Robin Hood fights Prince John. He robs from the rich and gives to the poor. All that ends when the proper ruler, King Richard, returns. Now that leadership is in the right hands, all will be well.
Dragnet. The good guys are the cops, right?
Batman before, say, 1970. He worked with the police. Commissioner Gordon led a group of police that, at least in general, were good people.
Before the late 1970’s, people in authority were generally the good guys. If someone in authority was a bad guy, they were obviously corrupt. Once you got the right person back in authority, all would be well.
Ah, but after the 1970’s, the good guys were almost always the rebels. Try to think of some sort of entertainment in the last 50 years that showed the good guys being the ones in charge. Star Wars: The good guys are rebels. Star Trek: It’s kind of a running gag that every admiral in Starfleet was either corrupt or inept (not in the original show, but in almost all the sequel series). How many times has James Bond had to go rogue to see justice done?
Imagine writing an entire novel in a week. It’d be pretty sweet, huh? Creating an entire adventure in seven days sounds like an amazing experience to me.
That wasn’t my plan this week. My original plan was to get a bunch of writing done, though. After all, the week after Easter I usually take a break from ministry and just concentrate on writing. Or relaxing. Either way. This year, though, I intended to get a good start on the next novel. I had time to dedicate hours to writing every day! I could get so much done!
But as I sit here at my keyboard… sure, I’ve written some, but not nearly as much as I intended. In fact, I’ve written less than I do in a typical week when I have far less time. What gives?
It’s pretty simple, actually, as long as you understand that writing is work. Creating worlds takes energy, and if you don’t have energy, you’re not going to be creating a whole lot.
What was I thinking? I mean, running a Kickstarter for a book series that no one outside my editor and beta readers have ever heard of? Even though it’s gotten great reviews and has caused a few emotional outbursts?
Some people have been very nice to me. They’ve told me they like my books. They’ve read my short stories and complimented me. Obviously they were just being kind. They didn’t want to tell me what they really thought, that the stories were passable at best.
I’ve set myself up for failure. No, I’ve set myself up for disaster. When only two people back the project – both of them related to me—and surely they only back out of pity, not because they’re convinced that I’m actually producing anything good—well, I’ll finally be forced to look and see I’ve been deceiving myself.
Writers don’t need to make money with their writing. However, they have to make money somewhere. Maybe they sell their organs. Maybe they sell their tears. Maybe they sell the hours of their lives to vampiric organ-playing dandelions. Everyone has different ways to make money, is what I’m saying.
Maybe you write because it’s a good emotional release. Maybe you write because you’ve just got awesome ideas. You do not need to monetize that writing to be a writer.
However, you may want to get paid for your writing. It could mean that eventually you don’t need another job, and maybe vampiric dandelions will finally leave you alone.
And if you’re going to get paid for your writing, you need to have a plan on how to do it.
Hey, did you notice that on May 3, 2022, I’ll be running a Kickstarter for my new six-book series,Madelyn of the Sky? You should click on the link there and then select “notify me on launch.” I’d really love it if you’d do that.
Why?
Well, personally, I want to be paid for my writing. Granted, I have two novels out currently. I’ve had a number of short stories published. All that is good! However, we’re trying something different this time around.
Why Kickstarter?
First, we chose to self-publish this series. Dawnsbrook is us, Jonathon Mast and his wife. Why would we do that? Simply put, no publisher is going to put out a six-book series in the course of a year. However, in the self-publishing world, this is relatively common. The books are written and edited. Why not get them out there?
Self-publishing can be expensive, though. We need to pay for our covers. That artist has done fabulous work and deserves to be paid, and paid well! We also need to pay for ISBN’s. While there are a number of ways to self-publish, we have chosen a route that we need to pay for those. Frankly, those are our two biggest costs. Using a Kickstarter will hopefully get us those funds!
Seriously. I WANT to read this book, and I wrote it!
Second, we’d like more than just our friends and family to buy the books. Beginning writers are often carried on the backs of their friends and family. Now, if you’re one of my friends or one of the various families I have implanted along the spine of this nation, I’d still love your support! Maybe one of my vampiric dandelions will support me, too! But it’d be nice to have more support than that.
I personally watch the publishing tab on Kickstarter. I’ve backed a number of projects because they look like fun. I’ve discovered some really good authors that way, such as Kendra Merritt and Benedict Patrick. I’m hoping that others will see the Kickstarter and say, “Hey, that looks neat! I think I’ll back it!”
Third, the Kickstarter will serve as a sort of proof-of-concept. We think that people will want to read an entire series in the course of a school year. After all, especially when you’re younger, why would you want to wait a year or longer for the next book in a series? Let’s get it all out there!
Thus, Kickstarter!
So, like I said, if you want to support my writing, go check it out. If you want to support but don’t have money or simply aren’t sure if you want to support, please click, “Notify me on launch” anyway. Just seeing that number go up encourages me, personally! And either way, I’d love it if you’d share the campaign so more people get to see it.
After all, writers do need to make money somehow, either from their writing or from somewhere else. I’m tired of vampiric dandelions personally. I’d love to make money from my writing!
A daring blade, cocky smile, and… floating rocks?!
Madelyn of the Sky rescues anyone who doesn’t have a home. She whisks them away to her floating Island in the sky.
But not everyone’s happy with the hero. Angry mobs, princes, and dragons hunt her. Grandma’s been kidnapped. Madelyn doesn’t even know why she’s able to float rocks through the sky. And now a muddy boy’s chasing her and insisting on helping, too.
Madelyn will need all her wits, all her sword work, and all her magic to save the day!
Madelyn of the Sky launches May 3, 2022 on Kickstarter. You can click here to be informed when the project launches! This is a great way to support me if you like what I write. So click the button, and follow along!
Jonathon Mast: Author 