If you were anywhere near my Twitter or Facebook accounts on Saturday, you may have noticed that I finally self-published my debut crime novel, A Deadly Rejection. Apologies if I deluged you in messages, but I was rather excited.
There’s no denying that Saturday was a very surreal day. It was the day when I achieved my life’s goal of becoming a published author. It’s a very strange feeling to have done it, to have got there, but it does leave a big question – what’s next?
I think it’s always the same when you hit one of your big goals. For example, going through school I knew that I wanted to go to university. So I slogged and studied and worked my backside off and I got there. But having got there, I was a little bit lost because although I generally knew I’d be studying and suchlike, it was a big change to my world, away from my home and family for the first time. Again, getting my degree and moving out into the working world felt much the same.
This time, however, I already know the answer to what’s next? Quite simply, it’s Book Two. I’m quite fortunate that it’s already written so I don’t have the panic of ‘can I do this again?’, I just have the stress of editing it, albeit a process which is already well advanced. I think the panic will come when I have to start on Book Three. Because, yes, there will be a third book. Now that I’ve achieved the first step in my writing career, I’m going to carry on. That was never in doubt.
I’ve always wanted to be a writer – as I said, a lifelong dream – I have no plan to stop now. Yes, writing is hard, editing is even harder (for me) and the production process was a bit of an eye-opener, but I’m up for the challenge of ‘what’s next’.
So, I’ll be going back into the editing cave soon – once I’ve finished basking in the post-publication glow – and cracking on with the next one. No doubt, if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll hear a lot of moaning and see pictures of my plotting cards all over the floor, but I do love it really. There’s also a novella to come, which requires more editing, but I’m in this for the long haul.
As well as editing, I’m also setting myself a publication schedule for the coming months, using the lessons I learned from the first time round, but I’ll update you on that in due course.