Fixed... Kind of

[lydamorehouse]

The plumber arrived yesterday only an hour later than promised and did the work in about two; everything was fixed by three o'clock when I had to go fetch Mason from school. The bill was not astronomical, either. Love my handyman service. I kiss them. Although now I have to get on their schedule so that someone will come and patch the two holes I have in my walls (on in the ceiling, the other behind the couch in the TV room.) Ah well. Holes I can live with.

In other news, I (as Tate only) am now Twittering. I tweet. I hear all you kids are into it. Please feel free to follow me or friend me or whatever.

Today is also promising to be very busy. After I pick Mason up in a couple of hours, I'll be headed off to Barnes & Noble to pick up a book of weird hauntings that I put on reserve on Tuesday. It was one of those books that I dithered over. It's kind of cheesy, but when I found myself telling stories I'd skimmed to my partner in the car an hour later, I thought, "I should have bought that." Luckily, when I called B&N they were able to grab it and put in on-hold behind the counter.

Mason also wants to check out the Star Wars section, since we didn't get to it during our last visit. (He got stuck in the humor section, reading GARFIELD.) Then, it's off to pick up our CSA box from Driftless Organics (beets! whoot!), and then a little cat herding as we try to get Ms. Deliah (the cat that Barney from Tate's books is largely based on) into her carrier and off to the vet for shots and "animal wellness" check-up.

I think Mason gets another fast-food dinner, which is only ironic given all the farm-fresh, organic produce we'll have in the car. He got one yesterday (McD's, alas,) because the kitchen was still completely in disarray. I'd had time to mop the floor, but not return all the tables and whatnot back in place. I let him eat some crap while I dusted and replaced everything -- from pictures on the wall to our various cups and such we leave out. When seanmmurphy came over he noiced that everything was much more sparkily than usual. (It's true. I almost took a picture. The kitchen, outside of the big hole, has never looked better. I'm only sad that Shawn was in Seattle and missed seeing the results. It'll be dust-ridden by Saturday, mark my words.)

This morning started out strange because I got handed a very cryptic note from one of Mason's classmates. A phone call later it turned into one of those conversations with the uninitiated that I hate. Mason's friend has a mom who decided that, after having met me, that writing must be "the life." She started a book and now called me up to basically ask when she could expect the money to start rolling in.

There's stuff she needs to pay for, see.

Oh. Well. Hmmm. How do I... Hmmm.

And, you know, I hate to burst that bubble of enthusiasm. I don't want to have to tell people that I could not afford to stay home an write if my partner didn't pay the bills. Money isn't the reason a person should consider a career in writing, because even when it's going gangbusters, like it is for me, it comes in drips and drabs and you can't count on it to pay the bills. You just can't.

That conversation sucks. Nobody wants to hear it. Everyone wants to hear how easy it is to break in, and how we're all going to end up like Stephanie Meyer or J.K. Rowling or Stephen King. It's really, really hard to tell someone who is looking for some hope and inspiration that those people are lucky and they only represent 1% of writers. Most of us don't even make above poverty level wages. Sorry.

*sigh*

I didn't actually get around to all that on the phone. That's a conversation, I decided, for face-to-face. Instead, I told her to enjoy the process. Keep at it. Writing can be a very fulfilling and creative and wonderful way to spend your time. And if you can find the writing itself an enjoyable task, then rest... well, the rest won't seem so bad.

Honest.

We're going to get together later this week to talk writing. I'll try to break it to her gently. Wish me luck.

Comments

[seawasp]

I'm much more direct. When someone calls me or talks to me about this, I tell them right upfront: "Realize that *I* would be considered a quite successful author. I've got real books printed. For pay. 99% of those who want to be writers -- in any serious sense, that is, not just dreaming -- will never get published except maybe as a couple of short stories. Of that 1%, over 90% of them will never make their living, or even a serious proportion of their living, from writing. Of the 10% that DO manage to make a living or most of a living from their writing, 99% of THOSE will be scraping along and occasionally doing "okay". The last 1% will actually be well off. Of them, 1% will be rich. And of those, ONE of them will be J.K. Rowling and all the others will wish they were her.

"In order to GET published, 99% of all of the writers will have to send in many manuscripts which will be examined for months or even a year or two with NO communication back, and then rejected usually with a bland form note. It may take years to get ONE acceptance -- IF you'll make the grade at all. I started writing with the dream of publication when I was 6, I started sending things in sporadically when I was 11, I got my first acceptance when I was 40.

"Oh, and if you're paying for it, you're not published. Money flows FROM the publisher, TO the author, NO exceptions. Though the money that's flowing may be very, very small. Don't expect to write for the money; I write because it's what I do.

"Now, if this hasn't broken your will and driven you to delete all documents you've written, you might be cut out for the writer's life. How are you feeling?"

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

I had this happen with a teacher in Cam's last school (fortunately, not *his* teacher). She wanted to write a children's book and wondered what a good price was for the book. When it became clear she meant how much should she pay to get it published, the conversation quickly shifted gears to business basics. She still didn't seem convinced that you didn't have to pay to get published by the time I left (it's hard to make a strong case when the teacher's class is going to hell around you because she's asking about writing instead of teaching the class, you know?), but I tried.

People seem to think that there is always a wheelbarrow full of money involved in writing, either coming in to the writer or going out to get their project published/doctored/evaluated/etc. I'm with seawasp in disabusing them of this notion A.S.A.P., although I tend to used fewer numbers in my explanation. :)

[g33kgrrl]

That reminds me of someone who told me he wanted to get into playing music for a living. Because he had just started playing guitar and was going to find a band. It took all my effort to not literally facepalm at dinner.

So yeah - good luck. I'm afraid I wasn't gentle, possibly because it took me a long time to realize he wasn't kidding.

[naomikritzer]

You have the key to the Magic Money Door? You've been holding out on me! MEANIE.