Give and Take – A Writer’s Dilemma

Jun05
by rikscott on June 5, 2014 at 3:44 pm
Posted In: Conflict, Craft

Child MagicianAbout a month ago I proudly announced that thenceforth Thursdays would be my writing day, and nothing (repeat NOTHING) would get in the way of me putting fingers to keyboard to accomplish that goal.

It hasn’t exactly worked out that way… at least not yet, but I think I’ve got a decent excuse.

A week ago today my writing day was put aside in order to accomplish as much as we could in getting the new store ready for prime time.  Why was it so important to put writing out of the way for a bit?  It turned out that the Renaissance Fair was in town, and that meant that Port Gamble was going to be a crowded little village for the entire weekend.

So, like a trooper, I put aside the keyboard and picked up a hammer, a screwdriver, and my bag of magic tricks, and I put together the magic room of Mrs. Muir’s House of Ghosts and Magic.

While we were not merchandised for a full opening, we thought that if nothing else, the word of mouth advertising we’d get would be phenomenal. While Saturday was a bit of a bust, Sunday was a great second day of business for the new store.

Then, while I was selling magic tricks, telling ghost stories, and in general entertaining (and selling to) customers, we got some very bad news.

On that poor turnout day, Saturday, the founder of our first store, the Kingston Bookery, died.

I’ve written something of the history of Mr. B’s Bookery (which has become the aforementioned Kingston Bookery) elsewhere.  But let it suffice to say that despite knowing that Mr. B (Bill Wiley) was slipping away, it was still a big hit to us, and to the Kingston community.  This, along with the continued preparation of the newest store) has taken a big bite out of writing time.

But that’s OK.  One thing I’ve learned, especially over this last year, is that life is writing.  If I’m not writing, I’m planning.  I’m plotting, I’m building characters, I’m deciding starts, endings, first and last sentences… the works.

So, while this post is the only writing I’m doing today, it IS writing.  And this Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be “On Stage” again performing magic, and selling antiques and oddities at Mrs. Muir’s House of Ghosts and Magic.

Do drop by if you’re in the Kingston/Port Gamble area.  I’d love to see you!

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How much is TOO much?

May22
by rikscott on May 22, 2014 at 2:47 pm
Posted In: Answers, Craft, Discipline
1.bp.blogspot.com

1.bp.blogspot.com

Thursday!

A “writing day” has come round again, and I couldn’t be happier.

Much has happened over the last week.  We now own 2 and a half acres of a working vineyard.  The vineyard is on a beautiful hill with an excellent view of the surrounding countryside.

So, you ask, why bring this up on a writing blog?  Am I bragging?  Hmm… Perhaps, a little.  The property IS wonderful.

For me, this is an opportunity to have a place to write that is both quiet and scenic, and more than a little inspiring.  Yes, I believe the muse lives on or near the vineyard, and I’m dying to remake our acquaintance.

If you read last week’s post you may recall that I’m head over heels happy that I’ve got a set time for writing once more.  True, I get only one day out of seven, but that is pretty much the whole day for my much neglected craft.  I’m so glad to have this time at last.

But, as you may surmise, this is not the reason I’ve called you all here, today.

Rather, it is to ask you, as fellow scribes, what I feel is an important question.

Do I push out what I’ve already done on the… erm “finished” novel, or do I keep on with the rewrites until I feel that all the bits of business in the story are complete?

Yes, I get it that for some writers there is no such thing as “complete to satisfaction” in writing.  But I’m not sure I’m ready to take the ms. out back and shoot it.

I get the idea that polishing an idea too closely may cause it to wear away altogether, and I certainly do not want that.  At the same time, I feel that once found, an area of plot, or character development which does not deliver (at least by my standards) cannot be left in an unfinished state.

So, my question to you is this: How far do you go with your work when it comes to polishing and rewrites?  Is good enough good enough?  Should we, as writers, worry a piece to death, or do we finally say, “done” and move on to the next thing?

I would very much like your take on this, but I think that comments are still limping–if not entirely broken–on this site.  So, if you care to answer, please do so on my Facebook page.

That’s it for now, back to work on the novel.

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Tom Clancy said it best…

May15
by rikscott on May 15, 2014 at 1:37 pm
Posted In: Writing
The early days of the Kingston Bookery were a very busy time

The early days of the Kingston Bookery were a very busy time

I’ve commented about the late Tom Clancy’s quote about the difference between fiction and “real life” a couple of times before, and if you’ve heard it one too many times… well, sorry.  The thing is, I’m discovering even more truth in the statement these days.

For the record, here is the quote: “The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”

It’s been more than a year since I’ve regularly attended to my blog, and I’m feeling pretty low about that.  In the early days of Uphill Writing, I was posting seven times a day.  But then, life changes when you uproot yourself and move on to new things.

These days I’m a part owner in two book stores (The Kingston Bookery, in Kingston, WA, No.7 Books, in Port Gamble WA), and am about to be the same for a “ghostly” Magic Store, as well.  Mrs. Muir’s House of Ghosts and Magic (also in the touristy village of Port Gamble)should be open right around the first of June.

Mrs. Muir’s will be something of a paranormal mini-mall–we even considered calling it a “ParanorMALL”), selling much more than my “nothing up my sleeve” type magic.  We will also have herbs, oils, crystals, pendulums, and the paraphernalia used by “serious” followers of the paranormal.  We will also be featuring Victorian period clothing, and many more items of interest to people who come to visit what is thought of by some as a haunted village.

What a life.  I think Mr. Clancy would agree, that this is an odd life for a retired guy who thought he was a full-time writer.

Does this post mean that I’m back to blogging, novel writing, story crafting, and other creative endeavors? Damn, I hope so.

For now… for today, at the very least, I shall continue to push on.

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Vocation, Avocation, Frustration

Oct19
by rikscott on October 19, 2013 at 2:17 pm
Posted In: Challenge, Conflict

Uphill_StruggleThat odd cracking sound you may  be “hearing” is my fingers protesting about being back at a keyboard after lo, these many weeks.  Yes friends, I’m still alive, and breathing fairly well, but am foundering in my goal to write daily… and NaNoWriMo is just days away!

I’m writing this post while sitting at the counter of the Kingston Bookery, the first of a slowing growing dynasty of used book stores  Dynasty?  Really?  Well, perhaps not a dynasty, but certainly a PAIR of bookstores.

Seven months ago I would have chuckled at the idea of being a proprietor of two bookstores.  Laughable, really.  I’m retired, after all, and writing is what I want to be (and am, perhaps, even MEANT) to be doing.  Ah, well.

It is frustrating.  No, FRUSTRATING!! to be around so many books, nearly every one published in the old, tried and true method.  That is to say, through an agent and a publisher.  So many books.  Maybe daunting is a better word.  How can I ever get space on such a shelf in a store somewhere.  After all, all those authors found the time to write, rewrite, re-rewrite, edit, submit, cry, re-edit and resubmit.  Sheesh!

I’m off to California for a few days.  Going to reclaim my libraries and gear, rent a truck, and drive back up here to Washington.  Two such drives in about 6 months.  What fun.

I must sound like I’m complaining about circumstance (and to some degree, success), but more, I hope, I am outlining the current list of challenges, those bits of life-force that like to jump out in front of you as you drive the freeway of life.  Surprise!

Like many of you, I AM a writer.  Being kept from full-time scribing is only a temporary thing.  As soon as the stores start making money I’ll be hiring help, and getting back to work.  And, as said above, NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and this will be my 12th year of competing.  No way I’ll miss that, even if it means giving up sleep and food.

A person is a writer when writing is in them, and demands to be let out.

-30-

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Books: Looking At vs. Looking Through

Sep02
by rikscott on September 2, 2013 at 5:56 pm
Posted In: Books, Rant

Old Used PaperbacksNow that my life is more about selling books than writing them… and that these books are, almost exclusively USED books (as a writer, is there a conflict of interest there?), I find myself seeing books in a whole new light.  Please note that I have no interest in leaving behind the world of writing… it’s just that there hasn’t been a lot of time−at least cohesive, consecutive minutes of it−to devote to my much-loved avocation.

It is, nonetheless, the looking AT books I want to talk about today.

Let me define a couple of terms, first.  When I speak of looking THROUGH a book, I’m talking about ignoring the physical attributes of the book and paying attention only to the content, and how said content affects the mind.  When I say looking AT a book, I’m talking about observing the cover, the condition, the binding, the pages themselves, and how they have been used (or abused).

As a reseller of books, and a part of a business which has the remarkable model wherein most of the inventory comes through the door at the hands of the customer, the condition of books becomes very important.  The surprise I evince when I hold a book these days is not unlike realizing, after months of staring into your loved one’s eyes, that you are just now noticing their color.

When we buy a new book at one of the ever fewer brick and mortar stores, we might peruse the volume for quite a while before deciding to buy.  Then, many of us, I think, will reach for an “un-perused” volume, one, in other words, that does not look used in any way.  Why take a book with an even slightly bent cover or barely sprung spine when there is a pristine copy right there  (even if we are the culprit who ever so slightly used it)?

A used book is a whole different matter, though.  We expect to find some defects in the books we take from the Used Bookstore shelf.  The volume might be bowed, the cover could show some wrinkling, smudging, or even a small tear.  What does that matter if we are getting the book at a “great” discount, or if the book is one we’ve been unable to find in any form?

Surprisingly, it does matter to some buyers, and therefore to the bookstore staff when books are brought in.

I am amazed at what comes into the Kingston Bookery.  We get 50 to 100 “new” books daily, on average.  Sometimes quite a few more than that.  Can we use them all?  Sadly, no.  For example, paperback books that have badly cracked spines (where the title and author can’t be read through the distortion), books with missing pages (no surprise), medium age hardbacks without dust jackets, or books with extensive page damage, are all unusable.  If the prospective buyer cannot be attracted, the book will just sit on the shelf gathering dust.

Those books go off to Goodwill or other places where the selling of books do not keep the lights on and the doors open.

What puzzles me is the expected life of a book, be it paperback or hardback.  The oldest books in the store are hardback, and that makes sense, but the question, to me at least, is how many reads can you expect to get out of a book before it gives up the ghost?  I guess it comes down to the reader.  If the person handling the book habitually bends the book and stresses the spine, or dog-ears pages, a paperback book isn’t likely to make it much past a single reading.

That said, some books here at the KB seen to come in and out of the store like they were on a revolving door.  Romances and Westerns (which, it surprised me to find out are LARGELY romances for men) are read over and over and seem to live just about forever.

Once more I leave you with more questions than answers.  Being (rather suddenly) in the used book business gives me a unique view of both the behavior of books, and, perhaps more interestingly, the behavior, and the reading taste, of the people who live in the little village of Kingston, but this is a time of “heavy” learning.  I’ll share more of what goes on here, as time permits.

Oh, and if you’ve gotten to this final sentence, PLEASE, until I can rebuild this blog, make any comments you might have on my Facebook page.

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