Derek Alan Siddoway's Blog, page 7

Guest Post: Kyra Halland on “Fantasy Westerns”

Sorry for the lack of posts lately — I’ve been busy slaving away at Return to Shadow, which I’m sure you’d all rather read anyway! Here’s a guest post from another author who writes in a similar western mashup genre to mine. Don’t forget to download her book for free! (It is the holiday season, after all, so grab a gift for yourself). Without further adieu, here’s Kyra:

Hi everyone, Kyra Halland here to introduce Derek’s readers to the fantasy-western world of Daughter of the Wildings. As a special gift for you, Book 1, Beneath the Canyons, is free today only, on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Canyons-Daughter-Wildings-Book-ebook/dp/B00P6TUSM0

Out of the dusty desert hills he rides into town, the nameless stranger astride a horse as toughened with hard experience as he is. The wide brim of his hat conceals his eyes and unshaven face in shade; his long brown coat, much patched and mended, blows open just enough to reveal the six-shooter holstered at his hip. He seems to be just another wandering gunfighter, but that gun can do things no regular gun can do, and, on a silver chain hidden beneath his shirt, a ring set with a blue stone glows with the strength of his magical power.

This is no ordinary gunslinger.

Meet Silas Vendine, the hero of Daughter of the Wildings, a high fantasy series inspired by the American West of the late 19th century and the traditions of classic western novels. To me, fantasy and western are two genres that were made to go together. Desolate and mystical landscapes;  confrontations between good and evil; characters who don’t fit into ordinary society, who are trying to make a new start in life or find justice, revenge, redemption, or just a ton of riches; epic journeys where simply surviving is a victory – you’ll find all of these elements and more in both fantasy and westerns. Silas, my gunslinger who is also a mage, fits into a long tradition of fantasy and western heroes: the mysterious man with extraordinary skills and strengths, a loner, who has his own mission in life and his own moral code that doesn’t necessarily agree with the accepted conventions.

But it isn’t just the similarites between the two genres that inspired me to combine them. The contrast between the down and dirty struggle for survival that was life in the Old West and the otherworldly wonder of magic, and between the rough technology of the late 1800s and the traditions of magic and fantasy, are ripe with storytelling possibilities.

The landscapes of the West are another inspiration. I was born and raised in the West, and still live there. I love to set my favorite genre, fantasy, in the wide-open landscapes I grew up with, the snow-covered peaks, evergreen forests, grassy rangelands, and rugged desert hills and dry riverbeds. Mountains and deserts especially play an important role in my writing. Mountains are places where the earth and the heavens meet in a mystical joining, while in the desert, things are hidden, buried, waiting to be revealed by an angle of the light, a rainstorm, or fortuitous digging in the right place. Both mountains and deserts hold deep secrets and power and history, and demand the utmost in skill and courage of those who journey or live there.

Westerns with science fiction or fantasy elements set in our world are becoming more widespread, but in Daughter of the Wildings I wanted to put the familiar western elements into a world that isn’t ours, where magic is pervasive and well-known. Gamblers play cards in the saloons – but the cards have names like Moon Mage and Star Dragon. The A’ayimat, the indigenous people of the Wildings, have blue-toned skin and golden eyes, and can understand any language that is spoken to them. Clocks with numbered hours, eyeglasses, and guns are the products of foreign science and are forbidden in the civilized, mage-dominated land of Granadaia. Cowboys herd cattle out on the open range while groviks – think furry alligators with rabbit-ears – roam the mountains. And on the night of the dark of the moon, when the eight gods hide their faces from the world, that mournful howling you hear could just as easily be a coyote, a demon, or lost and lonely spirit.

In Daughter of the Wildings, Plain, or non-magical, people have come to the Wildings, the vast wilderness beyond the mountains, to escape oppression in Granadaia. But there are also renegade mages who can’t resist the lure of freedom from the Granadaian laws and the promise of riches to be found in the Wildings. These lawless mages threaten the freedom and safety of the Plain settlers. Silas Vendine is one of a small number of mages who work for the rights and freedoms of Plain folk. He has come to the Wildings as a bounty hunter, authorized to hunt down mages who defy the ruling Mage Council’s authority, and also as a freedom fighter, vowed to protect the Plain settlers. Though he makes his living as a bounty hunter and gunslinger and lives a hard life, he has a strict sense of justice and of right and wrong.

The settlers in the Wildings fled from cruel oppression by mages, and they hate and fear magic and mages. Lainie Banfrey, the heroine of the series, is the daughter of a Plain settler but was born with magical power inherited from a mage ancestor. She’s always been taught that mages are heartless, soulless monsters, and she’s terrified of turning into a monster herself. But she’s also drawn to her magical power and longs to be able to use it to help the people around her.

When Silas comes to the town of Bitterbush Springs on the trail of a renegade mage and a dark, mysterious magical power, he meets Lainie in the aftermath of a shootout between feuding miners and ranchers. Brought together both by necessity and a growing attraction to each other, they struggle to survive through dangerous adventures, develop a deep love for each other that’s strengthened by hardship and happiness, come into magical powers they never dreamed were possible, and fight to protect the Wildings from enemies who threaten the land and its freedom.

Come join Silas Vendine and Lainie Banfrey on an exciting western adventure set in a world of fantasy and magic – or an epic fantasy adventure in a world of cowboys and gunslingers.

Beneath the Canyons (Daughter of the Wildings, Book 1):

Silas Vendine is a bounty hunter authorized by the Mage Council to hunt down rogue mages who defy the Council’s authority. He’s also a freedom fighter, committed to protecting the non-magical people of the Wildings from the overreaching ambitions of mages both law-abiding and lawless. Between the desperate renegade mages he hunts, the hatred of the Wildings settlers for wizards like him, and the risk he’s taking in fighting for the ordinary people against his own kind, it’s a dangerous life, and Silas knows it. Still, when he comes to the town of Bitterbush Springs, he finds far more trouble and excitement than he bargained for…

Silas is trying to find and capture a rogue mage who has brought Bitterbush Springs to the brink of open warfare. There, he meets Lainie Banfrey, a young woman born in the Wildings who is both drawn to and terrified of her own developing magical abilities.

Silas and Lainie team up to stop the lawless mage who has torn Lainie’s hometown apart. Their hunt takes them deep beneath forbidden lands held by the hostile A’ayimat, where only Lainie’s untamed, untrained gifts can save them from the rogue mage and the dark power he has discovered.

Book 1 of Daughter of the Wildings, Beneath the Canyons, is now available at Amazon (coming to other ebook retailers in Feb. 2015). You can get it for free today only, December 17.

Read Chapter 1 here

Book 2, Bad Hunting, will be released in January 2015.

For more information about the Daughter of the Wildings series, including excerpts, character interviews, and cover art and descriptions for all six books, visit http://www.kyrahalland.com/daughter-of-the-wildings.html

Where to find Kyra Halland:

Website: http://www.kyrahalland.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KyraHalland
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+KyraHalland
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyraHalland
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6950045.Kyra_Halland

The post Guest Post: Kyra Halland on “Fantasy Westerns” appeared first on Author Derek Alan Siddoway.

Looking back: One year of self-publishing

Where has the time gone?

Tuesday (November 18) marks the 1 year publication anniversary for Out of Exile and subsequently, the one year mark of my career as a self-published author. So, although it’s not the new year yet, I still get to do some reflecting. It’s been a crazy ride and I’ve done things I never thought possible.

After spending a decade on my first novel, I wrote my second one (with an added 50,000 words) in less than six months. I also co-wrote my first serial and revised and outlined more words than I can shake a stick at.

In June, I did a complete revisit on Out of Exile. Over the past 12 months I feel like I’ve done a revision of my author self as well. I learned there are harder dreams out there to pursue and that your book might not be ready to publish just because you are. To share my experiences, I started The Everyday Author, a place to chronicle my journey and to cultivate a collective knowledge for others with the safe dreams as myself.

While I didn’t think I’d be rolling in bills and writing full time when I looked down the road a year ago, I was definitely wearing rose-colored glasses. I thought I’d be selling books every week, with a fat check from Amazon rolling in on a regular basis. I thought I’d have a couple dozen reviews and have hundreds of people eagerly awaiting my next book.

Well, that didn’t quite come to pass, but that’s okay. If possible, I’m even more excited about being an inde than I was when I started a year ago. I’ve learned a lot and know where I’m going and how to get there. I’m taking things one day at a time. Unlike last year, I’ve got a plan. I know what I’m supposed to do be doing and I love it.

And just as vital are you readers. For all the things I haven’t done, I HAVE developed a budding, group of the awesomest fans in the world. Each and every one of you guys and gals are great and, in my darker moments, it’s nice to know there are people out there who enjoy reading my work.

Where will I be a year from now? Only time will tell. I’ve got goals and plans, yes, but I’m dedicated to the process, not the outcome. Small and simple things. Onward and upward.

The post Looking back: One year of self-publishing appeared first on Author Derek Alan Siddoway.

Musings from the Heber Valley Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Believe it or not, on the rare occasion, I do something besides write in my free time.

Although the last couple of days, it’s been hard to. I’m right in the middle of revising Return to Shadow Part I and I’ve had to force myself to stop revising when my allotted time is up. If I could, I’d be doing it almost around the clock — that’s how excited I am for this next book. It’s going to be a crazy next few weeks to be ready to publish at the end of November, but right now I’m loving every minute of it.

Our brand, the Rockin’ S.

That’s only been the last week though. I’ve gone through a roller coaster of emotions working my way through my next book. I’ve stressed about the deadlines. I’ve worried if my writing is improving. Most importantly, I’ve often wondered if I’m missing the mark on this whole “medieval western” thing I’m trying to create.

It’s important to me that Teutevar Saga and any associated books do more than just spin off of the epic/historical fantasy tradition. While I can’t (and wouldn’t want to) deny the roots of my inspiration and I also realize that it’s impossible to create some entirely unique, I still hope that I’m creating something special with my unique sub-genre. I’ll always tip my hat to the likes of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander, but in the same breath you’ll also hear me mention the songs, movies and history of the American West that I call home. That’s why I chose to make this post about my weekend at the Heber Valley Cowboy Poetry gathering.

Family farm at hay time: 1930s or 40s

I just want to clarify that, although I often wear boots and work on a farm, I don’t consider myself a cowboy. Even so, some of my earliest memories are listening to 8-track tapes of western music in my grandma’s car and cassettes featuring the likes of Marty Robbins and Sons of the San Joaquin in our old F-250. My interests branched out and grew with me, but even so, my heritage and the foundation of my creativity will always be here, in the west.

As John Wayne says on his spoken word album, Mis Raices Estan Aqui — my roots are buried here.

Immersing myself in this western spirit again these past few days was the creative inspiration I’ve been looking for to carry me through the revising and publication of Return to Shadow. Although I’m an advocate of living life outside of your comfort zone, sometimes it’s just as important to revisit our roots. For creatives especially, reflecting on where we’ve come from can be as inspiring as experiencing something new. Going back to familiar territory helps when you’ve lost your way in experimentation. Because experience builds on itself, it’s surprising how many undiscovered gems you can find digging in old dirt.

I came up with a surprising amount of new ideas and improvements after listening to familiar songs from time-tested western entertainers — creative bits I’ll use both now and later to improve my work.

My grandpa, a real cowboy

I always labor under the impressions that I’m going to be a bestselling author one day. For my current readers, I hope that means you’ll be able to look back and say “I read that guy’s stuff before anyone else ever heard of him.” I hope I’ve got a long and illustrious future as an author ahead of me. More than that however, I hope readers will be able to finish one of my books and feel that, in my own special way, I’ve shared a small piece of my western heritage with you.

Happy reading,

♠DAS♠

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The 2014 IndieReCon Live Howey Awards

We won!

And it was all because of your voting. Thanks to your hard work, we brought home not one, not two, but FOUR Howey Awards from IndieReCon — more than any other book or author! So, without further adieu: thank you, thank you and thank you again. I have the greatest fans in the world and owe all the success I enjoyed this past weekend to your dedication This is as much your accomplishment as it is mine.

All told, Out of Exile won three Howeys and Valiant one. Here’s the categories:

Best Back Cover Copy — Out of Exile
Most Jaw Dropping Ending — Out of Exile
Most Evil Villain — Out of Exile (Zaraliss)
Best Kickbutt Main Character — Valiant (Langden Hawke)

As promised, I’ve prepared four, 1,000 word sneak peeks from Return to Shadow for each category won. You can download them in PDF format at the links below. Please note that all are first drafts, so you’ll have to excuse any typos or other errors that will be cleared up by subsequent revisions. I’d love to hear your feedback after you read them. So, for one last time, THANK YOU and enjoy!

RTS Sample 4
RTS Sample 3
RTS Sample 2
RTS Sample 1

The post The 2014 IndieReCon Live Howey Awards appeared first on Author Derek Alan Siddoway.

Return to Shadow casting

One technique I picked up after writing Out of Exile was to do profiles or sketches for my characters. This helps to keep basic information such as hair color, eye color, backstory and other things consistent. I’ve found with Return to Shadow that these character sketches are invaluable references and inspiration sources. To provide another shortcut, I also “cast” each character with an actor or actress that I imagine they look similar to — a technique that makes it easy when describing a character’s physical appearance.

Below are 25 new and old characters I’ve cast that appeared in Out of Exile or will appear in Return to Shadow. Click on the image for a brief character bio and to see who each actor/actress would play.

The post Return to Shadow casting appeared first on Author Derek Alan Siddoway.

Why I won’t be watching Super Bowl XLIX

Disclaimer: The “Super Bowl XLIX” name and logo are copyrighted and trademarked by the NFL. I do not own any rights to either.

I won’t be watching Superbowl XLIX in February.

Let me tell you where I’m coming from. I woke up this morning and, like most mornings, I looked at the news feed on my phone. And I was sick of what I saw.

Out of Arizona, yet another alleged case of domestic violence from an NFL player has come to light. As I write this (September  18, 2014), that makes a total of three known cases this season alone. For me, enough is enough.

I was fortunate enough to be raised in a safe, loving home. Yes, I was spanked, but I never walked away with a welt or a bruise. I never saw my grandpa, my dad or any of my uncles lay a hand on my grandmother, mother or aunts, either.

Now, I’m not saying that NFL players are given to domestic violence any more than the rest of the populace. Despite the bad eggs, I believe the majority of NFL players are good husbands and fathers. I’m also not passing judgement on the NFL players who have been accused. Whether they are guilty or not will be decided by our justice system.

That being said, domestic violence — whether the victim be man, woman or child — is not acceptable in any way, shape or form. A six-game suspension for a first offense is not an acceptable form of punishment for this type of crime. First, not second offenders, should receive a lifetime ban from the NFL. There must be a zero tolerance policy for domestic violence in the NFL.

I realize my boycott of Superbowl XLIX does nothing to help these innocents inside or out of the NFL. I hope, however, in my own small way, that I can give a small sign of support by abstaining from the Super Bowl. My viewership of Super Bowl XLIX may be a grain of sand in the desert to the NFL, but even so, they won’t receive my patronage.

If you’re an NFL fan, I hope you’ll join me. Even if you’re not, I hope you’ll still raise your voice against this issue by signing my petition at the bottom of this post. As I said above, I realize my viewership of the Super Bowl is inconsequential to the NFL. Alone, I won’t make a difference, but together, we can be more than a grain of sand.

Last year, Super Bowl XLVIII between the Seahawks and Broncos drew a record 111.5 million viewers. Imagine if 111.5 million people said enough is enough. Imagine if 111.5 million people weren’t more inclined to watch “the big game” rather than make a tiny sacrifice to stand up to domestic violence.

I’m not asking anyone to make a donation or dump a bucket of ice water over your head. All I’m asking you to do is add your name to the list below and turn off the television for a few hours on February 1, 2015. I’m asking you, for just one day, to make being a decent person a priority over being a football fan

I can’t make a difference alone, but together, we can. I’m not watching Superbowl XLIX, are you?

Domestic violence should be a zero tolerance policy in the NFL. Join me in boycotting Superbowl XLIX.

Number of signatures: 1

Name* :

* Mandatory fields

Name



Name

Derek Siddoway

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What’s your calling?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since going public with my writing career last year, it’s that a lot of people just don’t understand passion.

For many people, writing is an  unpleasant task associated with high school essays and college research projects. When people learn I’ve written a book, they’re usually a little stumped. Even if they don’t ask it, I can see the question cross their face: Why in the world would you want to camp out in front of a computer screen and write?

I’ve given a lot of thought to that question and given various answers, but in all reality, it comes down to one thing: I have to.

Yes, I’ve made a great deal of dough from my fiction, but I never set a single word down on paper with the thought of being paid for it … I have written because it fulfilled me … I did it for the buzz. I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever. — Stephen King

See, I might choose when and what I write, but I can’t choose if I write or not. For me, writing is more than a talent I’m developing. It’s more than a future career. It’s something I’d do without making a cent for it because I love it. It’s my passion, an internal, unconquerable desire that pulls me forward, no matter the circumstance. It’s my calling.

What do I mean by calling?  It’s something I’ve been turning over in my mind for awhile, but what really brought on this post was a familiar song I listened to on my afternoon commute last week — Songs for Sale by David Nail (The link goes to his commentary on the song, which I highly recommend listening to). Here’s the chorus lyrics:

Some are called to preach the gospel

String fence in Colorado

Some are born to raise a family

Swing a hammer at a nail

Haul bricks or carry mail

Go to college, Duke or Yale, but me,

I got songs for sale

It sounds a little cliche, but I truly believe each and every one of us has a true calling in our lives. Each of us has something that speaks to us, something that, in addition to bringing us happiness, brings us peace.

As for me, I’ve got words for sale.  It’s what I’m called to do with my smidgen of time here on this earth. Tonight, I’m using my calling to encourage you to find yours and chase it with all your heart.

Some readers might think I’m going over the top here. Some might think that they couldn’t possibly have anything like that inside of them.  I’m here to tell you that  you do. Maybe you haven’t found your calling yet, but I promise, it’s just waiting to be discovered and unleashed. Maybe it isn’t writing, maybe it isn’t a creative endeavor at all. Your calling can be anything that brings you satisfaction: raising a family, working on a farm, doing research in a lab, crunching numbers at a bank, building skyscrapers — you name it.

Don’t worry about talent. Forget about not having time. Make time. Think big, but start small. Do what you can. Don’t think you have to sell the farm to chase your dreams. If you’re busy, it might cost you a little sleep, but isn’t fifteen minutes of sleep worth it to do what you were put on this earth for? Resisting the temptation of the snooze button might not be easy at first, but I can guarantee the feeling you’ll get doing something you’re passionate about is worth it.

That feeling is amazing, intoxicating and powerful. It’s the power that compels a single, working mother of three to fight through exhaustion at the end of the day and stay up past midnight painting. It’s the power that drives grown men to trash their bodies for a career that lasts an average of 3.5 years. It’s the power that has me glued to my chair writing this post after I went to bed at 5:30 this morning and then spent all day at work on three hours of sleep.

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong. — Ella Fitzgerald

There’s a reason I titled this post “What’s your calling?” instead of “What’s your dream?” In my opinion, it’s too easy not to follow a dream. Some people treat a dream as something abstract. It’s something they hope for, but don’t ever ground in reality. There is nothing more frustrating and saddening to me than a person who talks about dreams but won’t make a move to bring them to reality. When you consider something your calling, something that you have to do, are compelled to do, that’s when things get serious.

I’m not saying that dedicating a little time doing what we love will bring world peace or anything like that. What I am saying is we can all be a little happier and feel a little more fulfilled if we take the time to discover and answer our calling.

So what are you waiting for?  If there’s something you’ve always wanted to do, find a way to take action. Stop waiting for permission from someone or something else. Sign up for a class, buy a book about it — do anything you can to take action today.

Set your alarm a little early tomorrow. Passion is calling. It’s time to answer.

Reflections from Red Castle

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to ditch civilization for four days and spend time backpacking in the High Uintas. We’ve all heard numerous times about the importance of taking a break from technology, but there’s an added element to it when you’re out of service and your phone only works as a camera and a watch. Surrounded by the outdoors, without screens, buzzes and beeps is a strange relief you can’t really explain until you experience it.

I hesitate to call the trip relaxing, though — hiking twelves miles in and out, plus two days of exploring at 11,000 feet isn’t the same as laying on the beach — but it was refreshing. It was nice not to worry if I was sitting too much at my desk or if there was something coming up that I was forgetting. It was nice to approach life at a basic, almost primeval level. Everything I had, I carried in on my back. My concerns were limited to staying warm and dry, eating, drinking and sleeping. No emails to answer, no word counts to hit, nothing but survival.

There is a power in the wilderness that asserts itself on a person.

I don’t want to sound overly dramatic at this point. There was plenty of food and the weather was amazing. From time to time, however, I believe it is important for humans to step outside of our little bubbles and reassesses the true scope of things. Surrounded by imposing walls of rock, you’d be crazy to feel in charge or in control and that’s a good thing. There is a power in the wilderness that asserts itself on a person. We should not underestimate the importance of being humbled on occasion, of feeling small in the midst of nature’s majesty. Out there, your’re an insignificant blip. In the long run, any mark you leave will be erased. Even the mountains bow to the patient, erosive might of time.

The wild doesn’t care what your name is, how much you money you earn or if you’re building an author empire. It doesn’t care what color your skin is, if you’re pretty or ugly, or anything else. Aside from death, the wilderness is the only great leveler. You can respect it and prepare for it, but you cannot command it.

There’s a Chris LeDoux song from 1979, back in the days when he was a rodeo cowboy and and indie musician (I doubt he called himself that but it makes me feel a certain kinship with him, so I will). To my knowledge, it was never released as a single and never charted. Still, it’s a song I wish more people had the opportunity to listen to, especially when one considers the implications of a life in the grind and an absence of nature.

With that in mind, I’d like to cut this post a little short and end with the lyrics to Jeans and Good Leather.  

White shirts and neckties

The way that my check flies

Are part of what’s wrong with my soul

Risin’ expenses and all kind of fences

Keep me from where I’d like to go

Work complications and stiff conversations

They sometimes drive me up the wall

Make me want ta holler to hell with this collar

Walk out and just chunk it all

What I need is denims and a place to get in ‘em

And walk over Gods open land

And boots of good leather I’d wander wherever

I found the beauty from his mighty hands

Lots of wide-open spaces and quite simple places

Tells me it’s pack up and go time

Cause in jeans and good leather

Son I could be better in no time

I gaze in the mirror and press my face nearer

To check out the lines one by one

Round eyes that were brighter

On cheeks growin’ lighter

That were once so brown from the sun

As I spend starin’ I find myself darein’

The image that’s lookin’aa at me

To throw off the fetter and seek somethin’ better

A life that’s simple and free

What I need is denims and a place to get in ‘em

And walk over Gods open land

And boots of good leather I’d wander wherever

I found the beauty from his mighty hands

Lots of wide-open spaces and quite simple places

Tells me it’s pack up and go time

Cause in jeans and good leather

Son I could be better in no time

Cause in jeans and good leather

Son I could be better in no time

 

 

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Why authors are better off than NFL players

On any given weekend in August, you can turn on an NFL football game and watch players you’ve never heard of fighting tooth and nail to make their dreams a reality. Browse through Amazon, a physical book store or a literary magazine and you’ll see the same struggle going on. The fight might not be physical, or as apparent, but the same hunger is there.

I know I’ll probably lose a few people opening this post with an NFL metaphor, but hear me out. A year ago, I’d just completed  the edits for my debut novel and was beginning to develop a list of agents to pitch it to. I thought I had a good book, but at the same time, I felt like a grain of sand in a desert. I couldn’t give you exact numbers, but I knew my chances of being picked up by an agent were somewhere around 0%. Still, I didn’t care, because I wanted to be a writer, no matter the odds.

It was then I realized, a similar scenario was playing out before my eyes every time I watched a preseason NFL game.

For those of you who aren’t NFL or football fans, let me give you a few numbers to put things in perspective: Rough statistics from the NCAA (National College Athletics Association) say that about 1 in 17, or just under 6% of high school football players make it to the collegiate level. Of that 6%, about 1 in 50 college seniors, or 2% are drafted by an NFL team each spring. That makes the chances that any given high school player will be drafted by an NFL team around 9 in 10,000 (.009% — also the same chances that you’ll have an IQ over 150).

Photo Credit: Cedarville University

Of course, there are players who will not be invited to the draft or go undrafted even after attending. These players may have the opportunity to attend a Rookie Mini Camp with an NFL team. There, they’ll hope to catch a coach’s eye and land a spot on the 90-man preseason roster. Last year, there were around 500 of these players, all vying for a coveted spot on the roster.

If they find a place, it’s far from smooth sailing, though. Once on the roster, they’ll spend all summer learning the playbook and competing with other, more experienced players at their position. When the preseason begins, these undrafted rookie free agents, as they’re called, will have a handful of chances in three games to prove they belong on the team.  On August 26, each team’s roster will be trimmed down to 75. Boom. Fifteen players and their dreams are cut. By August 30, teams will need to have their final, 53-man rosters for the regular season in place. There goes another 22 players. From beginning to end, that’s 1,184 players who are forced to reassess what they want from life.

Even if you make the roster, the battle doesn’t end there. It’s a constant uphill fight to stave off other players at your position and to keep yourself healthy. According to the NFL Player’s Association, when all the factors add up, the average length of an NFL career is 3.3 years. It’s a small window of opportunity and no one really knows when it’s going to slam shut.

A quote from Lawrence Taylor’s character in the film Any Given Sunday sums it up pretty well:

For every sucker who makes it, for every Barry Sanders, for every Jerry Rice, there’s a hundred (players) you never heard of. Suddenly, there’s no more money…no more applause. No more dream.

For us in the writing business, this scenario isn’t that different from our own struggles. Instead of the 32 teams, we’ve got the Big Three (or Five, if you wish) in publishing, each with their rosters of published authors.  Instead of 52 other players, there are thousands of books in most sub-genres out there, each a part of the hundreds of thousands in the main genres.  That’s a lot of authors.

So what are we to do? Many opt to continue chasing a publisher, improving their craft and querying, always querying their works. Others (such as myself) forsake the agents altogether and strike out on their own. Either way, whether seeking to traditionally or self publish, beginning authors are essentially in the same boat. 

But there is good news: unlike our counterparts in the NFL, we don’t have to beat the numbers. We don’t have to compete against our fellow authors for a career. The only person who can tell us “no more dream” is ourselves.

Still want to be traditionally published? Submit short stories to magazines and other publications and show your work on a blog and social media.  Self-publishers: do your best to make your books look indistinguishable from the bestsellers and treat your writing like a profession, not a hobby. Both groups: always strive to write clearer and more concise.

As authors, we’re blessed in that, even though we may receive rejection letters, get “cut” from the rosters of the Big Three or become buried in Amazon’s depth charts, our dream isn’t over. It’s not the end of the line. We have options and ways to make those dreams come true. For us, it’s not a zero-sum game. There will always be room for great writing.

It’s easy to get discouraged when our  queries are rejected, when our books sales are low or someone leaves us a scathing review. As Joe Konrath says: “We all know that this is a hard business. Luck plays a huge part. Rejection is part of the job. Things happen beyond our control, and we can get screwed.”

The important thing to remember is that those are only setbacks, not endings. No one is telling you that you have to stop writing. We’re blessed to be in a profession where there’s not a limited amount of entries, or a time window to squeeze in. As bad as it gets, we can always write something new, something better. For us, the only ceiling is the one we place over ourselves. The only person who can close the door on your writing career is yourself. We’re not in this for 3.3 years, we’re in it for a lifetime.

Be patient. And keep writing.

A note from DAS:  You’ve just read the first of what I hope are many “epic posts.” These will be longer than my regular blog posts, but won’t come around as often. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them! 

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A farewell to an old partner

Writing this post on my old, beat up laptop, I have a strange sense of nostalgia. Why? It’s the last piece of substantial writing I’ll ever produce on this machine. This past week, I finally decided to retire it. It’s been a good run, but it’s time to put the old girl out to pasture.

Although I’m excited for my new one (it’s another Dell), when I think back on everything I’ve accomplished with this computer, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride. In the past five years since I was first given it on my birthday, it helped me start and finish college, write and publish my first novel and complete the draft of a second, larger one.

I wish there were some way of knowing the number of words I’ve pounded out on these keys. Together, they made a tapestry of the written language: essays, responses, reflections, novels, short stories, blogs, social media posts and much more. Sometimes those words weren’t any good, sometimes they were decent and, on rare occasions, they were great.

I won’t be throwing it away, though. I’ll transfer all my work to the heir and keep this one around. It’s more than a piece of electronic equipment. Just like a singer with his guitar in a smoky bar room, a bard and his harp from ages past or an artist and her favorite set of brushes,  this laptop was my partner, the channel to release my talent and passions into the world. That makes it more than a hunk of plastic and circuits. In a way, it’s an extension of me and my abilities.

Although I’m saying goodbye to one instrument, I’m also taking up another. When I think about the stories I’ll write on my new computer, I can’t help but feel a thrill of excitement. This old friend was with me in the beginning and we’ve weathered many a storm. For as far as I’ve come, there are still many, many words to go. I’ve taken my first steps into this world of an indie author and I’m hungry to learn and write more.

Who knows where I’ll be when I’ve worn down the letters on my new, shiny keyboard? Until then, I’ll keep on writing — word to sentence, paragraph to page and chapter to book. Back to work.

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