This Stranger’s Comments May Have Changed Everything For Me

In honor of the guy who called me on my shit.

I was facing my latest crisis again.  It’s not dire, and I’m lucky to have it.  I want to know what I am going to do once the kids are gone and I have to just be me.  The plan was to write and write and write and hopefully something would come from it.  This year was tough on my writing and I didn't get much done.  I fell out of love with my current story, and I’ve just been bummed for a while.

A few days ago, I thought about the books I have finished, and I may have a kernel of an idea for a third.  There.  Maybe that’s something. It couldn’t be just a third installment, though.  I had to approach it in a different way, or else I would end up right back where I started. The modern method to get attention for your genre book is to have a series.  Take the series and shop it around to interested publishers.  Fine. I will go through that process.  I never gave it a real shot, and it will be a new and challenging endeavor.

But I should go back and hone the first two books.  And, I need to really nail the third one.  I don’t have a full idea yet, but I need to have something substantial before I make any moves.

You may be wondering “Why not make sure they are 100% honed before putting them out there in the first place?”

Now we’re getting to it.

I don’t know.  I don’t understand my need to rush.  I don’t understand my impulses that make me feel like I’m constantly under the gun.  It is a sickness that attempts to ruin everything I do.  

So I had that in mind.  Then, this morning, I just happened to look at my books on Amazon and they were were reviewed by someone with the username “Colorado Cruiser”.  I know nothing about this person, but he (assuming its a ‘he’) read my books.  He wanted to give the first one a 4.5 out of 5 stars, and regarded as a good book.  But he actually gave it a 2 out of 5, because there were too many typos.  He did the same for the second one. He also pointed out that the fourth word of the very first sentence was misspelled.  I laughed my ass off.  

I immediately commented on the review and thanked him.  I promised a much cleaner copy in the future.
It's what I needed to hear at the exact time I needed to hear it.

What a nice thing to say!  He gave it what it deserved, but wanted to give it 4.5 stars.  And, I might add, he went ahead and read the second one! If I hadn’t been laughing so damn hard I would have been quite ashamed about putting out a sloppy copy of my book.  I appreciate the hell out of that guy.  

Editors cost money.  I have to save up.  I can’t trust myself to do it.  It’s as simple as that. It will take more work, but I will get it right.

However, I still have mental some shit to work through.

First of all, patience and confidence.  I created this story of of thin air.  I’m in charge, and that’s the way it is supposed to be. It will take time to get it just right.  That is normal and I have to accept it. Two, it is a cool and different story, and I am contributing something new to the genre. People will even suffer through my terrible typos to read it. That means there is something there.

Somehow, in some way, my desperate need for attention creeps in at every turn.  I want people to like me and think I’m funny and cool, and that is still a giant mountain I am still climbing. But, this is a book.  I have every intention of getting it out there for the world to see. But, I don’t need people to pat me on the back. I’m not writing for that (most of the time).  I write...well...for a shitload of reasons. I have to supply my own coal for this fire.  There is a very, very good chance this book will not take off and be a success, even in the e-book world.  That is cool.  I’ll keep trying.  I’m in it for the ideas, anyway. (That is a topic for another blog.)

So feel free to read the sloppy copies if you want, but new version will replace them eventually.  (Links on the right of this blog.)

Finally, it is a gift from mother nature or humanity or the universe when someone calls you on your shit.  Take it, embrace it, and don’t forget it.  You never know what will become of it.