Don't Wait Till You Feel Like Writing (Or You Never Will)

For a lot of people out there, writing is something they do when the stars are right, the muse whispers, or the spirit takes them. Writing is an exercise done for fun, or when their imagination runs hot, and they go until they run out of fuel in the tank before they set it down, walk away, and wait for yet another creative cosmic alignment to occur.

And for some people, that's all well and good. However, if you want to be a writer professionally (or even if you want to improve yourself as someone who does this for a hobby) then you're going to have to learn to write all the time rather than just when you feel like it.

This is one of those hills to die on. I've got a tent staked out, and s'mores ready.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

A Return to My Favorite Metaphor

Folks who've been to this blog before are aware that my favorite metaphor is to compare writing to exercise. Because both of these activities take discipline and commitment to succeed, and more often than not folks tend to think that natural talent and inborn ability is responsible for way more than it actually is.

6-month novel on average. Why you ask?

If you've ever been to the gym at the beginning of the year, then you've likely seen it completely full of people who are trying to make good on their resolutions. But after a week, two weeks, and certainly by mid-February, most of them have peeled off and stopped coming. And sometimes you'll see a few of those beginning-of-the-year folks come back a time or two throughout the year to try to start again, but it's very rare for them to actually maintain their routine and get closer to the goals they want.

However, if you've ever been a weightlifter, then you know that dedication, nutrition, and proper form makes a lot more difference in the long run than someone who was naturally blessed with a strong physique and a big frame who didn't properly utilize them. If you took two people, one of whom was naturally strong and hefty, and one who was on the smaller end, but the former works out a few times a year and the latter has a dedicated fitness routine they hit every day, then at the end of the year you're going to see exactly how much of a difference this kind of dedication makes.

Now, compare this to two writers.

The first writer might be naturally gifted. Maybe they have a particular flair for a certain genre, or they have really interesting characters, concepts, ideas, etc. But the second writer puts something out every day. Maybe it's just a little addition to their story. Maybe it's that they storyboard things. Maybe they work on their novel, and make progress or get it done. And at the end of that year, the person who has been working hard, studying, and practicing is going to show a lot more progress than the person who just did it whenever they felt like it, or when the spirit took them.

And that gap is just going to get wider the longer this goes on.

It's important to remember that this isn't just for professional authors, either. This isn't some kind of, "Professionals dedicate themselves to the craft, and amateurs just fuck about whenever they feel about it," kind of statement. Because whether you want to write bestselling novels, or you're just putting together short stories for your own enjoyment, the practice and routine are what matters. Just like it doesn't matter if you're lifting weights because you want to be an influencer or a competitor, or because you just want your body to be fit and strong in your day-to-day life, you're doing the same work.

So take a moment, and ask yourself if you want to truly dedicate your efforts to becoming a better writer. How much time, energy, and effort do you want to put in? Because the most important skill you can develop is being able to go to the gym when you're tired, when you're not motivated, when you'd rather be anywhere else, but you put in your reps anyway... because that's what it takes to get better.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

What Kind of Additional Merch Would You Like To See In The Future?

Did you know that, most of the time, buying a ticket to see a band perform live in-concert actually puts less money in that band's pockets than buying a tee shirt or CD? And we're not talking a bigger percentage, either... we're talking total earnings. That $25 tee shirt you bought at the venue actually made your band more money, overall, than the tickets that cost you at least three times that much to purchase.

While there's a lot of math and behind-the-scenes explanations for this, the important lesson to take away from this statement is that buying merch directly from performers and creators you like is one of the best ways to support them.

Which is why I wanted to stop in and ask folks today... would you be interested in seeing me put out some merch for The Literary Mercenary?

I've got some plans in the works...

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

A Couple of Potential Ideas...

On the surface, this might seem like a bit of a weird direction to go in. After all, I'm an author, and all my books and gaming materials are already merch. And while you should absolutely check out my Amazon author page, as well as the nearly 200 tabletop RPG games and supplements under my name on Drive Thru RPG, the idea behind this week's post is all about expanding the options I can both bring with me to conventions, but also making sure there's more stuff available in general for folks who are fans of what I'm doing.

The advantages of having additional merch is that it provides more options for fans, and it represents an additional stream of earnings to help keep the wolf from my door. It also provides a wider range of costs so that different folks with different levels of disposable income can still get something when they come across me in the wild. The difficulty, of course, is production costs for getting new merch made, and the fact that you usually have to order a minimum number of things up-front. So if they don't sell, you're stuck with a lot of stuff you bought, but can't turn a profit with.

So, I had a few thoughts I'd like to lay out. And I can basically break them into two, very broad categories...

#1: Literary Mercenary Merch

The first category is broad strokes stuff for fellow writers out there. Stuff that likely uses some of my logos, as well some... shall we say choice phrases I've decided to identify with over the years? Some of my thoughts so far include:

- Stickers (surprisingly not something I've done yet, though I feel I should)

- Notebooks (I do love myself a handy dandy notebook, and something pocket-sized is always useful)

- Patches (I did this once before, and they were middlingly popular... just not quite enough to restock)

- Bandannas (for those who prefer a piratey look, or who just want something cool to hold back their hair)

These are just a couple of thoughts I had to get me started... but if there's another item you'd like to see, let me know in the comments down below!

#2: "Army Men" Merch

And you should grab a copy if you haven't yet!

For those who aren't familiar with it, my tabletop RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic has been out for a couple of years now. And while there are plenty of additional supplements for it like the mission module Assault on Outpost 13, or the medals system introduced in Army Men: Medals of Honor, those are all digital things, and I sort of want to provide something physical for people to buy to go with their game. A couple of ideas I've had thus far include:

- "Standard Issue" Faction Dice (color-coordinated to your faction, complete with an Altoids tin-sized carrying case)

- Faction/Unit Patches: Something to identify players who favor one nation over another. An expansion might be patches for particular units or regiments in the game setting

- Dog Tags: Another simple, color-coded way for you to let everyone know which faction you fight for

Given that I have copies of my game book out on the table when I go to an event, I figured adding another few options for players to check out would be worth adding into the mix... but what do you all think?

Again, if one of these sounds good to you (or if you think something should be added into the mix) let me know in the comments down below!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

Overwhelming Your Reader With Too Many Characters (Don't Do This)

Have you ever been to a holiday gathering for a significant other, or maybe gotten dragged to a big meet-up by a friend of yours? If so, then you probably remember how you were immediately thrust into an environment where there was one person you know and were familiar with, and you spent the rest of the event in a blur trying to build a map of who was who? You might have remembered that Jim, the big guy with the receding hair and the dad-stashe, was your friend's work-husband. Maybe you managed to remember the woman with the red hair was named Jessica, and she was your friend's ex from high school. But beyond that... well, it's mostly a blur. Even worse, you spent so much time trying to learn everyone's name, and to figure out what their relationships were, that you completely missed the evening's conversations, and anything that was happening throughout the night.

That feeling of exhausted discombobulation is the same feeling readers get when they're immediately shoved into a book that has a massive cast, and you're throwing names and descriptions at them faster than they can handle.

Who the hell were you again?

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Frogs and Boiling Water

You've likely heard the old saying about how you can't just drop frogs into boiling water. If you do that, they'll just jump right out again. However, if you put them in lukewarm water, and then ratchet up the heat a little at a time then they'll just stay in the water while you cook them. While we aren't looking to harm our readers, this is generally the method you should use to introduce them to both your world, and to the characters who populate it.

So, there was a thing called the Fast Food Wars, and, ugh... well, it's complicated...

There are generally two methods you can do for this. The first is to have a long story so that you can introduce your cast of important characters over time. This is probably the most common strategy used for those writing a novel series. The second strategy is to have a flash-introduction for the whole cast all at once, but not to linger on them. Then, one-by-one, we find reasons for our readers to spend time with them, and to fill in their details so they gain depth and personality.

Consider a book series with a massive cast of characters, like A Song of Ice and Fire. Even if we just include the main cast, there's more than 20 some-odd characters we spend a lot of time with, and at least a dozen of them become point-of-view characters throughout the story. However, we're introducted to this cast over several very large books... and more importantly, the audience is often told about characters before they meet them, so that when they actually show up the audience has at least heard of them before. And as new members are added to the cast, and new events happen, we get to add more and more names to the roster without confusing the audience.

Of course, it also helps that they seem to get pruned every couple of chapters as well.

Prime examples of the latter strategy, though, tend to be mystery stories and cop/private eye dramas. For example, consider a story like Murder on The Orient Express. The cast is rather large, and we get them in a rather rapid succession... but we aren't slammed with all of them all at once. We, instead, get smaller touches of conversation, as well as interviews with Monsieur Poirot. In this way we can introduce a number of characters in a controlled environment so that our audience can "meet" them all, but they're also there to be examined and learned, as we're looking for details about their lives and possible involvement in the unfolding murder. You'll see similar setups with the Benoit Blanc films Knives Out and Glass Onion, as well, which allows us to easily juggle a dozen characters or more with relatively little stress.

The key in both situations is being able to breathe in between bites. If each new character is a new dish, it's important to give your audience time to take a bite, chew it, analyze it, swallow, and maybe take a drink of water to cleanse their palate before you give them a new one to taste. Space out how often you introduce your cast, and just as with your plot or world building, don't just jam a funnel into your reader's mouths and pour until the bottle is empty.

No one will enjoy that experience, and it's likely to lead to readers putting your book down and walking away before they ever get close to the dessert course.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Care and Feeding of Your Creators (5 Steps All Fans Should Take)

So, you've been out wilding on the Internet, or maybe you were in real space at a convention, and you found someone who makes things you like. You want this person to be able to keep doing what they're doing, but you've never had a pet creator before. How do you take care of them? How do you ensure they've got enough enrichment in their enclosures to keep their creative juices flowing properly? What do creators even eat?

Don't worry. Just take a deep breath. I'm going to give you the inside scoop on just what your creator needs, and how you can make sure that they continue to do that thing you love for years to come!

Stimulants may be necessary, but we'll get there when we get there...

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

The 5 Steps To Taking Care Of Your Creators

In the old days, artists had patrons who would give them money, food, a place to live, and so one. Whether it was rich nobles who wanted to show off by having a pet artist, or the church who needed their skills to create works of art to ensure the proper feeling of reverence in the populace, these old style patrons handled the day-to-day expenses of the creators so they could focus on using their skills to make art.

The world has changed since then. These days it's possible for anyone to support the work of an artist they like, though, and we definitely need all the help we can get.

Just follow these 5 Steps, and your artist will be perking up in no time!

Method #1: Direct Patronage

Seriously, every little bit helps.

You may not be a member of the Medicis, but you can still help creators directly. Whether you want to become a Patreon patron and give them a specific amount every month, or just toss them a tip using a platform like Ko-Fi when you have a little bit to spare, these tips can add up when there's a lot of people participating. Never underestimate the power of a lot of people doing something small in large numbers... that is going to become a running theme throughout this post, for folks who are wondering.

And if you want to give me a hand up, consider become one of my Patreon patrons, or giving me a tip on my Ko-Fi.

#2: Buy Their Merch

Since a lot of folks haven't checked out this novel yet...

Did you know that a band makes way more money from the purchase of a tee shirt or a CD than buying a ticket to their concert does, more often than not? In fact, most of the money made from concerts (even those that sell out) often go to pay for the expenses of the show. Even some tours that seem really successful from the outside can barely break even... or in some case leave the performers in debt if they don't sell enough merch to actually make a profit.

So if you have a creator you like, take a look at their merch. Authors have novels, RPG rule books, and so on, which makes them easy to support in this regard. But even if you have a YouTuber, a painter, or any other kind of creator, ask what kind of merch they put out. Do they have stickers? Tee shirts? Shaker cups? Prints of their artwork? Or do they have a sponsorship deal with a product or service that you would actually use (since every purchase through the creator's link puts money in their pockets)?

For those interested in novels and short stories, check out my Amazon author page. If you're more of an RPG players, I've got nearly 200 titles on Drive Thru RPG. And if you're a fan of energy drinks that I can attest absolutely get the job done, consider clicking right here to check out Dubby!

Method #3: Consume Their Content

If a creator you follow makes content that is free for you to consume (they have a YouTube channel, a podcast, or they publish articles on a website or a blog), then make sure you're actually watching, reading, and listening to the things they make! In some cases that free content does have a method of getting the creator paid, such as how YouTube gives a portion of ad revenue to the person who runs a channel once they've met the website's qualifications. Your reads, views, etc. will only be a tiny fraction of what they'd need to make a living, but it costs you nothing, and increases the creator's numbers, which matters a lot.

Why does it matter? Because the algorithm, which can decide our success or failure, pays attention to numbers. Videos, articles, podcast episodes, etc., that get a lot of interaction (which is both watches/views/listens, but also shares, upvotes, reviews, etc.) are the things the algorithm chooses to signal boost because it believes they're more popular. So the more you can add to a creator's numbers, the better they look overall. As such you should listen, but also like, comment, subscribe, and all those other things that can help them push the rock up the hill a little further.

For those who'd like to help me in this regard, I help out with the Azukail Games YouTube channel, but I also have an archive of 329 articles and growing on Vocal.media (and every 3 articles read basically puts a penny in my earnings cup... so reading even 1 article a day would make a big difference if enough people did it).

Method #4: Actively Follow Them on Social Media

On it, chief!

Social media is the lifeblood of how a lot of us stay in touch, as well as how we find new things. The problem is that thanks to platform decay, only those with the loudest followings and the largest numbers actually seem to get anywhere... everyone else is just drowned out by the sea of noise, ads, and bots that exists on these platforms.

Again, if you want the algorithm to notice the creators you like (and possibly pay them, as apparently that's a thing that can happen if your following is big enough), do your part to increase their numbers!

That means you should absolutely follow/subscribe to the creators you like on all the platforms they're active on, but that's just the start. Interact with their posts by liking, commenting, and sharing them. Turn on notifications if that's an option so you don't miss posts. Make sure you're plugged-in so that you see the things they put up, and if possible try to persuade your friends to do the same! Pushing someone's signal up takes literally tens of thousands of people, but it can be done if folks show up and keep the energy going. Like the other stuff above, this isn't a one-and-done... make this a part of your regular routine. It will only take a few minutes a day, if that, and it does make an impact.

All of my social media links are at the end of this blog for folks who are interested... Hope to see you there!

Method #5: Make Sure You Tell Them How Much You Like Their Work

Being told that people like your work, that people are excited for a thing you made, is like a straight shot in the arm for a lot of creators out there. We put hours of time, energy, editing, an often collaborating to make our creations into things that can be experienced... and when we do all that, and no one ever reads, watches, listens, etc., it can feel like it was for nothing.

I wrote Waking Dogs Part 3: Warhounds a few months ago, and the audio drama above by the YouTube channel A Vox in The Void gave me chills to listen to. Even more than hearing someone else's interpretation of my work, though, were the comments folks left behind!

I'll be honest, I wrote the first story abotu Crixus and his bloody adventures in the grimdark galaxy because I was hoping folks would then turn around and check out my novel Old Soldiers... but this little fanfiction series has taken on a life of its own. And seeing just how excited folks were not just to have a new installment of the series, but how stoked they were to know I had plans to keep it going... that's a great feeling to have, and it's one that we don't get as often as you might think.

So if you love a creator's work, tell them. Because a lot of the time we might be wondering if anyone actually cares, and if there's anyone actually rooting for us to keep going. Sometimes a little cheering from the sidelines really does help us keep putting one foot in front of the other just a little bit longer.

Final Thoughts

I want to make it clear to folks that this advice is universal. Any creator you're following, whether they're an author or a graphic artists, a YouTuber, a podcaster, a voice actor, or an essayist, they need you to help them keep their career alive. You are literally the life blood of art. PBS wasn't screwing around when they said we can only do what we do because of viewers like you... without your support, a lot of us will have to stop making art... so support the people whose work you want to see flourish!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.