Proletariat musings

I'm taking a break from creating a history for Six Rivers County. For those who might be disappointed, I will get back to that. However, historical issues being forged now are sneaking into my musings.

Yesterday, my critique group spent two hours going over each other's work. As we wound down, a question about the “occupy” movement came us. One of us considered it futile, that those in power no longer pay heed to protests. Two of us disagreed, pointing out the fact that it was growing. We discussed this for over half an hour. What this discussion got me to thinking about how the anti-corporate feel of this movement dove-tails with what is going on with publishing. I believe that each is part of a growing sentiment across the country and the world. My experience tells me that nothing is ever simple, and this goes beyond “us vs them.” Still, certain institutional structures have grown that have set up a wide disparity in the live's of Americans, and I believe that the vast number of citizens have realized that the myth of the American Dream has turned into a cruel joke.

That bitter joke, has been played out in the publishing world. I sincerely don't believe that publishing houses decided to turn their backs on writers, or that their economic reality hasn't played a part. We're told that if we hone our craft and expand our platform, we will succeed. There are many wonderful agents who sincerely seek to help writers, and editors looking for something new and fresh. For a small percent, good things may happen. The dream has not died in us. We still think we just need the right star in the heavens to pull it off. Sadly, the large majority of us are out of luck. We've done all we can to write a good book. We've hired others to help us get our websites optimized for marketing, and networked till we're dreaming tweets. The rest of us are turning elsewhere, eschewing the agent-publisher route. We'll see how that plays out. On one hand the number of really bad books has grown, but so has the number of really good books.

One outcome of this is the community of writers supporting and encouraging each other. Many successful writers share their knowledge and experience with others just starting out. I'm in the latter group and have been blown away by the help I've had from others who've been here. To them, I say thank you. And just like the Occupy movement, writers are challenging the old paradigm and the chaos that has ensued will likely bring about positive change. We'll see.

Feel free to take on any of my assertions. They are, after all, my humble opinion.