I’ve gotten both copies of the print version in as proofs, but the excitement from that is far overridden by the frustration that my tax information keeps getting kicked back as invalid by both Createspace and KDP.

That and my husband sitting next to me and reading one of them is kind of weirding me out. Especially when he starts snickering. He’s being kind and going through it one last time for any changes that might need to be made.

I haven’t announced a cover reveal or a release date yet due to the tax information problems. I’ve had an accountant that likes doing tax stuff (my husband) look at it and he’s at a loss. Contacted one of the companies only to be told to contact the IRS. Geez, Smashwords didn’t give me any trouble.

To counter this frustration, I’ve been working on book 2 fairly heavily the last few days. Writing new chapters from where I had decided I ended the book too soon. Worrying that I’m not starting my book in the right place. Thinking about how much editing I’ll have ahead of me on this new stuff – the current scene (yes, scene) has already hit 5K and shows little sign of stopping.

With any luck, it’s just that my company information is new and thus is the problem and will be cleared up shortly. For now, I’ll go back to the scene that will never end.

It’s April and I decided to take another crack at Camp NaNoWriMo. Choosing to do a revision, that meant I had to look at the mess that is book 2.

I got distracted and blah blah blah boring stuff. Needless to say I recently got back to it (after driving myself mad trying to revive another writing project). And once I got past the worst of the revisions early on, the rest wasn’t so bad.

However, with the changes made early on, I now have a side character that might not so contently stay a side character. Not sure if I should admit that I was laughing at the interactions between him and one of my main characters. I really hadn’t expected it and I’m not sorry.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t still a lot of work ahead of me to finish it and get it polished. I’ve deleted whole chapters, especially at the end because I have a new plan in mind. Scenes that I loved have now found their homes in my short story file. Debating still about the beginning. So on and so forth.

I do need to get back to that other project because it feels unfair to dump even the beginning of book 2 onto a critique group that hasn’t been exposed to Twisted Magics. And that book’s release date will be after my piece is due.

When exactly? Keep checking back to find out! Being ahead of schedule, I could comfortably make a release date that I have in mind, but I don’t want to make a promise and then have something blow up.

When the reality starts setting in that this part of myself will be out in the world relatively soon. I’ve gone back and forth in thinking about what people have said to me and advice I’ve read. Am I ready? Should I push back my release date (no, I haven’t officially announced one, but I have a couple in mind)?

It’s scary. I wonder if it easier with each new book/story that you release.

At the same time, I’ve been rewriting the second book. I’ve been itching to get ideas implemented. I’ve also been working on some side short stories to eventually post. That and it’s fun to follow a different character for a little bit.

I suppose my question this month is how do you feel when you’re about to publish a story?

About the Insecure Writer’s Support Group

This question has come up lately. Among a number of other questions that I also cringe and don’t want to answer, but this one I think at least needs to be told.

I began writing stuff on my own when I was 10 or 11. Somewhere around there. I was always reading above my grade level.

But not because I was smart. I read to escape. That eventually turned into writing to escape. What I didn’t know was fanfiction at the time (pen, paper, no internet access back then) was how I traveled to other places and with people that I could pretend cared about me and that I mattered.

Yep, classic Mary Sue. Thankfully, all of that horrible writing has since been destroyed. Even the stuff I wrote when I received my aunt’s old Windows 3.1 computer with a dot matrix printer no longer exists.

I wrote to escape. I wrote to get out my frustrations. I wrote to play around with ideas and concepts. I kept my dirty little secret hidden from the people I knew.

My story isn’t anything special and perhaps a little pathetic, but everyone has their reasons for putting down words. Nowadays I’m putting down words because the characters in my head won’t stop until I’ve told their stories.