I get ya, Sisyphus

Dear Reader,

            There will be two posts hitting my pages today, one being the next part in my story (The Madness at Koresh Manor­ Part 6) and the other will be this letter to you. As we both know my post to my blog about my writing will randomly be posted, and this one is no different. I’m not sure how long this letter is going to be, but we shall see, hopefully, not too long. (I lied it is very long.)

            I’m writing this at work right now, and it has been a long day. I work ten hours days sitting at a desk watching people walk in and out of the lobby. (I have another job too.) The only thing that gets me through the day is the fact I can write, and I do write a lot. Now, my boss, I don’t like me writing on the computer which I don’t do a lot of during the day. I like writing by hand, and I do most of writing in that meaner anyhow, but I have been editing and typing up my work on the computer while I’m here. It’s a little game of cat and mouse with my boss at the moment.

            I also get the blessing to read a lot. Now, my boss doesn’t mind me reading at all. (I’m reading two great books; ‘The Shining’ by Stephen King and ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden, both you should read.) He also doesn’t mind me writing by hand. If I didn’t have these things to do then I would be going mad like our friend Sisyphus, but the angels are sweet, and I can write all day.

            I come into work every day happier than any other job I have ever had in my life because I tell myself I am writing for the money and for the most part I am. It might be a little bit of a lie, but it is a lie I can live with for a while.

            Now, you might be thinking I have put Sisyphus in the title because my job is the rock I keep pushing up to the top of the hill, but you would be wrong. We all know work is a crashing stone we push up the hill trying to make it to the weekend, only to have to do again next week with the same goal and dream. (Man, I re-read that sentence and made myself sad, but I get to write at work. So, life is good.)

            However, the exact reason I bring up Sisyphus is to talk about trying to get published. I am close to sending my hundredth query letter with only getting like ten back, and those all have been nos. What I’m trying to say is this part of writing is hard. In fact, I knew this before going in. I was telling my sister, I knew it was going to take a while for someone to pick up my book and even longer to get sold. It’s a part of the job, not the worse part, but a difficult part. The worse part of the job is tricking yourself in believing in your work is good enough to send it out in the first place.

            I do not plan on giving up. I plan on sending a thousand letters out if need be but one day I will get my writing published. But we all knew this about me, and this is nothing new; let me tell you what is new or something I have seen a lot lately.

            (I’m going to try my best to stay in the middle of the road of here.)

            As a writer, I try very hard to keep my politics out of my work. Now, I know some of my beliefs will bleed into my work, there is no way around it, and I’m fine with the little bit that gets into my work. What I don’t like is putting a clear flag in my work so I can YELL I’m on this side of the debate. See, see, I’m over here where we are right, and you are WRONG.

            Don’t believe me? And some of you might not believe me because you know my love for debates. To debate or to debate well you have to a clear view of your point of view, but I can prove I try hard not to do this in my writing.

            I sometimes write stories about a medieval world where squirrels are like people. In this world, there are Knights and Wizards (Tales from Samuel Candlepen) running around fighting Dragons (Snakes) and having many merry quests. In this lovely world (it is one of the best I have ever made) magic is an outlaw, and the reason for magic being an outlaw is because it caused a great before any of the stories take place. Now, the problem is magic is literally in their blood to the point it will mark some of them with swirling tattoos.

            But the law stands as it is and one could be hunted down for using magic, by hunted down I mean killed, that was clear, right?

            Some squirrels believe it is their right to be able to will magic, others do not, mostly the Emperor.

When I’m writing stories for this world, I try to come from this debate on both sides. Some of the squirrels who hunted down magic users see the evil it causes, or I write stories where magic is the cause of the evil, while I try my best to write for the other side as well. A lot of my stories will show the reader magic is not so bad. In fact, it does a lot of good for the Realm.

            The allegory for magic in this world is about firearms or the gun debate we see in our society now. You might be able to see where I stand with this debate, but I try very hard not to show you.

            Another story where I try to show different sides of life is the Talon family. Helbis doesn’t think one has to wait until they are married to get a little freaky in bed, while her sister, Gabriel does. Their different points of view cause them to bump heads all the time because they believe so differently. Again, you might be able to see where I stand on this matter, but I try very hard to hide it in the characters. (Plus, I can tell you I may not be sure where I come down on either side of these debates. The characters allow me to work out the discussion in my stories.)

            I also, I want to say this super-fast, if you are a writer and feel the need to show your hand on politics (no matter heavy it is), but all means do so. I think you should have the right to speak your mind. I don’t have a problem with it. I may not read your work, or I may roll my eyes at, but go for it. (I do that with my favorite writers who show their hand on a matter too much, like Stephen King. We get it, King, you have a bone to pick with religious, now move on from it, it is getting old.) Just remember if you put politics in your work, you are dividing your readers by default and if you are okay with that then, by all means, do it.

             I say all this not to make myself look good (but it does make me look good). I say all this because I have seen agents who will not take your work because of their politics, not your politics, their politics.

Just the other day I saw an agent on Tweeter who I have send my work to, tweet out, (I’m not lying to you) “If you are a man don’t send me a query today I will reject it.” She wrote this after the insanity over the Kavanaugh case, event, what are we calling? Shit show? Shit show.

            I had to read it more than once to believe it, and no one said a word to her about it.

            I have seen another agent said she would look at marginalized people before looking at “privileged” (she means white) people’s work. I shook my head at the commit, but I did say something back to her about it, and we had a quick convective over it. We came to an understanding, I think. I have felt for a while like I couldn’t say anything to these people because these are the gatekeepers to getting my work published. I bite my tongue a little because I could get blacklisted to some degree.

            (We all know if any other business were being this blunt about their bias we would burn the place down.)

            So, let me get this right I am struggling writer, working two jobs, praying every damn day that someone will pick up my work, but you are telling me because you think or see me as having “privileged” my story is not good enough? How can you think this is right?

            I feel like these are the same people who would sit there and tell me not calling someone back for an interview based off their name is wrong. (In the case the person’s name sounds too black or what not.) But, because my name sounds like I have “privileged” they are tossing my work out the window. As far as I have seen in the writing world, you meet someone through the writing that is it. The first thing they are going to see of me is my writing.

            Now, I don’t care where you fall on the political divide on the matter on “privileged” or “white privileged” or left or right, we can all agree when it comes to writing, to selling novels, every story should have a chance to be put out there but going out of your way to make it harder for someone is wrong. It is already hard enough, why would put your bias into it and then tell me how my bias is playing into who I vote for and that is wrong for me to do. (I’m not telling you who I voted for because it’s none of your business.)

            I don’t get this; you want equality for every story to have the same chance of being heard, but the criterion you use to judge one group, you don’t apply to judge the other group because it is wrong to judge that group by the same criterion, then it’s the criterion you are using to judge both groups wrong across the board? (To give you the answer, it is a very big YES. Yes, it is very wrong to use a different criterion for groups of people.)

            Now, I know what to do, go burn these people’s home down. No, I’m joking, just their cars.

            But what I really going to do is keeping looking because not all agents are like this and I will find one someday. I know this, so you don’t have to tell. I’m venting about what is going on in my writing life. Oh my God, I’m venting about the writing world! I made it, I’m in because you can only vent about something if you’re in it. *-High five self-*

            Be right back, I’m going to go help Sisyphus with his stone.

Cheers,

Chase