Advice from an Author

A few months ago, my sister-in-law, Coren, found out that a lady at her church who she always talked to was a published author. She asked me if I would want her to approach her for me and I jumped at the opportunity! The author was Elizabeth Ludwig who has written The Edge of Freedom series as well as other novels. She very graciously allowed me to contact her, but warned me that since she had a deadline coming up that she wouldn't be getting back to me right away.

About a month later, I heard back from her. She pointed out several areas that I need to work on in my writing. It was humbling in a good way to discover how much I still have left to learn. As I looked at the terminology she used I remembered once again that I'm still very much an amateur. I felt completely overwhelmed because it hit me that I really should invest in some creative writing classes or seminars, but I don't know what time I would devote to that since I already feel like I'm overbooked. I realized that it may not be possible now, but in the near future, I may have the time and should research those options.

Fortunately for me, she also critiqued my first chapter of my first book. I have to admit that I was embarrassed that she had read the first book. I love Best Laid Plans because it was the first one, but I also know it has serious flaws in it. As I looked at her critique though, I saw that she had explained the terminology that I hadn't understood from her email and pointed out places where I needed work and they were issues that I knew still needed fixing. It helped clear several issues up for me and just in time, too. I got her email just as I finished writing book four and was about to do my read through. With her critique fresh in my mind, I was able to edit my book and specifically focus on the issues that she had brought to my attention. I focused primarily on two as I edited. One was keeping the point of view from drifting from character to character within the same section. If I needed to switch point of view, I either started a new chapter or a separate section. It was amazing how often I broke this rule of writing. I'd hate to look back through my previous books and see how many times I did this wrong. The other was focusing on adding action to my dialogue to prevent my characters from becoming "talking heads". There are definitely a lot more things I need to work on, but I felt like those two were pretty glaring faults that needed immediate attention.

Elizabeth also suggested that I join an online critique group. I had never heard of this before. Apparently these groups are writers providing critique for other writers and it's free. The understanding is that you will also provide feedback in exchange for other writers giving you help on your work. She specifically recommended The American Christian Fiction Writers and The Bayou Writers Group, but she said that there are several you can find just by doing a search on Google. She did caution me to find a group that specifically wrote the same genre as I write and like to read since I'll be expected to read other authors' works as well. Can I tell you that at this point I very much welcome feedback from other writers, but feel like I have absolutely nothing to offer in return? It's kind of intimidating. However, I know that this would be a great opportunity for me to learn.

I just have to mention here that this whole experience has been incredible. Even though at times it felt daunting to realize just how much I have left to learn, it was good for me to actually see the places I need to work on, not just know deep down that there were things that needed work. Besides that, Elizabeth was always very encouraging even as she pointed out the areas that I was doing things wrong. She not only pointed out where I need work, but also things that I was doing right. I very much appreciated her willingness to come alongside and help a new writer. She could have said that she was too busy, but she took time out of her schedule to give me feedback that I really needed to hear.

I'm very excited about book four! Being able to edit with specific areas to focus on was so helpful and I think it's helped make the book even better! I've sent the book out for the final editing and am waiting for their notes to finish up the book. I expect it to be published in September.

Deadline

I was talking to my friend, Mayra, about a month ago and she told me that she had a writing teacher who had asked the class what was the single most important thing a writer needed .  The class gave several answers, but none of them were the answer that the teacher wanted.  The teacher said that the most important thing for a writer to have was - a deadline.

I laughed and nodded when she told me this story, because I have found it to be very true.  My first book took me over five years to write.  I didn't have a deadline or a goal even and so I wrote when the mood struck me.  There would be long gaps between writing sessions.  However, once that first book was finished, I gave myself a deadline of having the second book out in one year.  I knew that if I took five years for the next book, I would be starting from the ground all over again.  The next year I gave myself another deadline to have the third book out by a year and I made it.  I added another deadline of having a Christmas novella written and ready to be published by Thanksgiving and I made that deadline, too.  

This year, I have struggled so much with my deadlines.  My original goal for this year was to finish the KW Consulting series, start the next series and write a Christmas novella.  I had planned to have book four finished in the spring, but publish it in September when all the other books in that series have been published, but that didn't happen.  I always underestimate how much time I actually have.  I often find myself just struggling to squeeze in thirty minutes to write.

My latest goals have been to just write book four of KW Consulting and start my next series, but drop the Christmas novella for this year.  I just don't think I'll have time to do all three.  However, I'm still hopeful that I'll get two full length novels written within the year.  I had set a new deadline to finish writing book four by the end of June.  Technically, I missed that deadline, too, but since I finished it at one in the morning on July 1st, I'll count it as an accomplishment.  

I'm so excited to have book four finished.  It was a new challenge for me to have to keep up with multiple plots and story lines.  I hope that when I go through and reread it that I'll find that they flow as well as I think they do.  So the next step is for me to read through the book, making sure to make any edits that I find.  Then I'll send it out to be edited.  I'm hopeful to have the book back in August so that I can make the changes that need done and have it published in September.  While that book is being edited, I'll begin work on the next series.

Each step in this journey is a learning experience.   Sometimes I'm amazed at how much I've learned in four years and sometimes I'm daunted by how much more I have to learn.  I'm feeling excited about the recent progress I've made.  I can't wait until book four is ready for publication!