Self-Publishing

I've resisted this. I've used every excuse I could think of to avoid doing this. Self-publishing was definitely not something I wanted to do. Everything I read from agents and even other authors (published and not) told me not to even try.

But I'm going to do it. For a long time, I've gone the traditional route, and I haven't completely given up on it. I'm just at the point where I need to feel like I'm moving ahead. So, I'm going to take Songbird and self-publish.

I'll do another round of edits and change some minor things, but as a whole I'm pretty happy with the way it's written. I don't really see this as something an agent will pick up. The number of times I've read things like "don't use flashbacks" is countless, yet that's what this book is about. A girl who lets her memories control her choices.

Today, I went on Create space and started working on the cover. Last year I had used my free proof copy from the Nano competition to creat one, but that was too dark and I felt that it didn't really work with the romance genre of the book. This is what I have so far:



The photo was a generic one that Createspace offers but I'm pretty happy with it and I'm going to play around with it to see if I'll be able to use it for my Smashwords (ebook) cover as well.

The blurb on the back is:

There are defining moments in life when everything changes.  For Dani Mays, it was the day she witnessed her father kill her brother.  Now seventeen years-old, she still hasn't put it behind her.

After Jace's death, she bounced between her alcoholic mother and foster homes, until she found a permanent place.  And a reason to stay:  Reece McCabe.  He's her best friend, yet Dani wants more from Reece.  When he turns her down, he shatters her illusions again.

Faced with losing Reece, Dani struggles to define his place in her life and escape the memories of her brother's death and the influence it has over her choices.  Even as she weaves the pieces of her heart back together, the past becomes more than a memory when a former foster brother reappears and Dani begins receiving threatening phone calls.

There are still a couple of points in there that I'm considering changing, so feel free to make suggestions!

I'm actually really excited about this! I still have a ways to go since it'll take me a week or so to edit then another to format. then the wait for my proof copy, but I'm hoping that I can have the Smashwords version up sooner. Then I'll have to work on the marketing aspect!

Writing What You Read? Maybe Not.

Write what you know. What you read. I've heard it so many times, that this is what good writers do. If you want to write science fiction, then read it. If you want to write romance, then read it. On and on. So many times that I feel guilty for not actually doing it.

I write YA. But I don't read it. Oh, I've read a few pieces, but for the most part I'm just not interested in the stories that are out there, and those that I am are just not written well. I read romance. I have since I was 14 years old and found an old Harlequin in a garage sale box my mum had in the basement. I've probably read well over two thousand romance novels and for my favorite authors, I've read their's multiple times.

But I can't write it.

Not because I don't know it or like it. But because I do. I love reading about characters falling in love and facing problems, only to over come them to have  a happy ending. (Although, I have to admit that I am the last, absolute last, to suggest seeing a romance movie) 

YA romance though, is entirely different. The characters are in an entirely different place than those in regular romance novels. And for me that appeals to my imagination. I've read so many romance novels that I'd feel as if anything I wrote would just be a convergence of those themes, and stories, and characters. By writing YA, a genre that I have read very little of, I'm able to keep it my own. I love reading the YA work on tNBW, but that's because I'm reading it not just for pleasure, but with a critical eye. I can critique and suggest and know that where their story is going is vastly different from mine.

So for me, I'm going to put this idea of 'write what you read' to the side for now, and keep my work separate from my pleasure.