Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the story writing process. There is so much more to it than just writing the story. There’s plot structure, the story arch, characters, character development, sub plots, side stories, foreshadows, and so much more.
There’s plot structure, the story arch, characters, character development, sub plots, side stories, foreshadows, settings, story flow and so much more.
Then there is the editing and revision portion. This part seems to be ongoing for me. With this, there are options too. Self-editing, friends editing, professional editing and computer program assisted editing.
Following the editing, there is the ‘getting your book’ published phase. Once again there are options. First, is finding a literary agent by querying them with a query letter and synopsis. Second is vanity press/indie publishing and third is self-publishing.
It all seems rather daunting when summarized and that’s because it is. It is a big task and hard to do. Of course, there will be those that seem to ‘luck’ out and get published with minimal effort and those that struggle and give up after years of rejection.
When I look at this process I always have the grand scope of it in my mind, however, I only focus on the task or ‘stage’ at hand. Right now I’m re-writing and revising my book. It’s a big task but a necessary one. I know the next step will be putting it out there again to literary agents.
This will require me to rewrite my query and synopsis completely. A task I know is coming up and is in my mind but not my focus at the moment.
Once I have the rewrite done I will move on to the next phase and that’s using a computer program to assist with grammar and structure revision.
After that, I have plans to look into a professional editor to assist with the polishing of the book, the query, and synopsis. That’s not soon so I think about it but not too much. One thing at a time for me.
It can quickly become overwhelming if I think too far ahead to all that needs to be done. I get that ‘too much to do’ panic and it can bog me down or derail me fast. So I slow down, sit back and take stock of it all then get back to focusing on what needs to be done first.
My advice about thinking too much.
There is enough stress in life you don’t need to add the anxiety of over thinking the book writing/publishing process and adding to it. Be aware of it, and plan for it but put most of the focus on the task at hand.
-Sheryl
I couldn’t find a way to work Edible into this blog so I’ll link one that already had it… Redundantly Redundant Redundancies
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I wrote a book. Now what? 
Great advice! 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂
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Your advice is always spot on and appreciated not only by me, but others who are looking to better their writing. It certainly takes time and dedication to put it all together using parts of your own script. I applaud you, I really do 🙂
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You mentioned my site showed up as 404…you wouldn’t happen to recall where would you? I never thought to ask at the time, and I now understand there are several possible locations and I can’t fix it until I know where the 404 is. Thank you for helping. I wouldn’t have known about it at all if you hadn’t mentioned it😊
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It was when I got an email about your post and I tried to click the link it would say 404 page not found. The only way I can get to your site is to search for you in the ‘reader’.
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A blogger was blogging about wp and problems, and he explained what was wrong so Adam checked, and Adam checked, and those connections are fine. I’ll have him check email now. Thank you for the heads up, I really appreciate it. Email connects next up lol😃😊
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It’s a long and arduous process, but anything turly wonderful will be worth the blood, sweat and tears that we put in to create the finished product. Many aren’t aware of the fact that writing the story is only stage one of the journey. Which is why we should never pass off any success as luck, and be proud of what we achieve 🙂 Great post!
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Thanks for responding and letting me know your thoughts. I had no idea how much would be involved when I sat down at my keyboard and started writing… It’s truly fascinating and often frustrating, but yes, definitely worth it.
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The Sha mpoo process 😂😅😊I love that Line!!
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🙂
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