( continues...) thought George owed his fans and wasn’t George letting his fans down by, you know, having a life and having the nerve to blog about it, instead of writing the book, right now.

Neil’s response? “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.”

What I really liked about what Neil said goes right back to the whole theme of entitlement. He pointed out that there has recently been this trend among readers whereupon they believe that by buying the first book in a series, the reader has entered into some sort of contract requiring the writer to devote themselves exclusively to writing each subsequent book until the series is complete. His take? A reader pays their money for a book. That one book.

I think this hit me in an especially resonant manner because lately, I’ve been seeing similar pockets of reader response across several genres that could be interpreted as veiled (and not-so-veiled) threats—if a writer doesn’t step it up, a reader can easily move on to another writer. (Uh, you really think we don’t know that? C’mon.) Not only that, but that writers should be downright grateful (preferably in some groveling sort of fashion) and apply themselves diligently to serve the needs of their readers. Really? I mean, it’s not that I’m not grateful for the people who have read my books and who share with me how much they love my books—believe me, I am. I cherish each and every reader who has gone out of their way to tell me they loved something I wrote. But I think what a lot of readers might not realize is that writers don’t set out to serve the needs of readers– we set out to serve something within ourselves. We choose to share it with readers and we work darned hard to do so. So many writers, they don’t simply write– they have an outside job, or families, or pets, or any number of obligations and interests, all of which they ultimately bring back to their writing. Material that inspires and serves to enrich each book.

And really isn’t that what every reader should want? That a writer take the time to write the best possible book? I mean, not only does the writer benefit from the sense of accomplishment from a job well done, not simply for themselves, but for the publisher who’s actually paying them for the manuscript, but the reader benefits as well by getting their money’s worth for that one book. Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

Makes sense to me, Barb. Although I think you want to say "brought about BY my love of baseball."

whoops

And I can't wait to see some of the crazies' responses.

The ones at RtB, I mean.

Not only that, but that writers should be downright grateful (preferably in some groveling sort of fashion) and apply themselves diligently to serve the needs of their readers.

If you are actually writing for a living, I would think there would already be plenty of incentive to please the readers without worrying about gratitude.

You'd think, right, Gud? But sadly, no. There are readers who have this attitude:

I think authors ought to be doing their darnedest to deliver the goods the best they can in the most timely manner possible and with a smile on their faces and gratitude in their hearts that readers actually want to spend their hard-earned money on their books, that they love those stories so much that they’re upset when someone insults them and can’t wait for the next book to come out. And a fan re-writing a book, this is the height of flattery! Remember, *readers pay the bills.* It’s in the authors’ own best interests to at least present an extremely grateful attitude.

Maybe my expectations are low, but I tend to take what an author gives me and, if I like it, buy more books and, if not, not.

I do sometimes wish I could meet and author and request that they write faster (with a sigh and a wistful tone) ... but not that seriously (and certainly not demand it).

Wrod. But then, I don't know which is worse, waiting for something from one of my favorites,or looking at a former fave and thinking "Wow, she just keeps cranking them out." Sue Grafton was so prolific for a while there she almost jumped the shark for me, just cause she wrote the same book two or three times. She took some time on S and T and they are far more inventive.

You know, it's such a catch-22. You WANT those books, like NOW. But at the same time, you want a GOOD book.

It's the readers who think writers can't possibly understand that, who make me crazy.

Not much writing last night. Maybe 400 words or something.

My wife is working on a game prototype for University Games since she got past the proposal or whatever you call it. I spent most of my normal writing time working an a computer program to simulate gameplay so she can experiment with rules variations. Tis time consuming.

I'm on vacation Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. The kids will be at their grandparent's Friday evening and part of Saturday. Then they have summer school Monday and Tuesday. I have some big writing time blocks coming up. First I'll need to finish up the gameplay simulator and run data sets though.