This Crazy Town Called Publication

One of my favorite country songs (for now) is Crazy Town by Jason Aldean. I love this song for two reasons.

1. Because it's awesome.

2. Because it reminds me of the journey that writers go on to become published. Let me show you what I mean. (Italicized bits are the actual lyrics of the song. I do not own these lyrics in any way, shape or form.)

Roll into town - step off the bus.
Shake off that where you came from dust.
Grab your guitar - walk down the street.
Signs say Nashville, Tennessee.
But I have found...

[Chorus]
It's a crazy town - full of neon dreams.
Everybody plays - everybody sings.
Hollywood with a touch of twang - to be a star you gotta bang-bang-bang.
Bend those strings till the Hank comes out.
Make all the drunk girls scream and shout.
We love it - we hate it - we're all just trying to make it.
In this crazy town.

You pay your dues - and you play for free.
And you pray for a honkytonk destiny.
You cut your teeth in the smoky bars.
And live off the tips from a pickle jar.
Til you find a cool new sound.
And you smile when the record man shoots you down...

This entire verse is the one that resonates most strongly with me. All of you pre-published out there, me included, we're all writing for free. Those last two bolded lines are the ones I love the most. We're all looking for that one novel that's just right to break us out of the pack. We all smile when the agents/editors say no and shoot us down.

[Chorus]
It's a crazy town - full of neon dreams.
Everybody plays - everybody sings.
Hollywood with a touch of twang - to be a star you gotta bang-bang-bang.
Bend those strings till the Hank comes out.
Make all the drunk girls scream and shout.
We love it - we hate it - we're all just trying to make it.
In this crazy town.

One year they repossess your truck.
And the next you make a couple million bucks.

[Chorus]
It's a crazy town - full of neon dreams.
Everybody plays - everybody sings.
Hollywood with a touch of twang - to be a star you gotta bang-bang-bang.
Bend those strings till the Hank comes out.
Make all the drunk girls scream and shout.
We love it - we hate it - we're all just trying to make it.
In this crazy town.

It's a crazy world, the world of publication. We're all like the person in the song, walking into town and playing for free. Everyone here can write, we're just hoping that someday we'll find that one song (or book) that puts us on the map. We all love it and we all hate it. But we all strive to make it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RTW: First Quarter Check-In

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week:  Quarterly check-ins! We're already 1/4 of the way through the year--where are you on your reading and writing goals? Where did the time go??  Reading Goal: 100 books  Where I should be: About 16 Where I am: 5  Clearly it is not going very well. In my defense, I did finish up A Clash of Kings in January and read A Storm of Swords in February. I'm hoping to do some catch up reading over spring break and then really get trucking when summer rolls around. I'm probably getting A Feast for Crows this week, though, so we'll see how long that lasts.  Writing I didn't set any writing goals for this year, other than just to keep writing. My writing kind of dropped off last sem...
Read more

RTW -- Picking Titles

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week's Topic: How do you pick your titles? I don't really have a secret for picking titles. Basically my method is to wait until something pops into my head that sounds good to me. Sometimes that title might not even really fit the book or feel exactly right, but to me it's just a working title until I think of something better. Burning Bridges was the first thing to pop into my head when I started the first draft and needed something to name the folder. I don't know why it popped into my head because I don't really see a connection between the book and the title, but it's stuck through every one of the three drafts. Lately I've been toying with the idea of changing it to Once Bitten, Twi...
Read more

Monday Updates: July 29

This is my last Monday Updates post. As of next Monday, I'm going to start up my college tips weekly blog on Mondays, since it's almost the school year.  Song of the Week: Here's to Us by Halestorm How's Life? Well, there are only two days left in July and I'm still trying to figure out where the rest of my summer went. Seriously, it can't almost be August, can it? How's TV?  Watched the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Friday. There was a point in the middle where I wanted to just stop because I didn't want the series to end. It was a fantastic finale, definitely one of my favorites. Now I'm trying to decide which on my long list should I watch next. Silver Linings Playbook is an amazing movie. I already knew Jennifer Lawrence was a fantastic actress but she still managed to surprise me. Taken 2 isn't nearly as good as the first one, but it's a decent movie overall.  How's Reading? Books read: 0 I'm no...
Read more