Magic is mystery and as soon as you explain away all the questions then it’s not magic anymore.

Don’t buy the course. Don’t go on the retreat. (Unless you can easily afford it). These things probably won’t change your life!

Sick of the “too many books” argument. Has anyone actually been so flooded by low quality books that they couldn’t find something decent to read? Is “the infinite flood of content” an actual issue or just another way of denigrating indie pub?

You have to build a brand. But mostly you just read and write books. Do you just write about writing? Or maybe write about reading? But you’re not a book reviewer. You’re an author. How do you generate content that isn’t just “buy my course” slop?

I don’t want to write about writing! I don’t want to talk about marketing! I don’t want to accumulate a list of other writers! I want to find readers!!

I wonder how many people are quietly making a living self publishing books. Like my author name isn’t huge, but I’ve been in the top100 overall a bunch. I doubt most people would recognize my name, but I have an audience. I feel like there are way more authors like that right now.

I swear every mafia romance starts at a funeral. Why are we doing that?????

I can feel myself on the edge of quitting another book. The sweet relief of accepting this book is not for me… and putting it down. Nothing better. DNF life forever.

I have an MFA in poetry. Writing poetry was a huge part of my life and all the internet journals and publishers felt so important. Now I’ve been out of the poetry world for over a decade… and it’s like all of that disappeared. It faded away. Poetry is just buried. It’s gone. It’s so small!

Getting into the flow of a first person shooter feels a lot like the flow of a 5,000 word day deep into the first hour of typing or the flow of rep 5/8 in a tough speed workout and that’s maybe why I like all of those things (but don’t game anymore).

Dear Diary, should I write some romantasy??

KDP and indie pub is such a good deal for everyone. Authors have new ways to publish and to make an actual living. Trad can swoop in and sign the super successful outliers. Amazon gets endless cheap content. Readers get more books they’d otherwise never see.

Nothing better than quitting a book. Hit 50% last night and tossed one aside. Best feeling in the world!

Working on becoming an anti hustle influencer. Look at my very average day! Awake at a normal time, regular exercise, a couple good hours of writing. Strive for just enough!

How much harder do I need to work? How much more rank do I need before it’s good enough? What’s the point of writing books if all I’m doing is worrying about KU rates and read through percentages?

Excavating layers of old photos and outdated reminders from the kitchen cork board like discovering lost civilizations

I don’t think AI is going to replace writers, but I do think AI is going to make it more important for writers to be semi-public, if only to prove their humanity.

When I started indie publishing, I found a forum thread that got me started. The first post included one of the most important lessons any indie can learn: YOUR COVER IS AS IMPORTANT AS YOUR BOOK.

Other people’s TVs are the most complicated things in the world. I’d rather do some obscene physics trash than have to turn your TV on and find the cable box. No thanks

Consistency is more important than almost anything else in a writing career. That doesn’t mean writing every day—but it does mean learning how you can create books and stories readers enjoy on a regular basis.

Amazon indie pub conspiracy theory: books that have higher read-through rates get better secondary rank bumps. (a thread based entirely on a hunch)

Deeply addicted to registering domains. Just added 1800andrew.com to my little menagerie of dumb dot coms

You know it’s Literature when there aren’t any vulgar dialogue tags. Not a single inverted comma in 800 pages.

Morphing into the Sprayed Edge Bandit as my final heel turn Book buyers beware

I wish someone would spray my edges Imagine how powerful I could become With sprayed edges

“Men don’t read” isn’t actually true, right? Like we all know that?

Giving out free MFA-style critiques. First one: your book is a failure because it isn’t like the book I’m writing. Second one: do things like THIS or else you’re bad. MFA earned, enjoy!

“all XYZ and ZYX” is one of those PHRASINGS

Did tweeness die out? Are people still into twee? I feel like that was a huge “art” thing not that long ago. Everyone had birds and snow. Deeply fake authenticity. The good old days!

I write romances because I don’t want to do hustle culture. It’s fine if you don’t hustle. Normalize not hustling! Getting a regular amount of stuff done every day is great too!

For all the crappy stuff Amazon does, they gave me (and lots of indie writers like me) a career. That doesn’t mean they’re above criticism. But publishing in KU did change my life.

You strap the goggles on and port into the metaverse where a dozen twitching cartoon ghouls are waiting to critique your recent writing. They don’t make eye contact because they can’t. Welcome to your MFA.

Tan suits ONLY (gender neutral) at the SFF writing influencer compound! Typewriters optional but encouraged!

Building my SFF writing compound in a vaguely rural location with beautiful sunsets and “rustic” buildings. There will be random horses. Also a neighbor family with minimum 8 kids (also SFF writing influencers, happy to do cameos).

I write romances because I don’t want to do hustle culture. It’s fine if you don’t hustle. Normalize not hustling! Getting a regular amount of stuff done every day is great too!

Entering my Business Phase. Filling my calendar with meaningless events. Email inbox overwhelming. Business Phase in full Business Swing. Look at these numbers. It’s all profit baby!

You can definitely become a writer without a networker of writer friends. Finding a community helps—it was a huge help when I was starting out—but it’s totally doable!

You’re an indie author. You have MEETINGS. Why???

Imagine needing an assistant for your assistant!

The loss of TikTok will be bad for books but I’m optimistic that the community it built will find a new home. Even if you didn’t love the titles booktok recommended, more readers is always a good thing, no matter what they’re reading.

The hack never fixes all the problems. I’m sorry it just doesn’t! That post won’t change your life. It’s okay if you don’t read it.

Consistency is more important than almost anything else in a writing career. That doesn’t mean writing every day—but it does mean learning how you can create books and stories readers enjoy on a regular basis.

My last New Year resolution was in 2015 when I decided to give self publishing a serious try. Now here I am 10 years later still writing books full time.

I almost never hit my yearly books-read number goal and honestly that’s fine. I have two young kids and there was a time when reading even 5-10 books in a year was really hard. Now I’m in a much better reading habit—plus all the audiobooks while running!

Writer’s block had one cure: prep work. That might be going for a walk and actively (actively!) thinking about your story (character, setting, plot, whatever); that might mean writing an outline; that could be reading or researching. But the best cure for a long block is active prep.

Focusing on sitting down and typing one day at a time. Outlining when needed, typing when needed, but one single day at a time.

I’m on a non-writing streak for frustrating reasons (mild cold, time of year, bad habits) but determined to get back at it. In that spirit: one day at a time.

Speculating on hobbies is not a hobby. Hobbies cease being a hobby when profit is the central motive.

Love this post! countercraft.substack.com/p/turning-of... Something I think about a lot—how the popularity of visual mediums have affected the way we write fictions. I kind of think film has been bad for writing in general. But I wonder what short for video will do in twenty years?

The bad reviews are NOT more true than the good reviews. They’re just not!!!!