Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Nerve wracking and humbling...


I really was going to post about that workshop I mentioned last week, but not today.

About a month ago, I got a wild hair and decided to turn my attention back to writing with the intent to publish. Because of finances, I decided against self-pubbing for now. Editing services and cover art cost money that I can't afford right now. Plus, while I can look objectively at others' work, I can't do the same for my own. And I know there are aspects of my writing that probably need some guidance, so I decided I would submit to an e-publisher. Blah, blah, blah, a little research (and I mean a little only because I've done it all before), and I chose The Wild Rose Press as my target publisher. They accept books with as few as 7500 words. Shorter is right up my alley. And there aren't many books of that length to choose from, so perhaps I can fill that need. I hope it's there to be filled...

I dug up one of my (too) many unfinished works in progress and got to work. My target date for completing the thing and having it critique-partner/beta-reader ready was August 15th. Despite the 4th of July and my road trip to San Antonio, I'm just about ready to send it out into the world...

But am I?

Sending it to my critique partners is no big deal. They've read my work. I know them. So okay.

Posting fan fiction is not this scary. I can do that. Have done that. I still get feedback all the time even from fic I wrote and posted years and years ago. Great boost to the ego.


I read tons of stuff, e-publisher pubbed or indie pubbed and often think "I write as well as that." or "My writing is better than that."

But sending my "real" work to strangers? That prospect is a little more daunting than I anticipated. I really believe that sending my work out to non-writing readers, getting feedback from them, is an important step, and I want to develop a small group of them I can always rely on.

Anyway, there's a beta readers group at Goodreads, so I joined it and read through the listings of folks offering their services. Some are professionals, requiring payment, others are just book lovers. I contacted six people.

I figure it might take a week or two to determine if everyone is available and to come to terms. Or find someone else if too many of these people no longer beta read.That still gives me until my self-imposed deadline to finish my out loud read-throughs and search & destroy (of overused words) missions.

Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll keep you posted!


5 comments:

Regina Richards said...

Good for you! Fingers crossed!

Unknown said...

Good luck! Keep us posted! :)

Jen FitzGerald said...

Thanks, gals!

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Jen!!! I wonder what makes us more concerned about this type of thing than when we wrote fan fic? Maybe that the characters were already developed in fan fic and we got to develop them even more ... but didn't have to start from scratch?

Cheering you on!!

Nancy

Jen FitzGerald said...

Good question, Nancy! And thanks. :)