Stephen Drivick's Blog - Posts Tagged "stephen-drivick"
So ..who am I?
Hello. This is my first blog, and my first blog post ever.
First, ...who the heck am I? Well, I am a 43-year-old CAD drafter from Woodstock, GA that happened to write a zombie apocalypse novel.:)
It didn't start off as a novel. One day, around Halloween, I decided to try something creative, and write a zombie-themed short story. I used some elements from some thoughts I had about a post-apocalyptic world that I had rattling around in my brain. Add some zombies, and a story was born. It was called "Among the Dead." I wrote about 2500 words, and that was that.
Or so I thought. I couldn't stop. I added more and more till I had about 65,000 words or so. None of them were any good, but it was at least neatly typed in Open Office.
Then I heard about Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) program, and a plan was born. Could I actually do it? I set out to challenge myself to publish to Amazon. After all, I had given Amazon a lot of money over the years. Why not see if I could get some back.:)
First came three self-edits. I read through my manuscript(actually, first I started calling it a manuscript), then brought out the RED PEN and started crossing things off. First, it was just a few words. Eventually whole passages and even chapters began to fall. After the bloodletting, there was a quick trip through ErrNet.
Next was a trip to a real editor. I sent it to eBookEditingPro.com. I was nervous. They were the first people to read my mess besides me. I spent the next week or so regretting my decision to write. Would they edit it, or would they sent it back with a email heckling me?
It came back with some helpful edits that I incorporated into the work. EBookEditingPro.com did an excellent job ...they actually made it sound like a book people could read!:)
Home stretch time. I built the book on Leanpub.com (great service), and they made nice, clean, ebook-like files for the Kindle, NOOK, and other readers. A title change to "Sometimes We Ran"(Among the Dead was already taken-damn), and then it was ready for the world ...I hoped.
Still with me? I set up an account with Amazon, uploaded files, including a killer cover, and set my creation out into the world for all to see ...like a Frankenstein's monster.
It sold two on the first day, and I was thrilled ...someone actually is reading it. Holy crap. It was exciting and scary at the same time.
I've glossed over a lot. It was not as easy as I made it seem. There were nights that I wanted to throw my computer across the room. There were nights I cursed my editors, Amazon, Leanpub, and others for talking me into this. All in all, though, it was a great experience.
Do I feel like a writer? I don't know yet. I am kinda playing this by ear for now. If it turns out I have fun doing something creative, I'll keep at it ...at least until Amazon tells me to stop.:)
Would I do it again? You bet!:) How about "Sometimes We Ran 2"?
Keep reading.
First, ...who the heck am I? Well, I am a 43-year-old CAD drafter from Woodstock, GA that happened to write a zombie apocalypse novel.:)
It didn't start off as a novel. One day, around Halloween, I decided to try something creative, and write a zombie-themed short story. I used some elements from some thoughts I had about a post-apocalyptic world that I had rattling around in my brain. Add some zombies, and a story was born. It was called "Among the Dead." I wrote about 2500 words, and that was that.
Or so I thought. I couldn't stop. I added more and more till I had about 65,000 words or so. None of them were any good, but it was at least neatly typed in Open Office.
Then I heard about Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) program, and a plan was born. Could I actually do it? I set out to challenge myself to publish to Amazon. After all, I had given Amazon a lot of money over the years. Why not see if I could get some back.:)
First came three self-edits. I read through my manuscript(actually, first I started calling it a manuscript), then brought out the RED PEN and started crossing things off. First, it was just a few words. Eventually whole passages and even chapters began to fall. After the bloodletting, there was a quick trip through ErrNet.
Next was a trip to a real editor. I sent it to eBookEditingPro.com. I was nervous. They were the first people to read my mess besides me. I spent the next week or so regretting my decision to write. Would they edit it, or would they sent it back with a email heckling me?
It came back with some helpful edits that I incorporated into the work. EBookEditingPro.com did an excellent job ...they actually made it sound like a book people could read!:)
Home stretch time. I built the book on Leanpub.com (great service), and they made nice, clean, ebook-like files for the Kindle, NOOK, and other readers. A title change to "Sometimes We Ran"(Among the Dead was already taken-damn), and then it was ready for the world ...I hoped.
Still with me? I set up an account with Amazon, uploaded files, including a killer cover, and set my creation out into the world for all to see ...like a Frankenstein's monster.
It sold two on the first day, and I was thrilled ...someone actually is reading it. Holy crap. It was exciting and scary at the same time.
I've glossed over a lot. It was not as easy as I made it seem. There were nights that I wanted to throw my computer across the room. There were nights I cursed my editors, Amazon, Leanpub, and others for talking me into this. All in all, though, it was a great experience.
Do I feel like a writer? I don't know yet. I am kinda playing this by ear for now. If it turns out I have fun doing something creative, I'll keep at it ...at least until Amazon tells me to stop.:)
Would I do it again? You bet!:) How about "Sometimes We Ran 2"?
Keep reading.
