After the craziness that was 2020, I realized over the winter holidays that what I wanted to do, more than anything, was to get back to writing. I’d already managed to complete three and a half rough drafts throughout 2020, and I wanted to just grab that momentum and run with it. Unfortunately, even with support from my friends and a passionate dedication of my own, the process is never so simple as just writing. For those of us who have struggled our way through a rough draft or, heaven forbid a rewrite, it might seem odd to think that writing was the simplest part, but it kind of is.
My journey for 2021 is now decided – I am going to start to study the many various ways of getting my work out into the world. This will have many different outlets: revamp of old publications, new and improved publication for one lucky series, exploring all that there is to virtual book tours, getting my name out there, and even writing on different sites.
The first part is simple enough – now that my I was gifted with the wondrous creation of a new MacBook for Christmas, I can download the tools needed to get my “Original Three” back up and running in the Amazon market. The second part…that’s taking a bit more work. At first I had envisioned a sports bracket, where I pitted stories against each other for who would make the final cut. I had a lot of fun making all the would-be covers for the finalists too. But then I realized that my smartest move wouldn’t be to go with something new, but to go with something I knew, inside and out. One of the “Original Three” would therefore be the lucky winner, and as I’m completely done with one series, it quickly moved to the top of the list.
Let me just take a second to say how much fun it was to sign myself up for the professional packet of Canva.com. Honestly, there is so much “scope for the imagination” when it comes to crafting covers to reflect the stories that I have told. These are my babies, and now I have the opportunity to put a face to them for the whole world to see. I easily made the $12.95 professional service fee back in a weekend, just coming up with variations for eight different books. I’m not affiliated with them in anyway, but if you’ve only ever tried to create covers in Createspace or KDP, I highly recommend giving it a try.
The study and pursuit of knowing the ins and outs of publication and the writing world will be an ongoing effort. As I get the books I ordered, I will share what I’ve learned for any and all who would like to learn without all the hassle.
And finally, the idea of putting works out into the world. I did some research, and came to an inconclusive answer as to which would be better in the long run, Wattpad or Booksie. So, I did both. Luckily for me, I have over two dozen stories that are, at the very least, in their completed rough draft form, so I had plenty to choose from. (As a side note, my boyfriend is currently on a Skyrim jaunt, so I chose as one of the two a medieval fantasy – less likely to be drawn off topic by the antics of his “Murder Mittens” assassin/thief/mage cat.)
I’m less than 24 hours into all of these changes, and all I can say, beyond what I already have, is that there is a tangible relief to know that after years of not writing, or barely writing, to not only be writing again, but to be able to share some of my stories – AND TO HAVE EVEN A FRACTION OF THOSE STORIES READ – is more than I had thought to hope for. I’m super excited to keep up with Wattpad, where a novella that I am very attached to has already had several views and I can only hope for more. As for Booksie, it doesn’t really bother me if Rose’s story goes unread for awhile. I needed an excuse to work on all the info dumps I dropped in the first chapter, and this will be it.
Will I find success in all of these many ventures? I think I already have, but I’m going to keep doing this. I’m going to keep embracing the writer within, and finally giving her the voice she just might deserve.
Until next time –
L.E.
Ramblings of a Would-Be Writer 