My Novel Journey Thus Far…

Image by author in Canva

A painfully slow start … and finally, the time is right to get moving!

I’m not exactly sure when the dream first settled into my heart. I had seen snippets of it now and then while fighting my way out of an abusive and unhappy upbringing and a chaotic and turbulent start to my adult life.

But I do remember a clear image surfacing by the time I was in my late 20s. Suddenly, there it was in my head, a two-storey, Wedgewood blue, Victorian house with a wrap-around porch, overlooking the ocean. There were some trees nearby but not another soul — or house — for miles. In this vision, I lived in that house and spent my days writing novels.

I’d barely written anything besides grocery lists to that point, although I did dabble in writing stories as a child. I adored the few books I had, and read them so often I’m surprised I didn’t wear the ink off the pages.

Fast forward at least a few decades…

I met a woman who had seen a few short pieces I’d written. She pushed me to write a novel, about which I knew nothing. But I came up with a storyline and away I went. I wrote 95,000 words in 8 days and produced a 362-page novel. Every evening, I’d read that day’s writing to my daughter and frequently found myself saying, “I don’t remember writing this.”

When I wrote, I stared at the screen but didn’t see the words. Instead, I watched the story unfolding and wrote that. I became completely immersed in it, so that if I was writing a night scene, I was startled, literally jumping when looking up and discovering that it was a sunny 3.00 in the afternoon. This still happens when I write fiction. I’m momentarily disoriented and it takes a moment to realise I’m not actually in the story.

The novel tells a heartwrenching tale, a family saga with a paranormal twist (a nod to my own life, in retrospect — which has seriously been a saga, plus I’ve been a psychic and medium since childhood, and communicating with spirits). And although it is a story of tragedy and struggle, it is also a story of hope and healing.

I wrote it in 2005 before Amazon was really a ‘thing’. I don’t even know if there was a self-publishing option at that time. I used a publishing company and sold numerous copies of my book locally at book-signings and in several book shops around the county where I lived in England. I received a lot of feedback on email, all positive, with many people saying they wanted more about this family. I was over the moon!

But my life was about to blow up and it would be many years before it settled enough — and back on the other side of the planet in Canada, where I’d grown up — that I could continue my writing journey.

Fast forward again … Several years after writing the first book, this novel-writing dream had been nudging, prodding, kicking and finally screaming at me to give it a chance. I learned that readers love a series and I’d need at least three books. But hm… where would I begin?

I remembered the many comments I’d received from people who wanted me to write a sequel to my first novel. It seemed a good place to start. Or rather, to continue. So I carried on and wrote two more novels to follow on from the first. I gave advance copies to reviewers who said they “couldn’t put them down,” or “had to get up at night to keep reading.”

I would also need a novella to use as a ‘reader magnet’ — a freebie to give away in exchange for readers’ email addresses. Hm. What to write?

The three-novel series takes place over about a 5-year period in the latter half of the 1950s. So I backed up 20 years to 1935, and wrote a sweet but spooky romance novella (22K words) that tells the tale of how the parents met. I absolutely loved writing it! I’m a sucker for a sweet romance!

Not long after writing Books 2 and 3, plus the novella, I learned about a man who teaches authors how to be profitable using Amazon ads. He’d taught thousands of authors by then. Some are moderately successful, others are earning high five-figure incomes, some even six figures, and there are some seven-figure authors in his group!!

Of course, it takes several books and a lot of time. But it showed me what’s possible.

I joined the group and oh, my … such a learning curve! I discovered rather quickly that my books weren’t “written to market.” That’s a big topic but the short version for my purposes here is that there are certain things that need to be in place when selling books, especially online. Readers who are scrolling through books on Amazon will recognise in a split second if your book doesn’t fit what they want for that particular genre.

The scary thing is, it isn’t even conscious. But if your cover doesn’t quite fit the norm, or you use the wrong font, or if your name and book title aren’t in the correct places — and sizes — for your genre, or if the colours on the cover aren’t right for your genre either, they’ll scroll right past. They couldn’t even tell you why if you asked them. They would just know it’s not what they’re used to seeing.

Then there’s the book blurb. The bit you read when deciding to buy — assuming your cover elements are correct for your genre and prospective readers have clicked on it to read your blurb. There’s a formula for writing it. If you don’t get it right, they’ll move on.

The staff and several seasoned authors in the group worked with me, trying to help. The books were renamed. I hired an excellent graphics designer who produced fantastic new covers. We did our best to improve the blurbs — but because I didn’t have a clear protagonist (can’t be all five family members!), it was a major challenge. There were other issues, too.

Plus, although each novel follows on from the preceding one, the story takes twists and turns that change the genre from one book to the next. Another major off-putting issue for potential readers. This series starts with a sweet spooky romance and each novel takes an increasingly dark turn turn 🫣 until — well, I won’t tell you, on the chance you decide to read them. Let’s just say it’s a far cry from that sweet 1935 romance!

To say the least, it was disappointing knowing that when I could get the book into the hands of readers, they loved them, but that I’d made several huge errors due to my lack of knowledge about specifics that need to be in place to make sales. Sadly, I gave up trying to market that series.

I switched to small town romance — my favourite genre! Romance is the top-selling genre and there are numerous subgenres, with further fine-tuning after that (mine is “clean and wholesome.” I have no interest in reading or writing about throbbing this and moist that).

But I do love creating complex characters who are deeply wounded and flawed, and walking them through the process of facing their demons as they navigate a romance they don’t think they want. I create characters who are relatable and in whom readers can see themselves. It helps them face their own demons, too.

I first began planning this small town romance series nearly 4 years ago. I loved what I was learning in this group about specific aspects of writing and marketing, and the many tools and resources that were available to become a successful author. It helped seeing screen shares of some authors’ Amazon earnings… they weren’t making up their sales figures! I knew that if they could do it, so could I. In time, I’d be spending my days pursuing my fiction-writing passion, and supporting myself, too.

And then … because of a series of terrible events in a short time, I ended up coming apart and was diagnosed with Complex PTSD. Not long after that, more trouble with a traumatic injury that more than 2 years later, has still not fully healed. The first year was a nightmare, on top of the C-PTSD. Eventually, I could write non-fiction again, but fiction? Not a chance. I couldn’t be creative to save my life. I thought I was completely broken. My dream of writing novels was long gone. I couldn’t even connect with that feeling — the desire — anymore. I felt like a huge piece of my soul had died.

But … the good news — no, the great news! — A few months ago, I began to see glimpses of myself again. I even wondered if maybe I could get back to work on this series. I hauled out my copious pages of notes about the characters, and on worldbuilding for the series. I dug out notes I’d taken from webinars and videos on how to write small town romance novels.

That spark returned … and I remembered my dream.

Once again, I was excited to tell my first couple’s story. They had been patiently waiting for nearly 4 years. But could I write again?

One day, I felt brave enough to try. I didn’t get very far. It took hours to write an opening paragraph. Nothing was flowing. I was fed up staring at that blinking cursor. I went back to my notes. I played with different ideas. I made some changes to the back stories for the hero and heroine. Every few days or week, I’d try to write again.

I’ll spare you the blow-by-blow, but this was how it went for the first several weeks. Writing a few words, maybe 100 words a day. Maybe 200. Going back and fiddling with notes — not that it dramatically changed the story, but I reckon it was mostly useful in getting the rusty wheels of my imagination turning again, reacquainting myself with these people, their story, which had been in my head in a general way for nearly 4 years.

Then one day, it happened. I wrote about 1,000 words. It took a whole day to do it — a far cry from my previous 10,000-plus words a day — but it was progress! I’m still having ongoing health challenges so productivity can be up and down — which has made it extra hard to try to focus on writing my novel. But I’m committing to focusing on this series and building a successful career that will eventually give me long-term financial security.

Many of my writer friends asked me to keep them posted about my progress. A few said it would help them with their own journeys of pursuing goals or dreams. So I’ll write a weekly post on Saturdays and share my progress, challenges, etc. I’ll also share the resources and tools I find, and how they work (or don’t). The posts will be on this blog to keep them in one place.

Wanna know a secret? I’m a little terrified. 😳 “What iffing” myself with silliness. What if I fail?? What if I can’t do it? What if no one buys my books? Blah blah blah. Shoving those aside. What if I succeed?? What if I can do it? What will my life look like? What will my house look like? (and I think I’ll choose a lakefront house, rather than ocean)

So … here’s where I’m starting: Currently, I’m at around 42K words on Book 1. I’m aiming for 65K+. Given where I am in the story, it could end up at 75K. I’ve got 20 chapters so far. I need three novels, plus a novella to launch, which I plan to do late spring/early summer 2025. Also planning to have at least 10 novels in this series by my birthday in Feb. 2028.

I learned recently that the “clean and wholesome” category is quite full (it was wide open when I started). It could be difficult to break into it. Turns out that because I’m Canadian and the series is set in a fictitious town here in southern Alberta, this could set me apart and help me break through.

So I’ve gone back to the beginning of the book and am adding in Canadian elements, as well as some specific Albertan tidbits (cowboy / ranching country, mountains, artisans, etc.)

Since making this decision this week, I’ve been catching up on household and personal tasks. By Monday I’ll be back into my book, working on the revisions. I hope that by the end of next week, I’ll have finished them and might even be moving ahead past Chapter 20. Wish me luck!

***

If you’re curious, here’s Buried Secrets, Book 1 in the “People love it when they read it but I can’t get it to move on Amazon” series.