Steven Orlowski's Blog: Steve O's "So What?" Blog - Posts Tagged "stephen-king"
Writing my brains out
I wonder how many of my fellow authors and readers make a living in the freelance writer/editor/copywriter trade. My day started today at 6:30 am with a deadline to hit before most people get to work, followed by edits on another project, a pitch meeting for another and some back and forth with various parties for a corporate client. It's 1:00 PM EST (I'm a Jersey Boy).
I just sent off an invoice for a project and accepted another offer. I need to start an article for a deadline tomorrow and spend some time with my wife and kids (I have three between the ages of 7 and 10), maybe attempt to have a social life and, oh yeah, work on my next book, do some social media stuff, find useful places to promote my novel, READ, and I know I'm missing some other things...oh yeah, I also have a full-time job.
But I'm not complaining. I haven't always been this busy, especially on the freelance writing side. It's awesome and time consuming.
What's suffering is my fiction writing and book promotion. If anybody has any suggestions for a real good, effective place to market my book (I'm not above paying for exposure) I'd appreciate the information.
And by the way, in my last post, which was three weeks ago thanks to my busy-ness, I discussed the Stephen King series "Under the Dome".
Well, the show is now two shows into this summers 13 episode run and I have to say, if I wasn't a Stephen King fan, I might not continue watching. It's been disappointing so far, a little boring and I find some of the production and some of the acting a bit cheesy.
But I'll give it time. I'm hoping it gets better. I want it to be great. We'll see. Let me know what you think.
I just sent off an invoice for a project and accepted another offer. I need to start an article for a deadline tomorrow and spend some time with my wife and kids (I have three between the ages of 7 and 10), maybe attempt to have a social life and, oh yeah, work on my next book, do some social media stuff, find useful places to promote my novel, READ, and I know I'm missing some other things...oh yeah, I also have a full-time job.
But I'm not complaining. I haven't always been this busy, especially on the freelance writing side. It's awesome and time consuming.
What's suffering is my fiction writing and book promotion. If anybody has any suggestions for a real good, effective place to market my book (I'm not above paying for exposure) I'd appreciate the information.
And by the way, in my last post, which was three weeks ago thanks to my busy-ness, I discussed the Stephen King series "Under the Dome".
Well, the show is now two shows into this summers 13 episode run and I have to say, if I wasn't a Stephen King fan, I might not continue watching. It's been disappointing so far, a little boring and I find some of the production and some of the acting a bit cheesy.
But I'll give it time. I'm hoping it gets better. I want it to be great. We'll see. Let me know what you think.
Something about being prolific
So lately I've been thinking about that word in the headline - prolific.
It's not that it's a new concept to me, it's actually something that I've been aware of, and attracted to, since I was a kid...
Many of my favorite authors are quite prolific.
Mainstream names like Stephen King and Dean Koontz; literary nemeses who nonetheless dominate a similar space and keep an unacknowledged scorecard of productivity and sales...
Michael Moorcock, a British fantasy and science fiction writer whose "multiverse" and "eternal champion" are indelible influences on me through countless books (and a few rock albums in the 1970's)...
The great Stan Lee of Marvel Comic's fame - not normally considered in such company - but a prolific and inventive writer nonetheless.
Then there is the master of my personal universe - the immortal Isaac Asimov. The author of more than 500 books in his 72 years of life, the great Asimov was admittedly obsessed with being prolific, and he was of course a legitimate genius capable of producing little fluff.
But what of us mere mortals, simply aspiring for a fraction, a modicum if you will, of the prolificness of these great writers (yes, the correct word is "prolificness" - I looked it up because I'd recently seen others use "proliferation", but that is obviously wrong)...
The key to it all is to write...
Write as if your life depended on it...
Write as if the very activity grants you sustenance...
And write like you are mortal, because we all are, and if you don't write today, you may never get another chance.
It's not that it's a new concept to me, it's actually something that I've been aware of, and attracted to, since I was a kid...
Many of my favorite authors are quite prolific.
Mainstream names like Stephen King and Dean Koontz; literary nemeses who nonetheless dominate a similar space and keep an unacknowledged scorecard of productivity and sales...
Michael Moorcock, a British fantasy and science fiction writer whose "multiverse" and "eternal champion" are indelible influences on me through countless books (and a few rock albums in the 1970's)...
The great Stan Lee of Marvel Comic's fame - not normally considered in such company - but a prolific and inventive writer nonetheless.
Then there is the master of my personal universe - the immortal Isaac Asimov. The author of more than 500 books in his 72 years of life, the great Asimov was admittedly obsessed with being prolific, and he was of course a legitimate genius capable of producing little fluff.
But what of us mere mortals, simply aspiring for a fraction, a modicum if you will, of the prolificness of these great writers (yes, the correct word is "prolificness" - I looked it up because I'd recently seen others use "proliferation", but that is obviously wrong)...
The key to it all is to write...
Write as if your life depended on it...
Write as if the very activity grants you sustenance...
And write like you are mortal, because we all are, and if you don't write today, you may never get another chance.
On Editing
Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. He has also written what may be my favorite book in any genre, On Writing.
It's a great look into the mind of a great writer. And it is more autobiography than it is reference material for wannabe writers.
Writing is a creative endeavor. And Mr. King leaves much of the technical writing considerations to the vast amount of other books on writing. He provides a more meaningful insight into the life of one of the greats of American letters.
So I hacked his book's title for this blog post. That's because I have recently come to recognize the need for authors to have editors.
My best friend was reading my novel Pilgrimage recently. When we got together last weekend he glibly pointed out several errors in the book. I don't mean to suggest he was happy there were errors; just that he was happy he found them.
The errors were nothing terrible, just basic oversights like misspelled words and misplaced punctuation. But that meant I had to go back through the manuscript once again. So as I work on completing my next book I am back to reediting Pilgrimage.
It's a bummer, but it needs to be done. I don't want readers to avoid future books of mine because of sloppy editing in the version of Pilgrimage they read (earlier versions had more errors. Unfortunately, as far as I can determine, Amazon does not automatically update the books on your Kindle with the most recent, revised edition. I hear that is coming, however).
Which brings me to professional editing. I think authors, being the creative minds that I presume we all are, tend to get lost in the story even when editing. It is too hard for us to look at the manuscript objectively, and therefore are prone to missing things that need correction.
But it is expensive to hire an editor. And I'm sure it is a challenge to qualify one unless the editor has been referred to you.
So for now I'll be reediting Pilgrimage myself. But it must be nice to have an editor like Stephen King does. To know that someone will be checking the manuscript for you before publication eliminates much of the worry and presumably allows the writer to focus exclusively on the story.
Someday. Someday.
It's a great look into the mind of a great writer. And it is more autobiography than it is reference material for wannabe writers.
Writing is a creative endeavor. And Mr. King leaves much of the technical writing considerations to the vast amount of other books on writing. He provides a more meaningful insight into the life of one of the greats of American letters.
So I hacked his book's title for this blog post. That's because I have recently come to recognize the need for authors to have editors.
My best friend was reading my novel Pilgrimage recently. When we got together last weekend he glibly pointed out several errors in the book. I don't mean to suggest he was happy there were errors; just that he was happy he found them.
The errors were nothing terrible, just basic oversights like misspelled words and misplaced punctuation. But that meant I had to go back through the manuscript once again. So as I work on completing my next book I am back to reediting Pilgrimage.
It's a bummer, but it needs to be done. I don't want readers to avoid future books of mine because of sloppy editing in the version of Pilgrimage they read (earlier versions had more errors. Unfortunately, as far as I can determine, Amazon does not automatically update the books on your Kindle with the most recent, revised edition. I hear that is coming, however).
Which brings me to professional editing. I think authors, being the creative minds that I presume we all are, tend to get lost in the story even when editing. It is too hard for us to look at the manuscript objectively, and therefore are prone to missing things that need correction.
But it is expensive to hire an editor. And I'm sure it is a challenge to qualify one unless the editor has been referred to you.
So for now I'll be reediting Pilgrimage myself. But it must be nice to have an editor like Stephen King does. To know that someone will be checking the manuscript for you before publication eliminates much of the worry and presumably allows the writer to focus exclusively on the story.
Someday. Someday.
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Speculative Fiction author Steven Orlowski's blog where he writes about stuff that he finds interesting. He hopes others will as well (and comment on too).
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