Sometimes, life gets difficult and throws a wrench in the gears of your plans. Being a successful writer is as dependent on not getting derailed as it is on knowing your craft. Yet, it can happen to the best of us.
Anyone who happens to follow my blog has noticed my absence over the
past couple of days. Well, things got tough and as always tough is
annoying. Monday night I went out to play some Magic the Gathering at my
local shop. While I was there, I lost my wallet and everything in it.
To
compound that problem let me elaborate a bit about the situation. As
many of you may know I just moved from Kentucky to Tennessee. I've not
gotten settled yet, or found a steady job, so money was already tight on
me. So I'd made a budget to help myself along and of that budget was
$16 for gas. When I left the house the car was almost empty. I was
running a little late, so I figured I'd get gas on my way home. I'm sure
you can see where this is going. Lost wallet? Check. Almost empty gas
tank? Check. A drift in a city I know nothing about? Check. Luckily I
had $0.64 in change in my pocket. With a hope and a prayer I tracked
down a gas station which took far longer than it should have. You never
can find what you're looking for when you need it. The cashier was nice
enough to contribute enough to get me up to a whole dollar. I made it
home. I filed a police report. My drivers license and social security
card were in my wallet and you need those to get a job. Until I can get
replacements I needed proof that they were gone. I hope the police report will meet that need.
As
if the situation wasn't bad enough now I'm confronted with the
bureaucracy of replacing my lost documents. I have to go all the way
back to Kentucky to get my birth certificate from my mother. I must go in person to the area dmv and get my license replaced. Sure it'll be nice to see dad and my cat and pick up my remaining stuff, but ugh.
On
top of that I had to call the major credit bureaus and get a credit
freeze. That will prevent anyone from using my license or social
security card to apply for credit. So yeah, I've not written anything.
I've not promoted any of my books. I've not done a thing except pull my
non existent hair out and try to keep a stiff upper lip.
The
temptation to pack my stuff up and head back to Kentucky was strong. I
wanted in many moments of frustration and depression over the past
couple of days to seek out the comfort of the familiar. Yet, life isn't
designed to be easy. It isn't always a walk in the park. It'll beat you
down, stomp on your face, and then laugh all the way to the bank. You
can either let it or you can square your shoulders and charge full steam
ahead. I've never been a charger. I have no shame in admitting I've
always been a retreated, but not this time Universe. No, not this time.
Moral
of the story? When things get bad, don't run away, punch life in the
face and tell it to bring it on. Also, put your wallet on a chain. Oh,
and avoid distracting massage chairs that make you forget you left your
wallet laying on your thigh instead of putting it back in your pocket.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Paying your Dues
My bicep is sore. My ankles ache. I find it hard to straighten up when I stand. Why? Because I worked today. I, along with two other guys unloaded almost five tons of what was essentially wet dry wall and sheet rock. We did this under the scalding sun. My forehead essentially looks like bacon.
I know what you're thinking. Wait a minute, aren't you a writer? Why are you doing manual labor? Because I needed the money. There is this shadow belief among people who haven't tried it that being a writer is a meal ticket. You write that one amazing book and then you earn millions of dollars and live the high life for the rest of your life. Wrong! It doesn't work that way, not even close. Maybe someday, but for now my books don't bring in near enough to call it a living.
So tonight's post is short and simple. Writing is hard. Publishing successfully is hard. It is not a cake walk, or a golden ticket. Turn off your blinders and be realistic. Writing for profit is generally a bad idea. Profit is the thing that happens because you wrote. Write because you love writing not to score a golden ticket. If that is all you're after, just buy lottery tickets... lots of them. The odds are essentially the same.
I know what you're thinking. Wait a minute, aren't you a writer? Why are you doing manual labor? Because I needed the money. There is this shadow belief among people who haven't tried it that being a writer is a meal ticket. You write that one amazing book and then you earn millions of dollars and live the high life for the rest of your life. Wrong! It doesn't work that way, not even close. Maybe someday, but for now my books don't bring in near enough to call it a living.
So tonight's post is short and simple. Writing is hard. Publishing successfully is hard. It is not a cake walk, or a golden ticket. Turn off your blinders and be realistic. Writing for profit is generally a bad idea. Profit is the thing that happens because you wrote. Write because you love writing not to score a golden ticket. If that is all you're after, just buy lottery tickets... lots of them. The odds are essentially the same.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
The Hardest Thing an Author will Ever be Faced With
When stuff just doesn't sell.
You spent hours writing. You spent hours editing and designing. You spent hours mastering social media. And you spent hours on book promotions. Days go by and nothing sells. You gave away a decent amount of books with your KDP Select book promotion. But no one seems interested in spending actual money on your work. Things look grim, a small bit of depression sets in, and before you know it you're binge watching something on Netflix. (Currently Farscape for me, wonderful show by the way). Every author who isn't already established will deal with this. You are not alone.
My advice when this happens is simple and goes as follows. Get up at the same time. Eat breakfast at the same time, or don't if you don't eat breakfast. Go for a run or a walk or sit and sip your coffee. Do whatever it is you do, and then sit down and write. You can't make people buy your book, you have limited control over that, but you have total control over your own actions. It would be easy to give it up. You could cuddle up on your couch in frumpy clothes with a pint of ice cream and turn on that Netflix. But the truth is... that won't help your book sell.
What will help your books sell is writing more books and making sure they are the absolute best quality you can manage. At the end of the day their are a countless number of self published books on the market. The vast majority of them aren't good. (I make no claim that mine are special, in fact they aren't, they're right there with the rest of them struggling to find an audience). Readers get burned by bad self published books. That makes them timid about giving another one a shot. But if you've got a good cover design, a good book description, and you wrote a good book you can become part of the solution. So there you have it. Books aren't selling, write more books. The more books you have out, the more exposure you get and if they're good books readers will find your other books. If you write a good book, it will find an audience. Good books don't write themselves, so quell that Netflix addiction and keep pressing forward.
I for one know I'll never stop writing, because it's a part of me, in a way it's my therapy. When I go long periods without writing my mind gets cluttered. Doubts and insecurities that I usually heap on my characters flood my thoughts. For a writer, it is a downward spiral and the best way to avoid it is to just not start going down. Keep climbing, everything you do for your books from writing them to publishing them is a step forward. You're only going backwards when you quit.
Keep up the good fight my friends.
You spent hours writing. You spent hours editing and designing. You spent hours mastering social media. And you spent hours on book promotions. Days go by and nothing sells. You gave away a decent amount of books with your KDP Select book promotion. But no one seems interested in spending actual money on your work. Things look grim, a small bit of depression sets in, and before you know it you're binge watching something on Netflix. (Currently Farscape for me, wonderful show by the way). Every author who isn't already established will deal with this. You are not alone.
My advice when this happens is simple and goes as follows. Get up at the same time. Eat breakfast at the same time, or don't if you don't eat breakfast. Go for a run or a walk or sit and sip your coffee. Do whatever it is you do, and then sit down and write. You can't make people buy your book, you have limited control over that, but you have total control over your own actions. It would be easy to give it up. You could cuddle up on your couch in frumpy clothes with a pint of ice cream and turn on that Netflix. But the truth is... that won't help your book sell.
What will help your books sell is writing more books and making sure they are the absolute best quality you can manage. At the end of the day their are a countless number of self published books on the market. The vast majority of them aren't good. (I make no claim that mine are special, in fact they aren't, they're right there with the rest of them struggling to find an audience). Readers get burned by bad self published books. That makes them timid about giving another one a shot. But if you've got a good cover design, a good book description, and you wrote a good book you can become part of the solution. So there you have it. Books aren't selling, write more books. The more books you have out, the more exposure you get and if they're good books readers will find your other books. If you write a good book, it will find an audience. Good books don't write themselves, so quell that Netflix addiction and keep pressing forward.
I for one know I'll never stop writing, because it's a part of me, in a way it's my therapy. When I go long periods without writing my mind gets cluttered. Doubts and insecurities that I usually heap on my characters flood my thoughts. For a writer, it is a downward spiral and the best way to avoid it is to just not start going down. Keep climbing, everything you do for your books from writing them to publishing them is a step forward. You're only going backwards when you quit.
Keep up the good fight my friends.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Changing your life (Musings on the things you love, the things you want, and the things you leave behind)
It's 1:40pm on an overcast Monday afternoon in Tennessee. My throat is itchy, burning, and swallowing is mildly annoying. My head is pounding and I feel like crud in general, so I'm siting here watching Pet Semetary on Netflix and dreading heading out the door to go find a branch of my bank in this area. You see, a few weeks ago I packed up all of my junk and seized an opportunity to move to a new area and make a stab at building a new life, a better life. Late last night I began to think real hard about that decision.
I had family, friends, a beloved pet, and most of all an establish yet monotonous daily routine that didn't really require me to put much thought into my days, which by the way were so similar that I often didn't know what day it was. There was a comfort in that arrangement, a sense of security that wrapped me tight and made life easy. It sounds pretty good, and a lot of people would define what they really want out of life as that exact situation, safety, comfort, and security. However, it wasn't at all what it was cracked up to be. Let me elaborate.
I had family. I love my family very much, my tribe. Read up on Tribes here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-paul-phd/finding-your-tribe_b_5224222.html) It is a quite frankly a fascinating subject, but tribes can have a dark side, and that is the side I want to talk about, particularly how it related to me. There was a powerful Facebook post, that I can't find, but I did find a page where someone posted it, so here it is. (https://skrikvirniks.wordpress.com/tag/tribal-shaming/) Anyway, as I stated at the beginning of this paragraph ( please forgive my train of thought version of blogging, I prefer to write what I feel) I love my family, always will, in each of their own ways they've gone to great lengths to care for me and help me along my path, but as much as I love them, they were holding me back, holding me back out of love.
The problem was that I didn't belong there and it took me a long time to figure that out. Out of my immediate family there were about three or four I actually shared any interests and/or life views with. So, I spent most of the days that blended together alone, doing my own thing, enjoying the things I enjoyed, and at times feeling guilty for not taking part in the activities of those I loved the most. I believe it is a classic misconception that family is supposed to share lifestyles and beliefs. It makes sense to some degree, you grow up around them, you learn from them, you pick up traits from them and some people are content or convinced ( depending on how you look at it) that its normal, or right. The truth is, there comes a time in our lives where we can either accept what we've been given, or we can decline it ( as ungrateful as it may seem to those you love) and forge your own path.
Today, I find myself slipping into a mindset that I under is 100% counter productive, and I know its because I feel bad. When I moved I had to leave my beloved cat Nyx behind, honestly I wouldn't have brought her anyway. She has a home, she's lived there for six years and anyone who has a cat knows they don't adjust to change well, in that sense I'm like a cat. Anyway, today as I feel like crud I find myself wanting to pet her, do that thing where I rub head with her and listen to her purr. I find myself wanting to curl up on the bed I slept on for ten years and curl into that familiar comfort. I find myself wanting to sit on the front porch and share silence with my father, and I have trouble reconciling that these things are just anchors, anchors that were binding me to what was essentially a dead end situation.
There were no jobs there. No room for growth. No future. The area itself is dying as the coal industry dies with it because the people who are in charge there never cared to come up with a plan for when the coal ran out, and they knew it was going to, they've known for years. I don't regret taking a shot, and I appreciate my friends for the help they've given me in that regard. I guess, what I'm trying to say, in a round about rambling way is, "Take a step back, separate yourself from the life you are living, and look at it in a broad scope. Is it the right life? Are you happy? Is this what you want to do with the rest of your life? Do the people who love you love you so much that they're standing in your way? Perhaps, it's time to change things, it may be a small thing, it may be a huge thing, but it may need to happen. It'll be terrifying, you'll be filled with doubt, and it might not work, but you owe it to yourself to try."
Alright, lets go find that bank.
I had family, friends, a beloved pet, and most of all an establish yet monotonous daily routine that didn't really require me to put much thought into my days, which by the way were so similar that I often didn't know what day it was. There was a comfort in that arrangement, a sense of security that wrapped me tight and made life easy. It sounds pretty good, and a lot of people would define what they really want out of life as that exact situation, safety, comfort, and security. However, it wasn't at all what it was cracked up to be. Let me elaborate.
I had family. I love my family very much, my tribe. Read up on Tribes here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-paul-phd/finding-your-tribe_b_5224222.html) It is a quite frankly a fascinating subject, but tribes can have a dark side, and that is the side I want to talk about, particularly how it related to me. There was a powerful Facebook post, that I can't find, but I did find a page where someone posted it, so here it is. (https://skrikvirniks.wordpress.com/tag/tribal-shaming/) Anyway, as I stated at the beginning of this paragraph ( please forgive my train of thought version of blogging, I prefer to write what I feel) I love my family, always will, in each of their own ways they've gone to great lengths to care for me and help me along my path, but as much as I love them, they were holding me back, holding me back out of love.
The problem was that I didn't belong there and it took me a long time to figure that out. Out of my immediate family there were about three or four I actually shared any interests and/or life views with. So, I spent most of the days that blended together alone, doing my own thing, enjoying the things I enjoyed, and at times feeling guilty for not taking part in the activities of those I loved the most. I believe it is a classic misconception that family is supposed to share lifestyles and beliefs. It makes sense to some degree, you grow up around them, you learn from them, you pick up traits from them and some people are content or convinced ( depending on how you look at it) that its normal, or right. The truth is, there comes a time in our lives where we can either accept what we've been given, or we can decline it ( as ungrateful as it may seem to those you love) and forge your own path.
Today, I find myself slipping into a mindset that I under is 100% counter productive, and I know its because I feel bad. When I moved I had to leave my beloved cat Nyx behind, honestly I wouldn't have brought her anyway. She has a home, she's lived there for six years and anyone who has a cat knows they don't adjust to change well, in that sense I'm like a cat. Anyway, today as I feel like crud I find myself wanting to pet her, do that thing where I rub head with her and listen to her purr. I find myself wanting to curl up on the bed I slept on for ten years and curl into that familiar comfort. I find myself wanting to sit on the front porch and share silence with my father, and I have trouble reconciling that these things are just anchors, anchors that were binding me to what was essentially a dead end situation.
There were no jobs there. No room for growth. No future. The area itself is dying as the coal industry dies with it because the people who are in charge there never cared to come up with a plan for when the coal ran out, and they knew it was going to, they've known for years. I don't regret taking a shot, and I appreciate my friends for the help they've given me in that regard. I guess, what I'm trying to say, in a round about rambling way is, "Take a step back, separate yourself from the life you are living, and look at it in a broad scope. Is it the right life? Are you happy? Is this what you want to do with the rest of your life? Do the people who love you love you so much that they're standing in your way? Perhaps, it's time to change things, it may be a small thing, it may be a huge thing, but it may need to happen. It'll be terrifying, you'll be filled with doubt, and it might not work, but you owe it to yourself to try."
Alright, lets go find that bank.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Accumulating Book Reviews
So, I sat down at my computer today around 1pm and started the arduous task of garnering reviews for my newly released book. One of the big steps people make in doing this is the act of submitting their book to a bevy of book bloggers. I failed to do this with the first book I ever published and that release went abysmally. So, what is the word on this act so far? It takes a while, that's the word.
It is now 8:33pm and I just finished my search for the day. No bloggers have been contacted yet and I spent that much time on it. What I do have is a list of potential bloggers who are likely to enjoy my book enough to give it a half way decent review. I guess that's something, but I look forward to tomorrow with dread, because now I have to compose about one hundred individual emails. I could write one generic email to then tweak to match the particular blogger I'm contacting, but everything I've read, and everything I feel tells me that's a bad idea .
Anyway, no complaints. I've always said, "You have to do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do." What I want to do is be a successful author, so that means I have to put the extra work in, and that... is worth it.
It is now 8:33pm and I just finished my search for the day. No bloggers have been contacted yet and I spent that much time on it. What I do have is a list of potential bloggers who are likely to enjoy my book enough to give it a half way decent review. I guess that's something, but I look forward to tomorrow with dread, because now I have to compose about one hundred individual emails. I could write one generic email to then tweak to match the particular blogger I'm contacting, but everything I've read, and everything I feel tells me that's a bad idea .
Anyway, no complaints. I've always said, "You have to do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do." What I want to do is be a successful author, so that means I have to put the extra work in, and that... is worth it.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Trials and Tribulations
Well, here I am. It has been one rocky road to get here. The first time I took a stab at the wonderful world of writing I was just a bright eyed young man with big dreams of breaking the bank with book sells. News flash, that didn't happen, not even close. The first book I wrote "A Gathering of Storms" wasn't a bad book but it wasn't exactly a good book either. It had potential as my friends have told me, but I just didn't know enough yet. I hadn't taken enough time to hone my skills and as such the problems it has are readily apparent. This time, I'm coming into it with a clear head. Writing a book isn't easy, making money off of one is even harder, but I feel my chances are much better now.
Either way, I just published the first book in a serial. Fool's Journey, The War of the Tarot Series, Book One, Episode One. I'm sitting here watching the KDP page waiting for it to get out of the reviewing process and I figured now is as good a time as any to start vomiting stuff onto this blog.
Lets see... pertinent information. This is a serial with multiple seasons planned, think of it sort of like a TV show. I'll plan out a season anywhere from six to ten episodes long, and then I'll write them and release them. Each season will tell a part of what I hope will become a large and rich world with multiple characters introduced over time. When a season begins I'll release one episode per week until the season is concluded. Once all that is done I'll release a compilation of all the episodes kind of like a box set.
One might ask why do it in seasons instead of just one big long series. Well, the simple answer is that publishing books costs a lot of money. Between cover design, paying an editor, and getting the book formatted I currently just can't afford to hammer stuff out.
So if you happened by this site by chance, give my books a shot, maybe you'll like them and then if you like theme enough, feel free to drop back by and hit the donate button on the right side of the screen to speed along the production of the next part. If you ended up here because you read the book I hope you liked it enough to want to chip in and keep them rolling.
Also, drop you email in the mailing list just under the donation button. I'll drop a news letter every time a new episode is released or a new season begins, and also probably sometime between production just to keep any fans I'm lucky enough to pick up informed to how the production is coming along.
Now, it's 5:15 in the morning, Netflix is cutting in and out, my eyes are sticking together, and I've got a chapter to write tomorrow, so for now. I'll bid anyone who notices a fond farewell.
Either way, I just published the first book in a serial. Fool's Journey, The War of the Tarot Series, Book One, Episode One. I'm sitting here watching the KDP page waiting for it to get out of the reviewing process and I figured now is as good a time as any to start vomiting stuff onto this blog.
Lets see... pertinent information. This is a serial with multiple seasons planned, think of it sort of like a TV show. I'll plan out a season anywhere from six to ten episodes long, and then I'll write them and release them. Each season will tell a part of what I hope will become a large and rich world with multiple characters introduced over time. When a season begins I'll release one episode per week until the season is concluded. Once all that is done I'll release a compilation of all the episodes kind of like a box set.
One might ask why do it in seasons instead of just one big long series. Well, the simple answer is that publishing books costs a lot of money. Between cover design, paying an editor, and getting the book formatted I currently just can't afford to hammer stuff out.
So if you happened by this site by chance, give my books a shot, maybe you'll like them and then if you like theme enough, feel free to drop back by and hit the donate button on the right side of the screen to speed along the production of the next part. If you ended up here because you read the book I hope you liked it enough to want to chip in and keep them rolling.
Also, drop you email in the mailing list just under the donation button. I'll drop a news letter every time a new episode is released or a new season begins, and also probably sometime between production just to keep any fans I'm lucky enough to pick up informed to how the production is coming along.
Now, it's 5:15 in the morning, Netflix is cutting in and out, my eyes are sticking together, and I've got a chapter to write tomorrow, so for now. I'll bid anyone who notices a fond farewell.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
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