In spite of the title of this post, I’ll try not to get too emo. Not sure how well I’ll succeed, but at least I’ll try.
Worldcon was great, but it put me into something of a writing slump and I’m not sure where to go next. I was planning on writing the as-yet untitled New Rigel novel, but I want to get Desert Stars published before Christmas, and that would involve doing another major draft before sending it off for edits.
The trouble is, it typically takes me at least two months to do a rough draft. I can probably finish Desert Stars in about a month, but I’d still want to start that project somewhere around the end of September. Since I don’t expect for my first readers to get back to me until then, that leaves me with a single month to fill.
To further complicate matters, the place I’ve been temping at for the last two months wants to hire me full time. In some ways, that’s awesome; work is work, after all, and even though I won’t exactly be saving the world, it’s not a bad job either. On the other hand, 40 hours of warehouse labor per week is going to make it very difficult to do everything I want with my writing career.
Now, don’t get me wrong–I’m not complaining. This seems to be the dilemma that every aspiring writer faces at one point or another, and most of my friends have understandably chosen the stable paycheck over the ever-elusive lucky break. But with where I’m at–young and single, without any debt or obligations to pay off–and my long term career goals, I worry that I’ll end up settling if I take that path. Besides, I’ve gotten used to “starving” over the last year and a half, and it’s actually not that bad.
What would REALLY be awesome is if they would hire me part time, and I think I might be able to negotiate that. In the meantime, I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to write in September. Here are my options:
Untitled (New Rigel)
This is the project I was most excited about before Worldcon, but now…well, I’m still excited, but post-convention ennui is not a pretty thing. Basically, it’s a full-length novel set within the Gaia Nova universe, and an indirect sequel to Bringing Stella Home.
I’ve already written the prologue and I like where it’s going, but I’d have to really bust my butt to get it done before October. Then again, I usually drop the first draft somewhere in the middle, so allowing for that, it might still be good to go ahead. However, it’s generally a bad idea to plan on screwing things up.
Edenfall
This is the sequel to Genesis Earth, and the second book in a planned trilogy. Since it’s YA, I could probably pull it off in a month–YA is generally shorter than adult fiction, and Genesis Earth took me about a month to pound out once I knew what I was doing. I’ve already got the story outlined and ready to go, so no problems there.
The big reason to do this project is that the first book is starting to have some success, and that’s naturally going to drive reader interest in the sequel. I’ve already gotten some scattered emails and comments about it, asking when it’s going to come out. Also, since there’s less pressure on me right now, bumping it up the queue might be a good idea. There’s a reason some people are afraid of success.
Desert Stars Companion Novella
Now here’s an interesting idea: I could spend the next month working on a companion novel to Desert Stars, much like I spent the last month working on Sholpan. The advantages to this plan are obvious: not only would I have another full-length novel ready before Christmas, but a $.99 novella to go with it–that is, if all goes well.
This is a project I haven’t given much thought to, but it wouldn’t be too hard to come up with something. It would also get me excited for the revision of Desert Stars in October. The main disadvantage is that I don’t know how well this “companion novella” concept will work out in the market–if Sholpan tanks, I might have to scrap it altogether. But as Dean told me at Worldcon, you can’t let thoughts of the commerciality of a project get in the way of the creative process.
That’s what’s on my plate right now. Preferably, I want to choose something I can finish within a month, while juggling work and the publication process for Sholpan. Oh, and I also want to throw in a blog tour for Bringing Stella Home–more on that later.
So, to open it up to my super-awesome hardcore fans (all three or four of you), what do you think? Of these projects, what do you most want to see?
Edenfall!
Personally I think that if you’re having success with Genesis Earth, you should give your fans a reward for their interest in it. If you are planning on doing a sequel, I would write it soon. I mean, Bruce Coville wrote a MG book once and then didn’t write its sequel till years and years later…by that time we had all grown up. We were rather upset at the time and we just kind of sigh and shake our heads at him now. I’m sure he lost a lot of readers since the majority of those I talk to had no idea he even finished the series.
So! If you promise your readers a sequel, it might be good form to hop to it.
But, of course, you have the last word.
Write Edenfall and take the full time job so you can buy really awesome cover art for all your novels. wouldn’t it be nice to have a bigger budget so you can invest that money into your books?
Take the job, Joe. You’ll still have time to write. We are in a down economy and jobs are hard to come by. You don’t have to settle if you don’t want to settle. I work forty hours a week and write when I can.
I’ll probably end up taking the job, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay with it. In addition to my writing career, I’m hoping to land an internship with a small press, which will also be a huge time-suck. I’m being very open with my prospective employer about this, and they’re also being very accomodating, so I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to reach an agreement.
What would probably be the best course for me to take is grad school. It’ll be tough to juggle schoolwork and a thesis with my writing career, but I’ve done it in the past and I’m reasonably confident I can do it again. Besides, a graduate degree will qualify me to teach college classes, which is probably a better fallback option than manual labor.
As far as personal finances go, I’m actually doing quite well–better than I was a year ago, certainly, and somehow I managed to get through the winter just by delivering phone books and donating plasma (must be my Czech thrift). I have no doubt that I’ll be able to afford quality art and editing when I decide to publish my next work–and if I can’t afford it, I won’t publish.
The much more difficult thing to budget is time, which is why I’ve gotten a little bit angsty as of late (besides the fact that I haven’t written hardly anything in the past week). I can always earn back my money, but I can’t get back my time–and this is a critical period, both for the publishing industry and my own career.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do. I’m sure it’ll turn out great.
It’s actually funny to see you talking about commerciality vs. creativity. I had a lunch meeting with one of my clients today who was worried so much about selling his book that he’s started to feel burned out and wanting to shelve the whole project. I tried to reassure him that I could ease his rewriting pain, but I’m worried it came across as a freelance editor sales pitch instead of encouragement. 🙂
@Angie — Thanks for the support! I appreciate it.
@Josh — Yeah, I think a lot of indie writers are overly concerned about sales and promotion. There’s a saying on the Kindle Boards: this is a marathon, not a sprint. I have the feeling that this is one of the key differences between indie and traditional publishing: how to find an audience. It’s much more of a peer to peer, 1,000 true fans kind of thing when you do it yourself.
All right, I’ve given this issue some more thought and decided which path I’m going to take. I’ll let you all know tomorrow what it’s going to be.
okay. For me hard labor would be much prefered over selling my plasma. yuck!!!!!!!! Also, you have to make time. Kindal works 50 hours a week but still gets in a solid 2000 a day. Butt in chair Joe! Butt in chair!
Heh, you’re right, I probably just need to buckle down and write. Maybe I’m just kind of freaking out because I’ve been busy with convention stuff all week and it’s been hard to get back into any kind of rhythm.
Just pick one and go with it. Two months for a rough draft, holy wow!
Wow as in “wow, that’s long,” or wow as in “wow, that’s fast”? Because I really wish I could put them out a lot faster than that–I think I’d be much more successful if I could.