Since publishing Crimson Shadow with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, I’ve been making up for a lot of writing and little submitting…
I first started ACTIVELY writing—that is to say, with the intention of actually doing something with it other than putting it on the fridge beside my report card—when I was about 16 (so about nine years, now). In that time I’ve done an excellent job of whipping out manuscript-after-manuscript, story-after-story, and concept-after-concept with every intention of using all of them as some sort of portfolio in a career as an author. And in those nine years I have queried less than a dozen agents and moved one—that’s somewhere in the vicinity of 1/6th (that’s less than 17% of nine years worth of work; equating to ABOUT 1.5-out-of-nine years PROPERLY spent on my literary endeavor and probably a few too many invested in mathematics that I’ll never make full use of).
Fortunately for me, I’ve got my Meggers and the combined efforts of her family and my own. Now, writers, as a general rule, are a lazy, whiny bunch, and I’m of the belief that not a thing—not one goddam thing—that any literary mind produced would’ve made it to the shelves if it weren’t for a loved one with a sharp implement behind them forcing them to follow through with the aftermath of the writing process.
And my stubborn ass has *counts on fingers and nods to each digit* yea, SIX loved ones lighting their own individual fires under my too-wide backside. So nearly a full decade later and I get something from a scribbled-up manuscript and into print in LESS-THAN two weeks (adding that to the three weeks it took to write & the two weeks of editing and we’re looking at a little less than two months to go from NOTHING to an in-print novel; by that standard I should have AT LEAST 45 FULL publications [and that’s allowing myself a month-or-so between projects to rest]).
(Just for the record, my using basic math to illustrate my INSANE levels of laziness is making me just a little sick…)
Anyway, with a fiancee, her parents, my mother, and my grandparents all persistently poking & prodding for me to do something, I’ve kicked my ass into overdrive. So, for the past three-to-four months before Crimson Shadow’s become public, I’ve been increasing my efforts to turn an obsessive hobby into a career. In that time, I’ve planned & “sketched” a sequel for Death Metal, edited & submitted a short story to an online publication, pitched several comic book scripts, and published a prequel to Crimson Shadow called "Wicked Paints". In an effort to do my own marketing (what has got to be the hardest part of this whole writing thing) I’ve gone from two-or-three social networking sites to more than 10 and worked inadvertently with some of the coolest & most-brilliant literary minds I’ve had the fortune to encounter. This increase in networking has also, in turn, introduced me to countless other like-minded enthusiasts of literature & mythology.
To sum it up, these past few months of being active towards my dream have been some of the happiest in my life!
I know in a lot of ways this sounds like a simple “yay me” sort of post, and I guess in some regards that’s the case (hell, I’m more surprised to see me pulling it off than anybody else) but a lot of it comes down to something I noticed upon a period of recent self-reflection:
All of us—that’s you, too—have hopes and dreams and aspirations that we spend countless and embarrassing hours staring off into nothingness imagining; painting such vivid pictures of “the happiness that could be” but always being too damn chicken-shit to make step #1 to achieving (for fuck’s sake: NINE YEARS!!). The point is, scary as that first step is, you gotta just do it; I promise you that it’s the hardest one to make and, after you do, your own instincts will carry you there. If it’s something you’re passionate about, then chances are it’s something your also decent at!
So don’t be a chicken-shit—sitting on piles-upon-piles-upon-piles of your time and effort that you refuse to show to the world—‘cuz I want you to know that it’s worth it to take that step!
PS - Check me out at the following (don’t be surprised to see a link to this site on here, this is going up on multiple pages):
Facebook (personal) ; Facebook (Death Metal page) ; Facebook (Creatures of Darkness page)
Google+ (personal) ; Google+ (Vampires & Other Creatures of Darkness page)
Blogspot
Tumblr
Twitter ; Vampirefreaks ; MySpace
(there are several other, lesser-known sites that I roam about in. If you frequent any other social networking sites and wonder if I do too, simply inquire—I either do and will gladly share or I don’t and will most likely join.)
Or hit me up on AIM: “VisceralVices”
I first started ACTIVELY writing—that is to say, with the intention of actually doing something with it other than putting it on the fridge beside my report card—when I was about 16 (so about nine years, now). In that time I’ve done an excellent job of whipping out manuscript-after-manuscript, story-after-story, and concept-after-concept with every intention of using all of them as some sort of portfolio in a career as an author. And in those nine years I have queried less than a dozen agents and moved one—that’s somewhere in the vicinity of 1/6th (that’s less than 17% of nine years worth of work; equating to ABOUT 1.5-out-of-nine years PROPERLY spent on my literary endeavor and probably a few too many invested in mathematics that I’ll never make full use of).
Fortunately for me, I’ve got my Meggers and the combined efforts of her family and my own. Now, writers, as a general rule, are a lazy, whiny bunch, and I’m of the belief that not a thing—not one goddam thing—that any literary mind produced would’ve made it to the shelves if it weren’t for a loved one with a sharp implement behind them forcing them to follow through with the aftermath of the writing process.
And my stubborn ass has *counts on fingers and nods to each digit* yea, SIX loved ones lighting their own individual fires under my too-wide backside. So nearly a full decade later and I get something from a scribbled-up manuscript and into print in LESS-THAN two weeks (adding that to the three weeks it took to write & the two weeks of editing and we’re looking at a little less than two months to go from NOTHING to an in-print novel; by that standard I should have AT LEAST 45 FULL publications [and that’s allowing myself a month-or-so between projects to rest]).
(Just for the record, my using basic math to illustrate my INSANE levels of laziness is making me just a little sick…)
Anyway, with a fiancee, her parents, my mother, and my grandparents all persistently poking & prodding for me to do something, I’ve kicked my ass into overdrive. So, for the past three-to-four months before Crimson Shadow’s become public, I’ve been increasing my efforts to turn an obsessive hobby into a career. In that time, I’ve planned & “sketched” a sequel for Death Metal, edited & submitted a short story to an online publication, pitched several comic book scripts, and published a prequel to Crimson Shadow called "Wicked Paints". In an effort to do my own marketing (what has got to be the hardest part of this whole writing thing) I’ve gone from two-or-three social networking sites to more than 10 and worked inadvertently with some of the coolest & most-brilliant literary minds I’ve had the fortune to encounter. This increase in networking has also, in turn, introduced me to countless other like-minded enthusiasts of literature & mythology.
To sum it up, these past few months of being active towards my dream have been some of the happiest in my life!
I know in a lot of ways this sounds like a simple “yay me” sort of post, and I guess in some regards that’s the case (hell, I’m more surprised to see me pulling it off than anybody else) but a lot of it comes down to something I noticed upon a period of recent self-reflection:
All of us—that’s you, too—have hopes and dreams and aspirations that we spend countless and embarrassing hours staring off into nothingness imagining; painting such vivid pictures of “the happiness that could be” but always being too damn chicken-shit to make step #1 to achieving (for fuck’s sake: NINE YEARS!!). The point is, scary as that first step is, you gotta just do it; I promise you that it’s the hardest one to make and, after you do, your own instincts will carry you there. If it’s something you’re passionate about, then chances are it’s something your also decent at!
So don’t be a chicken-shit—sitting on piles-upon-piles-upon-piles of your time and effort that you refuse to show to the world—‘cuz I want you to know that it’s worth it to take that step!
PS - Check me out at the following (don’t be surprised to see a link to this site on here, this is going up on multiple pages):
Facebook (personal) ; Facebook (Death Metal page) ; Facebook (Creatures of Darkness page)
Google+ (personal) ; Google+ (Vampires & Other Creatures of Darkness page)
Blogspot
Tumblr
Twitter ; Vampirefreaks ; MySpace
(there are several other, lesser-known sites that I roam about in. If you frequent any other social networking sites and wonder if I do too, simply inquire—I either do and will gladly share or I don’t and will most likely join.)
Or hit me up on AIM: “VisceralVices”
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