Writing a novel is easy

Now I know what most people might think about the heading, and that it is impossible to write a novel, or close enough. But I am talking about the comparison theory.

This theory is based on comparing one thing against another. These two things are the writing of your first draft of the manuscript and everything that comes afterwards.

For me the act of writing was an escape from the real world when I built my own world for the first novel of my fantasy series The beginning of the end, and the following novels. I am sure that most of the writers’ experience loads of self-doubt and second guessing themselves when they jump into the murky waters of their creative journey.

I remember vividly the feeling of absolute joy when I finally finished my first draft as I danced around the living room holding the sheets of paper in my hand, (Note to reader; all the first drafts for the first four novels were hand written.)

I fell into a rhythm and wrote the first four novels of the series while working construction, and shared my progress with work mates, the feedback was both helpful and encouraging, everyone loved the world and characters that I had created.

I held onto these for a year or two while completing other writing projects, and then I decided to bite the bullet and publish The beginning of the end, with plans for the rest of the series to follow, this is where the reality of the publishing world hit me like a wet fish in the side of my face.

Here I was thinking that I was on top of the mountain, just to find another mountain to climb, then several more after that.

But this is where your passion plays a major part, everyone I talk is in awe of how passionate I am and this feeling is contagious, and I am totally over the moon that I have my novel in ten bookstores.

Having your novel in a store is a big achievement, and selling them is another matter, the thing is that I am a small fish in a big ocean and there is such a huge variety of novels in the fantasy genre to choose from, and a lot of readers go into the store with an idea of what they would like.

I have been to a few stores that have my novel and I see that I am in the company of some totally awesome writers, and that alone puts a smile on my face and makes me grateful for the little things.

Would I love to be on the best sellers list? Hell yeah, but the reality is that so does every other author, but I love what I do and having the feedback from people who have read my novel. This is a whole different ball game from when I first sat down and wrote the first manuscript (Which at the time I thought was the hardest thing ever)

Stepping back and looking at my journey as I wrote; The beginning of the end to where I am now, I have reached one of my success benchmarks, and that is to have my novel purchased by people who knew nothing about me and loved the story, and I have a fan base of fans who are waiting for the second novel in a few months.

If I could go back to the start and do it all again, would I? Of course I would, and I would not change anything, because as a creative person this is the way I grow through learning what works and what doesn’t.