An Intro: My First Blog
I wish I would have started this blog at the beginning, but I didn’t. I’m four years into the process of writing a book and I can finally start to see a publication in sight. Although, in reality that’s best case another six months away.
Since I’ve started this book, Betrayed in The Wild, I’ve gotten married, bought a house, had a kid, bought another house, then had yet another kid. I’ve also been working full-time so this book has been on the back burner for most of that time. I would often go weeks or even months without writing a word but would still think about it. When I'd get a free evening, I'd reread a few chapters to get back into the groove, often pumping out a chapter or two.
This brought me to last winter when I finally wrote an ending. It was an amazing feeling. So much time had been poured into this copy, but it was only 20k words. In the genre of adult suspense/mystery/survival, I wanted it to be around 50-60k. Kind of soul crushing at the time, but then I reread my book. It was missing a lot.
I worked through it again and then one more time and was able to add another 10k words. I did this by adding a lot more description to each scene, adding some additional dialogue, and some new scenes all together. It was nowhere near where it needed to be, and so I felt stuck.
I didn’t know what to do next so I sat on it for a week. Then I found the website, Reedsy, and learned what an Editorial Assessment was.
An editorial assessment is an extremely valuable first overview of your manuscript by a professional editor. Your editor will read through the entire manuscript and provide thoughtful, in-depth feedback concerning elements such as plot, characterization, structure, consistency and style.
That’s exactly what I needed. And after messaging with a few editors on Reedsy, I found one I liked and pulled the trigger.
Then I waited. Two months later, I had the feedback I needed and I was back to writing.
Since then, I’ve rewritten most of the original manuscript. My editor brought up a ton of great points and areas to focus on. This really motivated me. Right now, I’ve gone through the book a few times and I’m sitting at around 45k words. Not bad but not where I want it to be.
So I’m trying a few different things. For one, I’m reading more. I’ve always been a sporadic reader but I’ve started to prioritize it. I just finished The Fury by Jason Pinter and started reading one of CJ Box’s Joe Pickett Series (the name is escaping me).
I’ve also gotten a few copies of my manuscript printed on Barnes & Noble. I will say they have made the process incredibly simple and smooth and I’ve enjoyed seeing a physical manifestation of my book. I’ve handed a few to family in hopes of getting some great honest feedback.
Lastly, I’m taking a step back from the book itself. It’s been two weeks since I’ve read it and I’ll give it another two weeks before I pick up a physical copy and read it end to end. I’m hoping that gives me a fresh perspective and helps in the next phase of the book’s development.
What is this blog all about you may ask? I want to use it for a variety of things.
Share my experience becoming an author
Connect with an audience
Have a place I can use to remember this experience
Share my behind the scenes
If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate it and I look forward to sharing more.
-Ryan
