At least, as I see it.
I’ll just leave this here.
Please discuss.
And Happy Labor Day, you crazy sonsabitches.
Apple-Obsessed Author Fella
Apple-Obsessed Author Fella
At least, as I see it.
I’ll just leave this here.
Please discuss.
And Happy Labor Day, you crazy sonsabitches.
Laura W. says:
First comment! First comment! WHEEEE!!!!
Be glad to know your blog is the last thing I checked before signing off at 3 in the morning. So basically, you’re writing what I want to read. And presumably, what you want to write. Yay. I shall probably comment again later when I feel more sane.
September 5, 2011 — 2:45 AM
Lou Belcher says:
The trick is to write in the blue enough to make you happy enough to be able to write in the black…. and to keep your finances in the black so you can be happy enough to write in the blue or the black.
Lou
September 5, 2011 — 8:38 AM
Darren Goldsmith says:
Yes.
September 5, 2011 — 9:19 AM
Alica says:
You gave us a pretty big space to play in. I’m going to use yours instead of the one in my head that’s a centimeter wide.
September 5, 2011 — 10:24 AM
Darlene Underdahl says:
Happy Labor Day.
I picked up Anthony Neil Smith’s CHOKE ON YOUR LIES. Looking forward to it.
Pssst… I’ve known plenty of guys who would do that heroine, all mockery aside.
September 5, 2011 — 10:36 AM
Roger Kilbourne says:
Hi Laura, glad to see you over here! You’ll love it. This place has a very rare quality among writing blogs: insightful advice that is highly entertaining.
September 5, 2011 — 11:00 AM
Renee Schuls-Jacobson says:
And here I just thought it was just about the writing. But look what you did with one cool image? So now I’m all: I have to learn how to use Photoshop or some kind of program which I don’t currently have or know how to use. My 12 year old knows how to do stuff like this in .2 seconds, but I can’t tap into that too much. I have to save that for moments of desperation.
Something to occupy my mind while I go grocery shopping this Labor Day.
September 5, 2011 — 11:05 AM
John says:
So based on the above diagram, it appears I have about a 10% chance of writing something that I want to write & people want to read. If they don’t want to read what I want to write, fuck’em I’ll self-publish.
September 5, 2011 — 11:50 AM
Susan says:
First, Venn diagrams totally rock! It makes me happy every time I come across them. That makes me a huge nerd, I know, but I don’t care.
I think the hardest part of this is knowing where things fit in these categories. Some things, you think are all about what you want, and you are surprised to find others like it, too (which are the best, because the extra happiness from the surprise). Some things, too, are a bit more grey, or in this example lavendar–things people like to read that you don’t really like to write, but you don’t dislike, either, or things you like to write, and a small number of people like to read.
September 5, 2011 — 1:24 PM
Laura W says:
For every writer, there is an audience. Large, small, whatever, there are enough people in the world that SOMEONE is going to want to read your word-mongering. The trick is finding those people. And getting them to read. For myself, I started work on my current wip because I wanted to write something that I would like to read. I guess I’m fairly representative of my age group, so hey, I can haz audience. Buuuut I also write nonfiction articles online on subjects like “Traditional Musical Instruments of Korea” and the trick there is convincing people that (whether or not it’s something you want to write) it’s something they’d like to read. Not sure if that all made sense, but there’s my take on it.
September 5, 2011 — 1:32 PM
Amber says:
I wonder how much of writing success if identifying the overlapping areas versus having a large overlapping area by default. For example, if you look at a prolific author, do they simply enjoy a great deal of what readers want to read, or have they managed to do a lot in a small space?
September 5, 2011 — 5:24 PM
Bruce H. Johnson says:
You got it, Toyota. I may passionately write _Howdy Doody on Mars_ but if my yet-unborn grandkid is the only on interested in reading it (because Grandpa was a dirty old man), it’s not going to be widespread. On the other hand, literature classes could use it as a shining example of a dim bulb.
September 5, 2011 — 6:12 PM
Bob Bois says:
I agree with the Venn as presented. However, as any corporate drone knows (present company included -sad to say), the individual fields in a Venn diagram are snapshots: static. In reality, I try to take the Venn you’ve provided and expand the “Happy Goddam Writer” black section by:
1. – reading widely to see what it is that people want to read
2. – writing strongly to get people to want to read what I’m writing
No matter how you approach it: the goal is to maximize the black, at the expense of the red and blue. A Venn gives a snapshot. Our lives as writers must accept as a given, the possibility that our stories can actually invite the blue and red to commingle and make, not purple, but the happiest shade of BLACK for readers and writers alike.
September 5, 2011 — 9:06 PM
O. M. Grey says:
I love your blog, Chuck. It has cheered me up on many a dark day. You are certainly one of my top five blogging superstars.
http://omgrey.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/steampunk-spotlight-blogging-superstars/
September 6, 2011 — 12:38 PM
terribleminds says:
Thanks, OM!
September 6, 2011 — 12:46 PM
Jamie Beckett says:
You’ve got a solid start there, Chuck. I find that I am at my best when I simplify your Venn diagram slightly. In my version the blue circle and the black shaded area (What I Want to Write / Happy Goddamn Writer) occupy the exact same space. That red part to the left…I can’t control it so I don’t think about it.
I’m either a genius or a jerk. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure I care to know which is which. I’m a happy writer, what more could I hope for? Really!
September 7, 2011 — 11:04 PM
Damien Kelly says:
I do agree with this…although I’d much prefer:
http://christmasmacabre.com/journal/?p=126
September 11, 2011 — 9:16 AM