addendum: For what it is worth, my experiences here are mentioned (though not specifically, and briefly) at least in the current version. Essentially the entire thing is written as an autobiography of the events leading up to, during, and after the surgery, and it is intended to be an extremely humorous insight into the progression and sometimes digression of a person during a near-death experience. It seems that people do not look fondly on the idea of dieing; in fact, they down-right fear it. My goal with this book is to allow readers to laugh at, and most of the time with me, as I show exactly what it is like when every person's worst nightmare comes true.
After I finish with finals I will start getting in contact with some agents (I am actually working with a published author, and I have the number of his agent as a jumping-off point). I compare the entire process to trying to get into the NBA (although with millions of dollars less to gain):
Everyone wants to do it, they dream of it as a kid, and in reality it takes mostly luck of circumstance to achieve, though there is a small amount of obsessiveness and ego thrown in to season. You have to spend hours working on your crossover, free-throws, comma placement and chapter transitions. Sure, everyone can make a three-pointer or write a really inspiring few paragraphs once in a while, but that is not where a game or a book is truly made. Those who do make it into the NBA or get published are not necessarily the ones with the most natural talent, but instead the ones who simply want it the most. The ones who are able to take a base level of competency and work on it longer than anyone else, and then work on it some more.
So let's say you have worked on your game for some time now; if you want to truly compete on the professional level, the easiest way is to enter the draft (submit to publishing houses), although it is possible to simply skip the draft and hope you catch on somewhere (self-publish and promote).
Well, if you really want to enter the big leagues of the draft, you have to find an agent, and preferably a good one. They know how to market you and highlight your skills better than even you do. Unfortunately, these agents also take a percentage of your contract, if you get one. Once you build a name for yourself -- and very, very few people do; they are the exceptions to the rule -- you are able to get increasingly more lucrative offers and eventually all a good agent does is make sure you do not get gipped in the process.
But, out of the millions of people who grow up wanting to be basketball players or writers, only a few actually do anything of consequence like play college ball or write a manuscript. Of those who play and do try to enter the draft and find agents, even fewer actually make money, and fewer still make a living. Playing in college does not guarantee anything, nor does declaring for the draft. Even playing on a team with a publishing house still places you in an extremely large pool of equally as talented and determined people. And if you want to be a recognizable name on a team, and have fans, and actually live the dream you first had when you were around 5 or 6, well, you need to push even harder, and work on your basic skills like crossovers and transitions even longer, than every other person you haven't met. And when you think you've reached that point, you need to try even harder.
And then run into an insane amount of luck.
I'm still playing college ball.
But here's to playing for the Spurs.
by missmyzte on Sat May 03, 2008 12:15 am 
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