Gar, I think that's a really big, if well-intended, oversimplification.
Some people can work full-time and write two books a year. I had authors like that. Some people can get paid enormous advances, quit their jobs, and still wind up taking years to finish a book. It's a highly personal thing, really. And money is only part of the equation.
Every writer has a pace that suits them, whether they're writing full-time or not. Most of the time, there's no getting around it, either. So much goes into it -- whether you write a clean first draft and plot ahead of time, whether your first draft winds up being a problem-solving process that you wind up throwing out when you hit on the real plot, whether you self-edit as you go or wait to revise until the end.
It also takes a while to figure out what to expect from yourself, and how long you can reasonably expect to take writing a book of a certain length and type.
Yeah, I don't think the problem here is that I'm incapable of producing a sufficient page count to write a book in a year. While the WIP is currently only 265 pages long, I've actually written at least 400 pages, probably more. I just keep having to backtrack and rewrite, and that's what's driving me crazy. With my previous manuscripts, I occasionally had to rewrite the beginning several times before it really clicked, but then I'd hit a groove around Chapter Four/page 60 where I could just power through to the end. I still haven't hit the cruise point on the WIP yet, and I'm on Ch. 15!
I think I'm being too hard on myself, but not in expecting a certain level of output or believing I'm capable of a book per year. My real problem is that I've made a radical change in genre, but I haven't given myself enough time to learn the new skills I need. The WIP is a better fit for my voice and I don't feel like I'm writing under a curb rein anymore, but I'm not used to juggling so many plot threads simultaneously, and I'm even finding it a challenge to have the subtle development of a male friendship as my main character arc instead of an overt m/f sexual/romantic relationship. So I keep blundering into dead ends and having to retrace my steps, and it's frustrating. I think it'll get better with experience, but meanwhile it's slowing me down.
So I keep blundering into dead ends and having to retrace my steps, and it's frustrating. I think it'll get better with experience, but meanwhile it's slowing me down.
But ... are you having fun with it? Because it should be just as much about enjoying the process as the finished product, really.
But ... are you having fun with it? Because it should be just as much about enjoying the process as the finished product, really.
Yes. My life exhausts me, of course, but this story is just damn cool, and I'm having so much fun with my protagonists. Well, two of the three, the ones who are grown men. The other is a nine-year-old girl, and writing a child protagonist in an adult book is more technical challenge than anything else at this point.
I think that's what it's like, absent Homicide rule 5, "It's good to be good. It's better to be lucky."
Somebody I know is offering to pay me for disability-related commentary on his website...he can't pay much now, but is, like everyone with a website, hoping for a big launch someday. How much should I ask him for for a. now b. the future.
I'd give him a price for the future, and in terms of payment now, ask him how much he is short. Your price for the future should be an hourly rate, higher than he can possibly pay now. Someone here can tell you what a fair price is. But in terms of negotiating strategy "how much are you short?" is a really good way to elicit his maximum price.
Its embrace is cold. Not just on my skin; in my mind.
::”Interaction with ‘the Suit’ can have unintended initial side-effects. These may include: distraction, fear, emotional distancing, loss of …”::
Yes, thank you, I read the manual. Feedback level = 2.
It’s like we’re two people, though the Suit lacks an identity as we understand…
::… Model CES-100T, Unit M10XXA12-362, software V 3.12…::
Feexdback level=2!
How long is my tour?
How long until I can escape?
How long until I am me?
::…remaining time-of-service = 17 years, 4 months, 13 days …::
Feedback level=1!
Why won’t we shut up?
Wheee! I finished the book I've been struggling with for ... way too long. Emailed it off yesterday. And woke up this morning kind of stunned that I don't actually have to write any more of it. Yay for done!
