The Act of Writing

I'm amazing at how difficult it can be to write.  It is of course a simple matter of typing or writing down your thoughts, the story in your head.  However, it gets to be so much more complex when you are writing for an audience.  Of course there is the grammar and punctuation to consider, but even more than that it's about making sure the story is readable, interesting, and makes sense. It has to be believable within context, meaning everything must follow the same rules within the same story.  Otherwise it just becomes nonsense and most people will not bother to read it.

I sit reading over what I have written, the first draft, the prewrite.  The story is good but the writing isn't, yet.  When I write the prewrite, my goal is just to get the story down, to get it finished so that I don't get lost or forget.  So while I'm reading what I have wrote, I know that parts are really bad writing and that I need to fix them...that's where it gets hard.  How do I make it better? How do I tie in what is written on page 10 with what's going on with pages 12-20?  I have rewritten one section, only to have another one no longer make sense with the new change...How to reconcile the two.

I have a hard time deleting parts of a story I worked hard on, removing phrases or sentences that I thought were particularly.  So editing is a lot of fits and starts.  A lot of staring off trying to picture what I've wrote, what I want to write.  A lot of rereading the same lines over and over, hoping the answer will come to me.

I love to write, but I have to say this process is frustrating sometimes.  Usually when I am faced with a problem and I don't know how to fix it I will Google it.  But this is something that can't be Googled.  This is something that I can only do by myself.  There is a lot of frustration and doubt that comes with it, but I have to say, once I have solved the problem and really great writing sits in front of me, I am incredibly proud of myself. 

Darkness Within

I am so excited for this new book.  I began writing it about a year ago, at the same time writing another novel that kind of lost my interest.

I got started by thinking about having someone leaving creepy notes for another person to find, and a story was born.  It has really changed direction on me a lot, and I really had a hard time figuring out how I was going to end it, until I got to writing the ending.  Then it just came to me, and I am very satisfied with the ending, for now.

I am in the process of editing, which at times is easy and fun and other times frustrating and makes me want to walk away.  My writing tends to flow so well that it is hard to interrupt it to add new scenes are change things.

I really look forward to when it is complete!

Book Sales - Revenge Unknown

When I decided to publish my book, I had already resigned myself to accepting that I might not sell many books, considering that it would be up to my alone to do the marketing.  I just didn't want to sell the rights to my hard work.

But that doesn't stop me from checking my sales records every day.  And each time I see that I sold another book, even though I'm pretty certain I know who bought it, it still gives me a thrill.  For me, I'm not focused on the monetary gain.  Instead I love the thought that my work has grabbed someone's interest.  It's like a singer that receives appreciation for their voice  Or a painter having people admiring their paintings.

I have been working hard doing what I know to market my book.  I am being patient, knowing that this will take time.  But I can't help being excited knowing my book is being read and hopefully enjoyed. It gives me the motivation to keep writing, and writing is what I have been doing.  I will be posting a story blog soon, of a romanic/scandle genre. 

Buy my book here on Amazon
Buy my book here on Smashwords
Check out excerpts on my book on Facebook

On Retweets for Revenge Unknown

So I never cared much about Twitter...actually thought it was pretty dumb for a long time.  I just didn't see the point.  I opened up two Twitter accounts to try to 'social network' but I had no idea what to Tweet about.

Then I got my book published and I wanted to promote it so I wouldn't have to pay a publisher to do it for me.  So I tried again, and this time Twitter has become my friend.  Now that I know what to Tweet, it doesn't seem so pointless.

In fact, I find it's a great way to get knowledge of my book out to people.  I have only just begun, about 2 weeks into it, and already I have almost 200 followers.

The most exciting part is when people retweet my postings.  Then, not only am I reaching my followers, but I'm reaching all of their followers!  Each retweet gives me a thrill because it means that someone has taken the time to read my tweet and found it worthy of sharing.  I do my best to return the kindness, finding interesting tweets to share with others.

To all of those who do me the curtisy of retweeting my posts, I thank you greatly and will do my best to return the favor!

Find me on Twitter 
and Facebook

Find my book (paperback or Kindle) on Amazon
or as any other ebook format on Smashwords

Marketing my Book - Revenge Unknown

Gotta say, this marketing stuff is hard...and really time consuming.  I was never a big Twitter or Facebook person, never really saw the point in it, since I'm not the kind of person to give people minute to minute updates on what I ate, watched on the TV, or did in the bathroom.  But I can see the benefit of it for marketing...although I haven't yet seen the rewards.  But it's only been a couple of weeks, so I'm being patient.

I mean...it's not like I'm checking my book sales everyday, certainly not two or three times a day.../guilty.  Hey, I'm excited to have a book published.  I'll admit to many a headache though, in trying to get my stuff out there.  Between signing up for this website (about.me) and that website (klout.com) and posting excerpts here (tumblr) and there (twitter) and over there (facebook) and trying to keep up with everyone else's stuff so I can show that I'm interested in them so maybe they'll be interested in me, I just feel worn out.

This is why you pay for a publisher.  But I just don't want to hand the rights to my hard work over to someone who plans on telling me who I can and can't sell it do.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.  Although lazy by nature, I am also extremely stubborn.  I am determined to make this work, so next step is to get out the business cards and start giving people stuff to throw away...hoping they'll at least glance at it first!

Oh, and I've got another book in the works, a completely different style but still a good read...and two others I'm doing research for that will be tied to Revenge Unknown.  I've got a lot of fun hard work ahead of me.

Revenge Unknown

Never Ending Revision- Beach Dream

So I went through some of my unfinished works to see what I could work on next and I came across a short story I wrote a while back, called Beach Dream.  I have a physical copy of it printed out and chilling in my 'writing binder', but I can't seem to find an electronic copy (even though I obviously had one at some point and time).  No biggy, I happen to love typing, so this is a fun excuse for a lot of typing.
Of course, as I type I must read and as I read I find so many typos and mistakes, as well as parts that need serious revision.  Sadly this was a story I was hoping to have ready for the public soon because it is a completed work.  Or mostly completed.
Funny how our first drafts can seem like sheer brilliance.  I remember the first draft of Revenge Unknown, I was so proud of it, I felt like the scenes were so raw and emotion invoking.  They were perfection in one shot, I thought.  I mean, everyone who read it told me it was good.  That is until one guy read it and said to me "it's a good first draft".
I was highly offended of course.  I mean, who's this one guy to not recognize a great piece of literature??  Then I put the book away for a while, got distracted with life, and eventually came back to it a few months later.  And rereading it, I still felt that it was a great story and a good read, but needed a lot of work.  And so I worked on it, and worked on it, and worked on it.  I think I have ten drafts of the same story.

So here I am, in the same place with Beach Dream.  The story is fun and exciting to read, but needs so much work, it's almost intimidating.  For now I will focus on getting it typed up, so I can become reacquainted with the story, then I will begin the revising process.

Appreciation of My Work

Every time someone shows interest in my book, 'Revenge Unknown', I get an excited thri8ll.  I worked very hard on the story.  Every time I thought it was finished, I would read through it again, checking for typos and find ways to improve on the story.

For me, the hardest part to revise and edit was the dialog.  I found I had whole chapters of almost straight dialog.  I had to find ways to add descriptions and break up the constant dialog without being too distracting.

I also learned to not be too descriptive.  For one, it can be hard to find the right words without becoming too wordy.  The reader also needs to be able to use his or her own imagination.  Too many details become limiting.

One of the most headache inducing problems I had was having to convert colloquial terms into more universal terms.

The story itself was easy to write, flowing imagination to pen with so little effort my hand would be cramped,  my handwriting barely more than a scribble in an attempt to keep up with the flow of thoughts.

The revision process of turning a story into a readable book was a much more difficult and lengthy process and every person that takes the time out o their lives to read my work has my undying appreciation.