Do me a favor, answer these questions: have you ever thought about writing and self-publishing a book? What’s stopped you from doing it? Please type your answers in the comments below.
I’m launching my online course, Simply Self-Published – How to Write and Publish Your First Novel in Six Months. This course is for you if you have ideas but no words on the page, if your inner critic intimidates you, or simply a lack of will has stopped your pen in its tracks. You can start silencing that inner critic on February 17th when you register for the course.
I’ll be back with more information over the next 14 days. In the meantime, if you’re curious, here’s a little more about my self-publishing journey,
Thanks,
Dana Ellington
I can’t remember a time when the written word wasn’t a major part of my life. I was either nose deep in a book or writing short stories and less than perfect poetry.
When I was 12, I wrote, produced, directed, and stared in a two act play. When my fellow actors and I garnered a standing ovation, I knew I wanted to make my living as a writer.
Then life and a few limiting beliefs came between me and my “bestseller, award winning play write status”; writing remained a hobby until 2007. Tired of waiting to see my name on a book cover, I took matters into my own hands and taught myself self-publishing.
Enough about me, the next post, which you should see in two days, will explain why NOW is a great time to self-publish your work.
Dana Ellington, MAPW 
1.) Have you ever thought about writing and self-publishing a book?
Yes, to both questions. (Although, I wouldn’t say no to a traditional publisher.)
2.) What’s stopped you from doing it?
In the past, I was plagued with self-doubt. For good reason! When I first started writing, I REALLY wasn’t very good at it, but I kind of thought my writing “might” have been okay. ??? It takes time to learn ANY craft and I was mostly “pantsing” it. I’d write myself into corners. I had whiny, unlikeable characters. I’d spend THOUSANDS of words on random tangents that didn’t move the plot forward. I hated the idea of creating an outline. I thought it would ruin my creativity. Basically, I had a LOT of growing up to do as a writer!!!
I read. A LOT! So, that helped. And once I found a way to outline that worked for me, that helped, too. I had to get over the fact that it’s NOT CHEATING to know what’s going to happen in each chapter. Furthermore, it’s NOT CHEATING to have planned events based on approximate word counts or page counts. For example, the theme of the story should be stated before the end of the first chapter. Some of my first drafts/dribbles didn’t seem to HAVE a theme until Chapter 3, sometimes later. Ouch!!! Like I said before, I had a LOT to learn!!
So, now that I understand the mechanics of outlining and putting together a workable story, my writing has improved significantly. I have a group of Beta Readers who read my chapters as I finish them and I just joined a local critique group of writers. The stuff I’m writing feels pretty solid. My problem is getting my butt in the chair on a regular, consistent basis. When I DO write, I get a lot accomplished. But, where do I find the discpline to actually FINISH an entire novel? I get distracted and make excuses all the time. Outlining has helped. At least I always know where I am in the story, even if I take a week off or whatever.
I don’t know. If someone could teach me a way to KEEP MOVING (consistently) FORWARD. that would be AWESOME!!!
Ahhh, the “writer’s discipline” or lack there of, lol. Well, I’m happy to say that I address that very issue in my course :-). I do hope you’ll stay tuned. I’d be interested in getting more of your feed back as I talk about the course. Thank you Juli!