Seasons and change

 

This winter I set out to produce the audio book version of the first novel in my supernatural series. I had been feeling for years that there was something denying the book from connecting with people. I wasn’t yet prepared to accept that it simply wasn’t good enough. Even from people who did read it, there were lingering comments like “it takes a moment to adjust” in reference to my writing style, which was always compared to “older” and “more classical” schemes. That was what I fixated on when people would disappear. When I would give them a copy with an agreement that they would review it, and they would vanish, or they would remain and the book would sink into nothing. Someone had asked, not just the once, if I had an audio version that they could listen to. And last winter, my goal was to be able to answer yes to that question.

Here it is spring, very near my birthday, and I can finally say that it is done, available and official, some four months after when I had intended for it to be done. As usual, it was a learning experience. I even had the benefit of someone to generally steer me through what it would be like, and even then I found myself discouraged, confused, and bamboozled. Advertising for talent, then sifting through the profiles, submitting the scripts, making timelines, developing character profiles, and the comprehensive reviewing. Parts of it were really interesting, and all of it was consuming. I did not sprint across this finish line. I was dragged by powers outside of my body. Just like with my cover artist, I was fortunate to have met some talented professionals through my trials, and their skill and kindness made things much easier for me.

I look back on this blog and I want it to be an objective, if personal, account of my travels on the writing journey. So, I will admit that a hospitalization put significant strain on events. The doctors have concluded that I was sick with a disease for a very long time, years, in such a way that when I finally succumbed to a routine check up, they sent me to the emergency room. A friend describes the process as boiling a frog, slowly increasing the temperature so that the amphibian doesn’t notice even when it is being cooked. Being on the mend, the overall aura of spring, the audio book being completed, all contribute to a nice, warming feeling, like the first bite of a hearty breakfast after a long, cold night. This year I have resolved to take better care of myself. The plan is to publish book 6, work through the rewrites on book 7, and if there is a response, maybe work through the audio book processing of book 2.

It feels a bit like starting over. I’m very happy about being generally content with that.

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