Done! and Thoughts on Professionalism

[lagilman]

I have saved and closed the file on Burning Bridges. It gets to sit for 24 hours, then I read it through for clarity (my own, hopefully) and then it goes off to Madame Editor, ON DEADLINE! Yay me. Now I must go clean up a bit. Do laundry. And then get back to the other projects that are tapping their feet and muttering at me...

But while we're sort of on that topic:

jaylake asked the question, and I answered (and reposted here, because I think it's a useful thing): what does "professional" mean to you, in the context of being a working genre writer?

My answer:

Pretty much the same thing it does in any career: Working hard to hit deadlines, exceed expectations, and satisfy the person(s)who sign your paycheck (in this case, both editors and readers). Not sticking your foot in your mouth so far you can't recover is good but not essential, as has been proved time and again. Accepting that being talented only covers so much, and that hard work often more than compensates for a lack of genius. Knowing that it's not enough to get there, you have to work to stay there, wherever "there" is for you. Doing things that may not be as much fun, because they're needful for the job.

In short: remembering that it's a job. It's the best job I can ever imagine, but it's still a job.

There's often a lot of conversation about professional behavior at conventions, etc. The convention circut, to me, is as much my 'office' as my office is. I may not always be perfectly dressed, or stone cold sober, or in the best of moods, but I remain aware that I'm being observed and judged -- and that humans prefer gossip to fact, so you might as well give 'em something to have fun with (I am reminded of my first year on the circut, when Something happened/Was Said by one of our authors, and I was horrified. My then-boss laughed and said "something new will come along that will be worse, trust me." And so it did, and so it always does. See above comment regarding feet and mouth.

Comments

[girasole.livejournal.com]

Brava, and I say Huzzah, both for the completion of the task, and your honest, intelligent commentary.

Is this -- dare I say it? -- the last of the Sergei-Wren saga? Is their arc complete?

[lagilman]

Is this -- dare I say it? -- the last of the Sergei-Wren saga? Is their arc complete?

What, you want it over with already? *sulks*

One more book in the arc. One more book after that in the universe under contract. It will, thank all the gods, be a stand-alone adventure. Mostly. Depending on how my brain is working (or not) at the time.

Book #5 (working title is Capture but no working title has yet survived the first draft stage) is gong to make a whole bunch of people happy, methinks. *evil grin*

[girasole.livejournal.com]

I should perhaps say that not only do I love closure, I hate surprises. I have been known to read the last page, or the last chapter, first, to assure myself that someone beloved doesn't die, or that the lovers come together, so I can read the rest of the book without making myself crazy, or if the worst has happened, I can calm down and just read. I write in my books, too, just so all of you totally grossed out by this can be grossed out all at once.

[deire.livejournal.com]

I ran across more of your short stories while anthology browsing. Have I mentioned lately how beautifully wonderful they are?

[lagilman]

say more! say more! ;-)

[deire.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, you have a way of creating characters in three pages or less that I then proceed to want books, BOOKS, DARN IT, to discuss and describe. For one, how does a family get a demigod version of Loki poking his foxy nose into its business, ahem. Also, I am still haunted from time to time by your story from Familiars, which is poetic. You have good characterization, plot, and wording. You make people I remember. I still need to send you the sktech of PB; doubtless, the project using it is done, but I found a reference shot to amalgamate, and the shot has a polar bear sticking out its tongue at the camera. Which must be done and sent.