A potentially golden gimmick for ‘getting the book out’ (helpful only after said book’s written; in the course of writing itself, what I’m about to propose will probably serve only as another distraction):
Carbon-footprinting of the novel-making process.
In other words, a careful attempt to tabulate the environmental impact of writing an extended work of fiction.
Rules:
1. Daily record-keeping is a must. The task of keeping track of every little expenditure of energy otherwise appears too massive to undertake. But if kept up with, in the manner of a shopkeeper balancing the books at night, it should prove feasible.
2. Details count. The actual calculation of the overall carbon-footprint will undoubtedly have to be outsourced, to a company armed with the appropriate data. Do you know how much impact an ink-printed page entails, compared to a laser-printed page? Or either, compared to a photocopy? No. But eventually, once you’ve found someone who does know, these details will matter, if only up to some reasonable point.
3. Routinization of writing practice will make record-keeping easier. (So, another reason to develop a habit of composition).
4. Categorize the various ‘inputs’ of the novel-writing-process. Raw Consumption, obviously: paper, pens/pencils, ink cartridges, books purchased specifically for research purposes or writerly instruction. Secondary Consumption: clock run-time of computer during typing sessions (likely a bot exists that can do this automatically); track road-mileage of car trips to libraries, field sites, cafes, etc; record, particularly for anecdotal appeal, cups of coffee/tea consumed during composition.
Approach a publisher, not only with a manuscript, but also data of these kinds in hand. It’s golden marketing angle. Think author interviews, think magazine pieces, think special front-of-the-store displays (constructed of 100% recycled cardboard, of course!).
Along the way, you may even come upon ways of reducing your own impact. Hurray!
