I won't start with this post, but my next update will be syndicated across all the sites I blog at. I'll put the links up when I begin doing that.
I don't have a whole lot to talk about this time around, but I will provide an updated project status list for you.
| Project Status |
| Name | Done | Not Done |
| Username Inspired Image | | X |
| Lizardman Soda Jerk | | X |
| Art Piece for Nephew | | X |
| Art Piece for Other Nephew | | X |
| Art Piece for Niece | | X |
| "Surprise" Art Piece for dA | | X |
| Chinese Ink Art Piece for Sister's Friend (I'm still learning how to do this artform) | | X |
| "Surprise" Art Piece for TheO (Still not telling :-ţ) | | X |
| Requested piece for friend | | X |
| Requested piece for another friend | | X |
| Find Publisher for novel | | X |
| Help Mom get business off the ground | | X |
| Visit user sites here | | X |
Wish I had more for you all, but I don't at the moment. I will try to have more up in a more reasonable timeframe, but I can't promise what that timeframe will be anymore. I will be staying off MyO this weekend, and into next week to try avoiding all the AX nonsense. I just don't have the heart to put up with any of that this year.
Comments:
japanese kitten:
I couldn't agree more.
I'll update my blog with a thumbnail for it when I finally do get it up here.
You're not the first to be confused by it. Actually I started doing this when the PM system went down. I used to answer comments by PM but when it was offline for a couple months I think it was, I had to be creative, so I borrowed the concept from a couple of the admins on site here and it sort of stuck.
LGA775:
I didn't know that was a song title, I just know it's French for "That's life" or something to that effect. Seems to be just about the only attitude I can take to keep my sanity anymore.
the real yojimbo:
Yes that's essentially the problem. Those suggestions are good ones, but I don't have the money to throw away on educating myself right now. Also, my local paper is laughable at best. Their editing department must be run by two year olds, because very basic gramattical and spelling errors litter the paper every day. Aside from that, I'm absolutely opposed to doing anything that would benefit the local area I'm in right now. The people here have all been boorishly rude, pretentious [Censored]s to me since I moved here, I will not let them bank on my successes large or small, they do not deserve that honor.
This isn't about me getting famous, in fact I'd rather I didn't have to be out in the public eye too much. This is about honoring a promise I made to myself when I was treated like garbage by Senator Rockefeller's Office Manager over the biased, discriminatory and worthless waste of taxpayer money that is WorkForce West Virginia. I'm not shooting for the best seller list, I just want to be able to do something on my own and be able to say I succeeded when West Virginia was only interested in helping me fail.
I don't know. I won't know that till it happens.
mysterious rei:
You get around when you can. I certainly haven't been all that great about being by often lately. Hopefully that will pick up soon. On the publisher, par for the course so it seems, that's just the way life is to me.
AngelBest Dream:
I expect some resistence, but in the digital age, I also expect a fair chance. In no way am I deluding myself with thoughts of hitting it big, I don't intend to be an "author" by profession anyway. I wrote my story as part of a promise to myself, a promise to overcome the obstacle that is West Virginia, and be able to do it without the help or support of the locals who've been not only unkind, but unhelpful when I needed it the most.
I know I have at least a small audience, and it does mean a lot to me that you'd give my book a read. Trouble is, I'm not sure when you'll get that chance right now.
Outlaw Melfina:
I've noticed a lag in comment postings too. With the trouble I've been having with my ISP lately, I thought it was just me. Now I know it's the server here.
I suppose I just burnt myself out a bit and well, I'm on the path to recovery so I'll be around more if I can. I tend to do that once in a while, but it's normal for me.
The idea of "vanity" publishing isn't a new one, it's been out there for ages. Those are the "publishers" who want money up front. I don't care what the "publisher" says, if they want money from the author, they are vanity publishing, no two ways about it. It's disappointing that there aren't any mainstream publishers looking at unsolicited material, I would like the chance to submit my manuscript to some people, just to get the content based rejection letters because those would help me hone the novel. Some of them vanity publishers claim they're not vanity because they do evaluate the manuscripts before accepting them, and they have a rejection rate they provide too. Well, I'm not in the position to put out the money they'd want if my material was accepted by one of them.
I'm trying to draw anyway.
alphonse13:
Well, technically getting a book published isn't that hard (there's Lulu or Cafepress for that), finding publishers directly isn't that difficult either, it's getting that foot in the door that's the problem. I'm beginning to think going with Lulu and doing the whole thing myself is the right way to go, thing is, I still need to figure out where to get over $600 to do that.
Yeah, I used to believe that, I'm not so sure I do anymore.
twilight samurai:
I know you meant well, but the way that's worded, it's not exactly encouraging.
There's no way I'd get all that done in two days even if I marathoned the whole thing staying up and making myself do it. I'm lucky to get one pic a day done anymore.
scorchbird12:
If I keep running into snags going it alone, I'll approach from another angle, grants. Although, my history with finding grants is about as good as it is with finding publishers, jobs, and local interest in anime so I'm pretty much screwed no matter which way I go.
Pacing is important to getting good drawings. I tend to pace myself a little too liberally most of the time, so a little pressure will be good for me, but I won't overdo it.
I can't promise anything specifc on the art, I'm really terrible about making deadlines, but I will say that I've set one in my head and I hope I'll finish by.
That kind of happens.
beyblader:
I mentioned it a couple times way WAY back, you may have missed those posts. Anyway, I'll quote Napster (never thought I'd use their words to make a valid point about something) but the publishing industry is "a closed system" of sorts, they don't want to help out aspiring authors, or people like me who don't want to make a career out of writing, but do have that one book to get in print.
timechaser:
You know that, and I know that, but it seems to me that the industry doesn't really know that. If I have to tell the established industry to soak their heads in a bucket of soy ink, I'll do that and go it alone.
I have an extensive collection of oddball short stories, and I write shorts all the time, usually when I'm really feeling down about something and drawing doesn't help me. If I knew where to pitch those, I'd do that in a heartbeat(As soon as I post this, I'll be looking into that avenue more thoroughly). That said, writing isn't a career choice for me. I don't intend to be an author by trade, I just want to see in print this story that was fueled by my resolve and bitterness toward the uncaring officials who wouldn't lift a finger to correct the corrupt employment program that's supposed to help assist unemployed West Virginians.
Why wait? Carpe Diem, seize the day, do it now, don't hold back. Your mind may not be at it's most focused, but let me tell you, sometimes not focusing makes for soem interesting stories.
Yeah, I tend to say "Idle hands are the Devil's workshop" a lot. Being out of work has it's downsides, but I know I'm doing something with my time and that's the important thing.
If life throws another curve ball, I'm demanding a Time-Out till life starts pitching fair.
kitbug69:
Nice to see you making the rounds, hope everything is all right with you and your family.
I'm going to keep looking, but not right now. My heart just can't take the disappoinment on such a sustained basis. The rest of that is out of my realm of experience, but I'll be furious if you give up after telling me not to. From my perspective it's either the green or the scene, how much money a person has, or who they know that gets their material looked at, but what do I know, I'm just a nobody outsider trying to get in.
I don't think all the luck in the world is going to help me this time, but thanks anyway.
Yensid:
Yeah, I've been meaning to get on here, but things kept distracting me. I think I'll start syndicating my blog entries on all my blog sites, just so everyone will know I'm all right everywhere I've been.
As near as I can tell, that was a personal choice she made, having something to do with the story not really being what she wanted it to be. I don't understand it, but I respect it. In August 2003 my cable had been out for about a month or two, I was really annoyed, and bored out of my mind. Following some tips I got on the Tech TV message boards, I started to draw, and while I was doing that first piece, I noticed something. I noticed that I completely lost all awareness of what was going on around me, my mind went completely blank, every inhibition, every concern, every doubt, all were completely gone. I had achieved in seconds what people meditate for years to try to do, clearing their minds. Art isn't a relaxor for me, it's not a hobby to me, it's a passion, plain and simple. I only call it a hobby of mine so I won't be quick to make a career out of it, I'm not disciplined or experienced enough to really sell my art. I understand what you're saying, but I can't relate to any of those references in terms of physical pain.
That's about all I'm doing really. I'm putting up the novel for now, and I'll keep it put up for a while. I'll try to get all those art pieces done that I was supposed to have done months ago, then I'll go another round of trying to get the novel published. I don't think this current industry set-up is what Gutenburg had in mind when he invented moveable type.
Alphonse122:
It would be nice to find someone, the alternatives would just put the book on indefinite hold.
lifes burden:
I'm not too worried about the restrictions, the content I write is pretty tame compared to a lot of stuff that's out now, so there's no worries on that. I don't mix my art and writing, my novel is pure text. I don't have the discipline to duplicate the same character over and over again as is needed for graphic novels, though I would like to try to do a story like that at least once. You know, TokyoPop takes submisions for stuff, they pay particular interest in manga type stories. Here are their manga submission guidelines if you want a look.
Drawing isn't the issue here, I'm happy with that and happy I haven't tried to make a career out of it. I'll draw as much as I can all the time.
Mastahbetahs:
It's a hard fight, that's for sure.
Mamma Vash:
Yeah that really big, round, blue, third rock I picked up in my travels is the heaviest one of the bunch. Jokes aside, I have gone over all the information available to me and right now it's looking like my original plan of self-publishing was the right way to go. Location of the publisher means little to me, and I don't really care if my book never hits mainstream circles, I just want to get it in print in marketable condition (That's not a content statement, that's the technicals like copyright registration, ISBN, possibly a UPC and even LOC information). I'm what the industry calls a casual writer, and it looks like there's not a lot of space in the "traditional" model for the casual writer (All the help tips and that I find online are geared toward career writers). The hardest thing about self-publishing is going to be coming up with the money for everything on my own. As far as submitting my manuscript, I haven't found a single publisher where I can submit it.
Ditto on that.
BASH:
If you could get publisher info for me, I'd really appreciate it. I'll want to give them a look for myself, to see if they'd be a good fit for me.
Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to do, but Slowly I'm getting it done. I just don't have the focus to sit down and do them from start to finish like I want to. That bothers me, but it can't be helped right now. Yeah, this is something I have to do on my own. Eventually I'll get them done.
InuYashaFan4-ever:
That's exactly what I said the other day when I finally hit my last brick wall with the traditional publishing method. More publishers should be open to raw, unagented "talent". There isn't even an easy way to "foot in the door" this thing like others suggested I try.
Well, that list started in January and it's gotten bigger before getting smaller. I'm going on half a year already.
Shireishou:
Given that I can't find a publisher yet, that's not likely to happen. I would be pleasantly surprised to get this novel published myself and actually have a traditional publisher approach me for subsequent projects. That's not likely to happen either, but a dragon can dream right?
I miss being around here more often myself, and the friends I have here, it seems I can't quite get the swing of things back just yet.
Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to do, but I'll get it done. I just need to apply myself to it, that all.
whtdragon:
I'm absolutely not interested in "local" publishers at all, and will not look for one. I've mentioned it before, but the ignorant, rude, and self-absorbed baboons who inhabit my area of WV do not deserve to bank anything on my projects, and I won't let them. They have a tendancy to want to leach off the success of locals, and after treating me like garbage since the day I moved here, why should I let them benefit from my project?
I don't understand that whole thing either, which is why my head hurts every time I try new angles to possibly find something I might have previously missed.
Magnus Lensherr:
I promised an update this week, here it is.
