Here I sit, at my usual table at Barnes and Noble, trying to figure out the ending to my latest book (a follow up to Where Have All the Elves Gone? I am lovingly calling One of Our Elves is Missing) and certain facts have hit me.
There are two truths I have come to accept- must accept if I am to get any better in this game. One, I am not a fast writer. I saw a post today from a guy who wrote over 750k words this year. WHOA! I barely banged out 200k and felt taxed from it. Oh, there was a time I was writing 3 books a year, all of which were over 100k words, but damn. 750 THOUSAND words. I don’t think I could do that if I wanted to.
I write slow, methodical, and put in plenty of time for laziness. I know, I know, but it’s an admission I need to make if you are going to understand the process. This exploration of myself eventually led to a second, more debilitating truth.
I am still treating this like a hobby, or a part-time gig instead of a full time job. For a time I lost the love of writing. It became work and I’m still afraid of it returning. The words flow smooth enough now and I want to keep it up for years to come. (This coming year I am releasing SIX books).
The only way to improve is by treating this like a full time operation. So here we go. 2021 is in the review mirror and I am ready to launch a full scale invasion on readers and bookstores in 2022. Who’s coming with?
First, I will admit I was very happy to see which book you were finishing. I can’t wait for it to come out. You have many positive goals for 2022 but I think you need to take one quick look in the rear-view mirror and look at all the positive things that you accomplished this past year. You decided to go to Comic Con but didn’t settle for one you took on two within a couple of months of each other! You sold 100 books 3 months in a row. These are just a couple of the small things you did this past year. Last but not least I want to remind you that quality is better than quantity. The Raines