I’ve missed a couple of updates because there wasn’t much to report. I’ve been out of town, and if you want to see pictures, check out my previous post. Anyway….
I finished edits on Hearts of Evil. Here’s the publishing holdup. My two beta readers strongly disagree on a chapter I inserted close to the beginning after the book was written. One beta thinks I should take it out, the other thinks I should leave it. They both have VERY valid reasons for their opinion. And I just can’t decide. So I’m having a couple of other people take a look and see what they think. I know the ultimate decision is mine, but it’s hard when both beta readers could be right for different reasons. The good thing is, they both really liked the story. 🙂 Another thing that’s holding me up is I want to do a FB release party, but I have to get all the prizes together. Luckily, I have most of what I need since I can’t afford to buy anything else right now, but it’s the putting everything together that will take a little time. I want to thank Ruth Ann Nordin for giving me some good ideas about questions to ask for the release party.
Now on to my other project. I sat down and wrote the first chapter of Fire Wizard last night. I don’t know why I always have this fear when I start a book. I’ve done this a dozen or more times, but I’m always scared to death when I start. Well, I didn’t used to be, but I’ve felt that way for the last two or three projects. I need to get over this silliness!
I hope to get in about 5,000 words per week now that I’ve actually started on the book. I hope you all are doing this with less fear than I am!
lauralynnelliott.com 
I go through that page fright EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I just accept it as part of the creative process.
It’s good to know I’m not alone. I guess we just have to work through it.
Oh, it’s good to hear Kait say that, too!
I don’t feel much fear at the beginning; mine tackles me at about the 75% mark (when I realize I’m going to be sending this to real people, lol) and it can be crippling. Especially with novel length stuff. But Kait’s right that just anticipating it as part of the process helps.
It might also be your expectation of….expectations. 🙂 Now that you have a bunch of books out, you might feel constrained by what you’ve done in the past and thus what readers expect from your books. I wouldn’t feel that way, though. I like your work in different genres, and many of us are going that route. Writing what we love is the key. And having TONS of fun at it. 🙂
J.R., I feel the fear in the middle of the book, too. It’s just a little different from the fear of starting. When I was doing more novellas, it was easier. But I’m trying to keep mine at novel length right now so I feel comfortable charging $2.99 for it. So I’m feeling pressure to keep up word count as well as write a good story. And you’re right, some of my work is going in different directions. My last one that’s coming out is pretty much going to be horror as you know. But Fire Wizard is going back to paranormal romance with a suspenseful feel about it. When I do the book release for Hearts of Evil, I’m going to make the party about all my books, not just the newly released one, so that fans of romance will feel comfortable joining in. Although, the horror book has a pretty strong romance thread, I think.
I’ll be interested to hear more about the release party. I’ve never done one of those, on FB or anywhere else.
I’ve attended several release parties on FB. It seems to be a thing right now. You do it as an event, although I have seen it as a group if it lasts several days. The problem is that most of these parties happen while I’m at work, so I don’t get to participate as much as I would like. There are usually questions and/or games with prizes. Usually they will draw a name from the list of commenters for each question or game.
Congrats on Hearts of Evil! You’re so close. As for being scared at the beginning of a new project, I think it may have to do with becoming so familiar with our last project that we have that learning curve with new characters, setting, storyline, etc. and we second-guess ourselves.
You’ve got this. Plow through the doubt and fear. 🙂
Thanks, Jolyse! As soon as I figure out what to do about that inserted chapter, I’ll be ready to publish. You might be right about the learning curve. Especially since I’m going from a horror novel back to a paranormal romance.
I don’t know that there is anything that can take that fear away. I’ll be plugging away at a scene and it will still be nagging at me. “You don’t know what to write next…” “You know this is all rubbish, right?” I just tell myself that if it’s bad, I can fix it later.
It’s interesting when two beta readers or critique partners have opposite opinions about the same piece of a story. Hopefully the other people looking at it will help you resolve the issue.
Good luck with your goals!
I used to never fear writing. I just did it. But I know we all change as we grow, and maybe I fear it because I want each book to be better. And, honestly, I always fear a novel much more than a novella. Weird, huh?
I still don’t know what to do about those differing opinions. If they didn’t both have very good reasons for taking out the chapter or leaving it, it would be easier. LOL.
I think we naturally become more cautious as we get older. One of my writer friends put it this way: “Writing was a lot easier when I wasn’t very good at it.” LOL. The more you know, the more overwhelming it is!
I think fear is inevitable whenever you start something new. I’ve felt it many times. Hope you have a good week. x
I’m beginning to see that most of us have that fear, so I’m not alone. 🙂
My fear always comes toward the end of the project. At the beginning I’m psyched because I know it’s awesome. Good luck with deciding what to do with the disputed chapter.
Thought of you this week, there’s a young lady from Lexington, Kentucky here to train us on new equipment, and she is frozen here. She just hates going outside and shivers just thinking about it. Today she looked at the temp and it was just as cold there as here today.
I’m not as scared at the end if I already have a solid ending in mind.
It was 3 degrees according to my car this morning. I had the dogs in, so I walked them this morning, then brought them back in for my husband to deal with later. It felt like the inside of my nose was frozen.
I think it’s fun when my betas disagree-it doesn’t make the ultimate choice any easier, but it shows that what you’ve written definitely brings out reactions in the reader.
One thing you might try for your release party is talking with a few other authors in your genre to see if they might want to donate ebooks for a shoutout or link to their page during your party. It gives you a way to keep the audience engaged without feeding them information on the same book through the entire party, and it gives you a chance to build relationships with other authors (and possibly book bloggers).
Best of luck as you move forward with everything and keep up the good work.
My two betas disagree sometimes, but never on something this big. My mom is no help. She says it works both ways. Grrr.
I’ve actually never been to a release party where books from other authors have been given as prizes. That’s an interesting idea. Although, the focus wouldn’t be on just my one new release. I have about a dozen books out there to engage them with. What I’m planning to do is try to ask questions that people who haven’t read my books can answer. Because I want it to be fair to those people. So maybe general questions about their favorite vampire, vampires vs. shifters, what’s their favorite horror movie, vampire movie, werewolf movie, etc. I want to keep it interesting. And I’m going to let people post pictures, etc. about stuff. This really take a lot of preparation, and I admire all the authors who have done some really great release parties. I hope FB continues to let people do these events.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I love comments!
I don’t feel fear when I start a new story, but I do get overwhelmed when I think of how far I have to go to get to the end. My fear is that I won’t be able to finish the book. Weird after I’ve done so many, but it’s there each time. It’s like I’ll suddenly run out of ideas.
Well, even if you do remove the chapter, at least I know it was there and will remember it when I read the story again. 😀
I’m like you…I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish it. Maybe that’s part of the fear of starting it. Who knows?
I’m leaning toward leaving that chapter in.