And That's All I Can Really Say...
Yesterday I worked from 6 to 10:30. Today I'm working from 2 to 10:30. I keep working long shifts that end late at night, and I have a really long commute, and I actually didn't sleep last night when I got home because my anxiety was going off of the walls, so I stayed up and now I'm going back to work without any rest, but I really don't care because I can't afford to care because I'm 600 dollars in debut and I still have Christmas gifts to buy on top of coffee and bus money. It's a hard-knock life.
The thing is, this hard-knock life is very time consuming. And when I do have free time it's usually spent doing laundry/dishes/homework. I may have underestimated just how heavy my workload was when I mentioned some previous release dates. I wanted to put out the first instalment of ADSD next month, and I've barely started drafting it. I wanted to put out SOSAS on the 15th, but I am nowhere near done editing it. And it's not that the book is bad at this stage. I could have something to publish by the 15th, and it would be a good book, but it would not be the right book.
Right now I'm focused on trying not to drop dead, trying not to flunk out, and trying to save up enough money that I can, you know, stop fucking worrying about money. I've got a small ghostwriting gig on the side that helps a bit, but it's mostly chump change, so I can not afford to quit this job right now.
I want to put out the best books I can. I rushed both the Lilac shorts and Things We Saw At Midnight, not during the drafting process, but during editing - and those books suffered for it. I've cleaned up the Lilac Jones shorts, and I'll be revising and republishing TWSAM soon, but right now I'm focused on Souls of Salt and Seawater. On not rushing it. On letting it grow and nurturing the vision of Josmea that I have in my head. This is the first introduction to a world that I plan to spend years and years of my career writing different books in, and I want it to be a good first impression.
More importantly, I know that Alice, Joram, and Rayna deserve to have their stories told in the best way possible. And I know you guys deserve a finished product that is of the same quality you'd find from a traditional publisher. That doesn't happen when I rush.
But I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I don't have more to show you guys, more words for you to read. I want to put things out, and I'm constantly torn between trying to be prolific and trying to be sane, and well-written.
I would rather be the last two.
So I'm not rushing myself anymore. I'm not rushing my works.
What does that mean? Well, it means that SOSAS won't be out on the 15th, this month. It might not be out until the 15th of next month. Or the month after that. I can say it will definitely be out in the next few months. When I say I don't know when it will come out, what I really mean is, I have a good idea of how long it will take me to finish this, but I've guessed wrong before and been mad about it so now I'm keeping my mouth shut.
As soon as it's done, arcs will go out to people on my arc list (I have not forgotten about anyone on Tumblr!) and I'll be talking about it and posting about it and advertising the release date to high heavens. But I've decided that I'm going to take a page out of Amanda Hocking's book and just not talk about my works until they're finished and I'm ready to hit publish. So as soon as my currently announced titles are released, I won't be talking about anything I'm writing until I'm ready to share it with you guys, no matter how much I really, really, really, really want to.
So, I'm sorry, if you were waiting for the Dec. 15th release. The book is still coming. But I want it to be the best quality I can make it, and quality takes time, which is something I don't have much of. And that's all I can really say, for now.
Time to go get ready for work T.T
The thing is, this hard-knock life is very time consuming. And when I do have free time it's usually spent doing laundry/dishes/homework. I may have underestimated just how heavy my workload was when I mentioned some previous release dates. I wanted to put out the first instalment of ADSD next month, and I've barely started drafting it. I wanted to put out SOSAS on the 15th, but I am nowhere near done editing it. And it's not that the book is bad at this stage. I could have something to publish by the 15th, and it would be a good book, but it would not be the right book.
Right now I'm focused on trying not to drop dead, trying not to flunk out, and trying to save up enough money that I can, you know, stop fucking worrying about money. I've got a small ghostwriting gig on the side that helps a bit, but it's mostly chump change, so I can not afford to quit this job right now.
I want to put out the best books I can. I rushed both the Lilac shorts and Things We Saw At Midnight, not during the drafting process, but during editing - and those books suffered for it. I've cleaned up the Lilac Jones shorts, and I'll be revising and republishing TWSAM soon, but right now I'm focused on Souls of Salt and Seawater. On not rushing it. On letting it grow and nurturing the vision of Josmea that I have in my head. This is the first introduction to a world that I plan to spend years and years of my career writing different books in, and I want it to be a good first impression.
More importantly, I know that Alice, Joram, and Rayna deserve to have their stories told in the best way possible. And I know you guys deserve a finished product that is of the same quality you'd find from a traditional publisher. That doesn't happen when I rush.
But I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I don't have more to show you guys, more words for you to read. I want to put things out, and I'm constantly torn between trying to be prolific and trying to be sane, and well-written.
I would rather be the last two.
So I'm not rushing myself anymore. I'm not rushing my works.
What does that mean? Well, it means that SOSAS won't be out on the 15th, this month. It might not be out until the 15th of next month. Or the month after that. I can say it will definitely be out in the next few months. When I say I don't know when it will come out, what I really mean is, I have a good idea of how long it will take me to finish this, but I've guessed wrong before and been mad about it so now I'm keeping my mouth shut.
As soon as it's done, arcs will go out to people on my arc list (I have not forgotten about anyone on Tumblr!) and I'll be talking about it and posting about it and advertising the release date to high heavens. But I've decided that I'm going to take a page out of Amanda Hocking's book and just not talk about my works until they're finished and I'm ready to hit publish. So as soon as my currently announced titles are released, I won't be talking about anything I'm writing until I'm ready to share it with you guys, no matter how much I really, really, really, really want to.
So, I'm sorry, if you were waiting for the Dec. 15th release. The book is still coming. But I want it to be the best quality I can make it, and quality takes time, which is something I don't have much of. And that's all I can really say, for now.
Time to go get ready for work T.T
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