I have a handful of trusted early readers who aren’t afraid to tell me the truth and I thought that meant I was good at taking criticism. But you never realize how hard it is to take criticism until someone tells you your baby is ugly.
The book I just wrote apparently isn’t very good. And even though that was hard to hear, I think I was expecting that response. Because it doesn’t feel like the other Alexander books. The story is there but it doesn’t have the heart. The saddest part is that I know why it’s not working, it’s because my heart isn’t in it 🙁
So apologies to everyone who has been waiting for it but I won’t release it until it’s right. No matter what, I hope I’ll never release a book just for money if I know it isn’t the best it can be. The last time I had to completely push back a book was for GABE. I’m grateful I did it now because every single one of the books that came after that hit the USA TODAY bestsellers list. I know that wouldn’t have happened if I had just pushed out books that weren’t the best they could be.
This is the right move but it’s still hard and makes me feel pretty sucky. So I won’t be online for awhile because I don’t need to see negativity. I’m going to curl up in my writing cave and try to find the joy again. I think if I spend more time with my characters and stop worrying about all the outside stuff then I can get back to the state of mind I was in when I wrote the original Alexander books. Happy and excited to share the people in my head with the world.
Best,
Minx
