An Author's Obession

    I made significant changes to parts of this novel. I have been debating whether or not to make the changes. If I did, I would have to make a massive change to the next novel. It took me two weeks to make my decision.  I spent the entire evening, the night before last, making the changes that needed to be made. I am a continuity nut. I always check on the novel I have already written to make sure I don't mess something up. As a reader, that is one of my big pet peeves. This is also true when I watch television series or movie series. They forget what their viewers have already learned about their characters and plots. Drives me nuts. If a reader, or viewer, has to do a double or triple check, then someone didn't do their job. I hope I won't be that writer. I check, double-check, and triple-check. Then, I start over. 

    With this human fallacy of mine shared, I have been giving a lot of thought to what I was going to put in the new novel (third written, second in sequential order). In sequential order, Love's Never-Ending Gifts: "A New Beginning" needed a few rewrites to make it coincide with what I wanted to put in Love's Never-Ending Gifts: "Love Blossoms in Sage Hill." What this meant for me as a writer, I had to decide if I wanted to take out the twenty-page Chapter 4 or do a massive rewrite. I did the rewrite. That is why it took most of the evening. I didn't pay attention to when I started the extensive rewrite, but I know I finished at 10:30 p.m. My husband was such a trooper. He waited up for me to finish so we could go to bed together. Once he asked if I was ready to go to bed, I started clock-watching.  When we went to bed, both stories were the way I wanted them. I printed out the pages changed and read them slowly and carefully for mistakes or ways to make the passages better. I only had a few changes, so I made them and printed out the corrected pages. I put them in my 3" 3-ring binder sleeves. Task was completed. I sleep so soundly for the first time in weeks.

    If you are a writer or know one, then you know how hard it is for us to sleep. As soon as I lay my head down, my brain takes off 90 to nothing. It starts reviewing what I have written and starts writing the next chapter. Right now, I am writing 2 novels. I started writing my Christmas novel because I was putting off the dreaded 'What to do about Chapter 4. I opened "Love Blossoms in Sage Hill" a few times but kept closing it. I knew it was going to be a long task, and I dreaded it. To take my mind off of what I was dreading, I decided to relax by writing about an orphan at Christmas time. It was a welcomed relief. I love the little orphan girl my mind created the night before when I should have been sleeping. Creating Tina gave my mind time to think about something other than making the dreaded decision of what to do with the other story. With the first two chapters completed in "A Christmas Angel's Tale," written, revised and edited - twice, and published on my social media, the decision was made to take on the massive challenge of rewriting Chapter 4 of my other novel. I told my husband that I had to tackle the rewrite, or I'd never get the book written. The detour of writing a carefree Christmas story got me mentally prepared to make the necessary changes. The story is better than it was. I am so glad I decided to leave Chapter 4 in and make the needed changes I wanted in the story. The decision was a good one. Now, I can continue writing about Lisa, Eva, and her posse. I will take one day out of each week to work on my Christmas novel. Who knows, maybe I can get them both finished in a couple of months. I love to write!!!!!

                                                   

A Novelist's Disappointments Self-Publishing Services Rated by the Alliance of Independent Authors

   I haven't posted recently, so I thought I'd share the harsh reality of becoming a published author. A few weeks ago, I received five, yes five "We want to publish your work." I couldn't decide between two of the offers. The two I knew I wouldn't use didn't offer an Author's Courtesy Package. That means the author would not receive Complementary copies of their novel to give to special friends/family. After all, the author actually paid for them!!! They don't offer bookmarks, posters of their book cover, etc. They offered nothing; therefore, after contacting them about receiving the courtesy packet, I ruled them out. They said, 'We don't offer that." Why go with a company that doesn't give authors an incentive package when there are publishers out there that do? To help me decided, I did deep research on self-publishers. I typed in which self-publishers should authors avoid. To my chagrin, all five were on the 'Maddog' 'list, and a few other sites, as use caution or not recommended. One of my two finalists have several lawsuits currently unsettled. That was a big shock. The other publishing company had one "Stay away from >>>>>>>" Then, on 'Maddog', they had six, yes 6, caution alerts. Wow, that blew my mind. Alliance is a major company that investigates self-publishing companies and makes recommendations to help authors. I am glad I found it before I invested in any of the companies.  

  Writers, use this site to protect yourself if you wish to self-publish... Now, I am starting over. 

Self-Publishing Services Rated

by the Alliance of Independent Authors