Bill Conrad's Blog, page 31
February 12, 2020
It’s Difficult Keeping Things Strait
Right now, I am self-editing three books, finalizing an outline for another book, working with editors on a book, thinking about five sequels and send out a weekly blog. To make matters worse, the more I write, the more (fictional) facts are created. On top of that, self-editing adds, changes and deletes facts. All of which are spread over three “franchises” with different writing styles, plots and characters. How do I keep the confusion to a minimum and prevent mistakes? Well…
The short answer is that I rely heavily on my memory. This is not a great answer. My next lines of defense include self-editing, my beta reader and as the last catch, professional editing. In addition, I use a book outline and character biography.
Keeping all of these thoughts together is difficult and there have been problems. A good example of a minor issue is referring to a man as “her.” Readers hate such obvious typos. They feel like they wasted their money. I have also uncovered major errors like deleting a paragraph and duplicating sentences. Very scary.
Continuity problems are harder to uncover. Recently, an editor pointed out a plot issue with a sinking ship. “All the lights went out.” Ten paragraphs later, “They watched the deck lights go underwater.” Oops. At best, a friendly reader will get confused or annoyed. An unfriendly reader will leave a bad review or even demand a refund. Yikes!
What is an author to do? They must try their best to understand their own failings and spend lots of time making sure everything is perfect. Should I be doing more? Some sort of structured fact/logic/grammar check? Develop a big list of facts? Set up a self-editing schedule? A writer can go crazy endlessly checking their work.
Over the years, my approach has changed. I now make four targeted self-editing checks. For example, one pass will only check grammar. However. when I look back at my first book, I cringe over the many errors that slipped through the process. Fortunately, they are related to bad flow and storytelling style. So far, I have not found any logic, plot, continuity or major grammar errors. Big relief.
What big techniques to have I learned? The most important discovery is to begin writing/editing with a clear mindset. I have seen huge errors resulting from the wrong perspective. Secondly, I discovered outlines. As an example, using an outline, I uncovered a fundamental plot problem. It would have been a disaster if I began writing and later discovered the issue.
Are there any mental techniques to be a better writer? If they exist, I have yet to learn about them. Presently my mind is a jumble of thoughts during the writing/editing process. However, I have learned one technique. Before I begin reading/editing, I read over the previous few paragraphs to get a feel for the flow and style.
My mind often struggles to remember all my invented facts. Even remembering all my blogs is difficult. It’s not all bad news. I like the challenge and I see improvements. Or did I just invent that fact? Human minds provide a false sense of security. Wait a minute. Who said that?
The short answer is that I rely heavily on my memory. This is not a great answer. My next lines of defense include self-editing, my beta reader and as the last catch, professional editing. In addition, I use a book outline and character biography.
Keeping all of these thoughts together is difficult and there have been problems. A good example of a minor issue is referring to a man as “her.” Readers hate such obvious typos. They feel like they wasted their money. I have also uncovered major errors like deleting a paragraph and duplicating sentences. Very scary.
Continuity problems are harder to uncover. Recently, an editor pointed out a plot issue with a sinking ship. “All the lights went out.” Ten paragraphs later, “They watched the deck lights go underwater.” Oops. At best, a friendly reader will get confused or annoyed. An unfriendly reader will leave a bad review or even demand a refund. Yikes!
What is an author to do? They must try their best to understand their own failings and spend lots of time making sure everything is perfect. Should I be doing more? Some sort of structured fact/logic/grammar check? Develop a big list of facts? Set up a self-editing schedule? A writer can go crazy endlessly checking their work.
Over the years, my approach has changed. I now make four targeted self-editing checks. For example, one pass will only check grammar. However. when I look back at my first book, I cringe over the many errors that slipped through the process. Fortunately, they are related to bad flow and storytelling style. So far, I have not found any logic, plot, continuity or major grammar errors. Big relief.
What big techniques to have I learned? The most important discovery is to begin writing/editing with a clear mindset. I have seen huge errors resulting from the wrong perspective. Secondly, I discovered outlines. As an example, using an outline, I uncovered a fundamental plot problem. It would have been a disaster if I began writing and later discovered the issue.
Are there any mental techniques to be a better writer? If they exist, I have yet to learn about them. Presently my mind is a jumble of thoughts during the writing/editing process. However, I have learned one technique. Before I begin reading/editing, I read over the previous few paragraphs to get a feel for the flow and style.
My mind often struggles to remember all my invented facts. Even remembering all my blogs is difficult. It’s not all bad news. I like the challenge and I see improvements. Or did I just invent that fact? Human minds provide a false sense of security. Wait a minute. Who said that?
February 5, 2020
Amazing Book Descriptions
A book description informs potential readers about a book’s content. It contains a summary, advertisement, teaser, and a hook. When choosing a book, readers blast through book descriptions in seconds. They have thousands of choices and limited attention spans. If a reader senses the slightest disappointment, it is on to the next. In order to be successful, a description must be mind-blowing. Only then can there be the slightest chance to obtain the coveted “buy it now” click.
Until I became an author, I assumed that experts in the “publishing department” of big printing companies created all book descriptions. Clearly, the authors would not be involved in any part of the process. Why? How could an author remain objective? That kind of behavior would be unethical or at least dishonest. Like when people write their own press release. “Well-known author Bill saved a million puppies today without any concern for his own safety. Truly a hero and an all-around great guy.”
Yeah, not so much. I have since learned that authors write their own book descriptions. For me, this task proved to be extremely difficult. In past blogs, I have stated that writing a book is 99% marketing and 1% other. Clearly, a book description is part of that 99%.
In general, a book description consists of three short paragraphs but I have seen long-winded five pages monologs and a single sentence. They range from boring choppy junk to lively meaningless fluff. Some are “get to know you-all” first person and others are distant “I hate you” third person. The tone ranges from nice to arrogant, directly informative to loosely related, whimsical “Where’s the beef” hamburger commercial to high-pressure timeshare marketer. Side note. I came across a children’s book about a bunny attending his first day of school. The description reads like a lawyer summarizing a murder. What were they thinking?
For my first three books, I struggled to create a useable description. I began by reading hundreds of descriptions to get a feel for the format. In time, I noticed patterns and good technique. As far as the ethics of creating my own description? That line of thinking went right out the door.
I remember a line from the movie Used Cars. “What's that yellow paint doing on that car? Did it use to be a taxi?” “No, ma'am, that's yellow primer.” “Yellow primer?” “Yes, that's being used on a lot of cars these days. It's a rust preventative, it adds life to the body.” Add fake smile here.
Once I had the format down and the right mindset, I wrote something akin to a condensed summary. Now that I had something, I worked with my mother (my beta reader), my publishing helper Bethany and editors. This included the unusual step of printing it out in a huge font and looking at it from a distance. Through many changes, I came up with something acceptable. This effort took about 40 hours over three months.
For my next books, I am trying something different. After I create the first draft, I write a quick book description. The result is an imperfect summary with an attempted hook. Readers would not be impressed.
While endlessly self-editing my first draft, I look over my description at least once a week. Over time, I make changes and try out ideas. This included new directions, different hooks and new themes. Overall, the basic concept changed, useless junk got tossed and my sentences improved. On more than one occasion, I started over. I estimate this is effort takes 50 hours over 1.5 years.
The result looks much better than my previous descriptions. It reads slick, fun and engaging. Potential book buyers are more likely to bite the hook and learn more. Perhaps they will read a review?
Here is an example of a first pass:
In this sequel to Interviewing Immortality, by Bill Conrad, James finds himself back in his old life. He has firmly decided to put behind all the nonsense surrounding the immortality procedure in his past and live a quiet life.
Of all the people who could turn his life upside down, it was one the mother of a wonderful child. Her actions were so heinous that James once again decided to take a life in order to continue his immortal abilities. This callous action was undertaken to provide him the necessary abilities to locate his former captor. In undertaking this quest, he would find much more than he was seeking and in the process, learn more about himself.
Wow, rather weak. Here is the present version (still in development)
In this thrilling sequel to Interviewing Immortality, James is determined to rid himself of murder, torture, and immortality. Who would guess that the deplorable mother of a wonderful child would turn his life upside down? Her heinous actions convinced James to harvest one last time; allowing the boy to grow up in a world free from her wrath.
Of course, James would enjoy the amazing physical and mental benefits resulting from his deplorable act. He uses this precious gift to travel down an unlikely path; locating his former immortal captor, Grace. Only her 500-years of knowledge could help him to answer the deep life questions that plague his existence. This task would prove almost insurmountable, as this secretive individual takes every precaution to remain hidden.
During his chaotic journey, James encounters three new immortals who desperately desire to learn every aspect of his improved harvest technique. They stand out as ruthless, secretive and meek individuals who treat humans like cattle. To make matters worse, they refuse to allow James outside of their watchful eye. Then, to add a final complexity to James’s life, the great Pharaoh Cleopatra sends him off to meet her immortal son.
Clearly an improvement.
What do I call this process? Engineering a book description? Blindly making something work? Fake it until you make it? Slow and steady wins the race? Bill’s killer description process?
I don’t like making up names for my personality quirks. To me, it’s all about finding something that works. What do I think about this approach? Clearly, it’s unorthodox, but the results are much better than past attempts. Also, it is less stressful.
How did I decide to use this approach? I needed a new book description, and the result looked bad. This frustrated me and I put it aside for a while. I looked at it from time to time and occasionally made corrections. This turned into a once a week discipline. When it came time to create another description, I felt a lot less pressure to create the first pass. As I edited, the results looked better, and it occurred to me that the process worked.
I am not sure other authors could successfully use my technique. It’s likely they would quickly reach a plateau without further improvements. This technique works for me because my personality likes to tinker and is never satisfied. Perhaps I figured out how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage?
Does this mean I engineered my own mind? I should write a book about that. Hmm. That’s going to need a book description. I better start it now.
Until I became an author, I assumed that experts in the “publishing department” of big printing companies created all book descriptions. Clearly, the authors would not be involved in any part of the process. Why? How could an author remain objective? That kind of behavior would be unethical or at least dishonest. Like when people write their own press release. “Well-known author Bill saved a million puppies today without any concern for his own safety. Truly a hero and an all-around great guy.”
Yeah, not so much. I have since learned that authors write their own book descriptions. For me, this task proved to be extremely difficult. In past blogs, I have stated that writing a book is 99% marketing and 1% other. Clearly, a book description is part of that 99%.
In general, a book description consists of three short paragraphs but I have seen long-winded five pages monologs and a single sentence. They range from boring choppy junk to lively meaningless fluff. Some are “get to know you-all” first person and others are distant “I hate you” third person. The tone ranges from nice to arrogant, directly informative to loosely related, whimsical “Where’s the beef” hamburger commercial to high-pressure timeshare marketer. Side note. I came across a children’s book about a bunny attending his first day of school. The description reads like a lawyer summarizing a murder. What were they thinking?
For my first three books, I struggled to create a useable description. I began by reading hundreds of descriptions to get a feel for the format. In time, I noticed patterns and good technique. As far as the ethics of creating my own description? That line of thinking went right out the door.
I remember a line from the movie Used Cars. “What's that yellow paint doing on that car? Did it use to be a taxi?” “No, ma'am, that's yellow primer.” “Yellow primer?” “Yes, that's being used on a lot of cars these days. It's a rust preventative, it adds life to the body.” Add fake smile here.
Once I had the format down and the right mindset, I wrote something akin to a condensed summary. Now that I had something, I worked with my mother (my beta reader), my publishing helper Bethany and editors. This included the unusual step of printing it out in a huge font and looking at it from a distance. Through many changes, I came up with something acceptable. This effort took about 40 hours over three months.
For my next books, I am trying something different. After I create the first draft, I write a quick book description. The result is an imperfect summary with an attempted hook. Readers would not be impressed.
While endlessly self-editing my first draft, I look over my description at least once a week. Over time, I make changes and try out ideas. This included new directions, different hooks and new themes. Overall, the basic concept changed, useless junk got tossed and my sentences improved. On more than one occasion, I started over. I estimate this is effort takes 50 hours over 1.5 years.
The result looks much better than my previous descriptions. It reads slick, fun and engaging. Potential book buyers are more likely to bite the hook and learn more. Perhaps they will read a review?
Here is an example of a first pass:
In this sequel to Interviewing Immortality, by Bill Conrad, James finds himself back in his old life. He has firmly decided to put behind all the nonsense surrounding the immortality procedure in his past and live a quiet life.
Of all the people who could turn his life upside down, it was one the mother of a wonderful child. Her actions were so heinous that James once again decided to take a life in order to continue his immortal abilities. This callous action was undertaken to provide him the necessary abilities to locate his former captor. In undertaking this quest, he would find much more than he was seeking and in the process, learn more about himself.
Wow, rather weak. Here is the present version (still in development)
In this thrilling sequel to Interviewing Immortality, James is determined to rid himself of murder, torture, and immortality. Who would guess that the deplorable mother of a wonderful child would turn his life upside down? Her heinous actions convinced James to harvest one last time; allowing the boy to grow up in a world free from her wrath.
Of course, James would enjoy the amazing physical and mental benefits resulting from his deplorable act. He uses this precious gift to travel down an unlikely path; locating his former immortal captor, Grace. Only her 500-years of knowledge could help him to answer the deep life questions that plague his existence. This task would prove almost insurmountable, as this secretive individual takes every precaution to remain hidden.
During his chaotic journey, James encounters three new immortals who desperately desire to learn every aspect of his improved harvest technique. They stand out as ruthless, secretive and meek individuals who treat humans like cattle. To make matters worse, they refuse to allow James outside of their watchful eye. Then, to add a final complexity to James’s life, the great Pharaoh Cleopatra sends him off to meet her immortal son.
Clearly an improvement.
What do I call this process? Engineering a book description? Blindly making something work? Fake it until you make it? Slow and steady wins the race? Bill’s killer description process?
I don’t like making up names for my personality quirks. To me, it’s all about finding something that works. What do I think about this approach? Clearly, it’s unorthodox, but the results are much better than past attempts. Also, it is less stressful.
How did I decide to use this approach? I needed a new book description, and the result looked bad. This frustrated me and I put it aside for a while. I looked at it from time to time and occasionally made corrections. This turned into a once a week discipline. When it came time to create another description, I felt a lot less pressure to create the first pass. As I edited, the results looked better, and it occurred to me that the process worked.
I am not sure other authors could successfully use my technique. It’s likely they would quickly reach a plateau without further improvements. This technique works for me because my personality likes to tinker and is never satisfied. Perhaps I figured out how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage?
Does this mean I engineered my own mind? I should write a book about that. Hmm. That’s going to need a book description. I better start it now.
January 29, 2020
Blog Rules
The intent of this blog is to have fun and get the word out. To achieve maximum publicity, I publish my blog in three locations: Facebook, Goodreads and my website. These popular sites have many rules that translate to, “Don’t write anything bad or we will remove your content.” Of course, I can do anything I want on my website, but to keep things simple, I mirror my content.
The Facebook and Goodreads lawyers are concerned about offensive material, upsetting their advertisers and legal battles. As such, my blogs don’t contain copyrighted content, swear words, adult themes, horrific descriptions or offensive topics.
My blogs reflect my morals and I not like to push society’s limits or make waves. This results in tame blog topics that are not intended to cause controversy. However, I know that some people go out of their way to be offensive. They do this for shock value, publicity, fun and sometimes they are oblivious to their actions. I am also aware that a chef must break eggs to make a cake and I do occasionally push the limits. For example, I did a blog about intimate scenes and it got a mild reaction.
http://interviewingimmortality.com/bl...
When determining what to write about, I select topics that inform and introduce readers to my style of writing. I concentrate on the subject of writing and creating my books. While this field might seem narrow, I have lots of material.
In addition to the obvious offensive topics, I also do not write about topics that might alienate my limited fan base. This means that I do not write about economics, politics and trendy news. My personal life is also not included. Why? A big part of my personality desires privacy. The world doesn’t need to know about my family problems or my paycheck.
Would I like to write about other topics? It would be fun to take a deep dive all over the writing map. How about a nice rant about guns? Let’s discuss an elegantly designed IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) miller clamp. Does anybody want to talk about what movie I watched last night? The problem with these topics is that while they may interest me, blogging about unrelated topics would not entice blog readers to click “buy it now.” Bummer.
Why not blog about topical topics? I would love to share my opinion on the world’s problems. I have many great ideas, strong opinions and I believe my efforts would bring improvements. How? By raising awareness, offering new solutions, starting discussions and embracing proven solutions.
Why not have a separate blog? “Bill solves all the world’s problems in six easy steps.” Writing one blog a week is tough enough and I don’t want to add to the cesspool of fake news. Wait a minute. Did I just write about a controversial topic and offer an opinion that could potentially upset readers? Hmm. Plus, the internet already has too many “experts” who “know” how to solve the world’s problems. Side note. Have you read the book “All the trouble in the world” by P. J. O'Rourke? Excellent read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Even with my narrow topic choices, I still find blogging fun. There are lots of topics I want to explore and my efforts are already paying off. Some future topics will include deep dives into my characters, bad characters, books I have read, book reviews and more about the wonders of self-publishing.
I have gotten a lot out of blogging and I will continue forward for as long as I can. Perhaps I will push the boundaries and explore some bold topics. Stay tuned in for future controversy.
The Facebook and Goodreads lawyers are concerned about offensive material, upsetting their advertisers and legal battles. As such, my blogs don’t contain copyrighted content, swear words, adult themes, horrific descriptions or offensive topics.
My blogs reflect my morals and I not like to push society’s limits or make waves. This results in tame blog topics that are not intended to cause controversy. However, I know that some people go out of their way to be offensive. They do this for shock value, publicity, fun and sometimes they are oblivious to their actions. I am also aware that a chef must break eggs to make a cake and I do occasionally push the limits. For example, I did a blog about intimate scenes and it got a mild reaction.
http://interviewingimmortality.com/bl...
When determining what to write about, I select topics that inform and introduce readers to my style of writing. I concentrate on the subject of writing and creating my books. While this field might seem narrow, I have lots of material.
In addition to the obvious offensive topics, I also do not write about topics that might alienate my limited fan base. This means that I do not write about economics, politics and trendy news. My personal life is also not included. Why? A big part of my personality desires privacy. The world doesn’t need to know about my family problems or my paycheck.
Would I like to write about other topics? It would be fun to take a deep dive all over the writing map. How about a nice rant about guns? Let’s discuss an elegantly designed IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) miller clamp. Does anybody want to talk about what movie I watched last night? The problem with these topics is that while they may interest me, blogging about unrelated topics would not entice blog readers to click “buy it now.” Bummer.
Why not blog about topical topics? I would love to share my opinion on the world’s problems. I have many great ideas, strong opinions and I believe my efforts would bring improvements. How? By raising awareness, offering new solutions, starting discussions and embracing proven solutions.
Why not have a separate blog? “Bill solves all the world’s problems in six easy steps.” Writing one blog a week is tough enough and I don’t want to add to the cesspool of fake news. Wait a minute. Did I just write about a controversial topic and offer an opinion that could potentially upset readers? Hmm. Plus, the internet already has too many “experts” who “know” how to solve the world’s problems. Side note. Have you read the book “All the trouble in the world” by P. J. O'Rourke? Excellent read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Even with my narrow topic choices, I still find blogging fun. There are lots of topics I want to explore and my efforts are already paying off. Some future topics will include deep dives into my characters, bad characters, books I have read, book reviews and more about the wonders of self-publishing.
I have gotten a lot out of blogging and I will continue forward for as long as I can. Perhaps I will push the boundaries and explore some bold topics. Stay tuned in for future controversy.
Blog Rules
The intent of this blog is to have fun and get the word out. To achieve maximum publicity, I publish my blog in three locations: Facebook, Goodreads and my website. These popular sites have many rules that translate to, “Don’t write anything bad or we will remove your content.” Of course, I can do anything I want on my website, but to keep things simple, I mirror my content.
The Facebook and Goodreads lawyers are concerned about offensive material, upsetting their advertisers and legal battles. As such, my blogs don’t contain copyrighted content, swear words, adult themes, horrific descriptions or offensive topics.
My blogs reflect my morals and I not like to push society’s limits or make waves. This results in tame blog topics that are not intended to cause controversy. However, I know that some people go out of their way to be offensive. They do this for shock value, publicity, fun and sometimes they are oblivious to their actions. I am also aware that a chef must break eggs to make a cake and I do occasionally push the limits. For example, I did a blog about intimate scenes and it got a mild reaction.
http://interviewingimmortality.com/bl...
When determining what to write about, I select topics that inform and introduce readers to my style of writing. I concentrate on the subject of writing and creating my books. While this field might seem narrow, I have lots of material.
In addition to the obvious offensive topics, I also do not write about topics that might alienate my limited fan base. This means that I do not write about economics, politics and trendy news. My personal life is also not included. Why? A big part of my personality desires privacy. The world doesn’t need to know about my family problems or my paycheck.
Would I like to write about other topics? It would be fun to take a deep dive all over the writing map. How about a nice rant about guns? Let’s discuss an elegantly designed IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) miller clamp. Does anybody want to talk about what movie I watched last night? The problem with these topics is that while they may interest me, blogging about unrelated topics would not entice blog readers to click “buy it now.” Bummer.
Why not blog about topical topics? I would love to share my opinion on the world’s problems. I have many great ideas, strong opinions and I believe my efforts would bring improvements. How? By raising awareness, offering new solutions, starting discussions and embracing proven solutions.
Why not have a separate blog? “Bill solves all the world’s problems in six easy steps.” Writing one blog a week is tough enough and I don’t want to add to the cesspool of fake news. Wait a minute. Did I just write about a controversial topic and offer an opinion that could potentially upset readers? Hmm. Plus, the internet already has too many “experts” who “know” how to solve the world’s problems. Side note. Have you read the book “All the trouble in the world” by P. J. O'Rourke? Excellent read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Even with my narrow topic choices, I still find blogging fun. There are lots of topics I want to explore and my efforts are already paying off. Some future topics will include deep dives into my characters, bad characters, books I have read, book reviews and more about the wonders of self-publishing.
I have gotten a lot out of blogging and I will continue forward for as long as I can. Perhaps I will push the boundaries and explore some bold topics. Stay tuned in for future controversy.
The Facebook and Goodreads lawyers are concerned about offensive material, upsetting their advertisers and legal battles. As such, my blogs don’t contain copyrighted content, swear words, adult themes, horrific descriptions or offensive topics.
My blogs reflect my morals and I not like to push society’s limits or make waves. This results in tame blog topics that are not intended to cause controversy. However, I know that some people go out of their way to be offensive. They do this for shock value, publicity, fun and sometimes they are oblivious to their actions. I am also aware that a chef must break eggs to make a cake and I do occasionally push the limits. For example, I did a blog about intimate scenes and it got a mild reaction.
http://interviewingimmortality.com/bl...
When determining what to write about, I select topics that inform and introduce readers to my style of writing. I concentrate on the subject of writing and creating my books. While this field might seem narrow, I have lots of material.
In addition to the obvious offensive topics, I also do not write about topics that might alienate my limited fan base. This means that I do not write about economics, politics and trendy news. My personal life is also not included. Why? A big part of my personality desires privacy. The world doesn’t need to know about my family problems or my paycheck.
Would I like to write about other topics? It would be fun to take a deep dive all over the writing map. How about a nice rant about guns? Let’s discuss an elegantly designed IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) miller clamp. Does anybody want to talk about what movie I watched last night? The problem with these topics is that while they may interest me, blogging about unrelated topics would not entice blog readers to click “buy it now.” Bummer.
Why not blog about topical topics? I would love to share my opinion on the world’s problems. I have many great ideas, strong opinions and I believe my efforts would bring improvements. How? By raising awareness, offering new solutions, starting discussions and embracing proven solutions.
Why not have a separate blog? “Bill solves all the world’s problems in six easy steps.” Writing one blog a week is tough enough and I don’t want to add to the cesspool of fake news. Wait a minute. Did I just write about a controversial topic and offer an opinion that could potentially upset readers? Hmm. Plus, the internet already has too many “experts” who “know” how to solve the world’s problems. Side note. Have you read the book “All the trouble in the world” by P. J. O'Rourke? Excellent read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Even with my narrow topic choices, I still find blogging fun. There are lots of topics I want to explore and my efforts are already paying off. Some future topics will include deep dives into my characters, bad characters, books I have read, book reviews and more about the wonders of self-publishing.
I have gotten a lot out of blogging and I will continue forward for as long as I can. Perhaps I will push the boundaries and explore some bold topics. Stay tuned in for future controversy.
January 22, 2020
New Book Topics
Creating something new has always been difficult. One could argue that as a species, we have more knowledge and better access to information. Therefore, our expanded knowledge base makes it easier to develop new ideas. This certainly makes sense, but there is another side of the information coin.
Let’s pretend the year is 1970, and an author wrote a book set on the small island of Palau. What are the people like? Authors who never traveled to Palau would make many assumptions. If a 1970s reader wanted to learn about the subject of Palau, they had limited options. This includes encyclopedias, travel or local libraries. As such, the 1970s author could make up anything about Palau without consequence. The literary community would likely embrace the error-infested. It’s unlikely that the people of Palau would be aware of a new book unless the local paper contained an article.
Today, making up facts rapidly gets authors into trouble. Internet searches easily reveal detailed information and people are better educated. As a result, the small island of Palau is no longer an obscure topic. It stands out as an information powerhouse full of internet-savvy inhabitants. The local people would instantly become aware of any works about their community and take great offense at being misrepresented. Readers would leave negative reviews because they would be aware of the misrepresentation. The people of Palau might even start a negative online campaign.
To make matters worse, many topics are off-limits. Let’s write a story about a boy learning magic. He goes to magic school… Stop. That topic is clearly a Harry Potter rip off. How about a non-human character on a distant planet who learns magic? Nope. A magic school in the distant past? Nope. What if an author goes far out of my way to make sure the magic school has no similarities to any of the Harry Potter stories? Readers, critics, retailers and juries would fail to see the difference. The entire subject of magic education has become property of the Harry Potter universe. Now, all writers must take great care to distance their topics far away from anything Potter.
What if I want to be a rebel? Harvey Pots goes to magic school. I am such a great author that nobody will dare challenge me! This choice would doom even the most famous author. At worst, an author could get banned from online sales or get into a lawsuit.
What if an author made a mistake? They get a few Palau facts wrong and are unaware of Harry Potter? Critics, readers, and Amazon lawyers have no heart. It is the job of a writer to be aware of all existing works and ruthlessly check facts. If you recall from my blog titled, Bills Guide to Writing a Book, it is important to check all topics before starting a book outline. This means researching all preexisting works and uncovering all relevant facts.
http://interviewingimmortality.com/bl...
In my first book, I wrote a story near a popular topic. The book, Misery by Steven King is about an author forced by a crazy fan to alter his story. My book is about an author forced to interview an immortal woman. I have never read the book, Misery or watched the movie, but I am aware of the basic plot. As such, I took great efforts to distance my plot. However, I understood the risk and I get comments like, “This story is similar to Misery.” Did I make a mistake? Only time will tell.
The reality of creating a unique work is depressing. So many topics have been covered, and it’s difficult to come up with something new. I wish that I had the freedom to make up facts, create a new Star Wars movie and write all about a boy learning magic. I also wish I could visit distant worlds to get “new” ideas. For now, I will have to use my imagination (with great care.)
Let’s pretend the year is 1970, and an author wrote a book set on the small island of Palau. What are the people like? Authors who never traveled to Palau would make many assumptions. If a 1970s reader wanted to learn about the subject of Palau, they had limited options. This includes encyclopedias, travel or local libraries. As such, the 1970s author could make up anything about Palau without consequence. The literary community would likely embrace the error-infested. It’s unlikely that the people of Palau would be aware of a new book unless the local paper contained an article.
Today, making up facts rapidly gets authors into trouble. Internet searches easily reveal detailed information and people are better educated. As a result, the small island of Palau is no longer an obscure topic. It stands out as an information powerhouse full of internet-savvy inhabitants. The local people would instantly become aware of any works about their community and take great offense at being misrepresented. Readers would leave negative reviews because they would be aware of the misrepresentation. The people of Palau might even start a negative online campaign.
To make matters worse, many topics are off-limits. Let’s write a story about a boy learning magic. He goes to magic school… Stop. That topic is clearly a Harry Potter rip off. How about a non-human character on a distant planet who learns magic? Nope. A magic school in the distant past? Nope. What if an author goes far out of my way to make sure the magic school has no similarities to any of the Harry Potter stories? Readers, critics, retailers and juries would fail to see the difference. The entire subject of magic education has become property of the Harry Potter universe. Now, all writers must take great care to distance their topics far away from anything Potter.
What if I want to be a rebel? Harvey Pots goes to magic school. I am such a great author that nobody will dare challenge me! This choice would doom even the most famous author. At worst, an author could get banned from online sales or get into a lawsuit.
What if an author made a mistake? They get a few Palau facts wrong and are unaware of Harry Potter? Critics, readers, and Amazon lawyers have no heart. It is the job of a writer to be aware of all existing works and ruthlessly check facts. If you recall from my blog titled, Bills Guide to Writing a Book, it is important to check all topics before starting a book outline. This means researching all preexisting works and uncovering all relevant facts.
http://interviewingimmortality.com/bl...
In my first book, I wrote a story near a popular topic. The book, Misery by Steven King is about an author forced by a crazy fan to alter his story. My book is about an author forced to interview an immortal woman. I have never read the book, Misery or watched the movie, but I am aware of the basic plot. As such, I took great efforts to distance my plot. However, I understood the risk and I get comments like, “This story is similar to Misery.” Did I make a mistake? Only time will tell.
The reality of creating a unique work is depressing. So many topics have been covered, and it’s difficult to come up with something new. I wish that I had the freedom to make up facts, create a new Star Wars movie and write all about a boy learning magic. I also wish I could visit distant worlds to get “new” ideas. For now, I will have to use my imagination (with great care.)
January 15, 2020
My Writing Improved
As part of my new year’s efforts, I updated every copyright at the bottom of each blog page. During this fun activity, I looked over my 95 creations and noticed an improvement. My voice, written personality, grammar, word choice, and descriptions were all better. In addition, my topic choices were livelier, more interesting and engaged the reader better.
The biggest difference is the flow. I have used the term “flow” many times to describe sentence structure, and it’s difficult to define. If a sentence has good flow, the reader does not need to pause. My older blogs read clunky and I found myself thinking about what I meant to say. Of course, repetition hones skill in any human project.
Let’s take a trip back into memory lane and visit an excerpt from my second blog, Writing in the Tom Clancy Universe dated September 24, 2017:
“When I wrote Interviewing Immortality, I decided to take the parallel approach. I felt that the Tom Clancy Universe was too complex. I even went one step further and set this book slightly in the past. This allowed me to have some leeway to grow and be sure of the facts. For example, I know what TV shows were on 5 years ago. That will never change. I found that this was easier than the present, because the present is actually part of the future.”
Errrr. Wow, I see many issues. Let’s look at the first sentence. “When I wrote Interviewing Immortality, I decided to take the parallel approach.” It would read a lot better as, “In writing Interviewing Immortality, I chose the parallel approach.”
Another sentence. “I found that this was easier than the present, because the present is actually part of the future.” A classic Bill writing tick. “I found that this” Bad form and an unclear subject. “Creating a fictional story set slightly in the past is easier to develop than a story set in the present.” Much better.
As I read, it’s clear that I clearly threw my heart into the effort which resulted in good content. I like my improvement and this validates the success of my writing efforts. Did I achieve perfection in my newer blogs? No, but that’s fine. As I pointed out in a recent blog, I intend to use blogging as an advertisement tool and expand my writing. From a high-level perspective, I set a weekly goal and achieve it. That in itself is a great achievement. Well, except for two weeks ago. I needed a vacation.
The biggest difference is the flow. I have used the term “flow” many times to describe sentence structure, and it’s difficult to define. If a sentence has good flow, the reader does not need to pause. My older blogs read clunky and I found myself thinking about what I meant to say. Of course, repetition hones skill in any human project.
Let’s take a trip back into memory lane and visit an excerpt from my second blog, Writing in the Tom Clancy Universe dated September 24, 2017:
“When I wrote Interviewing Immortality, I decided to take the parallel approach. I felt that the Tom Clancy Universe was too complex. I even went one step further and set this book slightly in the past. This allowed me to have some leeway to grow and be sure of the facts. For example, I know what TV shows were on 5 years ago. That will never change. I found that this was easier than the present, because the present is actually part of the future.”
Errrr. Wow, I see many issues. Let’s look at the first sentence. “When I wrote Interviewing Immortality, I decided to take the parallel approach.” It would read a lot better as, “In writing Interviewing Immortality, I chose the parallel approach.”
Another sentence. “I found that this was easier than the present, because the present is actually part of the future.” A classic Bill writing tick. “I found that this” Bad form and an unclear subject. “Creating a fictional story set slightly in the past is easier to develop than a story set in the present.” Much better.
As I read, it’s clear that I clearly threw my heart into the effort which resulted in good content. I like my improvement and this validates the success of my writing efforts. Did I achieve perfection in my newer blogs? No, but that’s fine. As I pointed out in a recent blog, I intend to use blogging as an advertisement tool and expand my writing. From a high-level perspective, I set a weekly goal and achieve it. That in itself is a great achievement. Well, except for two weeks ago. I needed a vacation.
January 8, 2020
An Arrogant Character
Around age 13, I decided to become an Electrical Engineer. Engineers are logical, smart and confident. We work in offices with (usually) pleasant office-minded people. Having no other foundation, it’s easy to understand how my work culture became a core writing value.
One of my characters is an Electrical Engineer. He loves to solve problems, tell people about his solutions and hates it when they cannot appreciate his brilliance. In addition, he is a model office employee who strongly avoids confrontation.
Offices are odd places. People have extreme conversations on important topics with forced pleasantries. However, coworkers are still people and negative actions get scornfully remembered for years. A single disapproving conversation can be just as devastating as a bloody fistfight. Of course, outside of the office, these rules do not apply. People yell, confront and fight without holding back.
Unfortunately, my editor pointed out that my main character is an arrogant know-it-all. This comes from the two aspects of his personality. He is smart and avoids confrontation until he has no choice.
Is my character realistic? Engineers must maintain an element of arrogance in order to do their job. Otherwise, projects would take forever. In my particular book, he only becomes arrogant when he knows he is correct which leads to overcompensation. From my experience, his level of arrogance is below normal. However, I now see that my lightly arrogant creation is far worse than the typical person. Unfortunately, this means that not everybody will appreciate him.
When creating a character, an author tries to create something new, but they have preconceptions. I I intended to develop somebody substantially different from myself. In retrospect, I should have made this character a patent attorney, doctor or business executive.
My reaction to this criticism is, “Stop embracing stereotypes! Engineers are great people. They only appear arrogant.” However, I see the problems and I will have to make corrections. On my next editing pass, I will tone down his reactions, give him more human qualities, turn off some of his engineering mind and make him more relatable.
Not an impossible task, but it will not be a fun task to town down his brilliance. I like it when people use their minds. It appears I need to un-engineer an engineer. Is un-engineer a real term? I will have to engineer it into the dictionary.
One of my characters is an Electrical Engineer. He loves to solve problems, tell people about his solutions and hates it when they cannot appreciate his brilliance. In addition, he is a model office employee who strongly avoids confrontation.
Offices are odd places. People have extreme conversations on important topics with forced pleasantries. However, coworkers are still people and negative actions get scornfully remembered for years. A single disapproving conversation can be just as devastating as a bloody fistfight. Of course, outside of the office, these rules do not apply. People yell, confront and fight without holding back.
Unfortunately, my editor pointed out that my main character is an arrogant know-it-all. This comes from the two aspects of his personality. He is smart and avoids confrontation until he has no choice.
Is my character realistic? Engineers must maintain an element of arrogance in order to do their job. Otherwise, projects would take forever. In my particular book, he only becomes arrogant when he knows he is correct which leads to overcompensation. From my experience, his level of arrogance is below normal. However, I now see that my lightly arrogant creation is far worse than the typical person. Unfortunately, this means that not everybody will appreciate him.
When creating a character, an author tries to create something new, but they have preconceptions. I I intended to develop somebody substantially different from myself. In retrospect, I should have made this character a patent attorney, doctor or business executive.
My reaction to this criticism is, “Stop embracing stereotypes! Engineers are great people. They only appear arrogant.” However, I see the problems and I will have to make corrections. On my next editing pass, I will tone down his reactions, give him more human qualities, turn off some of his engineering mind and make him more relatable.
Not an impossible task, but it will not be a fun task to town down his brilliance. I like it when people use their minds. It appears I need to un-engineer an engineer. Is un-engineer a real term? I will have to engineer it into the dictionary.
December 25, 2019
A Writing Setback
The four regular readers of my blog may recall a recent blog that discussed a YouTube video trashing the movie Men in Black International. I chose to blog about this criticism because it helped me to see a writing problem.
Let’s think about the people who made the movie Men in Black International. They were all optimistic at the film’s launch and felt crushed when it did not perform. The YouTube video added to their anguish by explicitly describing the film’s failures. To add insult to injury, the video generated a profit. Since that public disappointment, these move people began new projects and reflected on their prior work. Hopefully, they learned from their mistakes and their next projects will improve. In life, the painful lessons are often the most important.
In another recent blog, I confessed that blogging is a form of low-budget therapy. Time to eat some crow. This blog is going to be a clear example of “open therapy.” A few days ago, I got back several edits on my second book. The editor included a detailed report on several issues. I have severe plot, character, logic and grammar problems. To make matters worse, they were fundamental issues that are difficult to fix without a major rewrite. In addition, these flaws were also present in my other books.
Quite a lot to confront and it caused me to stop writing for a few days to reflect. The event left me depressed, it is now difficult to write and my words don’t reflect up to my own standards. When I looked at my Men in Black International blog, it made me think about the writers went through. The difference is millions of people read the bad reviews of their movie. Fortunately, my bad feedback did not go public.
In my attempt to become a successful author, I’ve had many setbacks and even considered closing this chapter in my life. (Ha, a writing joke!) I often remind myself that a major life goal is to start a business and writing takes away from that effort.
Looking into the mirror and seeing the face of failure is difficult. “Your best is not good enough.” Of course, it is easy to deny my problems. I do not have an English degree; writing is not my career, and I went into this project knowing I would never be able to compete with the great authors.
Putting my heartache aside. How am I going to salvage this situation? My failure recovery technique evolved over time to a central theme. I will gather all the information, analyze it and form a plan. Sometimes, I talk to people about the issue, but I typically hunker down and work my problems in solitude. Hence, I took a bike ride today, and it helped.
For this problem, I am going to fix what can be fixed and ignore the other issues. The main criticism concerns my weak characters and plot. I created this book without a plan, outline or even talking with friends. It’s reasonable to expect issues.
An author writes the story they want to tell. Their story may be pretentious, arrogant, weak and unrealistic. However, my story came from my heart and I based the characters upon real people from my life. I still like the plot/characters and I think others would also like it.
I certainly appreciate my core flaws. The many repairs will take a lot of work but I’m not the type to give up on a dream without a fight; even if the dream is unrealistic.
Let’s think about the people who made the movie Men in Black International. They were all optimistic at the film’s launch and felt crushed when it did not perform. The YouTube video added to their anguish by explicitly describing the film’s failures. To add insult to injury, the video generated a profit. Since that public disappointment, these move people began new projects and reflected on their prior work. Hopefully, they learned from their mistakes and their next projects will improve. In life, the painful lessons are often the most important.
In another recent blog, I confessed that blogging is a form of low-budget therapy. Time to eat some crow. This blog is going to be a clear example of “open therapy.” A few days ago, I got back several edits on my second book. The editor included a detailed report on several issues. I have severe plot, character, logic and grammar problems. To make matters worse, they were fundamental issues that are difficult to fix without a major rewrite. In addition, these flaws were also present in my other books.
Quite a lot to confront and it caused me to stop writing for a few days to reflect. The event left me depressed, it is now difficult to write and my words don’t reflect up to my own standards. When I looked at my Men in Black International blog, it made me think about the writers went through. The difference is millions of people read the bad reviews of their movie. Fortunately, my bad feedback did not go public.
In my attempt to become a successful author, I’ve had many setbacks and even considered closing this chapter in my life. (Ha, a writing joke!) I often remind myself that a major life goal is to start a business and writing takes away from that effort.
Looking into the mirror and seeing the face of failure is difficult. “Your best is not good enough.” Of course, it is easy to deny my problems. I do not have an English degree; writing is not my career, and I went into this project knowing I would never be able to compete with the great authors.
Putting my heartache aside. How am I going to salvage this situation? My failure recovery technique evolved over time to a central theme. I will gather all the information, analyze it and form a plan. Sometimes, I talk to people about the issue, but I typically hunker down and work my problems in solitude. Hence, I took a bike ride today, and it helped.
For this problem, I am going to fix what can be fixed and ignore the other issues. The main criticism concerns my weak characters and plot. I created this book without a plan, outline or even talking with friends. It’s reasonable to expect issues.
An author writes the story they want to tell. Their story may be pretentious, arrogant, weak and unrealistic. However, my story came from my heart and I based the characters upon real people from my life. I still like the plot/characters and I think others would also like it.
I certainly appreciate my core flaws. The many repairs will take a lot of work but I’m not the type to give up on a dream without a fight; even if the dream is unrealistic.
December 18, 2019
Bad People Aren’t Evil
I grew up in San Diego, California and I went to college in Worcester Massachusetts. This proved to be a big change for a California boy. Apart from the weather, fashion, food, and geography, I found the people to be different. Overall, they all had a rough exterior with a nice interior.
A good example of this difference can be described by my roommate’s tire change experience. One winter evening, he got two flat tires and a police officer stopped to ask why he parked on the side of the road. The officer proceeded to yell at my roommate for not avoiding the pothole, having a dirty car and not having the foresight to carry a second spare tire. (What college student caries around two spare tires in a Honda Civic?) The officer then drove my roommate and both tires to a local garage. Afterward, he drove him back, yelled at him for not parking his car in an appropriate location to allow for a safe tire change and helped put the tires on.
To people who grew up in Massachusetts, that story makes perfect sense. The officer acted mean, but he didn’t have a mean soul. For me, this personality type took a lot of effort to get used to. College provided me with wide experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.
In life, we encounter many mean people. This might include a parent who demands their child to maintain a clean room, a boss who is upset at a worker who arrives late, a friend who insists we pay owed money or a driver who is upset at being cut off. Of course, people can cross the line. A nice parent has a rough day and yells at their well-behaved child.
What about that mean boss who is always in a bad mood? He never says anything nice and is critical of every decision. Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. Managing people is difficult and we have to think about the company as a whole. Is this boss keeping the group in line and profitable? Are people treated equally? Is he evil?
If we look at the great business leaders, parents, teachers, and politicians they often are required to act mean. For example, a business leader needs to eliminate an entire division because it didn’t make a profit. Think of all the people who lost their jobs. However, if the leader decided to keep the division, it would take profit away from the profitable divisions. The company would have less money to invest in development. Eventually, the entire company could fail and everybody could lose their jobs. Side note. My last company eliminated their San Diego division and put me out of a job. This (in part) resulted in a billion-dollar lawsuit. In hindsight, not a good decision. Black to the blog.
The same logic could be applied to the parent who insists a child’s room be clean. Why? A dirty room is unsafe and unsanitary. Of course, the child doesn’t understand. The politician raises taxes to fix our roads. The judge who is tough on crime. All of these people act mean, but they improve society and allow it to grow just as a forest fire clears out the deadwood.
At some point, a person might become evil. The parent who enjoys punishing their child, the power-hungry politician or the vindictive neighbor. The difference is these people have crossed a line without remorse.
Do evil people move society forward? In some cases, they do. Otherwise, evil people do serious damage. To make matters worse, evil parents often raise evil children. One could argue that truly evil people have improved our world. As a result of war, we invented new medical procedures. Not a great argument.
Let’s invent an evil character. This character will put obstacles for our hero and make us hate them. At the end of the story, our hero will defeat this evil character in an epic battle. Please hate this bad character so much that you buy/watch the sequel.
Are these evil characters realistic? Truly evil people do exist in real life and movies/stories love to embellish. However, there is a problem. Evil characters must be one-dimensional. The boss is simply evil an evil person. Why? The reader/viewer does not always have to know. Over the course of the plot, we grow to hate them and appreciate their destruction. In many ways, the evil character is like a bug that we splat and then feel good about it.
To complete matters, we now have anti-heroes in our plots. Are there Robin Hoods in real life? Is the tire changing police officer an anti-hero? I would argue that this is not a good analogy and we don’t have true anti-heroes. Characters must be evil without consequence. Darth Vader is a bad guy and nothing more. We watch a movie about him and go home. The tire changing police officer had a boss, real rules and consequences for his actions. For the rest of his life, he will need to live with to consequences of all his decisions.
Is it bad that bad fictional characters don’t require a back story, can always get away with atrocities and have no consequence? No, it’s wonderful. This helps normal people to overcome real-life and cope with horrific events. It gives authors the freedom to quickly enter a story and get out without explanation or consequence. Even Darth Vader gets a break when he blows up an entire planet. His only real concern is improving ticket sales.
A good example of this difference can be described by my roommate’s tire change experience. One winter evening, he got two flat tires and a police officer stopped to ask why he parked on the side of the road. The officer proceeded to yell at my roommate for not avoiding the pothole, having a dirty car and not having the foresight to carry a second spare tire. (What college student caries around two spare tires in a Honda Civic?) The officer then drove my roommate and both tires to a local garage. Afterward, he drove him back, yelled at him for not parking his car in an appropriate location to allow for a safe tire change and helped put the tires on.
To people who grew up in Massachusetts, that story makes perfect sense. The officer acted mean, but he didn’t have a mean soul. For me, this personality type took a lot of effort to get used to. College provided me with wide experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.
In life, we encounter many mean people. This might include a parent who demands their child to maintain a clean room, a boss who is upset at a worker who arrives late, a friend who insists we pay owed money or a driver who is upset at being cut off. Of course, people can cross the line. A nice parent has a rough day and yells at their well-behaved child.
What about that mean boss who is always in a bad mood? He never says anything nice and is critical of every decision. Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. Managing people is difficult and we have to think about the company as a whole. Is this boss keeping the group in line and profitable? Are people treated equally? Is he evil?
If we look at the great business leaders, parents, teachers, and politicians they often are required to act mean. For example, a business leader needs to eliminate an entire division because it didn’t make a profit. Think of all the people who lost their jobs. However, if the leader decided to keep the division, it would take profit away from the profitable divisions. The company would have less money to invest in development. Eventually, the entire company could fail and everybody could lose their jobs. Side note. My last company eliminated their San Diego division and put me out of a job. This (in part) resulted in a billion-dollar lawsuit. In hindsight, not a good decision. Black to the blog.
The same logic could be applied to the parent who insists a child’s room be clean. Why? A dirty room is unsafe and unsanitary. Of course, the child doesn’t understand. The politician raises taxes to fix our roads. The judge who is tough on crime. All of these people act mean, but they improve society and allow it to grow just as a forest fire clears out the deadwood.
At some point, a person might become evil. The parent who enjoys punishing their child, the power-hungry politician or the vindictive neighbor. The difference is these people have crossed a line without remorse.
Do evil people move society forward? In some cases, they do. Otherwise, evil people do serious damage. To make matters worse, evil parents often raise evil children. One could argue that truly evil people have improved our world. As a result of war, we invented new medical procedures. Not a great argument.
Let’s invent an evil character. This character will put obstacles for our hero and make us hate them. At the end of the story, our hero will defeat this evil character in an epic battle. Please hate this bad character so much that you buy/watch the sequel.
Are these evil characters realistic? Truly evil people do exist in real life and movies/stories love to embellish. However, there is a problem. Evil characters must be one-dimensional. The boss is simply evil an evil person. Why? The reader/viewer does not always have to know. Over the course of the plot, we grow to hate them and appreciate their destruction. In many ways, the evil character is like a bug that we splat and then feel good about it.
To complete matters, we now have anti-heroes in our plots. Are there Robin Hoods in real life? Is the tire changing police officer an anti-hero? I would argue that this is not a good analogy and we don’t have true anti-heroes. Characters must be evil without consequence. Darth Vader is a bad guy and nothing more. We watch a movie about him and go home. The tire changing police officer had a boss, real rules and consequences for his actions. For the rest of his life, he will need to live with to consequences of all his decisions.
Is it bad that bad fictional characters don’t require a back story, can always get away with atrocities and have no consequence? No, it’s wonderful. This helps normal people to overcome real-life and cope with horrific events. It gives authors the freedom to quickly enter a story and get out without explanation or consequence. Even Darth Vader gets a break when he blows up an entire planet. His only real concern is improving ticket sales.
December 11, 2019
Why I Continue to Blog
For many years, I wanted to write a blog, but I didn’t have a good reason to begin. My first book required a marketing tool, and a blog seemed like a good start. With the necessary excuse established, I blindly jumped in.
My blogs concentrate on writing and everything surrounding this effort. Of course, I would like to touch on many topics, but this isn’t the format. Why? This blog is supposed to advertise my writing and perhaps enlighten a few people. Hey, world. If you like my blog, buy my book. Not an impossible leap and my blog has reached several people.
Hey, world, here is a description of an amazing electrical circuit. Now, buy my book about an immortal woman. Yeah. That’s called, “bait and switch.”
Unfortunately, my blogging efforts haven’t provided a huge amount of interest. Why continue? In logical Bill style, please allow me to answer this question.
1) I am not a quitter and I choose to see my quest through.
2) Even with a lot of effort, I’ve not been able to find a better marketing tool. Until I get a few more books out, this needs to be my primary effort. Bummer.
3) I like to share my thoughts and consider this blog to be low budget therapy.
4) For the next 3+ months, I am stuck in a large self-editing effort that prevents me from starting my next book. Why not write a new book in parallel? Even now, it’s difficult to keep the books I am working on separated in my mind. Adding an entirely new book has the potential to introduce lots of issues as well as add delay in releasing my next book. For now, my blog serves as a creative outlet.
5) Writing a blog is rewarding. Every week, I achieve a short-term goal. Plus, I explored some fun topics.
6) Blogging sharpens my writing skills. I recall the movie Finding Forrester with Sean Connery. Sean plays a serious writer/scholar who reads the Weekly World News (A fantasy tabloid newspaper.) He calls this paper desert. I suppose that this blog is my desert. It’s not too serious and not too important. Blogging allows me to explore many topics without rules. If I make a mistake, nobody will post a bad Amazon review.
Which of the above reasons is the most important? Hmm. My heart tells me #1. Yet, as I began writing this individual blog, my thoughts didn’t concern selling books. I enjoy sharing and this blog provides a great outlet. Or should I be honest with myself? I really should pry my wallet open and pay for professional mental help. Online poll anyone?
My blogs concentrate on writing and everything surrounding this effort. Of course, I would like to touch on many topics, but this isn’t the format. Why? This blog is supposed to advertise my writing and perhaps enlighten a few people. Hey, world. If you like my blog, buy my book. Not an impossible leap and my blog has reached several people.
Hey, world, here is a description of an amazing electrical circuit. Now, buy my book about an immortal woman. Yeah. That’s called, “bait and switch.”
Unfortunately, my blogging efforts haven’t provided a huge amount of interest. Why continue? In logical Bill style, please allow me to answer this question.
1) I am not a quitter and I choose to see my quest through.
2) Even with a lot of effort, I’ve not been able to find a better marketing tool. Until I get a few more books out, this needs to be my primary effort. Bummer.
3) I like to share my thoughts and consider this blog to be low budget therapy.
4) For the next 3+ months, I am stuck in a large self-editing effort that prevents me from starting my next book. Why not write a new book in parallel? Even now, it’s difficult to keep the books I am working on separated in my mind. Adding an entirely new book has the potential to introduce lots of issues as well as add delay in releasing my next book. For now, my blog serves as a creative outlet.
5) Writing a blog is rewarding. Every week, I achieve a short-term goal. Plus, I explored some fun topics.
6) Blogging sharpens my writing skills. I recall the movie Finding Forrester with Sean Connery. Sean plays a serious writer/scholar who reads the Weekly World News (A fantasy tabloid newspaper.) He calls this paper desert. I suppose that this blog is my desert. It’s not too serious and not too important. Blogging allows me to explore many topics without rules. If I make a mistake, nobody will post a bad Amazon review.
Which of the above reasons is the most important? Hmm. My heart tells me #1. Yet, as I began writing this individual blog, my thoughts didn’t concern selling books. I enjoy sharing and this blog provides a great outlet. Or should I be honest with myself? I really should pry my wallet open and pay for professional mental help. Online poll anyone?
