Writing a book is hard work. Very hard.Okay, it’s hardly putting in a shift down the pit or, like my father, working early mornings and late nights in the dust, grime and cacophony of a textile mill.
Mentally though, it rips it out of you.I lived the story of The Choreography of Ghosts and inhabited the character of Michael Morrison, for 11 years. I thought about him constantly, how he would speak, what he would do in the situations he found himself in. Why he was there in the first place.
As he became less like me I grew to really like him.
Sadly, the highs of a good idea, a well executed sentence, a pleasing chapter and a new twist in the tale are more than matched by the lows of deciding that the whole thing is just not that good, needs radically changing, re-ordering, a change of pace injecting, a touch more character, new jeopardy… basically, you need to go back to square one. And it’s a long and lonely walk back to square one.
That’s why writers do what they do though. They put their heart and soul into their work. Or at least they should do. It’s their job. Only for most it’s largely unpaid. Worse, you pay to do it - out of the money you earn from the day job.
Then, if you are among the three per cent of people who say they are going to write a book and actually do complete a novel, you are unlikely to get published so you do it yourself - or you get help, like I did.
Then comes the real struggle. You have to sell it. But who to? Yes, you have family and friends who will buy it and you pick up sales from building your tribe and pushing your book on social media.
It doesn’t feel right. You are a footballer selling tickets to your own match and apart from those who know you no-one’s really buying. Why would they take the risk when there’s a new Richard Osman on the shelves?
I’ve done okay, sold a few initially, had articles in newspapers, a great YouTube interview on fellow author Beth Jordan’s channel, and a really enjoyable book launch at the Cutlers’ Arms in Rotherham. I delivered a copy to a buyer’s house on Friday night.
What to do next? Libraries? Readings at book clubs? Speaking to social or community groups? I’m up for any of it, though in a way all this is harder than the actual writing because I’m not a salesman.
However,i know I have to do it. I want the book to sell. Recouping some of the outlay is nice, but really I would just like people to read it. Surely that’s the point. Otherwise you may as well be the artist ripping up a painting as soon as it is finished or a musician erasing a song, a composer a symphony; killing your creation to avoid the crushing disappointment of releasing it into a void.
Hard though. You don’t want to constantly bend people’s ears about it, bang on until they give in and hand over the money. Harder when you suffer the lack of confidence Beth and myself talked about in the interview that’s now available at Letschataboutyou2day.
People ask me if I am going to write another novel. I have plenty of ideas, but why would I?
Why? Because I loved doing it and, despite living with it for 11 years, I do love The Choreography of Ghosts and, if you have bought it, I hope you do too.
If you do, please give it a review - currently scoring 5/5!If you haven’t purchased a copy, well, it’s available online from Amazon and Waterstones, or by visiting The Maker’s Emporium in Rotherham or The Stripey Badger in Grassington.
It’s the price of a couple of drinks and, though it might not taste as nice, it will definitely last longer and hopefully continue to live on your bookshelf for others to pick up and read for years to come.