Struggling.

I'm not used to this.  Ever since I started my streak almost two years ago, there has rarely been a day when I couldn't write.

I've been struggling over the last couple of weeks. 

I'm very close to finishing Ghostlander -- about three chapters.  But I just can't seem to summon the words.  I have a rough idea of where I want to go, at least for two out of the three chapters.  The last chapter is the one I'm foggiest on, but that isn't unusual when I'm focused on the chapter(s) at hand first.

Generally, when I can't write something it means that my subconscious isn't satisfied.  In other words, it's actually a good thing.  It means I want to come up with something better.

So that's why I've been letting the ideas trickle in to me over the last few days.  I'm much more confident about the next chapter at the least -- which has turned into two chapters, by the way.

As it happens, I have another couple of weeks before The Dead Spend No Gold comes back from the editors.  I was going to do some random rewriting in those two weeks, but what may be happening is that I'm going to be wrestling with the end of Ghostlander instead.

It's very tempting for me to say to myself:  Dude, you've done what you set out to do.  You've published 4 books.  You've written quite a few others.  You're on track.  Relax.

But I really want to keep this going, and if I relax now, I'm afraid I'll stall.  Really.  I can almost feel it.

I'm very interested in writing Ghosts of the Lost Blue Bucket Mine, the third Virginia Reed novel.  But I want to make sure it is as good as the first two books.  I want to get a really strong sense of it, and then really focus on it without interruption.  Clear the decks, batten down, and do a good book.

So I figure, work on The Dead Spend No Gold in July, and then spend August working on Ghost/Blue Bucket.  

And have fun.  Enjoy living that other world.  That's the best part of it.

 

Holding off the finish.

As you know, I rarely hold off writing waiting for "Inspiration."   For me, that's a recipe for writer's block.  Usually, if I set my mind to it, I find the words.  I subscribe to the five minute rule: sit down and do it for five minutes and if nothing comes, then quit.   But that rarely happens.

However, I'm at the end of Ghostlander.  Maybe 3 or 4 chapters left.  And even though I have a rough idea of how I want it to go, I'm not feeling it.

I've taken one day off already, then a store work day, and now today.  Still nothing. 

Obviously, the ending is important.  It's what the reader will take away, really.  The beginning is important to get the reader reading, the middle is important to keep them ready, so it's all important, but the ending may be most important of all.

This hitting a lull has happened before, and I think that waiting for a strong idea isn't the wrong thing to do, as long as the delay doesn't go on for too long.

The longest I've waited was a couple of weeks about 2/3rds of the way through Led to the Slaughter.  I had gotten the characters to where they were trapped and starving in the snows, but I couldn't figure out how to continue the story just constantly repeating how hungry and cold they are.

When I figured out Journal Entries were the way to go, that was the key that unlocked it.  In fact, I more or less went back and did as much of the book in journal entries as I could.

So I'm going to wander around the house muttering to myself until something hits.  I already know that in the next chapter something has to go very, very wrong.  And that has already sparked my interest more than I was before.  But I'm going to give it a bit more time to come up with a few other tweaks as well.

Still committed to finishing the book with this writing session.

Instilling mystery.

I'm pretty disciplined when I'm writing.  I work every designated day.  But I took yesterday off.  I went to the see the doctor in the morning for a physical, which I passed just fine.  But then I felt so relieved all day, that I just sort of enjoyed it.  Why was I so certain he'd find something wrong with me?

I will finish Ghostlander in the next writing session.

Anyway, after celebrating with a hamburger and fries, followed by some donuts  (Name for a donut shop:  "Do...or donut") I looked at what my friend Dave Goodman said about Faerylander.

He did a really great editing job.  Plus he had some great suggestions. 

The gist of his suggestions is that I need to reveal things more slowly, and to make it more of a mystery.

This has been sort of a problem from the beginning.  My original intention was to do this, but when I tried, it came off as completely ingenuous.  For one thing, I had these Famous Author chapters where they reveal all. 

I was constantly having the character saying,  "For the first time, he realized..." in variations.  But there is only so many time you can use that phrase.  Technically, you can only use that phrase once.

Anyway, I gave up on it and just started supplying the information as it came up.  I tried to replace the 'mystery' with a 'threat'; a time urgency, a kidnapped child, etc.

The main character of the story is a powerful exiled Faery creature, who each time he uses magic loses some of his memory.  So Dave's idea is that this character rediscovers the truth each time, rather than learns it just once.

Which is rather clever, but probably difficult to pull off.

I asked him if he wanted to "move things around" to show me how he'd do it, and he agreed, so I'm hoping I can re-instill some of the mystery without massive rewrites.

So...I can't believe I'm even contemplating this...I might do so more rewriting on this book.  But...I am not going to throw everything in the air again.  If I can find a clever way to make the changes I will, but if it requires starting from scratch, uh,uh.

Taking advice.

I take advice on my writing so readily, you'd think I have no pride at all.

I was at writer's group last night, and another writer said "You have a poetic style" (I'm not sure about that...) "But you don't vary it for the action scenes."

So she turned some of my compound sentences in short declarative sentences.

She was right.  Completely.  I thanked her and reminded myself to do similar adjustments to the other action scenes in my book.

When it was her turn to read, I tried to return the favor.  She has a great story, great characters, but she writes almost completely in short declarative sentences.  I tried to tell her that she could loosen up a little, give us a little more information, maybe a few interior dialogues, etc.

I could tell she was having none of it.

This is the most common reaction to critique, and it has always mystified me.  People go out of their way to ask for advice, even coming to a group whose purpose is the offer advice, and then most often reject it.


What I've found in both writer's groups and with readers is that they are right about  90% of the time.

There is the occasional person who is completely offbase.  Sometimes they have an agenda, often something they read in a book or were taught in a class.  Always a bad sign when they say, "Show don't tell" as if that is the panacea to everything wrong in the story.

But if you can scope out the bad advice givers, and listen to those who give the good advice (like I said, 90% of the time) you will improve a lot.

In fact, I've always maintained that those writers who have come to writers group who internalized the critique, tried to change based on the critique, and came back later with a much improved revision -- those are the writers who almost always got published later.  It is the single most obvious indicator.

Perhaps it is because I took classes from Dwight Newton who didn't put up with the bullshit of "I meant to write it that way!" that I learned to take advice.

Oh, sure, sometimes I'd go home feeling crushed and want to rebel, but almost always I would eventually come around and do it the way he said.

When my editors make changes, I most often accept it.  I have a theory that one can get stuck in a "Style" if you will, and it is a positive to change it up, to have someone else make it slightly different, which you can then learn from and try to incorporate the next time.

Plus, sometimes they just catch the way it should be said, the way you wanted to say it, but just couldn't figure out at the time.

So in taking advice, I split it into three responses.


1.)  Accept the advice.  This I do 90% of the time.

2.) Not accept the advice.  Sometimes wrong is right.  Sometimes wrong is just being more creative.  Sometimes, the other guy is wrong. 

3.) Not accept the advice because it is too overwhelming.  The advice might be right but in order to make the changes necessary to facilitate the advice, the rest of the book might fall apart.  So I measure the cost/benefit ratio.  Is this change important enough to possibly weaken the rest of the book?  No book is perfect.

Anyway, I just thought I throw this out there to all the beginning writers.

Take advice (just as long as you make sure the advisers isn't completely off base.)

Feeling uninspired.

I'm so close to finishing Ghostlander (62K words), I don't want to stop now.  I've had the ending sort of mapped out, so each chapter is being done as intended, and each chapter by itself seems fine, so I'm assuming it all holds together.

But I do have a sense of having lost an overall feeling for the book.  I don't feel that strong urge I usually feel.  Thing is, I'm not sure you need the feel that "urge" to get the job done.

It's a little bit like building a house or something where I'm busy building a wall while I've forgotten how the rest of the building will look.  But all I need know is that this wall is necessary.  So I just need to build it competently.

I took a long break in the middle of this book in order to finish Faerylander.  At first, I didn't think it hurt me, but as I've gone along I've felt the disconnect between the first half of the book and the second.

I'm a firm believer that you finish a book once you start.  Taking another break wouldn't help, only make the disconnect worse.

The basic plot has come down to three "haunting" that have to be resolved.  (Hauntings come from guilt or anger or unresolved issues.)  So those are three walls I have to build.

Then the final chapter or two where the source of the hauntings has to be exorcised once and for all.  The Big Bad.

So I know what needs to be done and just have to do it.  Maintaining the "inspiration" within each chapter, even if I'm not feeling it overall.

So I see the entire Lander series as 'potential' still.  Faerylander has been worked on a great deal, more than any other book I've ever done.  Both Wolflander and Ghostlander are going to have to go through rigorous rewrites to make them work and make them consistent.

So the lesson here, I think, is make sure you have a clear path before you start a book, and then keep working on that book until it's done.

I have really liked the two Virginia Reed books, Led to the Slaughter and The Dead Spend No Gold.

I want to make sure the third book is as good, so I'm going to be ruthless about protecting the space around the writing of it.

I have a subtitle, but not the title.  The subtitles of the first two books are: The Donner Party Werewolves and Bigfoot and the Gold Rush.  The subtitle of the third book is "Ghosts of the Lost Blue Bucket Mine."

It's going to be set in Central Oregon, along the Meek Trail, and I'm really looking forward to it.  When I'm ready to write something, I always have a metaphor of a overflowing well in my mind.  The sense that it really wants to be written.

As I've said before, I like the main character Virginia Reed so much that I'm looking forward to being in her head again.

She's about 17 years old now; and confident of her abilities. (What do I know about teenage girls? you ask. They're human aren't they?)

I have to finish The Dead Spend No Gold first.  I'm hoping to make it as polished as Led to the Slaughter.  

And then, and only then, when I feel that nothing will interrupt me -- and with the full plot and feeling of The Dead Spend No Gold still fresh -- will I write Ghosts of the Lost Blue Bucket Mine.

My books are here!

The Vampire Evolution Trilogy are here in paperbacks. 

They are just gorgeous in person.  Very pretty.  I'm very impressed.

I wrote that!

I have them in both Pegasus Books and the Bookmark, at 14.00 each.  All of them signed.

I hope if you liked Led to the Slaughter you'll give them a chance.  Even if you don't normally read vampire books.  As I always say, it isn't about the vampires (or werewolves or hobbits) it's about the people.

Finding an Ending to a Book

I'm approaching the end of Ghostlander.  I'm at 60K words, and my guess is it will be a little over 70K words, which seems to be about the size of most stories I tell.

Anyway, in all three Lander books I've had to find "solutions" to the problems presented in the plot.  Basically, actions the characters can take to resolve the problems.  There are some mechanistic aspects to this.  The solution can't be pulled like a rabbit out of a hat.  It has to make sense and it had to satisfying.

Ultimately, every book needs a nice cathartic ending, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually.

What was nice about Led to the Slaughter was that I didn't have to come up with a mechanistic ending.  I just needed to characters to endure.

Same thing with The Dead Spend No Gold.  So the story arc is more emotional than material.  Maybe because it is true history and we know there were no resolutions to many of the problems presented -- life went on.

With the Lander series, I had to come up mechanistic solutions.  How to close the Portals to Cthuhlu, in Faerylander; how to end the hybrid vorewolf infestation in the Wolflander; and how to close off the entrances to Hell and save those who are haunted in Ghostlander.

So that is a lot more tricky in some ways.  I tend to have more chapters where the characters are sitting around talking and planning.  I try to skip these whenever possible, but sometimes they can't be avoided.

Meanwhile, The Vampire Evolution Trilogy was somewhere in-between the two types of endings.  The plots and the resolutions were dictated by the moral and ethical choices of the characters.  But I also had to explain the 'mechanics,' if you will, of the process.

I'm already looking forward to writing the third Virginia Reed novel, after Led to the Slaughter and The Dead Spend No Gold. 

For me to write a satisfying story (at least for myself) I need simply get my head into the main character, Virginia, who is strong and interesting to me, and see where it leads.  Let her continue to grow and learn.

Coming to terms with rewriting.

After I finished the first draft of Wolflander, I completely rewrote Faerylander, and then wrote the third book, Ghostlander.

Finally looked at Wolflander last night.  Oh, oh.  It is now sandwiched between two books that play havoc on the continuity of the middle book.

That's OK I think.  If it makes me rewrite that book, that's a good thing.

I've come around to believing that the first draft is only half of the battle.  The second (and third and however many more it takes) drafts are what make the book readable.  That is, I take the basic ideas and plots and characters of the first draft and I "craft" it into shape.

It is this "crafts" phase of the process that make the illusion real.

That isn't to say that I think a "problem" book should be worked on until it is fixed.  I'm not doing that anymore.  A "problem" book is one where there is a fundamental problem with the premise.  Or where the plot doesn't work.  Sometimes these can be very difficult, if not impossible to fix.

But these aren't "problem books," they're just books that need to fleshed out and tightened and polished.  Which is different.

I wish it only took a first draft to get it done.  Sometimes I do get 80% of the way there, but most of the time I think I only get more like 50% of the way there.

I've been piling up research on the Gold Rush for The Dead Spend No Gold.  When I get the manuscript back from the editors, I'm going to try to go in and add the telling details, the historical accuracy that will help if feel real.

My plan from now on is to alternate rewrites with first drafts.  And give myself the time to do the rewrites correctly.  By the way, this doesn't mean I like rewrites -- but I've come to terms with them.  I've made my peace with them.  But doesn't mean I have to like them...

Out of step?

I have zero interest in The Fault in Our Stars -- either the book or the movie.

I tried to digest a column by a newly published "literary" author that was so thick and clotted with words, I quit reading.

I read for entertainment.  Who are these people who are trying to tell me what to read?

I don't take these stupid internet tests.  They aren't valid.  No, I'm not Luke Skywalker.

Food is fuel.

Sports are dumb.  Especially running.  Why?

Reality shows are a waste of time and ain't real.

Sitcoms aren't funny.

Most drama's are formula.  Fuck formula.  I'm so so sick of formula.

Re-runs of Law and Order?  How is it that I've seen every one of them and barely watch them and Linda says she's never seen them and is always watching them?

There is no independent bookstore in Bend.  How can that be?

From childhood, I wanted to be a writer and/or own a bookstore.  Weird that it happened.  I probably should have included the word "successful" writer or bookstore.

Where the money is?  Look at the size of the buildings:  Healthcare, finances, real estate...

Hey rich people.  How much money do you actually need?

Bless government types.  Someone has to keep things running, I guess.  (Or not running...)

I'm not impressed by your car, your house, your clothes...really not.

I'm going to pick up a book at random and read it.  Hopefully it will be a book no one has heard of and is not approved of by the snobs of the world.  Someone spent a lot of time on that book, and I'll give it a try.  Totally random.

I don't like hot weather.  I like it the way it has been for the last month or so.

My beard is long not as a statement, but because I'm too lazy to do anything about it.

Politics are so off the rails it is painful.  What the hell, everyone?

Amazon the Bully -- for them.

You wouldn't know it from the news stories, but there are a bunch of authors who just love Amazon.

The self-published ones.

They are actually rooting against Hachette and the other Big Five publishers.  Most of them were probably rejected at some point by the traditional publishers and therefore are antagonistic.  So there is some sour grapes there.

There is, just like in traditional publishing, some big winners in self-publishing.  Authors who can make much more money on their own than they could through traditional routes.  But just like traditional publishing, the few winners do not represent the vast majority.

I'm sympathetic.  I do believe that traditional publishing has been too elitist and constricted.  They've become closed on so many entry levels and to so many mid-list authors, and have become so addicted to the "Big" book that might be made into a movie, of following the latest success until it becomes formula pap.  There are less and less editors and imprints to send our books to, and less and less support for the books, less pay, less patience.

I think Amazon has opened to door to worthy writers and genres. 

But...Amazon. 

Another reason that self-published authors like Amazon.  You can get up to 70% of the price of an ebook as profits.  The Big Five offer only 25%.

But...Amazon.

I do think Amazon is a bully.  I think there is no guarantee that they'll keep up the high rate of sharing profits.  I think that they are getting flooded by books, good, bad, and everything in-between.

I'm only getting the same rate as the Big Five on my books from my smaller publisher.  But I'm about to put up a book that is completely self-published, Cyber Flash (which is a reworked Freedy Filkins.)

I think self-publishing, or "indy" publishing as they like to call themselves, is the future of books.   Great authors and books will come out of this phenomenon -- authors and books that never would have emerged under the old system.  But there will also be many great authors and books that will be ignored because they can no way to break out of the logjam.  (Self-promotion is everything.)   Again, not all the different from what is currently happening in traditional publishing.

I think books that deserved to be published but were rejected by traditional publishing, have found great success at Amazon and other online venues.  So have thousands and thousands of books that probably should have stayed in a drawer. 

But the public will figure it out. 

I think there is room for both.

Golden Age for Indies.

I didn't really start looking at self-publishing, and/or ebooks until last September, when I finally started to prepare the results of my year long writing binge for publication.

I've learned a lot since then.  I still have a lot to learn.

I had to at least take a stab at traditional publishing.  Which went nowhere.  Then I had to take a stab at self-publishing.  Again, pretty much nowhere.

Finally, I arrived at the hybrid model -- ebooks through a smaller publisher, who also publishes physical books, but which aren't distributed except online.  I get paid like with traditional publishing, but not as much.  The publisher pays for everything, (printing, covers, distribution, etc.)  has a platform, has some marketing savvy, and knows how to use key words and placement.  Things like that.  I have more control than if I was with a traditional publisher, but not as much as if I was publishing myself. 

This model has some of the same advantages and disadvantages as traditional publishing, but is quicker and more adept.  It seemed like the right way to go for me.  There was some validation in it, and it made it easier to push my own books.

But I've continued to research it, and learning.  I flailed around until I found the sites that had the kind of information I needed.  (Hugh Howey and The Passive Voice are the best, for those who are interested.)

I was talking to someone today, and I said that self-publishing was further along than I had suspected, and that I thought I was coming in at the tail end of the Golden Age.

The proponents of self-publishing call it Indy publishing, and they make a good case.

The Golden Age is my term for when a new thing works.  When everyone is in it for the right reasons, and there is a reasonable chance of success.  Every fad has a Golden Age.  Every new product that becomes Big has a Golden Age.  A time when you can do well with it if you have good intentions, work reasonably hard.

One of the hallmarks of the Golden Age is the skepticism by outsiders.  "You can actually make money selling sports cards?"  "People actually buy these Beanie Babies?"

That's when it's best for all the participants, the buyers and the sellers.  Things are happening, and there is a slow build until it becomes common knowledge.

Then everyone jumps in the pool, including the grifters and the cheaters, and the Golden Age comes to an end.  Those who are rudest and most obnoxious push their way to the head of the line.  Quality and honesty become lost, and only the top of the top can make it.  Competition becomes suicidal, the consumer can't figure out the good from the bad and throw up their hands in disgust.

"Oh, another card shop..."

When I went home I thought about it, and while I think it is true that the Golden Age for self-publishing is near the end, there is still some time.  (It would have been better to get started two to three years ago...)  I'm guessing there is still at least a year left, maybe more.

It's still a high hurdle to success, but it isn't impossible yet.  (Self-publishing itself is only beginning -- it will go on without or without me.  But the Golden Age is nearing the end.)

Most people still look down at "self-publishing."  Most people are still skeptical that anyone can make money at it.  And that's good.

It's when the truth is otherwise -- when everyone perceives it as not working when it is -- that's the best time to get in on it.  (The worst time?  When people perceive it as working when it isn't...)

When will the Golden Age be over?  Well,  I'll be looking for the signs.  For instance, the articles -- about how easy it is to make money publishing your own books, and how it is no longer looked down on, and look how rich this person has gotten!

There have already been a few articles like this.  There are a few examples that people seem to know about:  Hugh Howey and Amanda Hocking, for instance.  But there are dozens if not hundreds of self-published writers who are doing very well, and who are producing good books, and that really isn't common knowledge yet.

So I just need to keep doing what I'm doing, and hoping for the best.

It isn't too late.  If I can establish myself before it becomes an impossible hurdle (instead of just a very very difficult hurdle...)

There was no way I could have timed this.  I was ready to start writing when I was ready to start writing.  I'm probably fortunate that I could even catch the tail end of this.  I could just as easily waited another year and missed it completely.

I predict that within five years it will jump from 2000 books a day being published (an already insane number of books) to 5000 or 10,000.  That big name authors will be self-publishing.  That the barriers of entry will rise, and the payoff will decrease.  It seems inevitable to me.

But it doesn't matter.  I'm busy writing.

It's a book.

By the end of today, I'll have 54,000 words for Ghostlander.

Which means, even if I started in on the conclusion from here, it would be a book.  I'm thinking another couple of writing sessions for the first draft.  I prefer at least 70K words, and 80K words even more.  But not much more than that.

I've noticed quite a few ebooks that aren't much more than 50K words, but that doesn't seem like a book to me.

Meanwhile, The Adventures of Burp, the Burrow Wight: A Fable for Adult Children, is probably going to be less than 10K words.  Really, it would work as an illustrated book.

Linda really likes it.  She seems to be telling everyone about it.  I told her the ending and she laughed out loud.  So far, every scene I've read to her has elicited some belly laughs.  Of course, it may just be our peculiar family humor.

"Not a children's book," she said. 

"I told you it wasn't..."

I'm not sure what to do with it.  I'll probably just throw it up online somewhere and charge .99 for it or something.  I have to find a cover to it.  I need to find what category it would fit in. 

I think I should allow myself to do that.  Write these uncategorizable books if they come to me.  Just for fun.  Cyber Flash (which was Freedy Filkins) was a lot like that.  Not sure what to categorize it as.  Written purely for my own enjoyment but I thought it came out pretty well and went ahead and published it.

Thing is, that writing for story and enjoyment unlocked Death of an Immortal for me.  At the center of Cyber Flash is a love story, and that human element made me realize that a story is about the people.

Even my regular books don't seem to fit the normal perimeters of the genres.  The Vampire Evolution Trilogy was sublisted by the publisher as "gothic" which I kind of liked.

I was trying harder to write a historical fiction, in some ways, than I was a horror when I wrote Led to the Slaughter.   The better historical horror is like that, I think.  Like Terror, by Dan Simmons which is more about the historical and human drama, with a tinge of the supernatural.

That's the nice thing about the new publishing world.  There is room for books that don't strictly meet conventions.

How am I doing?

Aaron Leis was over yesterday helping us with tech things, and he asked how my books were selling.

Well, I don't know.  I won't know until I get a readout from my publisher, and lord knows when that will happen.

I do know how many books I've sold on Amazon, because I found a workaround online.  And of course I know how many books I've sold in my own stores.

So based on that, assuming that sales are similar on the other venues, Smashwords, Apple, and Barnes and Noble and whatever 'foreign' sales I'm making, I'd have to say, for me the sales are 'promising.'  Assuming that they continue on this pace for a couple more months, and then still have the occasional sales thereafter.

The sales are probably higher than anything I could have done on my own. It's enough to feel like I'm not completely wasting my time, but not enough that the money would impress anyone, and certainly not enough to quit my day job.

My publisher said, "You're starting over.  You've just begun."  So I keep reminding myself of that.

I'll have a steady roll out of new material.  I've got enough books already finished that I should be able to bring out something every 5 months or so.

If this was a store campaign I'd be satisfied that I'm on track.  (I often bring in product lines that take years to really reach fruition.  You try to start off with enough impact to make the space, time and money expended justified and then build on it.)

There's just a sense that things are rolling out in a reasonable way, and I have that sense. 

So I'll just keep doing it and hoping that creating content is enough.  Just try to make sure each book is worth reading.  Just hope that people slowly find me.

I'm content with it.

Paperbacks available of Vampire Evolution Trilogy.

For those of you who don't read ebooks, the Vampire Evolution Trilogy is available in paperbacks on Barnes and Noble and Amazon websites.  I'm hoping to get some copies in my store very soon.

If you've enjoyed reading this blog over the last 7 & 1/2 years, I've never monetized it.  I've kept it pure, but I guess I'm asking if some of you might consider buying these books -- either ebooks for 2.99 or the paperbacks for 13.99.  (I make about the same either way, believe it or not, at least online.)

The titles are Death of an Immortal; Rule of Vampire and Blood of Gold.

Or just put in Duncan McGeary.

I hope you like them.

Planting the seeds.

At the end of this writing session, I'll be about 65% of the way through Ghostlander.  Time to start firming up the ending.

I had a vague idea of what needed to be done.  I've established that the Pilot Butte Inn is haunted.  Not only that, but there are places throughout Faery and Mortal Lands that are haunted.

So I needed a way for the main character, Cobb, to more or less exorcise the evil.  Something that would make sense for a Faery creature.  Something grand and exciting.

I figured out a very cool solution, but it was a little bit too much like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Except -- there is no reason why I can't go back and plant hints and foreshadows and clues throughout the first two books.  In fact, the solution also helps explain a few things in the first book.

It's an easy fix.  It doesn't disrupt the plots of either the first or second books, just a little detail that actually kinds of gives them some added flavor.  And then become full-blown significant in the third book.

I guess there are some advantages to writing the third book before I release the first book!

Writing creepy stuff.

I saw an interview with Stephen King once where the interviewer kept implying that King must be really warped to write such stuff.  And he'd joked and laughed it off.

I thought that the implication was pretty stupid.  Of course you could write horror if you were normal.  It's just stories, you know.  Doesn't mean King wants to turn into a werewolf or something.

Like Fairytales, horror speaks to us on many levels.

But most of all, as I keep saying, a story is a story.  You try to write about characters you care about, and have a story arc which is satisfying and interesting.  Doesn't mean if you write mysteries that you want to kill someone.

Or that you would personally want any of the creepy things that happen in horror to really happen.

Funnily enough, it isn't the supernatural horror that is disturbing to me when I write it.  Its the behavior of the humans.

For instance, the abusive boyfriend in Death of an Immortal was the real villain of the piece, not the vampires.  The warped sociopathic kid in Rule of Vampire.  The kidnapper in Blood of Gold.  All worse in some ways than the vampires.

In Ghostlander, I'm writing about crimes that are so horrid that they create Hauntings.

So I have things happening to people that are disturbing.  The actual Hauntings, as creepy as I try to make them, are in no way as disturbing as the actual crime.  They only work as something worse when they recall and amplify the original crime.

Still, for the first time, I wonder what is in me that can write these scenes.  Mostly what I've read and seen in the movies, embellished by my own imaginations.  Fortunately, nothing I've experienced myself.

Really, I'm not that weird.

Later:  I finished the chapter that started out so creepily and it ended with an emotional payoff.  Forgiveness and redemption.  Which was only possible because of the original bad stuff.

So it goes.

Writing at work.

The results of my experiment of writing at work yesterday.

Before I start, I should tell you I couldn't manage to both write and own a store when I first bought the business.  The learning curve was so steep for so long, it just wasn't possible.  And then, when the card bubble popped and then the comic bubble popped (and Pokemon, and Pogs, and Beanie Babies and...) I was in crisis mode and so on and so forth.

I told myself that owning a store was "creative" and that I was getting immediate feedback from my decisions -- unlike writing, which took forever.  (I'd send my manuscripts into the "Void" and try to move on...)

But even when things weren't in start-up or crisis mode, I found it nearly impossible to write.  A single customer every hour or so could break up the thought process so much that I'd have to reboot each time.

I remember early on being in the middle of a scene and looking up at a customer with unfocused eyes and saying, "What?"

I just couldn't live in two worlds at the same time.  The fictional dream would be woken by the needs of the business.


So here's what I've learned.

The technology is enabling.  I just went to my blog space and wrote there, and then transferred it to my manuscript when I got home.

I wrote about 1100 words, which is less than the 2000 words I do when I have the full day to write.  It seems pretty obvious to me that I can't do much writing before work, and that I'm too tired to write after work.

But I think the only reason I got as much done as I did was because I already had a rough idea of what I wanted.  Which means, it came from the fictional dreamflow I had before work. Without the fictional dreamflow, I might not have been even able to start.  I'm also had a couple of years of writing everyday which probably helped.  I can see how it was difficult if not impossible to restart my writing career when I was working full time.

I need that time to cultivate my skittish little creative mind.

Also, yesterday was a slow day, and I dedicated it to only clerking and writing.  Most work days aren't like that.  Most times I have very intensive tasks.

Now the next question:  Was the writing any good?

I felt like I had the rough outline of a chapter, but I didn't fully develop it.  I'm hoping I can fix that today.

I felt like I had an idea for what I wanted to say, but that it came out in a rather clunky way.  So the quality of the writing was maybe C+ or B-.  I'd prefer to write at a minimum B level on the first draft, but there certainly have been times when I've accepted a C+ level to move on. (Fixing it later.)

So -- half the normal production, on a day which was totally cleared to do it, at a lower level than I'd prefer, and probably only possible because I was already in the midst of a fictional dream.

Not impossible, but anything but ideal.

If I totally had to go back to work , I could probably set a goal of 1000 words a day, and then spend my one or two days off trying to fix them.

Rather than stop writing, I'd probably do that.

But it is pretty clear that having several days off to do nothing but writing is much preferable.

Dragons versus Ghosts.

I don't have anything lined up at the store today but clerking.

So I'm going to try an experiment.  To see if I can write at the store.

I have a stand-alone chapter in mind.  If I mess it up, it won't matter too much.  I can replace it.

So I'm going to see if I can do it.

I'll tell you, just even getting ready to go to work has put me in a completely different frame of mind.  So I'm doubtful that I can do it, or if I can, that it will be any good.

But I have a full shift.  300 words an hour doesn't seem like much.  But of course, it isn't really adding up words, it is a story and at home can spurge out in 2000 word increments, or 10 word increments.

We'll see.

It's about Dragons.  Dragons versus Ghosts.  That should be fun to write.

Halfway through Ghostlander.

The book seems to be writing itself.

Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing for the quality of the book.

I was looking at Led to the Slaughter and remembering just how much work went into making sure it was just right.  It was going to be my reintroduction to the world for writing, so I wanted it to be as good as I could make it.  The original story was fairly easy to write, but I gave it several re-writes, I spent more time doing research, and I fixed a couple of problems that I could have skated by on.

That's what I'm trying to do now.  Not skate by.  Be sure I make the extra effort.

Without, however, getting bogged down like I did with Faerylander for so long.

As far as the readers are concerned, they don't seem to see much qualitative difference between the books I struggle with and the books that come  easy.  Thankfully.   Because the books I struggle with become a word-jumble and I simply can't see them anymore.  But they retain enough of the original inspiration, apparently, and whatever weaknesses they have are compensated by the number of rewrites, which is why they are problem books in the first place.

So it evens out.  But obviously it would make more sense to do the books that come easy, right?

I have one more problem book I want to save -- Sometimes a Dragon.  But after that, either a book has a way of being written -- or it doesn't get written.

I spent way too much time 30 years ago trying to finish my fourth book, Bloodstone -- when the book simply wasn't working.  It more or less derailed my writing career.  I started second-guessing myself too much.   I should have just set it aside and tried something else.

So far, obviously, that hasn't been a problem for me this time around.  I seem to be full of ideas and creative energy right now, long may it continue.

So that's my goal.  Write the books that want to be written, and set aside the books that insist on being problems.  I think I can avoid problem books by making sure that I've assembled all the right ingredients.  I seem to understand much quicker when I'm going in the wrong direction.

But I have no doubt there will be problem books in the future and I'll need to be smart enough to figure out when I'm in the midst of one.

Vanishingly small.

The latest Author Earnings report from Hugh Howey has come out.http://authorearnings.com/the-tenured-vs-debut-author-report/

Interesting stuff.

Here's my takeaway.

Roughly 500 authors debut in the Big 5 publishers per year.

This is a vanishingly small number. 

They also point out that maybe only 300 fiction authors in the Big Five earn a decent living.  Even if they're off by half, that's only 600 authors.  Again, vanishingly small.

The ones on the tippiest top are doing well -- it's a logarithmic scale, though.  It drops off rapidly.

It's not just that you have to be must less than the 1% to be published, but your chances of earning a living even if you do get published are minimal.

I've decided I could take the money I spend on writing and buy lottery tickets and my chances of making money will probably increase....

The odds are better if you self-publish, apparently.  But again, these are the exceptions -- and usually people who are naturals at promoting themselves.

I'm going to keep writing.  Money was never really the object, though I did want to have readers if possible. But even there, I decided that I would write the best books I could and be satisfied with that.

It's a spiritual thing for me.  I figure the universe will figure it out.