My Writing Process

Okay so we have all seen the meme about the writing process, the one with lots of procrastinating and "research".  You know, like this:

I mean, this inst totally inaccurate.  But for me it was finding the voice for my story.  I started and rewrote the beginning of my book So. Many. Times. I wrote in Narrator voice, I tried in multiple perspectives, I changed my main characters age ore ties than I recall.  Little did I know that was just the start!

Once I found my voice the bones of the story came together for me. Then I read it again and made adjustments where I deemed them necessary, not many, its hard to see the flaws in your own work.  Then I let two very close and trusted friends read my manuscript and I got heir notes on it.  I went back and updated and added and expanded where they had questions.  I even had to expand on a character who was meant to be nonessential, but who ended up becoming a pretty important part of the story. 

I felt like I was on top of the world. 

Don't get me wrong, writing a novel length story (80,000+ words) is no mean feat.  But what no one tells you, is that writing the story is the easy part.  At least for fiction writing.  

Then came the arduous process of what now.

The What now stage is a long one.  Do I shop my manuscript as is?  Do I get an agent?  How do I do these thing? It's a lot of figuring it out. So if i shop my manuscript as is, where d I send it?  What are the guidelines for this publisher?  They all want different things you know.  Can I send to ore than one at once?  (Usually no)  How do I find an agent?  How do I know if an agent s reputable?  How do I pitch my story to my potential agent or publisher? This research is daunting.  

In the end I chose first to have my book professionally edited.  Because you want to present your best work.  So I started looking into finding an editor.  Y'all that crap is expensive.  Like 1200.00 or more!  WHAT!?  I eventually found someone who would do it for $600.00 So that's where my ta return went that year, a full 2 or 3 years after "finishing" my novel.  

My editor is great and did a wonderful job, but she had some life things happen and it took forever.  Eventually I got all my notes and bits and sat down to do more editing.  Yep, again.  

Then I had to really determine how i wanted to try and publish.  My ideal plan was, 

1-Shop to publishers agent free.  

2- Find an agent.

3- Self publish

After the crazy lengthy process I decided to go straight to self publishing through Kindle.  I did make sure to copyright my material first.  And publishing with  KDP was super easy.  I think that's how I will publish going forward.  

If you like young adult paranormal fantasy you can check it out on Kindle and Amazon. 

Title: Vienna: Is she up to the task?

Author: Mandee Lee