The Miller Files
SMOKE, MIRRORS, and MANUSCRIPTS
I became more serious about writing about ten years ago. I tried an online vanity press as an experiment, then a local publisher that turned into one. Then I met the Blue Forge Press volunteers. They liked my writing and came up with some kickass cover art. Soon, sales picked up, and I wrote stories for the Blue Forge anthologies that they published periodically. Things have looked up ever since.
At the same time, I was introduced to a facet of writing I had never considered. You see, as people buy your books and tell you how much they like them, you suddenly have this nagging, buzzing in the back of your mind.
Am I really an author, a writer? Or am I a delusional fake with substandard skills? After all, I am not James Patterson with lots of books in airport stores. So people say they like my writing. Is it all smoke and mirrors?
I started reading a lot of the works I like, by both new and old authors. I really paid attention to how they wrote, especially based on the styles of their times. I had an English teacher in the 60s who kept my essays as examples of various formats and types. He liked my style, so I at least had that in my corner. As I delved deeper into this craft I have chosen, I discovered something.
Doubt does not mean you are a bad writer. Just the opposite: self-doubt can make you a better writer as you strive to improve. Having trained editors to improve your work also helps. Let me emphasize the “trained” aspect. An English major is not a trained editor. Neither are the people on websites and critique groups. Thus, you take feedback from those sources with a grain of salt.
There is no one way to write. “Show, don’t tell” is a catchall phrase that does not mean that front-loaded stories with explosions, etc., are the only way to write. Dune did a lot of telling and sold millions. Sometimes it is the right story, at the right time and place, that gets you noticed—and now, with the Web, marketing.
Thus, I use self-doubt to improve my writing. I read authors with more eclectic styles and see if they can fit my stories. Most importantly, I do not allow doubt to stop me from writing. Thus, maybe, like Poe, I will become more famous after I buy the farm. It matters little at my age. And I have a publisher who will keep my works in print well after I am gone.
Watch for my next book. It will be a doozy.