August 5, 2019
What is your writing Kryptonite?
What’s the one thing that could make me give up writing?
I almost did, a few years back, but not on purpose. And you may have heard the first part of this before, but keep reading.
That was when poetry was my focus in writing. For many years, the words came easily. I have notebooks and binders filled with my poems. But somewhere along the way, I lost the words. I was doing good if I wrote two poems in an entire year. It hurt. It hurt bad enough that I considered giving up writing altogether.
But a story floated around in my head and wouldn’t go away. It wouldn’t work as a poem. So, I wrote it as a novel. At least, I tried. And words came back to me.
Now, I’m happily working on the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie series. But I’ve been tempted to give up. Why?
I’ve been hit by my Kryptonite-lack of sales. Why write when no one is reading? A book isn’t complete until someone reads it. Plus, it costs money to get a book ready for publication. If I can’t recoup those costs, it’s like throwing money away.
Interior artwork from Superman: Secret Origin vol. 1, 1 (November 2009 DC Comics)
Art by Gary Frank
But then I remember the people who encourage me and like my stories. The ones that buy them even if they don’t write reviews. So, I keep trying. That’s the advice you hear in the writers’ group-keep writing! Maybe one of these days I’ll write a best seller. (I also hear a lot of writers are having a hard time, not just me. Go buy a book even if it isn’t mine!)
So, I’ve been weakened by one form of Kryptonite but not knocked out. I’m still writing. (I should break 26000 words tonight!) Still, I know there are other forms of the nasty stuff. I hope I don’t run into them.
Because I have an idea for another series. I’ve written one draft of the book, but the time frame and location are all wrong. How would you like a story about a gritty female PI with a darker edge? She’d be no Harmony Duprie.
But while I think about it, I’m heading over to see what the other authors in the hop believe their Kryptonite is. You can too, by following the links below.
August 5, 2019
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Rules:1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
I write and publish and have few sales, it can be disheartening but because I enjoy the act of creation of a finished product,I can think of it as a hobby, like golf or fishing. That way the expense of creating a good product is bearable. I’m in it for the long haul, if it takes a while for people to notice me then it will all be worth it in the end.
I don’t want to think of my writing as a hobby because I don’t want the IRS to treat it as a hobby!
I feel ya! I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot nodding and relating this week.
I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s replies.
Just when I start to get discouraged, someone starts to read my series and then I don’t feel so discouraged. Plus, my characters are not going to leave me alone. I can write for my own amazement or I can write for an audience. I’m writing either way.
Isn’t that a great feeling? When you see the books in your series being bought one after the other?
It is! I actually love the KENP reads because I can see that someone or three or dozen people binge read the books over a period of a few days. That says I’m doing my job as an author, making it so they can’t put them down. Buying the book doesn’t mean they read them and that’s really what I love to see — that people read them.
I know. I’m not sure how many unread books I have on my e-reader. Freebies, mostly. If I pay for a book I read it right away.
I do normally, but somehow, the metric of seeing it read just feels … like applause, you know. Especially when they tear through the whole series in a couple of days.
And, it’s not that they aren’t paying for Kindle Unlimited. They are paying a monthly fee for it instead of by the book. It’s like the Netflix of books.
I don’t do KU so I don’t get those reads.
Oh. I tried that for a while and I just didn’t find I got many sales at all. I hate the whole idea of monopoly, but I hate not selling books even more.
Yeah, I don’t do it because of the whole monopoly thing.
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I read a post not long ago which asked why do you [each reader] write? Do you write to sell lots of books or do you write because you aspire to write a once off famous book that becomes a classic like Jane Eyre or Peter Pan. I write for the second reason so, while sales and reviews are wonderful, the lack of them won’t deter me from writing. I enjoyed your post. It made me think about this again.
There’s no point in worrying about it all. Turn off the computer and take time to smell the roses!
I try not to worry about it, but there’s a part of me that needs to prove that I’m a good writer. And that’s the part my Kryptonite attacks.