I'd like to say, probably not for the last time, but for newbies to the blog, it may be the first time, I suspect the reason this was my most productive year is that I didn't have the dead weight of traditional publishing holding me back.
Sure, we can all envision a solitary writer in his garret room struggling away on his masterpiece. Everyone considers him a loon but, with bravery beyond our ken, he persists. Finally it's finished. And still no one wants it.
Road Block!
Now it's different. What a blessing. Let's just put it in its least critical terms. It's impossible to paper publish all the books that are written. There aren't enough trees. There aren't enough people to edit, format, create covers. There aren't enough trucks to schlep them around the countryside. Undoubtedly all these books don't deserve to be published given the limited resources. Whether they deserve to be published because of their artistic achievements or entertainment value is a whole other issue.
I really loved, practically memorized, the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She lived almost to 100, I believe she passed in 1957 or 1958. No, I'm not going to go google it. Think of what she saw. As a child, she lived in a berm house with a dirt floor on the prairie. Light bulbs, telephone, movies, phonograph, airplanes, radio, television, jet aircraft, the beginning of the computer and space travel were just some of the things Laura witnessed in her lifetime.
We're seeing changes too, big ones, and I wouldn't predict what will happen with ebooks by July of 2011 let alone in 5 years. It's a great time for readers and writers. A giddy time when the formerly locked, nay, barricaded and guarded, door has been flung open and possibilities rush forth to greet us like old friends.
For me, it's just time to get back to work.
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