Time for some changes
Mar. 9th, 2012 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ostarellaTonight when I go to work, before I do anything else, I'm going to tell the managers I want to go to a three-day workweek instead of four. I won't be able to spend quite as freely, but I won't actually be hurting either. But when I can barely stand to pick up the coffee pot because my shoulder and elbow spasm, enough's enough. That, and I'm just sick to death of the stupid management decisions being made.
That's change number one.
I'm going to rebuild a shed and get it heated over the summer so I can move all my writing stuff out there. Iwant need a place where I can actually use my Dragon without feeling self-conscious, plus where I can smoke when I need to step back for a moment. I'm tired of having to completely break my train of thought and stand out in the cold, wind, and rain just to consider things.
That's change number two.
And last, and perhaps the hardest, I'm going to be stepping back from *all* the writing forums and discussion groups I'm on. Not because I'm spending too much time on them, but because so much of it has become just reiterations of either the same basic questions (will someone steal my ideas?) or the same stupid debates (who can call themselves an author and who can't). Checking in on them does one of two things - bores the hell out of me or raises my blood pressure. Ditto the blogs I've been watching - I know where they are and who's writing them, so when I really need the information, I can look them up.
I say the last is the hardest because I really do think writers need to keep up with the industry - but at the same time, it almost seems like some sort of inbreeding. Writers discussing writing with writers - and so many things that are 'big news' for writers are of absolutely no importance to readers. In fact, sometimes I think writers are too concerned with other writers and that 'world', and start forgetting about the readers. Not to pick on self-publishing, but it's more obvious there. People getting all excited because they get interviewed on some big-shot self-publisher's blog - well, whoop-de-doo. How many readers care? Or how many readers care if you call yourself an author or a writer - or if other authors/writers do? They just want good books.
And lastly, I think I've been spending too much time (consciously or otherwise) with publication on my mind. I need to stop starting stories and trashing them because I don't think I can publish them, and just write. Write like I used to. Worry about the publication crap after it's done and it's just a commodity. I can compartmentalize the business end of things then, and start the next story, again without thinking about publication. Just tell the story.
So, I think with these three changes, I'm going to be a lot happier than I have been. And hopefully much more productive.
That's change number one.
I'm going to rebuild a shed and get it heated over the summer so I can move all my writing stuff out there. I
That's change number two.
And last, and perhaps the hardest, I'm going to be stepping back from *all* the writing forums and discussion groups I'm on. Not because I'm spending too much time on them, but because so much of it has become just reiterations of either the same basic questions (will someone steal my ideas?) or the same stupid debates (who can call themselves an author and who can't). Checking in on them does one of two things - bores the hell out of me or raises my blood pressure. Ditto the blogs I've been watching - I know where they are and who's writing them, so when I really need the information, I can look them up.
I say the last is the hardest because I really do think writers need to keep up with the industry - but at the same time, it almost seems like some sort of inbreeding. Writers discussing writing with writers - and so many things that are 'big news' for writers are of absolutely no importance to readers. In fact, sometimes I think writers are too concerned with other writers and that 'world', and start forgetting about the readers. Not to pick on self-publishing, but it's more obvious there. People getting all excited because they get interviewed on some big-shot self-publisher's blog - well, whoop-de-doo. How many readers care? Or how many readers care if you call yourself an author or a writer - or if other authors/writers do? They just want good books.
And lastly, I think I've been spending too much time (consciously or otherwise) with publication on my mind. I need to stop starting stories and trashing them because I don't think I can publish them, and just write. Write like I used to. Worry about the publication crap after it's done and it's just a commodity. I can compartmentalize the business end of things then, and start the next story, again without thinking about publication. Just tell the story.
So, I think with these three changes, I'm going to be a lot happier than I have been. And hopefully much more productive.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-10 02:31 pm (UTC)Yeah, writers can be tiresome. I mean, everyone *says* that there's no right way to write (other than grammatically) and then they spend days arguing about how one method works and the other is doomed to failure - and yeah, the reader doesn't give a damn how the book got written. They just want a good read! And then you get the new people who ask questions they could've easily found the answers to online or in a book if they hadn't been too lazy to look themselves.
Honestly, I wonder why the public fawns over these people so! LOL
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Date: 2012-03-10 03:32 pm (UTC)And yes, at the end of the day, it will be the reader who is important. Not another writer (though they can be your readers too :D).
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Date: 2012-03-10 04:19 pm (UTC)