WOW! May already! It’s hard to believe how quickly time flies, but we’re finally into spring–at least I hope so. On the calendar, that season may have started in March, but it appears Mother Nature doesn’t pay any attention to calendars. Who knew? We had a snowstorm a week ago, and anything is possible. Temperatures are still in the 30s and 40s F at night or 3-4 C.
This month’s question is an interesting one, especially since I used that quote from Dickens myself not too long ago.
May 4 question – It’s the best of times; it’s the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)?
I suppose like all authors, my good times are those when I’ve finished a book, and it’s ready for publishing. There’s an indescribable joy in knowing that I’ve fleshed out an idea and turned it into a story for others to enjoy. The next moment of glee comes when the book sells or has pages read, and I can see the fruits of my labor. Finally, there’s immense satisfaction when the book gets helpful reviews. Sadly, it’s hard to get people to post those reviews. Telling me how much they enjoyed a book in person or in an email or a message is great, but for some reason many of them can’t seem to figure out how to post a review on Amazon or Goodreads where it can actually help with sales. That can be frustrating.
The worst times are exactly the opposite of the good ones, like when I hit a roadblock in a story and have a hard time working my way around it to finish the story. As well, when I’m editing and those unintentional but huge plot holes present themselves and force me to go back to the beginning to fix them. Finally, it’s when books for whichever reason don’t sell and don’t get pages read. And of course, I can’t forget the trolls, people who leave bad book ratings without reviews or worse, send the book back to Amazon so that I lose money.
But don’t get me wrong. On the whole, I have more good times than bad one. I hope you do, too.
Read other May posts here. https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
Living the Dream 
I’ve heard many authors echo your frustration about the reviews. I don’t think the general public understands the connection between reviews and sales. And unless it’s borrowed from a library, returning a book is just tacky.
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You’re right. Recently I had quite a few people claim not to be able to leave reviews on Amazon. They said they kept getting kicked off. If that’s true, it just adds to the problem.
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