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Random Thought: My Computer Might Be Preventing Me From Becoming a Bestseller (or: Typewriters Have Their Advantages)

You know, there’s days I wish I wrote on a manual typewriter.  Then when I’m frustrated with something I could, with a great flourish, rip the page out of the typewriter, crumple it into a ball and toss it in the fireplace.  Then my wife could dig it out of the fireplace and claim it’s the best thing I’ve ever written, forcing me to mail it to publishers who’d very quickly write me a check with lots of commas in it.  It would be read by millions and then I’d be on Oprah with a great story to tell about The Masterpiece That Very Nearly Met a Fiery Doom.  But computers?  It’s hard to hit the delete key with a flourish.  And of course, there’s also nothing for my wife to rescue from a Fiery Doom.  What is she supposed to do, use Norton Utilities?  What kind of story would that make?  “You see, Oprah, I deleted the file with a great flourish, and then my wife, fearing I might do such a rash thing, used her computer skills to rescue it from my Recycle Bin before I emptied it . . .”

So really, you can see how a computer might be holding me back from being a bestseller.  Technology does have its price, you know.

Winter 2010 Update

As I sit here on New Year’s Day, the kids playing with their cousin on the floor beneath me, my wife baking in the other room, a hot cup of coffee on the end table, a computer on my lap, and the sound of the rain outside as I sit here comfy with my feet up on the recliner — I have to think, you know, this is a pretty darn good life.  Of course, all that baking will mean a pile of dishes to do later, but hey, I really can’t complain.  Well, I could, but I don’t imagine I’d get a lot of sympathy points. 

 As far as writing productivity goes, 2009 was a decent year.  Not a great year, but at least back to where I was when I decided to get serious about being a writer about eight years ago — with two new novels finished, another novel started, and five stories out to editors.  As far as publications go, it was pretty quiet, with just one short story seeing print (“The Bear Who Sang Opera” in Analog), but you know, for the most part the publication process isn’t something I can control. 

 Still, 2010 should be an even bigger year when it comes to productivity, far exceeding any year before it.  I made some changes to my work habits the last third of 2009 — mostly just being much more strict about adhering to regular daily word counts — and it paid off in a big way.  So I’ll be sticking with the daily regimen.  Plus I’m doing a short story a month while I’m doing the novels and that’s helped my productivity too, allowing me to switch from one project to another when I find myself stalling a bit.  More than anything else, I measure my success in terms of productivity, so just plain writing more has been intensley gratifying.

And that’s just the beginning.  I’ve got big plans for the website too.  I’ve done a lot of thinking the last few months about what it means to be a writer in the twenty-first century — especially a fiction writer — and you’ll see a lot of that thinking turned into action around these parts in the near future.  No need to say more for now, but it’s going to be fun.  Work, but fun. 

This year will also see the publication of my first novel, as well as two story collections, so it’s already set to be a banner year. 

I’m not big on posting all of my goals and plans publicly (though I’m actually very big on the whole goal thing pesonally), but I will say that my main focus this year is being smarter with my time.  As productive as I am, I’m often aghast at how much time I fritter away.  Since I want to crank things up a notch this year — in all aspects of my writing — it’s not something I can let myself get away with any more.

Conversations with Poe: The Writer as Exhibitionist

SSPX0820Me:  One of the things that strikes me about the Internet is how readily some people share aspects of their lives they wouldn’t dare share with the stranger sitting next to them on the bus. 

Poe:  You ride the bus?

Me:  Don’t change the subject.  Look, I think every writer who wants to be read must have certain exhibitionist tendencies.  I’m not talking about flashing private parts in front of strangers — I’m talking about “the act or practice of behaving so as to attract attention to oneself,” as my dictionary defines it.  Otherwise, why send out your work at all?  

Poe:  Well, some writers may not care about the attention.  Maybe they just want to get paid.  

Me:  Okay, if that’s true, then why publish under your own name?  You could send everything out under a pseudonym and avoid the spotlight entirely. 

Poe:  Some writers do. 

Me:  Yes, but most don’t.  Most writers — or musicians, or artists, or marionette performers, whatever — seek some level of attention and accolade for their work.  They’re saying, “Hey, world, look at what I did here!”    

Poe:  All right.  I’ll accept that.  What’s your point? 

Me:  I’m not sure I have one.  I’m just expressing some concerns.  The Internet has made it incredibly easy to not only share your work with a wider audience, but to share every aspect of your personal life with the wider world as well — whether it’s who you’re dating or what you had for breakfast.  I think every writer/artist/performer has to find their own comfort level with that, but the thing I struggle with the most is that person’s family.  Are these people on board with their photos/names/intimate details of their lives being made public? 

Poe:  I suppose that’s up to the family to decide. 

Me:  But what about children?  When I see someone putting photos of their children online — I’m not talking about Facebook, or a closed social network, but a public Web page that anyone in the world can see — I wonder if it’s appropriate.  Even if they give their consent, is it right?  Maybe they should be shielded from the public eye until they reach adulthood, and then they can decide for themselves if they want to tell the world what they had for breakfast each morning.  

Poe:  So where do you come down on this? 

Me:  Well, I’m a writer.  Of course I’m at least part-exhibitionist.  But I’m of the belief that my family is off-limits except in the most general sense.  They didn’t sign up for to be supporting actors in my writing life.  So you won’t see me posting photos of my kids on here.  Or hardly ever even mentioning their names.  I can’t help but talk about them at least in general, because it’s my life too, but they deserve to decide for themselves how public they want to be with their lives.  Here’s the problem, though:  You no longer have full control.  Other people will take photos of you or your family and post them online without your consent.  It’s only going to get worse, too.  In this era of YouTube, social media, and reality television, good luck trying to control your level of privacy. 

Poe:  You’re not exactly sounding a hopeful note. 

Me:  I guess it depends on how much you value your privacy. 

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I’ve got an Edgar Allan Poe action figure in my writing office at home, complete with a miniature raven on his shoulder.  After a while, I started talking to him, sharing my concerns about writing, family, and life in general.  One day, amazingly, he started talking back.