Ask the Author: Sherry Peters
Answered Questions (4)
Sherry Peters
At the moment I'm working on book 2 in the Ballad of Mabel Goldenaxe, tentatively titled "Mabel the Mafioso Dwarf". I'm also working on a different YA series, mostly researching it and doing some writing.
Sherry Peters
My best advice for aspiring writers is to write. It doesn't have to be perfect. Don't look for feedback right away. Enjoy the creativity, being imaginative, telling stories. Learn about the craft and look for feedback when you are comfortable with your writing, when you feel you want to improve something but don't quite know how, and ONLY when you're ready.
Sherry Peters
I'd like to say that because of my other work as a Success Coach for Writers, and because of my book "Silencing Your Inner Saboteur", that I don't get writer's block, but I do. I just don't call it that. I find that writer's block really comes from self doubt and fear about a particular outcome. What I have learned through my work as a coach and in writing "Inner Saboteur", are some techniques to deal with it. For me, the doubt comes from thinking too much about the marketability of the WIP, and the business side of writing. So I shut it out. The best thing to quiet the doubt, is to write. Accept that it doesn't have to be perfect the first time around. Editing is for fixing. The more I write, the less I question my ability or my drive. The business side will work itself out. It isn't to be dealt with while I'm living in my imaginary worlds!
Sherry Peters
This is a great question, Rhonda. There have been so many. It was a huge thrill to find the right artist for the cover and have the image I had of what Mabel looked like be put on paper. Having the final product in my hand was quite amazing too. But maybe the most positive experience so far has been the support of family and friends, and the reception "Mabel" has received so far. Definitely the support. Writing a book is one thing, but writing is the easy part. Getting it edited and into a final package that I'm willing to let others read is another beast all together, and having friends who understood and supported me through it, and celebrate it with me, makes it all worth it. And then there was the moment at When Words Collide in Calgary, at the mass autograph session when a complete stranger asked me to sign his book, telling me he bought it because of the title, saying it was the best marketing tool of the book there could be. It validated every decision I made in this process.
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