Ask a Professional Copywriter and Author

[Shell B]

Do you still do NanoWriMo, are are you too busy with paying the bills?  What compelled you to take the plunge?

I'm doing it this year, but I've made a personal goal of 25,000 words because I'm actually just too busy being married and hanging out with Tibs to do two jobs. That said, I'm still consistently writing novels.

I wish I could say I decided one day to rid myself of the shackles of drudgery and follow my dream, but I actually got sick. I got so sick with a case of viral gastroenteritis that I couldn't work in a kitchen anymore. It was just a few months of that, but then I got my first bout of anxiety because I was sick and it never really went away. People in my family are prone to anxiety disorders. Mine started quite late in life for OCD and panic (25), but stressful events can trigger them later in life, so here I am. While I was sick, and spending a lot of time with doctors, I decided to write while my savings slowly went to pot. During that time, I figured my shit out, wrote for shit pay for a long time and eventually came out the other end with a job a reclusive, obsessive asshole can make a living doing. Hooray!

[Minimalist]

If mom and dad's bakery can go to little Timmy, why shouldn't I be able to leave my novels to my family?

Because they sell it to some criminal corporate cocksuckers who stick it in a safe and threaten to sue anyone who dares refer to it?

[Shell B]

If mom and dad's bakery can go to little Timmy, why shouldn't I be able to leave my novels to my family?

Because they sell it to some criminal corporate cocksuckers who stick it in a safe and threaten to sue anyone who dares refer to it?

So because they can't write laws to protect people from that kind of bullshit, every writer's family should lose the rights to their loved ones' work as soon as they die? That's crap. I should be able to leave Tibby all of the rights to everything I haven't sold the rights to.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

How tall are you?

Boru

[Shell B]

6 feet

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

6 feet

Thank you. I had more appropriate questions in mind, but the other members got to them first.

Boru

[Minimalist]

Because they sell it to some criminal corporate cocksuckers who stick it in a safe and threaten to sue anyone who dares refer to it?

So because they can't write laws to protect people from that kind of bullshit, every writer's family should lose the rights to their loved ones' work as soon as they die? That's crap. I should be able to leave Tibby all of the rights to everything I haven't sold the rights to.

Hey, what happens if 'little Timmy' doesn't want to make gay cakes?

[Shell B]

So because they can't write laws to protect people from that kind of bullshit, every writer's family should lose the rights to their loved ones' work as soon as they die? That's crap. I should be able to leave Tibby all of the rights to everything I haven't sold the rights to.

Hey, what happens if 'little Timmy' doesn't want to make gay cakes?

Who cares? He can sell the bakery and make some money. It should rightfully belong to him like any other property left to him. A book is no different. I wrote it. It's my intellectual property. I mean, it's moot because no one's going to care if my shit's in the public domain. Still, my book shouldn't just belong to everybody once I'm dead. Why should I work my whole life and not be able to leave my books to my family?

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I have a couple of friends who just graduated their PhDs and have moved to Amsterdam to do research and science journal write ups. They don't get anywhere near what you get though!

How do you deal with writer's block, if you get it?

[Shell B]

I have a couple of friends who just graduated their PhDs and have moved to Amsterdam to do research and science journal write ups. They don't get anywhere near what you get though!

How do you deal with writer's block, if you get it?

I've actually never really experienced it. I'm able to write whenever I sit down to write. I write for 8+ hours every day I work. I think if I did encounter it, I would change projects for a few minutes/hours until I felt like working on what I was doing again. I know a lot of writers only have one thing going on at a time, so that might not work, so I would suggest starting more than one project so you always have options.

Don't get me wrong. I don't sit down and write exactly what I wanted every day, but I do just keep writing. If the story isn't what I wanted, I can change it later. Just keep writing.