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It’s amazing how time flies. One minute you’re a nobody. The next 2 hours of your life, you’re suddenly an accomplished individual who knows what they are doing and what their next move is.
Wrong!
Becoming an Indie author can be a stressful decision. Whoever says it’s easy has never had to work at it. It’s not easy. It’s this compilation of fifty different people telling you their take on it and then you talking to yourself saying, oh boy where do I begin? The truth is you are your business in the Indie market. Don’t let it deter you away. If you want it bad enough, go for it.
My novel, The Devil’s Retreat, just released. I can confide, I was not scared, but undeniably terrified. A week before the release I fretted during every second awake. What haven’t I done? Did I forget something? Has it been edited enough? I was overwhelmed. Excitement turned to frustration, and in the aftermath of sitting at my computer for hours on end, it all came to a head. I realized a little something. The lessons I have learned from this experience and the time I spent going over my writing goals, and oh so stressing about EVERYTHING. It got me where I need to be.
I was pushing myself to finalize everything and forcing myself to edit in every chance of free time I got. The writing flame inside me, reignited.
“I’m back!” I exclaimed at 4 am, while rubbing my sleep deprived eyes.
The drive inside me came back. After months of succumbing to a paperless oblivion, the writing beast inside my head finally regurgitated some words.
All that worrying and what I did was achieve a lifelong dream. I got my novel published. It was a challenging feat that took two years worth of work and planning, but it happened. It has changed my view on the world.
I was always under the impression that being an Indie author wasn’t professional at all. It was traditional or no way. I spent two years of my life researching the markets and doing novel research. I learned myself wrong. Self-Publishing has become huge. It’s how much work you put into it that makes a difference. I self published and do not regret anything. I have a long road ahead of me and years worth of work to smash into the next four months. To face the facts. It could have taken years to secure an agent, and even longer to get a publishing contract. I have time now. I have none to waste. I have stories to tell.
After years of dreaming of being a writer, I put my book out there on the market. Now its time to keep moving up. For me it has never been about writing a good story. It has always been about writing a story I would want to read. For years I have been searching for that story that sucks me in and refuses to let go. A story that I can never forget. I haven’t found it yet, but I’m on my way to writing it.
While I work on my next novel, my hope is to find the values in my writing that I placed in my first book. The Devil’s Retreat is not a hapless book with no common ground to it. There is a purpose behind it. That purpose conforms around the idea that coal mining is a dying practice across the world.
I grew up in a coal mining and farming community. I am not unfamiliar with the problems expressed in my book. The problems, fictionalized to a degree, ring a level of importance. What happens when coal becomes a thing of the past? What will we do without it? In the same case, what is coal doing to our environment? Why should we rely on coal when there could be alternatives out there? The book is not meant to bring clear answers it is meant to explore a series of what ifs.
My stories need purpose. I want them to teach something. I want to force the reader to think about something maybe they wouldn’t normally approach.
Brooke Myers 