My first taste of an author’s life

Hey all! I must apologize for being three days tardy with my latest post. My life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately and I’ve done a poor job keeping up with my planner. Nevertheless, here we are!

First, a brief update on where and what I’m writing. The rough draft of Ravyn’s POV for Book Two is close to completion. I anticipate one more chapter and then a sort of epilogue that will set up the events for book three. I was always excited to write Ravyn’s journey to Athel, but it took a few turns that surprised even me. I’ll be sharing a rough snippet of it in the coming days to whet your appetites.

Aside from book two in the Teutevar Saga, I’m in the works or revisiting and expanding The White Knight to release as free supplemental read. I attacked this project with a very particular writing style in mind and am still working to polish it to where I want it to be for you readers.

On top of that, I’m working on my first co-authored piece — a serial entitled The Freelance Tales. The goal for me and the chap I’m working with is to release three of four issues a year. Right now, we’ve almost got the rough draft (around 10,000 words) completed. Stay tuned for more on this.

Now for my bi-weekly musing. Since I last wrote, my life has taken a couple of major turns. I was let go from my day job, which came with a large amount of stress and worry, but also an equal amount of freedom. Although I loved my work, I now have the opportunity to start a brand new chapter in the story of my life! In the meantime, I’ve also been able to write more as well — I doubled my daily word count and have been flying right through the end of Ravyn’s portion of the novel. Until I head back to the work force, I’m determined to make the most of my time as a full-time author, even if I’m only getting a small taste right now.

In other news, I received my first review for Out of Exile yesterday. You can read it here, but suffice to say, it’s sort of a ‘love the sinner hate the sin’ commentary. It’s all good though! I love to receive feedback of all kinds and I take both the good and bad with a grain of salt.

Of late, I’ve been thinking on the dedication and the grind a self-published author subjects him/herself to. You’ve got to have a true love for the craft and discipline like a Jedi (had to throw that one in here) to even create a book, let alone publish a quality one. From there, the game’s just beginning. In addition to networking and promoting, you’ve always got to be writing more, because, after all, if you’re not writing…well, you’re not writing.

Last night, at the end of a busy day, I read over my review for the first time, laughed it off and then sat down at 11 to crank out another 1,500 words. At 12, when I was wrapping up and fighting to not fall asleep on my laptop, I knew what this post would be about. I was also reminded of the lyrics in a couple of songs I listen to when my writing hits a wall.

Eric Church, Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)

This town, she is a temptress.
A siren with gold eyes, she’ll cut you with her kindness,
She will lead you with her lies.
She’s been called a glistening devil.
She’s good at keeping score.
If you make it she’s your savior, if you don’t she’s a whore.
The roads to and from her heart are littered with grave souls.
They gave all of their all and all they got in return is empty holes.

Indulge me while I share one more: Zane Williams’ Overnight Success:

…Then you play everyday for oh, about nine or ten years

…And guess what’s next… everybody calls you an overnight success.

Yeah, you’re an overnight success.

Hey, and all it really took was 20 years of blood, sweat and tears 

Now, before I continue, I don’t want everything to think I’m getting all down on myself. Truth is, I relish the grind and am thankful for the opportunity to write words that people actually want to read. Perhaps a couple more lines from Mr. Church will get my point across:

It’s not all bad it’s not all dark it’s not all gloom and crass,
But to find gold in this silver mine it does take balls of brass.

And I really believe that. I get tired of hearing from all the naysayers out there who preach about writing being a trial, like you’ve got to suffer for your art or you won’t go anywhere. It should be fun! If it isn’t, why are you doing it? After that, you get another group of pessimists who say you’ll never make it in the self-publishing world because there’s a million books out there and, after all, who is going to find and want to read yours.

Here’s my reply to the first doom and gloom statement: Writing isn’t hard, but it is hard work. Writing is all about discipline but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun too. If it isn’t, maybe you’re not really writing what you really want to.

To the second, I say this: Self-publishing is even harder than writing, because now you’re putting yourself out there and, unless a miracle happens, it’s going to be a long tough road. People on the outside will look at you and call you an overnight success, but what they won’t know are the tiring hours you spent every night while they were watching the Late Show or the early hours you put in while they were still in bed. Still, we are not alone. We’re all here paying our dues and I welcome the chance the shell out mine.