It's official, my first book is in the hands of an editor. The process was vastly different than I envisioned. That's not to say it was a bad experience, quite the contrary. It was challenging. The actual writing of a book is laborious, a labor of love, but laborious none the less. The end result was a story that was vastly different than the one I set out to write. I like to think it turned out better but I guess that verdict will ultimately be decided by the readers.
The decision to write a book seems so simple on it's surface. Once you get deeper into it, you realize that you might have gotten yourself into uncharted waters. I found I had to find a method that worked for me, which was probably the most time consuming part. I stopped and started about a hundred times and I finally landed on something that worked. I'll post about it some time soon. I wrote this book completely out of order. I started at the beginning, then wrote the end and then bounced around in the middle.
The characters were fun to develop and there are a few in there who weren't a part of the original plan. You have to go where the story takes you. That is the biggest lesson I learned from a writing perspective, I think. Even when it's painful and there were some painful parts, let me tell you! Now, my story is written and being red inked as I type. It's a nerve wracking experience. I didn't realize how vulnerable it would feel to let someone read it. I like to think I am a fairly self assured person and I have reached a point in life where what people think about me is pretty unimportant. But, putting this book out there has brought up some feelings of insecurity. 'What if it stinks?' 'What if they hate the characters I have grown to love?' 'What if I shouldn't be a writer?' Ugh, I am having flashbacks to my fourteen year old self.
Additionally, I never thought about the administrative part of writing a book. I never really thought about choosing cover art, creating a website, ISBN numbers, marketing plans - there is a lot of stuff that has to be done that I hadn't really considered. It kind of makes the writing part - which I thought was the hard part - feel like a breeze.
I keep telling myself it will get easier, that this craziness is because it's the first book. Once I have the infrastructure in place, the next book and the one after that will be easier, right? I hope once its available you'll give it a read.