Katy McDermott

Well, it finally happened. Even before I’d published Meeting Murder, I’d researched ways to market it. Book reviews would be a great place to start, I figured.

Then I found out that almost no reputable book reviewers would even look at self-published books (assuming, no doubt, that they’d be inundated by works from deluded would-be authors who couldn’t write their way out of the proverbial paper bag).

All of them were like that – except for one. Midwest Book Review.

Of course, since they are known as the only reputable reviewing organization that will look at self-published books, they get them in droves. Over 2,300 a month, with just 76 reviewers on staff.

The odds of getting a review from them were slim, and although I sent in my book 4 months ago, I tried not to get my hopes up.

Imagine my surprise – and delight! – when I recently checked my book’s listing on Amazon.com, and saw that Midwest Book Review had indeed reviewed my book, terming it “a rollicking good time” and giving it 5 stars!

Here’s a link to the review, if you’re interested: http://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Murder-Katy-Mcdermott/dp/0741449528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235337418&sr=1-1 (just scroll down a bit, and you’ll see it)

Hmm. Perhaps I’m not that deluded after all…

Last week was a crisis-of-confidence sort of week for me. I finished writing the fourth chapter of my new book, transferred the scene synopses to my trusty whiteboard, looked at all the empty space I still had to fill – and basically freaked out.

Oh, I know where my story needs to go. I know who gets killed (in fact, that’s already happened) and why. I know the murderer, suspects, clues, and red herrings. The problem is simple: I’m not sure how to structure the rest of the book.

I checked out the website of a successful author I very much admire, and he talked about writing minutely detailed outlines (like 40- to 50-page outlines!) before he even started a first draft. A colleague had recently offered me the same advice. So I tried it. And it worked… a bit. I did a really detailed outline for the next chapter, plus looser outlines for the two chapters after that. It certainly helped me break up the logjam.

But after a few days, I just wanted to write.

Now, I’ve decided on a back-and-forth strategy. I’ll continue to write my manuscript, and when I reach the “oh man, what now?” point, I’ll outline every scene for the next few chapters. A weird way to work, but I’m going to try it. (Such a learning process this is…)

Hopefully, it’ll at least get me through my next crisis of confidence!

You’d think I’d know it by this point. Writing is hard.

The research was fun. The character profiles were illuminating. Even the sketchy plot outline proved to be helpful. But when it comes down to actual writing, which I do most nights, it’s not easy at all.

I worry that I’m rushing, trying too hard to meet the writing schedule I set. When I get home from work, I just want to relax, but I tell myself I need to write – even one page is better than nothing, and gets me closer to my goal.

It would be one thing if I were writing literary fiction – but I’m not. I’m no Hemingway or Tolstoy or Styron or even King. I’m just trying to write an entertaining mystery, the type of book with a clearly defined form, a specific set of rules.

Honestly, you’d think it would be easier than this.

But I am on page 75.

I’ll revise and rewrite, of course, but I guess that’s something. One-quarter of the way there…

(Oh, and by the way, for anyone who follows this blog regularly, I did write that sex scene. Cue the windchimes!)