Spam Comments

Is anyone dealing with spam comments?  I’ve been getting a few on a couple of posts.  I don’t know if they’re auto-generated or there’s some poor schlub who takes the time to sit down and find blogs to leave nonsensical messages on.

I love comments.  I love engaging with the audience.  I don’t love hearing about your essay writing service, or which writing periodicals you think I should read, or how you think being a freelancer would enhance my career.  Why not just tell me I can earn big bucks from home by clicking on a google link?

Maybe this is partly my fault.  I took a leave of absence from this blog for a while, so I guess it’s only natural that it would get rot-infested with some critters that people don’t like.  Being more involved now, perhaps I can eradicate this infestation.

Keeping Pace

Thanks to this whole social distancing thing, I’m trying to do what I can to get back into blogging, but can this last?  Things will eventually return more or less to normal, so can I continue to blog and keep y’all happy(both of you) once the world catches back up?

I’m going to try, but I also need to remember that I have another career that does wacky things like “pays the bills” and “keeps my family fed.”  So basically this is just a heads up that while I intend to stay on top of things as much as I can, if life gets hectic, things can always re-pause.  If you don’t want that, convince folks to buy more of my books so I can devote more time to this writing endeavor.  Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of my life(insert maniacal laugh here).

Glass Eyes

I know the picture of me on this blog shows a bright, smiling face, free of imperfections.  Unfortunately, that is something of a misimpression.  You see, back in 2014, I finally broke down…and got reading glasses.

I’ve prided myself on my vision for a very long time.  And at distance, I’m still pretty sharp.  However, I discovered over time that I was pushing books further and further from me in order to be able to read the words in front of me.  I probably needed to get reading glasses at least a year before I finally broke down and got them, but there was(and still is) a pride issue.

I have several sets of these damn things, some more stylish than others.  For starters, the Army, from where I retired last year, gave me two pair a year.  One could be “nice,” while the other were what we referred to as BCGs(Birth Control Glasses, because they were so hideous no one looked attractive in them).  But hey, I’m cheap, so I grabbed what I could.  I’ve also bough two additional pair from WalMart(again, because I’m cheap and they work).  So why so many?

Honestly, because I’m forgetful.  Since I don’t need them all the time, I don’t usually carry them around with me.  That was fine for a bit, until we started going to restaurants and I could barely read the menu.  So I put a pair in both my and my wife’s car.  I put a pair by my bed.  I put a pair in the kitchen.  I put a pair in my office.  Basically, anywhere I thought I might need them, I stashed some.

It’s still frustrating to need to read something and have to put these things on, but it’s nigh impossible to read anything any longer up close without them.  What’s worse, while I can occasionally read something early in the morning as I get out of bed, after wearing glasses throughout the day, my vision is so whackadoodle that I’m unable to read anything without glasses unless I take a hiatus that lasts hours.  And since they screw up my distance vision, I can only wear them in spurts, like when I’m up close to the computer or a book.  What I need are Geordi LaForge eyes that can automatically adjust when necessary.

I still love to read, which is why I’ve acquiesced, but let’s just all agree that getting old sucks.

Old And Comfortable Versus New And Unknown

Hopefully most of you like to read as much as I do.  I usually have a book by my chair in our family room so that when my daughters are watching Spongebob or something else I care little about, I can pick it up and read.  However, what to read is the issue.

I’ve begun to notice that I’m trying fewer and fewer new books.  Instead, I’m re-reading ones I’ve enjoyed over the years, from Harry Potter to Tim Zahn’s Heir to the EmpireTrilogy to Harry Turtledove’s Guns of the South.  Yes, I’ve read each several times – a few of them a dozen or more – but I’ve found them comforting, like a bowl of mac-and-cheese or an old blanket.

But that’s also limiting.  There are good books out there, yet I’m not expanding out to read them.  Part of it is that I tend to like that which I’ve already enjoyed.  And since I already know I enjoyed it, I know I’ll continue to enjoy it.  I mean, it’s not like I go back and read books I hated(Moby Dick hasn’t been in my hands since 11^th grade).  Part of it, tying back into that monstrosity of Moby Dick(or The Scarlet Letter, or The Great Gatsby, or any one of a hundred other books I trudged my way through but thoroughly despised) is fear of the unknown.  Will I be wasting my time?  What if I start to read it and it turns out to be garbage?

Yes, these are silly fears, but they’re real.  I’m pretty conservative about what books I pick up, and breaking my inertia to find something new takes real effort.  I know I should just get over myself and pick up something, but getting there isn’t as easy as it may sound.  It’s hard for something to grab my attention and keep it, which is the key part of a novel.  Shoot, there are even several books on my bookshelf(or packed away in boxes…I’m still unpacking from my recent move to Tennessee) that I haven’t yet gotten around to.  They looked great on the bookstore shelf, but I never got around to picking them up for a thorough read.

How do you tackle new books, or do you tend to do what I do and re-read books you’ve always liked?  Is there something that gets you motivated to try something new?

Revisiting Agent Qualifications

Going back to a recent discussion I had with a newbie writer who’s convinced that getting an agent and publishing in the traditional publishing world are the keys to being a success, I thought it was time to revisit the qualifications literary agents tend to have versus what they should have.

This newbie writer rattled off a long list of accomplishments that his perspective agent had – MFA, years as an editor, X number of clients who have published, etc.  He was sure these were the qualities of a good agent, and the one he was talking to had them all, so shouldn’t I be impressed?  After all, he was about to be signed by a real life literary agent, and I was just a lowly indie author who apparently couldn’t convince someone I was good enough to sign.

So I asked him what background this person had in contract law(none).  I asked what the royalty rates and payout schedules he was being told were(he didn’t know).  I asked if the agent and he had discussed what to do if a publisher wanted the first right of refusal over his next work(his agent convinced him this was a great thing, for it meant he would at least get another look on his next work).  Finally, I asked him if he had any red lines that would make him walk away from a publishing deal(he didn’t; the thought of just getting someone to publish him thrilled him to no end).

These may seem like pedantic questions, these are very real issues that many newbies don’t even bother to think about.  Look, I get it – having someone say you’re a good enough writer that they want to take you on as a client can be a wonderful feeling.  It provides a sense of accomplishment that you’re not a total hack.  However, that’s exactly what so many publishers are counting on when they create these one-sided contracts that greatly benefit them at the expense of the author.  Moreover, the agent, knowing that publishers are the way they can make their money, is more invested in keeping the publisher happy than the newbie writer.  There will always be newbies who are dying to get published, but there are only five legacy publishers who print any longer(almost everyone smaller you think you’ve heard of is a subsidiary of the Big Five and is accountable to them).  Agents can’t afford to sour their relationship with one of these publishers, so most will happily toss a newbie overboard to maintain their main moneymaking relationship.

I don’t get why you’d want your contract negotiated by someone who is an expert in literature.  What does an editor know about contract law?  You wouldn’t ask your lawyer to offer you solid advice about your book, would you?  Sure, you might ask a lawyer friend to read it as a beta-reader – they are still part of the general public – or give you feedback on some legal point you want to include in your novel, but the style and substance is better left to editors who have expertise in that field.

This is part of why legacy publishing is dying.  For every Stephen King or RA Salvatore out there making tons of money(and whose success we aspire to), there are literally hundreds to thousands of newbies who are virtual slaves to their contracts, poorly negotiated by someone who enjoys Pride and Prejudice but whose only legal contract experience was  when they signed their internet provider contract.  And since they’ve formed an exclusive club amongst themselves, they act as gatekeepers to anyone attempting to break that paradigm.  Until more newbies wake up and realize that predatory publishers and clueless agents are not in their interest, little will change.

Well, one thing will change(and continue to) – the indie market will continue to expand, providing the only real alternative where talent(and, admittedly, luck) separates the wheat from the chaff as opposed to a publisher looking for their next sucker…er…writer.

Newbie Arrogance

I got into an online…um…discussion(?) with a newbie and unpublished writer the other day.  He started talking about the elements of writing and how he was so much superior because he was about to finish his first novel.  I told him that I’d already published three novels, with a fourth on the way.  When he looked me up on Amazon, he came back with some snark about how I was only self-published, and that was obviously because my work was so subpar that no one would publish me.

I spent a couple of seconds snickering before asking him if he had an agent or publisher, or if he knew how royalty rates and the right of first refusal worked.  He ignored my questions, going on to proclaim that he knew he was brilliant(yes, he actually used those words) because another published author was working with him.

My antipathy for the traditional publishing world is no secret.  However, it’s always so amusing to see the arrogance of others who haven’t yet either submitted anything to a real agent or publisher, or who have no idea how the business works.  There’s a certain blind naïveté to newbie writers who are just so certain they’re poised on the precipice of success because, gosh darn it, they’ve nearly completed writing a whole novel!  I mean, I grant some accolades for finishing the chore of writing – I’ve discussed ad infinitum the number of people I’ve run across who’ve assured me they could write a book but who’ve never managed to do so – but like so many writers, this young man didn’t get that writing is the easy part.  After belching words onto a page, there’s editing.  And then there’s rewriting(sometimes whole sections you’re attached to).  Then there’s crafting a query letter(assuming you’re going for traditional publishing).  Then there’s wading through the mounds of rejections before maybe finding that one agent who thinks you’re worth taking on as a client.  Then there’s them pitching your work to hopefully find a publisher willing to publish your work.  And on and on and on.

But little of that matters to the newbie writer who is convinced he or she is the next James Patterson who the world is just dying to read.  C’mon – we’ve all been there.  Remember your excitement over finishing your first novel?  We jealously guarded our words, so afraid someone was going to steal our brilliance and publish it as their own.  And we were equally convinced that publishers would be lining up to take our work, grateful to find someone as talented as ourselves to work with.  The world was our oyster!

Despite my disagreements with this young man, it’s still going to pain me to see his balloon pop when he realizes just how long and rocky a road he has ahead of him.  I wish I could prevent the heartache that will inevitably result from his encounter with the real world, but it seems like experience is something everyone must gain and learn from themselves.  And trust me, he’s going to learn very quickly if he summons up the courage to take the plunge.

Fanfiction

I ran into someone recently who talked passionately about all the fanfiction he wrote.  This, in his opinion, was proof that he was a great writer.  I don’t think he took it well when I told him that I thought he was fooling himself, and no one was going to take his fanfiction seriously.

Look, I get it – we love diving back into our favorite stories to see them exist in situations we would like to see, but there’s something mind-numbingly lazy about expanding on someone else’s work.  After all, we didn’t create that universe; all we did was take a ride around it.  The characters are already established and most readers know how the rules work.  So long as you can find fans of the original work, and your writing isn’t just God-awful, you can get people to read it.  It takes almost no real effort to find an audience, because you aren’t creating anything new you have to sell to others.

This is one of my great gripes with all of the expanded universe stuff in everything from Star Wars to Star Trek.  Yes, there are a few gems – like Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy – but most are simply relying on your nostalgia to draw you in.  By using the same characters just in different situations based off of a universe the author didn’t create, the writer is tacitly admitting he or she isn’t creative enough to develop anything new.

Sure, I realize this may be an unpopular opinion with the writing world, but this dearth of creativity is hurting the entire reading world.  We’re seeing remakes and rewrites of classics, and some authors are just leeching off of name recognition to put out books that couldn’t sell unless the original author was famous.  Yes, there will be some stinkers when folks come up with new ideas and stories – there always are – but we always have to sift through garbage for good stuff.  Does anyone think that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was the only new idea in 1997?  Or that CharlaineHarris’ Dead in the Family didn’t have to compete with truckloads of garbage?

To me, writing fanfiction is a sign of insecurity, as if you’re so unsure about your own imagination that you have to try and borrow someone else’s.  Let us what’s in your imagination.  If you never use it, how will anyone know you have one?

Coffee In Space

Dan Smith runs an online Sci-Fi fan forum on Facebook, and he interviewed me for his podcast.  If you'd like to learn more about what makes me tick - admittedly a daunting prospect for some - please click on the interview link.  I hope you enjoy it!

Coffee In Space Interview

Courting Controversy

I have a writing buddy who intentionally courts controversy.  He talks boisterously about a wide variety of controversial topics in an effort to draw more people to his page and his books.  It seems to work for him, for while he’s widely reviled by many much more prominent authors(and their fan bases), he makes enough money from those that take his side that he’s fine.

This has not ever been my model.  With friends, I can be just as boisterous(or even more so), and I love a good debate as much as the next person, but I’ve never liked this model.  Talking about controversial topics in today’s polarized climate risks alienating at least half the audience before they ever buy your work.  No less than Michael Jordan recognized this in 1990 when he refused to endorse someone for the NC senate race, noting that those on the other side also bought shoes.

Still, there’s something to be said for the approach.  It’s brash, and mostly intentional, on the part of some people(like my friend).  He calculates that he makes more money by being controversial because it creates people sympathetic to him(or just opposed to those on the other side), thus creating more potential sales.  It has worked out(mostly) for him so far, but the risks here are huge, in my opinion.  After all, today’s ideological ally is tomorrow’s villain that needs cancelling.

Of course, he has more sales than I do, so what do I know?  Maybe he and a few others are onto more winning strategies.  I look at the backlash that occurs every time someone like Stephen King or Larry Correia makes a controversial statement, and I wonder if it’s worth it.  At the same time, both of those guys are bestsellers who can afford to be more open with the audience.

Maybe it’s a principle thing with me.  I’m not hiding who I am, but I also know that most folks who read don’t want to be preached at by either side.  Books are an escape from the screech-fest we see in our everyday lives.  That’s one of the reason so many folks despise athletes and actors and other famous people talking about politics – we didn’t come to you for our politics; we came to be entertained.

What are your thoughts?  Is courting controversy something a writer should do(outside of what he or she writes)?  Is the surge in sales worth the venom from those who might otherwise enjoy your book?  Some will try to “cancel” those they dislike through social shaming and a barrage of bad reviews, but that can lead to some rushing to defense, increasing views(and potential sales).  Is the warmth worth the fire?

Schism Cover Reveal!

Here’s the cover to my next novel, Schism.  Once again, Carl Graves of Extended Imagery has done a tremendous job taking my vague book descriptions and turning them into a cover that helps capture the spirit of the novel.  I don’t yet have a publication date yet due to this COVID-19 nonsense we’re all dealing with, but it’ll be no later than late August(I’ll announce it as soon as it’s definitively determined).  In the meantime, let me know what impressions the cover gives you.

Read A Book

I have my own thoughts on this COVID-19 situation, but I’ll keep most of them to myself.  Suffice to note that most folks are scared and doing all they can to stay home until the crisis passes.

That said, this is a wonderful opportunity to read a book!  Yes, we could all just sit on our asses and watch TV, but that gets a bit stale after a while.  Movies are great, but watching the same ones over and over and over in a week grates on some people.  And it isn’t until there are no new sporting events that you realize just how much of your time is spent on watching sports.  I’d say that the news changes, but it seems like it’s nothing but endless repeats about the virus and how Congress can’t get anything done because each side wants to bicker pettily about how the other side is a veritable mountain of evil.

So go find a good book or five.  Re-read a classic you’ve always enjoyed, or go to Amazon and download a few you were curious about but thought you never had time to read.  Well, now you have time.  Rediscover a love of stories, if for no other reason than an escape from the hand of shit we’ve been dealt the past month.

Fits and Starts

Okay, folks, let’s try this again!

Admittedly, the panic sweeping the nation makes getting back to blogging much easier since nothing is open and there’s not much else to do.  Even my work is doing things differently, with me now working from home.

For those wondering, I’ve had a new job over the last few months, as well moving from Kansas to Tennessee, and all of that has severely limited my time.  From making sure I can still eat(ie, not getting fired) to getting my girls into a new school to just trying to unpack the house, it has been extremely challenging.  That doesn’t mean I’ve gotten nothing done from a writing standpoint, however.

For starters, I’ve all but finished Schism.  If you recall, I needed to re-write Act IV and split it into two acts in order to tell the story properly.  I had to go back and reacquaint myself with the book since it had been so long since I did anything with it.  I’d forgotten various plot threads and even characters that needed to be looped back in.  So I got to work, haltingly, stubbornly, until I got Acts IV and V ready to go.  I have a few minor changes to finish up, mostly happy to glad stuff, but it’ll be ready to go before too much longer, and it’ll undoubtedly be ready for publishing on my original publishing date of late April.  However, I’m considering delaying that until summer – more on that in another post.

For now, I’m muddling through best I can.  Over the last few months I’ve seen writer friends of mine go, some by abandoning their work, and some by abandoning our relationship, but I’ve made other friends as the journey evolves.  If I can pull this off by summer, I promise that my next book won’t take nearly so long to publish.  After that…well…we’ll see what happens.