Day five, and here we are again. I
hope you guys are enjoying reading me every day. Maybe you come back just to
see if I can come up with something to say. That’s why I come here… It’s a
different discipline specifically writing a blog post every day from writing
every day. For me the latter means continuing on with a story, which is easy
for me. The former means coming up with a topic each day that is not going to
bore you all rigid – not so easy.
And because I have written this blog
all along direct from the heart it’s a bit tricky to find topics. I have, as
you will know if you’ve been reading here long enough, always written what is
in my heart and on my mind. It feels a bit like selling out to choose a random
topic and write on that. But it’s very good for my writing skills to stretch
myself and is one of the reasons I started this challenge.
So what is my topic today? Not a
random one even though I had something all figured out at 3am. Can’t remember
what that was but it was good, I was sure of that much! We are all geniuses at
3am. Today I’m talking about the things you have to do as a writer that you
didn’t know you’d be doing when you started. That is, if you’re an indie
author. So many hours of the day go into networking (and if you read the blog
from a few days ago you’ll already know my thoughts on that) and other things
that are important but time consuming.
Today I’ve spent hours, and
yesterday also, combing the internet for a cover for the new book Letters to
Myself. Letters is women’s fiction; the protagonist Cassie is struggling to get
out of a co-dependent marriage. The main subplot that kind of shadows the story
arc is the letters that she writes to herself, answering herself in a positive
and supportive way. The idea behind this device is to help the person build up
self-esteem. For Cassie it becomes much more than that and is an important part
of the story.
So, my idea for the cover was quite
simple. I wanted to have a notebook open on a table with a steaming cup of tea
beside it and maybe a few flowers. I love the look of black and white
photography with just one burst of colour somewhere so I’ve been searching for
something similar to that. Did I find it? No, I’ve been combing copyright and
royalty free websites for hours, both yesterday and today. It’s frustrating
because it’s eating into my editing time for Letters and my writing time for
the next book in the Zora series.
I’m also stressing about whether I
should keep in some of the scenes in Letters. Cassie’s husband is a sex addict
and for the first part of the book she is trying to please him to hold their
marriage together (there are more complex reasons but hey I want you to read
the book!). There are sex scenes in this
part of the book which I felt were necessary to illustrate the depth of her
despair, and also the confusion she is feeling about her true emotions. It’s to
show the reader clearly what Cassie herself does not yet understand. Now I’m
not sure if I should leave them, edit them or what. I was originally determined
to keep them since I felt they were important to the flow of the book. Without
them it doesn’t have the same impact. But I don’t want to put off readers who
have come from Living a Lie or even Zora and so will not be expecting it.
For now, I’ve put it to one side. I’ve
actually finished the final edit on Letters, this next read through will be to
make a decision on those scenes and a replacement tactic if I delete them. My
current goal is just to find the right cover pic. For the edition of Living a
Lie over at Smashwords I found a great pic quickly (because on Amazon it’s with
a publisher but I can still have it elsewhere – but it has to be more
expensive. Not having full control of a book is one of the drawbacks to having
a publisher). For Zora and the prequel I layered a few pics to get the effect I
wanted. For the cat books I used one of my own pics. That is what I think I’m
going to have to do here. So I’ve also spent a lot of hours taking photos and
trying to edit them to how I want them. I don’t have sophisticated editing
software (and if I did probably wouldn’t be able to use it) so I’m doing what I
can with what I do have.
Once I finally get the cover pic and
I’ve stopped faffing about over those scenes, I need to convert the manuscript
to kindle, something I’ve become quite adept at so that’s no problem, and write
the blurb. For me, writing the blurb is almost as difficult as writing a
synopsis for potential publishers. It feels like I’m writing with a children’s
crayon – thick, chunky and unformed. I’m never happy with the blurb and often
go in and edit even after the book is published.
I do believe that the main benefit
you get from traditional publishing is not having to do all these things
yourself but having an editor/cover designer/publicist on tap and for free. I
can’t afford to pay people to do these tasks for me, and the one time I did I
wasn’t happy with the results anyway and ended up doing it myself. But I’m
learning new skills which is never a bad thing. Life is all about learning, no
matter how old you are.
So that’s today’s blog post, a bit
bland – sorry guys - but done. Tomorrow I have my topic all ready. I’ve just
now remembered what I was thinking about at 3m! So tomorrow I will be dusting
off another memory, something that happened to me that I can almost guarantee
did not happen to you. I’m almost certain I’m the only person who could have
had quite this series of events come together the way they did.
First cover possibility - probably need to lighten it
Second cover possibility, with a few edits - found this one, didn't take it
All the stuff that comes after writing the book :)
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