I had hoped to publish the next Gwen Michaels book in December, but unfortunately that didn't happen. And the reason is, it just wasn't good enough. It was really hard to hear that from my beta readers.
Really hard.
And it was very discouraging. This was my baby. I'd poured my heart into it. And it was boring? Boring?
I kind of crawled into a hole with my blanket and chocolate and said forget the whole thing!
But, in the end, they were right. The story was too boring. The thing that made Secrets successful was the fast pace, the continuous action. And this new story just didn't have it.
And I have to be honest with myself, and my fans. So here it is - I haven't put 100% into it. Something very hard to admit. I've been working with a partner (Maren Kaye) on the last two books (Devil's Game and Treasure Hunt) and we push each other to get the best result. But working on my own for this book, I'd forgotten how to push myself, and the story, to the edge.
And now that I've admitted it, I can fix it. So I have hunkered down and am now making the story the best it can be. I hope you will be patient with me. It will be worth it, I promise:)
Really hard.
And it was very discouraging. This was my baby. I'd poured my heart into it. And it was boring? Boring?
I kind of crawled into a hole with my blanket and chocolate and said forget the whole thing!
But, in the end, they were right. The story was too boring. The thing that made Secrets successful was the fast pace, the continuous action. And this new story just didn't have it.
And I have to be honest with myself, and my fans. So here it is - I haven't put 100% into it. Something very hard to admit. I've been working with a partner (Maren Kaye) on the last two books (Devil's Game and Treasure Hunt) and we push each other to get the best result. But working on my own for this book, I'd forgotten how to push myself, and the story, to the edge.
And now that I've admitted it, I can fix it. So I have hunkered down and am now making the story the best it can be. I hope you will be patient with me. It will be worth it, I promise:)
I wrote a novel that scared me so much, I hid it in a drawer for a year before I could even proofread it. It ended up being a minor best seller. Maybe we have to be so honest, we almost can't bear to share.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and just joined,
Carole
I don't know whether to laugh or cringe. That must be some scary book!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and for joining:)
Had to chuckle at you crawling into a hole with your "blanket and chocolate." Man! Other people can feel that way too, huh? I remember my first bad review at Amazon. I think I almost died, then, later, I created my first blog and wrote "A Critic!"
ReplyDeleteI ended up feeling better. Haven't looked lately but got over 400 hits on that piece.
Thanks for the chuckle,
James W. Nelson
I know what you mean about that first bad review!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting. I'll try to find your blog.