Starting The New Year Off Right

With the new year beginning I am examining my goals like I always do. As usual I broke down my list into three categories. I have financial, physical, and writing. I learned a long time ago setting goals to accomplish was a better mindset for me than establishing resolutions I would break eventually. I am better at crossing things off the to do list than trying to do something everyday. One of my goals that goes hand in hand with all of my writing list is being more objective.

Two nights ago I sat at my computer, preparing to print out my manuscript from my first book in order to go through it for editing. I was appalled by the amateur level not only of the writing but of the editing. I had, of course, gone through the book so many times I swore I knew it by heart. There were also three others who had their hand in the editing process as well though, and that made it all the more frustrating. Knowing the things I do now, it is painful to think I trusted them.

I was nervous to go the self-publishing route, or in this case, allow someone else to do the publishing part for me. This book is a demonstration of why I should have trusted my instincts. The cover is unclear, the font choice and size for my name are questionable, event the layout inside shows how clueless the person I believed in actually was. I admit I would have been even more lost than they were had I tried it myself but I took them at their word that they were professional with the experience needed.

I made the decision to pull my book from Amazon until I was able to fix the glaring mistakes. I just had no idea how many of them there would be. I will be sitting down to begin the next level of edits either tonight or tomorrow and will hopefully be done by the end of the month. I have learned a lot and am looking forward to stepping back and trying to look at my work through the eyes of a reader or traditional publisher. Getting Never Give Up published and back on Amazon is one of the first major goals on my 2018 list.

It also plays into one of my financial goals of achieving a royalty check large enough to pay a bill. It is something I read in Stephen King's On Writing. He said he considers a writer a success when they make enough to pay a bill. I am not concerned with paying my mortgage or even a utility bill, I would be happy to cover the water bill or have enough from one royalty check to pay for a book signing event. These are just a few of my goals for this year and I am excited to get to work on everything.