Life Time

I once attended a writer’s conference in Texas, and sat in on a panel entitled “Time Management and Writing”. What they really meant was “Staying Sane While Managing a Life, a Job, and a Writing Career.” I must say, I didn’t agree with the speaker. In fact, I can’t even remember who she was. She was speaking to the largely female audience, not me (this became evident when she said “All men are pigs anyway, right?”), and her theory was that your family can take care of themselves while you devote yourself to your writing. You don’t need to do all those things like cooking, laundry, driving kids to and from school. There’s nothing wrong with calling out for pizza or throwing a TV dinner in the oven. Your career is more important.

Like I said, I don’t remember who she was, but I almost got up and walked out. I wasn’t even married at the time, had no kids, and I managed to cook at least half the time, and I still do. My wife and I are partners in this thing called life. Equal partners. When I can’t face the kitchen, she does. If she can’t, I do it. If both of us are having one of those days, there’s take-out.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I take my writing very seriously, perhaps too seriously some times, but my life is more important than ANY career. Given the choice between the life I have struggled to make, and my writing, the answer will ALWAYS be my life. If you don’t make this choice, you’re going to wind up miserable, alone, and poor in ways you would have never thought possible.

Here’s a for instance of how life occasionally throws a curve ball at you:

This coming weekend, Friday, September the 1^st through Monday September the 4^th, I have made extensive plans to attend DragonCon in Atlanta, GA. I have spent a very substantial amount of money to be there. I have taken days off work. I have pushed publishing deadlines up. I have bought promotional materials.

Then came Ernesto.

Ernesto is currently a tropical storm, but the forecast puts him right at the mouth of Tampa Bay on Thursday, coincidentally the day I was to leave for Atlanta.

I could:

A) Go anyway and hope my boat, home, cat, etc. does not blow away.

B) Leave my wife to take care of things in my absence (which she could).

C) Cancel the trip entirely and take care of my home.

D) Stay long enough to make sure everything is okay and then jump in my car and drive eight hours to Atlanta at the last minute, probably through a tropical storm.

Call me foolish, but I choose D. I will sit on the edge of my seat for the next four days, watch the weather, prepare the boat, get all of my important papers, computers, pets, and personal effects out of danger, and hope for the best. If all is well Thursday evening, I will pack all my books and drive off to Atlanta.

This is Life Management. Saying adios to one part of your life to make room for a dream is not something I am prepared to do. I will balance, fight, stay up late, skip meals, drive long distances, go without certain luxuries, and spend an exorbitant amount of money to make my writing dream come true, but I will NOT sacrifice my life.

Think of Ernest Hemingway, an American literary icon, an alcoholic, divorced many times and dies of suicide. That is not life management. I would not trade my life for his literary accolades; not now, not ever.

Targeting

Before your very first word, your very first outline, even your very first thought of what a story might be, you must decide on a target audience. This may be something that most writers do unconsciously, but it is quickly becoming a vital part of marketing in a very competitive world of money-driven entertainment. Personally, I don’t like to narrow my audience. I work on a strictly PG-13 basis. Maybe even a little bit more toward the PG end, since I don’t use a lot of curse words. This is not due to any moral or ethical idealism on my part, but because, in my view, when you ratchet up the violence, sex and language, you are narrowing your audience.

If you are trying to appeal to a wide audience, as I am, avoiding extremes is probably a good thing.

If, however, you are targeting a specific niche audience, you have to tailor your writing to their tastes. This can be difficult, even if you think you know your audience well. I was astounded once when a reader found A Soul for Tsing too sexually oriented. I don’t think so, but I’d love to hear other opinions.

One writer who has targeted a specific audience successfully and profitably is Anne Rice. I am sure many found her books both morally and spiritually offensive, but her success speaks for itself. On the other hand, I doubt if the Harry Potter books would have done so well if the heat had been turned up past a PG.

Recently, I found an example of changing a target audience in mid-production by twisting the sex, violence and profanity knob up a couple of notches. The recently released horror-thriller Snakes On A Plane was reportedly slated to be a PG-13 release with some action-related violence, profanity and very little in the way of adult theme. Then the public spoke out. With Samuel L. Jackson stepping into the lead role, and refusing to do the movie if they changed the campy title, fans virtually pummeled the producers into cranking out a raunchy, sexy and really spoofy flick. And the producers are laughing all the way to the bank.

The first and last thing to remember is that we, as writers, are really nothing but entertainers; and that goes for the “Great American Novel” just as much as it goes for Cheese Runners. We may be entertaining different audiences, but if they laugh, cry, can’t sleep, become physically ill or are forced to take a cold shower as a result of reading our work, we have succeeded.

I was doing some research for a short story, one of the Herscher Project projects, and came across a very interesting site that stirred some odd feelings. Before I get into that, and why I have put off writing this particular blog, I’d like to expound a bit on what a fantastic tool the internet is, and what is more, how it may just be the salvation, or the downfall, or both, of mankind.

You can find virtually anything on the web. This, on first examination, is a good thing, but consider that when I say “anything” I mean both good and bad. You can get a taste of every viewpoint of any subject. You can listen to anything from anyone. You can view images of beauty and horror, sublime peace or gut-wrenching violence, birth and death… (I am in no way advocating censorship with that statement)

The problem is, what is truth, what is good, and what is simply hate, propaganda, or someone’s definition of “bad”?

Pardon me while I wax philosophical, but I’d like to define “bad”. Please remember that this is my own humble opinion. “Bad”, or “evil” if you wish, is some idea, philosophy, action or instigation of an action that brings about harm to someone or something which is not outweighed by the good of that idea, philosophy or action. So, for instance, it is inherently bad to kill, but if one kills to protect others who are innocent, it can probably be justified.

Where am I going? Good question. I don’t really know myself, but I want to put something out there for discussion. Maybe we will all learn something about ourselves and each other, and where we are all going.

The site that provoked these thoughts was Religious Tolerance.org. I urge you to visit, not to hear a good bible thumping, or to learn the Koran, but just to understand what I’m talking about. The site’s mandates are simple:

To promote religious tolerance and freedom.

To objectively describe religious faiths in all their diversity.

To objectively describe controversial topics from all points of view.

Now, I ask, how can these mandates foster hatred? I was surprised to read that the originators of the site (a group of amazingly diverse cultural and religious background) have received death threats for the things they are posting on the site. The only reason I could think of for these threats was fear. People read others preaching, not a religious or ideological doctrine, but simple tolerance of all religious and ideological doctrines, and publishing straight forward descriptions (I hesitate to say facts, because I am no expert) of as many religious and ideological doctrines as they can, even to the point of pop culture cliques and “cults”, and they are afraid. But why?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not preaching, and I think a lot of evil has been done in the name of “religion” throughout the ages from any side of the ideological fence. But as I see it, the primary reason for this fear is the intolerance of others and their differing beliefs. So what happens when someone preaches tolerance? Death threats.

I write Science Fiction and Fantasy, and I’m sure there is someone out there who thinks I am going to hell because I write about magic and demons and devils. If someone can say it about J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, my characters are doomed… But once again, I think this intolerance comes from fear, which comes from lack of understanding, which comes from a lack of willingness to learn and accept other ideas. Are people so indoctrinated in their own beliefs that they feel they must lash out at anyone who believes differently? I think the vast majority of humanity would agree that everyone should be free to do, or believe whatever they wish, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. But there is always the narrow or closed mind who will find the harm or “evil” in something merely entertaining or meant to enlighten, and there will always be someone convinced that their way is the only way, and all others are not only wrong for not believing what they do, but evil. Why does it seem that these are the people with all the guns?

I like to think of myself as a pretty tolerant guy. One thing I have no tolerance for, however, is intolerance.

I’d like to know who first said “A mind is like a parachute; it only works when it’s open.”