IWSG Anthology - Out Now!

Yes, it's a great day for the IWSG as its very own "Guide to Publishing and Beyond" is out now, completely gratis! I was very proud to contribute to this tome which is chock full of advice on anything and everything to do with writing, publishing and marketing. Having read some of the posts from the bloghop I can vouch that this is a fantastic resource for anyone at any stage of the game, from the members of the IWSG who have been through the battles. I look forward to reading the rest of the entries I missed. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.

So onto my post for this month. Well my insecurity is something that I imagine a fair few writers have some trouble grappling with - money. Now, I know that very few writers go into the game hoping they will clean up - if they do, they're either doing it for the wrong reasons or they're suffering under an illusion. I accept that I'm never going to make megabucks from my writing. My insecurity stems from how this relates to everyday life. We have three kids, Christmas is nipping at our heels, and I can't help sometimes feeling guilty for not contributing enough. I've got my paper round, I'm continuing with my freelance writing and editing which, by nature, ebbs and flows. I never earn more than £250 in a week. I feel I'm doing what I can as the stay-at-home parent, but then my wife's working-at-home business has taken off in a big way and is almost earning as much as her day job.

I don't know, I've never been very savvy with money and don't feel like I've got the right sort of brain for it. It was always a bone of contention that the short stories I had published were unpaid. For me, the achievement was getting the publishing credits and the satisfaction that someone had deemed my words worthy of putting into print. I recently submitted a story to an ezine after a friend had success with the venue. It was rejected, but it was that Holy Grail of rejections, containing personal feedback! That was very exciting, and made me feel like I was halfway towards being paid for a piece of fiction for the very first time. Still, though, the payment was three dollars. Not a big difference to our bank balance, but money all the same.

I'm now looking at setting a goal of writing and submitting one short story a month with payment, but instead of this and the freelance stuff, should I be pursuing some sort of other work that offers a more regular income? I really don't know what else I'd do that would fit around my home responsibilities. I'm good at writing and I don't get any complaints.

Sorry for rambling on here. I guess my question is, if you write for no or very little money and spend a lot of time on it, do you feel guilty about that? How do you deal with it?

Be sure to visit the other IWSG bloggers here!

NaNoWriMo 2014 - Winner!

Yes! I did it. It was a long month of computer crashes and 4am starts, but I did it and wrapped up 50,000 words early on Sunday. Right in the middle of a crucial scene, too - so I've let myself have one day off today and then back on it tomorrow. After all, writing isn't just done during November, right?

I'd say it was a productive month with Part 2 of my trilogy finished and 17,000 words of my novella prequel written. It will probably require another 10k or so to be done. I had no idea this novella would even exist before NaNo started, so even though I started out by continuing previous work, it still threw up surprises! It was nice to work on something different but still related. I must admit I hit a slight slump during the middle of the month, which equated to the end of Part 2. Endings are always tricky for me and I need to regroup before starting Part 3. Nevertheless, I'm excited about the progress that has been made and looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. Also, I said hello to repetitive phrasing, clumsy constructions and other first draft sins - which I'd always been quite precious about, but that's why it took me so long to write drafts! I learnt from NaNo that getting the story out comes first.

So that's it. I'll try to get back to a regular blogging schedule this month, too.

How was your month? Did you NaNo? Did it go well for you?