NaNo Update–Definitely questioning my sanity.  Also discovering that maybe assigning a chapter a day was a little much for my writing style.  It worked out in the beginning because the chapters were shorter but now they’re getting wordier and starting to get to lengths comparable to a chapter and a half or two chapters from the first few.  My wrist is starting to hurt and my middle finger isn’t looking too good.  I had the hangnail from Hell earlier in the week and it’s just now getting better.  Not to mention the scar I still have from the pumpkin carving.  An electric turkey carver might work better next time.

So I’m seriously considering tossing the chapter a day thing because I’m finding I just can’t write that much in one day.  I write best in short bursts, as I’m learning.  I’m getting the same amount of word count in but at this point, I’m thinking a chapter a day is just too much.  It’s getting my OCD to come down from the chapter a day goal that’ll be the hardest part.

As for the word count, I’m pretty sure I’m good on that considering how much I’ve been writing.  If it isn’t I’ll probably cry.  I’ll find out tomorrow.

Yeah, in your dreams.  Not that you can’t make money off of writing, and even make enough money to live off of, but becoming rolling in dough wealthy is a pretty far stretch for 99% of the writers out there.  That’s not to say someone like me doesn’t dream of being in J.K. Rowling’s shoes but, until it actually happens, that’s all that it is: a dream.  Sad but true.  It’s like being asked to be the presidential nominee’s running mate.  When targets are asked the what if question, they always say they’re content where they are but if actually asked, of course they wouldn’t deny it.  Same goes for millionaire authors.  I’d be very content making a reasonable salary off of my writing but if the opportunity came to make millions, I’d kick my own ass if I didn’t take it.  After the screaming stopped, of course.

As Forbes is wont to do, they’ve released a list of the world’s best paid authors and is it really a surprise at who tops that list?  I think what’s much more shocking is just how much more she got than number two, James Patterson.  Rowling’s $300 million dollars in the single fiscal year from 2007 to 2008 got her number one on the list (no, I didn’t type that wrong, it really is $300 million) and Patterson’s $50 million got him the second slot.

Are you seeing that astounding gap too?  The rest of the authors on the list (including Stephen King, Tom Clancy and Danielle Steele) aside from Rowling are within striking distance of each other.  A $250 million gap is more like a precipice.  A mini Grand Canyon even.  Any of those figures on that list are astounding for any author to make, let alone to be at the top by a $250 million lead.

Yes, something like that can happen but the chances of it happening to you, me or anyone else you know are pretty slim.  Might as well go play the lottery in a lightening storm and see what comes up.

And then there are the people that have fooled themselves into thinking that you actually can strike it rich in publishing, and do it quickly to boot.  Let me be very clear.  People can make quite good money with their writing so long as their willing to write what others want them to write.  When it comes to making good money off of what you actually want to write, especially if that something is a novel, the going’s going to get tougher.

Anyway, I’m sure everyone’s run into at least one of these individuals at some point in their writing journeys.  You know the kind: are convinced their writing’s good enough to make it, publishers are going to fawn at their work and offer them hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars up front, expect it to go best seller and rake in even more money on royalties.  That’s not to include the movie deals and and Disney toy line, mind.

Ok, so maybe that’s a little exaggerated but really, not by much.  I had such an encounter with one of these walking delusional psychoses not too long ago.  Of course, he felt his writing was good enough to get published.  I don’t think that’s too much of a stretch for any writer to think.  I don’t know of anyone that doesn’t think that their writing’s good enough to get published.  Or, with something editing, eventually get published.  It’s a common thought so not too outlandish.

But then he went on to state that he wants to make money and make it quick and is fully convinced he can.  That was when I called him on his naivety.  Anyone that knows anything about publishing can tell you that ‘quick’ and ‘money’ are pretty oxymoronic terms when up against ‘publishing.’  Nothing moves quickly in publishing.  Not a damn thing.  The average length of time to get a book on the book store shelves from acquisition is one year.  365 days.  I don’t know about you, but I know things that work much quicker than that.  Then there’s the time it takes for the money to come in.  Chances are your advance won’t be huge, especially if you’re a first time author, and it’s certainly not given to you all up front.  Most payment are made in three installments: one at contract signing, one at delivery of the finished manuscript and one at publication date.  But that all depends on how your agent was able to negotiate that deal.

Then there are royalty checks.  If you so happen to earn royalty checks (for those that don’t know, your book has to pay out your advance before you start seeing anything from sales), the soonest you’ll see one is six months after you hit that pay off date of your advance.  If that six months doesn’t happen to fall in April or October, you’re going to be waiting even longer for one of those months to roll around to see your money.

So you tell me, is that all that quick?  Or lucrative?

So, of course, he retorts by saying that he’s “worked in the industry” for however long and not to insult his intelligence.  Considering his own words completely contradicted that statement of his, I said whatever and let it slide.  Then I read an interview he did with a site I frequent and I caught a very poignant quote of his that told me everything I needed to know about him.  To paraphrase–

“I couldn’t be bothered to finish my book and edit it numerous times without a guarantee that it’ll be published.”

So he went elsewhere to look aside from mainstream publishing.  From the rest of the interview I gathered he had one publisher interested in the snippet he sent but they ultimately passed.  Wow.  A whole one publisher passed on an unfinished novel and he’s already jaded and looking for alternatives.  Not much by the way of writer resilience, is there?

So he found a “publisher,” in all fairness I can’t remember if it belongs to a friend of his or if he started it up himself but there is a close relationship there regardless, that published his novel.  Hmm.  So what I can surmise from that interview in regards to what actually was published, is that what’s out there now is an unedited first draft of a manuscript.  And how is that better than 98% of the self-published stuff circling around LuLu.com again?  Anyone?

I don’t know the guy so I don’t have anything against him personally but it’s an attitude like this and a complete unwillingness to remove his head from his ass that really irks me.  Why?  Because this is the type of person that’ll spread lies about the “injustices” of the publishing world and tell anyone that’ll listen just how easy it “really” is to get published, giving false hope to not only himself but other writers that don’t know any better because they haven’t done proper research and rely on “information” from people like him to be accurate.  That’s how PubliSHAMErica works, isn’t it?

So, people like that can say they know boo all they want.  It’s their actions that speak loudest.

Don’t get me wrong.  I completely understand there are other means of publishing than the standard way and that people can become successful taking an alternate route.  But the reality of it is that it’s just as rare as becoming the next Rowling.

It just pisses me off (screw being irked) when people who call themselves writers stand there claiming they want to make quick money off of publishing their novels, claim to know what they’re talking about and just can’t be bothered to take the same route at the rest of us real writers in toiling away and getting buried in rejections with the hope that someone will like it eventually.  To me, that just gives writers a bad name to have people like that lumped in with us.  If you can’t be bothered to take the proper care required with your writing, don’t call yourself a writer because you’re not.  It doesn’t matter the route you take.  If you can’t be bothered to follow the rules the rest of us adhere to, I just can’t be bothered to call you a writer.

I’m sorry but you don’t get to call yourself a writer if you’re not willing to work for it.

I guess for some the want for instant success, money and gratification is front and center in their minds.  For me, I just want my publications to be legitimate.  That means more to me than dollar signs.