I freely admit that I love to talk and to write. I seek to write for the sake of entertainment. I have no illusions of becoming a Pulitzer or any other award winning author. I have many strengths, but being a brilliant writer is not one of them. I am a conceptual writer. I visualize a concept and then I develop the story around the concept. As I develop plot and character my mind races ahead creating poor sentences that must be edited. My mind moves faster than my fingers. Now my sister is working towards a Masters degree in creative writing. I do not belittle anyone who wants to seek the highest level of education in any subject matter. However, I also do not believe in belittling those that want to entertain others by writing, by others with credentials. I am a CPA and Registered Investment Advisor, yet most Americans manage their own affairs with less than spectacular results. I do not belittle them for failing to adhere to my professional education and experience. You take the risk so that you also reap the rewards, as do I when I write as an independent.
I read quite often others assessments of independent authors. Many of these are by people who have not written a single book, but are employed by those in the publishing industry. I have read books that glow with their reviews. They may be 100% grammatically perfect. Yet the story was so lackluster, I never made it to the end. We have become a society that places too much perfection on the arts of entertainment. Where scientific precision is required, perfection is a must. But writing a story or making a movie, imperfection is tolerable. The consumer decides the losers.
When I developed a focus group and received the feedback, one thing stood out for me. The majority of readers do not notice the majority of the imperfections. They read so quickly that only major points are being absorbed. They also fail to see the deep underlying concepts of the story. This doesn’t offend me; it only brings to the forefront the reality of the reading public. Many stories I have read failed to connect with me, while others loved them. What the author did was to connect and entertain.
The point of this post is simple, if you are an author or want to be an author, write for your own entertainment’s sake. Then share your story with those you feel you can get a truthful review from. Don’t guard your emotions and shrink to a dark corner. You are imperfect! A review by a reader is learning experience, the attainment of knowledge that assists in your efforts to strive near the point of perfection. If you write for the mere sake of mechanical perfection, you may soon lose the passion for writing.
