A New Book – Wandering Stars

I published a book 24th August, 2018.

Wandering Stars is not the first book I’ve written. However, I published it first.

March 31st, I completed the manuscript so I could submit the book for the Dusty Manuscript Competition powered by Guarantee Trust Bank and Okadabooks.

My book wasn’t chosen for reasons best known to them. When I received the news, it knocked the wind out of my guts. It wasn’t the first time my work was rejected in a writing competition. I thought I should be used to the concept of rejection by now, but I wasn’t.

I felt hurt. I put my soul into that book, I had sleepless nights, I did my research, I gave it out to a Beta reader, the book fell into the adult category they wanted, my word count was above 25,000.

What did I do wrong? I needed some kind of feedback and got none. My next reaction was “dump the book and walk away”. My ego was thoroughly bruised and I felt my work was just not good enough. I kept it aside for three months.

I continued going to work and I alienated myself from the book. I received editing jobs alongside my teaching job and life was good.

I hardly blogged but I kept writing on Instagram, Mirakee and Facebook. I did not stop writing or honing my writing skills, till one day, I came to the realisation that I needed to publish my book. If they were not going to do it? I was going to do it. Dusty Manuscript do not owe me a thing. They did me a favour by prompting me to complete the book I started in 2016.

The freelance editing business has been challenging for me. Every new job has something new to teach me. Editing though had ruined the reading experience for me. I easily spot error in some literary work. Unconsciously, I edit a sentence I feel should have been written in a certain way before I move on with the text. Hello Editors out there, I have a question for you.

“Do you enjoy reading like you used to?” Sobs! Sobs!!

I still enjoy well edited text though, thanks.

My book is still in the eBook format but I have a picture of what the paperback would look like.

My book is available on Okadabooks and you can download it directly to your phone after paying through paystack.

In the next post, I’ll tell you more about the book and how you can get it.

Until next time,
Blessings!

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Thanks to all new followers of my blog. You guys are the best. I’ll visit your blogs soon and if I’m impressed with your blog, I’ll follow you, right back.