WRITER SEEKS SUPPORT TEAM
Have you collected several years-worth of Writer’s Digest magazines an
d multiple editions of the Writer’s Market? Have you gone to Writer’s Conferences, sat in the back row and collected every handout? Have you walked bookstore aisles searching for that one writing advice book that would motivate you to actually publish what you’ve written? These are, indeed, excellent resources and you’ll learn many things through listening to their articles and fact-finding pieces and reading each chapter. However, they are not the hands-on, personally invested assistants that we all need in our writing lives at various strategic moments. I’ve been told that the journey I’ve taken in my writing career is similar to that of many authors—even the famous ones. So it is that I hope the following examples of my personal experiences will encourage you to seek and accept help along your own writing path.
- Stories popped into my head ALL the time and I never found/took the time to write them down except for the occasional basic concept which I filed Then a neighbor mentioned that our local county library was hosting a writing workshop—and I signed up! The instructor was an experienced author whose encouraging manner led to the completion of my first published short story!
- That library workshop group of people grew in solidarity as we invested in each other during the next several 8-week sessions. Then times—and county library budget—changed and we learned that there would be no more workshops in the foreseeable future. SO—we established our own Writers-at-Work group and the instructor joined us as one of the working This group remains loosely connected today—after close to 45 years together! We will never stop mentoring each other!
- One particular short story caught my husband’s eye. It is a Christmas story titled DEPLOYED, and its storyline touched several of my author-friends as well. With his big nudge and support we printed 500 copies and donated the majority of them to encourage military units as they were deployed. Later, I published it on Amazon/Kindle, and am now developing it into a novel. This would not be happening if I’d never surrounded myself with my Personal Support Team.
- As I grew in writing skills and knowledge, and my supporters grew in their nudging skills, I became an Advance Writing teacher! What an amazing experience to work with high school students! Their imaginations inspired each other, I was inspired, too! Those are the years that I began setting aside notes for a different kind of book which eventually became FIREPROOF PROVERBS, A Writers Study of Words—self-published with Outskirts Press.
- When the teaching season of my life concluded, a new door opened, and I started working with beginning authors to edit, critique, and prepare their projects for publication—and that has been my writing life for the past ten years. With the publication of each author’s book I am again blessed beyond measure!
So there you have it—a personal example of one writer who has experienced the multiple benefits of supportive people throughout one writing career. I call this the TEAM EFFECT, similar to the concept of a ripple effect as each individual nudges you along and widens your horizons making your writing better!
About my decision to self-publish? I simply did not want to wait years to be accepted by a traditional publishing house as I queried and/or worked with an agent who would receive part of my royalty. Instead, I did my research into self-publishing companies, talked with other authors who have self-published, and then selected Outskirts Press. Their Author Consultant, Publishing Consultant, and Design Specialist were excellent additions to my Support Team. When the time comes, I’ll be publishing with them, again! ⚓︎
ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene has been writing something since before kindergarten days and continues to love the process. Through her small business—DOYLE WRITING SERVICES—she brings more than 40 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their projects. This is a nice fit as she develops these blogs for Outskirts Press (OP) a leading self-publisher, and occasionally accepts a ghostwriting project from one of their clients. Her recent book release (with OP) titled FIREPROOF PROVERBS, A Writer’s Study of Words, is already receiving excellent reviews including several professional writer’s endorsements given on the book’s back cover.
Royalene’s writing experience grew through a wide variety of positions from Office Manager and Administrative Assistant to Teacher of Literature and Advanced Writing courses and editor/writer for an International Christian ministry. Her willingness to listen to struggling authors, learn their goals and expectations and discern their writing voice has brought many manuscripts into the published books arena.
possibilities fills me with memories of the English/writing teachers in my life—the men and women who were passionate about grammar, sentence structure and the specific definitions of words. Many of my friends talk about the professors who became their tour guides into the worlds of American and English Literature, Shakespeare and Renaissance writings and the dramatic works of stage plays and poetry. For me, personally, I continued my education through writers’ conferences and local creative writing workshops. Without exception, each of the instructors fed me the knowledge they’d learned—and experienced—giving me the opportunity to absorb as much as I would or could at the time. I will forever be thankful for these counselors, advisors and mentors in my life.
IF you happen to be an author of a Holiday Season/Christmas book—for any age group or genre—this is an especially wonderful time of year for you. Novels such as A Bell for Christmas in Landria Onkka’s Miracle Series make excellent gifts for Readers who enjoy a good mystery that adds a Christmas Miracle. And, of course, an appreciation for poetry (a bestselling genre at Christmas) definitely increases right now. I’m considering this collection of inspirational poems—Celebrating Christmas by Inez M. Peetz—for my Aunt of 87 years who continues to be a voracious reader of all styles of poetry and loves reading to the children at her church. Each verse is beautifully illustrated and highlights the Christmas story as foretold by God’s prophets and angels.
Self Publishing Advisor 