OCD Kicking in as my book Lost2bFound is published

 

The front cover of my book Lost2bFound

On Wednesday  I received an email from David over at PublishNation to inform me of the pricing for the hardcover edition of my book. David also attached a file of the finished draft.

On Thursday with nothing better to do and as I was feeling a bit ropey with this ulcerative colitis I decided to read through the final draft. Imagine my horror when within the first couple of chapters I discovered errors.

Immediately my OCD kicked in and I began getting proper stressed. What I did next was real stupid and I am still berating myself. I read all the way through my book to try and spot more errors, in which there were a few, however I didn't bloody write down where they were, what a complete tit. You see I have lost count of the number of times I have gone over my work. I think a lot of what has made things incorrect is trying to use two different computers with different operating systems, these being my Apple Mac and my dads Windows PC. 

On Friday after a restless night I decided to contact David and inform him of my mistakes. I also checked the e-book and paperback editions of my draft, and sure enough there were errors in the same places. This is a major problem as those two editions have now gone out for publication. To correct them is an additional £75 per edition, as they need to be re-published.

The errors are not huge, the thing is I know they are there. I dare say even when I correct the errors there will still be a few in there that people will spot. I have leant that writing without making the odd mistake in either punctuation or in grammar is very difficult. I couldn't afford to get a professional proofreader, I mean it would have cost me thousands.
  

Lost2bFound inside cover

 

So, what to do? Well, I went over the draft all day yesterday trying to spot errors and remember some from my previous days reading of my book. MY dad who is a legend helped me, as he could see I was having somewhat of a meltdown. One positive thing I can say is that when my dad was reading he was having the odd chuckle, so I thought "Hey I must have got some parts right, as it's making my dear old dad laugh to himself". Hopefully this is the case for other readers.

As I read through I became aware at some point  in my writing I must have tapped the "s" key on my keyboard instead of the "a", so there was a kind of incorrect and spare "s" floating around in my text. OMG! both my dad and myself were on almost all day yesterday trying to discover this mislaid "s". We eventually discovered it on page 38, chapter 4. My dad using a search believe it or not for every "s" contained within my book, just imagine how many there were in a book of over 80,000 words.

So where I am at now. Well, I can either leave the books as they are and hope anyone who purchases a copy understands this is a self-published book. As such it has been completed by a complete amateur author, and hopefully cut me some slack. Or I can pay the £150 and have the books re-published, bearing in mind I dare say there will still be some minor errors in various areas, which won't impact on the story.

It's 03:20 am and I can't sleep. I'm thinking of writing a book!

Man it's 3:20 am and I just can't get to sleep. I have been lying on the couch all night, my stomach all upset and cramped up, andit feels like its on fire. I am down to 4 prednisolone tablets per day, having reduced them from 8 per day, they are for this newly diagnosed ulcerative colitis. I think the medication creates cortisol, so I haven't been sleeping well for over a month now.

I have always struggled to switch off,  nothing to do with medication. My mind is constantly whirring around, analysing this or debating that. Sometimes it can be very useful and help me problem solve, and then other times it can be a real curse, as I try to tell my mind "It's time for bed now".

writing an e-book

Over the years quite a few people have said things to me like " I think you should write a book" or on occasion "Have you ever thought about having a go at motivational speaking". I never really gave it that much thought, just thinking they were being polite when they had heard some of the experiences I had been through. Then lately I gave the book thing a bit more thought. As for the motivational speaking I am not sure. I mean I guess if I was talking about certain stuff that I had experienced, it's then how to get it out, and inspire, the whole purpose of motivational speaking is in the title "Motivation".

Getting back to the book thing, it will be a fictional book, not an autobiography, more of a true story or a memoir, I think they call it. I have been hard at work writing, well typing, I mean it is 2024 and feathered quills are not in vogue. So far I am up to just over 29,000 words. It is a very rough edit, with lots of grammar and spelling mistakes. It recounts part of my journey from taking ill at 27 with a giant cell tumour in my right leg, up until present day. The story is pretty full on, as I have been very honest and not held anything back. There are a lot of dark times mentioned and I try to explain my mindset during these periods, there are also happy times, funny times and a few stories about when I was growing up. I have included very personal things and shared some of my poems and songs, which some people I am sure will think are a load of bollocks, but hey, they are my words and thoughts, special to me so I am not too concerned.

I am by no means a professional writer, or poet, this is just something I would like to try, I guess for myself as much as anything.

The difficult parts:

There are a lot of things to consider when writing a book, for starters it is incredibly difficult writing a true story, and those people involved in that story not being named. If  I do include peoples names I have to then approach them, and get written consent.  I have met that many people over the years, it would take me forever to contact everyone and get consent. So I have attempted to write in such a way that not many people are named. Its a real shame as I would like to thank each one for their support and by naming them. There is nothing I have written that is defamatory in my opinion, a few funny instances I have recounted, that is about it.

Next is finding someone to proof read my work. I'm thinking this could be quite expensive and I write in a slightly unusual way, so don't really want my book changed and lose the essence of myself, if that makes sense. I tend to swear a lot, it is an emotive response, and I use a fair bit of Geordie or Durham'ite dialect, its where I come from and I am proud to have a pit village accent and I think it adds to the authentic nature of my story.

 

Writing a book and putting it online

Next on the agenda after doing some research is where to place the book. Amazon KDP, looks like the easiest way to start. I think I can use a company called Draft2Digital to format the e-book and then upload it to Amazon. The thing from what I have read here is not to go for Amazons Free ISBN number. The ISBN is used to identify books, however if I use Amazons free ISBN I am then tied in to only selling the book on Amazon. So I have looked into how to get my own ISBN and think it costs £93 per book. So it would be £93 for an e-book, then £93 for a paperback and again £93 for a hardback. Mind you the paperback and hardback versions are just wishful thinking I mean I may not sell a single copy, but that is the good thing about "Print on demand", I don't have to go out and buy lets say 1000 books and then have them stored at home gathering dust as no one is interested, and I don't have to package them and ship them off. Amazon or any of the other print on demand companies take a percentage of the sales and do everything.

And so that is where I am at. Hopefully if I do get to release my own book, it would get a good reception, not be considered too depressing and who knows inspire, even one person, or help someone to understand they are not alone. Thinking big, it might make me a shed load of money so I can follow my dream and get that house up in Scotland LoL