So. I finished writing my book.

[Jacco]

I've been working on it for 10 years. I finally finished writing it. The whole time I always looked forward to finishing it and I imagined I would feel so accomplished and everyone around me who's listened to me obsess about it for 10 years would be like "thank god!" and we'd all go out to Red Lobster or some shit and celebrate.

Nope. I feel accomplished and proud of myself. But it's more of a "sweet. I just did that" kind of feeling instead of a "YES OMFGWTFLOLBBQ IM DONE" kind of thing.

So now I guess I start doing research on how to shop it around and get an agent. Huh.

For dicsussion value, have you ever accomplished something you were highly looking forward to and then it was underwhelming? What was it?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yep, I wrote a book, got it published when I was 16 and moved on some weeks later. Nowadays I go months at a time without even thinking about it. It had very little impact in my life, beyond a couple of presentations, some radio talk an one signing. It's all self-promoting, doesn't mean anything. The one thing that stuck with me was the warm feeling of knowing I "got it over with" for what it's worth. And I gained the one fan, with whom I've been mailing back and forth for the past five years. I think that's my own private celebration.

 

[Jacco]

Yep, I wrote a book, got it published when I was 16 and moved on some weeks later. Nowadays I go months at a time without even thinking about it. It had very little impact in my life, beyond a couple of presentations, some radio talk an one signing. It's all self-promoting, doesn't mean anything. The one thing that stuck with me was the warm feeling of knowing I "got it over with" for what it's worth. And I gained the one fan, with whom I've been mailing back and forth for the past five years. I think that's my own private celebration.

Damn! 16? You must've been quite the prodigy. I'm impressed.

 

[Glass Joe]

You could publish it on Amazon as an E-book. I've heard E-books sell pretty well even without a whole lot of promotion, just because people want stuff to read on their ipads. Not saying that's what you should do, just a thought. It's cool you wrote a book. Way to not be super lazy.

 

[Dalisclock]

congrats. I know how hard it is. I recently did the same thing, after 3 years of writing, though I'm still not done with it. Mostly because I have several other people reading it and giving me feedback(which is going to take a while) and I still need to fix thing and add detail and research. So I'm not going to be looking for an agent for a good 6 months or so, when I'm finally done with it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yep, I wrote a book, got it published when I was 16 and moved on some weeks later. Nowadays I go months at a time without even thinking about it. It had very little impact in my life, beyond a couple of presentations, some radio talk an one signing. It's all self-promoting, doesn't mean anything. The one thing that stuck with me was the warm feeling of knowing I "got it over with" for what it's worth. And I gained the one fan, with whom I've been mailing back and forth for the past five years. I think that's my own private celebration.

Damn! 16? You must've been quite the prodigy. I'm impressed.

Thank you, but I don't like the book myself and I'm always discouraging people from reading it.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Snippity

I too am writing a book, started a bit before graduating high school, about 26,000 words in (about as long as Old Man and the Sea). Was looking for someone to read what I had, finally got a buddy of mine to check it out and he loves what I have so far, at that point I sort of stopped caring, I think all I really wanted was someone to say "Hey, you're pretty good at this," before he read it I spent hours upon hours doing research and looking at maps, plotting routes, and just days on end thinking about what to write next, then I got one ounce of validation and sort of dropped it.

I do plan on finishing someday, but that will be down the road a ways, I'm now about half way through my freshman year of college so I just haven't got the time.

Any tips you might share? I've got a lot of outlines for several projects I've started but I'm terrible with actually filling in the story. You've been doing this about 9 more years than I have so I imagine you've picked up a trick or two.

 

[Tanakh]

Gratz!

Also, I find everything that i accomplish underwhelming... a psychological issue.

 

[bigwon]

Losing my virginity.....although it probably had something to do with it involving a prostitute.

sorry just had to be a poop head.

Otherwise it's mainly just stuff having to do with my artsy stuff. General folks and musical peers complimenting me and whatnot but generally nobody likes to be that guy/gal who points out the shit in someone's cornflakes.

 

[Karma168]

As Glass Joe said you could look at Amazon for self publishing; put it up for a couple of dollars (even free if you're more fussed about getting followers than an income) and if it's any good it should do quite well as people like the kindle for how cheap some books are. If you go that route maybe stick a link in a thread (if that's not frowned on by the mods) and you might get some customers from here.

Just some advice, if you do go down that route make sure you have a demo chapter or catchy blurb. Self published books are notoriously hit or miss so people are wary about buying if they can't get a read on the quality.

Just out of curiosity what type of book is it?

 

[scarfacetehstag]

I walked across Spain, the way of st.James and expected that great feeling of accomplishment to hit me in waves after twenty-six days of non-stop walking. I didn't feel anything different when I finally got where I was going, the only time I felt anything was when I got home and looked at my feet. The only mark of my pain and hardship the scars on my feet, not the best thing to feel.

The sense of self-accomplishment is something not felt by everyone, but it ahsn't really stopped me from doing stuff like that.

 

[Korten12]

Gratz! I too myself am writing a Novel. I have many unfinished stories and decided that I actually wanted to try and publish this one. I think it would be cool, even if the money is low, the experience of getting my own creation published is too much to give up.

Also like Karma168 asked, What type of book is it? What genre, can you give a quick synopsis?

 

[Tiger King]

well done on your accomplishment!
you should promote yourself a bit on here, I'm sure a few of us would love to read your book.

I've always enjoyed stories, either through reading, games or word of mouth.
my English skills are kind of poor so to get better I'm working on a collection of short stories.
(tried doing the epic novel thing but I kept losing intrest in the characters and hitting brick walls)
I finished one yesterday and feel happy because the idea for the plot got me excited.
I plan to get this collection down and do some illustrations for it, my dream is to put on kindle for free and watch the hate comments roll in.
ha ha no it would be nice if I made a few people happy, if not through my stories then maybe my drawing skills (which I am much better at)

On topic I have to say I've always had a sense of accomplishment when finishing a project. (especially as nowadays it's so easy to quit or get all negative)
the one thing that was a let down I remember is when I finished my engineering apprenticeship at college.
on one hand I felt relief but on the other I was weighed down with disappointment.
I had had to fight all the way along the course because the teachers kept messing things up, I'm still left scratching my head and thinking "all I wanted to do was learn how to do something!"

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Congrats on your book dude.

I think I don't really feel particularly good about accomplishing anything. Often when I do something its more of a 'Thank GOD that's over with!' rather than an 'I AM THE GREATEST!' kind of feel.
I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though, not being wholly content with whatever I accomplish is probably what has led to me moving on to try something else on multiple occasions.

On topic I have to say I've always had a sense of accomplishment when finishing a project. (especially as nowadays it's so easy to quit or get all negative)
the one thing that was a let down I remember is when I finished my engineering apprenticeship at college.
on one hand I felt relief but on the other I was weighed down with disappointment.
I had had to fight all the way along the course because the teachers kept messing things up, I'm still left scratching my head and thinking "all I wanted to do was learn how to do something!"

Education can be a ***** like that, when your going through some course or subject that you're not really getting anything out of just so you can finish it and be done.

 

[Tiger King]

Congrats on your book dude.

I think I don't really feel particularly good about accomplishing anything. Often when I do something its more of a 'Thank GOD that's over with!' rather than an 'I AM THE GREATEST!' kind of feel.
I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though, not being wholly content with whatever I accomplish is probably what has led to me moving on to try something else on multiple occasions.

On topic I have to say I've always had a sense of accomplishment when finishing a project. (especially as nowadays it's so easy to quit or get all negative)
the one thing that was a let down I remember is when I finished my engineering apprenticeship at college.
on one hand I felt relief but on the other I was weighed down with disappointment.
I had had to fight all the way along the course because the teachers kept messing things up, I'm still left scratching my head and thinking "all I wanted to do was learn how to do something!"

Education can be a ***** like that, when your going through some course or subject that you're not really getting anything out of just so you can finish it and be done.

indeed, I did learn some good stuff while at college but the course went far too slow and I didn't like being treated as a teenager just out of school (I'm 27)
Also you really had to harass the teachers to get things rolling.

Either way the lesson learned was to not give up!

 

[Guffe]

Yeah congratz!!

Accomplishments I've eagerly waited for and done, I have 2!

number one:
My lifelong dream to get into the Police College, which I did about 9 months ago, felt awesome!

number two:
After turning 18 going to Anfield and watch my team play live, was so freaking sweet!
Been once every year since then

 

[Something Amyss]

So now I guess I start doing research on how to shop it around and get an agent. Huh.

Have you proofed and edited it? Have other people looked it over?

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you might want to consider these things before looking for a literary agent if you haven't done so already.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

I walked across Spain, the way of st.James

I've also done that, started out in La Rochelle, France, so about 1100 miles in total. I'm not religious, I did it for other reasons, so I wasn't expecting any sort self accomplishment out of doing what pilgrims have done. For me it was more about the journey, the people I met along the way, the parties we had, the experience. Not to mention the Tapas and red wine


OT: I played a popular MMO for many years and was the first of my class to reach maximum level (took about 2 1/2 years.) When I got there my feeling was pretty much "meh" Though (as my point above says) I look back on all the people I met in-game, all the funny moments and good times I had. They're the true accomplishments really.

 

[Jacco]

You could publish it on Amazon as an E-book. I've heard E-books sell pretty well even without a whole lot of promotion, just because people want stuff to read on their ipads. Not saying that's what you should do, just a thought. It's cool you wrote a book. Way to not be super lazy.

I may do that eventually. But putting it on Amazon takes first publishing rights away from the publisher and they like to.. ahem... take the virginity of a new book when they can. So I'm gonna try to get it published traditionally first and if that doesn't pan out I'll probably put it on Amazon and B&N and stuff just so its out there.

congrats. I know how hard it is. I recently did the same thing, after 3 years of writing, though I'm still not done with it. Mostly because I have several other people reading it and giving me feedback(which is going to take a while) and I still need to fix thing and add detail and research. So I'm not going to be looking for an agent for a good 6 months or so, when I'm finally done with it.

Truth? It'll probably be longer than that if you haven't even finished writing yet. The editing process takes a LONG time to do right. Also, it's always better to have people who don't know you read your work because people who do will always be biased, even if they try not to be. It's just a sad fact of being a writer. =/
If you like, I will read your work and offer critique. I'm always down to help fellow writers out like that. =]

Any tips you might share? I've got a lot of outlines for several projects I've started but I'm terrible with actually filling in the story. You've been doing this about 9 more years than I have so I imagine you've picked up a trick or two.

26,000 is a damn good start. Mine clocks in at 107,000 for the whole thing and that is a bit longer than publishers generally like to see but whatever. If they're gonna be assholes over 7,000 words fuck em.
As for tips, I'd just say keep working. Find things to get you re-excited about it. My thing was to make myself a little Wikipedia kind of website using Google Sites for my universe to keep track of details and stuff. Writing all the articles for it and finding pictures that approximated what I was seeing in my head was a lot of fun and very motivating. I found actors that closely resembled the way I saw my characters and it was encouraging to see what it might look like as a live action movie.
It also helped me to write the scenes I was excited about first and then go back and piece them together. By the time you get to that point, you've put so much work into it it seems like a waste to quit. Or at least it did for me.
Email me if more specific details and I'll brainstorm with you. =]

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Any tips you might share? I've got a lot of outlines for several projects I've started but I'm terrible with actually filling in the story. You've been doing this about 9 more years than I have so I imagine you've picked up a trick or two.

26,000 is a damn good start. Mine clocks in at 107,000 for the whole thing and that is a bit longer than publishers generally like to see but whatever. If they're gonna be assholes over 7,000 words fuck em.
As for tips, I'd just say keep working. Find things to get you re-excited about it. My thing was to make myself a little Wikipedia kind of website using Google Sites for my universe to keep track of details and stuff. Writing all the articles for it and finding pictures that approximated what I was seeing in my head was a lot of fun and very motivating. I found actors that closely resembled the way I saw my characters and it was encouraging to see what it might look like as a live action movie.
It also helped me to write the scenes I was excited about first and then go back and piece them together. By the time you get to that point, you've put so much work into it it seems like a waste to quit. Or at least it did for me.
Email me if more specific details and I'll brainstorm with you. =]

Thanks, that all seems pretty sound. Officially finished my freshman year of college today, really looking forward to writing this summer, and while I'm usually apprehensive about sharing my work I think I may take you up on offer.

I'd like to take a look at your book if you wouldn't mind sharing with internet strangers. Thanks for being righteous.

EDIT: Finished half of my freshman year. My bad.