>>25362903
I finished and published multiple handwritten manuscripts, of which a few masterbooks, a Gesammtkunstwerk with my brother (50-50), got a contentable wordcount on the goold old blog, I'm taking it easy now and allowing myself to be impressed until it's time to express again.

How's yours?

at least my friends might read it

god I wish I had money

Writing career?

Writing career? ended up studying climate dynamics...

>>25362920
Did you find out why the atmosphere gets rarified when you're around yet?

>>25362903
I make a lot more money as a programmer than I would even as a successful author, but I still dream of throwing it all away to get my stuff published

File: 1745693444183706.png (162 KB, 520x611)

162 KB PNG

I had a website built to house a large story I've been working on for years, and I'm currently releasing the first book out into the world, serially, sections at a time. The next section is going to come out tomorrow, so I need to make sure I do my edits tonight and the post is ready to go for tomorrow evening.

I get between 30 and 50 readers a section at this point, which is an improvement from when things started earlier in the year. Slowly but surely I think I am building an audience. Eventually my plan is to sell both e-books and physical books of each complete unit of the story, probably off the website itself. However, the entire story will always be free to read online.

Assuming I don't eventually get some publishing deal that makes me take it down, of course.

>>25362903
I got long-listed for a book award recently. Was a nice bit of recognition for the years of work I've put into this.

My diary has been shaping up well.

https://youtu.be/Cqhr6ZT6ARo?si=MP5kdFmiyYkL9Y8S

>>25362903
All I need to do to have my novel ready for self-publication is another read-through (or two) for copy-editing purposes, but I'm dragging my feet on getting it done. While it's a huge relief to reread it and feel like it's genuinely good work, the reality of actually having to release it is weighing on me. I've wanted to publish a book for almost 20 years--I've worked on this one for nine--and it's strangely hard to leave behind that period of life when my artistic ambitions were pure potentiality and unsubject to the harsh banalities of real life. I'm dreading having to announce to people that I have written a novel and I would like for them to read it. The characters in the book are mostly bad people and some of them pretty clearly share aspects of my personality, so it makes me uneasy that people might read it and think, "Wow, anon must want to do some pretty dark stuff." Even the whole business of literature itself feels precarious to me now that I'm up close to it. Is it a demand of monstrous narcissism to ask people to devote hours of their lives to experiencing nothing but my thoughts? Have I really been so starved for validation that I've created this predicament of a book that now has to be read and be commented on and just exists, generally? Why must I attach my name to this book, why do I feel the obligation to parade this thing around the internet as another competitor for your time so that, best case scenario, I become a public personality and attract legions of grubby eyes peering into my life? I know now I don't really want any of these things, and yet I'm going to do them anyway. I've always felt a sense of duty towards pursuits like this, and I fear now that were I to abandon it, I'd lose my last ballast in sanity and disintegrate into endless compulsions. It's strange how we force ourselves to be things, you know?

So anyway, eyeing a Sept 11 release date for the book

A few publications in small online journals, but honestly, I'm mostly tired of them. My first novel had many 100 sales over a few years. Mostly positive reception but I'm tired of it. My second manuscript is finished now and I'm working on a third. I'm going to send it out to agents, with no expectations that they're going to take it, but I feel like I have to try.

The online indie lit world is pathetic btw. Everyone has their own "press" on twitter and they all just circlejerk each other. It's filled with simps that just fawn over shitty women authors. It's truly contemptible. Just focusing on my books now. The crazy part is how seriously they all take themselves, too. Real, published authors that have sold millions of copies aren't as up their own ass as a twitter nobody that was "published" by some blog with 40 subscribers.

I opened the text document and thought about writing for about 4 minutes

>>25363990
meant to say *maybe 100 sales over a few years

>>25363990
I feel you, man. I'm on X because I have to be, and I must say that the online and alt lit crowds are loathsome through and through. It's embarrassing, frankly. Knowing that those types exist in great numbers made me consider leaving this industry.

I am going to kill myself.