Introduction
Over the years, I’ve gone through some incredible times with my book. I have cried over an unexpected compliment from the Harry Potter publisher, and been so excited about Golden Egg Academy workshops that I’ve almost forgotten how to breathe, but…. these moments are not for this entry.
This purposely dusty entry is to look at the bad times with it. Make no mistake. The reason I’m doing this is not to dissaud anyone who wants to publish a book. It’s simply to prepare them. For example, a lot of times you will hear people say that they want to be a writer, but a huge percentage don’t pursue that dream, or, it’s simply not as important as they thought it was. Further still, they say these words without understanding what it involves, and who can blame them?
Everywhere we look, we are surrounded by the gleaming sheen that is an author’s day to day life on their social media. Whether that’s book signing events, cover reveals, and VIP tickets to movie premieres, we see behind a false curtain, lending us views that 90 percent of the time isn’t true.
When I write, I write because I love to do it. Anything else that happens is a bonus. That’s not to say I haven’t fought for what’s happening, (and I wasn’t going to stop until I’d reached those targets), but it’s important to remember during those frustrating days what it’s all for.
The Ladder of Success
The trouble is, we hear about all the success stories. We read articles on accomplished authors in all genres, but what I want to knuckle down to now is what a realistic life of a day of a writer entails.
I learnt this year that there is a wide majority that, despite having achieved a literary agent, get no helping hand in marketing. They get into bookshops, but there’s no push. These authors are called ‘Midlist.’ Adult thrillers are often in this pocket, unless you’re talking like Steve Cavanagh or Lee Child, which I’ll go onto now. Some traditionally published authors get the big deals and are guided all the way. I’ve recently discovered that they are ‘Leads.’ There’s no magic formula to getting there, wherever your version of ‘there’ is. The Leads are typically like Harry Potter, Alex Rider, the Twilight phenomenon and The Maze Runner.
The Murky Road
I will always love writing. It’s in my blood, but there have been so many times when it was difficult too. I’m not going to go into detail, (as I feel I’ve rambled enough), though I will list the biggest struggles I’ve had to deal with over the years…..
1. Writer’s block
2. Rejections (Often there are countless ones, including messages like ‘We like your book, just not enough’ etc)
3. Writing through nearly any temperature (This might be up for debate, but I would write and edit even when it was freezing or boiling)
4. Commitment to your writing (Try and write every day)
5. Research and Knowledge (Join a class, enrol at a writer’s academy etc)
6. Latent Processing
7. Repetitive edits
8. Rewriting for months
9. Practise the craft of writing (This could be through fanfiction, poetry, script writing, and writing competitions)
10. Writing when you feel like nothing is happening (Perseverance is key, despite the little voice in your head)
Next time……
I talk about all the positives about writing. There’s so much more positives than negatives (hence the happy photo included! Everything I wrote about here was to give anyone a realistic heads up, not to deter them as I said)
