Evolve or Die?


First thing this morning I read an article on Huffpost Books titled:  With Traditional Publishing Dies The Passive Writer-Victim by Leonce Gaiter

And now I can't sleep.

I first started writing on an old Mac Powerbook I picked up at a garage sale for thirty bucks.  Back in the wild days when I first started I had little skill and big dreams.  I would pass out face down on the keyboard in the wee hours of the morning after writing garbage that I thought was surely going to land me on the best sellers list.

Years pass, the skill changes, but the dream stays the same.  I will be at home when I get a call from an agent at a major agency.  They will fawn over my manuscript immediately sending me the details of a lucrative contract.  Publishers will be having bid wars over me while I decline six figure offers in lieu of higher royalties.  Signings and book tours with clog my schedule and Charlie Sheen will follow me on Twitter.

Yes, that's right, I was a victim of traditional publishing.  And a part of me is sad to see the dream die.  Even if it is for the better.  In this day and age the publishing world is faced with the same peril as many other antiquated business models, evolve or die.  And in a time when it is easier than ever to get published and start selling, it was about damn time the ball has been thrown into our court.  Now you can write what you want, design it how you want, sell it where you want and all while retaining your profits.  Now the market truly determines what is popular literature, not the suits.  And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Welcome to the new way of pursuing art as your dream.  If you're talented and can market yourself, I think you will enjoy your stay.

Something Different 

I took a small break from updating my blog this month.  Actually I took a small break from writing all together.  I realized that if I am to have any semblance of a writer's life it can't be lived confined to the four walls of my office.  That and I wanted to quit smoking.

Everything was fine until I started thinking of writing.  Then I started thinking of this blog.  And it all made me wonder when is enough enough?  Some of the greatest writers in history are built of off epic lives.  Fighting in wars, drugs, partying and enduring societal abuse are common.  The drive to write becomes an outlet, a way of coping with these lives.  But when we sit and write we are channeling these experiences not creating more. And it is inevitable that the creative well will go dry after enough draining.

So I pose a question; where is the middle ground?  How do you find balance in your life between living it and writing it?

On a side note it has been 432 hours since I smoked a cigarette.

Under Payed

If you were to map out how much time you spend on research and writing; would it be worth it? In truth I probably make around $0.10 an hour if I am lucky. I spend a lot of time both researching and polishing my material. This makes writing for dollars somewhat frustrating. But we didn't get into this to become billionaires did we? No writing is a passion. Writers don't choose to write, it chooses them. I write to survive, get the voices out of my head and be heard. Why do you write?