Clarity

Accomplishing a goal can be the most freeing, or the most confusing thing you can do. Freeing, in that you have succeeded. You decided there was something you wanted to do, and you focused your energy enough to do it. Confusing, because of the what now? hanging over your head after you accomplish it.

For ten years, I pursued a literary agent and traditional publication for my fantasy novels. I had a trilogy I was very proud of, a third draft ready-for-real-editors (That’s what I thought at the time).

The goal of writing a novel accomplished, I allowed the next goal to step forward. Get that first book out there. I queried agents, having used up my preferred agent short list rather quickly, I continued through hundreds in search of a match. I doggedly rewrote query letter, bio, synopsis, and opening pages, trying desperately to catch the attention of someone to introduce my book to the world.

Then it struck me, my writing creativity was being siphoned off by the process, and that process was flawed. Much like the Catholic church when Martin Luther came along, agents were losing their gatekeeper status. Instead of how to make the book better, an agent’s advice evolved into, find your own beta readers, get some critique partners, make your own website so you can market and promote your book.

Refocusing My Goals

Literary agents used to provide or help with these things. They worked at limiting distractions, so writers could focus on their writing. In this modern universe, you have to be so many different things at once. There’s not much help for most, no one to hold your hand, tell you how good you are, or buffer you from the rocky shore of criticism. That luxury has been swallowed in a self-publishing frenzy.

The only balm to ease the anxiety is attention, and that’s where traditional publishing is focused now. A mediocre book can be a bestseller, if marketed correctly, and conversely, an excellent book can be lost in the ocean of new books released. This leads to doubting your ability. The public has to notice your book, and since I didn’t catch the Moby Dick of advertising campaigns with my debut novel, writing more books seemed to be my answer to getting better and being noticed. I realized, if I actually wanted to write, instead of focusing on wooing someone to advocate for my book, I needed to learn to self-publish. Step one, I needed to be on social media and create my own website, but a lot of agents expect this from their writers these days. So, IT chops are now necessary to write successfully, or the cash to buy IT.

After U-Tube research and preparation, I plunged down the rabbit hole of self-publishing. I hired a great editor (Grace Bradley), a great cover artist (Lia Davis), and used Draft2Digital to publish my e-book and print version of my fourth novel. I created a website, glhookswriter.com (because I couldn’t afford an IT hookup), and a Facebook page to promote my writing. I am now working on publishing a second novel, and editing my third. I have three works-in-progress, and a couple of ideas for what comes next.

Now that I finally feel like I’m getting a handle on how to do this for a living, I must take a step back. The world doesn’t automatically provide payment for chasing your dream, or the long game required for the payoff. I start a new job today, because…bills.

Lee