Writing is easy?

Hello everyone.  Today, I wanted to write a bit about the journey I have taken, from putting pen to paper and then putting a whole book in your hands. When I was a young girl, I would purposely get into trouble so I would have to go to my room for a couple of hours.  While in ‘time out,’ I knew that I could either read or write uninterrupted for as long as my mom felt I needed to learn my lesson. I would emerge from time out, not having thought about what I did wrong or how to fix my behavior, but with at least a partial story written.

My first ventures into writing were about a young girl and her pet grizzly bear.  I think I wrote a total of six of these stories, all about 8-9 pages long on bright yellow paper in pink ink, before my mother caught on.  After that, she made sure that if I was sent to my room, there was nothing to write on or read.  Once being sent to my room was no longer fun, I quit misbehaving.  When I was writing, as long as I had my homework finished and my chores done, my mom would make sure that I wasn’t interrupted unless necessary.

By the time I reached junior high, I had changed my stories from a little girl getting up to all sorts of high jinks with her pet into ones that had more depth and feeling.  I started learning to write more descriptive paragraphs and better dialogue.  I was starting to venture into deeper emotions.  It was during this time that I came up with Adym and Moonsyrah, whom you will meet in Book 2 of ‘The Demons of Yiddera’ series. 

In high school, I entered a piece I called Fairytale into a contest and was picked to go to a writing conference because of it. It was published in a periodical that was distributed to the different high schools in the area. 

Fairytale was the beginning of my first book, “A Demon’s Fascination” (available on May 27, 2025, on my website and Amazon).  Fairytale told the story of an eternal being who stepped through a portal and fell in love with a human, so he took her into his world.  This story incorporated elements that I included in “A Demon’s Fascination,” but also one that I included in book four of my new series.

Once I began writing the story to publish, I realized that the man who stepped through the portal was not just one man but two.  This is when Tam and Tayin were born.  Fairytale started with Tam, but by the end, it was about Tayin.  I was intrigued by the idea of writing about brothers who were very similar but had different ideas of love.  Without giving too much away, “A Demon’s Fascination” shows Tam falling for someone who is not Tayin’s idea of a forever love.

While still in high school, I also wrote a descriptive paragraph that won this same contest the next year. This paragraph was my first attempt at writing about grief and loneliness. I learned to think about how I would feel in a similar situation and write about it.  I started writing about how I felt when in sad, tense, happy, and exciting situations.  This helped me put those feelings on paper and write and rewrite them until they worked in a story, and others who read the passage could feel a similar emotion to what I felt. 

It was also in high school that I started writing my first novel.  Now, to give away my age, back then, in order to save anything, it was saved on either a 5- or 3.5-inch floppy disk.  I was almost finished with my book when I realized that somehow the disk had become corrupted (or I hadn’t saved it correctly), and I lost the middle 100 or so pages of my book.  Frustrated, I put my writing aside and concentrated on other things. 

Since then, I have always written stories in my mind and occasionally jotted them down on paper, but I never sat down to write a whole book again.  I went on to college and got a bachelor's and then a master’s degree, and started a successful career in a field that I love but had nothing to do with writing.  One day, after a particularly hard day at work, I came home and sat at the kitchen table, and started writing on a notepad that sat there.

I had written several pages when I realized that I was writing about “Fairytale,” the book I had started so long ago.  I not only had the beginnings of a new version of the story, but I had also found a way to relax after work and get the stories that were always in the back of my mind out.  I kept writing until it was time to get ready for bed.  That night, I woke up and realized I had the story wrong.  It did not take place on Earth; it took place on a whole other world.  The next day, I went to work, and with thoughts of my story running in the background, I heard Y’ddra for the first time.

Y’ddra is the sentient being that embodies Yiddera, the world that I had thought of. I think she had been talking to me my whole life, but I wasn’t open to what she was saying.  Once I started listening, I knew exactly what the planet looked like, smelled like, and sounded like.  I could feel the wind and sand.  Yiddera was all of a sudden a real place, and because of this, I also knew who the people who lived there were.  I knew all about the Allurans and the different races that made up the population.  I knew the plants and the animals that lived there. 

So, I started writing in earnest. I had no intention of publishing; I just wanted to write.  Within two years, I had four books written.  They were not refined, but they were written.  I let my mom read them, and she loved them.  She then had a few other people read them, and they all encouraged me to publish.  I was hesitant to try that.  Who would want to read my books?  Sure, my mom and her friends liked them, but they were just my mom and her friends.  I took time and reworked some of the scenes and changed what needed changing.  I added more depth to some of the characters and argued with others about their fate/role in the story, and finally came up with a manuscript I thought I might be willing to publish.  I gave it to a couple of other people to read, trying to find out if they liked it and what they wanted in a romantic fantasy story.  What do you, dear reader, like to read about?  Sex, intrigue, murder, mystery, world building?  What are your thoughts? 

Everyone who read my story encouraged me to publish. Finally, I decided that maybe strangers might be interested in reading my stories.  So, I began the next step in my journey. I learned about self-publishing.  I researched how to do this and learned about formatting.  What a pain this was to do until I got Atticus, which is a great writing software company for authors.  Here I am going to give a shout-out to Atticus and say thanks.  Without Atticus, I think I would still be trying to learn how to properly format for the different forums an author can use to publish their books. 

Then I realized that my book needed a good cover.  Yes, I could pay someone to make a cover, but I am a do-it-yourself kind of girl, so I researched software to do this with.  I did not want to pay someone to do something I could learn to do myself, and what if I did not like what the other person came up with?  Sure, they offer revisions, most at an additional cost, and what if I still did not like it?  Here's another shout-out, this time to BookBrush and Canva.  While I now know why people go to school to learn graphic design, these two companies made it easy to learn the basics.  With the help of both companies, I created a book cover design that I'm happy with.  I really came up with about six different designs and had my book club friends pick their favorite.

Do any of you know how hard it is to write a blurb?  Trying to condense your story into a short, attention-getting paragraph that tells what your story is about without giving anything away is not easy.  I spent so much time on this and learned what real frustration was.  Then, finally, I had about eight blurbs that I was happy with but couldn’t decide which one I liked best.  Thank goodness for book club friends.  After they had read all eight, they narrowed it down to two for me.  Taking into account their comments and my own preferences, a blurb was finally chosen. 

Next came publishing.  I picked a couple of places that facilitated self-publishing and started the process.  This wasn’t too hard, but trying to get the formatting of the cover and the interior contents right took some time.  Then I had to read my proofs.  No matter how many times you read and edit your book, I swear you will find a new mistake each time.  I had others read and edit, but here I held the proof in my hand and found that I had left out a big section when I submitted my manuscript for publishing.  So, I put that section back in and resubmitted my manuscript.  Finally, everything looked good. Until I got to the chapter, I call Year 5.  I found that I had not capitalized the word 'you' at the beginning of a sentence.  One little letter.  Could I leave it? Maybe no one will notice.  Nope, I couldn’t.  So, I had to fix it and resubmit it. 

I am sure that there is something I have still missed, and I am sure my readers will let me know, but I felt that it was ready.  Now my book, available in eBook and paperback formats, will soon be purchasable on Amazon, as well as on my website and Facebook page (thanks to IngramSpark). 

Finally, I have my book ready for others to read. Or do I?  Advertising?  What do you mean by advertising?  I hadn’t thought of that.  I thought if I put it on Amazon or on my website, people would just find it.  Nope.

So now I am learning how to advertise. I am learning to make ads with animation and will soon put one on Facebook and Amazon.  I have learned you need a website, so I learned how to make one.  Then it was suggested that I write a blog and do videos.  So, I researched how to write a blog, and this is what I am doing.  I find blogging interesting.  I can’t wait to see how my blogging skills progress over time.

Videos are a different story.  Do I make a video to sell my books or stick with blogging? Should I do both?  I have never wanted my face out there for all to see, but I am told it is one of the best ways to advertise.  I am not sure I want to do videos, yet, but I am open to the idea.  What do you, my readers, think and suggest? I am writing under a pen name to keep my professional work life separate from my book writing.  If I make a video, that might blur the lines.

I have been asked if I plan to do an audiobook version, and the answer is I don’t know.  It was suggested by several people that I read for my own audiobook.  What do you think?  Do you like it when authors read their own books for an audiobook version? Any suggestions if I choose to go this route?

My journey is ongoing, and I love learning and expanding my knowledge with all the new skills I am acquiring.  I now know what a JPEG versus a PNG file is.  I am learning formatting terms, and that a book should start on the right, not the left. I am learning about margins and bleed.  I had never heard the term bleed before. I do not know enough about advertising yet, but every day I watch videos and read about the subject and hope to one day understand it. I really give kudos to the people who do these jobs for a living, graphic designers, advertisers, and editors.  These jobs are not easy, and it takes talent to do them correctly. 

My writing is my happy place.  I have written all four books in “The Demons of Yiddera” series and hope to release them about eight months apart.  I do not like reading a series and waiting years in between books.  I have started another book in a two-part series and am having fun meeting those characters and learning about their lives.  

So, I have learned that coming up with a story is not hard, but writing it, editing, marketing, everything that goes on between coming up with the idea and getting it into a reader’s hands is. No matter how hard it is, I love writing and plan to continue for as long as I have characters who want their stories told.

I am still editing and formatting the second book in the series, which I call “A Demon’s Desire.”  I am unsure when I will release it, but I am tentatively thinking around Thanksgiving.  I will keep you all updated on my progress and when each book in the series is released.  My first book, “A Demon’s Fascination,” will be available on May 27, 2025. 

I hope you enjoy my stories and the world that I have created.  Thank you all for joining me on this journey.

                        Louella Ranes