I try to do a book review at the end of each month, but I haven’t finished Parable of the Sower yet. I’m about halfway done because I’m not speeding through it and also because some days I’m not reading at all to be quite honest. So let’s talk about my book.
I’m shopping for an editor right now. It took a bit longer to get feedback from people I already know who are in my target audience than I’d anticipated. And yes, that was partially because I took forever to actually ask these people to read it because I was uncertain and untrusting. But the girls did good and made me feel really excited about what I’d created.
That being said, I won’t get it completed and published by the end of the year like I’d hoped. I didn’t plan well with timing, but it’s my first book and I don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m totally winging it here. However! I’m hoping the publishing process will go smoothly once the professional edit and my inevitable rewrite is complete and I can get it out before my half-birthday in March. Are half-birthdays a thing?
I’ve already got a cover designed based on a dream I had about receiving the proof copy of my book and so I’m likely to go with what I have, but I feel like I should probably create a couple more options and get some feedback on the cover art before formatting it for publishing.
Aside from the editing, this book is all DIM (do-it-myself) because I’ve been on a super tight budget this year getting my car paid off (which I did last week, yay!) and getting some additional things paid in December. And then of course January continues my debt-free journey with saving to pay off the student loans that I’ve been pretending don’t exist for eight years.
All that being said, I still have a surprise next month that I mentioned a while ago. It’s just taking some time to get there, but I’ll definitely let you in on it in a few weeks.
I’ll keep you updated on book progress, and may even post cover options over on our IG page (@ninentwo) for you to vote on. Who knows.
Once I’m done with Parable of the Sower I’ll let you know if my thoughts/feelings about it have changed since I first read it years ago. I also want to watch/listen to the 4-part discussion of the book done by the Smart Brown Girl Book Club on YouTube. I’ll probably do that first before I come talk about it here.
In the meantime…
Happy Reading!
Christine Gabriélle 