Sisyphean Times

This week, I'm feeling a bit like Sisyphus.  If you're not familiar with the dude, the Greek gods punished him by making him roll a boulder up a hill and every time he got to the top, the boulder would roll back down to the bottom.  Gods are kind of assholes that way.

While this editing thing isn't exactly like that, because I don't have to start over, I do feel like I'm taking two steps forward and one step back.  Like a couple days ago, I started out the day with 45 pages left to edit.  I edited 15 pages and when I was done, I had 35 pages left to edit.  45-15=35?  As I said on FB, edit math is not like real math. 

Despite it being frustrating, it's a good thing.  It means I'm adding substance to the book as I go along.  I mean, let's be honest, I write pretty emaciated drafts.  Poor things need meat.  Not fat, muscle. 

When I started this edit of UatB, it was 56K words.  As of last night, it's creeping up on 62K.  Things are richer and fuller now.  So yay.

I have about 21 pages left to edit and then a read through.  Well, 21 pages if I don't find a spot that needs muscle.  We'll see how it goes.  And if I've got to spend a little more time rolling that boulder up the hill, I will.  I still have 4 days to reach my goal of having this ready to go by the end of the month.  The end is in sight. 

And at least I don't feel like the boulder is going to roll over the top of me and smush me flat.

How's it going with you? 

Chili and Writing Books

It's chili day here on the Sanderson Ranch.  Now, you may be asking yourself what chili has to do with writing.  Well, I'll tell ya...

I make chili like I write books. 

I have no recipe for making chili.  Oh, I could tell you the basic ingredients, ballpark the time involved, etc. but when you were done, your chili would not be the same as my chili.  I do it all by taste.  And when I'm done I have a bowl of awesomeness. 

I always put saltine crackers in my individual serving, sometimes I sprinkle it with corn chips or shredded cheese.  Hubs does Parmesan sometimes, which is just wrong, but once it's in his bowl, it's his chili, so more power to him.  He's like the reader there.  Once the book is out of my hands, it's up to the end user to interpret it as it applies to them.

Ahem.

The point is that each batch of chili is unique.  As is each book.

When I start a story, I have in my mind what the end result will be - a book.  And that's about it.  I never know ahead of time how the story will go.  A little of this, a little of that.  Fingers crossed it turns out tasty. 

And they're written to my tastes.  Savory and flavorful.  Not much spice, but ultimately satisfying. 

I can only hope readers with the same tastes will find my books and enjoy them, too.  ;o)

How do you like your chili?

This is a Business

This is a business.

Sometimes I need a gentle reminder.  Sometimes I need a smack upside the head.  So let me say it again...

This is a business.

I tend to forget, in the course of letting my creative side run amok, that this is not about skipping rocks across the publication pond to see how many times they bounce on the surface before they sink.

Or maybe it is.

If you're into rock skipping, you know you have to pick just the right rock or it'll hit the surface with a big kerplop and disappear beneath the glassy water.  It has to be flat.  It has to be smooth.  It needs rounded surfaces to skim across the water.  Otherwise, it's a fail before you even let it go.

You also have to pick just the right day to skip rocks, when the water is kind of glassy.  Can't skip rocks across waves, doncha know.  I tend to suck at this part.  Not for actually skipping rocks, but for this analogy.  I'm really not good at knowing when the best time is to launch my rocks across the publication pond.

I kind of even suck at picking the right rocks sometimes.  DE has been a great rock.  It's still skipping right along there.  (As long as I continue to nudge it.  Helps that it has the most reviews.)  Others?  Kerplop.

Okay, I've beaten that analogy to death.  The point is this is a business.  I've talked about ROI (return on investment) from a marketing standpoint, but never from a publishing standpoint.  If a book will cost x-dollars to publish, will it conceivably make that money back?

To date, not a single one of my books has recouped the initial investment.  Accidental Death has come closest.  I'm within $100 of making a profit on that one.  But paying for marketing makes that kind of a 'one step back, two steps forward' thing.  The worst at recouping so far has been Wish in One Hand - because reasons*.  I'm still in the hole big time on that one.

So, when considering where to go with my writing and my publication schedule, I really should be thinking about how to get out of the hole (or, rather, how to not make the hole even deeper) instead of how to get all the books of my heart published.

Not sure how that will go.  Right now I suspect this writing dry spell is directly related to thinking about the business side of things.  The tiny CFO in my head is at war with the Director of Creative Development.  One wants to audit, the other wants to dance.  And the CEO is beginning to see that the DCD has had far too much leeway for far too long.

DCD:  "Don't make me look at the spreadsheet again.  Please.  It's all too depressing."
CFO:  "Look at it.  Look. At. It."
DCD:  :whimper:

Anyway, it's the start of the year.  Good a time as any to think about things, look at things, and get my mind right.


*Mainly, I paid too much for a shitty cover from a 'real artist' who was supposed to give me something beautiful and gave me, instead, something that looked like it was hacked together from bad video game screen captures.  But I launched with it anyways.  Which sucked.  Then I had to pay for a better cover so my subsequent djinn books' sales wouldn't suck.  Live and learn.