After
five years of being a writer, this is what I have to show for it. First of all,
not a lot of money. Let’s just get that out of the way first. If I didn’t have
a spouse who worked full time, things would be very different right now. We
knew, when I decided to make writing my main career focus way back in 2008, we would
be taking a financial hit, but we believed the payoff would ultimately be worth
it. Every year that has passed, we have grown closer to making this true, but
we are still not there yet.
However,
in those five years, I’ve had a chance to completely immerse myself in this
industry. I worked as a freelance editor. I wrote dozens of short stories and
six novels (and counting) and hundreds of blogs, attended seminars and
conferences, schooled myself in the industry of self-publishing, learned how to
format ebooks and design covers, queried agents and crafted dozens of
submissions, mentored others who were just getting started, and watched the
triumphant rise or heartbroken descent of so many of my colleagues in this
business. The list goes on and on. I have learned so much about this industry
and have had so much time to work on my craft in these five years that I think
if we hadn’t agreed to make that monetary sacrifice, I might not be writing
this right now.
But
five years after making the decision to leave a college path that wasn’t making
me happy and would have only led me to a career that would have made me even
unhappier, I am now a “published novelist.” In many ways, this five years has
been like giving myself my own special college education in the specialty of
writing and publishing, and now I am about to attend the commencement
celebration of my own book release in the hopes that from this moment on,
things will be different somehow. Better. I’m just cynical enough to know not
to get my hopes up, but I think I’ve earned a moment to fantasize about a
bright future for just a moment.
Don’t
get me wrong. I have self-published a lot of work up to this point. The
experience of putting my stories out into the world is not new to me. But this
is different. This marks a turning point, the thing I set out to do from the
very beginning, of writing a book, perfecting that book, submitting it to a
publisher of books, and having them believe it was good enough for them to say
yes--that dream has arrived at long last. If nothing else, before the reviews
and the royalties start coming in, I should celebrate that accomplishment.
But
it still took five years. This business is not a sprint to fame and riches.
It’s more like a hellish treadmill. It took a glut of trial and error, and
nearly a million words written (I estimated). Hundreds and hundreds of long
nights crafting books, editing books, formatting books, planning future books,
writing queries, fielding rejections, marketing myself, building that network
of support and also improving my knowledge so I could become the member of
other people’s support network. All of these things and so much more, and now
I’m standing on top of the next hill of my climb, where the rewards are greater
but the risks of failure that much higher. Maybe the ascent to the next level will
be that much faster now that I have “published novelist” attached to my name.
Or maybe the public will reject me and I’ll be knocked down three levels and
have to climb back up to this same spot over and over again, so that the next
post I write will be entitled “Ten Years.” I’ve seen it happen to so many and
it could certainly happen to me. And yet I keep going, because I know I haven’t
even begun to fight.
Your
journey to this same spot might have taken six months. Maybe you’re still
climbing after a decade. Either way, I can guarantee that if you’re doing it
right, you’re probably bleeding at least a little. But it’s all worth it in the
end. Right?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allison M. Dickson is a writer of dark
contemporary fiction living in Dayton, Ohio. Though STRINGS is her debut novel,
she has been writing for a number of years, with several short stories
(including “Dust” and “Under the Scotch Broom”) available on Amazon. Two of her
stories were featured The Endlands Volume 2 from Hobbes End Publishing. In 2014,
Hobbes End will also be releasing her dystopian science fiction novel, THE LAST
SUPPER, and she is independently producing her pulpy dieselpunk noir novel,
COLT COLTRANE AND THE LOTUS KILLER to be released in November of 2013. When she
isn’t writing, she’s one of the co-hosts of the weekly Creative Commoners
podcast. She might also be found gaming,
watching movies, hiking the local nature preserve with her husband and two kids
who also serve as willing guinea pigs for her many culinary experiments.
1 comment:
Hello, Allison,
You don’t know me, but I too am a long suffering author, who was lucky enough to submit a manuscript “Alien Plot” to Hobbes End, and have it accepted. They do have a penchant for discovering hidden talent, don’t they?
I began writhing way back in 01’ and after pounding out several urban fiction works with only one of which “Snakes Don’t Walk” being accepted by a publisher, and after far too many rejections, and having been a science fiction fan, beginning, almost, with my interest in reading novels, I thought I try my hand at concocting a science fiction tale. I remember reading Star Wars, Doctor Who, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and Dune, and many, many, other science fiction novels, several years before they were produced as movies, and thought I’d have a good chance at putting together something someone might be interested in.
It took me a while to come up with a story line that hadn’t been hashed over in one form or another, but when I did, I knew I had something original that had potential. As it turns out, I like writing science fiction more than urban fiction. However, after so many rejections of my urban fiction manuscripts, I was surprised to receive an acceptance letter from Hobbes End, whom, by the way, was this first publisher I queried in the science fiction genera. I fully understand your exultation behind the release of you book “Strings” and can’t wait for my book to be released sometime in 2014.
Now comes the hard part — the wondering if the culmination of our blood, sweat, and endless rewrites will sell? Wondering if our work will have broad enough appeal to catapult us to the top of that mountain you spoke of? But as you said, we won’t quit trying, will we? Fortunately, I have another ready to go original story to fall back on.
Congratulations on having your first officially published novel, and I wish you nothing other than good luck and hope you make the Times Best Seller List, if not, at least, the Amazon top seller list. Oh, and by the way, I took a peek inside your book “Strings” on amazon, and, although, horror is not my forte, I like the way the story begins and believe other readers will, also.
In closing, and in answer to your post, yes it is worth it in the end.
Good Luck,
Marsell
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