I’ve only gone and done it!
NaNoWriMo is just about over for another year, and I’m proud to say that I managed to do the full 50,000 words. Not only that, I did more, in fact, even though the month isn’t actually over I’ve ended up with more than 68,000 so far. I actually passed 50,000 on the 21st. I’m pretty sure that I can make 70,000 by the end of the month.
I’m looking forward to having a bit of a rest, hence the shorter post this time. If you missed the sample chapter from my project, click here to go to the post.
The thing is, even though I’ve finished, I’ve only just started. The story might be complete as far as I’m concerned but the actual work has only just started. There’s a long way to go before my masterpiece hit’s the digital shelves. At this point, there’s no guarantee that it ever will, any number of things still have to be sorted out before then.
The problem is that, as I read it, I can see it as more than it is. I can still see the vision that I wrote down. I can see so much more of the scene than the part of it that made it onto the page.
So, when I read it, I don’t read it as a purchaser would. I need a different pair of eyes to look at it and point out the parts where my imagination covers up for the lack of plot.
Now I have to start the process of editing, get it to my beta readers and generally tidy it up and improve it. And if the feedback I get makes me think that it’s a viable project, there will be a cover to design, more edits and, eventually, a finished product.
And that brings me rather neatly on to next week’s post. I’ll be explaining the way that I, as a self-published author, go from a first draft to a finished product. And it might just surprise you!
As an antidote to all the hours spent typing, I went to a gathering of authors and bloggers last Saturday.
I wanted to start implementing my new year resolution early, by getting out and doing a bit more marketing, not the Facebook/Twitter ‘buy my book’ sort but the face to face kind, where I could talk to real people and offer guest posts, review copies and generally get my name out there as an author of interesting stuff.
Thanks to my work this year, I have a lot more time to do this, I have three completed manuscripts that can all be edited and published in 2018. I have five stories part written, all sequels, none of which will take much work to finish. Plus all the short stories that have come from my research or were ideas that have not quite made it into the longer format, at least, not yet. So, as a quid pro quo, I will be throwing the pages of my website open to guest posts and blog tours, all I have to do is find the content. Which was why I went to the meeting.
I met a lot of great people, it was nice to get out and into the ‘real’ world, if writers are not careful, they can get isolated and miss out on realising that they are not alone. I’ve now got some new contacts, hopefully, we can progress to blogs, reviews, guest posts etc.
And I want to read more, I have a pile of books and a kindle full that I’m desperate to catch up on.
As an example of the way that fate twists me to its purpose, as I wrote this, I found a post on Facebook, advertising another competition, with the entry consisting of an original, minimum 50,000-word story. The competition doesn’t close until the end of May. I should really say, ‘get stuffed.’ I have nothing that hasn’t been submitted anywhere else or is not a sequel. And yet, the competitive person in me says, ‘I could do that.’
Fool that I am.
