THE WOLF OF OREN-YARO will be out next year. I’ve been so busy the last few months I’ve barely had time to register that reality in my head. I’ve been editing, now waiting for copyedits; writing, researching, and plotting my next project, the first book of which is a little over halfway done; planning the projects after that. The thing nobody warns you about this career is that the deeper you get into it, the more there is to do. There is a momentum equation here I didn’t foresee, one that’s been made clear to me the past couple of years while self-publishing.
The other interesting thing about self-publishing was how it pulled away whatever rose-coloured glasses I may have been wearing when it comes to the industry. I understand that most of the effort put into a book is a labour of love; that more factors affect sales than just “writing a good book.” I’ve put on so many different hats (writer, editor, formatter, artist, book cover designer, marketer) that it’s all become a standard process for me. What stage is X book at? What needs to get done to move it forward? What about Y book? And Z? It’s also made me all that much more appreciative of the efforts of everyone involved in the process.
So now I’m looking back, realizing it’s been about 16 years since I first started writing a book with the intent of becoming a published author. That’s almost half my life. I’ve learned a lot since then, one of which is that I’m a writer not because it’s fate or destiny or whatever egotistic bullshit writers tell themselves, but because I write. Because it’s a craft I’ve put the hours in, and I enjoy the doing more than anything else I get out of it (i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶a̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶), and frankly I’ve done other jobs and I’m nowhere near half as competent.
“Dance like no one is watching” is a philosophy I’ve applied to my writing all these years, and it is something I still follow. I’ve been told I should step back and enjoy my hard work, but the truth is, it IS the hard work I enjoy the most. Praise is nowhere near as good as me pulling off a sequence of scenes exactly as I envisioned them, and the high of getting a book to the final stages and not hating it beats just about anything. It is enough for me to be given the chance to do this. I want to keep writing, I want to keep creating stories, I want to learn about storytelling and talk about stories and analyze stories until my brain stops working and/or people fall asleep listening to me.
I think what I’m trying to say is that a publishing schedule enables my habit…
