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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Christina Daley on 7 Things She Would Tell Her Past Self @cdaleywrite #Fantasy #AmReading #Fiction

My first book Seranfyll is three years old! To celebrate, I've given the book a cover makeover and I'm re-releasing it with the second book in the series, Eligere.

I started writing stories for fun when I was a kid, and I got more serious about it in college. After I graduated, I looked into how to get some of my work published. I just didn't know that I was about to face two difficult realities at the same time: 1) being an adult is tough and 2) being an author is even tougher.

If I could go back and meet the bright-eyed me with the newly-minted diploma, these are seven things I would've told myself about becoming an author:

1. Your stuff sucks.
I know that you have several manuscripts of which you're very proud. Some even have a shiny "A" on them from your professors' grading pens. But sadly, they suck. Your characters are flat and your plot is boring. Not to mention, you still keep mixing up AP Style and Chicago Manual.
BUT…
They were still worth writing. They had their purpose in your mad and chaotic process, so don't be sorry for them. Just don't show them to anyone. Ever.

2. Some people are mean.
When you get your stuff out there, prepare for some haters. They don't know what you have gone through and what you've given up to learn your craft and work up the courage to bare a piece of yourself for the world to judge.
BUT…
There will be FAR more people on the other side of the fence—the ones who don't know you from Adam but found something magical in your work that you didn't even know was there. They are the ones who make this worth it.

3. Learn to cook, because you're going to be eating at home and bringing your lunch A LOT.
Books, going to conferences, computers, and art supplies are not cheap.
BUT…
You will still need to make the investment. You are not naturally talented and you can't afford to go back to school for an MFA, so you will need to learn and practice on your own if you want to grow.

4. People will look down on you for going on your own.
I still don't know why this is a thing, but some people still don't equate self-publishing authors to street artists or indie rock bands. I guess it's "braver" to do caricatures of tourists or play at bars with poorly wired sound systems.
BUT…
It's not. Caricatures and bars are great, and they don't make an artist a sell out. Like I mentioned in No. 2, the people who don't know what you've been through or why you decided to take your career into your own hands don't count. Ignore them and do what is best for you.

5. All the good ideas have already been done…and done again. 
Before The Hunger Games, there was Battle Royale. Before Harry Potter, there was A Wizard of Earthsea. Before Twilight, there was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And before vampires and dystops became cool YA books, they were already cool comics and manga decades earlier. There really is nothing new under the sun.
BUT…
Don't abandon the quest for a truly original idea, but also don't worry about a little outside influence from storytellers you admire. Just because there are no new stories doesn't mean there aren't new ways to tell them.

6. You're going to have some bad luck.
You know those writers who write their first book and an agent picks them up two days later and they have a publisher within a week? You're not one of them. Several agents and editors will request your work and ask for more…and then leave for a publisher that doesn't do your stuff or get out of publishing all together. Some will just forget you, despite having requested to read your work two years earlier. Not very professional.
BUT…
That's why there's self-publishing. They wouldn't have requested your work if there wasn't something to it. No one's ever going to fight for your stories like you are, so why not?

7. Don't stop.
Don't stop writing. Don't stop drawing. Don't stop learning. Don't stop growing. Not because you want to achieve anything or prove something, but because this brings you joy. 
BUT… 
If you start doing this for any other reason, quit right away.

new Seranfyll cover ebook 2 lores.jpg

(Ages 10+) Rain has never chosen her own name. Nor has she met a polite apple tree, been caught in a house’s security spell, or ridden a horse . . . winged or not. What she does know is that, after having been a slave for all thirteen years of her common life, she’s free and has nowhere to go. 

That all changes when she’s taken in by the peculiar Domrey Seranfyll, who was drunk when he purchased Rain’s freedom and doesn’t remember doing so. Some say he’s part devil and spent time overseas learning the dark arts—not the sorts of things one hopes for in a housemate. And the longer Rain keeps company with Lord Seranfyll, the more magic and mayhem she gets tangled into, all the while discovering that being free can be far more exciting, and dangerous, than she ever imagined. 

(~ 85,000 words or roughly equal to 330 print pages) 
Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre - Middle Grade Fantasy
Rating – PG
More details about the author
Connect with Christina Daley through Facebook & Twitter

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