I will be starting my Saturday blog posts this coming week. If you read my last post, you know that I intended to start it this weekend, but, well, it just didn't work out that way. Long story short, I need a little more time to plan things out and make sure I am getting it right.
Technically, though, as far as my goal of posting at least once a week, I am killing it right now.
I do need to be better about following through with posting on a regular schedule, though, and Saturdays seem like a good day to do it, as long as I publish early enough. Past three or four o'clock, and people tend to be more focused on getting ready for the evening. My goal, then, will be to post by early afternoon on Saturdays.
As I said before, the first one will be my perspective on whether or not writers should incorporate contemporary pop culture into their fiction, or whether that makes it less timeless.
Although, actually, my argument is more about whether or not that is even a relevant argument anymore, with technology extending our cultural memory beyond what it was prior to the internet.
Check back this coming Saturday, and you will get to read all about it.
A lot is happening here at Gabe Gott Central, as always. For starters, I am in the process of looking for a new job, so if you see anything, please let me know. Because of this, I don't have nearly as much time to devote to this venture, so the sooner I get one, the sooner I will be able to devote more time to writing and publishing.
In the time that I do have to devote to this, what I hope to make a living off of by the time I am in my fifties, I am trying to be more effective at social media marketing. I have done pretty well with Twitter, having more than tripled my number of followers over the past year (to nearly 1,700), but I really need to work harder on my Facebook page and start building my follow there, as well (as I only have 61 likes).
To be honest, I am just going to need to do some research and figure out the best way of going about it. If only I had the time... That would be nice.
It is also my goal to write a new blog post every week, starting this week. While this one does technically count towards that, I will be posting a new one every Saturday, so look for the actual first one this Saturday.
Instead of just rambling about myself, my goals, and my projects (there will still be plenty of that, too, just FYI), I plan on focusing the majority of my posts on discussions of issues involving writing and being a writer. I also plan on writing some reviews and more in-depth essays, and really, as always, I will also write posts about whatever else strikes my fancy, including music and politics.
I believe this will help me draw more of a following here, but only time will tell. The first one will be somewhat of a response to an article on Electric Literature that I posted to my Facebook page.
In the article, the author discusses whether or not authors of novels should include contemporary pop culture references in their work. As you might imagine, I have a few things to say on that regard, and one particular point that the author of the article doesn't make that I feel is relevant. I don't necessarily disagree with his point, but I want to add a nuance to the discussion.
Anyways, back to the job search, and I will see you all again on Saturday.
I often write blog posts when I am procrastinating. It's not like I sit down here with the intention of doing it, but it happens.
In a way, they act as a good primer to me actually sitting down and working on a novel or a short story. It's also good insurance, because if I talk about it here, then I kind of have to get it done; otherwise, I look like a jackass.
Maybe I do anyways, I don't know. I am sure there are some out there who think that.
*Thumbs nose at those people*
As a primer, though, it is like taking a shit before going to eat an expensive restaurant.
I will let you use your imagination on that one. Otherwise, I would probably be forced to fire myself as the blogger and replace myself with 40 Specially Trained Ecuadorian Mountain Llamas.
Shortly after Scott Weiland died, I started writing a blog post about Stone Temple Pilots being my first concert, but the point seems moot now, so it will probably never see the light of day.
Today I am writing in honor of nothing but own shameless self promotion, because that is the name of the game.
You have to really whore yourself out to get any hype.
Luckily, I am not above that. I like skiing in those waters; although, I confess, I try not to let myself get submerged for very long. Otherwise, I might black out and wake up forty years from now, and find myself some sad old guy in a tux hitting on college girls I never had a change with when I was that age, either.
No, I can't let that happen.
Instead, I will make up for my lack of ability by calling it art and pretending it's sacred. My hope is that some day I will start to believe my own bullshit and get trapping in my own fantasy-delusion once and for all.
Oh Hell, who am I kidding? I have been submerged in those brown waters my whole life. Maybe that actually does make it art. If I am delusional, at least I am honest.
Over the course of the past year, I have been compiling the series of blogs that I wrote through grad school so that I could publish them as the first release of my still as of yet unnamed publishing company.
That's right, you read that correctly. It probably won't come as a shock to many, but I figured that I need to up my game another level if I am going to build an audience, and in order to do that I have to do as legitimate publishers do--but in my own special way that will hopefully make me stand out.
Anyways, since this "first official release," Out in the Fringes: Musings, Witticisms, and Random Insanity,is mean to represent everything this blog has been about over the years, it should be fun to read; and, since grad school was a strange period in my life, it will also be interesting to see how my thought process shifted over that time.
While it will be a little edited (in the context of putting together a compilation and wanting to fix grammar and typos and what not) my goal is to produce the text relatively as-is, and put out a sort-of coffee table book that is pretty to look at and intended to be read in short sporadic bursts. Kind of a pop-art conversation piece.
In general, my goal is to publish more frequently and more in-tune with what I want to accomplish as a writer rather than what other people think or are doing.
Since I am doing it as a hobby, it opens the door for more creativity. I see it as an opportunity to stretch my boundaries using what means I have available, to experiment like I don't have anything to lose.
Really, I don't, since I gain so much from the process. For me, that's what it's all about, for better or worse, which is why I am leaving you with "Destroyer." Failure, while painful at the time, can make for great art and entertainment.
So, I wrote this story in a fiction writing class like four or five years ago. At the time, I was going to college and studying literature, and falling in love with just everything that I was reading and everything that I was experiencing in my life. My then-fiance and I had just settled into a shabby little house on a hill. We were planning our wedding and really basking in the glow of our recent romantic adventures. A funny thing happens when you are feeling what you interpret as success: you start to get all nostalgic, you start living in your own history and constantly stroking your own ego. You develop your own mythology.
This story, in particular, was also none other than the story where I figured out how I wanted to write. Originally titled, "Drowning," I of course thought highly of it, even at the beginning, even though, you know, it wasn't perfect.
It started with a different ending than it has today--one that didn't really work--but then someone in my workshop suggested that I change it and, kind of, you know, make it the natural result of everything that happens in the story. While that might seem obvious, as it probably did to that person, it was a revelation to me. Prior to that, I had been coming from a more Absurdist school of thought. "The Sign," as it is called now, was my first real venture into any kind of realism.
While it is in the first person and past tense, and I now tend to write more in the third person and often in the present tense, it is a retrospect of a time in my life, and very honest, and the ending, now, kind of, makes it. While I really love the original version, after reading stories like "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, where the characters have conflicts through the whole story but then find solutions in revelations, I knew I had to change it. It had to happen another way. It took a while to take shape, but it was, I think, worth the effort.
The last aspect that I focused on was the language, which is really what took so long. My goal was to perfect my grammar and streamline the prose, and also make the imagery as vivid as possible to give the reader a more complete experience.
Now that I am finished, my goal is to get it published in a literary magazine. I believe, if I search hard and keep trying, I will find its home. That is just going take patience, and some research.
The great thing about starting a new book is a similar feeling to what it must be like to go and relive your teenage years with the knowledge you have gained since.
You know all the things to avoid and plan for the second time around, and where you can just hit the accelerator and go hard in that direction.
This time, I thoroughly planned out the story and the plot before I started. It is not as romantic as just sitting at the keyboard and going where inspiration takes you, but I did it that way for eleven years on my first novel, and I am pretty much all burned out on that, and this way helps to keep me focused and the logic cohesive.
Where I am really trying to express my creativity is in honing my style and telling the story that I want to tell.
The biggest mistake I made the first time around is that I started to care too much about what other people thought, which made me make some questionable choices at times. I am more or less happy with the result, but I don't want to keep going back to that same novel over and over again.
This time around, I am making my choices more confidently, and I am not going to let myself second-guess them more than a reasonable amount, which is something that I have learned to identify along the way (I hope).
Or maybe I am more of a work in progress. Either way, I am looking forward, and not looking back too often, and hopefully never losing sight of my goal.
With Movember, Muffvember, Novembeard, and National Novel Writing Month all happening simultanously, things are getting very hairy out here in the Fringes.
My (2013) short story collection, Tales from the Fringes, is getting a makeover. I am in the process of reformatting and re-editing a new edition, which will be available in early 2016 (stay tuned for a specific date).
The biggest changes are to the design. When I published it the first time, I didn't have a full grasp on publishing design standards. Now the paragraphs are justified, and the punctuation marks are all formalized. The divides between the sections are also clearer and more consistent, and the page numbers and headers are more functional. Most of this will also carry over to the eBook design.
I have also eliminated the three weakest stories ("Wrist Cramps," "Reggie's Tale," and "The Other Side of Greed"). "Wrist Cramps" was one of the first stories I ever wrote, and, while it has its strong points, its weak points are more noticeable, and really not fixable. "Reggie's Tale" is just not worth updating, either, and "The Other Side of Greed" is really more of a fictionalized personal essay and a bit redundant.
Additionally, I have put the stories in a slightly new order (switching "Greasy" and "A Hipster Confession" around being the most noticeable change), and I have renamed a couple ("The Marriage Bed" is now "Flowers" and "Survival" is now "People These Days"). These are all small details that make a strong impact.
Finally, I am making relatively few edits. My biggest concerns are grammatical; however, I also want to eliminate anything unnecessary and maximize the quality and the descriptiveness of the language.
It's important to me to get this right, as people seem to like my short fiction, and this collection, in particular. I have gotten some good constructive feedback, and I have also learned a lot since I first put it out. It's definitely worth polishing, and I believe I will be able to use it to build a bigger audience.
In that regard, I am also working on new fiction: a novel (or two, actually) and multiple new stories that I hope to get published in journals and put out as a collection (eventually).
I am not technically doing National Novel Writing Month, since I already had about 6,000 words before the month began, but because I am technically writing a novel, I can relate to those people who are officially participating. So there! On that note, Happy #NaNoWriMo!
So, if you have been following this blog for long enough, you know I am fairly persistent, and that if I am not happy with something I have written, I am going to keep working on it until I get it right. That's why I decided to update the official description of Escapes again.
I really put a lot of time and thought into it; I did a bunch of research to see how novels by contemporary literary writers are described, and I whittled away at it until I came to this, the final version of it:
Lance Adamson lives in a backwoods Ohio community called Nodtown. He has faced more than one hurdle in his short life: his parent’s divorce, his dad disappearing… It seems like, every time he gets past one, there is another in his path. He lives with his mom and Grandpa Harry at Grandpa Harry’s house where he spends most of his time out in the garage playing drums, jamming with Grandpa Harry, who plays bass. Jazz is Grandpa Harry’s religion, and for the longest time, Lance has been his loyal disciple—but he is beginning to have his doubts. As he looks to forge his own identity, life will only grow more complex, and he will seek shelter in all sorts of escapes.
The next thing on my agenda, as far as publishing goes (other than stepping up my promoting of Escapes and working to get as many [hopefully positive] reviews as possible), is finishing the updates to the formatting of Tales from the Fringes. As a part of that, in an effort towards an increase in professionalism, I am going to be doing some very light editing and proofreading.
This is necessary, as I have gotten some positive feedback and good ratings of it, and the biggest criticism is that it needs edited and proofread more thoroughly. The formatting is more my own criticism, but I know it is a short coming and will only improve the readability of the text.
Of course, I am also working very diligently on novel #2, and on some new short stories. It is too early to tell when any of that will be finished. I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible, though.
*As it seems like some people might have already noticed, it's probably high time that I tell you that last night I modified the description of Escapes again. However, I think I have firmly established that I am a revisionist, and I have made peace with that...
Which totally makes sense why I have worked towards completely changing my process.
More and more, in fact, I try to focus on doing a really good job and get my thoughts out, just trying to make it all connect and seem deliberate, and doing it all fewer and fewer times each time. I try focusing on different aspects of the piece as go along along until I reach a point with the project where I am satisfied with everything. Then I try to read the whole thing through without making any changes. If I can do that, then I am free to click that button and make it visible to the world.
Believe it or not, this actually cuts down on the length of time it takes me to write and publish something. I rarely ever have to go back and make changes... Rarely ever.
I have had some pretty amazing ideas lately, if I do say so myself. At least I think they are amazing, and that's really all that fucking matters (to me) at this point. Really, if you can't write for your own happiness then whose happiness should you write for?
I think this is the sort of mindset that I stumbled into during writing the first one. Ultimately, if I don't first focus on pleasing myself (pun partially intended) with what is written, then I try to take too much advice, and, believe me, there is such a thing.
At some point, you need to forsake the advice that doesn't fit and just go for it. Some advice just won't make the cut, and the people reading the final product will just have to deal with it.
Hopefully, your choices won't be an issue, but, if some or more of them are, you just take note of how you fucked up and make sure that you don't make those mistakes again.
Unless it's fixable; then, of course, you totally go for it.
If you are into music like I am, and you enjoy or even need it while you read, I have compiled a playlist in the spirit of Escapes. I am not sure how long it is, but it is definitely several hours worth of songs and should last for most of the novel, if you read at the right pace. Of course, you don't have listen to the playlist to read it; then again, you don't need the book to listen to the playlist. However you like it, ENJOY!
1. "Somewhere Out There" from the An American Tale soundtrack
2. "A Night in Tunisia" By Art Blakey
3. "Dakar" by John Coltrane
4. "Moan'" by Art Blakey
5. "All Blues" by Miles Davis
6. "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane
7. "Blue Money" by Art Blakey
8. "Serve the Servants" by Nirvana
9. "Attitude" by the Misfits
10. "My Name is Jonas" by Weezer
11. "Nice Guys Finish Last" by Green Day
12. "All Apologies" by Herbie Hancock
13. "The Great Gig in the Sky" by Pink Floyd
14. "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden
15. "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen
16. "The Bear Song" by Green Jelly
17. "Knights of the Round Table" by Monty Python
18. "Government Flu" by the Dead Kennedys
19. "Super Charger Heaven" by White Zombie
20. "Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes" by Marilyn Manson
21. "Raining Blood" by Slayer
22. "Unsung" by Helmet
23. "Bad Mouth" by Fugazi
24. "Linoleum" by NOFX
25. "Bedrock Anthem" by "Wierd Al" Yankovic
26. "Celebrated Summer" by Husker Du
27. "Los Angeles" by X
28. "Live Fast Die Young" by the Circle Jerks
29. Lexicon Devil" by the Germs
30. "Starfuckers, Inc." by Nine Inch Nails
31. "Push It" by Static X
32. "Freak on a Leash" by Korn
33. "Faith" by Limp Bizkit
34. "Faith" by George Michael
35. "Blue Monday" by Orgy
36. "Blue Monday" by New Order
37. "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit
38. "All the Small Things" by Blink 182
39. "Dammit" by Blink 182
40. "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols
41. "Bikeage" by the Descendents
42. "Soul Doubt" by NOFX
43. "Sparks" by the Who
44. "Money" by Pink Floyd
45. "Working in the Coal Mine" by DEVO
46. "[I Can't Get No] Satisfaction" by DEVO
47. "In the Garage" by Weezer
48. "I Can't Explain" by the Who
49. "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" by Led Zeppelin
50. "In the Light" by Led Zeppelin
51. "Down by the Seaside" by Led Zeppelin
52. "20th Century Man" by the Kinks
53. "Jenny Take a Ride" by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels
54. "Devil with the Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly" by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels
55. "Sex Type Thing" by Stone Temple Pilots
56. "Search and Destroy" by the Stooges
57. "Rape Me" by Nirvana
58. "My Vagina" by NOFX
59. "Last Caress" by the Misfits
60. "Blitzkrieg Bop" by the Ramones
61. "Beat on the Brat" by the Ramones
62. "No Substance" by Bad Religion
63. "Copacabana (At the Copa)" by Barry Manilow
64. "Muskrat Love" by Captain & Tennille
65. "I Can See For Miles" by the Who
66. "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by the Dead Kennedys
67. "Urban Struggle" by The Vandals
68. "99 Red Balloons" by Goldfinger
69. "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones
70. "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes
71. "Here's to the Night" by Eve 6
72. "Black Betty" by Ram Jam
73. "Burnout" by Green Day
74. "Up All Night" by Unwritten Law
75. "Special" by Garbage
76. "In the Meantime" by Spacehog
77. "Lump" by The Presidents of the United States of America
78. "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America
79. "People That are Going to Hell" by the Vandals
80. "American Jesus" by Bad Religion
81. "Surf City" by Jan & Dean
82. "Surf City" by the Ramones
83. "Electric Funeral" by Black Sabbath
84. "All Apologies" by Nirvana
85. "Funeral for a Friend" by Elton John
86. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John
87. "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" by Willie Nelson
88. "I Will Always Love You" Dolly Parton
89. "Justify My Love" by Madonna
90. "Jesus Freak" by DC Talk
91. "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads
92. "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads
93. "Once in a Lifetime" by the Talking Heads
94. "The Downward Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails
95. "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp
96. "Sleepwalk" by Santo & Johnny
97. "Immortality" by Pearl Jam
98. "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead
99. "Karma Police" by Radiohead
100. "Fitter Happier" by Radiohead
101. "No Surprises" by Radiohead
102. "Out of My Head" by Fastball
103. "Miserable" by Lit
104. "The World I Know" by Collective Soul
105. "86" by Green Day
106. "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve
107. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones
108. "West Side Story Medley" by Buddy Rich
109. "Found A Job" by the Talking Heads
110. "Blank Generation" by Richard Hell and the Voidoids
111. "Requiem for a Dream -- Lux Aeterna" by the London Ensemble
112. "Oops I did It Again" by Britney Spears
113. "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex
114. "The Way" by Fastball
115. "I Swear" by All-4-One
116. "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men
117. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day
118. "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners
119. "Every Breath You Take" by the Police
120. "Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche
121. "Add it Up" by the Violent Femmes
122. "Time of the Season" by The Zombies
123. "Where is My Mind?" by the Pixies
124. "Fundamentally Loathsome" by Marilyn Manson
125. "Change" by Blind Melon
126. "Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Monty Python
127. "Pennyroyal Tea" by Nirvana
128. "Brain Damage/Eclipse" by Pink Floyd
129. "Garageland" by the Clash
It is no secret that I have been working on my first novel for quite a while (around eleven years), and that I have previously published two editions of it, and that I just published a third.
At risk of developing a Whitman-like obsession for perfection, I am finally putting it to rest. It has been a long arduous process, but I am ready.
As an indie author, and a steadfast one at that, I have no one telling me when it's ready, and it's not like baking something from a recipe. It takes trial and error, careful, honest criticism, and patience. Well, maybe baking is like that too.
When it comes down to it, though, there are a few particular reasons why I know I am finished, which I would like to share with you, so that maybe your process isn't quite so long and arduous--or at least you'll know that you aren't alone.
Every Possibility...Considered
Eleven years is a long time to work on any one project, even a novel. While it is not the longest time I have heard, it is up there. Over that time, I have considered every possibility--some I have rejected, some I have tried and then rejected, and some I have tried and they have shaped how my book is today.
Perhaps I have taken too much time in doing so, but because I did not know what I was doing when I started, which I am sure is the case with most people when they sit down to write that first novel, I wasn't sure on the direction I was going to go with it, and it took shape how it took shape.
After I finished the first draft, I went back and immediately reconsidered everything. And again. I had some people read it and give me feedback, and that shaped it as well. Maybe I did not take every piece of advice, but I at least considered it all.
Then I went back to school and studied literature and fiction writing, and that shaped it a great deal. I had more people read it, including an editor at one of the big publishing companies (who I went to college with), and I changed it again after some careful consideration.
Grad school came around, and the book continued to be molded based on my increased knowledge and experience. Midway through my second year, I decided to self-publish it. Afterwards, I got some less-than-pleasing feedback, which caused me to reconsider every choice that I made.
I went back and changed it a great deal to fix the perceived shortcomings, and then I published the second edition, which is considerable different from the first--but it didn't take long for me to realize that I still wasn't happy with it. I didn't recognize what it had become, and I realized I had let too many outside people shape it.
The Path Has Reached It's End
After taking some time off from it and letting the entire experience sink in and work its way around my brain, I decided to give it one last go.
I decided upon a very clear direction, and set to work. I went back to the first edition, which more resembled what I had originally intended, and reshaped it based on my new perspective.
Carefully and thoroughly, I made changes. Then I went through it again and ruthlessly edited it, and again, and again. I changed the way that I edit so that I could be more consistent and thorough. Then I proofread it until I was satisfied with every aspect of it.
In my mind, I have taken it as far in that direction as it can logically go, and if I change it again, it will take away from that. I have very consciously made my decisions, and while they all might not sit well with the status quo, I am satisfied, and believe I have made it into what it should be--what I intended it to be from the beginning.
When It's Time, It's Time
Just because I have focused on this one project for so long, it doesn't mean that I haven't had other ideas. In fact, I have started four other books.
If I continue to go back and make changes to this one project, I will never get to those others, which are very different in a number of ways. As I said, when I started the first one, I didn't know what I was doing. That is not the case with any of these others. They were all started later, and they all have a much clearer direction than the first one ever did.
I am severely limiting myself if I only work on this one project for the rest of my life, and I believe that the best is yet to come. If Fitzgerald had spent his whole career on This Side of Paradise, he never would have written The Great Gatsby.
Every time I go back to that first one, I am delaying the completion of all the others. I can take what I have learned and incorporate it into the next project.
Perfection is Unattainable
Perfection is an entirely subjective measure when it comes to novel-writing. Tastes change over time, and what is popular today might not (and probably won't be) popular two years from now.
Not to mention, not everyone is ever going to like your book. Some people are going to hate it, and no matter how great you or others consider it to be, it doesn't matter. Just look at the Amazon or Goodreads reviews of canonical writers like Shakespeare. If ol' Billy Shakes gets bad reviews, so will you.
That is a hard lesson to learn. You just have to take the negative for what it is and be confident that someone out there wants to read your book as it is now.
Once you are finished, and it has turned out how you intended, the next step is selling it. Finding that audience, getting it in front them, and influencing them to purchase it. Unless you are extremely lucky, books don't sell themselves. You have to make the effort to sell them. If you want to be successful, learn marketing and advertising. If someone can get rich off of selling pet rocks, then anything is possible if you set your mind to it and work towards it.
I am confident that I can find an audience for my book, and that I can accept the fact that, as Taylor Swift says, "haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate." It's going to take time and effort, and thick skin, but that doesn't mean that I need to stop and go back to the beginning. It means that I just need to keep pushing forward.
