Wardrobe Inequality

My mother sometimes expresses regret for my childhood - I never wanted to wear the frilly dresses and ruffles and all the other hallmarks of little girls. As soon as I could express myself well enough, I wore practical clothes like jeans and t-shirts.

One of the things I loved most about jeans was pockets. So many clothing items, and not just for little girls, lack that one detail. Sure, women wear purses. That has become an expectation for many reasons, and not simply a fashion choice. Women are often caretakers of others and need to carry more items than will fit in their pockets.

A purse should never be an excuse to get by without pockets in clothing. They only seem to be used for the same things because both carry essentials like a wallet, keys, cell phone. Did you ever see the college girls at the bar? They never carry purses or coats (despite the weather) because there is too great a possibility for them to be lost. They have a bit of money and ID and not much else.

Purses often become larger and larger as women age. They lug so much junk they can't live without until they try to weigh it on a scale and realize they're carrying a medium-sized dog instead of a wardrobe accessory. The straps cut into their shoulders from the weight and removing the purse creates a lopsided stride.

Sometimes I miss my backpack from college. I have a couple accessory backpacks that can take the place of a purse, but few of them have enough pockets to stay organized. It's hell searching for a pen at the bottom of a backpack that's masquerading as a purse. At least in my current purse (6x8", fully zipped shut weighs about 2 pounds) has a lot of dividers and a specific pocket for my phone.

I often refuse to buy outfits without pockets. Only one pair of slacks remains without, and they're my favorite despite that lack due to fabric and fit. Yoga (and other workout) outfits are notorious, and I only manage because my mat has a bag with a pocket. Otherwise I'm at a loss for where to put my keys. I replaced my old workout lock with a combination lock because I never knew where to put the key when I was swimming.

No matter how small the purse, however, you can always find a pen and notebook of some kind within where I'm scribbling notes about something or other. Of course, if I could find a way to put that in my pockets I might be tempted to try to go without the purse. But a woman's wallet seems unwieldy without a purse.

Just one more way the sexes will never be equal.

End of a Hiatus

It's easy to get pulled in too many directions. Today I found myself saying yes when I should have been asking more questions. I find myself reminded of all those magazine articles with a topic about how to say no. Say no politely, say no assertively, say no even when you think you can do it all.

I can't do it all. Most days I don't want to.

I started to make a list of the things I accomplish on a daily basis. I get tired of it near the afternoon and skip it, but if I don't keep up the list I can't remember what I've finished.

Lists don't just include those little things (like taking vitamins) that slip through the cracks without a reminder. Today I looked up all the work in progress ideas I have in various stages. I have six published short stories that I call done. I have one novel completed that needs a rewrite and I haven't decided to push myself through mentally. I have another novel with a reworkable premise. There are also fifty short stories that I haven't finished or haven't edited or haven't yet published.

Fifty?

I can't believe I've allowed so much time to pass me by without doing something with those ideas. This week I had two more (ideas, not half-written slush pile stuff). Last night I outlined them to give myself direction to tackle them.

I'm at a loss over the fifty mark. Most of them are short- too short for me to think that I ought to put them for sale on their own. However, several of them are candidates to be lumped together into short story bundles.

If you need me, I'm looking into some market research. See you next week.

Who's in Charge?

The more I read about traditional publishing and royalty statements, the more it firms my resolve to be in charge of my own career as a writer.

A traditional publisher currently still holds the prestige of having someone choose your work to be published. I say currently because there have been so many changes lately, it's hard to know what it will look like tomorrow or next week or next year.

Let's imagine that we treat the book business like we treat the music business or the movie business. The editor is someone we follow like a producer or director. (Great link, sadly not my idea.) We have household names like Steven Spielberg and Christopher Columbus.  How many people can name a single editor if you're not in the book business or know one personally? But an editor as a brand gives us something to follow to say, hey, I might like this book, too.

Even agents could leave a trail of different books to read. Someone has to have similar tastes. Yet it's all on the author's name and effort. It leaves all the writers struggling to be individually known.

No wonder they're starving artists. The royalty statements (from the first link above) can be as messed up as you please, and if each writer goes against them individually they can only go so far. Some publishers will do what they can to fix things. Others will try to screw everyone over in the hope that no one will call them on it.

Self publishing might be the only way. And that's why I'm sitting at my computer in the late evenings, editing. I want to get it the best I can manage before I send it to a professional editor. Cover design and formatting the book will cost me, too, but at least then I know what I owe and when I break even.

When did things get so crazy? Are there other options?

Acceptance!

Crowdfunding to Self Publish

I want to be read. That's the reason I write things. I want people to read them, to share them, to think about them. That's what being an author is to me.

So when I talk about the impermanence of short stories, how they get their place on a site for a short time and then get put away, it makes me glad they were out there. I provide the link to friends who might be interested and I love getting their reactions. But then the stories are gone.

Publishing keeps changing in so many ways. So what I want to do is put out a couple short story collections. They would be self published, but that is not the stigma it used to be. They would be professionally edited and formatted. The covers would be done by a good artist. [I already found at least one who can work with me.]

The best part is that anyone could read these stories.

The worst part is that I can't afford it by myself at this time.

However, there are ways around my funding issues. I'm looking into crowdfunding: Kickstarter, Kapipal, IndieGoGo, Go Get Funding, and others. I'm limited in that I write erotica and I plan to give erotica away as incentives. I don't think it's a big deal, but anybody who wants to go through PayPal needs to be careful because they won't allow pornography in their incentives (along with alcohol and a bunch of other things). I probably could make the distinction that this is erotica, there are no pornographic pictures or videos, but I just want to play that part safe.

There are two ways to do crowdfunding. One puts out a goal of a monetary sort and says, "If I make this goal, the investors get their incentives and I get the cash. But if I don't, nobody gets anything." The other way allows investors to get the incentives and me to get the funds even if we don't make our goal. Some of the sites take a larger percentage if you don't make the goal, but it means I'd still have to provide the incentives if I only got a percentage and I'd get at least partial funding for this project.

Partial funding might be enough. I have options on ways to go, but I don't think I can take on the whole project without help. So I'm working on incentives and deciding which crowdfunding company will suit me the best.

Thoughts?

Dragging My Feet

I need to stop dragging my feet. There is always another reason to not get out there. To just say I'll do it tomorrow. Forget that I've been super busy with things outside of my writing and they're good excuses - they're still excuses.

I missed on one of my goals. I just realized I did not send out a story in March. I sent out two in February, but that doesn't count. So I decided I must send out two this month to balance that out. I pretty much know what I'm sending where. I thought I'd have a response from one of them by now, but I'm sure they'll get back to me soon.

Goals are good to keep us on task to where we need to be, but I don't feel the need to beat myself up over little stumbles. This goal is getting me toward where I want to be - published. If I quit now I'll never get there.

So I review my progress every so often. I try to figure out what I'm doing well and where I can improve. It's far more productive than beating myself up. For the most part I write short stories, though I do have a few projects in the novella and novel range that I will continue to work on.

The only hard part is the whole process is not very permanent. A short story gets a few minutes in the limelight and then it is pushed to the side for something else. There are a few places where you may pay and view what you like. Ruthie's Club was one, but they went defunct a while back. Literotica is a free site that is similar, but there is very little in the way of quality control - if you write it and it is within their guidelines, it doesn't matter how well it's written, it's out there.

So there are also ideas in my head that to make those more permanent. Just because it is a short story doesn't mean it can't be out there. And I'll give more information on that later.

The Problem with DIY

I suppose I ought to be careful with this one. DIY, or do-it-yourself, is practically the American Way. Want to write a book? Go for it. Want to finish your basement? It takes some time, but it improves the value of the home. Want to take up a sport? Find another weekender who shares your interest and dive right in. A million sites tell you how to do anything you want to do from completing home projects to earning extra money and encompass nearly everything you can think of.

Learning is good. Figuring out the best way to do something can be a brain-teaser or even a service to offer to others. But while doing something yourself can be good, doing everything yourself is the best way to invite errors into your endeavors. 

Remember very few people walk into court and choose to represent themselves. The law is one of those things the average person doesn't want to mess with. It makes me wonder why so many people want to do their taxes themselves. Sure, it costs a bit of money to find a good accountant - but once you get beyond the 1040 form, isn't it worth it to know taxes are all filed correctly? You can write a will yourself, but do you know it's legal? Do you know the changes that need to be made through time to keep everything current? 

The thing about doing it yourself is that you can do anything and everything you choose to do - but doing it well might take practice. The people who get the practice are experts in their fields. Often when you put the DIY against the expert you can easily see the differences. Maybe you don't notice all the little differences between your work and the expert's - but someone can, and many others do. 

It's one reason self-publishing can get a bad rap. Anyone can do it and throw out whatever book they decide to write, edit and/or polish (and sometimes not on the last two). It gives the rest of the writers who go through the trouble to make a professional product a bad rap. 

Think about those small businesses where the owner tries to do everything himself (or herself). Do they try to do everything until they can afford an accountant, a lawyer, or a plumber? How long do they last, compared to the other businesses who hire needed professional services for the areas where the owner lacks expertise?  How's the bottom line? 

Before you do your next project yourself, make a list of your strengths. Each different part of the project may be fun, need a specific skill set, or require previous knowledge. The pieces that you don't have or are unable to spend time to become the expert needed are the pieces you should hire to be completed. 

Doing it yourself is becoming an expert in that niche or screwing it up. The latter option costs even more to fix it than doing it right in the first place. Everyone has a story about something they knew could have been done better - don't let that be you.