Category: News of Note

Well, my novel-in-a-week challenge last week went pretty well. I ended up doing just short of 70,000 words, definitely a one week record for me, which is the equivalent word count of a book. However, I didn’t quite finish it — it’s my third run at a young adult fantasy I’m trying to get right — but it’s close. Just a chapter and a half to go.

All in all, I’m glad I did this, as I’ve always found I work well under pressure. It was also helpful to have other writers participating; we had our own virtual writing community, and each night we posted our totals as well as shared our struggles and triumphs. Did we all come away with sellable books? Who knows. In the end, I really ended up writing not much faster than my normal drafting speed; I just put in a lot more hours. The book still needs work. It’s a lot better than the first two drafts, I think, but I’m going to have to go over it chapter by chapter, most of all for setting and sensory details, but also for voice miscues. Still, I feel good about this one. I feel like I know what to do. It’s just a matter of doing it.

Lately, I’ve been gearing myself up to really increase my productivity, and this week helped kicked things off. I’ve been fairly productive the last three years (probably about a quarter of a million words of fiction a year, spread between novels and short stories), but I know I can do better. When it comes down to it, if you want to “make it” as a professional fiction writer — however you define that — the only thing you can really control that has a direct bearing on your chances of success is your production. Of course, you must also strive to get better, studying, learning from others who have walked the road, but none of that matters much if you don’t produce.

So I’m upping my productivity goals. It’s a fine balancing act, what with a full time job, a supportive wife, and a two year old, but it can be done. What I give up — television, mostly — I don’t miss much. What really drives me, and what will continue to drive me no matter how far I go with my writing career, is the desire to become the best storyteller I can be. I get so many rewards from that pursuit that it makes the short term sacrifices worth it.

Yesterday was a very good day — mowed the lawn, played with my daughter, did a thousand words on the novel in progress, sold a story, and attended a fun party with other writers. The kind of day that covers all the bases, appealing to all parts of my personality.

I’m very pleased with the short story sale. Pleased because it was to the All-Star Stories anthology Twenty Epics, edited by the irrepressible David Moles and the lovely Susan Marie Groppi. Relieved because the story (titled “Epic, The”), one of the most unusual I’ve written, was so tailored for this specific market that I’m not sure it would have been possible to rewrite it for anyone else. Without giving away too much, let’s just say I myself am the main character. Man, it was fun to write, though. I was laughing all the way through.

Minutes after finding out about the sale, I hopped in a car and drove out to Lincoln City to attend the wrap-up party for the short story workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Gardner Dozois. I attended this workshop myself back in 2002, and it really was a watershed moment for me — holding up a mirror to me and my writing, showing me exactly what I needed to work on if I wanted to get where I wanted to go. Anyway, it was great to see Kris and her husband Dean Wesley Smith, as always, people I’ve known since I was a wee young pup in college and who mean a lot to me. Gardner was his usual notorious self, cracking dirty jokes and working the room. Jay Lake, Loren Coleman, Steve and Chris York were all there, as well as the famous dancing cows. I gave all the suffering students commemorative glow in the dark alien key chains as keepsakes. Hope they treasure them always.

Well, I’ve started a blog. I mentioned this to my wife the other night and she said, “Why do you need a blog?” Note that there was a lot of emphasis on the word “you,” and I took this to mean that other people needed a blog, much more interesting people, naturally, but a fairly boring person like myself didn’t need one. Well, she may not have meant it that way, but if she did she’s right: I probably am boring (which is the chief reason I write fiction, so I can pretend I’m much more interesting than I actually am), but I’m just stubborn enough to try this thing anyway. Hey, if even the Pope has a blog, why not me?

That said, it’s hard to write about my life at all without occasionally mentioning people in my life. There’s only so much I can say about the time I spend alone in the car commuting to work. (Today’s road kill count: 3.) So if you’re that annoying guy at the post office who smells like my sock drawer, and you recognize yourself here, I’m sorry. But I am a writer, you know. It’s all grist for the mill.

Anyway, brief introductions. My name is Scott William Carter. I can’t imagine you coming to this blog without knowing my name, but when one says “brief introductions,” it’s pretty hard to start any other way. I’m a professional fiction writer. This means I write fiction for money. I write fiction for lots of other reasons, too, of course, but because my eventual goal is to make a living writing fiction, money has to be one of the primary motivations. I’ve sold close to twenty short stories to a variety of markets, all of which are listed on my website. After spending years working on my craft with short fiction, I’ve been spending more time on novels — which goes back to that money thing. Though short stories are my first love, and undoubtedly always will be, it’s really hard to make a living at this unless you write novels. That said, I love everything about the craft of writing fiction. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing this, because there are lots of easier ways to make a living you know.

I’ve titled this blog “On Reading and Writing,” and most of my posts will have something to do with those two subjects, but when you’re a writer, everything is about writing in one way or another, so that’s a pretty broad canvas. I might mention exciting news regarding my fiction, works in progress, good books or stories read, and insights into the human condition. That last category will probably be the most rare, because, frankly, I barely understand myself let alone the human condition, but I’ll do the best I can. I know a lot of people post daily in their blogs, but I probably won’t be doing that. With a full time day job, a wife and two-year-old, and various other things that take up my time, I channel most of my remaining energy into my fiction. But I’ll drop by when I can. I don’t have a comments section because I’m not sure I have time to monitor it, but if you want to say hi, send me in an email (scott@scottwilliamcarter.com). I’d love to hear from you.

P.S. Just realized that my first post was on a Friday the 13th. Hmm . . .