Your Friday Tidbit -- What does it take to be an author?

 

Happy Friday everyone! How's it been? We are already at September! Wasn't it just September like two weeks ago? How'd we get back there so quickly?

September 20th will be my official ONE YEAR mark being a published author. How did time go by so fast? I've learned some very interesting things in this one year too, so that's what I'm going to talk about in this installment and perhaps it will help those of you out there who have a story or a book idea rattling around within you or if you secretly harbor the desire to put "words to paper." 

Author Lesson #1 -- Write.

As the saying goes (and I'm paraphrasing, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."  If you are considering writing, go for it! Do it! Just start throwing your words down on paper or on your chosen Be prepared to be flexible about your writing about your writing, though. Your first (Second, tenth, or even twenty-fifth) draft will not be perfect. Mistakes happen. If you are an organized mind who needs to plan out your direction (which really helps if you write non-fiction) then by all means, plan it. Fiction doesn't always need a plan, you can wing it, and just go for it, because you don't always get your story flowing to you in the order it is going to end up as. It's like filming a movie or TV show. They don't film it in order. They film in chunks that are later fit together. And that's how your book will sometimes come to you. Don't worry about editing your first draft at any time as you are throwing your ideas onto "paper." Just write. So what if it looks like a 2nd grader with dyslexia wrote it? It's just your first draft. 

Author Lesson #2 -- Judgement

As you write, you can discuss your story with others. Sometimes you want to, sometimes you need to, and sometimes people are curious. You are going to get different reactions from those around you as you do this. Some people will just give you a smile and tell you it's nice to have a hobby. Face it, if you don't know a best selling published author, then chances are neither do your friends and co-workers and all they see is the poor, struggling artist who has lofty dreams and not a snowball's chance at making it big. Then you have people who find what you are doing interesting, give you a thumbs up 'good for you' and change topics. Then you have your people -- the fellow dreamers who know exactly what you re going through and will support you because the know what you are going through. These are the people who tell you that yeah, you're crazy but they love your enthusiasm. They'll even volunteer to read your early drafts and give you feedback. But if you believe in you, in your dream, and your goal of being a published writer, you will get there -- Writing is one thing but once that gets published, it's like that dream of being naked at school. Publishing your work is intimidating, scary, and full of unknowns. You've poured your heart, soul, being, and hundreds of hours into this piece of work. How is the world going to accept it? You might as well be living that embarrassing and anxiety inducing dream. But here's the deal -- and once you accept this fact, everything else becomes less daunting -- Not everyone will like your writing style, your story, your cover, your description, or you, but that's ok. You are following your calling so you need to learn to accept the bad with the good and find the lesson in it. 

Author Lesson #3 -- There will ALWAYS be distractions.

There are a lot of memes out there in the writers groups about what it means to be a writer, including staring at your computer screen for eight hours and writing nothing. I'm not writing this for sympathies because these days everyone is busy and a crazy life is not a competition. I'm just writing this as a point -- I am a wife, a mother, and a homeschooler. I have chores, I have hobbies, I have things that must get done every day. It is approaching fall which means I have gardens to harvest, produce to put up, firewood to collect, help split, & stack. I have summer to put away. I have animals that need fed, coops and animal stalls to clean. I have a house that is lived in so it's constantly got things out. I have three kids so I always have laundry, dishes, dirty floors, messy kids rooms, and them constantly messing faster than I clean. We homeschool so I have three different grade levels to teach daily, with lesson planning and then finding different solutions for their individual learning styles. And then there's the marriage aspect with a husband who is on a totally different schedule than the rest of the world so I'm already planning dinner before I even have breakfast. I'm not even going to mention the four-legged shedding machine that lives inside that deposits fur and dirt and drool everywhere. And we don't even do any extra-curricular activities like sports or 4H anymore because that was just extra stress and time I didn't have. The point is there will ALWAYS be distractions. How important is writing to you? You make your priorities. For my particular lifestyle, my writing takes place in the evening -- after everything for the day is done. Yeah, I could veg out in front of the TV, which I do when I'm "researching" (That's how I justify watching On Patrol Live for 3 straight hours) but my writing is what I do for me. It keeps me sane. But just because I am able to write in the evening doesn't mean it's 100% distraction free -- Nope, I have kids I've put to bed 10 times wanting to hold philosophical conversations, I have animals to put away, I have various evening chores to do when the sun goes down and the temperature lowers, and then more hungry, thirsty philosophers searching for the true meaning of life...So, I ask again, how important is writing to you? 

Author Lesson #4 -- It's a DIY Life

So, the biggest lesson I've learned is that if you want to be published, your best option is to self-publish. If you have access to a large amount of money you can throw at marketing and advertising, by all means, do it. Find a partner publishing situation and do it. But if you don't have that option because the dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to, food has doubled in price, cost of living is astronomical, and you're making choices of "do we fill the tank with gas or do we eat a nutritious meal?" (At this point we all are feeling like we're in an episode of a survival show that throws together Naked & Afraid, Alone, Harry Potter, The Walking Dead, and those popular post-apocalyptic shows). Back in the day, like thirty years ago, you used to write query letters, send them off with the first couple chapters of your book, and wait for either an acceptance letter or, more likely, a rejection letter. Then you'd go down your list in your publisher search and repeat the process until someone liked what you wrote and agrees to publish it. These days it's not that simple. In the world of technology, you have to do social media, promote yourself, advertise, gain a following, do the leg work, sell the books and then submit your work to a traditional publisher if that's the route you wish to go. Or you stay self published and keep going. This one lesson alone makes sense to me because in the writers groups, they have people who post "Post your page here and I'll give you a like if you like my page back" in an attempt to gain followers. Then people were celebrating how many followers they had. I was curious as to why they were doing that because I'd rather have quality over quantity but now I'm realizing the why's to all of it. Quality has nothing to do with anything anymore. You need the numbers to get noticed. That is why some authors pay for services to leave 'reviews' on their books. That's why Advanced Copy Readers are important. That's why social interaction is so important. You can have the best story in the world and be the next greatest author that will be just as important to your genre as Jane Austen, Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Patricia Cornwell, Louis L'Amour or even Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are to their genres....BUT if you can't get your book to the forefront, it doesn't matter. But knowing this makes all the difference in the world. And now that you know this, you can do something about it. 

Author Lesson #5 -- Write for you.

You will always see someone out there who is going to have what you deem a better story with a ton of following. You're always going to wonder if you should write a different genre. The thing if you're not writing what you are best at, you're going to fail. You have to do you. You have to be you. Who cares if "you" don't fit into one particular genre. You go be you and you're going to be the best you that has ever been. Write the book, the novel, the story, the series, that you'd love to read.

Author Lesson #6 -- Keep writing.

You can't be an author if you don't write. So write. Just keep writing. Don't force a story, don't force a plot. It may not be ready to be written right now. But keep at it. Stories have a way of getting told when they're ready to be. 

Author Lesson #7 -- Enjoy the journey.

You don't know everything in this world and it's a disservice to yourself to think you do. Learn. Keep learning. Stay humble. If someone finds a mistake in your published work, don't let it shatter you. Smile, fix it, republish, and then keep going. You love writing (you may hate editing but you love writing). Ignore the bullies out there who belittle and sneer at "self-published" authors. The truth is, those bullies probably hate themselves just at much and are doing it because of their inner fears and their broken inner child. You keep writing and keep thriving. Don't let a slow day, week, month, or year get you off track. Just keep going. 

I hope this has helped you understand what it takes to be an author. If you have a story within you, write it. Even if you don't publish it. Just write it. 

This month I will be doing different posts to highlight the various books I have published. I will be asking for interaction, for you to share posts, likes, and all that fun social media aspect so they can reach more people. I may even start a campaign on social media. I just have a difficult time giving money to Meta. It just....grates on me but....it must be done to reach more people. I will also share with you two of my upcoming novels that will be due out this winter and spring of 2024.

Thank you so much for taking this time to spend with me and for reading my posts. I appreciate it more than you will ever know. Make sure you like, comment, and interact with me! I hope you have a wonderful day!

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https://www.barnesandnoble.com]

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