Well, the tree is up, the house is clean, the rotten weather hasn't materialized, so I'm blogging a bit before getting back to work on the copyedits for Outcast. Oh, and I found the advance check for that same novel on the kitchen table underneath a few newspapers when I was paying bills this afternoon. I guess it came yesterday. The way things have been going lately, it wouldn't surprise me to find that more than one of my bills was overdue, and not owing to a lack of funds, but to lack of time and organization.
My friend Marie Force posted a link to a rather horrifying blog post by Richard Curtis about the publishing business on her blog today, and I'm also posting the link so those of you out there who think writers are being too pissy about not getting paid for their work have a better understanding of what's going on. The scary thing is that it was originally written fifteen years ago.
It's exciting to have a book published and I'm sure every writer imagines that theirs will be the one to rival Harry Potter. The truth is that romance writers don't earn very much for their work. A published book will get you a modest advance, but not much else. Romance novels account for a large part of the market, but there are a lot of them out there and tastes and subgenres abound, making it very unlikely that anyone will write the romance novel that everyone is talking about and is dying to read.
I'm still not sure where my books fit in the greater scheme of things, but I did what I set out to do, which was to write something unlike anything I'd ever read before. I wanted this blog to be different, too, but I'm probably rattling on about nothing just like everyone else does when they blog every day. That's why there are pictures. ;-)
I found this guy out in the barn and decided to decorate him, too. Do you think I used too much hay?
8 comments:
LOL on the too much hay, Cheryl. I was just thinking the same thing!
I know. I got carried away with the hay. What can I say? He was getting chilly.....
The point, of course, is what you did BEFORE you decorated him. He does look like he's sleeping quite soundly;-)
Your organizational skills sound like mine, Cheryl. If I didn't have Brian, I don't know what I'd do. He saves me from being buried in my own scraps of paper (which are, naturally, filled with notes to myself about stuff I need to not forget). Which is not to say there is no clutter around here, but it's better than it would be.
I hear you on the scary publishing thing. I came in hoping to someday make a nice second income. That's still what I want. But it surprises people when they hear what a steep hill that is to climb. Gotta hang onto hope, though. And I think writing space erotica is AWESOME.
Kendra,
Space erotica sounds better than paranormal romance, doesn't it?
I'm hanging in there in the hope that the income will improve, too. And even if it doesn't, it's certainly been an experience!
I would even walk through your field to the barn in deep snow to see this guy!!
Hi Tracy!
Yes, I'd walk through rain, sleet, hail and possibly a tornado to find him waiting for me!
Thanks for commenting!
BTW, I used your gift yesterday. The DH went two rounds before I knocked him out!
OMG Cheryl... I know what she gave you. Running screaming for cover....Oh the visual.
ROTFLMAO! Marie, you wuss!!!!
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