Wow! November already. I keep saying it, but it’s hard to believe that another year is coming to an end. Welcome to the November edition of the IWSG blog. I enjoy reading the comments I receive on my posts each month and try to read theirs and a few others. I’ll try for ten this month, more if I can, and the reason I won’t be able to is the answer to this month’s question Writing is a tough taskmaster.
November 5 question – When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way?
When I began writing, the idea that someone would want to read my books let alone publish them seemed to be a pipe dream, right up there with being taller and slimmer. I’ve shrunk and I’m not any lighter, but the fact that a publisher wanted my very first book stunned me. It was a dream come true. The first round of edits demoralized me since it seemed they wanted me to change EVERYTHING. It actually had me wondering why they wanted the book in the first place, but I persevered, and the day I held a copy of that book in my hands was the proudest day of my life. It was also the reason why I wrote a second, and then a third, and then a fourth … all the way to fifty-three books and working on the fifth-fourth.
What did I expect my life would be like once I was published? I imagined the publisher would arrange book tours, provide promotional material, and of course an advance. First surprise: none of that happens these days. Advances to new writers may exist, but they didn’t in my world. Royalties were paid twice a year, and those were far less than I’d anticipated. Goodbye visions of fancy vacations in Tahiti and all the other perks I associated with success. Second, if you want to promote your book, you have to do it yourself. I suck at blowing my own horn, so that has been and continues to be difficult for me. Third, books don’t write themselves and if you want to build an audience base, you have to keep writing. I’ve yet to hit on my perfect genre since I enjoy writing different books–romance, comedy, suspense, fantasy, paranormal, but I keep searching for the one that will turn me into a household name. But, I’d been bitten by the writing bee, and I continue, I don’t expect that notoriety any time soon.
So, after publishing my first few books, I thought diversification might be the answer and sent manuscripts to other small publishers who were looking for new authors. Those were accepted, too, but still the riches and fame eluded me. And then the bottom fell out of my writing world and I learned that people are not always good and honest, wanting the best for you and your career.
Some of the publishers were grifters who did a poor job of editing and cover design, and in the end, stole what little I had in the way of royalties. Others were too small to compete in the growing writing market, and again, whatever royalties I had were lost. My first publisher, the one that had set me on this second career path, was bought out by one of the big publishers, but that published didn’t care about us and how much we lost been absorbed by the giant. All they wanted to do was stifle the competition. My steady flow of royalties vanished. In fact, my most recent check form them was for two cents, USD. A bank won’t even accept that, so it’s an expenseive book mark now.
I honestly believed my career was over. Then, a friend suggested I publish my books independently. When I looked into it, I found that it wasn’t too difficult to do. I painstakingly recovered the rights to everything that I’d written. Then, I went into the material, edited and rewrote it, until I republished it. Did it cost money to publish my own books, yes, but doing so with Amazon and Create Space at the time helped. Have I recouped everything I’ve spent? No, not by a long shot, and I doubt I ever will.
Writing is far more work than teaching was. It involves long hours sitting alone at the computer, researching, typing, cutting, pasting, and editing, over and over again. How long do I write each day? Since I consider this a job and not a hobby, as a rule seven to eight hours a day, but since I am my own boss, that is flexible when needed. How many days a week do I write? Everyday, rain or shine, but again, that’s flexible as I do take time off as needed for vacations, family celebrations, and this year, surgery and recovery. When will I stop? That’s a question for the Good Lord to answer. As long as I can, I’ll continue to let my imagination soar. I’m no longer young. I have a finite number of writing days ahead of me, I know that, but I have a new dream. I want to leave a legacy for my grandchildren, maybe not a financial one, but I love hearing my grandchildren say, “My grandma wrote this book.” Maybe someday, it’ll be my great-grandchildren.
To see how others answered this question, check out the link! https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
Living the Dream 