Words: 5,124
Time: 3pm - 9:30 (.5 break)
Mood: Good
Impression: It might have crossed a line... yet again.
So my sales have been rocking. Yet today was a mediocre day and I started to feel just like I did when I was making no sales. Apparently I can't be happy when I check my sales. I think I might have to ban my checking of sales again. I have to say that it's fun when I'm making more than 30 sales a day. When it's less I don't feel great.
I guess the issue is that at the beginning of the month I set a arbitrary goal. Apparently it was a good goal because now at the end of the month I am super close to making it and not making it. Right now I am just short of it. If my last release would have taken off like every other book that I've published I would have made it. But it did.
The book I wrote today is the third book in a franchise that is doing well. If I get it out before the weekend I could make goal. Tomorrow though I will be writing a third book in another series. If I can release both books I'm sure I'll make my goal.
But there's only so much I can milk that franchise. I am going to have to come up with a few new ideas. It will be a challenge.
I have decided that I need to get back to having a life. That's big talk on my part. Personally I don't think you should believe me at all. I talk big but usually when it comes down to it, I wuzz out and spend my day working. I'm just a work-a-holic. And now that my hard work is paying off, it is hard to resist.
I was thinking the other day, I have never had hard work pay off before. Don't get me wrong, there was never a time (after age 17) that I wasn't a hard worker. My father ingrained it in me very heavily. Everyone I've ever worked with has noticed it. But I never remember it actually paying off.
I certainly got opportunities because of my hard work. I've gotten a lot of offers. I just have never accepted any of them. And the opportunities that I really wanted I wasn't offered. So as a result, I've never truly benefited from my hard work before. All of the opportunities that I have actually gotten have been because of who I know... from hard work, not so much.
But with the books, when I write and release them, people buy them. And the more I write the more people buy. Okay, except for the last book. I've only sold 3 so far. I have to work on that. But this just feeds into my work-a-holic tendencies. Because no matter how much I work on myself or whatever, I still rarely find someone I can connect with, and because I'm a little nuts, the girls I find are nuts too and have interests elsewhere.
Okay, this is making me unhappy when I should be the happiest I've ever been in my life. So I'm going to stop this blog now and go watch an episode of True Blood. If I don't fall asleep after that, I will mentally outline what I will write tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Finished my 3rd story in two days.
Words: 5792
Time: 4:30 - 2:30am (1.5 hrs break)
Mood: Great
Impression: It's good.
Today I wrote book 2 of my second most popular book. I think it's a pretty great follow up. I think that it represents the title even more so than the 1st book. I found the cover models first so I know that it won't be as appealing as my first book (my cover images are super great for the first book). But I think that those that will buy the 2nd because they liked the 1st one will be even more pleased. So now if I want to write nothing but crap for every other book in this series I can, because my readers will give me a pass knowing that the first two were so good... I'm just saying.
Ya know, there's one thing for sure. When you spend your entire day writing, there's not too much to blog about. So I'll just say that my plan this week is to get these 3 books published. I was thinking that 3 would be the magic number allowing me to generate my necessary income. That would give me 9 books. I would like to write 3 more before the end of the month giving me 12. I would then create 3 anthologies giving me 15 titles total. That wouldn't be bad for a month's worth of work.
We'll see if I can do it. I'll just take it one step at a time.
Time: 4:30 - 2:30am (1.5 hrs break)
Mood: Great
Impression: It's good.
Today I wrote book 2 of my second most popular book. I think it's a pretty great follow up. I think that it represents the title even more so than the 1st book. I found the cover models first so I know that it won't be as appealing as my first book (my cover images are super great for the first book). But I think that those that will buy the 2nd because they liked the 1st one will be even more pleased. So now if I want to write nothing but crap for every other book in this series I can, because my readers will give me a pass knowing that the first two were so good... I'm just saying.
Ya know, there's one thing for sure. When you spend your entire day writing, there's not too much to blog about. So I'll just say that my plan this week is to get these 3 books published. I was thinking that 3 would be the magic number allowing me to generate my necessary income. That would give me 9 books. I would like to write 3 more before the end of the month giving me 12. I would then create 3 anthologies giving me 15 titles total. That wouldn't be bad for a month's worth of work.
We'll see if I can do it. I'll just take it one step at a time.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
I wrote 2 short stores today. I'm back!
Words: 8,961
Time: 2am - 3:45pm (1hr break)
Mood: Great
Impression: It's good
So it's been a while since I have posted. That is because I haven't been writing. I've been editing. Since my last post, I edited 2 short stories and 4 novelettes. Today was the first day that I got back on the writing train and I did it with gusto.
Here's an update on how my career is going. In short, I am now an erotic fiction writer and any books that I write outside of erotica, I have to consider a hobby. That was actually what was so painful for me before. I had come to the realization that I had to consider my writing as a hobby because I wasn't making enough money at it to sustain myself. And the truth is that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make it generate real money.
That has now all changed. I have released 6 erotica books and they are all selling well considering that the first one was released 18 days ago and the last one was 2 days ago. In short, I see a very short path to how my book earnings can cover all of my monthly expenses. There is even a possibility that it could happen this month.
I have stopped checking my revenue on my best sites for sales, but after the first week of sales I was making enough per day that if it continued I would make enough to pay my bills. That was with 2 books. I stopped checking those sites when I realized that my sales were dropping there. Apparently, those sites are great for new releases and that's it. So instead of watching the dream die, I decided to only watch the ones that matter for long term success, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And on those sites, I have only been increasing my sales per day.
My rough guess told me that if I were able to release 3 more books this month, I had a shot of generating enough per day to earn my living. However, something unexpected has happened. In my calculation, I completely disregarded my 4 book series. You might have read in earlier blogs how I decided that those books won't sell well. So I have been counting the entire series as one book. Well, on Amazon, Book 1 of that series is my best selling book. And even if I add up 2 through 4, that combined number would still be my best selling book. In other words, my series can carry the load of at least 2 books.
But if I added 3 more books that are just as popular as my current books, my monthly expenses are met. That is also assuming that my Amazon and B&N sales don't increase or decrease. Because of internal marketing factors sales on those two sites tend to increase over time. But even if they just stayed the same, I can earn my living writing. I can't even tell you how great that would be. :-)
But what is great on top of all of that is that I have come with a really great idea for a book. The title is great, the story is intriguing and alluring and I'm sure that I will create a great cover. And on top of that, the book is in the most successful erotica sub genres. All of my other books are in a less popular sub genre. So I think that this new book will become my best selling book. That would be awesome because this book is the first in a series of about 8. It would all be good.
So, today I wrote 2 short stories. One is the one I just described and the second is a book two under the same title of one of my other books. Tomorrow, I will try to either write a third book in the series I added to today or write a book 2 for my other title that I haven't mentioned. If I were superman I would write both books like I did today. We'll see.
And to address something that I wrote about in my last post, I broke my word again. I had said that I would edit all of my books before I wrote again.That would include Samurai Zombie Hunter. I scrapped that plan when I realized how well my erotica was selling. I can't put my hobby ahead of earning a living.
On a personal note, I have been working exceptionally long days. However, I have been at peace more now than I have in years. After so many missed successes, this one success validates me in a way that I needed. And now I feel great because of it.
Time: 2am - 3:45pm (1hr break)
Mood: Great
Impression: It's good
So it's been a while since I have posted. That is because I haven't been writing. I've been editing. Since my last post, I edited 2 short stories and 4 novelettes. Today was the first day that I got back on the writing train and I did it with gusto.
Here's an update on how my career is going. In short, I am now an erotic fiction writer and any books that I write outside of erotica, I have to consider a hobby. That was actually what was so painful for me before. I had come to the realization that I had to consider my writing as a hobby because I wasn't making enough money at it to sustain myself. And the truth is that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make it generate real money.
That has now all changed. I have released 6 erotica books and they are all selling well considering that the first one was released 18 days ago and the last one was 2 days ago. In short, I see a very short path to how my book earnings can cover all of my monthly expenses. There is even a possibility that it could happen this month.
I have stopped checking my revenue on my best sites for sales, but after the first week of sales I was making enough per day that if it continued I would make enough to pay my bills. That was with 2 books. I stopped checking those sites when I realized that my sales were dropping there. Apparently, those sites are great for new releases and that's it. So instead of watching the dream die, I decided to only watch the ones that matter for long term success, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And on those sites, I have only been increasing my sales per day.
My rough guess told me that if I were able to release 3 more books this month, I had a shot of generating enough per day to earn my living. However, something unexpected has happened. In my calculation, I completely disregarded my 4 book series. You might have read in earlier blogs how I decided that those books won't sell well. So I have been counting the entire series as one book. Well, on Amazon, Book 1 of that series is my best selling book. And even if I add up 2 through 4, that combined number would still be my best selling book. In other words, my series can carry the load of at least 2 books.
But if I added 3 more books that are just as popular as my current books, my monthly expenses are met. That is also assuming that my Amazon and B&N sales don't increase or decrease. Because of internal marketing factors sales on those two sites tend to increase over time. But even if they just stayed the same, I can earn my living writing. I can't even tell you how great that would be. :-)
But what is great on top of all of that is that I have come with a really great idea for a book. The title is great, the story is intriguing and alluring and I'm sure that I will create a great cover. And on top of that, the book is in the most successful erotica sub genres. All of my other books are in a less popular sub genre. So I think that this new book will become my best selling book. That would be awesome because this book is the first in a series of about 8. It would all be good.
So, today I wrote 2 short stories. One is the one I just described and the second is a book two under the same title of one of my other books. Tomorrow, I will try to either write a third book in the series I added to today or write a book 2 for my other title that I haven't mentioned. If I were superman I would write both books like I did today. We'll see.
And to address something that I wrote about in my last post, I broke my word again. I had said that I would edit all of my books before I wrote again.That would include Samurai Zombie Hunter. I scrapped that plan when I realized how well my erotica was selling. I can't put my hobby ahead of earning a living.
On a personal note, I have been working exceptionally long days. However, I have been at peace more now than I have in years. After so many missed successes, this one success validates me in a way that I needed. And now I feel great because of it.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
I have hit a new low point with my writing career
Words: 3,818
Time: 12:15 - 5:30 (.5 hr break)
Mood: Pretty good
Impression: Questionable at best
So I hit a new low point today. Today I wrote porn. And I'm not talking erotica, I'm talking porn. In erotica the characters have a bit of a back story. There is even conversation that doesn't involve sex. Porn is, 'let's see how quickly I could get these people naked and doing it.'
And it isn't just that I wrote porn. I have no problem with porn. I am a consumer of porn. Porn absolutely fills a purpose in society and I'm OK with it. No, I took my short story a step further than that. It wasn't my intention when I sat down but something someone once told me seeped into my mind as I started and I thought "wouldn't that be an interesting character trait." And after that thing was added, I just ran with it and now I feel like I might have crossed a line... again. The last time that happened: Everybody vs The Ferret: 3)
Here's the thing, last week I was watching a 1980's rerun of Siskel & Ebert, the movie review show. It was a special that discussed the "disturbing rise" of slasher films. At the time both men decided the fact that violence was being enacted one scantly clad women was an attack on the growing feminist movement. But the entire time I'm listening to them I'm thinking how well meaning but wrong they were.
A few years ago there was a study done where they stuck special instruments into women's vagina and on guy's penises. They then had the subjects watch horror films. Afterwards the subjects were asked how sexually aroused they were while watching it. More than half said not at all. However when the scientist examined their instruments' results they found that almost all of them were sexually aroused. The truth is that normal, good human beings are sexually aroused by things that scare them. Today I exploited that fact and added it into my porn.
I did have certain rules. It all had to be consensual and what not, but yep, I mixed fear and sex. And I'm not talking BDSM, I'm talking fear. Yep, it's a new low point for me. And it's time for me to stop writing.
After I finished I also realized that I now have 7 stories that all need to be edited and released. I have to say that I have been starting to feel a little depressed that I'm not selling more. I have written so much and yet, this month is turning out to be my worst month ever which takes over from last month as my worst month ever. I can't explain it. Even my Everybody Masturbates books are suffering.
But when I catch my senses I think, yes I've been working a lot, but all of my best, most marketable work is sitting idol on my computer. I don't think that I have the right to complain about not selling well if I have 7 stories that I haven't released.
So having said that, I vow not to write another new story until all of these books are finished and ready to go out. I was going to say until they are released but that will take a minimum of 7 weeks so that might be a little long to wait. So that's my vow, I will not write again until everything that I have written is done.
Granted, I'm aware of my previous vows to quit writing and accept that the vows are worth as much as the paper I write them on (ummm, I don't write the down), but still that is my vow. And this time I mean it!
I have also made a realization last night. I'm a guy that's prone to addiction. Not the obvious ones because I consider myself more unique person than that. But the first addiction that I ever realized I had was that I was a workaholic. After I made the realization I put an end to that and it crawled into another area of my life.
But for a while I have been hoping that if I had to have an addiction it would return back to being a workaholic because at least that one tends to build up your life as much as an addiction could. Well, happy birthday to me. I now barely leave my house and I rarely ever see my friends. I guess though, it's a lot better than drugs, alcohol or food. What can I do but accept and move on. Oh well. And like I said, happy birthday to me.
Time: 12:15 - 5:30 (.5 hr break)
Mood: Pretty good
Impression: Questionable at best
So I hit a new low point today. Today I wrote porn. And I'm not talking erotica, I'm talking porn. In erotica the characters have a bit of a back story. There is even conversation that doesn't involve sex. Porn is, 'let's see how quickly I could get these people naked and doing it.'
And it isn't just that I wrote porn. I have no problem with porn. I am a consumer of porn. Porn absolutely fills a purpose in society and I'm OK with it. No, I took my short story a step further than that. It wasn't my intention when I sat down but something someone once told me seeped into my mind as I started and I thought "wouldn't that be an interesting character trait." And after that thing was added, I just ran with it and now I feel like I might have crossed a line... again. The last time that happened: Everybody vs The Ferret: 3)
Here's the thing, last week I was watching a 1980's rerun of Siskel & Ebert, the movie review show. It was a special that discussed the "disturbing rise" of slasher films. At the time both men decided the fact that violence was being enacted one scantly clad women was an attack on the growing feminist movement. But the entire time I'm listening to them I'm thinking how well meaning but wrong they were.
A few years ago there was a study done where they stuck special instruments into women's vagina and on guy's penises. They then had the subjects watch horror films. Afterwards the subjects were asked how sexually aroused they were while watching it. More than half said not at all. However when the scientist examined their instruments' results they found that almost all of them were sexually aroused. The truth is that normal, good human beings are sexually aroused by things that scare them. Today I exploited that fact and added it into my porn.
I did have certain rules. It all had to be consensual and what not, but yep, I mixed fear and sex. And I'm not talking BDSM, I'm talking fear. Yep, it's a new low point for me. And it's time for me to stop writing.
After I finished I also realized that I now have 7 stories that all need to be edited and released. I have to say that I have been starting to feel a little depressed that I'm not selling more. I have written so much and yet, this month is turning out to be my worst month ever which takes over from last month as my worst month ever. I can't explain it. Even my Everybody Masturbates books are suffering.
But when I catch my senses I think, yes I've been working a lot, but all of my best, most marketable work is sitting idol on my computer. I don't think that I have the right to complain about not selling well if I have 7 stories that I haven't released.
So having said that, I vow not to write another new story until all of these books are finished and ready to go out. I was going to say until they are released but that will take a minimum of 7 weeks so that might be a little long to wait. So that's my vow, I will not write again until everything that I have written is done.
Granted, I'm aware of my previous vows to quit writing and accept that the vows are worth as much as the paper I write them on (ummm, I don't write the down), but still that is my vow. And this time I mean it!
I have also made a realization last night. I'm a guy that's prone to addiction. Not the obvious ones because I consider myself more unique person than that. But the first addiction that I ever realized I had was that I was a workaholic. After I made the realization I put an end to that and it crawled into another area of my life.
But for a while I have been hoping that if I had to have an addiction it would return back to being a workaholic because at least that one tends to build up your life as much as an addiction could. Well, happy birthday to me. I now barely leave my house and I rarely ever see my friends. I guess though, it's a lot better than drugs, alcohol or food. What can I do but accept and move on. Oh well. And like I said, happy birthday to me.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wrote my first ever short story today. Here's why:
Words: 5,678
Time: Noon - 6:45p (.5 hr break)
Mood: Good
Impression: Not as arousing as the others
So as another ploy not to start editing I decided to write something else. This came out of the fact that I've been talking to erotic story authors and they've been telling me where the audience is for certain types of stories.
Erotica, like romance has mostly a female readership. Not realizing to what extent it was a female readership, I wrote erotica for men. (Seriously, men just can't catch a break unless they write Sci-Fi or thrillers)
Well, while writing my last series I had an idea for a book that could still be appealing to any readers of my series while appealing even more to women. This story does that. I came up with the details about it in the shower this morning and wrote it today.
Is it good? I don't know. It didn't really get much of a rise out of me. But it's definitely a very open market. But I'm not sure if it's open because people aren't interested in it or because people don't think so far out of the box.
Either way it has a great title and the basics of the story are pretty good. Since a lot of people don't review erotica, that should be all it needs to sell. And get this, I can charge for it just as much as I charge for the book that I spent 3 months writing. Erotica is freakin' crazy!
Tomorrow I have Touch Rugby, but I'm considering writing one more story. To make it a total of 6 titles or 3 stories if you count the series as one since Book 2 only gets sales if readers like book one. That should be enough to test to waters. If those 6 do OK, I'll do more. Otherwise I will actually have to write 'Hide From the Reaper.' But we'll see.
Time: Noon - 6:45p (.5 hr break)
Mood: Good
Impression: Not as arousing as the others
So as another ploy not to start editing I decided to write something else. This came out of the fact that I've been talking to erotic story authors and they've been telling me where the audience is for certain types of stories.
Erotica, like romance has mostly a female readership. Not realizing to what extent it was a female readership, I wrote erotica for men. (Seriously, men just can't catch a break unless they write Sci-Fi or thrillers)
Well, while writing my last series I had an idea for a book that could still be appealing to any readers of my series while appealing even more to women. This story does that. I came up with the details about it in the shower this morning and wrote it today.
Is it good? I don't know. It didn't really get much of a rise out of me. But it's definitely a very open market. But I'm not sure if it's open because people aren't interested in it or because people don't think so far out of the box.
Either way it has a great title and the basics of the story are pretty good. Since a lot of people don't review erotica, that should be all it needs to sell. And get this, I can charge for it just as much as I charge for the book that I spent 3 months writing. Erotica is freakin' crazy!
Tomorrow I have Touch Rugby, but I'm considering writing one more story. To make it a total of 6 titles or 3 stories if you count the series as one since Book 2 only gets sales if readers like book one. That should be enough to test to waters. If those 6 do OK, I'll do more. Otherwise I will actually have to write 'Hide From the Reaper.' But we'll see.
My First Review of Samurai Zombie Hunter
I finished my conversation with the editor from Samurai Zombie Hunter today. The highlight of the conversation? He said that one of my sentences was the funniest line he has ever read. Just a little background on him, he just got his masters in literature. He's read a lot... so there's definitely that. That will go down as one of the best compliments of my life. It adds to two other phenomenally great compliments that I've gotten.
On top of that, he said that he definitely thought it was entertaining, had genuine suspense and holds the reader's attention. Now on the must-be-corrected side, he REALLY wanted me to describe more of the world than I did. He even kind of lectured me about it. Not a problem though. That's really easy to fix.
I didn't feel like editing today so instead of doing anything else I decided to work on the cover of my erotica series. I have something. I'm not sure how good it is but there's not a lot of great erotic stock footage out there for my niche. I had to make do with what I could find.
Past that, today I played racquetball. My ankle sprain didn't hurt at all. The swelling is almost completely gone. I think I'll be good to go for touch rugby on Saturday. Sweet!
I'm considering writing a quick short story tomorrow. I could definitely finish it tomorrow and write one more on Friday. Can you tell that I really don't want to edit. Maybe what I will do is make all of this week a writing week and then next week is nothing but editing. Yeah, that sounds good. Because every writer should have 6 stories that are waiting to be edited... right?
On top of that, he said that he definitely thought it was entertaining, had genuine suspense and holds the reader's attention. Now on the must-be-corrected side, he REALLY wanted me to describe more of the world than I did. He even kind of lectured me about it. Not a problem though. That's really easy to fix.
I didn't feel like editing today so instead of doing anything else I decided to work on the cover of my erotica series. I have something. I'm not sure how good it is but there's not a lot of great erotic stock footage out there for my niche. I had to make do with what I could find.
Past that, today I played racquetball. My ankle sprain didn't hurt at all. The swelling is almost completely gone. I think I'll be good to go for touch rugby on Saturday. Sweet!
I'm considering writing a quick short story tomorrow. I could definitely finish it tomorrow and write one more on Friday. Can you tell that I really don't want to edit. Maybe what I will do is make all of this week a writing week and then next week is nothing but editing. Yeah, that sounds good. Because every writer should have 6 stories that are waiting to be edited... right?
Thursday, September 22, 2011
My erotica book series is done... and I can once again start to wear pants.
Words: 7,527
Time: 12:30 - 12:15 (2 hrs break)
Mood: Good
Impression: It's between Ok and good
As I look at the clock I realize that I wrote a lot today. The word count isn't particularly impressive but I basically spent 12 hours in front of my computer. That is a lot. And my head feels like I spent that much time in front of it.
I'm not sure how great the final moments of the book are. I think it works, but sexually speaking it's hard to top all of the stuff that I've already written in this series. So instead I pulled it back. Instead of making it crazy, I made it very simple. I didn't even make it very long. It was just enough of to bring the series to a close. I'm not sure if it's because I ran out of energy or if it is what it is supposed to be. I guess I will get to it again when I do the second pass. So if I feel I need more at that point, I'll add it.
So today I finally spoke to the editor of Samurai Zombie Hunter. I have to say that I'm not sure he liked it. It is clear to me he is for some reason very impressed with my ability to plot out the story. I guess that's a pretty similar compliment to the one that I most often get which is about my storytelling. But he seemed pretty cantankerous when he was giving me feedback.
Since this is the first time I am working with him I didn't know what to think of it. Did he just really not like something about the story that he wasn't relating or was this just his character. Certainly he very clearly wanted things changed. And none of it would require more than a day or two to change. But it was almost like he was resentful about something in the story. I can't tell. But our conversation was interrupted and we are going to speak again tomorrow.
One thing that did concern me though was that he missed a very important aspect of the book. I have pretty complex story structures. Generally speaking a reader starts the book thinking that it is about one thing and at the end they realize that it was about something completely different. I have done that technique successfully with two other novels.
But for whatever reason he made a kind of harsh criticism and after I thought about it, I realized he thought that because he had missed what the book was really about. That's not good. He has his masters in literature. If anyone, he should have been able to get it, it would have been him.
Granted, he did say that the story structure is clear and good and that the character arc is very clear. But some how he missed what the story structure and character arc came together to say. I didn't even think that it was that complex of an idea. It is the exact same one I explored in Happiness Thru the Art of... Penis Enlargement. He should have gotten it.
Tomorrow when we speak I will discuss it with him and find out what caused him not to see what I was dishing out. I will also get once and for all his general impression about the book in a thumbs up, thumbs down sort of way. Either way I'm not concerned though. I have finally come to realize that there really is no way to please absolutely everyone. And he strikes me as a particularly critical guy. So because he may or may not have cared for it has no bearing on how much others will like it. I often wish it does when the reviews are all universally positive. But that doesn't mean anything either... darn it!
Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe work on editing Samurai Zombie Hunter. I'm starting to get emails asking where it is. Perhaps that would be the best use of my time. But in either case, tomorrow I can once again start to wear pants. I like my junk as much as the next guy. But staring at it all day by yourself gets old. Oh yeah, not wearing pants is something I was doing because I am currently living along and certain body parts are like a barometer to how successful your erotic writing is. So that being the case, I, of course, stopped wearing pants. But tomorrow they're back on.
Time: 12:30 - 12:15 (2 hrs break)
Mood: Good
Impression: It's between Ok and good
As I look at the clock I realize that I wrote a lot today. The word count isn't particularly impressive but I basically spent 12 hours in front of my computer. That is a lot. And my head feels like I spent that much time in front of it.
I'm not sure how great the final moments of the book are. I think it works, but sexually speaking it's hard to top all of the stuff that I've already written in this series. So instead I pulled it back. Instead of making it crazy, I made it very simple. I didn't even make it very long. It was just enough of to bring the series to a close. I'm not sure if it's because I ran out of energy or if it is what it is supposed to be. I guess I will get to it again when I do the second pass. So if I feel I need more at that point, I'll add it.
So today I finally spoke to the editor of Samurai Zombie Hunter. I have to say that I'm not sure he liked it. It is clear to me he is for some reason very impressed with my ability to plot out the story. I guess that's a pretty similar compliment to the one that I most often get which is about my storytelling. But he seemed pretty cantankerous when he was giving me feedback.
Since this is the first time I am working with him I didn't know what to think of it. Did he just really not like something about the story that he wasn't relating or was this just his character. Certainly he very clearly wanted things changed. And none of it would require more than a day or two to change. But it was almost like he was resentful about something in the story. I can't tell. But our conversation was interrupted and we are going to speak again tomorrow.
One thing that did concern me though was that he missed a very important aspect of the book. I have pretty complex story structures. Generally speaking a reader starts the book thinking that it is about one thing and at the end they realize that it was about something completely different. I have done that technique successfully with two other novels.
But for whatever reason he made a kind of harsh criticism and after I thought about it, I realized he thought that because he had missed what the book was really about. That's not good. He has his masters in literature. If anyone, he should have been able to get it, it would have been him.
Granted, he did say that the story structure is clear and good and that the character arc is very clear. But some how he missed what the story structure and character arc came together to say. I didn't even think that it was that complex of an idea. It is the exact same one I explored in Happiness Thru the Art of... Penis Enlargement. He should have gotten it.
Tomorrow when we speak I will discuss it with him and find out what caused him not to see what I was dishing out. I will also get once and for all his general impression about the book in a thumbs up, thumbs down sort of way. Either way I'm not concerned though. I have finally come to realize that there really is no way to please absolutely everyone. And he strikes me as a particularly critical guy. So because he may or may not have cared for it has no bearing on how much others will like it. I often wish it does when the reviews are all universally positive. But that doesn't mean anything either... darn it!
Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe work on editing Samurai Zombie Hunter. I'm starting to get emails asking where it is. Perhaps that would be the best use of my time. But in either case, tomorrow I can once again start to wear pants. I like my junk as much as the next guy. But staring at it all day by yourself gets old. Oh yeah, not wearing pants is something I was doing because I am currently living along and certain body parts are like a barometer to how successful your erotic writing is. So that being the case, I, of course, stopped wearing pants. But tomorrow they're back on.
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