From Blank Page to Deceptions

 


My fellow mystery enthusiasts, welcome to todays blog. Today I'm going to talk a little about my writing journey, where I have been, where I am going, and where I want to be a year from now. Thing is when anyone hears that I am a writer, they usually assume that this journey is an easy one in which you can get from point A to point B in a short window of time. They all seem genuinely surprised that it takes me over a year working on the same project.

I guess I started this journey with a dream, and had too high of expectations. I rushed things in hopes to reach that dream, and I ended up highly disappointed and discouraged. I eventually pulled my books all from Amazon, and was initially giving up the dream. But this is my calling, and I know I can and will do this. So, I began to revamp my book Guilty Deceptions. I went back to the barebones and have been improving the story as a whole. Yet, I wanted to do this right this time, and starting my new revamped Journey with a couple of different ways of doing this. 

For instance, instead of 2 beta readers, I bumped it up to six, with hopes that they will provide me with feedback on how to improve my writing even further. Instead of just publishing it and saying here is my book. I am taking the launch process slow. For Before the Deception, I have started putting my book out there pre launch, in hopes that there will be more awareness before the initial launch. 

I am also going to launch the ebook and paperback versions on the same day, so that readers who like digital media and readers who like physical media, can access my book the same day. 

Making it available to all readers at the same time, will help greatly. Also, I will be buying multiple copies of the paperback of the prequel myself, and hand them out throughout the community to spread awareness. This includes donating copies to the local library, and other local places for books. 

I will even place a few copies in some local bookstores in the area. Seeing how Before the Deception will have back matter, referring to my blog, my socials, my email, and my upcoming book Guilty Deceptions, where I may even include the First chapter of Guilty Deceptions in the back matter, this is highly being considered. 

My actual day begins between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning. I quickly check my socials, my email, and then I set to work writing, stopping for lunch, and again supper, before I work through to about 8:30 or 9:30 where I check my socials and email again before bed. This is my schedule for Monday to Friday. Saturday, I focus on blog posts for the month, but mainly I don't do anything writing related on the Saturday, aside from checking the socials and the email. 

Sunday, I do mild promo, and a bit of light writing, before I relax a bit for the rest of the day. My journey has not been easy and its full of ups and down but I am determined to see this through, as I want all of you to read and enjoy these stories that I feel need to be told. 

When I'm working, even though I have done extensive research before hand, I tend to look things up as I go as well. That's one problem with the original manuscript for Guilty Deceptions, it was too modern, and wasn't enough of the Victorian era style within it. Mainly using modern words and phrases that did not exist in that time period. As I go through it with this rewrite, I wondered what I was thinking publishing it at that stage, and that's when I pulled Guilty Deceptions because it didn't feel Victorian enough. I realized at that point that I would have to republish it as a second edition, because of the significant amount of changes it needed. 

That's why it has taken me over a year working on this manuscript, because it needed a complete rewrite, not just a few error corrections and new cover. Though I am still in the writing process of this, I do feel it will finally be ready by the fall of this year. And in the meantime, Before the Deception, will bring awareness to my books, and that will be a good thing. 

I should also mention that the prequel, won't be too high of a price either. The digital media will be fairly cheap, and hopefully the paperback won't be too high either, making it affordable for all who might want to read it.

Yours in the shadows, 

D.C. Malcolm

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