It's been a few months and the sting of being published and then not published has kind of lessoned so I think it is time to move forward and tell my story of my progression into the world of ebooks and the crazy world of Indie Publishers.
I am going to start at the beginning. I have always kept journals, spiral notebooks full of ideas, I have always changed the storyline or characters of a favorite television show or movie to add myself in. In short I have always had something going on in my head. Whether it be my lack of having something in my life or just an overactive imagination…who knows!
So I started writing seriously about the time my two boys hit high school and had their own set of friends and didn't really want to hang out. My first book was what would eventually become Entrusted. Now my kids are in college so you can see that was about seven years ago.
Entrusted started out very different from what it is today. It was probably what we now consider a New Adult but at the time was geared towards an older audience. It was based heavily on a time in my life after college that I was struggling and it was…let me just say liberating to put pen to paper.
I had a hard time when I searched out beta readers, you know the people who read for you and give you input. I have never had success finding a good one and to this day…four books later have to rely heavily on my editor to do what a beta should do. Anyway my readers came back to me telling me that the character was unlikable, she did unrealistic things…and I was like WHAT! I did those things and are you saying I am unlikable. Well maybe I was at that time in my life.
You see I was a victim of date rape. Although I don't even think it was 'date' because it was a guy I had been seeing for two years. Anyway it told the story of her struggle to develop a relationship after the rape.
The point of this is that I think it is important to get your feelings about stuff out and not let others tell you how you should react or feel whether that is in life or in the pages of your book.
I found myself changing the story to fit the needs of my betas when I really needed to tell the story that I lived. Of course it is hidden between the lines but it is there and needs to be.
Entrusted set me free. I have destroyed relationship after relationship because of issues I let hinder my ability to connect. Writing them down, even if no one ever saw the book, was the best thing I ever did.
Entrusted will be re-released in the next few weeks with additional chapters in the beginning and the end. Chapters that needed to be there but were taken out because of bad advise. I hope you understand that Emma doesn't mean to be unlikable. She simply is holding a story within that she is trying to keep from destroying her.
Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get free samples of books in the works. Remember Entrusted liberated me so watch out! *wink*
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