Don't do what I did, no seriously...

So you're thinking about writing a book. You've googled word counts and seen the stats. Not many authors are successful, it's true, at least for me so far. I'm cool with that. This is a rad hobby for me, I have a day job that pays the bills.

Do I hope to at some point be successful? Sure! Just don't start writing to make money....for reals.

So anyway I'm telling you about my journey writing A Bridge of Her Own. At this point I'm like a writing fool, and I have written this adorable (at least I think so) love story. I got to a certain point where I was like what next? It was more like a short story with no conflict, not a novel. That's what I was missing, conflict!

What I was really missing was advice from someone who had already been where I was. A mentor. So like manna from heaven it turned out a friend knew a local successful author. And was willing to introduce me! I had visions of meeting at a coffee shop and picking her brain. In actuality this author friend completely blew me off. Not gonna lie, totally knocked my self confidence down a few pegs.

What I should have done was started Twitter at this point. It does not matter what your genre is the writing community on Twitter has been amazing. Not only do they freely offer advice that is invaluable but support and encouragement along the way. If you are a big reader it is also an amazing place to discover independent authors you may not have otherwise.

So, what I would have done differently while writing my first novel would be to create an online presence via Twitter, a Blog, and Facebook author page prior to self publishing. I'm working on these aspects now, maybe I'll be successful in creating some kinda buzz about the novel I am currently working on.

Anywho, I'm on Twitter, user name Careylolo and I'm chatty. My goal is to never ever blow off a would be author.

More later, I should be doing laundry :/