Scott William Carter

Quitting Social Media (Mostly)

January 20, 2023February 24, 2023Scott William Carter

That’s a shot in Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon from a couple weeks ago. As we often do, Heidi and I decided to spend a couple days at the coast, much of it spent staring at the Pacific Ocean. A great way to recharge.

Some minor news: I dropped my personal Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts a couple months ago. I’d been thinking about it for a while, long before Twitter became a dumpster fire, and even before Facebook made it impossible for even your friends and family to see something you post unless you pay for it. There’s parts I’ll miss, of course (so many cute cats!), and I have no problem with people who enjoy social media, but this year I’m really making a concerted effort to only use the Internet with intention. To be very selective about what I read and why. As I mentioned when I announced the return of the Run of the House comic, I’ve really become a fan of Substack, the newsletter subscription service, and I’m already following quite a few people on there, across a wide range of fields: Ted Gioya, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, Simon Owens, Sherman Alexie, Austin Kleon, and Sam Kriss, to name just a few.

Since Substack makes its money by taking a cut of subscriptions, and not by selling the customer to advertisers (the model for almost all social media), the incentive for the company is primarily to keep the writers and readers happy, not the advertisers, and that’s created a very different experience for everyone. I’m rooting for them, and not just because I’m using the platform for Run of the House.

Anyway, I didn’t even mention I was leaving the social media sites above before I pulled the plug (it felt a bit like huffily shouting “I’m leaving!” at a party), but I felt I should mention it here now that I’m pretty certain I’m not going back, at least not any time soon.

The best way to make sure you never miss one of my books is visit this site or sign up for my “new release” email newsletter.

A Free Comic Every Monday! Run of the House Returns

January 13, 2023June 2, 2023Scott William Carter

A couple months ago, I re-launched of my Run of the House comic strip. It’s now published twice a week using the Substack platform, meaning it goes out both as an email and it appears at www.runofthehouse.net, the Substack website, and the Substack app, which you can download, if you so choose, and read many other fine publications.

If you want to try out my comic, please subscribe! Mondays are completely free. Wednesdays are for paying subscribers. If you sign up for the annual subscription, it works out to $3/month, but I’m currently running a “50% Off Forever” special that brings it down to $1.50/month.

When I originally published Run of the House, I used a combination of Patreon, a homegrown website, and social media, but I never liked that approach. I was already a fan of Substack as a reader, since it eliminates most of what I don’t like about social media. As a writer, I like it even more.

I originally put ROTH on hiatus because I couldn’t quite get the balance right with the writing. Now I’ve got a better handle on it, and I’m several months ahead, so I feel confident enough to announce the re-launch publicly. I don’t expect everyone who likes my novels to like the comic (heck, most of my readers don’t even like all my novels), but give it a shot. If the comic gives you ten seconds of joy, I feel I’ve done my job.

Looking for Little Red Now Available as An Audiobook …Narrated By Me!

October 1, 2022June 2, 2023Scott William Carter

That’s Rosie at the park today, with impatiens blooming in the background. After getting our flu shots, and treating ourselves to breakfast as a reward, we hit the local Saturday Market and stopped for a walk at the park. Early fall days are often gorgeous here in the Willamette Valley and today was no exception. My heart goes out to people in Florida, who just experienced quite the opposite of gorgeous. (Boy, that’s the understatement of the year, isn’t it?) We have our own worries as far as natural disasters are concerned (every heard of the really big one?) but hurricanes are not one of them.

I do have some neat news: Looking for Little Red, already available in print and as an ebook, is now available as an audiobook … narrated by me! It’s available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes for immediate download. And yes, except for narrating a short story as a way to learn how to do this (“The Red Scarf,” a little holiday tale that was originally published in Cicada magazine) I’ve never done this before. I’ve worked with narrators on many of my other books, of course, but I’ve never done one myself.

Will I do it again?

Very likely yes, though how often, and for which projects, remains to be seen. It was was very time-consuming, which I expected, but I also enjoyed it more than I thought I would. So it will probably be on a case by case basis. There are still many of my books (like the first two Karen Pantelli novels, for example, read by the excellent Jennifer Pickens) that make a lot more sense for someone else to narrate.

Other than that, a lot of good writing days in lately. After the writing retreat I mentioned last month, I came back even more committed to making sure I’m spending the bulk of my most productive hours on what Cal Newport calls “deep work,” and that’s been paying dividends.

A Summer of Hiking, a Writing Retreat, and a Daughter Back to College

September 20, 2022June 2, 2023Scott William Carter

That’s a shot off the deck from the house I rented in Lincoln City, Oregon last week, up on the bluff in the Nelscott area—a gorgeous four days spent writing, recalibrating, setting goals, and, for three consecutive nights, discussing the business of publishing with a dozen smart professional writers, most of whom were from Oregon, but several who came from as far away as Canada. Some stayed in a house together. Others rented their own individual hotel rooms. The beauty of this “parallel play” approach was that the days were spent however people wanted. With the exception of the nightly discussions, it was up to each person to turn their stay on the Oregon coast into a worthwhile one. No stories were critiqued. No fees were charged. These were all professionals doing amazing things in the business, all there to learn and share. I came away with a notebook full of topics to research further.

After years of pandemic-enforced isolation, it was great to talk face to face with savvy creative people again.

I set a goal to try to get one hike in a week over the course of the summer, and while I didn’t quite get that, I came close, ranging over much of the state. Sometimes family or friends accompanied me, but usually it was just me and Rosie, my intrepid Irish Setter. Silver Creek Falls, Mt. Jefferson, Smith Rock, Thunder Cove … There were a few busted hikes along the way (one because of multiple flat tires, another because an out-of-shape friend found he’d overextended himself), but there were many, many highlights. I was reminded again and again why I love Oregon so much. A couple favorite photos:

The temperature topped out at a very pleasant 80F the last few days, but Fall is definitely coming. While the leaves haven’t begun to turn yet, I can feel it in the air. We got our daughter moved back into OSU over the weekend, so the house is a bit quieter. Now with an apartment with a 12-month lease, and a new job near campus that offers year-round employment (a dream job for her), she probably won’t be home for long stretches quite so much in the future, but who knows, life being what it is. In the thick of a new Karen Pantelli novel, so looking forward to getting in some long writing days. That was actually my biggest takeaway from the writing retreat, how important is for me to stay off the Internet the vast majority of the day and just staying in that creative space. It does wonders both for my productivity and my peace of mind.