A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
- Thomas Mann

The Bleeding Hills - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

Well, as of today I have submitted my first novel to a professional editing service. My last entry was on July 10, 2009 at which time I was sure I was shortly before publishing. However, I decided to run yet another editing process, and I believe it was well worth the efforts. Since my first draft I had added roughly 10,000 words and another run was necessary. I like the result and, believe me, I am my worst critic. I am counting on the professional editing service to add a little cream on top of the pie.

The editing process will take between 10 to 14 days which will put us into mid of September. The cover design is done and the next step will be going through the changes made by the editor. The submitting and approval process with LightningSource (our printer/distributor) will take another week. My hope is that, provided there are no major problems, the book will be available for sale by end of September.

As of today I also felt some kind of emptiness, that there was nothing more to do about my first novel. However, as every aspiring author should know: The real work begins as soon as you have finished the writing. As soon as the book is actually published I need to promote the hell out of it. My marketing strategy is mainly based on press releases; some of them are free, others I will need to pay for. I will also place Online ads in some selected places. Without going into more details, but there is work to be done.

The other task is to start my next novel, which is actually my first one. I had the idea before The Bleeding Hills, but – as I wrote in my very first blog entry – I wrote The Bleeding Hills mainly to gain experience in the novel writing process and I can say with the utmost confidence that I have learned a lot. However, this statement should not undermine the importance of The Bleeding Hills to me. Yes, this was supposed a mere test project, but I can now say  that I thoroughly enjoyed working on it, and that I am very proud of the result.

I will continue writing about my projects on this blog, i.e. my next novel. I have already outlined roughly 90% of the story line, and I am looking forward to dive into another writing adventure.