32 Seconds by Johana K. Pitcairn book tour-Guest post

A.G.Moye http://booksbyagmoye.blogspot.com
 Guest post: First and foremost, thanks for the opportunity to be featured on your blog. Every indie author needs all the support they can get, and I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve received and am receiving.

 My today’s topic will be about writing: how to put words into a story, and how to fight the writer’s block. When I started writing, I had one idea in mind, and I followed it. I didn’t know how to plot, even less edit. I wrote everything that crossed my mind, and my story was a real stream of consciousness. There were lots of redundancies, and a bunch of back stories that had no purpose in the story besides giving you a ton of useless information about the characters. I wrote the first draft, and I circulated it among the Twitter community. Whoever wanted to read it got it for free, and gave me feedback in return. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had started to reach out to beta readers.
The reactions were positive, and the only criticism I got was: do more show, and less tell. That was lesson number one.
 Lesson number two came when I submitted the story to my then publisher. The comments were: the plot isn’t tight enough, and there’s too much back story going on. We need more action. Between lesson one and two, I had redrafted the story twice already. And I was far from being done. Lesson three came from my editor: don’t think the reader is stupid. Redundancies are unnecessary. Every chapter is supposed to teach the reader something new, and make the story move forward. Parts that are written just for the sake of adding words to the book should be eliminated.
Okay, where was I now? Draft number six? In my head, I looked at my work like a pie chart, with slices of every color, the ones that needed to stay, the ones that were being cut, the ones that needed to be rewritten. A real headache.
32 Seconds was born in 2012. Over the span of two years, I left my publisher and decided to do it on my own, and the story grew, and grew, until I was satisfied with it.
Obviously, I hit a few corners more than once. And yes, I’m not immune to the writer’s block, but I found ways around it. I don’t write if my mind isn’t ready. I tend to be ready pretty much all the time, but when I’m tired, or hungry, no way. Writing is a creative process, it requires focus and a relaxed environment. So a few words of advice to all aspiring authors, and writers who wish to improve their work: read, connect with other authors, brainstorm, get your work critiqued, get your work edited (professionally), write efficiently (maintain a discipline) and, last but not least, have fun! Writing is a very fulfilling passion, but it requires a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I hope you enjoy 32 Seconds!

Talk Back I'm listening. This post is part of a book blog tour sponsored by