Sale!

First one of 2008, “Imago Dei” to Fictitious Force for 1 cent a word.  That’s about $40, which for me, isn’t bad.  But it isn’t about the money, it’s about finally feeling like a writer again (Yeah, I know – I’d feel more like a writer if I spent more time writing.)  I’m happy.

This good news does a little bit to make up for the uncertainty about Thaw.  Still no word from Kellie – it’s as though she’s dropped off the face of the earth and taken my royalties with her.  Next week, when I get paid, I’m making an appointment with a lawyer. I’ve already researched some through Martindale.com, found some local IP/contracts people who should be able to help me.  At this point, even if the lawyer fees are far more than I could ever hope to make from royalties, I think I’m going to go ahead and do it.  I have nothing against Kellie personally – she always seemed very pleasant, and I enjoyed working with her on the editing of the book, but this isn’t personal.  It’s business, and I have to look out for my interests.

Anyway, on my quest to get re-motivated, I went looking for some writing prompts, and found a few.  The Prompt Writer, the Evil Overlord Plot Generator, Writing Prompt Generator (this one’s for kids, but seriously, who can resist writing about ‘the upscale pine tree that went crazy?’), and the Random Idea Generator .  I don’t know if they’re any good, but it’s worth a try.

Procrastination and such

I’ve been poking Horomancy again.  After going through my WiPs, thinking about what I wanted to write, it was the one that stuck in my head the most, so I’m going to see if it takes this time.  First step is to stop procrastinating and just write something.  I did some notes and planning yesterday at work – that’s a start, at least

I read an interesting blog post on Slate about the difference between writer’s block and procrastination.  The post focuses on Truman Capote and Ralph Ellison, wondering if they were blocked or just big time procrastinators.  No question which I am – I’ll do a blog post of my own on the subject, someday.  When I get around to it.

No word from Iris yet.  I hauled out my contract – royalties are supposed to be paid within 30 days of the close of the quarter, so they’re definitely in breach.  Before I go the legal route, I’ll send a registered snail mail letter – Tina tried that before and got no response, but I feel like I have to exhaust every reasonable means before I take steps that might turn things ugly.  I hate this.

Back from the Dead, Again

Wow.  It’s been a loooooooong time since I’ve updated here.  Sorry about that.  I’ll try not to ramble on – I think shorter, more frequent entries are probably more readable than spewing out the blogging equivalent of War & Peace every 3 months.

So, news.  Mostly bad – rejections from several publications, and I’ve been too lazy to send the stories out, or in one case, I’ve just about decided to retire it to the trunk.  I miss writing short stories, to be honest, and considering how awful I’m doing on the novel front, I really ought to just go back to the short stuff for a while.

Good – I’ve had a number of really nice emails from readers of Thaw wanting to know about a sequel.  It really is mostly done – it was all done till I got a bee in my bonnet about changing the Callan sequences into something a little less angst-filled.  I started on the rewrite, guns blazing, only to be totally distracted by life, my garden, a lot of novels (to read), and some very bad television.

Also in the ‘bad’ category – I can’t get through to my publisher.  I haven’t heard anything about my first quarter 2008 sales, so I’ve written 3 times now.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  Not even a ‘I got your email, am working on it, please be patient.’  Not even bounce messages, so I can only assume my email is getting through and being ignored, or that something very awful has happened to my publisher. I can’t express how frustrating that is.  Seriously, any response is better than silence.  Even ‘eff off and die, you annoying author b***h’ would be an improvement.  ‘Nuff said for now, but there may be more on this topic if things don’t improve.

I mentioned this on the LJ, but as this blog is the ‘writing’ one, it should be noted here – I’m letting my website and domain name lapse.  I’m just not writing enough (or earning enough – see previous paragraph!) to justify its continued expense, not when this blog is free.  If at some point I start to sell seriously again, I’ll get another site, but as I’m not even writing under R.W. Day anymore, having rwday.net doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

I have some rambling thoughts on what I’m going to attempt to write next, but I think those can wait.  My basic problem is that I have too many ideas – I’m trying to write like I read.  I generally read anywhere from 3-6 books at a time.  They sit in various places in my house and I pick them up as I’m cooking, getting ready for bed, watching TV, on work breaks.  That works for reading.  It doesn’t work for writing, where you (or I, at least) really have to immerse myself in the world and characters.  I’ve got to commit.  Unfortunately, indecision is pretty much a theme of my life – see my 60 gazillion college majors, for example.