Revisiting Writing Distractions and Old Manuscripts

A few days ago, Polly Iyer wrote about an ugly world that started for her in 2015. Those comments resonated on so many levels for me. I don't remember what I was doing in 2015, but, by 2016 and that dreadful presidential election, my creativity had waned to almost nothing. By the first quarter of 2017, I simply crawled under a rock with 43 J.D. Robb In Death books and read them all consecutively until I was caught up. That took until early April.

Then I gardened. A lot. 

And tried to paint again. The creative muse didn't like that. My work was simply dreadful.

Finally I cooked for a few months. And gained a lot of weight!

But I didn't write. Not until I started really thinking about how the country could heal some of its divisiveness. First I wrote some letters to the editor. Then some blog posts. 

And then I started thinking about fiction and stories that might help me cope... and maybe also others. I thought about all those JD Robb books, and how they saved my soul and sanity earlier in the year.

So, for National Novel Writing Month 2017, I wrote a story about a very conservative rancher and a sexy feminist widow who had the hots for each other. Bigtime. I finished the story at about 75,000 words in that one month. (I had never done that well in a NaNoWriMo before.)

Then I stuck the manuscript in a drawer because I couldn't read it again at that point. Gag. It just didn't seem true to life. Too impossible. Sex wasn't enough to save these two. Maybe not even true love. The fundamental differences between the main characters were simply too vast, so we all went our separate ways. Better and easier to just stick with kindred spirits to survive the times. 

Right? 

And, besides, the theme probably wouldn't age well. When this presidency was over, it would be forgotten.

Right?

Wrong.

I pulled out that manuscript a few weeks ago to look at it with a fresh eye and for possible publication on Kindle Vella, and decided I loved the characters, including the secondary players who might have books of their own in this romance series. Since I wanted a 3rd title to put up on Kindle Vella, I thought, why the hell not? Because I was publishing one episode at a time, I could always tweak the sections that needed revision to seem more plausible. 

Plus, based on my Vella experiences since January, statistics say a weekly episode release is most viral. This will be a good experiment to test that.

So, debuting in April, you'll get a chance to read this:

Click to enlarge

And I hope you try it! For readers who don't know how Kindle Vella works, here's a quick overview:

http://amazon.com/kindle-vella

For writers who want to know more, go to your Amazon KDP page for the Kindle Vella links. There are also some very good Facebook support groups where you can ask questions. Other than the ease of use on this publishing platform and their bonus program, the supportive community is something I really appreciate. Give it a try and see what you think. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments!

Dani Greer is founding member of the Blood-Red Pencil. She spends her days drinking coffee, writing, and herding trolls. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and heaven help her, TikTok.