Blindsided: The Real Journey Begins After You’re Done Writing
I did it. I completed my first novel just 10 months after celebrating my 60th birthday. I mentally hugged myself for ticking off the first entry on my bucket list, unaware that a more significant challenge lay ahead of me, waiting to see if I would be strong enough to see things through.
At 60, I thought I had seen it all. But I was in for a surprise. After five months of intense yet enjoyable work crafting a story that had been brewing in my mind for seven years, I was ready for the next phase. Little did I know, the journey was far from over.
I found out the hard way that at 60, you can still be stupid. I was. I am.
I decided to blog and speak to the void about everything I learned about following your passion, writing a book, and getting it published—not necessarily in that order. I know that the void hardly speaks back, but I’m old! I’m used to silence and find solace when confronted by it. Silence doesn’t bother me.
Writing Was the Easy Part
One piece of writing advice I received was getting everything out of my head into actual words. There would be no editing, correcting, or going back and rewriting. I was told to pour everything out, and editing would come after, so I did.
I wrote how I think about things, speak, and read—or would like to read. Being a heavy reader, I knew what I wanted to hear… the pace in which I wanted things to be… and the curveballs I would have jumped off my seat to have and exclaim, “I never expected that!”
It was challenging to create the storyline and make sense of the timeframe. I used Whimsical to outline everything and visually connect all parts of the story into a cohesive whole. I researched and referenced everything so experts who know the real stuff wouldn’t shake their heads reading my book and label me clueless. I really thought that was the hard part. As I’ve said, I was naive. Naive at 60.
The editing was also frustrating. I’m bad with punctuation, and I would have died a long time ago if people were shot for every passive sentence they wrote. I’d be Enemy Number 1. Grammarly saved me from my writing sins but posed a new problem. It labeled my writing style as “AI” — how an AI would write. And tried as I might rephrase my sentences, I couldn’t make it think I was human unless my sentences no longer sounded like me or made sense.
I found myself screaming in front of my screen, shouting at Grammarly, “Look, I’m writing this on top of my head! I tried ChatGPT, and it writes crappy!”
Speechify Was My Buddy
Mr President read my manuscript repeatedly, and it was terrific! Speechify reads PDFs, and with a paid plan, you can select the kind of voice you’d like to hear read to you. I love the male, theatrical, British voice of The Narrator. I love how Gwyneth (Paltrow) relaxes and eases me into the story. Still, the voice of Mr. President (100% Obama) is the only one that ably transports me right into the heart of my story! Speechify enabled me to spot all the mistakes that Grammarly couldn’t catch because they were non-grammar. They were story lapses, naming mistakes, loose ends I failed to close. Speechify made reviewing fun!
I’m a Retired Creative Director
Adobe is my daily tool. I’ve designed book covers, and creating one for myself was easy. The research behind it, though, was time-consuming. Book genres have specific visual design rules, including color, fontography, and title placement. Think of where your book will be on a shelf in a bookstore. Notice what makes all the books similar? What do they all have in common? How are their covers designed? How big or small are the titles or fonts used for the author’s name vis-a-vis the book title? Look at the back. What about the back cover blurb? How long or short is it, and how is it laid out? Now, think about how your book will stand out on the shelf.
My thirty years in graphic design taught me that designing is easy. The hardest part is figuring out the unspoken rules—particularly the ones that worked so well for others that made people buy.
I studied the books in my genre that sold well. I carefully examined how their covers were designed and how mine could be similar or even better.
Amazon KDP Taught Me to Format
It provided all the specs I needed to format my book correctly, including what should and shouldn’t be on what pages. I wrote on my Mac using Pages, and tweaking document size, margins, and the like was a learning process. So this is how books are done? Fascinating!
If I go the Amazon KDP route, they will have their own ISBN, but I also wanted mine, just in case I need it.
Ready to Publish?
I’ve read many articles and monitored many discussions about the pros and cons of self-publishing. Now that I’m fully committed to getting my book published, I decided to explore the possibility of having a literary agent who could help me do the job.
A literary agent is someone who knows the lay of the land. An agent knows not only the right publisher for your book, negotiates with the said publisher, galvanizes their connections to have your book noticed and reviewed, and literally opens doors you never knew existed. This is how I looked at literary agents, and I wanted to see if I could catch the attention of someone who would love my book as much as I love it.
This is how I discovered the existence of The Wall, and yes, I am a GOT fan. I’ve realized I’m one of the Free Folk—a Wildling trying to get past the wall I could never breach. The watchers on the wall, the literary agents, are the Night’s Watch. And there are far more complicated rules than just having a book and wanting it published.
This is my story. This is what this blog is about. Me and The Wall.
If you’re here and reading these ramblings, I hope you say “hi.” Throw a rock into the void and break the silence.
