Charleston Lim's Blog - Posts Tagged "first-book"
Self-publishing my first book.
Reaching this milestone has been an incredible journey. Each time I faced what seemed like insurmountable challenges—such as wrestling with the intricacies of a functional table of contents—I fought my way back. Motivated myself to keep going. Despite everything, I thoroughly enjoyed the process and am overjoyed to finally share my ideas with anyone intrigued enough to explore my ramblings.
I had this idea for the book in my mind for such a long time. I wanted to just put it on paper or keyboard, but life got in the way. Long story short, I was in between jobs and just decided to go for it. Pull the trigger. Take the plunge. Putting those ideas on paper was the easy and enjoyable part. Editing the thing myself, rereading my writings over and over again, making a cover, applying for an ISBN, creating accounts—those were challenging. But they were part of the process, and I had to learn how to do them. I wasn't good at those things, but I tried my best.
Where I am located was one of my greatest handicaps. I had difficulty in finding beta-readers for one. My circle of friends preferred movies and video games, and it was a pain to get even one person to read a chapter or two. In most countries, science fiction ideas were welcomed by the masses—where I am, not so much. Also, don't get me started on the shipping restrictions just to get an author's copy.
At the end of the day, all of it—the pleasure and the pain—was worth it. For anyone with an idea, a concept, a story, my message for you is to just write it down. Type it on a notepad. Save it. Come back to it from time to time if it's impossible for you to sit down and work on your story for longer periods. Just slowly build it. Pour your thoughts onto that keyboard or sheet of paper. Worry about editing, grammar, and spelling mistakes later. You will realize that it's completely different when you are able to read your ideas compared to when you are just thinking about them. It will either make a lot of sense or it won't and that's ok. You are the master of the world you are creating. You can change anything on a whim. So, just go for it. Create that world. Create those people. We are uniquely the only species on this planet that is capable of creating worlds and then projecting those worlds into other people's heads using just our words. So use that capability. Use those words.
I had this idea for the book in my mind for such a long time. I wanted to just put it on paper or keyboard, but life got in the way. Long story short, I was in between jobs and just decided to go for it. Pull the trigger. Take the plunge. Putting those ideas on paper was the easy and enjoyable part. Editing the thing myself, rereading my writings over and over again, making a cover, applying for an ISBN, creating accounts—those were challenging. But they were part of the process, and I had to learn how to do them. I wasn't good at those things, but I tried my best.
Where I am located was one of my greatest handicaps. I had difficulty in finding beta-readers for one. My circle of friends preferred movies and video games, and it was a pain to get even one person to read a chapter or two. In most countries, science fiction ideas were welcomed by the masses—where I am, not so much. Also, don't get me started on the shipping restrictions just to get an author's copy.
At the end of the day, all of it—the pleasure and the pain—was worth it. For anyone with an idea, a concept, a story, my message for you is to just write it down. Type it on a notepad. Save it. Come back to it from time to time if it's impossible for you to sit down and work on your story for longer periods. Just slowly build it. Pour your thoughts onto that keyboard or sheet of paper. Worry about editing, grammar, and spelling mistakes later. You will realize that it's completely different when you are able to read your ideas compared to when you are just thinking about them. It will either make a lot of sense or it won't and that's ok. You are the master of the world you are creating. You can change anything on a whim. So, just go for it. Create that world. Create those people. We are uniquely the only species on this planet that is capable of creating worlds and then projecting those worlds into other people's heads using just our words. So use that capability. Use those words.
