Writing First, Then Publishing

 
That's been my mantra this week: Writing first, then publishing.
 
Because publishing is distracting. Very distracting. As I've alluded to before.
 
What I mean by "publishing" includes:

Editing
Line Editing
Formatting ebooks
Blurb copy creation
Cover creation (well, contracting and approving)
Uploading ebooks
Announcing ebooks
Promoting ebooks (sometimes called "browsing blogs and forums")

 
In other words, "publishing" is everything but the actual writing.
 
I think the biggest part of what makes publishing so distracting is that I see the finished product much quicker (with the possible exception of line editing; that seems to take forever; tedium, thy name is line editing). Editing is fun. When I'm editing, I'm reading what I wrote. Sometimes I'm reading what I forgot I wrote. Which is also fun. Blurb copy writing is almost as tedious as line editing, but it's over much quicker. Covers just magically appear, and, of course, covers must be looked at ASAP, and then multiple times. And so on.
 
You pick up a publishing task, you do it, you enjoy the rapid turnaround and bask in the result. Feedback, baby. Sometimes even positive feedback.
 
Writing, though, even writing short stories, is a horse of a different color. Writing takes more time. Writing takes more focused effort. And the feedback is usually a long time coming (relatively speaking).
 
So it's easy to play with the publishing side of things. Certainly easier than it is to sit down and write something new. Which is what makes it tempting to spend all day "publishing". It's the easy route.
 
Unfortunately, for me, once I flip the switch into "publishing" mode, I find it a challenge to recover the concentration required for writing. So I end up doing "publishing" tasks all day (which can be fun; which is the problem).
 
And so I say, "Writing first, then publishing."
 
If I don't write, I don't have anything to publish. I like publishing (didn't see that coming, did you?). And if I want to keep publishing, I have to keep writing.
 
So, again: Writing first, then publishing.
 
Like I said: Mantra.
 
Writing first, then publishing.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Publishing Seemed Less Work When I Didn't Know Any BetterI Have Big Plans for 2011Short Story Ebook Covers