Why I Wrote a Second Edition

Most writers don’t get stuff right on the first try. They know it takes practice, determination, patience, and sacrifice in some form or another. But I think a lot of us forget that it’s okay to make mistakes—and to admit to them—even after we’ve published.

I’ve spent the majority of my life writing, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few publications. I’ve also worked as a technical writer, a graphic designer, an editor, and I have some experience in self-publishing. By now, I’ve learned how to avoid most mistakes. But that doesn’t mean I don’t make them. Even those of us with years of experience can mess up sometimes. It’s not an easy thing for me to admit to, but that’s exactly what happened with the original version of my e-book The Eyes That Moved, a short story that was released on Amazon in May of last year. And it wasn’t like it was a complete failure; I had a modest amount of success with it, and as a whole, I was pretty happy with the piece. But I had a nagging sensation that wouldn’t go away. Something wasn’t quite right with it, and I couldn’t let that go.

Change of Plans

When I first wrote and published the e-book, I intended it to be a standalone piece with no alternate endings or further storyline. However, after it was published, I received a ton of encouragement from readers to make it a series. Though I was thrilled to have so much interest from others in the characters and storyline, I had to make sure transforming it into a series was the right move for this piece, so I experimented.

After only a few days of brainstorming, the answer struck me. This piece was evolving rapidly—which was awesome—but that also meant I’d have to rethink the initial storyline. I attempted to weave in a few more details for a minor change to the story to tie it into something bigger, and while that worked well enough, there were other things to consider.

Feedback

Initial reviews for the original version were very positive. In fact, The Eyes That Moved still holds a good rating on both Amazon and Goodreads, something I’m very thankful for. But some critical feedback eventually trickled in, feedback that stuck with me. Readers were right; it still needed some improvement. I had spent several years on the piece, but that didn’t mean it was ready. Readers argued (and quite reasonably I might add) that though the storyline was decent, it could have been planned out better. I also had comments about not showing enough (something I think we all struggle with at times, even when we think we have it nailed), the ending being too obvious, and a few readers not being able to connect with the characters. That last one was probably the hardest to endure, but I know it was the truth, and it definitely was a problem that needed resolved. However, that’s still not what convinced me to write the second edition.

Growing As a Writer

The deciding factor came when I sat down and did some quiet, internal reflecting on the piece. I didn’t just want to improve this piece for readers; I wanted to improve it for myself. I could do better, and I had to prove that to my inner critic who was taunting me with lies about never being successful. I wanted to tighten up the writing, the loose ends, the plot holes—I wanted to fix everything that had gone wrong in the first edition. But was it really worth it? Maybe I really didn’t have to tweak it; maybe this was all overkill. After all, it’d already gone through minor updates and a cover tweak. And maybe I could make the whole series thing work anyway.

But that was nonsense. My inner muse told me so. A writer always knows whether or not a piece is finished, and I knew I wasn’t done with this one yet. So I worked my tail off and got feedback from some of the most honest critics I know: my family. My family is my greatest support group, and that’s what makes them my toughest critics. They not only love me and encourage me in all my writing endeavors, but they aren’t afraid to be completely honest with me—and sometimes painfully so. I can always count on them to be up front if something doesn’t work, but they also do it in a way that ignites a passion for improvement. They know how to tell me what works and what doesn’t without ever batting an eye, but they also gush about the parts they love.

If you want to grow as a writer, those are the types of critics you need in your life. Whether it’s family, friends, or a group of beta readers who have no qualms telling you what you’re doing wrong (and right), you need them to make your piece top notch. Without their input, your WIP might fall flatter than you realize.

That advice might be tough to swallow, and I don’t mean to be a downer for those of you who love to write. In fact, I want to encourage you to keep at it—even when you don’t feel like it and when what you write is complete drivel. Because someday, you will get it right, and all your time and effort will have paid off. To me, there’s only one thing better in the world than growing as a writer, and that’s witnessing other writers growing in their craft.

 

Kendra Merrick has a knack for spotting unusual trinkets and treasures, and she isn’t afraid of using unconventional—or illegal—methods to obtain them. When she meets Adam, a fellow sleuth and collector, they embark on their biggest adventure yet: the Whitson house. The house is a marvel, and its secrets are even stranger than Kendra imagined.

Kendra stumbles upon the find of a lifetime. But she may have signed on for more than she bargained. There’s a darkness in the house that wasn’t there before, a pair of eyes in every corner, watching, waiting. And Adam isn’t at all who he claimed to be.

If you’re interested in seeing the efforts of all my fussing and fretting, the second edition of The Eyes That Moved (part one of The Porcelain Souls series) is available on Amazon and Smashwords—and you choose the price on Smashwords.

If that's not enough, here are some more opportunities to get a free copy:

From now until April 15th, you can enter the giveaway on Amazon (https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/b49118ed1c3b9112) to win a copy of the e-book for your Kindle. For those of you not eligible for the giveaway, you can still receive a free copy—SIGNED—by subscribing to my author newsletter.

Last but not least, if you have a copy of the first edition and would like to receive the second edition for free, don’t hesitate to contact me via the envelope icon at the top of this site. I’ll be happy to send it to you just for being a loyal reader.

#PitMad

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, #PitMad has been filling the feeds of Twitter today! It’s an event where authors get the chance to pitch their book to agents and publishers and get instant feedback. Fellow Twitter users are able to retweet their favorite pitches that authors post, and publishers and agents will favorite any pitch they like, giving the author an instant “in” for submitting their manuscript! Pretty cool if you’re a new author who doesn’t have many connections in the way of the publishing.

If you haven’t gotten the chance to check it out yet, just do a quick search for the hastag #pitmad on Twitter, and you’ll get to see a bunch of cool pitches by other writers. The event will be wrapping up soon, but those of you who want to participate but missed this one will get another chance soon. The event is held quarterly every year; the next one takes place in September, and the last one this year will be in December. For more details and an explanation to all the various subtags, check out this site: http://www.brenda-drake.com/pitmad/.

5 Reasons a Literary Magazine Will Reject You

Striving to get a piece accepted by a literary magazine is a great way to get your foot in the door as an author. It helps get you recognized and gives you credibility. During the time I worked with the online literary magazine The Corner Club Press, I got the chance to see what it was like on the other side. I saw just how overwhelming all the submissions could be, and I was able to experience firsthand what it takes to put an issue together. I was lucky enough to work with some amazingly talented folks, and I can honestly say we saw some pretty bizarre submissions at times. So I wanted to share with you guys the biggest mistakes you can make when submitting to a literary magazine. These won’t just earn you a few negative points; they’ll likely get your piece thrown out!

1. You don’t follow the guidelines. This is by far the biggest issue I saw with submissions while working for the magazine. Most literary magazines receive hundreds—and sometimes thousands—of submissions. They don’t have time to read each and every piece they receive the full way through, and they definitely don’t have time to sift through your email or attachment to find your name, the title of the piece, and other information they might need. So guess which are the first to go? If you don’t follow the guidelines for submissions, you’re likely to be out of the running pretty quickly. If you want your piece to outshine the others, start with the basics and follow the submission guidelines. It’s that simple.

2. Your introduction doesn’t hook the staff. The submission process is pretty much like an interview. You need to be polished and present your work well to be considered for hire. The same is true for a magazine. If you don’t have a captivating cover letter for your piece and your email isn’t well constructed, your submission will blend in with the others. Your story may be the greatest work of all time, but if you don’t present it professionally, it could be passed up for someone else’s.

3. Your piece hasn’t been edited or has numerous punctuation errors. There’s nothing that irritates me more than a potentially good story that looks like a third grader wrote it. I’m not saying it has to be totally flawless (though you want to get as close as possible before submitting anything for publication), but if your story looks more like a draft than a final work of fiction (or nonfiction), it’s time to take a step back and patch it up. Magazines are looking for pieces that are publication ready. They typically undergo light editing only. Unless you come across an exceptionally kind and generous staff willing to guide you through a more rigorous editing process, your work with likely be passed up for something a little more polished.

4. Your story has too intricate of a plot. All stories are not created equal. That is especially true when it comes to writing a short story vs. writing a novel. The biggest difference is that short stories are tales that can easily be wrapped up in 5,000 words or fewer. They generally revolve around one or two main characters and one event or short sequence of events. The direction of the outcome is clear in the end, and that outcome usually involves a change in one or more of the main characters. Think everyday circumstances that have potentially monumental results. If your story’s ideas are too vast or complicated to be captured in a just a few pages, they probably don’t fit the frame of a short story.

5. You don’t respond to an acceptance email. This one is the hardest slipup to swallow. I’ve seen some incredibly awesome stories that were accepted but not published simply because the author never responded to the acceptance email—or because they responded outside of the required time frame. Without the author’s final consent on edits and permission for their piece to be published, magazines have little choice but to reject the piece and replace it with another one. It takes time to format an issue and finalize it for publication; magazines can’t wait for weeks on end for a reply.

Added bonus: To really make your piece stand out, give it some extra touches to improve your chances. Address the editor directly, talk about the magazine and how you came across it, and mention specific pieces that you’ve enjoyed in past issues. If you show that you’ve gone that extra mile and really done your homework before submitting, the staff will be thrilled. Your story might even get bumped up to the top of the slush pile because of it!

Here is also a helpful article on constructing a great cover letter: http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/your-perfect-cover-letter

(Edited from original post to update and correct point number two.)