Author, Author!

It’s time for a little introspection; what is going on with my writing?  Let’s start with what I would like it to be and work back from there.  My desires are to have plays produced and performed, philosophical essays that gain recognition, and stories and poems that are published and enjoyed by many thousands of people.

Where are we on this?  I’ve written three plays, submitted them for consideration and they weren’t.  I’ve published 140 philosophical blog entries of which 100 have been published in three printed volumes, and 18 posted since printing.  I’ve printed the 22 Philosophy 2x2 charts and have made just two copies of them, one for my son.

For stories and poems, I’ve published a large volume, Open Floodgate, consisting of all of the Open Floodgate postings, a booklet, The Linas in Troy Missouri, and Philosophical Poems, a booklet of 20 such poems. So I've done quite a bit in this regard.

The views on my blogs number more than 3500 and this is over about 4 years; there were more than 1500 of Open Floodgate, which makes the number of views more than 5000 in total.  A far cry from the millions it takes to be called a successful writer or author.

The John Lina blog grew out of the morning pages I wrote while pursuing The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.  She suggested writing a significant amount each morning in an unstructured expression of whatever is on one’s mind.  I filled more than 35 notebooks, writing three pages per day.  Then I settled on essays of about 1000 words to be posted on BlogSpot; primarily written for my benefit and that of anyone else who might enjoy them. 

The By John Lina blog grew out of Open Floodgate and is for stories, poems, and plays.  There is some overlap where I’ve pulled from Open Floodgate for this blog since Open Floodgate disappeared except for the printed version of my own submissions.

The Philosophical Poems and Philosophy 2x2 blogs are complete as written and for the edification and enjoyment of anyone who may want to read them.

I haven’t published the plays, except for The Coat, and could do this in the future but it is more important for me to write more plays than see to the publication of those already written.

So, this is where we are; now for where we want to be.  I am OK with the John Lina blog because it allows me to observe life and living and express my beliefs.  I am pleased with the entries in the By John Lina blog thus far but disappointed that there aren't more of them.  I’m not at all pleased with the lack of play scripts.

Writing takes time and patience.  The great writers spent their entire lives perfecting their craft.  I’m familiar with the paths taken by Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway as well as others.  There is the time spent writing and an even greater amount of time spent developing one’s place in the writing community.

Publishing blog entries is like putting your light under a bushel basket, yes it shines but only a very limited group of people see it.  One has to approach writing for the public in the same manner as one approaches acting on stage or in movies.   One has to become part of a community of writers and publishers with the aim of perfecting the craft as well as having one’s work recognized by those who make decisions based on what the public wants to read.

Finding the writing community is no mean feat.  For a while there I was associated with an amateur group of writers who met on Fridays to discuss their work.  It was little more than a mutual admiration society and there was only encouragement but no real growth or opportunity for publication.  Then I attended some readings, even read some of my poetry and aside from being an enjoyable experience it could not be seen as going anywhere.

It is my recollection that there is a Writer’s Market available where calls for articles are made; or at least specifications of desired work for this or that publication are published.  Yes, there is such a publication, I’ve seen it and I think it was at the public library.  This will have to be revisited.

Once found, the Writer’s Market is a vehicle for submitting work for publication.  I started down this path in the past and got bumped off by the feeling that if I made blog entries I was being published.  I see now the error of that thinking.  Blog entries assuage the desire to be read but don’t give the entre’ to the community of publishers that is necessary to reach the volumes of readers one would want.  This could be the answer to getting published for stories, articles, and poetry while leaving the John Lina (philosophical) blog as is.

As for play writing, here I think the answer is like learning to play competitive pool.  It is a never ending search for the holy grail of playing the game; each attempt incrementally better than the last and the only lasting improvement comes from participating competitively, i.e. with a like-minded person or group of people who are of graduated capability and willing to share the knowledge and help develop the skill.

I have a couple of acquaintances who have successfully written scripts for a local production company.  They would, I think, be amenable to my approaching them to read and critique a play for that company.  But first I would have to write such a play.  This is, of course, a fundamental step in the direction of having a script accepted for production.  The specifications for such a script are in my possession but the script itself remains outside of my ken but not for long. 

Can all of this be done while continuing to pursue the craft/ art of acting?  I think so because I know there is enough time in the day to do it all.