Years are crazy when you think about them.
The way the media was going earlier this year, I thought George Zimmerman would be beheaded by now.
Now, no one cares, sort of. At least Zimmerman is hoping no one cares.
It's amazing how things just...fade in time.
The way we perceive the fading applies as well.
Year planning also messes with your head when you think about New Year's Resolutions. As you grow older, you realize New Years is a lot more important than Christmas. Think about it: What would Jesus rather have? A holiday where we just give people things, or a holiday where you try to plan about how to become a better person? Christmas just throws money at the problem.
I don't know, I'm thinking too much.
It's funny to look back at resolutions too.
I didn't get everything accomplished this year that I wanted to, but I also got a bunch of cool stuff I didn't expect.
The novel didn't get done, but I got a writing gig for an awesome webseries.
(Feel free to help us out here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1516987046/not-by-choice?ref=live)
This difference in expectations is something to consider when you think about the future. Some things you just cannot plan for. Opportunities come that level out your dreams. You don't get the car, but you get the girl. Sometimes, anyway. And that's not bad.
Which comes to what I find to be the biggest hurdle in my life right now: marketing
Marketing is odd for a couple of reasons. One, is that I've seen the Rocky 3 opening scene too many times and fear getting my ass kicked by Mr. T. There's a lot of artists who blab in interviews (*cough*Lil Mama*cough) despite not being relevant in ages. Marketing and promotion have made them soft. An artist might hide in the shell cause they think it might affect the craft.
Two, is fucking time.
I honestly want to listen religiously to every podcast I come across. But I got two jobs, multiple writing projects, a blog/Tumblr I'm neglecting on top of something I'm forgetting. So it's not that I don't care about the journalists, I just don't have time. And it sucks. Cause I wanna listen, comment, and genuinely build a connection to promote my wares.
Three, is subjectivity.
How much marketing is too much marketing? How come photo shoots make me feel like a piece of shit? How many interviews is enough? Am I worthy of some publications and unworthy of others? Where the hell can I find the answers to my questions?
Subjectivity is a pain in the ass. Do you listen to people who have failed you in the past? The world changes minute by minute. Should you just experiment day in and day out?
That's where frustration comes from.
It's hard when you wanna go all out like every damn Nike commercial only to have people to tell to go at half speed. Then they resent you near the finish line.
I get a lot of spam in my Twitter timeline. Not going to lie, I plug myself from time-to-time. But, some people just chucking cans of spam all over the place. They don't say anything fun, they don't really interact, they just chuck spam. There needs to be a ratio.
Jeremy Laszlo. I ain't hating. But...he had an ad that went like this "A vampire saga without sparkles, where werewolves rape and murder, not have crushes on melodramatic teens".
Now, I get Twilight hate, but the need to embrace rape struck me odd.
But the thing was, he told me people loved the ad. So, I guess selling rape works to sell his book.
I don't wanna sell rape, but I have now been successfully alienated in terms of marketing.
I wrote Weight Loss Terrorists earlier this year. I had a vision of trendy women who would like something like this. I've met a couple of people like this, but the struggle wasn't enough to be worth the while from a business perspective. I tried to mesh with the YA crowd and it didn't feel right. I was lost.
Would I publish the book again? Absolutely.
Life is short. I'm not gonna wait seven months on a publisher for a "no" when I can say yes to myself and have the book bloggers diss me instead. Publishing Weight Loss Terrorists has opened doors regardless.It was the difference between walking and talking.
All the fears that people talked about when going out into the unknown never happened. I can't really think of a tangible low-point of the experience. I also love punk rock too much not to have played around with something like this.
I've learned that marketing is evil and it's evil cause it's necessary. But you can do it your own way. I love podcasts. I love good blogs. I love good anything. Why can't there be good marketing with good interviews?
Like Nardwuar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8IYpVF_S5M
The business of entertainment is a sport. And some of the athletes stink. But that shouldn't affect your love of the game, and your need to get what you came for.
This might be the last post of the year. Or not. I don't know.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reddkaiman
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