RonVitale

Episode 23: Another Game?

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Total running time: 26 minutes and 38 seconds.

Show Notes:

--Introduction to episode 23: Another Game?
----A quick discussion of last week's "Selecting 10th Edition" winners and what cards are up for voting this week.
--How was the Coldsnap release events? Send me feedback. Did you like Coldsnap? Don't you care?
--Oh my, talk of a non-Magic game entitled "Dreamblade." Be sure to check this game out. It rocks.
--Waxing poetic about an old deck of mine from back in the days of The Dark. What's your fun memories of a deck?
--Close out with a song entitled "Let's Stop the War" by Freedom People. Music available on the Podshow Music Network at music.podshow.com.
--Opening music by the Danko Jones ("First Date") and "Good Day" from Natives of a New Dawn also from the Podsafe Music Network.

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Moving Forward

Writing is about rejection just as much as it is about acceptances and hard work. This past weekend I received the following rejection:

“Thank you for sending us ‘20,170 and 1.’ I'm very sorry it took so long to get back to you.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't quite meet our needs for our podcast. Your characterization is strong, and you do an excellent job evoking the sense of a world without over describing it. However, it is *very* downbeat, and it just doesn't quite hit the sense of 'fun' we're trying for. That's not to say it's a bad story at all; I think it's a strong one, and well-told. It just isn't the tone we're looking for.”

Every once in a while I received a rejection letter that’s also a message that goes deeper than the story. Reading an editor say “an excellent job…” is encouraging and is enough of a hope to keep me going. With that said, I have not had a lot of time to work on my fiction and I’ve not made time to work on that type of writing. Instead I’ve been burying myself with freelance work because it’s been paying and I’ve enjoyed the work. Will I get back to fiction? I sincerely would like to, but I’ve not been inspired to write a short story and I’ve also been discouraged by the lack of markets out there. Sure, I’ve had stories published in the “4 the luv” category, but I’d like to have a piece of fiction published in a high quality print magazine. That has been my goal for several years now and I continue to fail to succeed. I keep trying to become a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America but I cannot become a member as I’ve not been able to sell a story in one of the markets that they’ve listed as a requirement for membership.

I wanted to share the above story to show that I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old. I have not dedicated my entire life to writing as I went to school and then have been working in the work world for the past 11 years. However, I have made time to write stories, free “how to” writing articles, and have a few pieces published now (“how to” writing article and gaming articles). I’m happy that my writing career is moving forward—oh, so slowly, but it’s better than just having rejection after rejection. The question is whether I want to or can be inspired to sit down and write another fiction piece. It’s been difficult to get back into writing fiction as I’ve not had the desire to write a piece. I am writing and have been selling those pieces, but fiction has not been on my “to do” list lately. Will I return? I expect to, but just not at the moment.

Tonight I hope to relax. My next writing deadline is in about two weeks and unless I need to touch up one of the pieces I’ve sent out in the mail (which is possible), I intend to relax a bit as work has been stressful lately. Peace and have a good day.

Moving

Not much to write about today. Or at least it's 6:00 a.m. and maybe I'm still asleep. I've a long day in front of me and I doubt that I'll have time to work on my blog. Not much to report today. I finished up one freelance article yesterday and another the day before. I'm in the middle of working on another piece, but I need some feedback from one of the magazine's editors before I can move forward and actually start writing the piece. However, I've been busy in doing research for the article in preparation for the go ahead.

It's been enjoyable to have some freelance work to try my hand at something different. What I've found to be extremely helpful is good organizational skills. Even something as simple as creating different folders in my Yahoo! e-mail account has helped me keep track of the various deadlines, editors, and feedback from people. It's a lot easier to dump e-mails for each project into a folder and then forget about it. When I need to find that information, I know that it's something in that folder. Having this type of setup makes finding that e-mail that you really want (three months from now), a lot easier.

I'm hoping that the current project that I've been asked to write on comes through as I actively pursued the magazine and would like to see my piece published there.

And again, to you unpublished writers out there: Let me make myself clear in reminding you to not quit your day job. The money that I've earned so far is nice, but it's not enough money to life off of. The work is unsteady and does not pay enough to live off of. Am I saying that freelance writing for magazines is not a viable option? No, I'm not. If you're dedicated and can build up some important clients (big magazines), then you can wind up making $2 a word. But when you first start out, don't be amazed to find that you're making $.05 a word. That's the reality of the publishing world. Writing the freelance articles has been great fun as I've been using a lot of my creative side, but it's not my full-time job. But don't let that stop you from want to write. If you enjoy it, go ahead. However, I would advise to try and branch out to as many different magazines as you can and remember, if you're in the United States, to take about 1/3 of all that you earn and put it aside for taxes. You'll need to pay taxes of your writing income. Uncle Sam gets his cut so don't forget that! Now that I've probably frightened you with poor pay and lots of taxes, don't give up hope and remember to have fun!

Dreamblade Articles

I've been busy as a bee lately and to show you some of the work that I've been doing, be sure to check out my Dreamblade article published today on the Wizards of the Coast website.

If you're interested in the miniature game Dreamblade, you might want to take some time out to check the official site. There's a lot of good information on there and if you're into fantasy game, then I highly recommend this game. And, no, that's not because I'm writing for the game. The game design is highly creative and it takes the best of a collectible game and mixes it with a miniature game to come up with an entirely new hybrid.

Enjoy!