This is about me. If you have one of those rare moments of being honest with yourself, this might apply to you too.
To self-publish your first book is a rebellious act. It makes you feel good. You did it. You ignored the publishing industry and maybe the rejection letter you received.
You wrote a great book and there’s nothing that can stop you to share it with the world.
And guess what happens next? Your friends like your book. Even strangers like your book. Even if you’re just a beginner writer in Romania you made it. You know that what you wrote is good because you read all your life and you are qualified to make a judgment about quality.
You don’t realize that is actually an experimental first person book that you got right, but it’s just a onetime good thing. You keep writing some acceptable short stories. You self-publish and you also get published by prestigious online and offline magazines. Life is good.
Fast forward Canada.
You have a friend writer here who accepts to talk to you about writing. And he explains to you about differences between European and North American writers, about writing courses, about learning the hard way.
And you listen and comprehend parts of it while you think that what you understood can allow you to skip some of the periods of hard work and learning he went through.
And you write your first so-called novel. 45.000 words. You’re proud of it. Of course you’ll need an editor, especially because English is your second language, but you’ll cross that bridge when you get there.
Your friend accepts to read your latest masterpiece. He does it and he also does a very special thing for you. He tells you the truth. Your book is one huge synopsis. You have no main character, no arc story; your scenes are not from the POV of only one character and so on.
While bleeding on the inside, you listen. Being a quick learner and resilient by nature you humbly accept the truth and decide to learn more and become a better self-published writer.
You also decide that what you learned in year following that conversation is useful for developing a project management tool for writers and online writing software. Now you write this article and feel good about your experience. You know you’re moving forward.
Thank you, Costi.