Revision, humility, and self-development

I’ve spent some time over the past few days, around the things mentioned in my previous post and especially yesterday after that post, reworking Lamia as the next formal release. While this experience is probably very good for me as a writer, it’s currently rather frustrating. Somehow, a single major flaw with three consequences has been slipping past me ever since I finished the first version in the late 90s. Since I’ve now spotted it, I’m going to have to un-weave and re-weave an extensive amount of text – I’m unsure just how great the extent of the damage is or what it will take. *sigh* I’m grateful that I saw it before putting it on Smashwords, but given that I’ve been proud of Lamia and have considered it fundamentally complete for over a decade, it’s turning into a lesson in humility as well.

In fact, since I’m currently considering approaches to how to fix it (that’s a polite way of saying, Idunno what to do yet) I’m probably going to set it aside and take a look at BlackWolf instead with an eye to revision for official Smashwords release – although since I wrote BlackWolf several years before Lamia, I have to admit, that idea is making me a bit apprehensive. Alternatively, I could try taking Renegade more seriously.

The rest of this might make more sense if you sneak a peek at the Lamia page for the description.

Self-publishing updates

It’s been a tiring few days, but I think it’s been reasonably productive. 🙂

I’m happy with Smashwords and the response so far. At this point, the combined sales and sample downloads have doubled what I had through this blog alone. The sample downloads of the first 30% are at least giving it a chance; if someone tries that much and dislikes it, fair enough, but I’m hoping at least some will get that far and want to see what happens. Whether I make any money off it is irrelevant; the whole point is simply to be more visible. I do find it interesting and amusing that a number of friends and family who had no interest at all while it was simply here and on my other site, suddenly want copies of exactly the same text that has now been uploaded to a self-publisher.

Internet slow lane

I typically don’t get political, but I find this intensely disturbing.

(See below for more info.)

Here we go: It’s Official!!!

So… as I mentioned in a recent previous post, it’s a tough balance between writing for yourself and wanting an audience. After all, once you’ve put hundreds or thousands of hours into something that holds a slice of your soul, there’s an urge there to have people actually share it with you.

While I’m not particularly good at social networking to begin with, let’s face it – having my work available via two sites only, one a WordPress blog and one an independent site, really doesn’t help.

So, I’ve finally decided to take the steps into official self-publishing.

I decided, partly on the recommendation of a trusted friend who uses it and partly on my own research, to go with Smashwords.  While I’m not entirely happy with a few limitations as far as file types I can upload as (although they do say they’re going to be expanding that), it otherwise looks to have a lot to offer. Rather than my trying to summarize, I suggest you check the link for yourself and get the full list. Among other things, they make it clear that you retain all rights to your work, they distribute to a variety of major ebook retailers, and they don’t charge any up-front costs, only a small percentage of what you make (if anything).

Not abandoned!

I haven’t abandoned this blog, despite the gaps between posts. Since a few days after the previous post announcing a new novel, a series of extremely difficult life events (including the death of one of my beloved cats) have made it impossible to concentrate on writing anything at all. Normally, writing is my best way of coping with stress, but too much at once can overwhelm that particular mechanism.

Fortunately, it’s normally self-repairing, for me. There’s a delicate balance between giving myself some time to recover and letting it go on too long. Thus, I’m trying sporadically, without pushing too hard. This one involves hitting subjects that currently make me deeply sad; that one involves frustrating flaws that need to be hammered out before I can get any further… they get put aside until a better time.

Why do I bother with anything but playing, when the audience for my writing is as small as it is? (Combining downloads via this site and my non-WP-hosted one, there’ve been a total of about 40 downloads of Yin-Yang and less than 10 each of the new Jordans one, Moonblood stories, Lamia, and BlackWolf – with only a small percentage of those ever leading to any feedback.) Because, despite all logic, I do. 🙂  But then, I did a recent post on that whole subject, so there’s no point repeating it. I would like to have more readers, obviously, but not at the current prices.

For the moment, I’ll let my mind rest a little the way I’d let my body rest after repeated injuries, and be back to writing something in no time.