Midlist Writer: Writing newgroups: worth the time?

Monday, 29 June 2009

Writing newgroups: worth the time?

I've been pretty busy lately, not only with my book on medieval guns but also with my latest novel, which is finally gathering momentum. Blogging at Gadling takes a chunk of time every day too. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and decided to cut out something from my work day. I've gone No Mail on all of my writing newsgroups except for the one for Damnation Books, which I'm using to get aquainted with my fellow authors, and a gunners group I need for my book research.

Until I did this I didn't realize how much time I spent on these groups. Even skimming through them takes a decent amount of time every day, and when you add it up over the course of a month, it's just too much.

Newsgroups have their place. I've made some good cyberfriends and even gotten a bit of work through them, but I'm beginning to feel they cost more time than they're worth. So much of the talk tends to repeat itself: how to find an agent, copyediting questions, self publishing, and endless debates over ebooks. This is all useful for beginning writers (although there's a lot of misinformation out there too) but I'm thinking midlisters don't really get much out of them. Perhaps there needs to be a midlist newsgroup?

What do you think? Are Yahoo and Google groups for writers worth the time?

2 comments:

Lisa said...: I'm on a couple of LinkedIn groups. Sometimes they are worth the time, because I don't have an agent for my book yet.

It all depends on whether you need to learn something new or not. If you don't know a thing about e-books, for example, you can ask other writers for ideas: what worked, what didn't and what to watch out for.; 3 July 2009 at 14:18
Sean McLachlan said...: Newsgroups have been helpful to me in the past, but there's a high signal to noise ratio like with everything on the internet. I find reading Publishers Weekly and chatting privately with other professionals to be far more helpful. The vast majority of people on newsgroups are beginners, and so that's the way the conversation is skewed.

Another thing I find useful is reading how to write books, because I can still learn things from the good ones. I just reviewed an excellent one at http://writebrigade.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-review-becoming-your-own-critique.html; 4 July 2009 at 00:17

The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

The Last Hotel Room

He came to Tangier to die, but life isn’t done with him yet. Tom Miller has lost his job, his wife, and his dreams. Broke and alone, he ends up in a flophouse in Morocco, ready to end it all. But soon he finds himself tangled in a web of danger and duty as he’s pulled into scamming tourists for a crooked cop while trying to help a Syrian refugee boy survive life on the streets. Can a lifelong loser do something good for a change? A portion of my royalties will go to a charity for Syrian refugees.

Warpath into Sonora

Arizona 1846: Nantan, a young Apache warrior, is building a name for himself by leading raids against Mexican ranches to impress his war chief, and the chief’s lovely daughter. But there is one thing he and all other Apaches fear—a ruthless band of Mexican scalp hunters who slaughter entire villages. Nantan and his friends have sworn to fight back, but they are inexperienced, and led by a war chief driven mad with a thirst for revenge. Can they track their tribe’s worst enemy into unknown territory and defeat them?

Radio Hope

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . . A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son. A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command. One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

When you only have one shot, you better aim true. In a ravaged world, civilization’s last outpost is reeling after fighting off the fanatical warriors of the Righteous Horde. Sheriff Annette Cruz becomes New City’s long arm of vengeance as she sets off across the wildlands to take out the cult’s leader. All she has is a sniper’s rifle with one bullet and a former cultist with his own agenda. Meanwhile, one of the cult’s escaped slaves makes a discovery that could tear New City apart. . . Refugees from the Righteous Horde continues the Toxic World series started in Radio Hope, an ongoing narrative of humanity’s struggle to rebuild the world it ruined.

The Scavenger

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times. The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive. Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.

Trench Raiders

September 1914: The British Expeditionary Force has the Germans on the run, or so they think. After a month of bitter fighting, the British are battered, exhausted, and down to half their strength, yet they’ve helped save Paris and are pushing toward Berlin. Then the retreating Germans decide to make a stand. Holding a steep slope beside the River Aisne, the entrenched Germans mow down the advancing British with machine gun fire. Soon the British dig in too, and it looks like the war might grind down into deadly stalemate. Searching through No-Man’s Land in the darkness, Private Timothy Crawford of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry finds a chink in the German armor. But can this lowly private, who spends as much time in the battalion guardhouse as he does on the parade ground, convince his commanding officer to risk everything for a chance to break through?

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Monday, 29 June 2009

Writing newgroups: worth the time?

2 comments: