To publish or not to publish? That was my question.
A question more people than you think are pondering. If the bootcamp and groups that I have attended so far are any indication. And it isn’t as simple as having something to publish, there are many on the path of writing that aren’t even close to having a finished product. Again, if my personal experience is any indication. This post isn’t about getting a book together. It’s about how I chose to publish.
I have come across two posts recently that have sent me pondering the above question. The first was a prompt from one of my writer’s group that asked: “How do you know you are a good writer?” the answers varied. The second one brought up a question about what “art” is, we were not in agreement. There is a consensus though that writing is an art form.
The courage I found to publish was not one thing… it was many small things along the way. The first being my partner Dan. You may recall that he was my ‘first editor’. He would read over what I wrote and make sure that the glaring mistakes were taken out. Well, he would forget to edit. He is a fast reader but it took him what seemed like forever to edit my chapters. He would get so caught up in the story he would forget to change anything and have to go back and read the chapter a second time.
Another small thing was my daughter Kylee (yes the one that did my cover design). She reads a LOT! (ex. We would spend $50 at a used book store, the most expensive book we’d buy would be a couple of dollars. And she would read them ALL). Even though she doesn’t like sci-fi she read my book. She enjoyed it! She liked my writing even if she didn’t like my subject.
I gave a copy to many friends and family to read. This was my version of Bata testing, even though I didn’t know that was what I was doing. No one said they didn’t like it. The most common question was; “Where did you come up with that concept? It’s so different.” “My brain.” was my answer. A friend of a friend got a hold of my book (through the friend) and told me that I HAD to publish. Nice!
Don’t get me wrong. Some people never said anything about the book. Some asked me questions about this or that. I got a scale of feedback from, it was good to I loved it. No one said they hated it… not saying there were none, just no one said it to my face.
With all those little things I gathered the courage to find my way to publish. I found Friesen Press (See My Friesen Press journey) and with them I had an manuscript evaluation. The following is how my editor started their evaluation:
“Thank you for submitting your manuscript to FriesenPress for editorial review. It was an
absolute delight: both fascinating and heartfelt, playing metatextual games with the medium
while reaching with both hands for a kinder world. It’s vivid, clever, and well-crafted, right up to
the title, and I had a wonderful time reading it for evaluation.”
If I had had doubts about publishing this was my sign from my Higher Power to continue the process.
I have said it before and I will most likely say it again. I have no idea if “Through Their Eyes” will be anything great (I hope so. Dan needs to retire). It is my work of art, and I hope to continue to be inspired to write more. And with all art; Some will, some won’t, so what… like my art that is. And I am ok with that
