Moving Forward

After my amazing book launch for A Blueprint for Hope, I've made some decisions about how I would like to move forward in my writing.

Firstly, I will minimize my time spent on Twitter. What was at one time a wonderful app for connecting writers and readers has devolved into a numbers game and a pissing contest. I don't believe that readers find novels through Twitter. 

As to the Writing Community, you can imagine how dismayed I felt when I shared the happy news of my book launch, only to find a thread of other writers ripping me apart. Apparently, they decided to take the screenshots that I shared as an invitation to criticize a book they had never read and a marketing strategy I never shared. My goal in posting the screenshots was to thank my audience and to encourage other indie authors on their publishing journeys. I never wanted to make anyone feel badly about their own novels. I decided not to engage with the thread, but reading the nasty comments has soured me to the platform for now. I am not going to delete my account at this time. However, I will be removing the app from my phone. I will use Twitter only to share writing and publishing updates in the future.

My time is limited and I have decided to devote more of it to this blog and to writing my new novels. 

I think good things are coming and I will do my best to keep you all updated. As always, thank you for your years of support! 

I Wrote an Outline

That may not seem like an unusual thing for an author to do, but I'm a "pantster". That means, I store all of my book information in my head, write multiple novels at once, often completely out of order, and then fix any errors later. It is chaotic, but it has always worked for me.

As you may have noticed from my last post, I've made it a goal to publish a romance novel. Genre romance is actually more complex than it seems on the service. The list of "must haves' in the novels are lengthy, and readers have certain expectations that have to be met. These include specific beats the writer needs to hit at specific points in the story. So, this week I actually sat down and outlined the entire novel. It's not a complex outline, but it's an outline.

I also drew a character Venn diagram. Crazy? Perhaps a little. I needed to map out exactly what my characters had in common and what their opposing traits are. That way, I can keep the push and pull of their story genuine. I've assigned each character a color season so that I can consistently maintain the image they project. When writing a 50,000 word novel, the author really has to keep things tight. 

My other goal for 2019 is to get my writing organized and I think this is a great start. I know what scenes, major emotions, and atmospheres I need to hit when and I think I can do that without the story feeling forced.

Scrivener is continuing to be a huge help in getting my work to higher standard.

I have also started a writers journal. As you already know, I work full time. That means I need to use my downtime wisely if I want to keep up with my novels, my social media, and the occasional freelance work I do. The fact is that I simply need to write more. Keeping a journal and pen handy for ideas, story-boards, and even writing rough drafts should help me with that.
  

Introduction

Hello All!

Welcome to a brand new blog by a brand new author. As I write this, my contacts in the internet world are pretty slim, but I hope to make plenty of new friends and network, network, network.

So, since I can't talk about you and this is an introduction, let me tell you a little about myself. When I was sixteen I decided that I could write a novel. After all, other people do it all the time and if Stephen King and J.K. Rowling could be millionaires, why couldn't I? Ah... the ignorance / arrogance of youth. But, I did it! It took me two years to get a first rough (very, very rough) draft. A year of editing followed. Then there was the year of queries. I can proudly show off thirty-two rejections letters. Bruised, but not broken eh? Hope appeared about eight months ago when I got this close to a deal with Penguin, but it fell apart.

What had I been doing in the meantime? Writing, of course. I now have a catalogue of two historical fiction novels and five screenplays. Did I forget to mention that I wanted to be a screenwriter for a while? Well, I'm kind of over that now. What I do want to do is learn everything there is to know about self publishing, e-books, and social media. My goal is that by this time next year, I can release my first novel in paperback and in ebook format.

We mustn't talk buisness all the time, though. You can expect book reviews, films reviews, random rants about things that annoy me, contests, and maybe even some lolcats over the next year while you follow me on my path to publication.

I think we're in for a good ride. If you're a writer extraordinaire with advice, a marketing guru with a tip, or if you just love costume drama and romance as much as I do, comment. As much as I could talk to myself all day (and sometimes do) I'd love a chat.