It’s officially ten days since I slammed down those two words that all aspiring authors dream about: THE END. Celebrations followed, and after advice from a fellow author and several resources, I made a vow not to tinker with my first draft for a few weeks. It gives it chance to settle, and helps the author emotionally distance themselves from it. For example: a two-headed cat might sound awesome at the time, but a few weeks later, it might just have lost its magic appeal.*

However, resisting the temptation to lunge right back into the editorial process and get the book completed is nightmarish. If temptation really is a sin, then I’ve been fighting probably the most Christian battle of my life over the last week. I suppose it’s a good way of making up for all of my other sins. Who’d have thought that What We Saw would have such a religious moral?

I’ve hardly had a week off, mind. I’ve spent the last few days working closely with some very talented designers on creating a wonderful, eye-catching, professional looking cover. I promised you back in this article that I’d be investing in a couple of premium services to make my product the best possible novel it can be, and finding a brilliant designer is the natural first step. I’ve been overwhelmed by all of the design concepts I’ve received. I have picked a winner, and I will be sharing it with you shortly. Keep your eyes peeled.

Other than that, I’ve basically just been chilling out, in the most authorial way possible. I’ve done a lot of social media research, advice of which I will be sharing with you in upcoming blog posts. I’ve had a cheeky read through My Baby, aka the first draft (don’t panic, it was a PDF file, so I didn’t come close to editing), and I believe that the skeleton of a good story is in there, somewhere beneath the inconsistent pacing and shaky characterisation that is typical of all first drafts. I also launched a contest on Friday as a way to try to get you involved, but I think that through my own failings (launching it at a less-than-peak time, causing many to miss it), it would be best to put this on hold for a while. I’m new to this game, and although you can have a seemingly perfect plan in your head, it is impossible to predict the public reaction. That’s what I love about it though: it’s one big journey into the unknown.

Have a good weekend, and enjoy the football.

Ryan

@RyanCaseyBooks

*Unfortunately, What We Saw does not contain any two-headed cats, or dogs, or two-headed-anythings for that matter. I’ll work on it.