A CHANGE OF DIRECTION

Although my passion is medieval fantasy I have dabbled and Drabbled in many different genres. No one in my 3 writing groups writes in my chosen genre, which doesn't help, but nevertheless they are very supportive. I feel that the last two/three years have been my apprenticeship into writing and so I am now looking to change my direction. I will continue to write short stories, earn a few bob you know, but will concentrate more and more on what I love best. For if I continue with a scatter-gun approach my mind will be pulled in too many directions. And that is a double edged sword, for whilst I'll be pursing my passion to write, I'll constantly be looking at new projects. That approach has to change.

If I have more than one new tale on the go at any one time I always know what is coming. My mind will take over and ask annoying questions.

"What shall we do today then?"

"No! You can'd finish that story, because you're behind on formatting the new novel."

"What's wrong with you? That tale is pathetic."

"Don't forget the writing club tonight. You haven't written a manuscript to take in for critique."

And finally.

"Who is going to read any of your work if you can't be bothered to promote it, because all you want to do is write?"

I love writing but as a self-published author I must also learn to love the discipline that is so important. I am proud of my achievements so far, for who would have thought that I would design and build my own website, set up a blog, design (poorly) book covers, format several books, publish six books with one more novel coming shortly, have work published elsewhere, and have four videos on YouTube? I know I never believed I could achieve so much, yet, I now realise that all of that is just for starters. I need to do more to ensure that fantasy readers can see my work.

And if I can achieve so much, why not you? You have the talent, the brains to write a good story, and all you need is the drive and determination. I bet that few of you are worse with modern technology than I.

I have made a decision.

Most of my time from now will be used to write what I believe I do best. Yet, there is one more important point to make.

I must PROMOTE - PROMOTE - PROMOTE and I'll need a completely different set of skills to be successful. As always I will try my best. And if I do that then the voice in my head will be silenced, for a little while at least.

I hope that you have found this interesting and that you can relate to my actions. It's even better if I have helped in any way. So keep plugging away. You know you can do it.

May I wish the very best of luck to all you authors trying so hard to succeed in a massive writing world.

Rick.