Conceiving Book #1 (Feedback & Advice)

From 2013 to 2018, I was trying to put together Dolphin Princess. It took a lot of developing, more than one draft (obviously), and a lot of thought and care.

(Me from November, 29, 2017)

I remember during my graduate years at Our Lady of the Lake University, I would share parts of a draft with my colleagues, and they would give me their feedback. Now, when it comes to writing, feedback is always welcome, because people tell you what's working and what's not. You can't rely on Draft 1... unless you were some kind of writing god who had perfect writing skills. I see Draft 1 as only a foundation for what you want for the story.

I remember going to a colleague's house (during my years at OLLU) for a writing circle. It was there that I had shown some of my colleagues a rough draft of the first two chapters of Dolphin Princess (Prologue and Chapter 1). I wasn't afraid to gather as much feedback as I needed. (I call this the Feedback Harvest.) And people were more than happy to give me as much advice as possible, because this was part of my rough draft, and I wanted all the help I could get.

Sometime later when I was at OLLU, I had asked a professor to look over the manuscript. She emailed me days later (maybe a week later) that the manuscript needed more work. She didn't explain why that was, or what exactly needed work. And the only constructive feedback she gave was: KEEP READING. At first, I was baffled, because I was trying to get somebody to endorse me and my book; I just wanted someone to notice my work and what I was trying to do. I didn't know how to take this, and I looked through my draft over and over (I think it was the second draft of the book), but then it made sense: Read more stories in this genre, this subject matter. So, I followed the advice--I kept reading.

I then went to another OLLU professor to see what I still needed for this book. I was in a Directed Study course with this other professor, where I had to meet once a week in her office to have discussions. I talked to her about my book, and what my progress was. She then told me that I needed to keep working on the book, because she felt that I was still working on my craft. And she had a point: Writing is a learning process, no matter how long you've been studying about it, reading about it, and acting on it. And I was able to prove some of that to her with my short stories and annotations on selected readings.

And then, in my last semester at OLLU, I was talking to a classmate about my endeavors as a writer, and I told him that I was still trying to work on my craft, and I was still reading stories to gain more inspiration. Then my classmate was like, "Why? You've had this story for a while now. It's your baby." And to be perfectly fair to him, he was right.

(Me on OLLU Graduation Day, May 9, 2018)

Though, as soon as I graduated from OLLU, I only had more questions about my book. What was I supposed to do, exactly?

Regardless, graduating from OLLU gave me more time to spend on the final draft of my book. Eventually, I was able to complete the story, come up with the cover art, and find my place with Barnes and Noble Press.

TO BUY MY BOOK: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dolphin-princess-veronica-gonzalez/1129202183

Veronica Gonzalez