Two Thousand and Nineteen

It's that time of year when people start looking forward to the new year and make resolutions. I never used to make a lot of resolutions in the past, but I enjoyed holding myself accountable to the resolutions I made last year. Let's take a peek:

1. Three books to finish writing.
2. One book to write for nanowrimo.
3. An entire series, consisting of eight books to edit.

Yup. That's what I said I'd do. What did I actually do?

1. I only finished two books. But...
2. I did write a new book for nanowrimo (after going back and forth about not knowing what to even write and I did it in 12 days, so I'll take it!)
3. Well, I'm still slowly making my way through this. One of the books is fully edited and could probably be published at any point, but I'm not ready for that. The others are getting there.
4. I published a book this year! It wasn't in my resolutions list, but who cares? It's a huge accomplishment for me!


 And now for 2019's resolutions!

1. Two books to finish writing.
2. Publish at least two books this year. (I say at least, because I think I can squeeze out three, but I'm not sure.)
3. Finish editing that series!

Here's to a great 2019 for everyone!!


- Natasja

Nanowrimo 2018

Those of you who follow me regularly on Facebook and Instagram know that I completed my 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month on November 12. For me it was just like this blur and whirlwind of words that whipped past me in some more or less coherent way.

My stats

 I can't say too much about the book I just wrote because it's a sequel to a sequel so spoilers abound. But I will say there was a lot of dancing involved in it, which got me thinking back to my very first nanowrimo, which I've written about here. That was when I wrote My Best Friend's Brother/The Summer I Turned Into a Girl, a story about a dancer and a soccer player who switch bodies.

It was kind of fun revisiting a dancing character but it also reminded me how very little I know about dancing. I was very much out of my element the whole time (especially since I feel like I've been writing so much about boxing lately).

It also got me reflecting on my New Year's Resolutions, so I want to take a look back...

1. Three books to finish writing.
2. One book to write for nanowrimo.
3. An entire series, consisting of eight books to edit.

Well, I've written two books this year, but one of those was for nano. Honestly, I can't remember whether I meant for the nano book to be a part of the three books, but I'm going to go with yes. And I definitely think I can squeeze out another book this year if I try really hard. (Read: don't sleep at all). The series is still being edited - that one is taking me a little longer, but I'm working on it. One thing I didn't have in my resolutions was publishing a book, but I think that's a pretty big accomplishment. I will definitely add that to next year's resolutions though!

One other thing I wanted to do today was post a couple of interviews that I did this month in case you missed them on my social media. There are some interesting questions in there and I gave one of them the exclusive honour of posting the first look at my next book cover!
https://cynthiabrandel.com/2018/11/06/author-spotlight-natasja-eby/
https://journal.media/life-as-a-self-published-author

For anyone who's still working their way through nanowrimo, hit me up if you need some encouragement!


- Natasja

News - Knockout Girl - Part 2

The great thing about self-publishing is that I could literally be sitting on my couch in my pyjamas and a sweatshirt under a Paw Patrol blanket doing this right now and you'd never know it! (You totally do now though, don't you?)

The thing about "self"-publishing is there is no such thing. So, I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all the people who helped me get Knockout Girl out and into the hands of readers! If you ever answered any of my ridiculous questions, if you read my book and made suggestions/corrections, if you were just there during my darkest times of self-doubt, please know how very much loved you are. I cannot express this enough - there is no such thing as "self"-publishing.

Having said that, my latest self-published novel is now available on Amazon!

And here's a list of links for you to enjoy:
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads
Amazon

 

How to Make a Book in 7 Steps

I've had a few people ask me about my experience either writing or self-publishing a book. I'm not exactly an expert on either of those things, but since the question is about my experience and not my expertise, let me lay it out for you.

Spoilers on screen

Step 1: Write a book! I know, I know, sounds easier said than done. But this is by far the best part of the process. Obviously. I feel like that goes without saying. I'll do a post on the writing process at some point.

Step 2: Edit the book! Not the most fun part of the process, especially if you have a hard time looking at your own work critically. This is where it helps having a best friend who's a copy editor. I'm just saying. (If you don't have one, find one and feed him/her coffee and sushi. Should do the trick.) Seriously though, edit the book at least a million times before you let strangers read it. I'll do a post on self-editing tips later.

Step 3: Beta reading! This is a part of the process I discovered last year. A beta reader is someone who reads a mostly-polished unpublished mauscript and gives their impressions. Think of them as guinea pigs. Nice guinea pigs, who volunteer a lot of their own time for free to help you out. Don't forget to be nice back to them.

Step 4: More editing! At this point, you might opt for a professional edit if you didn't already do that in step 2. I've personally never had a professional edit done because I have so many editors, teachers, and writers in my life helping me out. But if I ever do that, I'll share my experience of that, too.

Look! A cover ^

Step 5:  Do you have a cover? If you feel comfortable enough designing one yourself, I say go for it! I used Canva to design my cover for Knockout Girl and I love it. I also got a lot of good feedback from it which is super important, too. What I didn't love was putting the front cover together with the back cover and I did have to have a lot of help with that. Again, helps to know people who may be good with photo editing programs. Oh! Don't forget that you're going to need an awesome back-of-cover blurb. This blurb might be repeated in a lot of places (such as descriptions online) and it's your audience's first introduction to the story.

Step 6: Have you formatted your interior? This is just as important as having a good cover because no one wants to open what looks like a great book to find garbage formatting inside. You can find a lot of tips online for how best to lay out a book, what fonts to choose, how you want everthing to look. And most self-publishing companies, such as Kindle Direct Publishing, will give you a template to use which is a life-saver. KDP will also check over the manuscript (and cover) you upload to make sure everything is in place. Again - and I can't stress this enough - knowing people who are good at these kinds of things truly helps. Alternatively, you can find paid services for book interiors and exteriors.

Step 7: Upload everything. Hit enter. Watch yourself get richer. I mean, I'm half-serious but actually I find this part pretty easy after all the rest is done. I'm publishing through KDP and everything is pretty clear. You set your price (dependant on how much you want to earn in royalties), upload your manuscript and book cover, and then away you go. It's published! Yay! You are officially an author.

Did you notice anything missing from these steps? If you said "Yes, where's your marketing plan?" then you're correct! The reason I didn't include marketing as one of the steps is because marketing is kind of just this ongoing thing that you always have to think about. Writing a book? Post about it! Looking for betas? Post about it! Did you make an awesome cover? Post it everywhere for the world to revel in its glory! Are you set to publish/have you published it? P.O.S.T. I.T. Marketing is important and I'm not great at it or in any position to be giving advice. But I'm always learning new things to try and I hope that means I'm getting better at it. Just remember - you're awesome, your book's awesome, and you need to let everyone know.


Thanks for coming along for the ride with me, folks! And don't forget - Knockout Girl is out this Wednesday, October 3rd!

- Natasja

News - Knockout Girl

October 3 ^

"My life has always been absolutely beautiful. Amazing. Perfect. Floating in the salty ocean, lying on endless sandy beaches, school, surfing, boys, beach parties, night dips. Everything has always been exactly as it should be. Until one day it all came crashing down.

Picture yourself—not on a boat on the river—lying on a towel, stretched out on white sands, the sound of the ocean waves calming you as a breeze filters through your salt-tangled hair. The palm trees sway back and forth, offering you occasional shade from the hot rays of light.

Then you leave forever, because the next day you’re on a plane bound for Canada in the dead of winter. And you just keep wishing that you’d wake up back in the real world. You keep wishing that you never had to leave. But you do. The stupid plane keeps heading farther and farther north.

Obviously this story is about me, and not you. But you get the idea."

Thus begins Elli's journey in my new novel called Knockout Girl. You've already read about it (if you haven't, click the link), and you've been treated to the cover reveal through my social media. So I'll keep this short and sweet.

If all goes as planned, Knockout Girl will be released as a paperback and an ebook on October 3, 2018 on Amazon. I'm going to try to give some more updates and maybe a few more excerpts before then, but for now, mark your calendars! This is a story you won't want to miss, I promise.

- Natasja

Updates, and writing, and editing, oh my!

Hello, all! I'm looking back on my New Year's Resolutions that I made for 2018. In case you can't recall (or can't be bothered to click the link), here's the list:

1. Three books to finish writing.
2. One book to write for nanowrimo.
3. An entire series, consisting of eight books to edit.

And here's how I'm doing...

1. I have finished writing one book so far. Not sure I'll make it to three even with Nano's help, though.
2. Nano hasn't come up yet. I briefly considered doing camp nano this July, but I was just too busy for it.
3. I'm actually working my way through this series, with the help of a couple of wonderful critique partners. One book is fully edited, a couple others are mostly polished and a couple don't even have titles. One needs a complete rewrite and I'm three chapters into it, sooo...

There's that! If you don't hear from me for a couple of months again, it's just because I'm doing lots of writing.

- Natasja

Two Thousand and Eighteen

Happy New Year!!

Time to party it up like this champ

Everyone likes to make resolutions at this time of the year. I kind of do that by telling myself (and my alpha reader*) how many books I will finish writing and how many I will edit extensively. So what's on this year's list?

1. Three books to finish writing.
2. One book to write for nanowrimo.
3. An entire series, consisting of eight books to edit.

So, you know, no big deal.

Here's to a great 2018 for you, me, and all the fictional people in my head!

- Natasja


*What's an alpha reader? It's a person who reads all your stuff, first draft or otherwise, laughs at the ridiculous mistakes you make, and yet still tells you that you're amazing.