I’m probably like a squillion other writers with my dream of being discovered by a renown publishing firm, and seeing my stories launched in hardback to worldwide acclaim. And following the success of certain movie franchises, my stories depicted on the big screen joined the fantasies streaming through my mind whenever I visualised my future, like a live-stream link to ‘one day’.
The belief that this was possible played an important role in fanning the fire to see this writing through, and to write well. But in the background, like steel support and consoling comfort to my solitary efforts, grew the certainty that with the changes to the industry due to the explosion of digital publishing, one way or another, my story would be read.
Every time it was pointed out to me how supremely unlikely the sort of success I hoped for was, not to mention realising how remote the chances of ever finding an agent, let alone a publisher were, renown or otherwise, my bestie (and now editor) reminded me of the absolute reality of digital self-publishing. We just had to make it as good as we could. The rest was real – it would be read by someone.
Some writers write for the sake of writing, never intending to share their work. I truly love writing and every part of the process. But I write to find readers as much as for love of the journey, creating something for them to read.
I have almost reached journey’s end of the creative process of book one of Immersed, Find Me. The bit where I share it with readers is imminent. Part of me is apprehensive: a good portion of my soul is in those words and I’ll be dealing with reviews and criticism as well as (hopefully) praise in this open platform of digital publishing. Part of me is pragmatic: those squillion other writers I mentioned are all sharing their work, traditionally and digitally; I will be joining the end of a very long line to find readers for my work.
And part of me is excited: this is it, everything I worked for (sans the traditional dream). Will I hear ‘be careful what you wish for’ once it is launched? Time will tell. But I guarantee that along with a few possible tears from stinging reviews, there will be tears of joy when I reach the readers my story was meant to find. I’m in.
