Temperature: a rainy 8/46 degrees
Eating: what's left of that Saturday
night of sheer delight, see below
Drinking: not for a while, had too much
fun and way too many cocktails just the other night with a couple of
couples we invited over for dinner
Watching: The Wind Rises and Rio 2 with
or without the wee ones real soon
Listening: to the poetic soul of
Anthony Joseph
Writing: wrote a round of takedown
requests just the other week thinking fuck you very much, even
visited a forum where users thanked one another for sharing Alex, a
book they could have bought for $0.99. You can imagine what my share
of those ninety-nine cents is. And so you probably imagine I won't
miss those cents. But those cents add up. Ten books here, thirty-four
there, another one hundred and twenty some place else. Many places.
Way too many places.
Support authors. If you like it, buy it, the slogan on that forum read. In
that order. As if they were doing us a favor. I felt sick inside. So
damn sick and tired and I know what you're thinking, “Don't go
there. Why did you go there? Why do this to yourself?” Look at that
pic on Denysé's blog. Look at that royalty check. I'm still waiting for mine,
hoping for the best, expecting the worst. That's why. You want to
make sense of things. Am I really that hopeless? Are my books really
that bad? Sales have plummeted, books tank, so you wanna know why and
what's wrong because how the hell else will you be able to fix
things. But how do you fix this? How do you make it better?
Any
suggestions? Anybody? And don't say just ignore 'em. Some authors do.
Most can't. They feel that's like giving permission. Like a
shopkeeper turning a blind eye to shoplifting as long as someone buys
something, but when they steal more than you sell... That's not what
you'd call a sustainable business model, is it? And if you are to
treat writing as a business you have to take these things into
account so it is kinda hard to just ignore it and it's becoming ever
harder for many of us to justify our profession, business-wise, you
know. Working for free is not a vocation (except for the very
wealthy, which for the most part authors aren't), it's volunteering.
Feeling: I want to write as Dita too.
But do I want to feel like this every time I do? Mad, sad, bad? Is that
why I've navigated toward other shores? Not just because
I got mouths to feed and bills to pay and talents I want to put to
good use but because of the emotional toll Romantica has taken? So I
come out as the strong and stoic type. I'm much more sensitive and
vulnerable than you'll ever know. All authors, all artists are. We
have to be or else we lose connection with the world and ourselves,
with the tangible and the invisible, with everything we feel so
keenly and love so dearly and try so desperately to put down in
words. Do you understand what I'm saying? Can you sympathize?
Authors don't necessarily need a
publisher. They need a good editor and maybe an agent and even a
lawyer. Readers? Do authors need readers to write happily ever after?
Some are starting to think that they don't. That if there's no money,
no future in writing for publication i.e. the reading public, then
what the hell are they doing pissing in the wind? Writing makes them
happy. The business end of things makes them miserable. Cut the
business end of things and go back to being happy. Problem solved.
I kid you not, folks, that is how some
of us feel, and I will never ever forgive those making things so damn
hard for all of us if some of my favorite authors go back to writing
for the desk drawer. Put that in your pirate pipe and smoke it. If
you can get your hands on it. Which you won't be able to because it
will be hidden away with all the other precious things in their life
and if you'd shown some respect when you had the chance maybe we'd
still be enjoying the fruits of their labor. I dread the day but it's
coming. For some of us, it's just a matter of deciding today's the
day. You think working on a dream is hard. It's nothing and I mean
nothing compared to giving up.
Support authors.
Buy a book. If you like it, buy another. My heartfelt thanks to
all readers who do.
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