I wrote the first book in my series in December 2019. I wrote the second book in January 2020 and by March 2020, I had re-written them both a few different times. I was recommended an editor by a co-worker of mine that turned out to be the greatest thing, in my opinion, for my writing.
When they say a good editor is crucial—they aren’t kidding!! My thoughts on what an editor would do for me was to fix what I failed to write and learn in every English class I had ever taken—proper comma and word usage.
My editor, Marla Taviano, definitely did that; her notes/advice did so much more for me. Even though I wrote my first book only a year ago, I would be embarrassed for anyone to read the original copy now. Her words of advice and ability to be honest with me had such a profound impact on my work that I can honestly say I don’t know what I would have done without her.
The writing and editing part of the process has been great—even though the rewrites themselves caused me some frustration. But that little bit of frustration was nothing compared to everything else that came after (and is still coming). Titles, summaries, who to self-publish through, creating a website, getting a social media presence, growing my social media base, cover design, and really anything that comes to marketing.
While I am a pretty organized and self-motivated person, looking at that list is daunting—but I didn’t come this far to give up. So my amazing and talented older sister Stephanie came to the rescue. She was able to free up some time so that I was able to hire her to design my website, get a marketing plan together, set up my social media, and really hit the ground running with where my expertise stopped and hers began. This leads us to where we are now—getting the ball rolling in our marketing plan.