So I read somewhere that it’s important for every new writer to have a web presence – either a website or a blog – so that potential agents, if they like your query, can just click to find out all about you. I don’t know how comfortable I am with this. I’m already on Facebook. If you Google me, you’ll find me, thanks to Facebook. How accessible am I supposed to be? Will my cute-as-a-button face and weekly rants about how hard it is to write a novel really help me get published?
Um, okay. If there’s an ant’s fart chance in hell it will, then yeah, baby. Bring on the Photoshop and the soapbox!
A good blog is supposed to have a clear topic and a distinctive voice. Yes, I do read blogs from time to time. Perez Hilton’s is one (shut up, you read it, too). Nathan Bransford’s is another. Sometimes I come across someone’s blog that reads like a diary, filled with posts where the blogger writes about every ordinary thought he had that day. Yeah, spare me. Seriously, who cares? Do I care that you slept in late and are having a bad hair day? That your cat barfed on your favorite shoes? Unless you’re writing a blog about cats, stay on topic, people! Save the mundane for Twitter.
Not that I have anything against Twitter.
So this blog will be about my journey as a writer and the long road to publication. In the cockles of my heart, I believe someday I’ll see my work in print. I’ve written two novels and started a third. I don’t know whether it will happen with any of these books (certainly not with my first, which I’ve officially dubbed The Worst Novel Ever Written By An Adult Who Speaks English), but someday, if I work long and hard enough, I believe it will happen. I have to.
10 books or 10 years.
If I write ten books and never get published, I’m pretty fucking sure I’ll be half-dead from the rejections and emotionally incapable of trying for an eleventh. And if I hit the age of 44 with no publication credits to my name, I’m pretty sure Steve will want me to apply at McDonald’s so I can pay him back for supporting my ass for an entire decade.
I’ve called this blog Chasing Publication. To remind me that it’s really about the journey. Because I love writing novels. I love making shit up. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. Publication is the destination, but there are no guarantees. I’d rather enjoy the ride.
Here we go.