Keeping Your Head in the Sand

Apparently things are bad for publishing now.

This is what I hear, despite my best efforts. At the beginning of the school year, I decided to stop reading most blogs. And I've done a pretty good job of it. I'm out of most of the loop with all the gossip that goes on. I do my darndest to stay out of the drama.

But apparently between the time I gave up blogs and now, the economy has tanked and publishing has gone into another Armageddon. Layoffs, restructuring, and all around doom and gloom. I'm trying to avoid this as well. I mean, I already know more about the business side of things than I actually want to.

And it's been tough. I don't always read Sarah's blog anymore. But I do read her Twitter account, and most of the links she sends through have headlines about the failing publishing industry. I do not read the articles (unless they have funny pun headlines. Then I can't resist.)

But, as a writer trying to finish a book, I can't read all this stuff. I can't have that much knowledge about a bad situation, because it'll freeze me up. I'm sure other people have gone through it too. You see what's going on with publishing, and you want to be published so badly, that you change what you're doing. You don't write the best book for you, you write something you think will hit on the market.

And in my case, that tends to lead to a feeling of Painting by the Numbers. That's never what I sent out to do.

So I bury my head in the sand. I focus on writing the best book I can, and then pretend that everything is okay in the world of publishing. So, when I'm done with the book, Al and I can still go out to find a place for it.

I don't want to freeze up. I don't want to look at what's going on in the world and let it dictate what I'm doing. If I do that, I sell myself out.

Let me use one of my true loves as an example. Right now the RU basketball team sucks. The message boards are lit up. 80% of the people out there want the head coach Fred Hill fired. But Fred believes in what he's doing. He sees a better team out there than the one he fielded last year. He's not out reading the message boards. He can't do that, because if he does, he's likely to react to them, and make a mistake or an overreaction.

That's how I feel about publishing right now. I just ignore it. I tune out Sarah's Twitters (minus the funny headlines) and I just try to keep writing. Keep revising.

Because that's the best option.