National Novel Writing Month Contest

The National Novel Writing Month Contest is over, for me anyway. I completed my novel, all 62K+ words of it (280 page) and now I am going to set about publishing it; it’s my “Instant Karma” experience. In February of 1970 John Lennon wrote a song called “Instant Karma” and then he recorded it later the same day he wrote it; it was finished and released to public only ten days later and is considered one of the fastest releases of a pop song to this date (some 40 years later). That’s what this novel is going to be for me, I wrote it in a month, I will edit it and upload it to createspace/amazon in a month and plan to have it available for sale on 01.11.10; one of the fastest publishing of an original story in my own personal history.

I write fast as it is, I can turn out a new story every other month and since 2004 I have generated six full length screenplays, five novels and numerous short stories. It’s not really that I’m so prolific, I’m not; it’s more like a case of constipation and then, with relief, there’s this sh*tload of stuff I have ready to hit the market! I have had the pleasure and honor of knowing Ken Kesey who once stated that “If you want to be a writer, then avoid fame at all costs…” and he went on to explain how being famous changes both you as a writer and your audiences’ perception of who you are as well. He also cited that being famous drags you down and makes it difficult to “fit in” and “disappear” among the crowd, hence altering how you perceive the world. I learned this notion a long time ago and for the better part of the last 20 years, it’s been something of a creed that I have lived by; I have been avoiding my fame.

That time is over, the time of blending in and being a nobody, for me, is over and as we enter this new decade I am embracing my work, the efforts I have sought to publish or produce will come to fruition. I am actively publishing a couple of my own stories, I know, a risky thing to self-publish, but I see it as a means to the end, not the primary goal. If I self-publish my stuff I’ll have something more tangible to offer prospective agents, which is the next step in my plan; finding the right agent to represent me and my work. This one of the reasons I have joined this network and several others, I’m applying my skills in the SMM trends and seeking some fame of my own. Besides, if I happen to sell a few of my books along the way, all the better!