A Writer's Touch Choice

Many times during my writing session I just sit there staring at the screen; looking at the words, wondering if the material is worthy of publishing. you have no idea how many times I've deleted sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs, just because I didn't like the way it sounded.

After many attempts I give up, take a break and just when I think I'm done writing....BOOM! There it is...the words just start flowing beautifully and it becomes a fully written page or novel. But once I have it all written down and I think it's perfect...that's when the doubts start creeping in, especially when authors all around the world are publishing work that's similar to your own.

Maybe it's the genre. The theme. Or hell, even characters feel similar to yours. What are you supposed to do then? After all your hard work, someone else has their books that are bestsellers and it leaves you wondering if your work will ever meet up to their popularity.

Great! Your first novel that's been cooking in your brain with your original idea, concept and now fully typed....has competition. What to do, what to do? O.K.

So that person has a lot of reviews and probably great sales, but it makes you wonder....how did they get their books so popular when it's similar to yours? I've been trying for 4 years now, sending out query letters to Literary Agents but they're far too picky and want a specific sort of work. Guess what? I was rejected by every single one of them. Sure, that left me a little bummed out, but did I give up? Believe me, I wanted to but no. I kept trying over and over until I gave up agents altogether.

Then, that's when the thoughts ran through my mind.

"They must know someone who knows other people, who know another group of prominent people. That's how they got their books worldly promoted and traditionally published. So how can I promote my work with no one to help and with no extra finances to pay for proper promotion and literary aid? Much less have it professionally edited?"

Reading up on those authors and some famous ones, I was correct about them having all those connections, who know people like agents, editors and publishers; as well as having some sort of literary backgrounds. Having schooling, working as a journalist, etc.

Fine. Great for them. But what makes their writing any different or better than anyone else's? Some of them tend to use drawn out philosophical sentences which I and I'm sure many others, are left clueless. What's the purpose in that? The average reader wants something to read, that's understandable. But hey, who am I to judge another's writing style?

Now, what about a lot of us authors who have the natural gifts for words, without all that background and connections? What do we do? Surrender and give up any hope of ever making it or succeeding at something a lot of us love so much? Isn't writing a form of expression? Yes. Yes it is. And unfortunately, a lot of editors want the writers to deplete a lot of important detailing that they feel aren't necessary. Just like movies.

It's no different than an actor or musician, being discovered for his/her talent; never acting nor singing and are plucked from millions of people on Youtube, of all places. So, why can't the same happen for an author?

I, like so many, have revised and edited my work too many times to count and redesigned our book covers, making sure that everything is perfect and compliant. A lot of authors like myself, have chosen the self-publishing route after giving up on agents and traditional publishers, who take far too long to respond, leaving you wondering if they like it or not. But even then, without the proper promotion on our part, who really sees our work in the end and know that it's something worth reading? I mean, yeah sure, a few sales here and there are great....a few reviews here and there are beneficial but does that really help with the author's confidence?

So many times I've grown discouraged about my own work, wondering if it's good enough or maybe it isn't, but then, I bounce back and figure that leaving it there, it'll grow popularity in time in its own right.

Another thing that doesn't help with an author's confidence, are reviews. Many of them are given by other authors and of course, there's a lot of professional jealousy so they, unfortunately, have to find something wrong with it. Yes, their reviews are helpful in sales, but at the same time, it could hurt the author. They give their biased and honest opinion but why do they have to post the faults? That doesn't help anybody! When someone reads the product page of your book, they're liking the description, the book cover and the plot of the story but when they scroll down....there it is. The NEGATIVE thoughts that turn them away from your work, because then they think it's not worth it.

So what is an author to do? Give up on our dreams?

Where do we go? What are we to do?

A dream is a passion that one should never give up on, per-say, but there comes a time in somone's life where it's forced upon them. And it's really a shame. But what I'm trying to say here, and I hope this helps other authors or anyone, is to NEVER give up on what you want. Whether it's writing, acting, singing or any other profession.

One will eventually be discovered in this OH, so competitive world.