Saturday 8 January 2011

Am Working and liking it

It's the weekend after the first week at the new job. I do enjoy working in a bank as opposed to a business media publisher - the coffee's free and much better quality, for one, and I've never had such a shiny office. I can also go home when I'm finished - there's quite a bit more flexibility there. And I enjoy being the primary breadwinner - at least until my partner has signed up with *his* investment bank, then we should be bringing home the same kinda money.

Talking about money, there's a good article on e-piracy at dailyfinance. Since all my titles get stolen somewhere on the internet (lovely when you wake up first thing in the morning and see somebody so very eager to share your book with a few ten thousand of her closest friends - that sets you up nicely for a productive writing day /sarcasm), it's topical reading. And means, incidentally, that I'll be working a day job for the rest of my life. I simply cannot rely on making enough money to retire and write full-time.

I'm currently editing "Father of All Things" and am pushing the total edits to around 40% of the total book right now (that's chapter 13 and counting, of 27).

I'm also having a reviewing crisis of faith. I get so much negative backlash about reviewing (and I use the full range of 1 to 5 stars) that I am rethinking how I review and for what ends. I'm thinking I'll use a reviewing pseudonym from now on. I don't want to spend half my writing time in fights with other authors or publishers. It's that simple. I'm a writer, first and foremost. I'll publish positive reviews (3-5 stars) under this name, and 1-2 star reviews under a different name - if I feel the urge to review.

I'll make 2011 the Year of the Novel. I have a crapload of novels in the drawer, and I want to kick them all out into the world. Deal with old stuff. Baggage removal. Time to draw a line under a certain period in my life - and the best way to do that is to throw out the books I wrote during that time.

Right, back to editing chapter 13.

2 comments:

  1. We've discussed the piracy thing ad nauseum and there doesn't seem to be a real solution, does there?

    Strange you should mention reviews, because I've had an attack of review conscience of late as well. I've read a couple of REAL stinkers, by authors I thought were capable of better. As a reader, I feel compelled to say something, but as a writer, I realize the publication of those stinkers isn't all the author's fault.

    You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, hard as you try. I equate those kinds of novels to the poor kid who is convinced he can sing, so he goes on American Idol and Simon Cowell rips him a new one because he can't sing and never will.

    I don't really know the answer to the publication end of it, though I have my own thoughts, but from a writer's stand point, I can't rip the author a new one because someone has convinced him/her that they've written the next best novel.

    I once gave a really good author a 2 star and didn't sleep well for a week. Prolific and good in other pieces, but that particular one was so bad, I had to keep checking the name on the cover. I couldn't believe it.

    I usually take the chicken's way out and leave a star rating and say nothing. Spineless, yes, but, well, just spineless.

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  2. Off-topic, but Uhrk! For some reason, I thought Carina Press used original art for their covers. Look at this half-Lion of Kent, half-something else.
    http://www.decadentpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=179&osCsid=442m2fik1ftkhd5562cg7hps17

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