I would, without a doubt, rewrite The Center (book 3 in the Building the Circle series.) I have seriously considered unpublishing it and overhauling it. At this point, enough people have read it, and read the series as it stands, that a rewrite would be confusing for my existing reader base.
Up until "The Center," I truly believed no one would read my books for years. I thought I'd build a giant backlist before I wrote anything interesting enough to attract others. That ended up being a bad assumption. There was some interest in "The Call" and more interest in "The Power." By the time "The Center" rolled around, people pre-ordered it and talked about how much they looked forward to 'Sam's book.'
At the point I released the book, I had been published for a little over two months and was just starting to get into the business aspects of being an independent author. As I connected with other authors, I began researching best practices for the romance genre. It turns out, my books were much longer than was typical or recommended. I talked with several editors. They all agreed - shorter books would better suit the romance reader.
So, I took the advice of the experts and trimmed roughly a third of the content from the book. I left all the content that pertained to the ongoing series and trimmed a lot of silly/connecting pieces. I had severe anxiety leading up to release day. I was not confident that limiting the word count was a great idea. The book didn't give me the warm, fuzzy feelings I had with books 1 and 2.
I will NEVER limit a story to a specific word count again. Book 3 may not be "bad," but it was not my best, and I cringe when I see the original file on my laptop.
When I was young, writing was the only career I imagined for myself. As I got older, the realities of trying to make a living off being a traditionally published author settled in and I backed away from the dream. I finished a finance degree before building a career that involves a lot of business and technical writing.
I was aware of self-publishing for years before I looked into it. I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited on the first day it became available and have been a constant subscriber since. (My husband and I are both readers.) I didn't consider actually writing a book until New Year's Day 2020. I found out Kindle Direct Publishing was free and did some digging. I started writing The Call three days later.
I have not told many people that I'm writing novels. My husband knows, of course. And, I've told my sister. Otherwise, I've kept it to myself- for now at least. I'm not ready to talk about it yet. My family has always supported my decisions. They remain proud of my success in life. But, I think they've always wondered why I didn't pursue writing. In one of the last conversations I had with my grandma, she asked me why I never followed through on my God-given talents. She would be ecstatic to see my books in print. I can't share them with her, so my books are published using part of her name in remembrance.
Oh, man. I try to avoid reading them as much as possible, but I'm addicted.
I spend a lot of time wallowing in angst when people rip the books apart. My logical, analytical brain knows that not everyone will like my books. My artistic, creative brain reads a negative review and chants "I suck at this," over and over. Before long, my husband gives me a pep talk and sends me back to my office to get back to it.
On the flip side, good reviews and contacts from readers will make my day. I can be having a crappy day, get a positive review, and then be glowing by the time I leave my office for the day. I have yelped with joy more than once while reading reviews on conference calls for my day job. It's awkward.
