I’m coming to a realization. It has to do with my book, This Job Sucks. It’s a good book. But not good enough.
I think that I have been trying too hard. I think I’ve made some fatal errors and I would love some opinions on this from fellow writers out there.
First, I jumped on the Vampire book bandwagon. I should have known better. The market is saturated and I haven’t got a new enough angle on the vampire thing to make me unique enough. Except that I actually made my vampires traditional vampires.
Second, I started trying to do the Urban Fantasy Young Adult romance thing.
Third, I got fed up with the Young Adult romance thing and edited it all out making it into a one sided infatuation thing, more of a tragic love.
Fourth, I didn’t make it so gory you couldn’t sleep after reading it.
Fifth, my opening. I usually have great openings that catch your attention and keep you coming back, but in this book I struggled and struggled with the opening.
My characters are real to me, I hope others feel their realism but I have really gotten much feedback except from my mom and husband. The story is bigger than just this book and I have a second part I’ve started but now I don’t know if it is worth it. (Yes, Mom, I’ll finish it for you because it’s driving you nuts to know what will happen.) Perhaps the problem is that I wrote the wrong section of the story. Maybe I started too early and I should cover all that with flashbacks. I just don’t know.
So here I am. I have a fully finished book. Unfortunately, I have edited it too far, or wrote too little, or maybe too much and made it completely unmarketable in an already overflowing market. I should have know better. All the rest of my stuff is more like the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. I should just stick to my natural way of writing.
Of course, I have really condemned myself now because I’m ranting and complaining about how awful my own work is, but when you are a writer it is about learning as well as producing. Experience only comes from doing and getting it wrong a few times. I’ve been so scared of getting it wrong that I got it wrong. I think I need to be more risky. Really go for it if I’m going to blow peoples’ minds. I think I’m being too timid and I’m afraid of offending someone and that will hurt my chances of getting published. I think I have it backwards. I should be as crazy, or horrible, or amazing as possible otherwise who’s gonna care?
I’ve never really been published for anything but an essay here and there, or poetry, or newspaper articles. I’ve been to chicken to send things out. I’m just starting on this writing adventure. I refuse to quit but I need to learn.
Does anyone have some advice or even some constructive criticism if you read it?
adriana pridemore 
