Patrick Alan

First the pool. Yes, that is a distraction. Mostly from my dayjob. Do you have any idea how hard it is to NOT go out and watch people wade around in freshly poured concrete? And the thing is, when I get distracted from my dayjob during the day, I have to make it up sometime, like when American Idol is on. And then I have to find time to watch that. It’s all a viscous cycle.

Enough of that complaining. Oh my life is so difficult. People are building me a pool. How can I possibly go on?

I wanted to point out two absolutely fascinating posts, including the comments, on agents going on over at Dean’s blog.

Here’s the first and then the second. I think the thing to remember is what is being shared is their personal experience. I don’t see it as any advice to avoid agents. Deep into the comments they do point out that they are definitely a minority view. What the real point is, that I see, and Dean put it in one of the last comments I read, is something he absolutely does teach at all of his workshops. “You are responsible for your career.”

This goes along with some other advice I heard – in publishing, bad advice can cost you two years.

Anyway, whether you agree or disagree with the advice, the experience shared gives a writer perspective on things to look out for. I know what I have taken from the conversations and it certainly isn’t that agents are bad. I know far too many writers (newer, mind you) who have a very good thing going. Their agent has placed multiple contracts for them. There may be issues and they would be wise to read those posts and keep an eye out for those things, but it can definitely work.

Ok, enough on that.

I wanted to point out that Scott William Carter is starting to write down some of his tricks and tips at www.GamesWritersPlay.com . He’s started off with one that I got from him and I use it all the time. It has helped me immensely. He calls it the 30/50 rule. I call it the 1hr/1k/death rule. I just expanded it a bit for my uses.

Off to work with me now. Feel free to stare endlessly at my pool. I probably will, too.