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Some things is gonna change 'round here.
Feb. 13th, 2007 12:59 am[ENGL3203 peeps - this isn't for you, though you're obviously welcome to read and/or comment.]
So you know how I have occasionally said something like, "I have no illusions whatsoever about getting published..."
I lied. I do have illusions. Despite my rhetoric of self-flagellation, I privately think that I'm a good writer, that I have the potential to sell my short stories, etc.
Let's be realistic for a minute. I write very occasionally. Apart from school stuff, I only read occasionally. My writing doesn't overtly suck, but I'm nothing special, either. Maybe I can get better, maybe I can DO something with my writing - after a LOT of work, a LOT more reading, and a LOT less worrying about the potential saleability of stuff I've already written1. At this point I feel that locking away my existing work is locking ME into a space where I can't experiment, make mistakes, laugh at myself, or write because I WANT to. I have a looming feeling of "but... what if I can sell it some day?"
Screw that. I'm officially taking everything2 out of friends lock, exposing it to the wild winds of the Internet and forgoing first print rights. If people read 'em, awesome. If they tear 'em up and spit 'em back out, great. If they ignore them, super.
It's time to write for the right reasons. (Lordie, how many homonyms for "right" do I have in this entry?)
1 And let's face it - the market for short stories is, these days, strange and small, and doesn't tend to pay much.
2 One exception is my 12-year-olds and aliens adventure novel for the middle grades. It's in the early stages of editing and even though I doubt I'll actually GET it published, this is the kind of long-ass project that needs that golden goal somewhere down the road.
So you know how I have occasionally said something like, "I have no illusions whatsoever about getting published..."
I lied. I do have illusions. Despite my rhetoric of self-flagellation, I privately think that I'm a good writer, that I have the potential to sell my short stories, etc.
Let's be realistic for a minute. I write very occasionally. Apart from school stuff, I only read occasionally. My writing doesn't overtly suck, but I'm nothing special, either. Maybe I can get better, maybe I can DO something with my writing - after a LOT of work, a LOT more reading, and a LOT less worrying about the potential saleability of stuff I've already written1. At this point I feel that locking away my existing work is locking ME into a space where I can't experiment, make mistakes, laugh at myself, or write because I WANT to. I have a looming feeling of "but... what if I can sell it some day?"
Screw that. I'm officially taking everything2 out of friends lock, exposing it to the wild winds of the Internet and forgoing first print rights. If people read 'em, awesome. If they tear 'em up and spit 'em back out, great. If they ignore them, super.
It's time to write for the right reasons. (Lordie, how many homonyms for "right" do I have in this entry?)
1 And let's face it - the market for short stories is, these days, strange and small, and doesn't tend to pay much.
2 One exception is my 12-year-olds and aliens adventure novel for the middle grades. It's in the early stages of editing and even though I doubt I'll actually GET it published, this is the kind of long-ass project that needs that golden goal somewhere down the road.
