Tag: writing

I feel that this does sum it all up, although I could edit it a bit.

Get an audience.
Crowdfund.
Get an editor. $2-8K.
Newbies should never mind structural editing. Copy editing will do.
Get a real artist. $500-1K.
Manage expectations.
Keep going.

…It also helps if you marry an engineer.

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) April 20, 2024

This is the fourth novel-length book I’ve published; you’d think I was used to the checklist by now. This is the part where everything is awful and nothing works right and what the Hell, Moe? I’m not sure if it’s a buildup of put-it-aside-for-now emotions from the process, the desire to get it over with, or just the inevitable reaction to the detail that I’ve spent more time the last month working on books instead of advertising them. It typically goes away when I finally publish the blessed thing.

Anyway, talking about it is therapeutic. If only because I stop feeling down, and start feeling annoyed. I don’t have time for this.

Among other things. The book is approaching that stage where I hate the sight of it and am ready to cast it into the sun. I gather that this is a normal part of the creative process, though. One hopes, at least…

They took my first three paragraphs, yanked out one sentence, told me that was the hook, squeezed a couple more paragraphs together, yanked that down past the hook, and effectively said “There’s your intro.” It all felt incredibly useful. I may bring bagels next time as a thank-you.

Moe Lane

PS: My schedule’s been wacky today, but that’s OK. Things are going along as per the schedule. Also: right now I’m trying to decide whether it’s worth it to get a bare-bones book vendor table at the conventions that I go to. Might be, might not be. It all depends on how long I can man that table and whether I’ll make my money back if I do.

I wasn’t sure how it’d go, but it was cool. People read the stuff that they were working on, and then we gave them thoughtful and helpful commentary; I enjoyed the experience. Nobody else there did science fiction and fantasy, which may have been an advantage for me when I did the first three pages of IN HOC SIGNO VINCES. They mostly just liked it, without any sort of “Dear God, man: how could you have made that mistake?” sort of commentary. Which reaction I might or might not have been subconsciously expecting.

Anyway, I think that I’ll do this on the regular. The circle seems to be made up of friendly, chill people who have been doing this for a while; and I like the idea of being helpful. Although I’m bringing my own soft drinks next time. The vending machines were nightmarish.

I just ripped 1,500 words out of my head for a flash fiction call-for-submissions and I have no idea where it really came from. Unless it came from the part of my brain that would eagerly write something, anything for the Weird Tales website. And get paid for it: let us not forget that. Ever.

If it doesn’t sell, I’ll probably put it up here. I don’t know where else I’d put it, honestly: it’s pretty market-specific. But, anyway, that’s what I did this morning and early afternoon.

…no more excuses or Spring Breaks or whatever.  From now on, 500 words a day, net*. Maybe it’ll be 1,000 and I throw out half; maybe I’ll be on and can get 500 that don’t need to be hacked at later.  But it’s time to schedule writing the way that I schedule exercise. That’s probably the only way it’s going to work for me.

Moe Lane

*Separate from the stuff on this site.  I’m talking about stuff I plan to sell. Or at least hope to sell.

Mostly, they involve watching my wife take my kids to the pool, then grabbing my Chromebook and retreating to a Panera Bread or something so that I can get some writing done. I have, like, three short stories that need finishing and this weekend has been not great when it comes to my larger productivity. A couple of hours writing in peace and quiet sounds like a great idea…