I've got barbecue sauce and some bears so you better buy my book!

First of all, thank you for reading this. I know there are a million other things competing for your attention in today’s world and it honestly means a lot to me that you are taking the time to read my ramblings. And now on to the fun stuff…

It’s been a little over a year since I published my first book, “Spilled” and I’ve just published my second, “Subjective Perspectives: A Short Story Collection”. “Why a short story collection?”, you may ask. Well, almost immediately after publishing “Spilled”, I wrote a short story called, “Everybody Loves Me” that got a lot of positive feedback and a few people said I should do a short story collection next. Ok, so I don’t remember who all the people were, but I do remember one of them was my wife and after almost 20 years of marriage if I’ve learned anything it’s to do what she tells me. So, that’s why a short story collection. Now quit judging me.

Anyway, this is the obligatory self-promotion blog entry that every aspiring author has to post within three days of publishing a new book. Apparently, if you don’t blog, tweet, and Facebook message constantly about your work then you risk having strange men show up at your house who will grab you, cover you in barbecue sauce, and toss you in a bear den - or something equally fun. So, if you are an aspiring author trying to promote your work what do you blog about?

Do you talk about the creative process and the suffering and the struggles you went through in writing your latest book? The problem I see with taking that approach is that if you’re a new author you don’t really have a following yet. That means there aren’t enough people who have an emotional stake in your work to care about your suffering or creative process. I’m sure that when Dan Brown, Stephen King, or any of the rest write in their blogs that people are hanging on every word, because they have achieved success and therefore there is value in what they have to say. They’re famous so they must know what they’re talking about, right? In short, you’re not famous so nobody gives a shit what you have to say.

Do you write about how great your latest work is and try to persuade everyone to buy it immediately? I have issues with that also. The main one being that I hate self-promotion and/or trying to sell anything in any way, shape, or form. I enjoy writing and I think that I craft good stories that are worth reading, but something inside me just screams that self-promotion is wrong. It is prideful, boastful, and egotistical to the extreme and yet it is a necessity, because as an aspiring anything, author, musician, painter, etc, if you don’t promote yourself then you can be damn sure that no one else is going to do it for you.

And so, here I am, reluctantly promoting my latest work and yet still full of questions. Could I have done a better job? Are there things I should have changed? Should I have kept reading and editing the thing for another six months before publishing it? I think the answer to all of those questions is a loud and thundering, “Uh, maybe?” It doesn’t matter now though, because “Subjective Perspectives” is out there and people are going to read it, or not, and they’ll think whatever they will, and I’ll keep writing. I’ve achieved a lot in life by working hard and refusing to give up and I see no reason to stop now. My goal continues to be to write something truly great someday, something that touches people’s souls, moves their hearts, and opens their minds, but if that never happens then so be it, I could have spent my time doing a lot worse things. Now flip your internet page over to amazon.com and go buy something I’ve written before they cover me in barbecue sauce and toss me to some bears.

A Year in Reflection

It’s been a little over a year since I published my first book, Spilled, and my short story Everybody Loves Me and it seems like it’s time for a little reflection. I’m not rich yet, in case anyone was wondering, and I’m definitely not thinking about quitting my day job anytime soon, which is fine because I actually love my day job. I had thought about writing a book for years before I actually did it. I think I wrote and rewrote the first chapter of my book at least a hundred times before I finally came to my senses and realized that I just needed to plow through, write the whole damn book, and then go back and edit it. To this day, there are still a lot of things I wonder whether or not I should have changed, but it’s done now and out there for all the world to see. I had a rather small goal when I published Spilled, to sell at least one copy, and thanks to all my friends, family and even complete strangers I far exceeded that goal. So, to all of you who bought a copy of the book I say a very sincere and humble, “Thank you.”

If the book hadn’t sold any copies that might have stopped my aspiring writing career right there, but fortunately for me it didn’t. My modest success gave me the confidence to continue working on various writing projects. I currently have a short story collection out for editing by a few brave volunteers (Thanks to all of you) and hope to have it published by January. I also just finished writing the first chapter of what I hope will be my third book and have many more ideas waiting in the wings. I’m also going to take credit for inspiring someone else I know to give his writing another chance, which resulted in his work being accepted by a publisher. He seems to have found the niche market for his work and I wish him much success. I’m also very proud of the fact that my son was inspired to write his own book, which is also out for editing at this time. When I was his age, I remember balking at writing 5 pages let alone the 100 pages his book is up to as of this writing. I think his concept is a good one and that young adult readers will enjoy the story. It’s the type of book I enjoyed reading when I was young. T.K. Barrett, if you’re reading this, you make me very proud of you every day and constantly do things that amaze me.

I’ve learned a few things over the last year. I think my writing has gotten better and the words seem to flow more freely. I’ve also accepted that the best thing I can do is write what I want to write in my own style and not worry about anything else. I’ve learned that not everyone is going to like my work and some may not even understand it. One person complained on Amazon that one of the reasons they didn’t like Spilled was because one of the characters was unlikeable. Well, I wrote that particular character that way for a reason; it was integral to the story. So, it’s like the old saying, “You can’t please all the people all the time.” Hell, J. K. Rowling was rejected by publishers something like 28 times before someone agreed to publish the first Harry Potter book. I bet there are quite a few people kicking themselves over that one right about now.

 

So, at this point I’m going to keep writing no matter what. I still hope to write something truly great someday that will be remembered long after I’m gone. Whether that ever happens or not though, at least I’ll know that I did things my way.