Weekly Recap

While I don't feel that I accomplished much this week, even the tiny things began to inch me closer to my goal. 

My week began with trying to rewrite sections of my novel I was dissatisfied with, but it turned out that those sections were mostly fine. In fact, I barely touched the second problem area; either it's actually okay or I simply don't have the desire to rewrite it. I hope it's the former.

I've begun my final listening session, this time all the way through from start to finish. Really, authors, you're never going to be satisfied with what you hear. I'm still wary of the way I weaved in some back story at the beginning. Maybe it was laziness on my part, but more likely it was ineptitude that had me pasting in certain passages from the original opening, the opening I chose to do away with, and not reworking them. That original contained a lot of back story, and I needed to isolate the most important parts and discard the rest. So I used the scene in which the main character is packing to leave home and arguing with her mother about her decision; and I included the aftermath of the band's terrible night, where MC tells her cousin that she's breaking up the band. You have no idea just how much I removed from the original story and condensed into two brief paragraphs. Now it might be too sparse ~ worrying about it is really exhausting.

I listened through Chapter 9 yesterday, and it's overall okay (the above concerns notwithstanding), but there's something somewhere in those chapters that's nagging at me, and I don't know what it is. I even opened the manuscript tonight and scanned it for the problem area, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it's nothing specific, but an overall feel. I detest the thought that I'll need to reread those chapters aloud. At that rate, I'm never going to be done. Forty chapters is a lot to get through.

I also fiddled with my book cover; tried a different font, which may or may not be better, but it is bolder and (I think) easier to read on a thumbnail. I'm aware from watching a particular video that Canva has different font tricks that I'd need to search out, but I can't stress enough how tired I am of looking for things. As a PRO member, all the tools should be completely visible; not tucked away in a dark corner of the site. 

I started watching David Gaughran's Facebook ad tutorial, and oh, my God, it's so boring! That's not his fault, but watching him click on and explain every single area of the interface in exhausting detail is sleep-inducing. And it lasts a whole hour! I might have managed to get through about ten minutes of it. I guess it would help if I pulled up Facebook and followed along, but I'm not ready to mess around with it, since I'm still on the fence regarding Facebook ads. Gaughran claims they're very effective, but I find it hard to believe that tons of people still use that awful site. 

The thing is, my lack of funds will require me to drill down to the most promising marketing strategies, so if what Gaughran is saying is true, I'm going to have to learn how to place a Facebook ad.

I've come to realize just how much my poverty is impacting my writing career. Most of the things I've done are just okay; not great, certainly not perfect. Having an editor and a cover designer would be a dream. In lieu of professional assistance, I have to focus on what I can reasonably do, and accept the fact that "okay" will need to suffice.

Despite the fact that I'm dealing with health issues at the moment, I accomplished more than I expected. That's because I'm a stubborn SOB. I think if it wasn't for defiance, I'd never get anywhere. Part of me wants to just declare everything "done" and get it over with, but I'm too pigheaded.

Maybe the coming week will be more productive.