Writing or Publication?

Do you finish one story, grab your notebook, and look for the next? Or do you focus on promoting a single story or manuscript to gain publication?

There's plenty of us out here in the wilds of the Internet who look to become published authors. I'm one of them. However, a thought struck me the other day: What's more important? Money, being published, or the writing?

Many people focus lots of time and energy solely on getting published... How do I get published? When can I get published? When do I get the money? Agent? Reply time? And so on.

So, incentive. Why do you write? Do you want to be the person who has published a novel, with their name cut across a hardcover? Do you focus on getting paid? Being the best seller? Or is it about your character, your story, the message? Writing?

This has been knocking on the door of my thought-house for a while. When I was 25 I said to Past Allan, 'give it ten years, if you haven't had a story published, quit writing.' This has been an incentive for me AND an excuse. I've just turned 32 (I know, THE HORROR!) and still not published. It's became a negative. Never been paid for my writing. Well, I guess you need to send off your writing to get paid... So my fault right there... Yet I have written many stories. But should I give up in three years just because of missing my deadline?

I've enjoyed writing most of my little stories. That's been the real incentive I guess, the getting paid part hasn't really been the focus.

Motivation is key here, I guess. Over the years I've done a few courses, read lots of blogs and listened to people talk about writing. At the end of the day, lots of it was about either getting paid or getting published. Yep, there's been the writing part, but a large percentage of time goes into the clinical side of writing, not the fun part.

Mind you, there's also a good shout that getting paid can fuel more writing, creating time and pushing along those ideas and turning them into characters, plots and action. There's another good shout about just wanting to write stories - you have an idea, a story, and MUST write it - and finding ways to share it with others.

Honestly, I feel that if it just becomes about being published you may forget what makes that happen: a bloody good story and damn fine writing. Without that core, all the self promotion and sent manuscripts will be for nothing. And let's be honest, how much time goes into twitter, emailing and blogging compared to actual writing?

If it's about getting paid, beware of a similar fate - if the story has no emotion and is just a deadline and word count, well, will it really be good enough? Will you have the same pride looking back after spending all the money you were paid? If so, fair dos, at least you're honest!

Writing a story has a magic about it. I believe that this should not be forgotten. Write first, money second. If you write for a living, well, I get that it's about being paid, but make it about the characters and story and not just about the deadline. Like anything in a workplace, have pride in your work. Please don't be soulless, theres too much of that about these days. I think the readers will thank you for it, and you may well enjoy the process that little bit more.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Random Ramble a.k.a My Motivation

Please note: most of this was written in 2009 and became a kind of motivation to move on with my life during a time of change. It also kick-started my writing again in a big way after years of blank pages. I've edited it, and hope it shows that some positive thought can help you get things done, particularly about writing and life, and starting on the that story of finding your dreams, whatever they may be. Oh, it's a bit of ramble, even after the edit, so don't read it if you hate that kind of thing...


Just a thought...

by Allan Maxwell on Wednesday, 21 January 2009 at 02:18.

I listened to a speech today from a world class orator who happens to be a very well known world leader. Let's forget about who it is, because that's not important here. What is important is the impact the speech had at this moment in my life. I started to think about where my life's story was going, and what I really wanted from it.

I want to be something more than what I am at present, something better I guess. I’m wondering about my life and thinking about what I have done. Short answer is: not much. No completed stories sent to publishers for years, no promotion for years, no love for years. It's a growing list. I look at how little I’ve affected history, at how little I've expressed my thoughts because of some form of shyness. Yes, I’ve lived a little, especially with my young life (what a story that is), however, it turns out lots of that shit still hinders me to this day. But should this dictate what I can do and what I am now and in the future?

I know, at a personal level, that in my life I’ve set up some local clubs, done stuff for charity (at a small level), and helped my local community unite where I’ve worked – but what does that mean really? Is that enough?

Well, no.

I think it’s time for me to look at what I want to achieve in life.

Time to decide what I will become.

What will I leave behind?

Indeed, what will the rest of my life be? What meaning will it have? How will I affect my fellow man? What ripples am I creating across the country, or the world?

We are in a time of unease, yes. We are in a time of doubt, I agree. Does that mean I should hide within that bubble, or could I push it ever-so-slightly, and carve out a life filled with some of my own dreams and have a positive affect on others?

Think about this: opportunity is part of humanity, yes? So what opportunities does each of us have? Even within that bubble of society. More that you think, I’m guessing.

So, under the supposed gloom and darkness of modern life, could the spark of thought, belief and change be seen and heard and change your life?

Yes. Yes it can.

Take the opportunity to do some good, for others or yourself, or do something meaningful that you've wanted to do for years.

Take small steps. Look at the positive angle - even when it hurts, no, ESPECIALLY when it hurts - and see what happens. Take the new job, or swallow some pride and get bloody good at the job your doing now. Start telling your story, your way.

Want to have your own book or short story out there being read by others? Write it. Finish the first draft, no matter what. Then work hard making it epic, and send it out there. Read some books to motivate you, take a course, do whatever it takes and see what you can do.

Because it's there, just in reach, that opportunity, that dream. You just have to take that chance, do the work, and make it happen.

So make it happen.



It's now 2012. Three years after I set that little mission statement to try and motivate myself. Taking that leap of faith and working towards the positive mindset HAS paid off. Ok, I've not been published, but that's my fault for not working hard on that front. I do, however, have this Blog now, written lots of short stories and ideas, and completed and passed a university course on creative writing. I have fiancé, a six week old little boy and been through several promotions in work. It's not been all plain sailing and I have failed too, but the good has certainly outweighed the bad, and I have zero regrets.

The dreams are still alive, and still need to be poked and prodded every now and then, as does everything worth it in life.

In the space of three years everything has changed - I achieved more in that time than I did in the fifteen years before it. My life's ripples have widened across the world, and I'm happy about it.

So go make it happen.

Penned Monkey Confessions...

‘In her panties lurked musky badgers.’

Got your attention? Good.

This is a direct quote from Chuck Wendig’s eBook, Confessions of a Freelance Penmonkey. His book is filled with this colourful language, and the great thing about it is that it is book on being a professional author, with writing advice. Yes, writing advice. Professional Author.

Recently I’ve been doing a Creative Writing course and learning many great ways to throw out a little bit of word magic onto a screen. While studying I started reading writers and writing blogs and one that has now became a constant in my reading day is Chuck Wendig’s Terribleminds. There he spouts wisdom in the arts of writing, in his own dramatic script.

Wendig has become a viral infection that’s dug deep into my writing life. He’s like a little monkey on my shoulder, whispering profanity-ridden sentences and snippets of golden counsel while I scribble in my notebook, conjuring up my next post or short story.

Confessions is a collection of his writing advice from his blog, and I’ve found it one of the most useful writing guides around right now.  Advice on how to be an author is plastered all over the place, from web forums, to books, to eBooks, to magazines, to retreats and university courses. Most have solid, good advice, structured in prescribed ways to help the student master the ways of writing. As I stated earlier, I’ve just finished a course at Uni, and I’ll tell you, I found it the basic advice and coursework hard to read and study (so I didn’t), dull at times (so I didn’t study), at times uninspiring (add negative statement here about not studying), meaning I’ve just about passed.

Confessions takes a different approach. Wendig’s prose is energised and memorable, while he drops in great snippets of wisdom, teaching (reprimanding and warning) us about the raw reality of being a writer. He tells you like it is, no holding back the punches. It is also a look into the life of a writer, which sounds mean, scary, exciting, and fantastical.

Chuck Wendig is a modern writerly-type. Gone are the wispy days of dreaming that you’ll become an ‘overnight bestseller’ (that’s a myth anyway) after writing your first tome of greatness. Gone are the writers who happily make golden word-princesses upon pristine pages over the span of several years in a land of milk and honey. There’s a growing breed of hard working (drinking?) freelance authors that have the skill and determination to weave their magic in different styles and genres, finishing novels every three or so months and EARNING that pay check at the end of a project.

Beware the side effects of this book however: You’ll find yourself swearing more, spouting dirtier metaphors and similes, and talking to your Granny about becoming a Penmonkey. Oh, you’ll also find that you'll be a better, more focussed writer (well, only if you still want to be a writer, that is).

On a final note, I've just realised that if I had just picked this up (for around £3.50) before doing the University course,  I may have saved hundreds (and hundreds) of pounds. You live and learn.

5 out of 5 ink-stained monkeys.

Go buy the book HERE or have a look in Amazon. For more of Chuck’s unique writerly advice visit his website Terribleminds

We’re not finished with Wendig yet. Let’s see how good he is. Look out for my review of one of his short stories from Irregular Creatures soon.

October: Hell Month Part 2

 

Scrabble 'moment' in October...

I’ve been listening to the Braveheart Soundtrack while writing this. Just thought I’d let you know.

Work

Mathematically the worse month in work for performance ever. EVER. Total arse-crap.

University (of the Creative, Open variety)

I started my first month in an Open University course on Creative Writing. I was stoked, prepared, on the boil and ready to show the world just how good I was at writing. It was going oh-so-well, the course work was fun, I was finding it challenging and could even understand the bits about poetry. [Man points -1]. I completed the first assignment, writing short piece of fiction (about the time I was stuck in my car in total darkness on a motorway for five hours cause someone decided to jump off a bridge and kill themselves on Christmas Eve. Nice.). I was confident of an easy pass.

October refused to play ball. I BARELY passed the first assignment. Two points off failure.

Confidence in writing reached lowest ebb for years – not only was my writing not good enough for the job I went for, but it wasn’t up to standard for University also. Gutted.

Concussion

Here’s the sucker punch to the month. I play field hockey [Man points -1]. It was a derby match near the end of the month and we were determined not to lose against our greatest rivals. I turn up on the day, prepared for battle, ready to win. Then our Goal Keeper doesn’t turn up. How could we win a bloody game of hockey without our keeper? Gutted again.

But this made the team even more determined to win. Imagine beating our rivals without a keeper? So we fought hard. Really hard. Near the end of the match we were impossibly winning 5-4 and I was one on one with their attacker – if he got passed me he would easily score – and was so SURE I could tackle him and get the ball. So I dived in, nay, charged in [Man points +1].

A brain-numbing clash of heads/hockey stick to the body later I collapsed to the ground clutching my head. [Man points -1 (I’m Scottish; I should easily handle a wee head-butting)] Fuzzy Time had begun. But the attacker didn’t get past me and we were still winning. After some abuse from my team mates for being soft I got back up and carried on playing [Man points +1].  We won 6-4. But the October curse had literally hit again.

It took me a few days to realise I needed to go to the Doctors [Man points +1] and was told to take time off as I had concussion. Curse you October, curse you.

Halloween (with added concussion)

Now, when I hosted my Halloween party I did not realise I had concussion. I decided that having a big lump on the side of my face would suit for such a dark night and bruising was a nice touch to boot. I may have had a few beers and fun was had. I think. Can’t really remember much [Man points +1] (note: alcohol and concussion is a deadly mix.), but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

We watched Paranormal Activity and I didn’t jump too much this time and with so little of October felt I became at ease, thinking ‘that’s it, no more bad luck or strange goings on!’ Of course, October, being a sneaky bar-steward, had one final thing up its nasty little sleeve.

We checked out the extras on the DVD, and found the home made horror competition winner (check it out if you dare). Now, it’s not the best, nor scary. But, just at the end, the very, very end (around midnight too) I jumped out of my skin and yelped like one of Paris Hiltons’ piddily dogs getting its tail trapped in a door [Man Points -1]. THAT got the biggest laugh of the night. Immediately updates were on Facebook.

Oh, how I will remember you October 2010. Revenge will be mine.

Surviving October 2010

And so that was October. So glad it’s finished.

Many may feel hard done by because of such an, well, interesting month. But, in hindsight, it wasn’t too bad: I’m over the concussion and we won at hockey; I did get some great feedback for my writing from my university tutor and the job application; Gran is doing well; I had a holiday; work is way better and the shenanigans of last month gave me idea’s for writing (where this blog entry clearly came from!). You can wallow in negativity or find opportunity and learn from the experiences. I’m learning and living.

October 2011 – bring it bitch, bring it.

October Man Points overall total: -1. Not bad.

October 2010: Hell Month Part 1

What a bum-fluff of a month.

And I’ll tell you why. And keep count of the Man Points on this one.

A long time ago in a galaxy not too far away (October 1^st) I was looking forward to busy, exciting month. Not only was I starting a new Open University Course, but I was taking a week off to spend time with my lovely lady, applying for a new job and had an autumnal spring in my step – It was gonna be a good month. [Man points a balanced 0].

Kinda didn’t work out the way I had planned.

The Gran

My 94 year old Gran can not only cause trouble in an empty room, but when I hit an ambulance with my old fiesta a decade ago she walked out of the carnage while I was stretchered off to hospital [-1 man point]. She’s made of iron that one. Unfortunately she was seriously ill at the start of the month and almost passed on – kudos to The Dad, who was in the right place at the right time to save her – and so I cancelled the holiday with the Lovely Lady in my life to go see her. Gran recovered overnight and was chirping away to me after my 7 hour drive to see her (no ambulances were hurt on the journey). MADE OF IRON I tell you.

So far October hadn’t started too well, but the worst was over, wasn’t it?

The Holiday

Actually, with some last minute internet searching, me and the Not So Tear Drenched Girlfriend managed a few days away in the lovely Lake Distinct after visiting Iron Gran. Here are some proper good visuals of the holiday...

I taught my lady chess, and beat her at every game [Man Points +1], saw a cool lake and had five course dinners every night. October was looking up.

Job application

I decided to go for a writing job for a change of career and to tick it off the Bucket List. Out of many, many applicants I made to the last 14 and had to do a writing assignment. It was tough but fun. Lots of fun. I learned many things about how to write promotionally and my tiny skill base was tested. I really thought I was going to get an interview at least. I didn’t of course, and the October curse struck again. I cursed right back, but to no avail, and October continued onwards...

Reading Affliction Continues

If you’ve checked out my last blog post ‘Reading Afflictions’ you’ll understand that I suffer from a terrible affliction of reading a few chapters of a novel before buying a new one, then read a few chapters of that book, and buy a new one, etc etc. Meaning I never really finish all the books I buy, creating a large Reading List. It stares at me now, daring me to read. [Man points -1 (come on, BOOKS are staring me down!)]

Reading Affliction continued and I totally blame October.

That's it for part 1, thank the lord, but mosey on back tomorrow for:

Work

University (of the Creative, Open variety)

Concussion

Halloween (with added concussion)

And of course to find out how many Man Points I finished on after October: Hell Month.

Reading Afflictions

Everyone has their habits while reading. For some it may be the time of day the decide to open a book, others it may be what genres they read or sipping a large cup of hot chocolate while digging into their newest novel. I’m fairly flippant in what I buy. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a certain author, or the next book in a series I’m reading comes out, or I feel intellectual and look for some business book, or its payday or a Tuesday, or... and so on. There is always an excuse to add to my collection of novels.

               The older I become and the more I discover about my own ways, I’m realising that I may have formed an affliction of some kind, rather than your normal reading habit. You see, when I buy a book I become fairly excited about the prospect of the new story and immediately want to start reading. Not straight away – buying a book and opening it before I even get handed the receipt in the shop and then walking out bumping into everyone would be a serious issue indeed (and maybe there are people who do it?) – But I certainly start within a day or two of the purchase.

                That’s where the problems begin.

                I never finish enough books to cut down on the ‘Reading List’. I read swiftly through the first few chapters, and then find a new shiny story to start, read a few chapters, and buy another, and so on. Thus, reading list grows. It’s outgrowing the ‘Read’ list these days, and shelves to hold them in the flat. I just get so interested in something new that the old dulls and new brightens. Even though I have much to read I still buy new stories. An affliction I tell you.

                I’ve concluded thusly: Supply X Time X Speed = shit loads of books to read.

There’s a steady supply of novels, books and eBooks overflowing in the ‘Reading List’ and my own reading cannot catch up. I’m fairly certain I’ll die having read much less books than I’ve bought.

This has me wondering: what other afflictions and weirdness is there out in the reading wilderness? I’m sure if we diagnose them early enough something can be done about them...