I clearly remember the first lockdown that happened nearly three years ago. At the time, my
GCSE maths tutor explained optimistically that the lockdown was going to last for two
weeks. It ended up as we all know, lasting for over a year.
It was a surreal time; like a horror movie. Empty streets, and no cars could be seen
anywhere. Families couldn’t see each other and life became so hard. I hated every minute,
and I recall the clap for the NHS that happened on a weekly basis.
It was at this stage that I re-started to write. It began with a short article and slowly
progressed. I had so much free time, so I thought why not do something constructive and
fulfil my ambition of writing a book?
Thus started my foray into fantasy writing. I would write for four or five hours every day and
would be exhausted at night. I wrote and I wrote, yet I didn’t once run out of creativity. I
was inspired and did this for over a month until it was completed.
My first draft. I was so proud of it, but I knew it wasn’t perfect so initially I tried to self edit. I
failed. It was so hard to cut bits out and correct the grammar and punctuation. I read it over
and over but I just couldn’t edit. I left the manuscript for a few weeks and rested.
A while later I was again motivated to start on the second draft, but I was at a loss so I
decided to hire a good editor. I sent my manuscript to her and waited patiently for a month
to get my story developmentally edited. The editor was critical sometimes and impressed at
other times. There are different types of editors including: copy editors, line editors and
proof readers.
Two years passed and I still couldn’t finish my book. However, for the past few months I was
determined to complete the book, so I hired an illustrator to design my front cover. I also
had beta readers give me feedback and made relevant changes.
I also joined Amazon KDP – the world’s largest book store – and decided to self publish. I had
sent a few queries to publishers, but was rejected. The publishing process on KDP is
relatively simple if you know what you’re doing.
On 28 September 2022, I pressed the publish button on the finalised Ebook and paperback
version of my book. Finally, I was a published author!!
It didn’t come easy; I had to work so hard without any remuneration. I actually enjoyed
writing it, and learnt so much. From plot and dialogue to structure and descriptive writing. I
learned techniques such as ‘showing not telling’ and using dialogue to further the plot.
The day I held my book in my hands was one of my proudest.
