THE DAY<\/p>\n
Okay, so here’s the thing. \u00a0Let’s break this all down because this is important.<\/p>\n
Here are the stats re: that very LONG short story I just shot off to the editor. \u00a0(Yes, I made my deadline. \u00a0I always make deadlines. \u00a0In fact, if there is one piece of advice I can give any writer…make your deadline. \u00a0There are no excuses, short of being on a ventilator–which actually happened to a writer I know. Yes, his editor forgave him. \u00a0But editors are people who have jobs, and their jobs are predicated on picking the right people with the right product to slot their work into the right niche. \u00a0Okay? \u00a0Think of it this way: when I was in practice, you booked my time. \u00a0If you didn’t show, I didn’t make any money. \u00a0Forget the treatment issues. \u00a0You were booking my time. \u00a0If you’d bought tickets to the opera or something, you can bet you would’ve busted your butt to get there because those tickets are expensive. \u00a0An editor deserves the same respect. \u00a0You bought the ticket; so deliver already.)<\/p>\n
Anyway, let’s think about this. \u00a0Here are the stats, more or less.<\/p>\n
WRITING OUT LOUD<\/p>\n
SHORT STORY: CHIMERA<\/p>\n
Day 1: 1000 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 11: edit day\/18,000
\nDay 2: 2200
\nDay 3: 2100
\nDay 4: 1200
\nDay 5: 3300
\nDay 6: 2000
\nDay 7: 3400
\nDay 8: 1250
\nDay 9: 5200
\nDay 10: 7400<\/p>\n
So, you do the math. \u00a0I ended up writing about 29,000\/30K in about 10 days and, for a story that I will only be paid for up to 6500, I ended with 18,000 words.<\/p>\n
Was this a good use of my time? \u00a0Think about it. \u00a0“Good” is predicted upon where your priorities are, right? \u00a0If I’m trying to earn a living, this was definitely NOT an efficient use of my time. \u00a0(In fact, go try to read folks from the pulp fiction era. \u00a0Very hit or miss, but you can understand why. They were writing as fast as they could. \u00a0It didn’t need to be Shakespeare or even very good. It just needed to be done.)<\/p>\n
So I would NEVER make a living working this way. \u00a0I worked way too many hours for way too little a reward. \u00a0Could I have done better? \u00a0Sure. \u00a0I don’t ALWAYS write LONG short stories. \u00a0If you give me an absolute word limit, I’ll honor that and I would have done so here, but the editor pretty much said, look, this is what I can pay you for, period. \u00a0So I knew that going into this.<\/p>\n
No matter. \u00a0For me, the loss was worth it. \u00a0A) I really wanted to finish something. B) Most importantly, I wanted to give the story its due.<\/p>\n
Could I have told the story in less words? \u00a0Sure–but then it wouldn’t be this story either.<\/p>\n
I have a friend who once decided that his work was worth about $50\/hour. \u00a0Well, no way I’ll make that–but that’s okay.<\/p>\n
Still, I’m a writer. \u00a0I can’t operate at a loss forever. \u00a0So it’s important for all writers to pay attention to this.<\/p>\n
Writers are traditionally paid by the word. \u00a0Dickens was and authors have been subsided like this from the dawn of time. \u00a0So it really does behoove any author decide to how much her time is worth–and budget accordingly. \u00a0That’s what the pulp fiction writers did. They probably knew that some of their stuff was crap. \u00a0Did they care? \u00a0Probably–but they probably cared more about not starving.<\/p>\n
If you’re an accountant, I operated at a loss. \u00a0I didn’t use my time efficiently, even though I worked very hard. \u00a0For me, it wasn’t a loss–but I am lucky to have a husband who will feed me until I can pull my own weight.<\/p>\n
Think about it.<\/p>\n
*** \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE DAY Okay, so here’s the thing. \u00a0Let’s break this all down because this is important. Here are the stats re: that very LONG short story I just shot off to the editor. \u00a0(Yes, I made my deadline. \u00a0I always…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3865,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863\/revisions\/3865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBlog Post: 645
\n***
\nWhat I’m Reading:
\nGosh, I haven’t found a blessed thing. \u00a0HELP!!
\n***
\nWhat I’m Watching:
\nMotive. \u00a0<\/em>Growing on me. \u00a0Also caught up with\u00a0The Americans\u00a0<\/em>(bet I posted that)\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Blacklist. \u00a0<\/em>Is it me, or are we missing Megan Boone? I love James Spader, but he needs someone to play against. \u00a0Oh, and the series needs an arc now.
\n***
\nWhat I’m Listening to:
\nNothing. \u00a0NOTHING!!!<\/p>\n