I have to push past all my fears and doubts, which I think hold a lot of aspiring writers back from their dreams of getting published.
Well, I want to get published!
I have a massive Fantasy world that I started creating when I was 14. I worked on it for a few years at a time. There were times, of course where I stopped working on it, there were some significant upsets in my life. So I wrote during my teens, then again in my early 20's and in my late 20's and in my early 30's. I am now at the end of my 30's and it is starting to feel like failure!
Before I slip gently into the night, those dreaded words and thoughts in my head of "I am too old now to make a difference." I say pish to that!
I have been delving into the subject of motivation, procrastination, mindset, perception and all of that good brain-witchery to understand why it is that I think and feel a certain way and let's be honest - all of us do.
You are going to need to tolerate my focus on this topic as I will be immersing myself into this knowledge and mind frame to maintain my own motivation. But, for the good of the community of writers on Scholar and Scribe and all of Hive, I reckon that the discussion of the topic of motivation will help others too.
I do not intend to post about that topic here on Scholar and Scribe all the time. THIS particular post has more to do with writing and story building... which I will discuss soon, below.
But I wanted to highlight the brain-wizardry. Understanding the mechanics of your consciousness and fine-tuning it is as much part of becoming a successful writer as an athlete who goes to the physiotherapist, doctor and gym. They might be a javelin thrower, runner, jumper, horse rider, rock climber, heck even a race car driver. They all need to spend some time doing maintenance on the body and strengthen and increase endurance.
Writing is the same and like the above list contains different sports then the focus on maintaining the brain, the cognitive skills, creativity, motivation, et al - so will these benefits be shared by a variety of persons who need the same treatment. So Writers, editors, artists, animators, musicians and so much more.
Meanwhile, let me get back to this thing of writing, publishing and timing.
Many of the greats only published their first books when they were older:
- J.R.R Tolkien published his first major title, The Hobbit at the age of 45.
- George RR Martin sold a short story published when he was 21, but his breakout series Song of Ice and Fire's first book was published when he was 48. It took another 15 years for Game of Thrones TV series to really push Martin up to another level of fame. He was 63 by then.
- David Eddings published Pawn of Prophecy at the age of 40.
- Steven Erikson published Gardens of the Moon at the age of 49
- Robert Jordan started publishing stuff at 31 but only published the first book of the Wheel of Tine, Eye of the World at the age of 41.
The list goes on and these are my greatest influences!
All in their 40s and up when they published their main works of writing.
I too have written other stories and published them bravely here on Hive. So that is the same as that "first taste" of letting the world see your writing work. For everyone here on Hive that writes and posts your work on Hive - it is a noteworthy step! Well done!
So... What have I got?
What does Zak Ludick have to publish?
I have a massive collection of series and stand alone novels either written or planned. A world that has something like 400,000+ words of publishable content but with another 400-600,000 words of worldbuilding built into it with a potential for so much more!
I have left it alone for a while again, due to some of those life upsets that stopped the creative juices and stopped my world building further.
So... the plan is now to start writing and publishing in earnest. I will need some time to re-immerse myself into World of Kedra once more.
But I also have other work that CAN be published: Maledictus Terra which I co-author with @lex-zaiya!
I have looked into it and there are many successful authors that have managed the blog-to-book transition with their content and stories. This includes Fiction Authors.
So this will be the first port of call. Lex and I are busy writing and publishing Book 3 on Hive in parts.
But Book 1 and 2 of the series are written and now need to be turned into novels.
Things will change and there will likely be much more content, scenes and world building added on to this book. So... that is the plan! Let me get cracking!
I am also not going at it alone, besides doing Maledictus Terra with @Lex-zaiya, I will have @clairemobey on my side to help me with marketing and administration!
But I need YOUR help too! With motivation, with comradery, with community!
Keep your eyes peeled!
More about this is coming.
Cheers!
@zakludick
