Writing Update

   I'm going to do something I haven't done in a long time, write about writing. Yep, Hell just froze over. When we actually started this blog four years ago, I wrote about writing all the time. Then I realized I wasn't the expert everyone else on here was and I switched over to having fun. I think I made the right move.
   I know there are a lot of people who read this post on various platforms of social media and therefore do not see our actual blog site. If you did you would see my bio and you would see that I keep saying that I am going to publish two books one of these days. I keep changing the dates. There is a reason for that. I'm not ready. Profound, aren't I?
   I have two books I have been working on. One is a murder mystery. It is basically done. I'm planning on self-publishing it. Just not yet.
   The second is my memoir, called "It's Probably Just Stress." I know we get a lot of people who come and go from the blog over time, so I will quickly go over the story. Starting in high school, I had three concussions, then a few years later, I suffered another in a traffic accident. That was in 1979 when I was 23. Two weeks later, simple innocent headaches began. By 1987 they became 24 hours a day, with a traditional migraine happening once a week.
   The intake of Tylenol reached at least 18 a day for years. In 2009 I nearly died from internal bleeding which made a profound impact on me. It didn't affect my life as far as my pain was concerned, but it did change my life in a spiritual sense, bringing me to church.
   It wouldn't be until 2013 before we found a doctor who listened and was willing to help us. Even though the journey to the end took another eight months, it didn't end there.
   As I have written this book, I originally intended to self-publish it as well. I hired a professional editor with the task of cleaning this book up to the best possible work. It has taken a year, but she just sent me the final edit a little over a week ago.  I am now doing the final re-write. As most of you know, the four of us on this blog belong to a critique group. Using a professional editor has been an interesting experience. I would do it again.
   Why did I use her and not the group? Did I not trust the group? Not at all. I used the editor mainly because of time. Our group is outstanding and I would stack the quality of the individuals up against anyone. We meet twice a month. We usually review two or three pieces per session, and if it is a book like my memoir, we would review two or three chapters at a time. It would take our group about ten months to go through my book of 80,000 words. My editor and I have done three edits in a little less than a year.
   It is time versus money for me for this project. In the future, I don't know what I will do. I may do multiple projects at the same time and use the group and the editor. My point here is if you are a writer and have access to a great group, use them. Our group is fantastic. By using my editor, it reinforced just how good our group is. No matter which path you choose, take your time and edit your work well. Please do not publish without going through the process thoroughly. There is too much crap out there.