On Writing

 I follow and connect with a lot of writers on Twitter. When that sort of thing works properly it can be a really positive experience. It can help younger or new writers to avoid pitfalls and it gives those of us with more of a track record the satisfaction of being a help. 

More than a few of the ones that need help went to school to LEARN WRITING. I'm not against arts writing programs. Not at all. They do have one problem. By their very nature of being in school and needing to create a visible syllabus they preach frameworks and methods.  Some students thrive with these building blocks. Some spend years following the rules and preparing to write, only to find they haven't written word one of the actual (book, film, you name it). 

It never hurts to be on a platform that has someone tell you, "Just tell a good story and fix it in rewrites."

The very first book I ever wrote was also the book I have rewritten the most. The first draft was written roughly thirty years ago. I polished it to the best of my -then- ability and sent it out. While waiting for results I started something else. Number one was quite rightly rejected soundly. Time passed and I realized I had jumped in ability. Not wanting to let sleeping manuscripts die I went back and rewrote book one.   

Years passed and I kept writing submitting and getting better and more completely rejected by publishers. I continued to rewrite the earlier books as I improved. In the process, turning the first one into the first book in what is now a four book series. 

When I got the comment, "I love your stuff but I don't know  how to sell you." From a New York Agent I began to realize that the established publishing world was not going to make a place for me. I was going to have to make my own place, both on my own and with one or more small presses. Brave talk for a writer who spells so badly that even the best spell check sometimes rolls over and says "I dunno man I got nuthin."

 

Check out book one. The first draft was written while my kids were watching Sesame Street. 

amazon.com/author/tabithabaumander 

Snow day

 Its sunny today but yesterday was a snow day in more ways than one. My son, who's been riding his bike to work to avoid getting on a bus along with a lot of other people most of whom still don't know how to wear a mask properly, even had to leave his bike at home. He did so again today. It made me glad for once that I work from home. You can handle isolation when you're avoiding an hour wait for a bus you can fit onto, in a snow storm, in a pandemic. 

My work day consisted of sitting where I am sitting now and watching the snow fall while talking to total strangers. Same Stuff Different Day. Mind you being stuck at home even more than I have been has cut into my filming for my You Tube, not to mention having to scramble for ideas to write about here. 

To heck with the weather lets talk about books. I once had someone read through a bunch of my short stories describe my writing style as this; 

"You start walking along a path in a park and its nice and interesting and then you unwittingly step off the path and instead of just standing on the grass next to the path you are someplace completely different."

I think in general that can be said for a lot of what I write. I don't write a lot of short stories. Most of  them end up being short enough to be called Flash Fiction and that's a different book. For the record stress in the last couple of years has got in the way of my being able to do a deep enough dive into a plot to do proper full length novels. I have therefor been producing a lot of novellas.  My anthology THE FOURTH WALL has a good selection of both.

It was originally published by a small press that dropped me six weeks later (poor sales and the press was refocusing regarding what they were going to handle) costing me a kick ass cover and disconnecting me from one hell of a review that Amazon says cannot be moved from that cover to this one. 

Try it out;

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F5GPZ1N/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p3_i7

Its winter and the weather is crap. Make tea and have a read. 

True Out

 January and the doldrums have arrived. Makes me miss the first lockdown when I was living on the Covid money and didn't have the proper equipment to telecommute so I spent several months writing and crocheting. And napping. I am feeling a great nostalgic draw toward the concept of napping. That being said I have a shift in an hour so lets talk about a book.

The idea for True Out came from a screen writing class. It was one of those one day events that are supposed to draw you in and take the longer and more expensive class. I didn't primarily because I cant afford that sort of thing. To arrive at the place w here they were teaching the class you went in one door of a converted factory and followed a long strange hallway till you finally found the right door. 

This gave me the idea for my underground world in True Out. In case your interested I wrote the screenplay then the novel. My hero Mic escapes from this underground world to find a very different and to him unbelievably rich surface world.  He has to learn a completely new language not to mention get menially used to the concept of space and a sky but he does and in time makes a life. 

Then he looks up and the blue sky with fluffy white clouds vanishes for a moment and he sees a slate grey metal roof. Its only a flash but its real and in a world that has nothing like air travel he has no way of getting to that roof and the True Out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PRMT3GG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i10 

you can find it at the link above or go to my amazon page 

amazon.com/author/tabithabaumander 

You can't nap at work but you can read on your break.

make a start

 As I write this I am two hours away from the start of my first shift of 2022. Typically after not writing anything new in weeks I wrote the first chapter of a possible new book on the weekend. I am therefore resenting the robbing away of the next eight hours. On the flip side of that; money is good. What's also good is the discipline of having to get up, turn on the work computer and push my brain into some kind of extra level of activity. 

The fact is, most writers, even writers published by conventional publishers, have day jobs.  More of them do now that ever before because book stores have changed the way they put books on shelves and for instance only have the first book of a given series or perhaps only one or two books from a given author. Any interested customers would have to order the rest. Sure some readers do but not in the same amounts. I've heard tales of authors who haven't had to think about a day job in years, having to get out the want ads because the sales just aren't there anymore.

Its been quite a few days since I last posted anything. Nothing exciting has happened. Well, when you get right down to it nothings happened.  Its winter. Its cold out. There's a plague and they brought back the extra measures to try and stem this next wave. I kind of resent that because it got in the way of meeting friends for a new years movie afternoon. We did a Christmas movie. It was great. 

The fact is this bug is adapting to the human condition and in time will just be a dangerous flu you need to get a shot for every year. I can live with that I get an ordinary flu shot anyway.  Viruses are living things and it makes no evolutionary sense for a virus to kill its host. 

In the mean time its January, its cold and spring is a long way off. I'm going to leave you now and get ready to answer phones. I'll also day dream about ghosts haunting buildings that used to be owned by bootleggers.

When life gets to you remember this guy. He think its crap as well so at least you've got company.