Sammantha Anderson's Blog, page 5
December 22, 2019
Planning for the coming year
With Christmas around the corner it makes me think about what is to come for my writing. This year has been a bit crazy. I launched my writing career, I began working full time, and to add to all this craziness, I started this blog and karate. Next year looks to be just as crazy as this year. This week’s blog is all about what is to come for me as a writer and maybe I’ll throw in my wish list.
I have already started working on building my schedule for takeovers and live reads on Facebook. I have only a few for January and one or two for February. I am currently looking for as many as I can get. I believe it’s important to keep filling my calendar with as many events as possible. The more events I do, the more exposure I have. Exposure is what is important when you are trying to sell books. For the last month, I have felt like I am right on the edge of something big. I don’t know what but it’s right at my fingertips. That feeling has pushed me to push harder than ever and I believe I am beginning to see some of the fruits of my labor. It’s exciting to see a small bump in my numbers every month.
I have also been looking at what I am not doing enough of. I do at least one takeover or some form of a Facebook party a week. What I am not doing enough of is just pushing the book and creating ads for pages where I can post. It is something I noticed where I fall short. It means I need to start thinking of the best ways to get the books out to more people. It is another form of exposure that I have failed to do. I advertise on my page and I try to do it once a week but I am seeing it is not enough. I need to do more. I need to hop on pages and begin to share as much as I can. The best way for me to do this is by setting a schedule and creating posts in a document where I can just cut and paste onto Facebook with an image. This will save me time during the week. One of the reasons I have failed to do more advertising is because it takes up my time. I have little time during the week to write or edit, I hate to lose some of that time posting. For the next fifteen days I am off from my day job. That will give me the time to create posts and a schedule for myself.
I am also beginning to look at what to do for the release of my next book. I am in the process of editing the book and thinking about what the cover for the book should look like. The question becomes what do I do for the release of the book. Do I do a release party on one of the groups I am part of? Do I do a live read party? Do I do a party on my page? I have no clue what I should do but I need to figure it out. I think the way I will decide will be by asking my readers what they want to see. They are the ones that have helped me get this far and will continue to help build my career. I have decided I will create a poll to see what everyone wants to see before I make my final decision.
Next year will be about getting two more books published. I know some authors are wanting to get more out than two but for me two is perfect. When I started this I was given the advice to set a publishing schedule and stick to it. I can see the logic in the advice and tend to agree that it makes more sense. You need time to get the next book read, buy a cover, and hype up the book. Those things take time. I plan to stick to the schedule I created for myself because I feel that it works for me. I have a very full plate as it is. To add to it would be insane and it is important to me to get out the work I can. Anything less is unacceptable.
Last for this post is my wishlist for the next year. I know people usually have a wishlist for Christmas or birthdays, but I have one for 2020. So the first thing on my wishlist is to get more reviews of my books. Reviews are writers bread and butter. Most of us are not rich and will never be. The way we make money is by getting reviews. The more reviews you have, the more people will get to see your book through the different vendors who sell your books. I want to strive to get more reviews. I want my books to sell more than they did this past year.
Also on my wishlist is to start looking more at branding. I have none at this time and I have paid for some but haven’t received it. So I need to do something about that. My banner for events is also on my wishlist. In order to create a banner, I need branding and I want something amazing that fits me and what I do.
The last thing on my wishlist is to not just to help myself but to help my author friends as well. I want them to grow with me. I want them to get the exposure they need. In order to help them, I made a plan that I will start getting them exposure by making more post about their books. Every Tuesday on my page, I will be advertising their books in hopes that it helps them. It is a bit of me giving back to them for being so supportive of me this year.
I hope everyone has a great holiday week. Stay safe and make sure you are writing reviews to help authors. Until next time!
I have already started working on building my schedule for takeovers and live reads on Facebook. I have only a few for January and one or two for February. I am currently looking for as many as I can get. I believe it’s important to keep filling my calendar with as many events as possible. The more events I do, the more exposure I have. Exposure is what is important when you are trying to sell books. For the last month, I have felt like I am right on the edge of something big. I don’t know what but it’s right at my fingertips. That feeling has pushed me to push harder than ever and I believe I am beginning to see some of the fruits of my labor. It’s exciting to see a small bump in my numbers every month.
I have also been looking at what I am not doing enough of. I do at least one takeover or some form of a Facebook party a week. What I am not doing enough of is just pushing the book and creating ads for pages where I can post. It is something I noticed where I fall short. It means I need to start thinking of the best ways to get the books out to more people. It is another form of exposure that I have failed to do. I advertise on my page and I try to do it once a week but I am seeing it is not enough. I need to do more. I need to hop on pages and begin to share as much as I can. The best way for me to do this is by setting a schedule and creating posts in a document where I can just cut and paste onto Facebook with an image. This will save me time during the week. One of the reasons I have failed to do more advertising is because it takes up my time. I have little time during the week to write or edit, I hate to lose some of that time posting. For the next fifteen days I am off from my day job. That will give me the time to create posts and a schedule for myself.
I am also beginning to look at what to do for the release of my next book. I am in the process of editing the book and thinking about what the cover for the book should look like. The question becomes what do I do for the release of the book. Do I do a release party on one of the groups I am part of? Do I do a live read party? Do I do a party on my page? I have no clue what I should do but I need to figure it out. I think the way I will decide will be by asking my readers what they want to see. They are the ones that have helped me get this far and will continue to help build my career. I have decided I will create a poll to see what everyone wants to see before I make my final decision.
Next year will be about getting two more books published. I know some authors are wanting to get more out than two but for me two is perfect. When I started this I was given the advice to set a publishing schedule and stick to it. I can see the logic in the advice and tend to agree that it makes more sense. You need time to get the next book read, buy a cover, and hype up the book. Those things take time. I plan to stick to the schedule I created for myself because I feel that it works for me. I have a very full plate as it is. To add to it would be insane and it is important to me to get out the work I can. Anything less is unacceptable.
Last for this post is my wishlist for the next year. I know people usually have a wishlist for Christmas or birthdays, but I have one for 2020. So the first thing on my wishlist is to get more reviews of my books. Reviews are writers bread and butter. Most of us are not rich and will never be. The way we make money is by getting reviews. The more reviews you have, the more people will get to see your book through the different vendors who sell your books. I want to strive to get more reviews. I want my books to sell more than they did this past year.
Also on my wishlist is to start looking more at branding. I have none at this time and I have paid for some but haven’t received it. So I need to do something about that. My banner for events is also on my wishlist. In order to create a banner, I need branding and I want something amazing that fits me and what I do.
The last thing on my wishlist is to not just to help myself but to help my author friends as well. I want them to grow with me. I want them to get the exposure they need. In order to help them, I made a plan that I will start getting them exposure by making more post about their books. Every Tuesday on my page, I will be advertising their books in hopes that it helps them. It is a bit of me giving back to them for being so supportive of me this year.
I hope everyone has a great holiday week. Stay safe and make sure you are writing reviews to help authors. Until next time!
December 15, 2019
To all my author friends
This week’s blog post is completely inspired by a question an author friend asked me. She asked if I was seeing a lot of growth with the release of my second book. The answer was only a little. As an Indie author one of the biggest challenges is getting started and finding an audience. It takes time, effort, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. There are times when you feel like you are getting nowhere. You begin to question why you work so hard and yet it feels like you are standing still. That is what this week is all about. That feeling of not getting anywhere.
We all go through that feeling. We write day in and day out. We spend hours creating these worlds and spend even more hours editing trying to make the book perfect. We agonize over every small detail we add or take out. We spend time working with cover artist to create something that represents our book and draws attention. We look at graphics and try to learn as many skills as we can so we can create our own teasers. We have to learn how to market and we have to spend a lot of our time posting on social media pages week after week about our book. And yet when you start out you see very little in terms of growth. You see are part of so many book groups that it’s hard to keep up. You spend time looking for takeovers, live reads, anything that will get your name out there. It is exhausting. When you see only a little boost in your numbers over months and months of hard work, it becomes disheartening. You start to ask yourself if you are wasting your time. You question if you are good enough to do this. Are you fooling yourself that you have written an amazing story? Those questions can keep you up at night. You look at your numbers every few days or every week, maybe you have enough self control that you do it once a month. I don’t but I’m sure some do. Either way, those numbers or the lack thereof, is stressful. Those self doubt questions that pop into your head is what makes you want to give up. I know, I have felt them. A friend of mine I believe is feeling that pressure. So are you wasting your time? The answer is no.
I’m sure you may be questioning my sanity but listen to what I have to say before you do. Here’s the thing, we are all on our own journey to building an empire. Empires are not created overnight or even over several months. It takes years to build a strong empire. Writing is no different. It takes time and energy to do what we do. I have had steady numbers with the sell of my first book. There hasn’t been a great number but I usually average about three a month. For me that means three people have bought the book and will read it. Half will love it, the other probably won’t but it’s a start. The ones that love the book will tell their friends and hopefully that turns into more sales. With the release of Bad Karma that number has grown. Last month I saw a growth and this month I have as well. January may be a completely different month where only three people buy the book or maybe I will continue on this steady incline of sales. The point is it’s a start. No, I don’t sell hundreds of thousands of books like some of my favorite authors but I did sell some books and that is an accomplishment. We have this thought that if we don’t see this large number of sales that we are failing. That is just not true. I have read that eighty percent of people say they want to write a book but only three percent actually do. That means we are unique in what we do. Just writing a book from start to finish is an accomplishment. Publishing it is another accomplishment. Selling one book is an accomplishment. We need to stop looking at those numbers to define our success and look at them as a win. Hey, I sold one book this month, that’s one more potential reader. I sold thirteen, awesome sauce that’s thirteen more who could love my series. Those numbers are not what shows your success, they do not define you as a writer. What defines you as a writer is what you put on paper. It’s the hard work you put in day in and day out. That is what defines you as a writer. The fact that only three percent of the population succeeds in doing what you do, means you are a rare individual. I have said this before and I will say it again you are made of magic. You create people and worlds and allow others be pulled into those worlds. You sacrifice a lot to do this. Never question if you are good enough. Never ask if it’s all worth it. It will be, you just have to be patient. What we do is not easy, it is one of the most things a person can do. My mom always reminds me, when I’m whining that it’s not supposed to be easy and if it was everyone would do it. She’s right. It takes a special kind of person to open their soul and lay it for all to see.
Don’t let those numbers make you feel like you are not succeeding. Do not question if you are good enough. You are good enough and those numbers are not a reflection of how good you are. They only reflect those who have discovered your work. Eventually those numbers will double and then triple. You will get the traction you need, just be patient with it. Do not compare yourself to anyone. Yes some authors get a great deal of readers right off the bat but some take time. J.R. Ward was actually fired from a publisher at one time and now look at her. She is an international author. Yeah sure she isn’t an Indie author but her career did not just pop up out of nowhere. It took time and a lot of hard work on her part. So stay positive, ignore the doubts, stop examining your numbers. Just do what you do. Be you and write what you like to write. Keep going and don’t stop what you are doing, eventually you will see the growth. Stop worrying that you are failing. You have already succeeded where most of the population couldn’t. Until next time!
We all go through that feeling. We write day in and day out. We spend hours creating these worlds and spend even more hours editing trying to make the book perfect. We agonize over every small detail we add or take out. We spend time working with cover artist to create something that represents our book and draws attention. We look at graphics and try to learn as many skills as we can so we can create our own teasers. We have to learn how to market and we have to spend a lot of our time posting on social media pages week after week about our book. And yet when you start out you see very little in terms of growth. You see are part of so many book groups that it’s hard to keep up. You spend time looking for takeovers, live reads, anything that will get your name out there. It is exhausting. When you see only a little boost in your numbers over months and months of hard work, it becomes disheartening. You start to ask yourself if you are wasting your time. You question if you are good enough to do this. Are you fooling yourself that you have written an amazing story? Those questions can keep you up at night. You look at your numbers every few days or every week, maybe you have enough self control that you do it once a month. I don’t but I’m sure some do. Either way, those numbers or the lack thereof, is stressful. Those self doubt questions that pop into your head is what makes you want to give up. I know, I have felt them. A friend of mine I believe is feeling that pressure. So are you wasting your time? The answer is no.
I’m sure you may be questioning my sanity but listen to what I have to say before you do. Here’s the thing, we are all on our own journey to building an empire. Empires are not created overnight or even over several months. It takes years to build a strong empire. Writing is no different. It takes time and energy to do what we do. I have had steady numbers with the sell of my first book. There hasn’t been a great number but I usually average about three a month. For me that means three people have bought the book and will read it. Half will love it, the other probably won’t but it’s a start. The ones that love the book will tell their friends and hopefully that turns into more sales. With the release of Bad Karma that number has grown. Last month I saw a growth and this month I have as well. January may be a completely different month where only three people buy the book or maybe I will continue on this steady incline of sales. The point is it’s a start. No, I don’t sell hundreds of thousands of books like some of my favorite authors but I did sell some books and that is an accomplishment. We have this thought that if we don’t see this large number of sales that we are failing. That is just not true. I have read that eighty percent of people say they want to write a book but only three percent actually do. That means we are unique in what we do. Just writing a book from start to finish is an accomplishment. Publishing it is another accomplishment. Selling one book is an accomplishment. We need to stop looking at those numbers to define our success and look at them as a win. Hey, I sold one book this month, that’s one more potential reader. I sold thirteen, awesome sauce that’s thirteen more who could love my series. Those numbers are not what shows your success, they do not define you as a writer. What defines you as a writer is what you put on paper. It’s the hard work you put in day in and day out. That is what defines you as a writer. The fact that only three percent of the population succeeds in doing what you do, means you are a rare individual. I have said this before and I will say it again you are made of magic. You create people and worlds and allow others be pulled into those worlds. You sacrifice a lot to do this. Never question if you are good enough. Never ask if it’s all worth it. It will be, you just have to be patient. What we do is not easy, it is one of the most things a person can do. My mom always reminds me, when I’m whining that it’s not supposed to be easy and if it was everyone would do it. She’s right. It takes a special kind of person to open their soul and lay it for all to see.
Don’t let those numbers make you feel like you are not succeeding. Do not question if you are good enough. You are good enough and those numbers are not a reflection of how good you are. They only reflect those who have discovered your work. Eventually those numbers will double and then triple. You will get the traction you need, just be patient with it. Do not compare yourself to anyone. Yes some authors get a great deal of readers right off the bat but some take time. J.R. Ward was actually fired from a publisher at one time and now look at her. She is an international author. Yeah sure she isn’t an Indie author but her career did not just pop up out of nowhere. It took time and a lot of hard work on her part. So stay positive, ignore the doubts, stop examining your numbers. Just do what you do. Be you and write what you like to write. Keep going and don’t stop what you are doing, eventually you will see the growth. Stop worrying that you are failing. You have already succeeded where most of the population couldn’t. Until next time!
December 8, 2019
Getting Back Into The Swing Of Thing
This week has been a long week. I started back at work this week and getting back into the swing of things has been difficult. Last week I spent most of my time living in Savannah’s world, it was heaven on earth. Then the week ended and I had to return to my day job. The pressure to get as much writing done first thing in the morning is there looming over me everyday. The desire to get writing done at night when I get home is there but the energy to do it is not. The guilt sets in that I am not meeting my page goal. I get completely frustrated with myself and lack of time that I have. I start questioning if I can get up an hour earlier before work. The truth is I can’t get up earlier because I already get up at four a.m. and I am exhausted. Getting back into the swing of things for the next two weeks before Christmas break is a difficult task. I am also looking forward to the break because it means I get to work on my writing and maybe finish book five but it’s the getting there that I am having the issue with this week.
I don’t know how to be okay with only getting a handful of pages in the morning. I push myself too hard and the ass kicking I give myself is harsh. I have added to my schedule doing karate not just for my kids but for me as well. So I have only two nights a week at home. I don’t get home until almost seven on karte nights. I am questioning why I signed myself up. The reason I did was because I have always loved karate lessonsI did it as a kid and missed it. Watching my kids has made me realize I wish I had continued with it when I was younger. So I added one more thing on my schedule. It means less time writing and more time away from home. Truthfully, I’m not actually losing time, it’s nights I would already be there but that is how it feels. Wednesday and Thursdays are my nights at home. The problem is by Wednesday I am tired and counting down to the end of my week. I want to zone out and sleep. I want to read my book, not work on one and that makes me cranky at the whole situation. Plus I need to work on my swag. I started to work on my charms and I got a few done but not many and had to get more beads before I could go any farther. I got the beads two weeks ago and have not touched them since. It is just one more thing I am kicking myself for.
What do I do? How do I make this better? I am working on figuring that out. The first thing I am doing is instead of looking at what I need to do for the week, I am focusing on one day at a time. I am setting small goals for each day. So for today, I am setting a seven page goal. It will start my week off strong and that is what I need. It will start my week off on a good note. For Monday through Friday my goal is three to five pages a day. It’s not much but it is at least something. Maybe I can take Wednesday night to work on swag and watch some TV with my kids. Thursday night I’m going to shoot for the stars and get on the computer. I may fail but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that failure will teach me how to handle not meeting my goals. I need to look at what my priorities are for each day until after my winter break. Winter break will be heavenly for me and I know it. I will be able to write and write and write some more. The downside is, I will be fighting this battle all over again of getting into the swing of things as I have been doing for the last three months.
The next step I need to take is accepting that right now getting a few pages done every day of the week is a win. It doesn’t feel like a win because I use to get seven or ten or even twenty pages done a day. Working full time, being mom, and everything else I do it is a win. Most Indie authors only write on the weekends. They get no time during the week. I should count my lucky stars I get to do at least three pages a day. I should be grateful I get to start my day off with what I love to do. The problem is me. I push and push and tell myself I am not doing good enough. This is my dream. Being a writer is what I have wanted to do for most of my life. I should be pushing myself but maybe I am pushing too hard. Maybe the standards I am trying to set for myself are a little too high. I am still trying to figure out how to break this habit.
The next step is for me to keep my eye on the prize. I think in all my pushing and ass kicking moments I have had this week, I have forgotten why I am doing all of this. I am doing all of this because it is my dream. It is what makes my soul sing. Yes I have to work during the day but I get to live in a world outside of that with Savannah and all of her people. I get to have conversations with her and Meri and Santiago and enjoy their company. I get to share that world with other people who love it just as much as I do. That right there is something I have forgotten this past week.
Take a break when needed. Accept when you fail to meet your goals and appreciate what you have done. Pat yourself on the back for getting done anything. Remember why you are working so hard. And don’t forget to keep dreaming. Until next time!
I don’t know how to be okay with only getting a handful of pages in the morning. I push myself too hard and the ass kicking I give myself is harsh. I have added to my schedule doing karate not just for my kids but for me as well. So I have only two nights a week at home. I don’t get home until almost seven on karte nights. I am questioning why I signed myself up. The reason I did was because I have always loved karate lessonsI did it as a kid and missed it. Watching my kids has made me realize I wish I had continued with it when I was younger. So I added one more thing on my schedule. It means less time writing and more time away from home. Truthfully, I’m not actually losing time, it’s nights I would already be there but that is how it feels. Wednesday and Thursdays are my nights at home. The problem is by Wednesday I am tired and counting down to the end of my week. I want to zone out and sleep. I want to read my book, not work on one and that makes me cranky at the whole situation. Plus I need to work on my swag. I started to work on my charms and I got a few done but not many and had to get more beads before I could go any farther. I got the beads two weeks ago and have not touched them since. It is just one more thing I am kicking myself for.
What do I do? How do I make this better? I am working on figuring that out. The first thing I am doing is instead of looking at what I need to do for the week, I am focusing on one day at a time. I am setting small goals for each day. So for today, I am setting a seven page goal. It will start my week off strong and that is what I need. It will start my week off on a good note. For Monday through Friday my goal is three to five pages a day. It’s not much but it is at least something. Maybe I can take Wednesday night to work on swag and watch some TV with my kids. Thursday night I’m going to shoot for the stars and get on the computer. I may fail but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that failure will teach me how to handle not meeting my goals. I need to look at what my priorities are for each day until after my winter break. Winter break will be heavenly for me and I know it. I will be able to write and write and write some more. The downside is, I will be fighting this battle all over again of getting into the swing of things as I have been doing for the last three months.
The next step I need to take is accepting that right now getting a few pages done every day of the week is a win. It doesn’t feel like a win because I use to get seven or ten or even twenty pages done a day. Working full time, being mom, and everything else I do it is a win. Most Indie authors only write on the weekends. They get no time during the week. I should count my lucky stars I get to do at least three pages a day. I should be grateful I get to start my day off with what I love to do. The problem is me. I push and push and tell myself I am not doing good enough. This is my dream. Being a writer is what I have wanted to do for most of my life. I should be pushing myself but maybe I am pushing too hard. Maybe the standards I am trying to set for myself are a little too high. I am still trying to figure out how to break this habit.
The next step is for me to keep my eye on the prize. I think in all my pushing and ass kicking moments I have had this week, I have forgotten why I am doing all of this. I am doing all of this because it is my dream. It is what makes my soul sing. Yes I have to work during the day but I get to live in a world outside of that with Savannah and all of her people. I get to have conversations with her and Meri and Santiago and enjoy their company. I get to share that world with other people who love it just as much as I do. That right there is something I have forgotten this past week.
Take a break when needed. Accept when you fail to meet your goals and appreciate what you have done. Pat yourself on the back for getting done anything. Remember why you are working so hard. And don’t forget to keep dreaming. Until next time!
December 1, 2019
The addiction to editing
This week I have been taking advantage of having a week off from my day job. This means I met my writing goal and then some, I have gotten a little more editing done than usual, and I have gotten most of my Christmas cards filled out. It has been a very productive week. I feel good about what I accomplished. The part I have been questioning all week is how well this book is coming together.
Every writer has their own process of how they draft and edit a book. For me, I have cork boards full of index cards. Those index cards have everything from research notes, ideas for the future of Savannah and Santiago, to character information, and the current outline. I use index cards for everything. Now some writers will tell you they can’t leave a scene behind until they have it all on paper, or until it is how they see it. I write a chapter or scenes and get as much as I can in that moment on paper. Savannah gives me the scenes or the chapters I am just the dictation specialist in many ways. The problem comes as I’m moving to the next chapter and I realize that I need more detail or I forgot to move someone or that the scene is stiff or maybe the dialogue needs to be more. Either way the area I had been in, I was satisfied with it until I moved on and realization hits that I should not have been happy at all. It is never perfect.
I have been working on book five for the past month and a half. I have a limited window during the week to write. Weekends can be a challenge just because I am trying to spend some time with my kids and I am working on book three’s edit on the weekends. Plus, I write these posts at some point during the weekend. The time I do have for drafting, I want to make the most of it. As I dove deeper into book five this week I began to see where I have dropped the ball. Some of the memories I am diving into are stiff and do not have the detail I want them to have. I worked on a large fight scene, one of the biggest I have ever written and there is dialogue missing that I didn’t even think of until I was on the next scene. There is also the thought I need to talk more about the magic we are seeing in this book. I am questioning if I have done enough character development with a few new faces. All of these things make me question if I am doing well with this book. I want to stop and start again or reread what I have written and fix it.
As a writer the desire to go back and fix every misstep is always there. It’s like an addiction nagging at you to stop and fix. You can feel that cord that is attached to you and that addiction as it pulls as you write more pages. You try talking yourself down. I will fix everything in the edit. Stop worrying, you’ll get to it. You need to get the entire book out before you can see what’s wrong. These are things I say with repetition on a weekly basis. Eventually, the need to go back is almost impossible to fight. So what do you do?
I’m going to break down how I deal with this addiction to consistently edit.
When I start drafting I have a very large stack of index cards. I begin my outline with each chapter having a card. I make notes about anything of importance to any of the books. If a new character comes along they get a card with their name, physical description and who they are. I might even throw in details about their personality. As I start drafting, I keep a few cards beside me and I label them with the book title and edit at the top. From there as I work, I start making notes, add dialogue to chapter twenty. Or maybe more detail in fight scene. I make note after note so I know where I need to go back and work more in.
Once I have the entire book out on paper I dive into my notes. I read each index card and start the edit. Now what I have learned with each book is make your notes clear. I have had a few notes that I just wrote a chapter or a page number and I have no clue what I was suppose to be fixing. When I make that mistake, I have to really pay attention to those pages when I get to them. I start at the beginning of the book reading every page aloud to myself as I go. I make corrections and additions and with each book, I add anywhere from twenty to fifty pages of details I missed when I was drafting. I cross off each task I complete as I go. If I miss one, I leave it until the next edit. Sometimes a task doesn’t get completed on the first or the second edit because I have no clue how to fix it. This is where having an editor, a friend, or beta readers come in. Those trusted individuals are the ones that can help you figure out how to fix what you have done or in some cases not done. They are also the people that point out where you went wrong and you didn’t even notice you had. Truthful, you will have a love hate relationship with them. You love them but sometimes hate their role they play just because they point out you’re not quite done yet. I usually give my editor, who is also my mom, a list of things that I still need to work on. She goes into every book with me telling her I need help with this or this chapter is not right. She and I go through the book one time together reading it and making corrections. We read the book and debate, discuss and sometimes argue about all the fine details of each book. Sometimes we think we have it right where it needs to be and then she goes, I've been thinking this is missing or this is quite right. This means we have to go back to that chapter and rework it or add more to it. She then goes through the book one more time without me leaving me notes in the margins. It is my job to then go through and fix whatever we have missed the first two times.
So does this make the book perfect? Do we catch every mistake? Does this lessen the addiction to editing? The answer to all three questions is no. I have never published a perfect book. No author has. It doesn’t matter if you go through a publishing house or do it yourself. There is no way to catch every mistake. That is a fact we all have to accept. The addiction to fix our mistakes is always going to be there. I feel any writer worth their weight strives for perfection because we want to put out the best piece of ourselves for you the reader. I could be alone in that assessment but I don’t think I am. The fact is, you have to get the entire draft out before you can do any editing. If you continue to go back to fixing everything you missed or messed up you will never finish drafting.
Here is the last key piece in this, sometimes you will break the rule and go back to fix a mistake. I break this rule for only one reason and that is minor fixes. For example, Savannah was talking to Santiago and Damian gets involved. He is supposed to move from behind her, to in front of Savannah and stand next to Santiago. I forgot to move Damian. He moved in my head but I was typing faster than my brain could process what I was putting on paper. I just forgot to move him. The first thought as I was working this scene was, well crap on toast! I guess I will go back and make that minor adjustment. It was something I could fix without delaying me from finishing the book. I limit myself to how many I am allowed to go back and fix. Most times it's no more than five or six times in an entire book I will go back to fix a mistake like that. This was one of those moments that it was going to bug me until moved Damian I could see where Damian was suppose to be and he wasn’t there. Savannah was pretty irritated with me too and gave me her own ass chewing for the mistake.
Accept that you will never have a perfectly written book but still strive for greatness. Write the book and ignore that craving to edit yourself as soon as there are words on the page. Accept that you will have several opportunities to edit just not yet. Be honest with yourself in the areas that you need to work on. If you can’t be honest with yourself neither can anyone else. Find someone who will be brutally honest with you to help make you a better writer. And most importantly keep going. Do not get discouraged. It is all a process. Until next time!
Every writer has their own process of how they draft and edit a book. For me, I have cork boards full of index cards. Those index cards have everything from research notes, ideas for the future of Savannah and Santiago, to character information, and the current outline. I use index cards for everything. Now some writers will tell you they can’t leave a scene behind until they have it all on paper, or until it is how they see it. I write a chapter or scenes and get as much as I can in that moment on paper. Savannah gives me the scenes or the chapters I am just the dictation specialist in many ways. The problem comes as I’m moving to the next chapter and I realize that I need more detail or I forgot to move someone or that the scene is stiff or maybe the dialogue needs to be more. Either way the area I had been in, I was satisfied with it until I moved on and realization hits that I should not have been happy at all. It is never perfect.
I have been working on book five for the past month and a half. I have a limited window during the week to write. Weekends can be a challenge just because I am trying to spend some time with my kids and I am working on book three’s edit on the weekends. Plus, I write these posts at some point during the weekend. The time I do have for drafting, I want to make the most of it. As I dove deeper into book five this week I began to see where I have dropped the ball. Some of the memories I am diving into are stiff and do not have the detail I want them to have. I worked on a large fight scene, one of the biggest I have ever written and there is dialogue missing that I didn’t even think of until I was on the next scene. There is also the thought I need to talk more about the magic we are seeing in this book. I am questioning if I have done enough character development with a few new faces. All of these things make me question if I am doing well with this book. I want to stop and start again or reread what I have written and fix it.
As a writer the desire to go back and fix every misstep is always there. It’s like an addiction nagging at you to stop and fix. You can feel that cord that is attached to you and that addiction as it pulls as you write more pages. You try talking yourself down. I will fix everything in the edit. Stop worrying, you’ll get to it. You need to get the entire book out before you can see what’s wrong. These are things I say with repetition on a weekly basis. Eventually, the need to go back is almost impossible to fight. So what do you do?
I’m going to break down how I deal with this addiction to consistently edit.
When I start drafting I have a very large stack of index cards. I begin my outline with each chapter having a card. I make notes about anything of importance to any of the books. If a new character comes along they get a card with their name, physical description and who they are. I might even throw in details about their personality. As I start drafting, I keep a few cards beside me and I label them with the book title and edit at the top. From there as I work, I start making notes, add dialogue to chapter twenty. Or maybe more detail in fight scene. I make note after note so I know where I need to go back and work more in.
Once I have the entire book out on paper I dive into my notes. I read each index card and start the edit. Now what I have learned with each book is make your notes clear. I have had a few notes that I just wrote a chapter or a page number and I have no clue what I was suppose to be fixing. When I make that mistake, I have to really pay attention to those pages when I get to them. I start at the beginning of the book reading every page aloud to myself as I go. I make corrections and additions and with each book, I add anywhere from twenty to fifty pages of details I missed when I was drafting. I cross off each task I complete as I go. If I miss one, I leave it until the next edit. Sometimes a task doesn’t get completed on the first or the second edit because I have no clue how to fix it. This is where having an editor, a friend, or beta readers come in. Those trusted individuals are the ones that can help you figure out how to fix what you have done or in some cases not done. They are also the people that point out where you went wrong and you didn’t even notice you had. Truthful, you will have a love hate relationship with them. You love them but sometimes hate their role they play just because they point out you’re not quite done yet. I usually give my editor, who is also my mom, a list of things that I still need to work on. She goes into every book with me telling her I need help with this or this chapter is not right. She and I go through the book one time together reading it and making corrections. We read the book and debate, discuss and sometimes argue about all the fine details of each book. Sometimes we think we have it right where it needs to be and then she goes, I've been thinking this is missing or this is quite right. This means we have to go back to that chapter and rework it or add more to it. She then goes through the book one more time without me leaving me notes in the margins. It is my job to then go through and fix whatever we have missed the first two times.
So does this make the book perfect? Do we catch every mistake? Does this lessen the addiction to editing? The answer to all three questions is no. I have never published a perfect book. No author has. It doesn’t matter if you go through a publishing house or do it yourself. There is no way to catch every mistake. That is a fact we all have to accept. The addiction to fix our mistakes is always going to be there. I feel any writer worth their weight strives for perfection because we want to put out the best piece of ourselves for you the reader. I could be alone in that assessment but I don’t think I am. The fact is, you have to get the entire draft out before you can do any editing. If you continue to go back to fixing everything you missed or messed up you will never finish drafting.
Here is the last key piece in this, sometimes you will break the rule and go back to fix a mistake. I break this rule for only one reason and that is minor fixes. For example, Savannah was talking to Santiago and Damian gets involved. He is supposed to move from behind her, to in front of Savannah and stand next to Santiago. I forgot to move Damian. He moved in my head but I was typing faster than my brain could process what I was putting on paper. I just forgot to move him. The first thought as I was working this scene was, well crap on toast! I guess I will go back and make that minor adjustment. It was something I could fix without delaying me from finishing the book. I limit myself to how many I am allowed to go back and fix. Most times it's no more than five or six times in an entire book I will go back to fix a mistake like that. This was one of those moments that it was going to bug me until moved Damian I could see where Damian was suppose to be and he wasn’t there. Savannah was pretty irritated with me too and gave me her own ass chewing for the mistake.
Accept that you will never have a perfectly written book but still strive for greatness. Write the book and ignore that craving to edit yourself as soon as there are words on the page. Accept that you will have several opportunities to edit just not yet. Be honest with yourself in the areas that you need to work on. If you can’t be honest with yourself neither can anyone else. Find someone who will be brutally honest with you to help make you a better writer. And most importantly keep going. Do not get discouraged. It is all a process. Until next time!
November 24, 2019
Being Thankful
With this week being Thanksgiving, I thought the blog post should be about being thankful. As a writer there is a lot of things that go into what I do and that means there is a lot of individuals who help me to be able to do this. I try on a regular basis to tell those people thank you for all that they do. I have even taken the time, on my weekly blog, to tell them how important they are to me. Sometimes I forget to say thank you. So this week is all about saying thanks.
The first person I have to say thank you to is my mom. She spends her weekends on the phone with me reading, editing, debating and some time reminding me why I work so hard to do what I do. She spends her drive home during the week to listen when need to talk through a problem I am having with a scene or if I am unsure I am moving in the right direction. I am currently working on book five. It is an entirely different beast and I am nervous about it. So I have more concerns about what I am doing than I ever have in the past. It makes me question if I was right in what I am doing. Deep down I know I am but my mom reminds me that I have to trust my gut.
The next person on my list is my best friend, Mira. Now, I have said in the past how valuable she is to my process but I have to say it again. She gives me the breaks I need when I may not want to take them. She has a very demanding schedule, as do I. So we can go weeks without talking but somehow, someway she knows when I need a break. She the one who calls and says come out with me this weekend. Or let’s have a game day, which we haven’t done in forever. She also is the other person I turn to when I need help talking something out. An example of this is a scene where my mom and I were unsure of in Bad Karma. We were unsure of the body language between Meri and Savannah. I read the scene to Mira and she knew what Meri needed to do in response to Savannah. I can’t say thank you enough.
I have to give a special thanks to A.C. Williams. She is an author and she is the woman that create all of my covers. She does amazing work and my books wouldn’t look as great as they do without her. A.C. is always willing to help me and when I go into freak out mode and start messaging her she is always calm and cool with her responses. Thanks for that by the way. I am so happy I get to work with you on all of my covers. Much love for all that you do.
My Facebook friends are next on my list. They are amazing. Between my friends L.E. and Amara they keep me going. I talk to each of them at least once a week through messenger. They are always there to encourage me and they can always make me laugh. I love that I get to know them and that we are able to help one another promote each other's books, encourage one another and that I get to share this journey with them. They are amazing people I am lucky enough to have in my life. One day I will meet them in person and chances are good we will cause trouble together.
Betty is another friend on Facebook whom I will meet one day. She is my personal cheerleader and has a sick sense of humor, as I do. I love that I get to share posts with her and she always makes me laugh. Those laughs help me get through my days when I just want to give up the fight.
Another friend on Facebook I have made is David. He is an amazing individual and I love talking with him. He and I will check in on one another from time to time and he helps me stay positive. I hope I do the same for him. He also has some great posts that make me laugh and I appreciate them just as I do from the others.
I also have all of my ARC readers to say thank you to. You guys are amazing. I love when I get messages from you guys saying you can’t wait to read the next book or how you were up all night reading because you had to know what happened next. Those are the messages that make my heart sing and cause me to jump up and down like a goof ball. You guys are one of the reasons I work so hard to do this. Thank you for taking the time to read my books and write reviews for them. You all have busy lives and are so willing to help me out.
The ladies of Beyond The Read, Allisyn of Amped Up Books, and Shel of Swag-gering Shout Out page, you guys worked so hard to create a space for we authors to share our books, host parties for us, and so much more. You ladies are spectacular. Thank you for all that you do for us. You take time to answer our questions, to organize takeovers, live reads, and so many other events. You create graphics for each of these events and you never complain. I love you guys.
It is important that you take time to say thank you and tell people how much you appreciate them. I couldn’t do what I do without these people. I know there are more and I forgot anyone I’m sorry. I do appreciate all who help me. You guys keep me on track in what I am doing. You remind me when I need it and why I work everyday to create these books. You help push me to do more and improve with each book I write. Thank you all for being a part of Savannah’s world and loving it as much as I do. Until next time!
The first person I have to say thank you to is my mom. She spends her weekends on the phone with me reading, editing, debating and some time reminding me why I work so hard to do what I do. She spends her drive home during the week to listen when need to talk through a problem I am having with a scene or if I am unsure I am moving in the right direction. I am currently working on book five. It is an entirely different beast and I am nervous about it. So I have more concerns about what I am doing than I ever have in the past. It makes me question if I was right in what I am doing. Deep down I know I am but my mom reminds me that I have to trust my gut.
The next person on my list is my best friend, Mira. Now, I have said in the past how valuable she is to my process but I have to say it again. She gives me the breaks I need when I may not want to take them. She has a very demanding schedule, as do I. So we can go weeks without talking but somehow, someway she knows when I need a break. She the one who calls and says come out with me this weekend. Or let’s have a game day, which we haven’t done in forever. She also is the other person I turn to when I need help talking something out. An example of this is a scene where my mom and I were unsure of in Bad Karma. We were unsure of the body language between Meri and Savannah. I read the scene to Mira and she knew what Meri needed to do in response to Savannah. I can’t say thank you enough.
I have to give a special thanks to A.C. Williams. She is an author and she is the woman that create all of my covers. She does amazing work and my books wouldn’t look as great as they do without her. A.C. is always willing to help me and when I go into freak out mode and start messaging her she is always calm and cool with her responses. Thanks for that by the way. I am so happy I get to work with you on all of my covers. Much love for all that you do.
My Facebook friends are next on my list. They are amazing. Between my friends L.E. and Amara they keep me going. I talk to each of them at least once a week through messenger. They are always there to encourage me and they can always make me laugh. I love that I get to know them and that we are able to help one another promote each other's books, encourage one another and that I get to share this journey with them. They are amazing people I am lucky enough to have in my life. One day I will meet them in person and chances are good we will cause trouble together.
Betty is another friend on Facebook whom I will meet one day. She is my personal cheerleader and has a sick sense of humor, as I do. I love that I get to share posts with her and she always makes me laugh. Those laughs help me get through my days when I just want to give up the fight.
Another friend on Facebook I have made is David. He is an amazing individual and I love talking with him. He and I will check in on one another from time to time and he helps me stay positive. I hope I do the same for him. He also has some great posts that make me laugh and I appreciate them just as I do from the others.
I also have all of my ARC readers to say thank you to. You guys are amazing. I love when I get messages from you guys saying you can’t wait to read the next book or how you were up all night reading because you had to know what happened next. Those are the messages that make my heart sing and cause me to jump up and down like a goof ball. You guys are one of the reasons I work so hard to do this. Thank you for taking the time to read my books and write reviews for them. You all have busy lives and are so willing to help me out.
The ladies of Beyond The Read, Allisyn of Amped Up Books, and Shel of Swag-gering Shout Out page, you guys worked so hard to create a space for we authors to share our books, host parties for us, and so much more. You ladies are spectacular. Thank you for all that you do for us. You take time to answer our questions, to organize takeovers, live reads, and so many other events. You create graphics for each of these events and you never complain. I love you guys.
It is important that you take time to say thank you and tell people how much you appreciate them. I couldn’t do what I do without these people. I know there are more and I forgot anyone I’m sorry. I do appreciate all who help me. You guys keep me on track in what I am doing. You remind me when I need it and why I work everyday to create these books. You help push me to do more and improve with each book I write. Thank you all for being a part of Savannah’s world and loving it as much as I do. Until next time!
November 17, 2019
Getting Creative
I have been having a hard time this week trying to pick a topic for this blog post. It’s been a difficult choice. Normally I think about what I have gone through during the week. It is what inspires me for each blog post. This week has been made up of me taking advantage of any little time I have right now to write. It has also been about the excitement of what is coming up this week. Bad Karma releases on Monday and my excitement is growing by the day. This weeks post is all about taking advantage of every minute you can and the excitement of a new book release.
My schedule has gotten crazy in the last two weeks. Both kids are in karate now and so am I. I am starting to think I was crazy for joining but I do enjoy going. I live at the karate studio at this point. There is also the fact I work full time, I try to cook at least a few times a week, plus I tutor a kid who is a friend of my daughter’s. Weekends are me writing blog posts, editing one of my books and if I can possibly can get some drafting done, I do. In between all of this I am doing takeovers, live reads, and posting regularly on social media. It’s a crazy schedule and getting drafting done is almost impossible or at least it feels that way. So how do I get any writing done? How do I keep going when all I want to do is nothing? I get creative.
So I am at karate four nights a week. Between private lessons and group lessons, I am there a lot. The good news is, I have made friends at the karate studio and they have given me their Wi-Fi passwords. So while I have lessons after lessons to go to, I made the decision it was time to start bringing my laptop with me. While my kids are doing lessons I get to write. It may only be an hour long or maybe close to two hours but I get to do some writing. I bring my phone, headset, and computer and I tune out everything and work. I get to do what I love while my kids do what they love. It is a great balance. I also still write in the early morning.
Another advantage I take is when I have a day off or a two hour delay. (I live in Colorado and we get snow days, two hour delays and with flu season here it also causes for days off.) On those days, I take advantage of the situation. I write as long as I can. I don’t do something else, I don’t look at it as down time to relax, I write until I can’t write anymore.
This week my son had to leave school because he was sick. It sucked because I had to take more time off work. I have a limited number of sick hours and we are understaffed. I felt terrible for leaving my team even more short handed. The upside was, I got to enjoy an extra four hours of writing, it made me feel good to get some extra writing done. I love how it feels when I sit at my computer. The only time I get to feel like me is when I am at my computer creating, editing and being with Savannah and all the others. It makes me feel like all that I do is worth it. As long as my days are, as many things that are happening everyday, being on the computer doing what I love makes it all worth it. This all leads into the next part of this post and that is the excitement of Bad Karma releasing.
A few weeks ago, I talked about the pressure I was feeling to get everything done in time for the release. I was able to get what needed to be done in time. There was a sigh of relief as I wrote that sentence. I wasn’t sure I was going to finish all of my tasks. There was a moment last week I took my eye off the prize and I question whether I could do this. With the release of Bad Karma just a day away. I know I can do this. The excitement of knowing my second book is going to be out for people to discover is so big it makes me want to jump up and down. I still get scared that it’s not as good as I think it is. I still get nervous that I have made a fool of myself but I have some awesome readers who love Savannah and her story. They have said so to me and to the world with their reviews. It is a great feeling. I am trying not to scream at the top of my lungs with the sheer joy I feel. This joy I feel has made me more confident in what I am doing and in me as a whole. Every risk I have taken hasn’t paid off. It hasn’t been a perfect journey but it has been exciting and it is going to get more exciting. I have a feeling it is only going to get better. The excitement, the numbers of readers I have, the success I have already experienced, it will all continue to grow.
So find what makes you happy, what makes you feel like you. Do what you need to do to get you where you need to be. Don’t allow fear to stop you. Keep working hard and don’t let yourself stop for anything. Take advantage of situations. Get creative where you work because it doesn’t matter when or where you are at. What matters is the words you get on paper. Until next time!
My schedule has gotten crazy in the last two weeks. Both kids are in karate now and so am I. I am starting to think I was crazy for joining but I do enjoy going. I live at the karate studio at this point. There is also the fact I work full time, I try to cook at least a few times a week, plus I tutor a kid who is a friend of my daughter’s. Weekends are me writing blog posts, editing one of my books and if I can possibly can get some drafting done, I do. In between all of this I am doing takeovers, live reads, and posting regularly on social media. It’s a crazy schedule and getting drafting done is almost impossible or at least it feels that way. So how do I get any writing done? How do I keep going when all I want to do is nothing? I get creative.
So I am at karate four nights a week. Between private lessons and group lessons, I am there a lot. The good news is, I have made friends at the karate studio and they have given me their Wi-Fi passwords. So while I have lessons after lessons to go to, I made the decision it was time to start bringing my laptop with me. While my kids are doing lessons I get to write. It may only be an hour long or maybe close to two hours but I get to do some writing. I bring my phone, headset, and computer and I tune out everything and work. I get to do what I love while my kids do what they love. It is a great balance. I also still write in the early morning.
Another advantage I take is when I have a day off or a two hour delay. (I live in Colorado and we get snow days, two hour delays and with flu season here it also causes for days off.) On those days, I take advantage of the situation. I write as long as I can. I don’t do something else, I don’t look at it as down time to relax, I write until I can’t write anymore.
This week my son had to leave school because he was sick. It sucked because I had to take more time off work. I have a limited number of sick hours and we are understaffed. I felt terrible for leaving my team even more short handed. The upside was, I got to enjoy an extra four hours of writing, it made me feel good to get some extra writing done. I love how it feels when I sit at my computer. The only time I get to feel like me is when I am at my computer creating, editing and being with Savannah and all the others. It makes me feel like all that I do is worth it. As long as my days are, as many things that are happening everyday, being on the computer doing what I love makes it all worth it. This all leads into the next part of this post and that is the excitement of Bad Karma releasing.
A few weeks ago, I talked about the pressure I was feeling to get everything done in time for the release. I was able to get what needed to be done in time. There was a sigh of relief as I wrote that sentence. I wasn’t sure I was going to finish all of my tasks. There was a moment last week I took my eye off the prize and I question whether I could do this. With the release of Bad Karma just a day away. I know I can do this. The excitement of knowing my second book is going to be out for people to discover is so big it makes me want to jump up and down. I still get scared that it’s not as good as I think it is. I still get nervous that I have made a fool of myself but I have some awesome readers who love Savannah and her story. They have said so to me and to the world with their reviews. It is a great feeling. I am trying not to scream at the top of my lungs with the sheer joy I feel. This joy I feel has made me more confident in what I am doing and in me as a whole. Every risk I have taken hasn’t paid off. It hasn’t been a perfect journey but it has been exciting and it is going to get more exciting. I have a feeling it is only going to get better. The excitement, the numbers of readers I have, the success I have already experienced, it will all continue to grow.
So find what makes you happy, what makes you feel like you. Do what you need to do to get you where you need to be. Don’t allow fear to stop you. Keep working hard and don’t let yourself stop for anything. Take advantage of situations. Get creative where you work because it doesn’t matter when or where you are at. What matters is the words you get on paper. Until next time!
November 10, 2019
When life gets hard
This week I am going to talk about something I have touched on before but it’s more personal this time. I have talked about the constant push to of everything in life. Burning the candle at both ends and how exhausting it all is. How breaks are necessary. Well, what if you find the small breaks not enough? This week was THAT week for me.
The beginning of my week started like it always days. Workout, social media, write, go to work, come home deal with kid stuff, if I’m lucky to get some writing in, and go to bed to do it all over again the next day. The problem was I had more running to do than I normally do after work. My son is now taking karate so that increases our trips to the karate studio. I also still have tutoring I’m doing. Getting any writing done or even swag made seemed impossible. By Wednesday I was worn out and my body hurt. I had been the “kick ball” for a few kids all three days. Anyway, Wednesday night hit and I was just having some down time when I became cold and shivering. I took a shower just as a fever was setting in. Now I was sick! WHAT THE….
Thursday, I ended up calling out and slept all day. I wrote an entire page that night. Watch out world. I had already been feeling like a failure this past week for not getting more writing done. I began to really question what I was doing. I could just work my day job and pull in a paycheck. Why am I trying so damn hard and not getting anywhere? I’m exhausted, I can barely see straight, I am kicking my own ass for not getting more writing done during the week. Why? Why put myself through all of this stress? My thoughts were all my naysayers voices. See you aren’t special enough. I told you, your only job in life is to be a mom. These thoughts spun in my head all night Wednesday while I slept and into the next morning.
Then something magical happened, something that showed me my struggles were worth it. Truthful it almost brought me to tears because it was like life was saying hold on. You are getting somewhere just keep pushing. Two of my ARC readers finished reading Bad Karma. The first message that came through was from Amanda. Amanda and I became friends through a Black Dagger Brotherhood Group. We are both J.R. Ward fans and I think she is funny as hell. She has the same sense of humor that I have. I wish we lived closer so we could hang out in person. So she messages me early Thursday morning, she finished the book and is in love with the series. She tells me I have drawn her into Savannah’s world and can’t wait for the next book. She then says something that has been my goal for the last year; that is I am in the same league as J.R. Ward. Those words just sent me over the edge. She made me believe in myself again by telling me how much she loves my writing. I had no words and after a little sleep realized I didn’t say enough to her. So here I go. Amanda, thank you so much for being my life line this week. I needed your words more than you could ever know. Thank you!
Shortly after this message I get a second message, this one just as magical. Michelle and I met through a discussion group I did on Bad Witch Walking. She wanted to read the book but didn’t have the time. So I took a chance on her. This is one of those moments when you have to trust your gut. I did. I made a deal she could have the book for free but she had to give me a review when she was done. She could read it a month later after the discussion group was finished. She agreed. So I sent her the book. A month later she started Bad Witch Walking and fell in love with the series. As soon as she said she loved the book I knew I had to have her on my ARC team. She asked me first if I had a team so she became part of my team. Anyways, she messages me saying she was up late finishing the book because she had to know what happened and loved the book. She then asked when can she get the next book. Her excitement filled me with just as much joy as Amanda’s. Michelle thank you for loving Savannah’s world as much as I do. Your words helped lift me up. Thank you!
There will come a time, maybe even two that you will question what you are doing. Writing is what makes my soul sing. It is what fuels me day in and day out. But there are going to be times when I am so worn down I question if I am doing the right thing. Or if I am just trying too hard. In those moments life will send you a message. This week it came from Amanda and Michelle. There words helped push through that self doubt. They helped me see I am doing exactly what I should be doing. Building an empire brick by brick is exhausting but the end result will be amazing and even I need that reminded sometimes.
So keep going. Take breaks when you need them. Listen to your cheerleaders when they are screaming for you to keep going. They will help you remember why you are doing this. Stay strong in who you are and why you are working so hard. Until next time!
The beginning of my week started like it always days. Workout, social media, write, go to work, come home deal with kid stuff, if I’m lucky to get some writing in, and go to bed to do it all over again the next day. The problem was I had more running to do than I normally do after work. My son is now taking karate so that increases our trips to the karate studio. I also still have tutoring I’m doing. Getting any writing done or even swag made seemed impossible. By Wednesday I was worn out and my body hurt. I had been the “kick ball” for a few kids all three days. Anyway, Wednesday night hit and I was just having some down time when I became cold and shivering. I took a shower just as a fever was setting in. Now I was sick! WHAT THE….
Thursday, I ended up calling out and slept all day. I wrote an entire page that night. Watch out world. I had already been feeling like a failure this past week for not getting more writing done. I began to really question what I was doing. I could just work my day job and pull in a paycheck. Why am I trying so damn hard and not getting anywhere? I’m exhausted, I can barely see straight, I am kicking my own ass for not getting more writing done during the week. Why? Why put myself through all of this stress? My thoughts were all my naysayers voices. See you aren’t special enough. I told you, your only job in life is to be a mom. These thoughts spun in my head all night Wednesday while I slept and into the next morning.
Then something magical happened, something that showed me my struggles were worth it. Truthful it almost brought me to tears because it was like life was saying hold on. You are getting somewhere just keep pushing. Two of my ARC readers finished reading Bad Karma. The first message that came through was from Amanda. Amanda and I became friends through a Black Dagger Brotherhood Group. We are both J.R. Ward fans and I think she is funny as hell. She has the same sense of humor that I have. I wish we lived closer so we could hang out in person. So she messages me early Thursday morning, she finished the book and is in love with the series. She tells me I have drawn her into Savannah’s world and can’t wait for the next book. She then says something that has been my goal for the last year; that is I am in the same league as J.R. Ward. Those words just sent me over the edge. She made me believe in myself again by telling me how much she loves my writing. I had no words and after a little sleep realized I didn’t say enough to her. So here I go. Amanda, thank you so much for being my life line this week. I needed your words more than you could ever know. Thank you!
Shortly after this message I get a second message, this one just as magical. Michelle and I met through a discussion group I did on Bad Witch Walking. She wanted to read the book but didn’t have the time. So I took a chance on her. This is one of those moments when you have to trust your gut. I did. I made a deal she could have the book for free but she had to give me a review when she was done. She could read it a month later after the discussion group was finished. She agreed. So I sent her the book. A month later she started Bad Witch Walking and fell in love with the series. As soon as she said she loved the book I knew I had to have her on my ARC team. She asked me first if I had a team so she became part of my team. Anyways, she messages me saying she was up late finishing the book because she had to know what happened and loved the book. She then asked when can she get the next book. Her excitement filled me with just as much joy as Amanda’s. Michelle thank you for loving Savannah’s world as much as I do. Your words helped lift me up. Thank you!
There will come a time, maybe even two that you will question what you are doing. Writing is what makes my soul sing. It is what fuels me day in and day out. But there are going to be times when I am so worn down I question if I am doing the right thing. Or if I am just trying too hard. In those moments life will send you a message. This week it came from Amanda and Michelle. There words helped push through that self doubt. They helped me see I am doing exactly what I should be doing. Building an empire brick by brick is exhausting but the end result will be amazing and even I need that reminded sometimes.
So keep going. Take breaks when you need them. Listen to your cheerleaders when they are screaming for you to keep going. They will help you remember why you are doing this. Stay strong in who you are and why you are working so hard. Until next time!
November 3, 2019
Leap of Faith!
This past week has been crazy. We had snow for three days and ended up with two snow days from work and school here in Colorado. The good news about snow days is I was able to get a lot of writing done. The first hundred pages of book five are complete and I am moving at a fairly good pace for the first draft. The other good news is, I have been thinking about author signings.
As a new author I have no clue how to get into all of the different signing conferences as so many others do. So I dedicate some of my writing time to finding out. The first thing I did was find a few conferences online. What I discovered was all of the conferences for 2020 are already full. That was the down side. The other thing I learned was that the conferences cost money and there are none in my state so the cost adds up. You have the table fee, travel costs, books and swag, and hotel costs. Most of these engagements work out a deal with the hotels but it is still pricey. Travel costs are expensive because of all the items I have to take with me when flying, may not be an option. We’re talking copies of my books, banner, swag merchandise, and my luggage. So is it better to fly or drive? It is all a little bit overwhelming and makes me wonder how am I going to swing this. Maybe not being able to get into one this coming year is a good thing.
I was talking with a fellow author friend of mine about it and she was finding the cost just as daunting as I was. We are both fairly new authors and we both have families and full time jobs. Going to a signing is a great opportunity to get our names out there more, meet prospective readers, and other authors. But is it worth the cost? What if you sell nothing? What if no one wants to meet you? What then? It’s a terrifying prospect of spending all this money and you get nothing out of it.
Is it worth the risk? The answer is yes. I believe there is a way to handle the expense of going to a signing so the cost is a little less of a hit to the bank account and life in general. I have signed up for my first signing in May 2021 because I believe it is worth the risk. I have to pay the deposit by the end of the month and that will leave $129 to pay for my table. I can pay that within the next couple of months. I can start to buy books now little by little, which will help spread the cost of what I will need. I am already getting my banner made and I have a deal worked out for it. The cost of the travel is going to be less fun but if I drive it will cost me less overall because of everything I need to bring. I will have to take off some time from work but I take few days off, so that isn’t a big deal. The hotel I will have to save up for but again I have time to do so.
So what makes the risk worth it? For me it will be my first signing and that’s exciting. It will also be a learning experience like so many other things have been. Sometimes the only way to learn is to do it and this is one of those times. I will learn how to generate more interest between now and then, which will help to make sure I get people to my table. As of right now, I have sold almost forty books. I know that doesn’t seem like much but in my eyes that’s a win since it has only been four months since I launched the series. In my opinion, it will only improve with each book. By the time the signing comes who knows how many people will be reading my books. Positive thinking!
There is an upside to this being my first signing and is that the ladies from Beyond The Read are hosting the event. I have been part of their Facebook page from the beginning of my writing career. They always want to help authors and I consider them my friends. They will be there to support me and all the other authors. This will be their first time hosting a signing, so I guess we will learn together. They are amazing women and I am so glad I get to be part of their page and part of this signing event. Joanna, one of the page’s admins, is always willing to give me the chance to do takeovers or live reads or be part of so many events they hold. Amanda and Mercedez, two of other page admins, are always willing to answer my questions and support me just as Joanna does. Those ladies work hard to keep the page running and to have great parties for all us. I truly adore them and that is one of the reasons the risk is worth it.
Sometimes we have to take a leap. I could end up driving sixteen hours and not sign or sell one book and then have to drive all the way back home. Or perhaps I could only get a hand full of people. Or maybe, just maybe I will get a lot more than I think I will. I know for sure I will have one person come to my table because she already told me she was planning to attend the event. Candace is one of my ARC readers and is a true cheerleader for my series, just like my friend L.E. is. When she found out I was going she was excited. I will have a surprise at my table for Candace when I meet her in person. L.E. is an author friend of mine and I am hoping she will take the leap and join me at the signing. I think it will be a great opportunity for both us. Plus I will finally get to meet my Facebook friends in person. And that’s alone excites me. Maybe L.E. and I can exchange signed books with one another, if anything we will have one more person we can each count on to be there.
We have to take risks to know if they will pan out. We can speculate all we want. We can try to crunch numbers to see if it is worth it. But the only way to know for sure is to take the chance. If it doesn’t go well it will suck but I will learn from it as I learn from all experiences. If it goes great, which I believe it will, it is still a learning experience and it will be a blast. It is also a dream come true for me because when I dreamed of being an author, I dreamed of doing signing. Take the leap and believe it will be worth it. Don’t overthink it or over analyze it. Believe in yourself enough to take the risk on you. Until next time!
As a new author I have no clue how to get into all of the different signing conferences as so many others do. So I dedicate some of my writing time to finding out. The first thing I did was find a few conferences online. What I discovered was all of the conferences for 2020 are already full. That was the down side. The other thing I learned was that the conferences cost money and there are none in my state so the cost adds up. You have the table fee, travel costs, books and swag, and hotel costs. Most of these engagements work out a deal with the hotels but it is still pricey. Travel costs are expensive because of all the items I have to take with me when flying, may not be an option. We’re talking copies of my books, banner, swag merchandise, and my luggage. So is it better to fly or drive? It is all a little bit overwhelming and makes me wonder how am I going to swing this. Maybe not being able to get into one this coming year is a good thing.
I was talking with a fellow author friend of mine about it and she was finding the cost just as daunting as I was. We are both fairly new authors and we both have families and full time jobs. Going to a signing is a great opportunity to get our names out there more, meet prospective readers, and other authors. But is it worth the cost? What if you sell nothing? What if no one wants to meet you? What then? It’s a terrifying prospect of spending all this money and you get nothing out of it.
Is it worth the risk? The answer is yes. I believe there is a way to handle the expense of going to a signing so the cost is a little less of a hit to the bank account and life in general. I have signed up for my first signing in May 2021 because I believe it is worth the risk. I have to pay the deposit by the end of the month and that will leave $129 to pay for my table. I can pay that within the next couple of months. I can start to buy books now little by little, which will help spread the cost of what I will need. I am already getting my banner made and I have a deal worked out for it. The cost of the travel is going to be less fun but if I drive it will cost me less overall because of everything I need to bring. I will have to take off some time from work but I take few days off, so that isn’t a big deal. The hotel I will have to save up for but again I have time to do so.
So what makes the risk worth it? For me it will be my first signing and that’s exciting. It will also be a learning experience like so many other things have been. Sometimes the only way to learn is to do it and this is one of those times. I will learn how to generate more interest between now and then, which will help to make sure I get people to my table. As of right now, I have sold almost forty books. I know that doesn’t seem like much but in my eyes that’s a win since it has only been four months since I launched the series. In my opinion, it will only improve with each book. By the time the signing comes who knows how many people will be reading my books. Positive thinking!
There is an upside to this being my first signing and is that the ladies from Beyond The Read are hosting the event. I have been part of their Facebook page from the beginning of my writing career. They always want to help authors and I consider them my friends. They will be there to support me and all the other authors. This will be their first time hosting a signing, so I guess we will learn together. They are amazing women and I am so glad I get to be part of their page and part of this signing event. Joanna, one of the page’s admins, is always willing to give me the chance to do takeovers or live reads or be part of so many events they hold. Amanda and Mercedez, two of other page admins, are always willing to answer my questions and support me just as Joanna does. Those ladies work hard to keep the page running and to have great parties for all us. I truly adore them and that is one of the reasons the risk is worth it.
Sometimes we have to take a leap. I could end up driving sixteen hours and not sign or sell one book and then have to drive all the way back home. Or perhaps I could only get a hand full of people. Or maybe, just maybe I will get a lot more than I think I will. I know for sure I will have one person come to my table because she already told me she was planning to attend the event. Candace is one of my ARC readers and is a true cheerleader for my series, just like my friend L.E. is. When she found out I was going she was excited. I will have a surprise at my table for Candace when I meet her in person. L.E. is an author friend of mine and I am hoping she will take the leap and join me at the signing. I think it will be a great opportunity for both us. Plus I will finally get to meet my Facebook friends in person. And that’s alone excites me. Maybe L.E. and I can exchange signed books with one another, if anything we will have one more person we can each count on to be there.
We have to take risks to know if they will pan out. We can speculate all we want. We can try to crunch numbers to see if it is worth it. But the only way to know for sure is to take the chance. If it doesn’t go well it will suck but I will learn from it as I learn from all experiences. If it goes great, which I believe it will, it is still a learning experience and it will be a blast. It is also a dream come true for me because when I dreamed of being an author, I dreamed of doing signing. Take the leap and believe it will be worth it. Don’t overthink it or over analyze it. Believe in yourself enough to take the risk on you. Until next time!
October 28, 2019
When Life Gets In The Way
I have been thinking about what should be this weeks blog post for a week. Normally, it comes to me based off of what is happening in my life. This week has been rough between my day job, writing and tutoring a friend of my daughter. Not to mention keeping up with my social media presence. It has been crazy the past week and on most nights I just want to go to bed and do nothing else. Unfortunately, that is not an option and cloning myself isn’t either. So this week's blog post is going to be about trying to get the words on the page while trying not to let the outside world get to you.
I have a stressful job. I work with special needs kids as a paraprofessional during the day. So my job can entail anything from teaching, to assisting them with writing, to getting beat up. On top of that I have to deal with adults, which in some ways can be more challenging than the kids. I am up writing hours before I go to my day job. I have been successful in the morning getting words on the page. Not as much as I had hoped but I have done about thirty pages this week. When I get off it is not so easy, I have posts and parties to catch up on and participate in. I have two kids I need to take care of, feed dinner, and drive to karate lessons. And I need time to decompress from my day as well.
The decompress time is a necessity because I hate carrying all of those stressful moments with me. I can feel the stress of the day and what I still have to do like a second skin, covering every inch of me. It makes me feel trapped and even more stressed than I was. I hate it and the results is the writing I put on the page is terrible. There are days it is hard to get the words on the page because my head is still on something that happened or some form of negativity that makes me question why I have a day job. The day job is a necessary evil, I have bills to pay, I have costs as a writer, and I have a family. I would rather spend my days living in Savannah’s world and creating but I can’t. I hope one day my writing starts pulling in money I can live off of. Right now that is not the case. So I work and write and try to be mom. Half the time I think I am failing at all of it and that scares me. What if my books never take off? Will I be told by my nonbelievers see you aren’t special enough? Will I lose my job because my true passion is writing? Will my kids look at me as a failure because I don’t spend enough time with them? What if I never get another book finished because I only do three to five pages a day. What if Savannah gives up on me and leaves? These are the worries that run through my head daily. When I find a night I can’t get on the computer to write, I spend the rest of the night worried I have failed to meet my goal.
So what do you do? How do you shut the outside world out in order to get words on the page? I’m not sure I have the full answer to this one. I feel like I am still looking for the complete answer. But here is what I am learning right now. The first part of the solution is the decompression. Now some of my decompression time is the time I spend on social media after work. I spend probably forty-five minutes responding posts, commenting on parties, and just playing catch up with my groups. I have a number of friends who have a sick sense of humor, like I do and their posts helps because they give me a good laugh. Maybe it’s a message my mom has sent me with a meme. I love the memes she sends me. They help with handling the stress.
Another thing that helps is the messages I receive from one of my best friends, Barry. Now I have talked about him before. He is one of the most creative and positive people I know. A few months ago he lost his job and was needing a pick me up, so he started messaging good morning to a bunch of different friends. Now I have no clue how many still send him good morning but I do. Most times I am up before him so I don’t get his until mid-afternoon when I get off work but it still lightens my day. I smile and it just takes some of the pressure of the day off my shoulders.
I also work out a lot to deal with the stress. It is probably why after a nice hard workout I can sit down at my computer and get a few pages done. I don’t have the stress first thing in the morning, I have later in the day. I have a clear head for Savannah to talk to me and show me her story. Maybe I need an afternoon workout as well. I wish I had the time for it.
The big thing I have learned this past week is there will be nights that I won’t do any writing, particularly on the nights I do tutoring. I need to accept that my morning hours of writing have to be okay. Getting only three or four pages done is not good enough in my eyes but it is what it is. As an author, I have other things I needed to be doing that have nothing to do with writing. One of those things is making swag. Starting this week on those two days a week, where I can’t get any writing done at night, I will be starting to work on my swag again. I am trying to get connected with book signing opportunities, so I can get a few under my belt. I have one scheduled for May 2021. Maybe I will get lucky and get in one late next year or maybe a local bookstore will let me do one. Either way, I need swag for them. So those nights will be dedicated to a different form of creating that is important as an author to have.
I also need to learn to give myself a break. There are going to be days where three or four pages is a win. I know this deep down but I still have these high standards for myself. When I fail to meet them I hate myself a little for the failure. I need to remind myself that getting words on the page is the goal even if it’s just three or four pages. It doesn’t mean I will never finish a book again it just means it will take me a little longer to do it. I am still editing on the weekends and doing my blog post. I still keep up on most of my social media stuff and I write on the weekends. It’s okay if it takes me a few more weeks to finish a book than it normally does.
The last thing I am learning is that the negative I experience during the week, I need to ignore. It’s easier said than done but I need to find a way to do it. Those negative individuals are inconsequential and I need to remember that. I need to tune them out and act as if they are static and nothing more. I have given those things too much power in my life. I have to stop doing that. The fact I am realizing I have allowed this to happen is the first step to stopping the bad behavior on my part.
So don’t let the stress of everyday life break you. Don’t let negativity stop you from doing what you love. Find ways to decompress, look at ways you can get other tasks done when you can’t write. And remember the only one who can really stop you is you. You decide what has power over you. Keep pushing because in the end it will all be worth it. Until next time!
I have a stressful job. I work with special needs kids as a paraprofessional during the day. So my job can entail anything from teaching, to assisting them with writing, to getting beat up. On top of that I have to deal with adults, which in some ways can be more challenging than the kids. I am up writing hours before I go to my day job. I have been successful in the morning getting words on the page. Not as much as I had hoped but I have done about thirty pages this week. When I get off it is not so easy, I have posts and parties to catch up on and participate in. I have two kids I need to take care of, feed dinner, and drive to karate lessons. And I need time to decompress from my day as well.
The decompress time is a necessity because I hate carrying all of those stressful moments with me. I can feel the stress of the day and what I still have to do like a second skin, covering every inch of me. It makes me feel trapped and even more stressed than I was. I hate it and the results is the writing I put on the page is terrible. There are days it is hard to get the words on the page because my head is still on something that happened or some form of negativity that makes me question why I have a day job. The day job is a necessary evil, I have bills to pay, I have costs as a writer, and I have a family. I would rather spend my days living in Savannah’s world and creating but I can’t. I hope one day my writing starts pulling in money I can live off of. Right now that is not the case. So I work and write and try to be mom. Half the time I think I am failing at all of it and that scares me. What if my books never take off? Will I be told by my nonbelievers see you aren’t special enough? Will I lose my job because my true passion is writing? Will my kids look at me as a failure because I don’t spend enough time with them? What if I never get another book finished because I only do three to five pages a day. What if Savannah gives up on me and leaves? These are the worries that run through my head daily. When I find a night I can’t get on the computer to write, I spend the rest of the night worried I have failed to meet my goal.
So what do you do? How do you shut the outside world out in order to get words on the page? I’m not sure I have the full answer to this one. I feel like I am still looking for the complete answer. But here is what I am learning right now. The first part of the solution is the decompression. Now some of my decompression time is the time I spend on social media after work. I spend probably forty-five minutes responding posts, commenting on parties, and just playing catch up with my groups. I have a number of friends who have a sick sense of humor, like I do and their posts helps because they give me a good laugh. Maybe it’s a message my mom has sent me with a meme. I love the memes she sends me. They help with handling the stress.
Another thing that helps is the messages I receive from one of my best friends, Barry. Now I have talked about him before. He is one of the most creative and positive people I know. A few months ago he lost his job and was needing a pick me up, so he started messaging good morning to a bunch of different friends. Now I have no clue how many still send him good morning but I do. Most times I am up before him so I don’t get his until mid-afternoon when I get off work but it still lightens my day. I smile and it just takes some of the pressure of the day off my shoulders.
I also work out a lot to deal with the stress. It is probably why after a nice hard workout I can sit down at my computer and get a few pages done. I don’t have the stress first thing in the morning, I have later in the day. I have a clear head for Savannah to talk to me and show me her story. Maybe I need an afternoon workout as well. I wish I had the time for it.
The big thing I have learned this past week is there will be nights that I won’t do any writing, particularly on the nights I do tutoring. I need to accept that my morning hours of writing have to be okay. Getting only three or four pages done is not good enough in my eyes but it is what it is. As an author, I have other things I needed to be doing that have nothing to do with writing. One of those things is making swag. Starting this week on those two days a week, where I can’t get any writing done at night, I will be starting to work on my swag again. I am trying to get connected with book signing opportunities, so I can get a few under my belt. I have one scheduled for May 2021. Maybe I will get lucky and get in one late next year or maybe a local bookstore will let me do one. Either way, I need swag for them. So those nights will be dedicated to a different form of creating that is important as an author to have.
I also need to learn to give myself a break. There are going to be days where three or four pages is a win. I know this deep down but I still have these high standards for myself. When I fail to meet them I hate myself a little for the failure. I need to remind myself that getting words on the page is the goal even if it’s just three or four pages. It doesn’t mean I will never finish a book again it just means it will take me a little longer to do it. I am still editing on the weekends and doing my blog post. I still keep up on most of my social media stuff and I write on the weekends. It’s okay if it takes me a few more weeks to finish a book than it normally does.
The last thing I am learning is that the negative I experience during the week, I need to ignore. It’s easier said than done but I need to find a way to do it. Those negative individuals are inconsequential and I need to remember that. I need to tune them out and act as if they are static and nothing more. I have given those things too much power in my life. I have to stop doing that. The fact I am realizing I have allowed this to happen is the first step to stopping the bad behavior on my part.
So don’t let the stress of everyday life break you. Don’t let negativity stop you from doing what you love. Find ways to decompress, look at ways you can get other tasks done when you can’t write. And remember the only one who can really stop you is you. You decide what has power over you. Keep pushing because in the end it will all be worth it. Until next time!
October 21, 2019
Creativity
I always try to do posts about what I am experiencing when it is happening. This was my first week of drafting book five and putting together my ARC team. This week I am going to talk about both because in some ways they cross over.
I am editing on the weekends as always but I am back to being a creator. As an author we wear many different hats. We are creators, editors, marketers, researcher, and accountants. We are all of those things throughout our day. For the past month, I haven’t gotten to do a lot of creating, I’ve been doing a lot of editing for Bad Karma. I did my first edit on book four. Then I moved over to Bad Karma and worked on its final draft, that final edit took time and a lot of attention. I have accepted I will never get the book perfect but I still strive to get it as close to perfect as I can. It is a lot of work. I will say when you are in editor mode there is something beautiful about the process. You take a scene that may have been so-so or maybe it was crap and you turn it into a better piece of writing. There is a feeling of accomplishment when you are able to see what went wrong and fix it. But creating is where I find my happy place.
Monday, I was able to switch hats and move back to what I love the most. The first day of the switch is the hardest, truthfully the first few days are. When you create, you have to just write and not worry about the mistakes or details you may have missed. Those will come later. The goal is to get the words on paper, improving the writing comes later. So the first few days my brain is still in editor mode. As I am creating my brain will point out I forgot to include a hand gesture or I forgot a detail about the room or I forgot a comma. I have to force myself to not go back and add those things in. I have to push through the need to fix what I have done wrong. It is a difficult task to ignore the flubs on the page when you have spent weeks concentration on them.
On top of switching hats, I am still preparing for the release of Bad Karma. I uploaded the manuscript to Draft2Digital, I created a few teasers, and posted the new cover. As I was working on all those little details, I began to think about how I was going to get better results with Bad Karma in terms of sales. When I launched Bad Witch Walking I had no street team, or ARC team, or anyone outside of my mom and a few friends. I needed people who I don’t know personally to review the book because reviews are what encourages others to buy the book. I gave books away, I did a discussion group where I was able to generate a few reviews, and I have done takeover party after takeover party. I have made up some ground, in terms of reviews and I have seen a steady number in sales. I want a better turn out for Bad Karma. It is a book I loved writing that gives us so much more of Savannah and her life. So how do you build a team?
The first thing I did was get with one of my author friends. We each have books that are releasing two weeks apart. She has been advertising her book for the last two months. She is way more on the ball than I am on that front. I am hoping to get better at advertising with each book. Anyway, she and I exchange books, we read them, and review them. In my head that is the start of my ARC team and hers as well. Now where do I find more. Well there were a few readers who offered to be part of my ARC team after they read the first book. I contacted them and got a yes from all of them. Now I was sitting at like four people, not bad for someone who is making it up as I go but I need more team members. So I used social media to my advantage. I posted saying I am looking for ARC readers and it turns out there are people interested. I spent the end of a very busy week sending a form to all of them and collecting information from them. My goal was to get ten people and I have eleven. That is a win for me. I am now hoping I get a few more, we will see what happens. Either way, I have eleven people who are willing to invest their time in reading my book and reviewing it.
I bet you’re wondering how the struggles to create the start of a new book can cross with building an ARC team. They both take creative juices, particularly when you have no clue what you are doing. I had heard author after author talk about having an ARC team but none will tell you how to do it. I had to get creative in terms of finding people. I was fearful I would ask for the help and get none. What if I posted and no one wanted to? That would be embarrassing. What happened instead was success. Creating a book is very much like that. I have spent weeks wanting to create again. I have done extensive research for the book and can see where it needs to go. For the book I am working on, I am taking a huge leap in terms of what I am doing, not just with the story but with how I am writing it. I am trying something that I have never done before. If I am successful it will pay off for future books. If I’m not, I will have to come up with a new plan. Either way, it is terrifying to step into new territory within your writing but it is also a necessary evil.
Recently, I was talking with my mom about a book we had both read. It is one in a long series of books. It was a good book but not as good as I thought it would be and she agreed. I have been letting the conversation stew in the back of my mind for the last few days about what went wrong with the book. Now I could be wrong but I tend to believe that the book didn’t give the author the challenge his/her the previous books did. Each book I have written has given me a challenge and there is fear to it. What if it’s not as good as I think it is? What if I didn’t do enough in the book? What if it’s just the same old story? As I do my outline, I worry about these things but I also look at how Savannah is growing as an individual from the first book. Book five is in some ways an entirely different beast. I am challenging myself as a writer. The thing is, I believe it is the only way to tell this story. Not every book in the future will be written in this fashion but a few will.
The point is, take the leap. Try a new tactic you have never done before. Look at new ways of reaching people. You may be shocked by what comes out of it. If it doesn’t work out, learn from the experience and look at new options. Never stop wanting to learn or create. When you do you are limiting yourself. In terms of writing, when you are willing to challenge yourself, you are giving your readers a new experience. You keep them intrigued to see what you do next. You should also want to challenge yourself. Anything worth having should be hard work. It shouldn’t come easy. You should want to grow and change just as the characters we create do. If they don’t, readers will grow bored and leave. If we don’t change and challenge ourselves as human beings; everything will stay the same and what fun is that? So take chances, keep learning, and creating. Until next time!
I am editing on the weekends as always but I am back to being a creator. As an author we wear many different hats. We are creators, editors, marketers, researcher, and accountants. We are all of those things throughout our day. For the past month, I haven’t gotten to do a lot of creating, I’ve been doing a lot of editing for Bad Karma. I did my first edit on book four. Then I moved over to Bad Karma and worked on its final draft, that final edit took time and a lot of attention. I have accepted I will never get the book perfect but I still strive to get it as close to perfect as I can. It is a lot of work. I will say when you are in editor mode there is something beautiful about the process. You take a scene that may have been so-so or maybe it was crap and you turn it into a better piece of writing. There is a feeling of accomplishment when you are able to see what went wrong and fix it. But creating is where I find my happy place.
Monday, I was able to switch hats and move back to what I love the most. The first day of the switch is the hardest, truthfully the first few days are. When you create, you have to just write and not worry about the mistakes or details you may have missed. Those will come later. The goal is to get the words on paper, improving the writing comes later. So the first few days my brain is still in editor mode. As I am creating my brain will point out I forgot to include a hand gesture or I forgot a detail about the room or I forgot a comma. I have to force myself to not go back and add those things in. I have to push through the need to fix what I have done wrong. It is a difficult task to ignore the flubs on the page when you have spent weeks concentration on them.
On top of switching hats, I am still preparing for the release of Bad Karma. I uploaded the manuscript to Draft2Digital, I created a few teasers, and posted the new cover. As I was working on all those little details, I began to think about how I was going to get better results with Bad Karma in terms of sales. When I launched Bad Witch Walking I had no street team, or ARC team, or anyone outside of my mom and a few friends. I needed people who I don’t know personally to review the book because reviews are what encourages others to buy the book. I gave books away, I did a discussion group where I was able to generate a few reviews, and I have done takeover party after takeover party. I have made up some ground, in terms of reviews and I have seen a steady number in sales. I want a better turn out for Bad Karma. It is a book I loved writing that gives us so much more of Savannah and her life. So how do you build a team?
The first thing I did was get with one of my author friends. We each have books that are releasing two weeks apart. She has been advertising her book for the last two months. She is way more on the ball than I am on that front. I am hoping to get better at advertising with each book. Anyway, she and I exchange books, we read them, and review them. In my head that is the start of my ARC team and hers as well. Now where do I find more. Well there were a few readers who offered to be part of my ARC team after they read the first book. I contacted them and got a yes from all of them. Now I was sitting at like four people, not bad for someone who is making it up as I go but I need more team members. So I used social media to my advantage. I posted saying I am looking for ARC readers and it turns out there are people interested. I spent the end of a very busy week sending a form to all of them and collecting information from them. My goal was to get ten people and I have eleven. That is a win for me. I am now hoping I get a few more, we will see what happens. Either way, I have eleven people who are willing to invest their time in reading my book and reviewing it.
I bet you’re wondering how the struggles to create the start of a new book can cross with building an ARC team. They both take creative juices, particularly when you have no clue what you are doing. I had heard author after author talk about having an ARC team but none will tell you how to do it. I had to get creative in terms of finding people. I was fearful I would ask for the help and get none. What if I posted and no one wanted to? That would be embarrassing. What happened instead was success. Creating a book is very much like that. I have spent weeks wanting to create again. I have done extensive research for the book and can see where it needs to go. For the book I am working on, I am taking a huge leap in terms of what I am doing, not just with the story but with how I am writing it. I am trying something that I have never done before. If I am successful it will pay off for future books. If I’m not, I will have to come up with a new plan. Either way, it is terrifying to step into new territory within your writing but it is also a necessary evil.
Recently, I was talking with my mom about a book we had both read. It is one in a long series of books. It was a good book but not as good as I thought it would be and she agreed. I have been letting the conversation stew in the back of my mind for the last few days about what went wrong with the book. Now I could be wrong but I tend to believe that the book didn’t give the author the challenge his/her the previous books did. Each book I have written has given me a challenge and there is fear to it. What if it’s not as good as I think it is? What if I didn’t do enough in the book? What if it’s just the same old story? As I do my outline, I worry about these things but I also look at how Savannah is growing as an individual from the first book. Book five is in some ways an entirely different beast. I am challenging myself as a writer. The thing is, I believe it is the only way to tell this story. Not every book in the future will be written in this fashion but a few will.
The point is, take the leap. Try a new tactic you have never done before. Look at new ways of reaching people. You may be shocked by what comes out of it. If it doesn’t work out, learn from the experience and look at new options. Never stop wanting to learn or create. When you do you are limiting yourself. In terms of writing, when you are willing to challenge yourself, you are giving your readers a new experience. You keep them intrigued to see what you do next. You should also want to challenge yourself. Anything worth having should be hard work. It shouldn’t come easy. You should want to grow and change just as the characters we create do. If they don’t, readers will grow bored and leave. If we don’t change and challenge ourselves as human beings; everything will stay the same and what fun is that? So take chances, keep learning, and creating. Until next time!
