Marathon Author: A creative career is a marathon, not a sprint

MA 34 - 2020 Lessons Learned turn into 2021 Goals

The retrospective episode you've been waiting for.

When I ask myself what I learned in 2020, my first impulse is to start laughing.

Sometimes you have to strike out into the hills, only to find out you ended where you started... but I learned a lot along the way, and I'm going into 21 with a good game plan and the experience to make it work.

My big goal for 2021: 1 million words of fiction. If I make that happen, I'll be well on my way to bringing my income up where it needs to be to make this a sustainable career.

That's 2740 words a day or 19,178 a week. Seems crazy in aggregate, but I can easily write a 1000 words an hour as long as I know the story I want to write. I bet you can too.

I hope you're looking forward to 2021 as well.

Thanks for listening,

James

SW 021 - Refining Plotting and Some Big News

What do you do when the baby eats your work space? You prop your laptop on the dresser and record anyway.

I'm back with a quick update, some notes on the current book, and some more big changes in my life that should mean positive things for my writing.

I also talk a bit about writing on deadline and how I refine my outlining process as I write to make sure I'm always heading in the right direction and not wasting words.

Thanks for listening!

 

SW 019 - Kicked in the Face

In this episode I talk about a major setback I experienced recently, how it affected my writing, and how I am trying to continue to work through it. 

I also talk about lessons learned from reading the slush pile for an SF/F publisher. 

Thanks for listening!

SW 018 - Changes Changes Changes

This is a bit of personal episode but it touches on finding your true audience by expressing your authentic self.

Once you find those true fans, and you're honest and open with them and serve them up the entertainment they love, I think you've got them for life.

We recently went through a major transition in Aeon 14, and me with my writing partner. I was ready for fans to revolt but they've supported us in amazing ways. I can't express how much gratitude I've felt in the last month, and how inspired I've been to create meaningful, honest work.

Also, sorry for the break!

SW 007 - End of Year Accounting for Writers

Should you hire an accountant? Maybe not. I'm using one, but I talk about why and what questions you might ask yourself before making the decision.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri

Blackfish City by Sam Miller

Future of Violence

Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Joe Solari's Youtube Channel

Subscribe to my Youtube Channel so I can give it a name! (I have one subscriber... you could be number 2!)

Thanks for listening.

The Speculative.Work Podcast 005 - Goals for 2019 and Atomic Habits

Everybody loves a goals show! Let's throw down the gauntlet for 2019 so I can look back and either be pleased with my progress or shed tears in my beer.

I talk about production, health and financial goals for 2019, as well establishing a strong author brand.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Word Count Tracker (excel doc download)

Thanks for listening!

The Speculative.Work Podcast 004 - 2018 Retrospective

(from The Expanse, Season 2)

Episode 004 - I take a look at my writing in 2018, accomplishments and changes. I wrote about 600k words, published five books, became an admin with 20Booksto50k and my daughter arrived. That's some stuff! 

Books Mentioned in this episode:

This is Marketing by Seth Godin

The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri

The Future of Violence by by Benjamin Wittes and Gabriella Blum

The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly

Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday

They Thought They Were Free by Milton Meyer

The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman

Numbercaste by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

Speculative.Work Episode 003 - Feeling Overwhelmed as a Creative

Episode 3 - In this episode I talk about some strategies I've used to not feel so overwhelmed when taking on a new project. I focus mostly on writing a novel, but these techniques apply to any project.

As always, if you have any questions, shoot me an email at james@jamesaaron.net. Thanks for listening!

The Speculative.Work Podcast Episode 002

Episode 2 - A bit more on resistance, series plotting, character-based plots, using templates and learning from other genres.

Books mentioned in the podcast:

• This is Marketing by Seth Godin
• The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly
• Writing the Break-Out Novel by Donald Maas

A Reading from Vesta Burning

James S. Aaron reading from the latest Legends of the Sentience Wars book, Vesta Burning, available now on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited (https://amzn.to/2PbPMu4)