by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
It’s becoming clear to me that the novel I’m been working on for ages now should be seen as something of a “passion project.” I have a few scifi novels that are clearly more obliviously marketable in a direct way that I can work on in addition to my novel about a former stripper obsessed with owning a community newspaper.
My passion project was inspired by Stieg Larsson’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Adding the stripper element to the novel, while making it by definition more provocative and interesting, also makes it tougher to sell to some people — especially women. And, yet, I’ve decided to rewrite much, if not all, of the thing, so I find myself having about another year of work to do before I can seriously begin the querying process.
Meanwhile, I feel very nervous about the passion project’s fate, to the point that I want to force myself to write on the backup scifi novels. The ideas are really good, it’s just there so different that it’s tough for me to switch gears when writing them.
And, yet, I have got to do something. I can’t put all my eggs in one basket. I really need to accept that the more options I have in regards to novel writing the more possibilities I have to actually getting something sold.
So, I need to grow up some.
