First Novel Sale

I told myself to stop looking at my sales reports, and I will. It's too disillusioning. For my psychic health it's better to pretend that I'm actually selling books.

That said, I looked at it today, and surprise! Somebody actually bought The Apple. Why is that a surprise? Well, I uploaded it to Amazon in 2021. I barely remember it myself. I wrote three full-length novels in total before abandoning that format, and this is the very first time any of them has sold a single copy. I've seriously considered leaving them off my book listings on places like Goodreads, because I assume they must be awful. Really. I queried all three of them and garnered zero interest (which, knowing the state of literary agencies, is no surprise, but I took the scores of rejections to heart). After The Apple I swore off querying for good.

The difference between The Apple and my two other novels (and my novellas, for that matter) is that I began it with a vague plot in mind. The protagonist devised a white-collar crime scheme and became immensely successful at it. That was it. That was my "plot". Eventually a murder got woven in and some other stuff ~ I think her long-time boyfriend betrayed her ~ like I said, it's hard to remember. And frankly, writing that novel, even though I'd written two prior ones, was a slog. I did not enjoy it. I think my main objection was the predetermined word count. A good story needs to be tight, but it can't be tight if the author is stretching it simply to meet an agent's word count requirement. That was when I said, never again. Trust me, I will never write another novel. 

I was watching one of my favorite author's podcasts today and he was answering viewers' questions. One of them was, how do you come up with ideas? He responded, if you don't have ideas you are not a writer. Huh. Well, that must leave me out. I never have ideas, except for that one time with The Apple, and that idea was pretty unformed. Yet I can proudly point to New Kaitlyn, Shadow Song, and even Second Chance for stories that panned out in the end. Apparently there is more than one way to write a book.

I have started writing again ~ all I've got right now is about half a page. I've got the setting down and....well, that's all. I haven't even settled on my MC's name. Ehh. It's a start. It's been three months since my last book and I already feel rusty. But I know I have to dive in or else give up writing forever. 

Wish me a good idea!