With less than three weeks to go until the release of Under A Blood Moon, I’m exploring the world of authorhood and learning about things I never knew existed. In the last month I’ve added an Amazon Author Page and a Goodreads Author page to my social media outlets. Both are meant to take information from other social media spots. It creates an odd echo effect – if I post about this blog on twitter, it will be copied to Facebook, and to the author pages, where my blog will appear next to the tweet about the blog post without any intervention from me.
The echo keeps resounding, making me feel like all I talk about is my upcoming book. I’m very excited about it, but also frustrated with the idea of what to do next. The sequel to Under a Blood Moon is written, but it came out at 132,000 words. Wild Rose Press, my publisher, prefers books remain under 100,000 words. I’ve had the manuscript (working title, Death Witch: Fire and Flame) beta-read, edited, and copy edited. The word count limit means there’s more to do, but, if I’m honest, I’m not sure where to start.
Really, though, not knowing where to start comes from not wanting to start. It’s shocking to admit but I don’t enjoy editing. I enjoy writing. I’m a ‘pantser’ meaning I write without an outline, plotting by the seat of my pants, making it up as I go along. That’s the part I love. The feeling of figuring out what comes next and scribbling down notes about things that need to change while I shower or drive. I enjoy seeing the story build itself in my head, then watching it spool out in words and lines. I write out of order, exciting and interesting scenes go first, then I force myself to fill in the part in between, hoping my discipline is stronger than my craving for the next exciting plot twist
There are no plot twists in editing. No exciting scenes in ordering promotional material or designing a blog campaign. Writing an artist to request advertisement graphics and searching out places to post those advertisements doesn’t hold the same thrill as hunting down facts or exploring motivations.
So I find myself once again in a place where conventional wisdom about writing and what I want to do are directly in conflict. Conventional wisdom says I should be networking, arranging a blog tour, placing advertisements, running giveaways, and promoting the hell out of my debut novel. Instead, I want to write the next book, and the book after that, and the one after that. I’ve got two or three ideas I need to get back to, along with something new and different itching at the back of my brain.
My author-side wants to write, desperately needs to get lost in a story. The business-side sees the value in all of those things I ought to be doing, and is scared of not doing them. I’m not sure which side I’ll listen to yet.