Writing as a career

      "Dear author...thank you so much for submitting your query letter and first fifteen pages (or entire novel if you actually made it that far) and giving us the chance to read you work. We thoroughly enjoyed your submission. Unfortunately, we didn't connect to the reading as much as we would have liked, so we are going to have to pass on representing your work. We wish you the best in your writing journey and finding representation." While not a direct quote, I'm certain anyone who has pursued the dream of having their novelistic works shared with the world has heard this or some other variation of rejection too many times to count. The other part we have all heard is to "keep submitting...don't quit...keep sending your work."

         While those encouraging words sound nice on paper, how realistic are they? How much of a good use of time are they? Are they just a means to keep your pipe dream alive and keep you busy? Let's dive into the meat and potatoes of all this. How many times do you submit your work to an agent and/or publisher before it turns into your desire to be "validated" by an alleged "industry professional" as opposed to searching for true business representation on your behalf? 30 times, 50 times, 80 times....5,000 or more? Only you can answer that question. The point is at some point, that question must be asked, and you must give an honest assessment as to what you are doing when you hit the submit button to these people.

         Considering that roughly less than 1% of people who pursue careers as writers/novelists actually get book deals, how great of a time investment is it to choose writing as a career? Let's do the math. If 500,000 people submit their book/story ideas to an agent/publisher, 1% equals 5,000. That means a rather meager 4,999 or less will get the grand deal they are looking for. That doesn't sound that promising or impressive to me. If those stats were applied to almost any other decision (say a business or job oriented one), it would be very unlikely the person or company would bank on those odds. With that in mind, is "less than 1%" a quality gamble on your most valuable asset...your time?

       On the flip side, you actually get that big book deal you're looking for. You shout to the heavens and tell every family member and close friend who actually likes you enough to listen. You even get a fat six figure advance to the tune of $200,000. Life is pretty damn good. You're watching all of your dreams come true right in front of your eyes. Wait a minute....what is that your eyes also see? It's the rest of that contract stating in laymen's terms that the advance you just received was the publishing house purchasing all of the rights to your book. Read this part over again and very closely. It says they now own the rights to the book, meaning you can do absolutely nothing with the work you wrote without their permission or profit. They can even change the title of your book, reject the author photo you want to use, change your bio, and most importantly change the content of your work!! Does this deal still sound so phenomenal? Oh, I almost forgot to mention the grossly lopsided royalty and commission structure. Not only does the publishing house get to determine the price of the book, they are also going to pay you roughly 12-15% of the royalties. Time for more math. Let's say they set the book price at $27 and set you at 12% royalties for every book sold. That gives you a whopping grand total of...wait for it...$3.24 for every book sold. This figure is only paid out after the book has sold enough copies for the publisher to recoup that $200K advance they fronted you (yeah, it wasn't free). Does this career still sound appealing? Yes? Awesome...let's keep going.

     In keeping with the above mentioned figures, have you spoken with your accountant and bank account to calculate how much money you are actually making? If not, you may want to schedule a consultation fairly soon. You may be surprised to find out unlike John Grisham, Carl Weber, and Eric Jerome Dickey, you aren't exactly raking in anywhere near enough bread to quit your day job, go home, sit at your computer, and be creative all day long. In fact, majority of writers, whether novelists or screenwriters don't actually make enough money to make writing their full time gig. The media simply shines the camera often enough on those who do in order to create the illusion that you too will be just like them. In reality, you will more likely still have to get and up and still punch the clock for quite some time before you get to "live that dream."

      Lastly, what is one of the world's most lucrative professions? I'll give you a hint. It's one of the most overlooked occupations out there but happens every day. That's right...DREAMSELLING. It is without a doubt a billion, possibly trillion dollar industry and is never going away. Don't believe me. Go visit Los Angeles for a week and tell someone you're an actor or actress. Tell me how many people tell you within six months, they can have you in some kind of movie. Take a look at how long the line is of women dying to be extras in some rapper's music video because someone told them it was the best way to get started in their career. How much money are photographers making hand over fist to take headshots of aspiring actors/actresses and models? How many writers are taking class after class after class to become "better writers" only to find themselves no further along than when they started but their bank accounts noticeably emptier? The scheme is even deeper now with these things called "Master classes." "For several thousand a pop, I've got the brilliant advice you need in order to achieve your goals," is the basic groundwork for all of these sales pitches.

     With all this and more in mind, I don't fully discourage writing as a career. However, I would not hang my hat on it. Whatever direction you take your writing, make sure the joy remains, and you are adequately compensated.

Who do you grind for?

         “Man, this is some bullshit. I can’t believe they gave that promotion to somebody else. As hard as I work, as much overtime as I’ve put in, all my accomplishments…I was the perfect candidate,” yells the man on the train while speaking on his cell phone. “Just goes to show you this company doesn’t believe in rewarding people for all their hard work. Guess it’s time to definitely start looking for a new job. I’ll be home soon. Bye.” The man abruptly tossed his cell phone into his inside jacket pocket. Two stops later, he exited while pulling out the keys to his Cadillac CTS.

            I’ll never know who got the promotion over him or whether or not he was truly the deserving candidate. However, I did have to wonder a few things. Assuming he worked as hard at his job as he claimed, how hard did he work for himself? Also, what world was he living in where the hardest worker always gets the greatest reward? I’ll deal with the first question off top. Too often, we hear others speak about how hard they go for their job, how much overtime they put in, how many accomplishments they achieved…blah blah freakin’ blah. How often do we hear these same people speak about how hard they worked for…themselves? The likely answer is not much if we’ve ever heard it at all.

            With this in mind, the next question becomes why? Why is it that so many people are comfortable working extremely hard for someone else without the possibility of a significantly increased monetary or other reward? What is it about working for another company that makes us feel so great? Why do we not put those same efforts toward a personal goal or passion we have and turn that into significant financial gains? There are a million answers to those questions, but here’s the simple one. We were not trained to value ourselves more than a company that pays us.

            By “trained” I mean “educated.” From the time we enter elementary school, we are taught that education is the key to success (i.e. making a shit load of money and spending way too much of it on material items, but that’s another discussion). Not only are we taught that education is the key to “success” but we are also taught that not getting this brilliant education will be a one way ticket to poverty and being completely locked out of the glamorous American Dream. So, with this form of brainwashing starting at such a young age, we grow into Adults who have been brainwashed by school (elementary, junior high, high school, and college) to do two things: follow orders and market and package ourselves to be the ideal candidate for someone else’s job. Emphasis on someone else’s job because you can never be fired from something that actually belongs to you.

            It is because of these teachings and this mindset that that man on the train worked so damn hard for his job and not himself. He is like most of us and not interested in finding himself but looking to take orders from the next highest bidder who is willing to give him what he thinks he deserves. Now for the second question about “rewards.” We have to remember that vicious C word…C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M. We must also remember that “jobs” are subsidiaries of C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M. In that sense, it’s not that your job can’t afford to pay or reward you more. It’s that they don’t want to because paying you more or what you actually deserve would throw C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M out of whack and put more balance into our system. The top of the hill folk would become the common folk if pay was increased.

            So, with this in mind, we all have to ask ourselves what am I passionate about? What stirs my soul? What would I love to get up every morning and do? How much effort do I wanna give to a “job” that would have ZERO problem cutting me loose the second they no longer need me? Especially seeing as how I was never hired for my benefit in the first place. I was hired because they needed me to fill that slot. Therefore, what’s going to happen the second they don’t need me? Exactly. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Grind for a standard 9 to 5 that gets way more benefits out of your effort than you do or find something you truly love and grind for that and watch the magic unravel. 

Who Do You Love?

“Man, I can’t wait to get this new Camaro. I’m gon be fresh to death. I just got the new Jordan’s (new as in a pair that came out in the 90s and are simply being repackaged in a different box), two Ralph Lauren Polo’s and this Gucci belt. The hoes finna be all over me,” says Jason (fake name to protect the innocent) while waiting for a decision on his auto loan for the latest Chevy. “Once they see me step out that blue whip wit some 22’s and all my fly gear on, I’m guaranteed to be smashing all them bitches one after the other. Straight like that.”

“Jason,” I say. “I regret to inform you that your request for an auto loan has been declined.” “Declined!!?? What the fuck you mean declined?? I got the money to pay for it!!” “Well the reasons stated by the loan officer were recent collection action and judgment, serious delinquency on numerous accounts, and poor credit performance with others.” “What does all the shit mean?” “In short, it means you haven’t made good on debts you had or currently have and therefore are not deemed trustworthy to pay us our money back if we loan it to you. Would you like to see a copy of the credit report that was pulled?” “Yeah, lemme see that shit cuz y’all trippin’ up in here.”

I turn the computer screen his direction, so he can get a better look. After scrolling down to the derogatory account section, I ask Jason if he recognizes the three credit card accounts, two of which have been charged off and one currently in collection along with a delinquent cable and cell phone bill. “Yeah, I know what those are about, and I’m gon get to paying them soon,” he replies. “Well, be that as it may, it was because of those accounts and the 456 credit score that resulted in the denial of this application. Do you have any questions regarding how credit reports and calculations work?” “Nah, I’m straight on that shit. I don’t give a damn about no credit stuff or nothin’ like that. I just came here to get money for a new whip, so I could look fly for these hoes, but y’all ain’t tryna help me with that, so I’m out,” he says while storming out of my office.

As he left, I couldn’t help but replay the scenario and some of the things he had said. One of them being his claims of the Ralph Lauren and Gucci items. Both high end name brands, and those Jordans, while certainly not new were anything but cheap. Despite his dismal credit score and numerous account delinquencies, he still felt plenty okay to go spend whatever money he had on these name brands instead of attempting to pay down some debt. It led me to one conclusion. He was part of the group that Kanye West (back during the College Dropout phase, a time where he still made sense), had mentioned in the classic song, “All Falls Down.” Jason hated himself but loved their wealth.

“Their wealth” being the owners of those high end name brands that he squandered his money on. While the Kanye we know now may be far gone into some distant universe none of us have ever heard of or can even comprehend, he was spot on with that comment. If Jason really loved himself instead of “their wealth,” he would have invested that money into himself. Self-investment can mean several things, but in his case, it surely would have meant paying down some of that debt he had and working toward building his credit back up. It was hurtful to see that he didn’t realize paying down that debt would go a lot further for his long term future than those clothes or the car he was trying to buy.

But the sadder part is that Jason is not alone. In fact, not only is he not alone, he is in pretty heavy company. Every year during tax seasons, one business that booms is that of automobile sales. Folks get that refund, use it as a down payment, then head straight to the bank to apply for a loan, take the check back to the dealer, and drive off the lot with their new toy. Bear in mind, some of them may have had a perfectly good working car that was either paid for or pretty damn close to it. Yet, here they are ready to start that uphill battle to free and clear car ownership once again. But it doesn’t stop there. Many of these people who go this route end up with a visit from the repo man between four and six months later because they have started missing payments already.

So, let’s review who won in that case. The car got repossessed, you still owe the bank, and the dealer got a fat ass commission off of your uncontrollable desire for a new set of wheels. Here you are with no car and a debt you can’t pay…let me know when you start to feel like a winner in this scenario. I could go on and on with examples, but I’m sure y’all understand by this point. So, the question is why do some people not love themselves enough to be willing to invest in themselves? Why are they so thirsty to hand over their hard earned duckets to Michael Koors, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, the club owners, Michael Jordan, Beyonce, and anyone else who won’t be bothered to take 2.5 seconds to tell you to do anything with your money other than give it to them in exchange for some material items that will be outdated in less than six months of ownership?

When was the last time Michael Jordan publicly hosted any forums or seminars to teach folks how to reach that entrepreneur status he was at? Do you ever hear LeBron James telling folks to stop spending so much on my products because I am set for life even without your money? Exactly. And you will never will hear any of the people I have mentioned make any attempt to teach you about self-investment because that would be slightly counterproductive for them. The one thing all these folks have in common is that they love themselves. Not in a bad, stand in the mirror, egotistical type of way either. More like a personal value and know my worth type of way.

Because they love themselves, they don’t give their hard earned pieces of green to material things until they have invested in themselves first. They love themselves enough to say they wanna be set for life, and you can’t get there if you are constantly giving your money to rich people with good credit. Do some research and discipline yourself to start doing things with your money that will have long term effect. Don’t do it simply because of this blog post. Don’t do it because you feel ashamed of your previous spending missteps. Don’t do it because someone is forcing you to. Do it because your love yourself more than you love “their wealth.”

Passion versus the American Dream

       The American Dream-a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity, and Equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. In other words, the American Dream = becoming as rich as possible, typically in the form of nice big fancy house, luxury foreign vehicle, designer clothing, at least two kids, and possibly a dog for good measure. This "dream" is the driving force behind all those hours worked, all that vacation time sacrificed, all that exhaustion and sometimes self degradation we endure. We constantly tell ourselves that it's worth it so long as we can be rich. Before we know it, years...decades, and full generations have passed until we come to an important realization.

          Majority of our lives have been dedicated to a concept derived from the declaration of independence. A document written by a man who proclaimed "all men to be created equal," yet owned slaves and even impregnated one against her will. We see how much time we have spent trying to be "rich as possible," and yet our souls remain unfulfilled. How can this be? How can pursuit of this almighty American Dream leave us still feeling empty inside? Is that not what being an American is all about? The answer is simple. The American Dream is really the American Scheme. A scheme to divert your focus from truly discovering your passion and true self and dedicating your life to the acquisition of currency and depreciating material items it can get you.

          It's no shock that this dream is really a scheme considering its origin. But let's examine a few things here. Look at what we do with our money. Take out loans on top of loans and get tons of credit cards all to pay for things that realistically are out of our budget. We'll go into insurmountable debt to buy a house in a fancy neighborhood just to look good to people who really don't matter. We'll jump on any auto loan offered for the car of our dreams instead of saving and waiting for a few years to pay for it outright. We will say yes to every credit card that is offered without thinking twice. The list goes on and on. And why do we do this? Because society has embraced the American Scheme that reinforces the idea that you are worthless without all these material possessions. And, let's be honest...who wants to feel worthless?

           But how much are you really worth if you had to borrow in order to get these things? Again, why do so many people still find themselves unfulfilled? Because a large portion of happiness comes for the pursuit of one's passion, not money and material items. If your search for happiness lies in money, you can never be happy because money is numbers, and numbers are infinite. It cannot lie in material things either as these things are constantly being created with the new and fresh soon becoming the old and outdated. But a passion...something that stirs your soul...something you would do for free, that's a worthy pursuit.

         How does one find their passion? Through self discovery and life experience. Dare to learn about yourself. Dare to find out the most amazing aspects of yourself. Upon learning this and more information about yourself, you will begin to discover what you are passionate about and why. Once this discovery takes place, the blinders come off. You realize pursuit of your passion is better than being able to show off a mansion, Bentley, and $500 shoes. You realize this because you went for what gave you joy and not what someone else said you should go for. And lemme tell you...this realization is one of the ultimate freedoms. Passion > The American Scheme.

Thugz Mansion

    "Dear Mama, don't cry, ya baby boy's doing good, tell the homies I'm in heaven and they ain't got hoods. Seen the show wit Marvin Gaye last night. It had me shook, drinkin' peppermint schnapps wit Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. Then some lady named Billie Holiday sang sittin' there, kickin' it wit Malcolm til the day came. Little Natasha sho' grown, tell the lady in the liquor store that she's forgiven, so come home. Maybe in time, you'll understand only God can save us wit Miles Davis cuttin' loose in the band. Just think of all the people that you knew in the past that passed on, they in heaven, found peace at last. Picture a place where they exist together...there has to be a place better than this in heaven. So right before I sleep, Dear God what I'm asking...remember this face, save me a place at Thugz Mansion."

        That was the final verse of one of my favorite songs by the late Tupac Shakur, titled "Thugz Mansion," featuring Anthony Hamilton on the chorus. Despite my unrelenting belief that the song is a classic, none of my closest friends agree. In fact, they all believe I listen to the song entirely too much. Some have even insisted I stop listening altogether in order to get some perspective. Regardless of their feelings about it, I still hold strong in my conviction and never go a week without listening to the song on some platform.

          With this in mind, I pose this question. What is your "Thugz Mansion?" What is that one thing, person, or situation you couldn't  or simply won't stay away from if your life depended on it, but many of your friends and family think a separation is best? A toxic relationship, a pipe dream, perhaps Mary Jane and a few of her friends? Regardless of what your "Thugz Mansion" might be, it exists for everyone in some fashion. The more important question is "why?" Why can't you walk away from this person or situation? Why do you not believe everyone who says it's bad for you? Do you not trust them to have your best interest at heart?

         For me, I'm simply addicted to the lyrics of the song. The artistic and magical portrayal of what heaven might look like. I love this song so much, I would actually want it played on repeat at my funeral along with "Unconditional Love" by the same artist. Whatever your "Thugz Mansion" may be, the most important thing to keep in mind is why it matters to you. Not necessarily why everyone else thinks it's bad for you. Now, please don't take that out of context and decide to go poison your liver with two fifths of hard liquor or start hittin' the pipe like there's no tomorrow and then wonder why everyone is trying to get you into rehab. I am simply stating within reason, don't let anybody dissuade you from your "Thugz Mansion." Shout out to my good friend, Omar Solomon for asking me recently about my blog and suggesting this idea for my next one. As always, peace and blessings to all of you, and thank you for reading.

Debut

   Good day ladies and gentlemen. The day is finally here. My debut novella, titled 1900 Hours has officially been released and is available on Amazon. Words truly cannot express how grateful and excited I am about this moment. It still seems somewhat surreal. In the meantime, allow me to give a brief synopsis of the book. It is a mysterious love story about a couple that met in college and is living the American Dream in Arlington, Texas. Life couldn't be any better for them and three kids until an old flame shows up threatening to ruin the party. She's got a bone to pick with the husband, Pierre, and she has no intention of letting the family rest until she has settled her score and successfully ground her ax.

    With that said, I would greatly appreciate your purchase and time to read my work. Also, feel free to leave a review on the Amazon page. Your support is greatly appreciated. As always, much love and peace to all of you.

Conclusions

     The book is great so far. Intriguing characters, fast-paced plot, and page-turning dialogue. You actually are not looking forward to finishing it because it's that good. And then, tragedy strikes. The ending is horrible or sometimes left completely undone. Holes remain in the story, part of the plot is still unclear, and you really can't say how this story definitively ends. We've all been there. Frustrating as hell. You've invested a good amount of days or possibly even weeks into reading this piece of work, and the author leaves you hanging like a shirt in the closet.
   
      So, the question now becomes, how do we as writers become those folks who leave the audience confused and still searching for answers? Hard evaluation of our stories is the answer. As much as we may dread it, it is imperative for all writers to read their draft over and over several times, while dissecting each and every part of it. Find out what works, what doesn't work, what needs to be changed, and what should remain the same. I know...it's no fun going over a story numerous times that you already know EXACTLY how it's going to end, WHY it's going to end like that, and EVERYTHING you were thinking when you decided on that ending. But trust me when I tell you, your story will be all that much better for it.

     You can now ask yourself questions like, "Did I close this loop? Does this character's journey have sufficient closure? Does the ending leave any questions unanswered? If so, do those unanswered questions need clarification? If I was the reader, would I still want to know this information?" along with several others. I'll use a popular television show as an example. The Sopranos. Now, for those of you who have never seen the classic piece of work, I won't spoil it for you. However, I will say this. It was a great show during its run and definitely keeps you on the edge up to the very end. Imagine a 200-meter dash runner in the middle of their race. They've run an incredible race for 185 meters so far, and they look fantastic. But then, they slow down for the last 15 meters and don't finish strong. As a result, that lead they had disappears, and they lose the race.

     That's exactly how The Sopranos is. Great show up until the last episode that has NO CONCLUSION. After 86 episodes and six seasons, we are left with an ending that is meant to be interpreted instead of definitive. We have no clue what happened to Tony, Carmela, Meadow, and AJ. For those who watched this show in real time, I understand why there was such outrage. That feeling of betrayal for not being given a fair ending in exchange for loyal time devotion. Eight years later, no one can tell you how The Sopranos ended. So, with this in mind, always keep the reader in mind when writing your novels. If you do nothing else for them, make sure you give them the well deserved closure for their time  investment into you work. May the Lord's peace, will, and love be done unto you.