Kelly McCullough's Blog, page 33

Self Publishing

I am interested in self publishing -- not for everything, but for work that I don't think I can sell to a publisher and want to make available. So anything anyone can tell me about the process will be useful.

The poetry group I belong to just self-published a collection. It has gotten its first review, which is a rave, except the reviewer really did not like the cover. I found the image for the cover, so am in part responsible. The reviewer said the type face and the photo quality made the book look amateurish. I guess this is an argument for a designer.

I am not too upset, because the reviewer liked everything else and mentioned me by name.

Friday Cat Blogging

Friday cat blogging here now due to stupid new blogger pictures interface.

The NaNoMo Dilema

Since I'm still an unemployed writer, I've decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo. I've decided to do this under my real name "lydamorehouse," so if you're also doing it and looking for a writing buddy, feel free to connect to me.

I've been told the best way to survive National Novel Writing Month (which, btw, starts in a matter of weeks, beginning in November,) is to do a lot of pre-plotting and outlining before the big event. The idea is that will keep you focused when you're trying to push words out. But, I have a much bigger problem: I'm not sure which project I want to focus on.

At Gaylaxicon, thanks in large part to Kyell's enthusiasm for it, I actually got an offer to publish my gay superhero story, which I read as a work in progress at WorldCON. Being the sort of person I am (*cough*writingwhore*cough*), the idea that there's a built in market for this novel/novella really appeals to me. Plus, the story is a great deal of fun. It would not be the sort of thing that I would find difficult to sit down and plow through for an entire month.

However, the editor who offered kept apologizing for the fact that almost no money would be available, and he encouraged me to try to sell that story elsewhere, should I finish it. At this point in my career, any offer works for me. However, it does put this project on a more even ground with something like writing the next Garnet Lacey and/or Precinct 13 story as an e-book.

I could potentially make some $$ if I self-published a sequel/continuation of one of my existing series as an e-book. Presumably there are fans out there who would want to buy an e-book release. My biggest worry/concern about doing a Tate Hallway e-book is that I'm not quite sure what my rights are in regards to those books. All of the Tate books are still in print, which means they belong to Penguin USA. Technically, my contracts stipulate that the publisher has right of first refusal on all sequels/next works of paranormal romance, but I have no idea if that extends to a project like this. I suppose I should ask my agent. She would know.

The other drawback is one I probably shouldn't admit to in public, but part of me still resists this business model: self-e-publishing. It still feels really labor intensive to me, and I remain unconvinced all that work upfront is worth the supposed eventual paycheck. One of the things I like about having a big, New York publisher is (the advance, but also) that I don't have to mess around with all the formatting details. Plus, I'd suddenly be responsible for the single most critical part of a book's success--the cover art. That, quite frankly, freaks me out. And, I'd need to be super-rigorous about typos. Anyone reading here or my frist-drafty fanfic KNOWS I have a problem with spelling and I have NEVER ACTUALLY mastered the use of the comma in the English language.

On top of those super-appealing options is a third one--all those other stories I said to myself, "damn, if I ever get time I'd like to work on those." The problem, of course, is that I've had time, and nothing has quite grabbed me, alas. But, this feels like the perfect time to take on something that's been a dream project. So, I don't know.

I need to decide soon. With NaNoWriMo approaching, I'm going to need to focus on those outlines. (Another plus in the Hallaway projects column is that all the potential novels is that they come with book proposals/outlines already written.)

Gaylaxicon Schedule

I'm going to be one of the guests at this year's Gaylaxicon, which, like, starts tomorrow.  Should you be going, you can find me talking about/doing these things:

Friday 4:30 PM Terrace 2 Writing Straight (when you're not)Friday 9:30 PM Terrace 4 Outer Alliance Podcast Saturday 2:00 PM Terrace 2 GoH Spotlight: Lyda MorehouseSaturday 5:00 PM Terrace 2 Remembering the Penis: Queer Women Writing M/M SlashSaturday 11:00 PM Terrace 3 British TV InvasionSaturday Midnight Terrace 4 Midnight Slash Reading / Open Mic Sunday 9:30 AM Terrace 2 Women at Gaylaxicon: Where r u?Sunday 11:00 AM Terrace 3 Writing Across FandomsSunday 12:30 PM Terrace 2 Superheroes on the Big ScreenSunday 2:00 PM Terrace 4 Romance Writing Yes, I talked them into giving a midnight Slash Slam.  I have been fretting over which of my 101 peices of fanfic/slash to read.  I know, however, that Kyell Gold will be reading his Road Runner/Wiley E. Coyote.  Tell me that doesn't sound awesome!

Soup and Writing

I did the final -- I really, really hope -- revisions on a story today, while making a chicken stock. Tomorrow I plan to make a vegetable soup with the stock and make final revisions on another story.

The hardest part of writing -- for me -- in making the final changes, saying, "it's done," and sending the story out.

"Friday" Cat Blogging

Friday cat blogging has moved over to my WordPress author page due to really stupid and annoying new blogger interface. Link: "Friday" Cat Blogging.

Software

I have two Apple computers at home, and a PC netbook which I take out. In addition, I post to a couple of blogs and am on facebook.

What this means is I do a lot of typing in different programs, often switching rapidly from one to another. Usually this is not a problem. But I keep looking for the like button when I read blogs, and sometimes strange things happen when I move among three different word processing programs. One of my stories has acquired an extra 2,000 words in the netbook version, which should be a copy of the Mac version. I made a brief attempt at finding the extra words, then decided to finish the story on a Mac.

Things that are simple and obvious to me in Word suddenly become a problem with the open source software on the netbook. I suppose I could decide to load Word onto all the computers, but that would mean spending money.

Anyway, not a big deal. But it surprises me how easily I can move among the programs and then how frustrating it is to suddenly not know how to do something very simple. Where is the line spacing in this program? How do I bold or center?

Friday Cat Blogging Closeup Edition

Friday Cat Blogging: http://kellymccullough.com/?p=526 Looks like I'll only be posting cat blogging links here going forward and doing the actual cat blogging at kellymccullough.com since the new backend interface on blogger is a nightmare for image blogging.

More from Facebook

I checked out Jeff VanderMeer's blog and found him reporting on all kinds of interesting speculative fiction from all over the world. I need to get serious about keeping up with the field or fields.

The stories he describes have a couple of traits, I think. One is they are multicultural and multinational, which is cool. SF and related kinds of fiction should be multi. They also sound to me (I haven't read any yet, though I am making lists) as if they sit the line between SF and literature. They are not the old-time, plot-driven, popular trash I grew up on. (And here I have to correct myself. I was reading William Tenn and Alfred Bester and P.K, Dick as a kid. This was not exactly Doc Smith. To be fair, I was also reading E.R. Burroughs. Though never -- as far as I can remember -- Doc Smith.) So I am wondering if what's happening to SF is it's becoming multi and slipstream. And that's where it's alive and growing, rather than exhausted and dying. I am in favor of #1, but I resist #2. As far as I can remember, I have always wanted to write science fiction and fantasy and folk tales; and I have never wanted to write literature. This is a prejudice I need to deal with. I will have to read some of the stories that Jeff likes.

And I should also consider whether SF is alive and growing in several different directions. I have read some New Space Opera which I really like. New Weird sounds interesting, though I haven't read enough of it. I like what Aquaduct Press publishes. New Feminist? Or simply What Aqueduct Press Likes?

Maybe I should see SF and related fields as a creature with many tentacles, reaching and grasping in many directions. That will make me happy. I like tentacles.

Maybe I should see this entire post as a way of avoiding getting to work cleaning the bathroom.

Miscellaneous Remarks

Remarks pulled from facebook, all by me:

There are times I think SF is exhausted, but it may be that I am exhausted. In any case, the only answer is to keep trucking and try to write something new.

I was happily inputting my very wet noir planetary romance yesterday, when it suddenly seemed terrible, and I stopped. This is typical. I get neat ideas; I get excited; and then all at once, the story seems like a mistake. But the ideas are so neat! And the funny parts are so funny! So I continue, until the story once again seems like a mistake.

The story will probably turn out okay. I need to finish it and then read it over and see what needs to be revised. The good part is, I'm really enjoying this project in the up part of the cycle, which basically runs until I've written as much as I'm going to for the day. Then I crash and despair and do something else and get back to the story on the morrow. I think I knew too many Abstract Expressionist when I was a kid. They were a moody lot, and I thought all artists had to be moody.