There I sat with six “completed” novels and no idea how to proceed. A friend of mine told me about her old friend, a published author of six books, and offered to e-mail her on my behalf. I hoped she would agree to answer a few of my most important questions. Thankfully, she did.
Author Nancy Kay took the time to cheerfully and thoroughly reply. You can find her work on-line at www.nancykayauthor.com. Unfortunately, her replies were full of things I didn’t really want to do.
She suggested social media was important for self-promotion. She advised I join a writer’s group. Her most important advice was to find a great editor. Make a website. Enter contests. Have my work critiqued. Attend seminars and take on-line classes. All I really wanted to do was write. Reluctantly, I stuck my toes in the water and attempted to make some publishing progress.
A few people read my books. Since they were friends and family, I imagined their feedback wasn’t overly critical and frankly, I probably wasn’t ready for constructive criticism at that juncture. I looked on-line for groups to join, with little success. Every post I found seemed to be linked to some expensive class. My goal was to do as much as possible on my own and spend as little as necessary.
I signed up for a self-publishing class at the park. I learned a lot from the book coach and ghost writer who taught the class, Judith Cassis. She also confirmed the advice I got from Nancy Kay. I was invited to join Judith’s writing group and eventually, her advanced class for published and soon-to-be published authors.
This proved to be quite stressful. Why should anyone think I had a talent for writing when I’ve never done it before? My claim to having quickly written six novels sounded crazy even to me. I remember how difficult it was to read my work aloud. This is a hands-on writing group. Judith gives prompts for the next week, which you can follow, or do your own thing or simply go and listen.
Fortunately, The Golden Pen Writer’s Guild is extremely supportive. I learned a lot while gaining a modicum of confidence. I found I could write all kinds of things I never even considered: poetry, limericks, short stories, humor and horror. There were interesting challenges that made me think of words in different ways. And, I’ve been learning from critiques. Although I believed my books were in good shape for first drafts, I came to understand the editing process is probably more time intensive than writing a book in the first place. In fact, I’ve been on an editing binge for almost two years.
I managed to locate a local chapter of Romance Writers of America. There are many published authors who attend. They meet once a month and have a speaker. Although I’m not certain my work fits into the historical romance genre, the speakers always provide valuable information any author would find useful.
Stay tuned for more of my writing journey.