The big thing that's going on at the moment is I'm trying to cure my anti-social attitude. I have an appalling habit of avoiding everyone and refusing to meet new people, and it seriously needs to be, well, fixed, so I'm trying to be a bit more social. Unfortunately, I'm more of a caterpillar than a butterfly however that could easily change.
I'm hoping that, as a result of this, I will have some more interesting things to talk/write about on here, and also hoping that spending more time actually doing things will help to motivate me towards actually getting things done in terms of writing and editing and publishing; that's something only time will tell with though. I'm doing my best, but I can't predict the future.
I have something else to own up to as well, and that wouldn't have been something anyone would have known really without me confessing, but what I was hoping to do, and now will not be doing, is launching the e-book on Saturday.
As some of you may know, the fifth anniversary of the publication of Fairies passed on 24th February this year. When I committed myself again to editing the novel, I never imagined I would get it done by then (partly because I also need to give my beta readers some time to get through reading it and then make any changes based on their feedback) but I had hoped that it would all be ready to go, even if just on the Kindle, in time for my 23rd birthday. Unfortunately, that's not the case I've left myself with.
I would like to point out that it's not because I didn't want to do it, but instead it was a lack of motivation to do it. When I come out of work, all I want to do is sleep or catch up on TV shows. It's the same at the weekend, and pushing yourself to do something else which feels like work is hard, especially when the getting paid for it never actually happens. I got annoyed a few days ago because there was a chart on Facebook showing the difference between the cost of textbooks and what we call 'recreational books.' The point that the article/video attached was trying to make was that the cost of textbooks is pushing up the cost of studying, and while I partly agree, I would like to point out - libraries. The issue that I take with the same data is that yes, as a 'recreational' writer, the amount of research you have to do to write your book is significantly less, but if you're not working with a publisher or an editor (I'm just going to point out that one of the reasons I don't work with an editor is that I can't afford to) you do all of that work yourself. There is a whole lot of legwork to getting a book self-published and it feels like a real kick in the pants to know that if you don't put the book online for the cheapest you can without losing money (so literally subsidising the cost of people reading your books in order to get more copies out there) there is little chance that they're going to sell to someone you don't know, and they're the sales that you need to boost.
I get tired and frustrated because other than people that I have met randomly and told about my novel, the majority of the downloads of it come from free promotions and whilst that is a trend I understand, and I do appreciate the downloads during that time, it sucks that regarding doing what I want to do with my life, it's nowhere near a financially viable option. And yes, there is more to my writing than making money. It's something I really enjoy doing, and it is something I will continue to do. All I ask is that people understand that it can be hugely disheartening. I am on the road to having Yours, edited though, and since I'm off work for a few days at the moment, I'm still plugging away at it.
Rant over.
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