Writing is a very isolating occupation.
Then I found myself unexpectedly retired. Okay, it shouldn't have been so unexpected. I was way past retirement age, but I didn't believe I would ever do it. The universe has a way of pushing you into what you should be doing, whether you like it or not. So, almost three years ago, I did retire. I didn't like it then and it took me the best part of two years to come to terms with it. You can read about it here.
It was in the middle of COVID, and we had moved out to the lake, living in a small community mostly consisting of weekenders, and then only during the summer months. Between the pandemic, the fact that my family were scattered across two continents and four countries, lack of immediate neighbors, and a husband who is mostly anti-social, we were very isolated. I would have gone completely insane if I hadn't had my writing to keep me occupied.
I spent the first year attempting to learn the craft. I watched Masterclass writing classes over and over again. Then I discovered The WMA—The Writing Mastery Academy. There I found a wealth of information and training. I test out a few ideas most of which came to nothing, or at least, some resulted in a short story and nothing worth attempting to publish. Finally I signed up for NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. I committed to writing 50K words that November. I am very competitive, so I succeeded in doing that. Of course, then came the editing and revision. Long story short (no pun intended) I did finally end up with a novel. Caitlin's Escape Route. I was excited about it because it brought up a number of ideas for follow on novels. A series. I had never considered that before.
I didn't have that first novel ready to publish until January of 2024, but by that time I had completed the first draft of the second book, Sally's Story, and an outline for the third, Brenda's Story.
Meanwhile, I have sold quite a few copies of Caitlin's Escape Route, and received some good feedback from readers, but so far, no reviews on Amazon. And it is reviews that sell books more than anything else. I have done some advertising, using Amazon Ads. So far that has not resulted in any sales. However, I did read that once the second book in a series is released, it often stokes up interest in the first. So, I am hopeful that I can publish Sally's Story in September, and Brenda's Story in January of next year.
If you bought Caitlin's Escape Route, thank you. If you read it, thank you very much! And whether you liked it or not, I would truly appreciate a review. Obviously, an honest one is all I ask for.
As I said, writing is a very isolating occupation, moreso because my husband doesn't read fiction of any sort, therefore not only doesn't read what I write, he is not in the least bit interested in it. Mostly I think that is a good thing, on balance. But it also means I can't talk out issues I am having with my characters, or the story. And something I discovered is that it is difficult to leave them behind when you finish writing for the day. If I am in the middle of a particularly emotional section of the story, I find myself carrying those emotions with me for at least an hour after I shut down my computer. And the problem is that it takes me a while to realize why I am feeling emotional. Then I have to deliberately let go of the made up emotions of fictional characters!
If you have read Caitlin's Escape Route, you will know that it deals with domestic abuse. When I was writing that I had to make a huge effort to not be angry with every male on the planet, and as I was only in close proximity to one, my husband, who is most definitely not a perpetrator of abuse, I needed to not respond to him as though he were.
Recently I became involved in a Critique Group. A group of fellow writers who take the time to read and critique each other's work in progress. Three years ago that would have been a very daunting prospect for me. To have another writer read your rough drafts and tell you what is wrong with it? Also, if you are a good critique partner, what is right, of course. After finally publishing one book, and all the critique partners and beta readers that entailed, I have developed, not a thick skin, because that is not what is needed, but an objective attitude. Not everything other's have to say about your writing is fact, it is opinion. The nice thing about a group is that you get to read their writing also, so you can form an opinion of their skill set and also their taste. That is a useful tool when deciding how much salt or sugar their critique requires before it is palatable, or even believable.
Beta readers are a slightly different issue. What you want from them is a reader's opinion and response to your overall story, as opposed to the critique partner whose feedback is that of a writer. Critique partner's get payment via your feedback on their writing. All beta readers get is a free read of what may or may not be worth their time, and then they are expected to supply you with feedback, that takes more time. So for the first book, my beta readers were two people I had previously worked with, and my daughter-in-law's book club. I got great feedback from all of them and in return I gave them each a copy of the book when it was published, plus a bookmark. I plan to do the same for the second, and future books.
