{"id":156,"date":"2014-05-03T09:27:17","date_gmt":"2014-05-03T13:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/?p=156"},"modified":"2014-06-12T10:49:23","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T14:49:23","slug":"im-an-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/im-an-author\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m an… Author?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while, when I have time to stop and just think, I start\u00a0running around in circles in my head making an eeeeeeeee<\/em> sound.<\/p>\n

I'm an author.<\/p>\n

I am. I really am. People refer to me as such every day. My name is up on sites where the word \"author\" shows up, if not right next to it, somewhere in the vicinity. I'm still processing that, because to be an author, you must first become a writer, don't you?<\/p>\n

Just\u00a0last summer\u00a0I was neither.<\/p>\n

I've been\u00a0telling people that before the end of June 2013, I hadn't written a lick of fiction, but that's not entirely<\/em> true... In the summer of 2002, I sat down and wrote two chapters of something that was going to become a first-person novel about an empathic serial killer. I spent about a week on it, and then I moved on. I don't even know if it still exists somewhere on an old backup. If it does, I would love to find it. (If I do, I'll post it unedited\u00a0here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Oh and then there was that sixty-page handwritten Lost Boys<\/em>-based fic that starred my brother and me. I was fourteen, and that movie just rocked my world. After school,\u00a0we would sit on my bed so I could read out what I'd managed to\u00a0write during class that day. The story was\u00a0all about\u00a0how we would live in a converted barn outside of Santa Carla where the ground floor was a garage so we could refurbish old cars.... while being vampires. Sounds sweet, right?<\/p>\n

As an adult, I knew my writing was good, at least for lengthy\u00a0university history papers on Romanesque architecture or performance art of the sixties and seventies. So good, in fact, that I was spared the ignominy of writing final exams.<\/p>\n

However, tangents aside, it had never occurred to me before to become an author (well, maybe I'd thought of it...\u00a0who doesn't<\/em> want to write a\u00a0memoir?).<\/p>\n

Last year, inspired by something I was watching, I sat down and wrote, over the course of a few weeks, a 50k word story. People loved it. I then set my sights a little higher and wrote something longer that I could conceivably publish as a novel if people also loved it.<\/p>\n

And they did.<\/p>\n

So I decided to go ahead and send Caged<\/em><\/a>\u00a0out into the world.<\/p>\n

First, I contacted my author friends for some advice on getting my book to a publisher. They gave me a list of do's and don'ts and wished me well.<\/p>\n

Finding a publisher was not as simple as I'd thought. Caged<\/em> is a little dark and twisted. There's BDSM that, as one reviewer points out, borders on abuse, and it touches on a few taboos. Also,\u00a0some publishers wouldn't have liked the fact that at least two of my main\u00a0characters aren't really choosy about the sex of their partners - they're ah... \"free-agents\" like me. \u00a0After reading a few of the submission guidelines and getting bored with the process of hunting down a publisher, I just shrugged my shoulders and did what one of my favourite authors<\/a> did: I went the self-publishing route.<\/p>\n

I'm a one man band. I wrote\u00a0the book, edited it, formatted it, designed the cover, submitted it to Smashwords and Amazon, created a print version, and now do all of my own publicity\/marketing. Honestly, it's a lot of work, much more than I had expected.<\/p>\n

But I love it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I've worked for a die-cutting factory, I've been a personal assistant, I've worked in a hardware store, I've sold boots and hair-dye to punks in a niche boutique in Montr\u00e9al, I've been an inside sales-rep for video editing software, I've done tech support, I've been a manager at one\u00a0of the big software companies, and I currently do freelance graphic work.<\/p>\n

Now, I am an author. How about that?<\/p>\n

Makes me wonder what the next thing will be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while, when I have time to stop and just think, I start\u00a0running around in circles in my head making an eeeeeeeee sound. I’m an author. I am. I really am. People refer to me as such every day. My name is up on sites where the word “author” shows up, if not right next to it, somewhere in the vicinity. I’m still processing that, because to be an author, you must first become a writer, don’t you? Just\u00a0last summer\u00a0I was neither. I’ve been\u00a0telling people that before the end of June 2013, I hadn’t written a lick … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,21],"tags":[80,2,10],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-life","category-writing-2","tag-author","tag-beys-life","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4sexs-2w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":344,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/giffy-blog-post-because-all-the-cool-kids-are-doing-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":156,"position":0},"title":"Giffy blog post because all the cool kids are doing it","author":"Bey","date":"June 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This summer can bite my shiny metal ass... so far it's been nice a handful of days, but, in between, the barometer's been playing yo-yo. Nicht so gut for my sinuses. \u00a0 \u00a0 I hit a slow spot with the writing. Just staring at the page going \"B... lover, please\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Life"","block_context":{"text":"My Life","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/my-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Do you think I need another blog post? You think I need another blog post. Ok... I'll write another blog post.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/youthinkweneedanother.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1220,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/quoi-de-neuf\/","url_meta":{"origin":156,"position":1},"title":"Quoi de neuf","author":"Bey","date":"July 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So much writing, so little time!Work is progressing on Better the Devil You Know. I'm over the third-way mark and I'm digging the way the story is going. I originally thought to release it under a different name because it's different from what I normally write, in that it's pretty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About"","block_context":{"text":"About","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/about\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/so-many-words-so-little-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":156,"position":2},"title":"So Many Words, So Little Time","author":"Bey","date":"April 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Slowly creeping up to 50% on Beyond the Spires. I keep thinking that I should put up a teaser chapter somewhere, but unless you've read Caged, there's at least one big spoilers. And I personally hate spoilers. Another chapter done of Spires. Next is a chapter for a different writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Caged"","block_context":{"text":"Caged","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/book-updates\/caged\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2671,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/july-flies-by\/","url_meta":{"origin":156,"position":3},"title":"Surprise Cover Reveals!","author":"Bey","date":"July 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post. A combination of life suddenly getting busy and my trying to focus on the two books I'm writing. So, to make up for my lapse in blog posts, I'm hosting my own surprise cover reveal right now... and not one,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Announcements"","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/charlie.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/charlie.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/charlie.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/charlie.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1304,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/writing-the-story-your-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":156,"position":4},"title":"Writing the story your way","author":"Bey","date":"September 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had a busy summer, what with the rain of plot-bunnies and falling ill no less than three times. As such, I haven't written a blog post with any real meat in a while. Looking at my drafts, I've started six posts but none with anything more than a starting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Better the Devil You Know"","block_context":{"text":"Better the Devil You Know","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/book-updates\/better-the-devil-you-know\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image7.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image7.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image7.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image7.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/image7.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":399,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/these-books-i-read\/","url_meta":{"origin":156,"position":5},"title":"These books I read","author":"Bey","date":"July 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I used to read a lot, back before the writing bug bit me last summer. I would devour books, one after the other in quick succession. Sometimes up to 200 or so books a year. This year, I think I've read three books so far. \u00a0I'm currently reading Existence by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Life"","block_context":{"text":"My Life","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/my-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Photo-2014-07-08-10-39-48-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Photo-2014-07-08-10-39-48-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Photo-2014-07-08-10-39-48-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Photo-2014-07-08-10-39-48-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Photo-2014-07-08-10-39-48-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}