My Life in WordsErica writes the stores she wants to see in the world. The course of true love never does run smooth, but in Erica's world, happy endings are always guaranteed!
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Look, I'm going to "real" for a second.
I thought about publishing a story for a few years. And, by thought about, I clearly mean I daydreamed, fantasized, wondered and pondered. I've always been a writer. I started out with poetry and short stores. For whatever reason, I was't able to finish anything. And then, I got into Fan Fiction. Thanks to archiveofourown.org, and a certain fandom I am still incredibly active in, I found a renewed lust for reading. There are authors, GOOD authors creating quality content...for free! Usually under pseudonyms. I wrote one little 2k word explicit one shot. Then a year later, I wrote a second part. Some time after that I started NaNoWriMo, and lo' and behold (after four years), I finished! Or, as the kids say, I won it! 50k Words in 30 days. The story I wrote for NaNoWriMo became book 3 in first romance series I started working on. That story was a spin off of the first book, Matters of the Heart, which i just recently self published. THAT book wasn't fan fiction, but it was't too far removed from it. The story underwent several changes, and not just the names (for legal reasons). Another friend of mine gave it a gentle editing. Because it was my first novel, and i wasn't planning on mass market publication, she went easy on me. So, if this wasn't going to be a full hearted attempt at publication, why all the blog posts, twitter posts, Facebook pages? First, I am so proud of this book! Does it still have technical writing issues? Yes. Of course it does. Could the plot and characters be tweaked a bit more? Absolutely! It wasn't MEANT to be a wide release. Second, I do have plans for the second one. Plans that include query letters, promos, pre-ordering, paying for actual adverts. This first book is acting like a test subject. I want to work out as many kinks as I can so I am ready. So for now, I have the twitter, the blog, the Facebook page, the All Author profile, the cross posting to Instagram. I'm googling and reading, and sharing and re-tweeting, and following back. So Much Following Back! I can see why big companies have social media managers. I want to be comfortable with a low profile/low risk project before I get stuck in full tilt. So, that's that about that. I now return you to your regularly scheduled professionally toned blog post. If you've read this far, I thank you. If you want to check out all the buying options and read the first three chapters of my debut novel, Matters of the Heart, then please check out allauthor.com/author/msduran77/ and as always, if you've read my book please leave a review on Amazon and/or The Book Patch!
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Not much has happened in little over a year. Well, other than I sold my mobile home, moved to a cute little apartment in North Phoenix, had my oldest daughter leave the nest, and wrote a book! To be fair, nearly all of that has happened in the last few months.
This book is my first foray into self-publishing, and I have to admit, it was a little daunting. The writing was the easy bit! It was the editing, re-editing, re-re-RE-editing, and cover design that really got me. My first two attempts at book covers looked like this:
But, then a friend, USA Today Bestseller, Gwen Knight, came to my rescue! Gwen writes paranormal romance and does her own covers. She graciously offered to make a cover for me, even though it was not her typical genre. The cover on my book now is the one she designed for me, and I couldn't be more satisfied with it. It's just so pretty! Gwen also helped me formatting my book for publication (both print and ebook).
Speaking of friends, I really do have to thank writer Kenna McClare for her help in editing my first book. I think she was a lot nicer to me knowing this was my first time at attempting something semi-professional. Not too bad for a story that started out as a gift fic for one of my best friends. |