From the frying pan into the fire

by Theresa Jacobs

I was 46 yrs. old, working in retail, and had squashed my desire to write for twenty plus years. I was beginning to question my life, or more so, my lack of ambition in 2016. One day I woke up and said to myself: “Life is pointless if I am not happy with who I am.”  

My new life as a writer was born that day.

I did have a dusty, twenty-year-old manuscript, housed on floppy discs – for those who may not know, this is an outdated mode of saving files.

I have a tendency to jump straight from the frying pan into the fire. I took these files, and without re-reading the book, or doing any editing, I decided to upload it to Amazon. That was not a brilliant idea. I just put a rough draft out there for all the world to read.

I quickly learned how many people there are in the Indie book world…hundreds of thousands… and the feedback was not good.

I did not let that stop me however, because I knew it could be better. I just needed help to understand the world of self-publishing. I joined writer’s groups. This was the first, best thing, I ever did.

During this time I was meeting other authors just like me, and they were kind and helpful. I gained a mentor instantly, who took me under his wing and helped me with editing my novel.

I began with creating stories for contests and, even, to my humble surprise, accepted to be a contributor to an online magazine. I write a weekly blog based on my newbie ‘Writers Life,’ with promo info, inspirations, and a monthly spotlight on other authors.

In two years I have two novels, one novella, lots of anthologies, stories and articles everywhere and hundreds of blog posts.

Just imagine on what you could do in 2 years!

Jacobs.jpgYup it’s ME. My Book Cataclysm (yes beside Joe Hill). 

Theresa Jacobs believes in magic, fairies, dragons and ghosts. Yet she trusts science and thinks that aliens know way too much. She loves binge watching sitcoms, and is a sci-fi nerd at heart.

You can learn more about Theresa over at her WordPress Blog and her website. She can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Pet Spotlight: Gemma

Jacobs dog.jpg

 

29 thoughts

  2. Congratulations! You can definitely serve as an inspiration for people who are twenty-five and think their potential to be a writer has worn dry. There are a lot of people like that out there, and it makes me sad. Keep writing, Theresa!

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Thank you, Milly! I don’t know how I missed this post 😛 But this is one of the side-effects of working non-stop! I appreciate everyone’s comments and the new followers too. It has been a hard – but joyous – journey with tons of new Wins daily to share.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  17. Yup. I can so relate! I am hoping this year I too will be able to make things more of a success. Great authors in FB groups have been a blessing with sharing lots of info to help out newbie indie authors. Great blog!

    Liked by 2 people

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