On Saturday evening May 12, I was the guest speaker of the local chapter of Integrity USA. Integrity USA is a nonprofit organization working in the Episcopal Church for the full inclusion of LGBT community and their allies. I was asked to speak on my writing, my books and then do a book signing afterward.

I told the group, that I didn’t feel as if I was an author, yet over the last two years, I have three books selling on Amazon. In some circles, this defines you as an author. For me, I define myself as a novice writer who has taken the risk to self-publish three books. That doesn’t make me an author, but my goal is to have one or more of my books get recognized as quality writing. When this happens, then I will consider myself an author.

I shared how it all unfolded with the group. In fact, I gave them a summary of what I include here. I took the advice of another author to not bore your audience on how or why you wrote the book. He said they don’t care, they come because they want to hear about the book and perhaps obtain a signed copy. I did as he advised and read short excerpts from all three books. It worked, I kept the attention of the audience, I had a vibrant Q & A afterward and sold out of two of the three books I had brought.

This whole process got started back in 2011 when I was diagnosed with cancer. My doctor advised me the treatment would be debilitating. This would make working full time difficult. Since I had anticipated retiring within the next year, I took an early retirement.

Both my closest friend and my husband had been encouraging me for years to write about my life. I had shared some, but I hid more. They felt if I would write those stories, it would excel as a book. However, in my mind, I was not a writer. I looked at the project as a monumental task and I had no self-confidence.

My days between my cancer treatments, I would sit out on our lanai with my laptop and write. I had no outline, preconception, or any idea of what I should do. I began at the beginning of my childhood memory and moved forward.

I spent my days lost in writing. My focus was not on my health status and my mind paid little attention to the treatment side effects. I was self-absorbed getting my story written. Hours, days, and weeks melted, as I felt compelled to write. The volume of material grew to an outrageous amount, yet I continued to write.

This went on for over eighteen months. When I finally stopped to analyze what I had written, I had forty chapters and over eight hundred pages. In review, I realized I had way too much detail, it was poorly written, and no way publishable.

I began the process to educate myself on writing techniques, grammar, and syntax. I took the advice of my best friend and I took several online writing courses. With the volume of material comprising my draft, I became overwhelmed. I decided to break up the manuscript into multiple books. One distinct area was the four years I served in the military. Although significant in my life story, it was not cohesive with the genre of the rest.

With the goal to write separate books, I thought the military genre might indicate if the public would accept my writing. If successful, it would give me the inspiration to continue with the rest of the manuscript. I began the process of the re-writes and editing. In July of 2016, I released One Month, 20 Days, and a Wake-Up. It was fiction based on my four years in the military and my deployment to Vietnam.

I spent the next few months setting up my website, learning to blog, following several successful writers, and trying to promote my book. Being ignorant of the process, sales had a slow beginning. The more I promoted myself, the more my book began to sell. It has never been competitive with best sellers, but after almost two years the volume of sales increase each month.

I researched writing memoir genres and I took a chance on the second booking sharing the story of my youth as a memoir. I worked hard to develop my writing skills and did a ton of research in the area of child abuse. June 2017, I released What Did I Do? By the time I released this book, I had a small following and with promoting my book on my website and social media, the book started selling quicker than the first. However, after the first six months, sales diminished, and I now get very few sales.

What I learned from the second book, there is more to promoting a book. You also have to have a marketing plan. Another key component was book reviews. Even when I begged readers, I got very few reviews on the second book. Perhaps the subject of child abuse was not something people wanted to read either.

I was lucky with the first book, I had several Vietnam veterans read it and leave reviews. I had several writers promote the book on their website. Even with my ignorance of book marketing, I was lucky and the book and I received recognition.

One of the authors I follow is proficient in the process of book marketing on Amazon. He started writing about sponsored ads on Amazon. I found there were several other professionals who were selling online courses on the same methodology. Over a period of several months, I followed his post and began trying to use sponsored ads to promote my books.

With my first book, sales immediately jumped. While the second book, it had little or no effect on sales. I didn’t let this discourage me, I just continued managing the sponsored ads, hopeful that the regression will change.

What did change with the second book, the elevation of my writing skills? I continued to follow the advice of experienced writers and bloggers who shared their skills. I began using editing software that went beyond what Microsoft Word offered. I read books on writing skills, but especially read books by the successful writers of today.

I turned back to my manuscript and began the writing process for the third book. In the last week of April 2018, I released Guilt—My Companion; A Journey of Healing. This is the completion of the original manuscript. Of the three books, this one was the hardest emotionally to write. I left sweat, blood, and tears throughout. I also believe it is the best written of the three.

Over these years, I have gained so much more than developing my writing skills. I was able to overcome an immense amount of emotional baggage I unknowingly was still carrying. With putting my story into words, I conquered anger, insecurity, and found inner peace.

I feel excited to have this process behind me. What started as a project to distract me from the cancer treatment, turned into a personal obligation to write and share my story. Now I can take the skills I have learned and enjoyed writing in other genres. I want to try writing short stories, enhance my blog post, and I have an idea for a new fictional book.

As a novice writer, I realize how important it is to have a foundation of supporters and followers. I have found a writer’s family on WordPress and I’m grateful for their advice, promotions, and support. My social media friends and followers have given me feedback and positive encouragement. For anyone who has read one of my books, if not already, I plead for you to go to my book listing page on Amazon and leave a review. My book sales success is dependent on your reviews. Finally, for those followers on social media that have not subscribed to my website, I encourage to visit, register your email address, and follow my future writing. I also welcome any and all comments. I thank all of you for your continued support.

Featured Image by Don Nelson