Do you ever start something and then say "wow I really wish I knew this before?"
Me too.
There are a lot of things that I wish someone had shared with me before I decided to start writing. Let's talk about the top 5 things I wish I knew:
There is a lot more that goes into writing a book than just writing a dang book.
Writing, editing, designing, website building, marketing, social media, making connections is whole ass full time job. It is a lot of work and can be entirely exhausting. Especially as an indie author who is working full time and maintaining other obligations in their life.
That being said, it is a lot of work. A LOT. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I am actually so happy and excited to have written a whole novella and then at least half of the first book in my debut series. It has been a lot of late nights, writing during ANY free moment but it has been so so worth it.
You will have days that you want to scrap your entire book and say "f it"
Some days writing comes super easy and you can bust out thousands of words. LITERAL THOUSANDS. but there will be days that writing even 100 words feels daunting, and impossible. It is okay. It is normal. Write what you can or start working towards another aspect of the book process, like promoting or editing or cover design.
you can absolutely do this.
Give yourself grace
BE KIND TO YOURSELF PLEASE. This world is too mean and too harsh without you beating yourself up on top of everything. If you don't write as much as you want to, it is okay. We are all human and can make up for it in the future.
Not everyone is going to like your work, and that is okay. You are writing for you and that is the most important part.
I feel like this one just speaks for itself. It is impossible to please anyone even as a pathological people pleaser. I promise you, there will always be someone who doesn't like what you write or love your book. But remember you aren't doing this for them. AND there will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be someone who loves it.
Find indie author friends - they are your best resource and support system
Using my social media and marketing tactics to find indie author friends has been the best part of this entire process. I do not know a lot regarding the self publishing and or the business side of this and having those friends and connections has been incredible to learn about what works, what doesn't work and other regulations that might be affect the process.
PLUS, they all have similar hobbies to you and they want to see you succeed. I have so many of them that will order your book even if it isn't their favorite genre to show support. We want this to be a friendly, safe place for indie authors to be successful and will always do what we can to help.
While these are all things that I wish I knew more about going into this process I wouldn't change any part of this for the world. I am so proud of myself for accomplishing even this much but also grateful for the amount of support and love I have received throughout the process.
So if you're considering writing a book, DO IT.
-S
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