Category Archives: Business

Keeping the Day Job

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”

C.S. Lewis

45382430The other day I found myself shopping for a spiral-bound, college-ruled notebook for my son. Holding the notebook, brought to mind a series of memories. As a child I saved up to purchase similar notebooks, then I would fill their pages with adventures. I dreamt of someday becoming a famous author, sharing my stories with the world.

At the beginning of 2013, I found myself wanting, craving that childhood dream. It had been years since I had written anything, though I often felt the stories inside me, demanding to be heard. I fantasized about the day I would have enough financial independence that I could quit my day job, allowing me time to dedicate to my craft.

I realized that I had found many, many excuses not to write. I had friends with families, busy jobs, and demanding schedules that still managed to produce a novel, and see it published. It came time to commit to my dream or move on. I began to write.

I used 2013 as an opportunity to better my craft by composing a series of short stories to practice various aspects of good writing. I found a tribe and continue to build relationships with those that support and encourage my endeavors. And I attended Superstars Writing Seminars where I received a barrage of information related to becoming a successful, professional writer.

 “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”

Zig Ziglar

Superstars helped me clarify my direction. As the presenters adamantly suggested, I decided to abandon the fantasy of quitting my day job. I took some time to discover why I am driven to write, and have determined that I do so, not for fame or fortune, but to inspire. With this newfound direction, I began planning and setting goals.

My greatest hurdle isn’t vocabulary or punctuation (though I tend to use too many commas). It isn’t voice or point of view or plot development. My greatest impediment is me, more specifically my time–those 24 hours a day.

In a matter of priorities I have evaluated those things that occupy my time.

  • My day job, at times can be very demanding. I seldom work less than fifty hours a week and have occasionally logged seventy or more.
  •  A lot of my free time is spent in volunteer service for the Boy Scouts of America; I estimated about 30 – 40 hours a month.
  •  And of course there is my wife and five kids that support my writing as long as I fulfill my other expected duties first.
  •  Though I call it research, I do spend several hours a week watching television or playing videogames.

 “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve decided that work and family time will be and should be what they are. I’ve resigned from several duties with the Boy Scouts that will significantly reduce my time commitment there, and I have budgeted the remaining time between writing and research.

Writing everyday has helped in the past. I notice that as work and other responsibilities grow more demanding causing my writing to suffer, it becomes more difficult to pick up where I left off. To counter this, I write daily, if only just a hundred words. Additionally, I read my stories to the kids. This allows me to rough edit and gather feedback, all while being a good dad.

A good goal is attainable, measurable, and within the maker’s control. While getting published is a dream of mine, it wouldn’t be a good goal because it is outside my control. The following are my goals for 2014.

  • This year I will write something everyday, if even just 100 words.
  • I will write at least 20,000 words each month.
  • I will submit at least one work to be published each month.
  • I will finish writing at least one novel this year.
  • I will attend at least one writing seminar and at least one con this year.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

Henry David Thoreau

 Share your 2014 writing goals in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milestones

I’ve crossed a number of milestones over the past few years: first short story published, first convention panelist, first novel in print, first teaching gig at a writing conference. I’ve managed to predictably repeat those achievements virtually at will, and as nothing more or less than an act thereof. Each and every one of those milestones felt like the success it was, but they were all, at best, minor-league achievements.

Make no mistake, though. To achieve them I’ve had to climb the highest, steepest mountain in my experience. And I have a long way to go.

My career-change from “IT guy” to “writer” back in 2009 set me as my own task master, and I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder. However, every milestone I’ve passed thus far has been small—insignificant when compared to the summit I intend to reach. Added up, however, the sum of those milestones made possible my most current opportunity… and crisis… from which I should be able to derive my greatest achievement to date.

I’m under contract to write a novel.

There is something both thrilling and daunting about committing to a novel under contract rather than selling a completed manuscript.

Daunting.

That word doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Frankly, I’m nervous as hell, hoping I can get Last Stand at the Gates of Heaven written within a somewhat aggressive timeline… and on top of everything else I’m committed to for the first half of 2014. As I type this, the publisher has nothing more in her hands than a title and the pitch I gave her back in November. I, on the other hand, have a deadline and a deliverable of roughly 100k words by the end of May.

What this represents is a first step into the major leagues. Granted, it’s a smaller publisher asking for a stand-alone novel, but the fact is that a publisher asked me to produce a novel. I’m on the hook for delivery. My reputation is at stake. My future is at stake. If I can deliver on this, I’ll know that I can cut it when a large publisher asks me to produce a body of work.

There’s a reason I’m telling you this, and it’s not to sing my own accolades. Quite the contrary. I’m humbled by these circumstances. I’m telling you all this because the path I’m on is one of the primary methods by which part-time writers become self-supporting authors.

The pyramids were not built in a day; each one of them started with a single block. Everest wasn’t climbed over a weekend, and every man or woman who reached that summit started with a single step at its base.

That’s what you have to understand in the writing business. Skill is a factor. So is practice and talent and luck and a lot of things. But if you’re not prepared to build upon your small successes and turn them into larger ones, you should hang it up right now. You have to be in this business for the long haul and grind away as much as you can without losing your mind. You have to invest in yourself each and every day in some fashion, gambling with your own future and the harsh reality that you might not make it.

If you can do all of that, your odds of success increase exponentially. And in the absence of it all, you are virtually guaranteed to fail.

So get to work!

Q

The Year of the Revolution

Well, here we are: 2014. Normally this is the time of year to re-evaluate our objectives and set new goals—dare I say, make resolutions? In this context, “resolutions” has become a bit of a bad word, a trite one, and rightly so. Today’s post is not about resolutions so much as revolutions.

My revolution began in 2010, as I finally started to understand what it was going to take to become successful as a writer, as a professional. It goes without saying that blossoming into a successful writer requires a phenomenal grasp on the craft of writing—on character, on story, and yes, on grammar. Well, if it doesn’t go without saying, then at the very least it goes without me needing to devote a blog post to it. What doesn’t go without saying is that you need to think like a small business owner. You need to think like a publisher, like an agent, and perhaps even like a book store owner—all at the same time. You need to understand how the business of publishing functions—or perhaps more importantly, how it’s changing—and then conceive of how you can fit into that world and find your niche.

You are a writer, and thus a business owner. You have a lot of important considerations in addition to what you jot down on the printed page. You have resources, and you must apportion them in the best way possible. There are so many places to put your resources, so many competing demands fighting for your attention. January here at the Fictorians is all about helping you make good choices. This month, we’ll be talking about the very best cons and seminars, where you can learn from the professionals who have gone before you. These provide key, potentially career-changing opportunities to network. They are important.

When I talk about resources, I’m not just talking about money. Perhaps the greatest resource of all is time. How are you going to spend it? We’ll also be talking about productive ways to allocate your time, ways to get things done.

In short, what’s important to you in 2014? If you don’t have a firm plan for the next twelve months, then I’ve got good news: this is exactly where you need to be. The Fictorians have your back.

Let the revolution begin!

Your Gift, Should You Choose to Accept It…

ForYouThis month, the Fictorians are writing about the greatest gifts we’ve received as writers. Last month, we wrote a lot about the business of publishing, and the month before that we delved into the tangled web of indie marketing. Just this past Friday, I wrote about a recent experience I had with the launch of my new book. Today, I want to very briefly bring all those subjects together.

Almost seven years ago, well before I made the decision to pursue writing professionally, a close friend of mine, Clint Byars, who also happened to be a coworker, pulled me aside on a Saturday afternoon and told me he had something to share with me. Instead of some piece of juicy workplace gossip, I was surprised (and intrigued) to hear that he had a story idea. He knew that I was a writer, or at least that I had a loose endeavour to become one, and he had a story that he couldn’t tell on his own.

That story took a long time to develop, and went through a number of permutations, but the result was a novel that, five years later, finally got picked up by a publisher. It’s called The Book of Creation, the first installment in The Watchers Chronicle.

If I were to make a list of the greatest gifts ever bequeathed to me as part of my writing career, this particular story idea would have to be in my top five—maybe even my top three. There’s a reason, after all, that The Book of Creation ended up becoming my first published novel. From the moment my friend shared the premise with me, I knew I had to write it. I fell hopelessly in love.

Specifically, what drew me to this project was its combination of action-adventure and mysticism, characterized by the best Indiana Jones stories. Ever since I was a little kid, I had dreamed of writing this kind of book. Well, I had in mind a screenplay credit, but upon reflection a novel credit is very nearly as good, and in some ways better. At stake in the story is the discovery of archaeological artifacts which suggest the veracity of some truly outlandish historical “truths” straight out of the some of the apocryphal Bible texts—notably, the Book of Enoch, which contains some ideas that wouldn’t be at all out-of-place in a sci-fi novel.

The second novel, The City of Darkness, is already released in paperback, and will soon be available in the major ebook markets as well, but that’s an announcement for another day. In anticipation of that release, and in the spirit of the holidays and this month’s theme of writerly gifts, The Book of Creation is now available for free in the Kindle store. Click here to download your free copy.

This book won’t stay free forever, as I’m ordinarily a big believer in charging for my work—even if it’s very little. I think artists are often too willing to give away the fruits of their labor. But for the next three days, I’m making an exception. Take advantage!

On that subject, be on the lookout later this month for a wonderful post by Mary Pletsch about why writers should only give away their books very judiciously. In my opinion, it’s an important lesson.