By 
Well, folks, I’m finally doing it. After decades of writing just for myself, I finally sat down about two years ago and promised myself I was going to actually finish a book and publish it. Nanowrimo that year helped me with the first step — I finished a first draft, all the way to the end. It had a real plot arc and everything!
That’s when the REAL work began. The editing. And the editing. And still more editing. Some of that you can see in the ‘Deleted scenes’ page. Others shall never see the light of day again, if I have anything to say about it. And thankfully, being the author, I do!
I joined a wonderful writer’s group that helped me refine my story, read advice columns and books on writing, took lots of the advice…discarded some, too. Until finally, I felt like I had a book worth reading. I can only hope that some of you will feel the same.
But to get it to you, I had to go through the next circle of hell: the sheer details of figuring out how to publish.
Now, I could have gone the traditional publisher route, searched for an agent, waited on an offer. But honestly, I just didn’t think my self-esteem could take that. Besides, I did my research and from what I found, my books are likely to do better for me as self-published anyway. So here I go.
Cover artists were hired, editors listened to, ISBNs bought, and front-matter decided on…along with about three dozen other details I’d had no clue about before this began. With luck, I’ve crossed all my T’s and dotted all my I’s and now, a year and a half after I finished that first draft, I believe that I can finally offer readers an engaging slice of my imagination.
I have more stories fighting to be told, so here’s to hoping this ship sets sail with all of its holes patched and watertight! Or at least that I can bail fast enough to keep it afloat!
Waiting on a few final details before publication.
