Dreams and Dandelions

Sketchfest is still on--there's a bunch of art uploaded already, I encourage you to go look.  The artists range from beginners to very skilled, and everyone is welcome to leave prompts or to join in and sketch.

Thinking about art, recently, always reminds me I want to get some of my stories available as e-books.  To do this I need cover art, and the day job hasn't given me time to try to level up in art and create it myself. 

If I'm not to create it myself, then I'll need to get cover art from someone else, which has had me pondering payment for art.  Now, I know that Ms. Rusch has talked about the foolishness of not simply hiring cover art, that giving away royalties for your art is, in the long run (if the book sells) not as good an investment financially for a writer as buying it outright.  Of course, she doesn't point out that if you never sell enough to make up your costs, that doesn't matter at all--and the introduction of easy self-publishing does not, in any way, guarantee sales.  I also thoroughly approve of Torn World's policy of treating all creators--poets, writers, and artists--equally, so that artists get royalties on the Torn World Anthology.

Other things have impacted my musings.

Talking at a recent convention with a traditionally-published author who is glad that she could put her out-of-print books up as e-books and, as she said, "there's no reason to ever let them go out of print again".  So what if she sells just one or two books in a month?  That's a trickle of income for her and happiness for her fans, who can now buy books they couldn't before, to fill in the holes in their collections.

No reason to ever let them go out of print.  That sounds really good to me.

Then, I thought more--if a work is in print forever, and I owe somebody else part of the royalties, then I have to keep accounting records forever--and keep track of where my artists and/or co-authors are forever too. 

Um...that's not so attractive. That is, in fact, rather appalling.  I hate the paperwork part of this business--it's part of why I didn't make my ten submissions per month.  I do nothing but paperwork at my day job, and I want to do creative stuff once I get home and relax a bit.  

The more I think about it, the more I'd rather take the gamble of sinking my money into buying the right to use the art for my cover outright.  By doing that, I'm buying more than art.  I'm buying freedom from spending my time on administrivia that would be (for me) decidedly an unpleasant chore.

Now I guess I should start considering who to hire, and when I can afford to do it.  Happily, looking at art is not an unpleasant chore!

Torn World's Muse Fusion is happening, as is crowdfunding 's Creative Jam (Creative Jam on Live Journal and Creative Jam on Dreamwidth)

I hope to see you at one or both places!

New creators are welcome at Torn World--there's a link to our guidelines in the Muse Fusion post, or you can use our prompts to make something in your own worlds, and simply share it with us as inspired by Torn World.

Now I'm going to go read all the prompts and start creating!  Perhaps I'll grab some prompts from each page--I often find the intersection of different ideas leads to better stories than using just one. 

If your prompt helps me to creatre a story, poem, or artwork (even if there were also five others that also did), I'll share it with you for free, privately, regardless of the eventual fate of the story.  I'll also share at least one thing I create this weekend in my journal so everyone gets a taste of what my creative weekend was like.

So thank you for the prompts!


ETA:  What happened to the function that let me link to Life Journal accounts from here?  Oh well, post edited to be more sightly, if slightly less functional.  If you want to find us there, Torn World's live journal community is called Torn_World, and Crowdfunding's is spelled exactly as it is here.

I don't feel inspired to do a 2011 retrospective. Maybe this weekend.

Right now, I'm feeling more like looking forward, considering: What goals should I have in the new year?

One friend, seen at the New Year's Eve party I always go to, said he thought perhaps he should aim for more hugs in 2012. That sounds like a good goal to me. I don't know if it will get more stories written, re-grow my guitar calluses, or further any other of my long-term creative goals, but friends are important too.

I'm going to keep my 10-submissions-a-month goal that I started last year, and have already copied the spreadsheet, renamed it, and entered the first submission. I didn't make that goal every month--some months I did more and lots fell short--but it helped me focus in a positive way, when I wasn't too busy to look at it. There were also times that everything I had on hand was out already.

That leads to a clear conclusion--I need to write more. To that end, I think I should log into the chat room with the other toonowrimo  writers more often.  The only problem with this is there's rarely anyone in the room between dinnertime and what should be my bedtime.  So if there's anyone else interested in writing from 7 to 11 CST, let me know.  I think I'll try to do at least one word war regularly, meaning at a minimum more days than not.

Speaking of bedtime, I need to put a higher priority on sleep.  Being too tired is too much like writer's block. Who cares if it's 7 p.m.--if I'm tired enough to sleep during what is normally my most creative time of day then I should treat myself to actual proper sleep-in-a-bed.  I must remember that exhaustion--which is not the same thing as working past dawn on a night when the Muse is whispering in my ear and I can sleep in the next day--leeches away my time and creativity.  Staying up always seems more attractive than the face-hugger, but for the most part, that's a lie.

I am, of course, planning to keep my day job in 2012. Paying the bills is a good thing, and so is health insurance, even if that keeps getting more expensive and covers less every year.  I also like having a job where I get to help people who, through no fault of their own, have been hurt. (I admit, I still do like writing fiction better. Too bad as a culture we have fallen into the attitude that nearly all creative work should be available for free.)

That brings me to another rather free-form goal--to keep stretching my skills as a storyteller, including not only my writing, but my art, music, and ancillary stuff like promoting the small-press publications I'm in.

I've committed to running the next Torn World contest, answering questions and cheerleading and trying to fill in for Ellen while ellenmillion  is on maternity leave.  If you folks want to give me a gift, enter the next Torn World contest and harass me for links to background information or snag me in a chat room to brainstorm before sitting down to create something for the contest.  That contest will be another Fauna of Torn World contest, so stories, poetry, art, and metafiction about sea monsters, invasive insects, cute pets, and strange wildlife will all be welcome!  (If you want to give Ellen a gift, enter this month's contest, whose theme is Fashions and Fads--you're welcome to ask me for information, links, or brainstorming this month too!). 

As to my own Torn World projects, I plan to finish Wild Snowy Chase very soon, and then turn my attention to some of my other characters.  Lalya in particular has been neglected; I need to plot out more of his story and immerse myself in it for a while.

I do want to work on the Feather-Blessed Dragons story--I owe that to meeks  for the wonderful art she made for it, but I've been wanting to find time for it anyway.  I'd also love to finish Clockwork Dragon, and I have some ideas for stories to submit to upcoming anthologies too.

I also still want to put some of my short stories out as an e-book anthology, and maybe a few as freebie singles, but I have not yet figured out what to do for cover art.  Maybe if I can carve out more time for art, I will succeed in making some.  I'm still leery of spending money on it, since I still have bills to pay off and deferred house fixing stuff that's been on hold due to being unemployed for so long.  But that might eventually be the solution. 

In short, 2012 will be another year where I dream big and try to make a bunch of those dreams real. 

It's bedtime for me now--I have to work tomorrow, after all.  This weekend is Sketchfest, so I'll be doing some art--but in between sketches, does anybody want to war?

I welcomed in the new year by finishing a story just before the submission deadline, reading it aloud, tweaking it, and sending it in. I really prefer having a few days or weeks to get some distance before doing a final revision and sending something in to an editor, but a deadline is a deadline, and I figure it's nice if a themed publication inspired a story to actually finish the story and send it in to them.

Then I was ready to head off to bed, and remembered that the bed frame broke this morning. Oh, well, it was old when we got it. However, we had to finish disassembling it and set up the mattress and box spring on the floor, and re-make the bed.

We would have doubtless done that sooner, except I discovered that some of the radiators weren't radiating heat, so we had to go around and bleed the dumb things again--something My Angel did most of, while I tried to finish the story.

I'd love to know why it's so much harder for me to write science fiction than fantasy.

Joyous Solstice!

I'm not ready for the holidays, but I'm certainly ready for the days to start getting longer again.

In cookie news, I've tried a new recipe that worked really well:

Yum!  Now I just need a name for them.

I also made magic cookie bars (the recipe on the Eagle condensed milk)  I put the ingredients on the magic cookie bars in the wrong order, and they separated vertically, which isn't particularly good for the taste.  (I'm using smashed Rice Chex instead of graham cracker crumbs or cornflake crumbs, the two traditional possibilities for the bottom layer).  But they're still good.

Other cookie experiments, assuming I have time to make them, will be shared later.

I started a Zazzle store last night. Not much there, but you're welcome to check it out.  If it's not there right away, it should be soon, the directions say it can take up to 24 hours for items to appear, and I have no experience with how long it usually takes within that window.

Also, I just got an e-mail stating that on some items--white shirts and mouse pads included--the discount code EASYGIFTIDEA will give you 30% off (for a limited time). So if you want one, you're welcome to get it on sale!

http://www.zazzle.com/wyld_dandelyon

http://www.zazzle.com/angry_tree_tshirt-23542671782164088

http://www.zazzle.com/island_city_mousepad-144744081301695

http://www.zazzle.com/city_in_the_clouds_mousepad-1445293738987

If anyone has tips on how to make the best use of Zazzle, I'm happy to listen.

Win some books from my overstocked library!  Details here:  http://wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com/190392.html 

Here's a picture of part of the library.  I have a big old Victorian house, of the vintage that has two parlours. My Angel and I turned the gentleman's parlour into a library, with as many bookshelves as we could stuff into it and still have a couple of places to sit. Almost all of it is speculative fiction--and I have no room left for new books.

I bet I have some treasures in there that you'd love.



As you can see, I've already filled up the tops of all the bookshelves, occasionally with more shelving!  

(No, the dragon sculpture is not available as a prize!)

Torn World is having a new contest! There are four categories: Art, Poetry, Fiction, and Meta-fiction, and Ellen has made some suggestions for possible topics of all of the above, though those are far from exhaustive. The ones in the announcement are to help get people thinking, not to limit your options!


( More thoughts! )

Ysabet is taking prompts again, and writing poetry all day: http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2034492.html

If you like food or poetry, you should stop by and leave a prompt, or at least check out her journal as the day progresses and read the free poem (which is about chocolate) and any other poems that are sponsored. Please note--if she gets at least one new prompter, there will be a second free poem, in addition to the ones that are sponsored.

Actually, less than two days, now, and my latest-published story will be on sale with the rest of the stories in the anthology.

To celebrate, the editors are doing a Goodreads giveaway: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12685623-subversion