Hello! I’m back! I’ve been absent for a while recently. Why is that…

The short answer is probably some sort of variation on procrastination and "stuff".

The long answer has something to do with the fact that I’ve always been the type of person who didn't like to force myself to do something creative that I didn’t want to do. To me that seems like a recipe for a crappy piece of writing, design or artwork. 

After publishing I’m on Your Side last December, I had been knee deep in indie marketing books, blogs and podcasts for several months. Then waist deep in my own marketing, website set up, book and blog launch. I think its safe to say I burned myself out. I was left feeling like if I couldn’t do everything, I shouldn’t bother to do anything. On top of that, theres life, and I live it, and I let it get in the way. 

Recently I decided I wanted to get back into this thing. I want to do it better, or maybe just better for me, this time. So I started clicking around on social media and other YA author websites and I was struck by something that had been a particular guilt-driver of mine. Blogs. I had no idea what to write, what I was meant to write, what people wanted to read. So I decided to look at the blogs of other indie authors and see what they were writing.

I can’t tell you how many of their blogs I read that started with the words “I’m back!”. Ha. Apparently we all fall victim to Life sometimes. 

At any rate, I am back, and here to answer the question that I get asked most by my readers: Are you going to write a sequel?​

I was so excited when Ms. Hunt agreed to review my book, quite enthusiastically I might say. We've been following each other on Instagram for quite a while, so I knew she was an avid reader and reviewer and thought, what the heck, I might as well ask. 

To my delight, she happily agreed. And in the midst of a busy new year, moving, and general life craziness, she found time to ready my little novella.

It was incredibly exciting when Olivia J, a follower of mine on my instagram feed, said she would be willing to review my book. It was incredibly nerve-wracking when she messaged me later and told me she'd finished the book...in under a day. 

Less than 24 hours? That can only mean one of two things. Either she was so enthralled by my work that she read it in one sitting...or she was so bored by it that she gave up after just a few hours. 

I was hoping for the first, but prepared for the second. 

December 3rd was a pretty big day for me. 

I took the plunge and indie published my book. Finally. I'm not a big name. I don't have a big following. I didn't have the time or money to do everything you're supposed to to make sure your book goes to Number One on Amazon's bestseller list on it's first day. 

And I knew it wouldn't. 

But my work is out there. Its available. People can read it, and they have. And they really like it. ​

I used to think the beauty was in the writing, but I’m also one of those people who have these tidal waves of words that crash into me and if I don’t get them down as fast as possible, they wash away. Which means theres not a lot of time for fleshing out characters, adding minor character arcs, mirroring plot points, try-fail cycles and other things that actually make a book worth reading. 

Thats where the edit comes in. 

This process is going to look a little bit different for everyone. Some people may like to do the copy editing first, or be their own alpha reader. But I thought I would share the process that works for me.