Indie Publishing

There are a lot of different reasons writers decide not to publish traditionally. There are a lot of different ways to analyze and assess the pros and cons of such a choice.

I don't know very much about that. In fact, my reasons for deciding on indie publishing has very little to do with pros or cons.

When I first started writing as a kid it was mostly because my friends had decided that we were too old to dress up and play make believe (they were wrong, of course, and apparently didn't know about Renaissance Faires and SCA). I liked books and it was a fun way to channel my imagination.

It wasn't until I'd graduated high school and had already written two books that I began to seriously consider publication. Everyone was suddenly asking me what I was going to do with my life and I thought, well I like writing stories. I like playing ideas and characters and possibilities.

I've grown a lot as a writer since then. I've learned from classes and books and other writers. I know more about how the business works and what the readers expect. My writing is better because of it but somewhere along the way I started focusing less on fostering my imagination and telling a good story and more on "succeeding as a writer".

I wanted a reward for my work. A paycheck. Some important person giving me that stamp of approval. "Yes, you are a writer", "Yes, people care what you have to say", "Yes, you should write more".

But I don't need that. That's the kind of utilitarian thinking that is never satisfied. The process of writing is its own reward and the only person I have to impress is myself.

That's my first reason for deciding on indie publishing. Not because I think there is anything wrong with traditional publishing or that writers shouldn't want payment or appreciation for their work but because I remember what it's like to surrender completely to the story I am trying to tell and let everything else go. I want to enjoy the process and not worry about what I am going to earn in exchange for it. Art for art's sake.

The second reason is a little more psychological and related specifically to me. I tend to be a very cautious person. I like to research decisions before I make them. I like to know what I am getting into. I analyze. I decipher. I consider.

Unfortunately I rarely feel I have enough information to know anything for certain and so I put off making decisions. Sometimes for years. Sometimes forever until the opportunity is beyond gone.

I believe it is time for me to jump, eyes closed, future uncertain, into the great abyss. Maybe I'll crash. Maybe I'll break a few things.

Maybe I'll fly.

Writing Warriors

Greetings. This is my first time participating in Weekend Writing Warriors. I look forward to sampling everyone's writing. Below are the first eight sentences of my dark fantasy SNOW ROSES.

I grew used to papa's death the way summer dwindles into winter; silently, laboriously, without hope.
I do not know when the funeral was held. I do not know how many foreign dignitaries attended or how the common folk mourned the loss of their ruler. I imagine I was invited --expected to attend in somber black silk, suffering silently by my stepmother's side. I imagine that my handmaidens pleaded with me to allow them to dress me but I never heard them. I paced across the intricate weave of my chamber's rug, losing myself in it's elaborate swirls, trying to conceive some kind of consistent pattern. My eyes grew raw and tender around the rims and I slept little and ate only when coerced. My already slight form and pale skin became a rattle of bones and a ghostly pallor.

Snow Roses

I've been putting off making this official because . . .

Well I'm more than a little terrified of my decision. But I know it's the right decision. For me and for this project.

So. Officially.

I have decided to publish my book SNOW ROSES all on me ownsome.

There. No backing out of it now. Official.

W: Wariars, X: Xena, Y: Yard, and Z: Zany

I apologize for the wordless posts that went up earlier this month. I had scheduled the titles, intending to write whatever came to mind the day they went up, and then forgot all about them.

This is what I was doing instead of blogging.



Helping my sister plan and throw her warrior princess birthday party.



Complete with tournament



And ogres (guests without costumes)



And, of course, warrior princesses



So I apologize. I didn't mean to spam you all with posts that weren't really posts. I'll try to stay more on top of things.

V: Violins

U: Utilitarianism

Utilitarian philosophy was constructed during the industrial revolution. It holds that everything's worth is measured by its usefulness and productivity.

Needless to say fiction isn't greatly valued.

Nor is music.

Or poetry.

Or dancing in the rain.