Links! Self publishing, gifts, and not-so-guilty pleasures

First of all, I wanted to note that my next post, two weeks from today (which is December 26… less than two weeks till Christmas… AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!) is my favorite books of 2013. Everyone else should do that for their posts too, if they don't have anything else planned, be it favorite books or movies or music or anything else! I love year end lists.

These first two links I found through Dear Author, my very favorite review site on the web. Focuses on all sorts of romance novels, but has amazing near-daily link roundups of everything relating to reading and publishing

Perfect gifts for book lovers 

This has made the rounds on facebook too, but it's so much fun. I want 3, 5, 9, 14, 20, and 22. Oh, and 23, because they were all out of the tents with 'giant nerd' written on the side.

Seriously though, I would buy that tent if it's adequately roomy and waterproof.

Graphs on self publishing vs. traditional publishing 

I never really thought I'd be thinking too much about self publishing, that is, until we published Alchemy. So I'm even more interested now in graphs like this. Of the group, this one on motivation is the most fascinating.

As the article says about that graph:

For aspiring and self-published authors, the next most popular answer was “to satisfy a lifelong ambition.” In contrast, traditionally published and hybrid authors were more likely to choose “to make money from my writing.” As a priority, “sharing my personal experience” or “sharing my particular expertise” were more popular choices for self-published authors than for others, but these priorities were not at the top of the list for most self-published authors

  

Rejections aren't personal

I found this link at the same website as the others. I think we can always use some reminders that even though rejection will always hurt, you're in good company. And you've got to keep on going.

  

Guilty pleasures

I love this New Yorker essay, in which the author says, 

"But the guilty pleasure seems to me the distillation of all the worst qualities of the middlebrow—the condescension of the highbrow without the expenditure of effort, along with mass culture’s pleasure-seeking without the unequivocal enjoyment. If you want to listen to Rihanna while reading the latest from Dean Koontz, just go ahead and do it. Don’t try to suggest you know better. Forget the pretense and get over yourself. You have nothing to lose but your guilt."

Right on. I'm always fighting embarrassment talking about things I love. Really, why do I care if people think it's silly that I've seen every season of America's Next Top Model? It's not like I'm watching it for their approval. I do too many other things for other peoples' approval. I'm doing all these things to make me happy. You should never, ever be ashamed of doing something that makes you truly happy.

Me? I love romance novels, anime, and any book (no matter how terrible) about women disguised as men. Well, you all know most of that already. But that's because you're awesome and non-judgmental.

What are your favorite happy pleasures?

Are You Happy?

My sister and I are psychic.

No, really.

We can go for months without the merest contact, and then when we finally get on the phone, we've somehow been thinking deeply about the very same stuff. It gets creepy weird sometimes.

This past week was not creepy weird, but it was...enlightening, to say the least. My sister and I, for some reason, had both been pondering what it means to be happy. What makes you happy? Can anything 'make' you happy or unhappy, or is it a state of being?

She suggested I watch the movie, Happy (and since it's on Netflix, how could I refuse?). And now, I'm offering it up as a suggestion for all you Prosers out there. After decades of research into depression, this, finally, is a fascinating glimpse into the mental and biological reasons for happiness.

One of the most interesting parts was the discussion of happiness in relation to extrinsic and intrinsic goals. Per the movie, extrinsic goals are things where value is found outside the person. They broadly include such things as:

Image
Money
Status
Praise
Reward

Intrinsic goals meet a basic human psychological need and have meaning regardless of external circumstance. These include:

Personal Growth
Personal Relationships
Service or Helping Others and the Community

This has plenty to do with regular everyday life. Research has found, that after basic needs are met, people are not made more happy by wealth, status or praise. Rather, it is the wealth of the intrinsic goals that creates a rich life. The movie chronicles rickshaw drivers, surfers, and African nomads who all count themselves as very fulfilled and happy, not because of the outward (extrinsic) trappings of their lives, but because of the joy they find in family and community and personal fulfillment. It was really quite eye opening.

The other epiphany I came to as I watched this movie is how this might also apply to writing. I know we would love to have our books picked up by a major publisher, maybe a nice advance, maybe even fans (how 'bout a movie deal thrown in?). But what if seeking after extrinsic goals will never turn us into happy writers? It reminded me of the story Stephen King tells of getting a huge desk and putting it in the middle of his room after his first big breaks. Now he was A Writer. But after he had his own epiphany, the big desk was dumped, and a small desk installed in the corner of the room. Because, he said (something to this effect, I don't have the quote on me), writing is a part of life, it is not Life. I also loved Trisha's post 'In Which I Don't Write' and her conclusion, that she has to write because she just likes it. In other words, it makes her happy.

Can writing lead to personal growth? Oh, yeah. All that imagination and those great story ideas roiling around in your head - it's intoxicating, isn't it?

Can it enhance personal relationships? Uh...maybe? I spend a lot more time staring at the screen these days. But it's been fun to see each of my kids pick up a passion for writing their own stories. And my hubby is fab. And there are such great writing communities around (like the Prosers!).

Does it help others? I think it can. We've had several discussions here about books that have touched our lives at just the right moment to make a difference, and how much we would like to give that gift to others, too.

I guess, the thing I took away from this, as far as writing is concerned, is similar to the conclusion MaryAnn came to, and Trisha, and Sheena, and Melanie, and Sabrina - you have to write first and foremost for yourself, for your love of your story, and because you are happy when you do it.

~ Susan

What I just finished reading: Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth E. Wein - wow. just wow. read this. really.
What I'm reading now: A Confusion of Princes, by Garth Nix
What I'm listening (and cleaning) to: Tenth Grade Bleeds, by Heather Brewer
What I'm writing now: A blog post. Oh, you mean writing...the end of chapter 20 / 62K.