What I've learned in 2011, and the release of Danse Macabre!

Today is the official release of Danse Macabre, and itstumbled out of the gate around midnight. As I start writing this, it is 5:00pm here, and the book has only made it through Smashwords and Kindle so far. Iwill post the link for them, and those for the paperback when it is available,on the preview page at the bottom. This is a zombie novella, and it was just aside project that I was working on. Here is the book cover blurb:
Spencer Mason hasdiscovered a secret spell that will raise the dead, and as a funeral homedirector, there is no short supply of bodies. As Spencer builds a legion ofundead soldiers, he plans to get revenge for the torment he endured during hischildhood years - until Raven Anderson moves into town.
Blind since birth,Raven struggles to adapt with her new surroundings after the death of hermother. She finds a sympathetic shoulder to lean on when she meets Spencer, andthe two find out that they have a lot in common.
Raven senses thatSpencer is troubled by something that he isn't sharing, but the thing thattortures Spencer the most is something Raven cannot see.
Since today is the first day of the year - and I don'treally post much about myself - I figured that I would do a short year inreview. I never make a resolution because I don't like to break promises, and Iwould hate to disappoint myself by not holding true to my own word. Instead Istarted thinking back to one year ago. What I was doing, dreaming, and hoping,and then about everything that I've learned since then.
One year ago I was anxiously waiting for my final editedversion of Endlessly to come back fromthe editor. I had a slightly elevated hope that it would do decently wellonline. Don't get me wrong, at no point did I ever imagine, or hope, that I wouldbecome rich with this book, or series. I've read a lot of books, I know whatsells big, and Endlessly was not them.
Endlessly wasabout trying. Even though there are people that hate it, at least I tried, andthat is a lot more than most people can say. It may not be grand, or the nextgreatest novel, but I put my heart out there on display, and smiled when peoplestabbed it and called it crap. Why? Because that's what authors do. We slave,stress, worry, lose sleep, get frustrated, and spend months of our free timebuilding something for people to enjoy. Then someone comes along and tells us itsgarbage, and we smile, nod, and say thank you for your feedback. Or at leastthat is what an author should do. Some take it personal and attack the negativereviewer, which is a bunch of bull, not everyone has the same opinion, and Iwould hate to live in a world where everyone did.
Through this process I learned a lot. Things like grammar, punctuation,and sentence structure… all the things that I should have paid attention to inhigh school. But there was more than what I thought, like: formatting,cover design, pitches, marketing, cover letters, and constant rejection fromagents and publishers. It's enough to squash your self-esteem, and itmakes you question whether it's really all worth the effort.
I moved forward, even with all the negativity, and publishedLegacy. This time it moved a littleeasier because I knew what to expect. I took everything that I had learned, used it, plus I learned more about grammar. Reviewers were gentler, but I knowthat is to be expected. Let's face it; if you don't like a book, you sure ashell aren't going to read the sequel to it. I learned some more about repeatcustomers and their expectations, and still disappointed a few readers.
Then I joined The LL Book Review. Having written twobooks at this time, I knew what it was like to try and get your name out there. I have this weird thing about doing things for other people that I wouldlike done for me. (They call it The Golden Rule I hear.) I call it karma. When I was starting out, Ijust wanted someone to read my book and leave a review, and this is was the LLdoes. So after Legacy, I started writing reviews while I continued with my ownwriting venture.
Phantom was upnext, and at this point, people are constantly asking when it's going to be available.(Late February 2012) Phantom was thefirst book that I wrote that I actually felt confident with the way that itturned out. I know that any editor that would look at it would say that it wascrap, and it really needed to be cleaned up, but knowing how the firstdraft of Endlessly looked compared toPhantom, I was happy with all theprogress that I had made as a writer.
While Phantom wasoff in the hands of the editor, I started fiddling around with Danse Macabre. (And now we come fullcircle.) I never meant for it to be anything really serious, and wasn't evensure if I was going to publish it. I've spoken with other authors since becoming a reviewer at the LL, and I have started growing a small network of contacts.I asked one author if he would be interested in critiquing Danse Macabre, and he accepted. We had a huge meeting of the minds,and I can't begin to tell you how much we learned from each other. I had totake notes to remember it all, and since then, I have begun keeping a smallnotebook with the things that I learn about grammar on my desk, along with mygrammar book, dictionary, and TheElements Of Style.  
One year. It just amazes me how much I've learned in one year.I can't claim that I know everything about writing, and I still have a bumpyroad ahead if I continue to write, but I'm learning. And as long as you are open tosuggestions, and willing to learn from your mistakes, you won't go insane.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again andexpecting different results." - Albert Einstein


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