Why Aren't You Pursuing Your Publishing Dreams?

When Self-Publishing, If Talent is There, Eventually, the Money Will Come

Are you a "would-be" new novel writer with no idea how to stop feeling like a tiny little fish trying to compete in a very big pond, with no idea how to reach your goals? In this post, I'm going to talk about having publishing dreams, and about what it takes in addition to money to make those dreams come true. Many of us are content to simply dream about becoming successful while doing what we love without putting forth the effort it takes to at least try to make our dreams come true. If publishing books or novels is a dream of yours, what is it going to take for you to begin doing what you need to do to make those dreams come true? If money were no object, would you have all it takes to make your publishing dreams a reality? 

Like many other writers, even though I am self-published, I'm still dreaming of finding great success as an author/publisher. That's why I know there are lots of other considerations, in addition to money, that are needed for you to become successful and/or to earn a living as an author. Even though money is important, if you allow the lack of it to keep you from writing and from pursuing your dream, then it is possible that you don't have what it takes to ever see your publishing dreams come true.

A famous person once said, if you consider yourself to be a thing—such as a writer or an actor, and yet you're not writing or acting, then that means you're not a writer or an actor. Writers write and actors act. It doesn't matter if you have to work doing something else in order to make ends meet, financially. If you are a writer who is truly committed to writing, then no matter what else you're doing, you should be writing too. Many successful people have started out poor or near penniless, but by staying true to their desire to achieve their dreams, they eventually became successful.

Can Self-Publishing Take You from Rags to Riches?

William P. Young. Author of one of my favorite novels of all time, The Shack, Young helped to create an independent publishing company, Windblown Media. It was through that company that he published his first novel with mostly word-of-mouth marketing. It climbed to the number one spot as a NY Times bestselling novel.

Amanda Hocking. After writing 17 novels, she found no success with traditional publishing, so she self-published her novel as an e-book, and sold over a million copies. After that, St. Martin's Press bought the rights to her first three novels for more than two million dollars.

E.L. James. Many see this author as the "poster child" for self publishing success. The success of her Fifty Shades of Grey novel and series should convince anyone that success is possible for self-publishing authors.

Robert Kiyosaki. From self-publishing Rich Dad, Poor Dad, in 1997, Kiyosaki found overwhelming self-publishing success. Selling more than twenty-six million copies of this book, he turned his self-publishing success into a business.

The "rags to riches" stories of Tyler Perry and J. K. Rowling also come to mind, immediately, but I also know there are many other people whose stories could fit under this banner.

One uninspiring thing that Perry and Rowling have in common, that I found quite interesting, is that each one has, at one time, contemplated suicide. Remember that J. K. Rowling, now a billionaire author, was unemployed and on welfare when she started writing the first Harry Potter novel. Likewise, the actor, director, screen writer/playwright, producer, author, and songwriter, Tyler Perry, makes no secret of having had to live in his car for months as a struggling playwright and producer of stage shows. "Can you imagine a six-foot-five man sleeping in a Geo Metro?" he once told Essence magazine.

In 2011, Perry was named as the highest paid man in entertainment, by Forbes magazine, earning $130 million between May 2010 and 2011. As of 2019, Tyler Perry's net worth was approximated to be around $600 million. For me, both Perry's and Rowling's, and all the self-published authors I mentioned above, have success stories providing evidence that no matter how bad things might seem at one time in your life, if you keep trying and never give up, things can turn around for you.

Could Dreaming Simply Be Another Way to Procrastinate?

Now, if you have a dream of becoming a published author, what are you doing about it? What did you do today, and what are you planning to do tomorrow? What are you doing every day to make your dreams come true? Many people nurture a dream of becoming a novelist or a published author for years and years, and yet they make no progress toward accomplishing what they are dreaming about. Are they simply dreaming for the sake of dreaming, or have they allowed the worst kind of procrastination to effectively build a wall between them and their dream?

All my life, for as long as I can remember thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, I’ve wanted to write and publish novels. And even though I worked as a journalist, then a copywriter in advertising, then for decades as a college professor and as a professional in the field of marketing communications, it wasn’t until several years ago that I started doing what I’ve always dreamed of: Writing novels. Was I procrastinating all those years when I dreamed of writing and publishing books, when I wasn't writing and publishing them? Or was it that I simply was not ready to activate my dream until recent years?

Sometimes what we might think of as procrastination is actually something else. It could be that even though we’re dreaming of doing or becoming something, we’re really not ready, or we're not yet prepared to take on either the risks or the responsibilities we’ll have to take on, in order to realize our dreams.

The "Uncertainty" of Publishing

Publishing is a risky business. There are never any guarantees that what you write will sell, but still, in order to become a writer of novels or books, you must write. Until you take that "leap of faith" you will never know success or failure. And, when you decide to take the leap, if your book doesn't sell, you will still have spent countless hours writing, and writing, and re-writing, and editing, and rewriting. You will have devoted time that can never be retrieved to creating something that you never had any way of knowing whether it would meet with publishing success or failure, and therein lies the risk.

Are you among those willing to work that hard to complete your book or novel, but are a bit reluctant to go for it with all you've got because of the risk involved? Are you afraid to commit fully because you know that after completing your novel, and even after publishing it yourself or getting someone else to publish it, there are no guarantees what you've written will sell? Are you are wondering if, after putting little pieces of your heart and soul into a novel that all your time spent writing and creating will have been for nothing?

If you are serious about becoming a published novelist or a writer of other kinds of books, of course the answer to the last question above needs to be a big and resounding “No.” In the world of writing and publishing, just as in the world outside of it, there is no such thing as failure. And there is no such thing as all your efforts being exerted in vain. Why? Because after trying your best and still having things not work out according to your plans, you’re still ahead of the game. There are lessons to be learned from everything you do, and as long as you are doing something—as opposed to doing nothing—you are learning, growing, developing, and getting closer to achieving your goals.

The Right and Wrong Reasons for Publishing

Writing and publishing is something you must be in for the right reasons. If you’re trying to become a writer of books just for the fame and fortune that is definitely possible to achieve, then you’re probably in it for the wrong reasons. While it is possible to become financially prosperous and even world famous (think J. K. Rowling) through the writing and publishing of books, most published authors are neither. I’m not trying to burst anyone’s bubble, but I am a firm believer in what the Bible says about how the truth will set you free.

The truth is, writing a novel or a book requires all of you. You have to put everything you know, everything you are, everything you have inside, and everything you are capable of being, into your writing. Writing novels is one of those things you have to do because you have to do it; because you love it, and because no matter how you might try not to, you know you will never find the internal peace you crave until you write down the things that come to you. For example, if you’re trying to become a teller of stories and you don’t find yourself creating characters and plots and worlds for your characters to live in all the time, even in your sleep, then it could be that writing novels is not really your dream. It could be that fame and fortune is what you’re seeking, and if you’re only in it for the money and fame, I don’t think you will stick with it if/when your first book does not become an instant publishing success story.

But, if writing novels is much more than just a dream for you, if it is your “oxygen,” as it is mine, then not finding success with your first novel will only serve as fuel for your fire. It will motivate you to the nth degree, igniting passion you never even knew you had inside you, because you will know you can write and publish a novel. Even if you don't find success with your first book, you will allow your first attempt to teach you what was good and what was bad about your first try, and you will gladly accept constructive criticism of your efforts. Ultimately, you will be grateful for what you have learned, because you know it will help you tremendously when you write and seek to publish your next novel.

Learn from Your Self-Publishing or Traditional Publishing Attempts, and Then Try, Try Again 

Not everyone will be successful with their first published work. But, no matter what happens after your first attempt at publishing your first book, the attempt itself will leave you sitting firmly in what renowned author, James Thurber, humorously described (in a short story of the same name) as “the catbird seat.”

Being in the catbird seat simply means sitting on high, in an enviable position. After you have written and published your first novel you will be in the catbird seat, automatically. Why? Because you will have actually done something millions of people will only ever dream of doing. And even if your entry into publishing does not launch you into immediate publishing success, no one can take from you what you will have learned from your first attempt. And what you will learn will place you in a position; one from which you can greatly improve upon your work as well as in what you will know about how to market your work. Everything you learn and will know from firsthand experience will greatly improve your chances for success with your second novel.

And who knows? It could be that after an initial flop, success still awaits your first attempt. Maybe the reason your book or your novel did not sell is because not enough people who like to read what you wrote actually knew about your work. If you’re like me and you don’t have the money or the time you need to invest in a really strong and intensive marketing campaign, then it is possible that your second attempt at publishing might need to be re-launching your first novel.

If You Love Writing and Were Born to Write, Circumstances Won't End Your Publishing Dreams

When you believe writing is your gift from God, part of your purpose in life, you will not allow your circumstances to stop you from writing. You will find a way to write.

Things are really bad on the home front as I am writing this Hub. I'm working fast and furiously, trying to "reinvent" myself; my life. But I have made up my mind that no matter what, I will not lose hope or faith. I believe God is with me, has never left me, and will be with me throughout this time in my life. I'm a "starving artist" these days, and I've become so good at penny-pinching, I now make Ebenezer Scrooge look like Daddy Warbucks). But, I am working to start something of my own, even though I have no money to invest in starting anything. I can't allow that to stop me now. And still I write.

Why do I continue to write? Why am I still putting time and effort into my writing projects while life seems to be trying to beat me down to a pulp? Because not only is writing my joy, I truly believe it is my gift, and it is the foundation of my purpose. it is my oxygen. My life. And everything I’ve gone through in the past, and everything I'm going through now, is only increasing my faith that I will one day achieve all of my publishing dreams.

I am continually inspired by the success of others. I learn and find motivation to keep going from reading about the struggles and ultimate triumph of people like Tyler Perry and J. K. Rowling. Theirs and the stories of others are real to me, and they help me to see that it can happen for anyone. Even for me. And that makes me even more dedicated and even less willing to procrastinate when it comes to doing all I can to usher my dreams into reality. I no longer fear taking risks to find support for my dreams, and I'm not going to allow my circumstances to get in my way. I understand, fully, that being afraid of taking chances is what crushed dreams are made of. And that's the real reason why I write.

Having a lot of things go wrong in my life has taught me how to pay closer attention to what my life is trying to teach me. Troubles have given me lots of firsthand experience in what it means to have unwavering faith while believing that no matter what comes against me, everything is going to be all right. And finally, I've learned that the lessons life teaches are priceless, and that you are the only person alive who can allow these lessons to make you smarter, more courageous, and even more “unstoppable” when it comes to doing what you need to do to try to achieve your dreams. And through it all, no matter what comes in or what leaves my life, still, I write.

Should You Use an Outline When Planning the Writing of Your First Novel?

Now that you’re absolutely sure you want to write a book, and now that you know—without a doubt, you’re determined to see your book in print (or in digital format), it’s time to begin thinking more about how you will approach your writing project. It’s time to start thinking about whether or not you will prepare and use an outline to create the first draft of your book.

Many writers use an outline, and many do not. For those who do, the purpose of an outline is to organize  ideas in a way that will make the writing process easier. With this in mind, I feel it’s important to point out that different writers approach the outlining process differently. Some prefer to write down every major point they plan to cover in the novel, while others will make very broad statements covering only the major events of the novel. Those preferring the former approach will write down, point by point, every major and minor point or topic they plan to present. It can be compared to being the director of a play or a movie. You need to know or to understand the story and why it is being told in order to decide what main points you want to make and/or when you want to reveal these points to your readers/audience.

Do You Have To Create An Outline to Write a Book or Novel?

Many writers of non-fiction wouldn't think of writing a book without first preparing an outline, and for good reason. They want to make sure that every major point they want to make with regard to their topic will make its way into the book. 

But, other non-fiction writers choose not to use an outline. For instance, someone who is writing an autobiography might feel he/she knows the subject matter well enough not to need a formal outline. So, instead of committing an outline to paper, he/she might choose to jot down notes or to make an informal, “mental” outline.

However, there are many other writers of fiction and non-fiction, who feel that while an outline is an important part of the writing process, they still prefer a less formal approach to writing. And, there are pros and cons for using and for not using an outline. At the end of the day, it depends on the writer's preferences, but I think you should give outlining a chance so you'll know whether you prefer it. Or not.

Will You Be an Outliner, or a Pantser?

Remember, you don't have to use an outline. You might work best as a pantser—a writer who flies by the seat of his or her pants. However, if you decide to outline your new novel, after planning out small segments of the book—say one chapter at a time, you can delve right into writing the novel using notes you jotted down, or that are only in your head. Once you complete one segment, you can then move on and create notes for the next segment—which may be the next section of a chapter, or the next chapter of your novel. If you’re someone who prefers this method, you can use the “outline-as-you-go” process until the first draft of your book is completed.

When I’m writing, I usually use a combination of the formal and informal approaches. For example, I’m now writing the sixth book in my "Color of Love" series/collection. As with every book project, I started writing Book Six with a project concept. I imagined what I want the finished book description to sound like—you know, what I would say to a friend who asked me what the book is about. After that, with my summary in mind, I wrote down what I wanted to write about, and why I felt the book needs to be written. After doing that—and it was a lengthy process of several pages—I then jotted down a chapter-by-chapter outline for the first three chapters, leaving out the finer details of the book. When writing fiction, I’ve found I prefer a more “free-flowing” style of writing where I allow situations or what is going on with my characters to guide me toward what will be the finer details of scenes and chapters.

It's different, however, when I’m writing non-fiction. When I'm writing an article for Hub Pages, for example, after completing any necessary research, I find it easier to commit to a more detailed outline, than when I am preparing to write fiction.

How to Create an Outline For a Book or Novel

For many new writers, the idea of having to produce an outline of the whole book before writing even one word can seem like an impossible task. For this reason, I always advise new writers to break the project down into smaller segments. That is, instead of attempting to outline the whole book, outline one chapter at a time. Trust me, the benefits and rewards of preparing an outline will be well worth the time and effort it takes to produce it. For one thing, the outline may later serve as the basis of chapters titles for your book.

And another important thing about the outline, at least for me, is that it can serve as a guidepost, a placeholder, and a reason to write. It provides me with a “writing prompt,” something that helps me out when my muses decide to go on strike. Having an outline might help those who sometimes run into something called "writer's block," because knowing what comes next can serve as grist for all kinds of ideas. Following are a few of my basic pointers for creating the outline.

Beginning the Outline. Ask yourself what will be the main points you want to make in the first chapter. It might help to think of the central idea of the first chapter. Then, after coming up with the central idea, what points will you make in support of, or to clarify and/or discuss the central idea?

Topics and Subtopics. As I stated earlier, the purpose of the outline is to organize your ideas in a way that will make the writing process easier. After thinking about what you want to include in a chapter, begin your outline by placing the main points you plan to make in the chapter in the order you think you will discuss them. Now is the time to let the ideas flow at will—write down every main point you think you want to talk about. Later, you can go back over the outline to decide what information is relevant to your story, and what you might want to discard. It’s helpful at this point to remember that an outline is something you can always make changes to, as needed.

Revising the outline. Once you have your initial thoughts on paper, it’s time to review and revise. Looking back over the points you wrote down; decide if all the topics and subtopics you’ve created are logically related to the central idea of the chapter. Are you’re trying to put too much information into one chapter? Are there are topics or subtopics that might need to be further developed?

Book writing software is available to help those who might want or need a little (or a lot of) help in creating the outline. I have used software designed for novel writing, including Storybook (open source), New Novelist, and Write it Now, and Scrivener, to name a few. When I was writing my first novel, I found this kind of software to be invaluable. There is also software devoted primarily to brainstorming and the outlining process, such as Mindmapping, but it’s up to you to decide whether or not you think software is the way for you to go. It might help you to check out the websites of software vendors, test their products, and then make your decision.

          Be On The Lookout, Fall 2019,          

For My First Two Novels!

New novel writer, S.B. Middlebrook, PhD, a former university professor of marketing and communications, is a writing coach and an independent publisher and marketing and communications consultant.

Want to Write a First Novel? Are You Scared? Ready to Be Committed?

Yes, the pun in the line above is intended, and no, you don't have to be crazy to want to write a novel. But, being crazy in love with writing is a prerequisite. So, with this thought in mind, welcome to my blog for writers who want to know what it takes to start, and to complete, a first novel.

This blog contains a discussion of my ten hard-learned steps to getting my first novel started and completed, and these steps might help you if you're still dreaming about writing and perhaps self-publishing your first novel.

In this blog, I've also shared parts of my own journey, my biography, that helped to prepare me for my novel-writing journey. I've found that it can help to look at life (and commitment) from another vantage point, and I hope that at least something about my long journey to commitment will help you find your own path to the commitment you'll need to write, and perhaps to self-publish, your first novel.

I am beginning the writing of my sixth novel in the collection I call “Color of Love.” I chose this name for the series/collection because I decided that each romantic story should be color-coded in the book title. Since the issue of "color-ism" still plagues our community, and since there are so many beautiful and rich skin colors and tones associated with the magnificent and resplendent African diaspora, many of my stories take a look at skin color privileges and stigma, as they exist/manifest in the U.S. With these things in mind, I wanted to place emphasis on color by giving each book a "colorful" title. You can look forward to reading books with heroes and heroines with skin tones ranging from the lightest of light brown, to the darkest of dark brown, and all the amazingly lovely colors in between. The richness, the variety, the bountiful bouquet of color variety we represent makes each and every one of us uniquely stunning.

Writing and Publishing My First Novel: The Road Was Long ... With Many a Winding Turn

For around 20 years, I worked as a college professor teaching courses in areas of journalism, mass communications, advertising, and marketing. Then, after working as a professional in my career fields of marketing/ journalism/ advertising/public relations--for a lot of years, about ten years ago, I made the same decision you've made: to become a writer of novels.

In addition to having conducted a national research study as the foundation for writing my doctoral dissertation (which is book-length), in more recent years I've also written about seven of a ten-novel collection. I chose to self-publish the first book in my collection in December of 2011 (Silver: Currents of Change), and I self-published Book Two (Gold, The Heat of Refinement) in 2015, through another company. My plan, however, is to re-release both of my first two books, soon (with new covers), using either Amazon.com's self-publishing platform, or Ingram Spark, another print-on-demand company. I want to own my own work, so I'm choosing not to go the traditional publishing route for now. Maybe one day in the future (but maybe not).

The drawing you see to the left is a sketch of the cover of my third novel, which I have completed and will be publishing later this year. I have been writing articles and books and telling stories my whole life, either in my head or actually putting them down on paper. And, even though I've known my whole life that I wanted to become a writer of fiction novels, it took a while for me to actually commit to doing it.

I grew up in Mississippi, and at age 18, I went to college. I studied journalism as an undergraduate and earned a bachelors degree in mass communications. Although I was committing myself to writing, it was a different kind of writing from what I'd always dreamed of doing. Still, it took full commitment of time and effort to learn what I needed to know to become a journalist. After getting my B. S. degree, I worked for a several years in magazine publishing, as a writer and editor. Then, I went back to school to work on getting a masters degree in English, preparing to focus at least some of my time on writing fiction. But, a lack of commitment to these plans soon came between me and that degree. What happened? After completing about two-thirds of a masters in English, I caught the "copy writing bug" and decided to get my masters degree in advertising, instead of English.

I left Mississippi and started pursuing a new masters degree at the University of Illinois, in Urbana. There, I was among a blessed group of graduate students called James Webb Young Scholars (we were recipients of the competitive James Webb Young Fellowship). James Webb Young (1886-1973) was a "Mad Man" way before advertising professionals became so popular on television. The very first chairman of the Ad Council, Young was voted Advertising Man of the Year in 1946, long before I was even born. He wrote several books, and one of them became part of my reading material when I was studying advertising (A Technique for Producing Ideas, Waking Lion Press, 2009). That little book gave me a whole new way of viewing the creative process, and I'm glad my study of advertising gave that to me. In fact, I enjoyed everything about my years at U of I, and there I not only completed my masters in advertising, I also took courses in literature, once again fueling and feeding my dreams of becoming a writer of novels. (Link to read my short story pictured below)

As it turned out, even though I loved (and still love) advertising, I wasn't all that committed to the idea of becoming an ad agency copywriter. After getting my masters in advertising, I became a college professor of mass communications. Then, after a few years of doing that, I took some time away from teaching and worked for a few years as an ad agency researcher and a copywriter, but soon went back to teaching. However, a connection I made while working for a Dallas ad agency became an important part of my future. Still, for many more years, I worked as a college professor teaching courses in advertising, public relations, and marketing communications, at three different universities (I couldn't even commit to working at one school!). After teaching full-time for more than a decade, I decided to go back to school, again, to complete a doctorate in business (with a specialization in marketing). Whew!

Several years after getting my doctorate, I decided to leave full-time teaching. You see, even though I was good at teaching, and even though my students and I won several national advertising and marketing competitions with very big and impressive prizes and recognition, it turns out I was never fully committed to the idea of being a college professor. So, I started working for corporations and businesses in areas of marketing communications where I held jobs as a marketing and/or communications manager or director. I even worked in international marketing for one company. As a sideline, I also spent many years working in magazine publishing as a writer, editor, and graphic designer. I also started writing for Hub Pages, and I've published several of my short stories and a lot of other types of non-fiction articles there. Hub Pages is owned by Maven, and my profile site is: https://hubpages.com/@drmiddlebrook.

 I'll tell your more about my journey in my next post.

Ten Things That Helped Me Finally Commit to Starting and Completing My First Novel 

How I Found My Way ...

Working as a publishing consultant, it turns out, was an important "turning point" for me. Remember that ad agency connection I told you about in my last post? Well, while I was working as a publishing consultant, through a network of people associated with that work, I got "reconnected" with that same Dallas agency. I was hired to become a screenwriting consultant, to help an already published novelist who wanted one of her unpublished books adapted into a screenplay. So, in 2004, I moved to the Los Angeles area where I worked for six months on that screenplay. I was fortunate to be able to hire to help me another consultant, a man who was a real live, Emmy-winning, Hollywood screenwriter and film editor. (Link to read my short story pictured below)

And, although confidentiality agreements prohibit me from being able to talk about the screenplay, after six months of hard work, I completed it. Those six months involved total focus on and commitment to that project, and once I completed the screenplay, I knew well the meaning of true commitment to a project. Competing that project, in fact, is what made me know I could commit to putting together an interesting and exciting story from beginning to end. I knew that if I could adapt someone’s novel into a 120-page, well-written screenplay, I could darn well commit to starting and to completing my own first novel!

Here are the ten things that helped me finally commit.

1. Stop waiting to find the time to write. Make the time you need to do it. No matter how full your life is (family, job, dog, house, responsibilities out the wazoo, etc.), if you really want to write a novel or a non-fiction book, you will find a way to do it. Do whatever you need to do to manage and/or delete those distractions, and get busy writing your novel!

2. Put your writing goals in writing! You're a writer, or you wouldn't be planning or dreaming about writing books. So, as a writer, use your skills to write down your writing goals. Why? Because committing your thoughts to paper will help to clarify them, and with clarification comes focus. You cannot commit without focus, and you cannot focus without clarity. You can easily start to feel "intimidated" and "overwhelmed" thinking about needing huge chunks of time to be set aside for writing your book. Don't think of it like that. Think of it as a project you can complete by setting and meeting daily goals, weekly goals, and monthly goals. Then, set and keep those goals. (Link to my short story pictured below)

3. Don't just say you're going to do it, do it. If you truly love writing, that means writing is something you enjoy doing. It comes easily to you. If you don't really love it, and if it doesn't come easily, chances are you'll abandon your book project soon after starting it. But if you know you love writing, and you love the idea you've come up with for your book, then once you set your goals all you really have do is to act on those goals. What are you waiting for? It's not enough just to put your goals in writing. You must learn to think of the goals you've written down as your plan, your declaration, your mandate to commit to completing your book. Once you've clarified your goals and your intentions, revisit them daily until you actually begin working to achieve them.

4. Once you've started, insert into your life what it takes to commit, to keep the momentum going. Don't worry so much about the "quality" of your writing, or even the "quantity" of what you're producing, in the beginning. Just begin, and be sure to devote time to your project every day. Some days, you might have only a few minutes to write, and other days you might find an hour or two to do what you love. And that's fine. Just write while keeping your eye (and your mind) on the prize—completing your book. Remember: Every word you write takes you a step closer to another sentence, every sentence gets you a step closer to completing another paragraph, every paragraph inches you closer to having another chapter done, and every chapter brings you closer to the "finish line" of completing your book.

Lets face it. It's very difficult finding a way to devote, regularly, eight, five, three, and sometimes even one hour a day, to writing. I understand. Best-selling authors may be free to spend countless hours a day writing, but most of the rest of us don't enjoy the luxury of having that much time that we can spend writing. That means the rest us must make the most of the time we can make. We have to write all we can when we can, and we must always have a goal of getting to the next paragraph, the next scene, the next page, or the next chapter as quickly as we can.

5. Allow yourself to become excited and energized by any progress, no matter how small. As you continue committing yourself to writing, every day, be proud of the fact that you're making progress toward accomplishing your goal. Acknowledge your progress. Read and re-read what you've written. Make notes about changes you want to make, and if it will get your writing engines going, go ahead and make those changes the next time you make the time you need for writing. Allow your writing project to become a "seamless" part of you; an important part of your life. Don't spend any time lamenting time lost. That's the past, and you live in the present. So, don't beat yourself up for not having started your project sooner. Learn to be thankful for the present day and the opportunity you've carved out in your life for writing. Be thankful that all you have to do now is to make more progress toward achieving your ultimate writing goal. (Link to read my short story pictured below)

6. Give yourself permission to take "baby steps," as needed. Writing a book takes big commitment. And, even though it is a very big project, one that can ultimately take months or even years to complete, you can look at it as a series of smaller projects. You can give yourself permission to take "baby steps" in the writing of your book, and doing that will help turn what can feel like a huge, seemingly unmanageable project, into a series of smaller, much more manageable projects.

7. Tackle your smaller projects one at a time. Don't allow yourself to become overwhelmed by thinking about all it will take to complete your book. After learning to think of your big writing project as a series of smaller projects, tackle each smaller project as a task in and of itself. That way, all the writing, revising, editing and re-writing that is required to get your book ready to publish will be organized into much smaller goals that won't seem so huge and overwhelming. The key is to keep working, and to stay committed to starting and finishing your book. Never forget that your "mindset" is more than important, it's crucial. How you think about what it takes to write a novel makes a world of difference—and that difference is between completing and not completing your book. (Link to read my short story pictured below)

8. Be creative in finding ways to get you to stick to your goals. Do your best to hang in there any way you can! One way is to give yourself deadlines. However, when you set deadlines, you have to try your best to meet them. After all, a deadline is no good if you simply ignore it. I found that, for me, a good way to practice meeting a novel-writing deadline is to join and participate in Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month (http://nanowrimo.org). Even though I had worked on my first novel off and on before signing up, I started writing it fanatically in 2009 after signing up for Nanowrimo. In fact, it wasn't until I participated in Nano that I completed the first draft of my first novel. The idea of writing almost nonstop for a whole month (Nano takes place in November, every year) is what worked for me. And now I'm challenging you to do your own research, to find that something that might work best for you.

9. Stop requiring/expecting "perfection" in everything you write. Remember, you are writing a first draft of your book, and you cannot perfect your first draft until you have a first draft. So chill out, and write your first draft. Keep in mind, as you are writing your first draft, that now is not the time to worry so much about grammar, sentence structure, or even dialogue that might be "challenged." That's all okay for now, and now is not the time to start editing your book. Accept that it doesn't have to be good yet, it just has to be. You have to get it written so that you will have something to edit and to revise, later. But for now, it's all about getting it written. Keep telling yourself that you'll make the time you need, later, for all the editing and revising and rewriting that you will want/need to do.

10. Stop worrying about what other people might think of your novel. The best way to keep yourself from achieving any goal in life is to allow "what others might think" to become part of your mindset. That's what I call "stinking thinking." The way I see it, if you feel strongly enough about an idea to want to commit the time and effort it takes to write a novel about it, then you should do it, no matter what. Sure, there might be some who will not like your book once it's published. Even Shakespeare, "The Bard," has critics who don't like his work. Such is life. Personally, I think it's wonderful that people (including you) have a right to their own likes and dislikes.

The truth is, you shouldn't need everyone to like your book. But, just as there will be those who won't like it, there will also be many (perhaps even more) who will love it. The point is, you cannot allow the thoughts of unnamed and unknown "others," or even those of people you know, to keep you from writing your book. Don't place what others might think about your unwritten book above your own thoughts about it. Don't relegate your thoughts to "second place" in your own mind. Take charge of your thoughts, and after doing that, spend your time and energy on writing your book, and finding the right audience for it.

On Quality Writing and Self-Publishing

I am committed and devoted to the idea of helping myself and other writers improve the quality of self-published content. This topic offers me many opportunities to learn more about all the aspects, agony, and awesomeness that self-publishing can be as I write to help myself and others. So. If this article is about quality in self-publishing, why are you seeing a picture of a cute ladybug? Because just as gardeners welcome ladybugs--since these tiny beetles devour the most problematic plant pests, as self-publishers, we have to be gardeners of writing. We must welcome editing and re-writing, and we have to be eager and ready to devour any and all writing "pests" that can take down the quality of our content.

There are many who believe all self-published content is of poor quality. Is it true? Of course not. But self-publishing is frowned upon by many people in academic and non-academic settings. Even though times and ideas about self-publishing are changing (as many self-published authors’ books are becoming best sellers), there are still a lot of people who believe self-published writers are people who simply cannot write well enough or produce content that is of high enough quality to be published any other way. They feel that if it were not for self-publishing, those of us who self-publish would not be published at all. Of course, this not true. Lots of self-published content is of the highest quality, and some traditionally published authors also self-publish some of their content. Yet, all self-published content still suffers from the myth/belief that if it’s self-published, it cannot be of high or even good quality.

Writing this blog is giving me a chance to present topics on anything related to writing and self-publishing, but many of my blog posts will focus on quality content. I will be encouraging new self-publishing novel writers/authors to take “quality” seriously when preparing content intended for self-publishing. This way, you will only learn as you write and as you grow as a self-publishing new novel writer. 

I will be using my blog to become part of the driving forces that can help new self-publishing novelists change at least some “naysayer” beliefs about all self-published content. It might always be true that some self-published content will always be of poor quality, but that does not and should not mean all self-published content will always be of poor quality.

As a self-publishing writer/author, where do you begin in your quest for creating quality content? For me the answer is to always begin at the beginning. That means at the idea stage, since the heart and soul of any form of written communication is the idea upon which it is based. Ideas are what will drive creation and/or development of theme/subject, as well as development of content.

How do you know when you have a good idea? There are probably millions of things I could mention or talk about here and each thing would probably be something that might help you determine whether or not you have a good idea or a good topic to write about. But, even though there might be millions of things to consider when it comes to what constitutes a good idea, for me, there are about six or maybe seven “most important things” I need to consider. Today, I’ll present my first two considerations, and in my next post, I’ll continue the list/discussion about how I know when I have a good idea.

Before deciding whether I want to spend my precious and rare “spare time” fleshing out a particular idea, what I decide to write about must be able to “pass” the following tests:

·       The idea must be about something important to me. Serving as the foundation of my topic/subject must be something important to me that I can see myself spending hours, days, weeks, months, or even years—if that what it takes, doing the research and the writing that is needed to begin and to complete the writing project. It doesn’t matter if I’m writing a fiction or non-fiction book, an article, or something else. The idea must make me want to spend time thinking about it, working with it, fleshing it out, and turning it into something that I believe prospective readers will want to read.

·         Writing on a particular idea must offer an opportunity to learn more about topics I’m interested in while also helping me solve some type of problem that will help/benefit a lot of people. Take this blog post, for instance. I decided that the topic of quality in self-publishing is so important to me—as a new self-publishing writer and author, that I can see myself spending whatever amount of time it takes to do what I can to increase my own knowledge while helping other self-publishing writers and authors—and our readers. I decided that I will provide, through my blog posts, some of my personal experiences, help and advice I've found on other sites, and hints for self-publishing writers and authors who intend to hold their content to high standards when it comes to considerations about quality.

Before choosing an idea, I must feel that the idea is one I am uniquely qualified to write about. It must resonate with me, for many different reasons. Maybe it is an idea that is linked to some experience or adventure from my life, or from the life of someone I know. I must feel “close” to the idea, and it must “speak to me.” It must say to me that I have to write about it, for one or more reasons. For example, I am now beginning the writing of my sixth novel in a collection I call “Color of Love.” I chose this name for the series/collection because I decided that each romantic story should be color-coded in the book title. Since there are so many beautiful and rich skin colors and tones associated with the magnificent and resplendent African diaspora, and since many of my stories take a look at skin color privileges and stigma, as it exists in the U.S., I wanted to place emphasis on color by giving each book a "colorful" title. 

     Other ideas I allow to become the foundation of my books, or grist for my muses, are inspired by physical and personal challenges I have either faced in my life, or that are faced by people I either know or have read about. I've found I do not have to have had personal experience with something in order to write about it, but I do have to feel I can “identify” with the primary aspects of the idea, or else it will not resonate with me. And if an idea does not resonate with me, I feel I am not uniquely qualified to write about it.

     Be sure to see my next post for more on the top of self-publishing quality, developing ideas, and other writing topics that I hope will help you become the best writer and self-publishing author that you can be.

      As always, I’m interested in your ideas about writing, self-publishing, and about how you know if/when you have a good idea. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section under this blog post. Thanks!

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