Early this year I contacted a publisher. I was inquiring about pricing for their editorial services. While I could not afford the fees he and I stayed in touch through email and the like. Last week he contacted me about an upcoming e-book he was putting together. It will be a collection of short stories from various authors. He wanted to include some of my short stories. I maintain the copyrights.
It will be available for free to download. The publisher will be eating the entire cost for the art, editing and formating the book so no profit will be made. I won’t see a dime for this but there are still positive reasons out there. As a new author, who is trying to break out, any free publicity is a good thing. People will get to see my works, have ways to contact me and also see what is on the table as far as WIP. The book will be shared by other publishers and editors. They might see something they like or know someone who could use one of the stories. That is another win. Finally when I write my query letters at least now I can place in the body of it that I have something in print.
One person told me that if I am not getting paid it seems pointless. I am not taking that route. I have to start somewhere. Even if that means one short story at a time.
NaNoWriMo 2011 is a writing frenzy where writers attempt to write 50k words in one month. This has been my first year trying and it has been phenomenal. I don’t recall ever being this sleep deprived in my life. While my novel that I wrote for November is about 75 percent done in theory as of today I have the word count of 50,263. The last 2500 words did not come to me easily. I struggled. Of course life being the way it is the minute I realized I had cross the magical barrier two ideas popped into my head that I could add to my book. Why did you decide to show up NOW was what I thought. The word count has been validated but I still plan on writing until the end of November. But no longer do I have to get up at 5 am so I can write on this book.
But getting the word count is not the only way I have won. This has made me write every day since I started the frenzy. It got me focused on a story that I been meaning to put down on paper for well over a year now. Also I have met some amazing people along the way who have been funny, supportive and just down right awesome. People who I will remain friends long after this adventure ends on Nov 30th. It has been an incredible ride and I have taken away from it so much more then what the website could ever promise me. I am not sure if I will do this next year for my life has been on hold for a few weeks now but I would not change it for a thing. This has given me the confidence that I can do this and that writing is not a passing fad that will disappear in a puff of smoke. To all the people who have helped me I thank you. Also I am here to encourage you, have your back and pick you up as you work toward your own personal goal this November. Good luck everyone.
Sharon C. Williams-Author 