Book Stuff

I deployed my new Acer netbook computer this past week so I can get more book editing done during the day. I am averaging three pages of edits every morning when I use the netbook on my commute, which is not bad, and it's making it much easier for me to reach my goal of at least ten pages a day. I work on it over my lunch hour and in the evenings, too, as much as I can stand. Some days I really enjoy getting into it, re-reading what I wrote and polishing it to make it as beautiful and perfect as I can, and some days, when I am tired, it feels like climbing Mt. Everest over and over again while small rocks continually slip out from underneath my feet. That's when I know I need a break for a day or two, and just give up and read someone else's book rather than making my own.

I read something a little depressing the other day in media news, regarding self publishing. In addition to the terrible economy and the challenging media landscape, there are simply far more books now than potential customers for them, because print-on-demand has made it so much easier for anyone to create and sell a book. You really have to do a lot now to make your book stand out in order to attract customers for it. Publishing success seems to get exponentially harder every day. On one hand, it's awesome that creating things is no longer such an elite activity. On the other hand, the very accessibility that makes it easier to craft and release work has led to a media glut of untold proportions. I don't know about anyone else, but some days I feel so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data I am expected to process that I just shut down. I have never had much luck getting past the gatekeepers of traditional media, and I know that many worthy artists have had the same experience. Even Harry Potter and Star Trek almost never got content deals, which tells you indisputably that the old model was just ridiculous. Imagine how much money would have been missed out on if those had never gotten distribution, let alone the enjoyment they've provided, and who knows what awesome stuff is out there that never did get disseminated? A lot of what is in the public sphere now isn't very good, it has to be said, but I say yea to anyone who wants to make art and show it to people. It's just a little daunting to contemplate the effort it's going to take to get attention for my own worthy project. That's why I am writing this blog and Twittering and undertaking all of my social networking activities - like anyone else with something to say, I want to raise my profile because I want people to find me, and read what I have written and to take something useful away from it. Like any artist, I want people to know that I am alive, and to learn what I am about. I know I am taking the right steps, and I am glad to do the work - I love to write, I love to make things and design things, and to put all of that energy in service to my own art is my dream, so I am truly living it right now, by writing this account of my own creative process. That's the whole point of life, no matter how much attention you get, and you should never write for acclaim, anyway. The only way to go about this art thing is to write the best and most honest thing that you can, do what you can to shepherd it and hope for the best.