Time To Learn That Nothing Is Free

To celebrate National Novel Writing Month, my creative writing teacher is making us write a 30,000-word novel. That constitutes about a thousand words a day. This is my first novel, so I decide maybe it’d be best to go for a children’s novel. I’m not saying those are easy to write; I just have some experience with storytelling with children.

To cram some words in, I am writing on the bus. It is pretty nice; people are minding their business, and I’m just a dude working on his laptop… until some kid is like, “I’m going to wreck his productivity!” and starts asking me a lot of questions. I don’t necessarily mind, because this is the age range I’m writing for. It’s a pretty open bus, so his mom has sight of both me and him. We bounce ideas back and forth until his mother comes over.

Mom: “Hey, [Kid], what’re you doing?”

Kid: “I’m helping him write!”

Mom: “What’re you writing?”

Me: “I’m writing a children’s novel. Your kid has been a lot of help.”

Mom: “Well, if he’s helped so much, shouldn’t he be able to get a copy for free?”

I then try to explain to her about the editing process, which can take anywhere from a few days to an entire month, and the publishing process, which would take about half a month to a full month. I also tell her that I’m not even done with it yet. I am barely halfway through the seventh chapter. The kid’s opinions and suggestions might not even come through in the published version.

She then goes OFF about how her son should be compensated for his ideas and how he should at least have a free copy when it is out.

Me: “Oh, I’m planning on selling this on Amazon. I’m publishing under [My Pen Name].”

She continued to say her son should get a free copy. I just got off the bus.