Writer's depression - end of book/series, and other blues...

Hey guys!

Just wanted to talk to you about something you might already be very familiar with - writer's depression. It comes for many different reasons - writer's block, which is the inability to come up with any new ideas or being stuck in one spot and can't figure out which way to proceed, book sale decline or no sales at all (I have been in this category, as we all have, I'm sure), having to "kill off" a beloved character (been there, as well. I was in bed for 2 days when I had to have one of my first protagonists die in a car accident), and finally, ending a book or a series. This is the category that I'm finding myself in right now...or rather, holiday blues combined with end of series blues, combined with my latest book STILL being in production, even though I put the order through on the fifth of this month...UGH, so aggravating!

I could see this coming a mile away. Even before I finished my latest book, end of the series, Sentinel, I knew that I would be sad to bring the saga to a close - more accurately, to let go of my beloved Ramirez family. They are so real to me, they feel like my own family, and the struggle with the loss of them is real. It feels like a death in the family - except this was an entire family!

When you create characters who have such presence and are so larger than life, they become important to you, like best friends that you visit for a few hours each day, living out their lives along with them. The difference is, of course, you are creating those lives, and inevitably, it all must come to an end at some point...much as you would like it not to.

The good thing is, if you are this attached to your characters, the readers will be also. This is a huge plus in building your fan base. The bad thing is, readers can easily move on to another book when they're finished with yours...but you can't - well, not easily.

I jokingly said throughout writing the trilogy, "I'm afraid I'll never be able to write characters that I love as much as the Ramirez family," and this prophecy turns out to be true. Although I have started a couple of new books, I just cannot connect to these characters in the same way I did Ana, Jaiden, Xavier and the others. They had a life all their own, and it was almost effortless to write their dialogue and scenarios. Not having such an easy time with the current book, though.

But on that same token, I can also remember not being able to connect with two of my characters becoming a couple, after a tragedy caused the fiance' of one of those characters to pass away. I just couldn't get into it, even though I'm the one who decided what was about to go down

. What broke that stagnation for me was to listen to my favorite romantic song, and envision these two characters going through that scenario - and I finally felt it - that rush and my heart beating all crazy with excitement!! They had finally became a couple in my heart and mind! And you know what? They are now my favorite couple in the whole series!

So yeah, I think you can see how connected I am to my characters...it's like child-bearing - you give birth to them in your mind, raise them up with amazing hopes, dreams and aspirations, help them bring all of this to fruition - and then they have to leave the nest. Yep, I'd say that's an accurate assessment.

The other thing that's bringing me down, is my free week of downloads for the first two books, Surrogate, and For Keeps. While the first day brought nearly 100 downloads, the second only 30-something, yesterday 13 - and today, 5...what the heck?? The good thing is, when I look at the "Normalized Pages Read," it lets me know that the books are indeed being read after download, and I'm seeing a few purchases or the third book, Sentinel, which means they liked the first 2 books - but WHY aren't FREE book downloads going through the ROOF??

All of my books have 5-star ratings and rave reviews on Amazon, which is where I'm having the free week for the 2 books, so that should let people know they're not junk, but to see free downloads decline by the day like this is like a sledgehammer to my ego - not to mention my enthusiasm. Don't get me wrong, I know my books are good...I just can't seem to get others to read them so they will know they're good. I've got scores of fans on Facebook, and have pretty much begged and pleaded for them to review the books, but it's been a bust. If you've read my previous blog post about Book Bloggers, then you know my plight that lies there as well. I've prepared a press-release, and while I've sent it out locally, I'm about to sit down after Christmas and make calls to publications across the country, asking them how to get my release published through them.

I did not come this far to give up now, people, and you shouldn't either! We will not let depression - whether holiday or writing based, cause us to fail! We will hold our heads up and remember the most important thing of all - 2018 is a brand new year, and it will be OUR year!! Our year to SHINE, and we will be well-known, if not famous, authors by the end of that year!! I just know it!

Okay, now I'm going to work on my next book - and by the way, while readers of my books are dropping, readers of this BLOG are skyrocketing...I get so excited checking each day and seeing how many more views I've gotten!!  :)

Until next time, I am A.H. Shelton, and thank you for stopping by! Merry Christmas, and Happy Writing!! :)

Find my books here

Visit my website

Follow me on Facebook