I am happy to tell you all about my writing update! Wait, did you not know this was about my writing? Oh, well it is so lets get into. I want to start off by saying that this is going to cover a total of three things: my short stories, my poetry and a note about publishing. With that said lets get right into the content of this blog and start with the most exciting news.
Perennial Update
I’ve mentioned ‘Perennial’ before but if you’re new to any of my socials it’s the name of my second collection of poetry. You can read about it here and check it out in my Work in Progress section to get caught up. We’ll be patiently waiting for your return!
Moving on, I know I’ve made a lot of promises about when this collection would drop. Went from January to February and now we’ve entered March, but don’t worry! I’ve officially self-published that much anticipated poetry volume all about love. It’ll be available for purchase starting March 15th and I’ll also be spotlighting it on my main website page: make sure to check out the pink squares that line the right side of my website. It’ll be added to my Published Work page as well!
Perennial has 115 poems total, including the one for the summary (noted above) and 16 illustrations including the cover. The book will be smaller than my first collection at 5in x 8in but larger with 142 pages! I just wanted a lengthier and more complex poetry volume than my first and I believe I accomplished it!
My Short Story Progress
So, like I stated earlier we started with the more exciting news. While I have been working on my collection of short horror stories, they haven’t been my priority. I’ve mainly been focused on getting Perennial ready for publication, but I’ve made more progress then when I talked about them last.
Mostly when it comes to my ‘What it means to be human’ themed stories I’ve been working on character development, creature creation and plot elements. I want all my characters to seem complex and unique in their humanity – I mean that’s the point of this collection right? I’ve mostly been working on Residual and Sign as these two involve disabilities I’m currently researching so the writing comes easier. If you want to take a look at the progress I’ve made for these you can check them out in their own designated Ko-fi Album.
Speaking of short stories, lets talk about the plans I have for vampire cactus. Oral Tradition is what I ended up naming this particular short story and it focuses on the dangers of the unknown. It also focuses on the importance of paying attention to oral history. You can find a few excerpts of this story on my Ko-fi which has already been linked up above or via my Instagram (can be accessed via homepage). I’m thinking of revamping this story a little – it’s already pretty polished but I just feel like it’s missing something or could be longer. I plan to play around with that and possibly give more updates about it in the future. Its been through three solid editing phases and I haven’t touched it since the beginning of February. I want to approach it with fresh eyes and new ideas.
Lastly: A short note on publishing
I just wanted to make a quick aside on the side to side experiences of publishing. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to talk about my experiences as a self-published author and published through an actual publishing company. There are three big points I wanted to bring up:
- Self-publishing is by far the cheaper option. To put this into perspective self-publishing my second book cost me about $220. Publishing through a company cost me $3,745 and I had to set up a payment plan. Self publishing can be stressful if you aren’t great at editing your own work or need design help though so keep that in mind.
- If you want a less hands on approach with your publication process then a publishing company will be a better fit. The process is laid out for you and gone through step by step with an entire team so you don’t have to worry about the nitty gritty. (Con it’s expensive!!)
- Publishing takes time and dedication. No matter which direction you go, its a nerve-wracking process that doesn’t yield much income (if any) at first. Its an investment and not a get rich quick route. This is important to remember!!!
That’s all I want to say on publishing right now. I’ll be writing a lengthier blog about that either on this website or my Ko-Fi. Thank you for reading this far and I hope you found some information exciting and helpful!
