The pleasures of writing?

The Starving Flea (The Source of Tears)

This is a word of caution to anyone thinking of writing a novel. Firstly you will need time - a great deal of it, and you will need to believe the old dog eared mantra that "Everyone has a book in them." Retirement seemed the ideal opportunity for me - but do you know how many people think they can write a book after they retire?
I started to write the above after enjoying the hospitality of the NHS following a heart attack. Not the best place for inspiration but pretty good if you want to brush up your language skills from the foreign nurses employed there.
So after buying a computer, printer, paper, ink, etc - all available from Amazon I might add, sit and write, ignoring the phone, weather, cold, demands of our 'better half' and friends. You will then need to buy a copy of 'The writers and artists Year Book' (available from Amazon again) and send off your manuscript to prospective agents - may the Lord shine down upon and bless them.
At this point you can start a new hobby, namely papering the wall with rejection letters - although this can be more expensive than wallpaper you may find.
Alternatively why not put your work out as an e.book (much better than killing thousands of trees and cluttering up Waterstones, you may think) - however for this you will need an e.book reader, and here again - yup - you guessed it Amazon come to the rescue with their 'Kindle.' Only problem is now your book is buried amongst 3/4 of a million others. Yet for the enormous sum of £1.71 (nice round figure) you can access 124,000 words, thats about 0.0014 of a penny per word I think.
If you are really mean then download a free app. and read a sample for nothing.
I know most so called authors want to be the next JK Rowling but I also know after all the above that it is the most satisfying challenge and if it never gets in the best sellers list - it dosn't really matter. Just go for it.

Very well put, James!
Writing is a creative pursuit like so many others. It's there to enjoy. And if other people happen along who also chance upon yr work and enjoy reading it, that's the icing on the cake.

These days publishing houses have to put oodles of money and effort into marketing which indie authors can't compete with. Hence the rise of the celeb novel cos they are starting with much higher visibility.

I would second your 'Just go for it' but add... 'and get it proofread' !
Good luck with your book.

Thanks for that Karen,
The word 'proofread' fills me with horror, but is so valid. No matter how many times you re-read your own work there will still be typo's. Neither must we ignore the wonders (or pitfalls) of the 'spell checker' A grate tule but of coarse it dosn't actually no watt you are talking about!!
Feedback comes next - or even maybe first. The ego tends to get in the way, as its important to know what others think of your efforts, especially your peers. The best feedback is naturally from relatives 'That's fantastic,' 'Loved the story,' 'You should do it for a living,' etc, etc. will echo in your ears. This will do wonders for your ego, and may even get you a few sales from them in sympathy - but - a real critique will be a thousand times more use if you are serious about it - even if the ego gets bruised a little in the process.

I wrote The Enhancer with my mother, self published, and gave my mother a copy for her 89th birthday. I didn't realize how many mistakes there were, but it is easy to correct the Kindle version. I'm sure I don't have all of them corrected, but I tried.

I'm now taking an online course where other eyes see my current book. I not only get the teacher's editing, but other students' comments. It also makes writing more fun, because we are sharing our work. (The course is at allwriters.org, if anyone cares.)

I've often been asked why I didn't go the traditionally published route. I never intended on publishing until the e-book phenom came along. To me writing is my therapy. There's nothing better than sitting down and being taken into another world. A world where you get to decide what happens next. I did it for the joy of it alone. Of course when I found out I could publish and let others read my work without going through all the queering and hard ache of rejection I said why not? But I still write a lot of stuff that I will probably never get around to finishing. Writing has become something I need to do now and I love it. =) I too say "Just go for it!" I will warn this self publishing thing is quite a ride...

[Deleted by Amazon on 1 Sep 2011 12:57:44 BDT]

Thanks Pam,

I agree about it being liberating. I also love the freedom of doing what i want with my books without anybody (agents/publishers) having anything to say about it. ;)

I read the blurb on your books. I'm from the states and my husband loves the football team the Raiders so at first I thought. A romance novel about football players interesting.. lol Likewise I'm in the middle of rewrite hell for the second in my series. I'm usually a fast reader. The last novel I started to read was about a week and a half ago and I'm not even past the first few chapters. =/ I will get through all my tbr list soon enough. Yours has been added. =)

First comes incubation -- enjoyable foolery.
Second comes writing -- a romp.
Third comes the second draft -- mysteries to enjoy solving.
Fourth comes numerous other drafts -- a merry go round of "That sentence again?"
Fifth comes editing -- a plodding, slogging advance.
Sixth comes "I'm done!" -- secretly, guiltily, not.
Seventh comes formatting -- frustration.
Eighth comes marketing -- muck.

Robin
Trusting Scarlet

But never mind! We'll all be rich and famous one day.

Probably about three hundred years after we're dead and buried . . . but hey! Who's counting?