Jeremy Bates's Blog: Latest News, page 16
October 5, 2011
Insecure Writer's Support Group
First, welcome to anybody part of the IWSG coming over from Alex J. Cavanaugh's great blog. So…what part of writing am I insecure about? Every single word!
Seriously.
But I think every author is. No one writes a perfect manuscript off the top of their head without some rewriting (unless you're Bobby Anderson from the Tommyknockers). The fact I go over and reread every word, change a bunch, reread, change a bunch more, reread, change, reread, change, reread, change is a textbook case of being insecure.
Of course the trick is to know when to stop. I heard a bit of dialogue in a movie that went something like this:
"Great painting! Is it finished?"
"A painting is never finished. You just have to know when to stop."
The same goes for writing. You can edit and rewrite ad infinitum. You can do it for ten years. You'll never get it perfect. Usually a writer will be forced to stop by necessity when his publisher starts asking for the manuscript. If you don't have a publisher yet, then make your own deadline and stick to it. Move on to the next book, and don't look back.
So…insecure about word choice, syntax, etc? Definitely. It's a part of writing. How to get over it? Stop when it's time to stop and move on.
Also, here's some great advice by the late Steve Jobs that I think every writer–insecure or not–should take to heart:
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do," he told the Stanford grads in 2005.
October 3, 2011
Conspiracy Theory – Who's Running the World?
This is nuts:
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real (historical) and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776.
Since the publication of Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's postmodern science fiction work The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975-7) the name has been used to refer to a purported conspiratorial organization that masterminds events and controls world affairs through governments and corporations to establish a New World Order. In this context the Illuminati are usually represented as a modern version or continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati.
NOW……………..take the word "illuminati" and spell it backwards. You'll have "itanimulli." Plug "itanimulli" into google and I think you'll be very, very surprised to see what the first search result is!!!
Conspiracy Theory! Must read!
This is nuts:
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real (historical) and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776.
Since the publication of Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's postmodern science fiction work The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975-7) the name has been used to refer to a purported conspiratorial organization that masterminds events and controls world affairs through governments and corporations to establish a New World Order. In this context the Illuminati are usually represented as a modern version or continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati.
NOW……………..take the word "illuminati" and spell it backwards. You'll have "itanimulli." Plug "itanimulli" into google and I think you'll be very, very surprised to see what the first search result is!!!
September 27, 2011
September 25, 2011
Top 5 Self-Published Fiction Entrepreneurs!
Everything's different now. At least, that's what everyone keeps saying when speaking about the publishing industry. Yes, folks, the self-publishing craze has officially taken off…and hasn't looked back. There seems to be three groups of players in this new world. Those who are having problems making sales. Those who are doing all right but looking for more sales. And those who have done extraordinary. This post is going to look at the top five guys and girls who have done very, very well–and how they did it. (Credit to an article by Huff Post Books done back in June).
#1: John Locke
Everyone knows this guy (no, not the British philosopher), so I'm not going to say much. What's relevant is that he was the first self-published author admitted into the Kindle Hall of Fame–aka, The One Million Kindle Sales Club. How'd he do it? Read his book: How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! Below are pictures of the aforementioned philosopher and the ebook-writer incarnation. Take away the hair (or add some) and I think we have a match!
#2: Amanda Hocking
No, not Amanda Knox! She started self-publishing romance novels in spring, 2010, and a year later she had sold more than a million copies of her books. So what do you do when you become a household name so quickly? Sign a contract with a traditional publishing house! That's what she did, anyway: St. Martin's Press, four book deal. Below is a picture of the lady herself. She still looks a little starstruck over her rise to fame!
#3: J.A. Konrith
Over a twelve-year period, he says he picked up a hefty 500 rejection letters for nine books. To somebody outside the industry, you may be thinking WTF?? But to a writer: yeah, sounds about right. Eventually he signed with Hyperion, but he's also done very well on the self-publishing side of things. On a side note, he also has one of the best blogs around for info on writing etc. Here's a pic of J.A. below, back when he was sporting the I-wrestle-grizzly-bears-for-a-living look.
#4: Barry Eisler
This guy's an aspiring writer's folk hero. Already a best selling traditionally published author, he walked away from a cool half-mil paycheck from St. Martin's to self-publish. If you want to hear his take on it, check out his conversation with J.A. Konrith here. If you can't read his shirt, it says, "I just made $500,001 dollars from my ebook sales!"
#5: Stephen King
Why's he on this list? some of you may ask. Because he's been on every top five/ten/one hundred writing list that has ever been composed–and he just deserves it? Sure, why not. But also because he was the first major author to try his hand at self-publishing with The Plant way back in the stone age of digital publishing, Year 2000. Not only that, he was pretty marketing savvy for the time as well: he allowed the first two chapters to be downloaded for free, but after that, you had to cough up a buck a chapter. Long live the King!
Wait! Will the real Stephen King please stand up (apparently he needed some help after one of his 1980 all night booze/coke/joint lollapaloozas!)
#6: You!
Lol. You never know……………………………..
