With Round II of Sven starting and some stuff brewing here (all good - no worries) and the writing loops flaring to life with editor/agent advice, I thought now might be a good time to express a few general thoughts about writing as a career and professionalism. Consider this a “things I’ve discovered” list:

1. Writing for a living is different from publishing at any cost. Reading message boards and thoughts on publishing, one thing becomes clear: the desperation to get published can be strong enough to knock the common sense right out of an otherwise smart person. Not to suggest that there is a “right” way versus a “wrong” way to get published, but think - really think - about what you want. Is the goal just to be able to say you’re published even if that means all you get to do is hold up some cheap looking piece of crap no one would ever be able to get from a bookseller? If you want it, as in want it for the long haul and want to make a career of writing, stop jumping at opportunities that look too good to be true because they are.

2. This is a business - act like it. There are some downright scary blog discussions out there where so-called publishing professionals and authors unleash diatribes of stupid babble…and then refuse to back down. These same folks are shocked when sane people come along and point out the stupid babble. Honestly, some days you have to wonder why Prozac isn’t available in vending machines. If you act like a 7th grader, you’re going to be treated like one. Just saying…

3. This is a business - educate yourself. Sure, it’s fine to ask questions. We all have questions. This career can be confusing and having a bit of inside info helps. That’s different from not knowing anything about romance publishing. When I see an unpublished writer say something along the lines of: “I wrote this book and don’t know where it fits, so can someone help me?” I’m baffled. You wrote the book, right? How can you not know what’s happening out there and where you might fit? Unless the goal is to write something no one ever sees, I don’t get what you’re doing.

4. Bloggers are not the enemy. I’m guilty of passing the blame at times - hell who wouldn’t prefer to never be at fault - but at some point you have to take some responsibility. Didn’t we all learn that in elementary school? Karen Scott is not evil. The ladies at Dear Author are not evil. The Smart Bitches are not evil. They blog. They give their opinion. Disagree without all the childish crap, okay? See, the only one who comes off poorly in those situations is the screeching, whining author. Karen, the Bitches and the Ja(y)nes go on just fine.

5. RWA is not the enemy. RWA did not ruin your chances of being published. I can hear some of you: “But, but, but…” No. Stop it. I can’t think of a single circumstance under which this excuse could be true. Some past RWA leaders had an agenda - and she’s gone and has been gone for a few years now, so let it go - but RWA is an organization not a cabal. There is not an institutional conspiracy to make sure certain individuals never get published. It’s so silly. Honestly, I can’t even believe I’m including this one. I wouldn’t except that I’ve heard this refrain a few times over the last month. Each time I have to fight the urge to crawl through my laptop and smack the crap out of someone.

That’s all for now. Off to write…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 10:49 am and is filed under About Me, About Publishing, About The Sweat Challenge, About Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.