by Janis Susan
May/Janis Patterson
Okay, take a deep breath. We have survived the Christmas
crazies and the New Year's excesses; since it's after Twelfth Night, all the
Christmas decorations should be packed away for next December and probably most
of us have already broken the ambitious New Year's Resolutions we have made.
It's time for normal (whatever that is!) life to begin
again. Some of us have already returned to our jobs. 2019 is a blank slate,
ready for us to fill in for good or for ill.
The prospect is terrifying. There is only so much time and
yet so many things that cry to be done. We have families who must be attended
to and enjoyed. We have jobs that need to be done, whether day jobs in the business
world or the job of running a home or whatever. We have civic duties. We
have.... You get the idea; everyone's life is different in details, but the
same in so many ways.
So how do we do it all? The answer to that is as individual
as we are. Speaking only of the writing part of our lives, we must write. And
edit. And re-write, sometimes ad nauseam. Add to that research, and the
necessity of giving some thought to our next project, and that bête noir of every writer I know,
publicity. All the above apply - in various proportions - whether we are
traditionally, self or hybrid published, whether we are a full time or a part
time writer.
I read on one of the writers' chat loops that several
writers spend up to 50% of their writing time on publicity. Somehow that seems
so wrong. We should be writers, not publicity hacks. I know that If I wanted to
spend that much time dealing with publicity and such I would have stayed in
advertising - and be making a lot more money!
I know there are loads of publicity services available, all
with different pricing structures. Most - dare I say all? - are out of my price
range. I have a stubborn refusal to spend more on publicity than I am making.
It is illogical, to quote Mr. Spock.
It's late for making Christmas wishes, but if I were allowed
one it would be that some enterprising person would start a publicity service
that even those of us who don't have a lot of money - read 'very little' -
could afford. Think of what we could do with all that creative time! And even
if the prices were kept quite low, think of how much money that publicity
person could make. It would be a win-win situation.
As for the writing itself, I have long said that writers
work pretty much 24/7. Even if we go days without touching a keyboard,
somewhere in our brains there is a part that whirrs and thumps and wrestles
with storylines - even if we are sometimes totally unaware of it. Ideas and
wording and plots don't come from thin air; they are lured into the open air by
hard work, creativity and skill. There is no magic shortcut, darn it.
Neither is there a magic formula. Some writers write a set
number of words or hours every day in rigid discipline. Others write only when
their 'muse' dictates. Others write in unbelievable multi-day explosions of
creativity, putting aside every other consideration. There is no absolutely 'correct'
way. Neither is there a completely consistent way, no matter what style of
writing one chooses. There is family, there is illness, there are unexpected
emergencies... all commonly called 'life,' and writers must work around them.
And somehow we all manage.
It's called life, and life does go on.
