So my New Year’s resolution this year (more like my New Year’s revelation) is to spend more time, effort, and determination on the writing dream (again). There is simply way too much info out there on the great inter-webs to be able to just narrow this down in a few simple searches. Dozens of people have their own “tried and true” ways to make writing work. But at the end of the day, we would-be writers have to do what is right for us.
Stage one began with ordering a bunch of books online. I stumbled on accident upon the website Bookshop.org – which is a neat idea that in ordering books, I can still support local – or at least not support Amazon. There’s a rabbit hole of a side story to that, but maybe that’s best left for another day. Anyway, I’ve gathered six new books into my arsenal, and little by little, I will be sharing my thoughts and takeaways from them in the coming weeks. Today, however, was more of the same in terms of just writing to write.
Two sites that came up when I was doing my deep dive into building a writer’s platform and all the bells and whistles that go with it, were Wattpad and Booksie. Considering that I have ample story ideas to take from, I decided to do both. For Wattpad, I went with my novella, Beauty and the Beast Within, a tale of the kind-hearted Hadarah and the reclusive Akim (who may or may not be part werewolf, he won’t let anyone to see his face full moon or not). For Booksie, I went with Lady Roselyn Fitzpatrick – who, if I’m being honest, is the third incarnation of a character that I created when I was like 12. However, this is the “mature” version, and the last. In Foretold, Lady Roselyn sets off on a quest to save her father from the ransoms of war, along the way she must learn to control the gifts she was born with, gifts so great that some believe she will restore the very order of the Seven Realms.
Granted, I’m only about a week into both of these ventures, but so far there have been pros and cons from the start.
Pro for Wattpad: engagement – I actually have a small handful of followers, and a handful of comments.
Con for Wattpad: the total number of reads for my story only just passed 30 today.
Pros for Booksie: reads – somehow, someway, I went from zero reads over two days to suddenly over 100 in five.
Cons for Booksie: so far, no actual interaction with anyone.
I consider this entire process to be an ebb and flow routine. I’ll make some gains, I’ll suffer some losses, but I’m going to be taking notes the whole way. Maybe, just maybe, by the end of it all – armed with stories, readers (however few they may be), and some studying – I can finally do the impossible, and have an actual writing career – even if it is small scale, part time. To move beyond hobby would be, in a word, sublime.
Until next time –
L.E.
Ramblings of a Would-Be Writer 