So many years ago, I wrote this little book.  It was an easy write, I thought it was kind of funny and amusing and gave me an opportunity to get my feet wet in terms of starting and finishing a novel.

 Many people ask:

So, how do you write a book?  I wish I knew how to do that.  I have all these ideas in my head.

Yeah, that’s a tough one.  I thought the same thing.  I was really good at starting a book, fresh of ideas and excitement, right until chapter three.  I have many up-to-chapter-three books.  They’re sitting on my laptop.  They’ll never make it to print.  Maybe my website, but not to print.

Wanna know the trick?  The big secret?  Lean in close because it’s a biggie.

You just keep writing until it’s done.

Man, I hate how simple that is.  I was hoping there was a pill or worksheet or something.  Nope.  You just write, even badly sometimes, until it’s done.  Of course, in my case, I got to around page 100 and that was my demarkation line.

You can’t write to page 100 and just STOP.  That’s ludicrous!  You have to keep going if you hit 100!  And then, well, 150, of course you need to keep writing.  Next thing you know…you’re done.

So that’s what I did.  I wrote and giggled and groaned and wrote some more until I had finished Real Life, a story about a writer who thought we was doing a make-over piece at a spa and ended up in the Australian rainforest with an all-male crew and her gorgeous co-worker, Grant.

I tried not to write a book about him.  I wanted it to be about her, because she was this interesting and broken character with wit and humour as her shield and someone who needed to realize that she was so much more than she thought she was.

So I wrote that book, didn’t bother editing it much, and immediately papered the neighborhood (and Agents and Publishers) with my query letter.  I sent off over a hundred and got less than 10 responses for a synopsis.  After that, more like 5 requests for the manuscript.

And all the agents passed.  I was crushed and heartbroken.  And so the book sat in my closet gathering dust for the next few years.  I picked it up a while later, re-edited it, and promptly forgot about it.  Life was busy, you know.

Finally, a few months ago, I spotted an opportunity to self-publish and took it.  Several edits and revisions later (I think I’ve read my own book over twenty times, editing it each time), it was finally ready to publish.  And now?  It’s almost on Amazon.com.  I’m waiting for it to appear on the database.

So while that is in the cooker, I’m working to get the word out.  I just had a lovely conversation on the phone from a marketing guy who gave me plenty of food for thought.  Now, I actually have to get out there and DO something about the book.

Silly me, I thought it was done when I typed “The End.”  I was so wrong. 

Wish me luck.