Michael K. Eidson
Archmage
Yeah, I should have done this way back when. I procrastinate. Now you know.
I've been writing short fiction since 4th grade, back in the 60s. I was first published around the age of 14 or 15, paid $5 for a non-fiction paragraph submitted to Argosy magazine. Opening the acceptance envelope was a proud moment for me.
At a young age, I read a piece of advice from an author I respected, aimed at aspiring authors, advising you to wait until you're in your thirties to start trying to publish fiction, after you've gained some life experience. I wish I had ignored that advice. Before I even reached my thirties, starting with the death of my mother, my life went into a downward spiral, and I couldn't find the energy to write anything as complicated as a novel.
Nearing my forties, I found my way back to the land of the living and the sane. That last one is still debatable. I got back to writing short fiction. Some of it was published by independent publishers. Some of it I self-published. I didn't make a lot of money from it, but I wasn't in it then for the money. I had the unpleasant experience of having some of my work stolen, published by the thieves after stripping my name from the credits, and in some cases claiming to have written it themselves. In one occasion, the thief was someone I had considered a friend, and that especially hurt.
In the late 2000s, I became more interested in trying to make money from the written word. I started an independent publishing company, Eposic Diversions LLC. The first project for Eposic was an anthology of short speculative fiction, titled "The Book of Exodi." I put out a call for submissions, selected the ones I liked, edited the lot, commissioned cover art and interior illustrations, formatted the book, and published it through CreateSpace. You can still find the page for it on Amazon, though it's out of print now. The anthology included new stories from some authors who have gone on to better things. It included one reprint, from Harry Turtledove, who also wrote the introduction to the book. I was super excited to have Harry on the project.
The second project for Eposic began immediately after, another anthology, this one titled "Out of Order." Sadly, my efforts with marketing/selling the first anthology were not going as well as I thought they should. I started doubting myself, and let my doubts overwhelm me. After I had selected and edited stories for "Out of Order," and made payments to authors for them -- and to artists for artwork, I made the decision to cut my losses and bail on the LLC. "Out of Order" was never published. Looking back, I wonder where the LLC would be now if I had stuck with it, and sometimes wish I'd found out.
In 2012, after dropping the LLC, I thought maybe I had garnered enough "life experience" to write a novel. So I started one. I'd made some stabs at novel writing before that, including one win at National Novel Writing Month, but not with a serious intent to write anything publishable. I've been studying the craft of novel writing at an accelerated pace since then, reading book after book, magazine after magazine, blog post after blog post, forum thread after forum thread. I keep applying what I learn to my WIP, and have completely restarted my WIP twice. I think the third time might be the charm. Things better start looking up soon, because I'm already in my sixties. Publishing a hundred novels before I die is going to be a stretch. But I'll happily try.
I've been writing short fiction since 4th grade, back in the 60s. I was first published around the age of 14 or 15, paid $5 for a non-fiction paragraph submitted to Argosy magazine. Opening the acceptance envelope was a proud moment for me.
At a young age, I read a piece of advice from an author I respected, aimed at aspiring authors, advising you to wait until you're in your thirties to start trying to publish fiction, after you've gained some life experience. I wish I had ignored that advice. Before I even reached my thirties, starting with the death of my mother, my life went into a downward spiral, and I couldn't find the energy to write anything as complicated as a novel.
Nearing my forties, I found my way back to the land of the living and the sane. That last one is still debatable. I got back to writing short fiction. Some of it was published by independent publishers. Some of it I self-published. I didn't make a lot of money from it, but I wasn't in it then for the money. I had the unpleasant experience of having some of my work stolen, published by the thieves after stripping my name from the credits, and in some cases claiming to have written it themselves. In one occasion, the thief was someone I had considered a friend, and that especially hurt.
In the late 2000s, I became more interested in trying to make money from the written word. I started an independent publishing company, Eposic Diversions LLC. The first project for Eposic was an anthology of short speculative fiction, titled "The Book of Exodi." I put out a call for submissions, selected the ones I liked, edited the lot, commissioned cover art and interior illustrations, formatted the book, and published it through CreateSpace. You can still find the page for it on Amazon, though it's out of print now. The anthology included new stories from some authors who have gone on to better things. It included one reprint, from Harry Turtledove, who also wrote the introduction to the book. I was super excited to have Harry on the project.
The second project for Eposic began immediately after, another anthology, this one titled "Out of Order." Sadly, my efforts with marketing/selling the first anthology were not going as well as I thought they should. I started doubting myself, and let my doubts overwhelm me. After I had selected and edited stories for "Out of Order," and made payments to authors for them -- and to artists for artwork, I made the decision to cut my losses and bail on the LLC. "Out of Order" was never published. Looking back, I wonder where the LLC would be now if I had stuck with it, and sometimes wish I'd found out.
In 2012, after dropping the LLC, I thought maybe I had garnered enough "life experience" to write a novel. So I started one. I'd made some stabs at novel writing before that, including one win at National Novel Writing Month, but not with a serious intent to write anything publishable. I've been studying the craft of novel writing at an accelerated pace since then, reading book after book, magazine after magazine, blog post after blog post, forum thread after forum thread. I keep applying what I learn to my WIP, and have completely restarted my WIP twice. I think the third time might be the charm. Things better start looking up soon, because I'm already in my sixties. Publishing a hundred novels before I die is going to be a stretch. But I'll happily try.