Tag: editing

Self-Publishing Journey Pt. 1

I want to recap my self-publishing journey. Where I’ve been, where I am and where I’m going.

May 15, 2019 was a crazy day. After dealing with a self-publishing nightmare that delayed my novel being published, I got word that it was live on Amazon about 45 minutes before I had to leave for work.

Self-publishing house fire.

I had to shower, text friends & family who’d been asking me about the book and try to send out social media updates and a blog post. I rushed and got it all done in time for work, but I felt behind all day. I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until I was home that night. That was the end (at least to this point) of my self-publishing journey.

What I want to do now is recap where I’ve been throughout this process, from the beginning. Not only for you, but for myself. To take the time and really think about where I’ve been, where I am and where I’m going.

As for where I am now, I read Little Big Brother and think it could have been written better. But after sending it to the editor, then going through it once more, I was finished with it. And it was done with me. A lot of writers recommend taking time off from a manuscript after each round of edits, just to clear your mind so you can come back with fresh eyes. Writing a book, creating something from scratch, I could still be making changes to LBB if I allowed myself. I could tweak it to death. But at that point, it was as good as it was going to get.

Part 2 of my self-publishing journey will be posted Wednesday.

The Joys of Editing

Interrupting my writing to blog about how I’m not distracted.

I’m editing my first novel for what feels like the 1,000th time and I’m sick of looking at it. I’m currently at the library, where I like writing because it’s a hassle to connect to their Wi-Fi so I’m less distracted. As I sat here editing I was enjoying the process. Really enjoying rereading something for the millionth time and finding things that are wrong or can at least be improved upon.

One big issue is the lack of details during dialogue. Expressions, actions, tones, etc. But this time I could see the characters the way I could when I was writing earlier drafts. Just letting the story come to me. I didn’t have to think about adding a detail just because I’d gone too many lines of dialogue without any. I was seeing the characters in my mind as I wrote.

I actually stopped writing to draft this post, so I’m probably fucked now, but that’s okay. It was nice while it lasted.