What makes me an insecure writer this month?
Knowing that I’m almost done with the initial writing phase of my debut book, which means I’ll soon be moving into the editing, cover design, formatting, uploading, and marketing phases of being an author. All unknown territory for a first-time writer.
It certainly is gratifying that I’m close to writing “The End” on my story after all these years, but it will still be an uphill battle before it's available for others to read. I've been studying these other phases for a few years now and learned a lot, but there's a big difference between "reading about something" and "doing it." So yeah, I'm insecure.
As far as my 2020 writing goals were concerned, I pretty much sucked at meeting them. I didn’t finish my story (although I came close), my attempt at outreach with other authors in my genre didn’t go anywhere (mostly because I felt the need to keep working on my story), and the website I planned to build only got as far as me buying the domain name. Thank goodness my family isn’t depending on my author skills to set food on the table.
January's question: Being a writer, when you're reading someone else's work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people's books?
Lack of interest. I don’t mind grammatical errors or flat characters all that much, but as soon as the story stops going somewhere interesting, I’m out. The last book I stopped reading was by a well-known Urban Fantasy author. Her writing is excellent, way beyond my skill set, but the mystery the MC set out to solve kind of got lost as in the weeds as the story turned into encounter after encounter with the heads of the various clans (shifters, vampires, etc.), all of whom wanted to bed her.
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Sorry for the lateness of this post. Despite having all sorts of Google calendar reminders about today’s post, I somehow convinced myself that Wednesday wasn’t until tomorrow. Great way to start off the year.
Take care everyone, and stay safe!
ChemistKen
You're almost there with your book! That's exciting. I tend to jump ahead with the covers. I have my big book series all lined up, even though I'm not finished with book 2 and only have half of book 3 written. Still, books 4 and 5 have covers, assuming I ever get to them.
ReplyDeleteI'd be game for beta-reading, assuming I finish my rewrites by the time you're ready for beta-readers. I might not be the best of beta-readers, tending to enjoy stories rather than be nitpicky, but I'll gladly give my thoughts.
That's great that you're nearing completion! I can't wait to see it come out. Give me a heads up when you need a shout-out or anything at all.
ReplyDeleteI knew you wouldn't forget though.
ReplyDeleteYou can always use your blog as your website like I do.
Lots of people who can help with those steps.
LOL. There are lots of people having trouble remembering the day of the week. Best wishes for you project. 2020 threw a lot of us off track.
ReplyDeleteThe past couple weeks my husband has been home and I've had no idea what day of the week it was.
ReplyDeleteNeed any help with your book, let me know.
That's great that you are almost done with your book. It's better to take it slower and get it as right as you can.
ReplyDeleteThe first draft is actually the hardest part, I think. The editing, polishing, and tightening the ms is doable. Congrats! You'll be typing those two magical words soon!
ReplyDeleteI've been looking forward to reading your book for a long time now. Very excited that you're getting close to the end. If you need a beta reader, let me know!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy for you that you're almost to the finish line. You can do it. I want to read your book.
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