Greetings, fellow word enthusiast! Join me on a journey through the intricate and, at times, tumultuous landscape of my writing escapades. Picture a young teenager, passionately recording dreams in a secret diary, nurturing aspirations of becoming the next literary sensation. Spoiler alert: that teenager was me at the tender age of 13, earnestly weaving words.
Life took an unexpected turn, catapulting me into the sophisticated realm of screenwriting. Why, you ask? Well, TV had the allure of the cool kid in town, while indie films found themselves on a rollercoaster to obscurity. After a few decades, a UCLA online diploma in screenwriting, and numerous scriptwriting escapades, I stumbled upon a story that refused to let me sleep.
Enter the dramatic crescendo: the era of COVID. I made the audacious decision to transform a half-hour fantasy script into a fully-fledged book. A novice in the vast unknown of writing, I sought the guidance of my superhero editor—wise, experienced, unafraid to expose my literary missteps. Together, we embarked on an arduous journey from random keystrokes to a book released in October 2023. I must mention a debt of gratitude to a writer friend who provided invaluable corrections in the early draft stages.
With a professional editor guiding me, revelations exceeded expectations. My writing confidence soared, revealing a style that seamlessly melds the charm of a novel with the precision of a movie script. Visual interpretation? A resounding yes. Dialogue? Absolutely. Details? Liberally sprinkled, because, why not? It's the written form, after all.
Fast forward to the present, standing on the precipice of achieving a reasonable batch of book sales for a first-timer. Applause ensues, but let's not be misled; it's not all sunshine and rainbows. The period from November to Christmas transformed into a crash course in publishing platforms, website integration, and assembling a dream team of designers and professionals. A whirlwind, to say the least. I won't sugarcoat it; figuring much of this stuff out is a pain. You can hire professionals, but at the end of the day, you still need to decipher it all.
Now, my grand mission unfolds with more than a sense of trepidation—reviews. Navigating the labyrinthine realm of social media, I've established my presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, embarking on a quest for reviews akin to a bookish treasure hunt. Challenges abound, but they are the unexpected plot twists in the grand narrative of life. Most writers fear reviews, even with positive early feedback, yet they are a critical part of the writing process. I've learned a lot about obtaining them since publishing my book.