Brian Garrison's Newsletter for September 2026:

Written By Brian Garrison

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Find me in October at the Farmer's Market at Battlefield Mall...

Although at this point, the writer's guild (https://springfieldwritersguild.org/) is debating being there on our 'usual weekend' of Saturday the 17th. Or on the extra special Saturday: October 31st. (8 to noon, whichever day we decide.)

Also coming 'soon'...

I bought a booth at Tremendicon in May, 2027. It seems like forever away, but I'm already worrying about it. It's a great con' for creative types. Inexpensive (compared to other conventions) with presentations and activities that are usually better than some conventions. https://tremendicon.com/

And now for a story, a behind the scenes, non-fiction story:

Writing is a Three Edged Sword:

(Credit to Babylon 5, their version was: "Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth." - J. Michael Straczynski.)

I should be sleeping, but I woke up wanting to write this. I should be editing, because I've got editing deadlines. I might be marketing, in that I'm writing for marketing. But really, I'm writing.

For me, writing is the three edge sword.

The pointed edge is the writing.

I can do that for hours at a time, day after day. There are annual challenges to write a novel in a month. Yeah, I can do that, no problem. I wake up wanting to write, with new ideas, and words that want to flow out of me like water. (Or more like "blood, sweat, and tears," to barrow another quote from others in the 1800's.) If writing is the point of writing, then I get the point. I have never had writer's block.

The next side edge is editing.

Is the novel written in a month any good? Oh yeah. It's also all kinds of bad at the same time. I have difficulty with editing. The first editing step is to set the story aside for six months, to get some impartial distance from it, to see it fresh, more like anyone else will see it. But that first step is a lot like letting the story wither and die from my mind. When I return to it, I'll read parts of it and think, "I wrote that. I'm good!" Most of it I'll read and think, "I wrote that?" Ideally I'll answer myself, "Well, I can fix it." Sometimes I jump right to, "I'm bad, terrible, no good, awful..." Yeah, the editing edge tends to cut me instead of my writing. I get editor's block all the time. Or more like I bleed while editing.

And the third edge is marketing, the other side of the sword.

There's a writer I won't read because I read one novel and found it abhorrent. To me, it read like Hitler's wet-dream-fantasy. But the author is a successful writer, by some standards a better writer, success, and person than other successful writers. Personally, I think they're successful because they started out in sales and marketing, then added writing. They write well enough, I've read successful writers with worse creative and technical skills (editing), but they're a success, I think, because they're killer with the marketing edge of their sword.

Off the top of my head, I can think of two other authors who are successes, with problematic writing, but excellent marketing skills. And one who's writing I loved, but they quit because of marketing problems. (A loss to the world in my opinion.) Me? I'd rather write than edit or market, but I'm not sure if I'd rather edit or market. Both tend to result in self-doubt and low self-worth.

But here's the thing:

You can jab with the point of a sword. You can chop with one edge. You can chop with the other edge. You can even turn into a blur of effort trying to do all three really fast. But, you have to do only one of them at a time. Writing for marketing might look like both, but that's just because it's a blurred movement between a writing first jab and a marketing second chop.

Getting to the point:

I've said all of this (written actually, words pouring out of me) because last month I struggled with editing, rewarded (healed?) myself with writing, and neglected marketing. I didn't send out a newsletter nor update my website, because I was focused on editing. Chop, chop, (jab,) chop, chop... When I did market, it was literally the Farmer's Market, and that didn't go so well, for me, either (by the obvious measures).

So, it wasn't you. You didn't miss last month's newsletter. It wasn't because of you that I didn't write last month's newsletter. It was me, editing and writing, instead of marketing.

(And now I should go do marketing, by updating my website... Maybe I'll do that, but first I should edit this newsletter just one more time, I'm sure I messed something up. But also, I really gotta get that other editing done, what with deadlines, and editing always takes me longer than I think it should...)

Thank you, you're my best fans! Brian Garrison

(c) 2026 by Brian Garrison, all rights reserved, all opposition to creative AI insisted.

Brian Garrison
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