Welcome to The Modern Author
Today marks the first blog of The Modern Author.
Lets start by putting a couple of things right out in the open. I wrote a novel and it sucked. There I said it, and saying you need help is the first step to getting help.
As any professional athlete will attest, the first time you do an activity you will absolutely suck at it. No one in the history of the NFL has ever picked a football for the first time and tossed the perfect fifty-yard spiral into the open arms of sprinting receiver. No one in the history of the MLB has ever picked a bat for the first time and stepped up to the plate, facing down a world class pitcher, and hammered a ninety-mile-an-hour-plus pitch out of the park.
It just doesn't happen.
What does happen, though, is you find something you like to do and the more you do it the better at it you get.
So, yes, my first time at bat was a big swing and a whiff. Does that mean I'm out? Hell no. Even professional baseball players have hitting averages which basically equal out to making contact with the ball three tries out of ten (Please MLB fans have mercy on me, I know that statement is an over simplification of "Batting Average").
Anyway, since my mind runs at about 5 miles-an-hour below Mach 1, and I just cant seem to slow it down. Believe me I have tried - meds are just not my thing, they make me groggy, and meditation makes my butt fall asleep, so the only thing that brings comfort to my roiling soul is to put words to page.
I am a writer, I write, that's what I do. Most of my life I have written, usually I work in the Technical field, Industrial Safety is my chosen area of expertise.
Hey, writing is writing, right?
Wrong!
I thought I could keep my beast at bay by finding a job where I could, you know, get a regular paycheck and write. But writing copy for informational purposes, instruction sheets, safety manuals and the like are a galaxy far, far, away from my love of Sci-Fi and Fantasy.
For the past few months I have been spending much of my free time, such as that is, learning as much I could about the ever changing world of modern fiction publishing. During that time a few things became immediately obvious to me.
1) I am not alone in my search for information on this subject. It seems that learning how to become a functioning self published author, one who makes a living actually writing what he wants to write, is a fairly common calling.
2) As in all common callings, there are some tried and true methods to help an enthusiast become a professional.
3) And there is no shortage of information.
In fact, to me at least, it seems as though there is an information overload situation going on. So many people offer blogs and web sites and podcasts and webinars on the subject of self publishing that all the conversations, posts, and tweets have become like white noise. The many voices have blended into a kind of mind numbing static which often hides the golden nuggets of truly inspiring information. Which is where THE MODERN AUTHOR comes in.
Here, I hope to cut through some of that noise, help lead members and friends to find their way through the forests of doom and gloom and out into the light.
Fear not, dear friends! We'll be making this trip together, because even as I start this blog, I am starting on new books. I'll be posting the entire process here as well as putting posts on FB and Twitter and any other Social Media site I can come up with.
In the end, I plan to have not just a completed novel, but an entire series of novels based on the characters who are currently cluttering up the space in my mind. I'll be sharing what I have learned over the last few months as I sat in on webinars, listened to podcasts, read blogs, and watched YOUTUBE videos, all to help me jump start this site.
I hope to have some guest posters on the site, as well, and to be kicking off my own Podcast soon too. I hope you join me, and together we can help each other to achieve our common goal of making the writing life our life.
Understand that I am terrified, like I said earlier I self published a novel last year and it was abysmal. I'm not pulling it, it is still there on Amazon (Link to bad novel ). It was poorly written, the editing was atrocious, the cover horrid, and as a result it bombed.
Totally.
Totally.
Bombed.
Not even my own mother bought a copy, well she did, but I don't think she read it. And honestly, I don't blame her. It was just that bad. But it was a learning experience, swing and a miss, an interception. But I am not out of the game, I am just getting started.
So, there it is. Day one, post one. What did you think?
Got comments, questions, or snide remarks, feel free to post them below or join me on Twitter or Face Book.