#novel – Page 4 – AJ Mullican, Author

Resolutions revisited

Art, Cosplay, Crafting, Drawing, Exercise, Fitness, Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

It’s coming to the end of the year, and as I look at my resolution list I’m both proud and disappointed.

I not only completed the first draft of my novel; I published it as well. I exercised more (not much more, but more than last year). I published a few short stories and flash fiction stories. I sold a few art pieces. And I did more cosplay.

Some of the other resolutions, however, were less than successful.

I gained more weight than I wanted to lose. I didn’t get the tattoo that I wanted, but that’s a trivial thing. And thus far, my marketing sucks.

I’ll try for more realistic goals next year. Perhaps another rough draft? Developing an exercise routine? Who knows. I have a couple of weeks to figure it out.

Slow Going

Marketing, Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

Sold a couple more books this weekend–to friends, of course.

I wish I could figure out the marketing better. I need to start researching that. I mean, tweets and Facebook posts can only do so much. Facebook is only going to reach the people I know, and though Twitter can reach more it’s not enough.

I have to keep telling myself that no one starts out on their own like I did and sells hundreds or even dozens of copies overnight. Well, very few people do. It’s a learning process.

Word of mouth would help, but I have no control over that. If people want to tell their friends who like the genre I wrote in, they will. If they don’t, they won’t. And I can’t rely on random searches bringing in readers.

I’ll figure it out. Somehow. Eventually.

The Proof Is in the Printing

Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

They arrived today! The two hard copies of my novel that I ordered from the print-on-demand service.

They’re here, and they’re gorgeous! I’m so proud–I’m practically bursting! The cover looks professional and the interior smells amazing (as nearly all books do–lol). I’m in awe of the fact that the novel that I spent more than a year writing is here, in my possession, in print, with an ISBN and everything.

Now comes the hard part. I have to learn marketing and figure out how to get this read by more than just friends and family. I think I can do it. I know I can do it. I just need to sit down and get cracking.

Seeing stars

Novel, Self Publishing, Social Media, Writing

Out of the three people who have so far purchased my novel (not a lot, I know, but considering I did no promotion ahead of time and only limited posts/tweets since it’s pretty decent), I have gotten two five-star reviews on Amazon.

I know eventually I’ll get some negative reviews; it’s the nature of the business. However, knowing that two thirds of the people who purchased Whispers of Death online had positive experiences with the book is heartening. I worked quite hard on it, and given that it’s my first novel I have high hopes for the next one.

Going to have to research marketing methods. Just tweeting and posting on Facebook isn’t going to be enough. I need to reach out farther. Get more peoples’ attention. Push more.

But dear Gods, I hate research.

Feed me, Seymour!

Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

Got the first feedback of my finished and published novel today. The reader loved it! She’s going to post a positive review on Amazon and also write up a review for the website we work for.

This is what I wrote it for. This. To get feedback from readers, to hear that people loved reading what I wrote. This is what the last year to year and a half has been about.

Yeah, I know it’s one person. I know it’s only one sale. But for someone who wasn’t sure if she could get even that much, it’s a huge step. I’m beyond ecstatic. I did it. I really did it.

Now, on to the next one!

Productive procrastination

Cosplay, Geek, NaNoWriMo, Novel, Sewing, Social Media, Writing

Today I spent a lot of time meeting and then exceeding my #NaNoWriMo word count for the day. I spent exponentially more time finding other things to do.

They weren’t all useless things. I did several different Cosplay Closet Essentials interviews, so I’m good pretty much through the new year on those. Just have to compile the questions/answers into a file and then copy/paste to #TalkNerdyWithUs when it’s time for a new post. Met some interesting new people (well, met them online–not in person) and learned a lot.

Then I thought, “Y’know what? I need to work on my own cosplay page. It’s high time I picked a name for myself and spruced up the page.” So I did. Spent a few hours adding photos, organizing photo albums, and changing the name/web link/info. (FYI, the link is https://www.facebook.com/mywaycosplay/ ). It’s not perfect, but then again neither am I. So there.

I also started cutting out pattern pieces for some Christmas presents I’m making. Because that is totally conducive to achieving my goal of getting 50k words written by the end of the month.

I’ll get there. Eventually. I have a couple of half days at work this month, in addition to the fact that my husband will be working late shifts for most of the month. I should have plenty of time.

Provided I can limit the distractions.

That’s one less on the bucket list…

Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

Well, I did it. I conquered my fear of publishing–in a manner of speaking.

I’m still terrified of submitting to editors/agents/publishers, but I have one thing now I can say with pride: I have published a novel. I did it, from start to finish (with a lot of help from a lot of great people–but if you want to know about that, you’ll have to buy the book and read the acknowledgements!).

My writing goal for the year had been to finish the first draft. I blew that goal out of the water in April, and now I have a completed novel online. Amazing how that works. I’ve even started another one (possibly set in the same universe? Haven’t decided that one yet) that I’m going to expand upon during November’s #NaNoWriMo–which starts in a couple of hours for me.

Here is the link to Whispers of Death:

Now, I’m not going to pressure anyone into buying it. I mean, sure, it’s getting to be the holiday season. Christmas is right around the corner. And I’m sure everyone knows somebody who’s into occult/supernatural or urban fantasy fiction.

I should be getting some sleep right now, but I’m totally amped about my new publication. Oh, well. It’s not like I sleep a lot as it is 😉

Lullaby and Good-Day

Insomnia, NaNoWriMo, Writing

These early mornings are killing me. A Ritalin, more than half a liter of Soda Stream energy drink, and a cup of coffee (that’s right, I resorted to coffee–which I hate) and I’m still sleepy. I even managed to go back to sleep after my initial early a.m. kitteh-in-my-face wake up call.

If they keep up, it will help with my NaNoWriMo next month. I can type in the morning (imagine the crazy things I’ll write at nothing in the morning!) and again in the evening while my husband is in training for work, so I can hopefully get the word count in every day. 1667 words in a day doesn’t sound like much, but as any author knows there are some days when the words just don’t come.

As a “pantser” (someone who doesn’t really outline but instead just writes by the seat of their pants), I honestly don’t really much know where my story’s going. It’s just going…somewhere. I kind of have a general idea of where it’s going to end up, but I’m not certain. Oh, and I have no clue on the middle. That’s just up in the air. So there’s that.

Some people don’t go for that kind of writing, but it actually helped in my first novel. I had an entire chapter that was completely unplanned, but the character decided to show up at the end of the chapter before to “save the day.” I had no clue he was going to do that, but as I was finishing the book he just showed up and it was one of those light bulb moments where I was like “Of course, this is how this part is going to resolve! It makes perfect sense now.”

But now it’s off to get ready for the day job. Adios.

Frozen in Fear

Writing

Querying. For some authors, the bane of their writing careers.

Or maybe that’s just me.

I can’t stress how much I want my first novel to be published by a publishing house rather than on Kindle and/or Createspace. I want it out there. I want it on bookshelves. I want people to buy it and read it and review it and beg for more. Of course I want these things; I’m a narcissist at heart. I want all the credit.

This morning I tried Googling informational blogs and articles on the query process. First let me tell you, an 8 point font at three in the morning is not conducive to learning. I’m good to be seeing single at that time, let alone being able to read smaller print. The synopsis was fairly easy to understand, but when I can’t even read the articles it’s harder to pick up.

Another hindrance to beginning the query process is my sheer terror of querying. It’s irrational, but then again panic attacks are not always rational.

Researching agents is another thing that is holding me back. As with the query letters, I find the task daunting and intimidating. Do I possibly have more of a fear of rejection than I thought I did? I’m well aware that it comes with the territory of writing; you write, you submit, and you wait for the dreaded rejection letter or email. I thought I was past the point of caring about that. I mean, it happens. There’s no avoiding it, so why worry? But, as my psychiatrist pointed out, if I’m not worried about rejection then why am I so apprehensive about sending my work out?

I guess I have to push past this, just like I pushed past my fear of making a corset. It must get done, so it will.

Eventually.