Quietly smug.
I'm just feeling pretty pleased with myself and feel the need to share. ::G::
See, I'm writing this book. It's about my time in Cuba, which spanned the time from when the USSR was still very much around, through the fall of the Berlin Wall , through the ensuing riots and unrest and thousands leaving on rafts (and floating home as bloated corpses more often than not) - and out the other side to what the Government calls 'The Special Period in Peacetime', and most Cubans call 'total economic meltdown. Help. Help. We are all going to die, most probably of boredom'.
But, I thought all of the above might be a bit much for me ::G:: So I narrowed it down to the events of a single journey (which is actually an amalgam of 3 journeys) across the eastern side of Cuba; very rural, very Not-Havana, and include stories that would illustrate what was going on in those weird times of the Periodo Especial. Lots happened on these trips! - so weird, wonderful and screamingly funny - the people so charming and kind - I haven't had to make a thing up.
TBH, I really did think it would write itself. It didn't. Man, I have STRUGGLED with this thing; it just refused to happen! When I was able to write at all, funny stuff wasn’t funny and sad stuff was just dull and tedious and I started to despair.
Then, a couple of days ago, after posting a bit of my latest TS fic and with the writery juices still flowing, I started writing a random bit of the book - about a hellish bus trip across the Sierra Cristal Mountains - and it flowed! - like drops of heavenly rain. :-D
So, I've stopped writing it as a continuous narrative now - ie, starting at the start and going on till the end. I'm writing each individual little story as a separate entity, whole and complete unto itself, and that's working very, very well. Later, when it's more or less finished, I'll start with the real narrative and link all the bits together. It's coming along just great - I'm churning out three stories - which amounts to around about 2 to 3 thousand words - a day; progress is being made - with any luck, I'll have the first draft finished by the time I go on my Permaculture course in July.
So I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. Big grins all round - big gin and tonix would be better still, but it's only 3pm and I still have to pack my bag for the weekend trip to ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alibongo's and work on the next bit of that TS story I've almost finished.
But I expect alcohol will play some part in my evening. It usually does.
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::hugs::
Have fun at Ali's! :oD
Deleted and reposted because making sense is good. Sheesh!
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Writing it's the easy part. It's the getting it published bit that's a bastard. )o:
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Have a fantastic weekend! I'll be looking forward to more TS when you return. =>}
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Thanks for the good wishes, more TS fic is on the way - I'm working on it now, as a matter of fact - and, how could a weekend at the lovely Ali's fail to be less than fantastic? :D
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So is there a teeny tiny chance there'll be some TS posted BEFORE you go away?
Just wondering.
I'm sure you'll have a fabulous weekend! =>}
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I'll have to see how it goes. I'm making no promises cos the telly's pretty good tonight :D
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Have a good weekend!
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It sounds like a really interesting subject - and not just saying that - I love travel writing anyhow - and Cuba is endlessly fascinating. Have you got a publisher lined up?
Fingers crossed that it'll continue to flow ;~)
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::Grasps head in hands - Groans in helpless despair:: Oh, I wish!
Selling a book even to an agent, let alone a publisher is so so hard. I'm not sure how much people out there know, unless they've been through it themselves, but more than 99% of all manuscripts will never get published, not because they're not good (tho many, I'm sure, aren't ::G::), but they just don't fit the currently fashionable profile, or whatever.
9x out of 10, the manuscripts of the last novel I tried to get published were sent back unread. Prizewinning scriptwriters have similar problems - believe me, I have experience of that too. ::VBG::
One well-known example from a writer's website;
"Just in case you don’t know the much-told story, it is worth record-
ing that the first Harry Potter book was rejected by every major
publisher in London (some sources say as many as 20); and when
it was eventually bought by Bloomsbury, the one publisher who
showed the smallest degree of interest, they paid but a small sum of
money for it (sources say between £2,000 and £3,000). Clearly,
none of the ‘experts’ who read the book in manuscript, and rejected
it, had the slightest inkling of the massive money-making machine
which they held in their hands."
It's worse than that, JKR couldn't even get an agent to take the book on - her agency; Christopher Little, were returning her ms unread, till their secretary, bored on her lunch hour, picked HP off the slush pile and thought; 'hmm. this is good...' ::Returns to grasping head in hands - Groaning in helpless despair::
And yet, we still write. Someone, please tell me why? RAOTFL.
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I guess your best bet is to get an agent? Bet that's a lottery in itself. I'll keep hoping for the day you tell us you're going to be published... and send you bucket-loads of persistence and tenacity to help keep you going :~D
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None of them could get me a publisher though.
I had the same problem in comedy. I've been a BBC Talent finalist no less than TWICE- can I get my scripts on air? Can I ****!