Reign It In

There’s a lesson you need to learn, and learn quickly, as you go out and start doing art shows, book shows, conventions, or get involved in putting together events – the need to reign it in.

What you find, in all of those scenarios, is that you are entering a world that while new to you has existed for a while, and because you are entering it you are suddenly disrupting things.  This doesn’t mean you are trying to do anything bad, or wrong, or will ill intent, but that in all of these areas there is a lot of passion, a lot of investment (personal and financial) and a lot of time has been spent to establish these things and people so as soon as you start joining the party it creates a ripple effect.  And some people will welcome you and others won’t, and you just have to roll with it and understand – the quicker the better – that any poor reception to you and what you do may be simply because you’re new, and not because you are You.  The Arts are very volatile, and things have gotten very compacted.  People don’t look to a great variety of the Arts for entertainment right now and there is not much funding for it so it makes things difficult to find places to sell, promote, and to connect.  You joining the party just makes it that much more compacted.  So there are bound to be some colored feelings towards what you are doing.

The thing is though, people need to get over it.

No one owns the Arts, or any arm thereof. There needs to be new artists, writers, conventions, art shows, movies, music, everything. We need the inspiration and outlet.  We need to keep pushing our universe outward.  An example is that a lot of traditional writers hate/d e-books.  They’re a perversion of the Art.  Well, the market changed.  Tech changed.  People’s needs changed.  And unless we’re willing to let literature and stories disappear we all need to accept that the Times change and we need to evolve with them.  The wise writers stopped fighting and the rest, well, the rest are waiting for the asteroid to finish them off with the rest of the dinosaurs.

With so many of us using social networking to promote, sell, and connect it also makes things much more pressurized because comments are instantaneous, feedback is immediate, and grudges can form and become arguments and spin out of control in a matter of moments.  The temptation to return fire when someone starts calling your work, your professionalism, and what you are doing into question is too strong sometimes to resist.  And once you respond you can easily forget that you’re online, that what you are saying is being seen by the world, and that what may have been a mere disagreement or misunderstanding can suddenly become a caustic war that damages both sides. You get so wrapped up in the pettiness that you lose sight of the bigger picture and that is your reputation.

People pay far more attention to petty squabbles than we think.  Our minor wars that we may get over in a matter hours or days will leave a stain that lasts far longer.  So for the price of our frustration, for the price of letting someone get to us, or for our own hubris in thinking we have the right to attack others we have damaged our own cause.  Perhaps fatally wounding it and all the work you’d done.  And that is what people forget – that the good things we do last but that the bad things seem to last forever.  At least as far as forever can last in this digital age.  Mounting a campaign of hate on someone, what they do, who they are, or what you think they are saying about you will only lead to damaging your own credibility and all of the work you’ve been doing.

Reign it in.

You have to.

The internet and social networking is not the place for vendettas, grudges, or romantic drama. It can’t be because our social networks are our new faces to the world.  That’s why we post happy things, happy pictures, and all of the great things we do in our lives and not the struggles we have, the sadness, the sorrow, and the frustrations.  Sure, some of us are less filtered than others but even then we must be aware of what we’re putting out there.  And that is even more important when it comes to professional work.  A loved one or friend may forgive our temporary madness but the world often will not.  So we must reign it in and always remember that in business of any sort, even in the Arts, you have to treat everyone better than they treat you because you never know when you’ll need a friend, a favor, a job, or a new client.

It’s hard.

It sucks.

But if you can’t keep control of your temper and cannot watch what you put online and out to the world when you are upset then maybe the focus needs to be more on that, and less on what dream projects you may have stirring within.

…c…

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Somewhere In The Middle

The funny thing about Truth, as I have mentioned in the past, is that it’s always changing, always evolving and is many times more about the feeling and not the fact.  And that’s fine.  We are emotional beings and who we are is always changing and as that changes our perceptions will change as well.  As a kid you can be bullied by someone constantly, not beaten up but bullied.  Ten years later you can both be friends.  Someone you knew your whole life as a friend can one day be seen with new eyes and become a lover.  The Truth changes. Perception changes.  It’s the facts that make things dicey.  That’s where the ice gets thin.

I was chatting with a friend online (because I’d like to think I won’t be caught saying I ‘chatted’ with anyone outside of online), catching up on where we are in our lives and the place I live came up – Flint, Michigan.  My friend came from Flint, has family had lived here, and she went to school here.  She loves Flint and still has people she cares about that remain here.  And because of her love for Flint and the people she still has here she has fear and honestly, I can’t blame her. At all.

Flint is not the city it once was.  If you are from this area you know that very well, and if you are not from here then you have a perception of what it’s like.  For most people they imagine Flint as a war zone.  A burned out hull of a city with people living on the streets, poverty festering like and infection, and gunfire the music to make love by.  See, for many, they don’t want to let the facts get in the way of the Truth and a lot of people love to see Flint as a Murder Capital, as a dangerous place where blood runs down the gutters.  The facts don’t support that.  But Truth and the facts aren’t the same.

There has been, for a few years now, this strange anger towards Flint, this dark glee that man take when describing the many, many problems we have here.  All it takes is an annual survey of unhappy cities, or dangerous cities, or poor cities, or some other silly stat filled rhetoric.  All it takes is a blanket stat and not on the ground facts.  Which is not to say that stats are not facts, because they are, but they leave out so much.  A stat shows a couple was married for twenty years.  Facts show that he beat her throughout the marriage but she stayed because they had a child together.  Facts and stats.  Facts and Truth.

Things are not ever what they appear.

They are somewhere in the middle.

Flint is dangerous.  I will not make any bones about that.  But every city is dangerous.  And every town is dangerous.  Anywhere humans populate can become dangerous in some way.  That’s something we forget, that it’s we humans that create the danger, not the cities.  It’s the poverty, the frustration, the racism, the sorrow, the greed that causes the crime and its brethren.  It isn’t about politics, it isn’t about race, it’s about the human spirit.  It is about conditioning.  If you live in darkness and are told you will always live in darkness then why seek the sun?  If you are unhappy, and always have been, why would you seek an alternative?  But these seem like excuses.  Maybe they are.  Maybe the facts here are that sometimes humans just do bad things.  For any one of a million reasons.  The misfiring of something that predisposes one to do things that many others don’t do.  Society only lasts as long as we agree to play by the same rules or pretend to play by them.  Otherwise there is chaos.  And chaos serves no one but the self, and the self can’t survive a heck of a long time in chaos.  But chaos is not is going on in Flint, it is despair.  It is the despair of a city that is trying to re-invent itself.  I will never tell you there are not problems here, that it is not a time of trials here, but neither will I tell you that the notion that the city should be bulldozed is ridiculous.  Is madness.  We abandon things to easily in this nation of America.  Walk away when things get hard.  When they get worrisome.  You cannot just walk away from people though.  You cannot walk away from history.  There is an anger towards Flint because it seems to symbolize the change in the national economic machine.  Once we were nation of industry and the world turned to us for many of their goods and that has changed.  Cars can be made for less in other parts of the world and that has lead to the change of the auto industry that employed so many in America.  And with that change it has hurt a lot of cities that were not ready to transition to another industry and so the American dream, as we knew it, changed.  Down with big business.  Down with corporations. Down, down, down.  And it was like a bad break up where you don’t want to see, or hear from the person that is out of your life.  Thus it was for cities like Flint, who served as constant reminders of the dangers of trusting your entire future in the hands of a company that must, in the end, always serve the master, a slave to the dollar.  Flint was a prime example of what could happen.  Arrogance, bad investment, faulty trust, greed, despair, and egos run rampant and the foundations of cities start to crack.  I can’t tell you I know WHY things like this happen but I can tell you why I love this city and why not everything you hear is Truth.

Flint is beautiful in the Winter. During the holidays. When snow blankets the brick streets of downtown and the arches are lit with colored bulbs.

The city has so many beautiful old homes, waiting for someone to love them again and to remind them what it meant to be beautiful.

We have these wonderful man-made falls that, when they turn them on, are spectacular. They fill floating ponds, cascade down into pools. They are a mix of craft and design, magic and metro.

There are sprawling, beautiful parks here that make you forget, if just for a little while, that you’re even in the city.

Flint has something called the Weather Ball that is sort of our adopted mascot here. It is a huge lit ball that sits atop the Citizens Bank Building and will change colors according to the temperature  – blue is cold, red warm, yellow is…something else. It was a genuine mascot for the bank many years ago but not serves as a beacon to those of us who love Flint that we are either home or nearly there. It is our True North.

Then there are the people. I have met so many creative, passionate people here. And everyone says that because it is true everywhere. Here though, in spite of such hard economic times, in the face of adversity, in the face of a culture that appreciates galleries but doesn’t buy art these people still play music, write, sing, dance, and create art. They still follow their passion, even when there’s no money in it. That’s pretty amazing.

And then there was a woman, a wonderful woman that was so impassioned about community service and helping other people that she created an organization to do just that. And in so doing she touched hundreds of lives and she helped change the life of the person writing this now. A woman who made me see that there is beauty in helping those around you.

These are just the thing I can think of now. Sitting here. They are not stats. They are not Truths, they are not even necessarily facts, but they are real things that matter, that make Flint so beautiful and unique.  There is more to this place than the violence, and the crime, and the poverty.  We are not defined by that.  Take the worst moment of your life, and magnify that a thousand times, and now think about it.  Seriously.  Now remember that a city is not a human, is not governed by the lifespan of one human, but lives for decades, for centuries, and so it must be seen through new eyes.  It must be seen over the long term.  It must be seen in the long view.

Things are not perfect in Flint, MI, and my friend is right to worry.  If you are not careful you can get hurt here.  And being careful is not always going to matter because sometimes violence just happens.  Just strikes. But that violence can strike anyone, anywhere.  There are more opportunities in a city with as many struggles as Flint has but there are plenty of crimes committed in the rural areas too.  What I guess I wanted to tell my friend, to tell you, is that this is not a perfect place but it’s a real place, a place where you can have an impact, a place where you can change things.  If just in small ways.  Sometimes the risk is worth it if you believe in something.  And I believe in Flint.  I don’t know hat fate will always have me here, living here, but I love it here now.  The city’s people drive me crazy, for sure, but I don’t blame the city for that.  I blame the politics of people.  I hope for a time where we will all look out for one another here, will work to stop the violence and to end the despair, but that is a long term project and to really work on it you need to be on the ground.  It’s unfair to look at stats from afar and condemn or praise a place outright knowing that what you say or write will change the future for that place.  In fact, by your saying these things you can make your words a prophecy.  And I am not saying someone should lie to save someone’s feelings but that context is needed.  For a city its size Flint has a lot of problems, but without understanding why, without looking at why and trying to explain why it’s like saying all the people in Paris are happy because it’s Paris.

The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Flint is not perfect, nor is its people, but we’re working to make things better here, against all odds, and that matters.  So I tell my friend, don’t fear for we that live here, because we have made that choice.  And by choosing we have taken an active part in our futures.  That is all anyone can hope for.  I will be as careful as I can, and I will hope the people I love will do the same and I will look out for people and hope they do the same.  But this city is no different than any other, and that is my own truth that I have no real facts to prove that people would believe.  Save for this – Flint has so much strength, so much love, so much fight left in it, like Detroit and any other city on the ropes in America, and I refuse to give up on it just because it’s what we as a culture tend to do now.  Because giving up is not Truth, is not fact, is not a statistic, it is cowardly, and there’ve been enough cowards that called Flint home and now’s a time for people willing to stand up and try to be the heroes this city needs.

I love Flint.

And that won’t change.

That’s a fact.

Meep!

…c…

FHC Presents – Dr. Macabre’s Musical Massacre

After a very disappointing setback with our previously planned event the FLINT HORROR CON has a new event planned for April 7th in Downtown Flint

Asking Too Much

   Two posts in one day?

Outrageous.

YET TRUE!

So I got a funny letter in the mail the other day from my collegiate alma mater. Now, I have never been close with either my high school or the colleges I attended. I stayed away from the high school because I didn’t enjoy my time and didn’t have any interest in returning, and when I tried I wasn’t really someone they remembered any longer. My colleges I liked well enough I just didn’t have a reason to return. I worked for my alma mater for a short time and it ended and I didn’t have an interest in keeping the ties between them. I stayed in touch with the people that mattered and outside of that I didn’t much care. Since graduating though I have found it very funny that I suddenly get requests for donations from time to time, and each time I make sure to answer in some way.

See, here’s the deal –

When I graduated I did so with a BA. I was an English major and a writer and had no interest in teaching. There are too many teachers who don’t love what they do and because of that the students suffer. I wasn’t going to be that person too. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, heck, am just figuring it out now actually, but I knew what I didn’t want to do. No big deal. It was my degree and my responsibility to get a job. Well, I have rarely had a job where I was comfortable enough where I could contribute anything to anyone yet time and again I would get pleas from my alma mater to please, pleas, please donate to this cause or that, this program or that, or whatever they needed money for at the time. I take general umbrage with this because, frankly, they should do two things –

1. Keep track of your graduated students and what they are up to. Be involved with me and I may be involved with you.

2. When checking in on said graduates make sure they are in positions to actually donate. Sure, this may take a little more work but you can either do surveys or you can get a feel for whether they are in fields that they were looking at in school.

Why?

Because you get people like me that get very offended when you can barely make a living at the job you have and then you get pleas from a huge university for alms when they should be helping you try to get a darn job or get further.

Oh, and sure, they’ll help. If you join their membership groups and pay dues. Then you can mingle with other grads and hit them up for jobs directly. Awesome.

What makes things worse is that since graduating I have published books, maybe not great novels the school would be proud of but they are valid books, are real books, and they were written by one of their grads. Their interest is little and none. Yet they still feel they can pop up from time to time and ask me to support a student that wants to get into a writing program, or to help fund a writing scholarship or whatever it is. It drives me mad. You support the ‘children’ you helped make and then you support the ones that are not yet born. That’s how I feel in this case.

You need to give a damn that I was a student, am a graduate, and that I am working desperately to get my work out to the world. Help me do that and we’ll talk about your projects. I just can’t get too worked up to help someone when all I am is a number and a potential dollar sign. When that happens these institutions become little more than high profile beggars hitting up everyone on the street to see if they can get that much needed bus fare.

Nope.

Not from me.

When you can start caring about your students that didn’t set the world on fire but are working to make themselves, their families, their friends, their communities, and the universities themselves proud then I will care right back. There are plenty of glory hounds in college, the ones that get help and acclaim but don’t need it. It’s the students that fall between the cracks and disappear into the system that need the extra care and interest.

Start living up to your own standards, dear alma mater, and maybe I’ll start you off on an allowance. For now, go out in the yard and rake some leaves. It’s getting messy out there.

Knowing When to Say When

I think one of the harder things to do not just as an arty person but as a person in general is to know to say ‘when’ and to back away from a project. Most of us hate to admit defeat and we hate the idea that something can get the better of us but we have to be willing to move past our ego, past the short view and to keep our eye on the horizon. Failure happens and life is soaked in it. It’s the successful people, the happier people, who are willing to let the failures happen and understand that they don’t define the rest of your life. It’s when you let the failures overpower your vision, your dreams, and the long view of life that you begin to falter.

I have gotten a long, hard look at failure recently and it truly shakes you to your core when its something you’re deeply passionate about but there’s nothing to do but to move on. You can’t be willing to give up but you must be willing to adapt, to evolve, and to move on.

Failure happens.

We screw up.

Others screw up.

Time, place, and circumstance all play a part in things.

But you must be strong enough, must learn to be strong enough to move on. To more forward. To let those failures go.

Those traits are what define your passion.

Those are the traits that define a life.

KIDNAPPED – review

   For some reason I am inherently drawn to movies that people say are ‘brutal’. Not the ones that are just gore for the sake of gore because that was done in the ‘80’s and then more realistically in the ‘90’s. I mean the movies that supposed screw with your head because they are so dark and gruesome. Films that take you to a place you don’t want to be. For me it’s looking into the darkness, or a mimic of it, and seeing if I can take what I see. And sometimes it’s good to be shocked, to be outraged because it reminds you where your line is with art and films, and why you feel that way. So this is what lead me to watch Kidnapped, which I found streaming on Netflix. I had read about how brutal it was and was curious. So here we go.

   Kidnapped is the story of an upper middle class family in what I can only assume is Spain (Portugal maybe) as they settle into a new house. While getting adjusted they are going to celebrate their new home but struggle with convincing their daughter to stay in for the night. As they go through their squabbles their lives are torn apart by the intrusion of three masked men who break into their home to rob them. As the night goes on the terror rises because it seems that it isn’t just money these men want and suddenly the teenage daughter becomes the focus of one of the men. It is left to the family to save themselves, if they can, because there is no help coming, and hope is running short.

Here’s the thing, if you have seen one home invasion/home under siege movie in the last twenty + years you have just about seen them all. Last House set the template and Straw Dogs set the bar. Outside of that the modern ones are all pretty much the same – dumb family, cute daughter/woman, an over-brave/stupid husband (take your pick because they are either or with no real arc from one to the other), and drug addicted sadists as invaders that usually have rape in mind. Sure, sure, there are some that are different (The Strangers came close to being different and good and scary but it was so DUMB that it hurt me inside) but the template is set and that is it. Sometimes the victims survive, sometimes not, but in the end it’s an examination of suburban terrors. And it’s interesting, and it has its power but it is one of those subgenres that has never evolved.  The movies have gotten nastier, meaner, but aren’t really different. Enter Kidnapped, which trades new ideas and themes for interesting (almost daring) direction and a reality that wavers at the end.

The film is done in very few shots so that you have a sense of the urgency and terror of the family but this is broken up, as the tension, when the camera switches from one perspective to the other – from mother and daughter held captive by two of the men at the home to the father out with the third getting money from ATMs. Had the film kept the viewer as in the dark as the family is it would have made the film that much more powerful and haunting as our  minds ran out the rope of what could be happening that we are not seeing. There are some interesting turns in the film but like most of the others the family is too bold at the worst times and too cowardly at the worst times and it takes you out of the film as you want to scream out at them for being so stupid. What killed me though was a turn at the end that seemed just ridiculous for what it had established. This was a matter of choosing brutality over sense and it’s a shame. I like darkness as much as the next person but in some cases enough is enough.

And there’s the rub, the persistence of so many movies and filmmakers to cling to this brutality over story. In a movie like Serbian Film it has poignancy and adds to the heartbreak of the story, here though you never know the characters, never care for them so it plays like a bull fight where it is just violence for the sake and art of violence. A red play on a barren stage. Without the investment it means nothing. In the end the intention of the film is like so many other modern films and it clings to a black nihilism and fatalism that seems to say that these intruders are like Lovecraft’s Old Ones, gods that care not for us but to use and destroy us as they will or ignore us if they care to. And to a degree that is violence, but movies like this seem to want us to cower in fear from The Other that can invade and destroy our lives and not fight when we have no choice.

This is a well made, horribly dubbed film that will play to the crowd that is interested in this sort of fare. It is brutal, it is dark, and it gets very,very nasty. For me it all amounted to nothing. In a movie like Irreversible there is persistent darkness but the most horrifying scene in the film is overshadowed by a subtle, quiet, beautiful scene later on that, because of what we know, serves to press the point of why that earlier attack was made even more horrible. That is the power of films like this. Not to push our nose in excrement to prove a morbid point.

So sure, this is brutal and grim and all of that but in the end we’ve seen it before. Too many times. And I am ready for something different. I am hoping the next rash of home invasion films gives me that.

6 out of 10

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Dangerous Arts

There is something that we tend to forget in our modern world of safe, mass consumptive art.  Our world of art for the masses.  We forget that art is dangerous.  That at its heart, art is barely restrained chaos.  Is a thing with teeth that, while usually tamed, can bite.

I need to bring up the wilder modern art such as works like ‘Piss Christ’ when you can look at something as simple as the work of street artist Banksy, who lays claim to public space that are owned but taken for granted by the average passer-by.  Banksy stakes out these spaces and creates art that is as clever as it is challenging.  Rubbing your shoulder as it slaps your face.  And these are but two examples of what could be hundreds, hundreds to counter the thousands of pieces of art that are ‘safe’ in comparison.

But is any art safe?

Not really.

Even the most mass produced art can find its way to controversy.  We forget so easily how something as simple as the rock and roll of Elvis was considered lewd and overtly sexual.  Or the controversy of a song as silly as ‘Louie-Louie’.  What we may not find offensive or intrusive can be quite the opposite to someone else.  Me, I fancy horror art, which would turn the stomachs and haunt some people because the images are too grotesque and macabre.  Or heck, take the world of Thomas Kincaid, who is a household name, a rarity among artists.  He is literally hated though by many artists because of how popular and how measured and deliberate his art is. He is a professional artist, and one who makes quite a living creating art that is for sale.  Not something many higher thinking artists appreciate.

The list can go on and on and all it does is show how anything, everything can have an edge.  Can be a blade.  We forget how dangerous it is because we prefer to surround ourselves with things that please us, that comfort us, that make us feel good, which makes good sense.  Why would you surround yourself with things that upset you.  But there’s the rub, while the art we love soothes us, it doesn’t challenge us.  It doesn’t force us to examine and re-examine our views, the views of others, and issues we sometimes choose not to face  That is the power of art – to make us see issues we otherwise overlook.  Even the simplest image can have layers to it, hidden at first but there to be found, for those willing to look.  And that is why art is so important, and dangerous – because it challenges us, and that is dangerous.

We cannot control art.

We cannot contain art.

We cannot confine art.

And when it comes to the art of other people, we can never hope to love or appreciate all of it.

And that is where we get so many problems – taste.

We are all so different, our tastes, our interests, and our thresholds and when someone impinges on our space we get angry.  We don’t like someone pushing in on us and forcing us to see and do things we don’t like.  The thing is though that if you are going to love art, accept art, and advocate for it you need to do it with open arms and an open mind.  You won’t love it all but you have to respect it all, at least the passion behind it.  This isn’t easy.  It won’t be easy.  But if you are asking someone to accept your passions then you need to do the same.

In saying that though you need to understand the power of what you are doing and creating.  Even the simplest and silliest thing can have an impact, both negative and positive.  I know this first hand from when some people decided to target an indie art show some friends and I put together when they took offense to our use of the term ‘guerilla’ to describe our show.  Instead of speaking to anyone they invaded the show dressed as zombies and disrupted the art, the artists, and the patrons and almost started a fight.  While I can appreciate their intention it was their actions that bothered me because none of them cared about the art they bumped into and knocked over, or the people they bumped into, or the chaos they created, no, their message was too important.  And that’s something that can’t happen.  The message is never more important than the people in front of and behind it.  Life is not a message.  The world is not a message.  And we are never fully aware of every side to the story, whatever it may be.  It is one thing to be passionate, but another to wield that passion as a weapon and to use it against people.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our vision and passion that we forget that what we do may impact other people.  We feel so right in what we’re doing, what we’re trying to say, that we disregard any feelings of empathy for other people who will have to deal with the art.

And it’s all a shame.  As artists we are underfunded, misconstrued, and are often put into boxes that don’t quite fit us and that’s why we need to band together and work together and support one another as much as we are able to.  It won’t always work that we can, that we have the same vision.  I am not naive.  Yet, we can work together more than we do, and when we do things to simply be outrageous, to shock people, with no further meaning, it starts to alienate both artists and patrons of the arts.  And if outrage is what we’re after then by god we need to own it, to revel in it, and to try to explain why we want it. Because if you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, from something as base as wanting to paint a pretty picture to something as lofty as trying to examine the roots of poverty then how the heck will anyone else take us seriously?

There is a divide in art and between its artists because art is dangerous, and it thank goodness for that.  It is this dangerousness that challenges us, that challenges the public and forces all of us to look at the world in new ways.  While we may prefer the comfort of art when we pick it for our homes and public spaces, we must never shrink from the power of art and the danger of it, we must just always be mindful of what it is we’re trying to say and why, because if we don’t know, how will anyone else.  And that’s not dangerous, that’s just waste.

c

Handling the Business

I think it’s safe for a writer to say that it’s pretty much ALWAYS frustrating when you are trying to get your name and work out there.  It’s not there is no ‘easy’ way because I think if you’re willing to pursue a dream you get over the ‘easy’ aspect of it pretty quickly.  Easy means different things to different people but all in all, there is rarely much EASY when it comes to your dreams.  Even if you have a quick ascension it usually means you’ll have an equally quick fall, which doesn’t really help a whole lot.

Lately I am frustrated with a lot of the way that things have gone as far as publishing. It’s frustrating that self publishing is still looked down upon so fervently yet the established publishers make it so hard to reach them. Trying to get published is a maze of waste and disappointment.

My mind boggles when I read about a place wanting me to sum up every chapter of my book and submit that with a synopsis.

Why?

That’s so wasteful.

On time and resources.

Here’s my thought – have writers query with who they are, what they want, and what they have to offer you. You look through it and if it hits your curiosity button then you ask for more, if not, you thank them and move on. And let’s get past physical subs unless its an entire manuscript, which should only go to someone if they are really, really interested. Otherwise it’s sheer waste. I get that some people hate tech, well, get over it. You can get your email on tablet PCs, phones, all manner of devices so why waste all that paper and postage and honestly, time.

And that is what kills me is the waste of time on the writer’s side. I get that publishers want what they want and me fuming about closed minds and closed doors is not going to change things, but jeepers, the time of the writer is valuable, just as valuable as anyone else’s. We have day jobs, families, loved ones, and expecting us to research your magazines, your companies, to do hours and hours of work to get impersonal rejections with no tips, pointers, or even interest is ridiculous. Again, let’s keep things to email. That way you can get the submission query, and if people don’t like it they can shoot a quick email back and thank them and move on.

No muss, no fuss.

It gets crummy when you research, mail things off, and wait weeks for a Thanks But No Thanks form letter. It is just rude and shortsighted. You never know what writer will some day get picked up and become a brand name and the company will wish they’d been a little kinder.

Kindness counts. And if I can take a chance on you by offering my work, you can be polite and thank me for that time and not waste my time. It’s the least that can be done. If you are so swamped that you can’t do it then have an assistant do it and be thankful for the work.

And with that it’s time the publishers start opening their minds more. Take chances. But take chances on smaller scales. Embrace e-publishing and embrace new and emerging writers. Give them their chance. Give them a cut of the sales and market it to some degree and if they move books, then give them a longer look and if they don’t then you part ways knowing each side gave it a shot. Ebooks are blowing up and this is a way to open digital niche arms and to discover new voices.

It’s time for change.

It’s time for the publishers to pay writers, to appreciate them, and to realize that they work symbiotically and need one another. It’s time that was understood and honored.

Me, I am at a place where I am a whisper in a storm, but I am trying to find my voice, to scream to the hills of these amazing books I have written and to have people share in the stories I have written, but for now I am patiently waiting for the winds to change so I can be heard above the noise. I believe in the future of writing and publishing but there’s a lot of change that has to keep happening and I just hope I can ride that change out and find a way to hang on, like so many others.

Books – www.meepsheep.com