Yesterday I typed a final word on the last page of my book: END
Now comes the next step: writing a prologue and a synopsis. I had to look up both words to determine if I understood them. The synopsis is a two-page, single-spaced effort describing the story in third person present tense. It took me ten years and 91500 words to tell, and now I have to give them the Readers Digest version. What is strange is that they want to read the synopsis to get interested in reading the whole thing.
I assume my first book submission has failed, as I have not received a contract yet. A company steeped in automation and AI would also have an automated rejection letter, but I am still waiting for a notice. The lack of news tells me to move on to another adventure. This BLOG may be it.
It seems like forever ago, I wrote that the reason I stopped blogging is because I am trying to finish my book. I am still trying. I can’t seem to get to the end in a way that makes sense. Of course, I could drop an atomic bomb in the story, which could make sense, but I’m not that desperate yet.
By the way, you can begin looking for this book anywhere that sells fine books. BAC-British American Colonies. If you find one, let me know how it finishes, I can use some help.
I’ve been so involved in completing my second book, which I began in 2014, that I have stopped posting. This story is totally the opposite of the one I submitted to a publisher last month. The first called Space Rod is loaded with sex, while BAC doesn’t spend any time on sexual matters at all. Space Rod deals with grief and impersonal sexual relationships. This new story is based on the premise that George Washington was killed during the Revolutionary War and the thirteen colonies which extended to the Mississippi River never got any larger.
The world was very different because there wasn’t a United States of America. Consequently, there was never a Louisiana Purchase, and Texas remained its own country. Texas expanded into the Mexican domain and stretched up to Canada. Spain was left with Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Washington, and Hitler won the war in Europe. My head spins with all the possibilities that exist in storytelling. Hopefully, I’ll complete the manuscript before the end of Summer, and return to Blogging.
I am obsessed with finishing this goal because my time on this earth is shortening rapidly, and there is so much I still want to do. I first began writing Space Rod in 2013 and then switched to BAC-British American Colonies in 2014, thinking I’d finish them both. Then Peggy developed dementia, and my life turned into taking care of her. Peggy has been gone for five years already and I don’t have that as an excuse any longer. It is time to put on my big boy pants and do the job.
I have pledged not to do any Intarsia or gardening until I submit BAC to a publisher. If one, both, or none get published, my goals will change accordingly based on my desire to sell stories.
A few weeks ago, I asked my readers to tell me how many readers they have on their blogs. The response was as expected: only a few. What surprised me was the variation in the numbers reported. An even larger surprise was that some of you reported really low numbers, and some reported big numbers. I was feeling a bit low at that time and seriously asked myself why I spent so much time writing something that not many people read. My readership is low and has been low from day one when I began blogging in 2009. Over the years my highest daily average of readers peaked at 73 and is currently 13. It really doesn’t matter much at all, but I am an engineer and I love numbers. Right from the beginning I made a pledge that I would not engage myself in commercialism on grumpajoesplace. I don’t chase followers unless they write stories that engage me. I feel that if someone wants to read my opinions they are welcome to do so, if not, so what?
One thing this blog has taught me is to become a better writer. By writing often, I am forced to make my thoughts more understandable and clearly presented. Since I began using AI (Grammerly) I am learning to phrase things differently. In other words, I am being trained to write like a robot and not like Grumpa Joe. It is not really important to me, I enjoy writing for the sake of writing. If a few people find my blog and decide to read my posts so be it. I hope they enjoy it.
The most positive thing I have enjoyed is meeting people from all over the world. After commenting back and forth with them, they have become my good friends. I only wish that one day, I can meet them face to face over an adult beverage.
I’m just sitting here talking to myself and thinking how easy it is to critique someone’s work than it is to do the actual work. Writing a book is a lot harder than reading a book, but criticizing a book is a lot easier than readng it. Enjoying a good movie or video is a lot easier than making it. Editing a book is harder than reading it. I am learning that getting an idea to write a book is a lot easier than writing a book. In my current work, I got a single idea of what I wanted a story to be about, but developing that idea into a full fledged story is another matter. An idea can sometimes be expressed in a few words or sentences, but developing that same idea and expanding it into a hundred thousand word story becomes work.
I enjoy a good story with solid characters and a good plot. In my story, I’m not sure I am doing enough to develop strong characters, and the plot seems to be weak. When writing, the principal thing to remember is to show the story and not tell the story. I am great at telling stories but weak at showing them. In fact, it took me a long time to know the difference between the two. By the time I learn that difference and apply it to my writing, I’m afraid my body clock will have worn out.
I often wonder how many books being written actually get published and how many of those that get published make money. What I do know is that the time I spend on writing a post or a story that it really isn’t worth the effort in income production. If I stood on a street corner holding a sign saying, “Please help a starving writer,” I think I would make more money than I would if I had published a book.
Even with all the ways I can think of to avoid wasting my time writing, I am determined to complete the work and send it off to a publisher. One way to tell if your time was worth it is if it is actually published. The second way is to make money on it. If you make some money, it is the measure of the story’s success.
If my book is published and it does make some money, then maybe, I can retire from being retired.
