10 Lessons I Learnt With 5 Published Books #MondayBlogs #Writer

Back in 2017, I decided to write my first full-length romance novel. Before this, I had written a dodgy space rom-com and a romance series, which was written via thirty-four weekly blog posts, called The Diary of Roxy Collins. One day I must turn her into a book.

The thought of being published back then felt like a pipe dream. It was something that happened to other people, not to someone like me.

After much daydreaming and procrastination, I had to set aside the dream of being published and focus on learning how to write a romance novel. This book would become “Instructions for Falling in Love Again.”

My first book was published in 2023 with Bloodhound books.

Here I am today, with five published books behind me, and I am ready to share the lessons I have learnt.

Every book teaches you something different. It could be plot, character, setting or something about yourself. Book ideas don’t always come to you because they are meant to be turned into books. Most ideas come to teach you something.Every book will break you in some way. It’s true. They will either break you emotionally or mentally. At some point you will want to lie down by your desk, curl up in a ball and weep. Every book of mine has done this to me. Some break me at first draft stage, some second draft however most break me when I have to make harsh changes like deleting characters, large chunks of my plot and my book no longer feels like the one I first wrote.Editors are wonderful people. They are the unsung heroes of the book world, A book is never finished. I still think about my 5 books and what I would do to improve them.Promoting books never gets easier. To be an author you have to find new ways of promoting your book and you will have to be okay when your carefully crafted social media posts don’t perform. Reading is your rocket fuel. If you can’t write – read! Writer’s block is more likely to be due to tiredness/exhaustion/stress/burnout. Always try resting or taking a break first before you try and alleviate your writer’s block. Honest beta readers are invaluable. If you can find honest beta readers you are onto something good.Rejection never goes away. This is true. Rejection still happens even when you are an established author.Conflict. It’s all about the conflict. This is the secret sauce for any book. If you want to write a good book – add a good spoonful of conflict,

And I still feel like a beginner when it comes to writing a book