But, I never did anything about them until I took pen to paper, keys to electrons, and placed them down in writing. Now, I love visuals... motion pictures, comic books, even a good painting... everything that portrays visual data in an appealing manner, that is my life's blood. But, last year, I tried my darndest to create a novel in the WriMo.
And, you know what? I did it. Yes, I did it! I'm about to come out with that book in a few days. Literally a few days (more on that in a later post), I'll have published a book!
Some people on G+ and other places on the web, you know who you are Evo, have stated that I and others of my ilk are people totally wasting their time producing a book and not getting the "premium" service that they or their company will give... for a percentage of the revenue. This is an interesting point of view. I have listened and read their propaganda sales pitch, and it totally depressed me. Was this true? Could I totally have wasted my time and fallen into this abyss of wasted time and forgotten dreams? Is it possible that I've upset an apple cart, never to have righted it again?!
I took me several months to figure this out. I won't say that it didn't cause me to fall into a rather deep depression. I mean, all these guys had big pro-looking websites, and here I was... just a guy that barely got out of high school and college, no big skills, no large ideas... Who was I to think that I could write a story, or even make a book. I mean, sure, I'd gone to design school, worked for several companies making flyers and design ads. I knew a desender from an EM dash. I'd even designed a few typefaces... just for fun, mind. What did I know about designing books... well... there was that booklet for the old Capricon Anime that I designed, but that was ages ago.
And on the writing side I had written several screenplays, short stories, and a lot of notes and such for comic book series. I'd been a writer and editor for NOW comics, only for a second , mind, but I had done the work.
And then it hit me. What the frak do these people know about anything? Do they know my skills? Do they know what is lurking inside my mind? (Hell, do I know what the frak is hiding in my mind?!)
I have skillz. Crazy whacked-out skillz! I know my way around a metaphor, I know a few things about a few things... I can, and did write a novel. I can, and will do it again.
Frak them all if they can't take the joke.
So, remember, if you mention to someone that you are writing a novel and they start making excuses as to why you can't do it, pay them no mind. Just smile and say, "you are probably right." And then go write on and write your novel.
If the person who comes to you and says, "You can't do it. Its impossible to make your book because of... your kids, your home, your education, your lack of funds..." or whatever. You can either tell them to take a flying leap off of a very tall bridge, or tell them to go frak themselves, or just quietly agree... and just keep right on working.
Especially if that person who keeps telling you it can't be done is you.
Remember, you don't know if you can do it because you've never done it before. If you had done it before, you would know that you can do it. So if you just take the first one as done, you can forget that you hadn't done it and go on from there.
And if this isn't your first Wrimo, then you have done it before. You know you can do it, of course you can. Even if you've been delayed and not come up with enough words, you have put most of them together, right? Well, there you are then.
Writing is difficult. Not impossible or VERY difficult, but there is a knack to it. But it can be done from anywhere by anyone... thanks to laptops and tablets. You just need a place you can do it. In bed, on the couch, at Panera or Starbucks... a place you can go daily and take your two or four hours and just write. So... find that place. Find that time... do it.
It is important that you do what you need to insure that you write your novel. Actually, you think of your favorite novelists, Douglas Adams, Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, going into a literally-styled zen sort of state before creating the amazing works that they did.
Bullshit.
Each one took pen to paper to make money. It was, ultimately, a JOB. Not too heavy lifting, but still a job. If you want to do this; write a story, be an author, sell a book, you can do it. No permission, no fees... you can do it today. It can be your job, or part time job...
It all depends on what you think you can do. I wish I could tell you an interesting magic word. Okay... on November 1st, buy a bag of Jelly Babies... or peanut butter cups, or even almonds. Everyday, have one, and only one, of the treats. Only agree to have the next treat from the bag when you finish your daily quota. There! Works everytime! No? Well... you are correct.
The secret is to write. When you are tried, write. When you can't think of something, write. When you are blocked? Write! Write, write, write... and eventually, you'll be 50K words better. And the REAL fun can begin...
You can write some more.
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