to show later on. Nothing with their heart or passion defining some part of themselves in the process.
I am producing something that I wished I had growing up. I know very little about my parents as they grew up. Their memories now are selective. I have things in my journal that hopefully will only be read when I'm too far senile to care what others close to me hold as an opinion. But it's there.
I want to have things for my kids to refer to later on and know this is what Dad was like. Really. Well, not the incident involving jello wrestling during the fraternity/sorority mixer. But what is in that journal and is in this blog is me put into a more lasting form for posterity.
If I do through some miracle happen to get published as a novelist, or (dare I say it?) become successful enough to become a full-time writer, I'll be listed in the Library of Congress and available in bookstores for my children to be able to point and say, "That's your grandfather, son!"
It makes me sad sometimes. I look around and wonder if other people ever think about leaving a legacy behind. I see them more concerned about fashion or reality TV shows than thinking about trying to make a little movie for fun, or blogging their thoughts for the world, or creating artwork that even if it only makes it onto the walls of the bedroom is still something that can be a reminder that "I was here. I mattered. I made that."
"But what about sites like YouTube? Or Facebook?"
I suppose that at the most base level those are examples of producing material. But I don't see it necessarily as that.
The barriers to entry for things like podcasting, video production and blogging have never been lower. Never. You can get a cheap camera for $200 bucks that fits in your pocket. You can get a computer for $500 on which to edit the videos, and an account on YouTube to upload your resulting masterpiece for free.
The difference in my view is that there's a difference between some tweener capturing ten seconds of their friend falling on her giggly ass or adding the three hundredth lipsync of the latest music abomination on the radio to YouTube and finding something that took time and care to produce like this trailer for Scott Sigler's novel Contagious.
Basically I see a producer as someone creating something of pride; it is a work that they have put a part of themselves into as a way of putting the best representation of their skills forward.
This blog isn't exactly the top-notch in grammar or structure. Much of it is just rambling from a guy trying not to be fat. But it is honest. It is a facet of insight into a part of me. The same goes for the journal. The novel is a story that I wanted to tell. Keeping up with the journal, the blog, the novel, and my job right now fills most of my time, so I don't have as much to try my hand at making videos, or doing theater work, or polishing my programming skills or working on a podcast.
But I am producing.
Perhaps I'm just fixated on the wrong goals in life. I get depressed watching others doing things that in a day or two will likely mean nothing, leaving behind nothing as a legacy. Maybe that suits them so it isn't anything to grieve for. Maybe they're happy filling their expected roles as consumers.
What do you think? Do you have an opinion on this? Do you want to leave behind some kind of legacy and if so how?
I've thought about this since I've undergone surgery to give myself the final kick-in-the-arse to lose my excess weight. If I'm going to live longer, shouldn't I have a good reason for it?
I did it in part because I have a young son and realized that as the comorbidities...diabetes, apnea, etc...mounted on my list of ailments then the odds of me living long enough to embarrass him in front of a potential wife were growing shorter. He's not yet in kindergarten and my list of issues from the doctor's visits were getting as long as he is tall.
But living just to hopefully see something eighteen years down the road isn't much of a good reason to live in itself, I think. Stress from work makes those 18 years...if I stay with that job...a very good reason to just allow my body to degenerate into a pile of convulsing bubbles of angst.
I decided that I wanted to leave a mark on the world. As an individual chances are I won't make a huge change. The vast majority of people don't. They live, they sweat, they toil, they die, and if they have children, they pass on genes to another generation and hopefully they'll be remembered for the next two or three generations in some way by their family.
I decided I wanted more than that. I had a child. He might remember me as an important influence on his life. Hopefully. The stepdaughter...she's a teenager. I don't know if she'd acknowledge my existence unless it suits something she needs. I'm told it's a teenager thing.
So how could I make some kind of footprint out there?
I started this blog initially as a record of the surgery. It's become kind of a sanitized (read: cleaned up...I constantly question my sanity) version of some of my views and issues in life. I figured my little dude, my wife, and perhaps even the teenager could have something to look back on and think about as being an extension of me.
Aside-I'll admit that part of me is saddened that a teenager that can sit and read an entire Twilight novel in the span of five hours would rather play an online video game for several hours than take three minutes a day to read my own little ramblings on the web...but again...guess that's a teenager thing. I hope.
I also started journaling at the behest of my insurance-mandated-for-surgery psychologist. I'm still surprised at the stack of papers pouring from the printer when I am prepping for another visit. My next printer will need to handle double-sided printing, and at a minimum I'm going to need more binders to hold them all soon.
I decided that I wanted to try my hand at one of two things (since I didn't think I'd be good at trying both at once): writing a novel, or writing software.
The software would be a challenge because I haven't programmed, really, since college. I'm in my early thirties now. I would dream of working in an environment like Fog Creek Software (if you haven't looked up how Spolsky treats his programmers...OH...MY...GOD...HIS company is a model of respect towards employees. It is a true dream job.) A true dream come true would be to START a company with a good software product. Work from home, distribute over the web...hmm...warm dreams.
The novel is a challenge because...well, face the reality. I don't have an English degree. You toil and toil for months writing the draft, then editing, and editing again, and perhaps again, then shopping for an agent, then finding a publisher (if you ever find an agent), then a year or two later you might be a published author and all you have to show for it is a piddly advance and if you have poor sales you may not see that publisher again. Ouch. And at any stage that career path can be derailed. Most authors don't quit their day jobs. Not to mention that America is largely illiterate; people don't read for leisure anymore (on average). The publishing industry isn't handing out sweet deals to unknowns anymore; the bubble there burst. If you see a "big thing" on the shelves like vampire stories have been (thanks a lot, Twilight) then decide to write the next big vampire novel, guess what? Unless you're an established author with a fast track into the publishing line, when your novel comes out everything will be mummies. You can't get a novel churned out quickly enough to hit the current wave of popularity.
Most novel writers never make it big. They're lucky to make a living.
I turned this over in my head. I decided that I really had the least to lose in trying to write a novel. I am inspired by the likes of Scott Sigler (who worked for 15 freakin' years before throwing in the towel and deciding to podcast his novels for free...leading to an actual publishing contract. Finally!) and Mur Lafferty (who also got a publishing contract after working her butt off on projects like I Should Be Writing and her own novels being released in podcast form) and Paula B. with her podcast The Writing Show, giving insights on the publishing and writing industries.
I didn't mention the worst part of taking this path. I fully realize that I'm working about an hour or more a day on a story that may never sell and will get rejected. When you work on something that could be about 100,000 words (mine's currently at 40,000 as a first draft, and this post is appearing several weeks after I'm prepping this posting) along with the work it takes to edit and polish the manuscript, those rejection slips from agents and publishers is going to hurt.
Having a story in your head and thinking that you have what it takes to write a great novel is one thing. In your head you can do anything. But to actually try...and fail...that's tough. I am essentially making the conscious choice to invest months of my time into something that may do little more than confirm that I'm going to fail.
Ouch!
But I'm producing something. (Bet you were wondering when I'd get to the point, eh?)
I'm working on a legacy. I see teenagers who spend most of their time texting, playing games, and watching TV. The big thing in schools now is creating a portfolio of work; very rarely do I see anything that they produce willingly on their own. Their portfolio is filled with assignments, things that curriculum dictates they work on so they'll have something to show later on. Nothing with their heart or passion defining some part of themselves in the process.
I am producing something that I wished I had growing up. I know very little about my parents as they grew up. Their memories now are selective. I have things in my journal that hopefully will only be read when I'm too far senile to care what others close to me hold as an opinion. But it's there.
I want to have things for my kids to refer to later on and know this is what Dad was like. Really. Well, not the incident involving jello wrestling during the fraternity/sorority mixer. But what is in that journal and is in this blog is me put into a more lasting form for posterity.
If I do through some miracle happen to get published as a novelist, or (dare I say it?) become successful enough to become a full-time writer, I'll be listed in the Library of Congress and available in bookstores for my children to be able to point and say, "That's your grandfather, son!"
It makes me sad sometimes. I look around and wonder if other people ever think about leaving a legacy behind. I see them more concerned about fashion or reality TV shows than thinking about trying to make a little movie for fun, or blogging their thoughts for the world, or creating artwork that even if it only makes it onto the walls of the bedroom is still something that can be a reminder that "I was here. I mattered. I made that."
"But what about sites like YouTube? Or Facebook?"
I suppose that at the most base level those are examples of producing material. But I don't see it necessarily as that.
The barriers to entry for things like podcasting, video production and blogging have never been lower. Never. You can get a cheap camera for $200 bucks that fits in your pocket. You can get a computer for $500 on which to edit the videos, and an account on YouTube to upload your resulting masterpiece for free.
The difference in my view is that there's a difference between some tweener capturing ten seconds of their friend falling on her giggly ass or adding the three hundredth lipsync of the latest music abomination on the radio to YouTube and finding something that took time and care to produce like this trailer for Scott Sigler's novel Contagious.
Basically I see a producer as someone creating something of pride; it is a work that they have put a part of themselves into as a way of putting the best representation of their skills forward.
This blog isn't exactly the top-notch in grammar or structure. Much of it is just rambling from a guy trying not to be fat. But it is honest. It is a facet of insight into a part of me. The same goes for the journal. The novel is a story that I wanted to tell. Keeping up with the journal, the blog, the novel, and my job right now fills most of my time, so I don't have as much to try my hand at making videos, or doing theater work, or polishing my programming skills or working on a podcast.
But I am producing.
Perhaps I'm just fixated on the wrong goals in life. I get depressed watching others doing things that in a day or two will likely mean nothing, leaving behind nothing as a legacy. Maybe that suits them so it isn't anything to grieve for. Maybe they're happy filling their expected roles as consumers.
What do you think? Do you have an opinion on this? Do you want to leave behind some kind of legacy and if so how?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
NaNoWriMo!
In a scant three days is National Novel Writing Month!
Shortened to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month is a fun way to try jump starting the novelist in you by writing a 50,000 word novel (about 175 pages) between November 1st and midnight on November 30th.
That's roughly 1,667 words a day.
This isn't to write a masterpiece. It's not about a high quality story at all. This is about sitting down and writing. Fast. Hard. No editing. No rewriting. Just 50,000 words in a story.
You write it and then upload the story before the deadline for verification. You don't win anything more than a certificate and the knowledge of knowing that you have "won"...while it's easy to cheat, the people who do in this contest are really pitiful.
Another benefit lay in the act of writing each day. You gain some discipline in the act of setting a goal in word count and having to nail it each day to meet the goal. Sometimes novels that started from NaNoWriMo. For example, JC Hutchin's 7th Son started as a NaNoWriMo entry. At least, I believe that's what I heard in the "Get Published" podcast interview with J.C. The NaNoWriMo site has a list of some of the novels published as a result of participation in the festivities.
Now, of course there are detractors. NaNoWriMo focuses on setting goals and hitting deadlines, not refining the craft of writing. And perhaps these people who shake their heads in disappointment at the idea of NaNoWriMo have a point; it flies in the face of those who work hard at refining the craft of writing, reducing it to little more than a marathon with a line to be crossed rather than an art of telling a good story.
Personally if you're the kind of person that thrives on a deadline to accomplish a goal then NaNoWriMo isn't a bad thing. It might help encourage people to pursue their writing dreams. Is that necessarily bad?
There's no fee to enter. No penalty for "failing". Just sign up, write like crazy, and if you make it, you get a certificate. Let your inner novelist out to play a little.
(My wife is planning on trying to write 50,000 words this November. I'm not; I have a story I'm working on now, and part of the contest rules state you must start the novel on the first. Outlines, notes, etc. are okay beforehand, but the novel itself must start on the first, and I am not willing to suspend the story I'm working on now in order to start a new one for November and risk losing my momentum.)
Shortened to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month is a fun way to try jump starting the novelist in you by writing a 50,000 word novel (about 175 pages) between November 1st and midnight on November 30th.
That's roughly 1,667 words a day.
This isn't to write a masterpiece. It's not about a high quality story at all. This is about sitting down and writing. Fast. Hard. No editing. No rewriting. Just 50,000 words in a story.
You write it and then upload the story before the deadline for verification. You don't win anything more than a certificate and the knowledge of knowing that you have "won"...while it's easy to cheat, the people who do in this contest are really pitiful.
Another benefit lay in the act of writing each day. You gain some discipline in the act of setting a goal in word count and having to nail it each day to meet the goal. Sometimes novels that started from NaNoWriMo. For example, JC Hutchin's 7th Son started as a NaNoWriMo entry. At least, I believe that's what I heard in the "Get Published" podcast interview with J.C. The NaNoWriMo site has a list of some of the novels published as a result of participation in the festivities.
Now, of course there are detractors. NaNoWriMo focuses on setting goals and hitting deadlines, not refining the craft of writing. And perhaps these people who shake their heads in disappointment at the idea of NaNoWriMo have a point; it flies in the face of those who work hard at refining the craft of writing, reducing it to little more than a marathon with a line to be crossed rather than an art of telling a good story.
Personally if you're the kind of person that thrives on a deadline to accomplish a goal then NaNoWriMo isn't a bad thing. It might help encourage people to pursue their writing dreams. Is that necessarily bad?
There's no fee to enter. No penalty for "failing". Just sign up, write like crazy, and if you make it, you get a certificate. Let your inner novelist out to play a little.
(My wife is planning on trying to write 50,000 words this November. I'm not; I have a story I'm working on now, and part of the contest rules state you must start the novel on the first. Outlines, notes, etc. are okay beforehand, but the novel itself must start on the first, and I am not willing to suspend the story I'm working on now in order to start a new one for November and risk losing my momentum.)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
What if I Fail?
If you're like me you have had an idea or five tickling the back of your mind where you wanted to become a published author. The problem is that it's always tickled the back of your mind and never actually became a full story.
I found this article on Cracked.Com that may give some inspiration to overcome that fear. It lists 5 people who "failed" their way to fortune.
Usually I wouldn't find inspiration on Cracked.Com, a site largely dedicated to funny lists and satirical social commentary. But this list had an author named Amanda McKittrick Ros and I thought, "This would be a perfect first post topic on a new blog about my progress...or lack thereof...in trying to get published!" (there are other posts appearing "previous" to this...but those are migrated from another blog. This is the first "official" post to the NAC blog.)
From the Cracked article:
***
Amanda McKittrick Ros is believed by many to be one of the greatest bad writers who ever lived. How do you earn a distinction like that? You earn it by opening your novels with sentences like this...
"Have you ever visited that portion of Erin's plot that offers its sympathetic soil for the minute survey and scrutinous examination of those in political power, whose decision has wisely been the means before now of converting the stern and prejudiced, and reaching the hand of slight aid to share its strength in augmenting its agricultural richness?"
***
Her first novel, Irene Iddesleigh, was self-published by her husband as a gift. The book managed to gain a following that counted among the members C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, who publicised the book with a contest daring readers to see how far they could read it without bursting with laughter. Even Mark Twain commented on the book with a witticism.
Probably not how she meant to be known, but her books did gain readers and that is ultimately what an author wants. What's more, she managed to turn these successful failures into a career from which she made a decent living financially.
So I figure...if someone like this managed to break into being a published author...I must have some chance, right? Maybe slightly more than winning the lottery?
I found this article on Cracked.Com that may give some inspiration to overcome that fear. It lists 5 people who "failed" their way to fortune.
Usually I wouldn't find inspiration on Cracked.Com, a site largely dedicated to funny lists and satirical social commentary. But this list had an author named Amanda McKittrick Ros and I thought, "This would be a perfect first post topic on a new blog about my progress...or lack thereof...in trying to get published!" (there are other posts appearing "previous" to this...but those are migrated from another blog. This is the first "official" post to the NAC blog.)
From the Cracked article:
***
Amanda McKittrick Ros is believed by many to be one of the greatest bad writers who ever lived. How do you earn a distinction like that? You earn it by opening your novels with sentences like this...
"Have you ever visited that portion of Erin's plot that offers its sympathetic soil for the minute survey and scrutinous examination of those in political power, whose decision has wisely been the means before now of converting the stern and prejudiced, and reaching the hand of slight aid to share its strength in augmenting its agricultural richness?"
***
Her first novel, Irene Iddesleigh, was self-published by her husband as a gift. The book managed to gain a following that counted among the members C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, who publicised the book with a contest daring readers to see how far they could read it without bursting with laughter. Even Mark Twain commented on the book with a witticism.
Probably not how she meant to be known, but her books did gain readers and that is ultimately what an author wants. What's more, she managed to turn these successful failures into a career from which she made a decent living financially.
So I figure...if someone like this managed to break into being a published author...I must have some chance, right? Maybe slightly more than winning the lottery?
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