And Done!
A Good Place to Turn Around: Ben's Story, Book Two in The Eastport Series has been published! (Is that trumpets I hear?) The official launch date is September 10th, but shhhhhh! Don't let anyone else know, but it's available on Amazon now.
One of the most frequent questions I'm asked as an author is, "What does it take to go from idea to book?" Since I've just finished going through this process, I thought I'd share a little of what its like in this post.
First, you need an idea. The idea for A Good Place to Turn Around came directly from Iris and Mo. There were things that happened at the end of the book and I had questions. (Which I won't mention here, no spoilers in case you haven't read I&M.) So, I thought I'd write a book to answer them.
Next comes the writing part. So far in my fiction writing career, I am a pantzer–I write by the seat of my pants, no planning. So, I dove right into the story. I knew how it would begin because I knew how Iris and Mo ended, and I picked up the story from there. Writing the rough draft takes me about nine months, appropriate for the birth of a child. While I was writing the rough draft, I was also finishing up the publishing of Iris and Mo. This is a layered business. Not much happens one thing at a time.
When the rough draft is complete, it's time for the fun part–editing. I say that in all seriousness. I love editing! I love re-writing and tweaking and doing everything I can to milk the right words out of those ideas to help you, the reader, see what I see in my mind and feel what I feel. I do a great deal of self-editing, but there's also a generous amount of editing that takes place in critique groups. The feedback I get from these groups goes a long way to improve the final story. I'd say this part takes about three months or so, but really, I'm editing right up to the moment I press the "Publish Now" button on Amazon.
Next, it's time to get prepped to turn those words into an actual book. This is the nitty-gritty part of the process. I have my Chicago Manual of Style at the ready, Grammarly and ProWriterPlus are working overtime, and I'm looking for any typos, repeated words, missed commas, and a myriad of other tedious but necessary details. This process is unending.
During this final stage, a cover design is created, the dreaded back of the book blurb is written (Have you ever tried to condense a 495 page novel into one paragraph?), dedications and acknowledgments are made, endorsements are solicited and received, and press/marketing materials are put together.
It seems as if once all this is done, it's just a matter of uploading to Amazon and ta-da! The book is available worldwide, but no. It's generally taken me two days to go through the Amazon upload process because invariably, I've forgotten a detail here, or need a reference there, and most often, spy a mistake during the preview process. Each correction takes at least twenty minutes to complete. But once all corrections are made . . .
It's the moment I've been waiting over a year for–pressing the "Publish Now" button. That moment is filled with anxiety. Did I miss something? Are the pages aligned correctly? Did I forget to say thank-you to someone? What if the story is awful? Somehow, my finger takes charge, presses the button, and another child of mine is sent out into the world.
After that, I sit in my favorite chair, have a Diet Coke, then get back to writing book number three.
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