Showing posts with label Independent Publishing Stories. Show all posts
So, when I was in my early twenties, I wrote a short story. It was awful. I concluded that, in order to write fiction, you had to have an inborn talent, one which I didn’t have.
I tried again when I was about thirty. I wrote a fictionalized account of a coming-of-age anecdote my grandmother shared with me. It was no better than my first attempt, and it finalized my acceptance of the fact that I had no ability to write fiction. I didn’t try again. Until I reached my sixties.
While doing some historical and genealogical research, I learned some things that demanded to be told. And I thought they should be told as fiction, because too many folks aren’t interested in reading history, but they will read entertaining fiction. I knew I had no ability to write it, though, so I tried to convince others to write it. No one would.
I wanted to forget about it, but the story burned in me. So I started trying to write it, with the same pitiful results I’d always had when I turned my hand to fiction. But this time, I didn’t quit trying. I couldn’t quit trying. The story wouldn’t let me.
I found out about an online writing class offered by our local junior college, and I decided to sign up. I would learn enough to write the story, or I’d fail, but either way, I’d give the story a chance to be told. Through that course, I learned of other fiction resources, and I began writing High on a Mountain.
About the time I completed those two classes, I retired and began writing full time. Six weeks later, the manuscript was finished. Or so I thought. (I’d never heard the term “rough draft” nor the concept of doing a “rewrite.” I had typed “The End,” so, in my estimation, my story was done). I did realize that it probably wasn’t the best it could be, so I paid an editor to polish it for me. (I didn’t know it was too rough to apply the polish at that point.)
The next month, I joined ChristianWriters.com, learned about NaNoWriMo and signed up. And when NaNo started two weeks later, I wrote my second novel, ...and night falls. It was during NaNo that I discovered how to let a story flow instead of trying to hammer it out and construct it, as I’d done with High on a Mountain.
A few months after that first NaNo, I attended a nearby writer’s conference and made pitches for High on a Mountain to two editors and two agents. All four requested sample chapters. I realize now, it was the unique storyline and my zeal for it that piqued their interest. But when they saw the writing, well, what happened next was inevitable...rejection, rejection, rejection.
Since that time, I’ve studied, researched, and learned more about the writing process. And I’ve rewritten, edited and tweaked the manuscript countless times (while, at the same time, writing three other novels). And I’ve gotten good rejections on my other novels: “It’s a well-written, intense story, and it will be published. Unfortunately, we can’t publish it because it doesn’t fit our guidelines.”
As I continued to learn about writing, I also researched various aspects of the publishing industry. I encountered one piece of information that gave me pause: it generally takes at least ten years for a writer to be accepted and published. I realized that at my age, I may not have ten years left for the waiting process.
So I decided to take matters into my own hands (as has been my habit in other areas of my life). I learned all I could about self-publishing, learned the pitfalls to avoid, and last February, I published my first NaNovel, ...and night falls, through Amazon’s CreateSpace.
It was a positive experience for me. I loved knowing that folks enjoyed reading what I’d written. I published my other two NaNovels, Scribbles and On Berryhill Road, then followed with Tugger’s Down several months later.
And in March, I finally ushered High on a Mountain into print.
Folks ask my advice about self-publishing, and I have to say, it isn’t for everyone. You must be a self-starter, ready to do whatever is required to promote your book. You must be proficient in English grammar, spelling and punctuation, or be ready to pay a professional editor to polish your manuscript.
You also must have the skills necessary to design both the cover and the interior layout, or be ready to pay to have those things done for you. I’m very blessed in that I’d worked in the field of graphic design. I enjoyed the cover creation, interior design and typesetting for each of my books.
But what I enjoy most is hearing from readers who’ve enjoyed my stories...NOW, while I’m still around to know about it.
Find out more about Tommie Lyn at the following locations:
Tommie's Website
Tommie's Blog
It’s been said that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” While I understand the sentiment behind the phrase, to me it somehow lessens and negates the other millions of steps taken in any journey. Yes, there has to be that first step, but sometimes the real effort comes in later steps after the excitement of embarking on the journey has worn off.
For me, life is not only a journey, but a series of mini-journeys. And for authors, each book is a journey all its own. For my novel TEXAS ROADS, the journey consisted of both an inner personal trip as well as the outer steps needed to produce a work of fiction. Let me begin by giving a little background to help you understand my trek into the world of writing TEXAS ROADS.
I’ve always longed for one little corner of the world to call my own, yet for many years my family and I seemed destined to travel from one small Texas town to the next. Just as we’d start to feel at home in one place, God moved us on somewhere else. Finally I reached a breaking point. If God loved me so much, why wouldn’t He give me this one desire of my heart?
Hindsight makes comprehension so much easier, doesn’t it? I now see that through this part of my life journey God was gently revealing that He was my home. Only He could fill that home-sized hole in my heart. That quest and discovery of true home became the spiritual journey for my heroine in TEXAS ROADS. From outward appearances, Dani Davis has it all—wealth, social status, a fulfilling career. But on the inside she knows something is missing. She feels empty, and wrongly assumes that it’s because she’s never felt like she belonged anywhere.
When she stumbles upon Miller’s Creek, Texas
My writing journey has been much the same. Only when I lost what I thought was rightfully mine was I able to embark on the journey God had planned for me—that of becoming a writer. My first single step was a two-footer as I jumped in with both feet, eager to test my wings. Those first steps weren’t tentative for me, but more like an excited skip down a new pathway.
After an extensive pre-writing session where I filled out lengthy character charts and wrote a synopsis that was more like a novella, the first draft of TEXAS ROADS flowed easily. Then the challenge of the journey threatened to stop me in my tracks. The problem came from my own naïve assumption. As a newbie, I thought the book would be written in that first draft. You can imagine my disappointment in reading over the story. Maybe writing wasn’t my thing. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to take this road. My steps slowed. I looked back.
I’d already come so far. I’d spent hours reading craft of writing books and more hours of applying what I’d learned to my writing. I’d invested money, time, sweat and tears on the journey. And if I stopped now, what would I do? Like the gentle Shepherd that He is, God nudged me to take another step. Only His constant nudging pushed me up the mountain of edits and revisions. He provided a whole host of friends who were brutally honest and helped me shape and polish the story. Finally I made it to the mountain top. Ah, at last! I was skipping down the road again. The story secured some recognition in the ACFW Genesis competition and provided momentum to push me up the next incline.
Then I came to a fork in the road. One path was filled with people just like me—those who wanted to make a difference in the world through the stories they told—some who’d already cleared a few obstacles in the path toward publication and were quickly becoming known as storytellers.
The other path was a little shadowy and very narrow—the path of self-publishing. From where I stood, it looked rocky and steep. Many fellow travelers had only made it halfway up the mountain where they now congregated in an attempt to catch their breath. To make it worse, some of the people from the first path jeered at them.
How was I supposed to know which way to go? In all honesty, neither path looked appealing. I sighed and followed the majority. But the further I traveled down my chosen pathway, the less right it felt. So I did what I should have done in the first place: I stopped and asked God what He wanted me to do.
He motioned for me to backtrack, and then started leading me up the narrow path. “Lord, I don’t think I can do this.”
“You’re right. You can’t. At least not by yourself.”
My pulse thundered in my ears at the implication. I knew I needed to trust Him more. “But Lord, the success rate isn’t too great on this road.”
“Whose success are you after, yours or Mine?”His words sliced clean and deep, removing the vanity and pride that had built up in my heart. I grabbed hold of His outstretched hand and began to climb.
So far the journey of writing and independently publishing TEXAS ROADS has taken three years, but just because a book has been published doesn’t mean the journey is over. I’m currently learning to take the difficult steps of getting the word out about the book.
Why stay on this exhausting road? Because it’s His story, not mine.
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Click on the cover of the book to be taken to the Amazon page. Or download a Smashwords e-book here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8963 . Connect with Cathy on her blog, WordVessel.
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Click on the cover of the book to be taken to the Amazon page. Or download a Smashwords e-book here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8963 . Connect with Cathy on her blog, WordVessel.
