CKA Forums :: Zipperfish Embarks on Literary Career

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket.

That's exactly what I think about my writing!

bootlegga bootlegga:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket.

That's exactly what I think about my writing!

Any luck with it so far?

What kind of stuff do you write, Rev?

I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November.

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket.

That's exactly what I think about my writing!

Any luck with it so far?

I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. After that, it's back to work on my novels. I've been thinking of writing some short stories too, but haven't had time of late.

Other than that, it's just write, re-write, write, re-write, with some effort thrown in on getting published when I have the time and money...

$1:

I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November.

Fiction is incredibly low-paying, but likely the most potentially lucrative. You get those small paydays, and I'm always amazed when I see how little those markets pay, but if you get a successful novel you do really well, and TV and movie money are just insane. Hang in there.

bootlegga bootlegga:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket.

That's exactly what I think about my writing!

Any luck with it so far?

You don't have time for short stories? I feel the same way about novels. I always say that short stories are like girlfriends and novels are like wives adn I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment! And I wouldn't sneeze at $200 bucks--this latest poem netted me a cool $6.17.

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket.

That's exactly what I think about my writing!

Any luck with it so far?

It's not that I don't have time to write short stories, but I start rambling and before you know it, my story is 10,000 words. Not very short...and hard to sell. In my experiecnce, most magazines want them 5,000 - 7,000 words. I am re-writing a short story I did in high school (space opera). It should be small enough for On Spec...if it makes it, I'll let you know.

Plus, if I'm going to spend hours marketing them, I'd prefer a bigger pay cheque than a couple hundred bucks. I'm sure my first novel won't be that great, but if I can sell it, it'd be worth more than $200 (my biggest sale yet).

Congrats on the poem writing (even if the cheques are so small). I can't write a poem to save my life...

I agree a novel is an intimidating thing to write,

Author:	Zipperfish [ Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:
bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket. That's exactly what I think about my writing! Any luck with it so far?

Author:	bootlegga [ Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:
Zipperfish Zipperfish: bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket. That's exactly what I think about my writing! Any luck with it so far? I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. After that, it's back to work on my novels. I've been thinking of writing some short stories too, but haven't had time of late. Other than that, it's just write, re-write, write, re-write, with some effort thrown in on getting published when I have the time and money...

Author:	Rev_Blair [ Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:03 pm ]
Post subject:
$1: What kind of stuff do you write, Rev? Just about anything they'll send me a cheque for. Mostly in-house publications for photographic companies...training manuals etc, because I was doing that before anyway...and construction stuff. When things get slow, I can generally pick up ghost-writing on e-books. Most of it is dull as hell...this is how you use lighting and this how you pound a nail and this is why you shouldn't drink a bottle of whiskey, climb a ladder and do the Hokey Pokey...but it pays decently (you don't get rich, but you can afford beer if the doctor hasn't put you on hemmorage-inducing pills that do nothing whatsoever) and I can wander out back and play with the dogs at will.

Author:	Rev_Blair [ Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:09 pm ]
Post subject:
$1: I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. Fiction is incredibly low-paying, but likely the most potentially lucrative. You get those small paydays, and I'm always amazed when I see how little those markets pay, but if you get a successful novel you do really well, and TV and movie money are just insane. Hang in there.

Author:	Zipperfish [ Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:40 pm ]
Post subject:
bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket. That's exactly what I think about my writing! Any luck with it so far? I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. After that, it's back to work on my novels. I've been thinking of writing some short stories too, but haven't had time of late. Other than that, it's just write, re-write, write, re-write, with some effort thrown in on getting published when I have the time and money... You don't have time for short stories? I feel the same way about novels. I always say that short stories are like girlfriends and novels are like wives adn I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment! And I wouldn't sneeze at $200 bucks--this latest poem netted me a cool $6.17.

CKA Forums http://www.canadaka.net/forums/

Zipperfish Embarks on Literary Career http://www.canadaka.net/forums/poems-writings-f21/zipperfish-embarks-on-literary-career-t10041-30.html	Page 3 of 10

Author:	Zipperfish [ Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:42 pm ]
Post subject:
Rev_Blair Rev_Blair: $1: I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. Fiction is incredibly low-paying, but likely the most potentially lucrative. You get those small paydays, and I'm always amazed when I see how little those markets pay, but if you get a successful novel you do really well, and TV and movie money are just insane. Hang in there. yeah, I had a bunch of time off a while ago and thought about doing some other kinds of writing, but I just didn't want ot turn it into a job, you know. With the stories it's kind of fun (except marketing the buggers--that's work!), but if were editing or writing contract stuff I'm afraid it might ruin it for me.

Author:	Rev_Blair [ Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:47 am ]
Post subject:
I find that some aspects of it are still a lot fun...breaking a complex set of activities down into something 500-750 words long that a novice can understand isn't that different from trying to get an idea across in a few lines of dialogue. A lot of it is just drudgery though, just like any other job. Unlike most other jobs, you can just walk away for a couple hours though. You can work on something else or play with the dogs or whatever.

Author:	bootlegga [ Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:
Zipperfish Zipperfish: bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket. That's exactly what I think about my writing! Any luck with it so far? I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. After that, it's back to work on my novels. I've been thinking of writing some short stories too, but haven't had time of late. Other than that, it's just write, re-write, write, re-write, with some effort thrown in on getting published when I have the time and money... You don't have time for short stories? I feel the same way about novels. I always say that short stories are like girlfriends and novels are like wives adn I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment! And I wouldn't sneeze at $200 bucks--this latest poem netted me a cool $6.17. It's not that I don't have time to write short stories, but I start rambling and before you know it, my story is 10,000 words. Not very short...and hard to sell. In my experiecnce, most magazines want them 5,000 - 7,000 words. I am re-writing a short story I did in high school (space opera). It should be small enough for On Spec...if it makes it, I'll let you know. Plus, if I'm going to spend hours marketing them, I'd prefer a bigger pay cheque than a couple hundred bucks. I'm sure my first novel won't be that great, but if I can sell it, it'd be worth more than $200 (my biggest sale yet). Congrats on the poem writing (even if the cheques are so small). I can't write a poem to save my life...

Author:	Zipperfish [ Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:01 pm ]
Post subject:
bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: bootlegga bootlegga: Zipperfish Zipperfish: Oh, I haven't quit the day job yet. The writing is like a lottery ticket. That's exactly what I think about my writing! Any luck with it so far? I've had some stuff published, but pretty small paydays, $200 here and $100 there. I'm working on some screenplays right now and I'm going to a pitch conference in November. After that, it's back to work on my novels. I've been thinking of writing some short stories too, but haven't had time of late. Other than that, it's just write, re-write, write, re-write, with some effort thrown in on getting published when I have the time and money... You don't have time for short stories? I feel the same way about novels. I always say that short stories are like girlfriends and novels are like wives adn I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment! And I wouldn't sneeze at $200 bucks--this latest poem netted me a cool $6.17. It's not that I don't have time to write short stories, but I start rambling and before you know it, my story is 10,000 words. Not very short...and hard to sell. In my experiecnce, most magazines want them 5,000 - 7,000 words. I am re-writing a short story I did in high school (space opera). It should be small enough for On Spec...if it makes it, I'll let you know. Plus, if I'm going to spend hours marketing them, I'd prefer a bigger pay cheque than a couple hundred bucks. I'm sure my first novel won't be that great, but if I can sell it, it'd be worth more than $200 (my biggest sale yet). Congrats on the poem writing (even if the cheques are so small). I can't write a poem to save my life... I agree with you on the marketing end. It takes almost the same amount of effort to shop a novel as it does a short story. I've got a novel that's sitting at about 40 pages. It sits in my writing folder lime a giant accusing finger: "Why haven't you finished me?" I don't want to open it, because I've commirtted to writing the whole damn thing straight through if I open it again. That's rather intimidating, especially since I don't know what's going to happen next. And don't cut yourself short--maybe you first novel will be that great!

Author:	bootlegga [ Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:23 pm ]
Post subject:
I hope so. I know my writing gets better and better every time I write. Hopefully by the time I finish it, it will be as good as I envision it. I agree a novel is an intimidating thing to write, but I plot out a rough template of where the story will go and then write it from the blueprint, adding bits and pieces as they come.

Author:	Zipperfish [ Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:02 am ]
Post subject:
Yeee-haw. I just found out I sold another story (a kind of steampunk number called "Last Fare") to on-line sci-fi magazine AlienSkin. It's been a banner month.

Author:	Scape [ Fri Aug 31, 2007 6:22 am ]
Post subject:
hi 5

Author:	Arctic_Menace [ Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:51 am ]
Post subject:
$1: I agree a novel is an intimidating thing to write, Tell me about it. Even though people ahve said that my story is good, I'm still too nervous about what a publisher/editor will say about it...

Author:	Zipperfish [ Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:08 am ]
Post subject:
Hi Folks--more shameless self-promotion by Zipperfish... My latest story is out in Alienskin magazine. Check out the time-traveller tale "Last Fare" in the Featured Fiction section. There's lots of other great stories at Alienskin as well--it's a great little webzine. A total of three sales in 2007 (so far--still might get another one in under the wire!). I guess I won't be quitting the day job any time soon. But one of those sales was to On Spec, which is quite renowned internationally for literary speculative fiction, so I was pretty happy with that one. Hopefully I'll crack one of the "Big 3" in 2008 (Analog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's). Cheers.

Author:	Zipperfish [ Mon Dec 24, 2007 4:51 pm ]
Post subject:
Hi Folks, I have a poem ("Memes: You Are Being Infected") in the latest issue of Neo-Opsis science fiction magazine. It's a BC based magazine--not too sure about its availability outside of western Canada. Plus my story, "Last Fare", in Alienskin on-line magazine (see above post) is still up. Merry Christmas Zip.

Page 3 of 10	All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB ©