I have been working on
a few short stories for a children’s series. So far, I have completed three books
for my series. I am also working on a book—sort of a memoir and history of my
hometown, Utica, New York. For the past few months, I have been reading
background information – books, magazine articles, and newspaper clippings - to
help me with the information to write my book.
Writing for me is my
safe zone. I lose myself in the volumes of background information and time just
gets away from me. For my Utica book, I pretty much have everything written. I’ve
decided on the number of pages that I want in my book. Now, I have to go
through the pictures that I want to include.
I am not quite finished
with the book. Now, the real work begins. I have to go back over my story,
re-read it, and make sure that all the facts that I have included are correct.
Then I have to check my grammar and correct all the errors. But I still won’t
be finished. I’ll go over and over my book a few more times, and then hand it
off to my friend, who usually reads over my writing. She will definitely catch
some of the grammar errors and punctuation that I have failed to notice.
Afterwards, I will work
on a query letter and try to figure out what publisher or editor might be
interested and then send the letter out. That will take time. And, if that
doesn’t work – I’ll self- publish my book on demand and publish it on Kindle
and on the Nook site.
There is so much work
that goes into writing and getting a book published. In the end though, it
really is worth all of that hard work!
