Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 258
April 14, 2011
RoW80 Update & K is for...
RoW80 Update:
Since Sunday, I've cut nearly 2000 words from a 15,000 chunk. That's about 72 pages edited this week. I'm doing just fine. Today, I hit my first "problem" during this read-through: a scene that doesn't flow well within the narrative. Noted. Will consider how to fix it later.
I've been working in the morning, getting stuff done early, and then not doing much with my day. I should change that.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
K is for Keeping Up/Keeping Pace
Even for an introvert that loves to hang out with engineers, it's nice to know a few writers. Community can become very important as we slog though writing, editing, submitting, publishing, marketing, critiquing, reviewing. Even if our experiences are fundamentally different, it's good to be around people who are familiar with the landscape.
For a very long time, I couldn't "be friends" online with writers. Because what do writers do online? They post word counts.
I am neither the fastest nor slowest writer, but it was killing me that other writers could knock out thousands of words per day. I don't consider myself to be a competitive person. Instead, I'm a neurotic person. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I write that much? Why wasn't I keeping up?
Ultimately, as is the case in harmful attitudes, it occurred to me that this was not helpful and had to stop. In the end, keeping up with someone else is not as important as keeping a pace that is conducive to good work. This isn't to say that you shouldn't settle with a comfortable pace or push to do the best you can, but becoming bitter and envious of someone else is just not good.
Since Sunday, I've cut nearly 2000 words from a 15,000 chunk. That's about 72 pages edited this week. I'm doing just fine. Today, I hit my first "problem" during this read-through: a scene that doesn't flow well within the narrative. Noted. Will consider how to fix it later.
I've been working in the morning, getting stuff done early, and then not doing much with my day. I should change that.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
K is for Keeping Up/Keeping Pace
Even for an introvert that loves to hang out with engineers, it's nice to know a few writers. Community can become very important as we slog though writing, editing, submitting, publishing, marketing, critiquing, reviewing. Even if our experiences are fundamentally different, it's good to be around people who are familiar with the landscape.
For a very long time, I couldn't "be friends" online with writers. Because what do writers do online? They post word counts.
I am neither the fastest nor slowest writer, but it was killing me that other writers could knock out thousands of words per day. I don't consider myself to be a competitive person. Instead, I'm a neurotic person. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I write that much? Why wasn't I keeping up?
Ultimately, as is the case in harmful attitudes, it occurred to me that this was not helpful and had to stop. In the end, keeping up with someone else is not as important as keeping a pace that is conducive to good work. This isn't to say that you shouldn't settle with a comfortable pace or push to do the best you can, but becoming bitter and envious of someone else is just not good.
April 12, 2011
J is for Judgement
Sending a manuscript, submission packet, or query letter has always been easier for me than letting someone I know read my work.
When sending to a publishing professional, it is a *professional* correspondence. While rejections stings and there is certainly some aspect of taste that goes into any editor or agent's decision, these aren't people I know. They certainly don't know me. The measure of personal judgement is small.
In my writing collaboration with Eric, he reads my work on a near-daily basis. This is slightly more nerve-wracking. The majority of the time, he keeps his criticisms in the land of critique. "This doesn't work. This needs to change." Even still, I'd prefer to be absent or asleep while he does the actually reading.
One of the hardest thing I've dealt with, neuroses-wise, is the judgements that people I know will make and have made. Because in those cases, I wonder where, for them, Katherine ends and Katherine-the-writer begins. I know I should give my friends and acquaintances some credit. They probably don't think I'm a bigger idiot than usual when I post a story that might make them say, "WTF? She calls herself a writer?" But it is their judgement that makes me nervous.
When sending to a publishing professional, it is a *professional* correspondence. While rejections stings and there is certainly some aspect of taste that goes into any editor or agent's decision, these aren't people I know. They certainly don't know me. The measure of personal judgement is small.
In my writing collaboration with Eric, he reads my work on a near-daily basis. This is slightly more nerve-wracking. The majority of the time, he keeps his criticisms in the land of critique. "This doesn't work. This needs to change." Even still, I'd prefer to be absent or asleep while he does the actually reading.
One of the hardest thing I've dealt with, neuroses-wise, is the judgements that people I know will make and have made. Because in those cases, I wonder where, for them, Katherine ends and Katherine-the-writer begins. I know I should give my friends and acquaintances some credit. They probably don't think I'm a bigger idiot than usual when I post a story that might make them say, "WTF? She calls herself a writer?" But it is their judgement that makes me nervous.
I is for Introversion
Extroversion is often defined as having a personality that is energized by interaction with others. Therefore, it makes sense that introversion is the opposite of that: interaction is draining for the introvert. I've written about this a few times before and have given it some thought. The thing that seems to be overlooked is the fact that introversion and extroversion are on a continuum. Some people are more introverted or extroverted than others.
It is assumed that all writers are introverts. Who else could stand to be alone for *hours* while writing? That's a comment that an extreme extrovert would make. But really, I think writing is simply a profession in which its employees are circumstantially alone. On average, I think writers are near the middle of the continuum and maybe a little to the extrovert end. Writers like community and support. They like hanging out together. The internet has let writers be more social than they ever have been.
Is it easier to be a writer if you're an introvert? Well, if you're so much of an extrovert that you can't be alone, writing might not be your best career choice. But if you're on my level of being an introvert, it's not a day in the park either. The social aspects of the writing (the business, the marketing, the networking) are daunting. It goes past the realm of fear into the realm of exhaustion. More than I'd like, I feel the need to spend my energy budget on being social instead of spending my energy on writing. It's not a pleasant place to be.
It is assumed that all writers are introverts. Who else could stand to be alone for *hours* while writing? That's a comment that an extreme extrovert would make. But really, I think writing is simply a profession in which its employees are circumstantially alone. On average, I think writers are near the middle of the continuum and maybe a little to the extrovert end. Writers like community and support. They like hanging out together. The internet has let writers be more social than they ever have been.
Is it easier to be a writer if you're an introvert? Well, if you're so much of an extrovert that you can't be alone, writing might not be your best career choice. But if you're on my level of being an introvert, it's not a day in the park either. The social aspects of the writing (the business, the marketing, the networking) are daunting. It goes past the realm of fear into the realm of exhaustion. More than I'd like, I feel the need to spend my energy budget on being social instead of spending my energy on writing. It's not a pleasant place to be.
April 10, 2011
RoW80 Update & H is for...
Read-a-thon was yesterday. It was awesome! It always is.
RoW80 Progress:
Week 1 went down without a hitch. Reached page 138 in the 10% cut edit. As I said, this was the easy part. The rest of the manuscript is messier. Or at least I expect it to be. I've been enjoying Divine Fire and *really* enjoying the change in novels. Even if this is an editing/revision pass.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
H is for Helene Hanff and Harlan Ellison
It sounds kind of stupid, but when I was a kid, I didn't realize that writers were people. They were, in a weird way, just another name in the book. It certainly didn't occur to me that *I* could write stories and be a name in one of those books. I liked making up stories. Instead of playing house, I liked making up the further adventures of my favorite sci-fi characters. But writing stories down? People did that?
In high school, two writers entered my life.
I always enjoyed the interplay between books and film. When I saw that one of my favorite actors, Anthony Hopkins, had been in a movie based on a book, I tracked down the book. This was 84 Charing Cross Road. The author, a book lover, felt like a kindred spirit. I chased down more of her books, not easy in 1990s Omaha, NE. Helene Hanff wrote with her own an unabashed voice about life as a writer. About being poor, out-of-work, and finding success in an unlikely way. This was a person. Like me. Who was a writer.
In 1992, the Sci-Fi Channel was launched. A joyous time for my mom and me. Star Trek, the original Dark Shadows, Night Gallery, and they had their very own news show! (This was back when the Sci-Fi Channel was pretty cool.) One of the segments on the news show featured Harlan Ellison. He wasn't too much in my mom's library. He wasn't Clark or Asimov, but he was in the Hugo anthologies. But more importantly, there he was. On the screen. Flesh and blood (more or less). He was telling what it was all about: the stories I read, the ones I watched, got there through hard work. Blood, sweat, and tears. And you were probably going to get screwed over by someone along the way. Nothing magical about writing and getting paid to do it. That made the process more real, more of a possibility.
In the end, that's what I needed, looking back. I needed writing to be something that people did. Like my dad going to work for the railroad every day, there was no mysticism and little romance. It was valid.
RoW80 Progress:
Week 1 went down without a hitch. Reached page 138 in the 10% cut edit. As I said, this was the easy part. The rest of the manuscript is messier. Or at least I expect it to be. I've been enjoying Divine Fire and *really* enjoying the change in novels. Even if this is an editing/revision pass.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
H is for Helene Hanff and Harlan Ellison
It sounds kind of stupid, but when I was a kid, I didn't realize that writers were people. They were, in a weird way, just another name in the book. It certainly didn't occur to me that *I* could write stories and be a name in one of those books. I liked making up stories. Instead of playing house, I liked making up the further adventures of my favorite sci-fi characters. But writing stories down? People did that?
In high school, two writers entered my life.
I always enjoyed the interplay between books and film. When I saw that one of my favorite actors, Anthony Hopkins, had been in a movie based on a book, I tracked down the book. This was 84 Charing Cross Road. The author, a book lover, felt like a kindred spirit. I chased down more of her books, not easy in 1990s Omaha, NE. Helene Hanff wrote with her own an unabashed voice about life as a writer. About being poor, out-of-work, and finding success in an unlikely way. This was a person. Like me. Who was a writer.
In 1992, the Sci-Fi Channel was launched. A joyous time for my mom and me. Star Trek, the original Dark Shadows, Night Gallery, and they had their very own news show! (This was back when the Sci-Fi Channel was pretty cool.) One of the segments on the news show featured Harlan Ellison. He wasn't too much in my mom's library. He wasn't Clark or Asimov, but he was in the Hugo anthologies. But more importantly, there he was. On the screen. Flesh and blood (more or less). He was telling what it was all about: the stories I read, the ones I watched, got there through hard work. Blood, sweat, and tears. And you were probably going to get screwed over by someone along the way. Nothing magical about writing and getting paid to do it. That made the process more real, more of a possibility.
In the end, that's what I needed, looking back. I needed writing to be something that people did. Like my dad going to work for the railroad every day, there was no mysticism and little romance. It was valid.
April 8, 2011
Notes & G is for...
Other than RoW80 and A to Z, where am I:
The second part of Chapter 40 is up at Pas de Chat .
Posted a review-ish thing of Prospero Lost at Reading Notes.
Speaking of Reading Notes, I'm going to participate in Dewey's Read-a-thon tomorrow. I'll be updating all day!
This was the last week of spring league. Mario's Magic Mushrooms ended the season with one win, but 7th seed on Thursday night. Ended up in the same pool as the team Eric's on. Next week, we start playoffs and next Saturday will be finals. Which means I need to get more exercise lined up. We'll probably go out to Intel disc again. I ran/hiked Tempe Butte on Monday. It was nice so that's probably something I'll add to my agenda until it gets too warm.
Finally, officially, moved the computers around. I now have "Oblivion" in my office space and "Continuum" shifted over to my side of the backroom (where I've been working since January). Eric's new computer, "Luck," Is still sitting semi-assembled on the backroom table in troubleshooting mode. Unfortunately, the keyboard from my office space is attached to "Luck" and I have the elderly Eric-cootie ridden keyboard. I have been assured that this will be remedied in the very near future.
---###---
G is for Goals
There are two ways to set goals:
You can set a goal that will be easy to achieve. The advantage is you can guarantee yourself a victory. Satisfaction at getting a job *done*. The disadvantage is that you might not achieve as much as you can achieve.
You can set a goal that will stretch you. The advantage is that you might get more done than you thought you could. The disadvantage is that you might fail to reach your goal, even if you end up achieving more than a conservative goal. That can be disappointing. Or you can prove that you can do more than was expected of you and have to live up to higher expectations.
I know there is virtue in the latter, though I am not overly fond of that kind of goal. I developed as a schooly over-achiever. Failing to achieve a goal is painful. I'm always gaming myself, weighing how much of a compromise I can get away with. And I get complacent and happy with the small amount I get done. I need to work on this.
The second part of Chapter 40 is up at Pas de Chat .
Posted a review-ish thing of Prospero Lost at Reading Notes.
Speaking of Reading Notes, I'm going to participate in Dewey's Read-a-thon tomorrow. I'll be updating all day!
This was the last week of spring league. Mario's Magic Mushrooms ended the season with one win, but 7th seed on Thursday night. Ended up in the same pool as the team Eric's on. Next week, we start playoffs and next Saturday will be finals. Which means I need to get more exercise lined up. We'll probably go out to Intel disc again. I ran/hiked Tempe Butte on Monday. It was nice so that's probably something I'll add to my agenda until it gets too warm.
Finally, officially, moved the computers around. I now have "Oblivion" in my office space and "Continuum" shifted over to my side of the backroom (where I've been working since January). Eric's new computer, "Luck," Is still sitting semi-assembled on the backroom table in troubleshooting mode. Unfortunately, the keyboard from my office space is attached to "Luck" and I have the elderly Eric-cootie ridden keyboard. I have been assured that this will be remedied in the very near future.
---###---
G is for Goals
There are two ways to set goals:
You can set a goal that will be easy to achieve. The advantage is you can guarantee yourself a victory. Satisfaction at getting a job *done*. The disadvantage is that you might not achieve as much as you can achieve.
You can set a goal that will stretch you. The advantage is that you might get more done than you thought you could. The disadvantage is that you might fail to reach your goal, even if you end up achieving more than a conservative goal. That can be disappointing. Or you can prove that you can do more than was expected of you and have to live up to higher expectations.
I know there is virtue in the latter, though I am not overly fond of that kind of goal. I developed as a schooly over-achiever. Failing to achieve a goal is painful. I'm always gaming myself, weighing how much of a compromise I can get away with. And I get complacent and happy with the small amount I get done. I need to work on this.
April 7, 2011
F is for Fatigue.
More precisely, word fatigue.
Sometimes, I don't want to *see* another word much less write one. This goes beyond "needing to recharging the creative batteries" and is different from "oh god, I suck" malaise. I just get sort of...tired...of words.
Maybe this is how I cope with the modern age. I mean, words are everywhere! I do more typing and reading online than I do conversing. Mind you, I'm not great verbally so I really wouldn't have it any other way, but I wonder how many words I really read in a day. This is more written language than I have ever consumed.
As a result, I withdraw. Usually for a couple of days. Maybe watch a movie or two. Play some EQ2. Go run around outside a while. If I'm lucky, word fatigue coincides with a weekend or some ultimate frisbee event. When I'm not lucky, there isn't much that can get me back to writing until the fatigue runs its coarse.
Sometimes, I don't want to *see* another word much less write one. This goes beyond "needing to recharging the creative batteries" and is different from "oh god, I suck" malaise. I just get sort of...tired...of words.
Maybe this is how I cope with the modern age. I mean, words are everywhere! I do more typing and reading online than I do conversing. Mind you, I'm not great verbally so I really wouldn't have it any other way, but I wonder how many words I really read in a day. This is more written language than I have ever consumed.
As a result, I withdraw. Usually for a couple of days. Maybe watch a movie or two. Play some EQ2. Go run around outside a while. If I'm lucky, word fatigue coincides with a weekend or some ultimate frisbee event. When I'm not lucky, there isn't much that can get me back to writing until the fatigue runs its coarse.
April 6, 2011
RoW 80 Check In & "E is for..."
RoW 80 Check In:
Went through my notes on Divine Fire and decided on a specific breakdown of my goal. The manuscript is about 410 pages. I like bite-sized goals. That breaks down to 100 pages a week / 20 pages a day. Or about three scenes a day. I also discovered that I had already done the 10% cut on the first three scenes. So, that was a little jump start. I did two scenes Monday, and three yesterday and three today. 80 pages done!
Chris is here on leave this week, so it's nice to have some padding. Plus, this is the already polished beginning of the novel. I expect this to be the easiest bit. There's been one thing that needed revising (rather than cutting) that will cause more work for me in the future. I think I'm going to try and hit four scenes Thursday and Friday.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
E is for...Engineers!
Engineers are some of my favorite people.
First of all, I'm married to one. Despite our collaboration as writers, Eric is still pretty firmly an engineer. He worked in the semiconductor industry for eight years before going back to school to study the intersection between biology and computer engineering. Secondly, since I'm not a terribly social person, so most of the people I know personally fall into two groups: the people Eric used to work with and the people we play frisbee with. One of my favorite weekly frisbee games occurs...where Eric used to work.
Despite, my lack of mathematical and abstract thinking skills, I really do enjoy being around engineers. But what does this have to do with writing?
Writers need diversity. Too often, when too many writers get together the following conversation happens:
Writer #1: (Makes some generalization about writing process or technique.)
Writer #2: Yep.
Writer #3: Uh-huh.
Writer #2: (Makes similar observation about writing process or technique.)
Writer #1: Definitely.
Writer #3: Uh-huh.
And so forth. In a group of non-writers, the discussions get a little more interesting. Engineers can't help but systematize and try to discover precisely how things work. Some of the best observations I've made about process have come in response to an engineer saying, "Wait. What?" Plus, it's good to get around people who think differently. As writers, we can't underestimate the hows and whys of behavior. Hard to do that when everyone around you is homogenous.
(Plus: Engineer language! Eric pointed out that "revision control" isn't exactly what I'd find in a writer's glossary. I've also been called out for bringing language "to compliance." These are great precise terms.)
Went through my notes on Divine Fire and decided on a specific breakdown of my goal. The manuscript is about 410 pages. I like bite-sized goals. That breaks down to 100 pages a week / 20 pages a day. Or about three scenes a day. I also discovered that I had already done the 10% cut on the first three scenes. So, that was a little jump start. I did two scenes Monday, and three yesterday and three today. 80 pages done!
Chris is here on leave this week, so it's nice to have some padding. Plus, this is the already polished beginning of the novel. I expect this to be the easiest bit. There's been one thing that needed revising (rather than cutting) that will cause more work for me in the future. I think I'm going to try and hit four scenes Thursday and Friday.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
E is for...Engineers!
Engineers are some of my favorite people.
First of all, I'm married to one. Despite our collaboration as writers, Eric is still pretty firmly an engineer. He worked in the semiconductor industry for eight years before going back to school to study the intersection between biology and computer engineering. Secondly, since I'm not a terribly social person, so most of the people I know personally fall into two groups: the people Eric used to work with and the people we play frisbee with. One of my favorite weekly frisbee games occurs...where Eric used to work.
Despite, my lack of mathematical and abstract thinking skills, I really do enjoy being around engineers. But what does this have to do with writing?
Writers need diversity. Too often, when too many writers get together the following conversation happens:
Writer #1: (Makes some generalization about writing process or technique.)
Writer #2: Yep.
Writer #3: Uh-huh.
Writer #2: (Makes similar observation about writing process or technique.)
Writer #1: Definitely.
Writer #3: Uh-huh.
And so forth. In a group of non-writers, the discussions get a little more interesting. Engineers can't help but systematize and try to discover precisely how things work. Some of the best observations I've made about process have come in response to an engineer saying, "Wait. What?" Plus, it's good to get around people who think differently. As writers, we can't underestimate the hows and whys of behavior. Hard to do that when everyone around you is homogenous.
(Plus: Engineer language! Eric pointed out that "revision control" isn't exactly what I'd find in a writer's glossary. I've also been called out for bringing language "to compliance." These are great precise terms.)
April 5, 2011
D is for Draft
How many drafts of a novel do I do? I have no idea.
My revision process doesn't quite work in a linear complete draft kind of way. Most of the time, I revise scenes as I go along. Some novels like Luck for Hire and Fuel Eaters were written fairly straight through in a very rough beginning-to-end manner. Divine Fire, which I'm currently going back to, didn't have an ending for a long while. But there's never really any "second" draft. Just a continuous reworking of the original with new layers added and subtracted.
A bigger problem, especially between collaborators, is the matter of revision control. I get pretty uptight when Eric is working on the same manuscript I am, even if he has opened a new document for the part that he's rewriting. Ideally, I'd like a "don't touch it until I'm done with it" philosophy, but that's not realistic if we want to get anything done in a timely manner. Generally, it works pretty well when documents are labeled with the date and initials and put into a common folder in the computer network.
My revision process doesn't quite work in a linear complete draft kind of way. Most of the time, I revise scenes as I go along. Some novels like Luck for Hire and Fuel Eaters were written fairly straight through in a very rough beginning-to-end manner. Divine Fire, which I'm currently going back to, didn't have an ending for a long while. But there's never really any "second" draft. Just a continuous reworking of the original with new layers added and subtracted.
A bigger problem, especially between collaborators, is the matter of revision control. I get pretty uptight when Eric is working on the same manuscript I am, even if he has opened a new document for the part that he's rewriting. Ideally, I'd like a "don't touch it until I'm done with it" philosophy, but that's not realistic if we want to get anything done in a timely manner. Generally, it works pretty well when documents are labeled with the date and initials and put into a common folder in the computer network.
April 4, 2011
C is for Collaboration
Or maybe C is for cheating because that's what it feels like sometimes.
See, I'm not a complete writer.* Pretty much all the novels I've written have been in collaboration with my husband, Eric. In the most simple terms, he's plot-man and I'm detail-girl. Last year, we wrote his and hers posts on collaboration at the Luck for Hire blog that go into more detail. Let me tell you, it's pretty nice to have someone covering your weakness. When I hear other writers struggling with plot, I feel guilty. All I have to do is talk to Eric.
But, the process is not without its cost.
My plot muscles (if I even had any) don't get much of a workout, and I feel pretty dumb sometimes when I just. don't. get. what should come next. I am self-conscious about sharing my own ideas. Every project has two authors to please, and sometimes communication isn't great. And sometimes when I want a break from the stories (or complain about the demands of my writing partner), I can't "go home" to my husband. Often when I am done-for-the-day, Eric is still slinging ideas.
Ultimately, I wouldn't have it any other way. I know that the person closest to me cares as much about my writing as I do. I have someone who is going to push me when I need it, and someone who is going to stay in love with a project when I am not.
* It's possible that no writer is a complete writer, but they haven't found the right collaborator yet.
See, I'm not a complete writer.* Pretty much all the novels I've written have been in collaboration with my husband, Eric. In the most simple terms, he's plot-man and I'm detail-girl. Last year, we wrote his and hers posts on collaboration at the Luck for Hire blog that go into more detail. Let me tell you, it's pretty nice to have someone covering your weakness. When I hear other writers struggling with plot, I feel guilty. All I have to do is talk to Eric.
But, the process is not without its cost.
My plot muscles (if I even had any) don't get much of a workout, and I feel pretty dumb sometimes when I just. don't. get. what should come next. I am self-conscious about sharing my own ideas. Every project has two authors to please, and sometimes communication isn't great. And sometimes when I want a break from the stories (or complain about the demands of my writing partner), I can't "go home" to my husband. Often when I am done-for-the-day, Eric is still slinging ideas.
Ultimately, I wouldn't have it any other way. I know that the person closest to me cares as much about my writing as I do. I have someone who is going to push me when I need it, and someone who is going to stay in love with a project when I am not.
* It's possible that no writer is a complete writer, but they haven't found the right collaborator yet.
April 2, 2011
B is for Book Buying (Ideally)
If I had so much money that I didn't have to worry about the price of things, I would absolutely partake in my ideal of book buying.
I would buy books at full-price from my local brick-and-mortar store and special order what stock they didn't have. To support the new pool of ebook indie authors, I'd buy an ereader and not worry about their price-point or whether the file I'm licensing has DRM. I'd subscribe to all the fiction magazine I send submissions to. I would have more books than I could ever read.
Well, I already do have more books than I can ever read. Roughly, there are about 200 books in the apartment that I own, but have not read. Not counting the ebooks files on my PC. This is why I put an embargo on book buying about five years back.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of money. I pick and chose what hand-full of books I'm going to buy new every year, usually with Amazon gift certificates from Christmas and my birthday. Which means, I'm buying books discounted and on-line. I use the library, but not as much as I use Paperback Swap. Yeah, I don't even go to my local used bookstores. I've become impatient with the "hunt" aspect of buying books. If I can't find it available online, I move on to read something different.
I also can't bring myself to buy ebooks with DRM (I'm looking at you, .azw). I believe in buying a file, not licensing it. I'm never going to own an ereader that is mainly supported by a proprietary file format. And, honestly, I have a hard time paying $0.99 for a a file, whether it's music or text. It's a barrier that has not been broken for me.
Could I cut back on things here and there and move closer to being an ideal book-buyer? Maybe. But, I'd likely just default to reading what I have and not acquiring anything new.
I would buy books at full-price from my local brick-and-mortar store and special order what stock they didn't have. To support the new pool of ebook indie authors, I'd buy an ereader and not worry about their price-point or whether the file I'm licensing has DRM. I'd subscribe to all the fiction magazine I send submissions to. I would have more books than I could ever read.
Well, I already do have more books than I can ever read. Roughly, there are about 200 books in the apartment that I own, but have not read. Not counting the ebooks files on my PC. This is why I put an embargo on book buying about five years back.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of money. I pick and chose what hand-full of books I'm going to buy new every year, usually with Amazon gift certificates from Christmas and my birthday. Which means, I'm buying books discounted and on-line. I use the library, but not as much as I use Paperback Swap. Yeah, I don't even go to my local used bookstores. I've become impatient with the "hunt" aspect of buying books. If I can't find it available online, I move on to read something different.
I also can't bring myself to buy ebooks with DRM (I'm looking at you, .azw). I believe in buying a file, not licensing it. I'm never going to own an ereader that is mainly supported by a proprietary file format. And, honestly, I have a hard time paying $0.99 for a a file, whether it's music or text. It's a barrier that has not been broken for me.
Could I cut back on things here and there and move closer to being an ideal book-buyer? Maybe. But, I'd likely just default to reading what I have and not acquiring anything new.
