I decided to spend some time working on writing projects as I’m between jobs. Seemed like a good idea – dust off some short story ideas, enter a few writing contests, polish up the blog a bit, and of course finish the mythical, much-discussed but oft-ignored hockey book. What I’ve really done is write two stories, polish a book excerpt as a short story, ignore the book and spend more time promoting Professional WordPress.
Here’s what I’ve learned about life as a scribe:
You’ll need a real job to pay the bills. Industry standard payment rates for short stories range from 5 to 10 cents a word. So that 3,500 word sci-fi story that involves faster than light travel and quantum wave fluctuations will net you about $250 if you’re lucky. Do this for the joy of seeing your name in print, or to grow your own brand awareness as a writer. Or better yet, because you love writing.
You need a lot of ideas. I’d always thought of writing as a serial affair, cranking out one idea and then moving on to the next. It’s a portfolio management exercise, like any other job. At any time, you need a good dozen ideas kicking around, so that if get a sudden flash of creativity or think of a clever artistic device you can immediately apply it to a work in progress. I guess this is why writers keep notebooks; I use Evernote to clip ideas from lifestream to appropriate wordstream.
There are a ton of magazines, online and print. I’ve always been fascinated by magazines: narrow interest, editorial mixed with reporting mixed with photos, regular content updates. Like news reporting (and the main reason to read newspapers, comic strips), magazines have bloomed in online only mode. Finding an outlet for your keyboard frustrations isn’t hard given resources like Duotrope, but you still have to write what the editors want the readers to read. More publications means more background reading and stylistic interpretation. I don’t really want to rewrite my short story about finding small miracles in Lake Placid, NY as a faith-based story, because it’s a hockey story first and foremost. Improving your writing is about finding your voice and then sticking to it, I think.
Deadlines help. I loved writing on deadline for SunWorld Magazine (OMG that was 15 years ago, and yes, I did submit columns via email). If I establish deadlines for the hockey book, it might get done. Having a writing schedule for Professional WordPress was critical to getting it done and avoiding scope creep.
Bottom line – I’ve learned quite a bit, have a much deeper appreciation for writers, editors, and publishers, and will not do the math comparing the hourly return on writing short stories to that of bagging groceries at Shop Rite.
Sad, but true. Editors set the direction; submitters follow their leads, without question, at least if they want to get paid. So it is for writers. We do what we love, wondering if it will make a difference. At the very least we need to read one another’s blogs! Write on, Hallard!