I'm an author.
I can say that because I've published a book. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/153938
This began several years ago, when I started having nightmares. Not that I'd never had nightmares before, mind you... but I'd never had them one on top of another, ceaselessly, all night and every night for days and sometimes weeks on end. It recurred the next year, and the year after that.
It happened regularly enough that I began to refer to the fall as Nightmare Season.
Then at the beginning of last summer, Google opened the invite-only beta of Google+. I was invited, joined, and managed to meet some really great people, and witness them doing some interesting things. In September, with Nightmare Season looming, I decided to (and posted that I would) write a piece of short horror fiction every day in October, in the hopes that getting the demons out of my head and onto a page or screen where I could see them would help alleviate Nightmare Season somewhat.
People thought this was a fantastic idea.
People wanted to join in.
I welcomed anybody who wanted to participate in any capacity, and set it up that I would post to a filtered group an inspirational image each morning, and anybody so inclined had all day to write something and post it. I was the only one that I felt had to post something every day. I set it up that it would start October 1, and end October 31. I had folks who wanted to write, some who just wanted to read and comment, and several who wanted to provide photography or other images.
I didn't manage to write every single day, but nearly, which was pretty great (and also served as good practice in writing daily for NaNoWriMo, which I used to work on a still IP work) - I ended up with over twenty short fictions. I pared that down to twenty, edited them, and had people proof them. I formatted it, followed the Style guide on Smashwords, and submitted it with some really amazing artwork on the cover, done specifically for this collection by the even more amazing Moan Lisa.
I wrote a book. I published a book. I have a book for sale.
Check it out: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/153938
This began several years ago, when I started having nightmares. Not that I'd never had nightmares before, mind you... but I'd never had them one on top of another, ceaselessly, all night and every night for days and sometimes weeks on end. It recurred the next year, and the year after that.
It happened regularly enough that I began to refer to the fall as Nightmare Season.
Then at the beginning of last summer, Google opened the invite-only beta of Google+. I was invited, joined, and managed to meet some really great people, and witness them doing some interesting things. In September, with Nightmare Season looming, I decided to (and posted that I would) write a piece of short horror fiction every day in October, in the hopes that getting the demons out of my head and onto a page or screen where I could see them would help alleviate Nightmare Season somewhat.
People thought this was a fantastic idea.
People wanted to join in.
I welcomed anybody who wanted to participate in any capacity, and set it up that I would post to a filtered group an inspirational image each morning, and anybody so inclined had all day to write something and post it. I was the only one that I felt had to post something every day. I set it up that it would start October 1, and end October 31. I had folks who wanted to write, some who just wanted to read and comment, and several who wanted to provide photography or other images.
I didn't manage to write every single day, but nearly, which was pretty great (and also served as good practice in writing daily for NaNoWriMo, which I used to work on a still IP work) - I ended up with over twenty short fictions. I pared that down to twenty, edited them, and had people proof them. I formatted it, followed the Style guide on Smashwords, and submitted it with some really amazing artwork on the cover, done specifically for this collection by the even more amazing Moan Lisa.
I wrote a book. I published a book. I have a book for sale.
Check it out: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/153938