Sunday, March 25, 2012

Butt In Chair: Write, Edit, Polish, Publish. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.


I created this blog to write about a number of things. (Hence the description “A blog about writing, motherhood, love, and life in general.”) I’ve reviewed some of my more recent posts and I realized I had a few rants in there (Family, Fundraising, and Four Years of Lies). There are also posts about motherhood, (Things I’ve Learned) and little bit about love. (Matrimony 2.0.) However, I haven’t written much lately about writing. And then I realized I haven’t been doing as much writing for myself because I have been doing a lot of writing for school. (Damn those pesky professors who want me to write essays like they grow on trees! Kidding – their guidance and feedback have been invaluable.) I have also been doing a fair amount of ghostwriting, which provides a modicum of income and tons of practice regarding the actual craft of writing. But ultimately I want to write for ME -- not some corporation or business that needs help with managing their blogs or website content.

I think about writing all the time. (Ok, I’ll be honest. I obsess over writing. I’m constantly thinking about the novel I’m working on, along with the short stories etc). I troll the Interweb looking for writing blogs, I connect with other writers via Twitter and the FB and I belong to a writers group. However, all that isn’t worth shit if I’m not actually writing.

Then there’s the publishing aspect of the whole process. As a writer, I am super curious as to how the publishing world works. I know traditional publishing is hard to break into. To be honest, I haven’t even tried. I want to, and when I finish my novel I will definitely query some agents to see if I can spark their interest and maybe get some attention from a traditional publisher. But in the meantime, I’m going to try my hand at e-publishing. I’m putting together a small anthology of short stories that I’ve written and I might submit them to one of the smaller e-book publishers. I know some people who have published this way and they seem happy with their experiences. Seems like a good idea for a newbie.

Another avenue I’m interested in is self-publishing. That means I do all of the work -- formatting, cover art, blah blah blah…. but I also clear almost all of the profit. I’m not the most computer literate person in the world, but I have a friend or two who said they were willing to help me through the process of publishing for e-readers such as Kindles and Nooks and iPads and the list goes on – I’ve made my point. For this venture I will be writing in a specific genre and using a pen name.  

The world of publishing is changing, it seems as if on a daily basis. I’d like to be part of that change. So that means sitting my butt in my chair and writing, and hopefully writing something that people might actually buy. I am a writer – and although at the moment I am unpublished, I am going to work hard to make sure that 2012 is the year I turn into a (insert trumpets, drumroll, etc. here) PUBLISHED AUTHOR! Who knows…maybe in a few short months you’ll be downloading one (or more) of my books on your handy dandy e-reader? 

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