Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2011
Summertime Writer's Blues
With just 37 hours to go the Amsterdam Project needs only $600 to make their goal and get their project off the ground. Please, support DIY and Medusa's Muse authors. Go to the Kickstarter page to make your pledge. If everyone just gave a buck, the Amsterdam Project would be green-lighted.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today is July 18th, and I have written exactly 11 pages since June 20th. 11 frickin pages. My hand is healed enough to type for short periods of time, but my injury isn't what's stopping me from working on my play or my essays or my short stories or even my blog.
My daughter is out of school for the summer. There will be no writing.
I love my daughter, challenges and all. She has multiple-disabilities, including mobility problems and deaf-blindness, so typical summer activities like summer camp and swim team aren't options for us. She's also very bright, and hates the heat. I use all of my creative energy finding ways to keep her entertained in the house, but by mid-July we've run out of ideas. I'm sure I'm not the only parent feeling the pain of a house full of bored kids, even without contending with disabilities. And if you're a creative type like me, I'll bet your kids are watching a lot of movies and playing a lot of video games.
Stop feeling guilty and go write something.
Monday, February 01, 2010
The Downside of DIY
Punk rock made a huge impression on me in college, and ever since, I have lived by the spirit of punk-DIY, which means "Do It Yourself." No, I'm not talking about home improvement, I'm talking about not waiting for someone else to sanction my creativity with their publishing contract or professional approval. My heroes are the builders of the Burnside skate park in Portland, Oregon; poet and artist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, creator of City Lights bookstore and press; and Ani DiFranco, singer and owner of Righteous Babe Records. They didn't wait around for someone to hand them a skate park or book press or record company, they just went out and created what they wanted.
I love books, so I decided to start a publishing company. Rather than just dream about it, I went to workshops, studied how-to books, and networked with other small publishers until I was ready to start doing it myself. In 2007 I published Laura Fogg's book, Traveling Blind: Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers, and in 2009 I wrote and published a hand-book for other people interested in starting a press, called What You Need to Know to Be a Pro. Now I'm almost ready to publish the third Medusa's Muse book, Punk Rock Saved My Ass: an anthology.
I said almost ready.
I love publishing and the freedom to create whatever I choose, but I don't love the constant challenges that are a part of doing anything DIY. The more independent you are, the more the demands of managing and promoting the press fall on you. And if your press's structure resembles a co-op of volunteers (like Medusa's Muse), then the more likely it is that your publishing plans will have to be revised numerous times. You will chose a launch date, only to have that date postponed by family emergencies, illnesses, financial problems and unemployment. Equipment will break down you won't be able to fix and money that was going toward the print bill will have to be diverted to fixing your leaky roof. Throw in children, relationships, school and a day-job, and before you know it your tiny, struggling press will be in critical condition, making you wonder if it's time to cut off life support.
And that will be just you. You'll also have to contend with the other people who are donating their time to the book project and all of their messy lives and impossible schedules. Your copy-editor will decide to get a Master's degree and move away. Your designer will lose his day job, which should open up more time for him to finish the interior layout of the book, but instead he'll be forced to scramble for any type of work he can get, forcing your non-paying book job to the bottom of his priority list. Writers will take longer than expected to finish their revisions. And the person who said she would help with promotion and marketing will suddenly disappear. All of this will leave you desperately holding the project together. And when someone asks, "When's the book coming out?" you can only say, "Soon."
Soon? You need an actual date, but the designer can't give you one. Without a launch date, or a finished cover for that matter, you can't get the marketing campaign going and you can't tell the authors when they can expect the book to appear so they can promote it themselves. All you can do is wait.
And wait...
and breath...
and try not to yell at anyone...
Because everyone helping you publish this book is donating their talents for free. They don't have to do any of it, and without their help, you can't publish a book at all. Not with the budget you have.
This is the moment when you have to hold the dream tight and not give up. DIY requires obstinacy and imagination. You must be too stubborn to quit and have the imagination to find a way through the obstacles. DIY requires patience and hard work. It isn't easy, and anyone who tells you how easy it is to publish your own book is a scam artist. Lazy people won't last a month. If you're the type to give up when things get hard, don't even try DIY.
Luckily for my authors, I'm not lazy and I never quit.
I love books, so I decided to start a publishing company. Rather than just dream about it, I went to workshops, studied how-to books, and networked with other small publishers until I was ready to start doing it myself. In 2007 I published Laura Fogg's book, Traveling Blind: Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers, and in 2009 I wrote and published a hand-book for other people interested in starting a press, called What You Need to Know to Be a Pro. Now I'm almost ready to publish the third Medusa's Muse book, Punk Rock Saved My Ass: an anthology.
I said almost ready.
I love publishing and the freedom to create whatever I choose, but I don't love the constant challenges that are a part of doing anything DIY. The more independent you are, the more the demands of managing and promoting the press fall on you. And if your press's structure resembles a co-op of volunteers (like Medusa's Muse), then the more likely it is that your publishing plans will have to be revised numerous times. You will chose a launch date, only to have that date postponed by family emergencies, illnesses, financial problems and unemployment. Equipment will break down you won't be able to fix and money that was going toward the print bill will have to be diverted to fixing your leaky roof. Throw in children, relationships, school and a day-job, and before you know it your tiny, struggling press will be in critical condition, making you wonder if it's time to cut off life support.
And that will be just you. You'll also have to contend with the other people who are donating their time to the book project and all of their messy lives and impossible schedules. Your copy-editor will decide to get a Master's degree and move away. Your designer will lose his day job, which should open up more time for him to finish the interior layout of the book, but instead he'll be forced to scramble for any type of work he can get, forcing your non-paying book job to the bottom of his priority list. Writers will take longer than expected to finish their revisions. And the person who said she would help with promotion and marketing will suddenly disappear. All of this will leave you desperately holding the project together. And when someone asks, "When's the book coming out?" you can only say, "Soon."
Soon? You need an actual date, but the designer can't give you one. Without a launch date, or a finished cover for that matter, you can't get the marketing campaign going and you can't tell the authors when they can expect the book to appear so they can promote it themselves. All you can do is wait.
And wait...
and breath...
and try not to yell at anyone...
Because everyone helping you publish this book is donating their talents for free. They don't have to do any of it, and without their help, you can't publish a book at all. Not with the budget you have.
This is the moment when you have to hold the dream tight and not give up. DIY requires obstinacy and imagination. You must be too stubborn to quit and have the imagination to find a way through the obstacles. DIY requires patience and hard work. It isn't easy, and anyone who tells you how easy it is to publish your own book is a scam artist. Lazy people won't last a month. If you're the type to give up when things get hard, don't even try DIY.
Luckily for my authors, I'm not lazy and I never quit.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Sometimes DIY is no fun
We are so close to finishing the punk rock anthology. I keep saying that, but it's true. So very, very close. There's just one last minute essay being revised right now and three bios coming until the entire manuscript will be complete. We've been working on cover designs and choosing photographs and debating which font to use for the title. The date of the launch is looming and now I'm starting to worry we won't make it in time. Not from lack of effort, believe me. I've been pushing this book forward with every ounce of will power and fortitude for two years.
Unfortunately, I am powerless against the forces of time and money.
So is my muse.
"You worry too much," she says while cleaning something blue from one of her snake-strand's teeth.
"The scanner won't work so we can't finish the photos. I have no money to print books, and no time to finish this project. Our deadline is Halloween, but with no time or money, there is no way in hell we'll make it."
"So what?"
"What do you mean so what?"
My muse wipes her fingers delicately on a tissue. "So what if you don't make the deadline?"
"Then I let a lot of people down, especially the writers, many of who have been waiting for two years."
She tucks her snakes back into her hair wrap. "So? Do you really think they'll be so crushed they'll never write again?"
"I've been putting off book launch for a year. I'm tired of writing to them with excuses."
"Ah... so it's your pride that is stressing you out."
"Well yeah. A little. I want to be professional and constantly putting off a book's launch is not professional."
She laughs. "Terena, you're not a professional. You publish books out of your living room and will never make a profit. You are a mother and a graduate student, which means you are sleep deprived and broke. Face reality, sister. It's a wonder you get any books published."
I hate it when she's so blunt, especially when she's right.
"This is supposed to be fun, remember?" She smiles and winks.
Right. Fun. Publishing books is supposed to be fun.
This is supposed to be fun, god-damnit!
Unfortunately, I am powerless against the forces of time and money.
So is my muse.
"You worry too much," she says while cleaning something blue from one of her snake-strand's teeth.
"The scanner won't work so we can't finish the photos. I have no money to print books, and no time to finish this project. Our deadline is Halloween, but with no time or money, there is no way in hell we'll make it."
"So what?"
"What do you mean so what?"
My muse wipes her fingers delicately on a tissue. "So what if you don't make the deadline?"
"Then I let a lot of people down, especially the writers, many of who have been waiting for two years."
She tucks her snakes back into her hair wrap. "So? Do you really think they'll be so crushed they'll never write again?"
"I've been putting off book launch for a year. I'm tired of writing to them with excuses."
"Ah... so it's your pride that is stressing you out."
"Well yeah. A little. I want to be professional and constantly putting off a book's launch is not professional."
She laughs. "Terena, you're not a professional. You publish books out of your living room and will never make a profit. You are a mother and a graduate student, which means you are sleep deprived and broke. Face reality, sister. It's a wonder you get any books published."
I hate it when she's so blunt, especially when she's right.
"This is supposed to be fun, remember?" She smiles and winks.
Right. Fun. Publishing books is supposed to be fun.
This is supposed to be fun, god-damnit!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)