Thursday, October 13, 2016

Audio Short Stories or Story Time w Hec

Every now and then I come up with an idea that I think is great...or okay... or kinda good.
This is one of those times.
Last month I began recording and posting some of my short stories to my author website. Likewise, I have also been reading them on the podcast. Since October is both my birth month and the month of Halloween, it seemed only fitting that I should share these as a present to myself, and that they should be suspenseful/spooky.
Having said that, I have had a few questions from people asking why I am giving my work away for free. The short answer is because it makes me happy.
To catch everyone up, these short stories are all prior submissions that were not accepted after a few attempts.
I could sell them if I continued to submit them to magazines and websites, but I have decided to impose some new rules on myself.

As any writer knows, the freelance game is a long and arduous one. After you craft the perfect story (in your mind anyway) the submission process begins. If you're lucky you'll find a market for each and every piece that you create and be paid huge sums of money for all of your hard work...
If you're like all of us other writers out there, you'll send in a story and wait...and wait...and wait...
It isn't that this is unusual, it's just time consuming.
To be fair, the good folks reading all of these submissions want to find good content. They really do. It's simply a matter of the submission to editor ratio.
You and I are not the only ones who think that we have created the next epic story that is sure to take its place in all readers' hearts, right next to Poe and Twain. Every author has this delusion.
Unfortunately, this is only one of the aspects that muddies the waters.
Someone has to actually read your work and determine whether it is good enough to publish or not (sometimes within just a few paragraphs) so that they can get on to their next gigantic slush pile.

Rejection. This is usually the point where people give up. The problem is that this is exactly the opposite of what you should be doing. When you get that "this isn't right for us" letter, and you will, that is the time where you should send it right back out to the next possible purchaser.
Now, in the instance that you get feedback, try to listen to what you're being told. Take a minute, put your pride aside, and read the feedback from the point of view of the editor that wants your story to be good. They want to buy your writing!

If you do this and simply can't bring yourself to change your great creation then just remember that someone out there cared enough to give you their thoughts.
Feedback, by the way, is received rarely enough in freelance writing that I typically take note when someone gives it to me. I find it way more constructive than the standard form letter.

Anyway, without giving away my new requirements, after I send out so many subs for a particular story and they get rejected I am going to post them on my author website and eventually I will  record them so that everyone can listen to them through my site.

This brings me back to whole "free" thing. Writing can get you money, but first and foremost it is about the craft of writing and creating and the joy that it brings to me and my readers. Money is the farthest thing from my mind when I sit down at the keyboard and start punching out a new story.

I do this because it makes me happy. I do this because it makes other people happy.

Now, I am not naive enough to think that money doesn't matter. It absolutely does. My hope is that through sharing my stories that people will read them and/or listen to them and get more interested in my work. By getting more interested in my writings perhaps more people will buy my works.

This would be a gamble if I was totally relying on people to read my stuff, but I'm not. The stories that I write are meant to be read and enjoyed by people, plain and simple. They will be released either through large publications or on my personal site, it makes little difference to me.
As long as someone reads them or listens to them and enjoys them, that's good enough for me.

Write on, and read what I write.
HC




Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Writer or Author?

I recently had the pleasure of having a conversation with someone about the difference between the "Titles" Author and Writer.

Their beef was that people were calling them a writer rather than calling them an Author.

Now, I am not one to be insensitive to this since I have debated this myself at one time or another, a long time ago. That, however, was before I stopped giving a crap about what titles or labels other people put on me…

The simple answer is that a writer is “technically” someone who writes, and an “author” is someone who also writes… The only provision is that an author is also, for whatever reason, labeled as a creator. (i.e. someone can author a plan. Or someone might label God as the Author of the universe.)

Now, without being too much of a jerk, I can tell you that there’s pretty much no difference. Like it or not. If you write, even if you are doing re-writes or editing, you are helping to author that work.

Some people will contest this point of view but, before I tell you how much of a first world problem this is, and recommend that you get a real job. Hear me out.

Writers write. Point blank. End of story.

It’s a saying that I’ve heard all my life and found to be as true in saying as it is in practice. When I was taking on other work like working fry side at a local restaurant, baling hay, mowing lawns, doing small construction jobs, getting published for my technical writing or managing an entire department at a large manufacturer, I was always writing.

I never considered myself anything other than a writer and I never assumed that this was any different than being an author. I was writing in my spare time. I was creating my own works as an author. Same thing.

Not sure why but this thought never even came to mind until I began associating with other people who had published works and then, all of a sudden, it became a topic of conversation.

Keep in mind too that your “Qualifications” may not carry over into another field of writing. So even if you are published in fiction you may not cut it in the published world of non-fiction or technical writing or vice versa. Having said that this is not the hill that I’m prepared to die on.

In my mind there is no difference.

Unless you have only the one pompous thread of “being an author” holding your confidence and/or life force together I don’t understand why this would even matter.

Yet to some people it does. Oh well, to each his or her own. I won’t be losing any sleep over what you call yourself, whether you’re published or not. As long as you KEEP WRITING!

Write on, and read what I write.
 

Thursday, January 21, 2016

HOT STUFF...

Just writing a quick post about hot stuff, onnacounta it's expected of me since "Google" highlighted Wilbur Scoville on their main page.
By "hot stuff" I mean spicy... and by "Scoville" I mean nothing... Yes. That's right. I mean absolutely nothing.
Oh, wait, I mean that you'll think it's hot...since there was definitely a contribution made...
Nope, don't care.
My grandmother teethed me on onions and jalapeƱos. If you've cut your teeth on something spicier than a rubber "binky", you can try to be acknowledged in an adult world.
Otherwise... keep suckin it...

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

So I guess I'm a podcaster...

Happy new year!
With the new year comes new responsibilities, kind of... I have been having a lot of fun with my writing lately. New submissions and Query letters are flying out with a fury. I am also sending out short stories of both sci-fi and horror to some of the magazines that I read frequently.
I have also been having a lot of fun with my little sis on a new podcast that we started called the "Off The Clock Show".
It's pretty much us, sharing our views on current events, and discussing a random topic each week that we both bring to the table. Literally, we are sitting at a table hosting the show.
To check out our new show you can click the link below to our website or look us up in iTunes, Stitcher, or TuneIn Radio.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/offtheclockshow/
FB – https://www.facebook.com/OffTheClockShow/

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Winter is coming

What's up folks? A lot has changed since my last post but rather than spell everything out I will give you a brief synopsis of the goings on.
I have recently updated my website (AuthorHector.com) and other socially things for your enjoyment. Well for my enjoyment really... sorry.
I have decided to make this into a full time gig and am throwing around a few ideas including doing a podcast and some vid projects in addition to my writing. It sounds like a lot of fun so I'm looking forward to it with great excitement.
I will be reaching out to a few people to help me with some A/V projects soon. Hopefully we can get something together before the snow starts to fall.  *Fingers crossed*
Either way...Winter is coming.
 

 

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Welcome

Hey guys & gals,
Just wanted to post a quick entry to get the blog going and create a place where I can post events/schedule updates & share my thoughts & whatnot. It's a word. Look it up...