In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
Last Word On The Book Deal
whiteclouder
Member Posts: 10,574 ✭✭✭
I am going to close the book issue. I was inspired to write; there was no deal with anyone and I never said there was. Only after I'd finished the first book, and a couple folks chosen at random from this board had read it, did I think to pursue an agent and even think about getting published. I discovered it is very difficult to break into the publishing world. But if I'm nothing else, I'm blessed. An agent came to me and she promised to do her best to get me recognized. Should that happen, fine, and if not, that's fine as well.
My compadres here on the board will not think one iota less of me should they not see me published, in a year or three or ten. Most seem to enjoy the occasional snippet and I will post them from time to time. Some are ambivalent about them and that's fine. And a few are antagonistic and that's okay too, I don't seek their approval; I don't need it, especially from an 18 year old school boy.
T-bolt and bullz and their ilk are as significant as the phosphor dots that make us aware they are out there somewhere and they are just as easily eliminated----and rightly so.
Clouder..
My compadres here on the board will not think one iota less of me should they not see me published, in a year or three or ten. Most seem to enjoy the occasional snippet and I will post them from time to time. Some are ambivalent about them and that's fine. And a few are antagonistic and that's okay too, I don't seek their approval; I don't need it, especially from an 18 year old school boy.
T-bolt and bullz and their ilk are as significant as the phosphor dots that make us aware they are out there somewhere and they are just as easily eliminated----and rightly so.
Clouder..
Comments
B - BreatheR - RelaxA - AimS - SightS - Squeeze
As a fellow writer I know about the roller coaster rides of publishing. Your creations become like "children" with all the effort required.
I am not a novel writer or publisher, so I don't feel qualified to critique your creations but I will say that I think you have the gift - that's something no one can teach you, and I hope that you seriously pursue a career in writing.
Years ago when I started songwriting, several so called experts told me I wouldn't make it. I did, in spite of them and you will too.
Good luck, my friend -
Jim
I had a fraternity brother who majored in Radio-TV-MotionPictures. He dreamed of becoming a Hollywood writer. His junior year, he took a required course in creative writing. The prof told him he was terrible, that he should change his major. It was too late for him to change the major, so he finished it, much discouraged. Drifted around for a while as a lounge pianist for a while and found himself in Hollywood where he obtained a job on the censor board (this was in the 70s). Reading through the submitted scripts by established talents(?), he realized he could do much better. Today, he has been the head writer for at least six quality series which lasted several seasons - in fact he was the head writer for three of them at once!
If you have talent and desire, you will succeed. The naysayers will always be there. Unless your ego overpowers your common sense, *you* know whether what you write is good or not. Follow you dream and good luck.
A friend of mine wrote a book on what he thought OUR next revolution was going to be like. Worked on it for about 5 years. No luck with publishing but was still a good reader.
Ron
I only know screenplay agents. And I seldom have the perseverence to read anything longer than a gun article anymore. Nevertheless, if what you wrote might make a good movie??
Now that you mention it, my agent is affiliated with The Hardy Agency. I know about them only what I read at her wedsite. They did the movie "Pay It Forward". She sees a potential screenplay in the second book with the first used as back story and the third condensed for a conclusion. Maybe even a mini-series for TV which she says is easier to sell than a movie. She said to always write with such a possibility in mind. It detracts nothing from the literary effort and it's another good source of revenue to finance more writing. Long-shot dreams but they cost no more to have than the short-sighted ones, right?
Clouder..
Edited the movie title, 'the law' pointed out it was wrong.
Edited by - whiteclouder on 12/01/2002 14:14:59
Best!!!
Rugster
Toujours Pret
"Don't mistake my honesty for weakness...
"Don't mistake my honesty for weakness...
Best wishes on your endeavors..
Faldum
Thank-You for sharing your book writing experiences with us. Please continue to keep us informed on the progress. I hope the positive responses outweigh the negative ones. When Hannady and Colmes have ya on their show during your book tour, don't forget to mention all of us folks on G.B.,,sod
"If a Man Speaks in The Middle of the Forest & There is No Woman Around to Hear him, Is He Still Wrong??"
The most important things, Are not things.
Thanks for sharing.
Buy low, short high...
To the rest:
Thanks a lot for the support guys. The reward is knowing someone else takes pleasure from reading what I've written. The first book goes to the editor this week. Then I do another re-write based on her critique and let her have another look. All things being equal, the agent can then start shopping it around.
As promised, signed copies to everyone on this board that wants one. Don't know yet how that will be arranged but we will get 'er done.
Clouder..
I hope you win, you merit it. Next up for me is a biography of a once-hot band who still play shows, I'm meeting with them on the twentieth of this month. Should get a few thousand desktop-published copies sold via their website, hell, maybe that's a step. It will be enjoyable, regardless, if the boys agree to it. BTW, that dude who was lost in the swamp has made it out, but he lost his point somewhere along the line. Shoulda left it alone, maybe later...and wiser?? Hmm..........
My character is a lot like your Neil. Society in general had let Simon down and right now (page 189) he's discovering that abandoning it altogether is not a workable solution. And what is? We'll see what he has to say in the next 200 pages. Neil was destined to perish but maybe that was a choice as well.
Clouder..
While attending basic training, I worked in the issue shed as a slick sleeve recruit. There was a three-striper supervising; unhappy, sick of the service and about forty years old. You get what I mean. I was expounding on the great opportunities offered by the service, the great chow, my own bed, and more clothes than I'd seen in my life. He listened for awhile and then said, "I can tell by lookin' at ya, ya ain't gonna amount to nothin." I was insulted, hurt, flabbergasted, and dumbstruck in one sweeping wave of emotion. And I resolved right then and there to succeed in the military. And I did.
Clouder..
Edited by - nunn on 12/03/2002 18:40:55
He had an audition for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the highest paying orchestra in the country-a week after his school audition-he was really bent out of shape by the remarks of the pr@#$, but decided he should do the audition anyway, cause when you sign up for an audition and not show up, it looks bad.
Well, he got the principal job of the Metropolitan Orchestra at 20 years old, and beat out 20 students of the teacher who said unkind things(along with about 200 other people who auditioned). My friend immediately sent the a-hole teacher a broomstick.
It getsd better-this year, the kid, who is now 26, decided to he no longer enjoyed playing at the met, and decided to take an audition with the Orchestra(one of the best in the country), that this jerk from the past also played in. The jerk played second chair, and my friend was auditioning for the first seat. THe way orchestral auditions work for woodwinds, is the entire section of the instrument being auditioned, plus all the principle winds, listen to the auditions. Well, everyone was blown away by his playing, except for the pr!@#. He lobbied hard not to have this guy win the job, but everyone else wanted him-so now he is 1st chair, which means essentially, he is now the boss of the pr!@#.
"Sometimes the people have to give up some individual rights for the safety of society."
-Bill Clinton(MTV interview)
I love hearing stories like that; too many times in the music business there are people that think they're better than God, and they tromp on the new guys.
I had a so called expert agent in Texas tell me once that I'd never make it in the business, my songs were bad, my voice was worse -- and he supposedly "had a direct line to Nashville" in his home. (where we were). I told him "if what you say is true, why do you live in a dump and I drive a Cadillac?" Afterwards, I was so upset that I threw my songs out the window on the highway, and nearly gave up. I didn't, moved to Nashville and 5 years later won several awards. On a visit to Texas, I ran into him, and he said "I always knew you'd make it" and tried to shake my hand. (I refused). In front of about 20 people I said "No, you said I wouldn't make it, which made me make it; and I made it in spite of you!" I also told these people about his "direct line to Nashville" and made them aware that no one of any importance in the business knew who he was. He slunk away and hasn't been heard from since.
Edited by - Jungle Jim on 12/02/2002 17:40:45
NRA MEMBER
Have you been smoking crack, LIK?
Did somebody say "crack"?
Clouder..
Clouder,
I would be more than happy to take a set off your hands and pay for them too.
twins
If you have one shot...Accu-Shot Website