Where I Talk About Being Not Ready To Rewrite and Ebook Pricing

 

Reading a Justine Larbalestier blog entry on rewrites helped me to see I'm not at the rewrite or revision or rewhatever stage yet. I'm still writing my first look at the stories I'm working on. I was stressing about what to do with rewrites, like really stressing on how to do them, and on and on and on about all the words used by writers I admire and those I'm not fond of. Everything I'd ever learned about rewriting and revising was dancing through my head all day once.
Then I read her entry which triggered in my head the truth that this draft is still me writing my first thoughts at the stories hitting the page and it still wasn't the time for me to think about revision or rewrites. Next draft should be where rewrites start but not this draft. It's funny as a writer how you come to things.
  Maybe I should also read one of her books since I like her blog so much?

Onto something else. This morning, well this morning for me, my friend Damon and I had a conversation on Twitter that went from me talking about Netflix needing a playlist function to book pricing and a few things in-between. Later in thie entry will be the best I could cut and paste the conversation. Since I was replying by computer, my phone, and the Nook it didn't end up all in one conversation on the site.
The thing I love about conversations on Twitter isn't that you can have a deep discussion on a subject, because its hard to do that, what I love is how you can have mini conversations and also how you can talk about things that get the gears of the brain going.
 

But before showing you that I will rant about publishers and right away have emails telling me how stupid this stuff is for me to say, and my replies will be that I'm not walking their roads, and people will only say that's because I'm not good enough to get published, and I will say that's not totally truth but Fuck You for saying it.
Or I'll just go off on a rant about how in my native language merry, marry, and mary are pronounced the same.
A long time ago, when I was in college people were asking about digital distribution of books and music and films and TV. There really wasn't much of it then. There was a few books on CD Rom and Napster started right as I was leaving the college world but it was a time of people asking for this.
The companies that controlled and are struggling to continue to control the distribution were hiding from the internet and the digital future like a religious person scared of someone for simply believing different than them which is one of the most illogical ways of living. Also produces pretty harmful results for both parties.
You see this thing today where publishers act like Amazon is Lucifer with his hand up your husbands ass making him do evil works, when in fact Amazon is the symbol and big sign that screams daily about how stupid publishers have been in the past, and continue to be.
Amazon isn't a golden child. I hate that they don't allow You Pick The Price or Free as options in their ebook stores. And a number of their practices make Wal-Mart look like community partners.
But it's fucking laughable when big publishers and big book chains and yes a lot of writers go after Amazon. Really? Really? Here's the deal, if any of those publishers and book chains would have had a lick of forward thinking they would have created a Amazon but no, instead they feed, feed,and feed a system that created the huge piracy black market that exists now online.
Big bookstore chains say Amazon is hurting them. You mean like how small business have always went after you?
Big publisher say Amazon is pricing them out of business. You mean how you have always used pricing to control stocking in bookstores? How you have pushed away unique voices to keep a status of "Whats Hot" going?
And its a real shame to see so many really intelligent writers going after Amazon as The Great Satan. Again not saying Amazon is pure but unless you are just sucking a company dick, which I can understand, how can you honestly do that. Publisher have ripped off artist and writers for years and now you are defended them like they are Mother Teresa.
Though she was kind of a prick from what I've read so maybe that's a correct notion.
The truly amazing grill of stupidity that the entertainment industry is cooking itself on is how they are still stuck in those days when I was in college. They still see themselves split in publishing regions, release regions, pricing regions. They still haven't even gotten past the fucking ideas of lower ebook pricing or even for some day to print digital.
I'd like to talk about this for a lot more and I could easily but I have stories of my own to work on and isn't that one of the biggest fears that a lot of publishers, record companies, and film companies have in common. They are scared that we all do have stories to do and now there is a platform for that. That we are might want to work to tell those stories. Team up with others to create art. Team up with writers, artists, editors, actors, directors, and they will be standing there wondering what to do with their paperclips.

Here is the conversation that took place on Twitter I spoke of. Talking with Damon always gets my mind going for the good ideas and sometimes bad:) It's always been that way. Again maybe not a great cut and paste job to represent the conversation but I wanted to put it here anyways:

Brian Williams ‏Need to get a lot of writing done with storms keeping me off the laptop yesterday. Enterprise will be my background noise

Brian Williams ‏I wish Netflix had a play list function or would that be only useful to writers watching tons of stuff at once while writing?

damon ‏I wish Netflix would be willing to (easily) take $100 a year from me for their service. Oh well. #freetvinstead

Brian Williams ‏Don't they have Netflix where you live or just hard to pay for it from there?

damon ‏No official Netflix here, but then, I'm old school, don't mind paying for stuff (as thanks) that I already get free anyway.

damon ‏generally, a US issued credit card is needed for paid subscriptions, but, for eg, Hulu (basic) under VPN works fine.

Brian Williams ‏Sounds like another company not taking full advantage of the market that's out there. Then again its been that way all along...

Brian Williams ‏with the internet. Companies stuck in past ways of doing things, not able to move forward, because of stupidity and fear.

damon ‏And yes, if you're TRULY motivated to WANT to pay for content ... there are workarounds ... but why would you bother.

damon ‏the mantra 'content wants to be free' is only truly applicable when there's no (easy) paid alternative.

Brian Williams ‏Everyone knows I'm anti-piracy, mainly because of peoples lack of admitting its stealing, ...

Brian Williams ‏but companies created that black market and made it so strong through lack of foresight, courage, and creative thinking.

Brian Williams ‏Oops, I mentioned piracy online. Great way to lose followers and get a ton of direct mess about how stupid I am :)

damon ‏I'm more than happy to pay for content. But at the moment I can't. So I don't. And I still watch what I want. So who wins ?

damon ‏Case in point : Kindle book prices vary on geography, but i can import a print copy freely from anywhere, at local price.

damon ‏For me, it's the "local publisher sets the price" disclaimer that Amazon give - and often higher than a print version !

Brian Williams ‏Pricing on ebooks is a mess all over and hurts the progress. I don't think all should be free or $1 but overpricing and the like is stupid.

Brian Williams ‏Well the mindset of region pricing and region copyrights is hurting progress a lot too. Need to go or be reformed.

damon ‏and for me it's a motivator. if someone wants to charge me more for a product based on location, it's a deal breaker.

Brian Williams ‏Dvd released a year before in one region there will be piracy and if a book is priced higher in one region there will be piracy.

Brian Williams ‏I don't want them on places like Amazon, not because they are the great evil, they don't allow pay what you want and free pricing

Brian Williams ‏I meant to say I don't want my books on places like Amazon.

damon ‏and that's fair enough too - fortunately, we all have a choice where we buy / distribute. it should always be thus.

When asking Damon if it was ok to use his posts in a blog entry, something he correctly said we'd be seen as old fogeys for doing. Back in my day the internet....

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The photos are from a recent trip to St. Augustine with Mar and Queen. I took them on a cheap old camera. Queen is a really talented photographer and she was taking shots of everything that day. Since I don't get the chance to do photo blog much of anymore I thought when I do blog entries on anything else I'll add some photos I've taken recently because I enjoy sharing them.

photos by (c)Brian C. Williams,

Where I Talk About Being Not Ready To Rewrite and Ebook Pricing

Photoblog Savannah 10/26-10/28

     I love our adventure time travels. Mar is the captain of our journeys while I'm the co-pi....well, not really, I'm the navi....well, not really. I'm the funny looking guy people whisper, "How'd he get with that?" as we walk around places. But that's  good with me.
     Every time we go on a trip I write a lot while there. A day trip maybe only some poems or a vignette or two. With more than a day I can knock out a very very very very rough first draft of a short story or novella. The stories don't always have anything to do with the places we go but visiting these places inspires me greatly. On this trip I wrote a rough of a novella that I hope to revisit soon. I like a lot of the things that came out into that story.
     But enough about my delusions of grandeur, here's my photoblog entry for the trip. As always it is mainly photos with a few comments about each image. I pick the images I choose to use for the most part by random choosing. I returned from this trip having taken 2.73gb of photos.

    That's a lot of bad photography.

This first photo is the rest stop we parked at just as we entered Georgia. It was really nice. If heading up there from Florida you should check it out.

I mentioned this on Twitter but I broke one of my fang teeth trying to eat a beef jerky from the nice rest stop's vending machines. It was my fault, I know my teeth are too fucked up to try and eat something that hard. I took care of it though with 4 pills of truck stop healthcare. America.

Fort Frederica National Monument. A really nice place to visit.

Took a moment while walking around the grounds for a writing break. I tell Mar all the time that I'll go anywhere with her because she always chooses interesting places to visit, all I need is chances to write during the trip.

Inside the fort's Visitor Center.

One of the few remaining structures from the Fort is the King's Magazine.

If you love taking pictures of scenery you could spend all day walking around these grounds. We were there a good hour plus and had one of our packed lunches afterwards sitting on a bench outside the Visitor Center.

Our hotel, which Mar found a good deal on Groupon for, and the kickstarter for the trip, had decorated in Halloween fun. Loved it.

People have always told me if I made it to Georgia I need to check out some BBQ there. Wiley's BBQ was one of the highest rated places and for good reason. We loved eating there.

There was a little wait for the food but it was well worth it. It's a small place and very busy. Mar at the point of this picture was ready to eat her phone. The bad thing about any kind of wait in a BBQ joint is the great smells that rip you up while waiting.

If you go to Savannah you have to check out the Riverfront area.

Mar took this picture of me looking at a purple heart monument.

This was a surprise for us to find. I don't think either of us read anything about this ship being there.

Heading down the old iron railed steps was a good thing. The old cobbled streets just added to the atmosphere of the place. I really feel more at home in a place that looks like it was built before I was born.

Our second meal while in Savannah was at the Olympia Cafe. Mar doesn't really try different foods but they had burgers so she said we could stop there and she got a burger while I ate a Lamb Gyro sandwich.

The thing I was looking forward to the most on this trip was visiting the Gordon Low House. We weren't  allowed to take photos in the house quarters but it was still really cool to go there.

I took this photo in the Gordon Low House gardens. I took it thinking that my friend Tankgirl probably would have taken a really nice photo of the rose.

They were having a family day at the SCAD Museum Of Art and you could get in for free. It was really cool. I say cool a lot. Fuck you, it's cool to say cool. I grew up in the 80's, don't blame me. This picture was near the exit from the back area of the Museum.

At the Savannah History Museum. I love me a good diorama and this one was awesome.

The Forrest Gump bench.

Mar was feeling this touch exhibit when my mouth went off, "Stroking that beaver pelt are we?"

They had a good Juliette Gordon Low slash Girl Scout exhibit at the History Museum.

This sign was in a ton of gift shops and stores. If I'm not mistaken its a old New Orleans police sign so I don't know why they have it so much in Savannah?

Spotted this painted on the side of a house while looking for a local comic book store I had heard about.

This huge ass causeway bridge tried to get up in Mar's face but she kicked its ass. While leaving on Sunday she saw it in the distance and flipped it off. Reason one million to why I love her.

A very rare sight was spotted during a late snack run down the street from our hotel.

Fort Pulaski. There isn't a photo I could take that would do this place justice. The fort alone is well worth the visit but there are so many trails and picnic areas you could spend a whole day there easy.

We took the Park Ranger tour which was really cool. Then you can walk around all on your own so we did both. I recommend doing both since the tour is well worth it for the information you get from the Ranger and it also doesn't take you everywhere within the fort.

Looking out on top of the fort from some of the Civil War battle damage makes the mind go in so many directions. It's a beautiful view but you still have to think about the fear those soldiers must have had in those moments.

Another view on top of the fort.

The fort's magazine.

I loved the angles of the corridor in this pic. You could film a Classic Doctor Who story in that corridor alone.

Tybee Island Light Station.

Look at that gut. I deserve to live under the stairs. The boy who lived to eat everything, that's who I am.

The Tybee Island Museum is right across the street from the lighthouse station and you pay one price for both places.

You will find all kinds of interesting things in the museum. From this divers outfit..

to Nazi stuff... 

to a Girl Scout area.

I love this picture. The angle, the sky, the location, the shadows, and Mar's butt.

I picked up three patches to add for my collection on this trip. One from each fort and one from the Gordon Low House.

And as is our tradition we stopped at a KFC on the way back home from a long trip. This is something we do on trip since we don't eat out that much on trips and specifically at fast food places. Mar just had to get a picture with the statue they had inside. I don't know if she was really this excited to have this picture taken or just tired from the trip. I say both.

Here's some links you might want to check out:

Fort Frederica

Fort Pulaski

Juliette Gordon Low House

Tybee Island Light Station and Tybee Island Museum

Savannah History Museum

SCAD Museum Of Art

Photoblog Savannah 10/26-10/28

Malls, Manatees, And Chilly Spoons

We stopped first today at the Merritt Island Mall since we hadn't been over there in a long time. Most everything was closed but this was hanging on the windows of Spencer's. I saw it and thought of CareyTwoMonkeys and her husband. I need to come up with nicknames for them since that's what I do for blog entries.

From the mall we went to Lori Wilson Park to do some Geocaching and check out the beach there.

It has a really nice park and picnic area. This is the walkway to the beach. I love the natural archway.

I think this is the first beach I have ever been to in Florida that had a lifeguard.

If you ever spot someone on the beach wearing boots its probably me.

Then we checked out Banana River Park for another bit of Geocaching. It's sandwiched in a very rich snob area but has a really nice soccer park and kayak launch area.

This is the kayak launch area.

Then we spotted Ulaway(sp) Park Wildlife Sanctuary on the way back. We stopped there to eat our packed lunches. There was a bunch of people there net fishing. They gave us weird looks so I think they have the place to themselves most of the time.

We stopped at a Goodwill in Rockledge because I was looking for a used World Atlas to make sure I keep Tin Universe stuff straight. Don't wont to say something in one story and contradict it in another. That's lazy universe building. I would be Meyering it. Don't want that. Mar found her a bow and was channeling Katniss for a bit. My camera hand got all shaky.

After the Goodwill were I found something that might work but might not we stopped at Riverwalk Park. The community center was closed but its worth a visit anytime. A really nice trail to a fishing spot. Several people were there taking pictures.

See even pretty with my crappy phone camera.

Our last stop today was Wal Mart for a gas card. I spotted these superhero Wal Mart pizzas. Funny that Thor's is Ultimate Meat. You make you own joke there.

Malls, Manatees, And Chilly Spoons