You know the saying, “Easy as pie.” Cliche and all that. But I don’t think anything in life is easy as pie. I love writing. I mean, love it with a passion. But I hate all the crap that comes with it. I hate marketing. I don’t feel like I’m good at it, or I don’t know where to start, or everyone currently wants to read a BDSM book about a kid’s step-brother’s dragon, and I don’t write books in any comparable category to what’s HOT. But even people who write what the public wants still have to throw themselves out there–into the fire. And sometimes I wonder why I do it, because writing is like a scoop of pain mixed with pleasure (like love). Then I remember I love it and without writing there’d be too much pain or too many characters talking in my head with nowhere to go.
My love of writing came from my childhood. As a kid I used to disappear to my room and play with paper dolls for hours. Some of them I cut out of the Sears catalog. I named them, created families, dialogues, and elaborate stories for my paper dolls. I created apartments out of my bookcases for my Barbie dolls. I wrote stories down, never finished them, but the stories still came to me. I loved to read and write, but I never made As in English. I always made Bs. I struggled with thoughts of my writing not being good enough (I still struggle with this). I wanted to be perfect (I still sometimes do). I still have to tell myself perfection doesn’t exist. The authors who have made it did so because they’re bulldogs like JK Rowling who worked their asses off and didn’t take no for an answer. They didn’t let rejection get them down or the 20th pushed back deadline or the fact that procrastination seems to flow through their blood (I don’t know if Rowling procrastinates, but I do–way too much).
My book is supposed to be out on the 29th. I’m hoping it will at least hit Amazon by then so I can direct you all to the link. Writing and publishing a book can be frustrating in so many ways. I’ve had to depend on other people to edit, proofread, and market my book. I’ve had to wait for layout, for the cover, but in the end I know it will be worth it. I’ve worked with some great people over at Booktrope on The Devil Within: Nikki Lutz, JC Wing, Sheri Williams, Greg Simanson, and not to mention the layout team and Jesse James. These people know what they’re doing as I stumble my way blindly in the dark trying to figure it out for the first time. Publishing a book is the equivalent to waiting for a big bowl of ice cream after you finish your food; you know it’s going to taste so good but first you have to eat your Brussels sprouts (I do love Brussels though, so maybe this isn’t the best analogy)
All of this to say, I’m still hoping The Devil Within will be out by June 29th. Stay tuned to this site to see if it is. And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bo4ILP.
Lauren Greene, Author 
Every experience is new and hard the first few times. You may not ever like the marketing side of things but it will get easier. The waiting must be so hard. But this way if it gets released on the 29th people will have it for the holiday weekend. Who doesn’t love a good book and a full weekend to read it!! A few more sleeps!
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I hate when people say “writing is easy.” It is a lot of hard work: outlining, creating characters, meeting deadlines, hours of no sleep (maybe not the last part). It’s scary putting yourself out there. Before I started my blog, I wrestled with creating one for months. I didn’t know what to write. I didn’t know how people would respond to what I would have to say. But I worked up the courage and I’m glad I did.
I feel my writing is subpar compared to others. Just about every writer I follow on Twitter has a manuscript or has written many short stories. I read them on their blogs, and think to myself, “They are so good. I don’t think I will measure up.” Just recently, I joined Scribophile, a group website for writers. I heard of Scribophile before, but I had my reservations. When you critique others’ works, you can submit your own. And they offer constructive criticism to yours (it’s their karma system). I’m afraid of others reading my work and completely trashing it. But that is what I signed up for. I want to be a better writer. Part of the process is being able to discern constructive criticism from bad reviews, and learning from them.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I will write a novel. I hope I do. But I will continue writing and improve. That is all I can do. I wish you luck on your book.
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Fear holds so many of us back from achieving our dreams. You got this George. I’m proud of you for stepping out there and blogging. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even know you! Thanks for the “Good Luck.”
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After reading your essay, all I can say is this: “I feel you.” Easy and simple.
Being an author is tough, but being an uprising author is even harder. It seems like Mission Impossible when we go up against those big Kahunas in the writing industry, but we cannot back down, simply because we LOVE writing to the extent that even if we don’t actually sell enough copies of our book to make a living, we still have to give it a shot. ‘A’s in English doesn’t determine our standard of writing; the passion to write that exists within our very soul is the main determining factor of our eventual success in our writing career. I am an author myself, and I can totally relate to you when you mentioned the procrastination problem of yours (I’ve got a PhD in Procrastination, check it out at my Homepage).
But, essentially, the fact that you’re about to publish your first book on Amazon is a matter worth celebrating about. Most people out there might criticize your writing judgementally, but who are the few that manage to sit down, suffer through countless hours of relentless writing and editing, before finally getting their work published on Amazon? You are among the few. You are special. So you should be proud of it, and go grab a champagne and spray everyone you meet with it when your book is officially published. You’ve deserved it.
I’m not sure if I’m in the position to say all the stuff that I’d just said just now, but I just HAD to say it, because this entire essay could be my rant one of these days when I get my book published (it’s getting published in July on Amazon too, and no, don’t worry, I won’t plagiarize your essay here hahaha). So yeah, I hope that after reading this, you’ll cheer up and dance a jig to the fact that, in the wide, wide space called the internet, there’s a guy, who’s facing the same exact problems as you have, and although he doesn’t have even 1 percent of the followers you have here, he still perseveres, and drops by websites like this to rant on the comment section of people like you. So don’t worry! We’re on the same boat! 😀
Cheers! 🙂
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Steven what’s your blog or website? When I click on your name it tells me it doesn’t exist. And you’re right! Writing is my life. Good luck to you with your book. Let me know when it’s published!
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Oh, sorry! I’ve just changed it so it’s a little bit faulty haha. Here you go:
http://imeanlike.com/
And you could check out this article I wrote yesterday about Perfectionism too. The reason I found your blog is because I typed Perfectionism into the ‘tags’ search box, and yours popped up at the top. So yeah, check this out 🙂
http://imeanlike.com/2015/06/25/three-guys-and-a-beast-perfectionism-explained/
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Thanks. I’ve followed you.
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