Fiddly bits

Alright, lets get one thing straight, “published writer” is a Broad brush description. Just the fact that I ‘publish’ writings on this Blog makes me a published writer. The fact that I have a (two actually) book available (print on demand, so techy!!!!) for purchase establishes me as a “Published writer”, but,,,

BUT

There is a world of difference between the term and the reality. I do NOT make a living doing this writing thing. I’d love to make that otherwise, but for now, no. It has made enough to pay for my Scrivener program and ProWriting Aid subscription, and thats about it. (Note, Prowritingaid is a self editor program that truly rocks, but does not replace the flesh and blood editor. It just makes it so the F&B editor can focus on the ‘sell’ and not the fiddly details of punctuation, readability, typos and plagiarism issues.) (On top of that, I’ve given away more books than I have sold, both physical and ebook. Just starting out, thats probably a normal thing.)

The writing part is easy, its all the fiddlin’ details that kills most writers ambition. Trust me, two books, second an improvement over the first, but doing all of the ‘fiddlin’ by myself almost killed the whole thing. Edit, rewrite, edit, proof, rewrite, edit, etc etc etc,,, Finding people willing to help with proofing and suggestions was almost nightmarish, and cover design is NOT my forte at all. And thats before you even SUBMIT the proofs. I can only imagine what it was like for Sarah getting into the old school publishing scene.

Nope, Published writer in my case is like saying an EMT is a Neurosurgeon IMO. Its a backhanded compliment.

But,

BUT

I’m making strides. Y’all know the rule, the first step is the hardest. After that, just keep putting the other foot forward and before ya know it, you’ve walked miles. Last night I wrote two more chapters to the sequel of Wings. No where near done, no where near ready for proof readers, not a clue as to a cover,,,

But two more that weren’t even synaptic flashes prior to yesterday (yup, I’m a pantser, fly by my britches kinda writer. Scrip writing is gonna take some more work on my part) (not that theres a thing wrong with that, and it makes short stories a breeze for me.)

I really gotta get somewhere where a library is more than the place people drop the kids off as a daycare center when the public pool isn’t open. Somewhere where reading isn’t looked at as “weird”. Heck, somewhere that HAS a bookstore,,,(and I shouldn’t complain, Amazon/Kindle did more to kill bookstores, along with tradpublishing screwing the pooch,,, )

Yah, making some moves locally, mostly to alleviate my personal shipping weight. Selling (prolly at a loss) things I have acquired over the 12 years I have been the idle stone. Probably even put some of the kayaks up for sale to ease transpor; maybe, maybe not, I do have a trailer for them now,,, Thats Ok, the knowledge gained is mine, even if I sell that knowledge, I retain ownership of it. (Gotta love the teachers paradox of ownership,,,)

My time remaining in these hills is short, time for broader horizons, different climes, different attitudes, spicier food and new definitions. And of course, new fiddly bits to sort out. But pursuit of defining ‘published writer’ as ‘succcessful published writer’ is the key fiddly bit. (Successful in my minds eye is being able to LIVE off the income, not just maintain the tools.)

Lots o’fiddly bits in me future,,,,