Writing and Publishing

The story of how this book got written and published is actually pretty interested in and of itself.  I’m a full-time engineering manager that has always been very busy with work.  I tried, but struggled to pick up different hobbies.  Many of them didn’t last long because I traveled too much for work. (This was in the Pre-COVID days).  

I had always been a huge science fiction fan, so I decided to take the plunge and write an idea I can rattling in my head.  I found that writing worked fantastic with my traveling lifestyle because I could write anywhere!  In an airplane, in an airport, in a hotel room.  I wrote the entire book on Google Docs. That was great because I didn’t have to worry about files or backing it up. 

The experts recommend that you write at a regular pace aiming for ~1,000 words per day.  I found that I couldn’t stick to a steady schedule like that.  Instead I would generally write in big sessions.  I once wrote 9,000 words in one sitting.  I don’t recommend it.  I could actually feel my carpal tunnels burning.  

The best advice I received while writing was to not worry about having a great first draft.  Everyone has a terrible first draft, even the professionals.  I plowed through the first draft doing minimal heavy re-work on the manuscript.  This took me seventeen months. I remember the day I finished the first draft.  It felt like finishing a marathon.

I immediately started on the editing process.  Being my first book, I wanted to make sure I did the best I could to get expert editors to make sure the book had it’s best foot forward.  During a seven month editing process, I had a developmental editor that gave me major story feedback, multiple beta readers that gave invaluable feedback from the general reader’s perspective, and lastly a copy-editor to fix the grammar and typos. The book at a total of seven cover-to-cover edits.  Each time polishing it a little bit more. 

Getting picked up by a traditional publisher is very difficult these days.  Oftentimes a new author has the right connections in the industry, or self-published first.  Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, has a fascinating story of how he first self-published the book, but when it started to pick up a grassroots following, it was picked up by a publisher which ultimately led to the movie deal.  

I chose to self-publish because I wanted my book out there and I don’t mind doing the work myself and marketing it.  Besides this a hobby, so learning how to self-publish was part of the fun!  I found a lot of supportive resources on Reddit at r/selfpublish.  Also, this website was a perfect checklist.

I’m really happy that I’ve finally found a hobby that works well for me.  I always thought it was cliche to say “go get a hobby.”  But now I realize the power of it.  Writing helped me take my mind off work for a period of time.  This helped me reduce stress but also allowed me to come to work in a better mindset, that I feel has made me more productive and well rounded.  I’m looking forward to continuing to write.  I’m currently working on the sequel to SEED and hope to have many more.  If you are considering writing, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Please be sure to sign up to the mailing list to hear when new blog posts are released and book news!