Musings

 I'm thinking about the plan I mentioned in my previous post. The issue is what do I want to get out of this? I'm putting some thoughts here because almost nobody reads this anyway :-)

• I don't need the money that comes from commercial success. Of course, I'd like it, but I don't need it: We're comfortable on my pensions.
• I don't require literary credibility. Again, that would be nice, but I don't need literary acclaim to stroke my ego. That doesn't mean I'm cavalier about craft and style and good writing.
• I do like people reading my stuff and being either enthusiastic or at least polite about it. That is a nice ego boost.
• This is quite freeing. It means I can write whatever takes my fancy without regard to what the market wants and without even being under any requirement to be formally 'good'.
• The aim, therefore, is to write as best I can, and keep working at the craft, while making my work available for those who want it. I need to figure out what that means in terms of shaping the product and marketing it, but the drivers aren't to do with commerce or credibility per se; they're second-order benefits.
• My previous efforts to attract an agent in the current climate are therefore not where I should be putting my effort as, by definition, they are keen on commercial prospects and literary merit because they are commercial operations. They would take one look at this post and walk away, I reckon. And that's fine because they are businesses.
• So my primary focus should be on writing; my secondary focus should be on further analysing the possibilities open to me in a practical sense.