So, part of the creative journey is to learn and explore and push and grow. Onward and upward, right? Sometimes that means glancing back and understanding that growth. It’s not the funnest aspect of the process, but can prove quite rewarding.
Six years ago I published a novel, A Life of Inches, via Limitless. The release was marred with bad timing, unkept promises, and a lack of hustle on my end for a few reasons. The book sat for the balance of the five year contract and collected dust. It broke my heart after all the work and sacrifice (especially by my wife) to see the effort wasted.
When I got hit with covid two weeks ago, I decided to sit down and read the book for the first time since it got released in 2015. I noticed many mistakes and lazy passages that I would never let slip today, but I surprised myself by enjoying the story.
I’m reworking the book to smooth out some amateur writing and hopefully make a smoother more enjoyable reading experience and then I plan on self publishing a digital version. I am only allowing small, subtle changes, but not messing with the characters or plot at all. This is mostly a mission to cut out the use of is/just/are and a few other overused words and underwhelming verbs.
I’m not shopping it or making a big deal out of the work, but I thought someone out there struggling with their creative process might appreciate hearing they aren’t alone in troubled waters.
Actually, I worked on guest vocals for a song the last couple months and found out the band isn’t going to use them after all. A bummer for sure, but a fun thing to work on and keep things fresh through the winter.
