Wednesday 22 June 2016

(vol 3) CHAPTER 12 - "What's More Important?"


A writer friend commented recently on last weeks blog post and said that, while she loved reading my blog, she wished it would go back to weekly. To be honest, I wish it could to.

So what comes next was part of a tough decision.



WHAT?

This will be my last blog post for a while. The blog itself won't go anywhere; I will still be updating my reading list, other authors works, and sometimes posting the occasional short work. But as far as talking about the process of writing itself, about my own projects, and the about the craft in general, well that's going to hibernate.

Just for a while.



WHY?

I recently finished an awesome non-fiction book called 'Iterate and Optimize'. If you've followed the blog for a while then you'll know that the guys who wrote this book (Johnny B Truant, Sean Platt, and David Wright) are authors I aspire to. Their work ethic, their production, and (most importantly) their stories, are extremely impressive. If in ten years I could be just a quarter as prominent as them, I would be VERY happy.

While reading 'Iterate and Optimize' I started to think about what it really is that I'm trying to do. And more importantly how much I'm letting myself down, and how much I'm clearly failing.

You see, all the talk I do here about planning and what needs to be done to get a book out there sounds like crap when you realise I don't actually have any experience of an end product. I've spent two years working around my true goal by talking about it and writing other works. But I still don't have a book in my hands with just my name on it. Worse still, no one in the world does; because it's yet to exist.

I'm promoting and not writing. I'm giving advice based on limited experience. And I'm watching other writer friends around me move from where I am, to where I want to be.

So I'm stepping back. There won't be any more blog posts about how to publish until I'm published. There won't be any more posts about how to do a cover until (guess what) I've done a proper cover.



WHEN?

This is it; last post for a while. Like I said in WHAT, I will be updating other parts of the blog, I just won't be 'blogging' until it's to say "Hey world! Check out this book I wrote. Now let’s talk about how I got here."

I hope its sooner rather than later, I really do. But my writing time must be spent on putting fiction to paper, and not in just talking about the dream version of my life that keeps slipping further away.



WHERE?

I'm hoping I've obtained and learnt how to use my own website by the time I need to. While blogger is great, it's not mine. I hope that when I finally have something important to say (with experience backing it up) that it's on my own website where I feel I can do so much more. For those of you out there who already have your own websites, I'll be knocking on your doors for help somewhen in the future. Just giving you fair warning.

Info will no doubt arrive via this space and my twitter (@BrianSCreek).



HOW?

While I don't feel like I should be spouting writing advice without an end result to show it works, I've been busy reading others advise who are already there. From fellow writers I've run with in the last couple of years (Craig Anderson, Liz Hedgecock, Tamara Rogers, and Michael Blackbourn to name a few), to those I revere and hope to one day meet (Johnny B Truant, Sean Platt, David Wright, Garrett Robinson, and Joanna Penn), and all the way to the big man himself, Stephen King.

I have a plan, one that I won't be derailed from, one that WILL get me where I want to be, sooner rather than later. I just need to do it, and nothing else.

And don't worry Stella, the Chris and Mike vs The World books are a big part of that plan. :)



UNTIL NEXT TIME

So that's it for now. Like I said, I don't know when I'll be (proper) back; a miracle if it's less than a month, but I hope it's not too long into 2017 if I go past Christmas. The important thing isn't when I'll be back, it's that I will be back, and that I'll have something awesome to show for it.

Thank you for all the support from those that come back and read each time I've posted. I will throw some short pieces up from time to time (I still dabble over at Angry Hourglass and MicroscosmsFic).

Good luck to anyone out there trying to publish your first work (or second, or third). I'll get there soon.



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